Friday, September 10, 2010

10 Scents and Smells

My 10 Favorite Scents or Smells

I'm not really sure about thinking of 10 smells or scents, but I'll give it a shot!! The ability to remember scents is amazing, and I'm always surprised when I smell something, and it brings back a flood of memories from a time in my life!! Scent is powerful my friends (so take showers, so I can remember that you smelled good! lol) I also looked up for the record what the difference was between a "scent" and a "smell" and found that a "scent" is a distinctive smell, and a "smell" or should I say to smell, is inhaling the odor or "scent" of something. With that being said...here are the scents I like to inhale! :)



1) There was a drawer in my house growing up that you would open in the kitchen and it would smell like "Christmas". My mom has these tiny houses that you could put little cone incense burners under and they would cause the houses to "smoke" through the chimney! It kind of smelled like a dull cinnamon, but always smelled sooooo good! I loved to open that drawer for no reason whatsoever, except to just inhale a little bit of Christmas from the kitchen!!


2) Lavender: The smell of lavender, is like no other! It soothes the soul! A trick I learned a long time ago is to drop a couple drops of lavender oil onto your pillow at night and it helps you relax and fall asleep!! Also, being a girl and loving to be pampered now and again...this smell can overwhelm you when you walk into a spa!! You immediately are transformed into some calm trance, in which they (the powerful holders of the scent at the spa) get you nice and relaxed and then when you have no more cares left in the world somehow manage to double your selection for the day, by adding more "features" onto your package, yet oddly enough you're happy at that moment to spend the extra money because....You've been overwhelmed with relaxation!! It only takes moments once you have entered your car and are driving home and get that first nice whiff of exhaust coming off of the truck in front of you to bring you out of this trance and you pull over and give you wallet CPR after realizing that you just spent your life savings at the spa, yet you have pretty toes and an exfoliated face! Beware of this scent in these types of situations....Inhale this scent as much as you want, when falling asleep at night!


3) Crayons: This may be a strange one to some. However, I love the smell of crayons, and melted crayons (there is a difference)! Smelling a crayon brings me back to my childhood days in kindergarten, when you could sit and color for hours! There is something very innocent about this smell, and it always makes me smile when I inhale this powerful scent! (After this is over, I'm headed to Wal-mart to get a coloring book and new box of crayons...just because)!


4) Hot Glue Guns: This smell always reminds me of doing crafts with my sister and mom! I can remember our old kitchen, and hot gluing shrinky dinks onto sweatshirts, putting together school crafts and assignments and just doing crafts we had found at Hobby Lobby or Wal-Mart. Victory was the day when I finally got to use the glue gun by myself, and sadness was what I felt the first time I burned my finger while gluing something together and not waiting until the glue had cooled down a little bit before putting my finger down to glue something together! All in all this scent always brings back happy memories!!


5) Fresh cut grass: Although it is inevitable, that once I have taken a good whiff of a freshly mowed lawn it will immediately be followed by a series of sneezes, that first time you smell this you know Spring and Summer is on the way!! I love after it's been cold and wintery outside and the sun is starting to shine more, and your driving down the street in your neighborhood and you hear that motor running, you roll down your window and inhale, and low and behold, someone is out mowing their lawn and getting it ready for the Spring showers to make it nice and green!! It makes me think of eating hot dogs and nachos at baseball games...and driving with the windows down and feeling the breeze in your hair. It makes me think of playing tennis outside and laying out at the pool! It's that first scent that makes you think of all the grilling and wonderful summer activities that are sure to follow!!


6) Fall: I don't really know how to "label" this scent!! It is the first time you walk outside and the air is crisp in the morning, and there is dew on the grass and you (or at least I) immediately think, football is right around the corner!! It's the smell of a change in your wardrobe, and grabbing jackets or sweaters to leave the house in the morning! It's that smell that makes you think of sitting in the bleachers with your friends covered up in a blanket and cheering on your favorite football team! It's the smell of leave piles, that even though you're almost 30 you still have to run and jump into just because! It's the scent that reminds you that kids will be out trick-or-treating and dressed up as their favorite bumblebee or movie character! It's the scent that reminds you that pumpkin patches will be opening up and soon you too can become a master pumpkin carver for $5, with the carving kit from Wal-Mart! This scent brings on so many fun times, and I'm so happy I've already smelled it this season!!


7) Popcorn: This smell is pretty simple! My dad LOVES popcorn! We're talking if the man had to eat one thing for the rest of his life, I'm pretty sure he would pick popcorn! This scent reminds me of my dad sitting in his recliner watching golf, or football on TV at home. It's oddly enough a very relaxing scent to me, I think because it reminds me so much of being at home and stealing bites from his tray when he gets up to get a mountain dew. When I smell popcorn, I can almost hear the golf announcers in the background talking about "Great shot Bob, look at the way that ball just took to the grass, and held on to roll to the green, and what not and this and that..." Smelling freshly popped popcorn makes me think of being at home, plain and simple!!


8) Tennis Balls: I don't really know what to say about this smell! I love the sound of opening that can of tennis balls, and the knock you down powerful scent of green fuzz!! I love to play tennis and always have...I can trace this scent waaaaay back to my early days!!


9) Spices and Food: Because I am a food addict, it was hard to narrow this category down. I think one of my favorite things about cooking and the smell of food is all the different spices you can add to it. Take Italian food, the smell of oregano, parsley, pepper, etc etc makes my mouth water!! Or, Mexican food, and the smell of cilantro, chile powder, taco seasoning, cheese melting...getting hungry!!! Some things that make my mouth water upon first smell...pickles, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, tomatoes,hot sauce, cheese (pretty much any type), a grill firing up! (Scratch the coloring book and crayons...I'm going to go have to find something to eat pronto!!)


10) Books: Okay, so I did it! I found 10 scents/smells that are some of my favorites. I actually found that I have more than 10...but what could be better than smelling a new book?? I know this one is really crazy...however, reading was such an important part of growing up in my house, and it was like Christmas when I got a new book!! I can remember the Babysitter's Club, and Boxcar Children, The Velveteen Rabbit, and Mandy! I can remember the first smell of a used dusty textbook that had been sitting on a shelf for a year...or opening that new book in college and hearing the cracking of the pages while you could smell the new pages being broken in as you flipped through to see how much reading you were really going to have to do!! (More pictures really does mean less reading!! How I loved those picture pages!) I can remember taking books outside to a huge tree in our backyard and climbing up to a huge branch that I could lay down on and reading for hours, the smell of the paper and outside air was so relaxing!

So that's it...I am now going to find something good to eat...and grab a book and sit down and relax!

"Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains..."

~Ackerman~





























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