In which we're talking about holiday music

I've already confessed that I have loaded the car with my holiday CDs. What I didn't tell you was that I have also been watching (listening to?) the Sounds of the Season Channel obsessively. (I am gutted that I missed the Halloween music. I forgot entirely to turn it over until November 1 and they had already started with Christmas.) Somehow just having Christmas music on in the background while I'm going about my day makes everything feel more pleasant. I also make a habit of buying a new holiday CD every year to build my collection, but this year I'll take a pass since last year I bought three including Bette Midler's "Cool Yule" and Loreena McKennitt's "A Midwinter Night's Dream".

So I'm wondering, what are YOU going to be listening to this holiday season?

In which we muse randomly

Today I have a little laundry list of goodness for you, and a point of clarification. First, to clarify, I would LOVE to explain the intricacies of Blogger to you, but my dear friends, you know my Luddite tendencies and the truth is, I don't yet UNDERSTAND Blogger. I'm getting there--some of the features are precisely the same, they just don't live in the same spot where the dwell on Typepad. We have a learning curve here, people, and I'm behind it. The big question that keeps cropping up is how to leave comments. For now, the blog is set to receive comments only from folks to have Blogger IDs. That's something I'm working on getting changed, but it isn't nearly as big a priority as getting the Kindle contest information up! (And to be clear, I am not able to change any of this myself. The website and blog are administered by very excellent and capable people who are doing about a million and one things for me right now. We've had loads of tech issues and delays and they are working feverishly to sort me out, so your patience while we iron out the bugs is much appreciated.)

Now, onto general musings...

*I tried a few new perfumes this week, none of which have made the cut. I had a sample of Joy, which, on me, smelled like those funky little disks of toilet freshener that you see in public restrooms. I know, I know. It's the costliest perfume in the world and supposed to be just dazzling, but I could not get past the idea that I should be passing out warm towels and mints. I also struck out with Tocade by Rochas. If you like sugary perfumes this is definitely one for you because it has an intensely sweet drydown. I would think any fan of Pink Sugar would like this for a more sophisticated, "dressing up" fragrance. Right now I'm wearing Maharanih and all I can smell is sandalwood incense. I don't even know if there's sandalwood IN this fragrance, but I honestly cannot get far enough away from myself right now. Very masculine, very woodsy.

*When I put out a call for writing music a few months ago, so many of you were kind enough to make recommendations. I found loads of good stuff through y'all--most particularly E.S. Posthumus. This week I picked up the CD of "The Duchess" soundtrack. Somehow I overlooked the fact that it was a Rachel Portman effort, and I'm kicking myself because I adore Rachel Portman. Excellent writing music.

*And my subconscious failed me spectacularly after the excellent Clive Owen/iPhone dream. Last night I dreamed I was being stalked by a seriously creepy guy while I was camping alone. Camping. Alone. ME. Honestly, I can't think of anything more absurd. It's like my subconscious doesn't know me at all...