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  • Silvertree

    Mod post: No wishlist posts in blogs

    By Silvertree

    Please be aware that we do not permit swap-related content on profiles or in blogs. Please post this content only in the For Sale, Swaps, and Wanted forums, or in the Wishlists topic. ~from Swapping 101  Thanks!
    • 5 comments
    • 4,198 views
pink.owl's Blog
 

Entire General Catalog Circular Swap

I decided I am participatiing in the Entire General Catalog Circular Swap. On April 29, I offered my first pack of imps to the group, consisting of: Dance of Death, Darkness, Hemlock, Les Fleurs Du Mal, Nephilim, Wolfsbane, Wrath.   On May 4, I decided I was going to go through all of my imps and donate as much as I possibly could, which consisted of: Absinthe Aeval Amsterdam All Night Long Belladonna Black Rose Brisingamen Carnal Casanova Dana O'Shee Delight De Sade Dorian Hades Has No Hanna Hecate Incantation Kitsune-Tsuki Lampades Lion, The London Lust Maiden Marquise De Marteuil Morocco New Orleans Nocturne Nyx O Perversion Queen of Sheba Ra Red Queen R'Lyeh Santa Eularia Des Riu Santa Muerte Santo Domingo Satyr Scarecrow Sin Sri Lanka Tamora Thalia Venice Wilde Many of these I have not given a proper test. I will test all of the ones I need to, according to the sniffing, dabbing guidelines, before they get sent off. I have decided to use my blog to record this whole experience! I have never been part of a circular swap, but it seems like fun, and this is definitely the best one for me because I have dreamed for a long time of trying the entire general catalog. I am hoping to find some treasures in this endeavor, things I may have never ordered myself, but that I love, and will order bottles of!
pink.owl

pink.owl

0
Fishnets and Frankincense
 

The moth and the flame

I had someone recommend reading the poet Nikki Giovanni, so I went to her web site to see what her work was all about. This was the first poem that I clicked on. I liked it so much that I wanted to share with anyone who might choose to read this blog. I'm going back read a lot more of her work.   So here it is... I hope you enjoy it.   Poem (for EMA)     though i do wonder why you intrigue me i recognize that an exceptional moth is always drawn to an exceptional flame   you're not at all what you appear to be though not so very different   i've not learned the acceptable way of saying you fascinate me I've not even learned how to say i like you without frightening people away   sometimes I see things that aren't really there like warmth and kindess when people are mean but sometimes i see things like fear and want to soothe it or fatigue and want to share it or love and want to recieve it   is that weird you think everyone is weird though you're not really hypocritical you just practice not being what you want to be and fail to understand how others would dare to be otherwise that's weird to me   flames don't flicker forever and moths are born to be burned   it's an unusual way to start a friendship but nothing lasts forever
valentina

valentina

3
This Old Snark
 

Of Carts and Horses and Ol Factory Priority

Snarky's analytical brain knows that there is still ONE MORE DAY until the house is officially theirs. But her animal Veruca Salt side of her brain is stomping its little patent-leather Mary Janes-shod feet all over the sensible hardwood floors, scuffing up the works.   Snarky just had a minor retail freak out over at Penance's tart site just now and is not looking forward to the reaction of The Mister. She doubts that he was as troubled as she was by the "Old House Smell" that was wafting up from the recently vacated basement. This assumption is based mostly on the fact that she had to point it out to him.   But she could not resist scent combinations like hinoki wood & cypress, blackberry & sage, persimmons (The Mister's favorite dessert fruit) & water orchid, and the legendary Red Velvet Cake.   Because Chez Snark will not have Old House Smell. It musn't!   Snarky is contemplating some sneaky shadiness in the form of "Oh! Why, it must be a housewarming gift from some mysterious and tasteful benefactor!" Yeah. That's the ticket.   Scent-induced memories have always been important to Snarky. Her memory is uneven and mostly buried in her subconscious (she could tangent off into a rather lengthy recap of this morning's just-before-the-alarm dream that dredged up all manner of high school, college, and oddly enough, recent pop-culture bugaboos). Anything to help trigger a sense of continuity and a past is snapped up and put in the arsenal.   Snarky wants this house to be linked to anything other than the Old House Smell. She probably went a bit overboard, but she wanted to have all her ol factory bases covered.
darkitysnark

