My Favorite {Uninteresting} Things

Yesterday Sarah Klassen tagged me to list my six favorite "uninteresting things". Well, Sarah, while I'm not exactly sure what classifies as "uninteresting", here they are six of my favorite things (in no particular order):

1. Gift wrap. For me, the presentation is almost as important as the gift itself and I absolutely adore wrapping gifts (at Christmas, I'll even volunteer to wrap others' gifts). I keep a stash of gift wrap on hand at all times for random gifts -- you might even say I hoard it as I often have difficulty using my favorite sheets or rolls! My favorite online source though is Whimsy Press, which sells beautiful and heavy double-sided sheets. For inspiration and some innovative wrapping ideas, I always check in with A Gift Wrapped Life where Sande has perfected the art of gifting (and gift wrapping).

2. Letterpress. Mmm...letterpress. It's amazing how some subtle relief and texture transforms text and images into something truly magical and special. Bonus points if its printed on white cotton paper. Using traditional printing techniques and high quality paper just make average birthday greetings and thank you cards feel like an event. My favorite online sources for letterpress include Cotton Idea Studio, Ille and Tara Hogan.

3. Petit Fours. I should state for the record that I'm a dessert person -- and I'm really not that picky about the form that dessert takes. While just about any baked goods will do, my absolute favorite are petit fours. Like cupcakes, their portable (and you can eat more than one without feeling like a total cow). Unlike cupcakes though, the icing is on all sides, thereby maximizing the all-important icing-to-cake ratio. My favorite petit fours of all time come from Moeller's Bakery, a local institution here in Houston. Birthdays, wedding showers, baby showers...whatever the occasion, I'll find a good reason to go in and order up a few dozen.

4. Fall Foliage. I live in Houston and since we really only have two seasons (summer and the rest of the year), I don't get to see all the beautiful colors that decorate much of the country for a few weeks each fall. Those few weeks of spectacular color are just about the only things I miss about living in New England.

5. Office Supplies. As a little girl, my favorite shopping excursion of the year was school-supply shopping. As an adult, I still have a weakness for office supplies -- especially cute ones. I suppose this favorite plays to my anal retentive, hyper-organized nature, but give me some cute file folders, a beautiful pen and some fun post-it notes and I'm a happy camper. See Jane Work has a great selection of fun and feminine office supplies, but I'm also a big fan of Target for sating my office supply fix.

6. Bubble Baths. I adore a long hot soak in the bathtub. But for a lack of time most evenings, a bubble bath would be a nightly ritual for me. Growing up, my father (a West Texan raised on water rationing) always got upset when I would run a long bath and I was often forced to keep my soaks to a minimum. Now that I'm an adult, however, I have no such rules restraining my bathing rituals, which means I'll happily spend an hour or more soaking and sweating away the stresses of another long day. In addition to some good bath suds (may I recommend this?), a good book and a glass of wine are also key to a perfect bathing experience.

To keep the fun going, I'll go ahead and pick each of the 6 lovely bloggers of the following blogs to share her own list (either here or on her own blog):

A 'Lil Welsh Rarebit

...It's Great To Be Home

The Purple Pea

A Tale of Two Chihuahuas

My Little Happy Place

Simplified Bee

But, of course, even if I didn't include you in the list above (and please don't feel left out if I didn't! I just picked the first 6 that popped into my head that Sarah didn't already select), please feel free to share your little favorites with me!