• alpenglow
• anticyclone
• anti crepuscular rays
• clouds
  • favourite: noctilucent cloud
• derecho
• diamond dust, a.k.a. ice crystals
• dust devil
• Earth's shadow
• the Belt of Venus
• Foehn & katabatic winds
• green flashes, green rays
• hail
• halo
• hurricane
• ice pellets
• Indian summer
• lake-effect snow
• light pillar

• the release of a retractable ballpoint pen
• Gregorian chants echoing in old stone cathedrals
• a beautiful, fragile song on the harp
• a distant train horn
• windchimes swaying and tinkling
• accordion wistfulness
• the whales' hymn
• typewriter click-clacks
• silence
• summer-night cricket choirs
• ascension of a roller-coaster up the first hill (clack, clack, clack)
• splatter of ink
• the tick-tick-tick of bicycle wheels
• shears through fabric
• D's laugh
• fireside crackles
• out-of-tune guitar strings
• clippity-clop, a horse's trot

• Jeanne d'Arc
  • my saint
• Sara Crewe
• Jane Eyre
• Eleanor of Aquitane
• Hermione Granger
• Anne Shirley
• Sylvia Plath
• Florence Nightingale
• Violet Bauldelaire
• Gretel
• Dorothy Parker
• Anne Boleyn
• Cleopatra
• Edna St. Vincent Millay
• Wendy Darling
• Lucy and Susan Pevensie

• Mount Everest tour guide
• Aesthetics critic
• Art gallery curator
• Ink & dye merchant
• Sea captain
• National Geographic photographer
• Artist's model
• Tree climber
• Eskimo postman
• Inventor of knick-knacks
• Philosopher
• Mattress tester
• Ice-cream taster
• Newspaper-crossword-puzzles creator

• rose
• swan
• tremulous
• noctilucent (clouds)
• legerdemain
• musicbox
• maestro
• chantepleure
• euphoria
• lackadaisical
• gossamer
• billowing
• osmosis
• saudade
• toska
• fallow
• lovelorn
• forlorn
• apocryphal
• languoring
• nightingale

• Matilda by the delicious Roald Dahl
• The B.F.G. by Roald Dahl
• A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
• Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
• The Maisy series by Lucy Cousins
• Go, Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman
• The Babar series by Jean de Brunhoff
• Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
• The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
• The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
• The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

• Dépaysement : The sensation of being in another country.
• La douleur exquise : The heart-wrenching pain of wanting someone you can’t have
• Chômer : To be unemployed, but because it’s a verb, it makes the state active.
• Profiter : To make the most of or take advantage of.
• Flâneur : “The deliberately aimless pedestrian, unencumbered by any obligation or sense of urgency, who, being French and therefore frugal, wastes nothing, including his time which he spends with the leisurely discrimination of a gourmet, savoring the multiple flavors of his city.”
• Esprit d’escalier : The literal translation is staircase wit, but it means to think of a comeback when it’s too late.
• Retrouvailles : The happiness of meeting again after a long time.
• Sortable : An adjective for someone you can take a...

• cognitive dissonance
• American football
• the smell of old books
• Becoming Jane
• peter pan collars
• black holes and revelations
• putting my feet next to the warmth of a heated vent, then onto the frigid cold white walls
• the smell of a freshly-lit match
• jigsaw puzzles
  • despite my utter incapacity to ever finish them
• raspberry cheesecake ice-cream
• anything related to Jane Eyre
• root beer
• the song "Heartbreak Warfare" by John Mayer

• Insomniac crescents under eyes
• Novel devourer and poetic extraordinaire
• Fine music taste
• Mannerisms up to par, even if unnoticeable upon first sight
  • 'please' and 'thank you'
• Uses outdated words/phrases earnestly and without pretension, with an old-world charm that lights my eyes up
• Neat penmanship-- remembers to write in cursive occasionally, if not all the time
• At first shy, perhaps a loner
• As acquaintance is crafted and deepened, becomes recognisably passionate and loyal
• Handwritten letters
• Substantial, mutual love
  • absolute requirement
• At times least expected, behaves in an od...

• the Holy Grail
• the sunken Atlantis
• my poor Sanity
• Alexandria's Library
• the Lost Colony of Roanoke
• 18 minutes of Watergate tape
• milk cartons
• Waldo
• El Dorado
• Amelia Earhart
• the Lost Treasure of Captain Kidd
• Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• time
• opportunities
• words

• the sweet crunch of golden and mahogany leaves
• bonfires
• Sycamore seeds-- twirling, falling
• the smell of smoke rising from decayed wood
• (Canadian) geese flying overhead
• picking ripen apples and cranberries
• cozy oversized sweaters
• knit scarfs on knit turtleneck, layers upon layers
• chilly weather
• a time to discover new attic treasures
• oxygen metamorphosed into mist clouds, delicate as smoke rings
• blanket forts, with books (fairytales and mysteries alike) as comfort
• daydreams of snow
• the creaking whistle below my door when the wind starts its tantrums
• fog (you are so very welcome, come visit ...

