my 10 things

Today, Sarah Wilson posted a list of her 10 essential things, as inspired by mnmlist. I loved it, and so I thought I would jump on the bandwagon and write one of my own. The idea is to diverge from the traditional lists provided by celebrities in glossy magazines, listing their favourite lipglosses and designer jeans as things they just cannot live without. I'll admit that I am not quite as virtuous as Sarah, and so my pleasures are not quite so organic - I do have a weakness for pleasures of a materialistic, superfluous or luxurious nature. I am trying to improve myself in that way, but it is so hard to resist the consumer culture around me that never fails to convince me that my life will be complete once I have that book, those shoes or that mascara in my possession. Of course, the purchase only propels me to want something else. I never learn! My first instinct was to hold off on writing this post until I was better; "cured", you might say, of my Achilles' heel. But in the end, I decided to just be completely honest; and once the list was completed, I realised that it wasn't so bad, after all.

1. What I wear: like Sarah, I tend to wear the same things over and over. Over winter, I wore my Morrison dresses, leopard scarf, ballerina flats and Ode to No-One jacket almost everyday. (You can see them here.) If it was cold, I would replace the jacket with my pink wool Alannah Hill coat. Now the weather is hotter, I wear a Morrison dress (my favourite is a white cotton) with sandals.

2. What I eat: bad things, generally! But one food I really love that nourishes me to the core is salmon. I buy it in bulk at the local seafood shop and poach it, a few at a time. That way, I have a yummy lunch for uni that fills me up and gives me the brain power to get me through the afternoon. Oh, and it makes my skin glow!

3. How I hydrate: In winter, I drink green tea. T2 is my favourite. When summer comes around, I make my own juices. I have a blender and a juicer so I mix all sorts of concoctions together (whatever my mum has bought at the shops that week). It's fun.

4. My essential writing tool: Synotes, on my iPad. It is just a simple note-taking app but there is something about it that makes ideas flow. I use it to brainstorm at least once a day.

5. My essential online aid: same as Sarah, Instapaper. It's brilliant.

6. What delights me: the warm, welcoming, enveloping hug from my boyfriend Andy when we haven't seen each other in a while. We have been together for nearly seven years but he still gives me butterflies.

7. What inspires me: definitely Sarah's blog, no secret there. If I need a little extra, I will visit my oft-neglected tumblr feed or StumbleUpon, another iPad app that scrounges up webpages according to what interests me (poetry, articles, pictures).

8. How I find "space": as I have mentioned before, I find it really hard to switch off. Whenever I am within the grasp of an internet connection, book or tv, I feel the need to feed my mind, even when that food isn't exactly nourishing. The only time I really have no option other than to take a break is while I am driving. I have to do a lot of driving; it is 30 minutes to Andy's house, 20 minutes to uni, somewhere in between to work. My car radio broke over a year ago so when I am in the car, I think. I often talk to myself. Sometimes, if I need a little gentle inspiration, I will listen to some familiar music on my iPhone or iPad. Joshua Radin, Scott Spark, John Mayer, Ben Lee, Missy Higgins and Florence and the Machine are my favourites.

9. My guilty pleasure: there are a lot of them, but one of them is buying books. I love visiting bookstores (my favourite is here) and I rarely walk away without having bought a book (or ten) that caught my eye. The problem is that I just don't have time to read them all, and I can never commit to just one at any one time because there are so many delicious options.

10. What nourishes me: those inspirational videos on YouTube, like this. They fill up my heart and remind me that the world really is full of love and warm, fuzzy moments. Oh, and quotes. I love finding a snippet of somebody else's thoughts that reflect my own fears, hopes or musings.

I would love to hear other people's 10 things. Please share them in the comments or write a blog post and post a link here, if you are so inclined! x