IT FEELS LIKE TODAY

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that takes me back

aren�t the senses great?

i�m particularly fond of smell, probably because i�m so nostalgic and there�s nothing like a good whiff of something or other to trigger a memory. i had an idea while washing my face tonight�wouldn�t it be great to think of all the smells that are attached to memories in my brain? you bet it would!

first, an ode to facial products�or maybe I should say l�eau de facial products (ha! am I a crowley or what?)
-there�s this one face wash that reminds me of amsterdam every time-- that bathroom in the hostel that we shared with those girls from france, the bad lighting that i found particularly flattering, drying my face off with the towel that never really managed to dry because it was hanging in that locker the whole time. i love that hostel, i want to go back there.
-then there�s an even older one. clean & clear astringent, baby.
that one always reminds me of this one road trip we took when i was maybe ten to niagara falls, upstate new york, philly, washington dc and cedar point. i�m surprised i had a beauty regimen as a fifth grader. i guess it�s never too early to commence the battle against bad skin.

sometimes randomly i�ll smell this weird combination of a leaf-burning fire and something else, not sure what, but it�s africa all the way. i have this stuffed camel from cote d�ivoire, and it had that smell in its fabric for a year or so, and i used to sit and smell it.

do you guys know what I�m talking about when i say �the first-day-of-school smell?�

this one�s sweet: whenever i smell hair spray (which isn�t all that often cause i don�t really use it), i always think about sharing a bathroom with my mom on vacations.

bath and body works �juniper breeze�: maui

concord grapes: the grape arbor in glen mills�come on, people, we had a GRAPE ARBOR on our property in pennsylvania�how rad is that? it got knocked down by hurricane hugo.

i�ll be honest, the smell of those public restrooms at parks, the ones that might as well be port-o-potties? yeah, those remind me of this one cross-country race, during which we had to run by an especially rank one. i was already nauseated, thank you very much.

pert plus: always reminds me of going swimming at woodside and then washing my really long, ratty (and chlorine-y green) hair in the locker room after

there are sounds too:

the sound of a helicopter always takes me back�i�m walking up linda vista avenue toward colorado boulevard to find my seat in the high-risers before the rose parade; i�m all bundled up cause it�s COLD on new year�s morning in so-cal.

i have a never ending love affair with the sound of train whistles, because i used to lie awake at night in my grandparents� house in riverside and listen to them. if you pair a train whistle up with dogs barking far away. oh man, I might as well be five and tomorrow we're going to disneyland.

isn�t it sad how there aren�t that many houses these days with real fireplaces? it is so sad. everytime i hear the sound of wood popping and snapping in a fireplace, it�s just like wintertime in our little farmhouse in pennsylvania, and i�m wearing my pajamas with the feet.

i wish i could think of more, because i know there are many more. but of course, this is one of those subjects upon which you have to stumble randomly. please feel free to leave me a note in my guestbook and tell me what sounds or smells take YOU back. i will look forward to reading that.

2:06 pm - 12.02.2005

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there's music playing: little big town (in my head)

i'm reading:

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