TVCH FORUMS HOME . JOIN . FAN CLUBS . DONATE . CONTACT . CHAT  
 Wikia  Quick Links   TOPICS . TREE-VIEW . SEARCH . HELP! . NEWS . PROFILE
Archive through July 29, 2006

The TVClubHouse: General Discussions ARCHIVES: Jan. 2007 ~ Mar. 2007: Baby Boomers, Living Alone, Changing Habits...: ARCHIVES: Archive through July 29, 2006 users admin

Author Message
Gradstudent
Member

07-10-2005

Tuesday, July 04, 2006 - 10:28 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Gradstudent a private message Print Post    
Thanks, Chewpito. I am staying close to home and getting caught up on schoolwork...in my pajamas!

You have a great day, too!

Dolphinschild
Member

06-22-2006

Tuesday, July 04, 2006 - 10:44 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Dolphinschild a private message Print Post    
Thanks Chew (Susan)!!!! I am going to my parents to hang out with my mom, while Sara goes swimming with my nephew. Laying low as usual lol.

Ronjon
Member

07-08-2004

Thursday, July 06, 2006 - 10:39 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ronjon a private message Print Post    
Ok, point made. I digress. Please bring Newman back.

Chewpito
Member

01-04-2004

Thursday, July 06, 2006 - 11:20 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Chewpito a private message Print Post    
Perhaps you can PM him... ... we all have somthing to gain from all differant people.

Ronjon
Member

07-08-2004

Thursday, July 06, 2006 - 12:46 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ronjon a private message Print Post    
I agree. Done.

Yesitsme
Member

08-24-2004

Monday, July 10, 2006 - 4:23 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Yesitsme a private message Print Post    
OK, we have to get things going here again. Here's a topic. Spa experiences. Have you been to one, did you like it or not? I'm going to one this weekend to celebrate a friend's 50th birthday, so it is on my mind and I have found that people's experiences are different and often funny. Some love a massage, some hate them. Some love pedicures, others hate when anyone gets near their feet. What do you think?

Here's one of my stories. Was vacationing with some girlfriends in Turkey. Before we went one of the girls was insistent that we experience the Turkish bath. I did a bit of research and kept saying to her "Are you sure you want to do this?" and she was. So I booked us all for one at the spa in our hotel. We get to the spa and were given a small towel and what looked like a white linen tablecloth (tea towel weight) by a woman who didn't speak English and looked on the level of a humorless Nazi prison guard. She motioned to the lockers in the locker room where we could store our stuff, then pointed to the sauna and left. We had no clue as to what was expected...do you strip completely, wear underwear, and what the heck do you do with the towel and tablecloth? I finally found someone who was American and had done it and she laughed and told us that she stripped completely and wore the tablecloth and carried the towel (the tablecloth was bigger than the towel, but more transparent.) She said it worked for her, so that was good enough for us. The prison guard/Turkish bath administrator came and summoned my college roomie first. We never saw her again for several hours and about an hour later the lady came and summoned me. I followed her through the lobby of the spa....keep in mind I am wearing only the tablecloth....through the pool area and then into the MEN's dressing room (I confess I was the only one of the three of us who looked from side to side as I went through) and into the Turkish bath room. There was a lot of tile and a big fountain/birdbath looking thing. She pulled off the tablecloth, tossed it aside, motioned to me to lie down on this thing like a big tile step and proceeded to brush this sandy goo all over my body. Then she motioned to me to stand (remember, she doesn't speak English) and from the fountain gets bowls of warm water that she pours over me. Then she puts soap suds all over my body and then more water poured over. Once I made myself relax, it was all quite nice. After all this was over, she wrapped me up in the tablecloth again, with a towel on my head and led me to the sauna to wait for the masseuse to come and get me for my massage. My other friend was still in the sauna, so I filled her in on traveling almost naked through the lobby, pool and men's locker room. I think I told her about the rest, too, but she claims I didn't and says she is forever traumatized. It makes me laugh to think about it to this day. The traumatized friend is the one who insisted we do it, and I think she had the toughest time with it! She always looks a bit queasy if I bring it up.

Mocha
Member

08-12-2001

Monday, July 10, 2006 - 4:26 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mocha a private message Print Post    
I love a good pedicure and massage. I get a pedicure once a month and more often during the summer.

