Some women collect shoes.
Others covet designer handbags.
My passion is perfume. I adore scent! I wear a different fragrance every day, depending on my mood.
Here are the perfumes that are currently in heavy rotation at my dressing table, in no particular order:
-Victoria’s Secret Dream Angels Divine
-Ralph Lauren Blue
-Ralph Lauren Glamorous
-Perry Ellis f
-Armani Mania
-Liz Claiborne Realities (the new version, not the one from the 80s)
-Christian Dior J’Adore
-Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue
-Glow by J. Lo (I know! I can’t help it, though…it smells fresh and clean, and I get SOOOO many compliments when I wear it!)
On my Christmas list:
-Victoria’s Secret Dream Angels Desire
-Marc Jacobs Daisy
The one scent I hate? That's gotta be patchouli. Yuck. Reminds me of the kid whose locker was a few down from mine in high school. He was a hippie-wannabe who never washed his hair and was perpetually stoned.
What are your favorite fragrances?
In My HeadFriday, July 28, 2006
The 80s was a pretty good decade to be a kid.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this. I feel bad for kids these days. It seems to me like there are so many more problems for them now than the people of my generation had.
One of my coworkers sends his two kids (ages 4 and just over 1 year) to a very swanky daycare in our area. They’re learning Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. Some of these children have their very own laptop computers. Their parents are already beginning to talk about getting into the “right” colleges. It seems a bit excessive to me. Not to mention downright scary at times.
When I was 4 years old, I went to the pre-K program at our local YMCA. We didn’t learn Mandarin Chinese. We learned how to make homemade applesauce and peanut butter. We put on incredible, heartwrenchingly dramatic productions of “The Little Train That Could.” But mostly, we just played with Legos and Tinker Toys and Lite Brite and Fisher-Price Little People. Because isn’t that what the crux of being a kid is? To play all day long and not have to worry about the real world?
Now I admit that learning Spanish makes sense to a point—after all, I watched a whole lot of Sesame Street when I was a kid and learned how to count to ten in Spanish, along with other random words (“agua” was a big one, if I recall). But Mandarin Chinese? Exactly how will these kids practice speaking Mandarin, anyway? I don’t get it. Maybe the daycares are teaching this now because they believe that someday the Chinese will own all of us. Hee.
Another thing—what’s up with designer clothes for first graders these days? Not to mention those repugnant message t-shirts for little girls. The day I dress my hypothetical kid in a shirt that has “Spoiled Brat” emblazoned in pink sequins across the front is the day I’ll die. I wasn’t even decked out in clothes from The Children’s Place—they were too expensive.
(That was the one store in the mall I used to BEG my mother to take me to. They had a really neat playhouse with a sliding board and a closed-circuit TV that played episodes of “Steampipe Alley” on an endless loop. Yes, that show was hosted by Mario Cantone, way before he was Charlotte’s flamingly gay wedding planner on Sex and the City.)
No, my clothes came from stores like Jefferson Ward (later Bradlees), Clover, and Burlington Coat Factory. I didn’t have pint-sized versions of designer jeans. I didn’t have my own laptop computer. I didn’t have a VCR, or even a television, in my bedroom. I did have a Speak-n-Spell, though. And Alphie. Remember those?
My friends and I didn’t sit around inside all summer to play video games. We were outside playing from the minute breakfast ended until the streetlights came on. Our parents didn’t have to watch us like hawks because it was (or seemed, at least) so much safer back then. Child molesters were something that we saw on after-school specials—not something we had to contend with every day of our lives. The most we worried about was who was going to be “It” when we started an impromptu game of Tag.
Man. I loved being a child of the 80s. You can read a couple of essays here and here that bring back some terrific memories of those times.
Happy Friday!
I’ve been thinking a lot about this. I feel bad for kids these days. It seems to me like there are so many more problems for them now than the people of my generation had.
One of my coworkers sends his two kids (ages 4 and just over 1 year) to a very swanky daycare in our area. They’re learning Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. Some of these children have their very own laptop computers. Their parents are already beginning to talk about getting into the “right” colleges. It seems a bit excessive to me. Not to mention downright scary at times.
