Muffina

I love anything travel related, as well as anything to do with memory and the process of memory making. I am also very interested in art!

My boyfriend and I (and corgi, Pip!) just moved to the big city! We're now fulltime residents of Chicago. Many bright lights. Lots of yummy food.

Overall, I'm a girl who loves nature and getting outdoors [gardening, hiking, canoeing, etc] but also love the city-- going into bodegas, strolls through the park-- concerts, drinks at great bars, etc. Love it all!

KNOWN FLAKERS: AuntieEm [suspended], LittleMissTrouble [deleted herself], SCGal [Suspended], SADTOSAY [still swapping! beware!!]

Flaked on this Blindbox toy swap: http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/38260 By SADTOSAY

Flaked on both my partner AND the angel- the coordinator! Lame. http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/20775

I love ALL kinds of music and am willing to give anything a shot-- my taste is very eclectic.

I like silly stuff like ABBA, Tom Jones, Michael Jackson and assorted bad rap...and FUNK!

As well as all Jazz vocals, dub, Joni Mitchell, feist, the knife, Peaches, Tom Waits! [I LOVE him], flamenco guitar and Spanish music in general [ie, Ojos de brujo, Ozomatli, etc], and some not-to-honky-tonk country like Patty Griffin, Johnny Cash, the Dixie Chicks and so on. Also classical but I don't know much about it.

-Little Women -The Labyrinth -Monsoon Wedding -Alice in Wonderland -The Bridges of Madison County -Out of Africa -Dumb and Dumber [I could quote that back to front!] -The Birdcage -Trains, Planes and Automobiles -Mad Max

-Squidbillies -Rescue Me -Sex in the City -Animal Rescue -Vacation Home -Project Runway -Top Chef

-Old PBS shows they don't air anymore like Frontier House...

I myself mainly only make cards and other paper-crafts...unless you call cooking/baking a craft, in which I love to make my own vanilla, bread, bitters and fruit-infused liquors, try out new exotic recipes and so on.

But! I love anything well designed and handmade, especially knit items which I have tried but am no good at!!

I find a good way to figure someone's tastes out are to know where they shop! Here are some [mostly] online favorites of mine:

Anthropologie.com Spoon.com WoodstockFarmersMarket.com Sephora.com UrbanOutfitters.com Amazon.com [books, even though they sell everything under the sun!]

As well as...Williams Sonoma, crate and barrel, martha stewart, Maison Du Chocolat, Jaime Oliver's new line, etc.

If anyone is stumped about me, those are places in which I'd love to receive items from! ....but homemade always takes the cake ;)

Art! Cookbooks!!! TRAVEL BOOKS AND MAGS!

Some novels I really enjoyed have been: "Stiff", "Bridges of Madison County", "The Secret life of Bees", "The Ya-Ya Sisterhood", "The Book of Lost Things", and "Into the Wild"

-Anything travel related or LOCAL TO YOUR TOWN!

-Food items [especially foreign] NOT instant, please!!

-Bento Box and accesssories

-Fuzzy Blankets

-"Waffle" fabric

-Botanical Prints!

-Gardening supplies

-Kitchen supplies

-Ribbon!

-Nice fabric/yarn such as cordouroy, wool, linen, cashmere, alpaca, silk satin..

-Any knit goods- LOVE

-Softies/plushies/stuffies

-Paper goods or scrapbook material such as vellum envelopes, fun paper, labels [see www.papersource.com for examples of what I like]

-Anything with real-looking birds

-Nature-type items [guides, art, etc]

-Things with bugs, especially bees

-Traditional pieces from your culture/heritage

-C.O. Bigelow bath/body items [can purchase at bath and body works]

-Scents such as fresh linen, mint, real pine, lemon verbena, and other citrus.

-Anything for Pip, our Corgi puppy :)

-I love the colors chocolate brown, red, all shades of blue [AQUA IS MY FAVORITE], royal purple, magenta [ALSO A FAVORITE], greens, light yellow. Jewel tones in general. I love colors!

-The colors orange/brown together

-American/English tea-

-Stickers

-Cheap cotton fabric or fabric with crazy prints

-Victorian, shabby-chic or folky items

-Items such as lip balm [unless CO Bigelow or Burts Bees] or any other cosemetics.

-Scents such as heavy florals, cinnamon, chocolate/ food-smelling, anything overly fake

-Dollar store items are discouraged unless they are really spiffy :)

-As a note, my ears aren't pierced, so no earrings, please.

He loves these swaps and although he's not a member, anything sent to him would be so appreciated! He likes:

-Professional Photography/film anything

-Criterion Collection movies

-Vanilla Baked goods -LOVES those!

-Cute Stuffies/Plushies

-Blind Boxes

-Mint ANYTHING [Especially livesavers]

-Shaving soap [he uses an old-style razor]in nice scents [he likes the same smells I do]

-Hard Candy

-High-quality food items

-PLAIN Milk chocolate bars and especially three muskateers!!![Dislikes other candy bars like snickers, peanut m&ms, etc]

-Foreign things

-Zombie anything

-Non-Fiction history books

-WWII related items

-Graphic novels

-Of course he likes his XBox and Wii games, but I don't expect anyone to send those items, but I thought I'd mention it :)