February Musings - 2020

I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! For a very important date - posting day! So sorry! Very very frazzled month (and more of the same so far in March.) But here's a run-down of February, which was quite the bookish and perfume-y month.

PS - I still love you. 

Books: I had some work travel, which usually means some reading but got off to a slow start. Untouchable by Jayne Ann Krentz was enjoyable in the way of its genre but not a page burner. I've been meandering through - and taking notes -  on Marketing to the Entitled Consumer by Nick Worth and Dave Frankland. If you are in business, this has now hit my "must read" list to make you think different about how you are handling consumers. Every business and every manager in every business should read this book.

Then, around February 20th, I just started r-e-a-d-i-n-g. (It's how I cope with stress).
- The Elegant Warrior by Heather Hansen (it's okay)
- Sea of Memories by Fiona Valpy (a good beach read)
- Queen of the Light by Linsey Hall (did not love Claire's series as much as some of the others, possibly due to brevity.)
- When We Believed in Mermaids by Barbara O'Neal (recommend)
- Hell Hath No Fury by Annabel Chase (beach read)
- The Art of Inheriting Secrets by Barbara O'Neal (it was fine)
- Love Spells & Late Fees by Elle Adams (it was okay)
- Grave Magic Bounty by Shannon Mayer (recommend)
- The Housewife Assassin's Guide to Gracious Killing by Josie Brown (beach read)
- The Housewife Assassin's Killer Christmas Tips by Josie Brown (beach read)
Kindle Unlimited is the bomb. And I totally got my money's worth in February!

Cooking: Nope. Gone too much.Reading too much.

Gratitude: Kitties. (The warm snuggles in winter are the best!) Perfume samples. Any samples! Sautéed spinach with quinoa, peas and dried cherries - weirdly exquisite. Modern medicine. Art days and cupcakes.

Listening: So much Dave Ramsey. And Apple Music has genres! I'm partial to Cocktails & Crooners. I find it very non-stressful and easy to listen to as I get ready.

Perfume: My love for Sucreabeille continues. As I mentioned last month, I did order the tiny samples in a ridiculous quantity of 10 to which they added 5. (Special that month that included free shipping. It was great.) More on that in March. I've mostly been rocking the Frozen Moon and Don't Get Murdered - Stay Sexy from last month.

I also ordered a sampler set of 8 - to which they included 2 extra! - from Imaginary Authors. I've been trying 1 scent a weekend or so. This is the order in which I've tried them....

- A City on Fire. Notes: Cade oil, Spikenard, Cardamom,   Clearwood, Dark Berries, Labdanum, Burnt Match. This smelled like a city on fire. Really. Smoke everywhere. If you know a firefighter, don't wear this around them.
- SunDrunk. Notes: Neroli, Rhubarb, Honeysuckle, Rose Water, Orange Zest, First Kiss. This smells like citrus and summer in the best possible way. It was like a shot of summer sunshine on a winter day. (I would buy this one.)
- Slow Explosions. Notes: Saffron, Rose Absolute, Leather,   Apple, Benzoin, Cashmeran, Arpora Night Market. For me, this had decent sillage but opened on benzoin with apple and closed on a leather note. It was quite masculine. I read a review that called it an oriental but I'm not sure that person knew what "oriental" means in perfume.
- Every Storm a Serenade. Notes: Danish Spruce, Eucalyptus, Vetiver, Calone, Ambergris, Baltic Sea Mist. I think it's the vetiver but I loved this. It's airy and really is reminiscent of the sea. I had no specific open or base notes - it smelled, the entire time I wore it, whole. Again, the sillage is less than awesome. (I would buy this one.)

Here's my next Sucreabeille wish buy. Glitter Trash. What Fresh Hell Is This. (This names make me laugh until I cry, in the best way!.)

Random: Florida birds are loud! And they love a water hazard.


Also, I made a scarf for 20. 

