12 Wednesday Feb 2025
09 Thursday Jan 2020
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, Christmas, family, happy, hot tub, memories, moments, moon, nature, pictures, spa, treat, vacation, widow
for my last full day in Ottawa, we went to Nordik Spa in Chelsea… it is the parent of Thermea, where I was, just days ago…
but it is so much bigger… there are whole sections for quiet activities, as well as silent ones… every time I go they have added something new… this time it was Quonset hut saunas… the light reflecting on the ceiling was gorgeous…
we started in one of the warm glass beds and moved to warm pools, saunas, hot pools, had scrubs, and sat around fires in huts…
we drank tons of water and had a delicious lunch… we chatted with strangers, just ourselves, and we spent time in silence…
they don’t allow photos on site so these are a few I took: leaving home as the snow fell, the view as we stood in line to get our bracelets, and a picture my daughter took as we were leaving…
it was a wonderful relaxing and rejuvenating day, and a great way to end my visit…
we drove home in the dark, after watching the moon rise from various pools, and had a simple supper before all three of us watched a movie…
we didn’t want to go to bed because she had to work the next day and I would be packing and flying home;-(…
14 Thursday Jun 2018
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, dinner, fireworks, friends, lightening, pedicure, purple, rain, sheets, spa, stunning, thunder, toes, widow
what a wonderful evening…
supper out with some very special women…
tried shrimp stuffed eggplant at Blaze Bistro… tasty…
then it was off for pedicures… such fun…
as we left the spa the sky was dark gray… getting into the car it was starting to spit…
by the time I arrived home I’d driven through sheets of rain, loads of lightening and waterlogged streets… that part wasn’t so fun, lol…
as I write this the thunder is rolling around the sky… it looks amazing out there… and is currently sounding like fireworks… yikes…
but my toes are stunning;-)…
27 Tuesday Mar 2018
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, chocolate, cookie, invitation, lunch, spa, treated, widow
yesterday my day was filled with lots of treats…
in the morning I received a lovely invitation to lunch and time at a spa…
at noon a colleague treated me to lunch… it was tasty…
and in the evening one of my BS buddies brought us chocolate from Florida and fresh baked cookies…
I certainly am blessed in so many ways…
08 Friday Sep 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
2017 Ottawa day 9, beauty, big girl pants, breakfast, chocolate, family, fun, Gatineau Park, hike, massage, memories, nature, Nordik, Ottawa, Pink Lake, spa, water, widow
had a sleep in and then gathered everything we would need for the day and headed out…
stopped at McDonald’s for breakfast and sat next to a fireplace… getting pretty fancy there… then drove to Gatineau Park for a 2.1 km hike around Pink Lake… which is not pink at all (named after the Pink family, apparently)… it is actually very green…
started out with chocolate and ended with a selfie to show we were still alive and well, lol…
then it was over to Nordik for a day at the spa… a spectacular spot to relax and regenerate… we dipped in pools, heated up in steamy saunas, ate delicious food, had massages, and sat around fires…
started the day beside a fireplace and ended it beside one… pretty cool…
all in all a wonderFULL day…
04 Wednesday Jan 2017
Posted in family, food, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, hair, pedis, purple, spa, toes, Total Wrapture, widow
while all the kids were here, we three girls went for a pedicure at Total Wrapture…
my toes were purple when we arrived, lol…
really like Total Wrapture… they have six chairs, set up three across from the other three… so we have our own little area…
one girl’s came out gray with one shiny toe on each foot…
the other ended up orange…
and this will surprise you I’m sure… my toes ended up purple… we searched for quite a while to find just the right colour…
this shade seemed like the closest to my hair colour…
pretty toes make me happy…
02 Friday Sep 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, Photography, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
beaver tail, big girl pants, bouquets, ByWard Market, Nordik, Ottawa Day 2, spa, widow, Zak's
busy day… picked up a rental car… had breakfast at Zak’s in Byward Market…
then for dessert we shared a beaver tail…
walked through the Market and had to take a picture of the beautiful flower bouquets…
then, it was off to Nordik for a spa day…
it was delightful…
13 Sunday Mar 2016
Posted in family, health, life, loss, nature, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, flowers, foggy, hydropath, Kingfisher, moon, sauna, spa, Thermea, widow
had a lovely couple of hours at Thermea tonight…
a while before leaving the house all of a sudden it was very foggy…
could barely see on the drive over, but it was beautiful on the grounds… had a lovely view of the moon while we were sitting in the outdoor pools…
reminded me of the lovely hydropath at the Kingfisher Spa just outside of Courtenay, BC… tried to get there whenever I visited my daughter while she lived at the coast… have come a long way from the days when I could only stay in the steam sauna for about two minutes, lol…
today we spent the most time in the eucalyptus steam sauna… pretty hot and steamy… also really enjoyed sitting by the fire on this beautiful evening…
finally had the chance to go at night to see how it looked lit up… lovely…
a wonderful treat, thanks to the generosity of my colleagues…
final treat of the day were these flowers that jumped into my shopping cart…
02 Tuesday Feb 2016
Posted in family, health, life, nature, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, ice, pedicure, Promenade Cafe, Ripe Bistro, sculpture, spa, walk
today I had lunch at Promenade Cafe and Wine... excellent mussels and fries… yummy…
took me half an hour to walk there but only twenty minutes to get back, lol… there were some icy patches but on the whole the walkways were clear…
great to spend time with a good friend…
had a peek at the Great Ice Show Winnipeg as I walked past it… looks big and beautiful…
after work went for a pedicure with two colleagues…
final product – purple toes…
after the spa… two pedicures and one manicure later… we went to Ripe Bistro and Lounge for dinner…
had an interesting salad and three mini seafood sliders… made me giggle because I was surprised when they came on buns, duh…
lovely evening and our opportunity to debrief after a big event…
enjoyed a gorgeous ice sculpture out the window of the restaurant and discovered that the chef had carved it…
24 Saturday Jan 2015
Tags
lovely day… woke up fairly early and watched a bit of TV…
did some chores around the house and then was picked up by my daughter and a friend and went to Thermea (a Scandinavian-type spa)… it just opened this month and we wanted to check it out… packed a bag with robes, flip flops and a toque…
one of my favourite places is the Kingfisher, on Vancouver Island…this spa reminded me a bit of their hydropath…
one nice thing about Thermea is that you can spend the whole day moving from the saunas to the hot tub and cool tub and the cold pool and waterfall…
there were dry and wet saunas (a eucalyptus one and an orange one)… usually I don’t last long in them, but found it much easier today… must be those big girl pants…
even encouraged the girls to try the polarer pool… name kind of says it all… the temperature in that one is 10 C… just a bit refreshing…
we had a lovely snack and even had a mimosa before we hit the water…
the relaxation spaces were lovely… one had heated marble benches which were very nice… we also sat around a fire in a roofless log cabin… my hair still smells like a campfire, lol…
hardest part of the day was not talking… all the sauna and relaxation areas are quiet zones… after a while hearing people talking was a little irritating:-)… we did pretty well…
I do love the water… it was a lovely treat…
glad I was talked into going…
herbiggirlpants 