A Philanthropic and Relaxing Weekend

The weekend started with a bang by attending the Emerald City Swank, Seattle Works' annual fundraiser. I went last year with Gary and had a blast--this year, Kabir and I organized 2 tables worth of our friends (Sri also got a table of people from work). Seattle Works is an organization dedicated to encouraging people in their 20s and 30s to volunteer and contribute to the community--so as you can imagine, it was an evening filled with the hipsters of Seattle partaking in auction bidding, dinner and dancing. The silent and live auctions had so many items--I walked away with 3 things: a set of cheese knives with a bottle of wine, a trip to the San Juans, and a trivia night which I got with Spencer for our work team. The biggest ticket item was a cruise for 2 to Alaska which went for $4700. That's $4700! Coming from people my age--not some rich 60 year old millionaire! It's just a great evening seeing how much money people in our age bracket are willing to donate to a great cause (in exchange for, in some cases, a great prize!). A pair of Death Cab for Cutie tickets went for over $3000 and gift certificates to local restaurants easily went for hundreds of dollars. Totally amazing. Check out photos from the evening.

On Saturday, when it was raining all day and super blah, Sri and I drove up to Lynwood to check out the new Olympus Spa. We've been long time fans of the spa located in Tacoma and were eager to see what the new one offered. Oh boy--it was so different! Some things to point out:

Very modern, open, spacious and clean

There are only 4 pools at the following temperatures: 60, 90, 97 and 104. Unlike the one in Tacoma, there are no small pools already infused with Mugwoorts. They do, however, have Mugwoorts infused water that you can scoop and pour on yourself, similar to the one in Tacoma.

The body scrub area surrounds 2 sides of the pool area and feels a bit more private with bamboo hangings separating each bed.

There are more facial services

There's a free skin consultation service

They offer manicures & pedicures, unlike the one in Tacoma

The restaurant is much bigger with a lot more menu items (I had a really yummy Japchae)--additionally, they have a juice bar!

They have more earth energy rooms--2 of which are cold! (a Chill room and a Cabin room at 75 degrees). Similar to the one in Tacoma, they have the Salt, Sand, and Mud & Jade Rooms--but they also have a Charcoal and Elyian Stone room.

They also added a cool Korean Tea Service where you can learn the tradition of participating in a Korean tea ceremony.

Ladies--any of you that have tried the Olympus Spa in Tacoma should totally check out this one in Lynwood. It's closer and just awesome. One caveat--they raised the entrance fee for the Lynwood location: it's $30 (as opposed to $25 in Tacoma) but it's well worth it!