Show and tell: my favorite objects

If you’ve spoken to me recently, you might know that I have been making an effort to get rid of most of my belongings.

This isn’t exactly a new thing. I’ve moved apartments every year for the past four years now. Expecting a move at the end of each year, I’ve tried to live pretty lightly. But this has been my biggest one yet. I got rid of probably 70% of my things.

I enjoy my yearly purge. I’ve never liked having a lot of stuff. I hate the feeling of being tied down, sometimes to the extent of being a personal fault. But I think I have the right idea when it comes to stuff. It makes me feel mentally and literally weighed down. Stuff is easy to accumulate but hard to move around or get rid of. I never want to turn down an opportunity to improve or change my life for a reason as dumb as the cost of moving my stuff. Whether that place is a better apartment down the street or a country across the world. 

I’m looking forward to the day when I’m in a place where I can settle down and not have my sense of home feel so impermanent and fragile. But I’m not there yet. And I’m okay with that because I know I’m not ready. Even once that happens, I like the idea of continuing to limit what I own.

Taking inventory of all my stuff has made me really take a look and think about the things I own. There were a lot of things I didn’t actually want but that I was just holding on to out of obligation or just in case. I got rid of all that. And it was a lot, it’s kind of shocking how most of the stuff I had been carrying around for years was stuff I couldn’t care less about or flat out didn’t want.

For everything I was on the fence about, I’ve been using what I now realize is an unintentionally Marie Kondo approved methodology, going through everything and only keeping things that either a.  use regularly/need or b. make me happy. It felt good, I feel like I value the things I kept so much more.

I’m honestly not a very sentimental person when it comes to objects. It is very easy for me to throw things out. But there were some items that surprised me, things I couldn’t imagine giving away. While packing, a list formed in my mind of what my top favorite objects are. This is that list. 

I was thinking about Show and Tell recently for some reason and was wondering why we don’t do Show and Tell anymore. These are probably some of the things I’d bring to that. One of my high school English teachers had my class do Show and Tell once and it was actually so fun. As I write this, I’ve decided that I’ll host a drunk Show and Tell once I get back.

Anyway, these are some of my current favorite objects I own and super bad quality photos of them. In no particular order. 

I’ve excluded clothes and books because I count those as a different category than regular objects and the list would be really long and boring and mostly clothes and books. 

Duck pencil sharpener 

My brother got this for me from the Scholastic book fair when I was in like 6th grade. The best gift ever. I like it’s dumb tortured expression. You sharpen the pencils in the duck’s butthole.

Blue teacup

I got this at a specialty coffee supply shop in San Francisco. It is such good quality, the walls are really thick and retains heat well. Blue is my favorite color, and the precise shade of blue of the cup is one of my favorite shades. The photo below doesn't really capture it. It reminds me of the sky on sunny day. I have my coffee in it almost every day. I am not a morning person and am super grouchy and kind of evil for the first like 30 minutes I’m awake. I need all the morning romanticism I can get. A cute little cup really goes a long way.

Alebrijes a.k.a. my little guys + Jord 

I don’t visit Mexico very frequently, but my mom usually goes every year to visit her family. She usually brings me one or two alebrijes back. Alebrijes are traditional wood carved painted animal figures.  If you walk around a public plaza in Mexico City, you’ll likely pass by vendors selling them spread out on blankets over the cobblestone as a touristy souvenir. I can’t get enough of a little animal guy. I like how geometric and colorful they are. They remind me of folktales I grew up with about shapeshifters and animal spirits. Every time I go to Mexico, I refuse to leave until I expand my little guy army. I have about 15 so far. My latest one is a blue dog I got in Coyoacàn. I also have an extra animal figurine that isn’t an alebrije, which is a wood carved wombat that a friend got me from Australia. Another friend named him Jord. He lives with my alebrijes.

All-Clad stainless steel sauté pan 

This was a gift from my parents when I moved away from home for the first time as a sophomore. Stainless steel pans are an investment. I expect to have this pan for at least a decade.  It is just such good quality and conducts heat so well. Simple and effective. You can pan fry meat, sautè vegetables, simmer sauces, etc. I make everything in this pan.

