1. Frasier. This has to be one of my favorite shows of all time. After several years off the air, it seems to have returned, and I could not be happier. Favorite Frasier moments:- Frasier and Niles playing "air violin"
- Frasier challenging everyone to do something daring because it's Leap Year and they have an extra day, only to chicken out himself and bungle his annual production of "Buttons and Bows" on a public television fundraiser..."Somethin' somethin' buttons and booooows!!!"
- Niles buying a whippet and jokes that ensue about the whippet and Maris, Niles's wife
- The opening (and subsequent closing) of Les Freres Heureux, that brotherly adventure in restauranteuring (oy, is that a word?)
2. Chick-fil-A. If you live or grew up in the South, you know this one. I'm not much for fast food--in fact, I'm a real problem on road trips because I refuse to eat McDonalds or Burger King--but I cannot resist a chicken sandwich and some waffle fries from time to time. Nobody makes a chicken sandwich like Chick-fil-A does, and I'm not sure why. The pickles, maybe? This is my bad day go-to food, but I ration it or else I'd eat it every day!
3. Genius, by Patrick Dennis. This is simply the funniest book ever written. Written by the same man who penned Auntie Mame (and featuring Patrick Dennis and Pegeen, many years into their marriage), this book chronicles Patrick's hellish adventures in screenwriting as he abandons his advertising job in New York after aging producer/director Leander Starr convinces him to write a screenplay for his next movie, being shot entirely on location in Mexico. A sort of chaos ensues that makes Auntie Mame's adventures look tame. If you loved Auntie Mame, this is a must-read. I'm sort of happy they never made this into a movie, because I might have died from laughing too hard.
4. Starbucks. I know this one is a "love it or hate it" thing, and clearly I fall on the side of "love it." I've seen heated debates around who has better coffee, Dunkin' Donuts or Seattle's Best or Starbucks or Coffee Beanery, or around whether it's a waste of money to spend upwards of three dollars a day on coffee drinks, or around whether we all just shouldn't go on buying Folgers or Maxwell House because coffee is coffee. Generally, I ignore all these things. I like Starbucks coffee (traditional bold, thanks), but what I really like is our neighborhood joint, which is like our Cheers where everyone knows our name, and we know theirs. We've been going there since the first day it opened. That sense of place keeps me coming back every time...and this time of year, so does the Christmas Blend!
5. Apples. Nothing could be simpler than this, right? I eat an apple every single weekday afternoon. I like Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, Fiji, Pink Lady, Washington Red, you name it. I recently discovered Honeycrisp apples. Wow! Unfortunately, they didn't have them at Whole Foods this week, so I got another variety from West Virginia. I love the crisp sweetness. My awesome husband slices one up and lovingly wraps it every day for me to take it to work, and that alone makes me smile.*images from (in order): Wikipedia, Chickfila.com, eBay, starbucks.com, and Wikipedia
