Good morning! I'm sorry that I've been so out of the loop lately. With the computer going down and the holidays coming soon thereafter, it's been hard for me to get back on track.

Yesterday I had my first ever facial. I have the same recommendation for a facial that I have for visiting New Orleans...everyone should do it at least once. It's a completely self-indulgent, incomparable experience, just like New Orleans. Except that you feel fantastic when it's over...the antithesis of the New Orleans experience.

When I entered Serendipity Day Spa, I was lead to a changing room where I was instructed to take off my shoes and to change from my shirt into a towel that wrapped around me just below my armpits and fastened in the front with velcro. Then I was asked to complete a questionnaire about my skin. While I reclined on a chaise lounge, noting whether I used sunscreen daily or experienced flakiness, soft music played in the background in tandem with the indoor waterfall in the corner of the room. When I'd finished, Amy the facial maestro, entered and asked me to follow her to the next room. Amy appeared to be in her mid-20s. She had a very sweet countenance and one of those really soft voices...like a kindergarten teacher.

Once in the room, she softly suggested I take off my Liz Claiborne slippers and lie down on what looked to be a gurney topped with a three inch thick mattress pad and luxurious down bedding. It was very dimly lit with the same soft music and waterfall sounds from the last room. When I got in and covered up, I noticed that the bed itself seemed very slightly warmed. I laid back and closed my eyes. For the next 90 minutes, my face was cleaned, stripped, massaged and moisturized with nary a word spoken. The soft music, the aroma of the different products, the warmth of the bed, the massage, felt almost like a meditation. It was relaxation deeper than sleep. Strangely, I never felt weird like I often do during a pedicure...where I have to hold back my apologies for coming in and asking the pedicurist to paint my sad little toenails. When we finished, I was escorted to a third room with a huge, Hollywood-like makeup mirror with shelf upon shelf of Bare Escentials and MD facial products. I was treated to a full makeover, the likes of which I'd never experienced. Afterward I looked and felt like I was going to the Academy Awards...all shined and polished and feeling fabulous.

When I returned home, I was all dressed up with nowhere to go. I sat down and folded laundry and thought about Nicole Kidman. I wondered if she ever felt slightly deflated after all the primping and relaxation only to go home and sit around watching Presumed Innocent.

Namaste