the spaaaaaaah

Well, for those of you who were wondering what in the world the word "anticipation" had to do with my previous post, let me tell you that it was an utter mistake. I had meant to write about the fact that we were about to have a weekend "in the city" whilst Plava stayed with her grandparents, but I never did get to that, did I?

Well anyway, our plan:

Drop off our wee Plava with the grandparents on Saturday morning, head downtown to a nice hotel, see a show, get a massage at a spa (just me - Ryan isn't too into the spa thing), wander up and down Robson Street, go to some good restaurants, maybe see a movie, and return on Monday around dinner time. Mostly, that's what happened.

It was REALLY HARD to say goodbye to Plava, and all we could think to talk about for a lot of the weekend was her. We missed her like crazy, but had continual updates by phone of her fun time she was having. She slept like an angel (much to my relief!!!) and played hard every day. It was so nice knowing that she was having a blast.

So, our weekend started out with seeing a show (Mums the Word) in Granville island, and then later that night I had a "maternity massage" booked at the Sutton Place Hotel Spa.

LET ME JUST TAKE A MOMENT TO RECOMMEND THIS SPA. If you have any kind of coverage through a medical plan where they'll reimburse massages, GO HERE. Otherwise, it might even be worth forking out the dough. This was a nice place, man. (According to Ryan, when I use the word "man" it means that I really mean it, so believe me!!)

Here's a quick story about my experience:

After being sent to the change room in order to change into my robe and slippers, I wandered back into the reception area to be told where to go next. The receptionist let me know that she'd be with me in a minute, and I thought that since I'm pregnant, I better go to the bathroom before my hour-long massage, lest I need to escape for a piddle half way through. So off I went, back to the change room. Upon finishing, I walked back to the reception area, and as I opened the door, heard the receptionist saying to someone who was standing around the corner, "....yes, and you'll be with Laura today...."

Oh, that must be my massage therapist, I thought to myself, and turned to see who it was.

There, next to me, stood MORPHEUS.

My first thought...."What the??? Morpheus is going to give me a maternity massage?" Then I came to my senses.

He politely took his leave from the room and I realized that there must be some other Laura that worked at the spa, and he was a guest. Yes. Shocker, though!

So, me being totally cool about celebrities, and not at all into gawking at them, I tried to convince Ryan to go back and wander the hotel lobby to see if we could spot him again. I also tried to get him to agree to go to a certain restaurant that my massage therapist said he often goes to when he's in town. But Ryan didn't want to. And that was totally cool man, cause I'm totally not into the whole "celebrity thing" anyway.

Oh yeah, and then later I saw this guy, who's name I just don't know.


Anyway, enough about those guys! More about us!!!

The rest of the weekend was really good. We checked out a restaurant that we had heard about during "Dine Out Vancouver" (to read about our Dine Out Vancouver night, see this post) called CinCin ("chin-chin"). It was extravagantly expensive, and we weren't really that hungry, so we decided to just share something off the menu and have some bevvies.

After a short sit at the bar, me sipping a virgin pena colada and Ryan guzzling a rather pricey glass of wine, we were seated at our little table by the window. The service was great - nice people - and when we ordered only one dish to share, we were treated as well as if we had ordered a 5 course meal. We even got a special little soup brought to us to start us off. I have no idea if they give everyone that soup, but the way they treated us, it was like it was especially made just for us. It was pureed asparagus soup with a touch of truffle oil on top.

WOW. WOW WOW WOW. That was some amazing soup. I couldn't believe how much flavour was packed into the little tiny mug they brought it out in. WOW.

Then came the hand-made ravioli that we had ordered, nicely split into two dainty plates. OH MY GOODNESS!!! My mouth is watering as I write this. (Okay, so that happens all the time now that I'm pregnant, but REALLY, man!) It was SO good. SO SO good. I don't have much more to say, except that it was SO GOOD.

Just go to CinCin, okay? Robson, near Thurlow. Go. Go tonight. Good place.

We also went to dinner at the Empire Landmark Hotel's revolving restaurant. Not to be mistaken for the "Top of Vancouver" revolving restaurant at Harbour Centre. This restaurant was much closer to the West End and was called "Cloud 9 Restaurant". 42 stories above the city with a beautiful view of the water, and I suppose a beautiful view of everything really, seeing as it revolved.

We headed into the elevator, and I quickly noted how very fast it was climbing. Whew! Since being pregnant, I've been rather easily sickened. I mean, the Albion Ferry made me nauseous, okay? So, after going aaaaaall the way up, and then slowing down very quickly, out we stepped, myself a little uneasily, into the reception area. Immediately I was struck with the fact that you can actually really see the thing moving. I mean, I always thought that it would move so slowly that you wouldn't notice it much, but this thing was spinning man!!! Okay, no. But to my queasy tum, it was moving a little much.

I managed to recover, avoid looking anywhere but the floor, and soon we were brought to our table. What a beautiful view it was. We both agreed that it was a great place for a first date, since there was SO much to talk about as the city turned around below us. We, on the other hand, eventually had to just stop discussing the view because we kept disagreeing on what we were looking at. Hah. No first date here! We had a lovely time though. Marriage is still going strong. :)

So, there are a few highlights from our weekend. Upon arriving back at Ryan's parents' place, Plava ran up to us, giggling gleefully and wouldn't leave our sides for anything. She had a great time, as did we.

Perk of the weekend....? She actually slept in a crib all by herself for Grandma (without putting up a fight and demanding that someone lie down and have a nap with her) and so, with great hopes for today, I let her know that she'd be doing the same thing at home - in her own bed, all by herself, just like a BIG GIRL. And where is she right now? Peacefully sleeping in her own bed, all by herself, just like a BIG GIRL!!! HALLELUJAH!!!!