• Napoleon Bonaparte
• Prince Albert, Consort to Queen Victoria
• Oscar Wilde
• Lord Alfred Douglas
• Ludwig van Beethoven
• Louis XIV
• James Madison
• Leonardo d'Vinci
• Aldous Huxley
• Franz Liszt
• Vladimir Nabokov
• Lord Byron
• Albert Einstein
• Glenn Gould
• James Stewart
• Shakespeare
• Frederic Chopin
• John Keats
• Alexander Hamilton
• Voltaire
• Benjamin Franklin

I scribble pretty names on torn napkins and receipts, never to be found when I seek them, though appearing when they are unnecessary. It annoys me to no end when that happens. Hence this list.

f

• A dele, Adrienne, Amélie, Aisling, Amie, Annaliese, Arielle, Ariadne, Aurora
• B riony, Bridgette, Bailey
• C amilla, Camille, Cassandre, Cecile, Celine, Charlotte, Cheri, Chloé, Claire, Cornelia
• D aphne, Dahlia,
• E bony, Emileen, Estrella, Esther, Eliza, Eloise
• F awn, Fleur
• G enevieve, Grace
• H ollie, Hayley
• I mogen, Isabella, Isolde
• J ane, Janelle, Juliette
• K rysten, Katia

• live instead of exist
• build a treehouse for myself (and other willing companions)
• chart the stars, remain forever in awe of constellations
• indulge in the beauty of museums and theatre
• draw thirty portraits of random strangers
• never lose my little-girl wonder
• attend a Renaissance faire dressed in true traditional garb
• become proficiently efficient at crossword puzzles (no more perplexed pondering)
• leave sticky notes in books (please understand, dear librarian-- my thoughts mean no harm!)
• bake hot pies for the homeless and hungry
• live a solitary life for a year, something like that of Walden Pond

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
• The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
• North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
• Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
• Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
• Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
• Persuasion by Jane Austen
• 1984 by George Orwell
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

• Winston Smith
• Leopold Bloom
• Holden Caulfield
• Raskolnikov
• Macbeth
• Humbert Humbert
• Lestat de Lioncourt
• Yossarian
• Pinkie Brown

Byronic heroes

• Captain Wentworth
• Claude Frollo
• Heathcliff
• Edmond Dantes
• Mister Edward Fairfax Rochester
• Dorian Gray
• Lord Byron himself

• Actinology (effect of light on chemicals)
• Aerology (atmosphere)
• Agnoiology (things of which we are by nature ignorant, or of things which cannot be known)
• Agrostology (grasses)
• Algology (algae)
• Anesthesiology (anesthesia and anesthetics)
• Angelology (angels)
• Angiology (anatomy of blood and lymph vascular systems)
• Anthropology (humans)
• Apiology (bees, apiaries)
• Arachnology (spiders and their kind)
• Archaeology (past cultures through studying material remains)
• Areology (Mars)
• Asteroseismology (the internal structures of stars as revealed by their oscillations, see also: Helioseismology)
• Astrobiology (origin of life)
• Astrogeology (geology of celestial bodies, e.g., pl...

• books, preferably in a "classic" appearance
• the original copies of things
• handkerchief with my initials
• floral dresses
• gold, rusted pocketwatches
• the undying hope of the people in this world
• belief that there are inklings of true goodness in this world
• the smiles of everybody in this world
• Roald Dahl's grotesque and capricious tales
• telescopes and constellations
• collarbones and backbones
• oxfords, mary janes, and penny loafers
• strawberry blondes with dusty eyelids
• shy lads
• laughter, naively and scornfully
• the ability to openly fantasize
• wooly sweaters, oversized shall do

• 50s inspired eau de perfume (i.e. Fifi Chachnil)
• Antique writing desk
• Antique typewriter, ancient but still usable
• Aurora borealis/australis visitation
• Berets to add to my already-superfluous collection
• The boxed collection of "A Series of Unfortunate Events"
• Easton Press's "100 Greatest Books Ever Written" collection
• English heritage houses and gardens
• Endless supply of apple-cinnamon pastries
• A self-playing harp, an emotional touch necessary
• Gramophones
• Knowledge for the sake of knowledge
  • learning without the bounds imposed by st...

letter writers

• John Keats
• Ted Hughes
• Sylvia Plath
• Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning
• Ludwig van Beethoven (to Immortal Beloved)
• Napoleon Bonaparte (to wife Josephine)
• Captain Wentworth
• Anaïs Nin
• Lewis Carroll
• Mary and William Wordsworth
• Franz Lizst
• Héloïse and Abélard
• Frederic Chopin
• Franz Kafka
• John and Abigail Adams
• Charlotte Aïssé
• Dorothy Osbourne
• the Mitford Sisters
• Voltaire

• Craig Ferguson
• That pretentious house in Chicago with engraved tiles of horses and fairies and unicorns on the windows (pretty it is, modest it sure is not)
• Antoine Dodson
• Flying bags
• Looking 11:12 straight in the eye (bitterly squinty-eyed at the clock, pouty lips)
• Juicebox splatters on substitute teachers' well-iron shirts
• Incredibly boring, critically acclaimed movies
• Asian soap dramas with subtitles that disappear absurdly fast
• Fireflies in the cool June evening
• Michael Cera (prancing Cera)
• Francis (classmate)
• The Office (U.S.)
• Mammy from Gone With the Wind

• Create some sort of art; usually sketches, collages, or scrawling in my journal
• Cozy up at the local bookstore, immersing myself in the Classics section
• Watch period dramas (again)
• Particularly North and South
• Swoon over brooding mill-owners
• Make collages while listening to the pitter-patter of rain
• Bake a delectable something
• Organize something
• Jump in rain puddles
• Drink tea, watch the rain
• Recite my favourite poems under my breath, to make sure they're still there
• Make lists
• Tumblr
• Go on a nice walk outdoors
• Reread Jane Eyre or other literature masterpieces
• Daydream; eyes closed, heart open

• By-standing, love-from-afar
• Exchange of words is unnecessary, so long as he is still within my visual range
• Incredibly discreet; to an embarrassingly shy extent, really
• Rambling about completely mundane things
• Averting my humiliated eyes away when he stares (indulging in the reverse of prolonged eye-contact)
• Tending to fall for the unattainable
  • Tragic flaw-- thus far, incurable