Year End Review (2018)

The year is coming to a close, and I'm afraid to say I haven't got much to show for it that will knock anyone's socks off. It's really hard to top off the big changes of the last three years: Trans-continental move, building the studio (actually, two of them: Perfume and Pilates), renovating our house, and all the major life changes that go with all of that for me and my daughter, and the business. This year was all about deepening my roots (both figuratively speaking and literally) and nurturing what I've been building and planting here. In the coming year I would really like to plant more in my garden. Trees especially (did you know that if every person on the planet would plant 4 trees this year we'd be able to reverse the damage we've been creating in the last 50 years?).

To be honest, we're still dealing with the aftermath: homesickness, adjustments and getting acclimated to the new environment, so I'm not exactly in the thrill-seeking stage. Everything around us still feels new and strange, even if more comfortable than before. We're still getting used to the new cycles of seasons, different rhythms and customs associated with them and the different holidays here etc. Even though I spent all my childhood here, things are different, very different, from an adult point of view. Additionally, my daughter transitioned to adulthood again (because in Israel people with special needs are considered minors and get full services and free education until they turn 21, not 19 like in Canada). I thought it will be a breeze after all the major changes she went through, but turns out you don't get better with practice in this area of life. The last six months were a roller-coaster getting used to all of that plus a visit in Canada in the middle, which was supposed to make things better but was very emotionally trying for Miss T. She still talks daily about packing all her belongings, and shipping them in a container on a cargo ship and moving to Vancouver (she has the whole route planned and it it's exactly the reverse of the one we made when moving here). Please mom, just reverse what you did two years ago! I'm done with this. She would still tell you she lives in Vancouver, and remembers her exact address and phone number from there. Truly heartbreaking. Thank goodness things are looking up for her now. After graduating from those two bonus high-school years, she's finally settled and doing very well in a protected employment centre just 20 minutes drive from home, and gets paid for doing what she's good at - arts and crafts. It's not a very long day, so I have to find a way to get all of my stuff done in 7hrs workday. Which go by really fast living in a rural area - there are lots of logistics that are way more complicated than in the city, besides chopping wood for heating the house in the winter and tending to the garden and the pets - it also means driving to do errands (for example, the business related ones - going to the post office to send shipments - not a trip down the elevator and across the street like I had in the West End). So in a way I'm still adjusting as well.

So what did happen this year, you wonder? I happily launched two new fragrances, Inbar and Black Heart and revamped Coralle - none of these have received even as much as a single review and I didn't even bother to nominate them to any fragrance awards. I've been too busy with life. I am strangely content with this, even though it's not good for business. I've been just way too busy with life and deeply absorbed in my own creative process. I don't want to live under a rock but I don't want to chase fame either. Those days are far behind me.

<3 a="" heart="" lack="">It was a year of a lot of incense making and experimenting, as well as sharing my incense love with the local audience here in the Galilee in the form of Koh-Doh inspired incense parties/ceremonies that I hold every other month or so. A few workshop with children, which were also a lot of fun (how about educating the next generation of noses?). 
<3 a="" heart="" lack="">And lots of foraging and experimenting with the cornucopia and pharmacopeia of the local flora. I'm blessed to be living near an outdoors medicine cabinet! It is literally just a few steps away from my doorstep, in every direction. 

I've taught three perfume courses this year: Citrus & Colognes, Chypre and Floral Bouquets - which was the first time this course was taught at all!

I'm happy and grateful that people are interested and willing to travel all the way to Clil to study with me, and will be offering no less than four perfumery courses this coming year:
Fougère (March 24-28, 2019)
Florientals (March 31 - April 4, 2019)
Orientals (November 10-14, 2019)
Leather/Tobacco (November 17-21, 2019)

I'm just on the very last edits of my 3rd correspondence course - Chypre,  so I guess I do have something to show for 2018 after all... I'd also like to focus more on my writing projects and spend less on social media. I think if I've put the energy I spent on writing status updates on completing my new book - or at least blogging instead - I would have felt a lot more accomplished and fulfilled then this endless spurts of info that small indie perfumers such as myself are obliged to maintain in order to stay visible.

Starting January, I will begin a new monthly series of for incense making courses, with a lovely group of local witches. I'm excited to get to know these ladies up close and share what little I know about the world of incense. Honestly, I'm most excited simply about the opportunity to get deeper into incense and try to master it or at least study it more methodically.

Last but not least: I'm also just about to hand in my contribution to an art installation in Toronto that will open in January 12th. It's a collaboration with the visual artist, and I am very excited to be part of this and to have my creation treated as art and not just a commodity. Stay tuned!

Slow Down

snails, a photo by JasonOzur on Flickr.

"Slow down and remember this - most things make no difference. Being busy is a form of laziness - lazy thinking and indiscriminate action."
- Tim Ferriss

It couldn't be more relevant than to now. We always seem to be in a rush to get somewhere, to get something done, to meet more people -- that the important things seem to sift away and fall to the bottom of the pile. Mindfulness is our only savior in this hectic rat-race towards what often tunrs out to be not all that worthy finishing line. 

Nature will always get her ways. If we don't stop to breath, it will give us a cold so that we appreciate our breath better. Allow me to make up for all my unmade New Year's resolution with this post (in case you were wondering - I was too occupied with adjusting to extreme time differences and temperature drops and completely lost my opportunity to even buy a 2013 agenda book).

With each year that goes by I realize how it all boils down to mindfulness and how important this is to our lives. Living to its fullest each moment as it passes through us; embracing life with all of its challenges - even savouring the painful experiences. We'll always be able to look back fondly to these challenging times and appreciate the lessons they taught us and are still relevant in the present.

At this point, you're probably concerned with where this SmellyBlog is going and how is this related to perfume - or smell - in any way. Well, last time I checked it was an paramount to smelling. And if that does not satisfy you, here's my New Year's resolution for 2013:

1.  Be mindful of my breathing, thinking, and the intent I put in what I do.
2.  Remain authentic to my inner voice - which is inevitably connected to my creative side which churns up scents as my means of self-expression and story telling. 3. Release absolutely no new scent whatsoever in 2013.
4. Perfect as much as I possibly can the packaging, branding and accessibility of my existing line.

In relation to 4, I'd like to add that I have thought long and hard about my collection over the past year, and have divided it down to 4 collections, and 49 scents in total - that should keep both me and my customers interested and busy for a while. Now it's just the question of printing and setting this into action; plus the scariest part of the task: re-branding the website. Any takers for the task?

There is going to be plenty of excitement for 2013: Broken Hearts Tea Party for Valentine's on February 10th; Artisan Fragrance Salon March 24th, my appearance in Blackbird Apothecary as part of the Northwest Indie Perfumers Circuit on May 11th, and of course - my Floriental Week May 13-17. Hope you'll join me for one or more of these events!