stuff is cool

I love it when people enter my apartment and say “wow, it smells so good in here!” That’s because I actually adore fragrances, anywhere and everywhere, and I work to make my home smell awesome. My sense of smell is a source of great comfort to me (consequently I puke if something smells the slightest bit icky.) Some people like soft comfy blankets or listening to relaxing music: I like smelling things.

Even so, I was still suprised at how I excited I got just now by the mere *description* of a particular Yankee Candle called “Fireside.” It claims to recreate the aroma of a cracking wood fire, right in your nonexistent fireplace! If this is true, I will be one very happy girl come winter. I miss my fireplace at the old Wakeforest and Nottingham houses. I haven’t enjoyed my own wood-burning fireplace since I was 12. If this candle delivers what it says it does, I will not only enjoy the sweeping warmth of nostalgia, but the always-pleasant authenticity of a really well-made candle fragance. I can only get it online. So you bet I will be ordering one of these very soon!

And you know, of course, that I will force myself to wait until the first truly cold day to light this candle.

Can’t wait! Unfortunately, it’s only August. Until then I will be enjoying Yankee Candle’s fall scents, perhaps Autumn Woods. I will also employ Home Sweet Home. Well, actually, I won’t use those until October. Until then, I’l stick with Island Spa.

Then, come Christmas, it’ll be back to my holiday favorite, Christmas Wreath.

I actually collect scents, don’t I?

Danny doesn’t enjoy this hobby of mine very much. He gets headaches from some of the items in my collection.

His mere presence is going to ruin what could be a very good movie. Valkyrie, about a failed attempt to assasinate Hitler, has a cast that includes my favorite Brit, Bill Nighy, along with other beloved Brits Tom Wilkinson and Eddie Izard. Why the eff did they cast such an assclown alongside those wonderful, respected, talented men? I want Tom Cruise to crash and burn.

Yes, I am on a little posting binge again, and yes it is again Friday night and I am hanging out by myself. Danny is out of town again (Boulder this time) and my company for the weekend doesn’t arrive until tomorrow. Tonight it’s just me and Gigi, watching Golden Girls.

This evening I finally went to Mixers, Elixers, and IMAX, a weekly shindig at the Museum of Natural Science that runs during the summer It’s a hip scene, with a cash bar, live music, and IMAX movies running every hour. Fashionably dressed Houstonians of all ages mingle amongst the disosaur bones. It’s very cool. We watched a 3D IMAX about lions, leopards, rhinos, and elephants. Each time they started on a new animal, I would think “This is my new favorite animal!”

My friend Jamie is the organizer of the event every week, and she gave me 3 free tickets (for me, Melissa, and Gabe) AND got us all free drinks! She hooks me up, which is why I really want to figure out how to cover the museum in the magaine I write for, as a thank you. I haven’t figured out exactly what story idea to pitch it to the publisher yet, but I will.

Anyhow, I want to take my mom next week!

I have noticed that over the past few months, whenever I have an arthritis flare in my spine or, more recently, a wrenched and swollen toe, I always have horrible breakouts. Normally my skin is pretty much perfect. I am obsessed with taking care of my skin. I have a strict skincare regimen and I enjoy my nightly ritual of removing makeup, washing, toning, and moisturing with an oil-free, salicylic acid moisturizer. I occasionally wear an oxygenating mask. So when I break out, it makes me try to figure out why. And there is a definite pattern. It’s not related to my girly cycle. It’s when something is inflamed.

Last weekend I broke out so bad I had pimples on BOTH of my EYELIDS. They are gone, and the monster on my face has started to go away at last. But I really think there is a connection. As soon as my arthritis starts to flare, my skin goes to hell. I haven’t been able to find anything online that explains it. I haven’t looked into it that much, because there’s probably not much I could do about it. But it’s an interesting (and damn annoying) phenomenon.