I went through a period of time last year when I became unhealthily obsessed with Giada DeLaurentiis and her show Everyday Italian. Even though I've made a few of her dishes, and they've all been delicious, I think my obsession actually sprang from how thin that woman is regardless of how many dishes she whips up containing entire vats of mascarpone cheese. My obsession has waned some, and recently there have been whole months at a time when I've resisted the urge to walk into Central Market and order pancetta just because it's something Giada would do. But for a while there—for months—I would walk through the door each night, kick off my shoes, throw Molly a bone and settle in to watch thirty minutes of Italian-cooking bliss. And one week I spent three lunch hours trying to track down one of her cookbooks—a cookbook I've cooked from ... once ... since then.
This is just kind of how I am: I discover something—a product, a TV show, a celebrity, a song—I use/watch/talk the hell out of it and then I'm pretty much over it. I always think back on my obsessions fondly—I'll still pick up a magazine if Giada is on the cover, I'll always think a little less of Oprah for bullying her on-air a few months ago and I still DVR the show (as well as Giada's Weekend Getaways) but my obsession morphed into something fairly normal.
The same goes for other things including Milo Ventimiglia (start lusting after teenagers when you are the same age as MY HUSBAND and you immediately get bumped down on my freebie list), Mandy Moore's Wild Hope album, Gilmore Girls, Googling photos of Jake and Reese, GAP clothes, Bath and Body Works products, Diet Dr. Pepper, the Freddie Prinze Jr. movie "Boys and Girls," Real Simple (turns out I like the paper the magazine is printed on better than the actual content of the magazine) and even eBay.
So, even though all of the following things are subject to fizzle in the coming months (days?), here is a list of things I'm currently—possibly just for the moment, even—obsessed with:
Top Chef: I just love this show. Perhaps it's because of this one particularly scruffy, cute contestant named Spike who constantly wears a fedora—even while cooking!—or perhaps it's because of all the edge-of-your-seat Quickfires or, most likely, it's because I can watch dishes (plural) being presented to the judges without recognizing a single ingredient, making me feel smarter at the end of an episode than at the beginning—something I can't say about too many of the other shows I watch. Except for The Hills which is nothing but brain food.
Old Navy: I can go years hating everything Old Navy stocks on their shelves. Once I walked into the massively big store in my city and immediately turned around and walked back out because the first thing I saw had a unicorn on it, and I just ... I couldn't go any further. But I've been in Old Navy quite a lot lately—ALTHOUGH NOT IF MY HUSBAND ASKS—and I love their jewelry, their t-shirts, their jeans, their dresses, their skirts. Should I go on? Should I say I also love their underwear? BECAUSE I DO!
This one particular song by The Weepies: Lately whenever I want to write something with a little substance, I turn on this song and feel instantly introspective. I listen to it on repeat if what I'm writing is especially lengthy, and Mike will walk through the living room, on his way to measure under our wet bar for the keg he'd like to put there, find me tapping away on my laptop and will say things like, "What is that crap you're listening to?" Or "Are you wallowing again?"
World Spins Madly On
Everything that I said I'd do
Like make the world brand new
And take the time for you
I just got lost and slept right through the dawn
And the world spins madly on
Greenz: Every now and again I get stuck on a restaurant or lunch spot, and I eat there for weeks and weeks while all of my co-workers and friends roll their eyes and refuse to eat with me until I branch out to somewhere other than Quiznos (which is the kick I was on before Greenz). Greenz is a great little salad/wrap place in Dallas, and I go there far too often and get the exact same thing. The cashier totally knows my order by heart but he never repeats it to me with any tone of judgment.
Letterpress stationary: About once a day—when I need a break from fixating about next week's One Tree Hill finale (Lucas, take Brooke to Vegas!) for instance—I search Etsy or Paper Source or other various online shops for letterpress stationary. I even find myself dumping things into random online shopping carts. I usually talk myself out of actually purchasing things, but I'm just obsessed with beautiful and authentic stationary. See, in our new house I have a room that's just mine. It's my writing room. My space. My haven. And it's totally disorganized and full of crap right now and I only go in there, as of now, to get dressed or to hide from Molly who has been such an asshole lately. When I finally organize it and get it just-so, I really do want to get lost for hours writing letters. And I envision all of those letters being written on letterpress stationary because it's just prettier than regular stationary.
Honorable mentions: Diet Cherry Sprite from Sonic. Clutch wallets. David Cook. Counting Crows. And Nars lip gloss.
So, what are you currently obsessed with?