Over the Rainbow

My happy little blog about my happy little life.

The past year = Mostly bad but some good. December 31, 2009

Filed under: Holidays, New Year's, Personal, Thoughts — Sarah @ 2:18 am

Just for the record I’m counting late November 2008 and later as last year, or at least it feels like it to me because that’s when all of the bad started to happen. I’m allowed to add an extra month in there, right?

Bad:

I lost my best friend (late November 2008)

I lost my job (Early December 2008)

I ended up in the ER twice (in April & August).

ER bills= over $5100 because my shitty health insurance wouldn’t help me. I paid almost half so far but it’s pretty fricken hard to pay for the rest without an income.

Feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, depression, loneliness, & being trapped.

I’ve gained weight

Good:

I finally got to do some traveling (a couple of days in St. Croix, a family vacation in Hawaii, & a weekend trip to South Dakota).

Some good times with friends.

I usually don’t pay any attention at all to New Year’s, it’s just another day. But I really want NEED next year to be better. Please please PLEASE!!!!!! Let 2010 be the year that I find happiness!

I need to find a job, hopefully one worth while that doesn’t make me miserable like my last one.

I want to spend more time with friends and be more social.

I want to do more traveling.

I want to be more self-sufficient and independent.

I need to lose 20lbs.

I want to be happy.

 

Old B&W Negatives December 27, 2009

Filed under: Family, Personal, Random — Sarah @ 1:33 am
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The other weekend my aunt Kathy gave me a folder full of family stuff including a bunch of old b&W medium format negatives. I get really excited about old family photos so I knew that I had to find a way to scan them for free. So here it is, I positioned one of those daylight lamps above the scanner and put a piece of folded/boxed inkjet paper over the negatives as a diffuser. It works! No paying for a film scanner! Once they’re scanned use the “invert” filter an voila! beautiful black and white photos!

The simple setup:

The photos are a bunch of old travel photos of my grandmother’s. Some places include Arizona, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, and the Badlands. The only person that I recognize in them is my grandma. I’ll have see if any of my relatives know who the other people are.

Here’s just a few of them:

My Grandma at Mt. Rushmore

Grandma again

Grandma on a beach (in the black coat).

Grandma on the left.

 

Christmas ‘09 December 26, 2009

Filed under: Announcement, Christmas, Family, Holidays, Life — Sarah @ 2:30 am
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Short story: Christmas this year was uneventful. There is no long story. We were supposed to go up to my uncle Paul’s house today to see my mom’s side of the family but we decided not to chance it driving all that way on the slippery roads. So that sucks. I suppose I won’t  see anyone now until March. At least I got to see some of my dad’s side last weekend.  There is some good news to report though. When my mom called Paul to tell him we weren’t coming he announced that him and Cathy are now engaged! Cathy really does fit in with the family, she’s really great and already seems like one of my aunts :) Also just a few minutes ago I found out that my cousin Jamie just got engaged too! It does seem like lots of people get engaged during Christmas, doesn’t it? So in total that’s three weddings to look forward to because my cousin Dan also just recently got engaged to Mikayla but I’m sure their wedding won’t be for some time still. I’m some sort of wedding junkie. I could seriously go to a wedding every weekend and not tire of them.

Other than that it seems like the storm is wrapping up. Yesterday we got about seven or eight inches of wet heavy snow. Last night and today it kept switching from snow to sleet to rain and left a few inches of slush that is now frozen over into slippery ice. Who knows, maybe I’ll attempt making a snowman tomorrow although I usually lose interest and end up with just one very large snowball/bottom of a snowman. We’ll see.

 

Jaspar & Kale’s Blog! December 21, 2009

Filed under: Announcement, Family, Random, Thoughts — Sarah @ 10:44 pm
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I just thought that I would tell everyone about Jaspar and Kale’s new blog.

Just a little while ago my cousin Jaspar and her husband Kale made the move to Durban, South Africa where they will be for the next two years.

Aren’t they the cutest!

Their blog is here: http://jasparandkale.wordpress.com/

I’m sure that they’re going to have many great adventures and stories to tell!

