• 3 Women
• A Little Princess
• A Very Long Engagement
• An Education
• Anna Karenina
• Atonement
• Ballet Shoes
• Barry Lyndon
• Becoming Jane
• Breakfast at Tiffany's
• Bright Star
• Cléo de 5 à 7
• Cracks
• Edward Scissorhands
• Funny Face
• Hugo
• Jane Eyre
• Jess + Moss
• Jules et Jim
• Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain
• Les Demoiselles de Rochefort

• Abigail Adams
• Catherine Deneuve
• Nick Drake
• Laura Marling
• Zelda Fitzgerald
• Marianne Faithfull
• Juno Temple
• Nico
• Patti Smith
• Michelle Dockery
• Jenny Lewis
• Laura Linney
• Françoise Hardy
• Leonard Cohen
• Moira Shearer
• Romola Garai

• St. Mathilda's
• Appleyard College
• Spence Academy for Young Ladies
• Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
• Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies

• Flower: bleeding hearts, hydrangeas, bluebells, Queen Anne's Lace
• Color: antique green, coral, robin's-egg blue
• Noise: rain pounding the roof, babbling brooks, faraway thunder, crashing waves, crackling campfires, peepers
• Scents: freshly-cut grass, laundered bedsheets, baking aromas, autumn scents (pumpkin; leaves)
• Feeling: comfy beds, butterfly kisses, light fingertips, hugs from my parents, tears on my cheeks, calming crying spells, doggie kisses
• Instrument: acoustic guitar, piano, harp, hammered dulcimer, accordion
• Season: Autumn
• Weather: summer storms, crisp autumn nights
• Tea: mint tea
• Eye Color: chocolate brown, hazel, grey b...

• Acton, Currer, & Ellis Bell
• Blossom, Bubbles, & Buttercup
• Flopsy, Mopsy, & Cottontail
• Harry, Ron, & Hermione
• Neville, Luna, & Ginny
• Klaus, Violet, & Sunny Baudelaire
• Napoleon, Pedro, & Deb
• Don, Kathy, & Cosmo
• Ned, Chuck, & Olive
• Scout, Jem, & Dill
• The Deathly Hallows
• The Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and the Dormouse
• The Three Bears
• The Three Little Pigs
• The Three Stooges
• The Triwizard Tasks
• The Triple Crown
• Wynkyn, Blynkyn, & Nod

• tristifical - causing to be sad or mournful.
• eternitarian - one who believes in the eternity of the soul.
• cosmogyral - whirling round the universe.
• siagonology - study of jaw-bones.
• autexousious - exercising or possessing free will.
• nepheliad - cloud-nymph.
• gardeviance - chest for valuables; a travelling trunk.
• ictuate - to emphasize.
• senticous - prickly; thorny.
• interfation - act of interrupting another while speaking.
• nequient - not being able.
• sparsile - of a star, not included in any constellation.
• perantique - very antique or ancient.
• vacivity - emptiness.

• Cheek to Cheek by Fred Astaire
• Mr. Sandman by The Chordettes
• Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words) by Frank Sinatra
• Benjamin and Daisy by Alexandre Desplat
• Courting Blues by Bert Jansch
• In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning by Carly Simon
• Stardust by Nat King Cole (or Frank Sinatra)
• The Moon by The Swell Season
• Go Down Easy by John Martyn
• As Time Goes By by Bing Crosbyn
• Dancing in the Moonlight by King Harvest
• Save Me by k.d. lang
• Renegade by Kings of Convenience
• Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy
• Dream A Little Dream of Me by The Mamas and the Papas
• Moonlight Serenade by Glenn Miller
• Mona Lisa by Nat King Cole
• Harvest Moon by Neil Young
• La Vie En Rose by Louis Armstrong
• Opus 28 by Dustin O'Halloran
• Appalachia Waltz by Edgar Meyer

• Baths with Mr. Bubble that induce drowsiness
• The perusal of beloved childhood books
• The consoling melodies of Nick Drake's voice and guitar, the gentle whimsy of Vashti Bunyan, the worldly sounds of Yann Tiersen, and the cathartic nature of music in general
• Overwhelming crying spells that are spent in a few minutes and leave in their wake an overwhelming sense of relief
• Listening to mixes
• Snuggling with Duncan
• Late night strolls
• Car rides at dusk
• Tidying my room in the evening and then settling in on the bed
• Imagining life in my own apartment!
• Songs that conjure up images of the seaside on summer nights
• Wading in water

• acoustic
• actinology
• adorn
• aghast
• alcove
• alpenglow
• amaranthine
• antistrophe
• antler
• anxiolytic
• aorta
• apocryphal
• applique
• arabesque
• assemblage
• aureole
• autumnal
• balmoral
• banter
• baroque
• bathed

