Weekly Wishes

Seedy Scarf ♥ Discovered

I wish... for sweltering, swollen nights spent sitting criss-cross applesauce under a blanket of hazy purpled stars, dreaming of voodoo queens and midnight seances and doe-eyed children in tattered babydoll gowns, running barefoot through bayous and turnpikes and humid everglades with their weeping willows and their hushed lullabies. I wish for slow-dances on the front porch of Santeria priestesses, first kisses under warm mangrove trees still dripping with morning rain, afternoons spent shimmying through the backyards of pastel bungalows protected by jangling painted bones and buried ancient charms - I wish for those sticky-sweet Southern summers that can only fully be experienced at night, kissed by whispered breezes and the distant hum of Creole Crow Dances.

I wish... that everyone believed in the most magical, lyrical, dreamworld, heart-thumping, head-spinning, storybook things, catching only glimpses of them but knowing that they're there nonetheless. I wish that strangers would shudder to a halt, spinning madly on one heel in the middle of the street, swinging to catch sight of pinched imps in fedoras and whistling fauns drifting past the corner of their eye. I wish strangers would tell of how boys in coffee shops steal handfuls of creamers and sugar-cubes, only to leave them in a broken trail in hopes of luring home his sweet-toothed anima. I want quiet girls to tell me in whispered words and hushed tones about how love-struck firebird boys visit them at night, whispering sonnets in their ears when they think they're asleep, and how paper-skinned pixies tell fortunes in the park to anyone who will listen. I wish the world around me would hum to life with long-forgotten tales and dusty stories and folks would tell of how these bedtime stories have cracked into the modern world in tiny, wistful specks of life.

I wish... for pink tights and cowboy boots.

In this quietly spectacular week, my sleepy boys and electric girls, what do you wish for?

Always,
Penelope ♥

Weekly Wishes

Still Running ♥ you and me, in time

I wish... for a bite-sized brownstone in Park Slope, nestled between French bakeries overflowing with roller-skate sized eclairs and huge bone white mugs of cafe au lait and super-hero supply stores boasting capes and goggles and Batmobiles disguised as bikes. I wish for gardening stores within walking distance named after old black and white movies and cafes painted lipstick red that serve coffee and tea to artists and poets and everymen alike - for San Francisco-esque streets that dip down so sharp that they make bike rides turn into roller-coasters and a roadmap of the world's cuisines nestled in one single block. I wish for lazy days and hazy nights spent in this glorious whipped cream-topped slice of Brooklyn and I want to live, eat, and breathe within its boundary lines.

I wish... whistling was mandatory for anyone in a particularly good mood. Something about coming upon someone whistling just cheers me up automatically, especially when they seem so enthralled with doing it. Plus, almost all upbeat songs include whistling - take Perry Como's Magic Moments, for example. I'm telling you, whistling should be a sport!

I wish... for horror flicks and swingin' chicks.

In a week of hand-holding, heart-shaped confetti, and teenaged boys riding their bikes through the street with whole bouquets of roses balanced on the handlebars, what do you wish for, sugarplum bunnies?

Always,
Penelope ♥

Weekly Wishes

frozen ♥ Fetish for Strawberry !!

I wish... for ska music so loud and explosive that it sends entire neighborhoods into fits of slam-dancery. I wish for the heat of club lights, for skipping drum beats, for a full brass band that pumps out short breaths and falsetto rhythms. I want shaking hips, skankin' souls, midnight sing-a-long songs in tiny clubs - I wish I could wrap myself in notes and beats and crashing cymbals and fall into that shattering, crystalized pop of noise.

I wish... the best for our incredible new president, and I hope that every American takes this opportunity to come together under him for a truly United States of America.

I wish... life could be lived out in perfect poetry - in stanzas and lines and parallel structures. I wish everyone could turn life into their very own love song, a string of verse and rhyme, and make their own unique poetry out of days and weeks and years. I wish our songs would define us, our words bring us together, and our differences be set aside for at least one moment where we get to sing out that love song fearlessly to the rest of the world. I wish our lyrics would save us.

I wish... for little pink tutus and subway rides.

As always, my sleepy honey bunnies, what do you wish for this week?

Always,
Penelope ♥

Weekly Wishes

cherryblossoms ♥ IMG 6184

I wish... Every morning could be filled with big sweet-toothed breakfasts, pink china plates covered in pecan pastries and spinach soufflés and tiny heart-shaped pancakes and powdered sugar dusted croissants, and everything would be topped off with a big mug of cafe mocha with a snowy mountain of whipped cream on top. I wish I could share it with everyone I know and we'd eat outside in the early morning sun, talking sweetly and loudly and jolting the ground with our laughter, and we'd sip down those warm cafe mochas in-between words and laughs and let them warm us from the inside like tiny fires burning bright. I wish we could recapture breakfast and give each day a wonderful start, all with nothing but a pastry-filled meal and a conversation or two in-between.

I wish... To start a ballet flat appreciation society. Because, really, who doesn't love ballet flats?

I wish... That unhappiness was like a stain on your shirt or a bug in the house - worrisome, yes, but easy to get rid of with a little help from others. I just can't stand to see people unhappy and I wish that there was some fail-safe way for me to help and make everything better for them.

