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Bravery Demands Stillness

3 weeks.  Then I go.  Two more nights at home this week before Seattle again.  Boxes, suitcases, wrappings and paper everywhere.  Laundry to do.  Carpets to vacuum.  What am I doing in all of it?  Keeping as still and quiet as I can.  Am about to begin the 3rd Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book...listening to moody girl vocalists, and depressive gothic folksy male ones too...crying...wishing my family would get their brains back in charge and give me a break being responsible, normal, and contained...or at least put my mother in a state where I can talk to her and touch her without the anger, confusion, and sadness of our alcoholic family history brimming up and over and drowning me...burning into my understanding the fact that a 1TB external hard disk has about the weight of Thai napping against my foot so that when I am far from the beloved comforts of a bed with furry babies in it I can at least fake myself out.  

If my life doesn't end as poignantly and love filled as Fried Green Tomatoes - I will be extraordinarily upset.  If that is the payoff, however, I will begin moving again.  Even if I don't have a Thomas Newman score that breaks my heart within five seconds of sound.  

Moving.

Through the world.

Tomorrow.

Promising.  Promising.

I Love Lelo

Lelo - Lust Objectified.  Is it any wonder I am so taken?

So - now I have four Lelo pleasure objects, as they call them, and while I could get into telling you about the items themselves, I expect some of you are not interested in hearing about it.  I need to do so more research anyhow!  Maybe when I leave the country I'll feel content and safe enough to return to my bold and raunchier postings...for now, I'm being downright behaved!

At any rate, the thing I want to share presently hasn't to do with the function of the playthings but the packaging.  Lelo is a Swedish company and touts that about the design.  For me though, the colour selections have made me stupid happy and slowed down the buying process.  Then the things get into my hot little hands and each time I'm just entranced by the packing - sleek cardboard outsides that match the toy colour chosen; black textured hard paper boxes beneath this; simple satin pouches to store the things (mostly white, but a black outside with white inside for the Elise); and then of course - there are little things, like the light purple flowers that are delicately splayed across a black little handheld vibe; and the names - I've got (and I know this will be too much inside scoop for some of you) the Nea, Mia, Ella and Elise.  There are also Gigi, Lily, Liv, and Iris.  Still, the colour coordinated boxes just flip my happy switch.  A small silly thing, and it really settles it in my mind that this is a company that cares about it's product - that they are useful, of course, but also that they are an indulging delight to think of and view, even when on a shelf and as yet unopened.  

If you haven't googled them yourself - go here to see the items contained within the box.  For those of you in Seattle, Babeland does carry some of the line, but not in full and not with all colour options.  They also have a coupon for online use that you get if you join the email list.  FYI.

The real fix though?  They sell gold plated vibrators!  If any man were ever to approach me for some sort of proposal of commitment, I highly advise he present me with a set of Lelo's gold items.  Give me a ring and I'll leave you on the spot - give me pleasure objects and I'll purr.

Important Arrivals!

The post service must LOVE me today.  How else to explain the three eagerly awaited packages arriving in one swift go?  (Two more shipments are expected - bedding and things to bed.)  

First - NEW SHOES.  Earth mary janes from Planet Shoes...just like my superb green boots these were cozy the moment I put them on.  I don't even notice the much famed negative heel.  My own Cinderella brand!  The colour is called Gourdon and I have no idea why - I looked it up and got nothing in my laptop's dictionary; they are like a dark grey velvet - lots of depth to the leather.  Love them.  Love even more that they come in a bazillion colours.  But am only taking these with me.  No more shoe buying for me.  I still have black boots to return to REI.  

Second - Babeland's additions to my toybox.  More Lelo fun.  This time - USB charged off my laptop!  Woo-hoo!  And a metal toy.  I haven't even brought it out of it's box yet.  The girls in the shop were very encouraging about it and the fact that it was out of stock in shop and online and had several pages of ecstatic reviews has me happily thinking I need a little ritual time with Aphrodite to suss it out.  Additionally - metal!  How hygienic is that?  Fantastic, don't you agree?

Seriously though, I am completely smitten with the new crop of environmentally friendly pleasure items on the market.  The days of hunting the house for batteries have ended, ladies and gentlemen, do enjoy yourselves, won't you?  How telling is it that my hippiness is taking over my sexuality?  Or, rather, what does that tell?  Good things, I think, good things.  

