In grand Christmas tradition, the song My Favorite Things
rings out from many speakers. The lyrics evoke a love/hate list* similar to the
ones our old friends made in college, but not at all similar to the consumer
huggermugger that is Oprah’s Favorite Things. Here is my current love/hate
list, in no particular order.
Love list
1. Fall
2. Spring
3. Chad
4. That
Chad lives in Austin most of the time now, versus living in NYC, San Francisco, and the not-so-friendly skies of business commuter flights
5. Netflix
6. Kenji
– She is willful and fiercely cuddly.
7. Sonic
– He is such a sweet, funny, giant, chirpy man-cat
8. Marigold
– She is a funny old lady who loves a good toe rub and being carried around
like a baby.
9. Janie
– She does her best to sleep a lot like the kitties, but also loves a good walk.
10. Making
the store pretty and organized, especially creating the window displays
11. Making
our home pretty and organized
12. Reading
13. Wrapping
gifts
14. Baking
sweet things
15. Free
time
16. That
our new neighbors (back and side) each took the initiative to get our shared
fences repaired / rebuilt
17. My
ancient, super-soft, thick cashmere sweater (Of course, I hope the cashmere
came from ethically raised goats who didn’t need those belly hairs for their
own warmth.)
18. The
rush of endorphins from a good trip to the gym coupled with that well-stretched
muscles feeling
19. The
breakfast (or in my case brunch) hot bar at the big Whole Foods across the
street from my workplace - One of the good things about having to be at work at
5:00 AM some days is getting my 10:00 AM brunch break. French toast, home fries
and migas!
20. Taco
Shack breakfast tacos
21. Taco
Deli lunch tacos
22. Lip
balms / chapsticks, especially Bonne Bell, Burt’s Bees and Lucky Tiger brands
23. Feeling
like I belong (particularly at work right now, and always with my pack of pets
and Chad)
24. American
style iced tea – Luzianne is my low-brow favorite.
25. Gilt.com
for shopping
Hate List
1. Winter-type
weather - It isn’t officially winter yet, but I’ve had enough of this cold,
drippy weather. Enough, I say!
2. Feeling
like I don’t belong – especially among old friends
3. Not
having enough time to do little things I enjoy, like read
4. My
inability to sleep on airplanes
5. Some
of Sonic’s behaviors – Yes, it’s a love-hate deal with this burly boy. He bullies
the other pets and pees on things other than cat litter. (He’s been to the vet
multiple times for this issue, and he is neutered. It is not a health issue,
but a purely territorial behavior.)
6. Raisins
– They ruin everything.
7. Small
enclosed spaces
8. Chaos
9. Crowds
10. Facebook
*Our college friends, Lori B. and
Melinda L., who were cousins, made a list of 25 things they loved and 10 things
they hated. Then they sealed the envelope, writing the day’s date on the
outside. They squirreled away the envelopes for later reading and evaluation.
It was back before blogs were popular. I prefer a blog post to a hidden
envelope.
