Most Worn in December and for 2008

Most Worn for December 2008: KenzoAmour le parfum

Most Worn For the Year 2008: Infusion d'Iris, I think this scent says it all about this year.

images provided by artnet.com

Image One: An Angel by Sir Edward Burne-Jones

Image Two: The Three Graces by Abbott Handerson Thayer

SOTD: Burberry Brit Red

For the last day of the year I am wearing the ever joyful Burberry Brit Red. As for the menu:

Fake Foie Gras (homemade)
Cheese Fondue
Apple Cake
Some good old Cava
Cranford Marathon
and best of all friends.

image provided by artmagick.com
image: Dame Alice Ellen Terry (Choosing) by George Frederic Watts

2008 Discoveries

This will start out bitter before it gets better, overall I can say personally for me and I suspect for the rest of world that year of 2008 has been one of the most insane years of my life, in small breathtaking instants wonderfully audacious and full of intense joy, but I am sad to say a great deal of it has been rather bleak, at these moments I recommend you turn off the news and go find something you enjoy, small pleasures are what we have. I am hoping though that all this upheaval has brought the charitable in us all, I have donated food this year and whenever I pass ringing bells of donations I have given, I don't make much money and as a grad student I am at the low end of income as it goes, still at least at the end of the day I know I still have my compassion and sympathy.

Just a reminder, keep up with what is happening at your local library, at times of economic hardship, library use in the community goes up and yet they are often the first things to go with the economic fall. Don't let this happen when the economy is in down this one of the few places that give back to the community in amazing ways: job help, internet access, language learning facilities, activities for children, entertainment.

And now on to my discoveries of 2008:

Animals and People
-Rex, my family's adorable sweet German shepard
-My kitten, who I will be getting on January 5th, my mother's birthday
-My wonderful friends and family who have been there when I needed them.

Books
- a mercy by Toni Morrison
-A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel Pink
-Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
-The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook: 250 No-Fail Recipes for Pilafs, Risottos, Polenta, Chilis, Soups, Porridges, Puddings and More, from Start to Finish in Your Rice Cooker by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufman
-Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson
-Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

Food (all homemade)
-Dulce de Leche
-Risotto
-Polenta (I finally got it right through my rice-cooker)
-Kimchi fried rice
-Tapioca pudding

Famous
-Christina Hendricks aka Joan Holloway on Mad Men, because she bucks the trend of the anorexic beauty, and is beautifully not that!

Music
- 19 by Adele
- The Decemberists

Online
-Generous Swappers
-Cuteoverload.com
-Google Reader
-Tastespotting.com
-The generous bloggers who come to my little blog who offer words of encouragement and share their thoughts.

Perfume
-Ambre Russe by Parfum d'Empire
-Amour by Kenzo pure parfum
-Bois des Iles by Chanel
-Infusion d'Iris by Prada
-Osmanthus Interdite by Parfum d'Empire
-Sensual Amber by Bath and Body Works

SOTD: Magnifique

So after be gone for so long I am back, moving just has a way of taking over your life. I am spending the day in lancome's newest Magnifique, which on me is wonderfully smoky with hints of rose. I promise I will be back with a more up to date post, but I admit I am still reeling from some very busy weeks.

image provided by artmagick.com

image: Leila by Sir Frank Dicksee

SOTD: Five O'Clock au Gingembre

I promise this is final cat-themed picture, so the weather has most definately become very chilly, the weather forecasters are even saying snow, but as I always say I don't believe it until I actually see it when it comes down to the weather. Going to spend my day in the luxurient embrace of Five O'Clock au Gingembre and the even bigger news: We get the keys today! So very excited!

Tea: Russian caravan.

And something to completely make you laugh (Yes this man really does with he was in the Lord of the Ring movies and the love a good cheesy romance), provided to you by Chris Dane Owens in "Shine On Me":

And yes you will ask yourself: An alligator?!
image provided by artmagick.com
image: A Lady with a Cat by Giovanni Boldini
video uploaded by AngelsWitches

SOTD: L de Lolita Lempicka

Going to spend the day in the lovely embrace of L de Lolita Lempicka, the weather is cold, and there is nothing like the embrace of vanilla, spices, oranges, and delicious musk to make you feel cozy.

Tried a spritz of Mitsouko on today and well it isn't smelling that bad, in fact it is actually smelling good, I wonder what happened?

Kitten update: The baby I chose is the little golden eyed wild cat looking kitten. It was really hard, they were both adorable, but she just caught my attention with her prideful little attitude, she already considers herself a queen, her exploration was hilarious, tried to eat giant dog biscuit, gave up and tried to eat chocolate, my kind've girl. Realization: I like a little bit of a bratty attitude in a cat, mind you she was still very affectionate and a purrer. I admit I am rather smitten and I can't wait to get her next Thursday. She has a sort of adorableness that is just too cute. If I could have I would have taken the other kitten too, she was such an utter sweetie.

image provided by artnet.com
image: Woman with cat by Geza Farago

SOTD: Songes

So today is the big day, I get to meet the kittens, and choose. I admit it was hard choosing a scent for this, I had originally wanted to go with Rasa, but the weather has taking a decidedly cold turn which left pondering what to go with. I decided to go with Annick Goutal's Songes because I know it is full of natural oils and there something very feline about it to me (I think it is the natural indolic quality and the musky incense). I won't be able to bring the kitten home until next week, but I have to admit I have not been this excited in a long time. It is so crazy to think I will get pet kittens today.

