With summer just around the corner, now is the perfect time to get ready for summer from head to toe – and, as usual, we have the very best way to do it. Our monthly Spa Deals offer savings with an eye toward the beach visits, barbecues, and vacations ahead!

Repair and protect damaged skin with the 55 Min Sun Prep Facial at Spa H in New York  and New Jersey.
Special: $99; Originally: $135

Get ready for summer snapshots with the Professional Teeth Whitening Treatment at Randee Elaine Spa and Laser Center in New York.
Special: $99

Summer means sandals, which means paying extra attention to your toesies with the Drench Pedicure at The Spa at The Crescent at Rosewood Crescent Hotel in Dallas.
Special: $40; Originally: $75

Whip yourself into summer shape with our Spa Deals near you!

For good reasons, red wine gets a lot of love. Grape lovers know it’s loaded with antioxidants and resveratrols, anti-aging and super-health compounds which mean that glass of red you enjoy with dinner is actually good for you. As tasty and refined as it is, though, a plain glass of red wine can seem like an incongruous drink of choice for the summer, when tastes tend towards cooler, more refreshing drinks. Here are three cocktails that will take your wintry, warming reds into killer summer refreshments.

Sangria – Sangria is endlessly customizable, delicious, and, best of all, hard to mix badly. The base is simple to make, and you can build on it with any fruit you’d like to add. Start with oranges and lemons at the very least, but consider adding berries, apples, kiwi, grapefruit, and more – it’s hard to go wrong.

1 Bottle of red wine
1 Lemon cut into wedges
1 Orange cut into wedges
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Shot brandy (optional)
 2 Cups ginger ale or club soda

Pour wine in the pitcher and squeeze the juice wedges from the lemon and orange into the wine. Toss in the fruit wedges (leaving out seeds if possible) and add sugar and brandy, if using. Chill overnight. Add ginger ale or club soda just before serving. 

Kalimotxo – Another specialty from the Iberian peninsula, this Spanish/Basque drink is embarrassingly easy to make and even easier to drink on a hot summer day. The wine plays down the cloying sugar and brings out the spice of the cola. It’s also great way to enjoy a bottle of wine that’s been open for a few days or an inexpensive bottle that you might not want to drink alone. So, yes, this now means that bringing a 6-pack of Coke and a bottle of Two Buck Chuck to a summer picnic just became classy.

Ice
Red wine
Coca-Cola
Lemon wedge, optional for garnish

Fill a highball glass halfway to two-thirds full with red wine. Top with coke. If using, squeeze lemon and drop in.

Dolce Domani - This sweet, fresh twist on Merlot is a good way to enjoy a wine cocktail without straying too far from the more standard glass of wine.

½ lime
2½ teaspoons sugar
3 ounces Merlot
Lime twist to garnish

Muddle lime and sugar. Add wine. Pour with ice into a shaker and shake vigorously. Pour into a lowball glass and garnish with a lime twist.

And until Friday, you can enter to win an entire case of Rioja wine, all the better to practice your “winetail”-making this summer. (And you just might have some left over for next fall!)

Summer’s coming, and with warm weather comes the perfect opportunity to simplify your workout routine. Skip the gym membership for a few months and put that cash toward rooftop hangouts and beach trips – we’ve got three abstemious ways to tone your lower body with minimal equipment needed. The exercises range from downright monastic to still pretty darn simple – because no one should be stuck in a weight room in the summertime.

Most Spartan: Tone legs with just a door (we assume you have one, but if not see if you can borrow a friend’s.) Face the narrow edge of an open door with a footstool placed behind you and grab one side of the doorknob with each hand. Count to 10 slowly as you lower yourself to the level of the footstool (but don’t sit!) Repeat for 100 seconds.

More Spartan: If you’re saving pennies for other summer pursuits, buy in a resistance band – basically a thick human-size rubber band which you can find at most sporting goods/workout stores. It’ll set you back $15-$20 and open up 8 great exercises which allow you to use the strength of your own body to create lower body weight training anytime, anywhere. Great for summer traveling!

Kind of Spartan: If you want to skip the gym membership, but don’t mind spending a little money on equipment, and you’re not afraid to look a little nutty, invest in a pair of Kangoos – boots with large plastic circles underneath that absorb impact and work all the small muscles of your legs that ordinary workouts may not address. Kangoo-ing around your local parks is cheap (after the initial boot investment) and fun, plus you get to look insane – also very in style for Summer 2010.

Who doesn’t want to see their studly beau show up to the beach donning a terry cloth toga? It will look perfect with his tube socks and foliage headdress, right?

All kidding aside, The Wearable Towel is a novel idea, and a brilliant way to piggyback off the success of its cousin the Snuggie.

$19.95 available at WearableTowel.com

Photo by Kevin Meredith

Summer officially kicks off this weekend, and while we all fantasize about oceans and water (we all do, right?) most people don’t have the luxury of living on the coast, or having a poured-concrete pool in the backyard.

I’m not scared of public pools, and although I spent a majority of my childhood learning how to swim at Santa Monica College’s public pool, I was embarrassingly unprepared when I stepped foot on a Manhattan one. I was confronted by a Master at Arms, ordered to purchase a lock, and hosed off like a yard dog covered in ticks. Fun times. But it didn’t scare me, I still went back (in my defense, it’s around the corner from my apartment so accessibility far outweighs its Army-like atmosphere).

This morning I read an alarming article by LiveScience that revealed a recent study conducted by the Water Quality and Health Council. They found that 1 in 5 Americans confessed to urinating in pools (yes, you read that right). One in five! Now look around you and count the number of bodies splishing and splashing–you do the math.

So I ask, would you still swim in a public pool now that you have this information?