Lightbulb!

I was reading the Other People's Chicken blog and a post she wrote about gardenias hit me like a ton of bricks. (I also must credit the lovely picture above to Miss Chicken.) Here's a part of the post:

I know it might seem strange, me having a crush on a flowering shrub, but I'm in love, and I don't care who knows it. The captivating fragrance, the waxy white flowers that look like they were fashioned out of fondant, the way it always knows just what to say when I've had a hard day. I'm driving the children crazy with gardenia arrangements in every room, not to mention my theatrical proclamations each time we leave the house. BEAUTIFUL! I yell as we pass the shrub each morning on our way out the door, sometimes forcing them to stop and inhale. I feel so lucky, and yet-it's only for a while. We're not always going to live here, that's for darn sure. In this house, this city....on earth. And I don't want to miss a thing, not anymore, so I'm going to savor it all. Right down to the gardenias.  


That's how I've been feeling!! I finally have an answer to my unspoken question! I've been smelling (more like hyperventilating) this oh-so-amazing, wonderful, intoxicating scent for some time now and although I didn't know what it was as it wafted through our open windows, I knew I never wanted it to go away. Ever. The scent alone was making me weepy to leave Knoxville because I just know they weren't going to have air that smells like this in brown, windy Wyoming. And now it's been confirmed. Gardenias don't grow there. They're a southern flower. But at least I'm not alone in my magnolia-induced drunkeness. And that makes me feel a little better. Now I'm just hoping I can find a magnolia-scented candle that smells just like it does outside. Yeah right. (But for those of you who may actually know of such a thing, because I'm still going to hold to the hope that somewhere out there there IS a company that has developed a magic formula to emanate the real smells of nature and not just a poor perfumy replica, and you're familiar with this heavenly magnolia smell, seriously, PLEASE please please buy several of whatever it is and I will pay you back. With interest!! I am willing to pay big bucks to take this smell with me.)