 

Christmas time already? December 20, 2009

I can’t believe that it’s already almost 2010! Last night we went over to my uncle John’s for my dad’s side Christmas party. I really didn’t end up taking as many photos as I wanted. I always feel weird being the only one snapping pics. Even before we got there my mouth was watering for aunt Kathy’s deviled eggs. By the end of the night I must have consumed almost a dozen. I guess I should learn how to make my own at home.

Here’s the few photos I got:

Jessica, Darcy, Lauri, & Troy.

Emma (Mitchel’s girlfriend), Mitchel, Nick, & Midge watching some air hockey.

Emily & Deja.

Tracy & Payton.

Sean & Craig.

Rick, his girlfriend Diane, Mitchel, & his girlfriend Emma.

Mikayla (Dan’s new fiance) & Dan .

This was going to be a nice photo of Derek and my dad but all of a sudden they started wrestling. Sometimes family gatherings are like watching some sort of nature program and in this case the younger generation is trying to show dominance over the elders.

Nick.

Oh yes, and uncle Steve kept referring to me as “Pam” all night because he thinks I look like Pam from The Office. Ugh, I don’t even know how many time I had to exclaim “I don’t look like her!”  That whole thing is getting to be pretty old.

 

Wiggle Perfume December 17, 2009

Filed under: Life, Personal, Random, Review, Thoughts — Sarah @ 7:22 pm
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Yesterday the samples from Wiggle Perfume came in the mail! I was so excited to get these and try them with my mom but of course she’s sick and can’t smell anything :( So it was just me trying them and obsessively sniffing my wrists every five seconds or so all day and night.

First off I have to say that I am not a “perfume” person because most of them give me migraines and make me feel sick. I don’t know, it just seems like most perfumes are all chemical and just don’t smell good to me. I’m glad to say that’s not the case with these. None of them smelled “chemically” or gave me a headache. I love how she offers sample sizes ($1 each) so you can try them before you spend the money on a larger size. She also took the time to make lovely little labels for the sample sizes and I’m sure that one of these little tubes could last about a week. I tried all of them and there is no way that I would be able to choose a favorite. She also describes each scent perfectly so it’s a little easier tho choose the right scent for yourself.

Clementine Spice Tea:

From the shop: I am an absolute, unrepentant tea junkie! When the cold weather comes around, I can’t resist a good orange spice tea. My Clementine Spice Tea scent combines a fresh sophisticated note of Earl Grey tea with neroli, tangerine, cinnamon, clove and patchouly. Hints of ginger and black pepper add an extra kick. This fragrance opens up very citrusy, then the florals and the spice notes make their presence known as it dries down. Slip on your boyfriend’s sweater and curl up by the fire with a good book (or your boyfriend!) and this perfect fall perfume. On second thought, you may not even need the sweater… ;-)

Review: I absolutely adore the smell of almost any spice tea! I could sit there for hours sniffing a tea bag and have even thought of using them in my car and drawers for the scent. I really do wish that I liked the flavor but I don’t. I really wish that I could drink tea every day for the warmth, comfort, and that intoxicating aroma but I just can’t stand how it tastes. I think the smell of cloves is my favorite and that’s what got me looking for a spicy smelling perfume on Etsy by searching with the phrase “clove perfume”. This is one of the perfumes in the search results and I’m so glad that I chose to get a sample of it. It’s a no-brainer that I would adore this perfume, it smells exactly like orange spice tea! When I first put it on it was very strong (not complaining) and the orange/tangerine smell was very evident. After a while it winds down but it doesn’t loose it’s presence and I think the longer it’s on the better it smells because the citrus smell fades a little letting the wonderful spices take center stage. It also seems to last the longest on me.  This is the perfect fall scent and I cannot stop sniffing it. I think I found a new addiction! (Plus sniffing your wrist looks a lot less weird than sniffing a tea bag).

Buy the larger size?: Absafrickenlutely! I LOVE it!