Lol bout the traveling naked!

Max
Moderator

08-12-2000

Monday, July 10, 2006 - 4:45 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Max a private message Print Post    
I've never had a professional massage. I'm just not that secure with my body that I want a stranger's hands all over it! LOL

I do like a good pedicure and a facial, though.

My first spa experience was with a group from work. I was working remotely and everyone else was in California. THe manager decided we needed a "team building" day, so I flew down and after a morning of meetings, we all shuttled off to Palo Alto to a ritzy spa ('ritzy' is the only thing that's IN Palo Alto). Everyone else was all excited about this experience (the group was all female). I wasn't because I had no idea what to expect.

I knew I didn't want a massage, so I said I'd get a facial. So they assign me to Helga. I kid you not, that was her name and she lived up to the image. Husky, older, very German gal. She asks me what kind of facial I want. After I filtered her accent into something I could understand, I told her I had no idea because I'd never had a facial before. She grabbed my chin, got real close to my face, and moved my head back and forth while examining my skin and declared that I needed a European facial.

Off to the private room we go. She hands me a towel that has elastic at the top and and tells me to get ready, then leaves. REady? What does THAT mean? So I figure I'm supposed to take my shirt off 'cause who wants facial goop on her shir anyway. I left my bra on 'cause I didn't see any reason to take it off, wrapped the little towel thing around me and crawled under the sheet on the table. So far, so good I guess.

Well, when Helga returned, she proceded to give me an hour-long facial that was the most uncomfortable experience ever (okay, I've had GYN exams that were worse, but you get what I'm sayin'). She hrumphs and tsk-tsks over my face while applying God knows what and using some sort of tortuous instrument to dig at what she claimed were blackheads, something I hadn't had since high school.

I endured. I didn't have a choice. The boss thought this was a HUGE treat for all of us. I was SO relieved when it was over!!! When I went outside, I joined the handful of gals who were already waiting and they were all oohing and ahhing over how relaxed they were and how wonderful it was. I just smiled and kept my mouth shut.

When we went to lunch, my boss pulled me aside and thanked me for being a good sport. She knew this wasn't the most comfortable experience for me and asked how I'd liked it. When I told her what it was like, she was dismayed and assured me that facials were SUPPOSED to be very relaxing.

Several years later, I went to a spa with some friends and decided to try again and it was a lovely experience. Very relaxing and my skin glowed afterwards -- and not because someone had been poking at supposed blackheads!

Mocha
Member

08-12-2001

Monday, July 10, 2006 - 4:58 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mocha a private message Print Post    
Lol Max. A facial is next on my list.

Yesitsme
Member

08-24-2004

Monday, July 10, 2006 - 5:02 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Yesitsme a private message Print Post    
LOL Max! I am surprised that you gave it another try after that experience. It sounds horrific and I love most spa treatments! Though I am not huge on facials...they're OK, but not usually what I am going to spend money on. I do love massages, though...I want deep tissue and I want them to hurt me! Not really, but I don't like wimpy massages. I think I am not a relaxer by nature (which is weird to me since I generally feel relaxed), so I require heavy duty to get something out of it.

And the "blackheads" remind me of my visit to my nail shop the other week. I just ran in for a polish, so didn't get one of my regulars but instead got the sister of the owner, who is visiting from CA. Evidently she does eyebrow waxes on the side, because she started telling me how bushy my eyebrows were. I started laughing. I wish my eyebrows were bushy right now... one of my biggest aging complaints is that they seem to be disappearing. I may have one or two stray hairs, but nothing 30 seconds of tweezing wouldn't cure!

Pamy
Member

01-02-2002

Monday, July 10, 2006 - 6:30 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Pamy a private message Print Post    
I love facials!! oh wait I thought this was a Wed Poll question

Mameblanche
Member

08-24-2002

Tuesday, July 11, 2006 - 8:00 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mameblanche a private message Print Post    
Now how does one follow a comment like that. LOL.

