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Portia
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Hey there APJ Crew,
Even though it’s been rush, rush, rush to get things organised all week I’ve felt calm about it. Going at it at my own pace and getting things done one at a time has allowed me to focus on each thing. At times it’s felt quiet zen.
Fragrance has, as always, played a major part. There are some cool spritzes from the vault.
Saw some friends but all in all it was work, organise, sleep, repeat.
Scent Diary: 10.2-16.2.2020
Monday 10:
I set the alarm for 10am and woke at 9.57am. Happy happenstance!
The rain has stopped and the sun is shining. There is a sense of clean renewal in the air and walking the dogs was marvellous.
This morning I’m organising my TRIVIA games. I’m going to try to get four weeks worth done before lunch. Wish me luck. It’s only 12 events worth but each even has three games.
SOTMorning: Traversée du Bosphore by L’Artisan. Inspired by TaraC. I love how it smells like a cross between cooking rice and Turkish Delight. So happily weird.
1.30pm and the TRIVIA Games are done till we return.
The water heater boys have come and fixed our problem. Should have hot water in an hour! YAY! They were quite easy on the eye too.
Doing some laundry and cleaning. Today will be a nearly zero cleaning day. Reason being, Jin only did an eight hour workday so he came home before I’d done all the cleaning. GRRRR!
Jin grabbed me. We went and had late lunch and did a grocery shop.
I had a nap, gave the dogs a wee, finished hanging washing and made a cuppa.
SOTAfternoon: Aesthete by Le Galion. Softly leather and florals. Pretty and masculine. Perfectly blended and poised.
TRIVIA Q&A.
Dinner was reheats! My personal favourite, Bolognaise sauce reimagined as Savoury Mince. Just add a bunch of Wostershire Sauce and all the vegetables in the fridge. Pour it over buttered toast and YUM!! Jin won’t eat it because it looks like spew but I love it.
Fed and walked the dogs together with Jin. Perfect evening for it.
TRIVIA Q&A. My head is REALLY not in the game today.
Tuesday 11:
4.30am and I’ve just sent off the TRIVIA Q&A to the crew. That was an uphill battle the whole way. Now my mind is going 1000 miles per hour. Going to watch TV for a bit then crash.
SOTBed: Le Bain by JOOP!
Slept fitfully. Woke up grumpy.
Went to help BFF Kath’s Dad around the house with Jin.
Jin wanted a Vietnamese Pork Salad Roll. We took a No Right Turn that was really badly signposted and the cop was sitting there waiting for us. Jin has now lost his first ever points in Australia and a $260 fine. It was 100% my fault that he went around it. We both feel like idiots and are totally bummed.
Home. Clipped beard.
Midday: Had my first deep, hot bubble bath experience this week. It was HEAVEN! Caudalie Rose scented bubbles and body wash. You can see this bottle is nearly finished.
SOTAfternoon: Hedonist Rose Absolute by Viktoria Minya. Jammiest Turkish Delight rose with the darkness of a woody and animalic oud tethering it to the ground. This is the blood red rose of the hedge that kept Sleeping Beauty’s castle safe during its hundred year sleep and the dark woods that surround it.
I’ve never received so many unsolicited compliments on a fragrance before. Hedonist Rose Absolute is a real crowd pleaser. It smelled beautiful for hours. Currently midnight and I still smell gorgeous. A couple of spritzes after my bath, then a couple of spritzes before I left for work. Amazingly beautiful.
Watching Locke & Key on Netflix. It’s mesmerising.
SOTBed: Aromatics In White by Clinique. I thought it was rubbish the first few wears. It IS shit, but I like it. Weird ass sandblasted fruity floral aldehydic mess. Smells terrible. AddICTIVE.
Wednesday 12:
It’s warm and sticky humid today. I need a fa on me to keep regulated.
SOTMorning: Vintage CHANEL No 19 EdT. Can’t go past this dry, mossy chypre for a bit of instant cooling.