I wish... for carousel rides and shooting stars.

Always,
Penelope ♥

Weekly Wishes

Photo of Dolores Costello

I wish... I had thrilling, fright-filled plans for Halloween. It seems like this year I'm the only one in the Halloween spirit, carving faces and stars into tiny pumpkins and shrouding the house in a spellbinding layer of faux-cobwebs. While I lay out dresses on my bed and try to put together an especially lovely costume, the people and houses around me are completely devoid of all festivities. There's not so much as one decoration on my street and I've yet to hear about any ghoulish balls, not to mention the fact that due to its prickly price, Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights is completely out of the question. Who knows... there are still three days before All Hallows Eve. Perhaps something exciting will come up?

I wish... for wardrobes overflowing with costume jewelry and faded tulle tutus and old silk dresses and spider-web gowns. I wish for the costumes of 1920's circus performers strung up on silk ribbon hangers, overpowering whole city blocks with the tart smell of cigar smoke and a back-flipping acrobatic history. I want dresses that speak and sing for themselves, dresses with a certain spark and vigor and charm - I want clothes that can swing from the ceiling or hang around my neck and still hold the same iridescent, dazzling power.

I wish... to speak only in the most precise of words, to tango with language as though it were a seasoned partner. I want to use the most vivid of adjectives, the sweetest of verbs, the most cunning of nouns and the most tranquil of soliloquies. I want to fill whole novels with beautiful, unintelligible phrases that roll off the tongue like raindrops in the grass - to wrap myself around my English language lover and shake through the soles of the world. I want to be that girl that is never at a loss for words.

I wish... for ballet flats and cafe mochas.

So, goblins, in this glorious week of tricks and treats and costume balls, what do you wish for?

Always,
Penelope ♥

Weekly Wishes

Photo by Alex

I wish... for a rock-star lifestyle that swings and sways to its own beat. I want days that thump and clash and shatter like cymbals, smoothing out and picking up into a catchy drum beat. I want lyrical moments that cause me to swing and shout and hum out repeated choruses - I want to sway to and fro like an Egyptian queen doing the backstroke in the Nile, like an electric pink bougainvillea lit ablaze by Santa Ana winds. I want to turn life into music and music to life.

I wish... for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and pomegranate sorbet served on polar white bone china.

I wish... I could spend my days painting huge, crystalized portraits of the people and things that I love, splattering tiny teardrops of paint across the canvas in my passion. I dream of electrifying simple pieces of paper with brash, emblazoned strokes of blue and green and tracing freeways of metallic gold across the whole piece like tiny pulsing veins keeping life contained inside. I wish I had more time to paint the carnival thrills and sparkling dreams sloshing around inside my head.

I wish... for ukulele days and piano jazz nights.

And so, my sugar coated bunnies, what do you wish for this week?

Always,
Penelope ♥

Weekly Wishes

Photo by Marija S.

I wish... for big marshmallow-fluffed dresses in pastel blues and sunrise pinks. I wish for the confidence and audacity to wear these big dreamworld gowns, all speckled with champagne and the sweetest smelling perfume, on the street and to low-key parties, sweeping through open doorways in a firework-worthy entrance.

I wish... for the ability to write in perfect, lopping cursive, dotting my i's and sweeping through t's.

I wish... for daily spontaneity and a taste of the curious  - for rabbits to peek out from top hats and for awe-worthy, serendipitous encounters.

I wish... for early morning yoga and sugar-rimmed glasses of lemonade.

And in this glorious week, I have to ask... what do you bunnies wish for?

Always,

Penelope ♥

Weekly Wishes

Photo by Yeeship

I wish... I was back in Brooklyn! I just returned from New York yesterday and already I'm incredibly homesick, not to mention missing my beautiful boy like crazy. I had such a spectacular time - we hopped between museums, went out for candle-lit dinners of vegetarian voodoo "chicken" and Shirley Temples in Brooklyn, wandered through Williamsburg and the West Village in search of curious shops, and hung around the East Village eating plantain arepas. New York is my home, my paradise, my tiny center of the universe. I belong there, and I miss it to death.

I wish... I was much better at math - I'm struggling through a trig course right now and it's absolutely killing my GPA. I'd be a wonderfully well-rounded student were it not for my inability to grasp simple calculations!

I wish... Kindness was more common in everyday life. I had a run-in with a woman a few days ago who was just so incredibly unflinching and rude, the breed of unkindness that I hadn't fully faced since middle school. She lectured me on honesty and being morally responsible while I tried to explain that I didn't even know her, that I had done nothing wrong, and the most horrifying part is that she never apologized. She never accepted my apology either. She simply finished her tirade, ignored me, and walked away from the situation. I don't fully understand why but for some reason I was so incredibly struck by the whole situation - I mean, I consider myself a pretty strong person who usually brushes things like this off, but for some reason that kind of sheer hatred just shattered me. How could someone be like that, I asked myself. Why would someone ever want to be like that? Why would you consciously attack and emotionally maim a stranger - someone who you don't even know, who has done nothing to you? People can be cruel, they can be childish in their adulthood - so sure of their maturity that they deem it acceptable to be a playground shade of hurtful, and that is simply not right. So I pledge to be different - I swear that I will be positive and kind simply because it is the right thing to do. Because, really, if I don't, who will?

