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Portia
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Hey there APJ Crew,
This week has sped by and my head is whirling from adventuring. My average daily step rate was well over 10,000! Normally it sits between 5 and 7k. Out doing. So many friends, and I still managed to get a bunch of terrific fragrances on my body and up my nose. Fingers crossed for a down week next week, I’m bushed.
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Portia
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Hey there APJ Crew,
This week seemed really busy but looks like it was pretty quiet. Weird how that happens. Got some amazing scents on my skin including some brand new testings. Saw a bunch of mates. Hung out with Jin and ate ALL the foods.
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Portia
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Hey there APJ Crew,
So many perfumes I’ve not worn in ages. This warm weather has brought them all out to play. Saw some buddies, worked a bit, hung around with Jin. Lovely week Chez Portia .
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Portia
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Hey there APJ Crew,
This week has been interesting. Pretty chill apart from one major meltdown and the horror/shame/self loathing that came after. Loads of perfume, some outings with friends, art, food and shopping PLUS the Australian launch of Hermetica perfumes. Anna Maria and I spent a day wandering Sydney’s perfume and art, that was cool.
Not a huge week but a fun one.
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Val the Cookie Queen.
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Well hello there everyone!
It is an extremely rare thing for me to go to a store and ask for a sample of a fragrance, and even rarer that I write about something that I do not own. And yet here I am. It was the chamomile note that intrigued me. I am no chamomile in perfume expert, but several years ago Vero gave me an old Hermés parfum with chamomile in it, and it gives a most exquisite scent. This knowledge allowed me to recognize the chamomile clearly in the Gucci.
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Portia
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Hey there APJ Crew,
So half of 2019 is over! That sped by. WT A F!
Back in the pool this week! YAY! Feeling good for it, proud. Some adventures, events, fun, friends, food and it has been a stellar week for fragrance.
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Portia
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Hey there APJ Crew,
All the festivities, fragrances, families, food, fun and fabulousness. Excellent week at and around Chez Turbo.
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Portia
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Hello Fellow Fumies,
At APJ we have a Saturday Question. Everyone gets to chime in with an answer, chat with other responders and it’s a fun event each week. Taking sides never means taking offence and everyone keeps it respectful and light, even though we can sometimes trawl the depths.
The idea is you’ll see it on the weekend or chime in through the week. Hopefully you will come back regularly and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them. The aim is to generate real conversation and connection even though we are scattered around the globe.
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Portia
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OMG APJ,
This week has been lived completely on the fly. I seem to have spent most of my time running and the rest sleeping. Usually I sleep only 4-5 hours a night but I’ve been clocking 7-10 this week. Weird. So much has been happening, and tonnes of great frags.
Was woken by Westpac, my Credit Card had been hacked during the night and someone in Israel had made some significant purchases on it. GRRRRR!
Guerlain Vetiver EdT. Great way to start the week.
Went to a meeting with my mate Thierry from City Perfume. I grabbed a dreaming bottle of Tom Ford Arabian Wood which I then split among the Aussie Fragrance Network crew on FaceBook. 850ml went in about 16 hours, amazing.
Then met my BFF Kath for lunch at our fave Macquarie Centre dumpling store Lok Lok. She’s great company and we talked over developments in her work and crystallised some ideas for my near future, well fleshed out some pending plans anyway.
Dogs had to go to the trainers kennel because Jin & I are off to Tasmania later in the week.
On the way home from the kennels I dropped in on Anna-Maria & Johnny because they live nearby. It was fun to sit around and have cups of tea and chats at their place. I so rarely get to do it and we love them so much.
I really tried to write my Trivia Q&A. It was a very unfocused try and I was making mistakes so I headed in to the TV to watch some The Good Wife to clear my head.
Came back to the computer at around 2am but could not focus. At 3am after wasting half a night and only getting half my Trivia Q&A done I decided to hit the hay and get up a couple of hours early to finish them. So 8am I jumped out of bed, spritzed some vintage Eau de Gucci concentred and got to work.
Scott arrived at 10am and we got to Office Work and general duties.
First order of the day was doing the split and organising the send. Big job, loads of fun and we both ended up smelling fabulously of Tom Ford Arabian Wood.
