Aiona

For the last few weeks, I've been getting phantom whiffs of favorite scents. I know they're not real, because I have put all my bottles and samples away in a box in the hall closet. It happens at odd times. When I am at work. When I am in the grocery store. When I am driving down the road.

Was that Hypnotic Poison I smelled? Did I just smell Rive Gauche pour Homme?

Or in the store, I'll pass by the latest celebrity ad for perfume, and sigh wistfully, having...

Hello. My name is Aiona. And I am a control freak.

Today, my husband and I went grocery shopping after work. One of his pet peeves is when someone in front of us knows that he or she is going to write a check for their groceries, and waits until after everything has been "beeped" and bagged before even starting to fill out the check. In other words, he's impatient. And so am I. So we have this system -- awesome to watch, believe me! He stands at the front of the cart,...

In different threads in the forums section of Basenotes, I had seen some women mentioning how their scent preferences changed during pregnancy. And even some men had anecdotes about their female partner's sensibilities during pregnancy. In particular, I remembered how some women found scents that they previously enjoyed to be nauseating. I thought to myself, "How sad!" But it didn't quite click in my head, "That could happen to you, hon."

Except, maybe about...

Well, it has started. I had heard the stories, and seen my own friends in the throes of it. But today. . . Yes today, I discovered that it *is* possible to simultaneously feel like one is starving at the same time that one wants to vomit.

So for the past two weeks since I have discovered I am pregnant, I have been avoiding strong smells. I have no idea why. I wasn't nauseous really, until. . . about yesterday, it started. A vague feeling like, "Hrm. Is that reflux? Or...

What does it mean to smell "old"?

There've been a couple of threads in the forums about this topic, and it seems like such a touchy one.

TDDanae's "Hurt Old Lady" thread was closed because it had become controversial, I think.

LedByMyNose's thread "Old Lady! Teenybopper! Ballbusting Exec!" led to a discussion of ageism.

I noticed that even guys' reviews of fragrances sometimes say "for old men."...