Perfume...sigh

Love this article so much. It is an interview with a perfumer about the process of creating a perfume, and it was such a fun read!

I have a weird love of perfumes. It's more of a vicarious love, though. I am pretty loyal to the few scents I own. But I adore reading descriptions of perfumes on websites and trying to imagine what they smell like. Anthropologie always has great scent descriptions for the perfumes they carry.

The first perfume I fell in love with was Auric Blends' roll on perfumes. I still have my original bottle, which has become my signature: One Love. It's such a lovely scent, and seems to linger so nicely on my skin. It's sweet without being cloying; the base is a deep vanilla. I just adore it and don't tend to stray.

Heaven help me if they ever discontinue One Love!

I also had a love affair with Gap Scent Editions. I remember being in a huge Gap and standing in front of the display sniffing all the different perfumes, which were meant to be blended. I remember the one blend I loved was Sueded Musk with Silk Yuzu. I never bought the fragrance and it was one of those purchases I regretted never making. Years later, I thought of the scents and managed to track down the rollerball of Silk Yuzu on Ebay. It is pretty weak; the fruity, citrusy scent fades quickly. But I enjoy it all the same!

Gotta love the packaging; the perfume has a little cloth pouch
with a button closure that then sits in a little box

I then saw this article on the Wall Street Journal about orange blossom perfumes. It's an idea I had toyed with idly from time to time; wearing orange blossoms as perfume on my wedding day.

Beautiful photo by F. Martin Ramin for the Wall Street Journal,
styling by Anne Cardenas

As I did my wedding research (nerd alert), I discovered that it was tradition in the early 20th century for brides to wear orange blossoms on their wedding day. Orange blossoms represent fertility because the orange trees flower year-round. Hooray for wedding research!

Even when orange blossoms weren't available, wax flowers were created and made into headdresses. Queen Victoria started the trend (just like she started the whole white dress thing).

So, at first I was looking into vintage pieces. But, once the venue was decided, I knew that a wax headdress in August might not work. I wouldn't want to ruin a vintage treasure! So then, my next thought was that I could nod to this tradition with perfume. If I find something based on orange blossoms, it would be a fun nod to the idea.

My first stop was to get Pacifica's Nerola Orange Blossom solid perfume.

The verdict? It was surprisingly bitter. I expected more citrusy sweetness, or at least a vaguely citrusy floral. I think it would have to be mixed with a more obvious orange for me to really fall for it. Perhaps the Tuscan Blood Orange perfume by the same company?

I ended up just wearing my signature scent. It's the most me, orange blossoms be damned! I felt beautiful that day no matter what details were left by the wayside.

The Jazz Age Lawn Fest

I've seen this on just about all my favorite blogs, and you'll soon see why...

The Jazz Age Lawn Fest happens in Manhattan every year. Folks show up in their vintage finery, roll out old cars, and have a downright Gatsby-esque lawn party. It's vintage fabulousness.

Broccoli House!

Broccoli House! So cute!

Brock Davis, check out his Flickr

Love it! I always wanted a tree house growing up.

Want.

This shirt from C.L.E. Clothing Co.

!!!

You should check out the C.L.E. They're pretty awesome. It's nice to see a company that celebrates the city. I love it here, and it always made my heart sink when friends would put Cleveland down, no matter what their reasons were.

So buy a shirt and wear your love of Cleveland on your sleeve!

Amen!

Just go read it, especially if you're a fellow bride. Offbeat Bride writes a wonderful denouncement of the word "tacky"

Brides all over wedding websites worry that their nontraditional wedding will be "tacky." But this term is so meaningless because it's all about context. Just as I know I could never hold a 300 guest soiree in a ballroom downtown with 6 foot tall centerpieces and an all white cake and Canon in D to walk down the aisle...lots of brides do just that. Most of the weddings I play have most of those elements. And you know what? As much as my quartet will occasionally judge (we love silently judging the guests who wear too-short minidresses with spindly little stripper heels), we mostly celebrate what was beautiful: the bride beaming as she walks down the aisle, the groom tearing up during the vows.

I just wish I had given myself a little less grief when I was searching for my wedding dress and getting so upset because I felt like a "bad bride." The wedding industry is sneaky, and very very good at making you feel like you have to do things a certain way. This article is a reminder that nobody is a bad bride. If you want to cosplay at your wedding as elves from the Lord of the Rings, and have your wedding bands engraved with "One ring to rule them all...in holy matrimony," go for it. The people who love you will likely see these ideas as so unmistakably you, and they will love you all the more for expressing yourselves in your wedding planning.

Dreamy Cloud Doughnuts

What a beautiful idea, and the photography is lovely as well! This is from a post on Forty-Sixth at Grace.  The idea of taking a cloud cookie cutter and using it to make puffy fried doughnuts. Brilliant! They look so lovely covered in powdered sugar.

I want to make these little pillowy confections. This is the epitome of comfort, to bite a cloud. It's a nice reminder to find a little wonder in the mundane.

So much love

This is pretty freakin' amazing. This artist (called People Too?) took etude book pages (or, I'm assuming they're etudes based on the easy piano parts; I can't read the titles), and drew amazingly detailed scenes, working the real musical notes into the scene.

