SoftRevolution

Hey, everyone!

I live in the Centre of the Universe (a.k.a. Toronto, Canada) and am a proud Torontonian and Canadian. I am a high school English and drama teacher who loves theatre, reading, writing, baking and cake decorating, adorable Japanese cartoon things (Totoro! Neko Atsume! Rilakkuma! Chococat! etc. etc.), cats (especially mine), watching competitive figure skating, and indie music.

I also obviously love STATIONERY! I drool over pretty paper and cards of all kinds, have been a sticker collecting and hoarder since I was around five years old, and have so many pretty notebooks and journals that I could write in a different one every day of the month and still not run out. I spend hours (and way too much money) in Michael's. I am just catching the washi tape addiction. Bad news. ;)

Stars (GREATEST BAND IN THE UNIVERSE!!!), Broken Social Scene, Arcade Fire, Metric, Feist, Sarah Harmer, Memphis, Basia Bulat, Jason Collett, Camera Obscura, The Swell Season, Shad, K'naan, Danny Michel, Emm Gryner, Sarah Slean...

...and musicals! RENT, Les Miz, Miss Saigon, Wicked, and guilty pleasure covers from Glee.

I read YA in crazy numbers. I read 50+ YA books in 2015 and am hoping to outdo myself in 2016.

Classics: Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Ballet Shoes and pretty much everything else by Noel Streatfeild

Fantasy classics: The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien; the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

Contemporary YA: Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell, An Abundance of Katherines by John Green, The Realm of Possibility by David Levithan, I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares, the Uglies trilogy by Scott Westerfeld, the Raven Cycle books by Maggie Stiefvater, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz, Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour, the Gemma Doyle trilogy (A Great and Terrible Beauty, etc.) by Libba Bray... plus about a billion others I'm forgetting at the moment.

Contemporary Adult: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell, Fifth Business (and the Salterton trilogy) by Robertson Davies, Microserfs (and pretty much everything else) by Douglas Coupland

Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel (CBC mini-series produced by Kevin Sullivan in the 80s), the Lord of the Rings trilogy directed by Peter Jackson, Little Women (Winona Ryder version), Disney classics (Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Lilo and Stitch), My Neighbour Totoro and other Studio Ghibli works, Bend It Like Beckham, the Harry Potter movies, The Remains of the Day, Brooklyn

The X-Files, The West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Newsroom, Wonderfalls, Pushing Daisies, Ed, House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Transparent

I love paper crafts and jewelry-making. I also love cake decorating, if that can be considered a craft. I dabble in watercolour painting and cartoon-style children's illustrating. Mostly, I just like making adorable or girly-pretty things.

Favourite Colour: Pink (I also love rainbow-themed anything!)

Favourite Characters: Totoro, Chococat, Rilakkuma, Cinnamoroll, Hello Kitty, Cheese Family, Sugar Bunnies, Charmmy Kitty, Tare Panda, Pikachu, Eevee, Jigglypuff, Lickitung, Slowbro, Clefairy, Psyduck, Little Twin Stars, Pusheen

• pretty paper of any kind (pretty floral themes, rainbow, watercolour paper, Japanese paper, cupcakes/candy/cute food designs, Kawaii cartoon stationery or memo pad pages (esp. with characters listed above)

• decorative (girly-pretty or cute) file folders of any size, from mini to large

• pretty/cute envelopes of all sizes, both bought and handmade

• blank address labels (anything pretty, cute, pink, rainbow-y, either bought labels or high-quality handmade)

• pre-cut bases for ATCs (2.5 x 3.5") in either white cardstock or watercolour paper

• unique envelope templates

• stickers! (vintage Sandylion stickers, glittery stickers, mother-of-pearl style shiny/reflective stickers, Asian (Japanese or Korean) style paper stickers, flowers, food, cute animals, stars, hearts, skates... pretty much anything pretty/cute

• pretty notecards with blank insides (i.e. no message inside)

• high-quality washi tape of any kind! (no dollar store washi, please)

• decorative sticky notes

• memo pads (especially ones with characters listed above or any Sanrio/San-X characters, or any cute/pretty memo pads with any of the themes I have listed below)

• blank notebooks/journals, especially pretty ones with lined pages (and I love details like different coloured pages, gilt edging on the pages, etc.)