Dropped into Westpac to check updates on my new replacement Credit Card arrival. I need it. Thank goodness for Aurio who went straight to the source and made sure there would vibe a replacement at the branch by tomorrow.
There was untold amounts of Post this week so we methodically went through that. Jin had to pay bills because my Credit Card was dead. That meant I had to pay hime from my reserves, which depleted them to the low three figures, yep minor crisis.
Got my hair buzzed.
Dyed my beard and became a beautiful lady. Tonight I wore vintage Miss Dior parfum, no one even noticed how utterly spectacular I smelled. Assholes.
JPG Monsieur Eau de Matin, perfect foil to a day filled with trepidation.
On our way out today, at breakfast, I saw a poster for a new Sydney production of Shakespeare’s The Merchant Of Venice. I always love to see it being done because Portia dresses up as a man in the play and saves her partners life. It’s part of the ironic reason that Portia was an acceptable name for me when the choice was being made with my crew how my Drag Persona (which is my only persona now) would be named. It’s funny looking back on that time 29 years later.
Anyway, I start looking at the poster and then realise that the man is my buddy Mitchell Butel. What a freaking superstar. If you’re in Sydney, make the time to see this, Mitchell is genius.
Same Sex Results Rally. It was amazing. Bumped into some wonderful people that I don’t get to spend enough time with. One of my mates from the year above me at school, others who I have known and loved for decades. Loads of peripheral friends and some that have been super close over time. It’s funny, Jin sometimes gets this incredulous look on his face when we wind up in big groups of people that I’ve known forever. It’s like, “Who are you?” as if I’m from another planet. My life sometimes does seem like a million light years away, and that it happened to another person. We got a yes, over 60%. HAPPY DAY! Now the government needs to legislate fairly. Fingers crossed.
JPG Monsieur Eau de Matin was a perfect starter for our grand adventure to Tasmania to do up one of our houses for sale.
We met Johnny at the Sydney Domestic Airport as early as you can imagine. Here are three bleary eyed men awaiting boarding.
Flew down and got straight to work. The carpet guys are already there and it was looking so much better. We decided to go for a slightly expensive choice but the difference spoke volumes. Yard dyed nylon in a light greige, it’s got a thick, soft, cut pile and won’t get loads of clouds lifting from it, nor will it pill. Johnny and Jin started fixing the bits and pieces that needed it. A couple of new light fittings, wardrobe doors that needed adjusting to shut, wall oven surround, garage odds & ends, a dodgy walkway fix and a bunch of other stuff.
We made a list of jobs for tomorrow, went back to Launceston, shopped at Bunnings and got some dinner & shut eye.
After my shower I spritzed liberally with my decant Phaedon Tabac Rouge and went to sleep at about 10pm on a pillow of gorgeous wafting me to the land of nod.
Up around 6am (that’s 8 hours) and down to the hotel breakfast. I’m so nervous about getting everything done today that I barely eat.
Phaedon Tabac Rouge again and lots of it. MMMMMM
Garden day. There are three men here to cut the grass, blitz the weeds and get it looking nice so we can newspaper & mulch with pine bark. BLOODY HELL! It’s so annoying, they didn’t edge the lawns. When I asked why not they said they’d not quoted for it. You quote to do a lawn that INCLUDES edging. GRRRR!
I painted a door, to the garage. YAY! Currently pretty damn chuffed with myself. There are a couple of admissions that need to be made though. Johnny did the sandpapering and Jin did the masking tape. All I had to do was cut in the edges and paint but it looks WONDERFUL!C So happy.
One thing I really love about George Town is that they still use cashiers at their Woolworths. They keep PEOPLE employed. Personal, friendly service. I spent three times as much as I would have, just because the place was properly staffed.
Jin and Johnny worked so hard to make the place look fabulous for sale, we laid countless newspapers as a biodegradable barrier to weeds that should last around 6 months. On top of that we put four cubic meters of pine bark. Looks bloody gorgeous. No, I forgot to take photos. There is one really cute one of Johnny and I running off to get some stuff in the car.
OOOPSIE! Didn’t wear sunscreen and my neck, head, ears and face and burned. Back of head and neck are lobster red. I haven’t been burned this severely since my teenage years and it is SORE! The guys say my skin is hot as a kettle and I’m feeling sick. Damnit! This was so bloody easily taken care of, and I even have sunscreen in my bag. IDIOT!