Fed and walked the dogs. As I was walking them one of our BFFs Alice asked me to go check on an apartment up the street for sale. It has been on the market since September and I’ve often walked past it, thinking it looks like a fine investment. For some reason it doesn’t sell.
TRIVIA Q&A. Got a whole week’s worth of main game done today. Fingers crossed I can be so productive tomorrow!
BATHTIME! We are constantly trying to keep our footprint down around here. The other night I had to have a Bucket Bath because there was no hot water. The saving in water is off the chart. I am going to try to Bucket Bath at least twice a week from now on. Feels sensible, saves a shitload of water and I’m just as clean.
SOTAfternoon: Seville a l’Aube by L’Artisan. All the glorious sticky orange juice, orange blossom and cooling incense. Summer in a bottle.
Excellent crew in at Greystanes Inn even though it’s been raining. We had a fun time.
Finished watching Locke & Key. I had picked most of the twists in the last episode before they happened but there were a couple of surprises.
SOTBed: Elegance Animale by Lalique. Opens like fruity fairy floss and then takes an anima;ic turn for the dark side.
Thursday 13:
Cooler this morning again. YAY! It feels like rain.
SOTMorning: Covet by Sarah Jessica Parker. I noticed on MMKinPA’s Instagram that she was wearing it and had a rummage for my own. Now I’m drenched in its quirky weirdness.
Dogs fed & walked. I love our area. There’s often someone out with their pooch. It’s always chat time. Even though we may only see each other five times a year it’s friendly and newsy. I love the village feel of North Parramatta.
Did some blogging and comment answering. What am I going to do with all my spare time?
TRIVIA Q&A.
Anna Maria bought us a big jar of the posh Moccona coffee and it has been so glamorous drinking it. Sadly the well ran dry this morning and I’m back to what we normally drink around here. Yes, cheapo bastard shit coffee. I have to admit that while drinking the medium roast, creamy and delicious Moccona was lavish, Nescafe hits the same spot. When we were growing up Mum would ONLY have Moccona in the house and our cupboards were full of the 400g jars repurposed and DYMO labelled for ease. It was a really good trip down memory lane.
TRIVIA Q&A
SOTAfternoon: Narcisse by Chloe. Outrageously OTT BWF with the lot. I’ve had this bottle for ages and noticed it when getting my Covet out this morning. Thought I better give it a whirl. PHWOAR! Big fragrance, fabulous.
WOO HOO! My TRIVIA Q&A is done for while we are away. So happy.
Started watching the Divergent series again on Netflix. Theo James is one of my faves.
Bathtime.
SOTEvening: Classical by Anat Fritz
Friday 14:
Slept really late. How I love to laze in bed. Jin had the overhead fan on so I awoke with a breeze blowing over my body. Like a tropical island dream.
SOTMorning: Oriental Mint by Phaedon
Running around today. Jin is working so I’m doing the shopping for our Valentine’s Day Dinner tonight. We’ve invited a few of our girlfriends around. A little champagne and a Spicy Pork BarBQ.
Cleaned the house. It got such a poor clean on Monday that I’ve been extra focussed. This place is C L E A N!
SOTAfternoon: I Am Trash by Etat Libre d’Orange. I don’t care what the notes say, this is a white floral and juice scent for me. Smells so good and uplifting.
Jin came home and we immediately went into EVENT mode.
The BarBQ was lit and Jin started readying his Spicy pork and some Sausages. I made the Potato salad, Garden salad and some Fried Cauliflower. Jin made Shallot salad.
Girls arrived. Alice, Kath a Keira. We chattered and laughed, life was discussed.
Dinner arrived and we all ate like we were starving.
Saturday 15:
Woke up to a sweaty summer morning. Jin already up and on the couch watching TV.
I noticed in the bathroom this morning how gorgeously my Xmas present Moth Orchid is still flowering. Next to it is a continuing story, this Madonna Lily sat on my Mum’s kitchen windowsill with her Zygocactus (still have heaps of these and give bits to friends as gifts) and African Violets (all dead).
I had a cuppa, put on some perfume.
SOTDay: Puredistance Gold. A sample Undina sent me, we have a GIVEAWAY on APJ and round the world on other blogs. CLICK HERE!
