(live your life filled with) joy and wonder

joyful and wonderful things: (in no particular order.  OK maybe the first one is particularly awesome ;)

inauguration day - especially when your favorite color is  B-L-U-E-!-!-!

birthday month where every second email is for a free breakfast/lunch/milkshake/slice of pie (all in California but it's OK because my jeans are already way too tight and it's the thought that counts ;)

the way the house turns pink/orange when the sun rises and orange/pink in the late afternoon when it sets

deeply fudgy homemade brownies

being one minute from the beach (and not just any beach - no, a Cape bloody Cod beach with sand dunes and erosion fencing and the whitest cleanest sand and the cotton candiest clouds... and perfect white pebbles too - also: dogs allowed :)

it always being a little bit too warm in here (which is much better than it ever being a little bit too cold)

Elvis Presley* (always and forever)

Frank Sinatra*

* (why on earth couldn't i have lived in Palm Springs in the 60s.... Elvis was a volunteer policeman there and Frank Sinatra's Mom served spaghetti dinners to the neighborhood to try to convert them to Catholicism with Frank Sinatra providing the entertainment - if there's a heaven, that's it!!)

Portuguese English muffins (maybe it's their dual citizenship that makes them so sweet... the Mentalist is a dual citizen you know :)

Essie names (gosh, they're clever people for thinking that whole thing up... just like Home Depot paint, i buy a color purely based on the promise of it's name and not it's price ;)  case in point: i saw a house today on Penny Lane.  seriously i don't even need to look inside - i just bloody want it!!!

surprise trips to New York (sooooooo excited!!!!)

Alex and Ani

Michael Stipe, who i will never ever ever stopping obsessing over and scrutinzing the background of every picture he's in, in case there's some fascinating piece of info like he's a Canon person or he likes green apple tic tacs too or he smokes

driving here.  as oppose to driving 'there', where it's awful and stoppy and starty.  a full tank of gas used to last 320 miles in CA.  here it's at least 400 miles - due to the roundabouts and never ever ever sitting in traffic - like EVER :|

Pretty Hate Machine (for obvious reasons)

that magical Neutrogena face scrubber thing that scrapes off your epidermis everytime you use it (if you do it with brute force for hours and use that apricot cream with scratchy nuts in it) it says only use it three times a week - but i say forget that, everyday at least!!!!

it being Friday!!