July 17, 2009

Smells like Safari Spirit

Last Christmas was the first Christmas my brother was both gainfully employed & had a steady girlfriend (fiance by that time). Those two things combined to make it a fairly exciting Christmas when Uncle Bubba got to our house. He brought the boys their very own Indiana Jones bull whips, BabyGirl a fabulous Fancy Nancy doll, and a Cabbage Patch Kid for Bitsy. I scored The Last Unicorn DVD & a basket of bath stuff.

When I opened the box containing the basket of bath goodies, my first words were, "Beck picked this out, didn't she?" Bubba said, "She handed it to me & said, 'This is what you're getting your sister.'" It's not that my brother doesn't give gifts I like. Bubba would get me a Labyrinth poster or the complete first season of G.I. Joe on DVD or a pair of Ox Blood Red Doc Martens, but not a bath set. Never a bath set.

It was one of those shrink wrapped deals they line the shelves with every holiday season. The "basket" was a brown faux alligator toiletry bag. The labels were all leopard print. The colors all brown & gold. It was labeled Safari Escape. It was something I'd (honestly) have passed by & never taken a second look at. I noticed the scratch-n-sniff label on the side & gave it a whiff. "Not bad," I thought. (Please do not think I wasn't happy about my gift. I was very happy with it. It just wasn't something I'd have picked out for myself. Most of my favorite gifts fall into that category.)

When I think "Safari Escape" I don't think "Good smelling bath stuff." I think Elephant poop. I think rotting water buffalo carcases crawling with vultures. I think lions sunning themselves on the savanna. I think of those giant jeep things that are a little open for my tastes when trolling through big cat country. None of these things smells particularly good in my imagination.

Much to my surprise Safari Escape smelled wonderful. I'm not a girly-girl when it comes to scents. When we were dating, I liked to wear Husband's cologne....he never did, so it's not like we matched. My favorite fragrances are usually a bit on the masculine side. I jumped on the CK One boat real quick. My current favorite is Gucci because it's not really floral or overly feminine. Safari Escape fit my bill perfectly. Sadly today, I used the very last of the body wash, the last bottle in my set.

Now I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of the bath sets at Wal-Mart hoping they'll stock Safari Escape again. Since it's Mid-July, I figure I have about 2 weeks left to wait.

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