fill-in-the-blank friday

1. The best feeling in the world is when I'm feeling especially creatively inspired and 'in the zone.'  When I get in that mindset, it truly feels like designs are just drawing themselves, or solutions to a problem are just appearing in a list.  It's so refreshing, too-- when I have to go do something else, I feel as energized as if I'd had a fantastic nap.

2. My favorite smell is the way the air smells when the seasons are changing.  The 'first real day of autumn' and the 'first day of spring without a winter coat even though it's not really warm enough yet' smells are two that I particularly like.

3. My favorite taste is warm chocolate chip cookies and milk.  Or peanut butter and homemade strawberry jam.  (Apparently I have the culinary preferences of a semi-sophisticated five-year-old.)

4. The most beautiful thing I've ever seen was the way my parents looked at each other.  They remained, as my dad would have put it, "a young couple, very much in love" for every moment of their time together on this plane of existence.

5. The best sound ever is, and I hate to be such a fangirl here, but I think it's when The Hold Steady are playing a concert and Craig Finn just has such infectious joy in his voice, like there is nothing in the world he'd rather be doing than sharing that experience with the audience.  The sounds of being in the forest and the sound of happily purring kitties are pretty great, too.

6. A smell that reminds me of my childhood is the smell of a fire in a woodstove with pear slices drying on the top.  I smelled that walking in the door after school every fall for as long as I can remember.

7. My favorite of all the senses is touch.  I think its because I'm in such a tactile field.  Obviously sight is important for fashion design, but unless someone spends the entire day looking in the mirror, the thing they'll notice most about the clothes they're wearing is how they feel.  This is part of why I love knitting and spinning so much, too, there's such an emphasis on how things feel-- the yarn, the roving, the feel of bamboo knitting needles or metal ones, or the feel of a knitted fabric.

Have a lovely weekend!