Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Yuzu jasmine

No, I haven't been blogging much.

Being sick with three annoying things in succession -- norovirus, a quick cold, and another one of my back things (aggravation of an old herniated-disk problem) -- filled up the time I usually spend doing things I later blog about. (Postponing and rescheduling my annual visit to my mom in Florida made me berserk, as well.)

Whining and crabbing don't yield much good blogging material, so considering yourself spared.

Now I'm emerging from it all to discover things aren't as grim as I'd feared. I have plenty of writing work to do, and the household and the cats are in good shape. The weather is even pretending to warm up.

Today I went downtown to see Larry Swanson, the therapist who is helping me with the range-of-motion problems I was having with my right arm in yoga class. After the appointment I went to Pacific Place and visited Eddie Bauer, J. Jill, Nordstrom, Aveda, and Williams Sonoma. I scored some great Bremerton-fit pants at Eddie Bauer, nothing at J. Jill, but some new yoga leggings at Nordstrom and a pair of fuzzy bed socks on sale for $2. At Aveda I managed to buy a lip gloss without being lobbied too heavily to buy a dozen related makeup products. (When I say "I don't wear makeup" they look at me and it sinks in that I'm telling the truth.)

The true luxury was what I bought at Williams Sonoma: Five bottles of their dish soap -- wasabi green tea, Meyer lemon, French lavender, Valencia orange, and Yuzu jasmine. The lavender smells like the scented water my grandmother used to spray on her ironing.

These dish soaps work quite well, smell gorgeous, and look elegant on the countertop. Of course they cost more than Dawn. But a few years back, when we remodeled the kitchen, I decided I was never putting a bottle of butt-ugly, toilet-cleaner-blue dishwashing liquid on that beige Corian counter. So I bought some Williams Sonoma liquid in the elegant clear bottle, and have never looked back. Not even when Zorg opened a bottle off the stuff labeled "pink grapefruit" and wrinkled his nose.

He got used to it.

I expect to be back downtown quite a bit this week and weekend, not for more medical/retail therapy, but for the Left Coast Crime conference at the Renaissance Seattle. Linda Richards, mystery author and the founder of January Magazine, will be on a panel tomorrow afternoon about finding mysteries that are "outside your comfort zone."

Interested in crime fiction? I believe there are still conference tickets available.

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