Pampered

I want you to think back to a time when you felt completely relaxed, completely at ease, comfortable in your own skin, fully rested, and happy.

Well, I always think back to our Christmas vacation (The week after Christmas through New Years...school teacher time) spent in Barcelona, Spain. John and I flew into Milan and then over to Barcelona and it was one of my favorite trips with him.

It was December 26, 2005 til January 2, 2006 and we had the time of our life! Traveling with John is my favorite thing to do and as a young, married couple God really blessed us to the point where I would say to John, "What is God going to do to us? Why is He being so good to us? Are we going to have to be missionaries in a far off 3 world country?" Have you ever experienced something to good to be true? That's how life is with Jesus. He showers all of us with too good to be true moments if we just stop, and take the time to appreciate them when they come.

It was here in Barcelona that John gave me a full day of pampering at the salon, and I mean pampering. First of all, I have very, very curly hair, so curly that when I want to have it straight it takes about an hour and a half to blow it out. And as you will see in the pics my hair was very long. We had just eaten breakfast at a quaint little shop (chocolate croissants and expresso...oh, the life!) Then we walked around, the air was crisp, the sky was blue, the perfect day for straight hair (any humidity gets it frizzy).

So, this was a free day, it was our last day in Barcelona, we had shopped, so all the museums, ate at the best restaurants to try all the wonderful Spanish foods, including the best Paella ever! (a true highlight for my John) and I turned and looked at John and said, "Can I get my hair straight-ed?" Without hesitation, my husband agreed and we just walked into the nearest salon, and immediately they sat me down, and to my surprise two women did my hair (which cut the time to maybe 30 minutes, if that) and I even got a manicure done all at the same time. It was FABULOUS! John thought it was so cool, he even video-taped it! I was all smiles. There's nothing like getting your hair and nails done all at the same time.

I felt like a queen. I don't think I ever smiled that big in my whole life! Later that day, John had dinner reservations at an awesome restaurant (John is a planner, he plans all of our vacation the way any tour-Nazi (we tease him) would, with strict times and places, but I love it because we get the full cultural experience, and he is always very flexible if say, I get tired, or want to stop and window shop, but he likes to always at least have a plan....just a random factoid about my guy) But because he is a planner he puts a lot of thought into everything and this means so much to me.

This particular evening was very special...the restaurant was high class. We had to be dressed to the nines, he even had to wear a suit and tie! We brought in the New Year to a Spanish custom that for every 12 seconds before midnight you have to put a grape in your mouth! It was so fun and so silly (I even had my students try it when I got back) and the grapes are really big so it is impossible to do all 12 of them! Well, anyway, I cried. Right there in the restaurant...just because it was so wonderfully planned, because he made me feel like a queen, and because he loved me so.

Yup, for me, that was #1 on my list of being pampered!