Jump to content
Post-Update: Forum Issues Read more... ×
BPAL Madness!

Blogs

Featured Entries

  • Silvertree

    Mod post: No wishlist posts in blogs

    By Silvertree

    Please be aware that we do not permit swap-related content on profiles or in blogs. Please post this content only in the For Sale, Swaps, and Wanted forums, or in the Wishlists topic. ~from Swapping 101  Thanks!
    • 5 comments
    • 5,722 views
 

The Amazing Technicolor Dreamhouse Part One

The assumption usually made about those of a Darker Bent, is that they tend to surround themselves with dark, brooding colors in heavy, funereal (sometimes boudoiresque) fabrics.   Those traditionalists really need to just go elsewhere and have some tea and (angsty, morose) biscuits because Darkity is about to Blow Your Mind.   Behold:   Master Bedroom, apres Snarkification   After one coat. One more (maybe two) to go.   Master Bedroom, before, back toward the bathroom. Darkity added for scale.   The color is called "chocolate sparkle" though the Snarks are unsure from where the "sparkle" comes.   OK, OK. So that wasn't really all that crazy. In fact, it is rather traditionally dark and cozy. But! The ceiling? Those putrid green niches? Those are all going to be sky blue, y'all. The ultimate Master Plan involves a few different shades of green and leaf stencils to create a treehouse/canopy effect.   On to the brightness:   Oops! I exceeded photo limits... to be continued in Part Two, then!

darkitysnark

darkitysnark

 

Getting out of your own damn way

Last night when I was at the gym, riding a cardio machine and minding my own business, a thought ran through my head that said: "you need to get out of your own way." Whenever stuff like this happens, when I'm working out or walking around or generally not ruminating over something, I tend to pay attention to it. I do a wonderful job of getting in my own way by overthinking everything.   I have a relatively analytical brain and I suppose that helps me professionally, especially since the word "analyst" is part of my job title. I'm good at seeing connections, coming up with options and trying to make things work. I can be really decisive. But in other areas of life, where subject matters are much fuzzier, I try to think my way through and analyze things that would be best left alone. In fact, I get obsessive and then I get very bummed out, because I can't find the answer. That is so damn stupid.   And the problem with all of this is that I have good instincts. But I can quickly talk myself out of them when I overthink a matter. Countless times, I've had to sit back and note that I knew what was going on, but I refused to listen to myself. Sometimes I think I don't trust my heart, except when I'm around animals or little kids. Or maybe I don't trust other people with my heart.   What to do? Get out of my own damn way. Not that I'm going to be an irrational moonbat, because that's impossible considering the way my brain is wired, but when I set the wheels grinding and I catch myself, I'm going remind myself to get out of my own way. It's worth a try.

valentina

valentina

 

Houseplant

This is one of my most favorite houseplants. It's probably the easiest thing to take care of, and if you're nice to it, every once in a while it will do this:     it's known as a "carrion flower", the scientific name is Stapelia gigantea.   Description: Well known clustering succulent having deeply ribbed, fat stems 10-20 cm high, toothed along angles, silky olive green and velvety, with gigantic flowers to 20cm or more across, pale yellow with transverse crimson lines, varialbe in color, with forms more reddish, and covered with purplish or crimson hairs; exuding an offensive odor which attracts its chief pollinator - the fly. i've never noticed a stench, though.

Diana

Diana

 

Ordered a few more... :-X

I just ordered 3 imps from Caltha:   Annabel Lee New Orleans Yerevan   Their prices were very cheap/reasonable! Especially for shipping from Sweden   As well, 3 from aidenraine:   rosalind fae black dahlia     And, 3 from jejunery:   bayou catherine eos  

eviltemptressdq

eviltemptressdq

 