Third - the magic number...  my passport has arrived back bearing a MULTIPLE ENTRY STUDENT VISA TO NEW ZEALAND!!!  I can stop being crazy now.  No more 'should I come up with a back up plan?  I don't want a back up plan!' nonsense.  Now, I need to begin earnestly shopping airfares to Ireland for myself and Miss Lit (July 09 is ours!) and get a good grip on the reality of when my visa expires (December 15th, 2009), what the process will be when I'm there to get an additional year, as well as look at my end of term visit to Australia - what and where and who.  (Shut up - I have currently 4 friends there and I'd like to visit them is all.)  

Suncadia Overnight

Had an unexpected invite to stay at Suncadia last night. Did of course. I'm an Adventure Girl, am I not? The above photo was taken late morning. Pretty, yes? More pretty than my freshest of fresh faces below - but my, look at the hair horns! I thought that was too funny not to share. Even my hair knows I'm evil and horny. And the other one, well, I just like the number three so I'm putting it in too.

Laptop Shop Happy

As I've something of a cold I took today easily.  Had hot 'n' sour soup with Fleur (like your blog name doll?) and stopped in the bank to order checks.  At home there was nary a stitch of knitting.  Instead Anthemis and I just snuggled and made our hodge podge way through my newly acquired complete series of AbFab.  The way I managed not to fall asleep was to drive myself to distraction shopping for organic Yoga clothing.  

While I adore New Zealand, and will be in a nice little city with no fewer than three Yoga studios, one of which has a splendid little shop, Yoga boutiques are inexistent the whole country over basically.  Knowing this I have understood for a while that a healthy selection of practice wear would need to be accumulated/procured/collected.  Never mind that I've become the laziest Yoga practitioner EVER.  

Environmentally friendly and colourful items to roll around on the floor in is what I was searching for.  With Mr. Moo curled into the crook of my arm I merrily at first, then confused, and finally exhaustedly selected a mountain worth of Om Girl organic items.  I may of course send a bulk back, but one large shipment of things to sort is much less troublesome to my mind than a huge amount of back and forth.  

Thai has taken, in the week I've been in Seattle, to sleeping in the linen cupboard.  Weirdo.  For just a bit last night he popped on the bed and this afternoon he managed to pester Mr. Moo a bit with some table top tiger warring before falling into a cuddle puddle of washing and sleeping.  With the two of them next to me I was hit distressingly hard by how soon I will be leaving ***6 WEEKS*** and how much I will miss the furry babies.  Right about that depressing moment I happened upon Meow Flannel Bedding on The Company Store's website.  (I ended there because I wasn't certain what price flannel should be going for on sale and wanted a comparison for the Garnet Hill offerings.  I had landed at Garnet Hill after the clothing order was sent, received, and confirmed.  Been working on and off GH for the past couple weeks as they have down on sale and it is apparently my garment and bedding crack.)  Green background flannel with many colours of cats peppered over it with the extra bonus of balls of yarn.  SQUEEEEEEEEE.  

Since I have been home I've valiantly resisted making any bedding purchases.  Not sure why today I caved.  I can always send it back.  But the Meow Flannel set - if it is pleasing to me - it will be going with me to the Southern Hemisphere to remind me of my kitten mittens.  Not that I'll really need it.

Hydroplaning

Is the least dangerous, most common, and least fun winter driving that I encounter going back and forth on I-90.  Today I did pretty well, timewise and weatherwise.  It still sucked massively.  The good news?  I got home in one piece listening to the newest Dido album; Little Brother and Kim were in the midst of kitchen domesticity and in cheerful spirits - cheery enough to give me reign over the master bedroom once more; Anthemis was napping on our little bed upstairs but has moved downstairs with me and onto my lap; there are three episodes of NCIS to watch and a new Leverage as well tonight.  The less good news is that I'm certain I'm going to be knocked out with a head cold for a few days.  The congestion headache is holding steady and my throat is going back and forth between tender and outright painful while swallowing.  Plan - make bed nice and cozy, watch TV, knit, order some down blankets that are on sale, drink good things in bright tea pots, knit, have an easy menstrual cycle, sleep, take warm bubble baths, knit.  And not stress myself any more than really needed by driving back to Seattle overly soon.

Hugs and warmest thanks to the friends who helped brighten my entry into 2009!