My bags are mostly packed. According to my packing list, I am missing three garments (which are hanging on the drying rack in the laundry room). The rest of my clothes are packed into my nearly overflowing suitcase. Yes, I have overpacked clothes, but my suitcase can handle it and this gives me an abundance of choices when I don't feel like wearing a particular something one day. I'm not so flush this year that I can zip down to Fashion Bug and buy a whole new vacation wardrobe because I hate my clothes.

I need to pull out my kites -- they're stashed somewhere in the craft room -- and put those with all the pool floaties. I need to remove my bike mirror and stash that in my bike bag which will get stashed in my bike basket with the helmet. The camera is in my laptop bag. Need to verify that all power cords are stowed there as well.

My plans for the evening include laundering our bath towels and bed linens and vacuuming so we can come home to a clean house. Also need to determine which cosmetics will go. BPAL's "Sea Rat" will definitely be on the list as that's become my October beach scent.

It's been a whirlwind of a day. Weigh-in, blood draw, post office, recycling center, and podiatrist all before 10:30am. The weigh-in was surprisingly good despite my binging on spoonfuls of peanut butter this past week. Eleven pounds in five weeks? Hells to the yeah! Plus? I am six inches smaller. HALF A FOOT, PEOPLE. As the Kool-Aid Man would say, "Oh YEAH!" The blood draw was quick and fairly painless. Good phlebotomist, you get a cookie. My GP will have all my numbers ready for my yearly check-up next month. The podiatrist gave me some bad news: I have plantar fasciitis and a heel spur. My left foot is taped up (the tape around my ankle is driving me INSANE) and I have to sleep in a splint. I need to call my insurance to see if they'll cover custom orthotics, joy and rapture. It could be worse, I suppose. This is going to make walking on the beach in a week and a half interesting.

In BPAL news, yesterday was like BPAL Christmas. I received packages from two decant circles: Dawn scents and Halloweenies. Sadly, those multi-hued imps of precious oils must remain spread out on the dining table until my body chemistry is back in whack next week. It took me a few hours to figure out why my beloved Coconut + Hibiscus shower gel topped with Tiki Queen oil REEKS today. Stupid chemistry.

Let's see, what else? Oh! Hubbyfink has been tending to our bikes. I cannot wait to pull mine out and hit the trail this weekend when the weather behaves like it should. Tomorrow, we're supposed to break the record high of 94F. Loverly.

Hubbyfink and I spent Saturday at sutragirl and snolan's home for the meeting portion of the La Belle Compagnie Summer Gathering. In a stroke of genius, I remembered to bring my BPAL collection for an impromptu sniffing by my friends. sutragirl, shalmestere, chargirlgenius, smiep, and ichseke all walked away with new-to-them bottles of perfume. Hee!

When not stinking up poor, long-suffering snolan's dining room with gothic perfume, I sang a couple of songs with shalmestere, dined on delicious Mediterranean foods and brats, imbibed one of thatpotteryguy's potent strawberry daiquiris, and pruned myself nicely in the hot tub. Anyone who says that history buffs are boring has obviously never met my friends.

Today, I am off to the Maryland Renaissance Faire with pirategirleee. No, we are not dressing up. I am much more comfortable being a tourist. Oh, and meals on sticks. Mmmmm. Anyway, time to sign off so I can get ready for a day in Sherwood Forest.

I think I've been swaplifted and it's ticking me off. The seller had wonderful feedback (and we'd had a good transaction when I sold her a bottle a few months back), but it's been over two weeks since I paid and she hasn't responded to private messages. Grr. Another couple of weeks and I can report her to the swap mods.

I cancelled last night's call because I simply wasn't up to reading ten pages of notes to a disinterested audience. It also didn't help that most attendees of the call are on leave this week. Everybody has the notes in email and they can or cannot read those notes as they please. No skin off my nose.

With my newly acquired "free time", I sewed the bodice lining to the skirt, sewed the armholes and made six of the twenty-four lacing holes. I need to finish the lacing holes so I can don the dress and mark the hem. The dress should be done tonight. I am hopeful, anyway.

I'm also hopeful that I will stop feeling like death warmed over toast sometime this week. I left work early yesterday and crashed out for a couple of hours. Hubbyfink's concerned, but I know it's just a really bad allergy attack (all physical signs point to that, anyway). The Zyrtec will eventually kick in and do its thing. In the meantime, my abs are getting a decent workout from marathon sneezes and coughs. Whoo hoo.

I left home this morning without applying perfume to my wrists and neck because 1) I was in a hurry and 2) I couldn't decide which scent to wear, and I've felt naked all day. Well, I was just resting my chin on my hand and was able to smell Carnaval Diabolique, the perfume I wore yesterday. Huh? Both wrists, which have been lying on the wrist rest in front of my keyboard, have apparently absorbed the leftover CD from said rest. Ha!

I had a jam-packed fun weekend, and I'm pretty much shattered by it. If ever I'd thought I might be an extrovert, this weekend confirmed that I'm definitely, absolutely not. Oh, everything went well: I had a grand time Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and Sunday; but being "on" for so long left me feeling hung-over and fragile. I'm working from home today so I don't have to be around people.

(Note from Saturday, psalite has been well and truly enabled with BPAL perfumes. Ha ha. Coldie and I loaded her up with a dozen or so imp vials. Coldie and I also swapped imps and bottles between ourselves: my Knecht Ruprecht and Blue Moon 07 for her Chaos Theory IV: CDLXIX and Hexennacht 08. Sweet!)

