Spa Critique

For Christmas, Kit got me a really nice spa membership to Gene Juarez downtown. It’s a three month “passport” to spa services – you get one a month for 3 months and you get to choose if you want a massage or a mani/pedi or whatever.

He thought it was a good way to check out the spa and decide if it’s a good downtown option for us on a regular basis. So far I’ve done 2 months and have one treatment to go – but I thought I would share my thoughts so far.

Gene Juarez means well, but I think they have gotten “tired”. They have turned into sort of the mass market spa/salon, and while they offer nice services and are well located, I think they are phoning it in on the customer service and maintenance of their facilities.

First of all, the entrance to the salon on Pine is pretty less than average. There is a little retail storefront for product and usually a salesperson there that leads you to the elevator in the back that takes you up to floor 4 where the salon and spa services are. All fine except it just looks a little bit dirty and shabby. The gal or guy working there is nice, but sometimes a little “insincere”. Last time I was there, a not so well groomed tranny was working the storefront. She/he was perfectly nice, but looked as if she/he were well past a few grooming appointments herself. Hair and make-up ok, but the lowcut top with ½ inch chest hair grow-up was a little unsightly. Don’t get me wrong – I really enjoy the beautifully well groomed tranny’s around town, working the MAC counters at Nordstrom, doing their thing. They are spectacular and their make-up is AWESOME – but c’mon, you can’t show up for work looking like you’ve been up for 2 nights straight with your “look” all messed up.

Next – 4^th floor check in people –AWESOME! Super nice, so really pleased at how well the front line is taking care of customers –

Nail treatment – my first Mani/Pedi was really good. It was really the best manicure I’ve even gotten. It lasted through 2 airports, 4 rounds of golf and a week at the beach in Maui without a single chip. Really good, and so was the pedi. I would definitely go back for that. Great job from Julie – but she may have told me TMI about her entire life….. just a little. Sigh…Still, good job.

Massage- Here’s where we get back to the less that great treatment. Get in the spa area, they warn me that the normal “foot bath” attendant wasn’t there today, so I would get my foot bath from my massage lady. That’s fine. I was led into the changing room, given a locker and told to change and go back out to the cozy little waiting room area. I could barely fit my coat, bag, shoes into the super little tiny locker, so that was irritating. Then, I pull out the robe, and the lining is sort of tattered and torn which is also irritating. Doesn’t someone do quality control and cull out the older damaged robes after they come back from the laundry? In my case, apparently not. I was kind of discouraged by that. Also, I think my robe was a small, so I felt like a medium would have been better and was worried it was going to fly open during my little foot bath. So, also a bit uncomfortable when it should have been nothing but cozy. Then, my massage gal – she was really nice, but why do they make you fill out the form and go over with you what kind of massage and pressure you prefer – and then THEY DON’T DO IT. It was one of the weakest massages ever. I don’t know if this lady was just tired or it was the best she could do, but it was so light. I had told her I liked FIRM pressure, ha. She didn’t talk to that was nice, and the room was nice and warm and all that, but I won’t go to her again.

I have one more treatment in March – I think I’ll arrange another massage just to try another person and see if I get a better robe, etc. But, if it’s not good – I think I’m done with Gene Juarez.

There is another spa downtown called Ummelina that I used to go to – but over the years it had gotten a little run down too. I heard recently that it’s improved again, so I think I’ll try it too.

In the end, I only have a few rules:

1. Walking distance from our apartment.

2. A robe with no holes in it.

3. A tranny greeter with nice make-up and no chest-hair grow-out.

Is that too much to ask, people?

Yes

no

Final final on the pillow

Remember the curtains I finished last week. Well, the last thing I was going to do, but didn't have time to finish and show you was the final final on the pillow. I sewed Kit's childhood summer camp pennant to the front of it. I have a bunch of these pennants from his boarding school and summer camp days and they have been sitting around in boxes for years. I thought they would be really cute and homey on pillows at the farm.

I kind of LOVE how this turned out. More to come!

Don't take it Personally!

