list sixteen: 100 (more) things in the world I love

an addition to the original 100 things list because I ask you, how can there only be one hundred things in the world to love? how?

1. double rainbows
2. salted caramels
3. bicycle bells
4. boomboxes
5. airstream trailers
6. gumball machines
7. clementines
8. car washes
9. band uniforms
10. board games
11. hand stands
12. bakers twine
13. brown sugar
14. roller rinks
15. toy cameras
16. fishnet stockings
17. paper hats
18. tide pools
19. empanadas
20. xylophones
21. vintage aprons
22. hula hoops
23. lens flare
24. compact mirrors
25. cigar boxes
26. peel apart film
27. japanese masking tape
28. aluminum christmas trees
29. motel room keys
30. post-it notes
31. orange crush
32. bobby pins
33. banana seat bikes
34. tiny guitars
35. beach hair
36. paper snowflakes
37. pink telephones
38. polka dot boxers
39. pull down maps
40. greek yogurt
41. fingerless gloves
42. magazine stands
43. nesting dolls
44. orange ranunculus
45. ice cream trucks
46. party horns
47. kit kat clocks
48. hats with feathers
49. secret handshakes
50. paper balloons
51. palm trees
52. french films
53. field trips
54. room service
55. newsboy caps
56. popsicles
57. yard sales
58. british accents
59. blackberry bushes
60. handmade valentines
61. harmonicas
62. lemon curd
63. paper straws
64. parasols
65. mandolins
66. fireplaces
67. charlie brown
68. neon arrows
69. cotton candy
70. garden sprinklers
71. silver charms
72. viewmasters
73. piggy banks
74. potted succulents
75. button rings
76. bonfires
77. starburst clocks
78. crimson peonies
79. paint brushes
80. beach blankets
81. fleamarkets
82. sugarcane lemonade
83. saltwater sandals
84. sun paintings
85. inner tubes
86. guerilla art
87. wind-up toys
88. rosebud salve
89. red velvet cake
90. mary tyler moore
91. maraschino cherries
92. 24 hour diners
93. karmann ghias
94. cotton nightgowns
95. vacuum cleaners
96. aqua vespas
97. pinwheels
98. pow wows
99. soul claps
100. leotards

(sixteen down, thirty-six to go)

list fifteen: recently spotted

from the seat of my bicycle yesterday I saw:

1. an aqua-colored house

2. blankets hung out the window to dry

3. irises and poppies in full bloom

4. a man with impeccable posture

5. I LOVE JUSTIN BIEBER written in pink chalk on the sidewalk

6. a tangerine-colored banana seat bike

7. softball-sized grapefruit at the vietnamese grocery

8. a perfect example of the subconscious art of graffiti removal

9. one clawfoot tub

10. one pink door

11. two yellow balloons

12. a spectacular view of mt. hood

13. fruit crates in a rainbow of colors

14. a perfectly cloudless polaroid sky

(fifteen down, thirty-seven to go)

day four and list fourteen: why I will love polaroid forever and ever amen

whereupon I refrain from overusing the word 'magic':

1. because it taught me to slow down already.

2. because I die for the colors. every time. I die.

3. because press that little red button and anything can happen.

4. because the SX-70 camera is a thing of beauty.

5. because the automatic 100, also exquisite.

6. because just when I think I've got a handle on all the different kinds of polaroid cameras out there, I stumble onto one I've never seen or heard of before. thank goodness for the land list.

7. because peel apart film is cool. also, it makes me feel important.

8. because the zip and whirrr sound the SX-70 makes as it shoots the picture out is the most spectacular sound. unofficially speaking.

9. because truly, it has transformed the way I frame and compose.

10. because show a polaroid camera to a group of kids and they will look at you like you've just come from the moon.

11. because a polaroid sky is a sky like no other.

12. because I look at light now with completely different eyes.

13. because there's nothing in the world like the moment that image slowly appears. it's magic.

