samedi 28 juillet 2007
I am, I admit, a self-proclaimed Perfume Junkie. I love perfumes. I have way too many of them. It is amazing to me how much a certain scent can bring back a certain memory, person, or even a period of our lives.
DKNY: Red Delicious
In high school, I loved "Navy" and Davidoff's "Cool Water Woman". I still have half of the bottle of Navy left back in the US, and whenever I spritz it, I am a freshman in High school again. My sister-in-law has a bottle of Cool Water at my in-laws house. I sprayed it just to remind myself of what it smelled like and immediately had to wash it off because I couldn't stand the smell of it anymore.
The Body Shop "Jasmine" perfume oil- my rat year at VMI, an upperclassman stopped me and asked what perfume I was wearing. Jasmine Sir! "Damn that smells good! Get the hell out of here!"
Chloe "Narcissa"- Christmas. Don't know why, but I got into the habit of spraying it in my room around Christmas time each year.
Estee Lauder "Pleasures"- a particularly lonely period of graduate school. Another perfume that I can no longer stand and finally just gave it away.
Cacharel "Amor Amor"- a perfume Alain brought me back from France, when it was still not available in the US. Usually people cannot buy perfumes for another person unless you know they love it, but he did well with choosing this one. He had gone with his mother to choose something for me. He immediately thought of Chanel No. 5, as it was the only perfume he could name. Luckily, she was there and told him that he couldn't buy a 24 year old Chanel No 5.
Dior "Miss Dior Cherie"- a perfume I fell instantly in love with and bought specifically for my wedding day.
My current favorite is Jean Paul Gaultier Classique. It is funny how tastes in fashion, food, and perfume seem to change. One thing that hasn't changed is my taste in men- first boyfriend: European, smart, and dark.
Anyway, I smelled this one about ten years ago and found it two strong and overpowering.
Now I can't get enough of it and spray it on about four times per day.
Now I can't get enough of it and spray it on about four times per day.
As far as men's perfumes, I am pretty faithful. So far, two boyfriends and husband have all worn Clinique "Happy for Men". This is probably because I have bought it for them.
Current collection photo from left to right:
Cacharel: Amor; Eau Fraiche; la Nouvelle Eau Fraiche; Sunshine
Jennifer Lopez: StillCacharel: Amor; Eau Fraiche; la Nouvelle Eau Fraiche; Sunshine
Lancome: Aroma Tonic
Dior: J'Adore; Miss Dior Cherie
Delish: Clean; Clean Sweet Layer; Provence
Lolita Lempicka: Midnight FragranceDKNY: Red Delicious
Gaultier: Classique; Summer
(not pictured)
Michael Kors: Michael
Emporio Armani: She
Clinique: Happy
Clinique: Happy
This is not counting the various small samples and miniatures that I have stashed away, and I pared down quite a bit before moving here. Well, have bought some perfumes since then. If anyone is interested in purchasing/trading some of the above perfumes, let me know and I might be willing.
Alain has all of two, both of which I bought for him:
Emporio Armani: Black Code
Clinique: Happy for Men
I wish I could have one signature scent, but alas, don't think that will happen.
jeudi 26 juillet 2007
I arrived here in France on July 22, 2005. Sometimes it is hard to believe how much has happened in two years here. I took ten months of french courses, got married, bought an apartment, and started working. With trips to Bretagne, Italy, and the US thrown in. I have survived two summers now. Not yet fluent in French, if I will ever be.
I remember how I felt on the plane moving here. Excited, nervous, anxious to see Alain again after 6 months, scared it would be awkward and that he would have changed. How it would be so exhausting to visit with his friends and family because of not really understanding what was being said but concentrating very hard.
And now, here I am, two years later. Wonder where I will be in two years?
I remember how I felt on the plane moving here. Excited, nervous, anxious to see Alain again after 6 months, scared it would be awkward and that he would have changed. How it would be so exhausting to visit with his friends and family because of not really understanding what was being said but concentrating very hard.
And now, here I am, two years later. Wonder where I will be in two years?
dimanche 22 juillet 2007
I don't usually follow my exclamations of "That looks horrid!" with "I am going to buy it and eat it!" but for cheese I will make an exception.
I bought this one, Epoisses des Ramparts, for €6.50, which is higher than my usual range for cheeses.
It was covered in a plastic wrap, which made it look much worse.
However, (almost) always willing to put myself to the cheese tasting test for my adoring public, I bought it and brought it home.
It is an incredibly strong cheese, imbibed with Marc, a type of Brandy according to Wikipedia. This type of cheese comes from the Bourgogne region. This is an AOC (appelation d'origine controlé) cheese. It is said that Napoleon tried this cheese and liked it. The book further states that these cheese were highly regarded at the end of the 19th century, but their popularity waned until after the 2nd WW. It was resuscitated in 1956 by Mr. Berthaut, and that today only one farm produces the official epoisses. There are also artisanal versions.
Link to Wikipedia article.
It is a very strong cheese, best eaten last in my opinion. I am unsure that we will be able to finish the whole thing. samedi 21 juillet 2007
Harry Potter (or, in French: Harry Potter) is coming out today, for the all of 2 people in the world who didn't know.
I am a fan, but not a fanatic. I am not going to stay up all night to attend a midnight sale of the book. Besides, I don't think there was a single store in Marseille that did this. The French version, "Harry Potter et les reliques de la mort" doesn't come out until October, so I doubt there are very few French children who were eagerly waiting the arrival of the book in English today. Except those who are bilingual or who buy the French-English dictionary of Harry Potter. So, how do you translate "Jolly good mate!" into French?
I started reading the books when I was studying abroad in England in 2000. I had heard of them, mostly of the broohaha book burning by Christians in the US, so I was interested in finding out just how 'bad' they were. I bought the first, read it in about a day, and immediately bought the next two.
On the plane moving to France, I read book 6. Someone asked to buy it from me in the airport, but I said no.
When I arrived here, I bought the French version of the second book, "Harry Potter et la Chambre des Secrets" and Alain and I spent about six months reading it together before bed. It was excruciatingly slow going at first, as he had to explain about every third word. By the end, it got better.
The thing that annoys me though about the French version is that names of places, people, and things have been changed.
Hogwarts is now Poudlard
Snape is Rogue
and plenty of other changes that don't make sense.
We watched the movie version of the 4th book "Harry Potter et la coupe de feu" in one of the original version theaters, with French subtitles. This time, for the fifth movie, it doesn't seem to be playing in the original version. I don't really want to go see it in French.
So, I ordered my book, the english version, from amazon.fr. Here's hoping it arrives today.
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