Seeing as how this is the end of a very long week, all I can think about is getting into some comfy clothes, pulling out my fuzzy socks and a hot cup of something delicious to drink, and settling in between the pillowy covers of my down blankets.

Bean-filled Neck Warming Pillow Thing.

Okay, so I don’t really know the official name for this magical product, but I do know that if the second coming occured in pillow-like form, this would be our new savior.

Comfy, Oversized Clothes.

This has to be my weekend uniform: huge sweats, t-shirt washed time and again until it is soft and threadbare, tube socks and my old track sweatshirt. Most of these things can fit me with room enough for one or two additional people. It’s glorious.

My Bed.

In addition to this, I have the most awesome fleece blanket in the world, a gift from my 15 year-old brother. I’m not sure how he intuitively knew that this would be my favorite blanket I’d ever owned. It might be because I’m 90% sure that I’m 1/16th Cherokee (math never really was my strong suit, though). Whatever it is, something about this majestic image of a wolf howling to the moon stirs me deeply. And it’s just so danged goofy.

Soothing ‘tunes.

Lately I’ve been listening to Colin Hay on Pandora, and I think it really sets the atmosphere for a comfortable night in.

Well, this concludes my week of Things I Love. It turns out, I love Vintage things, snarky things, nerdy things and things that are as goofy as all get out. Enjoy your weekends, everyone! Maybe think about what it is you love.

I graduated last June. It’s taken me until this fall to realize the full effects of this act. September came and went without one of my favorite yearly rituals: buying new school supplies.

How can I say this so it doesn’t seem exaggerated? I LOVE school supplies. It’s my reason for being. I love shopping for them, I love organizing them on my desk, I love the smell of sharpening pencils just before my electric sharpener gets overheated and poops out. After 16+ years of education, I’ve finally honed in on the best supplies for my exact studying habits, only to graduate and have these habits completely changed. In homage to this love of school supplies, I will list some of my favorite office supplies.

Because a visit to Office Depot can sometimes be a religious experience.

Daily Planner

Now, I’m something of an organizational freak. I love to plan, and to color-code, and to know the conversion between Fahrenheit and Celsius. Choosing the right planner is not a task I take lightly. I need space in each day, for each hour of the day (even if all I put into the hour is what rerun episode of Boy Meets World I’ll be watching). The perfect planner for my hyper-intensive needs is the Moleskine weekly planner, complete with pocket, appointment stickers, and a miniature notebook that is just blank pages and can be removed in a note-taking emergency. It also comes in red, which is a huge plus.

Colorful Pens

Because I write and doodle and color-code a lot, a good set of pens is essential for frist drafts and good note-taking. I like to write with an ultra-fine tip. It keeps my handwriting neat and easier to read, and I generally use felt-tip because ballpoint can either get clogged up or goes too fast, so that my thoughts don’t have time to catch up with my hand. This is a fun set I keep with me almost always, I love the color options.

Notebooks

Finding the perfect notebook  is something that I’m still working on. I like a larger size because I have this niggling theory in the back of my mind that small pages can only contain small ideas. Plus, I like to gesticulate wildly in my writing, and I need the space to do so. I also prefer unlined paper. That way I can write or draw or just scribble any which way and nothing breaks the continuity. If pressed, I can be okay with graph paper, but that’s pushing it. I also have a block against fancy, leather-bound or otherwise important looking notebooks. They tend to seem too proper for my little silly thoughts, and then I never actually write them. Scattered across my bookshelves are beautiful journals, wihtout a single line in them. The best I’ve found so far is the simple Mead Composition book. It’s portable, incredibly durable, and comes with clean, unlined pages.

Highlighter-Flags

I read books. Every once in a while, a phrase will strike me as important and I’ll think to myself, “How can I shed light on this phrase later, should I want to find it quickly?” In these situations, the highlighter is my best buddy. But a highlighter with little flags in it? That might be my new soul mate. You see, after highlighting a phrase, you still have to flip through the pages looking for your neon pink peals of wisdom. With this two-in-one item, pictured above, I can mark the page, and put a flag on it to cut out this page-flipping process. The only thing that could possibly make this any better is if it were somehow dispensing chocolate and had an automated laugh track that followed me around like a bad sitcom.

Are there no more school supplies in my future?

While I miss shopping for school supplies, carefully choosing the vehicle of my term papers and semester’s notes, I have discovered a world beyond school supplies: Office supplies. No, you don’t get to choose these things for yourself, but they are paid for by someone else and come in bulk! This is also where I discovered my love of stamping the exact time and date onto any and all documents that come across my desk.

See, fellow post-graduates? Not all is lost.

Be sure to check out the other things I love this week, including key chains, rude blogs, and old stuff! And if you aren’t already, go ahead and follow me on twitter @emaydavis and you’ll get to see some of the fascinating inner-workings of my mind unravel before your very eyes!