(fourteen down, thirty-eight to go)

(meanwhile, 'roid week continues)

list thirteen: things I do not like

52 weeks of lists and you had to know this one was coming:

1. cilantro. I'm sorry, cilantro. I want to like you, I really do. but you are not on the good side of my gag reflex.

2. fluorescent lighting. or most overhead lighting, really. because turn on an overhead light and pretty much everyone looks dead. but switch on a couple of lamps and everyone looks pretty. or at the very least, alive. also, lamps totally bring the cozy. I am a big fan of things that bring the cozy.

3. too much cologne. there are people out there drowning in cologne and I don't understand it. also, stores like abercrombie and fitch are pumping desperate amounts of cologne into the air. and it's so wrong I can't even talk about it.

4. wet socks. the moisture makes me loco.

5. magazines like maxim. because it's hard enough out there already.

6. packed movie theatres. because a packed movie theatre means I will inevitably have to sit next to a stranger. which means I will have to share the armrest and hold my purse in my lap. it also means I will not be able to put my feet up on the seat in front of me. and I really need to put my feet up. I just do.

7. black jellybeans. not a fan of the black jellybeans.

8. laundry. nothing sucks the air out of my day like the endlessness of laundry.

9. public automatic water faucets. I am so on board with the whole water conservation thing but would very much like it if I didn't have to perform an elaborate hand jive every time I need a little water to wash my hands. I'm serious. it's out of control.

10. long fingernails. I don't know what happened but I cannot take long fingernails. not even a little bit.

11. big budget action films. nothing puts me to sleep like a big budget action film. I will never need sleeping pills so long as big budget action films exist. thank you hollywood.

12. bras with hidden agendas. because pretty much every bra I own (or have ever owned, for that matter) seems to do something completely different than what was promised. everyday is a showdown, everyday is a battle. and the bras, they are winning the battle. the bras, they are beginning to break my spirit.

(thirteen down, thirty-nine to go)

list twelve: things I like to photograph

1. hair, glorious hair

2. the ocean and all that it implies

3. things that are sugary and pretty and probably not good for you

4. stripes and patterns

5. color and more color

6. movers and shakers

7. things that float and hang

8. things that sparkle and spin

9. multiples, multiples, multiples

10. art found on the street

11. things that scream summer

12. flowers that are real

13. flowers that aren't

14. cities I do not live in

15. cities I do live in

16. things that are old

17. hands that tell stories

18. feet that mostly belong to me

19. skies that go on forever

20. bridges and buildings

21. letters and signs

22. people and more people

23. things with wheels

24. machines that play music

25. boxes that record images

26. people that I love

27. pretty much anything during the magic hour

28. pretty much anything.

29. pretty much everything.

(twelve down, forty to go)

list eleven: things I am loving

currently:

1. paper balloons

2. colorful could-be cameras

3. harpy's float set

4. love letter murals

5. my new (non-black) wallet

6. re-imagined book covers

7. a list to take seriously

8. a pound cake that involves nutella

9. a collaboration that involves an 8 year-old and the art world

10. a new film about an artist I love

11. the building and imagining of so many bikes

12. the last of the orange jellybeans

13. the spring issue of UPPERCASE

14. a glee flashmob (and the hundreds of arms and hands at 1:30 in)

15. the having of helvetica stencils

16. the stories and colors in ruth's paintings

17. the world's first street art disaster film

18. decals that are swoon-worthy

19. dancers who run backwards

20. the two unopened boxes of PX100 film sitting on my desk

21. the lilacs popping near the front porch

22. marionberry-flavored anything

(eleven down, forty-one to go)

list ten: books I could read over and over

these are the ones I find myself picking up again and again. something like comfort food but better, so much better.

1. slaves of new york by tama janowitz

2. to kill a mockingbird by harper lee

3. the principles of uncertainty by maira kalman

4. me talk pretty one day by david sedaris

5. writing down the bones by natalie goldberg

6. song of solomon by toni morrison

7. a tree grows in brooklyn by betty smith

8. let the great world spin by colum mcCann

(ten down, forty-two to go)

list nine: posts that mean something to me

well, they all mean something to me. but some mean a little more than others. five years worth of writing and it was not easy to choose, not easy at all but here are a few. okay, more than a few.

