favorite/best books

1. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
2. The Solace of Leaving Early by Haven Kimmel
3. My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
4. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
5. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
6. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
7. Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
8. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
9. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit
10.Independence Day by Richard Ford
11. On The Road by Jack Kerouac
12. Thursday Next Series by Jasper Fforde
13. The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
14. Remainder by Tom McCarthy (new read it read it)
15. Dibs: In Search of Self by Virginia M. Axline
16. The Father Costume by Ben Marcus and Matthew Ritchie
17. White Teeth by Zadie Smith
18. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
19. A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L'Engle
20. All The Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren
21. The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
22. Slouching Toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion
23. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
24. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
25. Any Calvin and Hobbes treasury by Bill Waterson
26. Walking on Water by Madeleine L'Engle
27. Harry Potter 1-7 by J. K. Rowling
28. White Oleander by Janet Fitch
29. I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith
30. Fidelity by Michael Redhill
31. The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
32. L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy
33. No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July
34. Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi
35. All The President's Men by Woodward and Bernstein
36. She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
37. Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware
38. #1 Ladies Detective Agency Series by Alexander Mccall Smith
39. A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck
40. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins
41. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
42. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
43. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
44. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
45. Skinny Legs And All by Tom Robbins
46. A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L'Engle
47. The Food Bible by Judith Wills (my one non-fiction! the food bible is really just an incredibly helpful book that tells you about nutrients and stuff.)
48. The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk
49. Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
50. The Power Of One by Bryce Courtenay
51. The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway
52. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
53. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera
54. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
55. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
56. Cordelia Underwood by Van Reid
57. How He Are Hungry by Dave Eggers
58. Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges
59. The Macho Paradox by Jackson Katz
60. Bear by Himself by Geoffrey Hayes
61. His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass) by Philip Pullman
62. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
63. A Room With a View by E.M. Forster
64. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
65. Where the Girls Are by Susan Douglas
66. Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
67. Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
68. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
69. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
70. Capital by Karl Marx
71. Laughter in the Dark by Vladimir Nabokov
72. The Cheese Monkeys by Chip Kidd
73. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
74. Rare Birds by Edward Riche
75. Martin Sloane by Michael Redhill
76. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
77. Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas by Tom Robbins
78. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
79. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
80. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
81. How To Be Lovely by Melissa Hellstern
82. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
83. Guardians of the Tall Stones by Moyra Caldecott
84. A Sudden Country by Karen Foster
85. Alligator by Lisa Moore
86. Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich
87. Mr Lunch Takes a Plane Ride by J.Otto Seibold And Vivian Walsh
88.Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
89. The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
90. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
91. We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
92. My Sister Keeper by Jodi Picoult
93. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
94. Residence on Earth by Pablo Neruda
95. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
96. Drop City by T.C. Boyle
97. Cather in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
98. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
99. Little House In The Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
100. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
101. The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
102. A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
103. Middlemarch by George Eliot
104. Notable American Women by Ben Marcus
105. Animal Farm by George Orwell
106. Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen
107. Unravelling by Elizabeth Graver
108. Franny and Zooey by Jd Sallinger
109. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
110. Spilling Open by Sabrina Ward Harrison
111. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
112. The Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston
113. White Noise by Don DeLillo
114. Making it on Broadway by hundreds of actors
115. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
116. Long Life by Mary Oliver
117. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
118. Ender's Game by Orsen Scott Card
119. A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn
120. From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler by EL Konigsburg
121. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
122. The Corrections by Jonathan FranzenFemale Chaevenist Pigs by Ariel Levy
123. No Exit by Jean by Paul Sartre
124. Jpod by Douglas Coupland
125. The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
126. Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian L. Weiss
127. All of my old journals/diaries
128. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
129. Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris (new read it read it)
130. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
131. All of my old high school yearbooks (particularly the ones with messages from old boyfriends and friends-turned-bitches)
132. The Shell Collector by Anthony Doerr
133. The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
134. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
135. Anna Karenina by Tolstoy
136. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
137. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
138. Patrick and Ted by Geoffrey Hayes
139. Angels and Insects by A.S. Byatt
140. Ancient History by David Ives
141. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
142. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
143. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

list by: allie, allyson, ashley, other ashley, chris, deirdre, hannah, jamie, katie, leah and maggie
photo by becky

