Flyingsquirrel

I have lived in LA for 2 years after spending the rest of my adult life in Park Slope, Brooklyn and I miss it a lot. I loved Park Slope for its people and brownstones and truly delightful bars and shops, as well as the ever-present possibility in New York that I might see someone ride by on a bike with a monkey and also a fancy hat. Because that happened to me TWICE. Now I can walk my dogs (oh they're so beautiful--one isa little grunty boston terrier with 9 nipples and an underbite and the other is a delicate, elegant chihuahua rescue who looks like a tiny coyote with a pink nose) in grass past beautiful little bungalows that have succulent gardens out front, But boy do I miss Brooklyn.

I am married to an absolutely delightful guy who is the smartest person I know and can still surprise me with his humor and insights. Plus his eyelashes are so long. We live in our adorable little Spanish apartment in Hollywood cooking vegetarian meals, admiring the dogs, and laughing.

I used to help make children's books; now I am a 4th grade teacher. People are often surprised that we don't have kids--we may eventually, but I value my free time (and irresponsibility) a little too much right now.

I love to bake and make things. I really, really, really love animals (especially mammals) (especially squirrels and sloths and capybaras and pygmy hippos and the dogs). I love mid-century aesthetic (both the kitschy and loungey varieties).

I've always been a book junkie. For one thing I love really good children's books. I worked in children's publishing for a number of years because this has always been a passion of mine. Right now I really love finding children's picture books from the 30s-70s. Amazing artwork!! Bedtime for Frances remains my all-time favorite.

The most recent books I've absolutely loved are Special Topics in Calamity Physics (it's a novel, not a textbook), Magic for Beginners (also a novel, not a textbook!), & Fun Home. I adore I Capture the Castle and try to reread it every few years. I like David Sedaris, Michael Chabon, Jonathan Carroll, Nicholson Baker, Phillip Pullman. Geek Love, Harry Potter, The Secret History, Tales of the City. I will gladly devour travel memoirs, especially if they involve France.

I also love poring through used bookstores and thrift stores for weird and cool old children's books or weirdo pictures I can use...

The New Pornographers are definitely my favorite! I also love The Magnetic Fields, The Pixies, The Ting Tings, Lavender Diamond, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Destroyer, The National, Rufus Wainwright, The Velvet Underground...I also really (still!) enjoy older new wave stuff like The Smiths, Joy Division, The Cure, The Jesus & Mary Chain. I like Pavement and Blondie and The Ramones and David Bowie. And I totally geek out to Harry & the Potters. Sometimes I want some French music with my wine, maybe with an accordion and Charles Trenet or Edith Piaf.

Project Runway and Arrested Development are my favorites but I also like 30 Rock, Tim & Eric, Monty Python, America's Next Top Model, The Twilight Zone, The Prisoner, and Gilmore Girls. I love certain Brit-coms as well, like Fry and Laurie, Little Britain, and The Mighty Boosh. Perhaps an episode or 2 of Gossip Girl has found its way onto my tivo...

I should also mention that if I lived in Japan I would watch game shows all day, especially Silent Library and Human Tetris.

Alfred Hitchcock. Ghost World. Wes Anderson. Charade. Amelie. Waiting for Guffman. Audrey Hepburn. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The Philadelphia Story. Lost in Translation. The Wicker Man (the OLD one, I hasten to assure you!). Zombie movies!

I definitely enjoy things that are silly, quirky, or irreverent. I'm often sarcastic and have a dark sense of humor and do not get offended by things. (unless they involve cruelty to animals)

I am a vegetarian! So...uh...please don't send meat.

I love cute but dislike things that are too cutesy, like (no offense) Hallmark-y things, Precious Moments, or Disney.

I do like Kawaii, but not Hello Kitty. I prefer the more unusual things, like eggs that are wearing cat costumes...that sort of thing.

Definitely nothing religious!!!

Anthropologie

Autumn (everything about it—colors, smells, pumpkins, leaves, temperature, boots!)

Beatrix Potter (particularly when the animals have fancy names, like Cecily Parsley, and/or are naughty)

Brussels griffons

Chickens

Charley Harper

Comic art

Cupcakes

Decole products

Doodling

Games

Gnomes

Graphic t-shirts

Hairless cats

Halloween

Harry Potter

Hippos

Japan

Kitsch

Letter pressed cards

London

Mark Ryden

Marmosets

Mary Blair

Mid-century style

Monsters

Moomintrolls

Nerds (or you could call it librarian-chic!)

Octopi

Orla Kiely

Paris

Pirates

Ranunculus & peonies

Sage + Rosemary + Thyme (I hate parsley!)

Vintage or retro anything