My Life. My Perfume.
I am running late and falling behind, so please forgive the lack of review today. It seems this week was all about lists, polls and questionnaires. Ina of Aromascope and I started it by tagging each other and, instead of doing some serious perfume analysis today, we decided instead to end the week with this questionnaire, borrowed from American Express, 0% Intro APR, No Annual Fee.  My Life. My Perfume.My name: Marina Childhood ambition: To be a ballerina (only those who saw my chubby childhood pictures can understand how ridiculous that ambition was) Fondest memory: Summers spent vacationing with my mum on the Baltic Sea coast, in Jurmala, Latvia Soundtrack: Wiggles, Dora the Explorer, Winnie The Pooh and all sorts of other teletubbies Retreat: Books Wildest dream: To stop worrying and start living Proudest moment: When I saw my daughter crawl for the first time. Rivalled only by when she took her first step. Or told me I was her best friend. Sentimental, moi? Biggest challenge: To be a foreigner, an “alien”, in a foreign land Alarm Clock: Is in my head Perfect Day: Spent lying on a beach, sipping a cocktail, reading a cozy detective story (change a location and a drink, with a good book I'll be happy almost anywhere) First Job: Russian language tutor Indulgence: Perfume. Although it seems to have become more of a necessity Last purchase: Jean Patou Colony Favorite movie: Used to be Signs, but Gibsongate turned me off it a little. A lot actually. I don't have a favorite movie anymore. Inspiration: Words, images, memories, scents My life: At the end of its beginning My perfume: Today- Chanel Cuir de Russie *** Next week, back to business as usual. Here is what I am planning: Monday- Tuesday- Wednesday - Thursday - Serge Lutens Tubereuse Criminelle (review by Tom) Friday - (All but Thursday are subject to change if something more exciting arrives in the mail) Have a great weekend, everybody! * The image is by Anne Taintor. |
posted by Marina |
12:03 AM
24 Comments:
All right, I am going to treat this like a tag..
My NameTom
Childhood Ambitionto be an architect (didn't happen)
Fondest Memorieslots, but to pick one off the top of my head, getting off the train at Grand Central Station to go home from a friends wedding with the towers of Manhattan lit up in a lowering sky, looking like an acid trip: close second, a midnight drive along Sunset in my convertible, the jasmine pervasive, Blondie's "Call me" on the stereo..
Soundtrackever changing, rangeing from classical to Cole Porter to Flaming Lips
retreatDarlin' I am there with you on books. Fiction, non-fiction, art, architecture: I live and breathe books. A visit to my library is not to a visit to pristine volumes, My books are well thumbed, bookmarked and annoteded (via post-it) and very well loved I revisit them like old and well-loved friends
Wildest DreamLotto Winnings. I'd like to think that I'd take the high road and take classes in flower arrangeing and secular philanthropy, but I'd most likely buy a Cadillac XLR and eat my way accross the USA in preparartion for my world "Snarf 'N' Sniff tour" What can I say, I am a man.
Biggest ChallengeMaking the previous happen. Well, I suppose, getting over the fantasy that it ain't gonna happen
Alarm ClockI always wake up ten minutes before..
Perfect DaySpent lying on a beach, that magically does not bake my skin (but still turns my hair back to the blond of my childhood) but gives it the burnished bronze I could never get, while this magical sun burns off extra pounds and years while I am sipping lemonade, so that I am left looking like Peter Gallagher circa "Summer Lovers" rather than the later version..
First JobDean and deLuca, in the pastry department.
Indulgencehello! Well, perfume and food. But Perfume does not have calories. I am still able to carry on conversations over the merits of heirloom tomatoes and grades of caviar..
Inspirationfrom a lot of things. From paying attention. From You
My LifeDarlin' I'm still surfing it myself, don't ask me to try to explain to to you..
My Perfumefor this evening, Tubereuse Criminelle: the review of which Columbina will post on Thursday.
Who's tagged next?