darkitysnark

2
Fishnets and Frankincense
 

Beautiful Wreck

Now that things are entirely quiet at my job, way too quiet as far as I'm concerned, I tend to tune in satellite radio on the internet, put on the headphones and send the nosy or bored coworkers the message that I'm not tremendously interested in their blather. I head a song this morning that I really enjoyed called "Beautiful Wreck" by a guy named Shawn Mullins. He's a new one to me, but hell, I enjoyed that song.   I feel like a beautiful wreck a great deal of the time, although I hide my "wreckedness" behind a veneer of extreme cool competence. A few years ago I decided my cool, competent side was just fine for a professional exterior, but my beautiful wreck is really a component of my nicer side.   I don't know if many of you have read or thought much about your "shadow side" (very Jungian), but once I gave it some thought, I decided that I didn't always need to be the ultra-competent wonder diva that I normally try to be when I'm professionally "on." Fucking hell, I lightened up on myself.   We're all so complicated and utterly together and beautifully messed up, and I really adore it when someone else lets me see more than one facet of their person. That sort of honesty can scare a lot of people, but I think it's what it's all about. I have a lot of issues with people who get scared by honesty; it would seem that falsity is much, much scarier. But I guess it's not if you pretend that the illusions are reality.   While I know that we're all living in our own little dream worlds to some extent, I really wonder how many people live deep in the fantasy with occasional, and unwelcome, flashes of reality. And from what I've seen, reality can be far, far more amazing than the fantasies.
valentina

valentina

0
Filling the Periodic Table
 

So Exhausted.

I took my first practice half-exam today (18 questions in 2 hours). I was tired, had a headache, was forgetting shit right and left. And through all that, I still got 50% of the questions right. That pass mark on this test is usually about 60%, and about 30-40% of people who take each sitting pass.   I have two weeks to go, and a lot of formulas to memorize, but it's in my grasp. The questions I got wrong, most of them I knew what needed to be done, but couldn't remember the formulas or the details. That's easy enough to brush up on in the next two weeks.   I have a dance performance on Friday, that will involve about 4-5 hours sitting around back stage. I will be sitting around with my flash cards, and I think it will be a huge shot in the arm for me, since 4 hours of memorization will do me a lot of good.   Breathe.   I got my bottle of Baku earlier this week. I've been wearing it to bed every night to try to slow down my racing mind. When I track down my scotch tape, I'm going to move it to a roller ball, to keep by the bed.   Still Breathing.
antimony

antimony

7
Whiskers and Whispers
 

Almost finished...

I stink of: Zero and Thagirion. Both are very nice, but I'm preferring Thag's light creamy springy floral scent right now...   Ugh, I'm almost done with my coursework. So many deadlines over these last two weeks. And those assignments really are more like pain in the ASSignments! Especially that quantum physics one...one thing's for sure, my brain had some serious exercise this fortnight! I am not looking forward to exams at all.   It was actually WARM today, finally! I hate cold weather and sometimes where I am in Hertfordshire feels like the North Pole, and after a particularly long and cold winter, it's good to have some decent spring sunshine, and it feels good being able to wear a t-shirt outside without freezing! I love warm sunny days-I'm not one for rain and moody greyness, or stormy weather, I'm afraid.   I'm really worried about the state of my Underpants/Bunny order-it's still MIA even though it's been sent! I've never had a two week delay for BPAL-I'm in the UK but BPAL orders usually get there faster than most other international orders! I emailed the Lab on Saturday and still haven't got a reply (that may be due to the move though). If I don't get my order by this Saturday or by next weekend, should I email the Lab again, or would that be considered impolite/annoying? I don't know how long to wait before an order is considered truly 'lost' in the mail...
yeahbutnobut