Received a message from my usual Co-Compere of Mardi Gras for the last four years. He’s been booked to work with two other queens from out of Sydney. No mention of me, even though I was booked by the Mardi Gras team at the end of last years parade, as always. I’m heartbroken and feel utterly kicked to the curb. It’s also really embarrassing because I’ve been spruking myself in the job all year and I know a bunch of people bought tickets just because I’m hosting. AAAARRGGGGHH! So awful. After so many successful years to just be shunted aside.
Yes, I know this is the nature of show business. Yes, it’s not a surprise BUT what a yucky way for it to happen.
I am REALLY glum.
Alice came over. Jin and I took her to look at an apartment she’s thinking of buying. It was all excellent except the newly installed, poorly thought out, ugly and backwards kitchen they’d put in. Seriously, can’t people think of how the area is going to be used? IDIOTS!
Then Alice and I went up to Westfields on the hunt for some things for her. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon and take my mind of my Mardi Gras woes. A couple of hours looking and finding. Cool fun.
SOTEvening: Rahele by Neela Vermeire Creations. What better way to lift my spirits? Beautiful.
After Jin went to work I hit the couch and watched I, Robot on Netflix. Excellent piece of escapism.
We had another cracking thunder storm tonight. It was excellent. Like looking out into a fish tank there was so much rain. Glorious.
Once the world dried a little I fed and walked the dogs. 7000 steps today. That’s pretty good.
More Netflix.
Best thing about BarBQ is leftovers. YUMMY!
BATHTIME!
SOTBed: Moods by Krizia. This is one of those utterly ridiculous 1980s aldehydic floral powerhouses. Enormous and fabulous.
Sunday 16:
Jin woke me when he came home from work. We had a small chat.
SOTMorning: Vintage Opium by Yves Saint Laurent. We are off to visit BFF Kath’s Mum’s grave today in memory of her death which happened a year ago today. So sad. So I thought it a really good idea to wear some of the Opium I stockpiled for her.
We got down there and did some flowers, had lunch and a good reminisce about how freaking amazing Mum was. Dad, Kath and I. Lovely day.
On the way back we took the ocean road. That meant we got to go over the fabulous new bridge and see some death defying hang gliders and kite surfers.
Had a nap.
SOTEvening: Cuir Amethyste by Armani Prive. This is one of the best scents ever. I love the fruity leather with resinous background. MMM
Work was bust and we had a good laugh. My Parramatta Eels boyfriend Reed Mahony was in the house. Isn’t he the cutest damn thing?
Home. Chill.
Pack my bag! We fly tomorrow
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
Australian Perfume Junkies 
It was a LOOOONG workweek that ended on Friday with a drawn out three hour meeting. This is the time of year when things get crazy at work.
Wore Brigitte, Reglisse Noire, Shalimar, Paramela, Cassis en Feuille ( autocorrect wants it to be Cassie 😁) and Pour Un Gimme. Had a lovely day yesterday with my parents and Pickles. We got local coffee beans and treats from the bakery and I sent them home with a bag of samples from the lovely Tara C. Today is pure laziness. I have already had two cups of tea, a maple walnut scone and a morning Glory muffin from yesterday’s bakery trip. And some brie 👍☀️💜
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O M G! That sounds heavenly Brigitte,
What a list of Frags too. You have smelled particularly fine this week.
Portia xx
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Yay for maple walnut scone, tea and lots of samples! 🙂
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And now I’m in bed with my furry granddaughter eating chocolate 💃🍫🍫🍫
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Have been wearing huuuge Montale ouds this week, tomorrow Uni starts again so it’s back to low key politeness instead.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
Happy travels and don’t forget the hand sanitizer!
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Woo Hoo for you enjoying your heavy hitters while you can. LOVE that you’re wearing then in mid summer heatwave conditions too JackieB.
Thanks, got shitloads of hand sanitizer! Also some masks.
