"33 in Napa Valley!" day two

AKA Spa Day!

So, the day started with me getting up at 7:00 AM or so to go to the bathroom. Not usually an interesting event, except for the fact that I forgot in my sleep-deprived state that the bed was about 4 feet up off the ground, so I was trying to fish around in the dark on the floor for my flip-flops (never walk in bare feet in a hotel room! the carpeting is basically sperm!) while balancing on the edge of the bed. I guess I wasn't too quiet, because Deb saw the whole thing and was laughing about it at breakfast. But I did not get any nasty carpet/sperm-borne diseases on my feet during the trip, so it was totally worth it!

We had a lovely breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel (Jordan's, I think), but we were all so hungry from the night before that cardboard with some peanut butter would've been fabulous. Actually, it would have been a lot cheaper if we had went that route----orange juice was $5 a glass! And we fell for it! My blood sugar must have been at an all-time low that AM. I hate breakfast and I could not get enough juice or milk! Oh well.

Off to the spa! I had been waiting months for this day. The Claremont's website seemed to suggest that the spa and salon would be the best place on the face of the earth--winning all sorts of awards from Vogue and such as the best day spa in the USA. Hooray! Right? Well, maybe I am just hard to please, or I have high expectations, but I thought the place was a crap factory. I was so not impressed with my tropical manicure (bullshit!) and 80-minute pedicure----both my nail jobs had chipped within 2 days! Boo hoo! Sonja probably did the smartest treatment---stone massage! She was in high heaven when we presented her with her birthday present: a gift certificate to the spa! The icing on the cake would have been a male masseuse, but you can't look a gift horse in the mouth, right? Not that she would have noticed---in true Karen Walker fashion, Sonja realized she had Luci's dog prednizone pills in her purse when we went through security at the airport! I think she might have scarfed down a couple because she was all smiles the rest of the day! Lu-Suri was fine---a couple days without her medicine will make her stronger!

Betsi's theme for the day was, "What else can I have done?" After her and Deb finished their facials, they met me in the salon for pedicures, and that's when the ideas started flowing. Betsi desperately wanted more treatments done--she tried to get a hair appointment for that afternoon in the salon--no luck. She saw a picture of Rachel Bilson, from "The O.C.," in some magazine, and decided she wanted to copy her hair color. So she asked the salon employees for suggestions of salons in Berkeley so she could get it done right then and there---everyone was booked! Everyone in northern California must have seen the same picture and had the same idea.

The brainstorming continued as we lounged by the pool later in the afternoon, snacking on mac and cheese (excellent---from Paragon, highly recommended by the salon staff), and soaking up some rays. Sonja got a suggestion from the front desk for her birthday dinner---as Deb said, "You get to choose where we eat for your birthday dinner!" How thoughtful! :) We later had to go to Enterprise so Betsi could get another car for all of her errands on Thursday, and while we did that and went to Whole Foods for snacks and breakfast foods--no more $30 breakfasts for us!---we made a pitstop at Walgreens for other necessities. Betsi remembered by this point that one of her friends who lived in the area was a hair stylist, or something along those lines, so she bought a home highlighting kit and had this friend do her magic later in the evening, after dinner. Crisis averted!

So, it's dinner time, and we roll on over to Juan's--Sonja's pick for dinner, based on the recommendation from the front desk at the hotel. The girl who recommended it said it was off the beaten path, very cozy, makes the best wine margaritas ever (good news for yours truly, as I HATE tequila!). Sony and Deb were in car #1, leading Betsi and I in car #2 through the city of Berkeley to this little whole-in-the-wall place. After missing our turn for Pedro (which was really San Pedro---Sonja was the navigator, but she flunked map reading in the National Guard; go figure), we got to our destination. Juan's was on a little side street in the rough part of town. Driving up to it, Betsi and I were both like, "Oh hell no." Ditto for the car in front of us; I think Deb's exact words were, "We are not going in there!" But we drove past the front window and I said to Betsi, "Oh, there are old people eating in there, we'll be fine." So in we went!

Good thing Sony called ahead and made reservations...this place was straight up El Loro's in Berkeley! "Reservation for 4!" said Sony to the waiter, who pointed us to one of the many empty tables. NOTE: no reservations needed at Juan's. So we sit down and within 10 seconds, there are two bowls of chips on our table (homemade chips, made from either flour tortillas---mine and Sony's fave---or corn tortillas), a couple different salsas, and a big plate of guacamole. Not nearly as tasty as my guacamole, but lots of tomatoes in it, which are my fave. I heart tomatoes! We order our drinks---wine margaritas, Dos XX, Miller Lite for Betsi---and start in on the menu. Deb leaned over and interrupted a couple on a date to find out what they were having, since it looked so tasty. El Matador was their dish of choice, which quickly became our dish of choice--everyone ordered that!

We're making our way through chips and salsa and drinks as fast as they can bring them, and miraculously we leave room for some of our dinner. All of a sudden, mid-meal, the lights dim and you can hear someone starting a tape player of a Mexican-themed Happy Birthday song, much like at the roller rink when the Sesame Street birthday song comes on. Out of the kitchen comes a swarm of employees, carrying a plate of sopapillas with a candle in it, and a sparkly sombrero. All of our eyes become as big as saucers and we look over at Sony, who is squirming in her seat, hoping they pass her by. NOPE! Here they come to our table, singing away, and the whole restaurante joins in. Sony throws her head back, laughing, and the waiter slams the sombrero on her head. Deb, who has had 2 wine margaritas by this point, tries to take a picture of the moment but hit the video function instead of picture function on her digital camera, so unfortunately we have no record of this, but tears of laughter were flowing. Best birthday dinner ever! Deb even said she wanted to keep drinking! This never happens! Dinner was a success, and we left full of food, drinks, and good times. Betsi left us at this point to meet up with her friends...and to get her hair done. Next blog entry: Napa Valley!