This is kind of a currently obsessed post in disguise… but since I’ve got road trips on the brain, I thought I’d unite under a single theme.

1. The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano. I loved this book, and I think it’s the perfect road trip novel for several reasons: it’s long enough to last you, it is told in smaller snippets (diary entries and short-story-like “interviews”) so picking it up and putting it down is not a problem, and it’s about really road-trippy people. (Check out James Wood’s NY Times Review.)
2. Pack This! I love Knock Knock, and I actually use my Pack This! notepad before almost every trip.
3. Half Pink Hair. I feel like you should either start a road trip or return from a road trip with a new look. I really want this half-pink hair but know that I will mess it up. (Anyone died their hair pink? Half pink? Tips?!) (Found this on Suicide Blonde’s tumblr.)
4. Globetrotter Necklace. I enjoy wearing thematically appropriate jewelry.
5. Bright Backpack! I often carry way too many items for a purse alone, so I just got this Jansport backpack and I am thrilled with it. It’s high quality, has perfect pockets, fits my macbook pro, feels good on the shoulders, and is all of my favorite colors (except blue, but that’s okay).
6. Postcards from Penguin. Maybe you are wondering why I start trips with postcards. This is because I have to address them and stamp them before I leave or else I will never actually send any. (Besides, most local postcards use very ugly fonts.) But the real reason I’m posting these particular postcards is because I AM SO EXCITED that they are coming to America (…in October… but you can pre-order them!… Penguin always puts everything out in the UK first…). There are 100 Book Covers in ONE box of postcards! (We are pretty in love with book covers here at Stickers & Donuts!)

Note: Background for this post from Mike Swanson’s Blog’s Wallpaper collection.

even the ones that are publicly declared as cute.  My hatred stems from many negative experiences with birds.  After a bird-poop-on-head incident three years ago, I cower whenever a pigeon gets within five feet of me.  Every time a pigeon disturbs my space, I contort my face in unsightly ways, and scurry towards the other direction.  My mother also cared for a ridiculous number of birds, which always smelled incredibly foul.  The bird odors did not dissipate until a raccoon mama and two raccoon babies got into the cages, and murdered the trapped birds.  Blood. Bath.

Despite my hatred towards birds, I seem to enjoy bird OBJECTS.
RECENT BIRD-THEMED ACTIVITIES IN THE LIFE OF TRICIA:

• I recently purchased this bird cage necklace from H&M.  It’s perfect, and I’m surprised that I’ve never seen anyone else have it since it is from H&M (Well, semi-falsitude.  Two weeks ago, a waitress on the Upper West Side told me she had the same necklace. poo poo.)  The best part?  The cage door opens!!!

• Furthermore, I’ve been making peacock headbands!  Above is my first more-than-three-feather creation.  It turned out okay; I think I need to figure out how to make the feathers more flat!

Inspired by my recent behavior, up-up-up above are bird objects that I, a bird hater, enjoy.

1. Poetic Home is one of my favorite blogs.  Run by Grace Light, a photo stylist (!), Poetic Home features perfect vintage and vintage-inspired treasures that all have a twinkle of grandeur.  (Grace has impeccable taste!  Look at her antique library card catalog!)  In January, she suggested turning old bird cages into lamps (GO LOOK!) The birdcage curtain is as adorable as baby bunnies.  Frolicking in a meadow. With chicks and tulips.

2. Good Morning! Vintage Bird Hairpins from Hella Good, $6

3. A CAST-IRON bird bottle opener.  What a whimsical way to open a 40.  I keed… Wonder Wings Bottle Opener, $9.99

4. For some reason, this cute bird reminds me of an old man who buys a ridiculous car…like a ferrari (I know nothing about cars), just to feel young again.  Apologies, I have a weird little mind.  barkingbirdart’s Etsy shop is adorable, and full with limited edition (numbered!) prints.  Bird Dressed As A Superhero print from barkingbirdart’s Etsy, $18

5. I want to be best friends with ohhellofriend.  First, my default phrase when I see a friend is…”hello friend.”  Cosmic?  Serendipitous? “FORESHADOWFORESHADOWFORESHADOW!!(?) I can imagine our (me and ohhelofriend) meeting; we would both say “hello, friend,” AT THE SAME TIME.  Second, she runs one of my favorite (no HYPERBOLE here).  Third, her blog is glorious. owl stud earrings from ohhellofriend’s Etsy, $3.50 (I would get these myself, but my ears not pierced.  I am afraid of pain. Womp womp.)

6. Early Bird Sugar dispenser from Anthropologie, $14.  There is also a matching birdie that doles creamer, but no thank you.  I drink my coffee black.  It reflects my soul.