I love Shiatsu massage. That's pressure point massage and is GREAT for working out knotty muscles. Similar to acupuncture but with fingers instead of needles. When I was in 2 minor car accidents back to back within 2 weeks, I developed terrible whiplash and was in constant pain. The only thing that saved me was Shiatsu massage.
I have learned to like Swedish massage, because its the most common, but it depends who is administering it. I don't like the sweeping strokes on my calf muscles, as it tends to cramp them.
I've had facials and I hate blackhead removal too, but having a face as soft and shiny as a baby's bum is worth the aggravation. I have had some amazing facials, and some that were a disaster. One time a part of my lip was numb for weeks. I have no idea what she did but it scared the heck out of me. I try to stick with one lady I trust now.
I am a manicureaholic! And I don't mind pedicures, but I forbid them from coming near me with anything that cuts the skin. EVER! No clipping hangnails nothing. AND NEVER a RAZOR! That's how infections happen. Even in the cleanest places. There is no need for a razor to cut the callouses on your feet. (Mine truthfully are not that bad, but dh's are.) All you need to do is soak them and then use a STRONG buffer. Period.
I had a column in an Aesthetics trade magazine (which was FOR aestheticians, and their customers.) I took celebrities for beauty treatments and we had a ball. I learned that while most people love dipping their hands in hot wax (parafin) because of the fibromyalgia, I am way too sensitive and it feels like Torture. Meanwhile everyone I know loves it... (shrug)
In New York at either Jacques Desanges or Frederic Fekkai, (wrote about both), instead of the parafin, G-d bless 'em, they had this really wonderful system: the creamed my hands, then put them in saran warp then put them in oven mits that were plugged into the wall. And my hands were soft as a baby afterwards. I do something similar to our hands and feet. And it does work on dh's calloused feet perfectly! Just take cream/lotion, and wrap your hands/feet in those soft clear plastic bags they have at the fruit or veggie counter (not the plastic shopping bags!)and then toss a couple of towels or oven-mits (but not those with metalic thread) into the microwave for a few seconds and then wrap your hands in them. Keep them wrapped up until the heat abates and poof soft hands! (And then dh can scrape those nasty calouses without any hassles.) When they used a razor on his feet he found it tremendously painful to walk for a few days! Plus he could have gotten an infection. I know people who have almost lost fingers, their nails went black and they did lose the nails. There is nothing wrong with getting mani-pedi's but if you can bring your own manicure set then you are ahead of the game, also never let them cut your skin. Ever. And enjoy! :-)
I've also had some wild spa treatments all in the name of investigative journalism. LOL. I've been scrubbed down with salt and wrapped in mud, I've had hot stones put on me (again, with fibro, it was unpleasant for me, too hot), I've been rubbed down with grape seeds and rinsed off with wine. Yep wine. The salt is popular but not with me. Too rough. I liked the mud wrap but it took days and several showers/baths to get the mud out of all the bleeping crevaces. LOL. I liked the grapeseed/wine thing but felt it was wasteful. I'd rather drink wine than have a shower in it. Also had a milk and honey bath. It was odd but enjoyable. Rather bathe in it than drink it. GRIN.

Mocha
Member

08-12-2001

Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - 6:44 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mocha a private message Print Post    
Sounds like they cut too deep on his feet. I've had them use the razor sometimes on my calouses and haven't had a problem. But I also watch them clean the materials first.

They have those shiatsu massage chairs in the mall and I just love them. I sit in them while the kids are in the video game store. It's almost better than sex. Almost.

Yesitsme
Member

08-24-2004

Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - 7:08 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Yesitsme a private message Print Post    
LOL Mocha.

Mameb, I want your old job. I'd take celebrities for treatments, or even common folk. What fun! I love trying new treatments. Or old treatments. You can't beat a simple massage in my mind (though like I have said...I want deep tissue.) Still, this weekend I am getting a stone massage and some treatment where they put oils and sea salt all over your body. My skin is not the least bit sensitive, so I can usually do about anything. Though I am terribly ticklish, so on occasion they unknowingly torture me. Like when getting a pedicure...the bottom of my feet are particularly sensitive. But at least I can get a pedicure now...I used to be so sensitive that I would kick anyone who touched my feet!

Just got back from getting my fingernails done. My one essential beauty treatment. I can't polish my own nails for the same reason I could never color in the lines!

Ronjon
Member

07-08-2004

Saturday, July 29, 2006 - 1:57 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ronjon a private message Print Post    
Did you have your feet scraped? How does that process work?

Has Newman ever had his feet scraped?