Riders on the Storm

There's a line of thunderstorms blowing through out here on the prairie tonight, here in the land of Willa Cather, and I do love a nice rumbly thunderstorm. Nothing severe or tornadic, mind you, just a garden-variety thunderstorm. Rain, a bit of wind, thunder rolling in the distance. It's just so great.   The most utterly gorgeous drive I've had in some years was about 4 years ago, heading east out of Ft. Collins, Colorado. If you head east, you drive directly away from the Rockies and into a rolling grassland. It was about 1 in the afternoon and thunderstorms were moving across the area. You could look to the north and see blue-black clouds in the distance with sheets of rain whipping out of them. Occasional flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder. It was an incredible contrast to the rolling yellow-green grassland and the lonesome, winding road. I put on the Cowboy Junkies and sailed along. By the time I got to Nebraska, it was blue skies and clear sailing across the state. That was a great drive. I had soundtrack music for each part of the drive... I started out with the Cowboy Junkies and by the time I pulled into my home city, I was listening to cool jazz by Patricia Barber.   That was probably boring. You just had to be there. I was in a zone during that drive, I was so in love with so many things on that drive. There's a Buddhist nun named Pema Chodron (she's American, that's her dharma name) who said she became a Buddhist nun because she wanted to fall in love with not just one person, but the entire world. In a very pure sense, of course. My passionate nature doesn't allow me to forego the ways of the flesh, but I do, at times, truly understand what she's saying.   By the way, my favorite song by The Doors isn't "Riders on the Storm," it's "L.A. Woman." There's another driving song for you!

valentina

valentina

 

New stuff received!

I received some imps today from ayelienne! They were:   Dirty Persephone Thaleia Delirium Ultraviolet Yuletide (frimp!)   I am losing my mind, though, and had already gotten Ultraviolet. I had delerium, too, but wanted a 2nd one (liked it enough for that, but not a full bottle).   DIRTY IS THE BEST SMELL EVER> It is liquid Bounce dryer sheets!   I also got my package of perfume sample vials from SevenSins... along with a friimp of Medea!! She rocks!

eviltemptressdq

eviltemptressdq

 

Tying it Back to BPAL

Snarky's got a camera full of color, but hasn't had the time (or the energy) to download them for y'all. Hopefully she'll be able to snatch a moment's respite to faithfully record and report the process of The Snarks stamping their sign of ownership all over the walls of this house tonight. Maybe.   In the meantime, Snarky just wants to take a moment to share her newfound, revitalized love for violets. She bought a few to transplant into a strawberry pot from the local multi-culti pan-Asian megalomart. They've been acclamating by the kitchen sink (along with a fancy jade plant and six organic basil seedlings purchased from a redheaded entrepreneurial tweenager with charming salesmanship) and provided a very uplifting, very grounding whiff of goodness every time Snarky and The Mister bellied up to the sink to rinse out paintbrushes and pans.   She can't remember the last time a little handful of flowers has brought her so much peace and joy and contentment and hope. She can almost feel the chemistry of her brain rearranging to hardwire the smell of violets and fresh latex paint directly into her idea of this house that is slowly evolving into their home.   This makes her happy beyond the thrill of new homeownership. Most of her scent memories come from pre-adult times. She has always hoped to experience equally intense moments now that she can appreciate them more fully. (She has a fairly depressing theory about the relative impact of finite periods of "important" time in inverse proportion to the longevity of the subject experiencing those periods of "memorable" time. Anything that disproves this theory is welcomed warmly and with much fanfare.)   So yes. Tonight, possibly pictures of retina searing colors. If not that, than definitely the long and somewhat interesting tale of the fancy schmancy piece of exercise equipment The Snarks purchased over the weekend.   Edited to add: OK, so the tie back to BPAL is kind of tenuous at best. I meant to say that I am now going to re-evaluate my "to try" list to include just about everything with violet in it. Then I got sidetracked... and hell, tangents happen, y'know?

darkitysnark

darkitysnark

 

