Adventures in Perfumery!

Sooooo, this morning it was really REALLY rainy. Again. It rained so hard that it woke me up at 3:30 in the morning (and then my weather radio went off an hour or so later to tell me there was a flash flood warning well DUH), and it did not stop until around noon. For the past few days the smell outside has been revolting. I think everything is mildewing or molding or decaying because the sun hasn't been out for 2 weeks. After I went to the gym I decided it was time for me to smell something nice for a change, so I went to my favorite fragrance counter. Dillards.

Sephora is good if you want to smell a ton of perfumes and not have someone bother you (aside from marauding hoards of teenagers). At Dillards the sales associates really are on the ball and will show you all kinds of fun stuff if you let them. The first thing I sprayed on was Estee Lauder Sensuous, which I actually LOVE. It is amber and honey and jasmine and just smells beautiful. It isn't a loud pop you over the head sort of perfume, it stays really close and is very cozy and sexy.

Then I wandered over to another counter where another sales lady introduced me to all of these "European Collection" perfumes. SO MUCH FUN. She told me the stories of all of the bottles, and the perfume houses that did them. Perfume is all about seduction and it it starts with the bottles. There's a story to most of them, even if you think they are plain and simple. Trust me, there's something behind it. So once they reel you in with the bottle and the color of the juice (you know that doesn't actually need to be any color, right?), you finally get around to smelling whatever it is you're looking at. Half the work is done before it gets anywhere near your nose. And while I'm lecturing, most of the gender assignment in the fragrance world is all about marketing. I smelled Jesus del Pozo J. Del Pozo In Black and thought it was really sexy for women as well as for men (the SA kept saying it was really "manly" but it was still on the women's counter), and would probably suit me better than the In White version (more feminine).

The second fragrance to go on me (I smelled countless cards) was Roberto Verino's Mellow, which was ok. It was really fruity and sort of sweet. I was aiming for something a little more grown up. So then I tried Tous In Heaven, which was a little warmer and not so childish. This smelled really good, but I knew I needed to wander around the store for a while to see how it went. The SA gave me a sample, and I looked at shoes for a while.

After an hour or so Sensuous was still going strong, while Mellow was fading fast and what I got from In Heaven was some serious bug spray notes. This is not what I aim for in any fragrance. So I returned the sample and then got sucked in by yet another SA who led me over to the Victor & Rolf Flowerbomb (bottle shaped like a grenade, get it?). Holy crap. That stuff is GORGEOUS but really intense (sort of like Chanel Coco Mademoiselle- I love it but I can't wear it because it wears me). She sprayed some of that into my elbow (I was running out of arm space...) and in 5 minutes it drowned out everything else I was wearing. It is not unpleasant at all, but you just need a little tiny bit or you will overwhelm everyone around you.

Then we moved over to the Giorgio Armani bottles. Ahhhh, this is where my grownup scents were hiding. First was Armani Code. Lots of different oranges (bitter, Italian, blossoms), mixed with jasmine, honey, and vanilla. Ohhhh how I love this one. (And can you even believe how beautiful that blue bottle is???) Then she sprayed some of the Emporio Armani Diamonds Intense, which is equally gorgeous raspberry, vanilla, freesia, and vetiver. At first it is very sharp but then rounds out into softness with a rich spicy kick to it. It's another cuddly perfume. I can see myself wearing it at night where I could wear Code to work and not offend anyone. I adore both of these.

I am totally fascinated by perfume and the more I smell the better I am at recognizing what the heck I'm smelling in them. I instantly hate some things- I don't want to smell like a melon or a Jolly Rancher, and I don't want to smell leathery. But once you dig a little bit to see who created these fragrances you can start to see the similarities. For instance, Armani Code was created by Carlos Benaim, who also designed Carolina by Carolina Herrera, Euphoria Spring Temptation, Flowerbomb, and the new Prada perfume. All of which I LOVE, so it makes sense that I like Code too. The perfumer who created Sarah Jessica Parker's Covet also made Euphoria, and the creator of Stella by Stella McCartney (another favorite of mine- I have too many favorites) also came up with John Paul Gaultier Classique- the one where the bottle looks like a torso.