You know how when people are being dicks and they say DON'T TAKE IT PERSONALLY after they shit all over you? I hate that expression. Somewhere, sometime in the last 20 or 30 years or so it has become socially acceptable to say whatever mean thing you want, and as long as you follow up with ...Don't take it personally..., then somehow the dickish comment made is perfectly ok and you have no recourse..... because ohhhhhh nooooo.. you'd be "taking it personally". 

I checked out Urban Dictionary, here's their second definition of DON'T TAKE IT PERSONALLY. I knew I was right. Next time, I'm throwing punches!

don't take it personally

A phrase people use as a disclaimer to make an excuse to say or do something rude or mean to you to prevent you from having a poor self-image or so there won't be repercussions and make you feel they still like you even though they probably don't.

Wow- this made my day

Yesterday kind of sucked - nothing major, just the usual work crap that makes you feel like you are trapped and that you are wasting your life and that there is no way out.

Then I saw this - someone had posted it on Facebook - and I say RIGHT ON W. GIBSON, WHOEVER YOU ARE.....Isn't it just the BEST thing to see when you are feeling all prickly about your value and self esteem at work. I sort of felt like it was a message from above. 

Enjoy!

Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes. ~ W. Gibson

And sew on, and sew on, and sew on....

I finally got back to my sewing project at the farm. Before Thanksgiving I was working on curtains for the living room, and got all the sheers done, but ran out of time to finish the rest. Well, now I'm done and it's checked off the list. Woop woop!  While it was crashing down rain, and Kit was off getting his new farm tool (the "Rancher" by Honda!), I got busy getting 4 curtain panels finished! Here's a visual show and tell:

If you sew, you have to have a great iron. Sewing requires a LOT of pressing and pinning.
Four panels, finishing two sides each, top and bottoms each, adding grommets to all panels -
tedious but once it's done - it feels great!

Have a reliable machine! I've told you about this one before - never lets me down!

I used a fairly heavy linen fabric - it hangs really well with just the right amount of wrinkling.
It's also easy to sew.

This is the grommet portion of the show. I think each panel has 10 grommets -
that got old, but turned out really well.

Here is the first finished panel. I was going to hem to the floor but l liked the
way it puddled at the bottom so I hemmed them all extra long, and it looks quite cozy.

Two down, two to go!

Totally finished. Note: this is our old house where furniture goes to die, so
if you're judging me about the saggy couch - I can hear you and I say Shut Up!

And, at the end, I had extra linen, so I made a new cover for one of the pillows that I
think maybe came from Ikea. I just took the old cover apart and used it as a pattern
for the new one.

Here's the back. I even reused the exact same buttons. Pretty cute, but I'll have a little
surprise next week. I'm putting a little extra something on the pillow, but I'm not done yet.
It's going to be good though!

Hope you had a good weekend and that it was productive. More about Kit's new toy next week. It was just way too rainy to go outside and take pics of the thing that will make our lives easier this summer! 

For Valentines Day...

I think I'm going to go buy those really cheapy little kid valentines at a drug store (if they even still make those) - and I'm going to put one in every single person at works mailbox - and I'm going to say I LOVE YOU on all of them, and then not sign them......

And then I'm going to sit back and giggle at them when they think they have an anonymous work crusher. Hee hee. Can't wait.

OH MY GOD - AND THEN I SAW THIS

Crissy - this one's for you!

Thoughts on Figure Skating

We’ve been watching a LOT of Olympic coverage this past week. I love the Olympics. Can’t get enough. And, to my dismay, I can’t get Kit to sit down for any of the ice skating – ANY OF IT. I think I know why and I’m going to shoot the Olympic Committee and the Entire World of Figure Skating a letter including charts and graphs about how to bring skating into the modern world of sports.

Remember in the olden days when women tennis players used to run around in ridiculously long pleated cotton skirts? And now, how they wear super sporty clothes and sweat and grunt and basically run “athletically” all over the tennis court and kick-ass every second? Ya, awesome, I know.

And, remember, how in the olden days, lady swimmers wore wool swim costumes that were like draggy long dresses and how, now, miraculously, they wear super athletic sleek fast swimwear, and kick-ass all over the pool.

