Today I'm 33. Time to die for the sins of the world. Or time to come out of the desert and start my life's work; I forget which. One of those.

I've had a great day, filled with snuggles from my daughters and GIRL TIME at a clothing exchange party at 3countylaugh's -- and yes, there was boozing and dishing and nekkidness! I had some pomegranate liqueur, which I mixed with blueberry juice and put over ice, and it was sweet and anti-oxidant-errific. There was also wine, soy jerky (not my thing), veggies & dip, and "Smart Puffs," yum.

Those of us who had been through labor ended up (of course) talking about our labors. Other women's labors are a source of endless fascination to me. I met some fab new people, some of whom are about to move closer to me, hooray!

Oh, and did I mention I got fabulous new clothes? And did I mention they were free? I got a fitted leather jacket -- I've never owned a leather jacket before! -- some WICKED pointy black leather strappy boots originally from Nordstrom, a dramatic cape from Italy, a whole bunch of skirts and tops, and a dress that looks like I was poured into it. Rrrrrrrr.

Also today, Andrew made me a Chocolate Cheesecake for my birthday. Wellllllll, honesty compels me to admit that him making me the Chocolate Cheesecake was my idea. And I was the one who went to the store for the ingredients. And I ended up making most of it myself. But he totally gets all the credit for it. :-)

Right now one kid is in bed, the other is almost in bed, and later will be the Eating Of The Chocolate Cheesecake with tatterdamelion and son upstairs for the occasion. And then I'll get to put away all my Fabulous New Clothes and *squeeee* again at the awesomeness of getting rid of old clothes and getting new wonderful clothes, free, from fabulous people who could tell me the story behind some of the things I got.

Getting together my list of perfume samples to order from Black Phoenix. They sell 6 sample vials for $19.50. Ouch. (I've found reviews, though, that say even a tiny vial will last a long time, so... Anyway, it's cheaper than flying to California to test them in person during the rare times their brick-and-mortar store is even open. And if there's a similar place here in Seattle, I'd love to hear about it, but so far I haven't heard of one.)

So, 6 scents for $20. I don't want to expand to 12 scents unless a few other people are also interested and willing to kick in $10 for three vials of their own. We could have a smelling party! :-)

Any opinions?

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab sells perfume oils, esters, and essences.

They sell them with black-and-white, sorta-kinda-creepy Charles Addams-inspired art, Gothic lettering, eccentric names for scent lines -- "Picnic in Arkham," anyone? -- but most importantly, they sell them with words. Lots and lots of beautiful, dark, creepy, spine-tingling words.

I am feeling the urge to shell out money to get 6 samples mailed to me. But what to choose? I could navigate this site for hours reading and imagining the scents that go with these descriptions.

Words -- the ultimate seduction.

(I just wish the font on their site were a bit larger. But that's what Control + is for.)

Anyway -- come with me, if you will, and sink into the following descriptions' pillowy verbiage... and this is just one category of 25 or so!...

( Somnium )

I feel like going to bed and dreaming dark dreams. And I haven't even bought a thing.

This morning I put on a necklace and a ring we sell in our store, as well as my wedding/engagement ring.


  


So in total, I am currently wearing seven diamonds, one fiery Australian opal, one section of Australian opal still in its original ironstone matrix, one piece of Peruvian chrysocolla in its natural crystal form, and one faceted pink tourmaline.

I fear that any dwarves in the area are closing in on me with their pickaxes. Flee! Flee!

FACT 1: My company Christmas party is this Thursday at the Lake Union Crew Rowing Club. I don't believe we'll be, you know, rowing or anything. I think we'll be wearing nice clothes and milling around enjoying canapes and the open bar.

Two years ago I stunned everyone by showing up looking greater than they'd ever thought I could look. A sad testament to the usual drabness of my office attire, I fear. Still, I enjoyed the glamourous feeling so much that I am tempted to try to outdo myself this year.

I have a red plaid party dress I bought over the summer that I have never worn, but I have no shoes to go with it. Sadness!

I'm not at the level of some people at our company, who have been worrying about what to wear for awhile and who were apparently considering all showing up in matching colors. Yeesh. Still, I would like to put my best foot forward, just to prove that even a 30-something mom of two can look smokin' when she feels like it. ;-)

FACT 2: Some friends are hosting a Yule vigil, starting at sundown on Friday and going all night, until the sun comes up Saturday. I am seriously considering swinging by for a few hours after the girls go to bed Friday night; Andrew will be running his "Harmonium" game, but I can duck out of that without much trauma.