1. electric brains

2. yes I said yes

3. but it's SPIDERMAN

4. perspective

5. poor five

6. dear italy

7. you can go too

8. hello, I'm a mover

9. I love room service

10. better than everything in the sky

11. 82nd avenue

12. flight 749

13. self portrait #33

14. guilty as charged

15. friday afternoon

16. into marvelous light


(nine down, forty-three to go)

list eight: guiltiest pleasures

I'm writing from the road, friends. internet access is spotty and there's work to be done but I am here and I have a list. guiltiest pleasures:

1. cheap make-up

2. bad television

3. fountain cokes, heavy on the crushed ice

4. cherry-flavored blow pops

5. ridiculous gossip magazines

6. donuts with sprinkles

coincidentally, when I'm on the road, all self-imposed limitations regarding guilty pleasures fly straight out the proverbial window. I am on my 17th cherry blow pop, folks. I have been to the drug store and I have the cheap green eyeshadow to prove it. from the cocoon of my dark hotel room, I will watch many, many hours of bad late night television. also? a donut with sprinkles is surely in my near future.

hello from guilty pleasure central. things should be back to normal in about a week or two. I think.

(eight down, forty-four to go)

list seven: words you love

culled from list five's comment section and a few willing twitter peeps. these are your favorites. and now they're mine too.

1. scrumptious
2. tweeze
3. clunky
4. marsh
5. hullabaloo
6. defenestrate
7. aboulia
8. unctuous
9. new york
10. montagne
11. qualms
12. rapprochement
13. iridescent
14. vestibule
15. shenanigans
16. smithereens
17. incandescence
18. menagerie
19. quixotic
20. moisture
21. aperture
22. aesthetic
23. hijinx
24. broccoli
25. apropos
26. humdinger
27. exacerbate
28. conundrum
29. onomatopoeia
30. swoon
31. literary
32. et cetera
33. gingham
34. yummy
35. luscious
36. subterfuge
37. anthropomorphic
38. quandary
39. caliber
40. delete
41. plethora
42. palpable
43. superfluous
44. lovely
45. hootenanny
46. scalawag
47. insane
48. zack
49. beloved
50. allegorical
51. moonlight
52. mayhaps
53. sublime
54. bemoan
55. bequest
56. tiny
57. hello
58. deluxe
59. bonus
60. cozy
61. angst
62. rustic
63. ballerina
64. melancholy
65. chartreuse

oh you word lovers, you. you are my people. I spent a good part of the afternoon rolling these words around my mouth. I said many out loud and spent more time with a dictionary than I'd care to admit. these are good words. these are really really good words. they deserve to be written over and over again, to be used in sentences and paragraphs and stories of all kinds. they deserve to be said out loud, to be casually interjected into conversation whenever possible, proclaimed with conviction over dinner when the lull is too much and muttered softly under breath when there's nothing else to say. thank you for sharing. thank you very much.

consider this an open call for more words. there's no end to good words. I am sure of it.

(seven down, forty-five to go)

list six: clothes I loved to wear as a kid

1. red and white striped tee-shirt, circa 1981. as pictured above.

2. maroon stretch velvet pantsuit with creamy lace trim and gold threading, circa 1982. normally reserved for holidays, natch. although I remember it most as the thing I wore to the emergency room on christmas eve, thanks to the worst ear infection ever.

3. hot pink dance costume crazy with fringe and sequins, circa 1975. my mom picked it up at a yard sale for 25 cents and thirty years later, it still manages to bring the house down.

4. little cotton red and white gingham romper with matching hat, circa 1975. witness.

5. esprit muscle tees, circa 1982-84. in grey and fuschia. witness.

6. calvin klein jeans, circa 1980-83. with chic jeans a close second and jordache a distant third.

7. shiny red lycra leotard with matching gold chain belt, circa 1980. worn only when rehearsing solid gold dance choreography or acting out imagined scenes from fame.

