(Real or imagined.)

In my current life situation I think a great day would be waking up around 11am, preferably in the first blush of autumn when it’s cool but not cold and the wind has an electricity to it that instantly wakes me up from the inside out. I’d lay there and snuggle the cats for a while, then finally roll out of bed.

I’d have an iced coffee and possibly some breakfast; then I’d go out to a coffee shop, perhaps with my friend Nan, and write for a while. My roomie L and I would go to an afternoon movie at the Alamo Drafthouse (I haven’t been to a movie in…this whole year?), then maybe do a bit of shopping and definitely go somewhere for giant milkshakes (someplace that has ones I can drink too).

Now at this point the day could end one of two ways: A gathering at the house with all my near-and-dears and a very large pitcher of sangria and/or Mexican mules; or a quiet evening in, making something on my table in the living room, while L and I watch a marathon of new TV episodes (Strange New Worlds would be my preference right now) or movies. The party would be fabulous because I wouldn’t have to choose just one lovely person to share my great day with – I could have them all! But then again, just making things, or writing, or reading at home, maybe with one of the aforementioned adult beverages or just a cup of coffee or chai, sounds pretty damn good too. Either way I’d go to bed knowing I didn’t have to get up early, and fall asleep when my body decided to without stress.

Oooh, and it would come up a thunderstorm that night – nothing violent, just wonderful sky music to fall asleep to.

Sure, there are more ideal days I could imagine, but this is what I feel is realistic enough that I don’t roll my eyes thinking about it. True wealth, I have decided here in my 40s, is having a life you don’t constantly want to run away from, and enough money not to be scared all the time. Give me both of those conditions and I could probably have a great day doing just about anything.

Rather than saying obvious things like petrichor, coffee, bookstores, and baby heads (It’s the heads that smell good, right? In my experience babies aren’t purveyors of appealing scents), I think I’ll be more specific.

One

I love the smell that is released from my laptop bag after I’ve been at a coffee shop for several hours. That intense espresso aroma means one of two things: Either I’ve been writing, or I’ve been hanging out with friends (or both). Either of those is a lovely thing, so it’s a lovely smell.

Two

I like the smell of gloss Mod Podge. Most people seem to think I’m insane for this, but weird smells tend to please me, like hot tar and asparagus pee.

Three

I love vanilla extract. I use it in baking the way many people use garlic in cooking – with reckless abandon and contempt for the accepted standard. The smell just makes me happy; the idea that people use the term “vanilla” to mean “boring” mystifies me. Why?

The vanilla orchid is a climbing vine that only grows in certain climates and on certain trees. The plants don’t start sprouting beans until they’re 3 years old; and then they bloom for ONE DAY and have to be pollinated either carefully by hand or naturally by one type of bee, within 12 hours. In the wild only about 1% of flowers are ever pollinated. They can’t be 100% sure which bees do it because no one has ever seen a vanilla flower being pollinated in the wild. (These bees are very tiny.)

To get vanilla beans that are usable you have to lay them out in the sun to “kill” them (so the pod doesn’t keep growing), which also gives them their brown color. They’re then bundled up in wool or other fabric and sweated in the heat of the day; this ferments them and brings out the flavor and scent, but then they have to be dried so they won’t rot in transit. Then they’re stored for six months in the dark to fully develop the scent and flavor.

There are several major varieties of vanilla based on location that each smell and taste a little different. (Bourbon vanilla, which you may have heard of, has nothing to do with booze; it was named after Bourbon island, now called Reunion) Mexican vanilla is my very very favorite though you have to be careful where you get it – some of the less legit producers don’t use real vanilla beans, but tonka beans, which can kind of kill you in large doses. That scent of old books? Vanillin, which plays a major part in making vanilla smell like vanilla, is found in wood; most imitation vanilla is made with paper pulp.

I have yet to find a baked good that is not improved with a little vanilla, even if you can’t fully taste it…it’s there, and it’s making things more awesome. Sorry, but chocolate, while a wonderful thing, does not have that kind of mojo.

(I went to culinary school and also memorized entire seasons of Alton Brown’s Good Eats.)

I got a day behind, sorry! Yesterday I got hit with a huge sleep.

On this day in 2013 I was working a temporary day job getting people get their kids on the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

I officially started writing the sixth Shadow World book.

I went to Starbucks to get some writing done, apparently (either that or Epoch Coffee, it’s hard to tell from my Facebook posts, which is the only source of information I really have for that long ago).

It was the summer I saw Star Trek Into Darkness like five times and wanted to do naughty things to a certain British actor’s voice (and his forearms – apparently I’m an arm girl, I did not know that until then, lol) We were also still in the Sherlock days, long before it had a chance to start sucking. Matt Smith was still the Doctor. The Vampire Diaries was still around. What an era!

Oh, and I learned a new phrase from a friend regarding the above Brit and one’s reaction to attractive people: “There’s a trembling in my lady garden!”

I was trying to figure out where the line falls between being informed about world events and being unhealthily obsessed with the downfall of civilization – oh, my sweet Summer child, just you wait.

But as for July 11, or even July 10 when this post was supposed to go up, not much happened. I went to work, came home, fretted about writing, did some writing, and as far as I can tell that was it!

Five of these are lies – I’ve actually done them. Can you guess which ones?

Never have I ever…

• Flown overseas
• Been married
• Been pregnant (purposefully or otherwise)
• Seen Casablanca
• Changed a diaper
• Been to a Disney park
• Graduated from college
• Gutted a fish
• Ridden in a limo
• Pet a raccoon
• Painted a self-portrait
• Ridden in an ambulance
• Had a nose piercing
• Broken an arm
• Read Jane Eyre
• Done mushrooms
• Written pornographic fan fiction
• Given a sermon at church
• Spoken at a funeral
• Written about dragons

(I almost forgot to do today’s post! Weekends are such a schedule-killer for me.)

REDACTED FOR GENERAL WHININESS. APOLOGIES. What was on my mind was a little too self-pitying, upon review.