When Lily & I were conceiving the idea of Divine MedSpa, we always knew that it was destined to be an award winning spa. Although things haven't quite gone to plan by any stretch of the imagination, at least this part of our dreams has been fulfilled.

A few months ago, the Beauty Editor of Harper's Bazaar invited us to enter this year's spa awards. There were about 22 categories. We went in for 18! Some services were literally made up specifically for this, but it was a good exercise. Till now, I still feel we could have swept the table clean! Haha!

Nonetheless, we waited for the results with bated breath and were happy to have won in two categories. These are:

• Best Rejuvenating Facial: The Ultimate Celebrity Facial
• Best Cosmeceutical Treatment: Nano Perfector

We've known for a few months now, but have had to keep the details confidential. So I was pretty excited to see the February edition finally hit the stands yesterday. And of course, I couldn't resist buying one.

Interesting results... There was a good spread of winners (to avoid obvious favouritism obviously! ). We had very similar treatments to many of the winning treatments. The most noteworthy one was where exactly the same facial was submitted, but the other spa had done a better job of private labelling the exact same product!

But nevermind... It was a good experience, all in all. I've yet to count how many other spas won in more than one category. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow when I'm bored! And I am so happy that within a year of opening, Divine MedSpa is officially an award winning spa.

                  

When people talk about Thai massages, they usually refer to either the stop-your-feet-from-exploding-with-pain-after-too-much-shopping variety or the bone cracking variety. I have foot massages everytime I go to Bangkok (obviously shop too much!), but rarely venture beyond that. I did try the bone cracking type once when I pulled a muscle, but it was a very scary experience & I think it may have made things worse, so I never dared try it again.

When my left trapezius muscle started playing up recently, I've been left nearly in tears with bouts of agonising spasms. No amount of normal massaging would relieve the pain. My therapists always complain that my back muscles are hard as rock at the best of times. Wei Wei, in particular would prefer to massage 4 clients in a row than handle me once!

Joy! Such is the pain I'm in...

Whilst clearing out the cupboards recently, we found a few Thai herbal balls that Ivan had bought many months ago. It was for the staff to play with, to see if it was viable to add to our services. As usual, it was just tucked in a corner & forgotten.

Fortunately, Amy happened to chance upon them & decided to try them out on me. Amy's originally from Thailand anyway, so she's very familiar with Thai massage techniques. She promised that the heat and herbs would help the muscles to relax, far more effectively than even hot stones.

And she's right. It's a truly blissful massage. The first time I had it done, it was a two hour extravaganza, and I was drifting in and out of sleep throughout. When it was done, my muscles were more relaxed than they'd been for days. Pure, utter bliss!

I had another session this evening as the spasms were back again with a vengeance. She mentioned that this massage technique is not so common in Bangkok. We couldn't really understand why. Maybe the setup costs are higher? I'm assuming they'd need a massage table and private room, whereas the bone cracking traditional Thai massage was done on a floor mat with curtains for privacy. Plus there's additional costs involved like oil and the herbal balls of course.

I did look at it when I was last in Bangkok. And the cost is considerably higher. So when in Bangkok, I'll just get my feet massaged so I can continue shopping. I don't know how common Thai Herbal Ball massages are in Singapore, but I'm really blessed to be able to enjoy Amy's pampering whenever I need it. Seems like the best of both worlds for me!