Whoah, 2011, where have you gone!? It’s been quite the exciting year here at Spa Week. Our gift cards just launched in over 17,000 retail stores, the company is expanding quickly, our Facebookers and Tweethearts have doubled (and are better than ever – we love you!), and Spa Week Daily has taken on a real life of its own.

Kick back and let’s reminisce: After analyzing all the blog stats from 2011 along with social media impressions, we’ve compiled the most popular blog posts, memories, and moments of this incredible year. THANK YOU times a million to every single one of you who reads Spa Week Daily. You know – on those days it seem like we’re blogging into oblivion (fellow bloggers, you know what I’m talking about), it’s YOU, our wonderful readers, who keep us going. Thanks for the memories, the likes, the tweets, the comments, the suggestions and the LOVIN’ – we can’t wait to do it all over again in 2012!

11. YOU DITCHED SODA

Joy Bauer challenged Spa Week Daily readers to quit drinking soda for two weeks, and look how much healthier you are now! Yes, one of the major blog features we launched in 2011 were our Health Challenges hosted by industry experts – little lifestyle changes to try out for two weeks to make you feel your best. Out of all seven thus far, ditching soda remains #1 in terms of traffic and participation. Click through our growing Panel of Experts to your right, my left, to see each expert’s priceless life tips along with their challenge. Stay tuned for more fun in 2012!

10. FEATHERS IN YOUR HAIR

Did you fly away with the hottest hippie hair trend of 2011? Pheasant Feathers, those long, skinny pops of color that began infiltrating everyone’s hair last winter and spring, were featured right here on Spa Week Daily before they hit the bigtime. Stacey Gersten, who was later featured in the New York Times for her red-hot feather business out of her studio apartment, gave you the Pheasant Feathers How-To right here first. This beauty phenom was certainly not one for the birds!

9. THE NO POO MOVEMENT

Speaking of hippie hair trends… women from all walks of life joined together for the No Poo Movement in 2011, ditching their trusty, but often too harsh, shampoos in the name of healthier, smoother and more lustrous locks. The theory is: that annoying “grease” that builds up is actually good for your tresses, and if you can hold off from cleaning it for a bit, it’ll do you good. Some managed for two whole months, while others, like Michelle, experimented for just a week. See how she fared for 7 days with the help of hair tools, products and accessories, and YES it was totally worth it!

8. SPA WEEK JOINS FORCES WITH THE BIGGEST NAMES IN WELLNESS

First came our Get Fit For Summer sweeps with America’s toughest trainer, Jillian Michaels, then Today Show nutritionist Joy Bauer co-hosted our Fast Track to Health giveaway. Then we gave away spiritual leader Deepak Chopra‘s brand new Leela video game along with an Xbox + Kinect. Now, we’ve partnered with nutrition expert and author Keri Glassman to give away a grandiose nutrition package and a lavish trip to… WAIT, you didn’t see it yet!? It’s time to change that.

7. THE HOT MOM SPA SQUAD GOT HOTTER

Although born in 2010, 2011 was really the year our Hot Mom Spa Squad caught fire. In an effort to encourage moms everywhere to trade in Pampers for pampering, our squad is filled with mommy blogging influencers, blogging about spa and spreading the wellness word.  We’ve got nearly 100 (VERY HOT) moms involved so far, and our squad is expanding all the time. We also hosted our first ever big Hot Mom Spa Night NYC. There were much-deserved massages, mini-facials and perfect eyebrow waxes for all, and check out the video… your kid did WHAT!?

6. AND YOU THOUGHT VAJAZZLING WAS DEAD…

“Vajazzle.” “Vajazzling pics.” ”Vajazzling during sex.” ”Vagazzle” spelled wrong, although it does admittedly make more sense that way. Although in 2011 we’ve hardly let out a peep about that infamous break-out beauty trend of yesteryear (landing #1 on our 2010 roundup), we still get a significant number of curious folks Googling their way to Spa Week Daily to get the lowdown on putting sparkly crystals on their lady parts. If our organic blog traffic is any indicator, vajazzling is not dead, my friends! (Even though vajazzling trendsetter Cindy Barshop’s reality TV career is.) On a more 2011-y note, the boys have hopped on the bandwagon too. Our Pejazzling photo shoot is where it’s at.

5. TWEETING YOUR LITTLE HEARTS OUT

In July we launched our first ever “Tweet-a-thon,” a fun, fast-paced product-a-day giveaway called #WinDailyWinItAll, where the grand prize winner literally won it ALL. The theme was “summer fun,” so graphic yoga mats, sunglasses and popchips all made the hot list. To close out the year, we twisted the tweet-a-thon and wrapped it in tinsel for the holidays – have you checked out #12DaysOfWellness yet? It’s gotten thousands of twitterbirds singing, come join in the fun!

4. A 9/11 NOD TO FREEDOM

This year we held hands and held our heads high as the ten-year anniversary of the saddest day in recent American history came and went. We were thrilled to be able to feature an exclusive look behind the rebuilding of Ground Zero, from the point of view of one of the construction workers on the job. Check out Stephanie’s exclusive interview and close-up photos from One World Trade Center, proudly one of our post trafficked posts of the year.

3. HERE COMES THE BRIDE, THERE SHE GOES VIRAL

Whether you’re getting married soon or not, our Wedding Wednesday column has proven to be fun for all. We’ve posted a handful of wedding diddies this year that got quite the resounding I DO. Take a walk back down the aisle with the top wedding posts of 2011: The most epic wedding video ever (Dirty Bit!), that phat throwback 90s wedding music video invitation (saved $1000, yeah don’t be jealous!), 12 adventurous cake concepts, and how to be super creative about announcing your engagement on Facebook.

2. EATING FOR BEAUTY

Amazing, healthy skin is something we all strive for, and understandably one of the main reasons many of you visit Spa Week Daily in the first place. Well, one of THE most popular blog posts of 2011 was Michelle’s triumphant skincare diet experiment: Dr. Perricone’s 3-day “Eat for Beauty” Skincare Diet. In 3 days this strict diet made her skin glow like no other, and made us all believe that salmon, eggs, greens, olive oil and a handful of other specific natural foods could trump any serum or scrub in your beauty cabinet. In fact, Dr. Perricone made this diet his Spa Week Daily Health Challenge. If you haven’t yet, try it for your next big event!

1. ALL YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW: WHEN IS SPA WEEK!?

In the ranks of our most trafficked posts, it makes us smile that the Official Announcement of the Spa Week 2011 Dates came out in the top of the top! Those $50 spa treatments are the core of our company, indeed. Between social sharers and Googlers, it’s a fact: Everybody wants to know when Spa Week is. So, what are the Spring and Fall dates for 2012, you ask? You’ll just have to wait for the official blog post to come in the New Year! Blog traffic aside, we can’t wait to spread word about Spa Week’s flagship event; to pamper North America once again in $50 relaxation, beauty, health and wellness.

Here’s to another great year – see you in 2012!