Smells and sounds have such a huge impact on me and I'm sure on many other people.  Tonight I'm listening to some of my old CDs and certain songs instantly transport me to specific memories.  "It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)" by REM takes me to a little bar in Parma, Ohio where I'm sitting with my friend and ski buddy Bob.  We are drinking Amstel lights and talking REM, skiing, and Sony (work).  The untitled and unnumbered last track of REM's Green album comes on and I'm sitting in my Jeep Wrangler at 2 AM at Burger King in the middle of winter as Bob and I just got done with a weekly night ski excursion at Boston Mills outside of Cleveland.

I smell cedar in cool air and I'm transported to one of my favorite places in all the Cleveland metro area.  It's the Trail Side Museum, part of the Cleveland Metro Parks.  You hike up the valley above the Rocky River and it's just  beautiful, breathless, and peaceful.  Anyway, the nature museum building has these cedar shingles and it has the smell that is just so wonderful and always takes me back to a happy place.

Smell and sound are such strong triggers in our minds.  I am so thankful for them and for all the happy memories they bring back to me each time I smell or hear them.

OH, and I've drank way too many Mango Martini's tonight.  I made a container of them and it's like 90% gone.  It's a little mango Tang from Mexico, Sky Vodka, Absolute Mandarin, Cointreau, and a splash of water.  So yummy and so dangerous.