I Wrote A Good Omelet

The most wonderful indarkmoon mentioned last week that Nikki Giovanni's poem "I Wrote A Good Omelet" was nice, and she was so, so, so correct. Here it is:   I Wrote A Good Omelet   I wrote a good omelet...and ate a hot poem... after loving you   Buttoned my car...and drove my coat home...in the rain... after loving you   I goed on red...and stopped on green...floating somewhere in between... being here and being there... after loving you   I rolled my bed...turned down my hair...slightly confused but...I don't care...   Laid out my teeth...and gargled my gown...then I stood ...and laid me down...   To sleep... after loving you

valentina

valentina

 

on the outside looking in

I wish I had the type of personality, that I could walk into a social situation where I know very few people, and feel comfortable. That I could start, or fit into, a conversation with a stranger. One that may last past the very superficial pleasantries, before that person tries to gracefully bow out of having to talk to me. I wish I didn't feel like a wallflower, just watching the interactions going on around me. I hate the fact that I avoid a lot of fun, because I haven't been able to invite/beg/coerce a friend to come along with me, and I do not want to go alone, and face the angst I've mentioned previously. I'm smart, friendly, at times funny, and on rare occasions, at least passably attractive....I would want to talk with me!   I went to a local bar yesterday for a benefit for the library's summer reading program. 4 bands.... should have been fun. A coworker met me there. But thing is.. she was the only one there I knew, and she had all sorts of friends and acquaintences she knew. I had no one. I tried talking with some of her friends..... but although they were nice, the conversation would be over in about 2 minutes, and then I was once again blended into the wall. I hate that feeling... that I don't know what to say, or that I'm not cool/interesting/even hot enough to talk to. I left early.

littletingoddess

littletingoddess

 

jonesing from some undies

It is quickly becoming very evident that one bottle of Underpants is not enough. I totally slathered it on today and then gazed in horror at what is probably only a microscopic change in the level. I actually panicked! I don't really know why I get all weird like that. I fell in love with Red Lantern and then scrambled around for more. I now have 4 bottles! Because of the limited quantity and my limited funds that is probably not an option this time. I'd be conservative with Underpants to keep it as long as possible but I love it and I want to wear it everyday! Ahhhhhhhhhh! I'm sure that all of you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about!   Haha, I think that I've officially becoming a bpal fanatic. Do I get a pin or a certificate or something? Now I just wish that some of my local friends would get into it. It'd be fun to order together and swap locally too. I think they're wary of things that I recommend because invariably, they fall in love and spend tons of money. I don't know if that's a compliment to my personal tastes or just kind of pathetic.   I'm expecting a CnS for my Dragon Moon tee order any time since I noticed that they're starting to come in. This is my first BPTP order and I'm so excited! I don't know if the shirt will fit but I'm steadily loosing weight so it will eventually. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get into it for my study abroad program this summer and spread the bpal love everywhere I go. I'm waiting impatiently, yeah who isn't, for my Dragon Moon/CN order. I have a ton of bottles coming to me with that one and my first GC 10ml! Yay Alice! It will be the perfect scent to wear this summer, along with Enraged Bunny Musk of course.   I'm totally just aimlessly rambling right now so I'll stop. blah blah blah   G-night all!

jessiesquash

jessiesquash

 

Power down

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, but almost: we lost our DSL modem in one of the thunderstorms last week. Dial-up is working but obviously slow. Boo.   I'm trying to lurk when I can!

dawndie

dawndie

 

