dear luggage,

you are a monstrosity.

i wish i could pack you with all of my heart's desires

and have you weigh 20 pounds.

mary poppins, i need your help.

love, celeste

dear fm 95.6 koit,

i hate that your slogan is

"lite rock, less talk"

because you play dido and whitney houston

.. who are not "lite rock" artists.

you also talk a lot.

and while this normally peeves me throughout the year

i love you the day after thanksgiving

and until december 26th

because you play nothing but christmas songs

and i love it.

thank you for being a source for

me to indulge in my love for holiday music.

love,

celeste

dear holiday season,

you are moving too fast.

i just finished the quarter from hell

and i want to be with my family

before i leave for 6 months.

i'm so happy to see

an abundance of lights

and i'm delighted to hear

christmas songs all the time

but how can you move so fast?

everyday just dragged as i waited for you

and now i can't keep you in my grip

you are something i can't hold onto

something i have to let go

luckily, you always come back

dear skyline reservoir,

thank you for hosting a wonderful walk for david and me today.

your hills are sort of out of nowhere, but that's probably for the better.

i love your trees, little duckies, and quiet.

i'm hoping to spend more time with you soon :)

love,

celeste

dear sandra lee,

i would like to let you know, that using wasabi and edamame does not qualify your dish as "asian." especially when you're making mashed potatoes.

likewise, using mandarin oranges also does not make your dish asian. especially when you've just made angel food cake.

you have an interesting show. and by interesting, i don't mean "fascinating," but "interesting" as when you see a movie and you don't know what to think so you call in "interesting." i understand that you're trying to save time by half-assing your cooking, but please stop pretending you are brilliant.

also, the food network is not hgtv. please stop showing us your "fabulous clever table settings" complete with center pieces via the dollar store.

love,

celeste

ps - i realize that i should probably just get off my butt and change the channel when your show comes on, but it's hard to get motivated during this time of year.

dear autumn quarter,

victory tastes like russian pastries... and man, is it good.

you were my hardest quarter so far,

but i think with the help of new friends

it wasn't so bad

but i'm glad you're finally over.

dear letter-blog,

i'm sorry i've been neglecting you. you are one of my favorite ideas, and it's slightly ridiculous that i've let you go to waste.

but not anymore!

this is my letter to you, my apology, for not being around as much as i should have been.

i have plans for us and i think you'll be one of my favorite ways to document my european adventures these next 6 months. i'll try to use my own pictures, instead of stealing them all from papertissue. but in the mean time, i'm supposed to be studying for my most difficult final tomorrow morning.

wish me luck? i'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

love,

celeste

dear summer,

you've been much more adventurous than you normally are,
but i think we've come to a lull.
being in europe was terrible good fun,
despite the mistakes i knew were coming,
but overall i think i am enjoying you though
i've been bored out of my mind these past few days.

i am very, very tan
and my lips are freckled as ever

and while professor philips would not call this poetry,
i would agree
because this is a letter long overdue.

i will work on writing more.
in the mean time, i think i love you the most this year,
summer.

dear uc santa cruz,

thank you for a pretty good year.

there were a lot of things i didn't like about you, as an institution, but the people you had there made up for it. for the future, it might be nice if you didn't overcharge and rip people off, have a crappy bus system, serve inedible indian food everyday, force us to purchase a health care system that didn't help, and only look out for your own financial benefit.

but you have an amazing faculty and a pretty great student body. i mean, the freshmen can be pretty annoying... but i think that happens everywhere. thanks for picking out my roommates, they were pretty great. also, please give magali her priority housing back. you messed up her application, not her.

the stevenson coffee shop is amazing, and i don't think you realize how great everyone there is. also, the disability van service is very nice. it would be nicer, however, if you made everything handicap friendly. also, the sign outside of your elevators that say "save your heart, and energy," are really offensive to people who physically cannot go up the stairs. and, all of your elevator permits are expired.

also, stop allowing douchebags to play intramural sports.

all in all, if it weren't for the nice human beings there, you would completely suck. but, because of them, you got lucky. and i'm thankful for the year overall.

love,
celeste

ps- it would be nice if you allowed people to keep all of the meals they pay for with meal plans.

dear norman,

i know this photo isn't you.

