April 2010 Newsletter

Greetings My Dear Purrfumery Friends!

We’re back after a very busy March! There is so much to tell you! We spent some of last month planning our upcoming Kitty Tea Party Benefit for Friends of Roman Cats (FORC). Based in San Francisco, this amazing group helps homeless kitties in the United States and abroad, and provides emergency funds for surgeries and other veterinary care. FORC even leads tours of gardens and community cat colonies in Venice, Florence and Rome. I have supported FORC for years, and turned to them recently to help me provide love and care to a family of kitties after their owner, my dear Purrfumery friend Iris, passed away in March. I am so grateful for their help and concern. My friend Lisa Camasi and I have been planning to do a benefit for them for some time. Finally, we’re ready! Here are the delicious details:

kitty-tea-party

Velvet & Sweet Pea’s Purrfumery invites you to a Kitty Tea Party Benefit for Friends of Roman Cats from 1 to 4 on June 5th in the Perfumer’s Garden. Come sit with us among the roses in bloom and enjoy high tea and vegan and vegetarian delights! Our sumptuous spread will include vegan blood orange and almond scones, Russian perfumer tea cookies with patchouli, lemon rose dew drop cookies, and our famous (and fabulous) jasmine and orange blossom chocolate truffles. Did we mention there will be goody bags? Yes! Each guest will receive a Purrfumery goody bag filled with delectable scented treats. Tickets are $25 (tax deductible) the proceeds of which will allow Friends of Roman Cats to continue their work in promoting humane care and spay/neuter of homeless cats throughout Italy as well as here in the Bay Area. Please send checks payable to FORC to the Purrfumery at 727 Sea View Drive, El Cerrito, CA 94530. We look forward to your RSVP by May 25, as space in limited. The Purrfumery doors will be open that day from 1 to 5. Guests are welcome to saunter over from the garden and take a sneak peek into my magic world of wonders! All of our perfumes, frostings, bath salts and other treats will be available for you to sample and sniff to your heart’s delight. I will donate 20% of every sale made during the tea party to FORC – they are true lifesavers! And, my dear Purrfumery friends, if you can’t make the event but would like to support this wonderful group, please feel free to send checks payable to FORC to my address. I will include them with the proceeds. To learn more about FORC and their mission, visit FORC. P.S. Velvet & Sweet Pea would like to send a heartfelt thank you to Lisa Camasi for scribing the Kitty Tea Party Benefit anthem to the tune of “For the Benefit of Mr. Kite!” We love the Beatles!

Perfume Blogs, Mother’s Day, and More…

Two of our favorite perfume blogs, Perfume-Smellin' Things and Scent Hive, have featured our products recently! Thank you PerfumeSmellinThings and Scent Hive! On Perfume-Smellin' Things, Beth’s review of our perfumes (and the effect they had on her beloved) and her sweet ode to San Francisco left me speechless with delight! To read the review, go to Perfume-Smellin' Things. Scent Hive featured our spring gift sets and even had a Rose Jasmine Perfume and Passionflower gift set Giveaway. Fun! We also love Scent Hive’s suggestion that perfume lovers think of our gift sets when shopping for something special for Mom. Yes, Mother’s Day is May 9 – it’s just around the corner. If you’re looking for something yummy and fun for a wonderful Mom but you’re not sure what she’ll like, give me a call and make an appointment to visit the Purrfumery. Whether Mom prefers woods or florals, perfumes, frostings, hydrosols or bath salts, we have a scent to stir and enchant each and every soul. And, as a special treat for those women we love, we will include a free frosting with the purchase of any perfume or spring gift set through the month of May. Love you, Mom!

Also in May, Ms. Wilkins’ Heritage Rose Show

If you love roses, mark your calendar for the Heritage Rose Show, which will be held from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on May 16th at the El Cerrito Community Center. My dear friend Miriam Wilkins, an avid antique rose lover who passed away in November 2009 at the age of 91, founded this event many years ago. Miriam was an amazing woman – her own garden featured more than 1,000 varieties of Old Roses during her lifetime! Before she passed away, Miriam asked me to create a custom perfume for her, saying she wanted to smell her beloved roses in winter. Miriam sat right beside me when I created her custom perfume. This was a first for me – I had never created a custom perfume in the presence of the wearer. But Miriam was different. I wanted her to experience the scent and beauty of roses from Bulgaria to Morocco. And, I wanted this delicate scent I was creating to smell just as striking and wild as a rose cut from her garden. She knew her roses intimately and I wanted her to tell me when her new scent was finished. A few weeks after Miriam passed away I opened my front door and to my surprise and delight, found a Bulgarian Kazanlik Damask rose plant on my doorstep. It was a gift from Miriam, ordered before she passed away and delivered to my door by her daughter-in-law. This is the famous Bulgarian perfumers rose that I procure and use in my Purrfumery creations! I can barely wait for its first bloom. Thank you deeply, Miriam.

An Open Heart

Miriam was also a generous and compassionate animal lover, and inspired those around her to open their hearts to animals. I find myself thinking of her gentle spirit as I continue to search for homes for my dear friend Iris’s kitties. I have been so moved by the generosity of people who, during my search, have expressed care and concern for these animals. I would like to thank my friends Vicki and Lisa for their tremendous effort and for getting the word out that these kitties need new homes. Please email me if you or someone you know is looking for a beautiful and amazing kitty, we need to find homes ASAP. Thank you also to my holistic veterinarian, Anne Reed, who pushed these kitties’ reset buttons and put the spring in their step! All the kitties here at the Purrfumery love Dr. Reed. She is absolutely committed to finding the best solution for your animals. Velvet & Sweet Pea highly recommend her, and they are the pickiest clients! Best of all, she makes house calls (I call her the "country pet doctor"). She also has beautiful pet clinic in Point Richmond.

Time to Reflect

Yes, March was a busy month, but I made time to reflect on what I love and what is important to me. I am truly blessed to have a business that embodies all that I love: perfume, the natural world, sensuality, and kitties! Thank you, my dear Purrfumery friends, for being a part of it all! I hope to see you at the Kitty Tea Party Benefit for FORC in June, or sooner! Until then, peace, love, purrfume, and kitty cats, ~XOXO, Laurie