Pre-Flight Friday Links

I’m going to the airport in about two hours for my flight at 7 pm.  And then I’ll get into Charles de Gaulle around 2 am EST, 8 am Paris time.  I’m packing banana bread.

And yes, that is my new desktop background.

• Get lost in close ups of LUSH bath bombs with nature sounds in the background for one whole minute (or 10 hours a day live on Lush Player- not recommending that this is what you do with your time, but also not judging.)
• Namenculture‘s first anniversary and a review of 2017 in names. Name of the year? Harvey, for many unsavory reasons.
• Box office winners and losers of 2017. A rosy outlook for 1) Disney and 2) R-rated films. A bit of a polarization here, I think. Although I firmly like both categories!
• I’ve always kind of wanted to explore the Titanic as it would have been before it sank. With the maiden voyage of the Titanic II, it looks like that will be a reality for some people. Seems a bit like the height of hubris to me.

A Wish to Build a Dream On

What do you think about before you sleep? Are you out as soon as your head hits the pillow, or do you stay in some kind of in between state for a few minutes (or an hour or so?)

When I was little I would daydream (night dream?) about what my life would be like if I were a student at Hogwarts.  The stories I imagined were linked and episodic, and played out in my mind over the course of about two years of bedtimes.
Apparently this might be maladaptive daydreaming, a symptom of multiple mental disorders.

Whatever, as the Mad Hatter said “We’re all mad here.”

So with that in mind, some nice things to think about as you drift off to dream land:

• Insert yourself as a character into your favorite fictional or fantasy world.
• A flood in a LUSH store
• All the amazing things you could do if you were tiny (like 2 cm tall tiny). Spelunking in a Swiss cheese, anyone?

Soap Fiend

Get it? It’s funny because it rhymes with ‘dope fiend’ but it’s about soap?… mkay, I’ll stop now.

For years I’ve had a clear and definite preference for unscented soap, the reasoning being that I don’t want my bath products to conflict with my chosen perfume. But there’s something so pleasing about a nicely scented bath time experience (or three-minute shower, depending on the days schedule)- and I was tired of missing out on it. Besides, I often enough just end up smelling of conditioner anyway.

The pivotal soap that changed the game for me was LUSH’s Rose Jam, which I’ve already blogged about as being on last year’s Christmas stocking stuffer wish list. Well, after Christmas Eve came around and my parents realized that they had completely forgotten my stocking (Ooops 😛 ) I did get a lovely little jar of Rose Jam as compensation.  It’s so lovely I’m feeling motivated to seek out (and eventually test) other scented bath products- be they soaps, body oils, or what have you (really just soaps or body oils, what else would one use during a tubby? (just imagined a scented rubber ducky, patenting that.))

Stocking Stuffers for a Girl like Me

Pictured: My stocking and Dad’s stocking with Mom’s substitute stocking in the middle (her traditional one is getting a tad delicate).

My stocking is the best stocking ever because my Mom sewed it around the time I was born.  It’s also kind of obnoxiously large compared to my parents’.  Dad has a small pharaoh-themed one because he spent a lot of time in Egypt in his twenties. Mom’s is old and scraggly and red with peeling glitter glue that spells her name.  It’s quite lovely, really.

I decorated the whole tree today to surprise them when they get back from work, and also as some much-needed post fans therapy.  It’s the worst thing about college finals.  I don’t like Christmas nearly so much as I love the lead up and anticipation and carols and crowds and whole season.  So now I’m going for full on immersion.
And don’t worry, I’m not neglecting my pleasure reading! I’ve already finished With Borges by Alberto Manguel today (recommended) and was inspired to add many similar books to my To Read list (currently an overstuffed 436).

But back to stockings! I remember when I was little there was always the wonderfulness of unearthing from my stocking handfuls of gelt, fruit, and delicious Hershey Kisses.  One of the worst things about growing up, or at least the particular way in which I grew up, and my struggles with anorexia, was the loss of this happiness.  We have to let go of a lot of things as we get older, because things change and sometimes because we change.

But thankfully there are still little treats that can make you smile. For someone like me, I think the following little odds and ends are nice ideas.