A Dash of Drivel: Wishes and Whims

If you haven't already caught the drift, I love lists. I'm particularly partial to wish lists. Why? Because wishes don't have to be justifiable, practical, or economical. Wishes could be a cousin twice removed of whims (I heard someone use this word at our favorite artisan bread place today and decided that I liked it so much that I would use it myself as soon as the opportunity arose).

Whim:
1. A sudden or capricious idea; a fancy
2. Arbitrary thought or impulse

For a girl who rarely indulges in arbitrary thoughts or fancies, let alone one who ever entertains impulses (the horror!), doing things on a whim seems quite wicked. I must admit, the idea of spontaneity causes my brain to engage in a sort of simultaneous vigorous head shaking and eager nodding.

The closest that I come to throwing caution to the wind is when I create my wish list. My therapist would probably have something to say about the fact that my idea of spur-of-the-moment fantasies are housed in a list - but hey, baby steps right?

If I see something that catches my eye, I bookmark it in the "Love This" folder - no matter how much it's going to hurt my feet or how much it looks like everything else I own (I really need to stop buying things in neons) or how much grief I'm going to get from Brother #2 for getting hosed out of a good deal.

Every few weeks I rein myself in by deleting items like one-purpose-only kitchen gadgets (like this fully automatic ice cream maker) and outrageously expensive designer clothes that I can't afford on my oh wait I don't even have a summer job budget. But for an intoxicating moment, they were part of my queue. That's about all the excitement I can take.

While I wrestle with the pros and cons of removing that pesky word pending in front of "purchases", here's a look at my current wish list.