Unpacking, part 2: incense

The unpacking in the sewing room continues. The more time I spend in there, the more I realize that I have a lot of "stuff." Fun stuff, useful stuff, stuff full of memories. Not only do I never need to buy fabric again, but I really don't need to buy anything fun ever again either. Today's post will highlight my collection of incense. Most is Japanese and my addiction started in high school when Ryoko sent me the two boxes of "Meditate" incense in cedar and musk in the summer of 1994.

Again, the photo with notes is over here at flickr. After discovering Japanese incense, the stinky american versions found in hippy-type stores always seemed a little gross to me. On my first trip to Epcot Center when I was 15, I found "aloes wood" in the blue box, and that was what I burned throughout the rest of high school. The big box in the photo was a present from a guy that had a huge crush on me, for my 16th birthday. He showered me with presents that year, totally upstaging my boyfriend at the time, but still didn't win me over. I sometimes wonder what happened to that guy, I bet in 3 clicks I could find him on facebook...
The Nag Champa I didn't discover until college, when Lexi turned me on to it and then its scent became synonomous with our relationship, Jeff Buckley, and certain other extra curriculars of the time. Now I keep the smaller box, wrapped in plastic, in my sewingbox. The sewing box came from Walmart (?) and always smelled a little plastic-y. The Nag Champa really helps.
Each one of these packages has memories, I've tried to jot them down quick on flickr. If I spent time explaining and revisiting each one here I'd never finish unpacking..

Oh, and look what else I found-- 4 more lip balms. After taking the pics, I also came across 2 more in a box labeled "Japan Keepsakes." (Now that was a fun box of memories..)