Subtle Nuances

Know anything about them? Do you know how to be quiet in a public place? How to blow your nose without grossing people out? Howabout how to apply fragrance without spending the rest of the day knocking people down? Are you the person that walks by a crowd and turns around, wondering why they're all gagging and sneezing? Here are some tips on how to PROPERLY apply perfume and a little education on the negative side of perfume.

1. Get it where it counts: The throat, behind the ears and chest have more body heat closer to the surface, thus likely intensifying the fragrance.
2. A little goes a long way: The 'experts' say not to exceed three sprays. I say if you abide by the principle that you should 'spray enough so that people know you're there, not so much that people know you're coming', or that people should notice YOU, not your perfume, you're probably safe. I believe that perfume should be a special surprise for someone who gets intimately close to you (hugging, kissing), not an advertisement for everyone in the vicinity...
3. Only reapply if someone 'intimately close' to you can no longer smell the fragrance. YOU get used to the scent and may mistakenly suspect it's worn off.
4. Don't spray your clothes! Scarves, coats, and items that you wear frequently, with infrequent washing WILL take on the unique and very pleasant scent of you and your perfume. Spraying it on your clothes will not create the same effect, instead smelling like the alcohol base in fragrance and possibly being overwhelming.
5. Finally, instead of 'rubbing' perfume onto your body (in the case of a bottle without an atomizer), pat your body with the scent. Rubbing releases natural oils in your skin, which cover up the scent and limit the length of time the fragrance will linger.

Be careful where you wear any amount of perfume. There are many people who are physically unable to be around scents. Here are some facts:

Studies have shown that personal care products such as perfume, cologne, hair products and lotions can cause serious problems for people with asthma, allergies, and migraines!

No agency regulates the fragrance industry, yet more than 4000 chemicals are used in fragrances!

Acetone, formaldehyde, toluene, benzaldehyde and Methylene-chloride are just a few of the common scent ingredients in personal care products and all are listed as hazardous waste!

Scented personal care products may casue respiratory distress and allergic-type reactions in people you encounter.

The boss! Otherwise known as Kitty

It's amazing how life will change in a year... let's discuss ~

One year ago, Boy and I decided to move in together. Boy was living about 20 min away from me, but spending most of his time at my place. When he came back from Thailand, he declared his love for me and I asked him if he wanted to move in with me. We combined our things, tossed the unnecessary and have set up a fabulous little life in our little apartment.

Mere weeks after he moved in, Kitty arrived. My pleas to the universe were answered with an abandoned kitty showing up on our doorstep. He moved himself in little by little... first he was allowed in, but not on the sofa... okay, on the sofa but not in the bedroom... while we're home but not while we're gone... okay in the bedroom, not on the bed... aw heck, he's cute, okay get on the bed.... while we're home, but then it was rainy and snowy so he stayed while we were at work... Now he has a deluxe watering system, a trendy food bowl and I've removed the screen on the bedroom window so he can come and go at will...which was in a supposed attempt to not have him wake me up 4+ times a night to let him in and out... which worked... but then he developed an issue with eating alone, so he'd wake me up to take him to his food bowl... after a year, there's cat hair on EVERYTHING, including us, he goes to the salon more often than me and there's a dish of food on the floor beside my bed so that he can eat in comfort and I don't have to get up. He lets me pick him up now and kiss and 'snuggle' him... he sleeps with me in the bedroom when the fan isn't on and follows me around the house. He gets very upset when I go to the bathroom with the door closed, so I now have to use the bathroom on the sly or leave the door ajar so he can come in....otherwise he scratches the carpet... and speaking of scratching... he's lucky he never (99%) scratches the furniture, but the corner of my boxspring is positively ruined... apparently they put a orangy yellow foam in... I'd never know that if he hadn't ripped it to shreds...altho the food by the bed thing has helped immensly! Too bad I didn't think of that sooner.
When we go to Disneyland in September and Singapore in November, Kitty is staying at the kittyhotel. Due to his unsure past and his separation anxiety to me, I didn't want to leave him alone and have him run away... So he's staying in a kitty hotel downtown at $20/day. He has health insurance and fancy collars... and when Boy goes to Thailand in October, I'm going to dress Kitty up and send him pictures...
I don't know what I would do without my Kitty... He's totally hilarious and cute and will be a snuggler one day... He's mostly friendly, altho he doesn't much care for other people... and he has me wrapped around his little paw.... and I don't mind in the least... if I did, I wouldn't have sacrificed 5 months of no sleep when he started his food/clawing routine...

I love kitty!