Hot Glue

You hurt so good, hot glue gun. You are the reason I didn't get a single manicure between 1996 and, well, 2009.

The smell of hot glue, which is really just burning plastic, is the smell of getting things done. Something is the works, about to happen. In college, hot glue gun burns were like battle scars, and we were oddly proud of them. A friend of mine who was (and still is) a rower (is that what you call them?) would put some on his finger tips and show it off, like a little kid with chocolate all over his face. This latest run in with hot glue? Well, I just moved, and I just HAD to make new curtains. I do have a sewing machine, but prefer to make hems with a glue gun. These are as cheap as it gets: muslin and burlap.

I gotta go nurse this hot glue created blister on my finger, but I'll do it with a smile on my face.

Fireplace

Soon, it'll be that cozy time of year again. Dried leaves mixed with sunshine mixed with a great new sweater. I got a little preview of a favorite fall smell last week while visiting good friends of mine in their (early 19th century?) cottage. The thing about fireplaces to remember, is that they always smell better/more from outside of the home. This fire smelled great, don't get me wrong, but passing by a house with a fire in the fireplace is sometimes more romantic than being in the house. There always seems to be feelings of envy mixed with feeling of warmth and comfort that are hard to resolve. Hot n cold.

"Oh man i LOOOOVE that smell. Thank you whoever has that fire going" and "damn you for being so cozy in there"

Next time i pass by this smokey treat, I'll try to remember that even though I'm the one out in the cold, I've really got the best seat (in the house... yuk yuk)

Lobsta and Chowda

Back to New England for me... last time for the summer. And what a way to cap it off! I flew in to Boston and drove right up to New Hampshire for the annual Bow Lake Lobster "bbq". I've said it before and I'll say it again, nothing smells New England like seafood.

For some reason, I just don't trust sea food outside of New England. And if I DO decide to trust it, it's because I'm paying dearly for it. So arriving home to this community dinner for just $25 a ticket (2 lobsters, chowder with oyster crackers and lardons, corn-on-the-cobb, rolls, cake, beer...) WITH my wonderful family and boyfriend was just about the best homecoming a girl could ask for.

Plastic Shower Curtain

I just moved in to a new apartment. With this change, comes the responsibility of buying new shower curtain liners. Whenever I move, I always grapple with the decision to buy something cheap and low quality, or buy something not cheap and of higher quality. Inevitably, I do both, and regret my first purchase while making the second one. Such was the case with the first shower curtain, above, purchased at Wallgreen's for 4 bucks. Note to self, not all shower curtain liners are created equal.

Ok well here's my point: There is a particular kind of plastic that this particular liner smelled of. And it's the same plastic these cheap-0 inner tubes are made of. I opened the curtain liner package and was whisked away to summer time memories of floating. It also reminded me that, as a young girl, I thought it would be cool to keep small pets in the inner tubes. Sounds cruel, I know, but I was a kid so give me a break. It's not like I ever did it.

Farm Smells, Part 1

I'll be honest, I'm not sure when "Farm Smells: part 2" will happen, but I know it will. So just stick with this one for now. On my way to work the other day, I had the pleasure of driving behind the silver truck you see here. It had something in it that lives on, or just vacationed on a farm. Up along side me pulled, whatever thing in truck A has for dinner. It was a farm-for-the-road. So I played this song in my car, because it was the first one that came to mind when I felt those farm feelings. It may not make sense to you, but still, it's kind of cute. (if you like kids, which I don't, really, and I STILL think it's cute... ok ok ok I like kids just fine. Calm down. )

Popcorn...again, sorry

This should be more of a tweet, I know, but go ahead and try something: pop some popcorn in the workplace without discussing it first. The response might sound similar to what it's like for the first snowfall of winter.
"popcorn...whose making popcorn?"
"is that popcorn?!?!!?"
"what IS that smell?"

...kinda like no one has smelled it before.

What Bradley's Nose Thinks

Bradley wrote in with his favorites.... a nice blend of country and coffee.

"When I get to enjoy a morning before the hectic day starts... and smells that remind me of where I grew up.

Morning dew on the grass out in the country, a slight smell of corn not yet picked growing.

There is a certain smell that you get when you are out of the city a lack of all the city smells probably.

There is freshness in the morning as though the night cleaned the air and you can enjoy the sounds of the birds, bugs and nature and a good cup of coffee."

What Brita's Nose Thinks...

Brita explores her sense of sight (and a lot of taste) over at her blog www.thingsiliketolookat.com
recently weighed in about some of her faves...

"I just got this little top at a vintage store and I wore it without giving its a proper cleaning, which I guess is kind of gross but there's something about that musty smell of vintage cotton that I love. Walking into an antique store and being transported with that vague aroma of grandmothers, and screened in porches and days gone by makes me feel like Im finding clues to something I was never a part of. It seems to be made up of one part old earl grey tea and one part beach blanket that has spent all day on the clothesline."


"While were at it, bain de soleil orange gelee is one of my top five favorite smells in the universe, and it goes hand in hand with that vintage cottony smell. It recalls the beach without ever being there. Somehow how they got the sand and the seagulls and the sailboat all packed into a little tube. It reminds me of napping in the sun and conjures up old photographs of my mom on a printed sofa in her bathing suit. It what I imagine the seventies would smell like."