On lists ...

I love making lists. I'll probably have a lot of "lists" posts, depending on what's on my mind.

Stuff that I can't seem to stop buying, even though I have too many of them:

• Notebooks. I like having a notebook accessible to me at all times. In case I need to do something, or see something cool that I want to remember.
• Pens. My favorite right now is the Pilot Precise V5 rolling ball pen, in purple or green. Colored pens are the best! Huge thank you to my coworker, Sara, who introduced me to this brand when she historically changed my life by borrowing me her green pen and not letting me keep it.
• Black pumps. Even though I probably have two dozen different kinds of black pumps - different heel heights, pointy-toe, round-toe, ankle straps, etc. - if I see a new pair, I want them. I rationalize this by thinking, "They're basic black pumps, they go with everything, I'll wear them!!" And I do. But I probably don't need to buy any more.
• Cookbooks. I love food, and I like the idea of cooking, but I hate cleaning up and don't own a dishwasher, so cooking is kind of a chore. Nonetheless, I love finding recipes. The first thing I do when I get a new cookbook is sit down with some post-it flags and flag every recipe I want to try. If it's one I need to try soon, I put the flag at the top of the page. If it's just interesting, the flag is on the side. In addition to cookbooks, I'm always printing off recipes from online and pinning them on Pinterest. I file my printed recipes in a filing folder system. I'm very organized about this, you can see.
• Le Creuset cast iron pots. I have them in a few colors, but I think I like blue the best. Sur la Table has them on sale sometimes, especially around Christmas. The reason I keep buying these is that I think they'll miraculously inspire me to cook more of the recipes I've been archiving (see above.)
• Used books. I adore books. I started reading really young, and devoured words. I'd read anything and everything I could get my hands on - books, newspapers, magazines, the yellow pages, the cereal box. If I wasn't reading, I felt antsy and incomplete. I had the only parents in the world that would yell at me to "stop reading and go DO something." I'm running out of room for them, but books are something I'll always make more room for. My dream is that someday I'll have a house big enough for a giant library with a fireplace and beautiful, dark wood shelves filled with my books. I always wondered about people who had matching bound books in their libraries. I recently discovered where they get them from - T.J. Maxx. And they're not really books! Just facades. My library won't be very matchy, but at least they'll be real books.
• Dog treats. Peanut and Bacon are both rescues, and they deserve to be spoiled with treats, toys, hugs, pets and clothing. Sometimes I wonder if they think to themselves, "Yeah, we're pretty lucky to live with this lady now.She's good to us." Probably not, because they're dogs. :)