• moonlit walks on the beach
• unforeseen wistfulness
• "Stardust" by Nat King Cole
  • or any Nat song, for that matter
• daydreams that play out like scenarios from romantic films
• imagined slow-dancing
  • his hands lingering on the small of my back, barely brushing the tender skin there
• Vashti Bunyan's whisper-esque vocal
• whisper-light, airy dresses
  • or any lovely dress worn on a daydreamed date
• full moons that fill the heart with longing and the eyes with tears
• crying spells that end in an all-encompassing relaxation of the body and mind

• write letters to Emma, Karen, Adeline, and Erica.
• write in diary every day
  • record feelings as accurately as possible
• make daily lists of thoughts that preoccupy my mind
• write short stories reflecting my own life
• compile more lists!

• armadillos
• bison
• black bears
• brown cows with white faces
• bunnies
• butterflies
• chinchillas
• clownfish
• corgis
• deer
• dolphins
• elephants
• fireflies
• greyhounds (hounds of all sorts)
• hares
• hedgehogs
• horses
• kittens
• llamas
• manatees
• moose

• a bed serving as a sort of permanent blanket fort
• wall of favorite pictures
• book nook
• ceiling to floor bookshelves
• mount scarves and nightgowns on wall
• entomological paraphernalia

• Suzy Bishop
• Briony Tallis
• Franny Glass
• Audrey Horne
• Sara Crewe
• Edith Crawley
• Jane Eyre
• Luna Lovegood
• Mary Lennox
• Amelie Poulain
• Di Radfield
• Mary Crawley
• Elizabeth Bennett

• ✔ Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
• I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
• ✔ Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
• The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
• ✔ The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
• Madame Bovary , Gustav Flaubert
• The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde
• Anna Karenina , Leo Tolstoy
• The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath by Sylvia Plath
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
• Tess of the D'urbervilles , Thomas Hardy
• Middlemarch , George Eliot

• A Bedtime Book by Joan Walsh Anglund
• A Is For Abigail by Lynne Cheney
• A Summertime Song by Irene Haas
• Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse by Leo Lionni
• Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
• Carl Goes Shopping by Alexandra Day
• Carl's Afternoon in the Park by Alexandra Day
• Carl's Masquerade by Alexandra Day
• Charlie the Caterpillar by Dom Deluise
• Chicken Soup With Rice by Maurice Sendak
• Dylan's Day Out by Peter Catalanotto
• Emily's First 100 Days of School by Rosemary Wells
• Favorite Poems Old and New by Helen Ferris
• Frog and Toad series by Arnold Lobel
• George Washington's Breakfast by Jean Fritz
• Good Dog, Carl by Alexandra Day
• Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
• Leaves From A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson
• Letters From Felix by Annette Langen & Constanza Droop
• Linnea in Monet's Garden by Christina Bjork
• Little Bear books by Maurice Sendak

This probably makes no sense whatsoever, but it's just a list of endearing things that touch my heart and maybe (well, most likely) induce tears.

• Crying pumpkin
• The way Gram's eyebrows go up as she processes information
• Ladybugs drinking juice from sliced oranges
• Lyuba, the Baby Mammoth
• Cute animal toys at Walmart that "love to dance" and "play dress up"
• Randi, the German Short-haired Pointer
• Dreamy Eyes dolphin
• Bunnies snug in their hutch underground while it storms
• Pictures of puppies and kittens with hearts
• Halloween ghosties

• Crimson and orange sunsets
• October birthdays (mine, especially)
• Crunching leaves underfoot
• Nighttime drives
• Warm apple cider with cinnamon sticks
• Gray, cloudy autumn days
• Stopping by local fruit farms for harvest treats
• Wispy clouds against harvest moons
• Caramel apples with nuts
• Raking leaves into piles
• Pressing the final blooms of summer in a journal
• Baking autumn goodies
• Entertaining fantasies of late-night hayrides
• Listening to Nick Drake's Pink Moon in the evenings
• Shorter days, endless nights
• Halloween
  • Rummaging in the attic for decorations an...

