Treat Yo Self, Part II

   Part 1 of this blog post name was from when Sharanya and I hung out with Mia for one of the last times before she moved to Colorado with her boyfriend, Jay, almost four years ago. Maybe I titled it that because Mia bought herself a $40 necklace at the Artegon Mall? Other than that there were not other expensive purchases that I recall. But for me, yesterday was Treat Yo Self extreme!! I spent way more than $40. Well, not all at once, but over the next year (or longer, if I so decide), it will really add up. But it will be super worth it considering how great I felt all day. And I should note that most of the money I have planned to come out is from my own personal savings, not our combined house and family vacation savings. Mine is mostly for visiting Mia in Colorado (maybe next summer? that depends on how bad the Corona Virus still is at that time), plus a friend cruise with Mia, Sharanya and Tonia around February 2022, as well as a Disney cruise with Emma and my mom around November 2024! I have a lot of money saved already, and plenty of time to keep saving for the total amount I need within the next few years. (I'm estimating $6,500 total for those three events- mostly for the Disney cruise. Those babies ain't cheap!) 

   Anyway, I feel like I complain a lot, and have been having way more migraines in the past two weeks than I normally do (one per week is my norm, and lately I've been having about five per week)! So when I have a really good day, without any migraines, headaches, or nausea, I want to soak it up and remember how great the day was. Yesterday was one of those great, relaxing, happy, exciting home days. 

   Because of my migraines, my mom suggested last weekend that I start getting massages again. I had a gift card for Hand and Stone, and another for Massage Envy, both unused since I got them at Christmas. So I booked a massage at Hand and Stone for Friday (yesterday). It was WONDERFUL. It is in a really nice area too, so even the 25 minute drive was enjoyable. 

   I did feel like some of the massage was a little aggressive, but at the same time, could definitely feel the muscles and knots that the lady was trying to work out, especially in my obliques, which made sense as I was doing exercises for that area on Tuesday and Thursday. I continued doing deep breathes during those knot releases. The spa looked very clean and the three staff members I saw had their masks on the whole time, as did I, even during the massage. I was the only client there, that I saw, until the end when another lady came in as I was leaving. I felt soo relaxed, especially at the end when she finished working my neck and rubbed my scalp. See the photo of my greasy, messy hair (from the massage lotion). That's when you know it was a great massage! I had to sit in the car for 20 minutes before driving home because I felt dazed and "out of it". When the girl at the front desk asked me if I wanted a membership, I said yes, so she signed me up and it was perfect that the first credit payment wouldn't come out until November, which matched my budget plan. But I'm not sure if maybe all of it will come out of my personal savings, vs the various amount of money ($200-350) Michael and I each get for our own groceries and fun stuff from every paycheck after the bills are paid for those two weeks. I haven't had to nag him about his spending in over a month since our budget started on August 28th! It is working really well for us right now! $ :)

   I was thinking that I enjoyed this spa more than Massage Envy because they used hot towels. For my back, feet, neck, and an extra one to use however I pleased after the massage when she left the room for me to get redressed. I just held it against my face. Very refreshing. Massage Envy only uses hot towels if you get a special service like a sugar foot scrub. While talking to my mom about the differences, I was interested in seeing the Massage Envy prices on certain things, and when I went to their website, I was very quickly lured in by their October promotional deal: sign up for a membership and get 12 vouchers for free upgrades! A $160 value, and they are all really great things, like adding a free 30 minutes to a massage, free 30 minutes to a facial, free enhancements (like that sugar foot scrub, or the aromatherapy scents, but I probably won't get that since I got a bad migraine last weekend at the beach just from smelling a few different soap scents in a store.. *face palm*)! By 7pm last night I also had a Massage Envy membership with the 12 vouchers! Haha! So I can either start getting massages twice a month, one from each place, or let my Hand and Stone massages roll over and save up while I use all of my vouchers (only 1 available per month) at Massage Envy. And for anyone reading this -- hi, Dawson! -- who maybe didn't know or remember, I worked at Massage Envy in Birmingham for six months in 2014. We got two free services per month there, and sometimes extra if there was a new therapist who needed practice hours. What a good life I've had!! I messaged two of my friends from working there (Lauren and Danielle) last night and told them about getting the membership. ;)

