Simple Pleasures (1?)

Sunday, 20 April 2014Sunday, 20 April 2014 StarrLeave a comment

I thought I’d introduce (yet another) category/series here. I am a really big fan of simple pleasures. Little things that sometimes make your day, and you feel their absence a lot. Often, I don’t appreciate my simple pleasures until they’re not there.

I may occasionally end up doing Friday Favorites editions that focus on simple pleasures, but we can worry about that later.

Here are a few simple pleasures that I’m appreciating of late:

Sitting on the top tier of the double decker train
When the bread part of a cream bun is sweet and moist
Russian folk and ballet music

(My Monday work jam)
Publishing a blog post
- With my own photos whoa
Savoring the piece of chocolate I’ve been saving all day
Gently nice-smelling soap
Favorite soap of the moment – Softsoap Lavender & chamomile
Fixing something that had been broken for a while
- Without putting in as much work as you thought would be required.
Tambourines at karaoke
Babies smiling at you
Unnecessarily cute food
These red bean buns are also little hedgehogs omg

Sorry that I haven’t posted all weekend. I wasn’t able to get to a computer on Friday OR yesterday. I am really bummed that I was going so strong with BEDA and was thwarted by unpreparedness. I’m going to try to catch up!

Tell me about some simple pleasures from your week?

Favorite Childhood Books (part 1)

Thursday, 17 April 2014Wednesday, 20 April 2016 StarrLeave a comment

I often find myself wondering if elementary school students today are reading the same books that I was reading back in the day. Even though new books get written, I like to think that some will be read by generations of children who want to read them to their own children someday.

Here are a few of my favorites books from early childhood, mostly pre-elementary to elementary school. I know I’ll have more to add to this soon:

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
The Art Lesson by Tomie DePaola
Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel
Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series by Betty MacDonald
Wayside School series by Louis Sachar
Max and Ruby series by Rosemary Wells

Honorable mention goes to The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg, because it was kind of a tradition for me to read it every holiday season although I don’t remember much about it. (You know that all I really took away from the movie was that stellar hot chocolate musical number.)

Another honorable mention is Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, which I never really loved as a child, to be completely honest. But again, it was kind of a tradition for me to read it when I was young.

Where_The_Wild_Things_Are_(book)_cover.jpg (400×355)

I definitely have more to add, but I’ll leave you with these for now. I had fun reminiscing, so I’ll be back with more!

What were your favorite childhood books? Did I mention any of them? Which ones did I miss? Have you read all of these?

Piccadilly Circus (London)

Heathrow Airport (London)

Reichstag (Berlin)

Altes Museum (Berlin)

Neva River Sphinx (St. Petersburg)

Neva River battleship (St. Petersburg)

Olympic Stadium (Helsinki)

The Little Mermaid (Copenhagen)

Eiffel Tower (Paris)

Louvre (Paris)

Love Locks (Paris)

Notre Dame (Paris)

Arc de Triomphe/Champs Elysees (Paris)

Eiffel Tower (Paris)

Emirates Stadium (London)

Starr in Europe

GalleryWednesday, 16 April 2014Sunday, 18 May 2014 Starr2 Comments

Photographic evidence that I was physically in Europe! Every portrait of myself from the trip. (Don’t worry, it’s not as many as you might think.)

Whether the Weather

GalleryTuesday, 15 April 2014 Starr2 Comments

I show you every time that I’ve posted a weather app screenshot on Instagram. It’s a lot. I am really into knowing what the weather is.

Things You See More of in China

Monday, 14 April 2014Monday, 14 April 2014 StarrLeave a comment

I made little notes about things that I noticed you see a lot of in China but you don’t really see in America. Here’s a little list I had been jotting down during my trip:

Kites
Fireworks/firecrackers
Good luck symbols
Tea
- Loose leaf tea
- Tea pots
  Haha wait I think I own this set XD
Private room dining
Sheet masks
Knee-length puffer coats
Tissues in bags (vs. in boxes)
Oranges
They’re good luck!
People who are more afraid of being cold than of looking stylish
Incense
Overly cute accessories
They don’t do anything, really, for pollution but they add a little extra something to your outfit.