Portia xx
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Have a lovely trip…. Keep safe both of you X
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Forgot to say that I’m so sorry to hear about the Mardi Gras. I’m not suprised that you are heartbroken. What a slap in your lovely face XXXXX
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Oh Portia, Moccona is such a blast from the past for me! Douwe Egberts is as Dutch a brand as you can think of, and when I was a kid all grownups used to drink Moccona. That glass jar is buried deep in my memory, everyone would keep it and reuse it to store ‘pieces of string too short to use’. Douwe Egberts is still the main coffee brand in the Netherlands, but the name Moccona has long since disappeared here. It is just instant coffee Aroma now, but in the same jar!
Have not been feelings so well, so mostly commando last week. Today I wearing Lustre, the first perfume in 7 days or so. I hope Jin and yourself will have a lovely break in Thailand. Just keep washing and desinfecting your hands, much more important than a mask the docters in my family keep saying.
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I have memories of Douwe Egberts coffee from childhood visits to the Netherlands. It’s the coffee all the relatives brewed.
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Safe travels Portia, have a fabulous vacation! You wore some beautiful fragrance choices this week, especially Opium in memory of Kath’s Mum. Scent memories are so very special and a wonderful way to honor loved ones.
I had a quick and wonderful trip to visit my sister in Arizona, and came home to a sick kitty who suddenly passed away. He was 18 and I am so grateful I was home to hold him and that he went quickly with no suffering. Now my Mom is in the hospital in Canada with a bowel obstruction, so worry worry.
I wore Bengale Rouge often this week and have grown to love this perfume. I am sampling Portrait of a Lady this morning and loving it. And found a few Isabey samples, Perle de Gardenia is beautiful. I rarely hear mention of this house?
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Hugs to you ♥️💜♥️
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You mentioned two perfumes that I still have not gotten around to. Poal and Bengale Rouge. I’m not terribly interested in sampling these days unless there is a good to great chance I will like them. I know we’re both Shalimar fans, so I’m figuring our tastes are comparable. Moral of the story: if Kathleen likes it, I probably will as well.
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I’m thinking you’re gonna like both of them, especially BR. When you get your sniffing mojo back, that is.
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Yes, we are both Shalimar fans. I think Bengale Rouge and POAL are both stunning, well made perfumes and worth a sniff. If I travel back to Thunder Bay this year, which seems more likely now with my Mom being in the hospital and facing more health challenges, I’ll be in a position to mail you some samples.
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I think we found our mule, Marcella 😁
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Yes, I am hoping to make a trip to Canada this year, praying it’s with my Mom in better health.
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And good luck with your Mom’s health crisis, I hope it is resolved quickly. On the subject of kitties, I have four; all of them well into their senior years. The sisters are both 19 years old. I would be grateful if they had the graceful, pain-free exit from life that your’s did. It’s still so terribly sad to lose a pet that has become so much a part of your life.
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Thank you Marcella.
Aren’t kitties the best? You’ve been blessed with longevity as well, and I hope you get more years together. My previous kitty lived to 20 years! It was difficult so unexpected BeauJ passing away so suddenly, but I am grateful that he lived a good life, didn’t suffer, and passed on his own. That’s how I want to go!
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You and I both Kathleen
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It’s such an awful loss! I agree with those “positive” sides that you mentioned but still, it’s hard, and we’re never ready to that, no matter how… mature our furry loved ones are. Hugs.
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You’re not having a good week at all. Hope your mum gets through her procedure ok.
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You’re smelling mighty fine this week.
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So sorry about the loss of your kitty and mum being in hospital. Sending fragrant hugs.
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Thank you TaraC, I appreciate your kind thoughts.
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And I’m sorry about the Mardi Gras gig not working out this year Portia. When one door closes, another opens, right? It’s difficult to understand why things happen in the moment, but I’m thinking your talents are needed elsewhere and you will be where you are meant to be.
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I am so so so sorry for your loss. I had to put my beloved girl who was 16 to sleep on Jan. 8. Our house is still a mess over it. Hugs to you in your time of mourning. May they be happy. May they have perfect health. May they be safe for eternity. May they know ease and peace.
