Lush Spa Party aka my birthday party

Back in March I won a spa party at my favorite Lush shop. I decided to turn it into my birthday party. Me and 4 of my girlfriends were treated to foot soaks, scrubs and massages. We each got a lemony flutter/ocean salt/dream cream hand and arm treatments, on both arms! Then the facials, FANTASTIC. They started with a face massage with cleanser, then on with the fresh masks. I just love the Fresh Face Masks, they always make your skin feel smooth as silk.

The images are in no particular order, blogger sucks like that, but we all had a super time. I love how happy and relaxed we all look.

A big, huge thanks to Sarah, Alissa, Rene and Asia! You all did a wonderful job.




The amazing Rene


Rose with Catastrophie Cosmetic


Sarah asking trivia questions. We all won prizes!


Asia rubbing Elizabeth's foot. Sarah and Alissa talking to Rose in the background.


Rene giving me a Sweet Japanese Girl massage. SJG is a great facial scrub/cleaner.


Alissa and Sarah giving arm massages. Alisa did mine and wow!


Discussing what type of moisturizer to use. We choose the gorgeous, Gorgeous. It is a lovely, lovely moisturizer.


Michelle and Shelby with their feet in a bowl filled with lemons and bits of Big Blue bath bomb


Rene putting Cupcake Fresh Face mask on Shelby


Monster Mask!


mmmmm Cupcake, it smells good enough to eat.


Sarah discussing product with Elizabeth


Rene working his Lush magic


Elizabeth with a combo Fresh Face Mask. It looks like Catastrophie Cosmetic and maybe Cosmetic Warrior?


Playing trivia


I'm really not sure what I've got going on here.


Elizabeth and I chatting while getting our feet done!


Rose against the wall of bombs


So much fun.


I'm off to soak in the tub!

OMG 90210

A new Beverly Hills 90210 is in the works! At first I wasn't too excited, I thought for sure they would screw it up and make it dumb like the Hills (which I totally watch).

But now there is a possibility that Jennie Garth might reprise the role of Kelly Taylor. God willing it is Kelly McKay by this point. One article said that she could open up her own shop like she had on the only true 90210. Um, seriously, her shop? Now Wear This was Donna's brainchild. She was the one who moved past her learning disability to see that she does have potential and can be a hugely successful clothing designer. Kelly was her partner. Kelly's true love is public relations well that and social work.

Jennie, please do it. I mean really who else can survive being caught in a fire, raped in an alley, shot in the stomach/losing the baby and your memory, no one that is who.

And Mr. Thomas, the creator, if you need any assistance I'm just across centerpiece park, let's talk.

Deleted

My dvr hard drive became corrupt overnight. The entire contents of my hard drive were deleted.

My HGTV show, my game show, a bunch of pay per view movies we've yet to watch, 6 episodes of DOOL, 90210... all of it gone.

All the timers, all the pre-set recordings. All gone.

Fuck you dvr. I love you and all but right now you are on my shit list. We are officially broken up.

Weekend

I wrap up the car study tomorrow. So far I've enjoyed the experience, but I am ready to get back to normal.

We're going shoe shopping this weekend. Really the last thing I need is shoes, but sometimes I just cannot resist.

I completed first aid and CPR training today. Ideally I won't ever need to recall any of the lessons.

Pain in the neck

I did something to my neck a number of weeks ago. It is really more shoulder to neck region. I'm sure I need to build muscle or something.

I chose the method of waiting until it goes away rather than go to the doctor or anything. After about 4+ weeks of semi not sleeping and waking up 3+ nights a week in pain I figured I should do some follow up.

I started with the chiropractor. I went once 1.5 weeks ago. It felt better briefly. Today I called my doctor. I have convinced myself that if I could just get 5 solid nights of sleep in a row I would feel better. I knew that my primary care MD would kindly offer a solution from big Pharm in the shape of a muscle relaxer. She's done it in the past when I had a never-ending spasm in a different part of my neck. Sadly she is on vacation so I was sent to see Dr. Kim.

Dr. Kim had quite a bit to say to me in regards to taking care of myself. Like why did I wait? I don't know, I just kept hoping it would go away. But now with the lack of sleep I'm feeling a little crazy so maybe sanity kept me away? I don't know, but let's just deal with it now that I am here.

