Nanamint

UPDATE November 4th - I'm still heading towards financial doom, so I won't be sending 1st class mail until my situation improves. This has been a pretty disorganized and messy summer/autumn, that's why I have ended up late in sending a few swaps and tags, sorry again folks!

I've sort of stopped making plans and completely changed my perspective on life. Our destiny can come up with dreadful surprises but also some delightful ones, so now I'm concentrating on present time and what it can offer. I try to live things to the most when it's possible.

I may be late on swaps and answering letters sometimes, but I always send out. I love this place. There are so many great people around here. Some of you have been an everyday support in some very harsh times I've been through.

If I'm late rating you please contact me. I have a small letterbox and must go to the PO to grab packages and can't go there more often than once every ten days, so that may explain additionnal delay.

I'm 25 years old and I live in Paris. I love to write poetry, read, act and direct drama, draw, hike, picnic with friends. I'm fond of nature and the moutain especially. My family owns an old house close to the Spanish border and I have a great time helping them out renovating it during holidays.

I'm interested in everything that has to do with our planet, environment issues, sustainable development, downsizing, recylcing, organic culture, re-discovering ancient plants, traditions, fair trade, etc.

I love art in general, visiting museums and exhibitions. I'm quite a traveller (mainly in Europe & Asia by now) and love to discover new cities and landcapes.

My parents collect antiques so I've been raised to wander about flee markets and wear vintage clothes. I like ancient things, places with history, tradition and folklore, but I also love contemporary art. Swap-bot has helped me discover a lot of pop culture and low-brow art which is great ! I'm definitely curious about all this stuff !

I appreciate particularly things that are both beautiful AND useful (since I don't have much room for things that would be only decorative). I especially like things colorful, personal, natural, unusual, astonishing, mysterious. I really enjoy the international dimension of swapping. For now swap-bot has allowed me to discover many things from abroad, which is very excinting !

I'm a terrible housekeeper so I'm always in need of things that can be helpful with chores.

My cousin doesn't have a swap-bot profile because she's not fluent in english but she helps me with packages from time to time, so here is her wishlist :

• anything that can be useful in a kitchen, especially in colors green or purple

• nice address labels : she likes pin-up girls, fairies, cats, hedgehogs, goldfishes, tea, purple

• orange bathroom stuff

• anything that can be useful in a dining room or on a dining table, especially in colors orange or red

I'm a big food lover and love to discover new tastes. I'm not a skilled cook but I love to learn and try all kinds of recipes.

I snack a lot at work, which is not a very healthy attitude I confess. Local snacks are welcome, especially if they are healthy and/or organic !

I love to offer my friends exotic drinks so I collect miniature alcohol bottles from around the world. Being a frenchie I'm the biggest cheese addict ever - but this is really stuff that can't get in the mail ! ;o)

Everything that has to do with paper, fabric, jewelry... I love beading and drawing, making ATCs and matchboxes. I've started making bookmarks too.

I love to receive handmade things that I couldn't do myself (for instance I don't sew or knit), it's more inspiring and stimulating !

I listen to all kinds of music from medieval to contemporary, from Russian to Venezuelian, from yiddish folk to punk-rock, from jazz to rap... Some of my favorites are John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, recordings by Jordi Savall, Chava Albestein & the klezmatics, Feiruz, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Godspeed you black emperor, Mogwai, Leonard Cohen, Janis Joplin, Berurier Noir, Magma, Karen Mantler, The Sparks.

I love to receive CDs or mix CDs from my partners, especially local music.

I don't have a TV but I listen to a lot of non-commercial radio. I love to hear people speaking when I'm crafting, and since some of the sunday programs on the radio are a bit boring I'm looking for audio books. Those would be very, very welcome ! I can understand English, French, German and Italian. Oh, and I'm trying to learn a bit of Chinese, Japanese and Dutch (so I can impress isisanyanka when I come visit her in Ghent ;o) ) - I'm really a beginner in those so it's too early for audio books, but not for anything that can help me learn the language (songs and movies for instance can be great to become familiar with the pronounciation).

Hollywood classics ! Howard Hawks, John Ford, Lubitsch, Cukor, and so on. I also love Nouvelle Vague and Japanese classics, Dreyer, Rosselini, Bresson...

My 2 favorite recent movies are Children of Men and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind.

