Gift Ideas for Yourself. Or Me. Or Whatever.

Beyond trying to figure out gifts for the various children and other loved ones in my life, I’ve been coming up with gift ideas for myself lately, and I thought that I’d share some stuff on my wish list and/or things that you might ask for, if you’re looking for ideas.

Here’s something new I just got:

This ball-chair thing from Isokinetics, Inc.  is actually a hand-me-down from my sister, who has graduated to a stand-up desk.  Even though it’s not as pretty as my old wooden teacher-style chair (also, coincidentally, a hand-me-down from my sister–3 out of the 4 rooms on my first floor contain hand-me-downs from her–it is a wonderful thing to be a coddled kid sister!), I really like it. All this blogging/writing/emailing means I spend a lot of time on my butt, and this definitely improves my posture and alertness. I’ve heard it’s supposed to strengthen your core and make you an Entirely Better Person, but that hasn’t happened yet. Still, I’ve officially moved the other chair into the basement. Now if the kids would stop stealing the damn thing, we’d be golden!

I also asked for this Buxton Madison Tote, which is apparently very last season, but since I have no concept of fashion, it doesn’t matter.

They’ve disappeared from the internet, but a few are collecting dust on random Office Max shelves. I got a new laptop for my birthday, but for the moment it has no padded case of any sort, so I’ve been making it wear a couple of sweatshirts, putting it into a duffel bag, and hoping for the best. That must stop. Also, I like red.

You might remember me talking about the Pilates ring when I posted about my Pilates class at the Schenectady JCC. That’s on my list, too.

Did you hear that you can get a free Chipotle burrito (or something) with $30 purchase of gift cards? Gosh, I wonder what I’ll be getting in my stocking? But seriously, if that ring is going to make me work my inner thighs while simultaneously crunching abs work, I’m going to deserve a delicious bowl full of goodness!

Do you have an electric toothbrush? I didn’t, either, for the first 35 years or so of my life, and I thought that electric toothbrushes were sort of silly, and it seemed like my life was going fine without one. But I was missing out. Really, acquiring an electric toothbrush was a revelation. Why not feel a little bit better every single morning and evening? You deserve that. Come to think of it, this isn’t a gift. Just buy the damn thing.

Speaking of taking care of yourself, the most efficient and convenient work-out I can recommend (although I do like me some Zumba) is Mark Lauren’s You Are Your Own Gym. He comes off as a bit too much of a cocky military guy, and and it’s not fascinating, really. But it’s a bunch of basic exercises and most of the time you can do the workouts in about half an hour. Plus, they often don’t seem that bad, and then you are so incredibly sore that you feel like you accidentally got the best work out ever. Seriously, the legs workout from week 3 almost crippled me two days later. I felt so virtuous! He’s got some new book that’s supposed to be specifically for women. Sounds like it might be more boring. But that’s what podcasts and instant video streaming is for, right?

I want this veggie chip maker because I saw a picture of delicious and exotic homemade vegetable chips in a magazine and it looked delightful.

These Ed Levin Gold La Petite Earring with Pearl earrings are my favorites in the whole world:

Mary  gave me these earrings, and I wear them almost all the time. I am a very simple earring girl. I also always shove a little plastic backing on these beauties because I am very good at losing earrings. Someday when I become either an entirely more responsible person or so sedentary that the only place the earrings could fall is into my lounge chair, my bed, or the path in between, I will ask for more gorgeous Ed Levin earrings. For now, I’ll just hang onto these.

Books are always on my list, and this year I asked for a Falling Together by Maria de los Santos because I thought her first two novels were completely fun and likeable. I’ve also asked for a couple of titles by authors who will be appearing at the Savannah Book Festival, because I’m going there this February. I usually go toward historical fiction, and two books I finished recently and would recommend are The Seamstress: A Novel by Frances de Pontes Peebles and The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier. If you need more book recommendations, you know I was just fighting over those Lois Lowry books with M, and I offered another stack recently, too. Oh, and this year I also loved reading Tina Fey’s Bossypants and Mindy Kaling’s Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns). Love them!

How about you? What’s on your list for yourself this year?