Yesterday was a much anticipated group spa day, followed by dinner and salsa dancing. I�d been sick all week, and yesterday, I was much improved, but not wonderful.

We set up camp in their waiting room (with the spa�s permission, of course) and brought in cheese, crackers, fruit. The others had some wine and champagne (I don�t drink).

It was a lovely time hanging out with my friends. I was scheduled for a Swedish massage and a facial. I had the massage early on. The guy was obviously new, and the massage was just ok. I gave him a decent tip because he probably hasn�t received a decent tip, yet. I wanted to encourage him to stick with it, and to improve.

Even so, I still felt pretty good after the massage. I settled with my friends in the waiting room, for what seemed like a really short amount of time, and I was called back for the facial. I�d never had a facial before, and I wanted to give one a try, just to see if it really made any difference with my skin. A service that costs that much has to do something, right?

You would think so.

I�m still undecided. I did get compliments on my skin afterwards, but only from people who knew I got the facial.

I asked Adam that night if he noticed any difference. He said that it did seem to look better, but he couldn�t put his finger on exactly how it improved.

Maybe it�s one of those things that only helps if done repeatedly, and over time, there is a noticeable difference.

As for the facial experience itself, it was also just ok. We went to this spa because it was having a groupon sale, and we were able to go for half price, which may explain the mediocrity.

I didn�t feel especially relaxed or comfortable during the facial. I didn�t feel uncomfortable, either, except during the extractions, which is something I could have done without.

This is where the woman shines an extremely bright light on your face, and then, while using a tiny medieval torture device, pulls out your blackheads. At least, I think that�s what she was doing. Since there was an extremely bright light shining in my face, I couldn�t open my eyes to see exactly what was going on. Also, just the word �extractions� kind of implies that.

I don�t think of myself as someone who has a ton of blackheads. I will �fess up to oily skin, and large pores, and I don�t think there�s much that can be done about those things, except to cover them up (which I don�t bother with, but that�s another story).

I do have a few blackheads in the corners of my nose, and underneath the tip. Apparently, I also have some on my cheeks and chin, or, at least, she managed to find something there.

The ones that I�ve always known about don�t bother me much. I used to pull them out with those biore pore cleansing strips, but within a day or two, they�re back, so it doesn�t seem like it�s worth the effort and expense, to me.

Lucky me, I did not inherit my mothers flawless, dewy, golden skin, which, to this day, still looks like the skin of a 25 year old. I�m also lucky (in a non-sarcastic way) that I didn�t inherit the skin from my fathers side of the family. I got something in between, which means, in my teen years, I got to listen to my mother�s horrified screams because the woman had literally never seen a pimple before (or claimed this to be the case).

Anyway, I�m the most skeptical about the blackhead extraction thing. Pulling out little blackheads, which, I think are only noticeable from about two inches away, just seems like asking for trouble. Are blackheads really so bad that we have to go after them with a sharp metal instrument? Is that even a road that I want to go down?

Out of all the beauty areas in my life, my skin gives me the most trouble. It�s a weird color, it scars easily, it breaks out, it�s sensitive. Even shaving my legs is an ordeal because I�m so prone to ingrown hairs. For that reason alone, I�m terrified of the coming years when I might have to deal with facial hair.

I guess I�m a little worried about the consequences of the facial.

The woman also told me that my eyebrows are too thick and that I should, �really think about having them done.� Well!

I�ll admit that my eyebrows are not perfect, but mostly because they�re uneven. Maybe the thickness doesn�t happen to be en vogue, at the moment, but I like them that way.

First of all, the women that I�ve admired most for their beauty, throughout the ages, tended toward the thicker eyebrows. Audrey Hepburn and Brook Shields come to mind.

Second of all, I went through a bizarre period of two or three years, where my eyebrows just started falling out. I thought it was an aging thing, but they eventually grew back. During that time, I could barely scrape together a decent set of brows, and I hated it. I felt like my face looked unbalanced and older.

So, anyway, I did consider her offer to do my eyebrows, but I was more than a little worried about the potential results. Like I said, they could use some shaping and they could stand to be evened out. However, it did just occur to me that maybe she didn�t realize that she would be dealing with Asian eyebrows, which don�t grow in the same direction as non-Asian brows.

I did have a good time yesterday, I enjoyed the time out. I don�t know if it was because I was still getting over the cold, or maybe I didn�t eat enough or drink enough, yesterday, but by the end of the night, I was exhausted, I had a huge headache, nausea, and I was dizzy.

It didn�t help that I danced for about an hour straight at the salsa club. I had to stop in the middle of a song because I was sweating so profusely that it was dripping into my eyes, and I couldn�t see. I told my dance partner that I needed a break, and while walking off the dance floor, I noticed that I felt like the floor was about to come flying up at me. That�s when I decided I needed more than a break, I needed to go home.

I�ll have to ask Nicole about that, but it seemed to me that the club instantly turned into a sauna, as soon as the dancing started. Maybe it was just me, but if it wasn�t just me, how does one deal with constant dancing in the crazy heat and high humidity? Also, if that is the case, why does anyone even bother doing their hair and make-up, at all?

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