I am a fragrance whore, and I'll be the first to tell you I am. Today I was trying to explain my tastes so I threw out "SJP's Lovely, Coco Mademoiselle, Stella, Victoria's Secret Dream Angels Heavenly, Sage Machado's Onyx." The sales woman's eyes got really big and she tried to be subtle, "Well you're sort of all over the place aren't you?"

Indeed I am!

TMI- you have been WARNED

Ah my rapt audience, I know you're dying to know what is going on in the life of HEATHER. Me. Moi. (Can't you just hear Miss Piggy saying that?) Somewhere in here there is a chunk of life that is more than most of you will want to know. You have been warned and you will be warned again.

THE SUN CAME OUT TODAY. This is a big event, don't you go giving me crazy eyes. It has rained every day since last Monday. Some days it's been rain-all-day rain. On others it has been gloomy and overcast passive-aggressive rain. Either way I am sick to death of it. It is September! We still have a few more 90 degree days to crank out here. But the leaves are just beginning to turn anyway. Poor confused trees.

Oh, and while I'm on the subject of plants, and before I completely gross you out (that's warning #2), check out the little succulents garden I threw together this weekend!
I got these at Home Depot, and none of them were labeled, so it's all just a big fat mystery as to what will happen. Will there be flowers? Will they get enough sun here by my computer? (Not likely in THIS weather.) Will I manage to over-water and therefore kill them? Ohhhhhh probably. I am not good at plants. But these seem like something even I can handle, and I have always loved the crazy geometric patterns and shapes that succulents have. That and the leaves are shiiiiiiny. OOOoooOOOOHHHHHhhhh.

Anyway, back to the original story of bodily functions (WARNING #3!). Before the sun came out I decided to get out of the office to eat my lunch. It was a very exciting lunch of tuna fish and whole grain chip/cracker things. Okay, it wasn't that exciting, but it was cheap. Payday is on Thursday and I'm not buying any foods until then. Anyway, I was driving along to nowhere in particular when I realized that the big Catholic cemetery was coming up. So I turned in there, hung out in my car, enjoyed the rain and the nice view of downtown Nashville. And then... then I realized I had to go to the bathroom like, pronto. (THIS IS THE BAD PART. I GUESS NOT THAT BAD BUT... YOU KNOW.)

Ahhhh IBS. You lord it over me at the most inconvenient, inexplicable times. For the past year things have been good for the most part. Sometimes I eat something too greasy, sometimes I eat lettuce, and sometimes I get so stressed out that my body rebels in the worst way. But really things have been okay. Until today when I'm sitting in the middle of the graveyard and this urge so strong washes over me that all I can think about is WHERE TO FIND. A. BATHROOM. RIGHT. NOW!

I start driving. Gotta go gotta go gotta go. I count the lights between me and the nearest bathroom at a grocery store. Gotta go gotta go gotta go. 5. Just five traffic lights and I'll be there. 4... just four more. Finally, I'm there. I fly into a parking space and (best I can) run into the store. Only to find the sign in front of the restrooms: "Please excuse our dust -we are remodeling for your convenience!" I wish I was making this up. My intestines do a kamikaze death scream. Ohhhhhh this hurts so much! I get back in my car. I drive the five minutes more back to work. I run into the 1st floor bathroom (mercifully empty). And proceed to lose something like 15 lbs. (I bet you thought I was going to leave a present in the cemetery, didn't you???? I am NOT THAT GIRL!)

