Random Favorites

You know what I really enjoy? Random things. So this is going to be a blog about some of my favorite "random things" - at least what I deem to be ... random ... for the different categories. 

Favorite Movie - Peggy Sue Got Married (1986).  This is also one of my mom's favorite movies - I remember watching it with her as a little girl.  It co-stars a young Kathleen Turner and a young Nicholas Cage.  It also features a young Jim Carrey.  When the movie begins, Peggy Sue (Turner) is arriving at her dreaded 25th class reunion.  She is in the middle of divorce with her husband (and high school sweetheart), Charlie (Cage).  During the reunion, she passes out and wakes up in 1960 - during her last months in high school.  She struggles between trying to push her then boyfriend, Charlie, away - not wanting to "make the same mistake twice" - and falling in love with him all over again.  It is a drama (in it's own 1980's, fairly cheesy, way), but it is also a comedy.  I love watching it because it makes me feel nostalgic toward my own childhood and a time period that I always wished I lived in (which is quite impossible since my mother was born in 1960...).  I also watch it because it does make me laugh - a lot.  I highly recommend seeing it - even just once.  It's on Netflix instant play right now, so if you have Netflix - there are no excuses for not watching it. :)

Favorite Food - toast.  I don't know what it is about toasted bread, but I love it.  I even find myself craving it sometimes.  I've found that my new favorite way to eat my homemade bread is by toasting it (lightly) and topping it with peanut butter.  The peanut butter gets all warm and melts - it's just a delightful experience.  Even just plain 'ole store-bought bread toasted with butter (or margarine) is one of my favorite snacks.  Toast can also make me feel nostalgic for Ireland.  Pretty much every morning during that trip, I'd have toast with butter and jam and tea for breakfast.  Sometimes when I really miss Ireland, I'll make myself a cup of tea with toast and jam.

Favorite band - The Mama's and The Papa's.  I've been adding more and more of their music to my Spotify playlist ("Folksy Music") lately.  I grew up with parents - especially my dad - who listened to oldies and folk music.  There's just something about this band's harmonies and overall sound that I just love and that ... makes my heart happy.  They just don't make music that sounds like this anymore.  It's always a delightful experience.  I've been in quite the folk-music-mood lately.  

Favorite book - oh this is a tough one.  What do I go with? One of my favorite children's stories (Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland)?  A favorite obscure book by a well-known author (The Great Divorce - CS Lewis, Persuasion - Austen)?  Or maybe The Princess Bride ... I think I'll go with a book from my favorite category - Books I Had to Read for a Brent Cline Class That I Ended Up Loving.

Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer.  I absolutely love this book.  It's a creative non-fiction story about a young man who left behind everyone and everything and was determined to "live off the land."  Since you'll find this out in the very first chapter anyway, I'll go ahead and tell you - he ends up dying a slightly mysterious death in the Alaskan wild.  You may have seen the movie - which was fairly accurate (if I 'm remembering correctly) - but I do highly recommend reading the book.  It's actually a lot more intriguing than I just made it sound.  The young man - Chris McCandless - meets some very interesting people along the way.  I think it was the fact this this was a true story - about a true person - that pulled me in so much.  By the way, feel free to skip the couple chapters in the middle where the author goes off on a spiel about his own adventures - I always do. :)  

Well this has been a fairly wordy post!  So what are some of your random favorites? What are some things that you love and thoroughly enjoy that are a little ... unconventional?  Or maybe just plain weird to some people?


PS - I apologize for the overuse of the word random - I was hard pressed to find a suitable synonym...