Saturday, January 24, 2015

Mais Oui !

I just love the title of this blog, when I lived in England (ages 12-16yrs) we had French in school just about everyday. Wish I had kept up with it when we came back to the States, it's just one of my favorite languages. I was lucky enough to attend the Convent of The Sacred Heart in Maidstone Kent. An all girls private school, where most of the Nuns were Novices from France, mere teens themselves. I used to love seeing them all walking together, they seemed to have such a lilting laugh, like little bells ringing as they walked along with their white head coverings blowing in the wind. They weren't in full black Habits as they had not taken their Final Vows. Most of the older Nuns were from France also, Sister Mary St Michael was one of my favorites, and Sister Mary Sabine another favorite. The Sisters walked around with little bells in their hands that always seemed to be ringing. They rang the  bells whenever they saw us doing whatever it was we weren't supposed to be doing. Lots of bell ringing! LOL  I came to school everyday on a bus from the US Navy base NAS West Malling, my Dad was stationed here with the Navy. All of us American girls went to the Convent. We had a great uniform of a Navy blazer, long sleeved vee neck sweater, pleated skirt, white shirt with striped tie, that we tied in a half Windsor knot, and a Beret with school emblem right on the front. Sister Mary Sabine would be the first Sister we would greet in the morning, and her duty was to make sure we had on no makeup, wore our Berets right and had our skirts at the proper length. Well being in the early sixties, right at the time of beehive hairdo's, high heels, mini skirts and white lipstick, Sister Mary's job was cut out for her!! We  would of course tease our hair, and not wanting to mess it up with that Beret, we would use a bobby pin to attach it to the back of our necks! Now mind you the emblem on the Beret was supposed to be in the middle of our foreheads! Then we had to roll our pleated skirts just right, so the pleats would lay flat , we would start at the waist band and roll till the hem was well above our knees. Thank heavens for the sweater that would hide the roll. Just as the bus was about to pull up to the school, we would start wiping off our lipstick. As we were leaving the bus we could already hear the bells ringing, Sister Mary would be making the loudest Tsking noise as she rang the bell, pointing to whomever she would catch breaking the dress codes. She always seemed to pay great attention to the American girls, ahem don't know why!? So there we were getting off the bus, Berets flapping on our backs, skirts rolled up way too short, and lipstick stained lips! Sister would come up and grab me by the chin and make me face into the sun, so she could see if there was any lipstick on me, I wore orange. Now all the Nuns were French so what ever they said was in a very heavy French accent. Reeena do you have on zee leepshick? No Sister, I sink I see zum. No Sister. Your Skirt eez too short, No Sister. and as she would bend over to look at my hem, I would lean forward just a bit, making the hem right at my knee. Why do you wear zee Beret like zat? Feex eet. Yes Sister. It was the same almost every morning. I get tears in my eyes just thinking of it. Sister Sabine was always saying Don't be za reqular baybee (don't be a regular baby) I have no Idea..anyway. Lord I have a gazillion stories from the wonderful time at the Convent. How lucky was I. I'll have to tell them some times.

I really was going to start this post off with a collection of perfume bottles. Don't you just love them, I've seen some absolutely beautiful bottles on some of the sites that have been showing their collections. Mine is a very humble collection, but who cares, they are MINE! lol  Perfume has always been a very big part of My life, I can't remember when I didn't wear it, Thanks Mom. My Mom always had fantastic perfumes on her dressing table, Joy, Arpege, Lanvin, Chanel no 5, and Shalimar, all I believe are the bases to every other perfume to follow.Then in the years to follow, Avon's Topaz, Revlons Intimate, but she ended up with Estee Lauders "Estee" as her favorite. My favorite was given to me by Mona Martin, the Mom of the boy I was dating at the time, she gave me Germaine Montiel's Royal Secret at the age of 19, I have never stopped wearing this wonderful, beautiful, sensual, sexy, only made for me fragrance. Sadly Germaine Montiel went out of business and now I have to buy on line and it is made by Five Star, same bottle and box, their Royal Secret is really close but not Germaine's, but I just can't give it up. Shalimar is extremely close to Royal Secret fragrance.