Lessons learned from belly dancing

I had a big performance last night. I danced at a big dance show at a theater at Washington University (not at a bellydance-community event, but at an event where there were dancers from all over the city, and people payed $20/ticket to see the show!   Our school danced to two songs, the first was more traditionally bellydance, and the 2nd was to a song that was a cross between arabic and afro-cuban styles of music, and the dancing was a blend as well. It's super-cute. I was in the traditional piece. There were 5 of us dancing with veils, and we formed a semicircle type shape around 3 dancers with swords. I was the center veil dancer, which was most cool.   As a completely unrelated aside, the ballet dancers wear the ugliest crap backstage... baggy sweatpant overalls, grungy insulated socks... oh those poor things, too skinny to keep themselves warm. Also some of them were grumbling about how the cosumes we and the Indian dancers were wearing were a lot cooler than theirs. I would be grumbling too if the skirt of my dress was cut to look like mis-proportioned flower petals.   Anyway, so right up until like an hour before the show, the veil dancers are still going over stuff. At rehersal yesterday afternoon, my veil shrink wrapped itself to my face while I was dancing. We were all anticipating a disaster. But when we got on stage, it went off without a hitch. Our teachers take on it was, "Have you guys been shitting me for the last 3 weeks? Did you guys just know it all along and mess up in practice just to freak me out?" I twas awesome. The audience was clapping along with our music, it was great.   I learned a lesson from it too: We thought we were unprepared, but we had practiced hard, and when it came time to do it, adrenaline pulled us through. I think that's where I'm at with my exam: If I make a solid push of studying these last 10 days, and I consitently do well on my practice exams, then adrenalyn should help me pull through with enough of a margin to feel pretty confident about my score.   Also, my micro roses are developing buds. I'm going to have real live roses that I grew all by myself on my balcony!

antimony

antimony

 

signature icons

I know that I've become obsessed with something when I start making things in Photoshop. I made a few signature icons of my favorite scents and I thought I'd offer them up to whoever wants them. They're all 100x50. I'm not really concerned about credit and whatnot. Just enjoy them. I'll probably make more because they're kind of fun to do. I really want one for Underpants and Enraged Bunny but I have to decide on the right picture. So yeah, just please upload them to your own image host. (There are a ton of free ones like photobucket.) Just say no to sucking my bandwidth. Thanks.    

jessiesquash

jessiesquash

 

HappyHappyJoyJoy

The last 48 hours were great. On Friday, there was hardly any work to be done, so I ducked out early and went shopping. I dropped $80 at H&M , then the boy and I went to a small Mexican place for dinner and Cinco de Mayo yumminess. I had the chicken fajitas which weren't all that adventurous but yummy just the same. Next time, I'll try the chimichangas if I'm feeling particularly indulgent (they're deep fried tortillas, if I remember correctly).   After that we went over to my our friend's place where she and her husband had about 8 other people over to watch bad 70s porn. And it was bad. Like, not even so bad it's good, just f-in bad. After awhile we all got tired of making fun of it (too easy, at one point a mastiff and a fun house mirror was involved), and just drank and caught up with one another. It was great. Had a wonderful time trying to explain "Snakes on a Plane" to my friend's boyfriend.   Borrowed a book from my friend (yay! things to read!), then came home and fell asleep. I was DD for my boy, and good thing too. We both knew he was a little buzzed/well on his way to becoming hammered because he got real chatty about completely inane and sometimes TMI things, lol. On the way back I spotted not one, not two, but four cop cars including one that had pulled over some dude who was in the middle of the Follow the Path of my Finger with Your Eyes Test.   Today, something happened that made the 48 hours even better. I got an acceptance letter to a Grad Program! YAaaaaaaaaaaaaay!! I'm a little (a lot) scared too, because this means I need to get over my horrible bad study habits that made getting into a grad program initially so hard. So, in celebration, I think I'm gonna make a BPAL order Perhaps I should wait till the next update though? Hmmmmm....   Happy weekend, everyone!

circe_blue

circe_blue

 

