Shonagonisms - 100 Things In This World That I Love - listography: Samantha Holloway

listography: Samantha Holloway:

1. tea
2. chocolate
3. sunshine in spring, when it's warm but not enough to make me burst into flame
4. the light through green trees that wave in the wind
5. daffodylls
6. roses
7. Emily Bronte's poems
8. Robin McKinley's books
9. Anything written by Neil Gaiman
10. The Dresden Files
11. home made cake
12. 50s pyrex glassware
13. t-strap vintage shoes
14. shimmery nail polish
15. icecream in unusual flavors
16. washi tape
17. instagram
18. Doctor Who (especially Ten, but really all)
19. unabashed gleeful geekiness, like Nerdist
20. metafiction
21. tree-ripe peaches in the early summer, when they taste their best
22. lychees straight from the can
23. guava paste
24. the smell of fresh-baked bread
25. actually making the bread--it's so primal and soothing
26. making ceramic pots on the wheel
27. embroidery
28. origami
29. the breeze off the ocean on a chilly, rainy day when it brings fog
30. the smell of the wind over a heather field in the hilly Scottish countryside
31. petting soft kittens (or, really, any cat with fur)
32. the smell of old books
33. the smell of new books
34. the look of books as decoration
35. walls covered in mismatched pictures
36. wallpaper with weird and vintage designs
37. velvet victorian-revival chairs
38. napping in the grass under a tree
39. making love under a tree
40. swimming when there's no one else in the pool
41. watching seeds I've planted come up with their first little leaves
42. watching babies figuring things out for the first time
43. office supplies
44. collecting quotes
45. making collages
46. comic books, even if I'm not impressed with the story in them
47. interesting-shaped glass bottles
48. dollhouse miniatures with more detail than the actuals
49. foods that are the wrong color or the wrong size--purple potatoes, red bananas, sliders, tomatoes the size of your head, tiny taco salads
50. flan
51. meditating outside on a nice day
52. moving through airports when I'm not in a hurry
53. takeoff and landing on airplanes
54. silk skirts
55. men who smell like sweet spices and sandalwood
56. pinstripes on a suit
57. corsets
58. sleeping in
59. sleeping at the wrong time of the day
60. writing when everyone else is asleep
61. having the house to myself
62. cooking whatever I want for dinner
63. unexpected days off
64. standing and walking in snow
65. wraps instead of hoodies
66. hoodies instead of jackets
67. vintage-style jackets instead of modern ones
68. feathers and flowers in my hair
69. cat-eye eyeliner
70. silver bangles
71. emeralds
72. black pearls
73. black opals
74. amber
75. labrodorite
76. going thrifting and finding the perfect item I didn't know I needed
77. losing weight without trying (rare)
78. smoothies
79. having breakfast outside in the shade while the world wakes up
80. pannetone at christmas
81. cannollis
82. tiramisu
83. paintbrushes, even when I'm not using them
84. wardrobes instead of closets, or while using the closets for something else
85. scrapbooking notions, especially the paper and the journal cards
86. noisamajigs
87. traditional embroidery and woodblock prints on fabric
88. new notebooks
89. hand-binding books
90. getting letters in the mail
91. enjambment and internal rhyme in poetry
92. bootleg videos of things I haven't seen since I was a kid
93. making up new literary genres
94. learning words that don't exist in english
95. le pen pens
96. iphone apps that do just what I wanted an app to do
97. the idea of living in outer space
98. geeky teeshirts
99. blazers with skirts
100. knee socks

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My weather today is...

37* and kind of lance-from-heaven-y:

Weird Foods - Blk water

I thought this was water in a black bottle, but no--it's really and truly black water. Apparently it's infused with fulvic acid, which is a result of plant matter rotting down in woodlands and is part of healthy soil and that makes it black. The claim us that with a high ph of 9, it can help balance the ph of the human body.

I live things that are the wring size or the wring color, and I'm always curious about weird health claims, so I just had to try it. I was afraid it would taste sour, but it didn't taste like anything, really. Dirt of like the cheaper sort of bottled water that just tastes like the bottle. It didn't smell like anything either, and if it realighned my ph even a little, I didn't notice it!

So really, other than the color, not much to justify the high-ish cost unless long term consumption really dies have some health benefit.

Inspiration - David Foster Wallace

Art Journaling - Links and stuff!