It's the fiscal end of year for local exchequers and I spent much of the weekend cleaning reports for people. I'm kind of nervous that I've heard from so few; this week could be madness as procrastination catches up with folks.

There's a light covering of snow out front and we're supposed to get some showers or flurries later today and tomorrow. Wednesday looks like it'll be nasty weather-wise. I can't wait!

...and it was grand.

Friday night the 'fink and I met dmn4nr and spouseling and K & J for dinner at Ted's Montana Grill. Mmmm... steaky and lemondroppy goodness. And for once they actually had key lime pie when I was ready for dessert. Got home about 10 minutes after the BSG premiere but caught up quickly with the DVR.

Saturday morning I took off for the not-quite-wilds of Pennsylvania to retrieve danabren and meet woodwindy at the east coast BPAL mecca. I had a couple of false starts, though. Since the air temp in Sterling was a mere 3 degree farenheit (the coldest I've ever been), both the Prius and Jeepfink were cranky. The Prius wouldn't stay in gear; it kept slipping from drive into neutral. When I couldn't make it to the end of the street without it slipping three times, I decided I shouldn't take that particular vehicle on my three-and-a-half-hour sojourn. Blessedly, Jeepfink started but the brake light stayed on through much of northward trip. The brakes were fine, if a little mushy; I made sure to keep extra braking distance between myself and other vehicles.

But! The meat of the trip: BPAL! Shelly had prototypes of the new Lupercalia blends and I fell in love with only a few of them. I was disappointed with the Ode to Aphrodite line and surprised to like many of the Shunga line. Shelly didn't have any of the Lupercalias in stock so I managed to escape the shop with dropping a fairly small chunk of change instead of the significant chunk I'd planned upon. We wound up hanging around the shop for several hours as it seemed that Shelly really needed some folks to talk with. She was in bright spirits when we finally headed out for our late Sonic lunch.

woodwindy and her friend headed home after our quick lunch with everyone piled in the Jeepfink, and danabren and I hit the kitchen stores at the local outlet mall. She talked me into a set of three springform pans for $10. I don't know what I'll do with them, but I'll be ready when the day I need them comes around. I got her a light-up, burbling goldfish; she got me a mouse-shaped cookie cutter.

Our enthusiasm for shopping finally waned and we rushed back to danabren's neighborhood for sushi. Post roll, million dollar roll, and godzilla roll, ahoy! And lots and lots of hot tea. danabren said she'd turn me into a geisha yet. I lamented that I should've picked up those chopsticks at the kitchen store for my hair. She gave me a look. I laughed and said, "Oh don't worry. I know that only maiko wear chopsticks in their hair." She rolled her eyes.

We parted company after dinner, and my drive home through the countryside (I decided to forgo the interstates and beltways) was uneventful. Did you know that "Ski Roundtop" is the Gettysburg Round Top? I hadn't put the proverbial two and two together until I passed the visitors center exit and then saw the ski routes all lit up on the mountain. Neat!

Yesterday, I was mostly sluglike. I did a little bit of straightening around the house and Hubbyfink and I put away the laundry which has been languishing in baskets for over a week, but that was it. It was delightful.

Hooray for receiving a swap package and a not-quite-expected retail package. Various yummy-smelling perfume samples from hlinspjada (about whom Hubbyfink laments: "why couldn't you trade her for some Viking stuff I'd find useful??") and two bottles for me and one bottle for danabren from Dark Delicacies arrived this afternoon. Holy speedy shipping, Batman.

I think I scared Hubbyfink and Margie with my 180 turn in attitude: *grump*grump* I hate everything and everybody. OH, perfume!!! *hearts*

Never before have I been so thankful for a ( slightly TMI ) so that I can actually sniff the new arrivals.

You know, I'm not even going to go there. Instead, I'll revel in my ability to work from the comfort of my own sofa. Plus, there are many BPAL decants winging their way towards my greedy clutches. So, a couple of good things.

We're still trying to nail down Thanksgiving plans with Hubbyfink's family. Mom, Mimi, Chris and Charlie Bear are already at Aunt Trisha's cabin in North Carolina. Pete, David and John are heading down tomorrow. I kind of wish we were going down, too, but I'm happy to miss the long drive. Plus I get to see everybody in less than a month. Yay! And there's the trip down to Williamsburg I'm making with some girlfriends this weekend. I've heard how beautifully historic Williamsburg is dressed for the holidays; I'm looking forward to seeing it for myself.

A couple weeks ago I tested Vampire Tears and hated it. I decided to try it again today and loooooved it. Yay, body chemistry wonkiness! I've got No. 93 Engine ( (description) ) on the other arm today -- if I'm working from home, may as well give perfumes a test run -- and all I can say is, in the words of danabren, NOM! The perfume smells "white" to me, as in a white light or fields of white flowers. It's soft and gentle and feminine without being sugary. I think it's going to give Mouse's Long and Sad Tale a run for being my favorite scent.

In non-scent related news, I'm surrounded by a riot of color today. The orange-leaved trees are glowing again today. The front of the house is bathed in orange light while the back of the house is blue because of the nearly cloudless sky. I picked a marvelous day to work from home. The windows are open and the four-legged carpet-dwellers are pleased to have a brief return of smell-o-vision.