StarfishAndCoffee

I'm a mature student (thirtysomething) currently working on my Master's Thesis. I'm married with two wonderful children - a 7 year-old boy and a 10 year-old daughter on the verge of her teens (a prospect that I find somewhat scary;-) We live in a smallish town (ca. 30,000 people) and my husband is a journalist for the regional newspaper.

I don't flake. Ever. So please contact me if you haven't received my swap, and I will re-send immediately.

I always rate as soon as I receive swaps from you - if you're still awaiting a rating from me, I'm still awaiting the swap you sent.

I prefer to recycle jiffybags, etc., but I only send them out nicely re-done; I hope you can appreciate this in the interest of saving our planet's ressources:-)

• I'm a long-time adoring fan of Prince - his music especially and his personal life not so much.
• I love to listen to music that either suits my currrent mood or that induces a certain mood that I'd like to be in. Original Soundtracks and most of my favourites will do that for me as will certain pop music from my youth;-)

That aside, I grew up with a father who introduced me to lots of classic rock, protest singers (ahh, the joy of a 'make love-not war' parentage:-), and folksy stuff - American more often than not...

• In my adult life I have added to my favourite genres blues, bluesy rock, and countryblues, and so, in addition to Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, and Leonard Cohen, I love Bonnie Raitt, Jace Everett, and many others.

Books... I am a true bibliophile - I love books (and interesting books covers) and the feeling of immersing myself in them, and I only leave a story in progress very unwillingly. Among my all-time favourites are

• Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' and 'King Lear'
• anything by Jane Austen
• Gaskell's 'North and South' and 'Middlemarch'
• Charlotte Brontë's 'Jane Eyre'
• Dicken's 'Hard Times'
• Woolf's 'A Room of One's Own'
• McEwan's 'Atonement'
• Rowling's Harry Potter series
• Tolkien's 'The Hobbit' and The Lord of the Rings series
• L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series
• C.S. Lewis' Narnia series

and yes, I have been swept away by the vampire/paranormal romance wave, so I also read the following eagerly:

• the Mortal Instruments series
• the Infernal Devices series
• the Twilight series (Team Edward!)
• the Vampire Diaries series (Team Damon)
• the House of Night series

Well, I never watch thrillers, though certain happily endowed actors appearing in them may infringe on this principle;-)

• good adaptations of the novels mentioned above:-)
• many, many girly flicks that I really ought to have outgrown.
• Atonement
• Don Juan Demarco
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
• The Holiday
• Sweet Home Alabama
• Pirates of the Caribbean series
• When Harry Met Sally
• Walk the Line
• Independence Day (don't ask;-)
• Bram Stoker's Dracula
• period dramas in general
• Moonstruck
• Some Like It Hot
• probably many more that I can't remember at present

Currently watching:

• The West Wing
• The Vampire Diaries (Team Damon all the way)
• Grey's Anatomy (Team MerDer)
• True Blood (Team Eric, definitely)

Sometimes also:

• Gossip Girl (Team Chuck/Blair)
• Greek (Team Cappie) and of course
• Pride and Prejudice (BBC, 1995)
• MAS*H

When they still aired I watched:

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Team Spuffy)
• Black Books ("I have swallowed the Little Book of Calm!" SSS)
• Friends (REM's "Everybody Hurts" will always remind me of Ross&Rachel. Well, that and that big bum-song that Ross sang to Emma)
• Roswell (Team Max/Liz)
• Felicity (Team why-not-have-them-both?)
• Ally McBeal (angst and hot men, what's not to love?)
• Beverly Hills 90210 (I was young, very young!!)

I can't seem to get the hang of knitting despite several attempts with patient and skilled knitters teaching me, but

• I crochet periodically, though not as often as I'd like to.
• I cross-stich and do other embroidering, again very periodically, but I love doing it once I find a project to work on.
• I do own a sewing machine and have produced a few items, mostly for my kids at Halloween, etc., but sewing is not a frequent occupation of mine and I'm definitely a happy amateur. My finest home-sewn item is a beautiful large Christmas stocking for my son.

I love Christmas, and it is the time of year when I am at my most creative. I make paperstars, hand-sewn stuffed ornaments, calendar candles (with a liquid colour wax pen), decorate cookies, and much more.

• Throughout the year, I bake and decorate cakes whenever I get the chance - the prettier the better, and I love having people over to partake of the result. Twice I've baked and decorated wedding cakes for friends - exhausting but fun:-)

• Tea! I prefer black teas that do not easily turn bitter, and I drink green and white tea too, but please no fruity or vanilla'ed flavours.
• Coffee! Both bean and ground coffee is fine, but I prefer non-flavoured kinds unless you know of a particularly good flavour that I simply must try;-)
• Chocolate! I ought to be a member of Chocoholic Anonymous, but I'm not... Milk chocolate is my weakness plain or with nuts, but my palate is apparently not so refined as to appreciate dark chocolates of high cocoa percentages.
• No alcohol! candied orange or dried fruit in sweets, please. I'm not allergic - I just really dislike it:-)
• Merchandise! and promotional stuff related to either Twilight (Team Edward), Vampire Diaries, or Harry Potter will always excite me:-)
• Stationery! and/or notecards w. envelopes; I love letterwriting, but please no scented kinds - they make me sneeze and give me a headache.
• Your crafts! I love receiving the products of other people's creativity. This includes ATCs:-)
• Matchboxes! Would love to see what you come up with:-) Haven't done any since childhood, but I'd like to get started again.
• Miniature! I have a great weakness for anything miniature - esp. things that closely imitate their normal size equivalents. I hope to one day inherit my daughter's Georgian-style dollhouse;-)
• Postcards! I'd love blank or written postcards - some favourite motifs are: movie memorabilia, maps, something from your area, tourist, vintage, vintage ads, museums/museum collections, sweets, literary figures, flowers, nature,...
• Buttons! One single or a few cute or cool buttons - I love those that look like slices of fruit, and the kind that looks a bit old-fashioned (if they really are old, that's even better). Please no animal kinds as my kids have outgrown those.
• Magnets and/or badges! Either home-made or store-bought ones... I like words and letters, bon-mots, idioms, old ads, film related (see favourites above;-),...
• Bath products! My favourite scents are: cucumber, jasmine, avocado, and rose. (Definite dislikes are vanilla, musk, and similar sweet/powdery scents)