Cathe San Diego Road Trip: Final Thoughts

As I anticipated in my previous post, I did not attend the final Bootcamp on the Beach workout on the Sunday morning of the Road Trip.  My husband had twisted his ankle, and frankly, I had broken my butt ( = major, major badonkadonk DOMS), so I wasn’t too sad when I woke up (again at 4a due to the possessed refrigerator at my friend’s apartment) and decided against going to the class.  From what I heard later, the conditions were not ideal for a perfect bootcamp workout, though Cathe managed to kick their butts.  The beach was slanted and soft; Cathe later told me that she’d been spoiled by the beach at Daytona, which had been big and perfect.

We came to the farewell breakfast (yay, omelet bar!) where we chatted with some more people, picked up our new Cardio Club Step, and got to say good-bye to Beth.  Originally, hubbie and I were going to go to San Diego’s Wild Animal Park with my friend, but between hubbie’s twisted ankle and my soon-to-be massive headache, we settled for taking her out to lunch and then dealing with some annoying traffic back up to L.A.

Cathe San Diego Road Trip: Day Two

It was hard to wake up the second morning!  I didn’t have DOMS, but my friend’s refrigerator was REALLY loud, so I kept waking up.  We eventually trekked out of La Jolla to get to Coronado for the breakfast at the Loews.  We got there near the end of the breakfast time, where we were greeted by bagels, oatmeal, orange juice, and of course, Eggland’s Best scrambled eggs (the event’s sponsor).  Neither my husband and I were all that blown away with this breakfast.  The eggs got a bit icky fast when they cooled down.  The bagels were fine, with some decent cream cheese.  I didn’t have the oatmeal, but my husband was unimpressed.  But we did get enough food to energize us for the next workout.

The first workout on Saturday morning was a 30/30 split of step and kickbox.  Other people at the event had asked Cathe to face us during the workout, so she did.  It was again with upbeat music, but this workout is where I learned the DJ’s preference to BEP and Lady Gaga.  The step workout had a lot of moves from LIC and the third combo from Athletic Step (minus the skip over the top).  I definitely was losing some steam by the end of the step portion.  I was almost happy that there was no visible clock from where I stood, so I didn’t count the minutes down at one point.  It then shifted to KB, at which point, Cathe said she wanted a couple people up on the stage.  I don’t know what exactly came over me, but for some reason I thought it was a good idea to go up with my husband.  So we did!  Other than the stage platforms sort of separating where I was shuffling, it was a true adrenaline rush, being up in front of all those people.  After we left the stage, we finished off with kicking moves back on the “normal” floor.  I like kicking more than punching in kickboxing, so it was a fantastic way to end the workout.

Cathe San Diego Road Trip: Day One

We made excellent time getting down to San Diego from L.A.  We pretty much went 80+ mph most of the way and avoided Anaheim completely.  After getting inside the city limits of San Diego, I started to get impatient, as I didn’t realize how far apart Coronado (the event) and La Jolla (where I was staying) were.  Coronado is a small island off the coast of downtown San Diego.  We crossed this gorgeous bridge and got into the island town and had to navigate our way to the Loews, which almost felt like it was on the opposite side of where we entered the island via the bridge.  After getting parked and realizing my husband and I had been cramped in a car for quite some time, it was refreshing to get out in the gorgeous beach air and walk up to the fancy fancy Loews Coronado.

I’ve been out of it

I’m been extraordinarily busy.  I sit and think blogging would help me de-stress, but it never materializes.  I’m going to change that trajectory (or at least attempt to) again.  Today, I’ll be bogged down with cleaning, packing, and experiments, as I’ll be gone in San Diego this weekend, sweating like a fiend at the Cathe RT.  There are a bunch of ideas and rants that have come to mind, but there are only 24 hours in the day, and I do need to sleep for a couple of them.  Here’s to another shot later!

Spa Review: Vida Emanuel European Day Spa

This past Saturday, I decided to go to the Vida Emanuel Day Spa in Beverly Hills for their Spaweek facial deal.  The trip out to Beverly Hills didn’t start out so great — between LA drivers being afraid at the slightest bit of precipitation and construction on Santa Monica Blvd, I was 15 minutes late to the appointment.  I *hate* being late to appointments, and I tend to leave early so that I can avoid being late.  So, I started the whole experience flustered.  I had called on my mobile to let them know I was running a bit late because of traffic and they were pleasant and understanding.  Perhaps it was because it was in the morning on a gloomy day in LA, but they weren’t rushed and helped me ease out of my frustration.

After very quickly filling out their one page of paperwork, I was led into one of the rooms for my facial.  The first thing that sprang to my mind was how expensive westside property rentals were.  After moving back to Pasadena, I had gotten accustomed to large, spacious spaces at the spas and salons in the area.  The room was possibly slightly bigger than my closet, and it even had one of those accordion like close doors to the room.  It was definitely a much nicer facial table than some of the bare bones I had seen but it took of the majority of the room.  Everything there was professional grade — from the steamer to the products.  My aesthetician was pleasant without being uber chatty.  She asked me some questions (“how long ago was your last facial?” “umm…” “that long?” “over a year…”), and she decided that a microdermabrasion facial would be best for my face.  I had a microdermabrasion session years ago, and I’m not sure if the products have gotten better or she was just gentler, but it was definitely the kind of facial I needed.

The facial in itself followed a very standard format.  Cleansing, exfoliation (through microdermabrasion), steam treatment (to open the pores), extraction, mask treatments, as well as a high frequency current treatment, followed by toning and a glowing moisturizer that just makes you feel divine at the end of it.  I was happy to have two different masks; particularly the final clay mint mask that had a wonderful feel as well as tightening effect.  I never felt rushed throughout the entire treatment, and I was able to take in all of the spa diva goodness of the whole experience.  My aesthetician didn’t communicate that much to me — probably to calm me down — but I got the sense she knew exactly what to do upon examining my skin. I think I would have liked it if she explained each step to me a bit more, but I didn’t ask for it this time and I really just wanted to chill after a frustrating drive.

So, would I go again?  For a special, sure — any day.  I would never pay full price at this place.  If I’m going to pay full price for a facial, it’s either going to be 1) closer to where I live so I wouldn’t have to kill so much time in traffic, or 2) a facial using my preferred product line: ilike organic skin care, which I’m sure I’ll talk about in a post someday in the future.  That said, I think Spaweek deals will probably bring me back to them…

Upcoming Spa Reviews!

Ok, I know I said I’d have some green posts going this week, but then my husband and dog got really sick and I got stuck taking care of them.  But I am treating myself to a facial tomorrow at the Vida Emanuel European Day Spa in Beverly Hills.  Spaweek sent out the March promotions and I’m very excited get a much needed facial and a huge discount.  I will hopefully be back tomorrow to report on the experience.  AND a green post by the end of the weekend.  Ciao!