Self-Care: OMG all the indulgences! My friend Roxanne and I went to a local spa to tryout their infrared sauna. ($30 for the anti-aging + $5 bump for brining a friend. Very budget friendly.) 

And then, the very next week, Israel (22) and I went to a girl day at a fancy hotel spa - brunch, massages, facials, manis and pedis. This place was great - you get access to their sauna and fancy spa shower as part of the deal, which I did not know. I plan on doing massage and facials there again. (Note: this was less budget friendly, but one can plan for indulgences.)

Watching: The Witcher. (Which, PS - Geralt of Rivia and I are both Logisticians according to the  16 personality types test. Specifically I'm an ISTJ-T) The October Faction. Basically, I got my value from Netflix this month via bingeing.

Original musings posts you may enjoy:

- January Musings - 2020
- Musings - December 2019
- Musings - November 2019
- Musings - October 2019
- Musings - September 2019
- Musings - August 2019
- Musings - July 2019
- Musings - June 2019
- Musings - May 2019
- Musings - April 2019
- Musings - March 2019
- Musings - February 2019
- Musings - January 2019
- Musings - December 2018
- Musings - November 2018
- Musings - October 2018
- Musings - September 2018
- Musings - August 2018
- Musings - July 2018
- Musings - June 2018

- Musings - May 2018
- Musings - April 2018
- Musings - March 2018
- Musings - February 2018
- Musings - January 2018

All photos by moi! And you can tell...

*Juice Beauty is a staple in my beauty cabinet. I stray, I try other things - but it's my favorite "foundation" (I used the CC Cream) and great skin care. If you like Juice Beauty too, here is a link. I do get a small commission (at no cost to you) when you use these links which helps support this blog.

- Skin Care by Juice Beauty

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Musings - October 2018

Hello! This month included the most beautiful skies - whether over Michigan or Puerto Rico. I'm always in love with October blue.


Books: It was a decent month for reading, due in part to the business trip to Puerto Rico. Sit down! I avoided the airport bookstore!!! (Mostly because my bags were already super heavy on the way there with business stuff.) But since we took a few days extra vacation, the resort allowed me to "little free library" a book from their collection - which is dense reading and I'm still working on. (It's amusing that I borrowed a harder book than those I brought!) Check out the On The Shelf area of the blog for good quotes. Enjoy!

I did manage to finish 3 books a week (keeping up the streak) over the month:

- Get Rich, Lucky Bitch by Denise Duffield-Thomas  - this was a good self-improvement read. Perfect for a beach! (I took a picture with it off the beach from a cabana at Rio Mar in Puerto Rico)
- It's Not About You, It's About Bacon: Relationship Marketing in a Social Media World by Brian Basilico by Laura Shapiro - has held up to the test of time
- The Greensmith Girls: A Supernatural Witch Cozy Mystery by Raven Snow (Kindle Unlimited)  which is about the most perfect cosy mystery ever. 

With these three, I've clocked in 47 books for the year.

Gratitude: Tropical rainforests. Vacations. Apps that are fun to use. Bacardi Mixology training and certification. Being treated as though I matter by people I love. Corn mazes - and I still want to know why they aren't Maize Mazes. Purring kittens. Gorgeous full moons.

Listening: All the podcasts. Dave Ramsey podcasts. Chalene Johnson's podcast. Duct Tape Marketing podcast. Marketing Over Coffee podcast. Christy Wright's Business Boutique podcast. Susan Hyatt's Rich Coaches podcast. NPR's Money Planet podcast.

Perfume: Two things -  Diptyque's Ofresia. It's  reminiscent of a garden.  I do like French perfume. And a simple Caroline Herrera body cream called Good Girl which I got as a free gift from Ulta. I find hot places with multiple showers a day (Puerto Rico tourist adventures) not good for perfume but a bit of scent with lotion works well.

Recipes: The Freezer Cobbler was made about 3 times this month at the kidlets' request. It is our go-to quick dessert.

