Sun Moon Stars by Karl Lagerfeld for Women 3

Karl Lagerfeld, Misc.,

By designer Karl Lagerfeld, Sun Moon Stars is a modern floral fragrance with a touch of romance. This full-bodied floral has notes of night blooming, jasmine, musk orange blossom, heliotrope, narcisse, sandalwood, and amber. It’s soft, sexy undertones manifest pleasures to the senses Introduced in 1994 Sun, Moon, Stars from parfums Karl Lagerfeld, is an enchanting fruity floriental fragrance with a romantic personality. Created by IFF perfumer Sophia Grosjman, this heavenly floral draws you in with its inviting notes of heliotrope and night blooming jasmine, deepened by the warmth of ambers and woods. Fresh enough for day, sophisticated enough for evening, Sun, Moon, Stars will sweep you away anytime you care to experience it.

Recognizing a universal theme, Karl Lagerfeld brings us Sun Moon Stars–what more could we want? A lush, evocative fruity Oriental composition, the scent begins with sweet pear, evolving into a delectable accord of florals, rich vanilla, and woods. The result is heavenly–a gustative celebration. Tenacious, warm, and expansive: A galaxy of possibilities emerges.

Sun Moon Stars is captured in a rounded flacon of the deepest celestial blue–a boule bleu–upon which are carved in relief the sun, the moon, and the stars.

© Perfume Profile by Jan Moran, Fabulous Fragrances II

Tresor by Lancome for Women

Lancome, Misc.,

Trésor, by Lancôme, is a fresh, spirited fragrance laden with fruits, florals, and long-lasting Oriental base notes. Created by renowned perfumer Sophia Grosjman, Trésor has a rounded, as opposed to pyramidal, fragrance structure, allowing the top, middle, and base notes to all blend together. Named for the French word for treasure, Trésor is the perfect fragrance for those precious moments felt by a woman in love. Lancôme is a fragrance for treasured moments. Launched in 1989, this fragrance is considered a classic.

From the French word for “treasure,” Lancôme’s Trésor is laden with fruits, florals, and long-lasting Oriental base notes. Trésor is a saucy daytime fragrance, yet versatile enough to dress up for evening. Fresh, spirited, and innocent, we love it in warm weather, especially après spa.

The clear glass bottle is shaped like an inverted pyramid to represent the glowing radiance of a woman in full bloom. Reflective of its fresh peach and apricot essences, the fragrance is presented in peach and salmon floral packaging. It is, indeed, a treasure.

© Perfume Profile by Jan Moran, Fabulous Fragrances II

Found them at Fry’s of all places. They suck! For some reason, they’re a bit salty.

Tonight was nice, very girly. I met up with Lenore after work to go see Amélie. I had been dying to see it since it first came out back in November but then I went to Brazil and just never had time to see it. The movie is great. I usually get disappointed after I read so many great reviews about a movie. That wasn’t the case with Amélie. I mean, at least I wasn’t disappointed with the movie itself.

The thing is that I had read so many places how everyone in France had been affected by the movie and there was this huge wave of good deeds (and we’re talking about the French here! Actually, I had never heard anything bad about them until I moved to the US). Anyway, I was certainly expecting a life changing experience from seeing this movie. And it wasn’t like that. So I’m more disappointed with myself for thinking that a movie could do that than with the fact that the movie wasn’t powerful enough to change my life. But to get back to the movie, it was great. Great photography, great plot, awesome characters. I especially liked the opening intro of her as a kid. The scene with the raspberries is just great.

Although, now that I think about it, I did break up with my boyfriend of three years because of a movie. Well, it wasn’t really because of the movie but something that I saw in the movie made something click in my mind. I didn’t even finish watching it and drove to the dorms to end things. The movie? He Said, She Said. (yeah yeah, I know)

Amelie

Bruno Delbonnel (Cinematographer). Miramax Home Entertainment 2001, DVD, $19.99

He Said, She Said

Paramount 1991, DVD, $9.98

Anyway, after the movie we went to check out a new restaurant in Mountain View called Zucca. I read a review that said they served awesome Mediterranean tapas. The place is really small but very cozy and the food was awesome. The owners come to your table and check on you a couple of times and we got complimentary glasses of dessert wine.

The Book of Fondues (Book of

Lorna Rhodes. HP Trade 1989, Paperback, 120 pages, $12.00

Who knew fondue could be so much fun? Ok, I have to confess we did hit some snags. Although we enlisted Heidi to be the fondue chef (you know, thinking someone by that name would know at least a thing or two about fondue), Su and I were not as knowledgeable in getting the right equipment. Su got her pot at Marshall’s for $18 (the box said irregular but she didn’t think that was an issue. After all, it’s not like we would be lighting a fire under it and gather around it all night long). Mine was from Target but in the end, both pots were equally good. The problem was that we didn’t realize we needed to get special fuel. Actually, that’s not entirely true, I did buy liquid fondue fuel but Su’s pot only worked with gel fuel (for whatever crazy reason). So Su and Heidi had to make a last minute run to Target (good thing it’s only a block from my house. And yes, they did drive) while Susan, Lenore, Fariba, and I tried not to eat the cubed bread.

West Bend 88503 3-Qt

West Bend, Kitchen, $54.99

The next problem was the cheese. I had mentioned that there would be a lot of “cubing” going on and Su thought that meant she should cube the cheese (although I clearly recall saying that the cheese should be grated). Anyway, there were too many people in the kitchen so it was hard to communicate. So one of the cheeses was cubed and the other was grated. And as you probably guessed, our first batch of cheese fondue was all lumpy (even though Heidi got it started on the stove and tried to melt all the cheese cubes). But it was still yummy and it was gone in 2 seconds (except for the semi-melted cubes). So Heidi made another batch (which was also good but we decided that next time we’ll use less wine). Then came the chocolate fondue. I forgot how much I liked chocolate fondue! Anyway, I basically had to fast all day Sunday just to compensate for all the calories consumed on Saturday night. But it was well worth it.

