Vortex, I use their skincare but only some of their makeup. Their liquid eyeliner is the bomb. My sister is registered as a consultant but she doesn't sell it for profit. She just orders for family and friends so we all get the 40% discount.

I have to say the skin care line has kept my skin in great condition. First it cleared up my acne when I was in my 20's and it's kept up with the dry skin and crows' feet as I'm aging. I order lots of their lip balm and moisturizer, especially in the winter.

there are very few schools that operate on that schedule, so I'm sort of resigned to being sleep-deprived for the rest of my working life.

This is my life! We are expected to be at the school at 7am (except for every other week when we have a 6:45am meeting). Classes start at 7:30 and so few high schoolers are awake at this time!

During vacations I easily reset to staying up until 1-2am and then sleeping until around 11.

My DH does shift work. (12 hour rotating shifts) After 23 years of it his sleep rhythms have been ruined. He doesn't ever seem to get quite enough sleep.

I was a MaryKay lady way back - gosh, when I was a military wife. Wow, lifetime ago. It was perfumed and you were trained to be pushy. I did like some of the creams.

I can't add to the Mary Kay discussion, I'm afraid. But I wish you good morning from Bangkok, where in 10 minutes my kids will be streaming through the door, and where I'm presently listening to the Hairspray soundtrack. For breakfast this morning - bacon (which I cut the fat off anyway, because - ick), scrambled eggs and mushrooms. Fried in olive oil. BUT! I forgot to bring the feta cheese to school that I was planning on having with school salad! Curses! I just hope that today's lunch features something palatable and appropriate. (I'm fairly sure that they put sugar in the stir fried vegetables - in Thailand they put sugar in freaking everything.)

Fay! While you're here - my sister who's living in Macau right now is planning a visit to Thailand soon (in the next couple of months). Would you mind if I gave her your email address? She's very self-sufficient, but I'm sure she'd love to have someone who can tell her where she can get a Western-style breakfast & a real cup of coffee while she's there.

Certainly! things invisible to see at gmail dot com!

Is she going on a shoestring, or would she be interested in knowing good places for cocktails/scrummy food?

Excellent! She's actually making gobs of money right now (working as a gondolier at the Venetian), which is why she's doing so much travelling (she's going to Seoul to visit her boyfriend's brother and sister-in-law next week, I think), and would *definitely* be interested in knowing where the scrummy food and cocktails are.

Insent shortly to both of you.

Paging:

JZ (and Hec): do you think we can get together soon for 1. visiting and 2. picking up the laptop and dvds I loaned Sean K? I am really more interested in #1 than 2, but it's a kill two birds with one stone thing.

AMY: Your sewing machine and a bunch of (very) random sewing-related items are on their way to you now. I sent it parcel post, but will send the delivery confirmation and insurance info your way in e-mail. I am relieved that this is the first step in cleaning out my (huge) storage area.

SOX and d: I am getting superer and superer excited about my Philly trip! Yay!

Yay!

I'm trying to finish up at work, but I took a b.org break. It's 9 pm and I am hungry, so now I'm really trying to finish up.

Awesome, java! Thank you so much.