Whisper Words of Wisdom, Letter P (updated)

The lovely Stefanie has assigned me the letter “P” in this here meme. The object? To name 10 things you love that start with a certain letter. When I initially saw that “P” was my letter, I thought to myself “Poh, prap.” You see, at first, I couldn’t think of anything I loved that started with “P.” But the more I considered it, the more things came to me. Behold, my “10 Things I Love That Start with the Letter ‘P’:”

Penmanship -- Not my own, mind you. I have the inscrutable scrawl of a small child just learning to write. I don’t know if it has to do with my being a lefty, but my handwriting is wholly illegible. This is probably why I am fascinated by people who can write neatly. My husband is one of those people; he has beautiful penmanship, and I’m always marveling over it, and oftentimes, I’ll stare intently as he is writing. I’m pretty sure he’s more than a little freaked out by this.

Pop Culture -- I so very much enjoy sitting down on a quiet Saturday afternoon with my stupid stupid magazines, and totally zoning out. If the situation arose where every single “E!” host, US Weekly writer, and “Best Week Ever” talking head were tragically struck down in a freak accident, I am fully confident that, if called upon, I could serve as a perfect substitute for any or all of them. I am not particularly proud of this. The fact remains, however, that I adore pop culture in all its forms.

Pajamas -- I stay in them as long as I can in the morning, and I pretty much strip down out of my work clothes and into them the moment my key hits the lock. I knew I had a problem when one morning, I woke up, and, wearing black pajama pants, thought to myself, “Can I get away with these at the office? They’re black pants; who would know?!” Fortunately, sanity won out, but it was a close one, I must say.

Pedicures -- As I recently mentioned in an email conversation with Guinness Girl, I never used to get pedicures and would just paint my toes myself. (I write tremendously exciting emails, as you can plainly see.) When I was pregnant, however, there came a time when simply seeing my feet was physically impossible, and consequently, the thought of actually reaching them and subsequently polishing my toes precisely was ludicrous. And so, I started getting pedicures, and haven’t looked back. They are a tiny bit of heaven.

Pralines and Cream Ice Cream from Baskin Robbins -- This is, quite simply, the best ice cream flavor evah. It’s been my favorite since I was a little girl, and I have never strayed. I could probably easily write the rest of this list by simply listing foods I like that start with “P,” but I do not want to seem like a little piggie, so instead, I’ll just put them here: Potatoes (all forms. Mashed? Baked? French fries? Chips? Pringles? Bring ‘em on!), peanut butter (Dear son, PLEASE don’t be allergic. xoxo, mom), peaches and plums, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, pickles (dill), pizza, panna cotta with berries, and hot pretzels. Mmmm.

Princess Bride, The -- I know I mentioned my fondness for this movie in my “100 things” list, but it bears repeating. Really, this movie is just so good. I love it so.

Prescriptives Camouflage Cream – I’ve been wearing this concealer since I was 14 years old; I’ve tried others, but this is simply the best one out there...Apropos of which, I have a question. I LOVE when people talk about beauty products/other random crap they like on their blogs. My question is, am I the only one who loves reading that type of stuff? (Compounding this is my tendency to tell my friends whenever I come across something cool that I think they would like as well.) Because if I am not alone, I may occasionally do stuff like that. Again, provided it doesn’t bore people. To wit, my next item (and, I suppose, the one I just wrote):

Pomegranate Mango Body Wash -– This stuff smells SO good, I can’t even tell you. I found it in my favorite store (O Target, how I wish you started with the letter "P"), and it far surpasses the stuff we usually buy from Bath and Body Works (though in fairness, that could also be because they have been coming up with some really weird scent combos lately…but I digress). It's amazing. It's really cheap. Get it. Trust me.

Playing Games -- Taboo, Apples to Apples, Scrabble, poker (all types) Trivial Pursuit, the New York Times crossword puzzle (…does that count as a game? I'm going with yes.)…I love games of all kinds. (Except Monopoly; Monopoly, you can just suck it. You. Take. Forever.) I get all kinds of giddy when I play. Especially when wine is involved.

Puerto Rico – We went there for our honeymoon…I loved everything about it. The beaches, the ocean, the hotel…everything except the motherpucking swan (I’m all about sticking to the letter “P” here), that attacked me in our hotel’s “tranquility” garden. Let me tell you, there is NOTHING tranquil about minding your own damn business, and having a freak-ass swan come flapping out of a pond, completely unprovoked, and lock in on you, for some unknown reason, ultimately deciding that biting your poor, innocent knee is really the obvious thing to do here.

Stefanie, this was so much fun to do :) If anyone else is interested, I’ll give you a letter…just let me know in your comment.

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Edited to add: Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things -- I cannot believe I forgot this book; I am a wealth of useless/trivial information, and this book is one of the things that caused me to become so.