Easter in Zagreb (picture is mine).
Hope your day is filled with family laughter, great food and fun!
When things don’t go right
I promise I will write about perfume soon. But before that, I just have to share some thoughts.
First, I was coloring my hair yesterday and had an epiphany. It wasn’t actually an epiphany but the bulb did light up in my brain. After a couple of years of using a towel.
First, a question for English native speakers – something that’s bothering me for years now. Does a couple of years mean exactly two, or does it like in Croatian (when you translate a couple into Croatian) it means exactly the same (two people in a relationship) but when applied to other things, like years for example, it means several, not only two? What is true in English because I’ve seen couple of months translated as two so I’m wondering now.
Ok, on to my realization. You see the picture. I have this towel that’s created for using solely on your hair. So, whenever I color my hair, I use that towel so I wouldn’t color any of the usual towels. My towel also has a rubberband thing that sort of ends up on the top of your head when you put the towel on it and I always just pull the end of the towel through and leave it all unfastened (because the idiot me didn’t realize it could be fastened). Until yesterday when I realized that the rubberband is supposed to be used as such and wound it 3 times around the tip of the towel to keep it strongly in place. Such an idiot! I cannot believe I didn’t realize this before. Does stuff like that happen to someone else as well?
And then I had another bad surprise. I started another Anita Blake novel. Which starts at St. Patrick’s day (that is the first sentence and spring is described). It also gives flashbacks to the last book saying the stuff from that book happened 5 weeks (or around a month ago). And the story in the previous book happened before Christmas and ends up with what she bought (after the big fights) to each of the characters. If someone has an explanation for this, I would love to hear it. I didn’t realize this first time I was reading the series, but now it just upsets the hell out of me. I will still read the book, but someone should have paid better attention when this was published.
Anyway, on to some good stuff. The color turned out great, fiery copper red. I love it.
The weekend is going to last 3 days which is always great news. It’s not going to be sunny or warm but spending it with family will make our hearts warm and that is most important.
Coming soon with a perfume review. And btw, even though I should really think of my budget now, I think there is no hope for me. I love TDC Charmes et Feuilles and need Amaranthine as well. Anyone has any of those and wants to swap?
And here are 2 pictures of my hair, and yes they were both taken today but they don’t look like the same color. In reality, it is exactly in between. It’s not this strange violet/magenta note, neither is it orangey like in the second picture. It is those two together (if you can picture that).
Laurell K. Hamilton: Circus of the Damned
This is worse than first time around. Now I know what great adventures await me with Anita and I cannot stop reading, I am completely hooked. I was reading until 1 a.m. last night even though I had to get to work this morning, but I just had to finish so today I could start another (which I will do as soon as I finish this). 🙂
Btw, I need to warn you there may be some spoilers ahead. When I started reading it, I thought I knew which story this was. Then I got through half of the book and started wondering if I mixed some stuff. It turned out I was right at the start, but it just took longer than I expected. And I actually learned something. It bugged me the first time around when she recognizes a vampire and later figures it is a million years old and a Homo Erectus. So today I went googling and Homo Erectus really was that old. 🙂 Wow! It just proves I wasn’t paying much attention in school. Ok, I forgot.
I already mentioned in previous posts how I’m getting much more this time around when reading and it was proven again. Like when Lamia (if you haven’t read, I’ll let you discover her yourself) said that a woman should always have more than one man. 🙂 Boy, is that going to become true for Anita. I can’t wait for it. 🙂 You know that means less sleep for me (and I do need enough sleep). But it’s just too tense to let go. Especially now I know what to expect.
I just realized I didn’t say much about the story – but it’s the standard Anita, blood, violence, vampires after her, helping the police, a new guy coming into picture…
Pic by: www.laurellkhamilton.com
Thoughts on spring and recent sniffs
I know I’m lagging behind a bit with writing about perfume. I want to do a real review of Bal d’Afrique because I think it deserves it and I’m somehow lost in the crossing between winter and spring. I cannot seem to find spring in my perfume wardrobe so today I did a bit of sample classification and put florals and those that seem spring-like and green close to my hand so I can put them on when I need something of that sort without having to go look for them.
I find it really strange that I have full bottles of stuff that is for winter and also for summer (autumn comes in between and is never really a problem) but when spring comes, I get lost and don’t know what to wear.