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Thank you Gina, I appreciate your kind words. I know your precious fur baby passed away a short while ago unexpectedly as well. They live forever in our hearts and memories; however, leave such a void in our home. I only have one dog now, the first time in years to have only one. And all he has known in his 3 years is the cat BeauJ with him in the house. Benson has been very out of sorts without his cat as well.
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Both Bengale Rouge and PoaL are my favorites. And just a couple of days ago I wore Isabey Fleur Nocturne trying to decide if I want to get a small bottle of it.
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Hi Portia! Sorry about the Mardi Gras thing, it sucks. You do know that you’re the best, right?
Hope you’ll have a beautiful time with Jin, here’s to you, beautiful people! xx
I received two giveaway gifts this week, watched a bunch of movies. Didn’t make much money, sadly, but hey, could have been worse. Just trying to look at the bright side of things.
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* I really need to reread my comments before posting them. What is it with me and “beautiful”, lol? I hope you’ll have a great time in Thailand 🙂
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At least it wasn’t “literally”. Or “basically”. There’s some kind of a plague going on around here that has every second word coming out of a millenial’s mouth being one of the above 😒
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I’m sorry you’ve been shafted from your gig. But what the hell kind of messing about with the bookings? Someone somewhere has fallen down on communications. Bad form😡 Hopefully your trip will pull you right out of the glums. Pack a few pairs of latex gloves with your sanitiser. And have a great time. That’s an order 😉 Jin is back to form with his gorgeous pork, yum yum. And you’re not the only one who loves savoury mince. It’s a great way to get a heap of veg and good shit into you. I add some red lentils to mine. Love love love to see Opium getting an outing in honour of Ma Waples.(I have no idea how I remembered her name given my airheadedness.) There’s nothing else like it, many pretenders to the throne but only one queen. It’s been work heavy week for me, busy busy busy but I’m going to have a whole week off next week. Having my dodgy elbow injection again and doc is adamant that I don’t use the arm for at least a week. I’ll go spare with boredom. Netflix will see some action.
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Oh no, not the elbow injection again. You’ll have to buck up for that one. It’s no fun at all. And a week of not using it 😳? You’ll go stir crazy. On the other hand, if you play your cards right, you might be able to parlay this into a week of ‘service with a smile’ from dearest hubbie. He’ll have to momentarily suspend all activities related to restoring vintage tractors and stockpiling screws and bolts. Hmm…..looks like it’s a win win Cassie 🤣
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Yay for Traversée du Bosphore and Séville à l’Aube, two favourites! Boo hiss about Mardi Gras, that is shit.
So nice that you wore Opium in honour of Ma Waples.
And yay for hot water! Wish I had a decent bath, the one in Montréal is good but the one in San Diego is way too deep and requires too much water.
It’s been a pretty quiet week here, wore a bunch of perfumes I can barely remember – need to concentrate on big favourites this week. Tried the new Jo Malone lavender trio and plan to buy the Wisteria one, didn’t care for the other two.
Hope you have a fabulous and safe trip!!
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La-la la la….
That’s me pretending to not hear that you liked the Wisteria one because that’s the one I was also interested in and I really plan on wearing what I have and not making any more purchases lol 😂
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Are those three already available?! I was waiting for the 24th.
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The lavenders are already out at my Nordstroms.
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The Mardi Gras fiasco was a right kick in the gut. Disappointing as all get out. But, we’re all grown-up now and we don’t take these things personally, right 😒. Yeah, it’s hard not to. Never mind, you have a fabulous trip to look forward to and the sting of not being booked will lessen with time and distractions.
Since your efforts here will soon be winding up, I hope you’ll indulge me in satisfying my curiosity. The TriviaQuizz that you slave over, what exactly is it that you do? Do you come up with all the questions? How do you know which questions to use? Do you emcee all these events as well? And sometimes you’re in drag and other times not. How come? LOLL Okay finished being nosy.
My first week back after vacay went pretty much as expected, which is to say by Wednesday the holiday seemed like it happened years ago. Still pushing forward in the endless winter, but Salome and Le Mat have been keeping me good company.