I also dreamed up a casserole. (It might be a Midwestern thing.) I'm not sure it qualifies as a "recipe". I basically lined a glass pan with overlapping rows of Mrs. T's Pierogies and then added chopped peppers and onions.Then covered it in Garlic Cream of Mushroom soup (a la Green Bean Casserole) and baked for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. In the last 5 minutes, I covered the top in bacon. This is not a healthy recipe nor vegetarian. But, it's warm and filling for the fall months and super easy.


Self-Care: Last month I mentioned my slight soap obsession (hello, Villainess Soaps). Well, I opened up the full sizes last month with Pearl Diver. This month it was Krakatoa. (I have a tropical theme happening - the book I borrowed is about Hawaii.) The scent is GORGEOUS. And the soap lasts a surprisingly long time - like a MONTH per bar!

And this month I continued to try face oils on a schedule. (I tend to just try whatever I feel like that day.) Specific oils for evening and morning. Every day. It's a continuation of last month with just a few additions and a switch out.  For the month. I grouped them in the photo but the Facial Mist goes with both:
- Day -I'm sampling Juice Beauty's Stem Cellular  Anti-Wrinkle Booster Serum around the eyes. The rest of the face was like last month:  Physician's Formula oil + TonyMoly Green Tea Lotion (both grocery store bargains) until the Green Tea ran out mid-month. Then I switched out to H2O+ Beauty's Infinity Youth Serum with the oil and Juice beauty product. (I got the H2O+ on clearance with a coupon for $21 - which I don't mind spending to try something new!) It's all okay. None of it is a miracle in a bottle, so far, just nice to use. 
- Night - Little Barn Apothecary oil + a bargain bought Lumene Vitamin C night cream over a layer of Predire Eye Care Ant-Aging Night Serum. (And NO, I did not pay retail for it! I picked it up for about 1/10th that price on a Vegas business trip last fall.)


Things 12 said: Make more cobbler.


Watching: Bull. Blackish. Fresh Off the Boat. American Housewife. Orange is the New Black. (Best quote from Kate Mulgrew, formerly of Star Trek - "We are living in the future.")

Random: Dog is re-trained. It took a few days at the vet and a food switch! Boom! He also got a great new haircut.

Fun fact: Neck wrinkles on women used to be called Venus lines. 

Take-away - Life is largely what you allow. If you don't like something, you need to change it. (Small changes count.)

Original musings posts you may enjoy:

- Musings - September 2018
- Musings - August 2018
- Musings - July 2018
- Musings - June 2018

- Musings - May 2018
- Musings - April 2018
- Musings - March 2018
- Musings - February 2018
- Musings - January 2018

- Musings - December 2017

- Musings - November 2017

- Musings - October 2017

- Musings - August 2017
- Musings - June 2017
- Where Did March Go?

- Musings - February 2017
- Musings - January 2017

- Message in a Bottle (2016)

All photos by moi! And you can tell...

Juice Beauty is a staple in my beauty cabinet. I stray, I try other things - but it's my favorite "foundation" (I used the CC Cream) and great skin care. If you like Juice Beaty too, here is a link. I do get a small commission (at no cost to you) when you use these links which helps support this blog.

- Skin Care by Juice Beauty

Follow my blog with Bloglovin  - A new way to follow!

Color, A Random Post

I think about color more often than I should.  I love color. The richness. The endless variety. Blue will always be a favorite (I even have a book about the History of Blue).  Which means, of course, that I rather ravenously follow Pantone on Twitter. Did you know they tweet out a color of the day? It's almost life-changing*.

And in 2014, I had a theory about Pantone occur. I decided - based on the "evidence" - that the Pantone color team could viably be basing their choice for color of the year on the Chinese New Year. 

Irreverent Observation

As noted in Funniest Commercial Ever, I adore commercials. I think of them as snippets of Americana.

Funniest Commercial Ever

I love commercials. I have a slew of favorites. A new one just joined the ranks. "Cat Boots" from Temptations. Mostly because - they are cats being fake boots, people!!!