When I was 4 years old, I went to the pre-K program at our local YMCA. We didn’t learn Mandarin Chinese. We learned how to make homemade applesauce and peanut butter. We put on incredible, heartwrenchingly dramatic productions of “The Little Train That Could.” But mostly, we just played with Legos and Tinker Toys and Lite Brite and Fisher-Price Little People. Because isn’t that what the crux of being a kid is? To play all day long and not have to worry about the real world?
Now I admit that learning Spanish makes sense to a point—after all, I watched a whole lot of Sesame Street when I was a kid and learned how to count to ten in Spanish, along with other random words (“agua” was a big one, if I recall). But Mandarin Chinese? Exactly how will these kids practice speaking Mandarin, anyway? I don’t get it. Maybe the daycares are teaching this now because they believe that someday the Chinese will own all of us. Hee.
Another thing—what’s up with designer clothes for first graders these days? Not to mention those repugnant message t-shirts for little girls. The day I dress my hypothetical kid in a shirt that has “Spoiled Brat” emblazoned in pink sequins across the front is the day I’ll die. I wasn’t even decked out in clothes from The Children’s Place—they were too expensive.
(That was the one store in the mall I used to BEG my mother to take me to. They had a really neat playhouse with a sliding board and a closed-circuit TV that played episodes of “Steampipe Alley” on an endless loop. Yes, that show was hosted by Mario Cantone, way before he was Charlotte’s flamingly gay wedding planner on Sex and the City.)
No, my clothes came from stores like Jefferson Ward (later Bradlees), Clover, and Burlington Coat Factory. I didn’t have pint-sized versions of designer jeans. I didn’t have my own laptop computer. I didn’t have a VCR, or even a television, in my bedroom. I did have a Speak-n-Spell, though. And Alphie. Remember those?
My friends and I didn’t sit around inside all summer to play video games. We were outside playing from the minute breakfast ended until the streetlights came on. Our parents didn’t have to watch us like hawks because it was (or seemed, at least) so much safer back then. Child molesters were something that we saw on after-school specials—not something we had to contend with every day of our lives. The most we worried about was who was going to be “It” when we started an impromptu game of Tag.
Man. I loved being a child of the 80s. You can read a couple of essays here and here that bring back some terrific memories of those times.
Happy Friday!
Labels: childhood, fashion, friends, memories, nostalgia, school, technology
Posted by Lori at 7/28/2006 02:26:00 PM
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Thursday, December 08, 2005
OK, so I'm at work, and actually busy for once, so I don't have time or energy at the moment to think of 100 things about me. Here's the first 35 to whet your appetites:
1. I’m an only child.
2. My husband is an only child.
3. I am sometimes sad when I think that I will never be an aunt.
4. I don’t drink coffee.
5. I sometimes drink hot tea, but not often.
6. My favorite (non-alcoholic) beverage at the moment is Tropicana Light Fruit Punch.
7. I finally kicked my 2-can a day soda habit about six months ago. I’ve lost about four pounds without even trying since then, and I think avoiding soda has played a part in that.
8. My favorite clothing store is Kohl’s. I adore their Croft and Barrow and Apt. 9 brands.
9. I buy most of my shoes at Payless, because I have a very wide foot and they make cheap, cute shoes in wide widths.
10. I also love Homegoods. It’s like a TJ Maxx or Marshalls, except it only sells housewares.
11. I currently wear a size 12/14, but most people wouldn’t know it, because I have a very narrow waist and a J.Lo butt.
12. Actually I have a fairly traditional hourglass figure. And I like it that way. So does my husband!
13. My two favorite forms of exercise are weight lifting (I’m talking serious iron…not pastel-colored 2 lb. dumbbells) and walking.
14. As previously mentioned here, I have majorly slacked off from weight lifting because I’ve been studying for the DC-1 exam.
15. I plan to return to the gym this weekend.
16. My favorite subjects in school were Spanish and English.
17. My least favorite was math. I sucked at any kind of math.
18. How I wound up in the financial services field, considering my complete ineptitude at math, is still a mystery to me.
19. I love pizza. Especially margherita pizza from Bertucci’s.
20. Sadly, I’ve had to cut down on my pizza consumption, because otherwise I’d be 300 lbs. by now. I’ve gone from eating several slices of pizza a few times a week to eating it only a few times a month. Boo-hoo.
