mojave and memories
i finally found a local store that sells pf candle co. products and i am beyond excited. granted the store only sells their candles (and limited scents) but those were my top priority so i'm not complaining. i've been eyeing their candles for so long ever since i discovered them on pinterest - yes, i'm that crazy pinterest girl and my old soul is patting me on the back for it - so you can imagine how elated i was when i realized the online store i was browsing them on was a local store eeep!
i made my first order immdiately on wednesday afternoon and it arrived the next evening, right before i left for hall for an overnight study sesh before my first paper. it definitely gave me some motivation to keep trudging on during these two weeks of hell. i can't wait for finals to be over, when i can dedicate a day to burning this together with my salt crystal candle and listen to a playlist of chimes and singing bowls all afternoon.
i was inspired to do a mini photoshoot of all my trinkets, inspired by the memories triggered by the amazing scent of the candle.
i ordered the scent mojave, in tribute to my childhood years growing up in arizona. those precious few years spent under the eternally sunny sky and glorious ethereal desert sunsets were the crux of my formative years, and i can say with all conviction that the freedom i had to run around and play while surrounded by gorgeous mountains, amazing unique wildlife, weekend craft/fruit&flower markets and the magical, prehistoric and sacred cracked desert ground under my feet, really fostered my wild imagination that never left me.
more than that, those were the years that i grew my habit of reading and my love for books, and i visited the school library so often that we had to make trips to the town library to quench my literary appetite. it was during these years that i discovered stargirl by jerry spinelli. it was considered advanced reading for my age but my elder brother was reading it and i had to match up to him. he lent me his copy and he never got it back.
how can i explain what stargirl is and means to me without explaining... everything? it is a book about nonconformity, high school, arizona and teenage love. i guess that's the gist of it. but its so much more. theres sitting in the middle of the desert and doing nothing but feeling everything. theres walking into stores and leaving change to make a kid's day. theres cheering for both teams because we are all rooting for humanity as humans. it was magical because the things that jumped off the page were things that already existed in me, and it was simply like greeting a long lost best friend. i currently have four copies of stargirl, and i'm buying as many editions as i can. my personal rule is to buy a copy each time i spot it at the bookstore, even if i can only buy one book that day. and you can bet this is the book im making my future husband read when i lack the words to explain why i am who i am.
this stunning necklace and bangle set depicts coyotes howling all a full moon, and they feature turquoise, the official gemstone of az. it was my goodbye gift from my form teacher on my last day of school, when my whole class surprised me with a huge cake and my teacher let me choose what we could do for the rest of the day (i remember declaring "whatever they want!" and i saw the cute guy i had a crush on do a heart-stopping fist pump as the class cheered "yay!" and yeah, i knew right then that i was queen of making decisions under pressure.) its probably my favorite piece of jewelry ever, together with my tiffany and co. necklace that my father gave me for my birthday.
if you haven't read stargirl yet, definitely pick up a physical copy and bring it with you on your next holiday or adventure. i find that reading it during the high moments of your life makes it even more special, and when you're travelling in a foreign country, feeling excited and happy to be exploring a new and wonderful place and feeling extra whimsical, this book can work wonders in you.
xoxo, ali.