I'm all over the place today. You know what that means. It means "numbered list."

1. I'm almost finished with Mortal Love. It's proving to be one of my favorite Elizabeth Hand novels thus far. Of course, it deals with some of my favorite topics, like the Pre-Raphaelites. And the prose is stunning. I even borrowed books on Christina Rossetti's poetry and Dante Gabriel Rossetti's paintings so I could better get a feel for the context of the book. (My college offered a Rossetti course my senior year, but the books were hovering somewhere around $150, and I was simply too poor.) Next up: more reading on Algernon Swinburne.

2. I don't know what to tackle next. I have so many things I want to read, so many books in the queue. I have that Sheldon Kopp book that looks like a quick read, but I want to take my time with it. I have Donna Tartt's The Secret History. I have the UK release of Waking the Moon, which is about 100 pages longer than the US release and damned hard to find. I have a half-shelf full of Craft books. There's also Isabele Allende's Aphrodite, which I started reading and find absolutely engrossing. Plus I really want to read The Perilous Gard, since it seems like one of those YA books I should have read ages ago. And I now have a text file of LJ Smith's Night of the Solstice and Heart of Valor.

3. My roommate is out of town all next week. I have to finish my upstairs projects while she's away. But tonight, after I do the requisite chores, I'm going to treat myself to a long, hot bubble bath. I got my order from FeMaledictions in last week, and I now have a deliciously-scented red soap in the shape of an anatomical heart. What could be more, uh... morbidly romantic?

4. I'm wearing iridescent purple eyeshadow today. It's completely unlike me, but pretty nonetheless.

5. Harney & Sons' Hot Cinnamon Sunset tea has been my default tea as of late. I had to pick up a new tin last night. I keep forgetting that I want to try the chocolate and rosepetals Valentine's tea. I'm such a sybarite.

6. Speaking of Valentine's Day, I'm definitely going to have a low-key one this year. I've got the house to myself, so I'm thinking Sky and I will stay in and cook a big Italian dinner. I mean, I hate making reservations, especially when our one-year marker is only a month away (!). So I'm going to make strawberry empanadas, which I make surprisingly well. I've a bottle of a nice petit syrah to open-- sadly, not a pinot noir, but it's good to try new things. And I ordered Sky's gift this morning! Hopefully, he'll love it. He'd better. 2-day shipping is damned expensive.

7. My Bpal is absolutley getting out of hand. It's time to thin the herd again, just in time for the upcoming lunar update. I'm going to sell or swap out a bunch of bottles and offer up fistfuls of imps, so keep your eyes peeled for a post tonight. I have to say that I might have to get a bottle of Loviatar. It has the lovely expensive Italian leather note of De Sade, but with a background of red musk and spices. I put up longer thoughts on my review page. I've also really liked Sed Non Satiata, which is a warmed skin and honey scent. However, my Valentine's scents left me kind of cold. I should have ordered Luperci, I'm afraid. And now that I've finally smelled Antique Lace, I have to wonder what's the fuss? I'll give it one more try, but it smelled kind of synthetic to me.

8. Aster, Heather, Ashley, Rac-- I uploaded pics to my Facebook gallery last night. It's mostly old stuff, pictures I thought you guys might like. Just as a heads-up. And Heather? #*&^% find your USB cord! You've got all sorts of pictures stored up that I absolutely must see!

9. Finally, from bathsweaver, Scientists have identified a chemical that may block HIV. This is... if it's true, words can't even describe how happy this makes me. Tears-of-joy-inducing kind of happy. Ecstatic. And, in "duh!" news, the Evangelical backlash against the Bush administration has begun.