Seriously, genius. I am so in love with these images it's insane.

WOW.

Love the hot air balloon and bunting on this one! 

The staff becomes a checkered floor! Brilliant!

Love how the bandstand is a group of sixteenth notes!

A spa, with sixteenth-note massage table.

LOVE LOVE LOVE. In case you missed it, here's the link again. Kudos, People Too. Kudos.

Appeasing the Foodie in Me

Saveur released the Saveur 100, a list of great restaurants, foods, and cook's tools from the past year.

Some of my favorites?

Celery Bitters...sounds intriguing; I didn't know they had other flavors of bitters. I am used to the fresh, green, herbal sharpness of Angostura bitters. But they suggest throwing in bitters even in cooking, something I've never considered doing! Here's the whole line of flavored bitters, from chocolate to grapefruit!

This write-up about a tomato sandwich has me longing for summer...

Milk and Honey. Warm up some milk, add a few spoons of honey. Sounds comforting! I might have to try frothing the milk with my new Aerolatte frother (a wonderful Christmas present from John!).

The description of Sushi Shin makes my mouth water.

You know how foodies love to re-invent simple, low-brow dishes (I've seen things like mac and cheese with duck, savory cotton candy flavors, and wasabi ice cream)? This takes the cake: broccoli with Cheetos.

Blis Syrups. The vanilla-infused maple syrup sounds awesome.

Tequila hot sauce? Sounds fun to try!


And, some other links from around the web:

Adorable recipe cards via Etsy.

I made my first lasagne recently, based loosely on this recipe. The sauce was tweaked with handfuls of spinach, but the result was so flavorful and comforting, and there was no meat in it!

John's been on a big Michael Pollan kick (due in part to the fact that I bought him all his books for Christmas). I really enjoyed his snappy Food Rules: An Eater's Manual.

For more direct recipe cards, try "This Doesn't Taste Like Crap" and "Break Out the Fat Pants"

Adorable recipe cards with an Octochef (that's Octopus+Chef)!

A really practical idea, printable recipe cards mean you can add to your stack at any time!

Things That Are Awesome

A wonderful website. In a time when it's so easy to get hung up on what's wrong with the world, this blog is a wonderful reminder of the little things in life that are amazing.

I've been really angry lately with the way some things are in this country. Part of it is politics; how Michelle Obama's campaign against childhood obesity became a partisan fight (Glenn Beck claimed she was trying to take away his french fries by suggesting carrot sticks as a snack for children). I'm frustrated with agribusiness and food that tastes bland because it is forced to grow in the wrong season, or meat that comes from fattening cattle and chicken on feed they don't consume in the wild (I got John some Michael Pollan books for Christmas, can you tell?). I'm frustrated with the fact that pharmaceutical companies refuse to fund more studies on lithium, which has shown a lot of promise for treating strokes and Lou Gehrig's disease, simply because no single company has a patent on it and thus everybody could benefit from selling the drug.

Sigh...I found this blog at just the right time!

Some posts that reminded me of the little joys in life:


#356 Wearing your boyfriend's sweatshirt (I love doing this)
#371 Seeing Old People Holding Hands
#380 Hearing Someone's heartbeat
#391 When parents bring you back gifts from a business trip (my dad always used to bring me stuffed animals: a lobster from Maine, an armadillo from Texas. Now, he still brings me back things from his trips, typically tea from London!).
#407 The in-law nap (this one made me laugh out loud because I just did it on Christmas. I was tuckered out from playing midnight mass).
#413 Trying on your new clothes again as soon as you get home from the store (I am way guilty of this!)
#466 Using milk instead of water (I do this for tomato soup, and it just isn't the same without it!)
#497 The moment after the show before the applause begins
#563 Watching cream go into coffee


A nice reminder to stop and smell the roses (or at this time of year, the evergreen?).

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I had an amazing day of food and family. I hope you did too!

Here's a few last holiday links I've loved...

~Let it Dough! Creative Christmas cookies!

~Build a Christmas village on a shelf, starting with this free download. Then, if you get ambitious, she has more for sale.

I would totally watercolor these. I may make them soon!

~An adorable winter engagement shoot. My favorites, however, are the first two pictures!

Tangled in lights. Love it!

~Um, hello amazing photo. Originally found here.

Totally my favorite. Love the clothes, her expression, and the colors!

~T-Rex sums up the year's accomplishments.

~Ickle and Lardee have one of the cutest letters to Santa ever.

PS if you don't know these two teeth,
you need to go through this entire blog's archives immediately.

~Look amazing, but a ton of work to make...mini gingerbread houses! And they sit on coffee cups!

Wow. Just wow.

Holiday Cheer Part 3

~Did you know kissing under the mistletoe may be partly inspired by Norse mythology? The things you learn reading mental_floss.

~Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication (according to Da Vinci), as shown by this perfect little hot chocolate recipe: milk, chocolate, sugar. And the picture is divine:

via

~Beautiful typewriter art, found here.

How do people think of these things?

