Friday, February 11, 2011

Five Things on Friday - Random Love Edition

Today, my boss and I, desperate to get out of these four walls of lunacy, took a long lunch at a local museum. Which was weird. You know, I used to work in the arts and we did that sort of stuff all the time, but here, well, let's just say it's not in the culture.

Anyway, this is a cool, funky little museum and I had a great time. I went to see an exhibit of Shirley Mason (Sybil - yes, that Sybil, with the 16 personalities, no her name wasn't really Sybil, it was Shirley, yes she really was a professional artist). She lived nearish to me and someone recently found a whole bunch of her art, and WOW, am I rambling.  Anywho, there was also an exhibit by a weaver and it was heaven. Just heaven. And it reminded me that happiness is sometimes about surrounding yourself with things that you love.

Hence  - Five Random Things that I Love and Make me Happy

1. Fiber Art - Anything from weaving to quilting to hand dyed fabrics. Not to mention crochet and knit. There is something undeniably tactile and solid to fiber art that makes me weak in the knees. Literally. I was literally swaying in the museum and wondering what my boss would do if I passed out right in the middle of the gallery.

2. Nifty Glassware - I have this thing about glasses. Some people get all worked up about dishes or teapots and yeah, they're nice. But I love glasses. I don't really own any. Honestly. Most of my glasses are broken, so we have replaced them with plastic and plan on buying glass when both of my children our firmly out of the throwing-and/or-carrying-things-that-are-too-heavy phase. I do have some really nice Coca-Cola glasses that are put up and a couple of single glasses that are my water glasses. I also really love to drink out of Mason jars. It appeals to something nostalgic in my soul.

3. Irises - I love irises. They are by far my favorite flower. There is something so confrontational, yet graceful about an iris that appeals to me. I'm sort of a traditionalist, preferring the purple-yellow iris combo. But I can love just about any iris you want to introduce me to. The Husband thinks my favorite flowers are tulips and I do love the hopefulness of a tulip, but I am deep in my soul, an iris woman.

4. Pickles - I adore pickles. Sweet, sour, dill, kosher, slices, whole, spears. Kitchen pickles, refrigerator pickles, fried pickles. I love them all. I had barbecue for lunch and I almost jumped up and down when I saw the three (3!!) fresh pickle slices on my plate.

5. Red - My favorite color is purple and red is probably three or four colors down on my favorite list, but there is just something about red things that make me happy. I have a red wool coat that I wear most of the winter and it really jazzes up a gray, dreary day. I like to wear red, in part because I think it goes well with that whole underfed vampire look I have going on, but also because it just knocks some energy into me when I see it.

So, what makes you happy? The randomer, the better!

7 comments:

Jenn-Jenn, the Mother Hen said...

1. The smell of a new book and the first crack of its spine. There's just so much possibility there.

2. Discovering that, by golly, we DO have clean clothes for tomorrow so I DON'T have to start another load.

3. OK Go's music. There's just something about it that immediately makes me smile. Doesn't matter what the song is, if OK Go comes on, I start smiling a big, cheek-splitting grin. And then I start to bounce.

4. Getting a notification that one of my opponents in WordFeud (Android's version of Scrabble) has played and round and it's my turn again.

5. Hanging out with my punk and his punk friends. Jamie and his friends are hilarious. Yes, there are moments where I think I'm going to scream if they say a certain word or phrase for the 5 billionth time, but for the most part I really enjoy hanging out with them. They are 12 and 13 - I know I must enjoy it while it lasts, for soon they won't think I'm "cool mom", I'll be "dork mom parasite who must be avoided at all costs."

Sorry, hijacked your blog. But to be fair, you did ask. :-D

Jessi said...

Jen - Hijacking completely allowed. that's the point of Fridays. And amen to 1, 2 and 3. I don't have much OK Go in my life, but I feel the same way about They Might be Giants and The Pogues.

Cathy G. said...

1. Finding money in an unexpected pocket.

2. My granddaughters.

3. Hearing my son's obnoxiously loud truck roaring up the driveway.

4. When my husband helps me cook dinner.

5. Sunday lunches - either at MiCasita with my family or at church with my church family. It's all good!

Suze said...

Oooh, I'll have to just do my own post.
But thanks for this. I just loved reading it!

ann said...

That was so much fun! I want to do it, too.

And I love that 4 of your mom's 5 things were about her family.

Suze said...

posted earlier today :)

Anonymous said...

Jessi, your favorites are mine too! I love irises, red is my favorite color, I love dishes and what makes me happiest is to descend into the basement where my fabric stash is arranged like a colorful assortment of leaning towers of pisa and I can start creating or maybe just touching and rearranging.
Mrs.G.