To say it is hard to live with the unpredictability and pain of IBS is an understatement. There are days when all I can do is drink ginger tea and eat white bread toast, if I eat at all. There are days when I am fine. The only trigger foods I've really found are coffee, milk, sometimes alcohol, and sometimes eggs if they are all I eat. The best things I've found to sooth the raging beast are peppermint oil capsules, ginger tea, and heat therapy. I will sit with the hottest cheapest heating pad (and in my experience, the cheaper ones are the only ones to heat up enough) I can find for hours. The drugs from the doctor (Bentyl for cramping, and Lomotil for diarrhea) leave me spacey and unable to function. One good IBS attack can leave me feeling sleepy and physically beat, and I don't need medication on top of that.

No one really knows why people experience IBS. Some think that those with IBS have overly sensitive intestinal tracts (scroll to the graphs about halfway down the page- this is the most visually informative stuff I've ever seen about IBS), and this makes sense to me. In one person a little gas or indigestion is not a big deal, but for me it is very painful and I feel like an alien is going to pop out of me. Some can handle food with a high insoluble fiber content like nothing is different, for me it feels like all of those little bits of fiber are trying to sandblast holes into me. I have never actually passed out from IBS, the pain hasn't made me vomit (although really not much DOES make me vomit, I'm just not a vomit girl). The more I stay away from coffee the better off I am. It's all a matter of discipline and research. If you have IBS and you need some help, the very best website I can recommend is helpforibs.com. And no, I'm not that Heather either!

Okay, so now I feel like I owe you something really nice since I put you through all of that and you're still reading! Here's a pretty picture of a ring I got this weekend. It is the only thing I bought from 2 shopping trips with 2 different sets of people. It was a rip-roaring $7.49! I think the budget thing is really starting to get through to my brain!Tonight I'm going to make something healthy because I'll be watching that cry-fest known as The Biggest Loser. I get really addicted it every year. Manipulative bastards.

A thought: I keep getting fliers in my mail from the Scientologists. Can I tell you how tempted I am to go to one of their open houses? Every single one says "Open House This Sunday!" Of course, there is no date. Soooo tempting. Soooo not going to do that. Watching the video of Tom Cruise ramble on and on is so creepy I'll pass.

New Bed

Last weekend I decided that enough was enough. I had to get a new mattress. I blame it all on my sister. Okay, I'm kidding, I don't blame her at all, but spending about 5 seconds on her bed made it clear that I had to get a better bed or I was going to lose my mind from lack of sleep due to tossing and turning. Confession: for the past 6 weeks or so I've been sleeping on my couch because it was so much better than my bed. That is bad for my couch AND bad for me. So things had to change.

First, let me tell you about the truly terrible bed I was sleeping on. I have a full size frame with a full size mattress foundation. A few years ago my then-boyfriend and I got a great deal on mattresses at Walmart that were supposed to be temporary. It was an air mattress with a 2" memory foam topper zipped into a mattress cover. The mattress is queen sized. The rest of the bed is full sized. I just slapped that mattress on the full sized foundation and frame and it was not really as big a deal as you'd think. It wasn't like I was falling off the sides or anything. But part of the problem was that it became less and less comfortable over time, and the other issue was that every time I'd move or turn over the air mattress would shift inside the mattress cover and make a sort of creaking noise.

The most difficult part about mattress shopping is that it is so hard to comparison shop or do any research at all. I research practically everything I buy before I buy it. I want consumer reviews, industry reviews, rating systems, and a clear way to make a decision. If I'm thinking I need new mascara I'll spend about 400 years on makeupalley.com trying to find one with the best reviews from people with lashes like mine. When I got my air purifier I spent a long time looking at Consumer Reports ratings and amazon.com ratings and just googling the heck out of the subject. Even before I go to Target and I think I might want to buy clothes I'll go to target.com and see what people have to say about what is currently available. You would be impressed (or maybe appalled) at how long I spent on cnet.com trying to find the perfect cellphone. I like opinions! I want to know what's going to break down too soon. Or what shirt is going to twist funny in the wash. Or if my new mascara is going to flake into my eyeballs.