~I have a love of blogs that give elaborate gift wrapping ideas at this time of year. You know, like the stuff you see on Anthropologie, where you can spend as much on the wrapping as the present. I opted for something simpler (see below), but fell in love with this method of re-using cheap plastic dinosaur toys.

It's a metallic dinosaur! On a Christmas present!

Or, even better, a metallic dinosaur necklace!
All it takes is a coat of paint!

Here's my gift-wrapping scheme this year: brown paper packages tied up with string, with a touch of deep red:

Four more days! Merry Christmas, everybody!

The best 404 error message ever...

Ok, not really, but the image used at Offbeat bride really made me smile:

So friggin' adorable!

Some other great ones:

"Our princess is in another castle."

A personal favorite, Homestar Runner's Teen Girl Squad gets 404'd!

The classiest dang 404 I've ever seen. Beautiful composition!

Love the scrolling star background on this one!

Nerdy guys in sweater vests, and instructions not to cry? Hilarious!

Friday!

I love this print so much. There are no words for how much I love it.

Links Links Links!

Beautiful and Eerie: A high speed camera looking out the windows of a train, seems to put the world in slow motion.

Just look at the gorgeous staircases in the front page picture! An old men's club is renovated into a residence, simultaneously modernizing the space and preserving the decay.

In light of my last entry on Twilight, an incredibly amusing blog entry that re-casts Edward as a moody problem child due to his sexual frustration (he apparently admits to Bella that he's a virgin in one of the books). I was in tears I was laughing so hard.

A style blog for guys (really fun to look through!). Check out nerdboyfriend.com

Bright orange flowers and blue sky. Missing the summer in all this snow (I'm enjoying winter so far, but the pictures are still pretty).

Free printable birdies! To use as ornaments or gift tags. So cute!

Holiday Cheer Part 2

More pretty pictures to get you in the holiday spirit!

Wow. What an amazing image of a tinsel tree.

I love the warm orangey-pink glow emanating from this tree.

Helicopter Santa! Enough said.

Santa takes a tumble.

A Christmas Journey through Space. I kid you not.

Good old Shiny Brite ornaments.


And, some other non-photo, Christmas-y links:

A great mental_floss article about eggnog.

There's nothing like Bing's White Christmas to put me in the holiday spirit!

"I hope their Christmas trees get termites" For those of you who aren't excited about Christmas, Oscar the Grouch concurs wholeheartedly.

Poor Mr. Hooper!

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Guess what?

...

Look! Santa's waving at you!

IT'S DECEMBER! This means the holidays are already upon us!

Yes, that is Mario with a turnip.

Isn't it exciting? Seeing everything lit up and decorated with bright colors. Even for the not-religiously-inclined, it has to be exciting to see so many bright colors in a time when the skies are often gray and the temperatures are frigid.

Cowabunga!

Those are some of my all-time favorite decorations and pictures of our Christmas cheer. Here are some others from Flickr (which are definitely of a higher quality than mine!):

A cute little elf

A close up of some awesome vintage ornaments

I'm a sucker for a white tree and a vintage santa

Pink ornaments and vintage ornament boxes

Nothing like an aluminum tree with a bright green ornament

A groovy outer space ornament

Such cheery bright colors on an aluminum tree

Boxes o' ornaments

A snowy scene with a beautiful white tree

A beautiful, nontraditional Christmas tree

I love the look of this whole room with the tree and the pillows

A vintage tree topper against a beautiful background

A World of Possibility...

By the end of the day, my first Ph.D application will be submitted, sent off into the world. I picture it as a toddler; walking shakily but determined to stay upright.

My thoughts are expansive of late; contemplating my future and my potential and attempting to contain the worlds within me on a single sheet of paper has been a difficult, yet rewarding, process. I am happy to have gained some hindsight and insight as I re-examine what exactly compels me to want to pursue a doctorate in my field.

All of this ponderous exposition is a roundabout way of introducing the true topic of my post, some beautiful globes I spotted on Oh Joy! today.

The globe was tucked into a holiday gift guide, and following the link to the website, I was immediately charmed by Wendy Gold's incredible artistry. Her designs are so beautiful and unique, but seem so natural on the surface of the vintage globes she decorates.

 So dreamy and sweet with the glitter on the base. This is the one I love.

 This would look great in a home library or office. Perhaps someday, when I am rich (oh wait, I want to be a college professor...)...oh well, this is the life I lead, and it makes me happy.

You know what else makes me happy? My fiance baked me oatmeal chocolate chip cookies tonight, from scratch, just to help motivate me to finish my applications. I am so lucky to have him.

You know what else else makes me happy? Bedtime! Have blissful dreams, all! I am going to drift off to dreamland, a place NOT located on any of those globes...

Superhero Grandma!

I saw this on the blog of a friend-apparently the post is viral. I can see why! There's something so magnetic about this woman and her sassy superhero pictures!

Superhero Grandma!

By the Sea

So beautiful...there's something absolutely magical about Bobby McFarrin's voice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAOMop30Hro

The Best Twelve Minutes and Thirteen Seconds You Will Ever Spend on YouTube

This film is incredible. It gives me all sorts of warm fuzzies. I would venture to say that it is my favorite youtube video of all time, which is quite a statement on a site full of such ephemeral memes.