Merry Christmas to (the real) ME!

For the first time since I moved into this neighborhood, my next door neighbor FINALLY put the correct last name on my Christmas card.

I have wonderful neighbors…at least this set. They welcomed me from day one…about 8-9 years ago.

However, the first Christmas, I get a card from them in the mail…to Jennifer Shepherd. “Shepherd”? I thought to myself that they sent it to the wrong person. I was really busy that year so I ignored it. The next year, I got a card in the mail… again, “Jennifer Shepherd”. I thought, “That’s strange. Someone’s not getting her Christmas card again.” But again, forgot about it. Well, the third year comes…the same card. By then, it’s been 3 years since they’ve been calling me “Jennifer Shepherd”. I couldn’t go to them and say, “Hey! Thanks for the Christmas card…but my name isn’t Shepherd. You’ve gotten it wrong for the past 3 years.” That just sounds ungrateful. So…<shrug>…

It just became a family joke by this time. As my mother says, “Well, if you have to be called by a wrong name, “Shepherd” isn’t so bad.”

I got married last year. Introduced my new husband to them…and very deliberately told them my new married name.

Yeah…got a card from them…to the both of us. And NOT “Shepherd”.

Merry Christmas, neighbors! 🙂

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A rose by any other name…

You know, smells are very subjective. There are things that pretty much everybody agrees smells good. Like fresh baked cookies or bread. Some are not as crystal clear. I had a friend who LOVED the smell of fresh cut grass. I absolutely abhor that stench. It would actually cause a gag reflex when it was too strong…hence me paying someone to mow my yard when I was single.

I know this is going to sound strange, but I like the smell of light chlorine. It reminds me of summer. Can you tell I’m a city girl? All the pools around here had to be chlorinated…so summers…chlorine! (and coconut smells…and Johnson & Johnson baby oil for those of us who were hard-core sun worshipers)

I also love the smell of fresh clean earth/dirt after a cleansing rainstorm. And the smell of a baby. Or my honey straight out of the shower before cologne. Patchouli…which is not very easy to find in candle scene, btw. Makes me sound like a very earthy kinda girl, doesn’t it? <shrug> (Don’t you sometimes wonder how your olfactory senses were wired the way they are?)

But there’s a group of smells that by changing the situation can smell either really good…or really bad. For example, cheese. And I’m talking about the most ripe, pungent kinds. You blindfold someone, and

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