sex and the city vancouver style

---

My time in Vancouver so far has felt very much like a relaxed episode of Sex and the City. L. and I spent yesterday morning getting massages that A. treated us to while she ran errands. Then we shopped at little boutiques and vintage stores. My massage was given by a Chinese woman. She worked her butt off trying to get my shoulders, neck and back to relax and kept asking if she was hurting me because she was putting so much pressure on them. Today I’m so sore I feel as if I spent yesterday doing a major upper body workout. But it’s one of those “hurts so good” feelings. I clearly carry my stress in my neck and shoulders. And after the last couple of weeks I had at work, those muscles were pretty resistant to relaxing.

I could tell it was going to be an Asian style massage when the woman immediately jumped up on the massage table to straddle me. And I smiled to myself later when she started slapping me around. Asians love to slap your muscles! I suppose it gets the blood flowing, but I still find it funny.

My masseuse was very sweet and cute, but when she found out I was American, she roped me into a somewhat bizarre conversation about Mormons and Salt Lake City and how one should go about picking the right church. I’m guessing someone is trying to recruit her into Mormonism. She asked me, “How do you know good church?”

Me, not being a church-goer, made up some bullshit about trying several churches and deciding which one makes you happiest.

“Ohh, very good advice!” she said, and then went back to work beating my back muscles into submission.

After the massage, we three women walked through the downtown area in A.’s neighborhood, called Kerrisdale Village, and then had a sushi lunch that left us all stuffed. Last night, feeling jetlagged and exhausted after 2 nights with little sleep, I stayed home and lounged around A.’s condo. I later walked back downtown and got myself some pad thai, mango sticky rice, and thai iced tea to eat while watching a movie. A. and L. met another woman downtown, but they returned early, tired as well.

This morning A. made us huevos rancheros, salsa, and guacamole. We had a leisurely Saturday morning breakfast talking about purging toxic people from our lives and strategies for handling difficult colleagues, among other things. I feel so at ease with both A. and L. Although I don’t know either of them incredibly well (A. mostly through emails and a few days in Kathmandu; L. I only met a couple of days ago), I feel as if they are long time friends. We have all just meshed really well, and they have been incredibly easy to get along with. It’s been a lot of fun to do girly things like shop and talk fashion and relationships with men—something I have not done in a while since leaving my graduate school girlfriends behind. A., L., and I have all had very different life experiences thus far, but yet we all seem to be learning from each other. It’s made my time here very nice, and I’m thankful to have made new friends in a new corner of the earth.

To keep up the positive vibe and self-pampering, we spent the early part of today in another part of town continuing our vintage clothes shopping (which proved productive for me when I found a dress with tags still attached for an upcoming vintage glam attire wedding). We then had lunch in a little pub and double scoops of gelato for dessert. Now it’s nap time before heading back out on the town for drinks, seafood, and a bit of dancing. This is my kind of vacation!

---

Comments

[Jan]

green with envy
Hi Michelle, As one of your regular email groupies, I have to say I'm enjoying your holiday to Vancouver, especially the descriptiions of the great meals you have. Being a woman of a 'certain age' with the padding to prove it, the type and quantity of food you get to eat not only makes my mouth water, but also green with envy! Are you sure you're not making it up? How about some pics to prove it ;) It sounds heavenly shopping in those lovely boutiques with massages to boot......a perfect girlfriends holiday. Enjoy. Regards, Jan