the soft animal of your body

The domme of this blog is fighting off a cold and ennui, and she plans to go take a nap very soon. Ennui nonwithstanding, she is wearing to bed a pair of purple cutoff sweatpant short-shorts that she bought at VSC the other night. Sassy.   The poet of the day is Mary Oliver. I have a two favorite poems and I refuse to make a Sophie's Choice-like decision (because there are no blog Nazis here!) and I will run both of them. Both of the poems contain stanzas that I adore above all other poems. At least, so far... there's a lot of poetry to read in this world!   Enjoy, dear ones.     Wild Geese   You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting-- over and over announcing your place in the family of things.   When Death Comes   When death comes like the hungry bear in autumn; when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse   to buy me, and snaps the purse shut; when death comes like the measle-pox   when death comes like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,   I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering: what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?   And therefore I look upon everything as a brotherhood and a sisterhood, and I look upon time as no more than an idea, and I consider eternity as another possibility,   and I think of each life as a flower, as common as a field daisy, and as singular,   and each name a comfortable music in the mouth, tending, as all music does, toward silence,   and each body a lion of courage, and something precious to the earth.   When it's over, I want to say all my life I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.   When it's over, I don't want to wonder if I have made of my life something particular, and real.   I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened, or full of argument.   I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.

valentina

valentina

 

Inventory Like Things

Have right here-now (italics are what I find are becomming 'signature scents' I want to always have on hand) Alice Baneberry Bastet Bengal Black Opal Block Buster Blood Amber Chimera Clio Dorian Dragon's Blood Frumious Bandersnatch Hecate Jazz Funeral Medea Neo-Tokyo Ozymandias Prague Somnus Tenochtitlan The Pool of Tears (on order) The Raven Yew Trees   My pile of "rares" (LE/Lunar/TAL/etc). Not for trade or sale. 13 Bastet's Laughter (TAL) Beaver Moon Beltane (on order) Carnation SN Carnivale 05 (CN) Chaos Theory II CCLXXII Cthulhu * (SiA) Corazon (.5) Despair Devil's Night Dragon Moon (on order) Dreamland (DIMV) Enraged Bunny Musk (on order) Fruit Moon Graveyard Dirt Haunted Palace Hellion Hexennacht Holiday Moon Jacob's Ladder Kunstkammer (CN) Lion Heart (TAL) Mercury Miskatonic U (SiA) Monster Bait: Closet (on order) Monster Bait: Underpants - April Fool's Scent (on order) Monstressor Parlement of Foules Queen of Clubs Red Phoenix Salamander Samhain 05 Spanked Spooky Snow Bunny Snow Moon Three Witches White Light (TAL)   I will most likely decant things with a * if you have something I like in return. No *, no decants, sorry. Please don't ask, I'm a nice person who hates saying no.   Had, but swapped or sold (for various reasons) Storm Moon, Milk Moon, Eggnog 04, Kingsport, Pink Moon, Tulzscha, 21, Black Opal (5), Jack (10), Alone, Spirits of the Dead, Numb, Lick It!, Pink Phoenix, Night Pavilion, Red Lantern, Snow White 05, Smut, Blood Moon   Gifted Midway, Salamander, QoC, Dragon's Milk   Need to get The Lion (5)   Should get a scent locket   Eventually No season marked: Red Queen (5), Alagea (5), Katherina (5)   No season listed: French Love (5) Has No Hanna (5) Temple of Dreams (5)

pensive

pensive

 

Keeping track of the basics..

Yeah, yeah. Mundane.   Interested in with somewhat of a priority Hamptons Panacea: Detox ** Panacea: Lustration ** Penny Dreadful Undine Hymn to Prosperine Drink Me Eat Me King of Hearts Mouse Tale Tweedledum   ** Priority scents!   Most likely accepting list Cat friendly scents: Alice, Medea, Dragon's Milk, Miskatonic U, Somnus, Bastet, Kunstkammer   Catalog Scents I want to try at some point Utrennyaya Versailles   Decants welcome: Panacea: Succor Tarot: World Tarot: The Fool Tarot: The Magician   LEs (in order, but will take out of order as well): Corazon, Graveyard Dirt, Mabon, Snowblind   Twilight Alchemy Lab: Temple: Egyptian, Firey Wall of Protection, Perpetuum Bonum, Hand of Hermes, Hymn to Pan, Peace, Clarity, Nine Muses, Concentration   Discontinued/Otherwise Difficult to Get: Virgo   Unreleased (have mercy on me): Schrodinger's Cat, Thou Art That, Mu, Daffodil SN   Keeping my eyes on: Hungry Ghost Moon 06 (June 11)