I don’t know if anyone noticed, last spring there was much talk about lily of the valley and lilies in general for spring. This year it’s mostly about narcissus and hyacinths. And not only that there is much talk of it, I also feel this year I want to wear those flowers (again, am I that susceptible to trends?)
One of the things I’d like this spring seems to be Amaranthine. The more I think of it, the more I want it. You know where this is leading, don’t you? 😉
In my search of spring scents, I tried again Lolita Lempicka original. I just can’ see the appeal. And honestly, I get completely lost in the samples of LL stuff I have. How many flankers are there?! I’m never completely sure which one I’m testing. I also have L de Lolita Lempicka (I find that one better than LL) and I also have Fleur Defendue (I still have to try that one).
One of the things I realized this spring is that I enjoy tea in my spring scents (I’m planning a post on that soon).
And a thought to finish with, I finally get the Parfum de Therese and Une fleur de Cassie by Frederic Malle. And when I say I get them, what I actually mean is, I love them and need them in larger quantities than a sample.
P.S. I bought Cadjmere by PG quite some time ago for my boyfriend who doesn’t seem to appreciate it, so it is MINE now. 🙂 Yes! Yes! Yes!
The results are in
I decided to put everything on paper this time with preferences included to ease the process.
And here is what came out of the hat:
1. Sue was first -with Tanglewood Bouquet
2. next was the Left Coast Nose -meaning you got Ambre Gris
3. and luckily for Queen_cupcake who said if not Ambre Gris, then anything, you won Eau de Turqouise
Please contact me with your addresses (LCN, I have yours) and when they are all in, I’ll send the packages.
Thanks everyone for participating (and reading the blog), more luck next time.
Anita Blake – The Laughing Corpse
Since I am participating in the Anita Blake book challenge, I will give a quick post on each of the book as I read them.
You know, those books are addictive, especially the beginning of the series. I am again enjoying them immensely (if you haven’t realized that yet). 😉
I get the feeling that the series started with some very interesting and original cases (although terribly gory and dark) and that as it progressed, it got harder to keep up with such great beginning. But that didn’t stop me from getting all the books. 🙂
Anyway, in this one, Anita is asked by a bad rich guy to raise a 300-year old corpse but in order to do that, one needs a human sacrifice and there is no money in the world for Anita to take the case. At the same time, she is helping the police with some seriously bad murders which are it seems performed by a zombie (a flesh eating, very scary kind). That investigation brings her to a voodoo priestess and from that point on, it just gets worse and worse for Anita. Did I mention that she gets hurt in each book? 🙂 Sometimes seriously bad and sometimes just a few bites and bruises (not necessitating a hospital stay).
When I was first reading AB, I have to admit I was a bit astonished at the violence, blood, guns and all those aggressive parts but they are part of Anita Blake universe and probably one of the reasons the series is/was so popular. I mean, I don’t know how popular it is at the moment, but for me it’s one of the cult series of the genre. Like what Lord of the Rings did for fantasy. Ok, LOTR is a category by itself and nothing can ever be compared to it, but you get my meaning.
Btw, I just realized with this book that Anita is only an animator in book 1, it is by the end of book 2 she realizes she is actually a necromancer. Biiig difference as will be revealed. 🙂
Pic by: www.laurellkhamilton.org
My sample storage is wrong
I just realized this two days ago when I wanted to bring forth spring-like samples and decants to see what am I going to wear this spring. Well, I didn’t do much with that idea.
The thing is, a year ago I decided to arrange my ever growing sample/decant collection by houses, so I would be able to find them when I need to. They used to be all over the place with no order to them. It seemed like a nice, rational way of storing them and making them easily available. Well, now I have a problem. 🙂
I don’t really know/remember how all of them smell like and since they are by houses, the best I can do with those I’m not sure how they smell, is to try them again. Which would take an enormous amount of time and I need the spring scents now.
So now I decided to first find the time (that is one of the things I miss these days) and then to see what I don’t know what it smells like and locate some notes/reviews for those so I can re-order my collection into seasons, colors and genres. Depending on which strikes me as most important for that scent. Rita from the Left Coast Nose wrote some time ago how some smells bring forth colors for her, so that is going to be one of my sample categorizations (some do it for me as well). Also, notions like spring, autumn, summer, winter, leather, incense, fruit, green, marine, etc. I know this is going to take a while but I think it will be a good way for me to find things later by the way my nose categorized them.
