Life Cycles

Why is that everything always happens at once? Life seems to go through cycles of intense busyness and intense not-busyness, with brief transitional periods that hit the ideal mix of the two. What prompted this particular line of thought was the realization that between the beginning of February and March 8th, there is very little time in my schedule that isn't designated for a specific purpose or event. And it's not from an inability to say no - it has just worked out that all of the things that we were already committed to have collided in this 5 week period: home church leadership training sessions, volunteering commitments, appointments, my French exam, various people coming to visit, another Massey 'high table', TC's trip to Washington, an artisanship initiative brainstorming session, a church elders' meetings, the list could go on.

On the plus side, a significant amount of time this Saturday is designated for using the spa gift certificate that TC got me for Christmas (bless him!). I can't wait! As I was sitting in my cubicle at work on Friday after dealing with yet another stressed out accountant, I was overwhelmed by the need to do something to de-stress, but I didn't think I had the time. Then I remembered that Monday is a brand new statutory holiday (thank you Premier McGuinty!), so I had an eight hour chunk of time originally slotted for work that was now free! So I shoved all of Saturday's tasks to Monday, and booked my spa time. I've never been to a spa, so I'll let you know how it goes. The description on the gift certificate sounds divine, though:

This exceptional treatment will send you to nirvana. Using our body wash and scrub mitt, the skin is cleansed, exfoliated and stimulated before mud is slathered over the entire body. As it heats up under our specially designed infrared lamps, the scalp is nourished with our stimulating scalp serum. A mineral enriched seaweed mask is applied to the face followed by our tightening wild~seaweed face serum and calming face moisturizer. The hair is washed and conditioned. A neck-to-toe application of our mint~lime body lotion will leave you feeling replenished, renewed and truly radiant. It's been years since Mother Nature treated us so well.

This is preceded by a 30-min massage and the use of the spa's detoxifying water therapy (a sequence of pools, saunas and steam rooms). I'm starting to relax just thinking about it :)