• delicate vintage lingerie
• bucket hats adorned with mesh netting
• black leggings
• tights
• floral-print shift dress, circa 1950s
• sundresses
• flapper dress, circa 1920s
• delicate, airy dresses
• pea coat
• rucksack for my schoolbooks
• oxfords
• antique mourning brooches
• brooches, pins, and lockets aplenty
  • harboring locks of hair and dusty photographs of dear loves
• vintage aplenty
• my grandmother's wardrobe from her teenage years
• Eighteenth Century garb for reenacting
• knee-high stockings

• A Little Princess , Patrick Doyle
• Amelie , Yann Tiersen
• Cracks , Javier Navarrete
• Atonement , Dario Marianelli
• Becoming Jane , Adrian Johnston
• Bright Star , Mark Bradshaw
• Corpse Bride , Danny Elfman
• Jane Eyre , Dario Marianelli
• Moonrise Kingdom , Alexandre Desplat
• Pride & Prejudice , Dario Marianelli
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button , Alexandre Desplat
• The King's Speech , Alexandre Desplat

• Mouth quickly dries
• Slightly shaky hands
• Occasional stutters
• Shy attempts at eye contact with my audience
• Enunciation not up to par
• Hand involuntarily flies to my neck
• Reading too much from my paper
• Fidgety hands which find turning pages cumbersome
• Shortness of breath
• Reading too fast

• The principal who gave me a pink rosary
• The tiny library with picture books about saints
• The Halloween parades when we all dressed as saints
  • I was Saint Therese
• Saddle shoes!
• Gray-blue uniforms with red and yellow plaid
• Christmas productions
• Weekly mass
• Reading aloud from Genesis at Kindergarten graduation
  • I was one of two students deemed the "best readers"
• Art class taught by my mother
• Stubborn, misbehaved pupils
• Cubbies!
• Various depictions of the Virgin Mary thr...

• ✔ 3 Women
• ✔ 8 femmes
• Alphaville
• ✔ Amazing Grace
• ✔ An Education
• ✔ Annie Hall
• ✔ Atonement
• ✔ Au revoir les enfants
• ✔ Badlands
• ✔ Ballet Shoes
• ✔ Barry Lyndon
• ✔ Belle de Jour
• Big Fish
• ✔ Bright Star
• ✔ Casablanca
• ✔ Cléo de 5 à 7
• ✔ Coco avant Chanel
• Confession of A Child of the Century
• ✔ Cracks
• ✔ Daisies
• Dead Poets Society

• Woolgathering :
  • wool·gath·er·ing / wool-gath-er-ing / Noun.
  • Indulgence in idle fancies and in daydreaming; absentmindedness: His woolgathering was a handicap in school.
• Mamihlapinatapai : (from Yaghan)
  • A look shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire but which neither one wants to start.
• Petrichor :
  • A term coined to describe the scent we recognize after a rain, especially on dry ground; created by a combination of oils exuded by plants during dry spells, and geosmin, the bacteria which gives earth its distinctive smell; from the Greek, meani...

• miniature framed portraits
• wall-lenghth bookshelves, well-stocked with classics, historical fiction, and biographies
• plenty of gently used books
• a shelf bearing beautiful diaries
• cozy nooks in which to devour books (or a lovely window seat)
• my grandmother's sofa and dinner plates, pictures, etc. from her quaint little house
• a permanent blanket fort
• blankets perfect for snuggling
• antiques and items amassed during my travels
• a small vanity with my perfume bottles set on a mirrored tray
• an old-fashioned tub with legs and clawed feet
• antique mirror hanging over bathroom sink

• Abigail
• Adelaide
• Anaïs
• Beatrix
• Briony
• Carey
• Clara
• Dinah
• Emma
• Evangeline
• Felicity
• Francoise
• Gemma
• Genevieve
• Inara
• Isla
• Libby
• Liesl
• Linnea
• Lucy
• Olive

• Benedict
• Calder
• Colin
• Deacon
• Duncan
• Edwin
• Ethan
• Evan
• Gabriel
• Gideon
• Gracin
• Graham
• Henry
• Hugh
• Nathaniel
• Nicholas
• Oliver
• Owen
• Reagan
• Schuyler
• Seymour

• antique lockets, with pictures inside
• WWII "sweetheart" bracelets
• flowers and leaves, pressed in a journal
• sepia family photographs
• collage resources
• mourning brooches
• classic books
• correspondence, both tangible and virtual
• vintage hats
• pictures to perhaps tape above my desk one day, if the attic room is ever finished off
• delicate words to weave on my typewriter someday
• little hopes to tuck into my pockets, where they can be easily retrieved when i need them most
• the scattered shards of my broken happiness

• Mad Men
• Freaks and Geeks
• Emma
• Parade's End
• Pushing Daisies
• The Hour
• ✔ Twin Peaks

• ✔ flower pressing
• calligraphy
• blueberry pie-baking
• guitar playing
• piano playing
• poetry-writing
• diary-keeping
• how to make daisy chains
• Bravery

• Nat King Cole
• Mel Torme
• Frank Sinatra
• Billie Holiday
• Dean Martin
• Keely Smith
• Johnny Hartman
• Dinah Washington
• The Chordettes
• Sammy Davis, Jr.
• Fred Estaire
• Jo Stafford
• Rosemary Clooney
• Jimmy Durante
• The Andrews Sisters
• Carmen McRae