Mattresses, however, are an entirely different beast. Consumer Reports didn't even review mattresses until this year because they are so subjective, not to mention impossible to compare. Since different companies give the same beds different names so that they can be sold at different stores for different prices, there is almost no way to compare products. And the pricing is INSANE. Apparently the manufacturer's suggested retail price on the mattress set I got was something like $2600. But of course that was slashed in half at the store, so it was $1300. And THEN there was a SALE (because there is ALWAYS a sale) so I got it for less than $700. (I found the set after wandering around the store for a while once I tried out the stuff the salesman told me to. Once he saw where I had disappeared to he told me that was the mattress deal they advertise to get people in the door but usually try to steer people to other sets because it was such a good deal. I can't decide if that was a way of honestly telling me I was getting a deal, or him trying to get me to buy the mattress. Oh probably just a good sales tactic.) Give me a break, no other industry works like that. And unless you cut the thing in half you're not going to know what kind of padding your mattress has. And if it has a lot of padding, how do you know it is good quality? Will it last for the next 10 years? Who knows?

Furthermore, people have vastly different tastes, and this is a huge reason why Consumer Reports didn't rate mattresses (unless it's a Tempurpedic or Sleep Number, I forget which one they liked but it was one of the major ones). This is also why you can't trust online reports. One of the mattress stores I went to had me lie down on all kinds of beds to start: plush, pillowtop, firm, Tempurpedic, and Sleep Number. For a long time I thought I liked firm beds, well it turns out I don't. I like softer beds. I like to feel like I'm sleeping on a cloud. (OKAY not literally, that would be a bad drop wouldn't it?) So if I bought a firm mattress and hated it, of course I'd give it a bad review if I felt like going online to whine about it. But a person who really does appreciate a firm mattress would LOVE it and give a rave review. As a researcher you just can't trust what you read.

So after laying on lots and lots of mattresses in several stores (and YES, you have to lay down on them and yes it is soooo weird. I'm carrying on these conversations with sales guys looking up at the ceiling thinking "Hmmmmm there is no way to make this less AWKWARD!!!!!"), I found one I liked (a Simmons Beautyrest something or other). It was actually the 5th mattress I tried out of countless mattresses. It came with free delivery and free removal of my current bedding stuff (pretty typical of any mattress store). I popped the 2" memory foam topper from my crazy ghetto mattress configuration on there. (I really did agonize about putting the topper on, and then I was like "HEATHER, this is your mattress that you paid good money for. If you want to put a tornado siren and cowbells on it that's your decision.") It is sooooo comfortable. When I lie down it immediately conforms to my body. My back doesn't hurt (sometimes it does for a few minutes when I am on a firm mattress). Oh, and my arms don't go numb while I'm sleeping, which is also a sign of a mattress that is too firm.

It has taken some getting used to, mostly because there isn't any noise when I turn over. How sad is that??? But I really love it and I am actually looking forward to bedtime now. You can't tell there's a new mattress there, and ya'll have already seen it, but wouldn't you like to see my bedroom again?
And check out my fancy moody voo-doo wall art that I ripped out of magazines and framed:

There, now you've had a little tour of my bedroom!

Serious Problem

FRIDAAAAAYYYY!!!! Is anyone happier than me that it is the weekend? No.

The other day in a massive house-cleaning fit I rounded up all of the various moisturizers in my house. I think we can all agree that I HAVE A PROBLEM. Hello, my name is Heather and I am a moisture-holic. Observe:

Is that not insanity? That is more creams and lotions and potions (okay, there is a bar of soap, and a bottle of hand sanitizer- those don't count) than I would use in a year. And this doesn't include big bottles of body moisturizer, or the Lush massage bars that are sitting on my bathroom counter, or the tubes of lotion in my purse. I am a girl with dry skin. The funny thing is that when I find something I like I try not to use too much of it because I want to save it or not waste it or something. Ever since I did my roundup I have been slathering on the lotion- on my feet before I go to bed, on my hands and cuticles, on my arms and legs... I think it clicked that having 10,000 different kinds of moisturizers doesn't do me any good if I don't use them. Oh, and CLEARLY there is a ban on any lotion-type shopping until this pile is used up. So I won't need to buy anymore until something like 2012.

