Diary babbling, plus recommendations
Bad day today (the parking ticket was the icing on the cake), but at least the weekend was fun... and musical! Friday night we had friends over for barbecue, and Saturday I took off to Owlsherst's 12th Night to play for dance (not to mention hang out with fun people, do a little BPAL-enabling/swapping, and test the retainers' amazing magical powers of keeping track of my errant stuff). I even got to play with one of the guys from Clam Chowder!
Sunday afternoon we hosted combat archery practice/army discussion and Branslers practice, and total chaos ensued. We had a very, very full house; it was lots of fun, but I think maybe next time I'll take the musicians upstairs. :) The army seems to be coming along nicely, though -- mwahahaha! The Wetlands Alliance should be afraid. Also, the archers should be in mourning; "Big Red," our faithful ducal-ish target, didn't survive the heavy winds of the last couple of days. Woe!
Sunday evening I went to gaming, where we discovered that we were short some of the players that we most needed for the climactic battle we'd carefully set up at the end of our last session. *sigh* At least those of us there had an entertaining dinner together before giving up and going home early.
Stuff I want to recommend to people, in brief:
Books - I've been on a big YA kick lately. I really enjoyed Diana Peterfreund's Rampant and Kristin Cashore's Graceling (thanks for the ref, digitalemur!). I loved Robin McKinley's Chalice. Sharon Shinn's Gateway I have mixed feelings about, which I can't entirely discuss without going into major plot spoilers. Suffice it to say that it's well written and features an interesting new world from the reliably entertaining Shinn, but is somewhat unsatisfying due to a significant structural issue.
Music - I'm loving the very atmospheric Two Suns by Bat for Lashes -- sort of a modernized Siouxsie with touches of Tori Amos and Kate Bush. Good stuff! I also have to admit I've been rocking out in the car to the Adam Lambert CD. Heh heh heh. No, really! It's pretty much Dead Or Alive meets Britney Spears, and it's fun driving music -- although it doesn't even come close to doing justice to Lambert's voice. Lady GaGa wrote "Fever," definitely my favorite track on the album.
Delectable smellies - A beloved friend of mine recently opened Paintbox Soapworks, "a colorful & captivating line of SLS-free, hand-cast luxury glycerin bath soaps in unique scents that will keep you clean & smelling divine." So far I've tried Beet It, Gingermilk, Fantasticake, Fresh Zucchini Flower, Pants Relief Elixir, The Olive Tree, and Gold, Frankincense & Myrrh -- all of which have been gorgeous scents. The bars are *hefty* and lather nicely, plus they show up adorably packaged. You can even get your own little custom-designed palette of sample sizes if you want! (note for BPALers: The proprietor is Tartchef from the forum)
Sunday afternoon we hosted combat archery practice/army discussion and Branslers practice, and total chaos ensued. We had a very, very full house; it was lots of fun, but I think maybe next time I'll take the musicians upstairs. :) The army seems to be coming along nicely, though -- mwahahaha! The Wetlands Alliance should be afraid. Also, the archers should be in mourning; "Big Red," our faithful ducal-ish target, didn't survive the heavy winds of the last couple of days. Woe!
Sunday evening I went to gaming, where we discovered that we were short some of the players that we most needed for the climactic battle we'd carefully set up at the end of our last session. *sigh* At least those of us there had an entertaining dinner together before giving up and going home early.
Stuff I want to recommend to people, in brief:
Books - I've been on a big YA kick lately. I really enjoyed Diana Peterfreund's Rampant and Kristin Cashore's Graceling (thanks for the ref, digitalemur!). I loved Robin McKinley's Chalice. Sharon Shinn's Gateway I have mixed feelings about, which I can't entirely discuss without going into major plot spoilers. Suffice it to say that it's well written and features an interesting new world from the reliably entertaining Shinn, but is somewhat unsatisfying due to a significant structural issue.
Music - I'm loving the very atmospheric Two Suns by Bat for Lashes -- sort of a modernized Siouxsie with touches of Tori Amos and Kate Bush. Good stuff! I also have to admit I've been rocking out in the car to the Adam Lambert CD. Heh heh heh. No, really! It's pretty much Dead Or Alive meets Britney Spears, and it's fun driving music -- although it doesn't even come close to doing justice to Lambert's voice. Lady GaGa wrote "Fever," definitely my favorite track on the album.
Delectable smellies - A beloved friend of mine recently opened Paintbox Soapworks, "a colorful & captivating line of SLS-free, hand-cast luxury glycerin bath soaps in unique scents that will keep you clean & smelling divine." So far I've tried Beet It, Gingermilk, Fantasticake, Fresh Zucchini Flower, Pants Relief Elixir, The Olive Tree, and Gold, Frankincense & Myrrh -- all of which have been gorgeous scents. The bars are *hefty* and lather nicely, plus they show up adorably packaged. You can even get your own little custom-designed palette of sample sizes if you want! (note for BPALers: The proprietor is Tartchef from the forum)