Belle Marie:

From The Shop: I always wanted to be a voodoo queen. I mean, come on! How cool would that be!? Nobody messes with you when you’re spattered with chicken blood. Alas, there were precious few chickens to practice on in suburban Seattle, and my ambitions never bore fruit. ;-)

Marie Laveau, on the other hand, made quite a name for herself in that field. People are still talking about her over a hundred years later, and her influence infuses New Orleans with mystery to this day. This scent is my nod to her and the city I always meant to run away to (and someday will). Belle Marie is a bewitching blend of absinthe, frangipani, kudzu blossom, magnolia, vetiver, oakmoss, and sweetgrass. It’s fresh and feminine, deceptively sweet and earthy with a barely-hidden dark side.

Review: When I first smelled Belle Marie I actually made an audible gasp! This is just the most lovely and sweet scent ever! It’s just so pretty and hard to describe. I swear that there is some sort of delicious citrus fruit in there somewhere. It certainly is a bewitching scent! The only thing is that I wish the first initial sweetness would stay with me longer but it fades and becomes much lighter powdery musk that is still pretty and feminine.

Buy the larger size? Sure! This would be perfect for spring and summer but I don’t think that anyone would complain if you decide to wear it all year-round.

Maya:

From The Shop: This is a rich, deep scent, not very sweet at all for those of you who prefer something earthier. A blend of exotic hardwoods and spiced chocolate, Maya is the more finished version of my Mayan Cocoa scent. I’ve added hints of orchid and plumeria, along with a kick of black pepper to give it a little heat. This fragrance is wild, dark, and mysterious…give it a try and see if you don’t get some rather primal reactions!

Review: Just sniffing the bottle I wasn’t too impressed but it was a completely different story once I put it on my skin! I find this to absolutely delectable! Once on my skin I could really smell the chocolate but it’s not  ”foody”  and that’s a good thing. It isn’t a very strong smelling perfume, instead it draws you in closer until you are completly enveloped in a shadowy new world. Just like Nani says in her description I found this to be very “dark and mysterious”.

Buy the larger size? Definitely! I could wear this every day and night and never bore of this dreamy scent.

Anjali:

From The Shop: I stumbled across this scent quite by accident. I was cleaning my fragrance bottles while moving them into my (fabulous!!) new workstation and both the coconut and amber bottles leaked at the same time. I sniffed it, thinking “this has got to be the most awful stench in the world!” and was stopped dead in my tracks. I dropped everything, added in just the right amounts of clove, jasmine, carnation, and sexy red musk and before I knew it I had my new favorite.

Anjali is my tribute to all the amazing Indian musks and attars I started my perfume collection with. It’s spicy and incensey, super feminine, and has a warmth and sweetness guaranteed to draw people closer. This is the perfect fragrance to wear as the cool weather closes in on us, it’ll put you in the mood to curl up with a cup of chai…or your copy of the kama sutra. ;-)

Review: For some unknown reason this scent was very comforting and loving to me. It gives me an overwhelming urge to cuddle someone wearing this scent. I just don’t know what it is but I adore it! It’s very warm and sweet (I can smell some faint coconut) with a little hint of spice.

Buy the larger size?: YES!!!

Little 5:

From the shop: For me, it all started in Little Five Points, Atlanta. On the corner of Euclid and Colquitt stood the Gypsy Market, where my perfume obsession began. Without fail, my husband and I would start fighting in the gawd-awful Atlanta traffic on the way down. I’d arrive all tense and flustered, and within twenty seconds of crossing that threshold, all my worries would melt away. The hot, humid, incense-saturated air seemed to make everything better. I don’t miss the weather, the fire ants, or the wrestling fans, but I still get all nostalgic when I remember the punks, hippies, and gorgeous cowrie-shelled dreadlock mamas that made Little Five the place to be.

My first signature blend, Little 5 is an intoxicating mix of spicy opium-like musk and redolent oriental rose. It opens up with a fresh herbal note of sweetgrass then deepens into its heart of sophisticated rose, finally warming down to its dark dreamy base. This is a perfume lover’s perfume, not for beginners or the faint of heart. Pair this scent with smokey eye makeup and a little Billie Holiday. Little 5 will put an extra switch in your hips.

