- PBS Masterpiece Classic Downton Abbey. A british period drama set at the beginning of the 20th century, follows the lives of an earl and his family and their servants. I find it fascinating to see how people in different times/countries/social classes lived. There's something particularly enjoyable about the language and manners from that time. For all the advantages of living in the modern age, I do wish we were a classier bunch.
- Chocolate-covered banana slices from Trader Joe's. Why did I not know about these before now? They are delicious.
- Classical music. I'm enjoying the works of Chopin right now. I think it's a sort of musical rebound; born out of listening to entirely too much pop/radio music. Not sure how many hours of classical piano will purge "Pumped up kicks" and "Moves like Jagger" from my brain, but it's a pleasant process. As someone who literally always has music playing inside my head (and which spills out in the form of humming or whistling if there isn't music audibly playing outside my head), classical music as a background to whatever mundane thing I'm doing makes me feel somehow...classier :)
- Jigsaw puzzles. I seriously enjoy puzzles more than someone still in their twenties should. It's probably the false sense of accomplishment you get finishing one. Really? Congratulations, you just put a bunch of tiny random cardboard pieces together to make a picture which, let's face it, isn't very impressive (artistically speaking). But it feels like you just climbed Mt Everest or something.
- Queen Anne. The current neighborhood I'm living in. It feels like the best of many worlds. I can walk down the hill and over the bridge and be in Fremont (artsy, hippy, free-thinking types...although it fills up with your typical college crowd on weekend nights) for shopping, coffee, lots of great restaurants and bars, a Sunday farmer's market, and the trail I like to go running on along the water. Or I can walk up the hill to Queen Anne and find more great restaurants, boutiques, several grocery stores, and lots of big houses that I'll never be able to afford, with spectacular views because you're at the top of a giant hill. I may have to stay in Seattle longer than I thought so I can finish my tour of all its neighborhoods. Where shall I live next? Perhaps a high-rise with a view of Puget Sound and the Olympic mountains...
- Cooking. One of my favorite things about the gray season. I overdid it on quinoa (eating it for lunch every day for a year, until one day my brain would not let my hand move the forkful of quinoa to my mouth), and now I'm enjoying coming up with new and creative menus for lunches. I also loooooove my new pizza stone, which allows me to make a gluten free pizza that almost tastes as good as the original. One of these days I'm going to try and make a gluten free focaccia on it.
