The waiting room at the Ruby Room There’s nothing like spring weather to help you realize just how long your skin has been buried under piles of wool, down and heavy knits. After thesix month-long Chicago winter, skin cries out for a bit of pampering, which is exactly what Spa Week Chicago is for. From April 12-18, ten participating spas will offer select $50 treatments to slough off winter skin and welcome spring. Choose from massages, facials, body wraps and yoga sessions for a week of beauty. Participating salons include Shen Shen Health& Harmony, which offers acupuncture and herbal consultations, Amber Spa, which provides microdermabrasions, Exhale Spa which supplies lash tinting and cupping and Kiva, which gives massage therapyand waxing. My favorite Spa Week Chicago spa is Wicker Park’s Ruby Room, which cocoons you with relation and positive energy. Ruby Rooms welcoming space features a spa, salon, a yoga lounge, two boutiques and eight guest rooms...[more »]

UpTake on sculpture in Reykjavik Iceland is known as the land of fire and ice, where volcanoes and glaciers actively sculpt the landscape. More and more people are traveling to this island nation each year to explore the countryside where numerous waterfalls cascade over dramatic cliffs and to plunge into the geothermal blue lagoons. Iceland not only only offers natural beauty, the country is rich with music and contemporary art and architecture. Modern Icelandic music combines tradition folk with vibrant electronic rhythms that combined with vocals seem other worldly, multi-layered and stunningly beautiful. Modern art and architecture also is on the rise inIceland.This “UpTake” is a sculpture entitled ‘Roots’ and was created by artistSteinunn Thorarinsdottir. I love that the one of the figures is experiencing an ‘UpTake’! Today in honor of Iceland you may want to turn ‘Up’ some Bjork and ‘Take’ a swig of a beer bec...[more »]

Warm Mediterranean Waters...ahhhh With all the rains and heavy snow hitting the west coast and east coast (Hey Boston!), I have been dreaming of Spain again, specifically Southern Spain and the Costa del Sol. This part of Spain is one of the most popular destinations for Spaniards and tourists alike. It is also one of my new favorite winter getaways! We stayed close to the town of Marbella, with its great seafood restaurants, for a week in November. This resort town reminded me of Carmel and Monterey in California, only better. Why? First of all, Marbella boasts that they enjoy more than 300 days of sunshine every year! During our week there we had only sunshine filled days and temperatures in the mid-70s. Heaven. The benefit to going to this area in November is the lack of crowds too. You have mostly locals who live there year round or like that cabin in Lake Tahoe, people who come for the weekend and holidays to stay in their vacation home. We loved the low key atmo...[more »]