One Perfume At A Time, Please, Slumberhouse EKI

So one evening during the height of my initial perfume obsession, sometime around December of last year, I stopped by ULTA on my way home from work to smell some stuff.

It was my first time to look at perfume there, and I was SHOCKED that they had so many, including Chanel! 

I sprayed one on my left wrist. Chanel #5.  Oooh!  There's Coco Chane!.  Well I couldn't pass that up, so I sprayed that on my right wrist. 

Then Coco Noir on the top of my left hand, Lolita Lampika on the top of my right.  A little Bvglari Omnia on my left forearm.  Estee Lauder Nude on my right. 

Never one for moderation in anything, I tried Marc Jacobs Dot on the inside of my left elbow, and just to even everything out, Ralph Lauren something on the inside of my right elbow. 

And then since I had run out of skin, I picked up approximately 231 paper samples. 

When I got home, a plopped on the sofa next to Jason to watch the tube and read about perfume on the interwebs. 

Jason is not used to me wearing perfume much, and has been pretty tolerant of me trying out my samples.  This evening, though, must have just been too much. 

He sat there for awhile, occasionally looking over at me.  Finally, he looked at me and said.....

"Uh....Did you go to work like that today?"

 

 

No Baby, I saved this 8-perfume bombasity all for you. 

 

On a somewhat related note, Slumberhause Eki.  A sample I got from Jan, my perfume fairy.  I can find very few descriptions or reviews for it online.  It is IFFY.  Supposedly it's saccharin sweet white flowers and other junk.  On first spray I get.....Capers?  (I found one review that mentioned something balsamic.) I get something herby, which I couldn't identify until I read a review that mentioned minty gum.  Yes.  I get that.  I do smell lots of flowers, but unfortunately they are the ones that smell just a tad bit like sickly sweet vomit.  I'm sure I'll revisit this one another time, but for now, it's a no. It evokes no memories or emotions for me.  Sorry :(

 



 

 

Sophia Fan Club Applications Now Being Accepted

Y'all know I'm obsessed with So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD).  The summer season just started and I am SO HAPPY.   I am also, however, totally obsessed with this kid, Sophia Lucia.  You may have seen her on Dance Moms, and apparently she was also on as a guest once on Dancing With the Stars, although I don't watch that one because I think it's stupid.  I want to see REAL dancers, not Kate Gosslin trying to dance.  Ugh.  

Sophia Lucia.  She's 10 years old.  I loved her on Dance Moms, but in the past year she has just LEAPED in skill and is now this incredible, strong, emotional, magical thing.  She's the Mozart of dance.  The Pascal.  The....well you get it.  A SAVANT of DANCE.  Right now SYTYCD is showing auditions, and I keep finding myself thinking "Well she's good, but she's no Sophia Lucia."  I can't imagine how amazing she will be as a grown up dancer. 

For example, I don't know that I've ever seen anything more beautiful than THIS DANCE from a few months ago. She reminds me so much of Melanie Moore (winner of SYTYCD Season 8). 

Or this:THIS, where she dances in Red Riding Hood.  UGH it kills me. 

And I'm really not a tap fan much at all, but check THIS out.

I can't wait to see what this little girl accomplishes in her life.  Yes, I will be stalking her!  Maybe I'll start a fan club. 

And so then

I went to Facebook to make sure that last post ("Insomniac edition of "Shit I Didn't Buy") had posted to my Facebook feed, and guess what SPONSORED POST was at the top of my newsfeed?

Annnd........      FACEPALM

Insomniac edition of "Shit I Didn't Buy"

Yeah...probably shouldn't have had that LARGE latte on my way home.  UGH.  Not being on sleeping pills just SUCKS.  But I get lots of internet shopping done.  Well internet browsing anyway.  I have to put a new roof on my house, so I'm on a budget.  Fun times!

