Today I read my dear friend Wendy’s blog and she posted her favorites. I liked the idea so much I decided to steal it. And I have to add the same disclaimer she did – these reflect my favorites this very minute. They’ll change, repeatedly, over the span of my lifetime. Or over the next 24 hours…
Mothafuckin Favorites
1. Beer: Yuengling – a truly East Coast beer since it’s brewed in PA.
2. Scent: Since I don’t wear perfume (gives me headaches), my favorite scents tend to be the ones that trigger memories, or things that make me smille – you know, stuff like fresh cut grass, rain, fresh brewed coffee, chocolate chip cookies as they’re baking, my dog when she’s fresh from a bath, the ocean, my mother’s fresh baked bread.
3. Show: Scrubs – makes me laugh my butt off and that is really needed sometimes. I also love the Daily Show with John Stewart, but since the writers have been on strike it’s been reruns and I’m getting bored with that.
4. Song: Oh I can’t choose just one since it changes daily. But I love Ani DiFranco, Beth Hart, Daniel Powter, The Fray, Maroon 5, Amy Winehouse, and Bic Runga to name a few…
5. Flavor: Chocolate – so cliche, but I love the stuff. Especially the good stuff. Yum!
6. Wine: Anything red – merlot, cab, pinot, shiraz – I drink them all! And since I got a new wine rack for Christmas and it holds 10 bottles, I need to fill it with some delicious drink!
7. Movie: Wonder Boys, #2 is Love Actually
8. Place: this is hard to choose. I loved living in Puerto Rico – having the thick smell of the ocean constantly filling my lungs and that heat hanging in the air. I loved Den Hague (or The Hague for those of you who prefer to say it in English) in the Netherlands – I could definitely see myself living in this city…if I spoke Dutch. I liked Paris, but didn’t love it the way I had envisioned I would. And then I love my house. It has become something different in the past few months, as it has become only mine, but I still love it.
9. Book: While I love a lot of books, I read one book every year – Satisfaction by Rae Lawrence (I posted about this book before). I also love poetry, particularly mine, but also my dear friend Michael Glaser (MD’s poet laureate), Nikki Giovanni (some of her older stuff), Jim Carroll (you can read about him here), as well as countless others.
10. Kirsten – quite simply, my sister kicks ass. She has been my support since, well, she was born, and despite the fact that we live in different areas of the country, we are still a part of one another’s daily lives. And how many people can say that?
11. My friends. Too many to list, and I fear I would forget to list someone so please know I love you all and you are all my favorites.
12. My dog. Daisy has been my companion and kept me going on days when, without her, I would have not gotten out of bed. She keeps me fit (walking 4 miles a day will do that!) and she makes me smile.
13. The fall – it is my favorite season and the colors are amazing on the east coast.
14. Swearing. I love to swear (as clearly evidenced by the title of this post!), and while I know that I should try to curb it, I was married to a Sailor and I work with Marines, so come on, what do you expect?! And really, I just love it. Sometimes the only word to adequately describe something is “fuck”, and since it can be a noun, adjective, verb, etc. it is really quite useful. I even wrote a poem titled “This is a Fuck You”. You can read it here, just note, it is a bit vulgar.
15. Sunday mornings. My favorite time of the week, though in the last few months this too has changed. Now I wake and take Daisy for a nice long walk while my coffee brews, then I read the paper and enjoy said coffee. A lovely way to start the day.
16. Being kissed. There’s just something about it.
17. Ridiculously expensive underwear. Just makes me feel good when I wear it, even if nobody knows. I’ve found that on days when I am feeling particularly blue it helps for some silly reason.
18. Dilbert. It is almost frightening how adequately this cartoon captures office life.
19. Yarn stores. I know, it’s nerdy, but I knit. These shops are amazing – all the colors and the luscious yarns. I have to avoid them completely or I do something silly like spend $75 on soft pink cashmere yarn to make a scarf for myself…. Not that I’ve done that…
20. Writing. It’s what I’m meant to do, and now I’m working on making it more a part of my life so I can hopefully one day make a (small, supplemental) income from it. As my favorite quote states: “Never let the odds keep you from doing what you know in your heart you were meant to do.” ~H. Jackson Brown Jr.