• pens (especially gel pens or coloured inks)

• fine-liner markers in pretty colours

• Sharpies in unique/pretty colours

• rubber stamps (fancy lettering, cute animals or cartoon creatures, food themed-stamps, funny "Engrish" messages, stars, flowers/leaves/other nature)

• baker's twine in pretty colours

• pretty beads or charms for jewelry making (I like little glass bottles, rainbow-y glass/plastic beads, hearts, stars, locks, keys, locket-style charms, anything pink... not really into clay beads or "hippie" type beads and charms or plain gemstones)

• vintage-style paper straws in stripes or other pretty colours/designs

• tags/labels

• tape runners

• small rainbow crinkly balls for my cat

• cake decorating items (small things like sprinkles, decorative cupcake piks, cupcake papers, candy beads, candy pearls, edible glitter, Sixlets, tiny bottles of different flavourings, sticks for cake pops, different icing tips)

• cookie cutters in almost any shape except sports-related themes or religious holiday themes

• sour candy -- I love all sour candy, whether it is hard candy, gummies, whatever... the more sour, the better!

• black or rooibus teas ONLY in vanilla, caramel, or similar sweet (but non-fruity) dessert flavours

• themes I enjoy are most kawaii themes (mostly Sanrio and San-X characters, but I also generally like cute kawaii animals, kawaii food with faces, and most other kawaii stuff except for ones that involve dolls or human-type characters), food-based themes (especially cupcakes, candy, strawberry and cherry prints, any cartoon-y foods), pretty/girly pink themes (lace, roses, ribbons, etc.), stars, rainbow polka dots, cats (prefer ones that aren't too abstract/"weird" looking), bunnies, pandas, music notes, anything with figure skates or figure skating themes, ballet shoes or ballet themes, anything rainbow, tea or coffee prints (especially colourful ones that aren't too brown-based, since I'm not a big fan of the colour brown), Pusheen, Harry Potter, vintage Strawberry Shortcake (not the newer version that was made post-2000), themes with Shakespearean quotes, fairytale themes...

• origami of any kind (with the exception of small/tiny origami stars in pretty, glittery or rainbow colours)

• anything with spiders, insects (aside from cute cartoon bees, butterflies or ladybugs), snakes, or skulls, or crosses on it

• any patriotic themed things (unless it is Canadian/maple leaf or other Canadian symbol-themed)

• costume jewelry (unless handmade or specifically suited to my likings as listed above)

• any tea except the few exceptions listed in my likes -- I do not drink green teas, matcha, herbal teas, fruit flavours, chamomile, peppermint or really anything aside from black tea (orange pekoe, Earl Grey) and black or rooibus vanilla or dessert flavours

• postage stamps from other countries or vintage stamps

• foreign money

• tourist-style foreign postcards

• anything religious or Bible-themed

• any holiday-related items (especially anything heavily Christmas or Easter-based because I don't celebrate either of those holidays)

• anything with right-wing, Republican or Conservative political views

• anything that could be considered even REMOTELY anti-LGBTQ

• anything involving sports other than figure skating and gymnastics (and ballet, if that counts as a "sport")

• most things with pictures of dogs on them (I'm a cat person!)

• any non-cute anime/manga character-themed stuff (basically anything Ghibli, Sanrio or San-X is great, and anything similar to those)

• anything superhero related (including all Marvel characters and Sailor Moon)

• any licorice or anise flavoured candies

• any green tea or matcha flavoured candies or sweets

• dark chocolate (but I love milk and white chocolate!)

• any candies or sweets with jelly or liquid-type centres

• ephemera like ticket stubs, newspaper/magazine bits or clippings, cutouts, etc. -- the only "scrap" type items I like are bits of really pretty/rare types of papers (like Japanese rice papers or other unique paper bits) and old-fashioned library book cards (like the lined cards that you would find in a pocket at the back of a library book with the borrower's name, date borrowed, etc.)