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Portia
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Hey there APJ Crew,
WHiRLWIND!!
Scent Diary: 29.1 – DD.MM.2018
Monday 16:
O M G! Today was big. Not energetic but big.
Dropped Jin and Tara to the ferry wharf this morning. They went to the Sydney Opera House for a tour. Then they headed off to Manly to lunch with the beautiful Eve and Lola.
I set to and got most of my two weeks of Trivia Q&A done while they were gone.
Made a large pot of beef and vegetable soup which was goulash inspired, heavy on the paprika.
Picked them up from Parramatta Railway and we came home. LOADS of great stories.
Jin and I are bickering. It’s about the wedding and driving me a bit nutso. Obviously it’s doing the same for him because we are both getting on each others nerves. We also don’t seem to be able to let things go and the bickering becomes snark and little spats. Poor Tara just lets it float over her.
After dinner I came back and finished the Trivia Q&A.
I ran myself a bath to celebrate and now it’s 2am and I’m off to bed.
SOTBed: Keiko Mecheri Un Jour d’Ete. Creamy, sweet ylang, jasmine, coconut and some buttery cream underneath that could be vanilla and sandalwood.
Tuesday 17:
The dogs are going out to the trainers to stay while the Wedding Madness is going on. I’m so sad to have them go but it’s better for everyone if they can be cared for out there. They get so excited to go and Charlie loves to have them.
Doused myself in Goldfield & Banks Wood Infusion.
Office day. Scott arrived bearing coffees and his sunny smile. He and Tara were so excited to see each other. Much catching up since Paris.
Bank, Post Office, Jin car fixed, bought blazers, organised booze for wedding, final guest list follow ups and sorting.
Jin took Tara for lunch while we got our stuff done.
Aromatics Elixir Bath. Vintage Hermès Caleche EdT tonight at Trivia where Tara sat with the I Concur crew.
Came home and packed for the trip. Did some blogging and now I’m going to watch some Netflix before I sleep.
SOTBed: Liberté by Cacharel
Wednesday 18:
6am and it’s MITZAH time.
Tara and I are readying ourselves for our flight to Uluru. It fricken FREEZING this morning and I have multiple layers on. Drinking a quick coffee while Tara gets her good face on. BRRRRR
Here Tara and Tina are looking glam as at Sydney Airport.
Dinner and sunset at Uluru. We had a star talk, met our perfume buddy Brenda, saw Venus and Mars rise and had a ball.
More Goldfield & Banks Wood Infusion
Thursday 19:
Sunrise at Uluru is the most awe inspiring adventure. Beauty that left us speechless.
Today I’m wearing Fort & Manlé’s Charlatan. Its warmth fits the cool of the outback morning and smells wonderful right through the days adventure.
Sun hitting Kata Tjuta (The Olgas).
Trekking through Kata Tjuta. It was tough but worth it.
Afternoon spent at Uluru hearing the stories of the magical Aboriginal mythology
Sunset at the rock. The colour changes are unbelievable.
Dinner at the glam restaurant in Uluru. So nice. More of Fort & Manlé’s Charlatan.
Friday 20:
The girls looking uber glam on our last morning in Uluru
All very sad to be leaving. I have over spritzed Atelier Cologne Cafe Tuberosa. It’s outrageous.
Clouds from the plane. No filter.
Arriving at Aunty Tracey’s house. YAY!
Saturday 21:
Full day on the Great Barrier Reef with Tara. Snorkelling, glass bottom boat, lunch, underwater room and so much more. We saw turtles, fish, shark, manta ray ands some of the most beautiful coral. Amazing.
Dinner with the newlyweds Andrew & Travis at the Pearl Garden Chinese Restaurant. Aunty Tracey and Tara fell madly in love with them both. Such gorgeous boys. So in love and living amazing conjoined lives.
Wearing Goldfield & Banks Wood Infusion again and loving it.
Came home and had to get the Scent Diary up to date. It’s short and sweet because I’ve been busy LIVING
Sunday 22:
Wearing Charlatan again this morning. Tara commented how deliciously skanky I smelled. RESULT!!
Breakfast began the day with bacon sandwiches. Meeting Aunty Tracey’s bestie Maxine and hanging with Sasha’s family (Aunty Tracey’s daughter).
We drove from Cairns to Airlie Beach in a 9 hour drive with two stops included for brunch and afternoon tea.
Dinner was a spectacular event with one of my school friends, David, who has his birthday tomorrow.
He now owns Airlie Beach BREEZE BAR. We got a sneak preview of its new look. VERY swish.
It’s YOUR turn. What’s happening in your world?
Did you do anything Fragrant, Fun, Friends, Family or even had some less than Fabulous news you want to share? Now’s the time, in the comments below.
We love to read what’s happening to YOU.