potential theme parties

1. moon landing cheese night
2. indoor picnic
3. one pieces (unitards, jumpsuits, etc.)
4. dead politicians, actresses, and revolutionaries
5. 40s in the 40s (dress from the 1940s and drink 40s)
6. dysfunctional family reunion
7. wedding reception (similar to the dysfunctional family party - but in formal wear!)
8. around the world
9. spy party (complete with missions and undercover operations)
10. colors party or, specifically, color dinner party
11. casino night
12. mai thai's for kai
13. national stereotypes party (ie. french beret striped shirt and baguette, dutch braids and clogs, american fat suit and hot dog)
14. literary characters
15. look like you got the shit kicked out of you on the way to the party party
16. safari theme
17. office christmas party (not at the office)
18. "the night hell froze over" (when groups with completely different interests party together)
19. michael jackson, through the years
20. art supply, music or clothing trade
21. a fancy english tea party
22. mod night
23. favorite director movie marathon with correlating snacks
24. olympic athletes (choose your sport)
25. party like its 1999
26. snowpants or no pants
27. tacky party
28. murder mystery dinners
29. gerontology party
30. redneck night (girls dress up as barefoot and pregnant etc.)
31. blockbuster hits of the 1980s theme (come as a character from an 80s movie)
32. pizza party (everyone bring a topping)
33. superhero costume party
34. trailer trash party
35. frat party
36. black and white party
37. christmas in july
38. frat party themed (baseball hats and beirut)
39. come as you wish you were party
40. progressive party (travel to different places for each course of a long meal)
41. who i might be in a parallel universe party
42. dessert potluck
43. hunting party - dress in camo and eat lots of meat
44. scavenger hunt
45. affairs to remember
46. solstice party (everything is white)
47. toga party
48. chocolate party
49. the board game party (where there is, obviously, a lot of board games to play)
50. fruit and clown party (come as your favorite fruit or a clown. anyone who didn't wear a costume had to go through an "emergency graping station")
51. dance party for any particular decade or era (less recent is better)
52. beard and/or mustache party
53. cinco de mayo
54. in-costume karaoke
55. great gatsby party
56. first thanksgiving reenactment
57. masquerade ball
58. derby party
59. people you'd meet in heaven and hell
60. video or board game tournament
61. fancy dress tea party
62. scavenger hunt
63. garden party
64. bring-your-own-art-supplies collaboration piece
65. camp party (ala wet hot american summer)
66. tacky party
67. masquerade
68. nerd night
69. pirate party
70. back in time night (pterodactyl!!)
71. bris/sausage party
72. religious iconography party (choose your religion)
73. characters from wes anderson movies
74. parisian party (french costumes, food & tons of wine)
75. cowboys and indians
76. second chance prom (or 80s prom)
77. dress like your crush (allie is going to be rob thomas)

list by: allie, amanda, darcy, hannah, jan marie, maggie, maura, rebecca

things to make by hand

1. a body cast
2. a collage
3. anonymous presents
4. felted bowls
5. a personal dictionary
6. all of my dishes
7. pastries
8. pickled peaches
9. a fisherman's sweater to give to a fisherman
10. ice cream
11. wool scarves and hats
12. every meal
13. bread
14. music
15. straight lines without (or even with!) a ruler
16. embroidered underwear
17. valentines
18. gorgonzola stuffed ravioli
19. tofu
20. memento shadowboxes
21. a tiny cottage in the middle of the woods where it was always fall.
22. pies and macaroons that actually *look* yummy
23. a sewing repair
24. my own rootbeer
25. caramel
26. jewelry
27. a little cabin by the ocean
28. a quilt out of all of my dead favorite clothes
29. candies: jelly candies, marshmallows, amazing truffles, great gumdrops, licorice, turkish delight, etc.
30. long hanging lamps made out old maps
31. miniature dioramas
32. really tall vases and elaborate bowls on a potters' wheel
33. a hot air balloon
34. silkscreened wrapping paper
35. cases for mixtapes and cds
36. really fantastic dresses
37. furniture
38. a sculture out of umbrellas and fish hooks
39. a labyrinth in the woods, made with stick borders and a pine needle floor and something beautiful and sacred in the center
40. all of my silverware
41. handmade books, without getting paste all over the place (and i mean all over the place)
41. well-made clothes
42. mittens with an attaching string
43. avant-garde quilts
44. knitted gloves, legwarmers & hats
45. art
46. a shed
47. postcards and love letters
48. a jewelry box out of a box
49. a tight french braid on my own hair
50. pie crust & puff pastry
51. felt and felted animals
52. mosaics from broken dishes
53. silkcreeened scarves
54. paper that isn't bumpy and useless, unlike the bumpy, useless paper i've made before
55. moonshine
56. a bouquet of fresh-picked wildflowers
57. fitted tops sewn with interesting fabrics and patterns
58. butter
59. scented candles in vintage teacups
60. the list upon which i list
61. flavored liqueurs
62. anything that would cause delight in others
63. farmer's cheese
64. jam
65. things that keep people warm
66. halloween costumes
67. my hair behave

