Some of us here in the Manoloverse may confess (after the second double Hendricks) to a slight dependency on various social media outlets. Nothing we can’t handle. We can sign out any time. We just choose to have our Twitter Following updates sent to our cellpone, and to sleep with it there beside us on the pillow.

Steve Jobs grant me the serenity to accept
the account settings I cannot change;
the technical chops to change the things I can;
and wisdom to pick a decent password.

Blogging one day at a time;
Tweeting one moment at a time;
Accepting spyware as the pathway to Microsoft updates;
Taking, as Mahir did, this LinkedIn world
as it is, not as I would have it;
a cross between NIN.com and Lolthulhu.com.
Trusting that the guys in IT will make all things right
if I surrender to their obnoxious preference for blocking Blogspot;
That I may be reasonably happy in Second Life
and supremely happy with The Sims
Forever avatar.
Amen.

Where was I? Oh, yes. Some of us are rather fond of our little Facebook pages and so on, to the extent of posting pictures there of not only ourselves but also our unsuspecting families. And this is where Facebook has a problem with us.

Facebook hates boobies.

Now, this may come as news to teenagers and college kids everywhere, or, indeed, to journalists who do their homework, for lo, the boobage of Facebook is verily mountainous, rules or no rules.

So Facebook has decided to take action. Facebook is running around Facebook, deleting pictures of breasts wherever it finds them, and this is where the real problem lies: Facebook is deleting pictures of mothers breastfeeding their babies on the grounds that such pictures are, by definition, “obscene.”

From Time Magazine:

On Dec. 27, some 11,000 protesters held a virtual nurse-in by uploading breast-feeding photos onto their Facebook profiles, and 20 or so women showed up at the company’s headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., to breast-feed there. By Dec. 30, more than 85,000 members had joined a Facebook group called “Hey, Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!”

If you’re not of the persuasion that sees private breastfeeding pictures as obscene, there are a few things you can do to take action. Maria Lavis has some suggestions on her blog:

Annoyed like me? Want to do something?

1. Join this Facebook group/petition: Hey Facebook, nursing is not obscene
   
2. Join this Facebook group/petition: Facebook, do not sell my pictures, I want my rights back!
   
3. Write to Facebook at privacy AT facebook DOT com
   
4. Bug newspapers to write more about this
5. Blog about this
6. Digg this post to show Facebook this is a real issue they need to handle
7. If Facebook doesn’t change, take your and your kids patronage elsewhere

For Christmas, Santa was kind enough to bring me one of the things on my list, the Sephora Scent Sampler. It gives you 10 sample sizes of some of the hottest scents Sephora carries, and you can try them on at your leisure. When you have decided which one you like best, you simply go to a Sephora store with your certificate, and they will give you a full sized version. Even better is that you only pay $50, and the full-sized versions cost $70 and upwards.

A perfume addict, I was pleased to have so many different scents to explore. Usually when I go to a perfume counter, I have to try on at least a couple, and we all know where that leads. It leads to confusion over which scent is which, and often the mingling of scents to where you’re not sure what smells like what.

So I was glad to give each scent the attention it deserved by using only one a day.

Which one will I choose? Well, let’s start with the first four….

Givenchy, Very Irresistible Givenchy Sensual

I was prepared to like this scent, as I have liked Givenchy perfumes in the past. This one smelled nice enough, but there was nothing there that really knocked me out and said, “Wow!” And I like my perfumes to say “Wow!” It is a pleasant scent with a slight hint of muskiness. It didn’t last quite as long as I would have preferred.

Vera Wang, Princess

I don’t have anything bad to say about this fragrance, which is sweet and has a fairly strong bottom note of vanilla. It is light, floral, and perfect for warm weather. I was pleased with its staying power. I could still smell it the next day, before I went into the shower.

Philosophy, Amazing Grace

Now this is where I find myself at odds with thousands and thousands of other women. I really, really hated this fragrance. It was extremely overpowering at first, to the point where I could almost “taste” it. After it faded a bit, it just smelled like soap. And not very good soap, either. I foolishly kept lifting the crook of my elbow up to my nose, thinking it would smell better than the last time. It never did.

LAVANILA, Vanilla Grapefruit

My absolute favorite of the four I’ve tried so far. It has a beatiful, wait for it, vanilla scent that is pure and fruity due to the whole grapefruit things. It makes me happy when I smell it. It lasted the longest, and smelled the best. This perfume has made it to the semi-final round.