So, you’re probably thinking: Wow! Erin hasn’t written anything in almost a week. She must be building up to some extra special, kick-awesome, blow-your-socks-off amazing post!
Okay, so maybe nobody was thinking that. But if you were thinking that, you were wrong. Sorry, but the real reasons I haven’t written in almost a week are far more pedestrian details like: 1) School, 2) Procrastination, and 3) Life. Such are the hazards of being a blogger by hobby, I guess. I have to squeeze blogging into the nooks and crannies of my life. I’m not a professional. Yet. 
As a side note, this is the last time I’m going to apologize for not writing for x number of days. I’m sure you know that if I had my druthers I would be publishing multiple posts every day, but the fact is that life is life and no matter how hard I try I will never be able to completely eliminate pesky things like face-to-face interaction with real human beings. (That was a joke, Mom.)
But anyway, on to the actual reason for this post. Ever since I have been writing here at Lylium.org, ideas for things to write about have begun to pop, unbidden, into my head every day. I’ll be sitting in math class, and suddenly I’ll realize, “Hey! I should write about my old deceased pets! Or spinach! Or malaria!” And, as these ideas come streaming out of my head like spray cheese from a can, it’s the least I can do to capture them on paper and hope that I will someday get around to writing about them.
A lot of these post ideas, I’ve noticed, center on sharing stories about things that mean a lot to me. I know that sounds sappy (and maybe it is), but I would really like to share a snapshot of my life with you folks. Whether you’re my best friend or whether you’re a stranger who just found my website for the first time, I would like to offer you a glimpse into the ideas, objects, and people that surround me and are important to me. So, towards that end, I am introducing a new feature on Lylium.org: “Things that I love.” (with an implied “… and that you should too.”) This semi-regular attraction will showcase and tell the story of something important in my life; be it a person, an article of clothing, or a principle. I know this is not a new idea (I’m stealing it from Sound of Music, at the very least, but I’m sure other bloggers have done it too), but I’m hoping this new feature will provide the impetus for some really interesting future posts. Having said all that, here is an inaugaural mini-post to give you an idea of what I am talking about:
Things that I love: Green polka-dot flip flops
The pictured flip flops are, admittedly, a slightly ironic choice for the first “thing that I love.” The fact is, they are pretty uncomfortable. They are slightly too big for my midget-sized feet, the plastic toe thingy chafes on my foot, and they are rapidly becoming flat as a pancake after two or three times of wearing them. To top it all off, the polka-dot design is already wearing off the shoe.
But the reason I bought them, and the reason I love them in spite of their faults, is quite simple: their aesthetic appeal is fantastic. (Also they were really cheap. ) These shoes, believe it or not, serve as a perfect representation of three or four of my personal favorite design elements:
- Green. This is huge. My “favorite color” was never green, growing up. I always answered pink or blue or purple or yellow or something innocuous and girly like that if anyone asked me. But one day I woke up and realized that not only had I painted my room a shade of green, but I had green pillows on my bed, my wardrobe included a healthy amount of green, and literally every website I currently had published on the web featured green in some way shape or form. (Don’t believe me? Take a look: 1 2 3 4 5 6) I have since wholeheartedly embraced the color (especially on the yellow side of the spectrum, in tones of lime, sage, and celedon.) and its myriad possibilities. Maybe I really am Irish.
- Tone-on-tone, monochromatic color scheme. I love the subtle impact of an almost monochromatic color scheme. Whereas many different, contrasting colors used together can busy a screen and create excitement (and can be used very effectively), tone-on-tone design is more comforting and relaxing; at least to my eye, it appears more orderly and controlled. One of my favorite examples of a tone-on-tone site design is the website for Mint, a stats program developed by Shaun Inman. (Surprise, surprise, the site is green. ) On his site, the refreshing green surround not only creates a warm, inviting effect, it pops the orange “pay here!” button, making it an extremely effective call to action. (I realize that I may not be up on all the correct color lingo; so to be clear, by tone-on-tone I mean patterns or layers of color that are based on one hue (like green, blue, or red), and then include other lighter and darker shades of the same color, also possibly including black or white.)
- Delicate, crisp patterns in general. Coming back to the shoes, I especially love a tone-on-tone color scheme when it is implemented in a crisp pattern like the one gracing my green flip-flops.
- Polka-Dots in particular. There is not much to say about this. Polka-dots are just one of my favorite things.
So when all of these lovely things confronted me in one, adorable, flip-flop package, I caved. Now, I’m not sure I would have bought them if I knew how quickly the design was going to wear off of them… but at least I got pictures. Oh, and I got a blog entry out of them too. Definitely not a wasted purchase.
April 29th, 2006 at 8:24 am
heh heh heh… I’m with you on the green, at least. Never liked it much when I was growing up, love it now.
It must be something about growing up in the northwest
April 29th, 2006 at 9:01 am
Those flip-flops are WIERD. They look like something Margaret would buy.
April 29th, 2006 at 12:49 pm
Dude. You could call them “polka-flops”.
May 3rd, 2006 at 5:49 pm
Ian - I hadn’t thought about that! Maybe living in Oregon does have something do with it…
Ryan - Now why would that make them bad?
James - You are brilliant.