one day i am going to grow wings

Had to share the pimptastic Elizabethan cover art. I'm not sure what that magenta thing that Elizabeth is wearing. Actually, I'm not sure why it's magenta in the first place.

I first read this back when I was in high school, I think, but I couldn't find my copy anywhere, so I actually ordered a new/old copy from Amazon marketplace. I've been reading a lot of Jean Plaidy lately (Victoria Holt's other nom de plume) and I remembered this one was a lot of fun. It's about Lettice Knollys, cousin to Queen Elizabeth and the woman who eventually married Robert Dudley, Elizabeth's OTP. Lettice is such an unrepentantly whorey bitch. Good times. She's spending most of the book boasting to the reader and herself about being the Queen's rival and getting to schtupp Leicester, only to get pwned everytime she's in Elizabeth's presence. Also, pretty much everyone who crosses Leicester falls down a flight of stairs or dies of dysentary. OR DO THEY? DUN DUN DUN.

Some BPAL decants came in the mail today. I'm trying Beaver Moon '07. Not as good as the '06 version. This one smells like strawberry cream soda and incense (that sort of incense-y smell that was in Underpants.) The fizzy strawberry smell kind of faded over the day though, and now it's just the incense-y smell that remains. Nice, but I think an imp will suffice.

I've been mildly productive this week and culled some bottles from my BPAL collection. This is what's going on the block:

Devil's Night, Sleepy Moon, Snow Bunny, Beltane (2005 edition), Swank, and Red Lantern.

I was horribly disappointed that Red Lantern didn't work for me; it had a gorgeous description and I was really wanting an Oriental scent. However, on me it smelled entirely of caramel :P

Anyway, you can check out the auctions here. I'll probably be selling more in a few weeks after my vacation.

I got my imp of Bpal's La Fee Verte from the decant circle that honeyjubilee was running a few weeks ago. I don't know why it took me so long to sign up for a decant circle. It certainly makes more sense to split the prices together and acquire samples rather than buying full bottles blind, which is how I had been buying the Limited Editions.

I already have an imp of Bpal's Absinthe blend; it's okay, not one my favorite scents, but not bad. I really wanted to try La Fee Verte, almost just for the name's sake (I'm interested in French history, particularly the Fin du Siecle period. And also okay, I admit, because I loved Moulin Rouge!)although the ingredients did sound good too.

Here's the Lab's description:
"A variant on the absinthe theme. Sugared wormwood, hyssop and melissa with calamus, angelica and Dittany of Crete, blended with a Bohemian perfume of vanilla musk, honey absolute and Moroccan spices"

And? It smells good. Really good. Really omg-I-love-this-can't-stop-smelling-my-wrist-we-wants-it-my-precious-I-must-have-it-NOW good. It's much sweeter and feminine than their regular Absinthe, and although it gradually fades to the vanilla musk/honey/melissa scent, it still smells, well, green for lack of a better word. It smells so good, it may even tie with Dorian as my favorite scent evar. The bad part? It's part of a $50 set of oil and statue, limited to 300 pieces. WHY, O Deity-of-your-choice, can't it be General Catalogue? I don't even want the statue; my house is cluttered enough without statuary of demonic beings added to it. I spent an indecent amount of perfume this month already, but the more I think about it, the more I'm sure I really need this. Must acquire and horde the preeeeciousss.

Clearly, decant circles are a horrible idea and a sure path to temptation and the devil.

I like to collect eyeballs.
( Dolly picture time )

Mucking about taking silly pictures certainly helps to relieve stress from an annoying work week. More about that later though, perhaps after I've had some cheap wine. Mmm, Riuniti.

I think I'm getting more cranky and irritable in my old age. I was talking about this with Sarah the other day; the new rule that I measure things by is, "I could do this (whatever activity in particular) or I could take a nap." And generally, nap wins. Nap beats rock, paper, and scissors. Maybe after my nap, I'll make that into an LJ icon.

BPAL scent o' the day: Antique Lace
"Nostalgia encapsulated. A soft, wistful blend of dry flowers, aged linens, and the faint breath of long-faded perfumes."
I'm so glad that this is no longer discontinued; I need to replace my imp with a bottle.

( random food meme that I ripped off somewhere )

Oklahoma's under a tornado warning! In freakin' November! Craziness!

Also, I believe BPAL is supposed to be doing an update later tonight. I'm tempted to stay up just to see what they're coming out with for their anniversary/full moon post. I'm sure it'll break my bank account, regardless. Terribly curious, but I need sleep!

*simultaneous sounds of Caerbannog's brain exploding along with her wallet going up in a sudden whoosh of self-immolation*

Okay, I was crazy the other day and ordered Pumpkin Patch. Justification for this: the pumpkin/pomegranate blend sounded too good to pass up as pomegranate is one of my favorite scents; I could sell off the bottles that I didn't like; I really wanted it.

The Lab did their Full Moon update early just now. I told myself I would cut down on the lunar blends since I don't much care for them. However, in addition to Beaver Moon (lol), they DID add their annual Yuletide Limited Editions. I've only partially read the update before I had to give myself a time-out in fear of OD'ing from a shopper's high. MUST HAVE.

