This Past Weekend
By last Friday, my cough was in its last stages but still annoyingly there. The Boy and I made a nice dinner of salmon and string beans together and then went out for a walk around the neighborhood since the weather was nice and warm. Lots of people were eating outside and taking walks. At around 11PM we headed back to the apartment, cleaned up a bit and then crashed.
The next day, I had an appointment with a couple of friends at a spa called the Nardi Beauty Center. My friend got us all spa gift certificates last Christmas and thought it would be fun thing to do together. I had a good time hanging out with the girls, but the spa was another thing. I'd already read on Citysearch to beware of all of the extra charges you could rack up using one of these gift certificates which is very specific about what services are covered. You have to be very aware of what the gift certificate says because the staff will not notify you of any extra charges you incur until you get the bill, which I think is very tricky and misleading.
I showed up to my appointment a bit late because of train cancellations and rainy/windy weather. The receptionist wasn't particularly friendly, but it didn't bother me too much since the facialist lady was warm, welcoming and promptly took me away. She laid me down on a bed and shone a light on my face to get a good look at my pores.
Facialist: Oh, my! You have a lot of blackheads and new pores coming out. I highly recommend a deep cleaning facial to clear this all up. Shall I proceed with that?
Translation: Can I con you into spending an additional $100-$200 today?
Me: (This is the wonderful skin analysis advertised in your coupon?!) Umm...can I just get what's included in the gift certificate for today?
Facialist: Sure, you're the boss!
Translation: Damnit!
The "European mini facial" was lame. All she did was spread on a mask, leave it on for 8 minutes and then rub in a couple of lotions. Next, she gave me a quick eyebrow wax which wasn't too bad. The facialist was done with me now and took me out to wait for a hair stylist.
I waited and waited and waited some more. My friends walked by me several times and were surprised to see me still sitting in the wait room. I think the staff overheard my friends' continual surprise each time they saw me still sitting there which forced them into some sort of action. The manicurist came out to do my nails shortly.
I'd never had a manicure before. In fact, I'd never had a facial or eyebrow wax either. The idea of a manicure always scared me after I'd heard horror stories of how unsanitary it is and how people get infected during manicures and pedicures. So, I was a bit nervous. The lady sat me down and was going to start working on me until another lady interrupted her and barked at her to rinse out the conditioner on my friend's hair. As I waited for her to finish working on my friend, I started to pick out colors for the manicurist to use. Ten minutes later, she came back and was about to start on my hands when someone sat down at the hair washing station, and she left me to work on someone else again. Ten minutes later, she finally came back and started working on my hands. When it got time to push back and cut away my cuticles, I unknowingly started a little tug of war with her over who got control over my hands. She looked up and smiled as if to say, "If you want me to give you a manicure, you're going to have to cooperate!" I stopped tugging. After she put on the first coat of nail polish, she turned on a blower and tapped it to signal for me to use it. I'd never seen one of those before and didn't notice the slot underneath where you put your hand to dry, so I just sort of waved my hand over the top which seemed to blow out a bit of residual air. She looked up and tapped the bottom where I stuck my hand in to dry. The whole thing took about 20 minutes, and by the end of the day, I'd already screwed my nails up.
Afterwards, a lady came to wash and cut my hair. This was the only service that I was satisfied with. She did a pretty good job of cutting my hair, and I knew to refuse the blow dry which would cost a good amount extra. My friend wasn't so aware of it and had to pay $25 of the normal $55 fee for this. She was pissed because no one told her that there would be a charge for blow drying, and she didn't even get her hair cut! She almost got conned into the steam/deep cleaning facial, but asked if there would be an extra charge right before the lady was going to start.
All in all, none of us were impressed by the place. The service and some of the work was crappy, and the people seemed a bit shady. Each of us left a skimpy tip. We weren't coming back here again.
I went back to the apt afterwards, took a shower and prettied myself up to have dinner with the Boy who was cooking. My nail polish melted off a bit in the shower. Well, that was pointless! We had dinner and then watched the entire first season of The Office (British version) which cracked me up all night.
