My Gift for Mother's Day Has Arrived

Mother's Day has a special meaning to me as my daughter was born the day after Mother's Day 2007 but my labor started on the day before, so I like to think that I became a mother on Mother's Day, even if technically it isn't true. What a better way to celebrate?

Anyway, one of the good things of motherhood is that we are the ones who get the presents on Mother's Day. Last year I had a Jcrew "coupon" (hand-written by my hsuband, something like "Coupon valid for an item of your choice at Jcrew"), but this year I had the opportunity to buy an expensive perfume that I wanted for a very long time for a third of the price, so I told my husband that I would take care of it if he didn't mind (he didn't, I think that he thought that the trip to Bermuda was enough as a present).

I was expecting this perfume as my birthday present last year (it's from a French "parfumier" not very well known here, Annick Goutal), as my mother in law, who lives in Paris, was staying with us for the summer and I thought that my husband had "ordered" her a bottle from Paris because I had left several clues. I was so disappointed when I found out that there wasn't any perfume hidden in her suitcase for me (when she told me I still couldn't believe it and I asked her to show me the suitcase. She was speechless...) that I cried like a child in front of her, I had a real breakdown (I know, it sounds so childish and stupid, but I'm an only spolied child and I alway got surprise presents for my birthday).
This happened on my bday, so it was too late for my husband to run and buy it (it is sold in a very few places, like Saks) and my bday was a real disaster, especially because he hadn't ANY OTHER present for me ...

So, a few weeks ago I received an email from one of the several online sample sale sites I subscribe to, Editor's Closet, informing me that they were having an Annick Goutal sample sale and they were selling a "L'Eau d'Hadrien" gift set with a 50 ml bottle of parfume and a small sized bottle of body cream and shower gel for $39!!! The perfume itself normally sells for $85 at Saks, so I immediately clicked on it and bought it, even if I had sworn to never buy again from this site because I had a very bad experience the time before (ten days after my credit card had been charged, I found out that not only the items that I had ordered hadn't shipped yet but that one of them, the most expensive, wasn't even available. They refunded me but still, what were they waiting to tell me?)

But this time everything went smoothly and the package arrived some days ago. I opened it because I wanted to be sure that it was what I had ordered and also because anyway I couldn't bring it to Bermuda, where we are spending Mother's day...

The gift box itself is beautiful, black with golden butterflies:



I have already found a place in my bathroom (which has golden fixtures) for it as it's the perfect size to store my necklaces, that were crammed in a smaller box.
Here is the content:



Eau d'Hadrien is the perfect summer fragrance to me, the smell (a "combination of lemon and grapefruit underscored by basil and cypress to capitalize on the burst that citrus can give to fragrances") reminds me of the Amalfi Coast, where you can find the most beautiful lemons ever.

My daughter loves creams and perfumes, she always wants me to put some on her, but of course I don't want her to smell like an old lady. For the time being I let he play a little bit with the bottles:



For those of you who are mothers, are you expecting a surprise present for Mother's Day or did you buy something for yourself? I would like to know what's on your wish list!

This is my last post before Mother's Day as I'm packing for Bermuda and I'll leave tomorrow morning very early. I'm not sure that I will have time to reply to your comments by I will surely do when I'm back!

Happy Mother's Day everyone!