well this past week has been even more of a trip than is usual. there was a lot to do and the days wound up being quite packed - even monday which lately (since the gallery is closed) i've actually been trying to have as a proper "day off". still there was a lot of perfume to make and until i find a congenial tribe of happy little elves to pick up the slack overnight, there's plenty to do in the daytime for the rest of us here. i also had a meeting with a possible client to work on a project, that should it come to pass, will be very exciting for all concerned. i always think it's so nice to offer people something better than they expect when they're shopping in certain stores. so we'll see what happens with that.
the evenings were fairly full as well. a few yoga classes (i find standing on one's head for a while really does help to adjust the perspective), a class i've been taking (for which i just manged to get the homework done at the last minute) and a sort of farewell cocktail party for my friend, VA, who after 3 years of working for a perfectly outrageous woman finally handed in her mitten. and good for her - as far as i'm concerned, there is no place in the office for rude & absuive behavior.
from what i hear though from those i know who have office jobs, this kind of thing sadly happens all too often. perhaps certain corporations ought to consider seminars in basic manners - don't VP's realize that more and better work gets done in a civil environment than a hostile one? or am i living in a dream world...?
the party turned out to be a lot of fun. many of the people there were designers for VA's old firm, and i really enjoy listening to those who create tangible goods - it's such a change from working with the purely invisible...
afterwards, i had a very nice dinner w VA and her old design director (who she worked for until he retired and before the advent of the outrageous woman). the food was good, the conversation terrific but suddenly my watch informed me that it was 11:35 and i had to GO. i figured, if i took the train, i'd be home around 12:15. unfortunately thanks to the new york city public transport system (i've been trying to be frugal w basic expenses the past few years) i didn't make it home until 1:45 in the thank you morning.
since there was a film crew due to arrive very early the next morning to shoot a small feature in the gallery, that meant i didn't get much sleep and required a LOT of tea the next morning in order to be at least partially coherent.
the shoot went very well though and the producer & her crew were very good to work with. fortunately i've done similar things before so i knew the drill. i am told i answered the interview questions well (and they were particularly well done). i even allowed them to film me compounding one of the perfumes which is something the general public rarely gets to see. i am also told by my assistants who were watching the monitors as the cameras rolled, that the lighting was genius and everything looked terrific. i was very glad to hear that but not surprised as this particular team worked on a brilliant show in the past - one that was exceptionally well done. i look forward to seeing the feature we shot yesterday when it airs in the fall (but since it's for a brand new show, i'm afraid i can't say more about it now...)
i do find things like that intense and exhausting though so by the end of the afternoon, i was pretty much done in and left the gallery an hour early.
still despite the week's circus, we managed to finish bottleing all five new perfumes. three of them are in the gallery right this minute (saturday morning) and the other two will be out shortly after we open this afternoon. we might have managed to do all of them yesterday, but i decided (at the last minute) to rename one of them. though "the grape harvest" is one of my absolute favorites among Colette's short stories, there was something about the name that didn't look quite right. so this morning i redid the labels and they're really much better.
so here are the five perfumes that are new:
Eternal Return (my ocean archetype)
Wild Hunt (the forest archetype and i think one of my favorites for the summer)
two that i'm adding to the Secret History collection
Greenbriar 1968 (a scent that's about memories of my grandfather)
I am a Dandelion (a lovely flower that i've been working to perfect for YEARS)
and in the Experience series,
Under The Arbor (which is all about the scent of grape vines and will be wonderful for hot summer afternoons & evenings)
i'd really hoped that all five of these would have been posted on the website by the end of this past week but unfortunately that simply wasn't possible. still, i sent the information about all of them off to jason the other day and he's been working on the new pages. and yesterday he picked up the bottles to photograph so they should all be on the website very soon - i'm going to send out one of my rare newsletters to let everyone know when they all go live.
and now my watch informs me that it's 11:26 and i have to be ready to open the gallery in 34 mintues. it's time to take Zephyr out for a walk which he'll enjoy. Zepj loves sniffing around the neighborhood much more than i do. still, it will be nice to have a little fresh air and walk in the sun before i get on with the day.