Review: This one is indeed for a lover of roses. The smell is a very strong, sweet, and powdery rose.

Buy the larger size?: No, I was reminded that the scent of roses is not for me although I’m sure it would smell lovely on the right person.

Black #1:

From the shop:  Now, before you scream COPYRIGHT! at me, I want to remind everyone that the song was supposedly based on a hair dye of the same name. So…if I name my perfume after the hair dye that inspired the song….eh, I dunno. It’s fall, I’m in kind of a dark, spooky mood, and who doesn’t love a gothy blackberry perfume? Besides, I may change the name to Black #4 anyway, it took me that many tries to get it just where I wanted it.

I think I may have already mentioned that I’m a total blackberry freak? Yep, well here’s another of my fall-minded blends, dark and sweet with a mix of blackberry, narcissus, violet, patchouly, and clove. There’s also a little hint of rain floating around in there, ’cause it wouldn’t be the same without some moody weather.

Review: I was excited about this one because of the blackberry but I feel let down because to me it doesn’t smell at all fruity. I was expecting something like spicy & floral blackberry jam but on me it’s almost all powder.

Buy the larger size?: Sadly no, it’s not meant to be.

Nicosia:

From the shop: I’ve always had a longing to see the mediterranean. There’s just so much history there, so much art, such gorgeous, passionate people. And the food! This scent embodies one of my favorite escape fantasies. A blend of fig, olive blossom, clove, golden honey and sandalwood, this scent is all fresh breezes and dusky-haired women draped in sun-bleached cotton.

Review: Her description of this scent is spot on! It smells exactly how I imagine the Mediterranean to be. I swore that I was on a Greek island overlooking the sea and completely surrounded by beauty and enchanting spices. There is also a very soft and faint clean scent in there that really does smell like “sun-bleached cotton” that reminds me of hanging clothes on the line during summer. This perfume is absolutely perfect in my opinion. It’s so complex but beautifully melds together like some sort of dreamy folktale.

Buy the larger size: Yes! Pretty pretty please! I’m in love!

Du Bois:

From the shop: Finally! I’ve been waiting to release this fragrance, it debuted as part of the giveaway bonanaza going on at SoapBoxCo.com. This is my new favorite!
DuBois is a heady, lavish blend of creamy white scents. A mix of gardenia, almond, and egyptian musk with a hint of cinnamon, this fragrance is very luxurious and sophisticated, but still equally appropriate for day or evening. There’s something very retro about this scent, it’s very ladylike and glamorous, with a bit of a sparkle. I almost feel like a Veronica Lake hairdo should be required with it. White (hopefully faux!) fur and (non-conflict) diamonds are optional.

Review: This one was so familiar that it was absolutely driving me nuts! Something from my childhood is lurking in this scent. After reading her description I think that it has to be the almond since I remember my dad buying rich almond lotion a long time ago for my mother. It really is an old fashioned perfume that feels very nostalgic to me.

Buy the larger size?: I can’t make up my mind about it. I like it but don’t think that I would wear it very often, maybe just for special occasions.

Speakeasy Vanilla:

From the shop: I’m not ususally a vanilla person. It’s such a classic, feminine, and decadently sexy scent, I’ve always really wanted to like it…but just couldn’t. Well, I’ve fixed that problem! My Speakeasy Vanilla is another thing altogether, not cloying or overly precious. This vanilla does not wear pigtails. It does not have a “daddy’s little girl” lisence plate holder. This vanilla is a grown ass woman who spent a hot, tipsy day in the kitchen, rocking out to Etta James in heels, perfecting her creme brulee. Or something like that…

This fragrance opens up with a bright, intoxicating bourbon vanilla scent then mellows into a softer, creamy vanilla. To balance the sweetness, I’ve added sultry amber and smokey frankincense. On the very bottom is a delicately floral white musk, and if you’re very sharp you may catch the tiny hint of bay rum lurking in the mix.

Review: This is exactly how she describes it. It’s much more grown up and even boozy. The vanilla is still very much there, just more sophisticated.

