By Jill Greenwood
Everyone has an obsession or two (or fifty judging by our group of ladies), but today we wrap it up. And I thought I had the perfect post last week, but I failed to take one, tiny, insignificant thing into account: the first day of school. Ah . . . that pesky thing that pays the bills: my job. School started on Monday of this past week (yup, I even wrote a post about it), and yet this morning came around and I forgot all about the carefully laid out plans of photos and research and crap. So you get old photos with a list of my obsessions. Sorry
1. Red shoes: Not like the cheesy soft-core porn that used to run on Cinemax – and probably still does – but actual proper red shoes. I bought my first pair about a four years ago, but they weren’t quite right. Fast forward to Las Vegas in September of 2010 and a beautiful pair of Marc Ecco red patent leather pumps found their way into my suitcase. I thought that they would be something just for going out (because I go out all the f-ing time), but I started wearing them to school. And then a pair of red TOMS for the summer. Followed closely by a pair of red glitter TOMS just because I wanted them. Funny thing is, red shoes will change your life. Sounds silly but they really do. There’s nothing like having a really shitty day and looking down at your feet and seeing something peppy and bright staring back at you. Don’t have a pair of red shoes? Look for some at the store. Can’t find them? Buy a pair of socks . . . or undies. Who the hell needs to know you have red knickers one but you!
2. Tiny houses: About three years ago, I stumbled upon the Tiny House blog, and I was smitten. Cute, little houses all under 1,000 square feet. Each inch packed with space saving design. Amazing! Our house – the starter that we bought 13 years ago – might qualify for some as a tiny house for some since it barely reaches 1,300 square feet, but for the two of us, it seems large. My dream house? It’s barely 500 square feet. My mom thinks I am bat-shit crazy for wanting a house this size. “You’ll be on top of each other all the time. You’ll never have your own space,” she will constantly say when I bring it up. Quite frankly, I don’t care. A two-bedroom house with an open living-dining-kitchen area works well for me. Even having a loft over the main living space would be perfect. Once the tiny house bug bites you, it’s probably not going to let you go.
3. Pens: I am a certified pen whore. Seriously . . . pass me a pen, and I’ll tell you within five minutes if you have a keeper or not. I think teachers are the best at figuring out which pens work best. My personal favorite? The Pentel EnerGel and taking one of mine is an act of war in my book. Don’t touch my purple ones, but I’ll give you my blue ones (because I hate blue ink, which is the only color my husband uses). Then again, Pentel has its drawbacks for journaling, so for that, I’ll only use Paper Mate Flair . . . just about any color, but I like to write in the black ink. And their InkJoy pens? Sucktacular . . . can’t stand them.
Thumb back through the August archives and take a look at what we were obsessing over in August. You’ll see our love of power tools, water, llamas and alpacas, randomness, peach pies, chowder, cities, Karma, and what it means to have the fiercest group of women in your corner. And lest you think that it’s all puppy dogs and rainbows and unicorns squirting bubbles out of their horns, September is right around the corner . . . and we’ll be writing about the things that chap our asses. Things that really piss us off. Things that make us see red. And I’m not talking about a pair of sex-on-a-stiletto pumps.