Tag: pens

Things I would spend an embarrassingly large amount of money on if I were rich

Abby4 Comments
Me, in an alternate universe, with my Afghan. Click for source.

Things I would spend an embarrassingly large amount of money on if I were rich:

  • Fresh-cut flowers! In every room!
  • My (hypothetical pack of) dogs.
  • Expensive sight hound puppies, like Afghans and borzois, from top-notch breeders.
  • Books. I would buy a million books. And put them in my house.
  • Makeup. Secret: I actually really like makeup, even though I don’t wear much of it. I think I just like to play with it.
  • Stationery. I would send everyone, even people I didn’t like that much, $6 letterpress birthday cards.
  • Bunnies. I would get a lot of bunnies.
  • Art. I would have a painting in every room, too.
  • Dresses. I would buy all the dresses.
  • Adorable little notebooks that I would probably never use but keep in my purse, “just in case.”
  • Tickets to the ballet.
  • Japanese pens. They make the best pens.
  • Antique furniture.

Inordinate wealth is not in the cards for us, so Guion doesn’t really have to worry about this list. But daydreams are a great zero-cal snack.

Small things

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Keisei Makuhari station, where I caught the train home every day. Tokyo, June 2009

1. Betsy Dunlap is one of my favorite calligraphers. Her work is so distinctive and beautiful in a funky way. You can scroll around her blog to get some ideas of what she does. She’s kind of like a superstar in the wedding blogosphere.

2. We had a minor flood in the kitchen last night. Guion went to answer his phone and forgot that he left the sink running. I was talking to Emily on the phone (which was unbelievably lovely; I miss her so much) and wasn’t paying attention. Our neighbor Hannah comes upstairs and is all, “Um, do you have water running? Because our ceiling is leaking.” Yeah. Not fun. But we got it under control. I’m glad we have a mop and at least four towels we don’t care about.

3. I can’t wait for my new Japanese pens to get here so I can start on Rose and Kemp‘s wedding invitations! I’m hoping they will come today.

4. I also can’t wait for Cristina and Eric’s wedding! And even though we can’t be there, Megan and Charles’s! Just a few more weeks!

5. I suppose I forgot how utterly dark and depraved Mishima’s fiction can be. “The Temple of the Golden Pavilion” is certainly interesting, but it’s hard to handle sometimes. Mishima, likely drawing from experience, preferred to focus on society’s rejects. But instead of giving them touching qualities (so as to creep into your latent store of compassion), he makes them extra-sad and dark. Still, reading this novel rushes me back to Tokyo in an instant. I read 12 novels by Japanese authors that summer, mostly in transit. Sometimes, when I get absorbed in this book, I feel like I’m back on the train, reading intently as I sway back and forth and listen to the announcer’s high voice calling out the stations…