danatropicana

~ I'm doing lots of tea swaps so here's that info first:

Tea preferences: anything except chamomile (AKA "camomile") or any night time sleepy teas / I love ~hibiscus~ and and would like to try any interesting black or green or white or other teas. Thanks for sharing with me!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hi! I'm Dana and that rhymes with so many things, but let's go with "tropicana". My name pronunciation is the Canadian female version - I was born in Montreal and moved to Hollywood, FL, when I was 11. It was fun at first and then it just got boring and I wanted to live in a city and I also wanted to study medicine. I love a good two-fer so I did the Six-Year Medical Program at Boston University. Being in Boston in the late 80s and early 90s had a huge impact on my aesthetic and worldview. I was going to be a radiologist (I love anything ~anatomical~ and anything to do with medicine in general and psychiatry and ~brains~ more specifically). This plan did not work because I have a weird eye disease and needed two corneal transplants and also I have bipolar I and I could not handle all the stress. So I am on disability after trying so many jobs in so many cities and always going manic under pressure. I used to be afraid to discuss the bipolar but you can see I'm over that, yay! I am all about ~mental health awareness~ and I'm here to help or educate.

So if any of that interests you, please let me know!

I listen to music every day and am very passionate about what I listen to. I'm serious fangirl.

These are faves right now:

Carly Rae Jepsen, Rihanna, Kesha, Dua Lipa, Taylor Swift, Little Mix, FKA twigs, M.I.A., Rina Sawayama

And some k-pop artists: Twice, Itzy, Blackpink, Everglow, 2NE1

But also

Wilco, XTC, Pixies, Pet Shop Boys, New Order, The Cure, Pavement, Weezer, Prince

And bossa nova.

I am crafty but not artistic. My vision is getting worse and so it's hard to see what I'm doing and I'm often sloppy. Hey, mistakes are just design elements...

I like to do collage and mixed media, often using vintage dymo and tags

I have two smashbooks but I only add to one sometimes and I haven't started the second.

I love to add washi and stickers to my envelopes when I send card, letters, and swaps.

I love Hello Kitty and Chococat and pretty much anything from Sanrio or San-X or any Asian company that makes cute stationery and accessories. I love cute things and anything kawaii under any definition would be greatly appreciated. I still kinda love My Little Pony:Friendship Is Magic, esp. Pinkie Pie as i believe she exhibits bipolar behavior, but any of that stuff is adorable to me ~cute!~

I love space things and UFO things.

I love animals, esp dogs and penguins and pandas.

I have a maltipoo we rescued from a shelter on Oct 11, 2014 and her name there was Baby and it still is because she's a complete baby. She supports me emotionally but not in any official way, just in the way where she has a huge piece of my heart. I like vintage baby cards of any kind (showers, announcements, thank you cards), used or unused. I do not have any human babies so I don't need any other kind of baby things.

I love stickers and washi for decorating mail and smashbooking.

I love vintage ephemera! Send me your old paper and stationery!

I love letter sets and greeting cards that are cute or fun or unusual.

I love learning about other people and their interests.

My favorite color is purple. I also love black.

I like shiny things! I will take those sequins off your hands.... :-)

I am a Gemini who kinda likes Gemini things. I don't know much about astrology or star signs but the bipolar Gemini feels like who I am.

I love TV. We watch a lot in our house. If you want recs, let me know!

Some favorites:

American Dad, Schitt's Creek, Ancient Aliens, Rick & Morty, It's Okay to Not Be Okay, Grey's Anatomy, The Bold Type, House, Cells At Work, Japanese Style Originator (please let me know your thoughts on this if you watch! :-)

The pandemic severely affected my voracious reading habit. I can only read ebooks and I have to make the font huge. Luckily, my library has a good eBook system and I'm starting to get back into reading daily.

Some favorites:

Anything by Banana Yoshimoto

The Vanishing Half / The Mothers by Brit Bennett

Taylor Jenkins Reid - Evelyn Hugo / Daisy Jones

The Dublin Murder Squad series by Tana French

I can go on... Thanks for reading and please contact me about anything!

I appreciate everything anyone sends me! Thank you to everyone who has ever sent me anything! You made my day!