Sorry to disappoint yet again, but I’m over a barrel as far as posting goes. Bear with me, hang in there and I’ll be back. I promise.
Throwing some relaxing,settling, cooling vibes your way, Nava!
In the meantime, I’ll jump in (the Jumping Musette!) and tell y’all about my perfume choice for the meeting – and some other stuff:
1. Everything is 10 hours away from my home and business. Everything.
2. Everything in the Great Plains is (right now) This Color. Shortly to be This Color…… then this.…then they shut the gates to the on-ramps on the Interstates, going out for milk is taking your life in your hands….and it’s still 10 hours away from my home and business.
3. I wore vintage Diorling for the 10 hour drive. Ultra-exquisite but at the end of the night, trying to get some sleep …I kept smelling… coffee? Is that even possible?
4. Our new strategic partner (and his team) is so fabulous it makes my stomach hurt. That alone was worth the 10 hour drive.
5. El O got binked by a Statie for speeding. I made him laugh. We got off with a warning. Of course, the Statie was a dead-ringer for Wilford Brimley and those guys LOOOOOVE me (El O is a Wilford). The ways of the Wilfords are mysterious, indeed. Had he looked like The Rock, that Statie would’ve fined us, but good. Alas. Unless he had a soft spot for ladies who look like his mom. sigh.
6. It’s Official: I can no longer drive at night. My vision, never the best, is now totally off-the-chain-and-gone. In-town is okay but Interstate? Out in the middle of nowhere? Ain’t happening. It’s been coming on for the past few years and it’s not the worst thing in the world but it is a bit disconcerting. And it makes me sad. Even vintage Mitsouko can’t help me see the curves on I-80 at 11pm. Sigh
7. Did I mention I LOVE our new strategic partner? Perhaps LOVE is not the right word. ADORE. Yeah, that’s better.
I WORE CUIR DE RUSSIE FOR THE MEETING! Good thing, too. It had that ‘cool’ element – and it was just what was needed. Luckily I was forewarned, right before we set out, as to the interesting approach this company takes, so I was able to just sit there and take notes. And sniff my CdR.
On the way back from the blessedly-brief meeting, we came upon this little melon market – we were right at the edge of mid-central NE, where it starts to become The Great Plains and the topography starts to undergo some radical changes. Lots of cattle (El O bowed to them in thanks for the excellent steak he ate the night before. I think they just run out back and yank one out of the pasture or something)…anyhoo, there are these cool little ‘melon farms’. I dunno if they are ONLY melon farms but the place was dotted with a lot of these melon-centric farms. Our melon season is finished so it was delightful to find fresh cantaloupe and watermelons…and the coolest gourds and squashes in intriguing colors and shapes. Dusky blues and grey/greens, stripes, purples with yellow splotches, like a vintage Dior ballgown, rich reds with cool lacework (I”m sure it’s called something specific but it’s 11:45p and I have no idea what ‘that’ is. If you are a squashaholic (squashophile?) chime in! Really great!
Fairfield IA still has great Indian food. And Radiance Dairy. Best cream on earth. Truly. It’s worth the 2 hr drive. Hey, at least it’s not TEN!
xoxoxo and thank you all SO much for helping me make a perfume choice! It was perfect!
Hooray! So happy to hear of this excellent outcome. I just can’t imagine a better boardroom scent than CdR parfum.
I do love it so! Kudos to Patty for clueing me into the parfum…she is a jeeeenyus!
xo >-)
Excellent news! You must feel 10 feet tall- definitely Mitsouko time. :d
Thanks – funny you should say that…you know I went straight for my baby, the minute I got home! 😡
xo >-)
Hooray! So glad to hear your meetings are going well. Glad that CdR struck the correct balance for you. It’s glorious stuff. It’s a dream for me to go to Paris and pick up the extrait.
Your images of El O, troopers, and steak crack me up. I had one crazy friend who whilst driving an ancient van, suddenly stuck his head out the window and bawled, “MOooooh,” at the passing cattle. I was zoning, watching the yellow stripes blur in the heat on the hot Texas pavement, and he startled me. Nothin’ doin’ but for everyone in the van to follow his lead. Long hours on the road make a body a bit punchy!
You’ll have to tell us what samples you took to tide you over on he trip. It’s always interesting to her what my perfumista buddies can’t leave home without. Hope to hear great things about your meeting. Glad you’re liking the people. Be well!
Thank you! And I will regale you guys with ‘travel samples’ in another post! What a great idea.
Here’s a 3:-o for your pal!
xo >-)
Me too – wonderful news! And an even more wonderful account of the trip from start to finish – thank you for starting us all on a big smile for the weekend!
my pleasure! Boy am I glad to be home! 😉
xo >-)
I’ll join in with the rest of the crowd and say congratulations on the meeting going so well!
thank you so much!!
xo >-)
Congratulations, Sweetie! I’m so happy for you! Someday soon I want to hear all about it–and what this means moving forward.
