happyandfree

I'm Laura from Lancaster, PA. I love penpalling, reading, films, history, and vegetarian cooking. I have two young sons. Although I have been a SAHM for the past five years, I hope to go back to work soon.

Visually, I love old buildings, block prints, and watercolors. My favorite color is plum, but I also like earth tones and jewel tones. I'm not a fan of pastels.

Little things I love: Unused US stamps (except Flag and Liberty Bell stamps) Letter Sets and nice writing paper Fountain Pen inks (even if they're half empty) Herbal Tea bags Vegetarian soup recipes Anything to do with dinoaurs, prehistoric animals, horses, or realistic-looking dogs (for my kids)

Things I don't love: Disney, character-based stuff, strongly-scented products, non-vegetarian foods and recipes.

I don't have a TV; consequently not many favorite shows. I do like to catch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report online and Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations while I'm at the gym.

I knit and quilt. Occasionally I'll make clothes for my sons or myself. I'm not brave enough to try anything for my husband. Needlefelting is another fave, but I'm very sporadic with it.

I'd like to learn papercutting and spinning.

Jazz, mostly vocal and experimental

Bollywood, especially songs from the 50's and 60's

Mark O'Connor, Aaron Copeland,

Bela Fleck, Pete Seeger, and really any banjo music (I want to learn to play the banjo someday)

Genres I like:

Documentary, Indie, Foreign, GLBT, Bollywood, occaisionally action or romantic comedy. NEVER horror; I'm prone to nightmares.

Books are my favorite thing, yet here they are at the bottom of the page. It's just too hard to choose.

I love history and biography, books about language, linguistics, and math.

Twentieth-century and contemporary literature from Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" (which, published in 1899, doesn't quite make the cut-off) to Jose Saramago (my favorite author). I make my way through all the books shortlisted for the Booker Prize every year, although I haven't started on the 2009 list yet.

I like most Indian writing in English and in translation, but don't care for V. S. Naipaul or Arundhati Roy.