day at the spa

For most of the summer my buddy ML has been telling me that we must go to the spa together. A very specific spa. Her favourite spa in Toronto, Body Blitz. I have been to the spa before. Pedicures are just about my favouritest thing on earth. And way back when I had Abby the fellas had gotten Robin and I a day at the spa for Christmas. We had mani/pedis, facials and massages. But this spa is just a little bit different. ML wanted us to do the theraputic waters circuit, she's been a bunch of times and highly recommends it. So after a whole summer of talking about it we finally arranged some time to go. We were gone from our respective houses for 12 hours and what an adventure we went on.....

Have I ever mentioned that I used to get car sick as a kid? Cause I did, so now you know where Maya gets it from. I wasn't quite as bad as she is, but still it wasn't fun. So guess who, at the ripe old age of 36, got "car queasy" on the ride into TO? Yeah that would be me. Turns out the back seat of ML's truck is not the spot for me to be sitting for an hour. Yeah awesome start.

And now the spa. Originally we were planning on just doing the therapuetic water circuit which entails; a dip in a saltwater pool, warmed to just the perfect temperature and filled with lots of jets. It was just about the best place on earth. Seriously, you don't want to ever get out. Yet, you must so you can move on to the steam room. A place where the air is so hot and moist it burns your nostrils while sweat pours off every square inch of you. Not to worry, you're only in there for 5 minutes, it just seems like 55. Then you must have a quick rinse under the shower where you should follow ML's advice and turn the water as cold as you can stand it because your next stop is the cold plunge pool. And when they say cold they mean it. Hello 68 degrees I didn't realize you felt that frigid. The good news is you only have to dip in for a minute. The bad news is you have to dip in for a minute. Then you drag yourself to an incredibly comfy red lounge chair and hang out for a bit.Then it's off to the sauna for 5 minutes, but after a rinse in the shower it's back to that damned cold plunge pool. Another rest on those uber comfy loungers and then sink into the very warm green tea hot tub. It is exactly what it sounds like, a hot tub filled with green tea and it's heaven. Especially after the cold plunge pool.

When we got there we decided to add a treatment, luckily they had one massage and two body scrubs available. I was still feeling rather blech from the drive and I was having a hard time getting excited about being "manhandled" by a stranger, so I went with the lesser of the evils and grabbed the massage, leaving ML and my Mom with the paper thong and the scrub ladies. Yep, I said it -- paper thong. Alas, I'm afraid, I have no experience with the paper thong, you'll have to wait for ML or Granny to start a blog and entertain you with their paper thong tales. I can tell you the massage was heaven, just the right pressure and a masseuse who wasn't big on small talk. I was finished with my massage before ML and Granny were booked for their scrub, so I hung out in the salt water pool and blissed out until they'd been scrubbed to a glow.

Not knowing how long Granny & ML would be getting their scrub I was going to do the circuit again, but only got as far as my first rinse after the steam room. (I hung out a little bit longer in the salt pool, as per the massage therapist's suggestion.) I must remember to thank them for saving me from the blasted cold plunge pool.

So you see it's not your run of the mill spa, by any means. And I even forgot to tell you about the antioxidant smoothies they brought us pool side. Mmm yummy and just the thing to take the edge off of that darn steam room. I fully intend on going again and again and again. So fully relaxed and recharged after our time at the spa we headed out to Chinatown for a bit of lunch. Stay tuned for what happened next.....