A Girls Love Affair With... Blog Series: Lists of Favorite Things I Adore, Love/Lust After

A girl's Love Affair With (exclusive Knitting and Purling blog series)

Follow this girl's blog journey as she discovers her various love affairs in life!

Introduction

Hello, my name is Karina and I’m addicted to loving too many things in life.

I’ve already admitted to being a shopaholic. I just love to shop! So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I would have love affairs with many of the items I’ve purchased in the past.

But the great loves of my life aren’t always about superficial things. Much like Julie Andrews’ character Maria from The Sound of Music movie, I too have a list of my favorite things!

No, my personal list does not revolve around raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens (maybe if we’re talking whiskers on bunnies!). But it does cover a variety of topics…

A Sample List of This Girl’s 10 Favorite Things

My favorite things list - Red Dragon maki sushi roll (sample fave food item to order when eating out)

#1 Favorite Foods (When Eating Out/Ordering In)
Whether eating out at restaurants or ordering take-out/delivery… there are certain food items that I definitely have a fondness for!
E.g. Red Dragon maki sushi rolls, my #1 fave sushi roll & something that I always order when I’m at a Japanese restaurant
What is a Red Dragon roll? It’s a maki sushi roll consisting of a Dynamite roll (usually made of tempura shrimp, crab, avocado & cucumber wrapped in rice and seaweed) topped with fresh salmon sashimi & sprinkled with flying fish roe (fish eggs)

#2 Favorite Foods (To Cook at Home)
Some of the food items that I love to order when eating out could also be recreated at home with a good recipe!
E.g. Broccoli & cheese soup, one of my fave soups to order while eating out (Subway’s & Quiznos’ broccoli & cheese soups come to mind)
Cheesy broccoli soups are rather easy to make, and there exist copycat recipes that will let you recreate your fave restaurant versions!

My favorite things list - Broccoli and cheese soup (sample fave food item to cook at home)

My favorite things list - Vacuum cleaners (sample fave type of household products)

#3 Favorite Type of Household Products
As a self-proclaimed 21st century homemaker, I’m no spring chicken to household chores
I’m a strong believer of buying top-of-the-line kitchen or home gadgets in order to make cooking or other domestic tasks enjoyable
E.g. Dyson vacuum cleaners… because trust me, once you’ve gone Dyson you will never go back (and this is coming from a girl with a severe love affair with vacuums!)

#4 Favorite Type of Fashion Apparel
Just because I consider myself a homemaker, that doesn’t mean I don’t follow fashion & style trends! (In fact, I’d like to think of myself as being “stylishly domestic”)
A peek into my “bedroom turned walk-in closet” and it’s clear that I have love affairs with many types of apparel and fashion accessories
E.g. Jackets, Coats & outerwear… I love them all (pea coats, trench coats, raincoats, leather jackets, sports blazers, oh my!)

My favorite things list - Jackets coats and outerwear (sample fave type of fashion apparel)

My favorite things list - Lampwork glass beads (sample fave jewelry making supplies)

#5 Favorite Jewelry Making Supplies & Techniques
As a self-taught craftsperson, I’m always experimenting with new arts & craft skills and supplies
E.g. Lampwork glass beads in rainbow colors & wire wrapping, both being my current absolute favorite jewelry making material & technique du jour, respectively

#6 Favorite Hand Drawn Illustration Artists
This is a full admission of my geekery, but I get tickled pink whenever I get my hands on pretty stationery and paper products
E.g. Chiyogami paper (a.k.a. Yuzen paper in the US), a type of Japanese paper that’s hand-silkscreened with decorative patterns of all shapes & colors

My favorite things list - Japanese paper products (sample fave stationery)

Japanese Chiyogami papers in rainbow colors

My favorite things list - Julie West chubby notebook (sample fave hand drawn illustration artist)

#7 Favorite Jewelry Making Supplies & Techniques
If you can’t already tell by the aesthetics & design of my Knitting & Purling blog, I’m a huge fan of hand drawn illustration artists… especially those who dabble mostly with drawing female subject matter in pretty shades of pastel colors, or are heavily influenced by Japanese art
E.g. “preeminent lowbrow female artist” Caia Koopman, or illustrator of “sweet and otherworldly female characters [that are] a cross between a robot and a Russian doll,” Julie West

#8 Favorite Type of Hand Drawn Illustrations
Since I have a fondness for hand drawn illustration artists, it should come as no surprise that I would also have love affairs with certain types of hand drawn illustrations
E.g. Hand drawn maps, a newfound love that I discovered while reminiscing about past travel adventures
Little did I know? There already exists a world where people love “mappery” & have an appreciation for those who can “draw and travel!”

My favorite things list - Hand drawn maps (sample type of fave drawing illustrations)

My favorite things list - Zoos trips (sample fave tourist attractions)

#9 Favorite Types of Tourist Attractions
While on the topic, my husband and I are undoubtedly travel fanatics! We love it all: road tripping, globe trekking… basically everything travel
However, there are certain types of tourist attractions that we prefer
E.g. Zoo trips or visits to petting farms (the latter is more for my husband, who has a fondness for petting goats… don’t ask!)

#10 Favorite Resource Websites (on Various Topics)
As a 100% geek girl (not to mention I actually work in the internet marketing industry!), I’d like to say I’m rather familiar with the WWW
Based on the sheer # of hours that I’ve clocked in each day while online, I’ve been able to accumulate a pretty expansive list of resource websites that I continually return to (no matter the topic)
E.g. Top SEO resource websites (such as SEOmoz.org) or best arts & crafts community sites (such as Ravelry.com)

My favorite things list - Resource websites

Browse a list of all “a girl’s love affair with…” blog posts below, part of an exclusive review blog series showcasing the love affairs that this girl (that’s me, Karina!) has with the various things that she comes across in life. This series can only be found on the Knitting & Purling blog.