Yesterday, as I was sorting through my CDs for the fondue party, I realized that I needed a better stereo for the living room. The one I’m currently using is almost 12 years old and I didn’t want to move my good stereo from the bedroom to the living room since I sometimes use it as my backup alarm clock. As I was browsing the internet to see what’s out there in terms of audio equipment, I decided I would get a DVD player with a 5-disc changer instead. I had been meaning to get a DVD player for the past year or two and this would solve both my problems. So I headed to Good Guys. My VCR is also not that great so I thought I would get a new one too. I might as well hook everything up all at once since I knew it would be a pain to get it right without messing up my TiVo connection.

So I’m at Good Guys and after a lengthy conversation with the cheesy sales guy, I have my mind set on a DVD player and a VCR. Now, during the sale, some nerdy guy interrupted us and asked the sales guy a question about their cheapest DVD player. I was ok with that; it only took about a minute to answer his questions. Anyway, the sales guy leaves to get my stuff and says: “I’ll be right back with your stuff, I just need to ask that other sales rep over there a quick question.” I’m cool with that so I wait. And I wait. And wait. And then wait some more. I then look over to the other side of the store and see my sales guy looking something up on the terminal for the nerdy guy. I’m pretty pissed but figure it won’t take too long, maybe he’s just checking to see if they have the cheapo DVD player in stock. But he keeps typing away at the terminal. And he types, and types, and types. I can hardly believe it; it’s like he’s trying to make two sales at once. So I march over to him and tell him that I didn’t realize he was first going to ring up a sale for a customer who go there after me and that, since that was the case, I would be making my purchases elsewhere.

Just another great example of excellent customer service.

Last night, I stopped by a liquor store near my house to get a bottle of kirsch for tonight’s fondue. Let me tell you, it was a scary experience. I don’t live in the best neighborhood and I should have taken that into consideration before stopping at a seedy liquor store. The owner was this older Korean guy and he was very nice. The problem was with the “customers”. I really wish I didn’t understand Spanish since I would have been better off not knowing what they were saying as I was standing next to them. Anyway, since I’m probably the only customer who ever bought a bottle of kirsch, the owner and I had to go on this wild tour of the place until we found it. And that involved a walk through the porn aisle while all the drunk guys watched and grinned. Lovely.

A short pictorial story of a day in the life

Yesterday was an extremely productive day. I feel like it was a good trade-off to stay here and catch up instead of getting the free spa treatment (at least that’s what I keep telling myself).

So to annoy one of the readers of my blog, this was my day yesterday:

Woke up and read the paper (which I usually do at night since I never get up early enough to do it before work).

Then went to the car wash and used one of the gift certificates Heidi gave me for Christmas

Stooped by the AT&T store to get a new phone. Got a Motorola (even though it looks a little too “startrekky” for my taste)

Went to the doctor

Stopped by HoldEverything at Town & Country Village to see if they had a coat rack. They didn’t. At least not at the store so the salesperson gave me a catalog

Headed over to Macys at the Stanford Mall. Got several earrings (my mom loved my earrings so I’m sending them to her. Therefore, I had to buy several other pairs to replace it). Also bought a new pair of sunglasses (plastic this time, the wireframe ones got all bent and twisted so I now accept that I’m a plastic sunglasses type of person). Also HAD to stop by the Chanel counter to get some perfume and makeup

Got home, checked email and phone messages. Grabbed a Balance Bar.

Went to the post office to pick up some packages and send the earrings to my mom. Also went to Safeway to buy spinach.

Home again. Worked out for about 45 mins.

Worked (I do have my priorities straight)

Programmed my new phone and worked some more

Took a bath then watched some TV (my TiVo was complaining it was too full).

Left to meet Sara at the pub

Got home and crashed.

I hate to write about books. In college, my minor was Literature and I bullshitted my way through all my courses. So I’m not sure why I’m doing this other than as a response to a couple of requests from friends and blog readers. Don’t expect lengthy paragraphs, the most you’ll get is a “I recommend” or “I don’t recommend” or “eh”.

Ok, here we go…

Swift as Desire (Random House Large Print) (Random House Large Print (Hardcover))

Laura Esquivel. Random House Large Print 2001, Hardcover, 336 pages, $22.00

Swift as Desire - Laura Esquivel
Argh! This book is painful to read! You would have thought I would have gathered that much just judging by the cover design but I enjoyed Like Water for Chocolate so much that I thought I would give it a try. And trying I have been for the past 2 months. The book is simply too dry and I have no desire to find out what happens next (as in what’s on the next page and not necessarily what happens next in the plot since it seems to be lacking one). Anyway, tonight will be its last chance. If I still don’t like it, it will end up in a book shelf tomorrow, unfinished.

Let’s see I’ve been back for a week now but I’m not sure much has happened. Heidi took care of my plants while I was gone and I must say she did an awesome job.

I was back at work on Wednesday and didn’t have as many emails as I had expected. The worst part was looking through my notes from the days before I left and remembering everything I had to deal with upon my return. I guess I did a very good job with blocking all that during my vacation.

On Thursday I met up with some friends and we had a relaxing night out. Friday my jet lag caught up with me. I tried to do some shopping but only managed to go to Whole Foods and Safeway. I was in bed by 11:00 PM.

Sunday and Monday were pretty uneventful; I can’t even remember what I did. Speaking of which, I need to go move my clothes from the washer to the dryer.