julietkilo

I like jazz, classical and symphonic metal like Nightwish. I also like classic rock and folk such as Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Traffic, Leonard Cohen, The Eagles, John Denver. I like some current pop, folk and anti-folk, Celtic and new age including Coldplay, Regina Spektor, First Aid Kit (Swedish group), Yael Naem, Blitzen Trapper, Nickel Creek, Loreena McKennit, Enya, George Winston and Mary Black. I usually start listening to Christmas music in September, because I love Christmas! I like the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Manheim Steamroller, and Christmas jazz, harp and classical guitar arrangements. I also like really old medieval acapella church music, like Gregorian chant and Russian Orthodox liturgical music.

I live in the US with my husband and 2 young children. I enjoy traveling (have been to 15 countries), writing, reading, especially classic novels and nonfiction history (usually academic). I like baking and cooking, especially historical recipes (this year I'm going to make a plum pudding for Christmas). I like making homemade soda and brewing mead, and I want to try brewing beer. I'm very interested in the Nordic countries, and anything to do with their culture and history, because that's where my ancestors were from. I'm also interested in Slavic and Anglo-Saxon history, and European history in general. I love learning new things, not only about baking, cooking and history as mentioned above, but also the natural sciences, languages and art. I also love bread, tea, coffee, chocolate, beer and mead, knitted sweaters, sheep, whales, birds, autumn, winter, Christmas, birch trees, compasses, cacti, bonsai, bento lunches, bears, constellations, acorns, reindeer, deer, elk, moose, amanita mushrooms, hedgehogs, bees, typewriters, cicadas, cuckoo clocks, mandolins and all instruments from the lute family, painted hexes, folk tales, folk carvings and paintings, ferns, botanical illustrations, clocks, watches, steampunk and sci-fi. If the swap is a postcard swap, I like the postcard naked with a stamp on it. If it's an international letter or package swap, I like envelopes or wrapping made from ephemera from your country: could be a newspaper in a local language, an empty food package from your cupboard, anything like that which gives me a glimpse into your daily life.

I love classic novels. Some of my favorite authors are Charles Dickens, John Steinbeck, Dostoevsky, Jane Austen and Jules Verne. I also enjoy Icelandic sagas and any old Norse or Teutonic lit (e.g. Nibelungenlied, the Eddas, the Heliand). I love Nordic and Greek mythology and European fairy tales (Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson). I like Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell, short stories by many authors, and my favorite comic strips are Moomin, Calvin and Hobbes and Foxtrot. I like Rockwell Kent, both the books he wrote and his illustrations that he did for other books. I like Japanese woodblock prints, botanical illustrations, and the Pre-Raphaelite painters, so I have art books of those too. I love Neil Gaiman (especially the Sandman series) and Marvel comics (especially The Avengers).

Casablanca, It's a Wonderful Life (we watch that every year at Christmas), The Matrix, Inception, Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Marvel films, and documentaries.

I don't watch much tv, but when I do it's usually a comedy like Frasier or The Simpsons.

I've really downsized on my crafting supplies.. I mainly do cooking, baking, writing, and making homemade items as gifts for people. I make birthday/Christmas cards, bookmarks,and that's about it for paper crafts. I like the looks of ATCs and have just started making them. Definitely not an expert yet but I enjoy it.My sewing skills are very elementary but my kids and I have fun cutting things up and sewing them into something new.

For food items, I have no allergies but dislike anise, licorice or orange flavored things.I don't really like things with brand names or advertisements, EXCEPT as mentioned in the "about me" section that if you are international, I like envelopes/wrapping made from your ephemera, which can include your local brand names and advertisements. If a swap says you can send something store bought or homemade, I love homemade things but won't be upset if you send store bought.

I collect Nordic and Scandinavian items (especially books about those places), Rockwell Kent items (books, stamps, postcards, illustrations, etc), the Modern Library hardcover books in Blumenthal bindings, shells, bookmarks, postcards, paper money and coins from other countries, items having to do with Moby Dick (the novel), bottle caps, collector spoons, black cats, and ATC's.