   While I was out, I also stopped by JoAnn Fabrics to pick up some marbles for a small Halloween project, and then of course found my way to the scrapbook section to look for any pretty new papers. 10 pages for $2?! What a dealski!! Here is what I bought. The round, white soap dish with gold flecks was from Amazon, but I wanted to show it off too. I've been looking for a new one for a few weeks. My oval dog one from the Dollar Tree kid bath section wasn't looking cool anymore. 

I'll go ahead and explain my Halloween project. My friend, Sana, from work posted her spooky bathroom decorations on Instagram and had the cutest little skeleton in a tiny bubblebath, so she helped me create it by sending a link for a similar tiny tub. The first skeleton by the purple candle is Sana's. My guy is next to the burnt orange candle. If I had a cucumber, I would have put the tiniest pieces over his eyes, haha! I do like hers better because she has actual marbles to look like big bubbles. Mine were those decorative vase gems? Whatever, I had a 40% off coupon. 

   So besides my lovely massage errands, this is the other stuff that happened yesterday: I came home and made a super delicious lunch of Sea Cuisine salmon over a bed of spinach and Mediterranean quinoa. Even Michael was super impressed with my legit meal photos. The salmon and quinoa was frozen, so I just threw them in the microwave. It was very delicious. Did I already say that? ;)

I didn't watch TV during the day (I specifically made sure not to watch Shameless, a show that easily stresses me out even though the point of watching it was to help me be extra thankful about the wonderful, easy, rich life we have without drug addict parents) and was actually a good mom and played with Emma instead. I got window clings from Dollar Tree so I put those up, while Emma enjoyed the crinkle sound of the unopened pumpkin clings and hip-thrust-scooted away from me. She has been scooting around the house like this a lot lately while sprinting off the ventilator. I'm really proud of her!

^^ She scooted all that way- a good 15 feet from the sliding porch window! I just measured it.

  For my snack later I made a yummy banana, mango, peach, spinach smoothie using half coconut water and half regular water. I found this random Halloween straw and took pictures in front of my favorite tree in our backyard because it's dying so Michael is going to pull it up next weekend! :(  He has been working on lots of projects recently. I have two blog posts to add about costumes and home projects he has been working on since July. His current project is more of a chore: snaking and replacing the drains, shower head, and faucet in my bathroom, aka the guest bathroom/ the purple bathroom. 

  I have such good intentions for my own expectations as a mom, including reading lots of books to Emma. I recently bought her these four at the top of the photo (Amazon's recommendations), and the four little books were ones she already had. I also picked up five Halloween books from the library this morning before my mandatory overtime shift, and have four more on hold. However, even though I know it's only the 3rd day of October (happy birthday, Sharanya!), I haven't read any of them to her yet. Also here are some silly pictures of 13 year old Sasha Renee from today because I don't post about her much. Don't mind her crazy eyes, "she's in character!" Hahaha!!

   Lastly, Michael and I ended the good night with watching the first two episodes of "You" on Netflix, starring the handsome Penn Badgley, and season one stars Shay Mitchell who I like because she reminds me a lot of Naya Rivera (RIP). It's a creepy, yet not scary, stalker show that I have seen before, but Michael hadn't and Brian was talking to him about it, so he wanted us to watch it together. Another reason it was an extremely good day is because the weather has been really nice all week (in the mid to high 70's) and the sunsets have been so pretty!! These walk and sunset photos were from Wednesday after work. And another great reason I liked this day is because my weight has been around 114.6-115.8 lately, which I am really happy with, compared to the fact that I had gotten myself up to 136.8 pounds in May, as an unpaid sponsor of Pizza Hut and the Cheesecake Factory! I guess I was treating myself a lot back then too. ;)