Volkswagon Jetta

Okay. Usually I’m not embarrassed by any of my favorite things. Hold on. I totally am! So far I’ve only posted things I love that I consider kind of cool or quirky, but there is a plethora of other things that I love that I keep putting off posting because, yeah, they’re kind of embarrassing. However, in the spirit of self-love I will start off by proudly proclaiming my love for Volkswagen Jettas!

Now, I realize that normal people’s favorite cars tend to be super cool or at the very least unique, but for some insane reason I have always loved Jettas—especially black ones with bike rakes on the roof (even though I despise bikes). I have no idea how this began but I can trace it back to my pre-high school years. At first I thought maybe it had something to do with Maria’s Jetta on the TV show, Roswell. But then I remembered that I wrote about getting a Jetta my freshman year (pre-Roswell) in a future planning class.

Even to this day when I’m walking down a street or through a parking garage and I see that sleek squarish trunk I’m like, “I like that car. Oh duh, it’s a Jetta.” And so I wonder, what does it signify? What does it say about me? What kind of people love Jettas? I guess the kind of people that love Jettas (and this is a brash generalization based on no research whatsoever) are librarian-like. I mean, you can see it right? A librarian getting off work and walking through the parking lot in a pencil skirt and cardigan, a tight bun and glasses, piling her books on the passenger seat and driving off to grab some Thai food take out—never intending to use the bike rack.

I can see it.

Anyway, don’t judge. My eye is just instinctively drawn to every passing Jetta. The crazy thing is that I’m probably too practical to ever actually purchase one. It really is just all about personal aesthetic. I need a car that can handle rougher terrain. Sorry, love.

Names

Elysia Eugenie Helem ;)

I liked Sadie before it was cool. 

One of my favorite things to do is name things. And if there's nothing to name I like to just think about names. Especially if they're alliterative and/or start with a B. I used to be all for making names up until that became just a little too ghetto. Not even ghetto as much as just... meaningless. I know that's obvious but there really is something kind of meaningless in made up names. Especially if they've got that whole faux Italian thing going on and start and/or end with an A. I'm way over that. I love European names (Western & Eastern) and love love them when they come with a story. 

A few of my cats over the years have been: Freya (Norwegian goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, gold, war, and death), Sveva (no ones knows what it means but it reminds me of one of my favorite books "I Dreamed of Africa"), Zipporah (Moses' wife), and Solveig (I pronounce it Sol-vee instead of the correct Sool-vi).

I cannot wait to have children and name them. In fact, I think I want to name children more than I actually want to have them. My husband will have absolutely no say in the matter unless he has an awesome family name somewhere in his ancestry that will suffice. The danger is shortened versions. I love Briseis, for example, but loathe Bree.

Here are some current favorites:

• Peregrine (for a girl)
• Ondine (German myth)
• Edit (Ee-dit, Norwegian)
• Holiday (middle)
• Lumen (for a girl)
• Ebury
• Story (yes, I actually liked Lady in the Water)
• Barbury (middle)
• Baring (middle)
• Bray (middle)
• Briseis (Bri-say-es, Greek myth)
• Kaia (ancestor's name)
• Ivadel (ancestor's name, middle)
• Cressida
• Axtel (family name, middle)
• Wise (family name, middle)
• Briony (reminds me of the sea)
• Elysium (Elys for short, Greek myth)
• Beaudet (makes me think of Baudelaire or Lemony Snicket for some reason)
• Nova
• Eisa (a Norwegian myth or the Quaranic name for Jesus)
• Beyla (another Norwegian myth but it reminds me of Nadia Comaneci's trainer)
• Eitri (another Norwegian myth, I like how it's starts like my name)
• Embla (another Norwegian myth)
• Hero (Much Ado About Nothing! She shouldn't have taken Claudio back)
• Shoshana (I wish I could say I loved this before Inglorious Basterds)
• Havalah (my deceased sister's name. I, like my mom, love the shortened Hava)
• Arietty (From The Borrowers! Not the new movie Arietty, which will likely ruin the name for me.)
• Wilder (as in Almonzo)
• Aeronwy (Dylan Thomas' daughter's name, love it except for the inevitable shortening to Erin)
• Bastian (my son WILL be named this no matter what, after the kid in The Neverending Story, the Bastian of the movie, not the book. He was weird in the book)
• Fable 
• Arrow
• Brightly
• Gemma