People who hold Yule vigils are, as a rule, non-conformist and anti-establishment and just interesting to hang out with. More materially, they almost always have extensive liquor collections, and it's pretty much my sworn duty to go investigate that to the full extent of my investigatory ability.

I turn to you for help, O Internets! What should I weeeeeeeeeeear to my various functions???

Poll #1107243 Help Catherine Look Fab
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

What should Catherine wear to the company party?

OK, now what should Catherine wear for the Yule thingie?

OK. So today was the day I would feel Pretty and Pampered, courtesy of the lovely, gracious, and far-more-experienced-in-the-ways-of-glamour autumnbottom. She came over to pick me up, and spontaneously volunteered to help assemble the wren's "new" crib upstairs (oddly enough she and scifisy had set it up for me the first time, back in June of 2005!). And then, flushed with accomplishment (or maybe that was just me), we betook ourselves to the nearest Vietnamese nail salon.

This place was very authentic. Cheesy, fingernail-centric photographs adorned the walls -- including one amazingly cheesy picture of someone's be-taloned hands holding -- I kid you not -- a submachine gun. Because nothing says "tough as nails" like a woman with 6-inch long claws and a Kalishnikov.

There was a little mini-shrine by the front door, offering the resident gods of prosperity the usual offerings -- whole heads of sprouting garlic, whole persimmons and apples, sticks of incense (unlit), five little cups of water all in a row, someone's half-finished iced latte (really! -- the gods must like coffee!), and what appeared to be a little to-go cup of tartar sauce. The gods must also like fish sticks, I guess? I almost went into Comparative Religion, so I eat that stuff up with a spoon. (And coincidentally, a plastic spoon was still sitting in the plastic cup of leftover iced latte.)

And for a time, all was well.

Our PEPS group held a baby shower Thursday night, and I was given something I've never been given before... a gift certificate to a spa. And not just any spa... the Nordstrom Spa.

The gift certificate's presentation was amazingly detailed. It's not enough that there's a gift card -- it has to come in a silvery cardboard folding sleeve, wrapped in white and silver tissue paper, inside a matching silvery box wrapped in a bow. There's a small satiny ribbon to use to actually lift the gift card out of the sleeve (so you don't have to pry at it with your fingernail. Spa Nordstrom does not endorse nor support the prying of anything with your lovingly maintained fingernails.)

Nestled in the box beneath the cardboard sleeve is a booklet detailing the spa's offerings. Every component of the above list, including the ribbon that ties the box, is emblazoned with the words "Spa Nordstrom."

I'm one of those people who love to daydream about the experience almost more than I enjoy the actual experience itself. I used to eagerly await the publication of the college courses for the upcoming semester, and flip through it for hours on end, imagining different classes I could take.

This little "menu" offers an endless variety of speculation. I could go on and on, but I'll keep it brief...

Every few weeks, MSN's "movies" area features a new write-up of horrible celebrity outfits. A new one was posted a couple of days ago at this link.

The writing is hilarious, the outfits are really truly dreadful, and I've learned a lot about the celebrity world... to which I have no other exposure at all, beyond glancing past "People" headlines while waiting in line at the grocery store.

Here's a couple of quotations to mull over:


"The reader is reminded, quite seriously! that all the language arts involve either spelling — the laying of spells — or grammar — glamorie,¹ the knowledge of magic."

(Footnote: Walter W. Skeat, in A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language (Oxford, 1901), writes: "Gramarye: magic. (F.-L.-G.) M.E. gramery skill in grammar, and hence skill in magic—O.F. gramaire, grammar.; see Grammar. O.F. grammaire, (1) a grammarian, (2) a magician. Para. The word glamour is a mere corruption of gramarye or grammar, meaning (1) grammar, (2) magic.")


And,

"The art of swearing flourishes only in a high civilization, and the loss of that art and its powers is a great one."


--From "The Melancholy of Anatomy: Cussing, Cursing, Swearing, and Spelling, " an article by Richard Burnett Carter to be found in the May 2002 edition of The Vocabula Review (vol. 4 no. 5). (A subscription, sadly, is necessary to view the content of articles past the first paragraph or two).

Here's Vivian getting her first professional haircut:

http://leukothea.smugmug.com/gallery/2303200/2/121316599