Day of Luxury

Last week, my parents were in town and offered to watch our 3 kids all. day. long.  Ahhhhh.  Thanks Mom and Dad!

So, I had a wide open schedule:  Oh the possibilities.  I started off with a visit to the outlet stores near our home.  Ten years ago, if there were outlet stores within 30 miles of me, I was there.  Often.  We've lived in California for a year and a half now and this was my first visit to the outlet stores near our home.  Crazy.  It was so fun to stroll the mall leisurely.  I even found a pair of pants in the GAP Outlet on the clearance rack.  I don't even bother with regular clothing racks any more... straight to the back of the store I say!  

I actually bought two pairs of the same pants, one was a "regular" length, and the other was the "tall" length.  Call me crazy.  I plan to hem the "regular" length pants into capris (because they're too short for me... I'm 6 feet tall!).  The price was just too good...  wanna guess?

wait for it....

$12.95 per pair!

Thank you Lord!  I love finding a good bargain.  

OK, so that was very fun.  THEN I headed over to a brand spankin' new wellness center/ fancy schmancy gym with my free "trial" pass in hand.  This place is amazing.  It costs almost twice as much as our YMCA monthly fees, and the YMCA includes free child watch, so there's no way that we'll actually be members at this place, but boy was it fun to "try out" for a day.  

The amenities, oh the amenities.  I vowed to do/try everything.  I started with a warmup run around the kooshy indoor track, then, used the stretching table.  I ran my 4 miles on a very sleek treadmill with it's OWN personal tv, that even had the food network on it!  I could pick my own channel!!!  (Simple pleasures for this simple girl.)  I watched Barefoot Contessa's cooking show as I ran.  After cooling down, I changed into my swimsuit for a dip in the exercise pool.  They also have a lap pool and an underwater treadmill.

And then there was the locker room.  I used the mouthwash, then cleaned out my ears (twice) with the complementary Q-tips.  I couldn't figure out anything to use the cotton balls for, but those were fun too. I went into the wet sauna, but I don't enjoy those very much.  It just feels like I'm in Visalia (my hometown) again.  I love steam rooms, but that was the one thing this place didn't have.  Oh, and the hot tub.   I brought a book and enjoyed a leisurely read in the bubbly super hot tub.  Complementary shapmoo, conditioner and body wash in the shower, then I watched tv (Ellen) as I blew-dry my hair with a diffuser.  I haven't used a diffuser since the 1990s.  Not that I had a perm to worry about.  

It was a wonderful day "off."  The devoted Mr. Garland and I enjoyed a date night that night, and we arrived home late, yet rejuvinated.