Current Enthusiasm: Cozy Candles for Fall and Winter
I love a good scented candle. They remind of sitting in my kitchen while my mom cooked up a delicious homemade soup or stew on a cold Sunday or lounging by the fire in the library in my parent's house while my dogs curled up under my slipper-clad feet on a cold New England night.
Having beautifully scented candles makes me feel like I'm home. It's a grown-up pleasure, to light nice candles. Lighting candles in your home is also one of the simplest pleasures.
When I was a child, I surely didn't understand how happy a simple candle on my nightstand or kitchen table would make me. They were something that my mom liked and I was the lucky passive beneficiary of a cozy house. The first time I really had my own place, and I'm excluding boarding school and college dorm rooms, was when I lived in Paris. My little studio apartment in the 7th arrondissement was small and sparcely furnished. I kept clothes in my kitchen cabinets and my fridge only ever had wine, water, chocolate and cheese in it. I thought it was perfect
But when the weather turned cold and I couldn't figure out how to turn on the european radiator (nor figure out how to convey this in my broken foreign tongue to my landlord who only spoke French ), it seemed less than perfect. Then one day when I was buying my favorite bag of fresh truffle potato chips from my neighborhood bakery (so French of me to spend 15 euro on a bag of potato chips for a snack), I noticed this delicious warming scent wafting from the counter. It was perhaps the best scent I had ever smelled: crisp notes of champagne and something warmer that I couldn't make out. Of course, I needed one of those too.
I proudly way my way home down Boulevard De la Tour Maubourg with my goods and promptly lit my candle. All of the sudden, my apartment didn't feel so cold anymore. It instantly felt like a home and I, like an adult.
Now, there is almost nothing I love more than coming home to my apartment in New York City, lighting an overpriced candle and perhaps pouring myself a glass of wine. That is never more true this time of year, when the weather turns frigid and the sun falls from the sky before the work day is even finished. I love cozying up with a book or a good movie and a delicious candle after a long day and with the start of November, I have rounded up my favorite candles of all varieties for the colder months.
Smoke Birch and Myrrh by D.W. Home (pictured above on my bar in my NYC apartment) $16
Gold Tray from One Kings Lane, Spiced Rum from Sag Harbor Rum, American Bar: The Artistry of Mixing Drinks by Charles Schumann bound in leather from T. Anthony, The PDT Cocktail Book by Jim Meehan from Amazon, and antique brass anchor bottle opener that I took from my parent's house