10 hours from anything . . . sounds about like where I am. Yes, back in Oklahoma now–and eager for the trip to Minnesota in late October (and then Paris in December). Now that the weather isn’t direct from hell, it’s kind of nice enjoying the fields (they turned green again!) and the woods and all the funny animals.
Clapping for your success!
Thank you, darling! and I am thrilled that the weather is better for you! Autumn in the …..how is the OK categorized? Central plains?
anyway, it can be pretty! And since it’s cooler, you can enjoy it!
xoxoxo>-)
The funny thing is, OK usually falls off the map when the various regions are colored. Part of it is that it has 13 different ecosystems–the most of any state per sq mile. Parts are the South, parts the Midsouth, parts the Midwest, part the Central Plains, part Texas. My part I wouldn’t call the Plains . . . . . Anyway, it’s better now. Still, I look forward to my next time in Chicago. February!
Leave it to you to know all that! ^:)^
February! February? Well, you spent a long time in MN so you know what you’re getting into…:-?
xo >-)
I like the idea of squash, but have no idea how to cook it, except to to roast the heck out of it and then stir the flesh into a risotto.
Annie – I’m not sure about the vintage one they were discussing up-thread, but the hard winter squashes, I simply cut open and steam for about 20 minutes. I used to bake/roast for an hour, so this is much faster (and greener). Then I slather with butter (raw Danish) and cinnamon (Vietnamese) – YUM!
Me, either. I only use it to make soup (incredible pumpkin soup with scallops from Dominique Tougne 😡 and the ubiquitous ravioli with brown butter/sage.
Most of the squashes I was ogling were largely decorative, though I suppose one could cook them…..:-? I don’t think there are any poisonous ones…..[-o< ??? xo >-)
Oh, use them in a curry like this:
http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/red-prawn-and-mango-curry-16
Ive used pumpkin instead of the butternut in this before and it is lovely. I never buy the cubes veg as it’s ridiculously expensive for something I can do myself but it would be faster, certainly.
Or hollow them out and stuff them like this:
Enjoy!
Whoops, like this:
http://www.rivercottage.net/recipes/stuffed-butternut-squash/
omg! the bacon and gruyere? oh…..:x
xo >-)
Congrats and I’m so glad everything turned out well! It’s been so miserably hot here that I’m looking forward to winter – remind me I said this when the sky has been gray forever, the cold wind is blowing, and I can’t go out to pick up the mail without my coat and mittens, will you?
With you on the night vision thing. Mine’s going fast and I prefer not to drive even in town if I can help it. Sigh.
I’ll remind you! ;))
My sister is a naturopath and took some herbs that cut her down to reading glasses only (from coke bottles). I’m going to ask her what to do – if I can reverse (or at least save what I have) I will be AWN IT!
xo >-)
WOO HOOO!! Congratulations to you and to El O! Well done (or well played as the young guys say on the sports blog). And I feel so happy that I was one of the CdR recommenders – imagine, *I* recommended perfume for the Mahvelous Musette!
I laughed about El O, the cows and your steak dinner. One of the best steaks I ever had was in the middle of nowhere in Oklahoma. There was a teeny restaurant in the people’s ranch house and it was named Tough Steaks and Old Chickens. You just had to eat at a place with a name like that! The steaks certainly weren’t tough though; they melted like butta!
I like the best steak ever idea. Mine was in Pocatello, Idaho and we were the only ones in the place. The owner/waiter/chef stood there as we took our first bites.
I think steak is one of those things that people dismiss as being easy – but it’s tough (no pun intended) to do it really well. El O really regretted not getting the steak plain (it was seasoned with a garlic-pepper blend) – he said it was so good he would’ve loved to have tasted the meat plain!
xo >-)
Oh, hush. :”> You know I don’t know any more about perfume than y’all do. I just write about Not Knowing About It, if that makes any sense. Your recommendations are actually very much appreciated and taken into account! I loved everybody’s rationale for the various options.
If we ever go to the OK, I will check that place out. Given what we do, it is as likely as anything else – certainly more likely than us going to Paris…:-< xo >-)
I can emphasize with the vision thing as it has been a problem for me too!! My sinuses are so horrible I can’t hear or smell like I used to. My daughter was teasing me that soon I will have no senses left, so I tickled her and told her I still had touch left. She asked me if I had taste and I told her nothing wrong there (as you can tell by my extra pounds!!)Can’t believe your El O is a Wilford Brimley type. All I can think of is my son mimicking the DIAABBEETTES commercials!Love the Cuir de Russie choice!!
I want to get one of those Wilford t-shirts. El O is a younger Wilford but it’s just a matter of time…..