Max
Moderator

08-12-2000

Saturday, July 29, 2006 - 2:16 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Max a private message Print Post    
I've had pedicures where they worked on my callouses. Don't know if that's what youm mean by feet scraping. :-)

Here's the manicure I gave myself today, with a sleepy cat in the background who can't figure out what the heck I'm doing!
m

ETA: Those are my real nails, no overlays, and the purple color matches my uniform vest for dealing blackjack, which I'll be doing tonight at a high-profile fundraiser for the Wednesday's Child Foundation. :-)

Mameblanche
Member

08-24-2002

Saturday, July 29, 2006 - 2:30 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mameblanche a private message Print Post    
Max that's a lovely manicure. And the colour seems like a great one for summertime fun and blackjack dealing. GRIN. I tend to stick with fuschias and pinks and the ocassional red, but I could see myself having a bit of fun with the colour on my toes. In fact, I think you may have inspired me.

Love your cute little buddha kitty... Cuz he/she looks inscrutable. GRIN

Mameblanche
Member

08-24-2002

Saturday, July 29, 2006 - 2:38 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mameblanche a private message Print Post    
Pedi-scrapers. They are basically rough, giant buffers. Notice that they are NOT razor blades. Remember to be safe and say no to razors, and yes to buffer/scrapers. :-)

Mocha we may not agree about the razors, but we certainly do about those wonderful, heavenly massage chairs in the malls. Vinblanche bought me a massage body-mat for xmass. We found it at Walmart. You can lie on the floor, the bed or the couch and just plug it in and zen-out. Lovely!

Max
Moderator

08-12-2000

Saturday, July 29, 2006 - 2:58 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Max a private message Print Post    
Thanks, Mame! I've been known to be adventurous with my nails. I sometimes put stripes or decals on them. My favorite color, though, is OPI's "I'm not really a waitress." The purple is from their Canada collection and is called "You Ottaware Purple." I bet they have fun coming up with those names! :-)

Yes, I have scrapers like that. I have one from the Body Shop that is hard plastic and shaped sort of like a spoon. It's great for dealing with heels and the balls of my feet, which is where I get the most callouses. :-)

As for massaging mats and such, I have a vibrating ottoman that is great for my legs and a vibrating roll pillow that is wonderful for my neck. Coziest place in my house is my rocking chair with my feet on the vibrating ottoman and the neck roll massaging my neck. Puts me to sleep FAST though! :-)

Mameblanche
Member

08-24-2002

Saturday, July 29, 2006 - 3:04 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mameblanche a private message Print Post    
I did decals on my nails for the past year. I called it my mid-life crisis rebellion for turning 50. Once I hit 51 in April, I didn't feel the need to really do it as often. I will probably do it again as the spirit moves me. I even went to a media event a couple of months ago with decals on my nails. :-)

Yesitsme
Member

08-24-2004

Saturday, July 29, 2006 - 3:20 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Yesitsme a private message Print Post    
Love the purple, Max! Especially love it matching your vest. Yea for you for dealing for a worthy cause. And I know "I'm really not a waitress." That is a great color....very bold red. My favorite OPI color is called Smokin' in Havana. I just love it. I have worn it for years and years, to the point where people notice when I don't have it on! They're having a harder time finding it lately...I am afraid they may have stopped making it. Right now I am wearing a color "designed" by my manicurist. She takes all of the polishes that people don't like and mixes them up into the most gorgeous shades. I always look for her colors first because they always look great on my skin.

I love massage chairs, too. When I went to Peru I found one at the airport in Houston (in a Brookstones or Sharper Image or something) and almost didn't leave. I may have been moaning.

Mameblanche
Member

08-24-2002

Saturday, July 29, 2006 - 3:24 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mameblanche a private message Print Post    
ROFLMAO Yessie!!!!! I can just picture you in that airport massage chair. GRIN.

Mocha
Member

08-12-2001

Saturday, July 29, 2006 - 5:02 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mocha a private message Print Post    
Love the aubergine Max. I got a pedicure yesterday and have aubergine toes with designs and rhinestones.

Mocha
Member

08-12-2001

Saturday, July 29, 2006 - 5:03 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mocha a private message Print Post    
Lol Mame.

Mocha
Member

08-12-2001

Saturday, July 29, 2006 - 5:04 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mocha a private message Print Post    
Yes is this the polish you're talkin bout? link I just did a google search and this came up.