because wishlists

are a thing this time of year.

updated: those crossed out have been gifted.

• Any of the old wishes.
• Paddywax Candles Apothecary (amber&smoke, tobacco&patchouli, chamomile&fig)
• A metronome, wooden.
• Blessed Unrest, Once Upon Another Time, Live CD - Sara Barielles
• Human Again, Everybody, Be OK, Girls and Boys - Ingrid Michaelson
• Cheese Knives.
• Any of these (fiesta cat! bear!) but especially the Matryoshka! Though I should probably start off at a Level One - sloth and monkey -_-
• Any of these music boxes. (got pink panther!)
• Blue Q Socks - any and all! (got running late!)
• Jacob's Ladder.
• Mancala.
• Uno.
• A plant (that is easy). 
• Geode anything.
• Watercolors.
• My Favorite Things - Kalman
• Picasso's Animals - Friedewald
• Lost in Translation - Sanders
• Black paten oxfords, Madewell

just one gift.

one christmas there were upwards of 60 presents underneath the tree. gifts creating a sort of impenetrable multicolored wall around what was, if you could see it, a lovely decorated tree.  we were all shocked and a little ashamed, i think. there were just too many gifts. the following year we decided to pull names and it has been that way ever since.

i contested this rule until i had a job. my argument was that i did not have "financial means to purchase a gift." to be honest, i didn't want just one gift. i wanted all the gifts. i still do at times. but every year we pick one person, keep it secret, send a mass email (or blog post) of our wish list, and have a gift wrap contest.

so, i'll get on with it as there are only seven days until christmas:

update: crossed out items have been purchased

all of the other things i've been wishing for (books, anyone?).

essie's licorice

MAC's diva

minoux's tiny bar necklace

converse

ridley's playing cards.

one (or two) movies:
  annie hall
  you've got mail
  sleepless in seattle
  ruby sparks
  while we're young
  about time
  one day
  grand budapest hotel
  les misérable

*i wear the black one all the time! (xs)

noble or silly: all gifted

i can vividly recall the brief span of time when i transitioned from being a single-digit-little-kid to a double-digit-pre-teen. there were so many adjustments to make. one teacher turned into three teachers, which muliplied my homework by infinity. i managed to procure my first "C" in math due to my less than stellar problem solving skills. i was flummoxed by the graceless onset womanhood. there was so much to manage and learn and how was i supposed to finish Island of the Blue Dolphins when there was a spider web in my room? however, my clumsy attempts at at being "kewl" and finding my niche at the lunch tables left one aspect of my single teacher, menstruation-free childhood alive and well: the frenetic rummaging through of The Register in hopes of finding the Toys R Us magazine at christmastime. i have no recollection of my parents fussing over finances. whether my parent's refused to broadcast their financial worries to me or i was oblivious to them, i can say that i had no vocabulary for "it's not in our budget" or "we can't afford that." looking back, my parents might have been too generous. regardless, they entertained my thorough investigation of each item being sold in those glossy want-stimulating pages. (wants i didn't know i had!) the back of the magazine had a page full of stickers that were intended to be used to mark one's favorite items. i would choose carefully and then present the magazine in its entirety to my parents, earmarked corners and all.
this is all to say that, less than ten years later i still make wishlists.
i think to hope for, to wish for, to aspire to is so human. birthday candles. shooting stars. 11:11. eyelashes. dandelions. on and on. noble or silly, we keep on wishing.

update: crossed out items have been purchased

bossypants

by tina fey

baggu leather pouch 

"sea salt" hand soap

sleeping bottoms

"naked" basics pallette

headphones, in-ears

black contigo autospout

they are little luxuries. they are things i can live without but things that would be nice someday.

wishlist

update: crossed out items have been purchased

bodies
by susie orbach
and
fat is a feminist issue
and
the impossibility of sex
and
hunger strike

and
on eating

like i have said in these posts i am working towards a better understanding of body and beauty. sometimes i cringe in comparison, sometimes i am brazenly confident. knowledge (and the internalization of that knowledge) will hopefully help level this all out. i want to speak intelligently about this subject. i want to confront this issue with understanding. i want the language and the facts. miss orbach knows these things. i want to know of bodies of art of beauty. if you have any suggestions on the matter, please say so.

anything, absolutely anything written by norah ephron.

a collection of her essays, perhaps? [i feel bad about my neck, heartburn, i remember nothing, scribble scribble, crazy salad... just to name a few] i read an article she wrote on breasts, which made me laugh and feel unusually close to her. she gave me the gutspa to buy only lace bras in celebration of myself. the original article on Esquire.com has been removed since her passing this year but you can find it here. she is the mind behind romantic comedy you've got mail. fantastic.

the bradbury chronicles
by sam weller
i was reading a book called steal like an artist by this guy. if you watch the video you will know why i chose this book. in eighth grade i read farhenheit 451. it was then that i thought, you can do this with words? i was shocked. i was pleased. and i began to write better because of it.

is everone hanging out with without me? (and other concerns)
by mindy kaling
i think i might be a tad obsessed with her at the moment. her new show the mindy project is the love child of confessions of a shopaholic, mean girls, and thirteen going on thirty. all movies i adore. she is funny. she is smart. she is one hell of a writer and her sense of humor is stellar.  i wish she were my adopted indian sister. i'm not sure if reading kaling's book means i must read fey's bossypants, but i'm not against it.

i already have a stack of books i am reading. not to mention the ones on my trunk and the ones on my shelves and the ones in my ralphs crate that have not been scoured. but i will have to agree with john waters, the writer and director of hairspray (88):

nothing is more important 
than an unread library.

yes, mister waters, yes.

in your chest: all gifted

update: crossed out items have been purchased

"if you can't let go, you can't put your heart back in your chest."

via iain thomas.

also, i want the book of poetry he recently released.

it is based off of his blog, which i frequent.