I’m still most drawn to harmonic melodies and lyrics that tell a story, however. What would you expect from a girl whose favorite song in highschool was Tangled Up Puppet?

So, in addition to my new-found love for Angus and Julia Stone, I must declare my obsession over Spain. While the country is very cool, too, I’m actually talking about the BAND.

In particular, I simply CAN NOT STOP playing I’m Still Free.

Isn’t it just BRILLIANT?!

I have every kitchen gadget I can reasonably afford, particularly if it fits in a drawer. I have numerous cheese slicers, even though I’m allergic to cheese. I have a meat crusher thing – what’s it called? – even though I can’t tell beef bottom from NY strip. I have melon ballers and pizza slicers and ice cream scoopers. I even have a very pretty, cherry red, Foreman’s Grill which has been on my counter for two or three years now without ever having been used. It intimidates me. Someone else, however, could cook up an amazing meal.

Someone like… any of the amazing food bloggers to whom I’m addicted.

Here are just a few who have me gaping in awe at their creations, dreaming of an invite to their next dinner party and occasionally finding myself purchasing kale or some such exotic ingredient that then rots in the bottom of my frig. Check them out and just see if you don’t fall for them as much as I have:

Chocolate & Zucchini – A leader in the genre, Clotilde will make you want to move to Paris, learn french, get fat, take a lover, ride a bicycle, and eat dessert with every meal.

Lemmonex – This woman is responsible for getting me hooked on food blog – a devil really. While she intersperses her food commentary with personal revelations much more now than she used to, she is a delight to read and magically makes me think cooking is accessible even to the likes of me.

Happy Go Marni – If I was half as good at any of my “hobbies” as she is at baking, I would rule the world. And since she at least lives in the same city as I, there may even be hope that I could end up at one of her dinner parties yet. Stranger things have happened, right?

Joe and Betsy – Part food blog, part photography blog and part demonstration of a disgustingly photogenic, happy, young couple in love (harumph), this blog is proof that I should have paid more attention to my Home Ec teacher in my elementary school and less attention to married men when in my 20s.

Use Real Butter – A recent discover, Jen is utterly inspirational. I most likely will never make roasted parsnip puree – I’d have to understand what parsnips were AND be able to identify them at the Farmers’ Market first, which is asking simply too much of me – but I love the way she writes about food and life.

I’m sure there are tens, if not hundreds, more wonderful feeds I should link to, but these satisfy my hunger very well. Check them out and let me know what you think. And if there’s someone who fulfills your craving, let me know. There’s plenty of room at the table!

The Mighty Shoe

They simply called to me. Loudly. Insistently. In fact, they refused to be ignored. I couldn’t help but immediately worship them.

Yes, I am humbled.

It fits!

These patent leather, peep-toed beauties were hand-made in southern Brazil by Sergio Zelcer – who, I like to imagine, is a very endearing old man near the sea but who may very well be some 22-year-old surfer-boy genius.

They feel like silken slippers. They are sensual and dangerous and fun – exactly how I’m feeling at the moment. Which is why they are now mine.

Ooh-La-La

There’s just one thing that’s missing – an outfit to go with such fabulousness. A very serious dilemma indeed. For another day. Today, I’m too busy prostrating to my new shoes.

What is your fetish? Come on, you know you have one…

By Sally Mann

Cupcakes make me want to go find a hula hoop, put my hair in pigtails, and not worry about calorie counts or bank accounts. They make me want to try cooking again. They make me think everyone should really do the Zoom arm trick more often.

Yes, I’ve anthropomorphized cupcakes. But I am not the only one!

I recently, with the help of KCRW’s Good Food, stumbled across artist and writer Jessie Oleson. She makes her living by channeling the power of cupcakes.

By Jessie Oleson

I had no idea that she was just the tip of the iceberg. There are a crazy number of websites dedicated solely to the idolatry of cupcakes. Cupcakes serve as muses for painters, sculptors, designers… the list goes on. I couldn’t resist spotlighting a few creations I find most pleasurable.

Cupcake Belt Buckle: Just in case you didn’t already have enough cupcake keeping your jeans tight around your waist.

Available at everafterstore.com

Cupcake End Table: Perfect for your first mod apartment, or a very cool dentist’s office.

By Jellio

Cupcake Cat Toy: Okay, it’s not actually a cat toy, but you better believe that if I brought a knit cupcake into my house, it would become one.

By Brenda aka Loomlady

Cupcake Couture: Bet you thought this one was about you, but no. Even cupcakes deserve their finery. Just imagine, however, what kind of spluge effect I might accidentally create if using these wrappers. Sorta makes me want to find out.

By Cupcakesavvy.com.au

Cupcake with Mice: For no other reason than I think this art work is rad and I hope the children’s story it illustrates gets published.

