iamthatis

I'm a 20-something plant biologist, born and raised in Michigan. I graduated from MSU a few years ago and have been rambling around the country working and having far more adventures than I ever expected I'd have.

My hobbies and interests include: Making jewelery, Modeling things in clay, Reading (I love love love reading), Cooking (especially baking), Surfing the internet, Finding deals at thrift stores or on ebay, Photography (especially film photography), Being silly, Hiking Going to zoos, aquariums, museums, astronomy, teaching environmental education, the natural world

Things I collect: Interesting rocks, Little one-of-a-kind knick knacks, Things that sparkle, Teas, Beads (especially crystal ones), Old cameras, Dinosaurs, Books, Teacups/interesting mugs, charms

Colors I like: Blues, Greens, Purples, Dark Red

I love tea, coffee and candy, so food items in swaps are always welcome (especially CHOCOLATE), along with food-like items like tea balls and cookie cutters.

Animals I like: Birds (especially owls, raptors, chickens and tiny tiny tiny birds), elephants, bears, cats (from house to tiger), reptiles

A request to swappers: Please follow the requirements of the swap. Sending charms instead of beads, or plastic instead of glass, is not in the spirit of the community and is disappointing to receive. Thanks to all the people who put so much effort into getting swaps right, you make this community worthwhile.

I saw this in another profile and thought it was a great idea:

Candies I really really like: Coconutty ones, chocolate covered toffees like Heath or Skor, Jelly Belly jelly beans (though I like all jelly beans except the spice ones), chocolate with fruit/fruit flavored fillings

CHOCOLATE:

Milk or dark? Dark is preferred.

Nuts? Peanut butter is awesome, almonds are good too.

Flavors/fillings you like mixed with your chocolate: I LOVE FILLED CHOCOLATE. Caramel, nougat, fudge, orange, raspberry, white chocolate, mint, coconut, pretzels, malted milk, key lime, raisins, toffee

Do you have a chocolate staple (i.e., chocolate that you always keep on hand): I really like ghirardelli a lot, especially for baking. Lindt chocolate bars (not the truffles) are also high on the list

Favorite mass market chocolate treat: Reeses, Heath, M&Ms, Junior Mints, Skor, Charleston Chew, Boxed chocolates

Least favorite mass market chocolate treat: I don't care for plain milk chocolate, and I don't like Lindt truffles.

Favorite holiday/seasonal chocolate: Cadbury Crème Eggs

OTHER CANDIES:

Favorite non-chocolate candy: Jelly Bellys, Sugar Babies, Reese’s Pieces, Trolli sours, Skittles, Starbursts, Candy Corn, Mellow Pumpkins, butter mints, Werthers originals, pop rocks

Do you like sour candy? Hot candy? Hard candies? Chewy candies? I hate sour candy (except for Trolli gummies), don't care for hot candy, will eat hard candies and will eat chewy candies.

Flavors or candies you love: Mint, Strawberry, Raspberry, Vanilla, Lime, Lemon, Orange, Caramel, watermelon, toffee, coconut (MMM),

Flavors or candies you avoid: Black Licorice, Honey Dew, Canteloupe, Banana, Cinnamon, Rootbeer, Sprees, Smarties (American smarties, not European/Canadian smarties [American smarties are awful little chalky sour discs of candy and grossness])

Favorite holiday/seasonal candies (e.g., candy canes, candy corn, Peeps): Candy Corn, Jelly beans, candy canes, Brachs peppermint nougats

There are too many to mention, so I'll give the genres I like the most:

Historical, Historical Fiction, Classics, Craft books, Cook books, Science books, Humor, Comics, good short stories

Gone with the Wind, West Side Story, Fried Green Tomatoes, Clueless, anything with Bette Davis, Apollo 13, The Land Before Time, Wall*E, Up, Citizen Kane (really, I liked it), Hello Dolly, My Fair Lady, Tropic Thunder, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Disney movies

Golden Girls, Mama's Family, Arrested Development, The Simpsons

Beaded jewelery, Knitting, Weaving (I'm a novice though), Clay work, Sculpture, Painting, Sketches, friendship bracelets, cooking.

Crafts I'd like to get into: Working with resin, leather tooling, embroidery, soapmaking

BEADS: I really love crystal beads, i love pearls, and I collect hex cut seed beads (aka 2 cut), especially in a satin finish. I think I collect beads more just to collect them than to make anything with them, though I do make a lot of jewelery. I do not like polymer clay beads, plastic beads (unless they're truly interesting), or most wooden beads, nor do I especially care for cheap metals.

Classical: Dvorak, Copland, Mahler, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovski, Gershwin, Schubert, Debussy, music from the 10th and 11th century, Elgar, Handel, Rachmaninoff

Oldies: Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Irma Thomas, Sam and Dave, Otis Redding, The Temptations, Yma Sumac

Classic Rock: Led Zeppelin, Cream, Arlo Guthrie, David Bowie, Cat Stevens, CCR, Crosby Stills and Nash, Sly and the Family Stone, Steve Miller Band, The Kinks, The Who, War

Cheesy 80s and 90s music

Contemporary: MIA, Cage the Elephant, The Horrors, Animal Collective

--Beads! BEADS! I love 'em :) Rhinestones are good too.

--Lace appliques, especially vintage ones.

--Dinosaurs! Little, big, flat, 3D, books, toys etc. etc. yay dinosaurs!

--Die cast cars; I don't want any NASCAR ones, but cool shiny/metallic/weird ones are just so much fun!

--Things that have a special meaning to you--this could be photography, mementos, even a stick of gum that is your favorite flavor. I like hearing people's stories, and getting to know them.

--Good books. I know this is subjective, but if we don't agree on the definition of "good" I can always swap them to someone else!

--Old movies. I'm talking pre-1960s mostly, but also really enjoy 1980s and 1990s comedies

--Candy! MMMMM. Also tea, and I'll take coffee too.

--Cool fabrics. I will probably never use them, but I like looking at them. Maybe someday!

--Sciency things: Because science is fun! I swear, it is. Promise!

These aren't meant to be too picky or anything, and if you already have it in your swap for me, send it please (nobody needs more work in their lives)! This is just a list of things that if you are going on a special shopping trip, to not add to your list for me (but possibly for others):

--Scrapbooking stuff: I'm not much of a scrapbooker, but a good friend of mine is, so adding some as a filler on a big-fat-stuffed-container swap is no skin off my nose.

--Victorian/steampunk: I have another friend who likes this, but I'm not that into it. Prefer more mod stuff. But hey, she'll like it!

--Creepy things: not my style, except for creepy crawlers, those things are freaking awesome!!

--Kawaii: People on here love kawaii, save your kawaii things for them!

--Cheap things: I wish this went without saying, but I don't like flimsy items, things like charms that have metallic paint flaking off them or are easy to break. I try really hard to send nice things, and I'd love to receive the same in return.