K-Mart Parking Lot

Today around noon I went to K-mart to get a couple of things for my BRAND NEW BED (which I will talk about in another post). I drove into the parking lot and here's what I saw:
Oooookay, if you can't see (and you can always click the image to make it huge) that is a massive empty bottle of Jack Daniels, an empty bottle of wine, 2 mugs, and a trash bag.

Ever since I saw it I've been trying to come up with a good name for this picture, and really to just figure out the context. The other angle (from the road) is better because it's just like BAM! Jack Daniels! But this angle was a little more stealthy because I sort of got the feeling that I was taking a picture of someone's living room. Keep in mind that this was in the middle of a HUGE parking lot, and there weren't any cars around for maybe 20 or 30 yards.

So, was this a teaparty for the homeless? A Sunday night seance? Were those calling up the spirits (so to speak hardy har har) hauled off to jail for public intoxication? And why didn't somebody in one of the surrounding businesses come and haul this stuff off? I mean, it was NOON already!

Wicked

The touring production of the Broadway musical Wicked is in Nashville for 3 weeks straight, playing something like 24 shows, and tickets are now impossible to get hold of. I saw it last night and overall it was pretty spectacular and definitely worth seeing.

Wicked is the story of the witches of Oz, Glinda and Elphaba. It's about how they became witches and got to Oz and met the Wizard, how the Lion and the Tin Man and the Scarecrow came to be. But ultimately it's about power and corrupt leaders and standing up for what is right, even if it means that you're going to be unpopular or even branded as "Wicked".

The two girls who played the leads, Helene Yorke and Marcie Dodd were amazing. Those two have KILLER voices that perfectly blended so that listening to them sing either alone or together was wonderful. There were a couple of times I thought they'd literally blow the roof off of TPAC, they were that good. On Broadway the roles were originated by Kristin Chenoweth (who by the way is AWESOME, I love her) and Idina Menzel and you can definitely feel their influences on the parts.

The sets and costumes were also wonderful, and I was so distracted by the costumes that I really did miss a lot of the story, but I'll get to that in a minute. The costumes, especially for the "Oz-ians" and those flying monkey wings were mesmerizing. There were all sorts of influences from all over the place. The sets were mostly huge gears and set pieces on tracks. It had a really steampunk feel to the whole thing (and I don't really know how to describe that but I'll give it a shot: it's a sort of sci-fi/fantasy subculture that takes a lot of influence from Victorian times or times when steam power was popular- hence "steampunk", and has an industrial/punk vibe- you know it when you see it and it is really REALLY cool). I kept kicking myself for being cheap and getting a ticket up in the balcony because I wanted to see everything better, but I couldn't justify the cost of a $200 orchestra ticket. I wish I could see Wicked on Broadway because I think the show needs a big stage and a big cast to really make it feel as lavish as it deserves to be.

So after all that raving, I have to say that the music and the story were weak. The singing was beautiful, don't get me wrong, but there were only 2 songs I remembered from the entire show once I got in the car. Several of the songs felt like filler while sets or costumes were getting changed around. And the story, while cute, was really predictable. But if you've read this blog for very long you know that I won't let a boring story get in the way if I have good stuff to look at, and this show did not leave me disappointed in that regard.

Here are a couple of youtube clips I found of the two songs I DID actually remember. The first is when Glinda (the blonde, cute, popular, used-to-getting-her-way girl) decides that Elphaba (born green, so everyone is scared of her) is in desperate need of a makeover.



The second song is at the end of Act 1 and it is a total showstopper. Glinda and Elphaba find out that the Wizard of Oz is corrupt and doing everything he can to control Oz so that no one finds out that he actually has no power. Elphaba knows she has to try to stop him, even though she's putting her life in danger. This is the live version from the Tony Awards in 2004.

DID YOU MISS ME????

Hi Everybody!

