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
- Diet Coke on Fridays
- 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)
- Uggs. I wore them when they were trendy, I wore them when they were cheugy, I wear them now.
- 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
- When the entire Riverona cast breaks because Joel David Taylor slapped Principal Prince and came up with an unreasonably funny ad lib
- When your niece or nephew demands that you flip them upside down “again and again and again and again”
- When you find a new recipe that is both delicious and good for leftovers so you can meal prep on repeat
- That moment where your podcast is the exact same length as your walk
- Pantyhose/tights that are exactly the right size and still compressive, despite the size chart making zero sense
- 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”)
- Rose gold anything
- The last 20 minutes of a Paint Nite where finally you start to feel like you’re a good visual artist
- Megan Baldrey’s tinted lip balm from Wild Briar Body Care
- When you’re in a fitness class and the instructor perfectly times the beginning of jacks with the beat drop
- Cambozola
- Having an amazing theatre project that other people are equally excited about
- Friends’ Trips with Claire
- Rom-com novels about sports boys that have a secret soft side
- 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
- When Kevin Weir introduces me to a book series that scratches an itch I didn’t know I had
- Gerard Bertrand’s Cote Des Roses rose. And not just because of the bottle.
- Transforming any Starbucks seasonal drink into an americano misto and then going for a walk with said hot beverage
- Seeing plays with my mom and then debriefing them afterwards
- 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!
- Vertigo Theatre opening nights
- Clean sheets and freshly moisturized legs
- The moment that Hans Wackershauser takes a joke too far that it becomes a joke again
- Para-social relationships with people I actually know on Instagram but don’t get to see nearly often enough (you know who you are!)
- When an actor walks into an audition and they are absolutely the right person for a role (Sarah, Mike, this is about you!)
- Getting needlessly fancy cocktails with Claire and Kendra
- When you’re thinking about someone you haven’t spoken to in a hot minute and they text you at that exact same moment
- Aerin Amber Musk perfume
- Ice cream with cookie dough or brownies in it
- When people do really good TransAtlantic accents or vague 1940s movie impressions
- Every single Seanan McGuire book, especially when you forget you had a pre-order and it’s delivered to your ereader
- Cooking mushrooms and onions in butter (or, honestly, anything in butter)
- 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
- The Bath & Bodyworks Champagne Toast scent
- Sibling cooking nights (yes, Kevin Weir, Darci and Bryan, I’m talking about you)
- Titanic (the James Cameron movie. All of it.)
- When you can hang out with your partner’s family or friends without them and it’s cool
- Similarly, when you are equally friends with both parts of a couple (Mike and Meg, Hans and Megan, I’m looking at you!)
- When you let your hair air-dry and it does exactly what you want it to do
- Backyard fire pits
- Having a solo beverage and a book while in a bar or cafe
- Surprisingly comfortable 5-inch heels that are also cute
- Waking up early but also naturally
- When you go to a farmers/craft/holiday market and all the vendors are friendly but not too friendly, so it’s not awkward
- Hotels with heated towel drying racks
- 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!