I've decided that Art Journaling is not the same as regular journaling, and because of that false distinction, I'm going to post things on Art Journaling here, even though I moved the rest over to the writing blog.

I've been playing around with the idea of doing an art journal for a while, and I think I might start one soon, so I did some research. Here's what I've found:

• Trish Bee's notes on starting an art journal
• Trish Bee's sketchbook prompts
• Photos of the pages Trish Bee has made using her prompts
• A list of art challenge blogs
• Teesha Moore's art pages
• An art journaling inspirations board on Pinterest
• A week-by-week muse-meeting course offered by PeonyBlue
• What Kind Of Journal Is Perfect For You?
• Self-Help Healing Arts Journal
• Zentangle Blog
• A whole bunch of artsy techniques
• 30 Journals 30 Days - artists at work
• Keeping An Art Journal
• Art Journaling 101

Interesting Things - Today's Tattoos | People & Places | Smithsonian Magazine

Today's Tattoos | People & Places | Smithsonian Magazine:

According to this article, the ten most tattooed things are:

1. Flowers
2. Lettering
3. Symbols
4. Religion
5. Skulls
6. Japanese designs
7. Portrait
8. Love
9. Birds
10. Wildlife

Which seems to me, is a pretty good list of things to NOT tattoo on yourself these days, where 40% or more of tattoo-age Americans have a tat already...

What say you, readers?


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Interesting Stuff - The Tattoo Eraser | Science & Nature | Smithsonian Magazine

The Tattoo Eraser | Science & Nature | Smithsonian Magazine:

 Someone has invented a new kind of tattoo ink that can easily be destroyed with one laser treatment--instead of, like, dozens.

Cool, but I wonder how durable it is for those who don't want to remove their tats?

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Thankful Thursday - Week 7 2013

Today, I'm thankful for:

• Yoga, that's helping me get my back in shape again so it'll stop hurting like an old war wound
• Kitties that want to snuggle while I'm doing yoga so that there's something to distract from the stress of trying to hold poses--I just let go and pet her
• The earrings my mom got me a while ago that I just found and can wear again
• That I get to send off three packages of nail polish this week instead of the usual one
• That most of the books I have to read and get to read all have pretty covers--there's no excuse for ugly covers!

What're you thankful for this Thursday?

Today, I'm INFJ

I've apparently gotten judge-y in my old age of 32.

I took the test over here, same as the last time I took it, when I was INFP! I think that 78% is a little more than 'strong'; it's close to the right-brained score I got one time that the teacher administering called "almost dysfunctional"--she was amazed I could live in society without being locked up somewhere!

I think if I'd taken this test in middle school, when they were giving me all those IQ tests that showed I was bright but not quite gifted, the I-score would have been much higher. I was way less able to handle, like, talking to people and doing things back then.

What's your personality type? What have you noticed about yourself and how it matches with your type?

Top Ten Tuesday - What I like most about Doctor Who

Oh, how I lurve me some Doctor Who!

1. Narratively, the fact that this is one character that has been eleven different characters, but still, somehow, essentially and quintessentially the same character, is just amazing
2. The experience of being a fan of this show in the age of the internet is stunning--the websites, the theories, the art, the news, the tea, everything!
3. There is literally something for everyone
4. You don't have to know anything at all about the Classic Series, but if you do, it adds this whole other level of metatextuality to the series that supports and calls back and strengthens and adds little jokes to the current run
5. It's scifi that's actually fantasy--and fantasy that is always brought back to scifi
6. What other show has made pepperpots so freaking scary?
7. Ten! My Future Husband David Tennant!
8. It's so very open--to age, to race, to sexuality, to interspecies relations of all sorts, to every freaking weird idea anyone has ever had...
9. It's fundamentally optimistic about the human condition--people go wrong all the time, but the Doctor loves us enough to keep coming back over and over and saving us, and he believes that we're good, and most of the time we prove that we are.
10. Companions! And almost companions like Sally Sparrow, that kid Tim who could see the future, Lynda-with-a-Y, the mother from the Narna Christmas special, everyone. Awesome people who get to do these awesome things that we can dream about but probably won't ever actually get to do.

And I could go on. I probably will, at some point.

What do you like most about this wonderful, weird, funny, intense show?

