Today was great, although I think I hit my wall with socializing and so had to take a time out tonight. I woke up this morning and blew off breakfast (it was with the same people I'd hung out with last night, so I didn't feel the pressure to see them again immediately even though I love them) so that I could do a couple of hours of work for the day job while getting ready and eating room service. Then I met up with Courtney and snuck away to Cafe Du Monde for the second day in a row. This time I succumbed to the temptation of a beignet to go along with my delicious coffee, but I only ate one and it was totally survivable.
So we talked over coffee for an hour or so, and then walked back to the hotel in time for the workshop we were both on, which involved making covers for fake books while the photographer who does my covers did a photo shoot with the model she'd brought along with her. It was disorganized and made worse by the fact that the hotel didn't provide the right equipment, but it was still really fun, so hopefully the readers who attended had a good time. After that, I wandered around the hotel for a bit, wandered into the French Quarter, got a juice and flirted with the guy at the cafe (he suggested that I write a romance about a girl who falls in love with a guy at a juice place), and then went on my secret mission - which was to get a custom perfume made at a perfume shop in the Quarter. This seems like a v. Regency thing to do, no?
It turned out to be really fun, if a bit overwhelming. The scent lady discussed my favorite scents with me, tried some things on my arm, and then started mixing up different alternatives for me. She made five different perfumes in total, and they were all really interesting. But it became clear to me that I have no idea how to describe scents in any way, and so I don't know if I was actually very effective at guiding her...and that many perfumes at once was a little overwhelming. I like what I walked away with, and the cool thing is that she gave me all five samples, so if I end up liking a different one better, I can order it. They keep records of all of these until the end of time, so if I ever want to reorder (or get lotion or soap or something with the same scent), I can just call them up and they'll send it to me. How lovely, right? And if nothing else, I got some good ideas for a romance novel, which is more than worth the cost of the perfume.
So after that, I came back to the hotel and furiously scrubbed my arms so that I would stop smelling like a whore. Then I worked for a couple of hours before having dinner with my friend Amber (the writer who is also a priest) and two of her friends. We went to Sylvain, which I had originally intended to go to on Friday; I'm really glad I went there, but also really glad that I had already switched my Friday plans. I had a gulf shrimp and rice dish that was totally outstanding, but it was probably too close to risotto for my family's tastes. I also had a rum-based cocktail (any long-term or short-term reader knows my weakness for rum-based cocktails), but I limited myself to one. Then I came back, intended to write, and instead procrastinated and sent some emails.
But now I'm going to go to sleep, wake up earlyish, and write before the madness starts again - goodnight!
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