I grounded myself for the entire month of December because I was really starting to go a little cra-cra in the head. Mandatory time off, one might say.
So I’ve been pretty low key. Getting a lot of sleep which is odd for me.
Something I’m enjoying (which is surprising to me) is the local radio station, KOIT, has been playing non-stop Christmas music since the day after Thanksgiving. Now typically I don’t get into holiday music, but the CD player in our car is broken so it’s all radio all the time which means All-Your-Favorite-Christmas-Hits-Non-Stop.
That’s where I heard Julie Andrews singing “My Favorite Things” from one of the best movies ever: The Sound of Music. Sigh. I love The Sound of Music. One may even say that it’s one of My Favorite Things.
HANG ON! That got me to thinking – I have a lot of random little happy things. I wondered; if I put them together in a list could I start experimenting with them by creating odd combinations or strategically scattering them through my weeks months and years? Would it be possible to ultimately create a consistent state of euphoria using only My Favorite Things? Better than whiskey? Doubtful – but worth trying.
So for the challenge, I need to start with the list itself.
For better or worse, here is the list of Kat Downs’ Favorite Things:
Food
- Tuna Salad on Ritz Crackers
- Pizza. Either pepperoni and pineapple, or tons of mushrooms
- Roasted eggplant sandwiches with red peppers and pesto
- roasted mushrooms – get OUT they are so good.
- Avocado cut in half and sprinkled with some salt.
- Butter on fresh bread
- An excellent Syrah or Zinfandel
- Egg nog
- Black olives
- Oil and vinegar on dipping bread
- Tomatoes. All the time.
- Bourbon and/or Whiskey. Particularly Bulliet, Rebel Yell, and Jameson.
Movies/TV shows
- The Sound of Music
- The Fifth Element
- The movie The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston.
(Especially the part where the angel of death comes sneaking around to kill all the firstborn. Creepy as hell. Love.) - Grey’s Anatomy
- Will and Grace
- Little Miss Sunshine
- The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
- Star Wars Trilogy
- Damages
- Dexter
- The Walking Dead
- All About Eve
Music
- Dolly Parton – I freaking love Dolly Parton. Freaking. Love. Her.
- Led Zeppelin – Yes. all the time.
- Florence and the Machine – makes my heart sing. xoxoxo
- The Killers – most of the albums, but not all. Like the songwriting.
- Ben Folds – just flat out makes me happy.
- Hits from the 80’s – especially for dancing.
- Leonard Cohen
- Paul Simon. C’mon with the amazing songwriting already.
- Radiohead
- Sit Kitty Sit (duh)
- Elton John
- PETER GABRIEL. Love. Him. LOVITY LOVE.
- Amanda Palmer/ some of The Dresden Dolls
- The Beatles
- Coldplay
- Joe Purdy
- Johnny Cash
Smells/Textures/Other things
- The smell of Lavender
- Jersey Sheets
- My pillow
- purring cats
- getting my hair done
- a great pair of stockings
- My new skull ring from Mr. F
- bath bombs from Lush
- a fresh mani pedi. Ahhhh
- a brand new pen and a blank piece of paper
Let the grand experiment begin…
For instance, what if I combined one item from the food category with one item from either media list. Such as “tuna salad on ritz crackers” paired with an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. I’ve already done that one, and I can tell you it scores 4.5 out of 5 stars on the Kat-Is-Happy-Meter.
I wish there was a not-rude way to incorporate getting a mani-pedi while watching a movie. I bet that would be pretty damn awesome.
I am totally curious to try combinations that I’ve never done before. Maybe even do some alliteration play – Amanda Palmer with Avocado followed by All about Eve.
Will definitely report back on this…
katdowns.com 