I can be pretty oblivious to stuff around my house, so it was surprising when even my roommate thought that the numerous trinkets all over my place were there at my own choosing. Rather, they are often gifts or things people bring over cause they think I will like them and I have no idea what to do with them so they just pile up.

I started telling him stories of a few of the items and realized that should be my fun a day this year – a knick knack a day. A photo. A quick blurb. And, at the show in February, removing it from my home (or donating it thereafter). So if any of these items catch your eye, be sure to come to the show and pick it up.

January 1 - cat bottle with flowers My mom put together this ensemble. Several years ago someone got me a bottle of wine in the shape of cat cause they thought the bottle was funny even though I don’t drink wine. It stayed in my fridge for a long time and then someone may have drank it or just poured it out, but kept the bottle. A few new years ago, some fake flowers appeared in the living room. A friend had stayed at my place over the holiday and had dressed up as a character from Alice in Wonderland for new years, complete with a fake bouquet. When I got home, the bouquet was in the living room and just laid around for I have no idea how long. Later, my mom visited and had the brilliant idea to put these two disparate items together, and place the fake flowers in the cat bottle and made a little vase display of it. It has moved around my living room in this state ever since, but I do believe it is time for it to go.

January 2 - Parisian poster My mom and I (I wonder how many of these will start out that way) visited Paris because my sister’s best friend was studying abroad there and my sister always wanted to visit so it seemed like a nice way to honor her memory. We even celebrated my birthday that year there complete with an accordion serenade. My Twitter avatar is from that trip as well, so clearly it’s left a lasting impression on my life. My grandpa now associates me with Paris and whenever he goes to garage or estate sales, seeks out Paris-related memorabilia for my mom to give me when she visits. I like Paris just fine, but it’s not of my choosing to make my home a mini francophile hideout.

January 3 - Eiffel Tower thingie Continuing the Parisian trend, I’m pretty sure my grandpa picked this up at a yardsale. Or, at least I hope that was the case and no one spent real money on it. I didn’t get the “guess how much I paid for this?” treatment for this item, so I can only conjecture. But I haven’t managed to give it much thought beyond shoving it behind this radiator.

January 4 - kite banner I’m actually pretty sad to take this down, but it’s time has probably come. This is one of the few things I actually purchased and put up in my home. For my birthday. Two years ago. It’s from this store called Tiger that I describe as an even cheaper, less useful IKEA, but it’s great. You can load up your cart ad not even spend 30EUR. This was probably 1-2EUR and maybe someone else can get one more use out of it.

Last modified on January 2, 2016