I have very few vices. I don't smoke, I don't do drugs and I very rarely drink. One vice I do have is speeding. I love to drive fast and I get impatient when I can't do it because of slow traffic. That's why I absolutely love an empty road. I can go as fast as I want (well, sort of--I keep it between 10 and 13mpg over the limit) and  just feel very free and unrestricted blasting off into the distance. No matter where the road is going, I want to get there as fast as possible. Unless someone else is driving--then I don't mind going slower and taking the time to look at where I'm going.

Vintage wallpaper is so simple and classic, especially British styles. I don't know if I'd ever wallpaper a whole room but I might wallpaper a wall or stretch wallpaper over a frame as an accent. Whatever I do with it, I hope to make vintage wallpaper a part of my future apartment/house!

Pad Thai is utterly delicious. It's taken me some time to fully get used to it and be able to enjoy it totally and unconditionally like I do now (actually, unconditionally is a little generous--you can definitely make a bad pad thai). I used to hate the idea of peanuts in a warm preparation and so I shunned pad thai. And, to be honest, the first couple of pad thai's I tried were pretty awful so they didn't properly introduce an appreciation for it in me.

The first pad thai I remember loving was in Alaska. My roommate loved pad thai and when I ordered Chinese food, she would order tofu pad thai (because the Chinese food place was also a Thai food place). She let me try it one day and I was hooked! Tofu pad thai isn't the traditional type--as I was told by a somewhat surly Thai man at my favorite Thai restaurant, pad thai is traditionally prepared with shrimp or plain. None of this chicken or tofu business. I try to stick to that and usually choose plain. Yum, yum, yum! Today I am a lucky girl because sitting in my office refrigerator is leftover pad thai and it's all I can think about. I will need to find something to distract me until lunch!

Most of my computer usage is on a laptop. Because of this, I relish the times when I get the privilege to use gloriously large and beautiful computer monitors. Occasionally I'll really hit the jackpot and get two monitors! At the moment I'm traveling for work and I get to use two monitors. Usually I use only one large monitor back at my normal office. In my dream office, I have two large monitors and a nice, large, clean desk. I have these fantasies quite often. This dream "office" could even be a cubicle--I'm not picky (and I'd still consider it "my" office)! But whether it is one or two, almost any monitor is a luxury compared to my 15.6" laptop screen!

 Aquariums are amazing. They are like televisions but filled with nature. I guess the zoo is kind of like this, too, but I find that aquariums seem to be much more alive than zoos. Maybe that's just me. Anyway, aquariums are filled with so many amazing things--many of which I've never seen before. Sharks, whales (maybe?), seals, jellyfish, seahorses, coral, anemones, etc. It's all colorful, beautiful and mesmerizing. I know I could sit in front of the stingray, shark or dolphin tank for hours, just staring into it.

I recently went to the local aquarium. I have loved it ever since I was a kid and it's been changing a bit recently. I was glad to visit again and realize that many of my favorite things haven't changed one bit! The dolphin show is new (and not as good in my opinion) but most of the same exhibits and installations are the same and bring back good memories.

Also recently (and what inspired my visit to the aquarium), I found an amazing video of the Kuroshio Sea Aquarium in Japan which is the world's second largest aquarium and is home to a healthy population of tiger sharks! I just absolutely love the video and its hypnotizing array of fish and its equally-hypnotizing music. Take a look!

I have, after all my years of living, recently "discovered" Belle and Sebastian. I had heard of them before and heard a few songs but I had never actually listened to a whole CD or really gotten into them. Well, I can't remember how it happened but now I'm in deep. Luckily, I have a friend who is similarly "taken" by the band and has compiled a gigantic library of their music and was willing to share it with me. So now Belle and Sebastian accounts for 1/6th of my iTunes library and I wouldn't have it any other way. Their calm, haunting melodies and clear, mind-reading lyrics have me captivated and squirming to find a way to get over the $38.50 price tag on their concert at DAR Constitution Hall in October. Or I can just drive around in my car, filling its inside with their songs from my iPod. Either way, it's going to be a good time.