I've had this song stuck in my head since Tuesday, Panic by The Smiths:


image provided by artnet.com
image: American Dreams, Angel In Central Park (35771) by Bastienne Schmidt 1997
video uploaded by hackum1

SOTD: Burberry Brit Red

I have a busy day ahead of me so I am reaching for the jolliness of Burberry Brit Red. This is just a wonderful unique scent and really makes me wish rhubarb was used more often as a note in fragrances.

And now onto my kitten update, pictured below are the two kittens I will get to meet tomorrow and have to choose between, as you can it is going to be hard, and their shelter parent tells me they are both little luvbugs:

In my craziness of loving names ( I have one the most used names of the 1980's for girls, so I am always intrigued by a lovely name), I have already begun to come up with ideas, which I might just completely scrap out the window after meeting the kittens, but from their pictures this is one I have come up with:

For the first kitten pictured, she has pretty green eyes, explains Giada:

Giada= "jade"= Italian

Innogen= "beloved child"= Greek

Isobel= "pledged to God"= scottish variation on Elizabeth

Isolde= "fair lady"= Welsh

Liath="grey"= Irish

Luar= "moon"= Portuguese

For the second kitten pictured, she has golden eyes, which you can't tell, which makes more sense with the name Mead:

Mab= "Baby", but was also the name of the Queen of the Fairies in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet = Irish

Mead= "from the meadow" also don't forget the delicious honey drink= English

Mirabeau= "wonderful"= French

Siva= "grey"= Bosnian

For both of the kittens:

Avalou= "apple"= Breton

Gin= "silver"= Japanese
Myrrh, I just think is would be a gorgeous name for a grey cat

The beauty of pet names is you can go with the ones that you love that are too outlandish to name a child, although some of these names aren't, but are on the pure beautiful side. I am totally going to spoil by kitten once I get her.

image provided by artmagick.com

image: Lucretia Borgia Reigns in the Vatican in the Absence of Pope Alexander VI by Frank Cadogan Cowper 1908-14

Kitten images provided by Me, taken by Terry

SOTD: Bois des Iles

Today I am going with Bois des Iles, it just seems appropiate in this cold weather, I could actually see my breath all day yesterday while I was outside. It has also occurred to me that Bois des Iles would be an appropiate scent for a cats sensibilities. Which leads me to how animals react to perfume: I once wore Ava Luxe's Rasa and a kitten adored me for it, she would not stop sniffing and licking my wrist. Rex on the other hand is hilarious, when I was petsitting him, I ended up getting a sample of Magnifique which he enjoyed so much that he decided he needed to lick my wrist, but if he doesn't like a scent he will sneeze and then look at me with an expression of "Why on earth?!"

Kitten update: Yesterday was quite the roller coaster, I admit the more I looked at the pictures, I fell in love with the black kitten, Celena, unfortunately I got a call from her shelter parent to learn that she had eye herpes, which is contagious, and with my roommate having a cat also, the shelter parent and I both agreed we probably weren't a good match. I hope Celena finds a good home because she sounds like a wonderful little kitten. The shelter parent then gave me another number for a woman whom apparently specializes in kitten adoptions; I was able to get a hold of the shelter parent last night and she sent me images of two adorable grey tabby kittens, that I am hoping to be able to meet on Thursday. Interesting info I learned: you will have no real idea of the character of a kitten until around 4 months, so that is the adoption age I am now looking for, what can I say I want a cuddle bug kitten, and you have no idea if they will be that way until around 4 months.

image provided by artmagick.net

image: At Home: A Portrait by Walter Crane 1872

My present to me this year

So my christmas present to me this year is I am going to get a kitten. I have been wanting a cat for ages and right now just feels like the right time (plus my apartment allows for kitties). So I have been over at petfinder.com (thank you so much Daily!) and I have found three beauties that I just want to pick up and cuddle and tell them that they are absolutely beautiful (Cats love to be told this):
http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=11389769
http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=11852320
http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=11930186
Sigh, they are all so gorgeous.