Portia xx
Those landscape photos are gorgeous!!! Sky and sun….love it! Glad to hear that your visit went well and it sounds like you had loads of fun 🙂
My week was extraordinarily uneventful…..so nothing really to report. I finished Soleil de Capri and am now working on my Greylocke bottle. The two marzipans stole my Pink Sugar, two Berdoues and three Dames which I brought up from the basement….I don’t really care because when they wear them the whole house smells freakin’ fabulous…..I knew my son had stolen the Dames when I smelled Bergamot, Jasmine and Labdanum wafting out of his room the other morning-LOL!
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Hey Brigitte,
Love that you guys share everything. Family!
Soleil de Capri is one of my fave Montales. Will you miss it?
Portia xx
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I enjoyed it immensely (it was a gift from a perfumista friend) but I have enough of other lovelies to work my way through…this is probably why I really don’t have any back up bottles 🙂
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You are SO WISE!!
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Or really dumb- LOL!!!!!!
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I really need to learn swimming. It is one of my greatest regrets in life not to know how to swim even though I am in 30s now
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33 y.o. and I can’t swim properly, either, even though I grew up by the sea.
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Fazal,
Swimming is freedom. I love it so much in swimming pools but am terrified of the ocean.
Portia xx
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Stunning shots from Uluru! Sounds like you had a good time. I hope the nerves cool down between you and Jin so you can relax and enjoy the wedding.
It was a quiet week here, beastly hot in Montreal so we are holed up under the AC watching the Tour de France. We have a cool misty day today so I’m enjoying Naomi Goodsir Cuir Velours. The heat cranks up again tomorrow unfortunately.
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Hey TaraC,
How lavish to be wearing Cuir Velours on your one cool down day. Beautiful.
Uluru is amazing. Breathtaking. we loved our adventure.
Portia xx
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What a week, Portia! Loved the photos, the one with Ayers Rock is terrific, you all look great.
People get worked up before their weddings, it’s true. I hope Jin & you will have the time to adopt “to hell anything but us” attitude and enjoy your wedding day.
My week was all work and finishing a few TV series I’ve been watching.
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Are you watching anything good? I need to find something new to watch either on Netflix or Hulu.
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Oh, I’ve just finished the final season UnReal and am watching the second one of Imposters. Also, there’s Killjoys but I’m not sure that you’re into sci-fi stuff, and a comedy-drama called Younger. I could go on: I’m insatiable when it comes to movies and TV series.
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OOO! thank you! I think I may have watched the first Season of UnReal but I am not sure…I tend to binge watch and then forget when I have watched something-LOL! Sci-fi the hubs is into and I will watch it if it is a show we can share….adding Killjoys to the list too….and Younger…thanks for the recs!!!
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turns out I did watch UnReal…looks like I have another season or so to watch. Killjoys I looked up and will definitely try out with the hubs.
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I’d be happy if you liked them as much as I do 🙂 I’d also like to recommend one of my biggest TV faves, – Leverage. It ended a few years ago but I can’t stop rewatching it at least once a year. It tells a story of a team of heroic criminals whose business is avenging those who can’t do it for themselves, and do it brilliantly.
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… and you have three more seasons of UnReal to watch (if interested, of course) 😉
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I loved Killjoys and wish they would hurry up and release the next season here…
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Turns out I can’t get Killjoys on my Hulu 😦
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I love those guys tremendously! The fourth season has started, I can’t decide if I should wait before all the episodes are out there or watch them one by one.
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Hi Diane,
Jin and I are having overload communication problems. It’s going to be fine. Too much in both our heads and bits are getting missed that need to be talked about, mainly by me. Sorting through it.
Best idea ever was to go away, everything is in place and we are almost go.
Portia xx
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Lots of love to you both! Bliss is just a week away (more or less so, I can only guess)
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Wow, what a week! Thanks for sharing the pictures of your adventures. (Hope the pre-wedding stress storms and tensions clear.)
I’ve had kind of an amazing week. And by “kind of” I mean “totally”.
I was away at a post-grad research summer school in Germany, at Bildarchiv Foto Marburg. I almost didn’t apply for it, then refused to believe I’d get selected. And was then terrified–that I would be out of my depth. (I’m pretty sure that this sort of imposter syndrome is incredibly common in academia, particularly for those of us who came so late to it. I worry that I don’t have the deep theory background that many in my field/s have, and end up sounding naive. I decided just to go with it, and pitch in. Full on, no chickening out.
I found my feet. I think I finally figured out that I *am* an expert in what I do, that my research has value and interest for people other than myself, and that I really can contribute in a useful way to my field. And, that has knocked me sideways, and I’m still spinning. In a good way.
I got to spend the week with a group of amazing people–15 of us in the group, plus four faculty and some amazing guest academics and curators. Talking, thinking, sharing our work, asking hard questions, pushing each other forward, challenging each other and getting excited by the threads we were weaving together, and laughing a lot too. A nice mix–a half and half split on phd students and post docs, men and women, german and international–and we all got on well. And a day out in Frankfurt for the photo festival there, and some incredible curator talks. Just wow.
