List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who liked or reblogged something from you! Get to know your mutuals and followers!
Mmmmm loving that I can think about this while I can’t sleep (wrote at 3:30 AM; posting at 9:00 AM; I did get some sleep eventually, I promise.)
Cooking, especially when time and patience are metaphorical ingredients. Making my own broth out of vegetable scraps. Roasting vegetables for (a) more broth scraps and (b) a beautiful soup. Homemade bread, jam, and pastries. Recipes passed down for five generations along with the tools needed to recreate them. I have a century-old pizzelle iron. I have recipes that survived the Potato Famine. I have stories about the women who owned them before me.
Books that fit in my handbag because, as I am not a “big purse” girl, it’s incredibly satisfying to drop a mass market paperback in my little bag and pull it out wherever it’s needed. This also extends to my Kobo (which I’ll forever evangelize because the Nook UX didn’t work for me and Amazon doesn’t need more of my money).
Pride and Prejudice (2005) is, while not the universally accepted best adaptation, incredibly comforting to watch. The score. The lighting. The eye acting. It’s a tightly packaged hug for the soul that I can easily watch in one sitting, and there’s a place for that. There’s a need for that. Art doesn’t have to be the absolute best to be worthy; it just needs to be what you need, emotionally, at one particular moment.
Little vacations. I live within a four-hour train or drive to some of (what I feel are) the best mountains, beaches, and cities. Pick a direction and go. I’m very fortunate to be in a financial position to take a long weekend and rent a little place somewhere; this kind of spontaneous escapism is really, really necessary for my happiness.
And of course, the silly blorbos in my head. I thought I'd be alone with my over-the-top, melodramatic story with a niche kink. In the plot twist of the century, I was wrong. I had no idea that Philip, Sarah, and company would end up meaning so much to others, but the fact that they do is so special to me. They started as a mix of kinks and romantic tropes. They evolved into a whole universe, my confidence in writing my favorite genre, and soooo many feelings. I love them. They have so much more to come.
Honorable mention: public libraries. Please use your library. The more you use them, in general, the more funding they get. I borrowed enough romance novels from mine that the romance section got moved to a proper shelf instead of a cart.