Buy the larger size?: Although it’s not for me I would recommend this for lovers of vanilla. I think my dad liked this one best.

Theda:

From the shop: This is my new favorite for the season! After playing with several sweetly casual fall scents, I found myself itching for something a little different, something properly elegantly autumnal. Theda is a dangerously sophisticated blend of absinthe and bitter almond with a heart of lotus and hints of dark earth and smokey wood. I’ve layered all this over a spectrum of magnificent musks for a truly rich and grown up way to indulge in fall’s spooky vibe. For those of you familiar with my line, Theda might best be described as the bastard child of DuBois and Belle Marie.

Review: Nani included Theda as a free sample. This one just has to be named after the silent film actress Theda Bara. It really does smell like an old fashioned perfume that someone from the early 1900’s would wear. It’s soft & lovely but sophisticated and dark. It smells very familiar to me and I could see myself wearing this with an evening gown.

Buy the larger size?: This is another one like Du Bois that I can’t make my mind up about and would save for special occasions.

I also ordered a sample of 27 men’s fragrance for my dad and ended up buying a full size of it along with Duncan for him since he liked speakeasy vanilla. I usually despise men’s cologne but 27 was very spicy and “manly” and definitely didn’t make me gag. I’ll have to wait for my mom’s nose to clear up until she can tell me her favorites to order.

 

Random Insomniac Ramblings December 13, 2009

Filed under: Life, Personal, Random, Thoughts — Sarah @ 6:52 am
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It’s past 5am and I cannot sleep! Yes, that’s normal for me. I was up until maybe 6:30am last night/yesterday morning? But I’m really trying to fall asleep! Truly, I know I’m in a bad sleeping pattern right now and am at this point almost completely nocturnal. I was lying here trying to fall asleep and my eyelids would not stay closed, they kept fluttering open! I’m blaming Midol for that one because it makes me all jittery and shaky and I took some about an hour & a half ago. I just can’t win. So here’s some random stuff:

  • I have Be-Bop-A-Lula by Gene Vincent stuck on repeat in my head. It’s complete torture.
  • I was just making a couple of pairs of earrings to put in my shop tomorrow and randomly thought about one of my old designs that I had made for myself but can’t even remember the last time that I wore them. That’s so weird because I loved those earrings. That set off a mad search for them but they are nowhere to be found and that’s driving me insane! So friends, if I happened to of left these: Aegean Princess at your place please remind me! Hopefully I’ll be able to find them.
  • I’ve been stuck with no idea what to get my parents for Christmas this year. My brothers are usually pretty easy (especially Craig this year) but it’s always tough figuring out something for mom & dad. The worse is when I ask them what they want and they don’t give you a good answer or say something stupid like the overused “a winning lottery ticket” line. Ghah! So earlier tonight I was sprinkling some ground cloves on a slice of pumpkin pie and made a comment to my mom about how the smell of cloves is my absolute favorite smell. That got me onto Etsy searching for perfume that smells like cloves and I got the idea of ordering sample sizes of different Wiggle Perfume scents. That way I can have some fun with my mom trying the different scents and she can tell me her favorite so I can order the full sized bottle for her. Good idea? I also ordered a sample of the “27″ men’s scent for my dad to see if he likes it. Right now him and my brothers wear that god awful Axe stuff that gives me headaches especially right after they douse themselves in it so hopefully this stuff will smell good and my dad can wear a “real” fragrance.
  • After the perfume samples get here I’ll have to do a little review of them here on the blog! I’m very picky when it comes to perfume because most of it gives me migraines. Really, there’s nothing worse to me than strong  perfume to make me want to tear my own head off! So far there have been only two that I’ve found I like and don’t hurt my head: Lucky Number 6 and Bond Girl. Yes Bond Girl sounds cheesy but I really do love it and get compliments on it. It’s citrusy and peachy with a warm woodsy scent. My mom loves it so much that she now owns some which is good because personally some of her other perfumes give me those headaches. They don’t smell bad, they just hurt.
  • I think that’s all for now. I’ll probably think of something right when I turn the computer off.