Oh yeah, and I smelled good all week (Copal Azur, No 19, Osmanthus Yunnan, Chypre 21.) Despite the roasting heat that almost wiped me out. I am not built for 30 degree solid sunshine. I’m *exhausted* from 8am to 11pm days of this, and only I could come back from a heatwave with a stinking headcold… no scent for me today. I can’t smell it!)
oof, that’s LONG.
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Crikey- that is awesome!!!!
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It was! Hence the over excited text above. It felt like a massive turning point, as well as just being a lot of fun.
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Your week sounds super-exciting! Glad you had such a great time in Germany, it’s always a pleasure to share your expertise and learn something new.
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I learned *so* much this week from the crew there. And it was amazing to see how my research added to the mix. Also, just a lovely crowd of people to spend time with.
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That’s brilliant!
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WOW! What a wonderful week Crikey,
Congratulations on working out what I’m sure everyone else has known for ages. Germany sounds excellent.
Frag selection sounds amazing and yes, I always come home from holidays and get ill. It’s a trade off.
Portia xx
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thanks, Portia! It was pretty much the best birthday present I could have had. (coming up this week…)
I wish I had had more time to explore the town–it’s super pretty. Up on a steep hill with a castle at the top, half timbered story-book houses and all. (And excellent cake.) But I hope I’ll get to go back there–I’d love to spend some time in that archive.
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Crikey, imposter syndrome hits everyone I’ve ever known in academia, so you are right in your assumption. I’m glad you put those feelings aside and got all you could out of the trip.
What is your field?
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thanks, Kate! Me too 🙂
Visual Cultures–and more specifically the social practices of photography. One of the great things about this group is that we are all working on some aspect of photography and society, but from lots of different disciplines: history, media studies, cultural studies, art history, film studies, sociology.
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Exciting stuff, Crikey! When I was younger, I dreamed of more interdisciplinary projects, and here you are doing it!
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There are so many fabulous places to visit in Australia, we have been planning a Kimberley trip for ever but always end up going overseas. Have to make more of an effort.
Semester 2 started today. Without me. Busted knee and ballet do not mix so I just have to do the rehab instead. Will choose a gangbuster scent when I get out of the pool!
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Hey JackieB,
I know all about the ballet afflictions. David whose birthday we celebrated and I were at ballet school together. He went on to Oz Ballet, Vienna Stat Opera Ballet and WA ballet. Obviously I took the fun and easy road.
Get well soon.
Portia xx
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Portia!!!! you studied ballet? How did I NOT know this????
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You can tell by her legs in high heels!
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Ha! Spot on Jackie b! Even though I quit 30 years ago I still have my ballerina body…..Portia really does have gorgeous legs 😉
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Brigitte,
I thought we had been over this.
At a young age I showed real promise but gave it up for football, cricket, swimming and basketball and the more acceptable (to my Dad) life at a Jesuit School and all that entailed.
When invited to leave said school I was put into a ballet/theatre/arts school but only lasted one term. That’s where I met David and we have woven in and out of each others lives ever since.
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So this is weird, when we first came to WA we nearly bought David’s house in Mt Hawthorn and had good chats about all the ballet gossip here. Say hi for me please!
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O M G JackieB! That is totally freaky. Did you WA Ballet?The parties that crew used to have! Unbelievable.
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It’s like a Degas party in here, I’m genuinely amazed.
Jackie, get well soon!
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What an awesome time you’ve been having Portia – thanks so much for sharing. NT looks like so much fun – will add to the growing travel bucket list.
Rough week for me as I try to manage my impending exit at work as gracefully as I can, and remembering how to write a good application cover letter – ugh!! Been doing lots of knitting and sorting through my yarn stash. Seems perfume is not my only obsession!
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Good luck with your last week Melanie, and with the job hunt.
YAY! Multiple addictions sounds excellent.
Portia xxx
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Good luck , Melanie! One door closes, another one opens…keep this in mind…and knitting is a great form of therapy to relax and ease your mind.
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Best of luck this week, Melanie. I hope it’ll work out perfectly for you very soon. Sending you a ton of warm wishes
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thanks for the warm wishes – good news (or a door opening) i just got a call for an interview next week!
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That’s wonderful, Melanie! Hope it’ll go smoothly.
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The incredible scenery Portia at Uluru and your adventures with friends while organising a wedding!!!! Ummm you’re the best darl!! And I love how you wore an Aussie frag on your sightseeing trip xxx
How special this must be for Tara!! Tina Aunty Tracey too!! 🤩🤩
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The only thing missing was YOU Anicasunny,
I often thought how it would have been even moire special with you here but I did notice you were adventuring with your family on the warm eastern seaboard of Australia too.
Portia xx
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Laughed out loud at photo of you eating Uluru!
Clouds from the plane are brilliant too, that and the underwater room are my fave photos from this week. I love anything to do with water, snorkelling/diving at the reef is bucket list for sure, would be paradise for my mermaid self!
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YAY! I’m so glad you liked that shot. We thought ourselves hilarious too M.
Those plane clouds had me hopping to capture them, I must have shot 100+ and almost every one looks like a masterpiece to me. Good luck not good management.
Portia xx
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