I like to watch TV-series on DVD or DivX (calling DivX burners...).

I have a strong relationship to books and love to be surrounded by them. I'm welcoming to any kind - poetry, theater plays, international novels, books about nature, spirituality, psychology (I have a passion for psychoanalysis), philosophy, comics (all kinds except superheroes stuff), cookbooks, erotica, children's books, books about art, design, fashion... no limit. I read French, English, and some German and Italian. I love second-hand books, all types of zines and magazines (I'm not a fan of gossip press but if you send me some, I'll read it).

Here are a few things I'd love to receive :

• anything from my etsy favorites or inspired by them

• address labels and swap cards

• coasters from your area (I collect them),cocktail stirring picks & decorations

• anything sagittarius

• books on astrology, feng-shui, divination, wicca, natural healing...

• table placemats, a tablecloth (2x2 yards would be the perfect size), napkins

• a double bed fitted sheet (I have an Ikea bed which is a bit longer than standard French beds - 1.40x2m I believe it's equivalent to queen size)

• seeds (think organic)

• cufflings

• comic books, zines, magazines (in any language)

• audio books (any kind) in English, French, German or Italian

• erotica (all kinds), anything related to burlesque, Dita von Teese, kinky stuff

• ecological / organic / fair trade stuff

• left-wing political stuff

• ayurvedic stuff

• things typical of your culture

• things handmade by you

• religious things of your belief especially if non-christian (if you are a Wiccan / Pagan a penpal letter would be great ! I'm much interested to learn more about hedgewitching too)

• home-burnt mix CD. It's always a great way to both get to know a person and discover new music. Used or new CDs are more generally welcome! I'm in the middle of a music craze.

• instant coffee, tea, biscuits & local snacks, cool colada Trident gum, jelly belly jelly beans

• 1920's or 1930's style stuff (think flappers, Art Deco, dada, surrealism, Louise Brooks...)

• kawaii stuff. To me Disney is not Kawaii. Diddl or Snoopy are okay. I have a few Hello Kitty items and would love to get things of other kawaii characters for a change. I love kawaii things with food theme ! (buns, vegetables, etc).

• Something with Hindu god Ganesh

• something related to philosophy, poetry, psychology or spirituality

• things related to low-brow, subculture, street-art, alternative movement, slam, goth, punk, blythe/pullip, graffiti, performance, ...

• bath foam, bath fizzies or bombs, bath milk, bath salts... taking sensual scented baths is my biggest self-indulging pleasure (I know taking baths is a waste of water but I try to compensate for it by being extra careful with other uses of water)

• fashion stuff (accessories, magazines,...)

• t-shirts and tank tops size S, used is fine as long as it's in good condition

• leggings, tights and high socks (big size needed, I'm slim but I have long legs and feet)

• stuff you found in thrift stores, vintage shops or flee markets. Some favorites would be a vintage handbag, brooches, vintage kinky postcards, vintage fashion magazines. Pretty curious about anything though.

• anything useful !!

This being said, I also enjoy surprises :o)

I like about eveything on earth but the taste of Coca-cola. Also my ears are not pierced so I can only wear clip earrings.

I'm not a girly girl so I don't have any taste for "Barbie" pink style, puppies, kittens, dolphins, Valentine day stuff etc.

I don't celebrate Halloween so if you send me Halloween stuff I will send it to another swap partner. Same with Thanksgiving stuff, for obvious reasons. Unless it can have a cultural interest - For instance I wouldn't use thanksgiving stickers, but I can find a celebration leaflet interesting and funny.

I belong to those people who don't like clowns.

I'm not much keen on very sugary and artificial scents, like strong vanilla, popping candy, fake strawberry or chocolate (though I love the taste of the real thing). I prefer fresh and natural scents like fig-tree, green tomato, sandal wood... or flowery scents like patchouli, ylang-ylang, lotus or rose. I also love to discover new scents.

My drawers are already full of : paper scraps and images (I like to reuse and have proven incapable of throwing away a beautiful paper scrap or image), soap, moisturizing body lotion, used stamps.

Groundhogs, snails, hedgehogs, giraffes, turtles ,lizards, snakes, pigs, sheep.

Anyone who would send me something with grounhogs would be blessed until the seventh generation :o) The same for reptile-themed jewelry !