Slept from 10pm -7am. That’s 9 hours!!
I’m such a nitwit. Forgot to give the Real Estate the keys back. Instead of a lazy morning in Launceston we left Johnny to snooze and relax ands Jin & I went up to George Town, met Andrew our agent and showed him around the house. He was so happy. If you are thinking of buying in or around George town then call Andrew Michialetto at George Town Harcourts. He is a decent Real Estate Agent, bet you never thought you’d read that.
Jin and I did some sweeping up, handed over the keys, had a last Cream Bun and headed up to Low Head to say farewell. It’s got a lighthouse, an old whaling station and historic homes. It’s also a last breeding outpost of Fairy Penguins. So thankful that Jin was there and we got to talk about plans and congratulate ourselves on doing this Tasmania thing so right, even if we decided it wasn’t for us.
Back to collect Johnny to fly home and multi spritzed myself with vintage CHANEL No 19 parfum. So crisp and fabulous.
It was a bit squishy in thew plane but the boys slept the whole way.
First thing I did on arriving home was get the Aloe Vera onto my burn. My skin was so thirsty that it drank three applications in seconds. It has taken quite a bit of the heat and sting out.
Tonight after my bath I went Guerlain Shalimar crazy. They can probably smell me from the moon.
Then we went to met the crew for Wagyu House Korean BarBQ. It was so much fun I only got a shot of Jin and I before they arrived. We chattered and laughed and ate ridiculous amounts of food. We are so lucky to have such friends. Everything is better in our lives because we are surrounded by some excellent people.
You can see how exhausted we bath are in the shot.
More Aloe vera applications before bed.
Slept from 1am -10am. That’s 9 hours AGAIN. What the hell! I’m groggy as.
Aloe Vera application on waking.
Watched The Good Wife, did some computer stuff, ate lunch, watched some more of The Good Wife.
Couldn’t do drag because my burn would not allow me to wear it but I did bathe in LUSH Rose Jam, moisturised with Aloe Vera and wore indecent amounts of Neela Vermeire Creations Ashoka, just opened a brand new bottle. YAY. Smelling fricken fabulous FYI.
So what’s happening in your world? Did you do anything Fun or Fragrant, with Friends and Family or maybe 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
So 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
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Portia
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This week has been unbelievable APJ crew,
Can’t wait to share our adventures. Seriously, a spectacular week. Fragrance, Travel, Fun and Friends, maybe even a little Romance.
Jin woke me up with some roughhousing like teenagers. He went to bite my belly as I went to push his shoulder away and I ended up punching him in the eye. Poor baby, he was hurt. Now we are worried that it will look like we have a domestic violence problem while on our Anniversary trip. It’s funny but also worrying.
Running around this morning. Saw the Bank, the Post Office, the Mortgage Broker, talked to real estate guys. Home and packed the bags, had a Molton Brown Energising Seamoss bubble bath, used Madonna Truth or Dare Naked lotion and have spritzed Pierre Guillaume Praline de Santal. It’s a lightly salted woods and bakery scent, like a salted caramel but nuttier and woodsy. Bloody good shit.
While in the bath I used my brand new birthday mug from BFF Kath. Isn’t it gorgeous, from David Jones.
Also, there might have been some fragrant arrivals in the mail. We were a little worried because I’m running low on perfume. Thank goodness these arrived. All vintage. Eau de Gucci, Nina parfum and Miss Dior. YUM
Alright. We are leaving now. I will try and keep you all updated on our journey. You’ll get the best pics on Instagram @portiatbo so maybe we’ll see you there……
BLODDY HELL! Jin mixed up our times and we arrived as the plane was leaving the airport. Poor little fucker was distraught. I jumped online and got us new tickets with points but he was really upset. We went and had some dinner and a few Sojus.
We decided to walk home from the station. Beautiful night, cool but clear, new moon for new beginnings. As we wandered we made a side journey through a beautiful park that has fairy lights in the trees. Jin got down on a knee and gave me a box, all wrapped up. I opened it and it had a Royal Doulton Christmas decoration diamond in it. So beautiful, and a lovely gift. I can imagine us putting it on the tree every year and telling this story. Then came a little white box, inside were two diamond shaped chocolates. By now I had an inkling of what was going to happen. Butterflies buzzing around in my tummy.