21. I love Panera. I always get the same thing when I eat there: French onion soup and a chicken Caesar salad.
22. I love to cook, and am an avid Food Network viewer.
23. My favorite shows on Food Network are Good Eats and Everyday Italian.
24. Alton Brown, the host of Good Eats, is one of my secret crushes.
25. Joaquin Phoenix is my huge, not-so-secret crush. Drool…
26. I was expelled from college because I hardly ever went to class. I was a commuter student and hated it.
27. My parents forced me to be a commuter student, rather than live on-campus, because they thought I’d party too much if I lived away from home, and that my grades would suffer. How ironic.
28. My final semester’s GPA was 0.0.
29. My parents still don’t know that I was expelled. They think that I just decided to leave because I wasn’t happy.
30. I began taking online college classes through the University of Phoenix a few years ago. I’m on hiatus now because I have to get some professional credentials for my job.
31. My current GPA is 3.94.
32. I’ve never watched a full episode of any reality TV program.
33. I think most TV is garbage.
34. When I do watch, I usually stick to Food Network, Discovery, HGTV, or PBS.
35. I think I’m the only person on earth who doesn’t own an MP3 player.
1. I’m an only child.
2. My husband is an only child.
3. I am sometimes sad when I think that I will never be an aunt.
4. I don’t drink coffee.
5. I sometimes drink hot tea, but not often.
6. My favorite (non-alcoholic) beverage at the moment is Tropicana Light Fruit Punch.
7. I finally kicked my 2-can a day soda habit about six months ago. I’ve lost about four pounds without even trying since then, and I think avoiding soda has played a part in that.
8. My favorite clothing store is Kohl’s. I adore their Croft and Barrow and Apt. 9 brands.
9. I buy most of my shoes at Payless, because I have a very wide foot and they make cheap, cute shoes in wide widths.
10. I also love Homegoods. It’s like a TJ Maxx or Marshalls, except it only sells housewares.
11. I currently wear a size 12/14, but most people wouldn’t know it, because I have a very narrow waist and a J.Lo butt.
12. Actually I have a fairly traditional hourglass figure. And I like it that way. So does my husband!
13. My two favorite forms of exercise are weight lifting (I’m talking serious iron…not pastel-colored 2 lb. dumbbells) and walking.
14. As previously mentioned here, I have majorly slacked off from weight lifting because I’ve been studying for the DC-1 exam.
15. I plan to return to the gym this weekend.
16. My favorite subjects in school were Spanish and English.
17. My least favorite was math. I sucked at any kind of math.
18. How I wound up in the financial services field, considering my complete ineptitude at math, is still a mystery to me.
19. I love pizza. Especially margherita pizza from Bertucci’s.
20. Sadly, I’ve had to cut down on my pizza consumption, because otherwise I’d be 300 lbs. by now. I’ve gone from eating several slices of pizza a few times a week to eating it only a few times a month. Boo-hoo.
21. I love Panera. I always get the same thing when I eat there: French onion soup and a chicken Caesar salad.
22. I love to cook, and am an avid Food Network viewer.
23. My favorite shows on Food Network are Good Eats and Everyday Italian.
24. Alton Brown, the host of Good Eats, is one of my secret crushes.
25. Joaquin Phoenix is my huge, not-so-secret crush. Drool…
26. I was expelled from college because I hardly ever went to class. I was a commuter student and hated it.
27. My parents forced me to be a commuter student, rather than live on-campus, because they thought I’d party too much if I lived away from home, and that my grades would suffer. How ironic.
28. My final semester’s GPA was 0.0.
29. My parents still don’t know that I was expelled. They think that I just decided to leave because I wasn’t happy.
30. I began taking online college classes through the University of Phoenix a few years ago. I’m on hiatus now because I have to get some professional credentials for my job.
31. My current GPA is 3.94.
32. I’ve never watched a full episode of any reality TV program.
33. I think most TV is garbage.
34. When I do watch, I usually stick to Food Network, Discovery, HGTV, or PBS.
35. I think I’m the only person on earth who doesn’t own an MP3 player.
Labels: celebrities, college, family, food, FYI, health, marriage, meme, school, shopping, TV
Posted by Lori at 12/08/2005 10:31:00 AM
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