What I Smelled Like On My Summer Vacation

*Current Fragrance: Hamptons by Bond No. 9
*Currently Listening (OK Watching): Men's 3m Springboard Semi Finals

I tried to do a smell-o-diary of my 10th Anniversary/Vacation (did I mention this was my first paid vacation of my adult life) not to really chronicle what I smelled, but HOW I smelled. Each day or scent in that day has a photo that I picked to go with it that somehow personifies that scent or the way it "played" with the day.

**For a MUCH more detailed account of the trip, you can read what Al has to say about it on his blog.

Day 1: Travel

This day was literally a planes, trains and automobiles sorta day! Actually it was walking, train, train, bus, plane, bus, plane, bus, car. WHEW!!!! I decided to wear Diptyque's L'Ombre dans l'Eau. (You'll see just what a prophetic choice this was later in the blog....) My choice for this one was multifaceted: 1) I thought it was a great transition from city to country with it's chic green-ness mixed with rose, 2) It has INSANE staying power on me, and 3) I recently purchased a decant of it with a roller-ball, which means I can re-apply any time with out getting angry stares.

Day 2: Full Day in the Cabin

This was a three scent day.... I started off the day with Gorilla Perfume's The Smell of Weather Turning. I mean...come on, I woke up to this:

Smokey, a far away sweetness and....well...to me it smells like mint, smoke, trees, and bees wax! A little dark and heady once the "smoke" of the Great Smokey Mountains burned off and it looked like this:

Plus...after a dip in the hot tub and the requisite shower after, it's TIME to change fragrances. I wanted something sunny, green, and light since I'd be spending the rest of the day on the deck reading and testing out the 8 different places to sit on the deck...I went with Elizabeth Arden's Green Tea. This one is an old favorite. There's something very comforting about it, and I'm so glad I have a bottle in my collection again!

The cabin we stayed in was simply glorious! I was rather inspired by the ceilings. Something about them reminded me of being in a really be walk in humidor.

After the sun had gone down and Al and I had enjoyed a delicious meal or chicken (for me), steak (for Al) and corned on the cob cooked on the grill (washed down with some local wine) it was time for me SOTE ("scent of the evening" for those non-perfume-dork speaking readers)....inspired by the ceilings I went with Tom Ford's Tobacco Vanille. Al's a BIG fan of this one on me. I shouldn't be too surprised...the man DOES wear Eau Duelle.

Day 3: Travel to the Heart of NC

This day was all about leaving our little cabin in the mountains, traveling part of the Blue Ridge Park Way, down into the heart of North Carolina, past Chapel Hill and to Al's hometown to see his brother, sister-in-law, Grandmama, niece Katelyn, and new niece Lily. It was a very Carolina kind of day and I couldn't help but think of James Taylor and the fact that I wore Gorilla Perfume's The Smell of Freedom to his concert earlier in the summer. (BTW - Al's Grandmama complimented me on it several times!)

Taken JUST before we left our cabin.

Day 4: Actual Anniversary

There was NO question in my mind what my SOTD would be! It HAD to be Sexy Graffiti! Now, I said that wearing L'Ombre dans l'Eau on the first day of our trip was prophetic...look what my anniversary gift from Al was!

I think if we had to have a "Family Fragrance House" it would be Diptyque. Al gave me the LDLE for this Anniversary, I gave him his beloved Eau Duelle and we chatted and remembered that for the first birthday were were married, he gave me my first bottle of niche perfume: Diptyque's Oyedo from Aedes de Venustas.

How did we spend our 10th Wedding Anniversary, you ask? In High Southern Style at the Carolina Inn on UNC's campus, just blocks from where Al proposed at The Old Well. We had a sweet suite and an AMAZING dinner at the hotel's restaurant. I have four words for you: sweet. tea. brined. chicken!!!!

Our oh so Southern Sweet Suite

Heading to dinner at Carolina Crossroads

Day 5: The Long Road Home

As much as I love getting away and traveling, I also love getting back to my adopted home of Boston where I really feel at "home".  I like my cramped shitty little apartment, I actually like the noise, I love my kitties, and I love public transit and bitching about it! Since we were heading home, I thought I'd put on my favorite scent that I've discovered since living in Boston and dare I say my "signature scent" (but I'm really too much of a perfume tramp to have one): Kilian's Liaisons Dangereuses. To me and my skin it is just perfect, perfect, perfect!

On the road again

Al and I THOUGHT we were going to have a full day to rest and relax and snuggle with the kitties before going to work...HA we were wrong! A brisk walk through two terminals to catch a new flight, crammed on the middle seat of a plane, flying to Rhode Island (wait, I don't live here!), luggage getting lost, realizing that your husband's best friend graduation robe makes a HORRIBLE night gown, and a rush back to Boston to get your luggage that didn't end up getting delivered until 5 hours before our alarms started going off to go back to work....we were HOME! Thank goodness for my travel spray of Liaisons Dangereuses and this.....

Thanks U.S. Airways!

*Currently Listening: Olympic Volleyball - women's - U.S. vs. Dominican Republic
***Photo Credits: All photos mine