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Interesting title, huh? Well today I am completely convinced I found MY nirvana. After literally years of my hinting and finally outright telling Bill that I sure would like a spa gift certificate to go have a massage he came through this year for Valentine's Day. He put a lot of thought into it too as he didn't just get me any old massage. He got me the:
Samunprai Royal Thai Massage
Pronounced Săm-Mūn-prī, this deep heat muscle massage dates back to 14th Century Thailand when soldiers returned from battle. Take your body on an exotic journey of renewal; alleviate sore muscles, back and joint pain, reduce stress and feel re-energized. Ideal for athletes, "weekend warriors" and stressed-out people. (80 minutes)
He told me at the time that he thought it appropriate because it was "ideal for stressed-out people." Apparently he had recently opened the dictionary and happened to see my photo next to the word "stress." :-)
I was so excited but wanted to save this for when I knew I truly needed it. This week was that time. After a rocky work week, another week of interrupted sleep thanks to Anna's night time adventures and several pieces of bad/sad news I knew that I was ready.
I arrived at Simonson's 10 minutes prior to my appointment to fill out paperwork. I noted the areas most in need of help on my body (well they all need help but that is another story!) and focused my needs on my left shoulder and neck and the center of my lower back. Gab, my massage therapist introduced himself and took me to my room and explained how my massage would go. He was very very nice and completely put me at ease. He also told me that Bill did an excellent job in his massage selection and that I was getting the "Cadillac of massages" as he put it.
The massage was the BEST. I could feel him pushing the knots in my back muscles right out - poof they were gone. It was just truly truly amazing. I never fell asleep but I was utterly and thoroughly relaxed. When it was done I couldn't believe 80 minutes had gone by but sure enough I looked at the clock and it was nearly an hour and a half after Gab started working his magic.
Needless to say I will be saving up for my next visit and plan to request Gab and the same massage. My only question is why didn't I ever just do this for myself earlier? If you haven't I say life it too short. Go splurge on yourself!
Last night Bill and Ryan headed to the Twins -vs- Oakland A's game at the Metrodome. They had awesome Diamond View seats in section 132, Row 23. Ryan was ready for the game when they dropped Anna at my work prior to heading downtown. He had on his Tori Hunter jersey, Twins cap and even his Twins socks! Most importantly he had his all-important glove. The guys were hoping for a good game given the Twins lost the night before. They were also hoping by some twist of fate that Ryan would finally get a game ball.
Our beloved Twins did not disappoint, beating the A's 13 to 2! The best part for Ryan? Yep you guessed it, a game ball. He didn't actually catch a fly ball but rather went down to an area at the end of the game where he had seen other kids get game balls. The ball boys didn't notice him until a very nice man yelled to them, pointed to Ryan and said "throw this boy a ball." They did, he caught it and the rest is history. Bill got this shot with his phone.
While Bill is off playing in Las Vegas (o.k. he really isn't playing . . . all of the time at least . . . but I gotta pick on him when he isn't here to defend himself) I have been the lucky recipient of new sleeping arrangements. :-) Now now now, it is NOT what you are thinking.
It seems Anna has a finely tuned radar for knowing just when mommy has fallen into a really deep sleep. She uses this to her advantage. For the past two nights she has turned up in my bed. Now if she would just get into bed and go back to sleep it would be fine. But alas this is not the case. The pillow is too firm, too soft, too high, too low. The covers don't come up far enough. Her blanket isn't situated right. I laid on one of her 10 or so Webkinz that she brought with her. Need I go on? Then to top it all off she insists on touching me at all times. I know, I know, the day will come all too soon when I will look back at these sleepless nights with pangs of sadness and wish for days gone by. But right now this girl just needs one night of solid restful bliss. I am thinking maybe tonight when she sneaks in that I sneak out and go into her bed.
This morning the kids and I dropped Bill at the airport for his trip to Las Vegas for the IAFF Convention. He will be gone until Friday afternoon so no doubt it will be a long week. I have to say I am quite envious of his trip there as it is in stark contrast to my own journey to Florida last Sunday.
We found out yesterday that his flight was overbooked so it was shaping up to be a bit worrisome. However Bill was lucky because he was holding an Ace. One of his fellow fire fighters has a spouse employed by NWA. She was able to "bump" him to First Class. Needless to say he called me when he got on the plane and was seated in his over sized seat waiting for his beer — complimentary of course. Clearly sometimes life just ain't fair!
