Massage Envy!

This is my sweet friend, Gery, and her adorable son, Evan. Aren't they beautiful?

I met Gery almost two years ago. Our kids go to the same daycare.

Actually, it goes a little deeper than that ...Our kids are in love.

Oh yes, I'm speaking of Gery's son, Evan, and my daughter, Piper. And, yes again ... they are both 4. But, believe it or not, their love has lasted longer than some married couples I know. Nearly two years.

Evan is about 6 weeks older than Piper, so if it came time to move Evan to a new class and not Piper - even the daycare workers knew that they would have to wait. They can not be separated! Both of them would cry so pitifully that it just wasn't worth it.

Luckily, they are cute and charming and downright adorable. Otherwise, it would be disgusting.

Thankfully, our families have gotten to know each other. We enjoyed a great New Year's Eve together and have had a ball reading each other's crazy Facebook status'. (My husband, Don, and Gery's husband, Bill, could get into a lot of trouble if left unattended for any amount of time!)

When I was told that I got to visit a local Massage Envy and that I could invite a friend, I immediately thought of Gery. As fellow working moms, I made our appointments made for the day before Mother's Day. I figured we could start celebrating/pampering ourselves a little early.

Our appointments were at 1:00 PM, so we arrived 15 minutes early to fill out our paper work. One of the "check boxes" was to indicate whether you wanted "light," "firm," or "deep tissue." I wasn't totally sure of what that meant (I've since looked it up on the Massage Envy website), but I thought that "Deep Tissue" sounded good, so I went with that.

From the lobby we went into the Tranquility Room and waited for our therapists to get us. Gery's arrived first, and mine (Julie) was just seconds after.

The therapy room was dark and definitely relaxing. Julie asked me several questions so that she could tailor the experience to exactly what I was looking for. A huge plus for me was that the bed had a bed warmer. I am so cold natured ... this was heaven for me!

The 50 minutes flew by. Deep Tissue was definitely the right choice for me. I didn't have any knots or soreness, so it felt heavenly to me. I can never seem to fall asleep during a massage, but I was certainly more relaxed than usual. It really was wonderful!

Gery and I met up after we were done. We were noticeably more relaxed. We talked on the way home about how we should do this more often. I think most all moms are guilty of putting themselves last in the pampering category. So, this was a great Mother's Day treat for us, and a good reminder that we have to take better care of ourselves in order to be the best wife and mom that we can be.

Something that I learned at Massage Envy was that they offer monthly plans! I had no idea. For a very discounted cost, you can get a one-hour massage each month. I'm definitely considering it. AND, the contract is good at any Massage Envy location!
It was a great day. Thanks to the manager, Stephanie, and to all the great therapists out there that have loved on all the Mommy Bloggers in the past week.

Thanks to my friend, Gery, for being a great sport and coming with me.

And, special thanks to these little cuties for introducing us :)

A Day In Our Life

I did a video for the Mommy Madness site about everywhere our car goes in a typical day.

I'm worn out just thinking about it!

A Day In Our Life from Stephanie Click on Vimeo.

(If you can't see the video, click here for the parent site.)

Chevy Traverse FAQ

It seems like everyone I meet is asking questions about the Traverse. I LOVE answering them - it’s been so fun to drive this car and find something new every day.

Many of the moms have answered this one already, but I’ll add my two cents for what it’s worth -
Question 1: “Does the Traverse fit in your garage?”
Answer: Truthfully, our garage is so packed with stuff, a snake would be hard pressed to slither inside. We’ve moved two times in three years - we’ve got boxes and furniture galore in there. However, if all of that was cleared away, then yes - it would fit. However, two of them would not.

Question 2: “What’s your favorite feature on the Traverse?
Answer: Hands down the reverse camera. It beeps when you get too close to something, AND it has lights that let you know exactly how close you really are! A yellow light, then a red light, then a double red light when you’ve really gone far enough!!!

Question 3: “How does it drive?”
Answer: I’ve had a minivan before and to me it handles like a mini-van, but drives like a car. Does that make sense? I feel in control all the time, yet I love the feeling of being above the road.

Question 4: “How’s it been doing in the rain?
Answer: It’s been a dream! The windshield is not huge, so the wipers get off a good deal of the rain. On my model, there is a wiper on the back windshield as well. That really helps since the Traverse if longer than what I’m used too.