pensive

pensive

 

wrongfully imprisoned

I had a strange dream last night... in the dream, I was in jail. I don't know what it was that I had been arrested for, but I knew that it was something I didn't do. It was a small jail... think Mayberry, but not as folksy. No one there, the officers or guards, would listen to me. I kept telling them, I needed to get home to my daughter, that there was no one to take care of her, she's on a special diet, and someone would end up giving her the wrong kind of food. It was very frustrating, and I never did get out before I woke up.   I think that this was brought on by my reading about the West Memphis Three quite a bit lately. If you're not familiar with their case, please... go check it out.

littletingoddess

littletingoddess

 

Obligatory First Entry

Alas, Vicomte de Valmont, I am not fool enough to fall for your tricks a second time.   Jeez. What is it with florals? So few of them can I actually wear, and nothing, apparently, with violet, geranium or carnation. It's either stinky soap, rancid makeup, or baby powder. Nauseating. And they smell so nice on other people! It's a conspiracy. Only roses don't turn on me.   Geek, though . . . now that's a smell! Red-hot cinnamony slapped-around butt-groping sex. Now with leather!   Yes, this is going to be a random scent-thoughts journal, rather than a real news and updates journal (that would be at my livejournal account). I'll maunder here about things perfumey.

Naamah_Darling

Naamah_Darling

 

Extreme (Blog) Makeover

The Snarks are homeowners!   Snarky = ecstatic, The Mister = Already Thinking...   To commemorate this life-changing event, Snarky is tweaking her blog a bit to include documentation of the ongoing process of turning This Old House into their Home.   Snarky is still planning to keep with the third person format. She will most likely still throw in random fits of writerly aspiration. But the focus has shifted enough to warrant a re-chistening of this blog.   The Snarks are really, truly happy to have gotten through this first major hurdle toward housedom. Unfortunately, their new status started out with a Snakes on a Plane shakedown in the form of a break-in to their new house.   Apparently some bored, only mildly motivated hoodlums noticed the "SOLD" sign in front of the house and the fact that the previous owners had recently vacated. They took advantage of the occupancy lull and crowbarred their way into the empty house. After unsuccessfully attempting to wrench the sink disposal out of the kitchen, it appears they left empty handed. They even left the crowbar behind.   The Snarks are feeling a bit shaken by this. They've had car break ins in the past, but their home? Never. After talking with the neighbors, they feel a bit better. They're a (usually) watchful, mindful bunch.   Besides the obvious changes to the game plan (having the sellers purchase a new side door, installing anti-theft systems) they are now thinking that a Whole Hog style move in (rather than a piece-meal, dribs and drabs approach) would make them feel more secure about their few possessions.   What a way to get started! Nevertheless, The Snarks are determined to make crudites out of cruddy human nature and plan to gather fluff and twigs so that they can fuss and fidget until their nest feels Just Right.   The tenative plan for this weekend is to possibly purchase a nearly-new commercial grade elliptical machine for their gym/entertainment area in the basement. Though this fine piece of machinery is an amazing find on the Craigslist Portland site, it still is pricey enough to cause Snarky to reconsider her gym membership. If they can also find a decent set of free weights for cheap, she will hang up her wee courtesy towel for good and Sweat to the Oldies (or the Emos, or whatever else The Mister has going) at Home.   Snarky is also thinking about taking on the somewhat daunting task of refinishing the hardwood floor in the upstairs master bedroom suite. This might be as little as scruffing up the finish with steel wool and adding two coats of poly... or as much as renting a belt sander, floor buffer, and edger and spending two days stripping, scruffing, and recoating.   Either way, she thinks it will greatly improve the feel of the room and it will also be much less than the bamboo overhaul The Mister has been craving.   And with that bit of good/bad/good, this sleepy new homeowner is going to collapse into bed.

darkitysnark

darkitysnark

×