Do you know that I combine my Fragrances? Well I do, My Daughter kinda laughs at this when I talk about it, but that's ok.  My Main Frangrance is Royal Secret, this has a very heavy vanilla and sandalwood base. So I like to chose complimenting aromas. I might start of spraying Vanilla Fields or Emeraude by Coty  just on my neck, they are all vanilla, Emeraude is better in the Winter, it's a little heavier. I will then spray a little Shalimar on my Shoulders, then a spray of Patchouli right at the outside bend of each arm. My Royal Secret is then sprayed right on the front of my neck and face up into my hair. I know this sounds like a lot of perfume, but these are just lilting sprays, not heavily applied. This is a wonderful way to use your perfumes, they work in layers, and as your body heats and as you go through the day, it is ever changing, but yet it is more intriguing . The warmth of your body will heat up the Emeraude, and a rich vanilla will be released to mingle with the musky Shalimar on your shoulders, and having the chrispness of the Patchouli at your elbows, is just the right scent to waft in the air as you are being led to your table while out to dine, as anyone closes in to kiss you on the cheek or give you a hug, they are greeted by the fabulousness of Royal Secret. Gotcha! Men always want to nuzzle my neck and tell me how good I smell, BONUS! My Grandaughter can tell you that no matter where we go, even if it to the grocery store or MicD's, someone always asks me what perfume I'm wearing, we've always joked that we could lay bets before we enter the stores!

Man am I side tracked, back to the Perfume Bottle collection (meager). One of the first times going to the base with my parents when we first got to England, there was an office that had a small thrift shop area, Mom said I could go in and look while they did their business. I spotted two cut glass perfume bottles and just had to have them. One was broke in the long trip in moving back to the States. I was 13 when I bought them. I think they were $2.50 for the pair! So I just have the one left. it is the one on the right.

My other perfume bottle has sterling silver cluster of flowers as the stopper, beautiful simple lines in crystal. It has a name on it, but I still can't tell what it is, can you?

Then the one in the back is in the gilded cage base, with flower stopper (that was Mom's)


My Petite bottles are, Salvador Dali, I love the noses as stoppers and lip shaped bottles, In the middle is a little clear bottle that just says on the bottom "French Bottle" (no idea) and of course L'air du temps.


This is a Valentino jar, matte glass with Bakelite Top, it is dated 1986.

Well now that you are totally tired of reading, I will say Adieu, Au revoir, till we meet again.


Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Wishing You a Happy New Year! (in the middle of the month)!

Well we all survived the Christmas of 2014, and I think we are the better for it! whew! New Years Eve  parties, yep survived those too!
 So I've finally taken down all the Christmas and packed it away! Wow the house looks so empty without all the Red and Bling! But it's kinda like a breath of fresh air, hmm I think I need to shop! Gotta fill all those empty spaces! LOL Oh and guess what?! my whole closet that holds all my Christmas, Fall, Halloween, Valentines, Easter and Patriotic holiday decor came CRASHING DOWN! Yep my guest room looks like a storage room at Walmart! Boxes are stacked everywhere, and I lost quite a bit of my Fall things, but the saddest was my Moms three tier cookie cut glass server, it broke too. Wayne is now going to build me a new closet system (uh one of these days) at least the room can be closed off for now. Honestly is scared the bajeeezus out of me, what a noise! oh well..
Thought I would share Wayne's Pomtini recipe, this is my favorite Martini and I just think it is so delicious!





So simple and so good, 1 shot of Rose's Cocktail Infusions in Pomegranate, 1 shot of Vodka, pour in your shaker filled with ice, give about 30 fast shakes, then strain into a Frozen Martini Glass (I always keep Martini glasses in the freezer) and Enjoy! Rose's also comes in Mango, so try the Mangtini (made the same way) it taste peachy!

I also made cookies the other day, that is something I really don't do very often, well actually kinda never, but I saw this recipe in Epicurious for Oatmeal Cookies and I knew I had all the ingredients, so to the Kitchen I went! (Wayne was clapping his hands!)The only thing I changed in the recipe is I did not add the 1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon, and I added 2/3 cups Chocolate Chips and 2/3 cups chopped Pecans.


Recipe for Oatmeal Cookies (Epicurious)
Preheat oven 375 degrees
1 3/4 cup Oats
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 sticks of softened butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla ( I used 1 tsp)
1/2 tsp cinnamon (I omitted)
If you choose add in 2/3 cup Chocolate Chips and 2/3 cup Pecans, even Coconut might be good too
Stir together first 4 ingredients  ( oats, flour, baking soda, salt)
In bowl beat together butter, sugar, brown sugar till creamy
add in egg and vanilla and cinnamon beat till all incorporated.
now add in your dry oat mixture  and any additions you might want, example chocolate chips, and stir till all blended. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet then lightly flatten out the tops and bake for  12 minutes.

Hope you enjoy these simple recipes, Wayne and I can vouch for both! A good way to start the New Year! 2015! (still trying to wrap my head around that!)