French press 

I must have a coffee or other caffeinated bev every morning or I will die. This boring $12 Bodum single cup French press has absolutely carried me for the past four years. I did not expect it to last nearly this long. You can brew coffee really well and it also brews loose leaf tea. You can also froth milk in it and whisk things like matcha by shaking it because the plunger has a little whisk part. So handy. Switching to a different coffee making method would feel like cheating. 

My gold chain and Virgin Mary pendant 

I got this chain as a birthday gift from my mom. I literally never take it off. It’s solid gold (relax, it’s so thin it’s not actually worth much) so It’ll last forever. I think that’s way more special than a fake one that I’d throw out in a year or two. I like having something that’s solid gold on me too because in a situation like the apocalypse or if I get kidnapped and have to hitchhike back to civilization I can barter the gold on me for survival.

The pendant is a cheap tarnished fake gold oval with a little Virgin Mary on the front and an engraved M with a cross going through it on the back. I’m not even actually Catholic, but my mom’s side of the family is. Tbh I just thought it was pretty. I stole it from my mom’s jewelry box in high school. But now it is my good luck charm. It feels kind of sacrilegious to wear a religious symbol and not be religious. Not to mention I am half Jewish. But a lot of women in my family on her side of my family wear Virgin Mary jewelry so I associate it more with my family than Catholicism itself so I don't really care.

My mini gold hoop earrings

I got my ears pierced when I was eight at Claire’s. Once they healed, my mom gave me these. I’ve worn them regularly since then. They are super simple, nothing glamorous or unique, but nice all the same. I’ve had them for so long I feel very attached to them. I’d be devastated if I lost them. These are my go-to default earrings. 

Little cat bowl 

I bought this at Nijiya Market in Sawtelle a while ago. Nothing special about it other than that it’s so cute! Makes me smile. And a really useful size. I love using it for berries and yogurt and snacks. 

Pink lamp 

I actually left this with my old roommates because it’s such a nice lamp it would be a shame to have it packed in a box instead of being used. I picked it out myself sometime in elementary school from a furniture store off Potrero in San Francisco. It has a geometric vaguely midcentury modern vaguely Bauhaus vaguely Ikea design. I also really like pink. I remember there were a lot of other colors and I definitely picked the right one. It has a really soft diffused light that makes any room it’s in feel super cozy. 

My laptop/laptop stickers 

A lot of my favorites have been fruit stickers that I thought had nice designs that I’ve collected over the years. Though most of them have fallen off by now. Many of my stickers are from friends. One is from an enemy. I’m kind of dreading the day I’ll need a new laptop just because I’ll have to lose all my stickers.

Tin hummingbird 

This is actually the thumbnail image for this website! I was walking around a bookstore in Echo Park with a friend and  this painted tin hummingbird immediately caught my eye. It was around my birthday, so she bought it for me which was very sweet. I really like hummingbirds, and I like the iridescent effect the painted tin gives this one. I kept this hung up on the wall of my room. I’ll hang it up again in my next room, wherever that will be.

Poppy jewelry dish 

This is my most recent addition. I got it less than a year ago while visiting home. My mom and I were walking around a little European cookware shop and I saw this little decorative dish and really liked it, so she bought it for me. It’s allegedly hand painted and imported from Poland. But I would’t even care if it’s not. Poppies are my favorite flower and I think the dish is so dainty. I like to pick it up at look at it sometimes. I use it as a jewelry dish for my earrings. 

Sunnies 

A girl in one of my classes was wearing these and I thought they were so cute so I asked her where she got them and bought the same ones in a different color. I adore them. I wear them nearly every day, either as actual sunglasses or mostly as a headband to keep my hair out of my face. A lot of my outfits just aren’t the same without them. I lost them a few months ago because I am kind of dumb and lose everything. I thought life without them would be okay. But it wasn’t okay.  Other sunglasses just aren't the same. I rebought them recently, in shame. They are just the best.

Ticket stub collection 

I like to hold onto ticket stubs. I have a little cardboard box full of them from plays, movies, train tickets, everything. Some of them have really nice designs. It is cool to put an exact time, place and date to the memories connected to them.

** I’ve only noticed after writing this that most of these are things from my childhood and gifts, especially from my mom. Thanks mom! And to everyone else who contributed items to my list. I’m spoiled, I know.