I am back from vacation and I feel like a new woman. I hung out with my little sis (I call her D. She calls me Feather. It's just one of those things and I'd like to say it goes back to when we were 3 years old but it started in the past year so there is no excuse really.) in DC and I had an AWESOME time. And as usual, I kept forgetting about the existence of a camera. I've been trying to tell people about my trip and it goes something like this: "We went to the Smithsonian- the American History one! And we saw Dorothy's shoes and Julia's kitchen! And we went to Lush! And I got delicious smelling massage bars, and then we went to Sephora and spent, like, HOURS in there! And I got to see my sister's CGM training and that was AWESOME, and we had surf and turf dinner (that she and her friend made), and ate pizza! And there were Sudoku challenges on Facebook! And her apartment rocks and we went and bought pictures and lamps at IKEA to make it feel a little warmer and more inviting! And we stayed up until 2 in the morning playing the Wiimote games on the Wii and got really silly and I suck at shooting ducks! And I got to see her play kickball right smack in front of the Capital building!"

Sooooo, if you weren't there all of that probably sounds a little lame. And I get a lot of looks like, okay now, you did WHAT? So let me see if I can break this trip down a little so it all makes sense. Well, I'll hit the highlights so that this isn't one of those posts like GOT UP. BRUSHED TEETH. TOOK VITAMINS.

On Thursday evening I went to see my sister's kickball team play another team in front of the Capital Building, which was pretty awesome if you're from out of town. It's like, "Oh! There's the capital! Oh! There's the Washington Monument! Oh, they're chasing balls into the street again...." I'd never seen kickball before that I remember so it was pretty fun. The sun was setting and then the moon rose right over the Capital, so photographers went crazy trying to capture the perfect picture (you can see mine below). Then we went to some bar somewhere around there (I'm bad with names) for dinner and D's friend Dana patted me on the forehead because this is what she does with my sister's out of town people. I think. She might need to clear that up for me. Also: witnessed flipcup. Looks like a game some drunk person made up. (Duuuuuh.)

Ohhhh yeah, that's just with my cellphone!
Do you see the little teensy moon?

On Friiiiday we had a DEEEELICIOUS lunch with another of my sister's friends, Magda, at The Cheesecake Factory. YUM. Then we went to D's CGM training, which is really cool if you have or know someone with diabetes and pretty boring if you don't. Trust me on this: technology and science are AMAZING. This is a really fantastic piece of equipment and I'm so glad she's lucky enough to have insurance that allows her to use devices like this.

Saturday was IKEA day. We spent hours in that store. I SOOOOO wish there was an IKEA in Nashville, but it's probably better for my wallet that there isn't. I remember IKEA from when my family lived in Amsterdam a long time ago and we got furniture and household goods there. I'm pretty sure my dad still has a couple of their chairs, and I have a throw rug somewhere around here that I bought a when I was in high school. So it isn't ALL cheap crap. My sister has an IKEA comforter on her bed and I decided it must be called the Flurrfnnurgn because, well, that's just what Ikea does. (And then I had to say Flurrfnnurgn several times because COME ON that name is hilarious. While I'm talking about beds I should also mention that she has a Miralux Rapture mattress which is just about the most comfortable thing on the planet and I'm getting one ASAP. I don't know how that girl gets out of bed in the morning it is THAT COMFORTABLE.)

On Sunday I went with D and her buddy Howie to the farmer's market in Dupont Circle. WHOA. That is one nice farmer's market. It was a really beautiful day, not quite hot, and you could smell the peaches and basil and bread and salsa and although it was PACKED, it was worth it. I don't think Nashville's farmer's market quite measures up, but maybe I just haven't been on the right day and the competition from DC is steep. That night we (well, D and Howie) boiled up crab legs and pan fried steak, roasted potatoes, and cooked corn on the cob. That meal was THE BOMB. The corn tasted perfect, it was really really fresh. The peaches were also wonderful (we used a few that night in daiquiris, the rest we ate for breakfast for the next couple of days). Crab legs are way easier to cook than I ever thought they would be, the only issue was that there weren't any of those claw cracker thingies so we had to just break them apart with our hands. RRRRRRRrrrrrr. I felt very manly.

