FROM SAN DIEGO TO SAN FRANCISCO

Normally yesterday would have been Mass-Market Monday, but I’ve been recovering from the post-effects of a trip to San Diego to a scientific conference (my other life), and the pre-effects of preparing for the Taste TV Artisan Fragrance Salon in San Francisco (this life). Without Stacey to assist me, I’m not sure how I could have managed such a fast turnaround.

The backlog of shipping is more or less caught up for now, and yesterday the big boxes of items for the trunk show at Tigerlily on Friday and the Salon on Saturday were dropped off at FedEx. What a lot of stress it is to get things ready in advance to allow for shipping time, and what a relief it always is when those boxes are on their way! I’ve gotten much more efficient at preparing for shows, having generated a comprehensive checklist and stored infrastructure items in places that are reasonably accessible and easy to remember. However, there’s always a different set of stock to bring to shows, and this is now the biggest challenge to prepare.

Looking back on San Diego, it doesn’t have the strong jasmine scent that I associate with San Francisco and LA. Maybe it wasn’t the right season, but I don’t think I saw jasmine growing there. The few flowers that were growing were not fragrant. What I did smell in San Diego was mass-market perfume everywhere on the streets. It was of two distinct types, which, as you might have guessed, were the women’s and men’s versions.

All of the women’s perfumes were saturated with the “scratchy green tea” note that I dislike so much. It would have been hard to pin it down to specific fragrances, or even brands, because that note is so ubiquitous in mass-market perfumes and produces so much sillage that everything else is left behind on, or very close to, the wearer. 

The men’s perfumes were all heavy on the sharp “woody-amber” notes, which I don’t mind as long as they are not mixed with aquatics. Thankfully, San Diego men did not seem to go for aquatics. Every perfume that I smelled on the street belonged to one of these two classes. I don’t know if that’s the case elsewhere (it's not on the UW campus), but it certainly was in San Diego.

My other interesting discovery was "Mexican" food made with French fries. My first introduction to this genre was a “cheeseburger taco”, which was a bit of meat with cheese, fresh salsa, and … you guessed it … French fries, all rolled up in a soft taco. It’s not as bad as it sounds! In fact, it was pretty good. Later, at another venue I saw people eating carnitas (barbecued meat) topped with French fries, cheese, and salsa.

My biggest achievement while in San Diego was eating two fish tacos. This probably doesn’t sound like much of an achievement, but years ago I suffered a bad case of food poisoning after eating a fish taco at a chain Mexican restaurant in Irvine, California. That experience resulted in an intense conditioned taste aversion to fish tacos that only now is reaching the point where I can think about putting a fish taco anywhere near my mouth. I have to say that the fish tacos I ate on two separate occasions, from two different establishments, were excellent, and I suffered no ill effects. It felt good to know that I can finally enjoy this specialty again!

On Friday I leave for San Francisco, so there will probably be some more down time on the blog. 

[All photos are mine, taken with my trusty phone and un-Photoshopped]

THE BEST AND WORST OF SEPTEMBER

September has been a terrible month, or a very good month, depending on one’s point of view. In any case, it’s been unusually hectic, and I’ve neglected the blog terribly. The first two weeks of September I was spending half of my time teaching an intensive course and half of my time finalizing and preparing Sonnet XVII for release. The third half of my time was spent taking care of the orchids and regular life activities. I probably didn’t do the publicity end of Sonnet XVII justice, but I did the best I could given the time constraints I had. I’m still thinking about the formula. I’m reasonably certain that it’s good, but I need time away from it before I can evaluate it properly. It was certainly well received at the LA Fragrance Salon, with many people (even naïve spillover people from the chocolate show) commenting that it smelled “earthy”, which was one aspect I was going for. When I smelled it yesterday, I could actually detect the spikenard, so maybe the elusive spikenard will come out of the closet after all as the blend ages. It was awarded a bronze medal for “best new product”, but I can’t figure out whether this is a mild and sincere compliment or damning with faint praise. I’ll be an optimist and assume the former.

The Los Angeles Fragrance Salon was different from the one in San Francisco in that it was a tag-on to a big chocolate show. Many of the people who attended were chocolate-lovers who wandered in through curiosity or accident. I think all of the fragrance exhibitors spent a lot of time educating those chocolate enthusiasts who were interested in perfume. Some were interested, and some weren't. The typical exchange at my booth went something like this:


Me: What type of fragrance do you like?
Visitor: I don’t know. I don’t really wear perfume. Something light.
Me: (thinking, I don’t have anything “light”. I don’t do “lite”.) OK. Do you like florals?
Visitor: Yeah, I guess so.
Me: Try these orchid fragrances (I spritz Red Cattleya, Golden Cattleya, Little Stars, Osafume, and Javanica on test strips).
Visitor: mmmmm….. what’s this one?
Me: (thinking, “This one is anything but lite”) Red Cattleya (or one of the others). It’s an orchid fragrance.
Visitor: Ooooh…, I like it.  (happily buys a 5 ml spray bottle of Red Cattleya (or one of the others) and moves on to the next booth).

The saving grace of the LA Salon was that we flew down to LA a day early and got to spend a whole day at the Santa Monica Beach. There’s something magical about the beach, the sun, the warm sand, and the salt water with wave after wave surging and breaking in a rhythmic pattern. It was a time of total relaxation and renewal. A year’s vacation compressed into a day. The first time we had been in real sun in about 3 years. Michael got painfully sunburned. I just turned a slightly darker shade of tan. It was wonderful! Being in a warm place made me realize how tense we all get when we live in cool or cold climates, and how unnatural it is.

As soon as I got back to Seattle from LA, the fall quarter started, with more teaching, meetings, and the usual round of academic stuff. My theatre group’s fall show is coming up soon, so I’ve also been busy with casting and rehearsals. I have a lot of pending orders that I have to ship out this coming week.

For some unknown reason, I’ve been wearing nothing but really good ouds since I’ve been back, none of the usual sample tests. I don’t know why, but I just can’t face standard, conventional perfumes right now. Somehow, straight oud is comforting.

The weather in the Pacific Northwest is still dry and sunny, so I’m enjoying that, even if it’s not as warm as LA. Every day that I can go barefoot at home or wear sandals when I go out, is a gift. I think this whole past week I’ve really been in recovery from traveling and the LA show. I forgot to bring my camera (as usual) so didn’t take any photos. I know people came by and took pictures of my booth, so as they’re posted, I’ll put them on here, if I find them. I suppose the bottom line is that I’m in a fall funk, sad to see summer over so soon. That will change, and I’ll get back to posting regularly, I promise.

[LA Fragrance Salon poster from their website; other photos from Wikimedia]