8. white jersey tee with a rainbow that stretched from sleeve to sleeve and across the chest. three quarter length sleeves, circa 1982. does anyone remember these? I want one for ava so bad I could cry.

9. cotton paisley print halter top, circa 1977. my childhood summers defined.

10. red satin jacket with baby blue corded stripes down the side of each sleeve, circa 1981. repeatedly worn to the local roller rink.

11. white esprit trousers covered in black splattered paint, circa 1983. very jackson pollock. in the small southern illinois town I lived in, nobody had ever seen anything like them. my friends? so jealous they wanted to spit.

12. red tee-shirt with john travolta on the front, circa 1978. I refused to put posters of any boy on my bedroom wall (because what's the point if he can't really love you back?) but I wore john travolta around til he was spotty and faded.

13. I Dream of Jeanie pajamas with sheer, billowy pink pants that gathered at the ankle and reddish-pink satin top (billowy sleeves to match), circa 1976. my absolute favorite thing to wear, maybe ever. I wore them until there was practically nothing left, til they nearly evaporated into thin air.

(six down and forty-six to go)

list five: words I love

mostly for the way they sound. or the way they look on paper.

1. cerebral
2. languid
3. electric
4. phosphorescent
5. cerulean
6. luminous
7. preposterous
8. kinesthetic
9. bohemian
10. vinyl
11. aquamarine
12. bambino
13. cheeky
14. peripatetic
15. starlight
16. vernacular
17. mambo
18. rouge
19. vintage
20. betwixt
21. exuberant
22. brilliant
23. catapult
24. maudlin
25. spectacular
26. tangerine
27. italiano
28. shrill
29. ranunculus
30. hustle
31. lush

(five down, forty-seven to go)

list four: gold stars I deserve (or, things I'm good at)

1. parallel parking. I am an excellent parallel parker. and when I say excellent, I mean excellent. I swear, I can practically hear an imaginary audience go wild as I reverse-swerve my honda into each impossible-looking space. I am not going to lie. I have a gift and I know it.

2. kickball. not that I play anymore but back in the day, I was the stuff of which elementary school kickball legends are made. when it was my turn to kick, the entire opposing team spread to the far corners of the field. because I was not a kicker to be messed with. unfortunately, my kickball career peaked near the end of second grade when my team won the summer tournament and I took the title of MVP. the grand prize? a dairy queen banana split, which I lovingly placed in the freezer once I'd licked the whipped cream off the top and scooped out all the hot fudge. and it sat in the freezer for three whole days (an edible testament to my rock star kickball capabilities) until finally, I was forced to throw it out. nothing left but half a frozen banana that looked as if it had been gnawed on by small animals. shortly after, I lost interest in kickball. my dreams of becoming a solid gold dancer had just taken hold and clearly, I'd gone as far as I could with the whole kickball thing.

3. gift wrapping. I have been told that my great grandmother was seriously skilled in this particular area, that her gifts were exquisitely wrapped with fancy flocked papers and complicated bows. I have been told I take after her. I don't know about the exquisite part but I do like to make a package look pretty, I do. I love the smell of scotch tape, the way scissors quietly glide through wide stretches of paper. I love the choosing of patterns and colors and papers and ribbon and string. I love me a handmade tag. and I'll never say no to a pile of presents that need to be wrapped. not ever. I can't help myself.

4. spelling. I was the girl who won all the spelling bees in school. now, I am the go-to girl in the house when a spelling crisis arises. if I close my eyes, I can see the word. and it is almost always perfectly spelled. am secretly convinced that this is my superpower in life and would not say no to a special cape. should a special super speller cape ever be presented to me.