The weather was somewhat nice again this Sunday, so the Boy and I hung out at Central Park again.
The next day, I had an appointment with a couple of friends at a spa called the Nardi Beauty Center. My friend got us all spa gift certificates last Christmas and thought it would be fun thing to do together. I had a good time hanging out with the girls, but the spa was another thing. I'd already read on Citysearch to beware of all of the extra charges you could rack up using one of these gift certificates which is very specific about what services are covered. You have to be very aware of what the gift certificate says because the staff will not notify you of any extra charges you incur until you get the bill, which I think is very tricky and misleading.
I showed up to my appointment a bit late because of train cancellations and rainy/windy weather. The receptionist wasn't particularly friendly, but it didn't bother me too much since the facialist lady was warm, welcoming and promptly took me away. She laid me down on a bed and shone a light on my face to get a good look at my pores.
Facialist: Oh, my! You have a lot of blackheads and new pores coming out. I highly recommend a deep cleaning facial to clear this all up. Shall I proceed with that?
Translation: Can I con you into spending an additional $100-$200 today?
Me: (This is the wonderful skin analysis advertised in your coupon?!) Umm...can I just get what's included in the gift certificate for today?
Facialist: Sure, you're the boss!
Translation: Damnit!
The "European mini facial" was lame. All she did was spread on a mask, leave it on for 8 minutes and then rub in a couple of lotions. Next, she gave me a quick eyebrow wax which wasn't too bad. The facialist was done with me now and took me out to wait for a hair stylist.
I waited and waited and waited some more. My friends walked by me several times and were surprised to see me still sitting in the wait room. I think the staff overheard my friends' continual surprise each time they saw me still sitting there which forced them into some sort of action. The manicurist came out to do my nails shortly.
I'd never had a manicure before. In fact, I'd never had a facial or eyebrow wax either. The idea of a manicure always scared me after I'd heard horror stories of how unsanitary it is and how people get infected during manicures and pedicures. So, I was a bit nervous. The lady sat me down and was going to start working on me until another lady interrupted her and barked at her to rinse out the conditioner on my friend's hair. As I waited for her to finish working on my friend, I started to pick out colors for the manicurist to use. Ten minutes later, she came back and was about to start on my hands when someone sat down at the hair washing station, and she left me to work on someone else again. Ten minutes later, she finally came back and started working on my hands. When it got time to push back and cut away my cuticles, I unknowingly started a little tug of war with her over who got control over my hands. She looked up and smiled as if to say, "If you want me to give you a manicure, you're going to have to cooperate!" I stopped tugging. After she put on the first coat of nail polish, she turned on a blower and tapped it to signal for me to use it. I'd never seen one of those before and didn't notice the slot underneath where you put your hand to dry, so I just sort of waved my hand over the top which seemed to blow out a bit of residual air. She looked up and tapped the bottom where I stuck my hand in to dry. The whole thing took about 20 minutes, and by the end of the day, I'd already screwed my nails up.
Afterwards, a lady came to wash and cut my hair. This was the only service that I was satisfied with. She did a pretty good job of cutting my hair, and I knew to refuse the blow dry which would cost a good amount extra. My friend wasn't so aware of it and had to pay $25 of the normal $55 fee for this. She was pissed because no one told her that there would be a charge for blow drying, and she didn't even get her hair cut! She almost got conned into the steam/deep cleaning facial, but asked if there would be an extra charge right before the lady was going to start.
All in all, none of us were impressed by the place. The service and some of the work was crappy, and the people seemed a bit shady. Each of us left a skimpy tip. We weren't coming back here again.
I went back to the apt afterwards, took a shower and prettied myself up to have dinner with the Boy who was cooking. My nail polish melted off a bit in the shower. Well, that was pointless! We had dinner and then watched the entire first season of The Office (British version) which cracked me up all night.
The weather was somewhat nice again this Sunday, so the Boy and I hung out at Central Park again.
posted by LANYTransplant at 8:21 PM
1 Comments:
it's good to see you're blogging again! i hope you're feeling better!
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