Other place triggers (o.p.t.)

So, my roomie gave me a blog assignment, with the proper amount of buttering up of my ego ("we got so many clicks on our blog when you wrote about counting pennies!") - although, I'm going to put that writing assignment off until later.  Now, I'm going to make a list of things that make me think of being other places other than here (other place triggers are herein called o.p.t.):

1.)  Our various jars, bowls, and platters of sea glass, shells, and driftwood.  Come on by sometime and see the sea debris around our pad.  Call me a thief if you will, but I love it and will forever make my walking more difficult every time I stroll along the ocean by weighing down my pockets.

2.)  Our lifetime spply of New Yorkers, thanks to one of the best gifts from Jolie and Jack (Steve's mom and stepdad) a few years back after we left the big fruit'd city.  We love these mags so much that for Steve's birthday (ahem...yesterday), I gave him a New Yorker cover from the day he was born (December 8, 1980 for the curious ones).  It took a year+ of hunting on eBay, Union Square vendors, craigslist, etc., but I got it, darnit.  Now it's going to be added to our bedroom wall and my o.p.t. list because these rags make me think of, well, home.

3.)  The new super-smelly ayurvedic soap I just bought for cheap at the new Whole Foods down the street from us.  The first 24 hours, I schemed to throw it away and buy something around the $3 mark (this soap was $1.50), but the smell started to bring on dreams of higher mountains, old bookstores, and savasana states.  If I could put a scratch and sniff on the screen, I would, but the Willy Wonka factory hasn't created that yet.  So, another reason why you'll have to come by and wash your hands.

4.)  Great blogs like this one called The Hermitage by an artist and her partner who live in a truck and drive around the UK documenting their amazing lifestyle and adventures.  Steve introduced me to this one and I spent one great 3am-awake session pouring over its posts.  Have a look.  I'm a huge fan.

5.)  Good wine and olive oil.  I'm not sure if the above photo (of Root:1 wine and Round Pond olive oil and vinegar) infringe on any copyright laws, but partaking in a glass of this stuff (the wine, silly people - although, we did drink the olive oil when we went tasting a couple years back at Round Pond, the winery where Lloyd, Steve's dad, spends his working days) or sprinkling some of this monounsaturated goodness in a fine dish make everything okay and officially o.p.t.'ed.  [Photo at right is our olive oil-tasting adventure with several Vancouver friends and (pictured) the delicious Cleveland-based duo, Katie and Dan.]

6.)  And, of course, music is a trigger as well.  I wouldn't call myself a mix-taper if I wasn't sent to other places by a song or two or three.  For instance...

"Takk" by Sigur Ros (shown here with photos from a home in Ontario...not Iceland, but whatever)


"Via con me" by Paolo Conte (romantic chick flick, anyone?)


"Both Hands" by Ani Difranco (poof! an o.p.t. that toooootally puts you back in high school!)


And that, for now, gentle people and bloggers, are all the o.p.t. you'll be getting from me for one evening.  I'm off the grand land of ultimate o.p.t., in other words...I'm going to sleep now.  Sweet dreams.