Yesterday’s mail hail

Amanda, by Candice F. Ransom and Jessica, by Mary Francis Shura. I have recently discovered ThriftBooks. I had Amanda on my watch list for a while. I recently finished Joanna and was intrigued by the preview to Jessica in the back of the book. Going to ThriftBooks to look for Jessica, I saw that Amanda was back in stock and very affordable so I got both books for a great price and free shipping.

I believe I read Amanda in elementary school or junior high school. I believe I probably read Amanda in late elementary school. I remember checking out Susannah and Caroline from my middle school library, and I believe I got Josie from a used bookstore. The Oregon Trail game is such a meme now for my generation but the subject in general was a pretty popular imaginary when I was growing up. The Oregon Trail doesn’t really seem to be in the public consciousness today, but having it be the setting for the first Sunfire Romance in the series seems to be a logical choice for the time. I was really intrigued by how Jessica was going to turn out based on the preview. I have read several in the series since moving up to Arlington, beginning with Victoria, one of my first Amazon purchases, back in 2004. Just recently, I finished Corey and Joanna. Amanda will be the first one I am re-reading. I remember liking the book but feeling disconnected from the heroine because we share the same name. It seems like characters named Amanda are often spoiled princess types that get thrown into a hard life and have to toughen up. I don’t know what type of person I am, really, but I don’t feel like I would fall into that archetype.

My mini bottle of Antidris Cassis came from a Mercari seller. I was so excited to find this scent at such a great price. Even tiny bottles of it are expensive. The Maison Louis Marie line is cruelty-free and non-toxic, so I wanted to love this line very much when I started moving into non-toxic products, and acquiring cruelty-free scents, which I had done until recently. I asked for a bottle of Bois de Balincourt from Nathan. I do like it. It is on the stronger side, though. From the entire line, Nathan picked Antidris Cassis as the free sample with Bois de Balincourt, and I fell in love with it. It is like the next iteration of all of the “great ones” I have had over the years. It is 100% my signature. I still wear Bois de Balincourt on the weekend, though. I want to enjoy it when I can since it’s a little too strong for the workplace.

I got Caramel Apple Dream tea from Amazon after some deliberation. Having gone mostly caffeine-free, I have tried many different caffeine-free teas at this point. I’ve concluded Celestial Seasonings is by far the very best. Tazo is frustrating because half the time their bags are broken and leak into the tea. Harney and Sons is expensive and they don’t have a very interesting caffeine-free line. I had gotten Celestial Seasonings Cinnamon Apple and Bengal Spice and loved them. Caramel Apple Dream must be a limited tea from years ago since I couldn’t find it anywhere but Amazon. It was 3x the price of their other teas, but that makes it only $6, still half the price of a box from Harney and Sons. It’s delicious. It’s a lot more subtle than Cinnamon Apple and Bengal Spice, which really hit you with the cinnamon and spices. It has a little spice to it, but it has a caramel flavor, and there is a sea salt note that makes it captivating. I will be drinking it all the time. I also have Vermont Maple Sugar coming on Monday, another Celestial Seasonings tea from Amazon that seems like it was limited.

Yesterday’s mail hail

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