• "I left the library. Crossing the street, I was hit head-on by a brutal loneliness. I felt dark and hollow. Abandoned, unnoticed, forgotten, I stood on the sidewalk, a nothing, a gatherer of dust. People hurried past me, and everyone who walked by was happier than I. I felt the old envy. I would have given anything to be one of them." - Nicole Krauss, The History of Love
• "He wears the love between the lines of his face, and it shines. It really shines." - inherwar
• "The sea is nothing but a library of all the tears in history." - Anonymous
• "It wasn’t my day. My week. My month. My year. My life. God damn it." — Charles Bukowski
• Why fear death? Be scared of living." - Laura Marling
• "Sorrow is knowledge, those that know the most must mourn the deepest, the tree of knowledge is not the tree of life." - Lord Byron
• "Franny was staring at the little blotch ...

• The song "According to Plan" from Tim Burton's Corpse Bride , particularly Lady Everglot's amusingly dismal comment about the impending "ominous wedding".
• My fathers's hearty, contagious laughter.
• Speaking of him.
• Listening in on conversations about the inside jokes at my father's workplace.
• Gram-isms: "Lousy", "no good", and so forth.
• Duncan's array of characteristic expressions.
• "Puppins"
• My father: "The cicadas are quieter now. They have an ephemeral existence."

• Dad cradling me in his arms as he swayed to "Harvest Moon" by Neil Young
• Dad lifting me in the laundry basket and my relentless pleas of "One more time!"
• ballet and tap dance and the meticulously-rehearsed recitals at Miss Melody's
• hiding under the covers from "The Tickle Monster"
• countless nights spent snug under the covers, listening with boundless, raptured delight as Mom read bedtime stories so familiar, they were almost ingrained in my memory (refer to beloved childhood books list below)
• bashfully burying my face in the pillows on the sofa when my family sang "Happy Birthday" at my early birthday parties
• listening to Randy Newman's Land of Dreams
• catching fireflies in the yard with a boy whose name I can't recall
• the beautiful cakes Mom decorated for my birthdays

• endearingly quaint and homey
• built by my grandfather
• much loved by all who set foot inside
• brimming with the ghosts of what transpired within its walls
• understated white
• practical black shutters
• cozy and comfortably familiar
• clear crystal doorknobs
• creaky white doors; dried evidence of dribbling paint
• screen door with steps up to the kitchen
• Mom's childhood bedroom
  • the tiny closet with the pull-string light and vintage high heels
  • the dresser with the stuffed koala clinging to the mirror
  • the peeling linoleum with geometric brown, pink, and green (floral?) design
• tiny bathroom

• Maintain correspondence with a pen pal
• Lounge around in the evenings, listening to French music, watching period films, or typing bits of nonsense (or perhaps a real novel !)
• Dance around my apartment by myself to Yann Tiersen!
• Bake delectable little pastries well into the night
• Create music mixes complementing moods, seasons, events, etc.
• Make bubble baths and personal "spa days" frequent rituals
• Craft collages from assorted paper paraphernalia
• Build forts from sheets to curl up and read in on rainy nights
• Stock my bookshelves with battered classics
• Pull all-nighters crafting, reading, writing, baking, or watching movie marathons

• my room
• beaches bathed in moonlight
• cozy bedrooms
• vintage shops
• tiny, secluded nooks
• under the blankets, snug and toasty
• old buildings
• quaint little bookshops
• boats bobbing on the water at night
• swings
• beachfront porches
• secluded treehouses
• beneath streetlights
• deserted boardwalks
• tiny closets
• old attics
• scenic overlooks at nightfall
• historic places
• libraries
• museums
• alcoves with bookshelf-lined walls

• heavy rainfall pummeling the roof
• wind howling menacingly outside while I'm snug in my bed
• wind whistling playfully through the trees on a distant mountain (banshee cries)
• owls hooting at night, garnering replies from potential companions
• the gentle melodies of the harp (slumber-inducing)
• the cheerful, olden sound of the hammered dulcimer
• the instrumental versions of "The Huron Carol" and "Carol of the Birds" played often at Christmastime (Ah, the many moods of the season conglomerated in two seasonal hymns!)
• church bells chiming nostalgic childhood tunes or Church hymns
• accordions played in stereotypical French fashion (Yann Tiersen!)
• clipped British accents

• Tudor and Elizabethan England
• Eighteenth Century/Rococo Era
  • French and Indian War
  • American Revolution
  • France under Louis XVI
• Regency Era (the dresses were divine)
• Victorian Era
• Twentieth Century
  • Roaring Twenties
    • The decade of speakeasies and outrageous flappers
  • 1940s
    • The wartime patriotism and music
  • 1950s
    • The darling styles of the decade