December 14 Rush. When did you get your best rush of the year?
Train from London Gatwick to Winchester, via Clapham Junction, in March. I was listening to Slingshot Dakota. Lots of good memories, by way of familiar buildings and feelings and sounds and smells. It was a good rush.
December 15 Best packaging.
You know, when it comes to commercial packaging, I’m such a fan of super-clean modern packaging — bold blocks of color, strong white sans-serifs fonts, and cautious use of images or photos. Simple packaging always catches my eye. That being said, I haven’t found much of anything that really fits that bill in 2009. What I have been impressed with, however, is the packaging of every item I’ve ordered from Etsy this year. There’s something really exciting about handmade packaging with a DIY feel to it, whether it’s an item wrapped in tissue paper and string, or carefully placed in a hand-painted cardboard box tied with ribbon and stamped with a URL, I love thinking that I’ve received an item so personal that even the envelope was personally and individually considered.
December 16 Tea of the year. I can taste my favorite tea right now. What’s yours?
I definitely go through phases with teas. In general, as with most things, I prefer darker / stronger teas to lighter ones. Black and red teas are my favorites (Rooibos / bush teas, earl greys, assam, etc.), but just this past month or so, I’ve been really enjoying green teas. I recently signed up for Alice.com, which is a pretty interesting grocery / household shopping business startup which allows you to customize a shopping list with your favorite / standard products and order them. Shipping is free, prices are comparable to my local Food LIon, and they automatically apply coupons. It’s honestly pretty nifty — they remind you when they think you’re about to run out of something, and occasionally throw in some free samples based upon what you order. I’m usually a last-minute shopper with everything, toothpaste included, but it’s a great idea for people who live in cities or have busy lives that make frequent last-minute grocery trips impractical, and who doesn’t like samples? One such free sample I received with my first order was an entire sampler of Dilmah Ceylon Green Tea (I had ordered a box of Stash Earl Grey). This was shortly before the onset of a sinus infection, during which fresh green tea proved invaluable for many reasons, but aside from that, I’ve really enjoyed having this lighter tea available. It has a really fresh and crisp flavor to it, and I can drink two or three cups in a row at work without feeling jittery or ill.
Sorry, guys. No photos and very little inspiration with this one. In other news, this is the first time in a very long time I’ve been awake at two am. So forgive me.
This week hasn’t been as stressful as I expected. I’m learning how to be still sometimes.
Listening to: Jaymay – Sea Green, See Blue (Troy’s wonderful find, twice now.)
Less weird unrelatable topics, please! Obviously this is not to Amy but to whatever lady is designing this system. Best packaging? I don’t remember any packages from the year. And I mean, sure, I bought a box of teabags this year… not a huge sample size. I feel sure this person has been picked on with quite a few stuffwhitepeoplelike articles.