A Relaxing Spa Day

Hubby and I just finished eating dinner, and I figured I'd continue working on posting my blogs at a more "current" rate and talk a little bit about today.  If you didn't already know, today was Veteran's Day, which is a federal and state holiday typically celebrated on today's date, November 11th, unless the holiday falls on a Sunday (in which case the next Monday is the celebrated day) to honor veterans.  Veteran's Day is also a bank holiday, so I had today off.   I like to spend holidays as relaxed as possible...even if I have a million things to-do, I don't let myself worry about them (at least ALL of them) for the day.  I did have a lot of things I wanted to accomplish with an entire "free" day, but today ended up being, for the most part, a spa day for me. 

See, sweet hubby of mine got me gift certificate to a local spa for my birthday last fall and with all the wedding madness going on this year, I forgot I had it and let it expire (they only last a year for this spa).  I didn't remember when he had purchased the gift card, so I called into the spa and would you know it...it expired in September.  Lucky me, though, the girl on the phone had pity on me and extended my card through the end of November.  Today was the only day I could fit an appointment on such short notice (and with the last two weekends being spent out of town for the holidays), so today became my spa day.

I wanted today to be fulfilling as possible while still being relaxing as possible, so after sleeping in a wee bit, I started the day by getting dinner ready with one of the easiest recipes I know (I even planned far enough ahead, I got the groceries for this meal yesterday).  My mom gave me her tried and true pot roast recipe awhile back, and we've enjoyed making it for cozy comfort food meals for cold nights.  

Mom's Slow-Cooker Pot Roast
(this may be based off of another recipe, so if this is copywritten, I'm really sorry...just let me know and I'll take it down)

Ingredients:

• Eye of Round (2-4 lbs.)
• Baby Carrots (handful) 
• 1 Onion, peeled & quartered
• Potatoes (I like to use 3-4 large-ish red potatoes), peeled if you like, cut in chunks
• 1 can of beef consomme 
• 1 can of french onion soup
• salt, pepper, garlic powder/salt   

Instructions: 

• Spray inside of slow-cooker with non-stick spray
• Place Eye of Round in slow-cooker 
• Sprinkle Eye of Round with salt, pepper, and garlic powder (about 1 teaspoon of each) 
• Add potatoes, carrots, and onion to slow cooker 
• Add french onion soup and beef consomme to slow cooker
• Cover slow cooker with lid and set to low - cook for about 7 hours 
• ...OR...you can cook your roast for about 4 hours on high, if you're in a hurry 

I like to serve with pot roast with rice, but you can serve with pasta, too.

After preparing my stress-free dinner, I was ready to de-stress my body with a nice, long massage.  I headed to the spa and was greeted with a nice, hot cuppa Aveda tea and a sunlit lounge.

 

A nice girl showed me the changing/shower area where I got my spa-robe and my locker for my stuff.  I had no wait time and only got a couple sips of my tea down before my massage, which was just fine with me because my shoulders were aching!  The massage was great!  The masseuse, Amber, really worked out a lot of kinks in my upper back and used some cool peppermint oil that made my skin all tingly and smelled great, too.  The dark room, candles, soothing background music and natural smells of the massage oils were uber relaxing...aaaahhhhh.  She even warmed my tea up for me when my massage was over.

When the massage was over, I had a pedicure next, so I had to change back into my "regular" clothes (goodbye spa-robe).  I took the opportunity to try out some of the awesome Aveda products they had out for guests and used the face cleanser and moisturizer.  Back in the changing area, they had a full normal shower and a full steam shower, too, which looked veeery enticing.  Next time, I will consider not getting a pedi so I can try that steam shower out.

  

Today, though, I was very happy to have a pedicure.  I used to get pedis about once a month or every other month till I really started cutting back on my spending earlier this year, so I haven't had a pedicure in months (one other since the wedding).  It was nice to have my toes prettified again.

I picked a pretty, berry color for my toenails to go with the fall season.  

After my nailpolish was dry, it was time for some shopping.  I spotted a nice lingerie store from my window seat at the salon and decided to head over for a bra-fitting.  See, I've been watching Tim Gunn's Guide to Style a lot lately and one thing they always stress is getting a bra-fitting.  Apparently, most women wear the wrong size bra.  Apparently, after my consultation, I found out I was one of them...haha.  I ended up getting three bras, 2 bottoms, and 1 Christmas-y night gown set - all 60-75% off.  I normally shop Victoria's Secret, but it was nice to get more personal attention at this smaller boutique, plus the prices were very comparable to Victoria's Secret and that's before the sale.  I think am converted from Victoria's Secret to this place forever. 

Next, I stopped at Panera for a light lunch of my fave soup of theirs - Chicken and Wild Rice with a piece of baguette and water.  It was nice to take a loooong lunch and browse my Home Companion Magazine at my leisure.

After lunch, I picked up a couple groceries for later this week, including two swordfish fillets.  I have no idea how to cook swordfish.  I've never cooked swordfish, in fact.  I'll be searching for a recipe tonight on foodnetwork.com...lol.  Anywho, when I got home, I tried on my new PJ bottoms, started some rice in my rice cooker, and waited for dinner to finish.  I managed to work a few stitches in my ripple afghan, too...even started a new color...woohoo!

Hubby hassled me a bit about dinner while I calmly crocheted, but we were both excited when it was finally ready.

Mom's Pot Roast was the perfect meal for my relaxing spa day.  Simple & tasty...this meal hit the spot and saved me plenty of time I can spend on something else relaxing, like working on my crochet projects.  In fact, I think I'm going to go get started on a new Willow square and round out my day of relaxaction.  Ta-ta!

Comments

[BumbleVee]

What a perfect day!! and supper looks very tasty....

[Miss A]

So jealous! Sounds like a great day, and thanks for the recipe. I love Aveda stuff, it always leaves me feeling great!

[Marie]

That's the kind of day I could use - life has been so stressful lately! What a perfect day!!

Question about the slow cooker: does the meat come out real tender at the end of the cooking time? Also, I'm kinda nervous about leaving an appliance on while I am not home, but this is tempting me to go out and buy one because I think it will make life easier. Do you find that you use it often?

I think I might get one now..hmm

[Shannon]

Thank you for the recipe. It looks VERY delicious! I'm making it for our dinner tonight and looking forward to 5pm. :)

[Shannon]

The pot roast was a HUGE hit! My husband must have commented at least 3 times how good it looked while slicing the meat and commented another couple times about how good it tasted. The kids loved it too; my oldest son said, "this is the best chicken you've ever made", he calls all meat chicken even though we point out it's not. Thanks a bunch!