Thursday, October 23, 2008

"I simply remember my favorite things..."

Lately I've seen several people do posts on their favorite things like this, this, this and this. I started to be inspired to do a post on my favorite things. In brainstorming my favorite things I couldn't get the song "My Favorite Things" out of my head (was that from The Sound of Music)? So I looked up the lyrics.

My Favorite Things by Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad


I love how all of the favorite things listed in the song seem to be quite random. I love how they all seem to be simple pleasures, not elaborate material desires. This is the same tone that most of the posts that I've read reflect as well. I love to focus on finding gratitude, pleasure, and delight in the small things right in front of me, rather than spending my time uncontent, hungering, and desiring more. My list may not be quite as short as several of the lists that I've read, but maybe that's a reflection of my ability to find joy in so many things (or ramble on endlessly).

a few of my favorite things...
-anything sweet. particularly carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, cheese cake, brownies, pumpkin cake, apple cake... okay fine, i like it all!
-hats. not only can these complete an outfit, they are amazing at covering up a bad hair day and the awkward stages of your hair growing out from a regretfully short hair cut. this is one of my favorite casual ones.



-ethnic food. sushi, thai, mexican, indian, lebanese, ethiopian, afghan, and more.
-bing cherries.
-kelly green. like the shade of my new coat.
-top chef. i'm not much into tv, but i love this show, new season starts in a little over a week!
-board and card games. chinese checkers, scrabble, phase 10, scattergories, yahtzee, outburst and more.
-book stores or libraries. I can spend hours sifting through craft, cook, christian, decorating and frugal living books.
-the beach. not only does this provide me with hours of free entertainment each weekend during the summer, an hour of refuge from the chaos of my work day each week day, but it's breath taking!
-bright colored shoes. i have stillettos that i love in purple, pale pink, hot pink and red. i've recently capitalized on the inflation of gold and sold some old gold jewelry to buy these and these beauties that i've been drooling over to add to my collection.
-jersey sheets. i've had one set since i was about 19 and i've never found another set that fits my bed (most jersey sheets are made for kids beds, i guess adults are supposed to use "grown up", "nicer" sheets). (these can be seen under the hat in the picture above)
-pampered chef chopper. i love the quick work it makes of chopping onions, garlic, peppers, nuts and more. the biggest bonus is it protecting my eyes from the onion fumes while chopping.
-the smell of fresh baked cookies or banana bread.
-just about any hillsong song.
-putting on warm clothes that just came out of the dryer.
-homemade everything. my purse, toothpaste and cards.





-the purity and innocence of a child praying.
-childlike faith.
-a cup of coffee.
-deep conversations.

(i intentionally avoided talking about specific people or memories with them and focused on being more general in this post. that doesn't mean that i don't greatly appreciate all of the amazing people in my life, memories we share, and our glorious god! it is more of a reflection that my god, family and friends are way more intricate than i can explain in a post on simple delights)

what are some of your favorite things?

shannon

No comments: