Scent of The Day: La Parisienne

So we are having that weird weather in the Bay Area, where in the middle of Autumn, it looks like spring, like the glorious early part of spring, when green is just beginning to peep through, but there is still a chill in the air. Suddenly I am yearning for the scent of silver, green, and lily of the valley; so I put on La Parisienne, a gorgeous silvery aldehyde scent, that just screams spring.

Scent of The Day: Parfum Sacre

I'm having a crappy month/week, so going with an all encompassing serenity fragrance, Caron's Parfum Sacre. Rose at its most breathtakingly sacred.

And also I am offering some beauty, the above image, La Traviata is by John Jude Palencar, one of my all time favorite illustrators. His images are always incredibly haunting.

To see more of his work: http://www.johnjudepalencar.com/home.htm

Golden Compass Fun Quiz: Find Your Daemon

Love it! And once again I am not schocked, I suspected I would get something of the feline family. Whenever anybody or myself compares me to another creature in similarity it is always cats.

Scent of The Day: Vanille Cannelle

Sleeping Snow Bears, Carol Grigg

Today I am working and I am also coming down with a cold. The library on Sundays is always hectic and on holiday weekends even more so. So today I picked a scent purely based on the need for comfort, Comptor Sud Pacifique's Vanille Cannelle, which is exactly just that vanilla and cinnamon, two notes when combined, bring to mind so many comforting foods it is not even funny: oatmeal, oatmeal cookies, horchata, rice pudding, French toast. My mind also was drawn to the image of the bear today, I admit finding a comforting image today to go with Vanille Cannelle was rather hard, until I remembered the bear. It was strange to find though that most of the images I looked at had a masculine edge, when in my mind the bear for me has always been connected with the feminine, and most so in the catagory of the maternal. It could be from a childhood spent watching nature programs and always loving the image of mother bears with their young, most especially the image of them coming out for spring from winter hibernation, although the image was slightly marred knowing that the mother was starving due to having had her young during winter and not being able to feed to herself. But if that isn't maternal care and preserverence then I don't know what is. A great example of the maternal bear is Barbara Kingsolver's essay Small Wonder which tells the fascinating story of a toddler that was adopted by nursing female bear. Which can be found in the book Small Wonders (a collection of her essays).

Something Lovely: Amy Sol

Seapony of the Moonlight Pond by Amy Sol

Her website:

http://www.amysol.com/

Things I am Thankful For

- I am not in need of lifes.

- I have the money to support myself in school and going to France.

- That I have friends I can count on

- I have family that I can have Thanksgiving with and who are providing me with a meal.

- That I have a cell phone (keep up the communication)

- That it is crisp and cool today

- That I can see, smell, touch, and taste

- That I have a loving, supportive, and kind boyfriend

- An incredibly sweet and gentle dog

- Time to read a book in one sitting

- The ability to cook

- To enjoy food with no psychological remorse

- To appreciate the variety that beauty comes in

- To know how to make a fire on a cold day/night that will keep me warm

- That I am generous with those I love.

Book: Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez

So last night in one sitting I read Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez; I admit I was really moved at times but also found myself questioning the authors actions. To often I had a sense that Rodriguez was running around and ignoring the consequences, which I can say is irresponsible and deadly in the case of women living Afghanistan. Sadly this was confirmed this morning, because well I had to go with my gut and google it, and immediately up popped NPR's story http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10634299 . As for Rodriguez I really don't know what to think. Her character shines through as hopeful and at times loopy and more often then not running around ignoring the dangers that are so obvious but some how always side stepping the risks; did she think in publishing her book that she could side step the danger as she always had? Did she really not care for the safety of her students or really did not honestly take into account the dangers of publishing her book? At times Rodriguez seems highly aware of the situation she is in and at other times she seems highly unaware (best example being her using her van to transport three of her neighbors who had harassed the neighborhood and were confirmed kidnappers to prison, her husband upon hearing about the situation told her she was "crazy!" And told her she needed to get out immediately because the likely hood was her neighbors would have the van overtaken. This is not exaggeration when all the stories of the book are taken into account.) I can't help but think Rodriguez is a complete ditz or that she is highly manipulative and put a great deal of women in danger. Sadly it is hard to tell there are so many contradictions of character and yet people are made up very often of quite a few contradictions. I suppose I suggest this book to read but I also know that it should be read with a highly questioning mind

Scent of the Day: Organza Indecence

Today is a cold and grey day and although there is the temptation to call it ugly, I can't, the beauty of this weather is that it demands you get close to your fellow humans and share in warmth, be it physical or mental. I chose to wear Organza Indecence today because well it has the wonderful evocative quality of reminding of incense and rice pudding all at the sweet time. It is a dry sweet scent with vein of creamy amber running through it. A perfect cocoon scent in cold weather.

And also Happy Birtday Mary and Rita!

Scent of the Day: Lazy Love

Has been so long, but I am now back with some exciting news

This last spring I read Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis; which is probably one of the best things I had read in a long time. In the current political state of the world this graphic novel memoir offers a unique voice on the state of Iran and its history. I cried and laughed while I read it and afterwards really wanted to share it. So imagine my joy at finding out that is has been made into a movie and well I had to share. Here is the official website for the movie:
Persepolis the movie
Sadly it is only coming out in limited release on Christmas Day; I suspect I will have wait for it to get onto Netflix.