Christmas Wish List

When I was little, my sister and would flip through magazines and exclaim, "I want that!" whenever we saw something that caught our eye. After we had been doing this for a while, my exasperated mom told us that it wasn't nice to want but better to wish for things. I've carried that with me into adulthood. Want puts a certain amount of need in something while wishes leave room for daydreaming but this doesn't necessarily place any importance upon the wish. It's a good way to sort out things you desire from things you actually need.

So, after that little anecdote, I present my Christmas Wish List. It's funny how much thought I've put into it this year -most things I actually do need or will eventually.

1. Vinyl. (Hot Chip, Tanlines, and Youth Lagoon are at the top of the vinyl list)

2. Socks. More specifically, wool socks. I'm not kidding. I wear my Smartwool hiking socks all the time -they're great in the weather up here and so cozy.

3. Boots. Ankle, Engineer, Riding... really, just boots. I tend to wear them out pretty quickly.

4. iPhone.

5. iMac.

6. Pantone swatch book.

7. Leather messenger bag (big enough for my MacBook) or awesome backpack.

8. A ukulele. I started learning to play one at the end of the summer when I was staying with friends in Boulder. It would be fun to continue fiddling around.

9. Snow. What's Christmas without snow?

What's on your wish list?

XO

Thanks

Today I am grateful for so, so many things. My friends and family. They're incredible people and I love them with all my heart. I'm thankful for time and its ability to bring perspective and understanding to past situations, and for the future which is daunting but holds within it infinite possibilities. I'm grateful for music and art and design, for my education, and for happiness and health.

Wandering/Wondering

To me the words wondering and wandering have always been synonymous. They both lead to exploration of some sort, whether it's in a physical dimension or a more cerebral capacity; exploration leads to understanding, which leads to growth. The last few months have contained a lot of introspection, which in this day and age, I think younger adults are afraid of -they run to facebook or social events without leaving time for themselves. I digress, last Saturday I had a day that was pretty devoid of social contact but it fit my restless mood perfectly -I went for a walk and snapped some photos, spent the afternoon exploring nooks and crannies of my mind as well as my neighborhood. Wondering/Wandering...

Tiny Kitchen Tales: Apple Chips

It's fall in Washington and that means that apples are in abundance. So I took a few of mine that were verging on going bad and attempted to turn them into apple chips -yum. These were pretty easy to make -just slice 'em up really thinly, soak them in some water and apple juice and various spices (cinnamon, nutmeg) for ten minutes, strain, lay flat on a baking sheet (if you have a cooling rack, put the apples on that on top of the baking sheet), and bake in the oven at 200 degrees for a good while. Make sure you flip them and keep an eye on them. I flipped mine every ten to fifteen minutes. They're tasty!