By Paola Jofre

Clearly, people invest a lot of time, energy and emotion in their relationship with cupcakes. I am not quite ready for this kind of commitment. I may crack, and go purchase a muffin tin in which to bake another batch, but that is it.

In other words, you will not see my feet looking like this:

Art by Amanda Cancilla. Foot by Cupcake Butt / Flickr

At least, not anytime soon. Nice pedicure, though.

Convertible Tote by Harveys

For the record, I love bags. I’m even a fan of seat belts. But wouldn’t this idea have been so much better if the bags were actually made of recycled seat belts? So, how pleased do you think I was when I discovered Harveys actually offers the Treecycle line of, yep, recycled seatbelt bags? Yippee. I can now officially jump on the bandwagon.

Treecycle Messenger by Harveys

To be honest, the bags are so damn cute, I’d already convinced myself that the company’s use of new seat belts could be the only thing preventing seat belt manufacturers from filing Chapter 11 now that the auto industry is in the toilet. The headline could be: Once Again Hollywood Saves the Day!

Baseman VENISON by Harveys

Alas, no. The creators of the seatbelt bag are not the only industrious souls to find seat belts strangely alluring out of context, or to devise ways of sharing their obsession with the easily-converted masses. Behold.

The hammock you wish you had:

Sling by Ting London

The perfect arm chair, for that perfect person over whom you’re surreptitiously drooling to lounge in, perfectly, while sipping a perfectly shaken Martini:

By Nuttapong Charoenkitivarakorn

The Brangelina version of your grandmother’s backyard bench:

By Peter Danko

The throw pillow you won’t really want to throw, from dead stock and recycled seat belts:

By Ting London

And, oh dear… Okay, so I’m breaking the rules a bit with this last one, but this is absolutely, hands down, the sexiest flooring on the market, made of recycled leather belts, and constitutes one of only three purposes for which to have a belt in your house:

Custom Designed by Ting London

Close enough to seat belts, right? And environmentally friendly. The cows are already long dead.

So, screw Heroes. Seat belts will save the world. What else do you think will?

Some people collect spoons or motorcycles or parking tickets. I collect boxes. A therapist once told me this behavior reflects a hopeless desire to force the chaos of life into neat and orderly symmetry. Or something like that. I promptly fired the therapist. My own theory about why I collect boxes is… Actually, I have no damn clue why I collect boxes. Boxes are just cool. Let me show you a few. I don’t own them. But I covet them. Maybe after taking a gander, you’ll appreciate my obsession.

From Hearst The Collector

William Randolph Hearst collected many more medieval tapestries and standing coats of arm than boxes, but the one box he did pick up is a doozie. It’s part of the Hearst The Collector exhibit at LACMA through February 1, 2009. The exhibit as a whole is interesting but not spectacular, worth a walk through if you are already at the museum but too small to warrant a specific trip. However, this precious little box, referred to as a casket by the curators of the world, is utterly to die for. Made in the 1530’s, it is covered in mother-of-pearl, framed with vermeil, and – my favorite part – topped off by four giant emeralds once owned by King Francis I, who ushered in France’s Renaissance. Not exactly a cheap trinket. Yet, it’s the perfect size in which to store all my various remote controls, don’t you think? A girl can dream.

Available at oeconline.org

While Hearst’s box is splendidly ostentatious, this stainless steel lunch box is divinely simple. It was designed by a bunch of Oregonian PTA and garden club members, wouldn’t you know, as an eco-healthy alternative to all those Sponge Bob-esque options at the local Wal-Mart. It comes with reusable, biodegradable utensils and sandwich wrap. So basically, this gem of a box lets parents show off how concerned they are about the planet their children will inherit. Who cares about the sugar-loaded crap those kids, right? The very best part of this lunch box, however, is the collection of environmentally friendly stickers included. What kid doesn’t love stickers? My entire mirror was covered with them when I was young and, while I realize that revelation might indicate pubescent self-esteem issues, my point is that I certainly loved stickers. They were a way to be creative. They were fun. They were cute. And this lunch box is an empty canvas for a trip down memory lane, a chance to be a kid again, just for a moment.

Designed by Jo Meesters

Surprisingly, I actually enjoy being an adult, most of the time. The toys that adults get to play with are much more fun than those made for kids, after all – except etch-a-sketch, which is still pretty awesome. I tend to categorize really cool furniture, clothes, and jewelry in with the more stereotypical adult toys like cars and dildos. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that I consider Dutch designer Jo Meester’s light box a very kick-ass toy indeed. Constructed of sustainable wood and resin, it has 8000 holes punched into it to bring nature into your home. Grab a couple of these, line them up end-to-end, and voila – the perfect room divider in that downtown loft I fantasize about owning with Christian Bale’s Patrick Bateman, sans the chain saw of course.

By popartworks.com

Okay, perhaps I do have some issues after all. Or maybe I just need to go look for another box. In the meantime, tell me, what do you obsess over and collect?