My sinuses look like an Escher staircase, so I feel your pain!
xo >-)
I love this time of year in the midwest. I like how I can be driving home late at night and see combine and gravity truck headlights out in the fields bring in the harvest around the clock. I like how the earth and the light both seem to have a golden cast. I love the smell of a harvested field too, all that damp earth, dried stalks and that smell I can’t describe of all that corn. My husband, who is from VA always includes how they shut down the highways with stoparms during snow storms when he describes our winters to people out east, so it made me laugh when you brought that up!
I’m so happy for you and the success of your meeting! I’m wearing Cuir de Russie to celebrate your good news!
Next time you’re in Britt, IA make the trip to Mason City for steak. There’s a little hole in the wall place that has been around for generations and honestly serves the best steak you’ll ever eat. And I am so going to have to check out Fairfield for Indian!
I love Mason City – what’s the name of the steak place? We’ll be up there next year for the shows, of course! We spend Sunday am in Clear Lake, having good coffee and visiting the flea market in the park, then back to the shows, then a slow wend home.
😡 on the CdRussie!
Hey, if you really do decide to go to Fairfield, lmk. I’ll meet you there for lunch!
xo >-)
Musette, The Northwestern Steak House on 16th St by the cement factory. It’s open for dinner only, it’s a tiny old place and is always full but you can call ahead for a seat. It’s been family owned and run forever and it really is amazing. My husband tries to make up reasons we need to go to Mason City just so we can go there.
Musette if I get down to Fairfield I certainly will meet you for lunch! Probably won’t be in the near future but we do at times cut down that way when traveling.
Okay. I’ve got that on my list of Mason City doin’s. We stay there when we go to the shows (dog-friendly Super 8) and didn’t know there was anywhere decent to eat! So we are AWN it! You’re right down the road from there – consider the Britt show, next Labor Day?
xo >-)
There’s a place in M.C called the Quarry that I’ve heard is really good too. I haven’t ever gotten to eat there because my husband can’t get anywhere near M.C without going to the Northwestern.
YES to next Labor Day in Britt! I don’t live far from there and my sister actually lives quite close to Britt.
YAY!
xo >-)
I just picked up a (new to me) magazine called Heirloom Gardener, published in MO, and that dusky blue guy is right on the cover. The heirloom squashes have names like Jaune Gros de Paris and Galeux d’Esynes, so you’re not far off with the Dior comparison(~~)
I guess anything vintage, hard-to-find, and with a French name, intrigues us, haha.
I think it’s more the beauty of those bygones, don’t you think? (though I wouldn’t completely dismiss the ‘thrill of the hunt’ factor, either 😉 Consider a Dior couture gown from 1940 v. something put out today. The workmanship is…..well, it’s not the same.
I’mo check out those squashes. Apparently they are not difficult to grow….:-?….what a beautiful way to herald autumn, eh?
xo >-)
Glad you’re back and things went well. I’m glad for that beautiful olive green color, which we’re starting to get now and which will soon be complemented by our fall yellows and oranges and browns and reds. (My poor sister in Texas just messaged me that it’s 100F where she is, and leaves are just falling, exhausted, from the trees without changing color. She’s missing Virginia autumns.)
Cuir de Russie does NOT work for me – but I was hoping you’d wear it. Sounds like it kept you going.
And I must thank you again for Centennial… oooh…
Oooh…is right, innit? That stuff…:x You are most kindly welcome!
your poor sister! Your poor sister’s TX trees!!! :(( Our stuff is still firmly green but the ashes are turning and the smoke bushes smoking so you know autumn is here. It’s really lovely – and I can’t believe I’m saying that! But it is!
xo >-)
Congratulations on the meeting! El O is certainly right about the steaks you can get there. My late DH and I had to go to Iowa once (we live in eastern NC) and the steaks we got there were just heavenly!
They take their meat VERY seriously! I’m not big on big hunks o’ meat but when they brought El O’s t-bone out….:-? =p~ We stumbled into this place, tired and cranky….I thought it was going to be one of those Disaster Dinners…..then he took his first bite….:d
Thank You, Nebraska Cattlemen! ^:)^
xo >-)
Hooray (whooping loudly)!! So happy it all went so well! And thanks for the smiles this morning; the squashophile/squashoholic put a big grin on my face to start Friday. Hope you (and all of you lovely Posse people) have a great weekend!
same to you, sweetie!!!!!
xo >-)
So what did you wear to your important meeting, and how did it turn out? Well, I hope.
I know what you mean about driving at night. When it’s raining at night, I practically can’t do it.
I wore Cuir de Russie. Meeting was…interesting..but the other part was fantabulous!
I’m feelin’ your pain on the rain. :((
xo >-)
Friday hug to you!
me, too….right? I’m taking part of Nava’s hug, okay?
🙂
xo >-)
CONGRATULATIONS! (And yes, I’m yelling!)
😡
thanks! You can YELL all you want! Much appreciated!!!
xo >-)