So...One King's Lane.  You know - the "exclusive" on-line shopping experience with the specially curated sales.  No doubt there are deals to be had here, but I have never seen one.  My sister-in-law and her Mom find treasures here ALL the time.  So much so, that yesterday her Mom convinced me that I should give it another shot.  I cancelled my original "membership" months ago. 

So here I am, surfing around for bargains on One Kings Lane, and I am stuck. Stuck and stymied by things like this "SEASHELL COVERED EGG ON STAND" for $169. Uh - what?

 

 

And this black mardi-gras bead necklace for $485.  Right, there no decimal between the 4 and the 8 here.  That's four HUNDRED and 85 dollars. 

Here you can spend yet another amount slightly less than $500, this time for a slightly chipped cow horn stuck in a wooden base.  Lucky YOU to have this sort of opportunity.  Please note what a total bargain this is - originally only $5 shy of $1,000. 



But alas, this one my just turn me off One King's Lane again completely.  $389 for a lamp with some wood stuck on it.  Oh but it's "VINTAGE" wood.  I have some wood just like this in my front yard.  I actually picked it up on the beach. And I have several squares of wood in the shed and I think I have a stick lamp I got at the Salvation Army for about $2.50.  I will be HAPPY to save you some money here and create a lamp JUST LIKE this and I will only charge you say, ummm........$360!  Now THAT is a bargain.  Inbox me and I'll give you my info so you can deposit that $ in my bank account and I'll get to work. 

Living Vicariously

Since I have no garden at the moment, I am living vicariously through my Mother's garden. Her yard, which was DESTROYED two months ago when she had to have a bunch of trees cut, is now going NUTS.  She has way more sun than she ever had before. I was worried that some of the things would FRY, but so far everything has just taken off! 


Pink false indigo, tropicana canna, Easter lilies, Gardenia on the left is a cutting from my great-grandmother's plant

Easter lilies, other various day lilies, lantana, azalea

Something phlox-y that comes back every year.



Mom has put these Easter lilies at the church every year in memory of my Daddy.  They love this spot here right by his wood shop, his favorite place.

  

Lantana which was literally a few sticks just a month ago.   

 Here you can see the stump of the old oak tree that Mom had cut. It was time.  Hollow in the middle.   When the 1974 tornado hit McComb, my swingset was destroyed.  My Dad being my Dad, he rigged the half of the swingset that was salvageable so that one side was supported by the original legs, and the other was supported by this oak tree. It worked just fine that way for many, many years.I also had a tire swing that hung from this tree for a million years. I spent many an hour in that tire swing dreaming big dreams and pretending I could fly. You can also see the Acanthus flower spikes (Bear's Breeches), the main thing I thought would fry in all this sun.  It seems perfectly happy. 









Sweet Mattie in the recovering garden.

Acanthus flower spike





My precious Mama with her Acanathus. 

UGH I can't stand it!  I have GOT to get a plan for my own yard and get WORKING.  Mom's garden is recovering so fast - it's pretty amazing. She has done a TON of work to get it back in shape.  Her grass is coming back pretty well too after the tree trucks left HUGE ruts.  We plan to find some of the new unusual cone flowers to plant in this bed that now is so sunny.  We have to repair her cobblestone path - the trucks made a mess of that, too.  Just have to get some time to do it. 

K.E.S.

Cannot believe how fast she is growing up!! I know people say that all the time, but it really is true.  It's tooooooo fast!!  Stop little girl!

'

 

What the....BEACH!!

Um.....WHY do I have no beach pictures posted on this blog?  How did that happen?  I mean I live like A BLOCK from it.  I have been terribly remiss.  So, here's a random few.  Enjoy!

Serge Lutens Ambre Sultan

Here it is.  My first perfume review!  Now there are TONS of fancy perfume reviews online that will tell you the notes, the chemistry, and use fancy words, compare this fragrance to others, and fulfill all of your fancy-schmancy review desires. 