yeahbutnobut

0
This Old Snark
 

Squee Storage

Darkity was going to squee all over the "how are you feeling?" thread, but there's some heavy shozbot going down over there and she didn't want to be the inappropriately gleeful one interrupting the flow of commiseration...   So she'll subject her blog to rampant glee instead.   Because the house? Very almost nearly officially ChezSnark! Darkity and The Mister signed away their lives and handed over The Big Check yesterday. The Sellers had already signed their bit up in Canada, so all that stands between The Snarks and Homeownership now is for the paperwork to record (and the check to go through... Darkity still regrets that her bank does not make their checks proportionately sized to the amounts they represent. She wanted to have a picture of the Ginormous Check Handoff complete with Ginormous Publisher's Clearinghouse style Check.), which is scheduled to happen sometime on Friday.   To add to the glee, some good friends visiting from Back East were dragged to the homesite for One Last Look on Saturday, and the house (and grounds) met with enthusiastic approval. These friends have about two more decades of experience with the world than The Snarks. The husband is the Ultimate Mr. Fixit and the wife is a Master Gardener. They both knew The Snarks' last ChezSnark (in all it's cute, quaint, cramped glory) and are famliar with Darkity's Black Thumb of Doom. So to get their nod of encouragement was... extremely encouraging!   Now The Snarks are dealing with nesting instincts on Overdrive. They found a place that consigns ecclectic furniture. They are addicted to Craigslist. They are gonna have a home!
darkitysnark

darkitysnark

4
What ever happened to Generation X?
 

Hi, my name is ____and I'm a basket case

I'm having a really tough time with this grieving process. I know about the stages of grief; I know I'm not going to feel better for a while. But I'm finding it hard to accept that I have to feel this crappy all the time. Plus, I'd like to talk to some other people who know what I'm going through.   So, I'm off this evening to attend a support group called "Adult Loss of a Parent" sponsored by a local hospice organization.   I've never really been the "support group" or 12-step type of person. When I was younger, I attended Adult Children of Alcoholics a few times, but I was weirded out by the prayers and hugging at the end of each meeting. I have a certain level of suspicion/skepticism for people who come up to me with a fervent gleam in their eye and say, "Keep coming back! Keep working the program!" There's something about it that seems cult-like to me.   I also wonder whether I'm really a good candidate for a support group like this. My mom died less than a month ago. The people in this group -- what if their parents died a while ago and they're already beyond the raw, painful stage I'm in? They may be ready to move on. I have to be honest and say there are plenty of days I don't even want to move on. Every day that passes takes me further from the time my mother was alive, and I want to keep her memory close. I don't want to let it go.   But I keep telling myself I have to keep an open mind. And maybe I can learn something from people who have already walked this path. Maybe there's a way to live with the memories without dissolving into a puddle of tears every time I think of her.   But if anyone at this group tries to give me a hug, I may have to punch them.
parrot_suspect

parrot_suspect

2
Fishnets and Frankincense
 

Good intentions

An '80's and '90's flashback all in one song: Tori Amos doing a cover of "Father Figure." Do you remember the video for that song? The gorgeous, Bettie Page-like S & M model/"love interest" for George Michael? It was kind of hot. When Tori sings it, the "to be warm and naked, by your side" lyric takes on a little more heat. George kind of hissed his way through that song, where Tori almost whispers her way through it.   There's a Lyle Lovett song that has a line in it that goes: "She wasn't good, but she had good intentions." Maybe you have to hear him singing it, but it always makes me laugh. Sometimes I wonder if it amuses me because that's a very succinct description of me.   "Succinct" is a good word to say out loud, repeatedly. Just try it.   I'm listening to satellite radio, and now Chris Issacs is singing that "I Don't Want To Fall In Love" song, and do you remember the video for that one? Christ. Helena Christenson, the model, rolling around mainly naked on a beach with black sand? Chris got to nuzzle her neck as she looked so not into him. And what a messed-up, wildly codependent, semi-whiny and totally white-hot song that one is! Woo.   Just before that, they played one of my favorite Ani DiFranco songs with the lyric: "before you end up parked and sobbing, forehead on the steering wheel." Hmmm... wonder why I like that moody little lyric? I'm not sure I've ever really done that, but I've certainly felt like it. Who hasn't?   Well, I don't know if this entry was good, but it had good intentions...
valentina

valentina

0
Denise's Cool Blog
 

I got paranoid...

