Perfume.

I have worn perfume for as long as I can remember ... everyday. I have this "thing" about smelling nice and I love it when people say, "Oh you smell so good, what are you wearing?" I certainly don't get told that everyday and I'm sure I don't smell good everyday ... I'm just saying, I like to.

Back in the day, when I was growing up and starting to care about all things feminine, the popular perfumes of choice were Charlie, Jontue, L'Airs du Temps, and Chloe. I liked all of them and went through a period of wearing each and every one of those.

A few years went by, I was in my twenties and there were TONS more choices. My favorites at that time were, Ralph Lauren's Tuxedo and Safari (Tuxedo was short lived, but man was that one awesome and Safari was in the most beautiful bottle), Anne Klein II (lots of compliments when I wore that one), and Oscar de la Renta ... one of my all time favorites.

I was a college student when Oscar de la Renta first came out and I was so in love with it, but I only ever had a little sample bottle because it was pricey and I was a poor college student. (A friend of mine asked if some sisters I knew came from a wealthy family and one of the reasons she thought they might was because they both wore Oscar - well that, and they shared a BMW out at school.) My sister, Leslie, was married at the time and had a bottle of it so I'd put it on whenever I went over to her apartment. It was a really happy day for me when she got pregnant and the smell of it suddenly made her feel ill so she gave it to me!

I wore that one for several years ... along with Lancome's Tresor, which really is so beautiful ... I also went through a couple bottles of Beautiful (speaking of) by Estee Lauder. But my very favorite, top of the list, all time best fragrance - for me - is the original Lacoste.

LoVe. I think I went through about 6 or 7 bottles before they discontinued it. WHAT? Why oh why do they do that???? That sort of became "my" smell. I wore it for so many years and through so many significant experiences that I almost felt a little ownership of it. I definitely got more compliments wearing that than anything else. So now, I can only get it sometimes at one of those perfume outlet shops, which kind of makes me think it isn't real or authentic and may or may not be the same scent actually, so I had to come up with a new favorite smell.

I better rephrase that, since I can only find my all time favorite perfume occasionally, I also discovered and am pretty crazy about Cashmere Mist by Donna Karan. And the last time I bought it there was one of those gifts with purchase so I got a sample of the deodorant too ... f.a.b.u.l.o.u.s. Seriously, what a treat - that's the word for it, a treat. It works great and enhances that perfume smell all the more. And Nordstrom just had it on sale for $12 instead of $18. (I know, $18 for a stick of deodorant? And I could only ever justify that because I am so low maintenance on so many other girlie things.)

Sidenote: I love it when a man smells good too. Not too strong of a scent, but just enough so you know he cares. (Kay, that sounds a little Hallmarky.) Isn't it amazing how smells in general can evoke very specific memories and people for you?

There was a weekend in college when a friend of mine had come down to BYU from Ricks in Idaho for the weekend. He had brought a friend with him and introduced us ... Jared P. He smelled SO good. And it was one of the most memorable weekends for me of my whole college career because of that boy - I fell so head over heals in love with him almost immediately it wasn't even funny. If he had said, marry me, I think I would have.

In fact, it was a few days after he had gone back to Idaho that my roomate said, "It is so nice to have you in love with someone, you are skipping, do you realize that? This is a completely different girl and I like her."

You know, I only ever saw Jared one other time after that and it was at an assembly a few months later ... I was still a student, but he was with a whole big group of other young men heading out on a 2 year mission - big sigh for me.

But the weekend stayed vivid because everytime I was in a store that carried Jontue Musk for Men I would pick up a bottle, open it up, take a big whiff .... awwwww .... Jared. (For years!)