recently: things that make me happy

- Black leather shoe dye. Last night I salvaged a pair of black flats and black slingbacks that had been relegated to the deep dark recesses of my closet. Filled in the scuffs with dye, and voila! That new shoe feeling without the new shoe price.
- Drugstore.com in conjunction with MakeUpAlley.com. I adore drugstores, and Drugstore.com makes it so easy to virtually wander the aisles of Walgreens or CVS on my lunch hour. Then, if I want to know about the effectiveness of this-or-that product, I head over to MakeUpAlley.com, where almost every beauty product known to man has been reviewed and debated by thousands of women.
- The Weepies "Say I Am You" CD. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. Their lyrics are dreamy and real and unexpected; their voices are Carmex for the hectic soul: soothing and refreshing. You can listen to some tracks on their myspace.
- C.O. Bigelow's Lemon Body Cream. I picked up a jar of this stuff during the after-Christmas sale at Bath and Body Works, and was immediately smitten. This stuff is pure gold, and for the price, I expect nothing less!
- Kimchi and ramen noodles. Nothing spruces up a package of .50 cent noodles like some spicy, smelly fermented cabbage.
- "Ordinary Life: Stories" by Elizabeth Berg. My first finished book of the New Year and I highly, highly recommend it. I usually avoid short stories because I've always found them to be unfulfilling, but Berg, in her usual spare but effective prose, manages to satisfy.

I realize that this is a sorry excuse for a blog post, but I am overloaded at work (it's conference time again) and at home, so thinking in short bursts is about all I have time for. But never fear, new and exciting happenings are in the works and coming soon. Stay tuned!