1. Eugene, the enormous white taxidermy peacock who showed up on our doorstep on Sunday

2. The fact that someone named Juergin Buergin is now following me on Twitter (as is Kjartan Alvestad)

3. Receiving a press release from someone named Ozgur Gungor

4. The Prosecco at lunch at Fiorella’s

5. My de facto mother-in-law’s birthday gift to Sam from Martha’s Vineyard Glassworks.

6. My de facto father-in-law coming home from Target with a copy of 50 Shades of Gray in a dishpan, followed by my de-facto mother-in-law asking me if we have a “Red Room of Pain.”

7. Spring Vegetable Quinoa

8. Liza Minelli and the Pet Shop Boys rendition of “Losing My Mind.”

9. The fact that the Boston Symphony Orchestra Press Office looks out at an apartment building where a little dog sits in the window all day. They’ve named him Noodles and make up stories about him.

10. An author friend’s observation about The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: “I’m just amazed someone could write a book with a cast of thousands where every character but two had the same last name and I could make sense of it.”

1. Peonies

2. The Institute of Contemporary Art’s Party on the Harbor and the French Cultural Center‘s Bal de l’Absinthe, easily the sexiest parties in Boston this Spring.

3. The fish balls at Shabu Zen

4. Arvo Part’s “Fratres,” for solo cello with strings

5. Watching one of my favorite dancers, James Whiteside, CRUSH it in the Boston Ballet‘s “Don Quixote.”

6. The Garganelli at Sorellina

7. The press release I received that said: “Today, the makers of Jif are introducing two delicious new nut butter varieties – Jif Chocolate Flavored Hazelnut Spread and Jif Mocha Cappuccino Flavored Hazelnut Spread.  These new products mark the first venture into alternate nut butter varieties for Jif, the peanut butter brand your readers know and love.”

8. The inspirational irony of leaving the Perkins School for the Blind gala, where I sipped a cocktail standing next to Helen Keller’s globe, to see the Boston Symphony Orchestra perform Beethoven’s most famous symphony, the 9th, which he composed and conducted when he was completely deaf.

9. “Dark Tide—The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919″ by Stephen Puleo

10. The Lady With the Rose Skirt