7. Owl Warm and Cozy Mug, $15.99

8. My friend, Angelica, frequently wears a really lovely felt bird pin, and I’ve always wanted one for myself.  These pins come in three colors, which translates to three different ways you can present yourself to the world.  “I’m feeling romantically delusional today, I will wear my red bird pin.”  Little Bird Pins from Threekeys’ Etsy, $3

*For the purposes of this post, “birds” =  “the (prolonged) flyers of the aves class.”  I support penguins.

1. 50s Silk Blue Swing Dress, indigolace on ebay
2. Adrienne Vittadini Silk Scarf, sarmar04 on ebay
3. Lacina Top, Anthropologie, $39.95
4. Sunglasses, Forever 21, $2.99
5. Chirp and Tweet Dessert Plate, Anthropologie, $14
6. Red Wool Princess Coat, shop blue bird on ebay
7. Cupcake Apron, Boojiboo on etsy, $28.75
8. Painted Rose Hairclips, Forever 21, $2.80

I have to dedicate this post to my co-worker, Patrick, who recently lent me season one of Pushing Daisies. The exchange went somewhat like this.

Patrick: Would you like to borrow my season one Pushing Daisies DVDs? [Read: I would like to have someone to discuss Pushing Daisies with on Thursday mornings. Please watch quickly, and get caught up.]
Tricia: Umm…okay.

He gave me the DVDs, and I watched. In one day, I watched six episodes. Consecutively. Yes, I understand that this fact is a little embarrassing. Which is why, after the sixth episode, I left the apartment to get a cupcake. Then I returned, and resumed watching.

Produced by ABC, Pushing Daisies is the most whimsical, wildly imaginative TV series that I have ever watched. Visually, Pushing Daisies resembles a love child between Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Tim Burton (Ignore the biological impossibility! Imagination!). Since Amelie is my favorite movie, by far, it makes sense that I am utterly smitten with Pushing Daisies. There are even a few parallels between Pushing Daisies and Amelie!: the Pie Hole (Montmartre café), Chuck (English-speaking Amelie!), costume design, and the first episode of Pushing Daisies even features a song from the Amelie soundtrack!

The plot revolves around Ned, a pie-maker with the ability to bring dead things back to life with the touch of his finger. After reawakening the dead, Ned has a minute to retouch the person. If he doesn’t, the dead thing stays alive and someone else dies in exchange. Finally, if he touches anything that he had once revived, the thing stays dead forever. Make sense? I hope so. Ned and Emerson, a Private Investigator, use Ned’s extraordinary gift to solve murder crimes (and cash in on the reward money). Originally, this plan worked well, until Ned had to reawaken his childhood sweetheart, Chuck (!@#!@$%!$!@#!$%!!!!)

Ned can’t bring himself to un-reviving Chuck from the dead. Which is great, because I ADORE CHUCK! She is brilliant! Witty! Quirky! Charming! Adventurous! Oh, Chuck! How I wish I could be you! Chuck is a hybrid of Zooey Deschanel, Rory Gilmore, and AMELIE. Some of my favorite fictional/real people! So many exclamation points! Furthermore, Chuck always wears the most sparkling clothes! She pairs wonderful dresses with perfect little cardigans! Chuck joins Ned and Emerson, and the show chronicles the team’s sleuthing adventures.

So after six straight episodes of Pushing Daisies, what do I think about? How can I be like Chuck?! I subsequently went to this Pushing Daisies fan site (where all the pictures in this post are from!) to oogle at the Pushing Daisies cast (mostly Chuck). Chuck wears a lot of 1950s swing dresses, and ebay is the perfect place to find them. The dress up, up above has a Chuckish silhouette, and is well-tailored too! On trips to the morgue, Chuck frequently wears bold-colored wool coats, sunglasses and scarves so Mr. Coroner doesn’t recognize her. (Her disguises are kind of fruitless, but I enjoy seeing her disguises nonetheless!) I wear nearly as many cardigans as Mr. Rogers, and Chuck seems to be the same way too! I’ve always fawned over Anthropologie’s dainty cardigans. They’re always so cozy and detailed! Chuck also enjoys lovely hair things: Audrey Hepburn-sized hats and flower hair clips! When she isn’t at the morgue, Chuck helps Ned bake pies (and even suggests that the Pie Hole should serve CUP PIES…CUPCAKE-SIZED PIES…panda-precious!), and wraps herself in cute aprons. Lastly, a perfect plate for the Pie Hole’s famous Three Plum pie. Yummy!