Thought I'd not be able to find a bottle of Ligeia, so I just went to BPAL and ordered a full bottle. Talk about good timing! It is, this morning, no longer available. I also got a bottle of La Belle Au Bois Dormant (my boyfriend digs that one). I will get Endymion, Embalming Fluid, and Amsterdam sometime, too!
eviltemptressdq

eviltemptressdq

0
Sourball Ho!
 

I'm clean!

I think my allergies finally cleared up, as I've been able to wear my nice BPAL smellies without breaking out in rashes for the past couple days!   How I missed Hellion and Masque and The Star and ...
dawndie

dawndie

0
Rheliwen of the Weeds
 

School Blooz

I need something to do other than my school work and I've already gone over the entire forum.   So, I guess I'll talk about my work.   April has been a hell month for me. I have a total of 60 pages for 6 papers to write. I think I want to write them all down just to see their awesomeness   Paper #1: Military Statecraft: Analyze the Iran nuclear case and provide policy prescriptions. 5 pages...done   Paper #2: Globilization and the market from my readings. 5 pages...done   Paper #3: Environmental global governance. 20 page research paper...finish tomorrow   Paper #4: Policy Analysis: US intervention in El Salvador in the 70s. 10 page research paper...done   Paper #5: Finance and Trade: US-China trade relations and why it isn't a bad thing. 10 pages...done   Paper #6: Globalization and Outsourcing: Why outsourcing is good for the US. 10 pages...done   I've known about #3 and #4 all semester so it's my fault for procrastinating. #5 and #6 were given to me last Monday and I had until today to do them both. I have to say that I was so releaved when I turned them in!   Tonight, I will be writing my oral presentation for #4 and tommorow I'll finish the last 3 pages of #3...then it's summertime!   Summer will be busy too. I didn't manage to find an internship because no one thinks I'm good enough, so I need to find a job. In addition, I'm going to be applying to the Presidential Managemenr Fellowship. Cross your fingers here people!   School is amazing and mindblowing but I'll be excited when it's over next year. But, then I fear finding a job.   Anyways, school's on the brain so I must get back to work! I have a bottle of wine calling me...
Rheliwen

Rheliwen

0
Denise's Cool Blog
 

More imps!

Hooray! I just got my 2nd package from the forum... this time from aedes Here is what I got:   ligeia cordelia endymion amsterdam   I haven't even had a chance to sniff them yet, but will so in a few mins! I still have to do the reviews for the other ones I got on Friday (AND the 3 I remember that I tested from HennaFairy over the weekend). I'm such a slacker!   *EDIT: I am seriously IN LOVE with these scents. All four. Must own 3. WTF can I do now? Must buy bottle of Ligeia TONIGHT before it is no longer available. Geez. Want Endymion and Amsterdam bottles, too! YIKES!! Gotta update my wishlist, I suppose! maybe someone will swap bottles of those two for bottle I get from my Ebay purchase
eviltemptressdq

eviltemptressdq

0
Fishnets and Frankincense
 

May Day basket, 2006 style

Happy Beltane, everyone! My inner druid has always been a spirited creature, and nothing makes me happier than a pagan holiday. It just makes you feel alive, you know? Here's a link to a site that shows there's still a group of Scots who still like to do it up right:   http://www.beltane.org/   I am sure they're sleeping well in Edinburgh today! Or maybe they'll save the sleep for much later tonight...   So leave a May Day basket for someone special, or simply smell so good (thanks to your BPAL) that you're like a walking May Day basket to everyone that you encounter.   Hmmm... I have on Monster Bait: Underpants today, so would that make me a May Basket with a thong in it? What a great May Basket idea!!! I wish I'd thought of it sooner!   Divas, leave your sweetie a new sort of May Basket... a few springs of flowers and blossoms, tied up with a teensy bit of cloth...but oh my... it's your bonny wee knickers!
valentina

