A Day at the Spa

My mom and I have this wonderful tradition. Every year, we treat ourselves to an overnight trip to Chateau Elan, a gorgeous winery/inn/spa in Braselton, Georgia. Since it is super fancy and a bit pricey, we make sure to take advantage of the $99 nights they offer a few times each month.

And their spa is incredible. If you get any spa service, you have full access to the entire spa! They have a lovely hot tub with a beautiful view, a sauna, reading rooms, an indoor pool, a quiet room (AMAZING), a gym (who goes to the spa to work out?!), and the best showers you will ever experience. I could spend hours in there...and sometimes I have.


We relaxed in the quiet room and read until our appointments. The quiet room is filled with comfy reclining chair-things, but it's only lit by candles and has calming spa music playing. My mom had a facial and I had a massage. We tried the mini versions this year because it's half the price, but it's also half the length. It may be worth the extra money to have a full hour of pure bliss.

After our treatments, we relaxed, read, and eventually made our way upstairs to their little restaurant for afternoon tea. My mom always loves saying and attending this, even though neither of us drink tea. Nevertheless, we feel fancy at afternoon tea. We sampled fruits and different kinds of delicious pound cakes.


Then, we regretfully changed out of our luxuriously soft robe and slippers and made our way back to our room to watch Oprah's Favorite Things. Is it pathetic that I choke up during this episode? I can answer that. Yes, it is. But when I see everyone crying in happiness, it just gets to me! I like to see giving people on the receiving end every once in a while. It was a good one, and I really will miss it every year!

Anyways! After Oprah, we went to dinner at Paddy's Irish Pub. We love going here for the fun atmosphere and delicious food, and it actually feels like some of the pubs I went to in Ireland. This is one of the reasons why Chateau Elan is so cool. They have 7 restaurants on their property, and it feels like going to an all-inclusive place because you just put everything on "your tab." The pub is right across the street from the inn, so we made the quick walk to a delicious dinner. We split one of the best cheeseburger and fries meals I've ever had.

After dinner, I was sooo excited to take a piping hot bubble bath. I draw the water so hot that I usually black out just a little after I get out...yeah, probably not so smart! Our bathtub is pretty tiny in our apartment, so I couldn't wait to have this huge tub to relax in. Sadly, they didn't have bubblebath so I used their body wash, which didn't make any bubbles but it smelled amazing! I had a good book, a glass of wine, and sweet John Mayer songs playing in the background. Perfection.

For the rest of the night, we read and watched Dancing with the Stars. I haven't really watched this season but it was really fun to watch. Especially Kyle's freestyle dance (LOVED this!!) and Jennifer's Dirty Dancing dance. It is one of my all-time favorite movies, so I loved that they chose that song. When they did the tribute dance right after Patrick Swayze died on the show (Time of My Life), I sobbed. Literally sobbed. I might be pathetic.

So we watched that and then had a little midnight snack of Cokes and Snickers. The vending machine was out of Diet Coke so we were forced to get regular. It was the first time we'd had it in years, and we were surprised to find that we hated it now! Weird, right? (I feel that my absence from blogging has resulted in me now telling random stuff that no one really cares to read about...sorry about that!)

This year, we added something to our tradition. Mayfield Dairy is right down the road from the Chateau, so we ventured over there after checkout. It was a cute little gift store with an ice cream shop, so we enjoyed Peppermint Stick and Moose Tracks (my absolute favorite!)


For the rest of the day, we drove home and continued our Christmas shopping. We spent about 2 hours at the Dollar Store picking out wrapping paper (and we ended up getting the same 7 rolls for each of us), Target-hopping for an adorable leather jacket I finally snagged, and searching for perfect Christmas gifts.

It was a wonderful trip with lots of much-needed girl time. We look forward to this splurge every year, and we are already talking about how we will do it next year!

Doug and I are headed later today to Clinton, Mississippi to enjoy Thanksgiving with his huge, wonderful family. It is difficult to be apart from your family on holidays, but I am so lucky that I really love my new family, too. I always have a great time there, so we are both ready to enjoy the long weekend with everyone!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

*Oh! And tonight's Glee episode was so wonderful!!! The wedding (the 1st one, not the 2nd) made me cry (surprise, surprise) and I just loved the entrance....why didn't we think of that!?