Well I made it home today from Naples a little before 3:00 p.m. Fortunately other than a 30-minute delay to take off due to busy air traffic in Detroit the trip was basically uneventful. A far cry from my two-day excursion on Sunday and Monday to get there. I really enjoyed my time in Florida although it was pretty much a non-stop pace and given the tired state I arrived in, I never really caught up rest wise so am quite tired this evening. I also determined that Naples, or at least the Naples Grande Beach Resort would be a wonderful couples get away. The rooms are very big and the bathroom was amazing with a big glass shower and large, deep corner soaking tub. Truly a resort aimed at pampering and relaxation. I am so glad I took the time yesterday to go to the beach and run otherwise I would have missed the beautiful scenery. When you spend all your waking hours in the conference hotel it is easy to miss what is beyond the four walls. Tonight I am grateful to say I have no regrets in that sense. I also got to read two books (you know the good ones - the mindless trashy romance novels) while I was gone. That was awesome!
The one thing I did not like was the intense combination of high temps and humidity. I am not sure how the natives can handle it. Surely they wonder the same of us in MN in regards to our Winters. I guess you get used to what you grow up with. It was strange driving home from the airport because our MN landscape is such a polar opposite to Florida's. Everything there is tropical, palm trees, lush and green. Here there are no palm trees and unfortunately right now due to lack of rain we are not very lush or green. I saw a funny sight on my way to the airport this morning. Well at least it struck me as funny given MN is such "farming country." We drove past a field of cows. I couldn't get my camera out fast enough to post a picture of proof. But it was a funny sight to me to see cows in a Florida pasture.
Well I best run and get the kids in the house, in the tub and off to bed. They have been talking my arm off since I got home and I imagine bedtime will be no different.
Greetings from Naples, Florida. I think I am staring to feel human again after going for 40 hours on only three hours of sleep. I don't think I have been that foggy since I became a mom for the first time! Then sitting here working last night to finish the first edition of the Daily Show Update I am writing and laying out for my client I discovered I was quite hungry and upon being given a Mojito to drink discovered I was feeling quite tipsy upon first sip. The prognosis: Lack of Food. Somehow with all the stress and confusion of the day I forgot to eat after some lovely Detroit airport food at 6:00 a.m. Now it was nearly 9:00 p.m. last night. A recipe for disaster for sure but I quickly got my work done and got food before it was whisked away.
Today has been another crazy day. It is 9:40 p.m. here and I just wrapped up the Update for today and am looking forward to tomorrow when I can just attend sessions and relax a bit because I don't have a deadline to meet. I need to head down to casino night now — I am not really a gambler but hey this is fake money so I figure it is o.k. But first I had to share a beautiful photo I snapped from my balcony at about 11 this morning. I was sitting in my room writing and needed a quick break. I am a MN girl through and through but what a lovely view. Can you see the ocean between the condos?
Well I departed Maple Grove a little after 3 today to catch a 5:10 flight to Detroit and from there to Fort Myers and then a short drive to the resort in Naples. Seemingly simple, right? If that were the case then I certainly wouldn't be sitting in a DUMP of a Best Western somewhere on the outskirts of Detroit in a town called Romulus (and have been told NOT a safe place to walk). I surely also would not be preparing to go to bed wearing my clothes thankful that I at least packed my contact case and glasses in my carry on. I would also not be cursing Northwest for forgetting to give my my "complimentary" overnight bag or myself in my tired state for also forgetting to ask for this. Nope if this were a seemingly simple trip this would all be a bad dream. But it is not. . .
You see we were on the plane (FULL plane) in Minneapolis and were pulling away from the gate. I distinctly heard a squeaking noise and found it odd. Suddenly we were stopped and the captain was telling us the ground crew was hearing a loud squeaking noise. Upon investigation it was discovered there was a worn break pad and it was rubbing(?) on the tire so we needed a new tire. We had to de-board the plane and in the end the plane got a new brake job and tire on this particular wheel. I don't want to complain about that because given you hit the runway for a landing at well over 100mph brakes are important. But this meant we missed our connecting flight in Detroit. Initially they tried to tell me and Bob (our company President traveling with me to the conference) that the soonest flight they could get us on was 9:00 PM tomorrow night!!! Insane. I finally convinced the attendant to locate an earlier flight on another airline and we got rebooked. However I still questioned this so I whipped out my Blackberry and looked at NWA web site myself. I found a flight at 7:00 AM that gets us to FL by 11:30.
So now this girl needs to go to bed. I can't wait to see what I look like in a few hours when I wake up to finish my trip. Thank goodness for sunglasses!! :-)
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