The Internet is gigantic! It’s a wonder you’ve wandered here at all. As a thanks, please accept this dancing bear (via woolgathering & miscellany):
Not eating meat really helps trim the time I spend looking at most menus. I sometimes joke that this is the reason I’ve remained a vegetarian for so many years, and while it’s not the whole reason, it’s a larger factor than the joke lets on. (Veggie related aside: Is Meatless Monday a great idea or what? Mario Batali! Baltimore City Public Schools! Get on board!).
I’ve always found decision-making difficult. I matriculated (paid to hold my spot, got assigned a roommate) at two universities because I wanted to buy myself more time to consider. I’ll always choose a twist cone over a single flavor, even if I’m nearly certain the weakness of “coffee toffee” will compromise the coconut-power of “German chocolate cake” at Tasti D-lite. There’s just so much wonder on offer! I’d like to try it all.
New York City, where I’m writing this, is as vast as the Internet. Just as I was typing “but with fewer dancing bears,” I remembered a letter-press greeting card, spotted today at the marvelous McNally Jackson Books, that featured a sweet little bear dancing under a letterpressed trellis of navy-blue leaves. When I travel, I want to try it all, too, so I narrow down/whittle away/make manageable by seeking out 1) bookshops and 2) places where I can smell strange and lovely things. There’s no shortage of either here, and if you were relegated (honored?) to a lifetime spent browsing bookstores and smelling stuff, you couldn’t ask for a better city. Because I love those features in lady magazines where they show you what so-and-so has in her handbag, I’ll tell you about two treasures in my own tote:
- This is part of Graywolf’s excellent The Art of series, and was purchased at Three Lives & Company, a bookstore you will be smitten with instantly.
- It’s quite possible I’ll devote an entire post to discussing why, and how much, I love this scent (Surely I issued an early warning that there may be a few too many posts about scent from this particular KR blogger?) but in the meantime, if you’re anywhere near Brooklyn, get thee to CB I Hate Perfume. Plan to stay a while.
I have what may be outsized expectations for these items in terms of their ability to help me write a novel (a task that, as it turns out, involves a whole heap of decision-making). The vial of fragrance is small (At ~.5 fl. oz., you might fit six in your quart-sized carry-on-safe plastic bag) and the book is also small (114 pages, 6.8 x 5 x 0.5”). But open either (or both) up and the possibilities are enormous.