This week, I’m doing a blog post a day on the things that I love. So far on my list I have Vintage and Snarkiness. Today’s topic was a little harder for me to put into the right words.

I love to laugh. Some days (like today) I find everything incredibly, uncontrollably funny. Even the most mundane events can cause laughter to just bubble out of me. When I’m in this kind of mood,  I end up laughing loud and laughing often.
Most of the things I laugh at are entirely in my head. I am almost always the first to laugh first at my own jokes, and sometimes I find things side-splittingly funny when no one else can even figure out what I’m laughing at.
The problem is I’m also normally laughing by myself, which can tend to make me look a little insane.

See, I have inside jokes with myself.

There are small things that I keep with me to remind me to laugh. To most  people, they aren’t as outrageously funny as I think they are, but without fail I’ll find myself chuckling when I see them.

Keeping a little Pig on my desk at work.

This little carved stone pig was a gift from my GFabulous Grandmother, who has literally a battalion of these little creatures in cat, horse, monkey, etc. When you visit her, you will almost assuredly leave with a little guy. Part of why this thing is so awesome to me is because it is by far the ugliest pig of her collection. No one else wanted it, and with this sour look on his face, I can’t blame them. The other reason this is funny to me is because I keep it on my desk at work, which is pretty corporate-bland otherwise. When I’m not flooded with work, I write little thought or speech bubbles on post-its near his head, with phrases like “Don’t Eat Bacon” or “Baa Ram Ewe”. I like to think the guy who comes around to take out my trash every night gets a kick out of it.

Finding Nemo House Key and Giraffe Key Chain

Keys are something you always carry with you, and I have always thought that they should be more fun, less purely functional than they are. This little stuffed, hand-crocheted key chain makes me happy because a) it’s a giraffe wearing a red top hat with a bird on its back, and b) I originally bought this with the intention of giving it to a 3 year old for her birthday, but then decided I couldn’t part with it. A 3 year old and I have very similar interests, it turns out. The Finding Nemo key on my ring is the house key I insisted on making when I moved back home, even though apparently everyone just “uses the garage” now. I could have bought a normal key, but I decided once again that I have the habits and interests of a 3 year old and wanted something a little more fun. Now every time I bring out my keys I laugh a little (and get some strange looks). When I open my front door with Nemo, it is always accompanied with me triumphantly saying “LUCKY FIN!” to myself.

Goofy Picture of Kyle in my Wallet

This is a more recent addition to the things that I love. It’s a goofy picture of my boyfriend that I have fit into my wallet where my ID should go. This picture is hilarious to me because he’s currently student teaching  at a highs school (to become an English teacher) and had to get his picture taken for a school ID badge. With the badge came the full deluxe set of school pictures- the kind all of us had k-12. He now has a ton of pictures of himself against a blue background, shoulders slightly pivoted, including 8×10″ and sticker versions. I’ve started signing them on the back, “<3 your bff” and giving them out to his friends. What else can he really do with them? So every time I go to pay for something now, I break out into honest-to-goodness gut laughter, having forgotten that I put his face next to my money.

[Sidenote: I’ve now realized that if he does become a teacher for the rest of his life, he could potentially have a picture like this of himself every year of his life. I kind of want to collect them all together and make a flip-book of him aging, but he said that was a little too morbid.]

These are the little things that keep my life light lately. I’m not sure what the significance of these items are exactly, but I know they make me happy and give me a reason to smile, especially on these long nights when the rain is pouring down outside.

Urban Dictionary, the only reliable source for definitions in my mind, provided the following definition:

Snarky: a witty mannerism, personality, or behavior that is a combination of sarcasm and cynicism. Usually accepted as a complimentary term. Snark is sometimes mistaken for a snotty or arrogant attitude.

Snarkiness is a way of seeing the world as incredibly funny, because if you didn’t it would be too serious and depressing. Snarkiness allows people to poke fun at the sad reality of their lives as a coping mechanism. Snarkiness is sarcastic, self-deprecating and at the same time lighthearted.

And so, good people, I ask you: What is the life’s blood of snarkiness? What waters spring eternal in the rivers of snark?
The Internet.

Or more specifically, blogs. I can always find entertainment, interest, wit and a little commiseration in all the blogs I follow, but there are a few that I especially look forward to reading. Each of these blogs has a unique sell, and each has its own level of snarkiness.

And so, without further ado, here are the sources of snarkiness online that I love:

Regretsy

This is a play-off of all the things weird, poorly made and a little creepy on Etsy. And there is plenty of material. The images provided are hilarious in themselves, but really the best part is the snarky comment from Regretsy that follows the image. The above is a hand-made keychain, to remind you that time is slowly ticking away, or that you need new crowns or something. An image of embroidered toilet paper, a real steal for $4, is coupled with the Regretsy query: “Are there really people who save toilet paper in scrap books? Is this really a thing? And if so, do you call it “crapbooking”?” Hilarious.

