Spin Cycles, Birthday Parties and Floatariums

Finally, a weekend in London! I hate to say it, but I spent a fair amount of it in bed, or on the couch, with a load of laundry in. I say "a load" because that's all I could accomplish. A single load, I kid you not, took 6 HOURS.

I have this nifty combo washer/dryer unit. It has a very small drum so it only fits 3 towels and a couple of pairs of drawers. The upside is, you don't have to take the stuff out after the wash, you just flip a switch to start the dryer. The downside? 6 HOURS.

I know what you're all thinking, all three of you. You're saying to yourself, now this is the same girl who tried to cook pasta and frozen veggies at in the same pot at the same time. And the girl who let Airborne fizz all over the Corinthian leather seats of the Columbian executive's American car. You're thinking I screwed something up. Well, HA! I didn't. It's meant to take that long. I found the instruction manual and right there in black and white were the wash/dry times.

So that was fun.

Seriously, I was OVER the laundry by about noon on Saturday, so I left that thing spinning and went out for a stroll. It was a fabulous day and there was a kid's birthday party in the garden. I would have crashed but I still have no key. They did the cutest thing- on the sidewalks leading up to their house, the parents had drawn arrows with the little girl's name in chalk so the guests could find the place. It must have taken somebody an hour to run around the neighborhood.






While I was out, I came across a place called HydroHealing. As many of my girls will tell you, I am the quintessential New York Spa Whore (TM). If I have a spare $20 in my pocket, I'll give it to somebody to buff, scrub, massage, whack with branches, whatever. I've been intrigued with the idea of the sensory deprivation float , but I tend to get a little clausterphobic so I never looked into it. Recently I read a book in which one of the characters (a real kook, if you know what I mean) was forever nipping out to have a soak in the "Floatarium." This seemed like fate, so I went in and made an appointment for the next day.

Here's how it works: this place doesn't use the conventional tank that makes you feel like you're in a coffin. They have more of a good-sized bathroom set up with a big old tub filled with water that has been treated with minerals and dead-sea salts. Once you're ready -- post-shower, covering any scratches or cuts with vaseline (it is salt water after all!), and putting in ear plugs -- you get into the tub and turn out the lights. I opted for some dim lighting. They told me that a 1 hour float is equivalent to 4 hours of sleep. I believe it. I felt pretty great afterward. I think I was relieved to be able to turn my phones off for an hour.