The Devil Gives me everything-Willie West

I love discovering new things. This is one of the major reasons why I love driving by myself and I don’t mind getting lost. Sometimes on these adventures, I have found fun thrift shops or cool parks. Whatever the case, I love finding out about things and obsessing over them. And part of the best part of discovering new things is sharing it with friends.

So here it is. My top 5 fav new finds

1- Zooey Deschenel

Let’s be honest- The WORLD is discovering Zooey. Back in the day, she was just a quirky blonde, with a nice voice playing opposite of will ferrell in Elf. She was a psycho on Weeds and was in the Happening (did anyone actually see this? I only saw on IMDB). Then 500 days of summer happened and WHAM! She is everywhere, be it commercials for cotton or Funny or die skits . This cute girl with a love of 1960s fashion and enormous blue eyes is so stinkin’ lovable. On top of it all, her project She & Him with guitarist, M. Ward is this fantastic collaboration that I just can’t shake off. As my friend Tanner put it best- “I dare you to name someone cuter than Zooey Deschanel.” Could you think of anyone? Me neither.

2- Stereomood

This came from a first love of stumbleupon, the greatest distraction tool invented for college students. I came across this site called stereomood.com that simply said at the top of the screen “listen to the music that best suits your mood”. Bellow that, it listed every single mood I could begin to think of. Dreamy, Energetic, Melancholy, Sleepy, Untroubled, and the list goes on. Some are even more specific, like “Sunday morning, Spring Cleaning, Lost in thought”. And these playlists are perfect. I can’t explain how they magically match my mood, but they just do. It’s an amazing selection of all sorts of music. Today my playlist had Nancy Sinatra, Eddie Vedder, Nirvana and a composition from LOST. You can also create your own playlists. I’ve been working on one called “writing my thesis” which has  of course, a cover of  “Satisfaction” by Cat Power. It’s definitely worth checking out.

3- I am an emotional creature

A week ago, I got an unexpected package in the mail from my wonderful friend Keri. She had sent me a book with a clever cover, handwritten font all over the cover reading “I am an emotional creature“. Inside, was a post it that said “I don’t know if you’ll be able to use this for your thesis, but it looks interesting- for sure!” This book was written by Eve Ensler  who also wrote the Vagina Monolougues. The whole book consists of monologues for an about girls all over the world. The idea behind it is that while women need to embrace their bodies, girls need to embrace the fact that they are emotional creatures. It has been a lovely read, wonderfully crafted stories about girls from Egypt to China, all based on real life stories of girls and the problems they go through. The one I read most recently was about a 13yearold girl in China who worked in a factory, making barbie dolls. It has been a great read and a wonderful gift from a friend

4- Nissan Xterra

I don’t know anything about cars. I know I own a hyundai, I used to own a jeep…and that’s about where my knowledge ends. I struggle to recognize cars to the point where a friend admonished me for mixing up a Ford and a Chevy. Yesterday, a friend of mind was telling me about a Dodge viper and I didn’t know what that was. So I have been testing myself. When I drive around Tampa, I will make a point of noticing the make and model of the cars around me. And I’m doing okay.  There is one car in particular that every time I see on the road, I always turn my head- The Nissan Xterra. I love the way it looks, the size, how high it is off the ground, how sporty it is,  and the roof rack. It just seems like a car to have an adventure in.  Still don’t know mechanics or gas mileage or anything important you are supposed to know about a car. But I like it nonetheless and I daydream of what it would be like to own one.

5- THIS-

I went thrift store shopping today, looking for some cowboy boots and found this for $1.99. Greatest find ever? I thought so too. Who doesn’t want a wooden cut out of the last super, with a pop art style shade of sky blue as the background??