Things I Love - Tea Rex T-Shirt | SnorgTees

Tea Rex T-Shirt | SnorgTees:

Tea Rex

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Things I Love - Geek Art Gallery: Cards: Star Trek Valentines

Geek Art Gallery: Cards: Star Trek Valentines:

   

Star Trek Valentines Cards by Monkey Pandemonium

   

   

   

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Things I Love - Leather Lunch Tote | Wood&Faulk

Leather Lunch Tote | Wood&Faulk:

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Things I Love - (293) Fancy - Cotton LED Clouds

(293) Fancy - Cotton LED Clouds:

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Things I Love - (293) Fancy - Packed with Love Sticky Paper Tape

(293) Fancy - Packed with Love Sticky Paper Tape:

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Things I Love - (293) Fancy - AV Room Portable USB Turntable By Crosley

(293) Fancy - AV Room Portable USB Turntable By Crosley:

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Stuff I Love - that's real cute, honeypie

that's real cute, honeypie:
An adorable, cute, fashion and home and whatever else Tumblr that I discovered by way of Joy The Baker. It's an instant 'follow'.
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Things I Love - (257) Fancy - DIY Star Projector

(257) Fancy - DIY Star Projector:

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Top Ten Tuesday - Current obsessions of your blogress

Because I'm having an obsession-y kind of month:

1. Florence + The Machine - I've loved them since I discovered them a year or three ago, but this past two weeks? I've listened to Ceremonials, like, seven times all the way through.
2. Calendars! - I was off to a slow start getting this year off the ground, but now I'm there, and I love love love keeping a big ol' best calendar with everything in one place.
3. Smoothies - I've had one for breakfast almost every day for the last week, and I want to basically just throw everything into the blender and see what happens.
4. Tiny little pictures from Printstagram - I ordered a batch of miniprints to decorate last month's calendar and make it into a sort of month-at-a-glance scrapbook, and I just love them. I'm ordering more as often as I can until I can't afford the totally reasonable price of them.
5. That Monsterbeast Novel - you know, the one I've been writing for two and a half years? It's taking up so much of my free time, and it's hard and it's annoying, but you know what? I'm actually really enjoying reading it like a book.
6. Jess and Nick kissing on New Girl - I haven't seen the episode yet, and it's sort of haunting me. Darn shippy brain.
7. Waiting on the last two packages that will let me get going on this year's all new nail polish sets - I have so many awesome new colors planned, but the pigments haven't come in net, and I don't have enough bottles or base! Ack!
8. Sonnets - I love them. I want all of them.
9. My new phone - An HTC Evo V 4G. Not a new phone, but new to me, and SUCH an improvement on my poor old phone that hardly worked anymore by the time I traded them.
10. Making my room into a mini-apartment - All my stuff is still in storage, and it's still far away, and I don't have time to do anything right now, but I've been thinking about it a lot, and I want to make shelves, get or make curtains, find some small pieces of furniture, get more and better storage. It would be so pretty.

What are you obsessing over this week?

Inspiration For Life - Chris Guillebeau

"If consensus is overrated, I think balance is, too. I have no interest in living a balanced life. I want a life of adventure." 

--Chris Guillebeau, The Art of Non-Conformity

Video - Bird Ballet

Seasonality - Style Me Green: HOW TO EAT WITH THE SEASONS

Style Me Green: HOW TO EAT WITH THE SEASONS:
A lovely little chart!

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Things I Love - (241) Fancy - Stainless Steel Milk Carton

(241) Fancy - Stainless Steel Milk Carton:

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Things I Love - (241) Fancy - Pillow Fight Gear

(241) Fancy - Pillow Fight Gear:

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Monthly Me - February 2013

It's cold here! It's supposed to snow tonight, though it probably won't stick again. It's been so long since I lived somewhere with real winters, I don't really know what to do with myself. I mean, I've given in, and I'm wearing a robe! Like an 80s housewife! But a robe is really just a coat you wear inside, right?

Weight: Still too much, but the smoothies are a pretty good way to not over-eat!

Working on: The novel, still, though I'm making better time than I was before. I've got to put a few hours in today because tomorrow I'm going to a GabFest--I mean, to the Superbowl party at my sister's house, where I'll gladly eat food and talk, but I'll only watch the commercials and I'll probably bring a book, just in case.

Currently Reading: Jane Eyre and The Natural History of the Romance Novel for class. Shadowhunters and Downworlders for myself. And my dad brought home The Ice Wheel, a Doctor Who novel, from the library, and I've been poking at that, too.