these amazing tea cups that arrived in the mail today from my sister!!!! we have a tradition of exchanging sardonic valentine treasures, so they are just wonderful enough to encompass the classic style we both adore and also remind me that color can sometimes be seriously obnoxious.  depending on one's mood, of course.  side note:  my sister is the best gift-giver (to me, for sure) because it turns out when one shares the same soul, it's rather easy to spot things they might like.  but she doesn't have that excuse anymore, because i think my tastes are changing, but she can still knock me over every time i open a package.  (did i show you the birdcage she got me for xmas?!!!)

i love:

high tea, complete with cucumber sandwiches, scones and clotted cream

i love:

sitting down for a proper supper at a table 

i love:

my cutco knives

i love:

the kitty coming into the bedroom in the morning and crawling under the covers.  

she leans on me and purrs us both back to sleep.  euphoric.

i love:

babies.

but not solely because it's just a baby (also, i always feel the need to defend this affinity because i hate being one of those girls who goes annoyingly gaga over babies), but because i find connection in live beings that cannot use words to filter themselves.

i love:

crying

i love:

honesty over politeness

i love:

silent sufferers

i love:

words, etymology, speaking the languages of various souls, and playing scrabble

i love:

housework

i love:

this press cozy the saint just gave me for Vday!

i love:

survivors

i love:

books about the books i love 

i love:

respect

i love:

computers, technology, software, and hardware.  it has given me a creative outlet i otherwise didn't have.

i love:

being good at building a (wood burning stove) fire

i love:

these egg cups I got the saint for vday

they say "mme" and "the saint"

i love:

the smell of the forest when a storm is blowing in

i love:

routine

(curious?  right now it looks something like this: wake up, put on slippers and robe, make a fire, draw back curtains, put on hot water for coffee press, attend to the fire joel has made when he first woke, make a press of coffee, read, check email, get up for a glass of water and bowl of joe's o's, eat said o's, think about getting dressed, think again, read blogs and do computer stuff for a few hours, feed octavia, get dressed, arrange mussed hair, apply a dab of blush and mascara, put on shoes, do the dishes, put away laundry, stare out the window, talk to my plants, vacuum, sweep, make joel and i lunch, let octavia outside, plan dinner, have a mandarin and almonds for a snack, write a postcard or two, leave to tutor, stop by grocery store on the way back, check mailbox, have cocktail hour, make dinner, do the dishes, draw the curtains, stoke the fire, take out the garbage, sit by the fire, talk to joel, look at magazines, dust my books, light candles, put kettle on for tea, slip into slippers, make hot tea, watch a movie, let octavia sit on me during said movie, work on more computer stuff, agree to head to bed, cover the furniture in shower curtain liners so octavia cannot ruin it with her rebellious discretions, turn off the lights, lock the doors, draw the curtains, run hot water for bath, scald my skin in said bath, wash and exfoliate my face, brush and floss my teeth, dab on eye and night cream, crawl into my side of the bed where the saint warms it, launch my scrabble iPhone application, play a few words, listen to the saint snore, roll my eyes, laugh at my own irritation, and then turn of the lights)

i love:

the ease of having a (good) history with an old friend

i love:

the excitement that bubbles in my stomach when i've met someone i admire and know the friendship will be alive inside of us forever

i love:

photoshop tutorials on the web

i love:

making photos look old

i love:

old

love, things, people, animals, trees, relationships, traditions, jewelry

(but definitely NOT cheese)

i love:

letters so so so so much

i love:

shallow depth of field

i love:

self-awareness

i love:

my estranged father

i love:

you being in love with YOUR life

i love:

Carl Jung and Thomas Moore

i love:

the sun setting in the west

(it's unnatural any other way, but this may be my hatred for the south speaking up)

i love:

the west

i love:

blogging

i love:

NPR

i love:

driving stick shift

i love:

teaching English

i love:

proofreading 

i love:

doing what i want rather than doing what makes money

(i'd love it even more if i could do both)

i love:

I-90 headed west into Seattle just after you leave Mercer Island

i love:

email and the internet

i love:

confidence and self-acceptance

i love:

speaking in some weird voice when my sister calls. 

 we both do it

i love:

rainbow chip cake and frosting

i love:

short, dark red nails

i love:

pretending that if i lived my life in Europe, it would be better

(including possessing the effortless beauty and couture wardrobe of parisian women)

i love: 

an empty dishwasher

i love:

falling asleep dreaming up outfits

i love:

joel's eyes beaming with pride when other males pick up on me

(i'm pretty sure i would die if i had a jealous husband)

i love:

my feet

i love:

indian food and cheeseburgers

i love:

going to basketball games

i love:

travelling 

i love:

pictures of said trips, almost more than the trips

i love:

making lists of places to travel.  i make one every new year for the following year.

i love:

when spices and liquor go on sale

i love:

that somewhere along the way i fully realized and reveled in the fact there is no person on earth that could make me as happy as i could make myself (though i swear i have the runner up)

i love:

long, thick hair

i love:

paradox 

in clothing, in nature, in psychology, in language, in food, in decor, in relationships

i love:

magazines

i love:

my typewriter

i love:

my portable mouse.

seriously the touch pad on this laptop kills my wrist

i love:

blaming things for the inordinate amount of time i spend at my computer

i love:

netflix

(as pertains to the xbox)

i love:

how Mad Men makes me pour 2 fingers of whiskey and smoke a cigarette

(and get joel's hair to look like don draper's)

holy deliciousness!

SWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNN

i love:

seeing you both DISCOVER and BE yourself

i do NOT love:

pandora advertisements

i love:

 using the correct verb tenses

(snuck is NOT a word, ppl!)

i love:

knowing what my friend's favorite flower is

(snapdragon, you know who you are)

i love:

investing in jewelry and shoes

i love:

organizing photos

i love:

cities

i love:

the smell of joel's neck

i love:

lighting all the candles in the house, turning off the lights, turning on a shameless tear-jerker flick, and crying big baby tears into my jameson.

I have to stop.

If you've made it this far, well then...I love YOU.

Because you're obviously patient...and that's the kind of people I need in my life right now.

Happy Friggen V-day, yous!

~CRM