Raindrops On Roses And Whiskers On Kittens

Here are some of my favorite things:

1. The cold side of the pillow. Ahhh, how I love to flip it and flip it and flip it; each time getting a fresh, new, cold place to rest my cheek.

2. That Aha! moment when I figure out the word in the crossword puzzle I was having trouble with. Sometimes this happens while I'm driving and not even actively doing the puzzle anymore - it'll all of a sudden come to me. Also, I often do a crossword puzzle on the phone with my mother. She gives me the clues to the ones she can't get and I give her the answers. Fun!

3. A southern accent. Most times I can be sucked in by that beautiful honey drenched drawl. My favorite is Paula Deen with all her darlin's and sweetheart's and y'alls (plus she puts butter in everything). I'm also easily sucked in by listening to the slow, easy manner in which Matthew McConaughey speaks; although he could not speak at all and I'd be sucked in. When I don't like it is when the southern accent is spewing something ignorant or racist; then it's just plain 'ol redneck.

4. Cold, crisp air. I love how it assaults my nose, the purity of it almost hurting my nostrils. I don't think it actually even has a scent, but I think you know what I mean; it just smells clean.

5. Untouched snow. Clinging to delicate branches, weighing them down, flake by flake. Even more of a treat for the eyes are when the delicate branches are covered in a layer of twinkly ice, glistening in the sun and reaching far from their trunk to hover precariously over the pristine, untouched snow.

6. The satisfied feeling of a scratched itch. Ahhhhh. Better yet, if someone is scratching it for you.

7. My brother's "laugh till his eyes tear up" laugh. I don't even have to be in his presence to know he's laughing so hard he's almost crying; I can hear it.

8. The smell of Drakkar Noir. Always has been, always will be one of my favorite male scents. And oh how it brings me back.

9. The memory of me, spitting Big Mac lettuce all over the steering wheel of my Chevy Monte Carlo (first car) because my best friend made me laugh SO hard. We were stalking a guy together, and on the way to his house, pulled over to get a bite to eat. We sat in the parking lot down the block from the stalkee's house, eating our Mickey D's and laughing like we were getting paid to do it. High-jinks like this make one hungry and goofy.

10. Sitting on the stoop at 1628 Seddon Street, the house I lived in after I was born and where my grandparents lived until the end of their lives. I can see the silvery grey pebbles of the stone in the steps and the silver aluminum railing down each side. You could watch the whole neighborhood go by from these steps. Those are the days when people actually talked to their neighbors and walking the streets of the Bronx were safe.

11. The sound of the ice cream man. No matter what neighborhood we were in, you could hear him coming from blocks away. At the first sound of the music, we'd run inside and get our money, ready to buy a Bomb Pop or a Toasted Almond. Choosing from the visual menu on the side of the truck was almost as much fun as eating the ice cream itself.

12. The scent of lemon-verbena; most often, in a candle, but recently I found the same scent in Oscar Blandi's dry shampoo. Fresh!

13. Coming around the bend on Interstate 64/77 in Charleston, West Virginia and seeing the stunningly BEAUTIFUL gold dome of the capitol building. Takes my breath every time. Here's a better picture of the gold dome.