(because I'm still trying to kick a cold, and my brain is fried from a writing-related project I'm not ready to announce)
Cumulus Clouds
They're just beautiful. I always loved them as a kid, but I forgot for awhile. Then sometime last year (I think it was last year) I was looking out the window driving down the road, and remembered how much I love clouds. They're beautiful. So long as they're white and puffy and look like cotton. Or they're wispy and look like carded wool. Rain clouds...ugh.
Blue Sky
I hate rain, so naturally I love blue sky. When it's clear and beautiful, or dotted with the beautiful clouds aforementioned, I just keep staring at it. Because it's amazing, and it means I can go outside.
Trees
Trees are amazing. I love the woods. But mostly in the spring when everything's leafy and green and pretty. I love hiking in the woods on unpaved trails that make me feel like I'm in the middle of nowhere on an adventure.
Open, Grassy Fields With No Civilization In Sight
I don't know that I've been in one often, if ever, but I like to imagine it. Just the beauty of being out in the middle of nowhere, enjoying God's creation without the taint of any man-made things to mar the view. If you can't tell, I love the outdoors. It's just too cold right now to enjoy it, and in the summer it's too hot, and when it's just right I'm too busy, and it's driving me crazy.
Spring
When everything's starting to grow and come back to life, and it starts getting warm so I can go outside again. It's awesome. And...okay, yeah, my birthday's in the spring too.
The Smell of Fresh-Turned Dirt and Fresh-Cut Grass
It smells heavenly. Like childhood. I love driving home from work in the summer with the windows open (because my car doesn't have AC) and smelling that they cut the grass along the road.
Log Cabins
Pioneers. 'Nuff said.
Dresses
Again, pioneers. I was beyond excited when my grandma gave me a pioneer dress for my seventh birthday. I slept with it draped over my headboard. And dresses are so awesome and old fashioned.
History
History's cool, people. You've got the American Revolution, and pioneers/westward expansion, and the Civil War, and sailing ships, and different cultures, and interesting events, and I just love history so much. If I had a time machine, I'm not sure when I'd check out the future because there's so much awesomeness in the past.
Pastel Colors
They're so soft and pretty and spring-like.
Books
Duh. My one spending vice is book buying. I'm not as bad as some people I know, but it's reeeeaaaally hard for me to go to this one particular Goodwill without buying a stack, and I just couldn't pass up Barnes & Noble's Ranger's Apprentice deal. But the thing is, I look for the deals and the used books, and so I'll buy twenty used books for the price of one new one. Books are the best. So many worlds to explore, so much to learn, so much amazingness.
Genetics
Genetics is cool. I need to study it more, so I can understand things like half dominance.
Music
Music is amazing. I love violin first, but I also love piano, and orchestra is AMAZING. I miss being in the orchestra. I love classical music, film score, praise music, Disney and other musicals, and those are my main favorite music genres. Life without music would be unbearably dull.
Kids of All Ages
Kids say some of the funniest things. And honestly, I've inherited the teacher gene from my parents, so any time I'm around kids is an opportunity to teach and mentor them and invest in their lives. And I just love doing that. It's so worth it.
Spinning and Weaving
Someday I'm going to get myself a spinning wheel and a floor loom. Someday, maybe when I'm old and gray, but I'm going to do it.
Pottery
Pottery is so much fun. I loved pottery camp, especially using the pottery wheel. It was amazing.
Drawing
I'm not good at painting, and I'm not very good with color, but I love drawing my favorite screen characters in grayscale. I just don't have the time for that anymore.
Historic Houses and Buildings
I LOOOOOOOVE Mount Vernon. And it's just so amazing to walk into an old building and just feel the history. Like when we went to Independence Hall. It was unreal. Just feeling the significance of all that happened there. It's amazing.
Animals
I love my dog, and I want a cat, and I've wanted chickens and a sheep since I was a little girl. Can I have a farm, please?
My Family
I don't know what I'd do without my family. They've always been there for me, encouraged me to go where God leads, supported my dreams, not let me give up on my dreams when I want to give up, and they've helped make me who I am. They're the people who get me, who know the inside jokes ("hair in food is natural!"), and I really don't know where I'd be without them.
God
And now I'm ending on a more serious note, because without God, I wouldn't have any of the other things that I love. God created it all. He created me. He saved me, because honestly, before I was nine, I was a really bratty person. God's there in my happy, carefree times, and He's with me in the hard times. God is most important, and even though I fail constantly, He still loves me and forgives me. And I love Him because He first loved me.
P.S. Today is the anniversary of getting my braces off, getting my violin, and it's my cousin's birthday. It's a cool day.