#reverb11: five guilty pleasures
Monday, December 5, 2011 God, I love a good list. I took the weekend off from almost everything having to do with the internet, and then had a race of a day today, so to see such a great short prompt from the Reverb group hosted at Geekin Hard makes keeping up with the project much easier. Describe five guilty pleasures? Yes, please.
- Whole days spent reading. I love to finish a book in a day, starting it up in the morning, going downstairs for desultory snack-sized meals here and there, and finishing after dark before bed. I love to stay so submerged in a story that my regular life doesn’t dilute it.
- The one that’s listed on the main site today in my currently post: a gigantic slice of red velvet cake that came into my possession on Friday quite unintentionally. It was incredible. Three layers tall, frosting only barely sweet enough to cut the cream-cheese tang, and candied tart cherries on top for garnish. People seem to think that all you need to do for red velvet cake is to bust out the red #4, but done right it’s a religious experience.
- Lush bath bombs. I do not want your off-brand drugstore-vintage bath fucking “fizzies.” I want a bath bomb, an enormous, handmade gob of fragrance and softening power that stains my bathtub and allows me to slip into another world for an hour. I do not want to whack it on the tub to break it in half and save some for later. I want the whole experience, the glorious waste of money, the way my muscles give up every shred of tension. Actually, I have no guilt at all about number 3.
- My book collection. It’s really out of control, I know that. I have been much more conscientious about reading library books instead of buying them myself, but when I browse through the shelves looking for just the right thing to read, I’m always glad that I’ve packed them so full.
- Paper, especially correspondence stationery and notebooks. My lower right-hand drawer groans. But if you think I can stop myself from picking up just one or two things whenever I pass a store that sells stationery, you would be sadly mistaken. I need to have more pen pals, before that lower right-hand drawer won’t close at all.
I can think of all sorts of things that I maybe should feel guilty about. Jars of jam that cost as much as a pair of shoes, a bottle of wine always at the ready, the stash of intoxicating candles in my nightstand that are waiting patiently to kiss a flame. Guilt doesn’t have the power over me that it used to; I’m a recovering Catholic and I have worked hard to overcome it.
I’m a leetle guilty that I’m behind on reading the Reverb posts of others and even addressing the generous comments here. Tomorrow is a free day, though, and I’ll be back in form, I promise. In the meantime, point me to your five-guilty-pleasures posts, or whichever other prompt you took on today, and I will be there tomorrow with totally-not-Christmasy bells on.
Reader Comments (9)
glad to hear from you, as usual.
you know these little bits of coincidence that pop up in our worlds? you're not the first close friend of mine to be ALL about lush bath bombs. they are pretty damn incredible. specially the ones with the SPARKLES. (sometimes i am ten). you know about my desire to tuck away and read as well. it feels so very...scandalous? i don't know the word, but like you're doing something very deliciously wrong. i could go on, but i love all of the things you've listed. they are pleasures for me too.
what a great list, I have but one question: is there any of that cake left?
First of all, I have something with the word 'bomb' open in my browser and I am amused and horrified by how much anxiety this will cause my supervising officer or the security director. When I'm not being amused, I am in awe of the lushness of 'Butterball' or 'Honeybee' or 'Vanilla Fountain'. I want to eat the Lush website.
I have not written a guilty pleasures post, but they would have to be stationery (and, relatedly, Pinterest!), watching really painfully bad TV shows over the internet on Friday morning as my own personal heathen ritual to start Shabbat, downloading more e-books than I could ever possibly read because just the thought of them on my Kindle warms my heart, and wanderlust: browsing photos and posts about faraway places, dreaming that I can wake up in them.
I still have three - THREE - Lush bath bombs in my linen closet that are just waiting to be used. I got pregnant before I could try all the ones I went to Chicago SPECIFICALLY to pick up (the nearest Lush store, sigh) and I'm sorry but a lukewarm bath, although ok for my unborn, is NOT OK for me. My baths need to be long and super hot and AMAZINGLY LUSHIFIED.
In short, ME TOO. To all five of these. You and I. We have so so much in common and I love that. It makes me feel closer in proximity to you, for whatever reason.
*insert evil laugh. Now I know you love LUSH bath bombs and stationary!
I too usually haunt the closes LUSH store in Chicago when I visit my friend Brandon. This time I couldn't do it. The smell is so overpowering there with all the scents mingling and hugging themselves at once that I get a tremendous headache. I usually buy my friend Janice her supply of bath bombs there each year for Christmas. My favorite thing there is their white chocolate massage bar. I use it as a lotion on my arms. It smells so delicious! What are your favorite scents? I love the gift bags they give out when you visit! Great list of favorite guilty pleasures. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and learning more about you!
Tracy, I'm SO with you. I cannot walk past LUSH without my head spinning. I also have a bad memory of an old coworker who was the smelliest, least-hygenic person I had ever met who rather oddly loved Lush. This guy is the laziest person I have ever met in my life. Although he couldn't be bothered to wash his clothes or take showers (self-admittedly), he would occasionally go to Lush and buy a bath bomb and claim to have relaxing baths every now and then to unwind. After this rare occasion he'd come to work smelling 1/3 bath bomb, 1/3 cigarettes, and a 1/3 of of old smelly clothes. Yuck. I cannot think of Lush products without thinking of him. It's awful!
I became obsessed with stationary while I lived in Korea. It was so cheap and cute! I also loved the poorly translated English phrases as well. I definitely have some here. I'd gladly be your pen pal.
Your guilty pleasures sound delightful and I think it's amazing that you're letting go of your guilt. I'm trying to do the same.....
Much love!
First, I love that you're not feeling guilty. :) Second, Lush IS the bomb, pun intended! You can doubly-not-feel guilty indulging in their products because, if I remember correctly, they are just as safe for the environment as they are for your skin. And that's something I've really been working towards the past few years -- using household products that are good for me and good for our water supply. :)
I am feeling left out, having never had a Lush bath bomb. Sigh.... (I have just told my husband too, so hopefully.... )
Papers, books, reading, haven't tried a lush bath bomb but now, I need to do so!
Just last night I sat curled in a chair reading for the sheer pleasure of it. I could not believe how fantastic it felt. I need to do more of that, allow myself the space of that particular guilty pleasure!
Always enjoy reading your words!