On Monday we took the Metro in to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. And here's why my sister rocks. Yes, she lives here so she can go any time she wants. So she's not a person who lingers and reads every single word of a display. She ALSO doesn't rush through and then wait around for you and make you feel all guilty. She's got good museum pacing. I totally appreciate that. I think my favorite exhibit was called "Within These Walls" which is a house that was built in the 1700s and then shipped to the museum in the 1960s because it had witnessed so much history but was slated to be demolished. The American Revolution, The Civil War, The Industrial Revolution (when it was chopped up into apartments for the immigrant mill workers, which is so cool because I just learned so much about that in July), World War 2... there was a lot going on there. Of course we had to see Dorothy's shoes and Julia Child's Kitchen (which was freaking PACKED to the gills), and an exhibit on Lincoln, and the one on the First Ladies (I've decided my sister bears a striking resemblance to a portrait of Martha Washington, at least I think that's who it was, but of course a google search just pulls up old dowdy pictures of her and that is NOT what I was comparing her to!), and we pretty much knocked people down flying through the exhibit about the flag. (Snoooooze.)

We also walked in the rain over to the White House because I'd never been that close to it. As we walked up a couple of helicopters took off. Perhaps I saw Marine One! Perhaps I saw a decoy! Doesn't matter, it was still pretty cool! Even the back of the White House is a really beautiful building. My sister wanted to steal the chandeliers, and I wanted to go swimming in the fountain. Elaborate plans were made, but not acted on. And this is why I'm not writing a post from jail tonight.

After that we had to balance all the class and culture by meeting some of D's friends at the Chinese/Japanese restaurant for cheapo beer and trivia. Fun!

On Tuesday we got to go to the Textile Museum. Unfortunately the Amish Quilt exhibit I wanted to see had closed on Sunday (NOOOO!) but we got to see it looking down from the other exhibits right as it was getting packed up. Ha HA! We were sneaky! The other textiles they had were really incredible, mostly clothing from all over the world, some of it very very old (we're talking 500 AD for some of the items from South America). It was still worth going even without the quilts. Then it was lunch at a bookstore near DuPont Circle and off to the airport.

The theme of the weekend really came down to a story my sister told me almost as soon as we left the airport Thursday. Apparently one of the her friends has a neighbor who never leaves the house, and long story very short she had been dead in her apartment for several days. And D's FAVORITE thing to say at the end of this story is, "And... she had cats." Now, we don't know for sure what happens when animals and dead people are in a low food situation, and I don't like to speculate. But my initial, and very vocal, reaction was something like, "THAT'S IT! I have to get married!" Husband scouting is now in full swing here at Chateau Heather.

I love Washington DC. I love how the public transportation is so good. The people seem to be really active and there are lots of public spaces that are well maintained. I'm now lusting after a pair of Dansko clogs for city roaming, even though I don't live in a walking sort of city.

PS As usual my clothes and everything all smelled like smoke because I have nasty smoker neighbors downstairs. My apartment complex has done pretty much everything they can to fix it, but the smell still gets in. So today it came to me in a flash of light and I finally bought an air purifier. Not one of the crazy expensive ones, but a reasonable one from Home Depot. I've had it on in the living room for most of the day and I am pretty sure it's working. Of course the main problem with living in a house that smells like cigarette smoke and that you get used to it and you can't smell it until you're gone for a while. So hopefully it really is dissipating and I'm not just accustomed to it. Does anybody have any other suggestions for how to get rid of this lingering odor? I can't even describe how much I hate it....

PPS For all of that EATING (I mean, really, there was some major eating done) I gained a pound. One measly pound. And would you like to know why? Because in DC you WALK. A lot. I remember when I lived in London it was no big deal to walk 10 city blocks to a less convenient Tube station to avoid changing trains somewhere. Boy did I forget what that was like until I was back in a major city.