What I did on my summer vacation

It started with sleeping. Then packing. Then sleeping again. Then flying on a plane that had a salmon painted on the side of it (kooky Pacific Northwest).

Mom and I spent the first weekend blowing her $250 Nordstrom gift card on girly things like perfume, but it was nice to be treated like people at Nordstrom. Maybe it was my fake (?) Louis Vuitton handbag or mom's willingness to have anything sprayed on her wrist, but Linda at the perfume counter was so very nice to us, just like we could afford to actually shop there n' stuff. We picked up a really pretty Givenchy Organza Fleur d'Oranger 2006 and a sample of the best thing ever: Quelques Fleurs L'Original. Mon Dieux, it's absolutely lovely. When I make lots of dough working at People this is the first thing I'll buy, and not at one of those perfume-mania places either. We went to one in an outlet mall and their Quelques Fleurs did not smell the same as the Nordstrom sample ... of course, I might just be snobby and it did smell the same, but because one is Nordstrom and the other is Perfumania ... No. I'm sure it was different.

End of story: I'm hoarding every last drop of the sample until the People/Us/Star job comes through in 2 or 4 or 14 years.

Vegas was fun. I only lost $200.00, which is better than usual. Mom won as usual -- I swear, she can put a nickel in a penny machine and walk away with $60. It's amazing. I don't know how she does it. Maybe it's the lucky bracelet. Maybe it's the Virginia Slims Lights. I don't know. It's the 8th Wonder. We sat at the pool on the first day and turned this color, so we had to spend the second day gambling (feck). Thursday I had a lovely Trout Grenobloise with Escargots de Bourgogne and a fine chardonnay for my birfday dinner (followed by Carls Jr. chicken strips and french fries on the actual birthday), and, all together, even with the saucy/embarrassing dinner discussions and gambling losses, a very fine trip.

It's good to hang out with the parental units too. I got a whole week with mom and a few days with pop. We watched movies (caught up on dvds with "The DaVinci Code" and "The Devil Wears Prada") and went to the show ("Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix") and finished the week with reading the last 15 pages of the latest Potter book. I know who dies. Done and done.

And the little brother -- it's always a pleasure to hang out with the most neurotic wiener dog in California.

Sleepy pets on beds. That sums up the summer so far.

Oh, and I finished reading Dante's Divine Comedy: Hell and On Her Majesty's Secret Service while in Vegas -- one more book and I'm done with the Library Summer Reading for Adults 2007. WHOO HOO! Does reading the end of Harry Potter count?