Awkward Family Photos

This pokes fun at the incredible dorkiness of family photos. I don’t care who you are or how good looking you and your parents are, everyone has one of these stashed away somewhere. For the Davis clan, it’s almost impossible to get a non-awkward family photo. A lot of airbrushing is normally involved. Actually, it’s a relief to laugh at other people’s family for a change.

The Ultimate Hatelist

Ever have a bad day and think to yourself, “Man, I really hate almost everything EVER.” Well, sometimes I do, and on those kinds of days I turn to the Ultimate Hatelist. It enumerates the many reasons to hate almost everything, in a way that makes you laugh. Hate brings joy, which in turn brings me love (or at least keeps me from committing violent acts against my fellow man).

2Birds1Blog

I was first told about this great co-blog by aspiring leader Kristin Vanderburgh. From what I can gather, it’s a guy and girl (originally two girls, thus the “birds”) who are friends, living in different cities, and write about the supremely awkward happenings of their daily lives. I can really identify with this blog because they are both recent graduates finding their way in the world, trying to meet that balance between adult life and what it means to no longer be in school. Part of that process involves a new drinking game every Friday.

Real Men Write Long Copy and Copyranter

These last two blogs are ad-industry specific. The general format is to find ads, break them down and show how insane the message/artwork/idea/world really is. Both authors are copy writers by trade, and thus are never short on humorous quips at the ad industry’s expense. My favorites are the vintage ads, showing a different time when chauvanism was a way to get consumers to buy your products. How else can you explain ads like this, courtesy of Copyranter.

These are my favorite blogs to follow, but I’m always looking to expand and find new interests. So please, give me recommendations. Tell me where you find your snark.

This week, I’ve decided to delve into the realm of worldly possessions, and write a post every day about the objects that I love.

I began compiling a list of my favorite things, and right off the bat  I found a theme: many of these objects are old. Vintage or retro might be a better (read: cooler) way to put it. The top 5 objects are all things that are much older than me:

1. Garage-Sale Golf Clubs

I got these clubs at a sale down the street from my house for $20. I’m not much of a golfer- and to be honest, I mainly got this set because I liked the bag. The great thing about these is that they are actually wooden clubs- and I get quite a few looks out on the green for lugging around these bad boys. Sure, they’re nearly impossible to hit with and they weigh a ton, but they’re gorgeous and I’ve been told by an incredulous golf pro that they are quite possibly 50 years old.

2. Traveling Typewriter

This old typewriter first belonged to my Great-Great Grandfather, who used it as a traveling journalist. On assignment, he would actually bring this out with him in order to make his deadline. It actually folds up to fit neatly inside this case. I’m still restoring it, but I love the quaint feeling of clacking away at its keys, waiting for the bell to ring and signal the end of a line.

3. Paris Bracelet

When it came time for choosing a language in high school, it was a no-brainer for me. I’ve always been interested in the French language, and years of studying and finally visiting the county has cemented that love. During my first year of French, my Mom tracked down this old bracelet and gave it to me for my birthday. It features famous French monuments including Sacre Coeur, L’Arc de Triomph, Notre Dame, and of course the Tour d’Eiffel. Looking at it now, I realize I have been able to visit each of these sites in person.

4. Pendleton Dress

In high school I was the happy recipient of a lot of hand-me-downs from my Grandmother as she cleaned out her house. This dress is the first dress my grandfather ever bought her, and is well over 50 years old. It is vintage Pendleton brand. I made a few alterations to modernize the garment- shortening the hem line and taking in the waist a bit, but it has retained a lot of the core qualities that originally drew my grandparents in. Whenever I see my Grandma while wearing this dress, she talks about how much fun it must be for a dress that old to go to college and see the world through the eyes of a 20-something. We tend to personify objects in our family.

5. Album Covers and Records

I began collecting these when I moved into my first apartment. I figured they were a fun and inexpensive wall decoration. Over time, I grew to love the design of these paragons of the music industry. Some great color combinations and use of typography can be found on old album covers, not to mention names like “Music for Smoochin’ .” I’ve moved a few times now since I first acquired these, and I don’t quite feel at home until they’re up on the wall.

Why Do I Love These Objects?

Was I just born in the wrong decade? Am I an old lady trapped in the body of a 22 year old? Given my penchant for cardigans and tendency to drive 10 MPH under the speed limit, I thought this could be a real possibility. After further thought, I decided that it’s not just that these things are old. It is that they have a story, a history. They have significance beyond their physical characteristics.

Every object that is important to us has a story to tell, and we are the storytellers.

Either that, or I should be checking into a home soon with my cats and crochet hooks-you can all just call me Adelaide.