Spa Day

Today was our last day in Santa Barbara. Checkout time at the Four Seasons is noon. Todd scheduled a massage for me at the spa at 10am. He said he had originally scheduled it for 9am, but they called his cell phone earlier in the week and kept asking for "Mrs. Newman". They wanted to know if they could reschedule my massage to 10am. Todd said he had to tell them, "You can't talk to Mrs. Newman, because she doesn't know she's coming there yet!". I laughed so hard at the story. Somehow the way Todd told it, it was really funny to me. Of course, my honey is always funny in my opinion. :p

So I've only gotten like maybe two massages in my life. This is not a regular practice for me. And to have a massage at the Four Seasons spa felt... quite intimidating. I was apprehensive about it, with feelings of inadequacy mixed in for good measure. Todd totally laughed at me because you're supposed to feel relaxed about getting a massage, but I was all tense just thinking about it, LOL. Like, I totally don't know spa etiquette! And I was afraid that the people who worked there would know just by taking one look at me. "Oh, she's not a regular for sure." "Oops, that was total spa faux-pas!"

So Todd walked me to the spa entrance and I timidly entered. I was signed in by this woman with a French accent, which didn't help with the intimidation factor. She asked me if I had been to their spa before, and I said no. So she gave me the orientation. "Here's the restrooms. Here are the saunas and steam rooms. Here's the lemon water, you can help yourself to it. Here are the lockers. Here's a robe for you, and some slippers. You can change into them and go through those doors. Your therapist Laurie will be waiting in the lounge for you to take you to your treatment room. Oh and the lockers have locks where you can press the C button followed by a four-digit code of your choosing, then press the key button. Just press the same buttons when you want to open it."

I tried to take it all in, but it was too much. What do I need a locked locker for? I didn't wear any expensive jewelry, and I really doubt that any of these Four Seasons patrons would care to steal my Target-bought t-shirt and my American Eagle jeans. Plus, in the locker room, you had to change in front of the other women! Gulp. I tried not to look at anyone else. I bet Todd didn't know he was traumatizing me, LOL. After I got my robe and slippers on, I went upstairs to the waiting lounge. I wish I had the guts to take photos of the facilities, but of course I did not. The place was absolutely amazing! Everything was luxurious and top-notch. The waiting lounge had drinks and snacks, all lined up on a buffet table and elegantly arranged. The other women sitting around looked like they belonged there.

No sooner after I sat down in a chair, my name got called by Laurie, my massage therapist. She was very friendly and had a soothing voice. She took me to my treatment room. I looked in and was amazed. There was a really big glass shower and bathroom in an alcove. The rest of the room was one huge room with a clawed-foot bathtub and two treatment tables. There was a fire in the fireplace, and the windows all faced out into the garden with views of the ocean. There was soothing music playing. She told me that the massage table had a heated blanket on it, and to let her know if the temperature wasn't comfortable. Then she said she'll leave for a few minutes so that I could hang up my robe and get myself situated onto the massage table.

I climbed in and it was all nice and toasty. I left my undies on because I was still feeling modest and intimidated! I read once in a magazine that it was okay to do that, so I did. :| Dude, the face attachment thing that you put your face into on the massage table? It felt like it was smashing my face! But the massage was very luxurious and the lavender oil smelled really good. She even got to my feet and rubbed them and pulled on my toes. I almost laughed out loud cuz it felt funny. I wonder if some people even more ticklish than me would have kicked her? So I was pretty much relaxed after 50 minutes of this "healing hands" massage. She had asked me if I had any areas that I wanted her to concentrate on, so I told her that I get stiff neck and shoulders a lot from working on the computer. She did a lot of work on my shoulders. Just when I felt fully-relaxed, it was over. She left for me to put my robe back on, and waited for me outside the treatment room to take me back to the waiting lounge. She said I could sit there all I wanted, and eat the snacks, or go downstairs and use the sauna. I was too excited to get out of there and tell Todd all about it, with some giggling involved, of course. So I just put my clothes on, signed out, and left.

We checked out of the hotel and took some more photos of the gorgeous buildings and foliage.








Then we went across the street to the private club. If you stay at the Four Seasons, they give you a pass to go to the club and swim in their Olympic sized pool, and eat at the restaurant, and lounge around. So we thought we should at least go check it out.







We decided against eating there, because it was cloudy so the view wasn't quite as spectacular. Oh and it was very basic food... like, a $12 hot dog. So instead, we headed 20 miles south to another Rusty's Pizza! They happened to show the Buckeye game versus Georgia Tech there too, so Todd was excited. Plus, this time I didn't miss the photo opp with Todd and the Rusty's Special!


It was a great way to end our trip. We enjoyed the trip thoroughly, and even though the Cinderella life has ended, I've still got my prince! My thoughtful prince who treated me like a princess all weekend, and who will never live this awesome trip down. Oh yes, it will be talked about forever, and always with fond memories, a giggle, and a smile.