I am new at this so I don't know all the fancy terminology.  My perfume note identification is about on level with me reviewing wines, which I could most accurately describe as "grapey".  Therefore, since I lack the ability and desire to bore you with formal reviews of these things, I'm just going to tell you how they make me FEEL. 

Serge Lutens Ambre Sultan

I got a sample of this one just the day before yesterday from my own personal Perfume Fairy, Jan.  I have learned from my first 3 sample boxes that I need to PACE MYSELF, and only really explore one fragrance at a time.  The Ambre Sultan caught my eye immediately because I remembered this review from Katie Puckrik.   I already know I love patchouli/ vanilla/ incense-y things, so I spritzed this on and....

It's 1992ish. I'm 22 years old.  I'm happy and free and hanging out with my friends Donya and Daniel at their apartment, which smells wonderfully of incense and something yummy and vegetarian they made for lunch.  Donya is studying, so Daniel and I go walk through the French Market.  I'm wearing Daniel's woolen beret even though it's July, just because I'm a fashion rebel like that.  It probably smells a bit like wet dog.  Sweat.

The day is typical New Orleans.  Balmy, humid.  The quarter smells like sweat and people and a little urine-y and greasy from all the fried food, brackish from the lake, muddy and hot and silty from the river.  Probably jasminey and sweet olivey and honeysuckley.  Fresh bread. Coffee.  Hippies.  Sweet, thick, liquor.  I have nowhere to be, nothing I have to be doing. 

We go into Marie Laveau's House of VooDoo to see my boyfriend at the time, Carl, who worked there for several years.  Today the psychic reader in the back of the shop is burning vanilla incense, and it mingles with everything else in the shop.  Candles, other incense, packets of herbs and gris gris bags.  Wooden masks with rich stains and varnishes.  Dolls made from straw.  The ancient, worn, wooden floor.  I feel rooted.  In love with the city.  The best sense of safety and place and belonging. Excitement and exploration and a huge broadening of my horizons.  I love my friends.  This time of my life. I am thankful for it, and aware that is it fleeting. 

I have smelled SO MUCH incense and patchouli over the years (candles, lotion, soap, oils, incense, shampoo, etc. etc.  etc.) unconsciously, I think, trying to conjure the smell of this perfect day. 

Serge Lutens Ambre Sultan IS that smell.  I will be buying this and trying to resist the urge to slip into any of my other habits from the early 90's...

Old Lady

Greta just drags those back feet as she walks, but she still gets so excited when we go out.  She does pretty good going to the end of the street to the bird sanctuary overlook and back to the house.  Today I tried to push her a little too hard, and she fell once.  I think one trip down and back is good enough now.  She still loves nosing around, smelling ALL the things.  If she gets ahead of us, she looks back every couple of seconds to make sure we are still with her.  I never in a million years thought I'd be able to take her out without having her on a leash.  She's my favorite old lady.

Surprise Rainbow

Staring out my living room door at the blank slate of a courtyard, I notice the Virginia Creeper encroaching on my fence. This stuff is (one of) the gardening banes of my existence.  Much like the Cayratia that plagued me at Tulip Street, this is even a little worse.  It's woodier vine makes it much harder to pull down.

But as I was trying to vaporize the Creeper WITH MY MIND, I noticed something.  The damn thing grows in a perfect ROYGBIV rainbow.  Now that is pretty cool, right?

It still has to die, but let us for a moment enjoy the beauty of this surprise rainbow.

Still Seeking a Buddah

Looking for something to put in my courtyard.  Something eastern-ish.  Something that reminds me to be serene and content.  Considered this Buddah? for a moment, then realized that from most angles, he looked like a beauty shop head with weird spotted curlers in his hair.  Did not purchase. 

Perfume Obsession

It all started years ago.  I wrote about my lack of ability to commit to one perfume here, way back in 2009.

