The Echidna crew presents five things we love and five things we hate this week.

Things we love:

Teas that blossom into flowers.
There is something charming about something that is so unnecessarily beautiful. Regular tea is quite fantastic enough, but then they go and turn it into a delicate flower, just to be pretty.

Live music, played well.
Sure, it’s nice to hear it cleaned up on CD, but there’s something much more primal and immediate about being in the same room as the musicians, and sharing the experience with a group.

Afternoon naps with my cat.
He can be a real pain when he’s awake, but when we have time for a nap together he turns into the cutest, cuddliest little guy on the planet.

Brand new packs of highlighters.
So many pretty colors, limitless highlighting opportunities!

The music of the Indigo Girls.
Set right in my vocal range for maximum sing-along-ability, with interesting, often beautiful words, their songs are simply enjoyable to me. I’ve had a CD of theirs on in my car (how old-school am I? Or, rather, how old is my car?) pretty constantly over the past few days and it’s been a very happy reminder of how much I love it.

Things we hate:

Bugs.
But then, who doesn’t?

The brush of icy air on the back of a bare neck.
Sure, it’s nice enough in summer when it’s roasting hot—but in winter it’s just lethal.

Dental disease in dogs.
BOO.

The U.S. version of Life on Mars.
No. Seriously. I caught 30 seconds of this week’s episode while flipping stations and my eyeballs started to bleed.

Cat Pee.
Mostly cleaning up cat pee. Let’s just say I have had a VERY bad week.