Question 5: “Is it too big for a family of 4?”
Answer: I don’t think so. We have really enjoyed having the extra space. All of our family lives out of town, so whenever anyone visits - we always have to go places in two cars. (Pain.) It’s been nice to be able to fit people other than ourselves in the vehicle, AS WELL AS the stuff that we always have to take with us.

Question 6: “Would you suggest the captains seats or the bench seat for the second row?
Answer: It’s just a matter of opinion really, but if I were purchasing this car for me and my family situation - I would go with captain seats. I think the kids, as they get older, would enjoy that freedom a little more.

Question 7: “Do you think the Traverse is worth the price?”
Answer: Absolutely. It’s been an excellent car, and with even the standard features, I think it’s a great vehicle. I wouldn’t baulk at anyone shelling out the money for it.

Question 8: “Are you buying the car when the promotion’s over?”
Answer: TBD :)

Spring 2009 Garage Sale

Last Saturday, April 25, was the designated Garage Sale day for our neighborhood. If you live in a Master Planned Community, then you are probably familiar with the fact that everyone has to have their sale on the same day regardless of whether or not you’re finished going through all of your closets!

With that said, it’s probably better for me that they just tell us what day to drag things out and sell them to the lowest bidder (what it seems like anyway!)

This year, I warned my husband that this was an “everything must go sale”. I warned the kids that if they got too far out on the driveway and someone offered a price - they might go too! I was serious about this garage sale.

This comes from the fact that twice a year since we moved to Houston in May of 2006, I have dragged - what seems like - the same stuff out everytime. And, my husband has put back most of this same stuff … every.single.time.

I was done with the dragging back in part. I was done with hearing the gasps of disbelief when the neighbors see our garage door open. I wondered if we would EVER know how it feels to park a small car in the garage - much less the Traverse.

At 6:00 AM, we opened the “Click Family Garage Sale”. It was a slow start, but it picked up around 9:00 AM. I sold things marked at $60 for $20 just to get rid of it. I sold bags of childrens clothes marked at $2 for 50-cents. I put FREE on an old couch that was still there when we were ready to be done.

We finished the day well, but we still had a lot of stuff left.

Around 11:30, Don and I looked at what was left and decided that there was nothing left on our driveway that we were emotionally attached too. With that, we put down the second and third rows on the Traverse and started loading EVERYTHING into the vehicle.

We had that thing full to the brim. What would have taken us at least three or four trips in our regular cars was an absolute breeze in the Traverse. One trip.

We took our things to Katy Christian Ministries in Katy. (If you are in Sugar Land, let me recommend Second Mile Ministries.) My husband said that the man unloading our things took several of our boxes right to the sale table, and before Don left - a box full of pots and pans was already sold.

I’m glad that someone else can get use out of our things. I hope that our things all find happy homes and make life easier for another family.

Driving Downtown Houston

Driving to Downtown Houston - Stephanie Click - MommyMadnessHouston.com from Stephanie Click on Vimeo.

My New Ride ... for now.

Several weeks ago, I received an email from a lady saying that she had come across my blog and was interested in me doing a promotion for her. Assuming it was spam, I nearly deleted it. I decided to respond with my phone number and asked her to please call me if this was a legitimate offer. Within minutes, I received another response asking for my number.

And, I guess you could say, the rest is history.

Today, I picked up a 2009 Chevy Traverse. I am part of a promotion between Chevy and CBS Radio. They picked three markets - Houston, Dallas, and Kansas City, and chose 5 Mom-Bloggers in each city. (In the Houston market, they reviewed over 200 blogs! I'm completely honored to have been chosen.) For the next 8 weeks, we each will drive a brand new Traverse with only the obligation being that we blog about our experiences with the vehicle - good and bad.

We have a website that will serve as our "home base" - Mommy Madness. You can read my bio and find out about the other gals chosen here.

Bookmark this page as we'll each be adding cool things every day.

You'll also get to vote for your favorite mom! You can vote as many times as you want! Each vote will enter you into a drawing for a girl’s getaway weekend (the winner - or the female of their choice -and three friends) to the Barton Creek Resort in Austin, TX.

If you are in the Houston, you can get a free massage from Massage Envy by test driving the Traverse! All you do is go to your Houston Chevy dealer and ask to test drive the car. Once you're done, you get a gift certificate. It's a no-pressure deal. Promise.

So, that's the situation with the car. It should be an interesting ride - no pun intended! The car had 44 miles on it when I picked it up today. It's heavenly.

Watch for videos and cool feature segments about the Traverse. It's really a cool vehicle and I can't wait to tell you more about it.