but i was on paper tissue and saw it and of course thought of you
because there is a striking resemblance.

you are the greatest cat i've ever ever met and i have
no idea why i was afraid of you when you were a kitten.

probably because i was a wimp.

but i'm really glad you dont claw when you sit on my lap,
and that you purr when david and i rub your belly.
and then drool from happiness.

you're the cutestgreatestmostwonderful
cat in the whole world.

love,
celeste

dear heart,

today you've been hurting so bad.
i'm missing the way you felt all warm and full.

it's almost the end, but soon another beginning
and i know how much you hate starting over again.
i'll try to make it as quick and painless as possible
because i still need you.

love,
celeste

dear jim davis,

how do you know me so well?

love,
celeste

dear anonymous,

i think this blog is unknown enough for me to write to you.

of course, the second you read this, you'll know it's for you,
and for "us."

not to dwell on things lost, but here are some of my favorite memories:

1. being color-coded, always
2. writing cute and nonsense notes
3. being the same
4. dates
5. mr. ellison muffins
6. making lists
7. making appointments on the same day within half an hour
of each others'... by complete coincidence
(i.e. permit tests and haircuts)
8. vitamin c
9. harmonizing to "the only gay eskimo"
10. the traveling green pants

i hope you're doing well.

love,
celeste

dear ni-mo,

last year, we celebrated my/my sister's/my other sister's birthday with you. you were wonderful then and i kind of forgot you until today when i went to visit you with my mother.

thank you for being fairly priced, and for treating my mother like a valued customer. she loves going and knowing that she has friends on staff, and she loves the salmon skin cucumber salad that you make especially for her. i'm filled with warmth when i see that my mother feels especially cared for.

your sushi was wonderful, particularly the tempura roll, and my mom (and i) really loved the agedashi. probably the best i've had.

i hope to come again soon!

love,
celeste

ps - thanks for the edamame!

dear coffee shop family,

{photo to come}

i love you more than ever.

love,
celeste

dear journal,

i miss you. this, of course, is my fault, but it's so strange how fast time flew by. i remember thinking, "ok, i'll write tomorrow" and then tomorrow became 3 months later. how does that even work?!

one of my favorite things in the entire world is reading old journal entries. seeing how my hand writing changes and what concerned me that day. i miss your pages and my words, and how they seemed to marry well together. with these last few weeks of the quarter, i don't want to make promises that i'll break, but i know you'll be my companion as my make my way through europe.

i'll decorate you with momentos and postcards.

love,
celeste

dear jenny lewis,

i was pretty bummed when i thought you were all sold out, but i'm so happy that things worked out the way they did. you are an amazing entertainer and oh-so-cute and talented.

thank you so much for playing "you are what you love" and "silver lining," they made my night.

love,
celeste

dear library stacks,

you will never cease to amaze me in how much you offer. i'm a little bummed that our meeting today was cut short, but thank you for access to the loeb collection of beautiful little green greek books.

the only downside, i think, is my constant fear that'll get squished in between the moving bookshelves.

love,
celeste

dear weekend,

you weren't as productive as i thought you might be, but thanks for helping me finish all of my greek homework.

i enjoyed both getting out of the house and staying in, and really loved the blueberry pancakes.

something i've been noticing more and more is how much i love natural light. on our way to our second softball game today, i was walking with carol and we agreed how much we love the warmth of the sun right after walking out of the shade. it's one of the most warm and comfortable things, i think.

in any case, weekend, i'm glad you decided to stick around longer for an extra day. along with blueberry pancakes, some of my other favorites were making this blog, going grocery shopping, my tuna and relish sandwich, the ice cream crunch bars, watching the a's win [twice!!], and cuddling with david while watching the food network.

let's do this again soon!

love,
celeste

dear blogspot,

thank you for allowing me to create more than one blog, using the same account, and allowing the possibility to change my blog url and title whenever i want.

this blog has a sibling, my other baby (found here), but she's dedicated to travel and this baby is dedicated to letters. i would like to say, first and foremost, that handwritten letters will always be a primary love of mine, but the ease of the internet and my lack of correspondents seem to justify this blog.

anyways, i can't guarantee that i will write a letter a day, but i'll try my very, very best.

love,
celeste