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I watched The Sound of Music the other night while Mr. Fancy Pants was out galavanting around during SxSW here in Austin. Since then, the “Favorite Things” song has been stuck in my head! Then, a day or two later I thought…what a great blogging topic…A few of my favorite things! I am a firm believer that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and I am an organized person so you may not realize it at first but I hate throwing things away. And as horrible as it is, I love my “things”. I know becoming attached to “stuff” isn’t necessarily a good thing but no worry friends, I’ve got it under control! Ha! So as strange as some of these may seem…here are 15 of my favorite things in no particular order…(this will be three different posts. As not to bore you too much with each one.)

15. Kitchen Aid mixer

Sunshine Yellow Kitchen Aid Mixer

If I had been told when we were getting married, “You can pick only one wedding gift, what will it be?” My answer would’ve easily been, “A SUNSHINE YELLOW KITCHEN AID MIXER!” (and yes, I would’ve answered an a voice that justifies the all caps). Hershey and Denise, dear friends of my parents’ from medical school, are the precious couple who gave us this amazing gift. You can argue with me all day long but I am convinced that cooking is more fun for me because of this mixer. It is my favorite “kitchen gadget”. I just love the design of these. I would love it if Kitchen Aid would design a line of kitchen appliances inspired by vintage styles. I’d be first in line to buy Sunshine Yellow companions for my mixer.

Up close and personal with the Kitchen Aid mixer

14. Penguin Classics Cloth-bound books

Penguin Classics Cloth-bound books

My reading obsession is no surprise by this point and time. Someone told me the other day that will all of the reading that I do I should invest in a Kindle. My dad, who is also an avid reader, got one from us for Christmas, however after giving this purchase a lot of careful consideration I have decided that I will not invest in one for myself. I like owning the actual books too much. As silly as it sounds, I like the look of them sitting on my shelves asking to be read and the feeling of turning the pages when I’m reading in bed at night. I’ll be that girl (I’m SURE joined by my friend April) if ever physical books are banned–you may be rolling your eyes and saying I’ve been reading too many progressive/futuristic stories, however you never know what people are going to come up with next–that will buy an old home that was used for the Underground Railroad or something and start stashing books away down there. I’ll never give up my books!

My love for these cloth-bound Penguin Classics began a few months ago, a bit behind the curve may I add. These have apparently been available for a while and sadly I knew nothing about them until they were for sale at Anthropologie. I now have all but three of the original set (two of the ones I am missing were never for sale in the US and I am scouring ebay to get my hands on a copy) and I’m not ahead of the game for the newly released second set! I had an alert set up on Amazon to let me know if any more of these were published. Thank you Amazon for coming through for me.

Seriously though, how beautiful are these?

Collection one of the cloth-bound Penguin Classics

Collection #1 titles:

Madame Bovary, Great Expectations, Wuthering Heights, Sense and Sensibility, Cranford, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Pride and Prejudice, Crime and Punishment, Jane Eyre, and The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Collection number two of the cloth-bound Penguin Classics

Collection #2 titles:

The Hound of the Baskervilles, Oliver Twist, Emma, The Odyssey, The Woman in White, Treasure Island, The Sonnets and A Lover’s Complaint, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Little Women, and Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass.

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

13. Pigeon Toe Ceramics pharmacy bottle vase

Pigeon Toe Ceramic Pharmacy Ceramic vase

The talented Lisa Jones of Pigeon Toe Ceramics makes some of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. I have a love for anything that is the color white, traditional with a twist of modern, inventive, and/or one of a kind which is exactly how I would sum up her work. I would own everything she creates if I could! For you fellow Austin residents, Lisa’s work is sold here in town at one of my favorite places, Spartan. This particular piece is part of the “raw” collection featured by Pigeon Toe. It normally sits on the shelves in Mr. Fancy Pants and my apartment but for photography’s sake it’s sitting atop our record player. I do love how the raw, white ceramic contrasts with pretty much whatever I sit it in front of making it an eye-catching piece!

Detail shot of the pharmacy cast bottle

12. Frank print

Frank Print--design by The Decoder Ring

“If you ask me, a hot dog at the ball park is better than a steak at the Ritz.”

–Humphrey Bogart

Considering I have already posted about mine and Mr. Fancy Pant’s love, and by love I mean unhealthy obsession, with Frank here in Austin, it should be no surprise that we now have some of the artwork from the restaurant in our apartment! I’m pretty sure that I shared about the guys over at The Decoder Ring and the amazing artwork that they created that, in my opinion, completely makes the atmosphere and character of the place what it is. That said, during one of the 300 times that we have eaten there, I asked Mr. Fancy Pants if he thought we might be able to get a print of one of the posters for our apartment. It was almost too good to be true if you ask me. One of the awesome guys at The Decoder Ring hooked us up and this print now proudly hangs right in the entry way of our apartment. I love that it is the first thing that you see when you come in. Sadly, there is not a lot of space in the hallway and the lighting doesn’t do it justice, but one day this print will have a prime spot in the first house we own. Until then we’ll entice our friends to come over with the allure of a hot dog.

11. Electra Amsterdam

My Electra Amsterdam with Mr. Fancy Pants in the background

What a beauty. The bike…not Mr. Fancy Pants. Just kidding. We like to refer to her as my “couch on wheels”. This cruiser is the most comfortable bike I’ve ever owned. Granted, there is not much competition in that category as I’ve only owned two bicycles in my entire life. Frankly, no pun towards the above mentioned hot dogs, I didn’t learn how to ride a bike until late in my childhood. I won’t disclose my actual age as it’s quite embarrassing but I will say that I learned before the age of 12 (a few months before…ha) I blame the whole anti-bike era of my life to a combination of being an only child with no one to ride with, Safety Camp at St. James Episcopal School where I was the ONLY child that still had training wheels (mortifying), and one really bad experience that I am sure my mind through the years has made a whole lot worse than it actually was. All I remember is being so hot and wanting to go inside, Mom yelling that I wasn’t going inside until I could ride by myself, really bad bike wreck that ended in a HUGE, Texas size pile of fire ants, and all I wanted was a dang popsicle. Love you Mom, I’m sure you were a great teacher, but for once in my life, I was not a good student.

Needless to say, I’m I don’t have skillz on a bike so this cruiser is just right for me. These pictures are from one of my favorite days that Mr. Fancy Pants and I have had since we’ve been married. We put the money down for this bike last summer when I was still unemployed. We spent a good four weeks of the summer peddling around Hyde Park in Austin every afternoon. The pics are from the day she came in and we picked her up and the first time I had been on a bike in a LONG time. Good times. Can’t wait to ride her around this summer–boy can she turn some heads!