valentina

0
Sourball Ho!
 

Estate sales

DH and I usually spend Sunday running around doing errands -- today we went to Michaels for a few little things (black silk cord for pendants, sewing needles & thread) and Cost Plus (outside lights and Cafe du Monde coffee), but if we see signs for estate sales we'll pull over to check it out.   Estate sales are like weird garage sales -- garage sales are when people bring stuff out of the house to sell, and it's strange to be walking through someone's house where everything there has a price tag. We went to one several months ago where it was obvious the guy died and if he had relatives they weren't interested in much of his stuff. The house was great though, I wish we could have bought it. We got a way cool telephone table that just needed a new seat cover for $24, plus some souvenir state plates and an electric clock for $1 each.   The one today, from what it sounded like, was an elderly couple who were probably moving to an assisted living place and didn't have room for a whole house full of stuff. They had some really nice things -- lots of crystal and silver, and it seemed weird that no other family members wanted it. Maybe they didn't have any close relatives and once they took what they wanted, didn't want to hassle with the other stuff? Who knows.   I got some 45's of Harry James and Woody Herman in cute little box sets -- the Woody Herman one is called "Dance Date on Mars." Far out, man! But my favorite is a "Host & Hostess Book" from 1940 -- recipes and menus for occasions such as "Week-End Entertaining" and "Give a Barn Dance" and a whole chapter on crazy games to play.   My favorite recipe so far is one "For the Calorie Counters": Hot Clam Boullion with Pimiento Whipped Cream. All together now: ewwww.
dawndie

dawndie

2
Fishnets and Frankincense
 

Very mutant thoughts and great images

A nice photo of Bob Schneider, whose CD I listened to as I was driving around town in the rain today. Queensryche can remain novel only so long, you know.   Look at the great joke icon that minilux made for me:   And if Beth ever makes an actual scent with that name, I will to her even more than before.   Does anyone remember the Alan Cumming fragrance commercial from last summer? Someone linked to it on the forum, and I feel compelled to link to it again here in my blog. It's great, and I believe Alan is a naughty little Scotsman himself: http://www.cummingthefragrance.com/html/commercial.html   In the state where I live, there's a Cumming County. I have a friend who moved here several years ago, and when he was driving down the road and saw a sign that said: "Entering Cumming County," he just about wrecked his car. He pulled over, laughed, and called a friend in his home state to say: "There's a Cumming County in this state!!!"   There also used to be convenience store/gas stations called "Cum and Go" in this town. Another friend used to live around the corner from one. When the chain (all 3 or 4 of them) was purchased and turned into Quik Shops, my friend and her boyfriend had their photos taken in front of the old Cum and Go, because it had been such a source of amusement for so long.   From Bob Schneider to underkilts to Alan Cumming to Cum and Go. What else is left to say?
valentina

valentina

7
Filling the Periodic Table
 

A blind spot in general education.

