Tip: How to Get the Best Table at a Spa

New Friend turning 50 and deserves Fancy Lunch.
Open app to make reservation at Fancy and no tables for 2 at 12:30 available.
No tables at 12, 12:15, 1pm or 1:30.
Reservations for 2 people not available on app.
Tell New to meet me at Fancy anyway, will figure something out.
Get there early.
Do you have a reservation?
No. There were no reservations available but I thought I would try my luck (smile).
Let me see what I can do (no smile).
Server wearing catsuit and mink eyelashes sees me to table and just as other server pulls out chair, a guy comes over and says. She had no reservation.
Mink says Yes but we have this table available.
Other guy says Without a reservation you can sit over here (less desirable part of Fancy restaurant).
Thank you I say. But there was no way to make a reservation because we are two people and the app doesn't take reservations for two.
Guy looks at me like I am dim witted.
That's right he says. The app doesn't take reservations for two. That's why you pick up the phone and call us to reserve your table for two.
Oh.
Never even occurred to me. App said No and I took No for an answer. No Questions Asked.
Pick up my coat and purse and slink over to less desirable section of restaurant which was still extremely Fancy and had a lovely time.

Couple of weeks later Someone Else is turning 40 and spa day is proposed. E-mail suggests that we book our own spa treatments and meet up after to chill and whatnot.
Open app to make reservation for river rock stone massage and no reservations are available for that day. No herbal wrap facials. No aromatherapy reiki sessions. Everything fully booked.
Oh, hey, I know this one.
Pick up phone and ask for reservation for exact time and date that I want. I say nothing to them about the app or possible lack of available reservations online.
They don't mention it either.
Sure, let me book you right in here, says chirpy voice and e-mail confirmation pings before goodbyes are said.

Soon after that, I miss important 45th birthday party and Friend deserves Fancy Lunch just the two of us.
Call Fancy and ask for hot stone seaweed wrap.
Just kidding.

Things to Remember:
1. Apps are convenient but sometimes they are liars.
2. Alexander Graham Bell went to a lot of trouble to make sure we could get tables for two and sometimes he is under-appreciated.
3. If all your friends have birthdays around the same time, you are going to live like a king briefly and spend the rest of the year at Tim Horton's.

Six Things About What Happened When My First Book Review Was Published

1. Cherry Broken: I have been reading since I cracked open my first Trixie Belden mystery when I was four, but this is my first ever published book review. Click here to read it.

2. Heart Broken: I was so excited for the review to come out but I almost missed it because my beloved (revered, adored) great uncle died in his sleep at the age of 93. Read more about him here.

3. Heart Singing: During that same week, my spectacular niece won the Governor General's Gold Medal for the highest marks in her graduating class of high school. This is unrelated but I have been working this achievement into every conversation because I am blown away.

4. Toronto: We were in Toronto for a basketball tournament and my daughter's team won the Gold. (Also working that into conversations.) While I was there I saw my cousin and while I was telling her about the book review, I realized how much she would like the book because cooking features heavily and she is a Cordon Bleu chef. It's on its way to her right now.

5. New Beginnings: Somewhere in this same week my sister left her old job and is starting a new amazing job which is related to the book review because my sister also reads books, also cooks a lot and the narrator of the book has a sister (I think she has two sisters, but all you really need is one).

6. Book Submitted: At the end of this very week (yesterday) I completed my own book and sent the first draft to the publisher. Chances are by next year at this time, someone will write their very first book review about my book. And post six things about it on their blog.