SEAN KREBS

Thirteen years ago my then-boyfriend and I moved to trong>NYC on what I will always remember as being the hottest day ever (it was July 4th weekend).  What should have been just under a 4 hour drive from trong>Boston, turned into an eternity when our trong>U-Haul got a flat tire on the highway (in retrospect it was actually repaired pretty quickly--  in just over an hour).  When we finally got to the city, we still had to unload our truck full of furniture and heavy boxes (books, clothes and many, many magazines)--  and bring it up 4 flights of crooked stairs--  just the two of us.  Our couch wouldn’t fit through the apartment door once we finally managed to drag it up there--  which meant that we then had to bring it all the way back down and leave it on the street.  Luck was actually on our side when we found a parking space for the 17-foot rental truck right on our street (much-needed since it was too late to drop it off by the time we were finished).  Of course, I didn’t sleep all night thinking that someone would steal it--  even though our apartment was on the trong>Upper East Side (at 65th Street and 1st Avenue) not trong>Hell’s Kitchen (let’s remember that this was 1994, long before all of trong>NYC was gentrified).  The next morning we had to make a 3-point turn in the middle of trong>Central Park once we realized that the truck was too tall to fit under a pedestrian bridge--  fortunately, this was easier than it sounds since it was 8 o’clock in the morning on a summer (holiday) Saturday in the city.

We only lived in that apartment for one year--  we didn’t have a couch but we did have two very uncomfortable, very upright wingback chairs (covered in a heavy country plaid from my parents home in trong>New England) that we sold to the woman who does trong>Donna Murphy’s wigs (for all of her trong>Broadway shows) when we moved to the trong>East Village.  Our romantic relationship didn’t last much longer (we had one year together in the apartment on trong>Avenue A--  with squatters outside of our front door plugging their electric razors into the light post to give each other mohawks)trong> but we have been best friends ever since (not including the year that we didn’t speak to each other to “get over the break-up”).  And through it all, my love affair with trong>NYC never faltered--  though it’s totally necessary to find solace somewhere else from time to time.  So, I was very pleased to find two wonderful places to escape the trong>Mean Streets of trong>Manhattantrong> without even having to deal with the dreaded traffic on trong>FDR Drive…

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trong>Delluva Vinotherapy Day Spa
The only form of vinotherapy (or wine therapy) that I knew about was of the drinking variety (I’ll never say no to a glass of trong>Penfolds Grange), so my curiosity was piqued when a friend told me about the trong>Delluva Vinotherapy Day Spa--  trong>NYC’s first spa totally devoted to wine-based treatments and one of the first of it’s kind in all of the trong>United States (thetrong> name comes from the Italian conjunction dell ‘uva, which means “of the grape”).

Upon entering the spa (located downtown on a cobblestone street in trong>Tribeca) in the morning of a humid summer day last month, I was immediately put at ease by its rich burgundy walls and dark wood accents.  trong>Diane Hanson, the owner (and a licensed esthetician), personally walked me through the nine steps of the trong>Delluva Men’s Facial ($120) outlining the specific benefits of each of the unique products used--  like trong>d’Vine Bordeaux Mask, a signature formula containing grape seed extract (which is known to decrease bruising and accelerate wound healing) as well as trong>d’Vine Petite Syrah Cleanser and trong>d’Vine Grenache Mist (which can also be used as refreshing room spray!).  These three antibacterial products (and the entire trong>d’Vine range) contain the highest concentration of resveratrol (a natural compound found in red wine that acts as a anti-inflammatory and may even protect against cancer) available for consumer use today and have fewer chemical preservatives than traditional skin care products (check out trong>dVineInc.com for more information).

I asked trong>Diane which treatment do men ask for most (the trong>60 Minute Massage for $115), what should every guy know before entering any spa (“The spa experience is meant to put you at ease--  don’t be afraid to ask questions”) and, most importantly, “Why vinotherapy?”.  Her response to the latter?  “Just as a glass of wine a day is beneficial to your heart, using vinotherapy skincare products on a daily basis introduces powerful antioxidants to the skin that combat age-advancing free radicals (those pesky molecules that develop in your body from environmental pollutants and sun exposure)”.trong>

trong>Delluva Vinotherapy Day Spa  is located at 152 Franklin Street introng> NYC.  Call 212-937-7757 or visit trong>DelluvaSpa.com to book an appointment or for more information.

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pan class="pageSubheader">Phyto Universe on the Upper East Side.

Hopefully you have noticed that I am growing my hair out--  I have had the same haircut for over 10 years and I finally decided that it was time for a change.  My boyfriend hates it and some of my readers have even e-mailed me to say that I look better with shorter hair.  Regardless, I’m letting it grow for now--  and to actually help stimulate  growth I decided to have a treatment called trong>Botanical Bliss ($150) at trong>Phyto Universe (located uptown near trong>Bloomingdale’s--  in the neighborhood where I first lived in the city).

trong>Phyto Universe is the passionate vision of trong>Patrick Alès, the creator of trong>Phyto (the hair care brand loved by trong>Ken Paves--trong>  hair stylist to the stars including trong>Jessica Simpson and trong>Eva Longoria).  Inspired by the trong>Place Vendôme in trong>Paris, this 6,000 square foot beauty oasis is home to a two-sided “vertical garden” created especially for the “vertical city” of trong>New York.  It is the largest hydroponic (meaning the roots grow in a liquid nutrient solution rather than in soil) plant wall in the trong>United States,trong> measuring 2,850 square feet, and boasting plants (over 9,000 varieties from trong>Rhododendrums to trong>Ferns) from all over the world--  including trong>The Amazon, trong>Africa, trong>Guyana a

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