Hey, figure skating, what in the hell is the matter with you? Why are you still playing dress up? What’s with all the sparkles, make-up, puffy hair styles and all that nonsense. Can’t skating still pack all the punch with women looking great in athletic wear, not clothes and make-up meant for Drag Queens. (Sorry Drag Queens – I know you look good !!!-Seriously!) Can’t ice dancing still be ice dancing without the distraction of the caked on make-up and the completely embarrassing men’s costumes.  Most gay men that I know would never be caught dead in those lame outfits, they have much better style than that. Oh, right…… no gays in skating (per Putin!) Righhhhhhhht. I mean those completely not gay male ice dancers – again – can’t they wear athletic gear, and skip the huge collars, the flow-y sleeves, the long v-necks with super sparkles!

I get that every sport has their “schtick”; the boarders are all about baggy and ear bud-dy  and all laid back, the short track skaters are all super sleek hoodie with zipper dudes, the jumpers have their flying suits with the giant Mickey Mouse gloves – but all of the clothes still fall under the category of “sporting gear”. They aren’t getting their outfits at David’s Bridal, and they aren’t tarted up with layers of make-up.  It’s 2014 – I think it’s time for change. Ditch the sparkles people – I think the skaters would be taken WAY more seriously as the athletes they are. Have you seen what they can do, the jumps, the spins – the throwing – they are awesome, but it’s super hard to get past the Mabelline to see action.

What really brought it home for me was when that little Russian Yulia Lipnitskaya, of the Gumby Lipnitskaya’s, skated her ass off out there, and beat the sparkly pants off everyone without a stitch of make-up on. See, unnecessary. And she won by A LOT. Just wait though, by the next Olympics four years from now, she’ll be fully indoctrinated and show up looking like Ru Paul ( or how do you say in Russian – Ru-ski Paul?).

Guess what time it is????

It's time to start thinking about seeds, glorious seeds!

I just placed my first seed order for this years garden. Normally I save seeds from the season, but I'm still a little low on some this year so I have to stock up. I ordered from Seed Savers this time around, but I'm also a big fan of Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company and Heirloom Seeds - all good, and all have slightly different seeds so it's fun to look at everyone's offerings each year. Heirloom Seeds was my first favorite, but their website is kind of bad and it's hard to see what you're getting, so you have to be "in the know" about which varietals you like. After 6 years of growing, I have figured out pretty well what works and doesn't work in my garden, and how sometimes things might be really fun to grow, but if you don't like to eat them, it's just a waste of time. And some things grow so quickly that if you aren't there to harvest at the exact right time, they will pass you right on by. That happened to me with Bok Choy - that stuff takes no time to grow and no time to go past it's prime. And radishes, those little mothers grow very fast in our wet cool climate.

Last year I had a little problem with the slugs. It's pretty freaking upsetting when those little bastards eat your seedlings - they will cut them right off at the stems and devour an entire garden bed before you even know what happened. I lost all my beets except one last year to the slugs. I wonder, if over time, they just get used to the slug bait. They might. This year I hope to be ready for them, but for any of you growers out there, it's a risky business. You win some and you lose some. Slugs = my nemesis (nemeses?)

For now, this is what I've ordered for restock. I still need to get potatoes (which are really easy and fun to grow), I have perennial artichokes and asparagus so don't need those, but I still need to add a few more beans, the peas, and Savoy cabbage - which is my favorite. 

Spinach, 2 kinds of swiss chard

Yellow onion, radish, shallots

Oak leaf lettuce, Marveille de Quartre Saison, butter lettuce

Cucumber, leeks, freckle lettuce

Celery, lemon cukes, pickling cukes

Red cabbage, green cabbage, cauliflower

Beets, broccoli, brussels sprouts

Red beets, golden beets, Chioggia beets

Kale, arugula, french climbing beans

Carrots

So, now I have to get out there and start preparing the beds. The kale and things like that can go in around NOW - which of course they wont because c'mon - who are we kidding - but soon. Really. Time's a wastin'!

A few thoughts from the week – or – VENTING. Call it what you want.

Maybe Fridays are a good day to let go of some anger or “share feelings” before the weekend starts. If I put a few things out there, maybe they won’t hang on and bother me as much.