Last year, I bought 4 bottles of Yule LE's and even then, it was a struggle to limit myself to just 4. The Yule LE's smelled so good. And there appear to be even more scents this year. Good lord. My doom is upon me. *gnaws on desk*

My BPAL order came today! I ordered 2 more Carnaval Noir scents, Bearded Lady and Midway. Bearded Lady is a delicate floral with jasmine and vanilla. Midway smells exactly like cotton candy and funnel cakes. And um, something else that I can't figure out yet. Like possibly night air, or sweat. (I'm not entirely certain; I'm not very good at picking out individual notes.) I bought Midway because I love fair food and having a scent that smelled of it was intriguing, but I don't know if I can actually wear this as a perfume, because I kinda feel like I'm inhaling powdered sugar right now. Maybe I can try putting some in my oil burner.

I also bought a bottle of Oneiroi, one of BPAL's dream scents. It's a really strong, strong lavender smell. Not something I would really wear as a perfume, but I do tend to have vivid dreams if I wear it to bed.

Sinc this arrived, I have no outstanding orders to look forward to. *sigh* I haven't gotten around to ordering any Halloween or Poe scents yet.

As much as I hate having to do the mandatory overtime, it's probably just as well that it's there because I've been spending money like a loon.

First, I discovered how to bid on Japanese auctions. I'd known of Rinkya before, but their fees are so high, I haven't been tempted before. And now I've just bid on a whack of things for my creepy dolly collection. This, combined with Ebay, spells immediate doom.

Also, my favorite perfumerie, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, has come out with a limited line of scents called Carnaval Noir. How could I possibly not buy a perfume called Geek, described as "a snarling, feral scent, ever-so-slightly slightly deranged"? I must also get Freak Show, "A strange, disconcerting embrace. . . to some, alarming, and to some, intimately familiar: fig, pomegranate and cocoa bean with lemon, bergamot, vanilla, mellow honey musk, calamus and tonka." Fig and pomegranate, mmmm. I might even get Midway and Shill just to have the olfactory experience in bottles. Just reading the descriptions makes me really want to go to a carnival and load up on fair food.

It's a good thing tomorrow is payday.

It's been awhile since I've posted a proper update. Uh, here goes, I think...

Am now working an evening shift, which is good because I'm by nature a night person. The only bad thing about it is that those of us on night shift frequently get moved over to general sales, which I hate, hate, hate. That happened today, which made it a bad night.

Tuesday I went to the cross stitch store and bought more stash. Yay! I bought a Just Nan pattern and material for uh, another geisha pattern that I found in a magazine. (But this one is small! Minute, practically! And thus, within the realm of possibility to finish.) I think I enjoy doing smaller patterns the most. I do have some larger projects (2 geisha and 1 Mirabilia), but I find that the length of time to do those is kind of frustrating. Actually, now that I think of it, the number of works-in-progress that I have is beginning to overwhelm me. I would need a huge speed addiction to get everything done that I want to. (Fortunately, that's not a temptation as I really enjoy sleep.)

Anyway, while I was at the crack-drug shop, I finally got a charm that I've been waiting months for, so I can finally frame one of my cross stitches. Will post a piccie later.

After that, I drove around town trying to find a copy of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, which finally came out dvd. Such a good movie. Tim Roth and Gary Oldman have excellent chemistry together.

Oh, and here is the list of movies I saw last month.
Thousand Pieces of Gold - True story of a Chinese woman who's sold into prostitution and sent to California during the late 1800's. I saw this on PBS years and years ago; it gave me a big crush on Chris Cooper for awhile.

From Hell - Finally got over my Jack the Ripper phobia long enough to watch this. The temptation of watching Johnny Depp wearing a frock coat and abusing Victorian drugs was just too much to deny. Surprisingly, not that bad.

Bright Young Things - The Paris Hiltons of 1920's Britain, but in a much less annoying way.

Bride & Prejudice - I enjoyed the Bollywood aspect a lot. Very colorful and the musical scenes were very well done. I liked the parts where Naveen Andrews from Lost danced :) Spiffy.

Zatoichi - a recent Japanese movie that didn't squick the hell out of me. Tadanobu Asano was my favorite character as the yojimbo samurai. (I'd almost be tempted to rent more of his movies, except it seems the squick factor is prevalent in his movies.) I thought the fight scenes were well done, except they were too abbreviated. And the film raises some odd questions like, "Why does Zatoichi have a blond dye job? And why are all these people tap dancing?"

The Incredibles - Cute. Funny. So overexposed that I wouldn't have watched it if my friends hadn't made me, but I'm glad they did anyway.

I <3 Huckabees - This would have been pretty funny, if it hadn't bored me with its pretentiousness.

Impromptu - Another movie I saw on PBS years ago. The true story of George Sand (played by Judy Davis) falling in love with Frederic Chopin (Hugh Grant, in a very girly wig.)Highly recommended. Davis does a wonderful job of making Sand an intriguing character. She's very a funny, ballsy person; pretty anachronistic for that time.

anyhoo....
My Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab order came in the mail today, so I'm wearing at least four different perfume samples just to try out. (Languor smells the best so far, finally an opium scent I can stand.) More stash. Ah, bliss.