Vida Spa – Pine and Juniper Berry Massage
Founded in 2002, Vida Spa offers uniquely luxurious, personalized and healing spa experiences including an expansive menu of treatments based on the ancient Indian science of Ayurveda, all designed to enhance wellness, engage the senses, and nurture body and mind. Because every individual has unique needs, Vida Spa tailors their full range of traditional body therapies, wraps, exfoliations and facial treatments to each client, providing a customized way to restore energy and promote well-being.
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Last week, I was invited to their Sheraton Wall Centre location for the festive treatment of Vida’s “Pine and Juniper Berry Massage”. The waiting area (see above picture) was extremely tranquil. Big comfortable chairs, couches, and other cushion-y things to sit on were arranged inside the waiting area. The lights were dim, and a small waterfall/fountain was at one end of the room. I was offered tea and water (with lemon or cucumber) as I filled out the health form while I waited for my masseur to lead me to the other room.
Aritzia – new flagship store location opens
Old news, old news, but I wanted to point out that Aritzia has just recently opened its new flagship store location on the second floor of Pacific Centre in Downtown – right in time for the Christmas shopping season! I haven’t had a chance to check it out yet though… have you?
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American Apparel – Rummage Sale Update (Dec. 4th to 6th)
After a busy sale in Toronto last week, the American Apparel rummage sale opened this morning at 10am at the PNE Hastings Room (2901 East Hastings). We got to the rummage sale at noon today and the estimated wait time to the front was 2.5 hours. There is a coat check when you first enter the room. It wasn’t too crowded inside, and I could move around comfortably.
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There’s two tents of stuff – everything was on racks, but every once in a while they would bring in a new box of stuff and dump it onto a table on the side. Prices were decent – $8 for leggings, $6 for ribbed tank tops, $7 for t-shirts, $10 for skirts, etc. However, be warned that selection is difficult, especially since things weren’t organized by size. Even kids stuff was thrown in.
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Colors were a bit weird – a lot of neon and polka dots, and weird cuts (especially for girls). It was challenging to find anything “normal” – for example, there would be sweatpants, but they would be cropped at an unflattering length. Even the legging colors are the “unpopular” ones – ie. maroon or a weird shade of purple…or polkadots. Bras/underwear consisted of the really cheap, stringy cotton kind, not worth the dig through the boxes. There were lots of hoodies there, but honestly – I really didn’t need another one.
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I was lucky enough to find a “Cotton Spandex Jersey Bandeau” (wear it 15 ways) dress in an aqua blue color for $12, but that’s all I got. Maybe you will have better luck than me!
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The Urban Tea Merchant – New Flagship Store Opens in Vancouver
Yum! I love tea. Below is the press release from The Urban Tea Mechant, which is opening a new flagship store this week in Vancouver:
This week, downtown Vancouver will be introduced to a new concept in retail shopping, dining and service with the opening of The Urban Tea Merchant (1070 West Georgia Street), a three thousand square foot store on West Georgia and Alberni Street offering a unique blend of food and beverage, retail, home decor and, say owners Karinna and Tom James, “a sensory experience”!
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As the exclusive North American distributor for the luxury French tea line, Thé Ô Dor, The Urban Tea Merchant will carry the complete line of the beautifully packaged hand blended aromatic teas as well as a wonderful collection of fine harvest teas, all purchased by weight. The retail shop will feature unique European home decor merchandise, gifts, china and glassware with an interesting selection of tea related products including tea pots and kettles, as well as Charbonnel et Walker chocolates and imported French macarons. Additionally, the retail store will offer a tea consultation counter where guests can taste and choose their preferred blends.
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The Urban Tea Merchant is also home to Vancouver’s first Salon de Thé, a 30 seat tea salon offering exquisite afternoon teas, light lunches and petit plates in a separate dining area, and a Thé et Chocolat Bar, offering en route (to go) classic teas, tea lattes & chilled tea infusions as well as chocolates and scones.
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Lunch items, with recipes that incorporate tea infusions, include a quiche trio, beef tenderloin with white truffle mash puree, poached salmon or duck breast as well as more casual items like beef pot pie and macaroni with trois fromages. The Urban Tea Merchant opens this week, December 3rd, 7:00 am until 7:00 pm with expanded hours through the holiday season.
Schwarzkopf OsiS – Upload Style Volume Creme
You know when you normally comb your fingers through your hair, your hair immediately falls flatly back into place? Not so with the Upload Style Volume Creme!
Sula – Paint & Peel nailpolish
Other than being “big three free” of Formaldehyde, Toluene and DBP, the selling point of this nailpolish is that you can easily remove it from your nails by peeling it off, instead of using nailpolish remover!