Yesterday, I Was Only Human

Yesterday, I Was Only Human Content with me actually in it is notoriously hard to come by. I’m usually behind the camera. Behind the facial bed. Behind the scenes making sure everything looks, smells and feels exactly the way I want it to. So, on a Sunday—my day off—to work I went. The plan was simple: get some beautiful lifestyle content of Pampered Aesthetics. The kind that looks effortless and perfectly curated. Me doing what I do. The spa looking moody and beautiful. A client peacefully melting into the bed. Very Pampered Aesthetics. And then apparently the universe decided we needed a little more authenticity. Every morning when I come into the spa, I sage the space, hoist my incense into its holder and carry on. It’s part of my ritual. The scent, the quiet, the reset before someone walks through the door. Yesterday, the fire alarm decided I was doing an exceptional job. Mid-facial: “FIRE. FIRE.” Yes, I’m pretty fire at what I do, but the flashing lights felt a little excessive. Nothing was on fire. Everyone was fine. The incense had simply decided to participate in content day. We recovered. The facial continued. Surely that would be the end of it. It was not. For the first time in all the years we’ve owned our big, beautiful draft horse, he managed to get himself stuck on the fence. Fret not. Naturally, this also happened during the same service. At this point, the perfectly curated Sunday content shoot had become less “luxury lifestyle editorial” and more “follow Jess around while increasingly ridiculous things happen.” And this is particularly funny to me because I am all about a perfectly curated experience. When you come to Pampered Aesthetics, I want everything to feel intentional. The lighting. The scents. The warmth of the bed. The products. The treatment. The tiny details you probably don’t consciously notice but would absolutely notice if they weren’t there. Much like my content, I want Pampered to feel exactly the way you expected it would when you decided to book. Beautiful. Moody. A little different. And very, very good at what we do. People will occasionally remind me, “Jess, you’re only human.” And generally, I’d disagree. I am always fire. Yesterday? Yesterday I was only human. Thankfully, my client was also a friend—the kind of client who has unknowingly signed up to be the victim of your first attempt at a new service, the first person subjected to a camera in the room while trying to relax, and apparently the first person to receive a facial accompanied by a building-wide fire announcement and an equine emergency. Today I could pretend none of that happened. I could post the beautiful photos, write something polished underneath them and let you believe Sunday looked exactly like the final images. But that doesn’t really feel like me. I pride myself on Pampered being a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of place. Sometimes what you see is beautifully curated. Sometimes it’s incense smoke, flashing fire alarms, a horse stuck on a fence and me trying to maintain the illusion that everything is completely under control. I’m definitely blaming the eclipse energy. And today, instead of showing up perfectly curated, I’m just showing up as myself. Human. Occasionally a hot mess. Still pretty fire at facials. And those photos better be damn worth it.