I wish... for culinary expeditions and all-night diners.

As usual, you daring darling go-go girls, what do you wish for?

Always,

Penelope ♥

Weekly Wishes

Photo by Lady Vervaine

I wish... I worked for NPR. It's kind of become a new dream of mine. In-between baking bite-sized cupcakes in a tiny pink shop and singing front and center in a midnight ska band, I want to make tiny commentaries and interview curious folk on NPR. Something about the company as a whole seems very relaxing yet very vibrant - much like the station itself, the atmosphere is the kind where you can discover the most curious things that you never would have known otherwise. Not to mention the fact that I think radio is a forgotten art, one with so much heart and soul in it - so much history.

I wish... I could eat at Pizza Fusion every day. I would trade culinary diversity in for a lifetime supply of their soy cheese pizza any day!

I wish... there were more nights like tonight. I spent my evening lounging around outside a local coffee-shop, sipping green tea and listening to a boy who used to go to my high school play the guitar. There's something so marvelous about live music - it wakes you up from the inside, filling you with life. It's as though you're sharing something spectacular, something intimate and close, from one human being to another.

I wish... for powdered dreams and quiet thrills.

So what do you wish for this week, my glorious bunnies?

Always,
Penelope ♥

Weekly Wishes

Photo by Samuel Harding

I wish... I could live in New York full time. Those of you on the Cocoa Kisses mailing list might have heard that I'm going to be visiting up there for a few days towards the end of the month and I cannot possibly explain how excited I am. Something about that city is mesmerizing, hypnotizing, like no other place on Earth. It's my perfect fit, my high-speed dream world, my late night walks through the park and early morning bagel runs. I miss it and all the other wandering souls that it takes in.

I wish... I could play the guitar. I've had late night dreams since I was a little girl of jamming out acoustic tunes on the beach or of strumming happily on a ukulele while strolling through the park.

I wish... someone in my immediate family or circle of friends was a world renowned chef. Sometimes I have these insatiable cravings for having wild dinner parties filled with crazy, out of this world food - the kind that only a highly trained culinary artiste would be able to make. Think late nights spent laughing and drinking fizzy drinks while making zucchini lasagne and coconut thai noodles. Think chocolate macaroons filled with super sweet sorbet and mango ice cream for dessert. Think Nutella and banana crepes in the morning stacked up so sweetly like tiny cakes and frosted with homemade whipped cream. It would be culinary perfection!

I wish... for a henna set! I've always thought that the delicate henna patterns traced across palms is one of the most beautiful things in the world.

What do you wish for this week, bunnies?

Always,

Penelope ♥

Weekly Wishes

Photo by Tracie Taylor

I wish... finding a decent job wasn't so difficult! I've been job hunting the past few weeks in hopes of wiggling into something part-time for during those long semesters. No such luck so far!

I wish... every town was required to have an old-fashioned 1930's swing club. Every Friday night young and old alike would put on their best dresses and heartbreaking scarlet lipstick, strap on a pair of heels, and jive in a swingin' little club until the sun comes up. Girls with feathers in their hair would tap-dance with sly-guy boys while the jaded smoked through slender filters on the sidelines.

I wish... restaurants would offer cold pizza on their breakfast menu! When will the world understand the culinary thrill of cold pizza in the morning?

I wish...  women didn't have to change their bodies so drastically to feel beautiful. I'm in no way against plastic surgery so long as it makes you happy, but I think it's such a tragedy when women have all of these procedures done and still nitpick over the tiniest little things. What's wrong with being a size ten? What's wrong with having small breasts? These are the little things that make us unique - that make us beautiful. Why would you want to change them?

As usual, bunnies, what do you wish for?

Always,

Penelope ♥

Weekly Wishes

Photo by TIO

I wish... an old-fashioned carnival would come to town. The kind where you can hold hands in velvet-lined swans in the Tunnel of Love and ride a huge, glistening ferris wheel all the way up to the heavens. I want to be able to eat cotton candy from tiny red carts, the sides of which are plastered with faded posters advertising the cart's circus days and watch tiny girls ride on the backs of ferocious old tigers while singing out fifties doo-wop songs. If nothing else, I wish that I'd be able to run a traveling carnival like that one day and bring a little magic back into the world.

I wish... I could sing. I've always wanted to be in a band, but my obvious lack of musical talent has held me back indefinitely.

I wish... others could see the world with the same kind of delight and excitement as a child does. Sometimes I think we're the silly ones, with our standard educations and restless schedules, and maybe children are the only ones who have the world right. Maybe everything can be simplified into twos and threes, light and dark, sweet and sour. Maybe all we need someone to take us by the hand and lead us blindly into this whimsical perspective.

I wish... every restaurant served at least one vegetarian thing besides a side salad.

I wish... for world peace and Manolo Blahniks.

What do you wish for?

Always,
Penelope ♥