Then he gave me a card. Within was a heartfelt and love filled marriage proposal. It was so bloody sweet. As I finished reading it out loud, the end getting a little shaky, I looked up to Jin and there was such light in his eyes. In his hands was an aqua box with white ribbon. It opened to reveal two rose gold, bezel set, 1/2 carat diamond stud earrings, one each to wear once we are married. Exactly as i pictured them in my dreams.
Jin was so excited and nervous, had worked so hard to make this moment, momentous moment, perfect. His heart was in his eyes and I know we love each other deeply, forgivingly and broadly. Of course when the diamonds come from Tiffanys the answer is always YES.
Big day. I’m bushed. A triple chest spritz of Hermès Muguet Porcelaine and I’m off to catch some ZZZZZZZs
Woke up lazily and then started getting the engagement news out to the crew.Some VERY excited people full of love and best wishes. It was a terrific morning.
What better way to celebrate than with fragrance. I decided it had to be bright, uplifting and well named. Anna Sui Live Your Dream. A light filled lily/lily of the valley that seems perfectly chosen on this beautiful sunshiny early morning.
Later, wanting more lily, I overspritzed Cartier Baiser Volé. A drier, less plastic lily than earlier Live You Dreams.
Redox Bath Salts bath and vintage Guerlain Samsara EdT and EdP. I wanted to be serenely fragrant, to float above the travel and arrive still smelling gorgeous.
Arrived at the airport and bumped into our mate Elon who bought Pymble from us. Excellent catch up.
Stooped by Amuse Beauty inside the terminal, lovely selection of niche and beauty.
Woke up at sparrows fart and Jin &I went around the corner for breakfast. It was yum.
The bus came and collected us and a bunch of other Ghan travellers. Our adventure officially begun.
I’m wearing vintage Nina Ricci Fleur de Fleurs parfum. It’s a soft focus floral, brightly aldehydic and not 100 miles from CHANEL No 5, softer though and more curvaceous. I wanted to be old school glam for our train embarkation.
The train is freaking fabulous, like something out of the movies. Wood panelled walls, cosy but brilliantly thought out ensuites, comfy bunk beds. First thing we did was hit the bar and grab an early champagne. PERFECT way to begin our adventure..
First stop Katherine Gorge. We chose the tour gorges boat cruise. Obviously I called it the TOO GORGEOUS Boat Cruise. We had an aboriginal guide who was full of information, history and knew all the creatures habits and their habitat. Unqualified success. We loved it.
Back to the train for dinner in the Dining Car. Food was excellent. We had a lovely couple to dine with, they were witty and charming with excellent anecdotes. We laughed all the way through the meal.
We were bushed so we came to our room and crashed.
I woke at 5.30am so jumped into the shower. Today felt so hot and I knew we’d be travelling so I wanted something calming. Fortunately CHANEL No 19 vintage parfum came to the rescue.
Ready early so we went down for breakfast at 6.30am. Our companions were much less interesting this morning. No worries, the food was spectacular.
Our excursion today was the Alice Springs Desert Park. Of all the choices we had I was so excited that we got to go here. It’s a cross between a Botanic Garden and a Captive Breeding Zoo. The only plants we saw were indigenous to the region and we got to see a live, free birds show with a magpie, Tawny Frogmouth, Wagtail, Barn Owl, Black Chested Buzzard and a surprise visit from a Black Kite. Apologies that I forgot to take pics, I was too engrossed.
Alice Springs Telegraph Dinner. This was a fabulous, unexpected event. A true blue Aussie BarBQ under the stars at the starting point for Alice Springs. The telegraph went across Australia from Adelaide to Darwin, there it became a submarine cable to Singapore. This way a telegram could go to England and a reply back to Australia in about a week. A far cry from the previous 6 months out and back on boats. Suddenly Australia was connected to the world in real time. A good analogy is the old snail mail and eMail.
The dinner was beautiful, the whole event like a huge rural wedding. We watched the sunset, ate, drank, chattered and then danced into the night under the moonlit, starry and cloudy sky. Jin and I danced together, with our new friends and the staff; it was terrific. I am smiling so much writing about it and remembering how much fun we had.
