I Finally Found It!

I started a blog post this afternoon that was all about today's Sunday School class and why I didn't like it, but several hours and a nap later, I decided it's just not worth writing about at this moment. Instead, I'd like to write about how––at age 35––I have found my favorite ice cream.

For a long time, it was mint chocolate chip, and then for a long time, it was chocolate or chocolate with almonds (a toss-up, really). Other flavors have entered the fray, but honestly, I never really felt comfortable announcing my favorite ice cream flavor. I mean . . . Ice cream is my favorite dessert! How can I choose just one?!?

Clay introduced me, however, to Ben & Jerry's Mint Chocolate Cookie last week, and I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. I know the flavor's been around for a while, but for some reason, I had never tried it before. Who knew that it was right under my nose for all of my adult life?

And there you have it, world––I like Ben & Jerry's Mint Chocolate Cookie best of all.

Thing I'm thankful for: long walks

The List

I slept for a REALLY long time today, and now, I'm baking cookies and listening to good music––two of my favorite things in life. All I've been listening to is New Order. I listened to them in high school just like any other well-adjusted teenager, but they sort of fell by the wayside as I started listening to indie music in the early 2000s. About a year ago, though, a friend reminded me of them, and I haven't been able to stop listening for very long since.

So as I've been baking and listening to New Order, I thought about a blog post I wrote long ago called Listenin' to Abbey Road, in which I listed my top three favorite rock albums, and I decided it was time for an update. Back in 2006, my top three were:

1. Abbey Road, The Beatles
2. The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd
3. The Blue Album, Weezer

It's funny how time changes things and how we change over time. A little over a decade later, I would say these are my top three rock albums:

1. Substance 1987, New Order
2. Louder Than Bombs, The Smiths
3. Automatic, The Jesus and Mary Chain

It's highly likely that in another decade, this list will change again, and probably, it will change even before that. And why even make these lists, anyway? I guess I think it's an interesting snapshot into a person's life that shows what they were feeling, who they were influenced by, and what aesthetic affected other areas of their lives. For example, in my senior year of high school, I was all about The Cure and Led Zeppelin. (I was melancholy and passionate.) In early college, I was listening to The Strokes, The Shins, and Franz Ferdinand. (I was upbeat and confident.) In grad school, I was all about The Black Keys, The Lumineers, The Head and the Heart, Atlas Genius, and Capital Cities. (I was upbeat and confident and interested in up-and-coming bands.)

What would I say about myself now? What do my top three albums say about me? Maybe that I'm nostalgic, bored of today's music, depressed, and sort of . . . stuck in my mind most of the time.

Thing I'm thankful for: lazy Saturdays