30 DoP #22 - "Sweet Salvation"

Organic Vetiver and Black Pepper Vegan Soap

Dear readers, I'm a mess. It's been days since I've shaved, the prickly stubble that only a few days ago subtly defined my square jaw and looked a bit sexy now just itches. The skin beneath it it slightly windburned, since I live on the ice planet, so I feel flaky on top of the itching. Walking to and from my office through dunes of greasy, sooty snow requires I wear a thick and warm coat, yet when I arrive I'm coated in a film of snow sweat - that insidious dampness that immediately freezes when you remove your coat. Can't tell you when my last real manicure took place. Elbows dry, feet scuffed. We won't even talk about my poor lips. I have an overall feeling of grime that comes hand-in-hand with this nasty winter. And that's not where it ends.

Trudging through this wasteland of forgotten bikes, half-ensconced in dirty snow, and gray puddles that resemble so much the solid sidewalks beneath them until you step through, and crags of ice between which is a narrow walkway only large enough for one foot in front of the other (a tenuous balance to strike in chunky duck boots)...it makes the joints grind. I fall asleep each night feeling odd pains in places of which I was previously unaware. While I'm stoked that my ass is getting a workout even when I'm not consciously aware, winter in Chicago just makes you HURT.

I need a spa trip. I want some Eastern European woman with one eyebrow and a bad attitude to pummel my entire body against a padded table while the sweet and slightly annoying sounds of Enya waver on the air. A soak in a tub full of chocolate and mud. Steam my pores so open I could serve dip out of them. Scrape this film of winter from my limbs and replace it with deliciously scented oils and salves. Balm me. Peel me. Polish me. Save me.

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