My eldest daughter returned from Hawaii last week, so tout la gang will be coming over for lunch shortly to trade vacation stories and pictures. I baked an authentic Dutch Appeltaart which will be served in traditional fashion with whipped cream, not ice cream.
Listen up, you and Jin have a wonderful, exciting trip. Travel safely and enjoy each other. 😘😘
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I’ve had the same questions for Portia on my mind as well Marcella!
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Not only do we both love Shalimar, we’re both kinda nosy. Well, I’ll do the asking. The worst Portia can say is MYOB 😆
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LOL, I’ve been wanting to ask every time he mentions doing trivia work. Glad you asked and hoping Portia responds!
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I think his ears are burning. He knows we’re talking about him. Yoooo Hoooo! 🗣 Portia? Can you hear us?? We wanna know about trivia!
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Ha! I’ll bet Portia has one foot out the door on his way to vacation time. I’ve always thought it would be fun to attend one of the trivia nights with our own APJ team!
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That would be an absolute riot! We’d raise the roof no doubt.
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Me too! But I always thought that Portia previously had explained it, I missed – and that’s why I kept quiet 🙂
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I just can’t get over that this will be no more. No more Portia and Jin on Sunday mornings. No more learning about things I have to buy. No more wonderful news of dinners and friends. I think I am starting to grieve now. You might just continue the blog because you will be busy answering email!
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Gina, I too am secretly hoping Portia will become bored and resurrect the blog 😈😈
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Same here 😦
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I am sad as well with no Saturday question and responses, and no Portia on Sunday mornings. I’m hoping we will all touch base on other perfume blogs (Undina, Serenity Now, Perfume Posse, A Bottled Rose), and with frequent Portia drop ins.
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I’m in the bargaining stage: maybe Portia could do just scent diaries? We can do SOTD at Serenity Now and Saturday Questions at my blog. We can read Cookie Queen at The Bottled Rose. But these scent diaries, with a peak into the day-to-day life of Portia, Jin, their friends and furry kids, are so unique… You have to be Portia to rock all that 😦
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Agreed, and I like this plan! See you all at these other posts and thank you for offering your blogs for continued commraderie.
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I love iRobot. I think it is an amazing movie and should be more popular. You are clearly a fan of resurrected Le Galion house as many fragrances from the re-invented brand have made an appearance on your blog over time.
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A friend in Montreal is standing in for me to buy a bottle of Shalimar Eau Légère from a fellow local perfumista. Will be out that way in the spring when I will sniff it.
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The Mardi Gras traitors should be ashamed of themselves! But as you know, living well is the best revenge, and I bet you’ll have and share more fun than them. Thanks for dropping by Serenity Now this weekend — come by any time, everyone there is always happy to hear from you and other members of the APJ family. Have a wonderful and safe trip with Jin!
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I like that OH – Living well is the best revenge. I’ve heard it before, but I’ll try to remember to think about it more often.
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OH Nooooooooo! That is completely SHIT about mardi gras. I’ve bought tickets and recommended friends because *you* were hosting. It won’t be the same without you, and I will make sure they know about it. I’m so sorry 😦
Hope you have a fabulous trip XXX
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Usual work, any spare time spent trying to tame our jungle.,Why does bamboo grow so fast? Have got water problems too. Mostly smelling rank with the gardenIng work but such joy to get a good scrub when done and splash on something delicious. No 19 and aromatics elixir as well as plain old tea rose., Not all at once though 🤣
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Jungle? Bamboo? Where is this happening? And you just have me a serious craving for aromatics elixir. I wore it a lot in the mid-late 70’s. Is the reform true to the original?
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Usual work, any spare time spent trying to tame our jungle.,Why does bamboo grow so fast? Have got water problems too. Mostly smelling rank with the gardenIng work but such joy to get a good scrub when done and splash on something delicious. No 19 and aromatics elixir as well as plain old tea rose., Not all at once though 🤣 Happy travels and forget all your disappointments. Get out there and show them just what they’ve lost!
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