Here we go:

1.       Hey lady in my building who is racially harassing our lovely concierges – I’d really like to punch you in the face. How dare you treat these wonderful people so poorly that you would cause a nice young lady to leave her job crying on Wednesday – especially after a long and frustrating day managing the traffic in the building from the Seahawks parade.  I find it so interesting that this woman (who is also a racial minority in this country) still has the nerve to belittle others. Hasn’t she been on the receiving end of this kind of treatment in her lifetime? Has she never been hurt before by unfounded harassment based solely on her ethnic background.  I just don’t get it. What a horrible woman.  WE ARE ALL THE SAME – ALL OF US. THE SAME. YOU ARE ON MY LIST LADY – I WON’T HAVE IT – AND I’M WATCHING YOU.

2.       Matt Dillon – Owner of Seattle restaurants Sitka and Spruce, the Corson Building, Bar Sajor – I want you to know that I will never eat at any of your restaurants again. Your menu is so overpriced that every time I leave after eating at one of your establishments I feel SICK about what I payed. I don’t feel this way at your competitor’s restaurants. I am your demographic, and my friends and I all agree, YOU ARE RIPPING US OFF. Stop it, you won’t have customers left if you keep this up. You’re a good chef, but dude, you aren’t that good. Get over yourself and quit charging so much. For Christ sakes, beets don’t need to cost $19 for literally 4 bites. And 3 scallops don’t need to cost $30. I’m out.

3.       Hey Russia – you suck and you know why! I am sorry the Olympic committee let you bully them into allowing you to host the games. PS – really, you don’t think any of your male ice skaters are gay? You’re stupid.

Well, those are the 3 things that are bothering me the most this week. Stand by, I’m sure there will be more. Thanks for letting me vent. Have a great weekend!

British Airways - Are you serious?

This summer we are going on a cruise to celebrate Kits parents 50 year anniversary! We are sailing the second leg of their trip - they are on a Rome to Athens Aegean cruise, we will join them from Venice to Athens for a week. We booked our stateroom, pretty easy, got a fair price, felt pretty good about that. Just booked air on British that goes Seattle-London-Venice, and return Athens-London-Seattle. Our choices were economy or economy premium, business or first. The difference between economy and economy premium were only a couple hundred dollars, so we thought economy premium was the way to go, not wanting to spend the big bucks for business or first class. We'll get slightly more room and benefits and we're travelling with my mom too, so it seems like the right way to do it. Of course even with miles, there is no way at this late date to find a single mileage ticket to use.

So, when I'm in the booking process, up pops something I hadn't seen before. Our friends at British Air have figured out a way to CHARGE MONEY for the privilege of reserving specific seats in advance on the plane. WOW! Harsh! I had to pay $52 bucks to reserve my seat and again for Kit's seat, then $18 bucks each for the London to Venice leg. Times 2 for the return trip. Isn't that just robbery??? I wonder when the rest of the airlines are going to start doing that. Next thing you know, they'll charge extra just to choose British. 

I'm hoping the crappy economy in Athens will help me get back some value after taking the financial beating from BA. Assholes, or should I say Bloody Assholes! Boo.

Seattle went Seahawks CRAZY yesterday

Did anyone hear that Seattle had a little parade yesterday. Apparently over 700,000 people made it downtown to celebrate the Seattle Seahawks Superbowl win. Since we live on the parade route, it was especially nice to view the whole thing from the comfort of our building lobby. Outside temps were in the 20's, which is FRIGID for Seattle. But, a beautiful sunny day made for a really nice day.

View from our balcony before the start, not even close to the numbers
at the stadium end of the parade, but still completely crazy!

So, Boeing painted a jet with the 12th Man and Hawks logo and did a fly by
over downtown. That was pretty spectacular! Last photo before the battery died.

So this happened -

Our Seattle Seahawks are Superbowl Champs! Needless to say, Seattle is completely and totally over the top excited and PROUD OF OUR SEAHAWKS! We may never get over this. Looking forward to the parade on Wednesday which happens to roll right down my street - yes - I will be watching! 

Imagine if I were one of the life long Seahawks fans. I've only paid attention for this season, those people who have put in the fan time since 1976 - holy crap! They must be beyond giddy!

Good for you 12th Man.  Congratulations!