An ongoing project.
- yogurt that comes plain with the fruit to mix in
- cashmere sweaters
- TV on DVD
- leather-bound books with gilded edges and ribbon markers
- the smell of asphalt after the first rain in a long time
- puffy/fuzzy/scratch-n-sniff/glow-in-the-dark stickers
- pb&j with potato chips smooshed in the middle
- late-night phone calls
- when drinking fountain water is really, really cold
- pygmy hippos
- restaurants that deliver past 10 pm
- breakfast for dinner
- houses with white columns
- non-creamy Caesar salad dressing
- argyle sweaters + sweater vests
- lemon sorbet with bits of lemon zest included
- tan-lines from hair-ties
- numbered notebook pages
- mentally casting book characters while reading
- college-ruled writing paper
- gas station beef jerkey
- popcorn mixed with milk duds
- mens’ white dress shirts
- trying new restaurants
- Elliott Smith
- lip gloss that isn’t sticky or tacky
- foaming handsoap
- the middle bite of watermelon
- writing with brand-new pens
- couples holding hands
- natural (not fake-y orange) tans
- freckles
- rooftop gardens
- the crusty corner piece of lasagne
- watching people “speak” sign language
- that feeling of relief when you sneeze
- sleeping on freshly laundered sheets
- the smell of a hardware store
- dresses with pockets
- ice-cold guava juice
- apples and cheddar cheese, together
- salted caramel
- boys with acoustic guitars
- the way certain sunglasses give red highlights to people’s hair and fall leaves
- the smell of clean laundry tumbled with dryer sheets
- short story collections that at first seem unrelated but everything comes together in the end
- Marc Blucas’s vignette in Eric Amadio’s film “After Sex”
- developing my own b&w photography
- Dirty Shirleys (Shirley Temple + vodka)
- the visual effect on the Mac dashboard when you drop a new widget onto the screen – the ripples
- the “memory room” or whatever it’s called from the movie adaptation of Stephen King’s Dreamcatcher, all the files and shelves and just the idea of physically shelving memories
- baked eggs (like these from What Katie Ate)
- Cuba Gooding, Jr.’s awesome Oscar acceptance speech
- getting the shower water temperature right the very first time
- that moment of silence when you’re driving on the freeway in the pouring rain and you pass under a highway overpass
- finding GIANT oat clusters in my bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats
- the contrasting combination of gauzy sundresses with clompy rain boots
- Snapple facts, under the lid
- coffee mugs + tea cups with words printed on the inside
- brown paper packages tied up with string (or striped baker’s twine)
- silver + emeralds (a Slytherin at heart)
- chalkboard paint
- brightly colored front doors
- surprise balls
- polaroids + instant photography
