Okay. Come with me on this very self-indulgent blog post. It is the week between Christmas and New Years, I am living in my feels because this is the time where I get to. I am watching a competitive makeup show and enjoying a glass of wine from my new “Riverona High School Fencing Champion – By Default” mug. (When do you ever get to have merch that is about you? When!? This is the coolest.) And I am also about to give you the ultimate cheatsheet for becoming my friend and/or boyfriend. Because this is a list of Erin’s favourite things.

What? Why?

Because earlier this year, one of my favourite podcasts Hey Riddle Riddle did “Favourite Things” Brackets on their Patreon. They have a host named Erin Keif. It started with Erin’s Favourite Things (in bracket form) and then it expanded to the other two hosts and their editor and one of their most popular guest hosts and… anyway. It was delightful.

I’m not going to do a bracket, because how could that even work with just me? And also, maybe I’m hopping on the “Erin’s Favourite Things” SEO, but who cares? It’s my name too!

Also, I’m doing 50 things because that is what Erin Keif did. Please enjoy some wholesome and fun stuff from two women who would like to do the splits. And if you wanna bracket it… who am I to stop you?

Erin’s Favourite Things

1. Diet Coke on Fridays
2. The part of The Hold Steady’s “Sixers” where this riff happens (You should listen to the entire song, but this moment is the reason why this was my #2 most listened to song this year)
3. Uggs. I wore them when they were trendy, I wore them when they were cheugy, I wear them now.
4. When it’s raining exactly the right direction outside so you can open the window and read or sleep without any of your things getting wet
5. When the entire Riverona cast breaks because Joel David Taylor slapped Principal Prince and came up with an unreasonably funny ad lib
6. When your niece or nephew demands that you flip them upside down “again and again and again and again”
7. When you find a new recipe that is both delicious and good for leftovers so you can meal prep on repeat
8. That moment where your podcast is the exact same length as your walk
9. Pantyhose/tights that are exactly the right size and still compressive, despite the size chart making zero sense
10. How hard this part of Taylor Swift’s “Now That We Don’t Talk” sticks in my soul (especially “with important men who think important thoughts”)
11. Rose gold anything
12. The last 20 minutes of a Paint Nite where finally you start to feel like you’re a good visual artist
13. Megan Baldrey’s tinted lip balm from Wild Briar Body Care
14. When you’re in a fitness class and the instructor perfectly times the beginning of jacks with the beat drop
15. Cambozola
16. Having an amazing theatre project that other people are equally excited about
17. Friends’ Trips with Claire
18. Rom-com novels about sports boys that have a secret soft side
19. Those rare moments when you finally overcome your time blindness and arrive at something early enough that you can circle for parking or read your book without being stressed about time
20. When Kevin Weir introduces me to a book series that scratches an itch I didn’t know I had
21. Gerard Bertrand’s Cote Des Roses rose. And not just because of the bottle.
22. Transforming any Starbucks seasonal drink into an americano misto and then going for a walk with said hot beverage
23. Seeing plays with my mom and then debriefing them afterwards
24. When I’m out in public and see someone who I know but I think they won’t recognize me, but then they say hi to me!
25. Vertigo Theatre opening nights
26. Clean sheets and freshly moisturized legs
27. The moment that Hans Wackershauser takes a joke too far that it becomes a joke again
28. Para-social relationships with people I actually know on Instagram but don’t get to see nearly often enough (you know who you are!)
29. When an actor walks into an audition and they are absolutely the right person for a role (Sarah, Mike, this is about you!)
30. Getting needlessly fancy cocktails with Claire and Kendra
31. When you’re thinking about someone you haven’t spoken to in a hot minute and they text you at that exact same moment
32. Aerin Amber Musk perfume
33. Ice cream with cookie dough or brownies in it
34. When people do really good TransAtlantic accents or vague 1940s movie impressions
35. Every single Seanan McGuire book, especially when you forget you had a pre-order and it’s delivered to your ereader
36. Cooking mushrooms and onions in butter (or, honestly, anything in butter)
37. When you arrive at an airport 45 minutes before you needed to and you just get to hang out, have a bevvie and not stress
38. The Bath & Bodyworks Champagne Toast scent
39. Sibling cooking nights (yes, Kevin Weir, Darci and Bryan, I’m talking about you)
40. Titanic (the James Cameron movie. All of it.)
41. When you can hang out with your partner’s family or friends without them and it’s cool
42. Similarly, when you are equally friends with both parts of a couple (Mike and Meg, Hans and Megan, I’m looking at you!)
43. When you let your hair air-dry and it does exactly what you want it to do
44. Backyard fire pits
45. Having a solo beverage and a book while in a bar or cafe
46. Surprisingly comfortable 5-inch heels that are also cute
47. Waking up early but also naturally
48. When you go to a farmers/craft/holiday market and all the vendors are friendly but not too friendly, so it’s not awkward
49. Hotels with heated towel drying racks
50. Discovering someone else you just met or don’t speak with often is also super into that very niche thing you love and you both talk about it excitedly together.

That’s it. I’ve been looking forward to this post literally all December and, even if it doesn’t help me garner new friends and/or boyfriends, it helped me realize what I care about. I’ve always been relentlessly positive but it feels so good to deliberately articulate things that make me this way on the blog.

So! What are some of your favourite things!? And do you think we can make this a bracket? Many of the things are universal, so I think we could!