Commitments for 2010

I've committed to embracing a healthier lifestyle (exercise?  Who, me?) this year. 

I've committed to finishing my novel and editing it by the end of 2010.

I've committed to an Act of Kindness (random or planned) each week this year.

I've committed to being Myself, and to appreciating those around me.

Enough insufferable smugness - the purpose of this post is really to remind myself of what I've promised to do.  I'll be revisiting the matter throughout the year.  (And there's another commitment.  I'd better stop now, these things are multiplying like drunken bunnies.)

Here's to being a "new bloom, spreading fragrance around."

Dear Scent Diary, December 23-29

Wednesday, Dec. 23: Chanel Bois des Iles, Les Exclusifs edt decant.  Family party (well, minus my brother and his wife and the New Universe) at my parents' house. Dinner was ham and turkey with all the usual side dishes; it was delicious.  Nobody cooks classic food better than my mom.  It turned out to be Chanel Day, with Mom in her new (vintage via eBay) No. 5 parfum, my sister in her Coco Mlle., and me in BdI.  Sadly, I was the only person who thought I smelled great, but I did smell great.

Thursday, Dec. 24: Guerlain L'Heure Bleue parfum.  I like L'HB in parfum, though definitely not in edt, where it resembles the medicine cabinet of some evil apothecary.  All the same, I continue to wonder why Perfumes: The Guide includes it in the Top Ten list.  It smells good, and it reminds me of... of... of precisely nothing.  It does not clutch at the heartstrings.  It never brings vivid pictures to my mind.  I mean, honestly, I don't even like Mitsouko, and even I think it's a better perfume than L'Heure Bleue.  Wearing it, I smell sort of like almond pastries, but not really. Why do I own it? It Was Ridiculously Cheap - a slightly-used bottle, missing its front label and being sold by a rejected wife facing divorce, whose husband had given it to her.  (I did get a sample of the real deal from TPC, just to check.  It's legit.)  Why did I put this on again? Oh yeah - Christmas, almond bear claws... I think I actually like this better in the summer: more anise, less pastry.

Friday, Dec. 25, Christmas Day: my new, lovely bottle of Teo Cabanel Alahine, which I reviewed a few weeks ago as I was falling in love with my sample.  The parfum is beautiful, but extremely spendy, and I actually prefer the sparkle of the edp (lucky me!).  I kid you not, this is what joy smells like.

Saturday, Dec. 26:  Morning test scent was Frederic Malle Carnal Flower, a sample I've been saving up for some time.  It was still cold today but not frigid; the snow that's been clogging our streets for a week did melt somewhat. The crystal-clear air made me think of the air inside a refrigerator, and that made me think of a description of Carnal Flower I read somewhere (Donna's, at Perfume-Smellin' Things? I think so), so I dabbed some on.  Review of this one coming soon, probably next week or the week after.  Baked a pumpkin pie, thirty yeast rolls, and that sweet potato souffle' casserole that went over so well at Thanksgiving.  Also made a bunch of country green beans (actually that should be, "I cooked up a mess o' country green beans") and a tossed salad - twelve people for dinner at my in-laws' house.  In the afternoon, I put on some more Alahine.  Someday I may get to the point where I don't feel unreasonably, outrageously, happy when I wear Alahine.  But I devoutly hope not.

Sunday, Dec. 27: Took the extremely crunchy cedar tree down this morning, as it was becoming quite the fire hazard.  We typically cut a cedar around the 15th of December, and then take it down New Year's Day, but I could tell this one wasn't going to make it another day.  We probably swept up a couple of gallons' worth of dead needles - still green, but totally dead.  Eeek.  It's a good thing we weren't all charred to cinders in our beds. In any case, I wanted something very floral, so tried a new layering combo with some samples: DSH Perfumes' La Fleuriste (her version of JAR Golconda - very florist-case carnation) and Parfum d'Empire 3 Fleurs (rose, tuberose, and jasmine).  It's pretty.  It's not sending me into ecstasy, but it's pretty.  After that wore off, I was still feelin' some tuberose, so I grabbed a quick spritz of Bath & Body Works Velvet Tuberose.  Yeah, you can be snobby and turn it down, but I like it.  It's no Fracas, it's no Carnal Flower, it's no DSH Tubereuse, but it's a nice (cheap) warm tuberose with a woody drydown.

Monday, Dec. 28: Back to work. Very cold, sunny but windy.  Tested sample of SSS Winter Woods.  This feels like somebody took a chunk out of Tabac Aurea and bottled it... pleasant but boring, I say.  Read March's partial review of her Lancome La Collection set, and now I'm lemming Climat like you wouldn't believe.   Oh, heck, I have given up on liking this Winter Woods thing... I'm going to go spritz some vintage Emeraude pdt on top.  That's more like it.

Tuesday, Dec. 29:  The dishwasher has chosen this week to start not cleaning dishes, and with five people in the house all day (three children home from school, The CEO home from Virginia Tech until the second week of Jan.), we're piling up a lot of dishes.  Repair guy scheduled for January 14; will I make it to then?  Tested SSS Femme Jolie this morning, which I've heard described as a version of Feminite du Bois, and... no.  Just no.  Remember my shaving cream rant? 'Nuff said.  SOTE: Bulgari Black.  I don't wear this often enough, but it is some Seriously Good Stuff.

Image is L'air du temps RICCI RICCI CHANEL Delice de Cartier FACTICE by parfumgott at flickr.