image provided by artnet.com
image: Loving my Cat by Joan Gillchrest

SOTD: Ambre Narguile

Is it so wrong to want to eat your own arm because it smells so delicious? :-)

image provided by artnet.com

image: Golden Harvest by Cora Ogden

SOTD: Omnia

It has been a while since I wore the most soothing scent out there: Omnia. I admit I am rather sad that Bvlgari keeps putting out flankers for this scent, but do not actually put any work into advertising this scent. This little scent is such perfect mix of cream, woods, spices, and clean musks. Although it does have the issue of being anosmic to some people; what ever musk they use in this fragrance it seems to be a real love it, hate it, and I can't smell anything! Luckly for me this works beautifully. One of the few mainstream fragrances that easily could have been niche. Although the bottle still remains a horrible bitch to deal with! The weird part Bvlgari keeps on going with stupid inbred bottle with its flankers and even used at one point for smaller bottles for Bvlgari femme and its flankers and this happens to be one of the number one complaints Omnia has.
image provided by artnet.com
image: A silk tapestry hanging scroll

SOTD: Bal a Versailles

So I am spending my day writing a paper, truthfully I really shouldn't look at as too scary, considering it is only three pages double spaced. So what do wear for days like this? In my opinion you put on your loudest, skankiest, or most out landish scents that you often feel quite strange leaving the house in unless you have only applied the tiniest drop, but that just defeats the joie de vivre of these scents. So today I am putting on Bal a Versailles, that fur laced incense that demands you luxuriate in its pure animalic qualities. The best part is the drydown though, which is the creamiest honeyed musk out there on me, it takes hours but it is worth for that strange magic.

Tea: Black Current

Music: The Perfect Crime #2 by The Decemberists, okay this is not the official video, but these kids better have got an "A+" for this:


image provided by artnet.com
image: Arabesque by Henri Matisse 1924
video uploaded by invaderoingo

SOTD: Farnesiana

It is hard to believe it is Autumn still with all the grey outside. Yesterday I got to do one of those wonderful things in life: finish a book. For awhile now I have been reading The Hakawati by Rabih Alemeddine, what a gorgeous tale to tell, for those who love tales intertwined, it is hard to describe, but I can without reservations got tell everyone to go pick it up and enjoy the sheer beauty of it.

After yesterday's leather fest I am putting the eternal comfort scent of Caron's Farnesiana, I love the heliotrope mimosa entwinement doughy qualities of this scent.

And for the perfect winter fairytale song, The Crane Wife by The Decemberists:


image provided by artmagick.com
image: The Four Seasons (Autumn) by Alejendro de Riquer 1890's
video uploaded by skeltonic

SOTD: Cuir de Lancome

I seem to since August stepped into some bizarre surreal world and I am going to say it possibly "hexed" life, now you are probably wondering about the melodrama, but as many readers remember about three months ago my computer went "klabooey" so I bought a new one that has not lived quite up to my expectations it had issues shutting down, but yesterday officially takes the piece of cake, I had used my computer yesterday morning with no issues, I got home yesterday afternoon, and turned it on to find that it had got rid of all my documents, somehow how unloaded microsoft office, and completely got rid of its own original settings, setting itself back to some setting it had never been in the first place when I had it, so I then decided maybe to try and fix it, only to have it make it so I could not even log into the computer. So in answer to this frustration I have decided I am going to smell like a powerhouse: Cuir de Lancome layered over BBW Velvet Tuberose, I literally want to have the attitude of "SUCK IT!" to whatever obstacles might come into my way today. Although I will say this I was lucky enough to have a dear friend to loan me their computer, considering I have a paper due on Monday.

And because I need a little badass music, Naked Eye by Luscious Jackson:


image provided by artnet.com
image: Power of the Flower by Kathleen McCloud
video uploaded by gonzata1

SOTD: KenzoAmour le parfum

Yesterday was so gray that the fog never lifted, it was very strange, because that rarely happens, to combat the cold I am putting on KenzoAmour le parfum, I must say this is going to be one on my major loves this year. It is just comfort in a bottle and seems to get better with each wearing. Today I am determined to finish book, the weather demands it. On the good news side I got my new apartment! The hilarious part is that it is right across the street from my job, which is a woohoo as far as gas goes.
Tea: Twining's Christmas Blend with homemade cranberry cinnamon muffin
And now for Frou Frou's Breathe In

image provided by artnet.com

image: An absorbed crane by Ryota Unno 2008

video uploaded by emenzzi

SOTD: Musk To Musk

Today I need serenity so I am going with another serene scent, Montale's Musk to Musk, which seems to glow to me.
Tea- Russian Caravan
image provided by http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/node/3863
image: Duet-cloud by Kim Joon 2006

Most Worn In November: Ambre Russe, Bois des Iles, Vanille Fleurie de Tahiti

Bois des Iles

Vanille Fleurie de Tahiti

Ambre Russe

I was all over the place in November from the decadence of Ambre Russe, the pure flirtatiousness of Vanille Fleurie de Tahiti, and gentleness of Bois des Iles.

all images provided by artnet.com
El no la veia como (he did not see her as...) by Luis Gonzalez Palma 2004

Flower Pink by Nobuyoshi Araki

Opera, Buenos Aires by Nicolas Ruel 2008