I will let you know how it goes. 🙂
Pic by: http://makeup.lovetoknow.com/
Laurell K. Hamilton: Guilty Pleasures
With the beginning of this year, I decided to participate in several reading challenges. One of them was Anita Blake. Ah, Ms Blake. 🙂 She feels like a real person to me now. We’ve been hanging together for 5-6 years now. Practically friends. Even though she doesn’t have that many female friends. One or two maybe. Even though we have nothing in common. She is a petite tough as nails vampire hunter. That’s what you get from book one. I am not going to discuss what I already know about what happens with Anita in books to come since I am re-reading the whole series. I’ve been meaning to do that for some time now (it gets hard keeping track what happened at the beginning of the series when series reached book 17 or something similar) and this challenge came at the right moment.
So, I think I already talked about Anita and that she is a necromancer (raises the dead, i.e. zombies) and is also a bounty vampire killer. There is no vampire hunter, once you get to hunt them, the end is going to be someone’s death. Even though she is very young in the book (I am not 100% sure but I think she is either 24 or 26), she already has life experience for a life (and scars as well).
She is a terribly dark personality, by that I don’t mean she is negative but has a seriously dark outlook on life even though she is a firm Catholic. Now, that I think of it, it kind of isn’t that strange. 🙂
This is the first time I am re-reading Anita Blake and while doing it, I realized that every book you read and enjoyed should be read at least one more time. You just can’t get everything from a book from just one reading. I was seeing so much more now that I was reading it again, since I knew what was to come, I could better understand many of the situations. And even though the story is dark (as always), I was genuinely happy to be back in the world of Anita Blake. I could actually feel her feelings towards vampires this time around. In the beginning, they are quite bad. But, there are interesting things to come, and I will let you know what happens.
And just a short recap of what goes on in this book – Anita is asked by the head vampire of St. Louis to look into some vampire murders (she works as a necromancer and is on retainer with the police regarding supernatural crimes) but when she refuses, through some manouvering, she is forced to help them and she should do it fast. And this is the book where we meet Edward. 🙂 But more about him (a.k.a Death) soon when there is more to tell.
Pic by: http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/
Kresley Cole: Pleasure of a Dark Prince
Finally I get to talk about this book! 🙂
I’ve read it during the weekend and to say I enjoyed it would be an understatement. I don’t know if it’s because I know what to expect from Kresley Cole’s work or she is just getting better and better, but this is one book I will be reading again and again. Ok, all Immortals after Dark are books I re-read and will be doing that for quite some time. and even though I know what to expect from the story, the lovers who are not suited and one (or both) are against the relationship, a terrible problem they have to deal with and cannot for the life of them see it will ever be resolved in a positive manner, a whole lot of sexually charged situations and interesting twists, each book reads better and better. 🙂
This time we have Lucia the Archer and the prince is of the Lykae clan, his brother is missing so he is the heir but the brother re-appears (that’s actually the first real book in the series – a great one as well). Anyway, there are some dark misteries in Lucia’s past (in my mind I’m calling her now the way he calls her in the book) and she just cannot imagine there is a future for her with Garreth. She is of course his mate so he needs to look no further (even if he could, there is only one mate for life).
Honestly, I didn’t see the end coming. Ok, I couldn’t even begin to imagine how was Kresley going to resolve it, so I enjoyed the suspense.
And if all this didn’t get you the idea how much I liked the book – I LOVED it. 🙂 And can’t wait for the next installment.
Ms. Cole can you please hurry with writing the following novels? Please?
Pic by: http://kresleycole.com/
Celebrating year one with a give-away!
I can’t believe it’s already been a year since I started with this blog. 🙂 It is definitely one of the smarter things I did in life – the happiness and friendship that run through the blogosphere are incredible.
I want to thank everyone who found their way here during that year, for reading and commenting and enjoying my perfume journey with me. I just know there are better things to come for all of us.
And in order to celebrate this first anniversary I want to give away the following:
1. A bottle of PdN Eau Turqouise with some 15ml left (I will not decant this but send the bottle).
2. 10ml decant of Ambre Gris by Balmain
3. 10 ml decant of Tanglewood Bouquet by Crown perfumery
If you have a preference, please say so in the comments, and this will run for a week (meaning until next Saturday, 27 March) when I’ll announce the 3 winners.
I want to wish you all a wonderfully scented spring and here’s to another year of new perfume discoveries!
All I am - a redhead 
