Labor Day Weekend

The 3-day weekend could not come soon enough for me. I’ve been counting the week down till Labor Day weekend. Ironically I needed Labor Day to rest from my "labors" at work - haha :)

Highlights of our weekend include: Spending Saturday morning indulging myself at the Eden Spa in Redondo Beach. After my extremely stressful week, I decided to treat myself to a facial, body massage, manicure and pedicure. I spent the morning with Irene, a wonderful Chinese lady, who massaged the tension out of my muscles and soothed my face with scrubs while Andy, a Vietnamese guy pampered my fingernails and toenails. It was a little strange having a guy do my nails but he was really good and very professional). While Andy was pretty quiet, Irene was very talkative and chatted about everything and nothing all through my facial – luckily she kept the chatter to a minimum while I had my massage. I totally immersed myself in the soothing zen-like music, the cool room and the scented oils while she smoothed away the knots in my back, arms, legs, and scalp. It was the best three hours of the week and I totally felt incredibly relaxed and stress-free. I left the spa feeling pretty awesome. I told Irene that I would definitely be back.

On Sunday, we joined Jojo’s family for a two-hour drive to Solvang. The drive itself was pleasant enough (especially cruising the Santa Barbara coastline) and when we got there we were all charmed by the picturesque Danish village. Jojo and I have been there before but we still enjoyed exploring the quaint shops and colorful sights. After some sightseeing, we all ordered sandwiches and salads from a local delicatessen and had lunch in a shaded patio across a giant windmill. I had a really good salad (mixed greens and a light lemony-vinaigrette dressing topped with sundried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, crumbled feta cheese, red onions and toasted flatbread). Jojo enjoyed his cold roast beef with a mild horseradish dressing. After lunch, the kids enjoyed freshly made ice cream while my sisters-in-law and I stopped at a local bakery to pick out Danish pastries for everyone to share. The only thing that marred the perfect day was the weather. It turned really hot towards mid-day. By noon, temperatures were in the high 90’s and even hit triple digits as we drove past some of the Santa Ynez vineyards.

We left Solvang when the weather turned unbearable and the kids were getting antsy. On our way back we stopped at the Camarillo Shopping Outlets for a couple of hours. The place was so crowded that parking was pretty bad. What was worse was walking into stores and seeing incredibly long lines - you really had to want something pretty bad to line up for almost half an hour to buy it. It was so outrageous that the Coach store even had a long line of people waiting to get in the actual store. It was crazy. I ended up with two shirts from Ann Taylor after almost 3 hours of shopping since I didn’t want to line up anywhere else. I spent most of the time playing with my nieces while their mom tried to shop. Jojo finally got the Oakley sunglasses that he’s been wanting and a couple of shirts from Eddie Bauer. After that, we all met up and decided to go home.

Monday was our day to get stuff done around the house and relax in preparation for the week ahead. We did stop over at Sears this morning to get a water softening unit (since our old one was busted). Even with the 15% Labor Day sale it cost over $500 (including warranty, tax and delivery). I was pretty surprised it cost so much. But having soft water is a luxury – it’s really better for the skin, for washing clothes and for maintaining our plumbing. So the cost is minimal when you think of it that way. We also stopped by Carters store to get some baby presents for our friends (Ray and Janice) who just had a baby boy - Colin Adrian. :)

So that was our Labor Day weekend. I can’t believe the 3 days went by so quickly. I guess now I have to start a countdown for the upcoming Columbus Day weekend!