Since then, I sampled things here and there, occasionally smelled something in a department store, but I was just never that interested.  Then all of a sudden, about last November.....BOOM!  I basically woke up one morning obsessed.  This phenomenon happens to me occasionally, and has my entire life.  I have written several times about my collection Obsessions.  I get totally engrossed in something for awhile, TOTALLY I MEAN, and then it generally poops out.

(Gardening never has, although I still haven't done anything in my yard here.)  (Lack of commitment).

So yeah Novemberish.  Obsessed.  Read ALL the blogs about perfume.  Literally "finished the internet".  Read 3 books about perfume and this one guy who is like a super-smeller and can smell and identify like 8 quadrillion smells.

Yes, I'm including 2 guidebooks, because I'm a nerd like that.  I will refer to these two books one million times, but first I read them from cover to cover. 

Found so many awesome blogs/ groups/ sites that sell samples!  A favorites so far is http://perfumeposse.com/.  The reviews are great, but it isn't just perfume reviews.  It's also just good discussion about all sorts of perfume-related topics.  I found some sites are WAY above my head, but I can generally follow the threads discussed here.  I even found my very own Perfume Fairy!!!  I didn't even know that existed!  She and I started talking over one post, which resulted in her sending me this amazing box of goodies!  I felt like it was Christmas!

These are fancy, niche fragrance.  I immediately 1> noticed I had never smelled or even HEARD of most of these things, 2>  overwhelmed myself and couldn't smell anything for a week, and 3>  realized I needed a way better basic education before I could really appreciate some of these.  

A couple weeks later, the people over at http://surrendertochance.com/ had an 20% off sale.  This website is awesome - they sell individual samples as well as sets by maker, note, blog, awards...tons of different sets.  I opted for the "Perfume Posse Top 25".  Most of these happen to be top rated in the Perfume Guide as well, and I had only ever smelled about TWO of them (Shalimar, and Chanel No. 5).  I am so uneducated. 

I am LOVING trying one of these every day, loving some, curious about others, and downright frightened by a few.

It will take me a good long time to work my way through them, and I'm pretty happy about that right now.  Jason is less enthusiastic, although he will generally give his opinion.  They currently fluctuate between "nice, NO, and you smell like an old lady."

Office 3/4 Done

No, I'm still not 100% done.  I need curtains, and I can't decide on fabric.  I need to do something with my desk so you can't see the rat's nest of cords, and I desperately need to paint it, but I just haven't yet.

But Jason put the knobs on my drawers!  The vintage crystal flower knobs I bought on ebay YEARS ago.  I'm so excited to actually use them!

He also helped me get things organized a little better last weekend, which has motivated me to really work in here more and finish it so that it is inspiring and inviting for me.  I think it just needs a few tweaks - cool stuff on the walls, a great graphic fabric for curtains, a clean, fresh white desk, a comfy, supportive desk chair for me, and a comfy chair that someone else can use when I have company.

Now if I could just make up my dang mind about what things to get....

Hudson's Treasure Hunt Haul

Over the past year, I have become obsessed with makeup guru videos on The YOUtube.  Why?  I have no idea.  I wear makeup, but not very well, and not a lot, and only under duress (aka any time I'm forced to put on a bra and leave the house).  I think they have the same appeal to me that jewelry television does.  The hosts are funny.  Entertaining.  And when I'm sitting in hotel rooms (already almost 60 nights this year - hooray for me ), listening to people talk to me about general mundane things makes me feel less isolated. 

It's goofy.  So sue me. 

Anyway, some of their yapping must have rubbed off on me, because I have been trying some new products. Not the expensive ones, of course, because I'm cheap like that, and I'm not ready to commit.  Luckily there are some supercheap products out there that the gurus love, so I've picked some of those up.

The one rather expensive thing I've wanted to try is the NAKED palette from Urban Decay.  The colors ARE awesome, and all the gurus talk about how great the color "payoff" is.  Now I'm a makeup nerd that knows what "payoff" means. 

