galentine's day 2k18

galentine's day has always been one of my favorite holidays, i'll even say it, my FAVORITE holiday. before parks & rec, valentine's day took top tier but i've got to say, i love the idea of LOVE and celebrating female friendships. two of my favorite things! leslie knope has given the world many a wonderful things but this has got to be my favorite, next to TREAT YO'SELF!*

anyways so this year i wanted to go big and not go home. i have been to two spas in my lifetime** and loved the experience so i thought it would be fun with my gals. the thing is, you really have to carve out some time. like a LOT of time. like 6-10 hours. i'm not kidding. spas are fantastic because the purpose of them is to be naked, wet, and relax- my three favorite things!! i love swimming, especially without kids. i love hot tubs. i love just laying around reading and eating. i love working out. if only they had better snacks...

i invited my best gals and a good mix were able to come. those near and far from me received their SWAG bags and love notes. thankfully target's dollar section this year was right on point. seriously, galentine's day has hit mainstream which is super cool! but then at the same time not so cool because then it looses it's specialness. just know that i'm the one who started it. or at least improved it. ok i just continued it's existence in an inferior way.

we picked the JW marriott because it's fairly close to us and it was off-strip [aka cheaper]. icing on the cake was there was a groupon for it. one of my yw is doing her senior year online so she was down for babysitting mine and a friend's kids. we were gone for 6 hours and it was not nearly long enough. after checking in, we got naked and hung out in our robes waiting for our treatments. the massage was great but the image of me in a thin white robe was not quite as wonderful. after changing into my swimsuit for the first time in 2018, we jumped headfirst into the amenities. i had just finished reading a book about the ancient roman culture*** so it was fun to somewhat to pretend i was at the roman baths, minus the prostitutes [well, at least a whole lot less of them]. we hung out at the pools until everyone was done with their services then hit the buffet for lunch. girl talk and a lot of calories later, we went back to the pools for some communal fluid sharing and gossip. before i knew it, it was time to shower and pick up the kids.

we had such a great time and thankfully, the groupon we got had two return vouchers with it. so i GUESS i'll have to return there again. poor me. whose coming with me?

*although that's technically tom & donna's contribution.
**the first time was for my company's christmas party because there was only 3 of us in the office. that boss is my FIL's girlfriend. it still remains the best spa i've ever been to. the second was with my BF kayla when she was engaged.
*** a voice in the wind, which i reviewed here.