list by: amanda, becky, hannah, jamie, jan marie, katie, kellen, maggie, maura, michela

things to worry about

1. falling down the stairs
2. the ozone layer
3. sleeping past the alarm and being quite late for something important, especially if it means I have to be the only person walking into the room late and everyone turns to look at me in silence, annoyance, or disgust
4. the reversal of roe vs. wade
5. if people judge me for my messy apartment
6. serial killers
7. that there is a wolf in the basement
8. being mugged
9. is my significant otehr having an affair because I'm not good enough?
10. people not liking me
11. getting a job
12. terrible diseases
13. not having time to make lists and therefore forgetting things
14. embarrassing myself in front of cute boys/cool people/employers
15. going over my minutes on my cell
16. the fact that our president and his comrades are in office and being the huge greedy monopic assholes that they are, they have made us the enemy of much of the rest of the world and now I imagine much of said rest of world would love to see us suffer a seriously painful demise
17. what to wear
18. having my identity stolen
19. if i can really make it to the gas station before i run out of gas
20. global warming
21. do i look fat today?
22. warm winters
23. will anyone ever love me?
24. sharks
25. relationships
26. teenagers who don't know who Martin Luther King was
27. power plants exploding
28. being a loser
29. having a very vocal and coherent sex dream about someone that is not the person next to me
30. being broke
31. losing one of my senses (and not getting to choose which one)
32. getting into school
33. family members who are ill
34. the dishwasher breaking
35. children who don't have positive role models
36. people who text while driving, and the people on the road with them
37. cancer
38. punching someone when engulfed in fury and all of the resulting consequences
39. harm coming to someone I love
40. credit card payments
41. scurvy
42. becoming an old maid cat-lady
43. figuring out what to do with my life
44. being late for things
45. failing
46. that the mice that invade my apt. in the winter will nibble at my feet while i sleep
47. the treatment of animals
48. homeless people (especially in the winter)
49. that a sea turtle will knock over the boat and eat me
50. getting fired for doing this at work

list by: becky, chris, hannah, jamie, maggie, michela

guilty pleasures

1. a cappella music
2. talking about people behind their backs
3. sharp cheddar cheese ON TOP OF dark chocolate
4. eating chocolates out of the children's candy jars
5. loving baseball
6. grape soda
7. buying new (and rather expensive) clothes or shoes more often than I need them
8. piles of fried chinese takeout three nights in a row
9. myspace, facebook etc.
10. newsies (the movie, not the actual people)
11. online shopping at work
12. georgia nicholson books
13. spraypainting indoors
14. rock of love with bret michaels
15. gossip blogs
16. hanson
17. TV on DVD obsessions
18. matchbox twenty
19. america's next top model and project runway
20. eating at applebee's instead of supporting small local restaurants
21. romance novels
22. popcorn with lots of real butter
23. eating ice cream for dinner
24. obviously, a lot of bad TV shows, specifically: ANTM, the Real World, almost all of the celeb/pseudo-celeb shows on VH1, old episodes of 90210 – even in the post-college years, and OMG The Swan when it was on
25. manicures and pedicures
26. smoking cigarettes
27. cheap orange mac n cheese
28. fast forwarding CDs to the end of the song before the cool song so when people get in my car they think that song is just coming on because I've been listeing to the whole CD, not just that song over and over
29. barry manilow
30. kelly clarkson
31. movies that I watch over and over that aren't really that good: The Commitments, Good Will Hunting (yes, really), and Some Kind of Wonderful
32. eating sandwiches (when I am allergic to wheat)
33. writing somewhat crazy fan mail to actors and musicians
34. popping zits
35. kenny rogers
36. staying in the shower for 30 minutes or more
37. 2 lb bags of M&Ms
38. jennifer weiner books
39. eating huge quantities of food when I'm home alone
40. spending an entire day off lazing about while doing things that I love, which most often involves doing three or four different projects at once, and not picking up after myself the whole day
41. when a friend leaves an article of clothing at my house and I wear it happily until I'm directly asked about it
42. air supply and george michael
43. not brusing my teeth after cotton candy
44. eating the great food of the parents when I'm babysitting
45. perezhilton.com
46. excited email exchanges with ex-boyfriends
47. biore pore strips
48. eating an entire pint of Ben and Jerry's at once, so that I am forced to go out and buy a second pint, and eat only a bit out of it so that to others that frequent my freezer it looks like I have been moderate when actually I have been a complete glutton
49. not knowing how to type the proper way but faking it
50. naps on beautiful sunny days

list by: ashley, becky, deirdre, hannah, maggie, michela, rebecca, susan