But it's $50.  And again, I just can't commit.  I looked at it again at Ulta yesterday, and refrained. 

Enter Hudson's Treasure Hunt. 

I stopped on my way home from Jackson today at the one in Hattiesburg, and they obviously bought out a target.  They had a ton of ELF products, which I think are only sell there. The gurus love these.  The Targets in D'iberville, Jackson, and Hattiesburg have been out of everything EVERY time I have checked.  They are cheap to begin with ($1ish), and Hudson's had them 50% off. They supposedly have great PAYOFF.

 So...I got one of everything they had.  Now I have some colors at least similar to the NAKED palette to play with.







And then on my way out, I saw 4 bins of jewelry.  LAWD I don't need jewelry, but I'm obsessed. This was fun, modern, sparkly, crystal-y, colorful, GOLD-tone (which I have very little of, actually).  I mean it's not the BEST jewelry in the world, but it's CUTE.  AND 90% OFF!!!!!

90%!!!!!!!  Of an already REALLY marked down price. 

                                                                                                 Here are some of the actual price tags:   

And because I couldn't decide what to get, again, I got it all.  ALL OF THE THINGS (well most of the things). I even bought 2 of one necklace.  Anyone want the dupe?  And here's (most of) what all I bought:   

Now before you go thinking I'm MADE OF MONEY,  let me tell you that I got all that makeup, all this jewelry, 2 large boxes of metamucil single serving packs (yes, I'm over 40. Don't judge me. Haven't you seen CRAZY PEOPLE?  "Metamucil.  If you don't drink it, you'll get colon cancer and die"?)   Some Zimm's Crack spray (for my heels.  I walk barefooted too much), AND some $16ish bedhead sulfate free shampoo AND two packs of gum.  The total?

$45.17

 

Now that's what I call a haul, y'all.  Let me know if you want to borrow a necklace or 6.  I have them in all shapes, sizes, colors and links. 

 



Disturbing Planters Part 2

My Aunt found this today and had to take a picture.  I just have no words. 

The 11th Commandment

A friend of mine posted on Facebook that she just watched a guy drop a potato chip, pick it up, and eat it.   OFF THE FLOOR IN THE AIRPORT. She said she guessed it was the 5 second rule.

After I got through barfing, I remembered a story my old boss told me that makes me giggle every time I think about it. 

His 7 year old daughter had a playmate over one day.  The playmate dropped an M&M, picked it up, said "5 second rule!" and ate it.  My boss said "WHAT!?  What's the 5 second rule?"  She said "If it stays on the ground less than 5 second you can eat it."

He said "Where did you here that?".  She paused, looking thoughtful, then said,

"I think it's in the Bible!". 

Disturbing Planters

A few weeks ago I posted about some of the bizzaro things I have seen in antique stores, including a llama that was attached to a cart in what looked like a very painful way:

(Now I'm noticing he also appears in serious need of a visit to a chiropractor. I recommend Dr. Ciotti in Ocean Springs. He has done WONDERS for my neck. )

                                                       Well, allow me to share a couple more treasures.  I think this will be the beginning of a recurring subset of the "shit I didn't buy" category of posts.  I am loving the quest of finding these crazy things. 

I found these two at some place in Columbus, MS.  Not sure which one. 

I call #1 "VERY angry kittens".  What do these kittens have to be so mad about?  They look well fed.  They have each other as company.  Pink is a cheery color. Don't really know, but their eyes creep me out. 

I call #2 simply "What in the Hell".   I can think of nothing to say about this except WHO thought this was a good idea?  I can't even imagine it with flowers in it.   

And here's one that we found at HomeGoods tonight. I actually love the color, and the planter itself is cool. I like peacocks. What I want to know is, WHY does this peacock have the feet of a laborador retriever?















Here's the BEST one we found @ the Home Goods tonight. I'll just call is "Poorly Placed Fabric Drape", and leave you to decide the rest...

What crazy things have you seen lately?