skwerl81

Hi! I'm Annette... Somewhat of a nomad, having been born and raised in Queens, NY; then moved to Seattle for a short stint before moving to Saint Paul, MN for grad school! Currently living in a suburb of the Twin Cities :)

In my spare time, I love doing yoga! I also love baking (am currently experimenting more with cooking too), animals (though no pets at the moment - hoping to adopt a doggie at some point!), traveling, and anything nature-related! (I especially have a soft spot for bodies of water and beaches.) I love the convenience and "loads of things to do and see" associated with city life, but have been gravitating to smaller cities as time goes on... one day, I can totally see myself on a farm with rolling green hills and a bunch of chickens, bunnies, and maybe a few goats and cows :)

I tolerate pretty much anything, but I love coffee shop music (current faves include Gregory Alan Isakov and Lord Huron)... I also like what I guess Spotify calls "Tropical House", and any type of music that gets those existential thoughts going lol... For anyone in a CD swap with me, feel free to send me anything you like; I love hearing new music, and I think I'm pretty open-eared to new sounds.

I'm not a huge movie person, but I have been moving more into the movie scene lately... my faves are Harry Potter (LOVE the books!!), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Vanilla Sky, Shutter Island, Truman Show, Pan's Labrynth (though it was way too gorey! - side note for any swapping - please stay away from any horror or gorey-type themes for me, thanks!)... errrr... and I'm sure there are some others I can't think of at the moment... mostly philosophical-like stuff that makes you think about things in an out-of-the-box way... I also like watching comedies for their entertainment value :) Knocked Up and Hot Tub Time Machine were great!

How I Met Your Mother is my all-time favorite series! I find it hilarious, with great lessons, and awesome music too. Modern Family is also a solid go-to!

First and foremost, I am a huge fan of the Harry Potter series. Just putting that out there to start...

Aside from that, I actually don't really very much for leisure!! There is a book I've read called "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle, and that was kind of a life-changing one for me... very meaningful. So, I'm recently mostly into books that inspire self-inquiry and self-awareness, and anything related to yoga - a few off the top of my head that were good reads include: Trance of Scarcity, Yoga Sutras, Things Fall Apart (GREAT book by Pema Chodron), and Tao of Pooh (a "kid's" book, but really has some golden nuggets relating to adult life in there).

My main obsessions are: baking and cake decorating, music, photography, snowboarding, yoga... I also am an animal freak! I particularly LOVE squirrels, owls, and sloths (and other cute and furry creatures)! :) I really love nature in general - hiking and hanging out at the beach, in particular. I'm trying to get exposure to more types of crafts, but at the moment mainly focusing on paper crafts (ATCs, deco books, etc).

I'm not picky... Honestly anything related to any of the above (esp. nature/animal themed anything) would be lovely! My fave colors are deep reds/burgundy, taupe, turquoise/teal, and any "deep" colors - I'm not that into pastels... oh and I love ribbons :) and any kinds of paper scraps or magazine clippings are cool too... Also, if you have any "directions" on how to do new crafts, I would love to get those, since I like trying new things, but just need a little push :)... Hmm, let me know if you want me to add any more info! :)