Illuminations Part II

Everyone that knows me knows that I love candles. I've blogged about Illuminations before. I'm still upset that they closed all their stores. A while back I was feeling sentimental and missing the simple fact that I could drive out to the suburbs and go to Illuminations. I decided to create a group on Facebook dedicated to Illuminations. I think I was really bored that day. As of this post it has 18 members. Whoohoo. The thing is, I cannot find any other brand of candles that smell as good as theirs did or another brand with as many unique scents. I go to Yankee Candle and granted, they have a few that smell good but literally just a few. And don't get me started on they way the Yankee jars look. No offense to any Yankee Candle lovers out there. It's just not my style. I know there are a lot of candle sites but I need to smell before I buy. I loved just being in an Illuminations store. It was dimly lit with candles and tea lights illuminating the store. Maybe I have a strong sentimental connection because I worked there. I associate scents with memories as many people do I'm sure. This is the time of year that I first moved to Chicago and started working at Illuminations. I see things and I can almost smell what I associate with that memory and vice versa.

So my mom just called me as I am sitting here typing. She's on her way to the Yankee Candle outlet store. Yankee bought out Illuminations a couple years before they closed. Some of the outlet stores still have a few Illuminations candles here and there. The last time I was visiting my parents we went to the outlet store and I stocked up on Mulled Wine candles. I think I have 7 of them stored away...shhhh. But I didn't get all they had. So mom and dad are on their way and she wanted to know how many I wanted. All of them pleeeeeeease.