I have a good friend who has had a lot of trouble with her finances. My boyfriend has trashed his too. His stupid brother makes 6 figures, and is still so damn broke that he sometimes has to borrow money to pay for groceries at the end of the month.   I am constantly frustrated with finding out just what my friends *don't* know about personal finance. I'm not talking about investing in stocks, etc. Just simple things, like how to maintain a little savings, manage their credit cards, shop for basic insurance, etc.   I hate the fact that society somehow assumes you lear about money management at home, but the fact of the matter is that most people's parents aren't capable of giving the advice their kids need. Now that people get married when they're older, a lot of people have to figure out how to get their finances off to a good start when they're still single, while their parents may have already been married and living off two incomes at their age. Also, let's face it, the economy has changed a lot since most of our parents were 25.   The number one piece of bad advice that too many of my friends have tried and failed at: "Make a detailed budget and stick to it."   Ha!   Only the most compulsive among us can actually make that work. That's not to say a budget isn't a valuable tool. I have one. I break costs down into general categories, and use it not to plan future spending, but instead to track retrospectively where my money goes.   The simple fact is that purchases expand to use all available money. I get paid twice a month. So on the first of the month, I pay all of the bills due in the first half of the month, and on the 15th, I pay all the bills due in the 2nd half of the month.   Also on the 1st and 15th, I have a set amount automatically transfered into my savings account. Personal Finance books call this "paying yourself first". After my savings is taken care of, I spend whatever is left however I want with no guilt.   Anyway, it's true what they say. If you take it out at the beginning, you really don't miss it. When you're worried all month about coming in under budget, it's stressful. When you know you've already taken care of savings, money management is much more straightforward day-to-day. Even if you just put $25 out of each paycheck in the bank, in a year, you'll have $600 in the bank. And even though that doesn't sound like much, it represents a helpful financial cushion in case you have sudden expenses. If you can slowly increase the amount you put away, you come out even further ahead.   As for a budget... At the end of every month, I download all of my transactions from my bank, pull it into excel, then sort them all out into categories: Rent/Food/Gas/Bellydance/Eating Out/Etc. Each month I sit down and go over them, and take stock of where my money is going. If I find that something is out of balance, I try to make practical changes. For example, if I see that I have been going overboard on eating out, I make that something to be conscious of in the following month. I don't aim to be compulsive about my spending, just conscious of it.   I think that is most of my friends' biggest problem. They spend unconsciously. If they just asked themselves, "Will this item be worth as much benefit to me as the amount of time I have to spend working to make the money to pay for it?" - BPAL, a great vacation, etc are things that meet that criteria for me. More brightly-colored knicknacks from Target don't.   Anyway, I'm done ranting now.
antimony

antimony

0
Fishnets and Frankincense
 

Panty Monsters and Andy Garcia

Whee!   I came home from grocery shopping, something I don't especially enjoy doing, but particularly on a day when the grocery store has decided to do some goofy "Wizard of Oz" promo/extravaganza. Whatever festivities they'd been carrying on had long ended, but the unfortunate staff were still in costume and they were playing songs from the movie. The munchkin music gets wearisome rather rapidly, and I don't know why they just couldn't have played Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon." For those of us who would have understood the subreference, it would have been so damn funny.   So I got home feeling a little frazzled, and there was my BPAL order! It was only CnS'd on Thursday... for once, the USPS rocked and rolled and got it here in a hurry. Woot!   And my order was Monster Bait: Underpants (two bottles) and a bottle of Beltane. Beltane is nice on me, and it reminds me a lot of grassier-smelling Night's Pavillion. I wonder if there's frankincense in Beltane -- to evoke the fires on the heath. I'm speculating about that because I know it's in Night's Pavilion, and that may be the similarity.   But the Panty Monster... OMFG! It started out a bit like Beaver Moon, all vanilla, but then it morphed into a sweet, saffrony, sandalwoody thing. I love Khajurajo, and certain sandalwood blends are simply pure love on me. I associate saffron and sandalwood with India and a Kama Sutra vibe... add to it the western elements of vanilla and rum, and holy crap. It's a winner. I actually think that this scent could be dangerous.   (Minor reverie: Like most people, I associate rum with Cuba, and I heard Andy Garcia interviewed on NPR this morning. Mmmmmm... he's awfully, awfully fine.)   Thank you Beth, for mixing the panty ofrenda potion in such a marvelous way!!!
valentina

valentina

3
Denise's Cool Blog
 

I got my first forum order!

I got a small packet of imps yesterday from pink.owl! I was a busy bee last night, but managed to sniff and test these a little... I'll do a little bit more of that this weekend, and post my reviews soon Here is what I got:   belladonna delirium juliet la belle au bois dormant lolita undertow embalming fluid     My boyfriend LOVED la belle on me. hehe. It was my 2nd favorite to Embalming Fluid (special thanks to her for throwing in that one, even though it wasnt on her list originally!). EF smells similar to Calliope, but minus that heavy lavendar. Which means it is PERFECT! hehe.   I think it was BellaDonna that smelled like medicine. LOL. I liked Juliet a lot, too... but it got pretty musky as it wore off on my wrist... maybe I'll try burning that one with a candle.   All I know is that my boyfriend will now pay for me to get a bottle of la belle. LOL. And I will try to find one of EF   d
eviltemptressdq

eviltemptressdq

0
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