5. birthday parties. when I was seven, I ordered a book from the school book fair called 'popular party games'. I read it from cover to cover (again and again) until I had every game in the book memorized. and then I began to plan imaginary birthday parties with a wild variety of themes. no surprise then, that I can throw down when it comes to birthday parties. I am the mother that throws the curve off for all the other mothers. though I swear, that is not my intention. I do it because I love it, because my kids love it. because I am a sucker for crepe paper and lanterns, for party hats and horns. I think the assembly of the goody bag is a lost art. I go crazy over cakes. I've baked them in all shapes and sizes-- race cars, mermaids, robots, legos. more importantly, I've lived to tell about it. I take great care with details and take great pride in the fact that I spend little money. and more than a few times, I've been asked, would I ever consider doing this professionally? why, yes I would but what would be the fun in that? it's only fun now because the parties I throw are for the people I love most in life. I go all out because I can. but also because I know there will come a time when I will not be allowed to plan and scheme and throw these very special birthday parties. in fact, there may come a time when I will not be allowed within fifty feet of the party. but I try very hard not to think about that. I try very very hard.

(four lists down, forty-eight to go)

list three: things I carry around in my bag

1. wallet. because occasionally, I need to pay for things.

2. black ink pens. because I do not joke around when it comes to black ink pens.

3. burt's bees lip shimmer in nutmeg. because it's the most perfect shade. ever. but also, I'm addicted to lip stuff.

4. car keys. because keys are important.

5. minty chewing gum. because I am a fan of all things refreshing.

6. cameras. because I like to take pictures, lots and lots of pictures. and I need a wide variety of cameras at my disposal to accomplish this.

7. handful of crayons. because as long as there are crayons (and scraps of paper) in my bag, there will always be something for the kids to do. no matter what happens.

8. cel phone. because there are important things to say, all hours of the day.

9. moleskine sketchbook. because you never know when the great ideas will hit. or when the kids will say something brilliant.

(three down, forty-nine to go)

list two: songs I listen to over and over

1. here comes the sun- nina simone (for when everything is wrong)

2. love- mos def (for when everything is right)

3. lo boob oscillator- stereolab (for when I need air)

4. crayon- caribou (for when I need color)

5. feel that way- gift of gab (for when I need light)

6. predatory wasp of the palisades- sufjan stevens (for when I'm steeped in uncertainty)

7. anthems for a 17 year-old girl- broken social scene (for when I'm steeped in melancholy)

8. kissing the lipless- the shins (for when things need to be loud)

9. galaxy of emptiness- beth orton (for when things need to be quiet)

10. starfish and coffee- prince (for when the rain won't stop)

11. from the outside- deepspace5 (for when I miss my brother)

12. will not be sold- dust and poems (for when I miss my hometown)

13. go west- liz phair (for when the road calls)

14. gymnopédie no. 1- erik satie (for when I need to get lost)

15. we have a map of the piano- múm (for the dances in my head)


(two lists down, fifty to go)

list one: things I've broken

1. three vintage ornaments. over the christmas break.

2. more promises than I'd care to admit plus a few hearts. one in particular.

3. the ragtop of my dad's '68 blue camaro convertible. after scrambling to the top of the car to hide from boys, I heard a terrific rip and felt my nine year-old body slip through the roof and land with a dull thud in the back seat. which is when I looked up, spied a sliver of blue sky and marveled at the sheer size of the hole I'd created. mere seconds before full blown panic set in.

4. the heel of a favorite vintage spectator pump. most likely purchased, worn (and broken) during what I now refer to as my marilyn monroe phase. also known as my sophomore, junior and senior year of high school.

5. my husband's favorite electric pencil sharpener. during an argument. yep, I threw it.

6. my left arm. after popping the most spectacular wheelie of my wheelie-popping career, I hit a bump in the driveway, went flying over the handlebars of my purple banana seat bike and broke the fall with my left arm. thus, fourth grade will forever be known as the year I broke a bone and rocked the plaster cast.

(one down, fifty-one more to go)

the one where maybe I take the list thing too far

doing: a list a week from now until january 2011. starting tomorrow. assorted topics mostly culled from a sweet little site (and book) I love. am approaching this as a weekly writing exercise of sorts-- a soft place to land in the event I lose words or run out of things to say. because ruts are inevitable. and because there's always a list to make. always.

also, what does a year of list-making look like? I'd like to know.