Grabbed a mini of Guerlain L’Heure Bleu a packed it. Today it got a big wearing. In the soaring temperatures L’Heure Bleu managed to keep composed and elegant all day.
Sunrise from the Buffet Car this morning. Food was as good as the view.
Then we were off in a bus on our adventure for the day. Coober Pedi, the home of opals in South Australia. We did so much but I was so busy living I forgot to take photos, so fortunately Jin took some too. I can’t remember which each of us took but suffice to say we share the load.
This is an underground Serbian church, carved from the rock and painted with varnish to make it shine and help keep it intact. We lit a candle for our friends to have health, wealth and satisfaction.
Lunch was in an abandoned opal mine, also an underground, dug out. It’s really cool underground, instead of 40c it was only 23c. So we had a very comfortable lunch. These two girls are Carol and Robin, we spent quite a bit of time hanging out with them, really wonderful girls with great senses of humour.
This is the longest fence in the world. Built to keep the dingoes out of South Australia.
Coming back to the Ghan the train crew had set up afternoon drinks and canapés for us alongside the train. It was wonderful. A couple of the girls joined us and we had a very happy natter. It was a bit windy though so Jin and I took ourselves to the Bar Carriage.
This morning was our last Ghan breakfast sunrise. We met a beautiful couple and had an excellent feed.
This is one of our favourite couples, Margie and Iain. The whole trip we chatted and Jin got on particularly well with them.
Here we are with a few of the crew after disembarkation, waiting for taxis. It’s sad to be leaving this crew, we loved them all.
We went and grabbed our hire car, found our hotel and then decided we needed adventure. Jin’s favourite red wine is called Church Block by Wirra Wirra Vineyards. As they are only an hour from our hotel I decided we should pay them a visit. Jin LOVED it. We tasted all their reds from lightest to heaviest. We always have a case of their Church Block at home anyway so we ordered a couple of cases of other things that aren’t available commercially.
We also had some lunch there. It was an excellent afternoon excursion.
Tonight Jin wanted to go to the Adelaide Casino Fortuna Court Buffet. It was fun and yummy. He’s such good company, we talked, planned and ate our way through a couple of hours. Weekends are extra seafood so Jin was in his element. he polished off three plates of prawns alone!
Afterwards we went down to the gaming hall. I have very strict gambling laws on myself and Jin has taken them on also. $20 each is our spend. We can lose it any way we want, Jin prefers the pokies and I love roulette. We watched the roulette for about an hour and then decoded we’d have a go. I lost my chips in 4 goes, Jin had a chip on his lucky number 4 and it came in. BIG WIN. We immediately cashed his chips and he came out with nearly $100.
As we were going to the cashier we ran into Maria and Sam from the Ghan. We were all so excited so we went to have a drink together. It was so much fun that I forgot to take pics, sorry. It’s a bummer, we love these guys and are going to go to Melbourne especially to visit them.
Up early. We had breakfast in the hotel. It was pretty awful. No worries, it was close and easy. Tomorrow we’ll eat out.
Wandered around the city a very little bit this morning. Checked out our dinner choice in China Town, looks great. Hey, they have these on a bunch of trees here in Adelaide. So cool.
Hit the Adelaide Art Gallery which is currently having an indigenous artists show called Tarnanthi, which means renewal or beginnings. We started on the tour but the guide was not engaging so we ran away and Jin planted himself in the cafe. I had a question so was sent after another guide. OMG! This guy was clever, informed, passionate and had the most wonderful depth and breadth of knowledge. He was also amusing.
After the gallery we went to the German Hill Town Harndorf, about 30 minutes from the city centre. Wandering among the Sunday sunshiny revellers was fun. We saw loads of great local arts and crafts, had a HUGE lunch of goulash and schnitzel.
I particularly fell in love with this badly photographed lithograph piece but they didn’t have an unframed one. BUM!
We came home, had a nana nap and then met our Ghan girlfriend Carol for dinner. We took her for Korean Bar B Q, which she loved. We had a ball, she’s great company. Food and conversation were flowing beautifully. This is a terrible photo of her, sorry Carol.
So 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 