STUFF. Christmas presents. Perfume divestiture. Giveaway drawing.

Yeah, I know... it's Christmas, that wonderful time of the year when we give each other STUFF, in honor of the greatest gift ever - which was not, I remind you, wrapped up in paper printed with Santa faces and tied with red sparkly ribbons.

I have way too much STUFF.  (The CEO tells me this all the time.  He's right, but I hate to admit that to him!)  Probably all of us have too much STUFF, and what we really need are things that can't be wrapped up in Santa-face paper:  Time.  Family.  Love.  Kindness.  Grace.  Patience.  Contentment.  Forgiveness.  Relief from worry.

How often do I assume that my friends and family members just need another gift card or sweater or jar of homemade raspberry jelly, rather than my love/kindness/forgiveness?  Pretty often.  It's embarrassing.  It's easy to spend money and hope that some of the feeling that inspires me to do so comes through, without making sure the gift recipients know that I love them.

I gave up making handmade presents a long time ago.  It was even more stressful than spending money, and difficult to make the right thing for the right person.  Cross-stitch makes my hands hurt these days.  So does crochet, and besides, once you've made someone a fuzzy scarf, you really can't give them another one.  Food gifts are handy, and making them doesn't induce unpleasant finger tingling - but they're not very personal.  Once you've made twelve jars of mulling spices, for all your aunts and cousins and the newspaper carrier and your hairdresser, one jar isn't very special, is it?

And if I do nothing, nobody has any fun.  Maybe the way to do this is to spend a small amount of money, and spend some of my personal time as well.  So I'll go ahead and get my brother that kitchen thingy he wants - and write him a personal note, too.  It's a plan, people.

As a side note to all these STUFF comments, I looked over my perfume collection and found things that I've discovered I just don't love.  I'd like these scents - they're mostly miniature bottles, with a few decants - to go to good homes.  So I just posted them on my notepad at makeupalley.com, and will be listing them on my profile at fragrantica.com as well (I'm mals86 at both sites).  There are a few small decants I'd love to swap for, but other than that, I just want these little bottles to go to people who'll enjoy them. 

If you're interested in picking out one of the mini bottles for yourself, post a comment.  I'll get Taz, my nine-year-old, to draw a name out of his bicycle helmet.  Winner gets to choose a prize from my list of Adoptable Minis.  Drawing closes on Thursday 12/10 at 12 midnight.

Image is 3 Presents Waiting by jonmatthew at flickr.

Holy Cow, It's December!

Wow, I can't believe it's the last month of the year.  Time does march on... (duh!)

I have so much to do.  I'm really glad I completed my National Novel Writing Month project a few days ago (yeah, okay, I'll shut up about it now), but I'm very far behind on the whole Christmas thing.  It's December 3:  three days before Bookworm marches in the local Christmas parade, ten days before my community chorus concert, twelve days before we'll go get a Christmas tree, and three weeks before the Small People Living In My House will be pounding down the stairs, demanding to open their stockings and eat homemade cinnamon rolls.

I need a lot more time.  I haven't bought any gifts; I haven't baked anything; I haven't decorated anything.

Next project: Make Christmas happen, simply.  I mean, I need simple and inexpensive and easy ways to make it feel like Christmas around here without doing a lot of the work myself - and I could pick up Better Homes and Gardens or Woman's Day or some other magazine, but that would feel like wasting time.  (Blogging's not a waste of time, is it?  Please tell me it ain't!) Might have to go check out the emergency holiday missions at FlyLady.org, too.

As I'm formulating the Christmas plan, I think I'll start by cleaning up the joint.  (Eek!)  Get all the fall stuff put away, help the kids pack up anything they won't need over the winter months, ditch the "I haven't used this in months" items lying around.  We'll see how it goes.

As an aside, I smelled the Laura Mercier Minuit Enchante' parfum that people are raving about on my favorite perfume blogs.  I don't live anywhere near a Nordstrom's, but managed to hit the one in Richmond a few days ago, in the course of  attending a farmers' conference and, incidentally, visiting my brother in order to hold the new baby.  (He's precious, of course. I got to snuggle him and kiss his little fuzzy head, but not for long enough.)  Anyway, I was expecting a big ol' dusty resiny Opium-like thing, and instead what I got was a gorgeous spice overload.  It spends about twenty minutes in the too-sweet zone, but then it's a pileup in the spice aisle, with freshly ground cinnamon tackling clove, and nutmeg jumping on top of vanilla bean.  I thought it was terrific.  Better, I got some on the inside wrist of my jacket sleeve, so my jacket still smells great too.

On the other hand, my brother, when invited to sniff my wrist, jerked his head back as if he'd been slapped and asked what I'd done to tick off the sales assistant.  As if you couldn't guess, he doesn't care for perfume. Minuit Enchante' is a bit linear, and seems more like a Generally Good Smell than a serious perfume.  I'd rather have Teo Cabanel Alahine, otherwise known to me as Happiness In a Bottle, Winter Variation.  But ME is a nice thing to see in a mainstream release.  Bottle's pretty, too, with that heavy magnetic cap.

Well.  I'd better get cracking on that cleaning-up thing.  I plan to be back tomorrow with a review of Penhaligon's Amaranthine (better known to my swap buddies as Amaranthigh, or Amaranthingy).

Here are links to a few other reviews of Minuit Enchante':
Abigail at I Smell Therefore I Am
March at Perfume Posse
Angela at Now Smell This

Image is Advent Calendar by laurasjoquist at flickr.com.