Glen Ivy

For my dear friend Katie's birthday, we decided to take her to Glen Ivy hot springs for a girls day. I'd never been and was really excited to go. Our girls only entourage consisted of me, my sister Ali, Katie the B-Day girl, Laura, and Aubrey. Aubrey and Katie were the only ones who had been there before but I think we were all equally excited.

We started off the day by visiting the locker rooms and putting our stuff away. The lockers are like the ones at skate places or amusement parks with the little orange keys but the awesome thing about this place is you don't have to pay for them...they're free! Now that's class my friends! ;) So we change into swimsuits and then go to the mud pool to smear orange mud all over our arms and legs, let it dry and wash it off. I can't remember what it's supposed to do officially but it did make our skin smoother. When we were standing around smearing the mud there were two older women there (65+) and one of them looked at the other and said, "Clara, you are really white but this girl (looking at Katie) might give you a run for your money." LOL we all laughed

We pretty much spent the days going from different pools and spas to the next. They have freshwater pools and spas as well as salt water and even a sulfa spa. The sulfa is supposed to pull out toxins or something like that and Ali and I tried but just found the stink of rotten eggs not worth it.

At the end of the day, Ali and I went down in the Grotto (underground) where we were painted with a green moisturizer and spent 15 minutes in a warm cave rubbing it in. Then you go into a shower room and wash it all off. Then you towel dry and then go into a sitting room where you drink tea or water and eat apples. The whole thing was designed to look like caves so that was cool.

It really was a wonderful day but my only regret was going into a steam sauna. I love steam saunas but I tend to get sick after being in them (I guess too much moisture for my lungs) and the next day I came down with a cold. So now I'm battling my sinuses, asthma and a really sore throat. But hey, at least I'm relaxed! :)

Les Miserables in Concert!!

I am incredibly blessed to have a great group of friends and last night, I was blessed even more. My friend Katie invited me to attend the Hollywood Bowl's production of Les Miserables in Concert. We had box seats thanks to the raffle she won at work and Katie, her sister Clare, my sister Ali and I attended. Clare made a delicious dinner with appetizer, entree, and amazing desserts from a local bakery. We got there early to eat dinner in our box and enjoy the yummy food, wine, and conversation before the show started. We were so cultured!

The show was awesome and so many of the players had amazing voices. Melora Hardin (from The Office) played Fantine and Jean Valjean and Javert were incredible as well. Ali took pictures so I'll post some as soon I can but it was tons of fun and I'm so glad I wasn't the only one to cry at the end (Thank you to Clare!). It was an awesome show with wonderful people and a box at the Hollywood Bowl!