Kind (Self) Regard: The Day After a Night with Meat Loaf

It is 3 in the afternoon on New Year’s Day.  My sister and nephew should be almost home by now.  My mother and dog left long before breakfast.  Now there is only the great cleanup to tackle.  With just one more day left to my week off from work, I have accomplished nothing I intended to do.  And I’m not talking about fun stuff like seeing the tree in Rockefeller Center; I’m talking about chores like fixing the moth hole in my favorite dress BEFORE I wear it again.  I have, however, cooked, cleaned, set the table and gone grocery shopping more times than I can keep track of.  I have made:  turkey, lobster, mussels, pizza, fish soup, shrimp, sweet potato grits, pancakes, oatmeal and toasted probably a million bagels among other things. I drank white wine, red wine, prosecco, champagne, exotic cocktails and exotic vodkas.  My desserts have included Buche de Noel, lemon tarts, Belgium brownies, plain old ice cream and raspberry tarts.  Need I say more? 

If I can still cross off at least three things on my to-do list I will be pretty excited, but the odds are against it. Maybe tomorrow? 

At the moment, I’m mainly thinking about all I learned over this holiday. First, I should never forget that all our holidays are documented by the intrepid photographer in our family.  So as I look at those photos instantly emailed around the world, I curse myself for not remembering that, on these occasions, I should never venture out of my bedroom without being as carefully dressed as if I was going to work. I know that my hair has not yet recovered from the one time I cheated on the man who cuts it.  Yes, it was me who said “hair grows” just last month.  But when it’s really, really short – and its winter – that can take months of hair just sticking out here, there and everywhere. 

I also learned that Tintin is not a dog and that Marley & Me is a pretty funny movie, even though you know it’s not going to end well.  I learned you can balance a gyroscope on the tip of a pencil or the tip of your nose, that cranberry sauce stains can be removed from white linen tablecloths with help from your iPad, vinegar, dish detergent, rubbing alcohol and diligence, and that Meat Loaf—the singer, not the food-- is the perfect addition to one’s New Year’s Eve playlist.  And there was more, I’m sure. 

But now it’s January and the holidays that required so much running around and dealing with mobs of people trying to do the same things you were trying to do, are already a thing of the past.  2012 lies ahead.  I’ll start my diet tomorrow, but for now I’m just hanging out in my comfy sweat pants (with no camera in sight) thinking about how much fun it was to spend so much time with people I love.




Vicki Wray lives in North Stamford, and until recently spent most of her waking hours in New York City as a corporate communications executive. Working for companies like Pfizer, Revlon and AOL Time Warner has allowed her to meet wonderful colleagues and a slew of interesting personalities including the president of the United States, supermodels and star athletes, famous artists and a Justice of the Supreme Court. She is a natural observer, type A personality, and a life-long "spa junkie". Vicki firmly believes in the health benefits of being kind to oneself; taking a moment to breath, relax and finding simple joy in our every day existence.

Her column, Kind (self) Regards, will be a regular feature of the Aetheria Spa blog. If you enjoy her point of view, or would like to share your ideas, please contact her at vicki@aetheriaspa.com.