Great idea for a post! My mother's ambition was for me to be a ballerina, so from the age of 3 I was in ballet classes. Amusing pictures of a recital at the age of 4 where I forgot to wear underwear (I was obsessed w/ dressing myself). My retreat would also be reading - obsessed w/ books from early childhood and I *love* your perfect day. Nothing like a cozy mystery. I also think my biggest challenge is the same as yours. I'm technically a US citizen (passport and American father make me one) but I didn't grow up in the US and I was stunned when I fell in love w/ an American (NOT my plan for myself) and ended up marrying him and settling in the US. Have never quite adjusted. I adore (madly, passionately) NYC, but I feel like I'm from Mars in NC. Oh, and Colony may be my next purchase as well. Good site. :-)
Tom, I wanted to be an architect too or at least be a photographer of architecture. Never happened for me either, but one of my main hobbies still is obsessively photographing architecture (especially details) when I'm traveling. I love the fact that your books are not pristine volumes - my books are also well thumbed and much loved.
Your fondest memories conjure up great visuals.
Look forward to your Tubereuse Criminelle review.
Wonderful post! I myself never wanted to be a ballerina, although my mother made me take ballet classes, at which I failed miserably. I wanted to be a writer or an actress (I would tell my mother I wanted to be a "child actress," and she would say, "go ahead":) both of which ambitions I have realized in weird ways. Well, I do write, though not fiction which is what I had in mind, but I only "perform" before classes:) I'm with you all on the books--and Tom, I don't just use post-its, I write in and all over mine--and I'm certainly with Marina on the worries. And Elle, I am originally from New York, and I feel like an alien in NC (and many other places in the US:). I think my last purchase was MPG Perle Rose, but they seem to blur together (a sure sign that I'm buying too much). And clearly, there's a good site for Patou that I need to find:)
Tom,
Despite the fact that I quoted Carnegie there, my wildest dream is essentially the same as yours. (and winning the lottery sure should help one to stop worrying, eh?)I think I'd go for the latest model of a BMW though, instead of a Cadillac.
The young Peter Gallagher was the hottest thing on earth.
L,
It wasn't my plan either, to marry an American. These things can't be planned, can they? OK, I cannot resist quoting Bronte here: Reader, I married him :-)
As for being a ballerina, although I wanted to be one, no one would have ever dreamed to let me go to any classes, because I was a real fatso.
Judith,
So funny about wanting to be a "child actress", very logical too.
As for Patou sites, I researched them yesterday. 1stperfume has several, for about $49.99. And some sites I've never heard of have Colony for $39.99. There was a choice between two sites, and I decided on Sector29.com, because they accept PayPal and I thought, if anything should happen, I could always file a claim. :-) Fingers crossed.
I figured out that it was at the two sites you mentioned yesterday. Sector29 looks OK (and I don't know about discountperfume), but I would NOT buy at 1stperfume; too many people on MUA and Basenotes have had real trouble with them (there is a thread about them on Basenotes right now).
Judith,
I goggled discountparfums and there was at least one guy being angry with them for something or other. So I opted for Sector instead. I wrote to them right after ordering just to say that I sent them a PayPal payment, but really, to see if they reply. And they did, so that's good. :-)1stperfume has so many things I want, but I am just scared to order from there. What a shame.
Ah, the Baltic Sea! I swear you and I were there at the same time and just didn't know it. ;) Marina The Ballerina! Sending you my love and hugs.
Ina,
I have no doubt that we were ther at the same time. I wonder how much has everything changed in Jurmala...probably a lot. I'd love to re-vist it one day, with my mum and T. I bet you though that T., being a child of the west, wouldn't be as impressed or as in terested as I was in the school supplies store in Mayori (if it is still there). :-)
Marina, when I go there next time, I'll be sure to take some pics and tell you all about it. :) The school supplies store! My major obsession as a child. I bet it's not there any more. Oh, the memories... I used to love August! I was always in anticipation of school starting. :)
Ina, please do! And also could you bring me some real Latvian caraway bread? :-)
Marina,
Yes, a perfect Bronte quote. :-) And I really hope you get to go back to Jurmala w/ your DD and your mom.
Judith,
I wantonly write all through my books as well. I'd lose post-its and I like being able to go back and see what I was thinking years later. How lucky you are to be from NY! I adored living there.
