holiday_wishes

Hi, I'm Sally and this is my second year. Last year was a really amazing experience for me; the christmas cards, in particular, were absolutely awesome. I've had a kind of rough year this year, with lots and lots of big difficult changes. I'm also looking likely to have a bit of a difficult Christmas, and I'm not even sure where I'll be, but I am optimistic, and definitely hopeful that 2012 is going to be a much better year.

Anyway, here is my list-

1. Christmas cards

I love getting Christmas cards. The more, the better, and I'm happy to send them out in return. I just really like excitement of the envelopes arriving in the post, I love decorating my house with them. I just feel really good about having them there.

2. Fingerless gloves

I always get really cold hands at this time of year, and it's worse than usual this year as the boiler at my place of work is on the fritz and tends to pack it in at the most inconvenient of times. I've got one pair of awesome purple sparkly fingerless gloves, which have been keeping me going, but I want more, in as many different shades and styles as possible.

I also have a yearning for funky Madonna style lace fingerless gloves, but I'm not even sure if they exist anymore.

3. New music, of almost any kind. 

I  would love to get some new music to play on my ipod. I have around a 3 hour commute at the moment, which means I spend a lot of time driving and would like a change in what I'm listening to! My lastfm page is http://www.last.fm/user/annwfyn if you want an idea of the kind of stuff I normally listen to.

4. Bangles, bracelets, and almost anything that goes on my wrist.

Self explanatory! I love loading my wrist up with shiny things. I have a big thing for charm bracelets as well - Italian charm bracelets, classic charm bracelets, pandora style bracelets - but honestly, almost anything shiny on my wrist makes me happy.

5. LUSH products of any kind at all.

I like stuff that makes me smell good! And I like all of it - the bath stuff, the make up, the moisturizers. It just makes me feel so much better from the inside out. I'm also not bothered if it's totally new or not as long as it is hygienic. ;)

6. MAC make up.

I know this is quite a big ask as all those who use MAC tend to treasure their precious precious horde, but I do love the stuff. It's awesome good quality make up, I love the colours and it's kind to my skin, but I can't afford it very often. I just figured if someone had a lipstick or eyeshadow they had got, but found they weren't wearing or didn't suit, I could absolutely give it a very good home. I would love some more strong eyeshadow colours in particular, and liquid eyeliner in weird colours. Um. The last would also be totally cool even if not from MAC. I think I would just find that fun. 

7. Anything butterfly, raven, owl, or penguin related.

I am pretty open minded here! I seem to have a thing for an assortment of creatures with wings. This is for a variety of reasons, but all of the above just make me smile. 

8. Donations to Marie Curie cancer care.

My mum died of cancer a few years ago. Because of Marie Curie Cancer Care we were able to have her stay at home until she died and not go into a hospice and it made such a difference. I have just been endlessly grateful to them ever since and would love it if anyone who was thinking about making a donation to them did so.

9. Visit your local museum.

I work for a small local museum and due to the current economic climate we are really struggling. I know this is true across the heritage sector. Museums are losing staff, or being threatened with closure, and whilst we aren't nearly as important as making sure everyone is fed and housed, in the long run it's a sad thing to lose so much of our heritage. I know that visitor numbers have a huge impact on museum funding - even if they are free to enter, their funding from whichever organisation pays for them will be affected by their visitor numbers - so if you can take a walk by one of your small local museums to show support, that would be awesome.

10. Give someone a second chance.

I am aware that I've made a bunch of bad decisions this year and ended up hurting people I really care about. I am hoping that I can get a second chance in the new year to make amends and generally be a slightly less crappy person. I am sure that there are lots of other people out there who have done stupid things, made bad decisions or just ended up in bad situations and I would love it if we all made an effort to reach out to friends we've fought with, or people we loved and lost, or family we haven't seen in too long and tried to reconnect and get past the bad stuff at Christmastime. 

Anyway, that's everything, I think.

Sally Brewer
270b Lower Road
London
SE8 5DJ
UNITED KINGDOM