He lectured me about the 12-24 pain killers I take a year when my bone spur is acting up. Really, 12-24 A YEAR? Freaking Rush Limbaugh took 30+ A DAY. A GD day.

I said to my girlfriend before the appointment that if my doctor replacement tells me to just take some Advil I will go insane. I want to sleep for more than 2 hours a night without changing my position 1000000 times because everything causes my neck/back to hurt. So Dr. Kim suggest I take 2 advil 4 times a day.

He mentioned how I can become addicted to muscle relaxers and that he is very hesitant to prescribe them. And that I should really suck it up and let the huge dose of Advil to do its work after about 5-7 days.

I begged him to just to let me have something so that I can get a few solid nights of sleep.
After much coaxing he finally gave me 5 days of 1/2 strength muscle relaxers. He made sure to tell me that they were half strength because, clearly I am an addict.

That was on Monday. I've slept great every night since then. I'm not strung out on pills and I haven't started stealing to support my habit. I've just slept really well, and as a result my neck is way less painful.

Artwalk!

This weekend is the Spring Artwalk at the Brewery. Today was a great first day and there was loads of foot traffic. I hope to do equally as well tomorrow.

The car study is going well. So far I've driven the Nissan Versa, Chevrolet Aveo and I have the Mazda 3 now. The Mazda is the best of the bunch, but still not as good as the Fit. The other Fit owners all agree that they've made the right decision in their purchases, even after driving the super cool Scion.

So we've been driving Japanese cars in America for a long, long time now. The only American car in the bunch cannot even hold a candle to the foreign cars. Come on Detroit, but a couple Japanese cars, take them apart and figure out how to copy them. DO IT. I am EMBARRASSED at how poorly the Aveo compared to any of the other cars in its class. That is just dumb. I'd like to buy American, but the cars they make in the class I can easily afford and enjoy to drive are crappy. Step up car makers.

eeek!

So as you may recall we purchased a Honda Fit in June 07. LOVE IT.

A few weeks ago we got a market research call about the Fit. I'm the primary driver so I answered all the questions. Simple questions like, when thinking about driving with passengers, you like the people to feel like they are riding a roller coaster and have near death experiences. 5 for completely agree 1 for completely disagree. Just so you know that is a 1, I do not like it when my passengers feel like they will die because of my driving. Chances of death are high enough in LA, I don't need to add to the anxiety by driving like an a-hole.

So anyway, I was told they'd be getting back to me soon. I got another call last Friday and I'm the perfect candidate, exactly what they are seeking.

I went to the first night of the study last night. We met with a market researcher type dude and talked about our likes and dislikes about various sub-compact hatch back cars. The cars we all owned Scion XA, Hyundai Accent, Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit and Nissan Versa.

Over the course of the next two weeks I will drive a Nissan Versa, Chevy Aveo, Scion XD(!!!), Honda Fit and the Mazda 3. They are all brand new save for the Mazda it is certified used and fit the class. We each drive the cars for 3 days, switching off at a local gas station. The market researchers wash and gas up the cars and off we go in our next new drive.

At the end of the 2 weeks we meet up again. This time it is in a ballroom with all 5 of the cars. We go one on one with a research person and go over each aspect of the cars we like and didn't like. We also are taking pictures everyday of things we do, things we like and stuff in the car that we like or don't like.

They are working with a car manufacture to develop a car to be released in 2013. Exciting. I'm so cutting edge! At the end of the study they give us $400 cash and say thanks. $400 and no gas expense for 2 weeks!!! And bonus, Matt is thrilled to be driving the Fit.

It was fun to gang up with the other Fit owners. A Scion guy said that every single person who drives a Fit is obsessed with it, they cannot stop saying how absolutely fantastic the car is!

I'm most excited about the Scion XD. I really wanted a Scion XA, or at least the option to test drive one. (I prefer the Fit in hindsight) They stopped making the XA in 06 and we couldn't wait for the release of the 08 comparable Scion. It looks so awesome, sleek and sassy.

And HOORAY!!! Matt started his new job today. We are both so happy for him to have this great opportunity.