I write and highlight the quotes in my books too. Tom is probably shaking his head in disapproval right now. In my defence, I wuold never do that to a library books and strongly disapprove of people who do. :-)
I would never shake my head at whatever one does with one's own books, as long as they are being read and loved.
I was once in the Rizzoli bookstore in my area listening to a very third string celeb trying to get cash back from a gift certificate by shcreeching "I don't READ!". We all looked at her with contemtuous pity, and I said in a voice that could be heard in Iowa "My dear, you must learn how!
That was fun
Tom,
Wow, that's just...wow. Love your reply, I hope she heard it!
Childhood ambition:
1) to read all the classics in their original languages;
2)to sing opera;
3)to learn ancient Greek in order to get all the Homeric puns...
[Two out of three ain't bad!]
Fondest memories:
Sitting on my grandfather's lap at age 2, at 2am, in the kitchen, eating smoked whitefish, toasted cheese, and coffee-milk on the spread-out newspaper- listening to stories about Queen Victoria's England,Jack the Ripper, and how he stowed away with his younger brother to come to America in 1900.
Swimming naked in the Titicus River in the winter , [in high school] with my seven dogs;
My first week in Boston, when I managed to get into more scrapes than is decent to recount!
Soundtrack:
Prairie Home Companion
Mahler's Des KnabensWunderhorn,
Jimmy Cliff's "Under the Sun, Moon, and Stars"
Buddy Holly
Johnny Cash
Leonard Cohen
Mermaid Avenue
Blind Lemon Jefferson
Bessie Smith
Marian Anderson
Christa Ludwig...
Retreat:
Books, music, perfume,animals,dreams of a Guatemalan cotton hammock slung between two shady trees with a good breeze going...dreams of travel...
Wildest Dreams: To climb Macchu Picchu, paddle down the Amazon,
travel to India and be hugged by Ama,become a linguistic anthropologist,own my own tiny restaurant,apprentice in Grasse...
Biggest challenge:
Not allowing myself to be overwhelmed by all the pain and suffering in the world;
Maintaining balance and perspective
Alarm Clock: Like Tom, I always beat the clock...
Perfect Day:
Any day above ground- I'm not quite ready for either the dirt nap or the rope!
First Job:
At 14, lying about my age so that I could work full-time
in a nursing home- talk about reality-I got some education!
Indulgence:
perfume [natch], olives, cheese,single malt or fine wine,
time alone
Inspiration:
the natural world in all its forms
music
odor
the nobility of everyday folks under duress
my DH and sons
my grandfather's anima
My Life:
Messy, complex beyond description, devouring, devastating,painful, and gorgeous...I have been an alien all my life...but it does get easier if you roll with it and evolve-
My Perfume:
HAH! WHAT-ONE?
OK- Habanita, Mitsouko, Santal de Mysore,Cabochard,Jolie Madame,Tabac Blond, Un Bois Sepia.
Last Purchase:
Montale's Black Aoud
Proudest moment:
1) when oldest son was accepted to Harvard;
2)when youngest son admitted he needed help;
3)when I was asked to be a judge for the NE Regional Metropolitan Opera competitions
Favorite movies:
Shawshank Redemption
Pulp Fiction
Dune
The Third Man
Gaslight
Lulu
Talk to Her
Kissing Jessica Stein
Monsoon Wedding
NEXT !!!
Chaya,
You answers gave me goosebumps, in a good way. They also made me crave smoked whitefish. And I would love to know which two out of three childhood ambitions you have fulfilled?
Big hugs!
I love those hugs!
My nuclear family is a virtual lovenest...
FYI, I couldn't find anyone to teach me ancient Greek-
and the irony is that my eldest spent his summer studying it!
Ain't life GRAND?
Back at you, babe...
Colombina -- this is URGENT, no kidding -- how are we going to get Andy to make some more of his orris?
HOW?!?!?!!? I am almost out.
*violent sobbing*
I can't live without it!
I know! I love it. Andy has got to start selling bottles of it!
Not even a mention eh? (sniff sniff)
That got a comment out of you, didn't it...a year later :-D
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