I don't like to do people's advertising for them, but there is a human impulse to share when you find a good thing. I didn't really get the point of *genius* playlists before, but maybe I didn't have enough music loaded yet or something. I let *genius* loose on "Cinnamon" by The Long Winters (found them through Shimelle's cream cheese frosting recipe, bizarrely) and suddenly by bizarro eclectic collection of tunes seems ultra cool. Not sure I'll be able to pull myself away from it, it has been perfect for all manner of creative and house-tidying ventures this week.

Cinnamon	The Long Winters
Breakin' Up	G. Love
Fresh Feeling	Eels
Kathleen	Josh Ritter
Such Great Heights	Iron & Wine
There is so Much More	Brett Dennen
Mykonos	Fleet Foxes
C'mon C'mon	The Von Bondies
Six Different Ways	The Cure
Forever	Ben Harper
Bohemian Like You	The Dandy Warhols
Fell in Love With a Girl	The White Stripes
Scared Straight	The Long Winters
Off the Hook	Barenaked Ladies
Hold on Hope	Guided by Voices
I Don't Know	Lisa Hannigan
You Don't Make It Easy Babe	Josh Ritter
Caring is Creepy	The Shins
The One Who Loves You The Most	Brett Dennen
Oxford Comma	Vampire Weekend
Free	G. Love
Three Marlenas	The Wallflowers
Catch	The Cure
Walk Away	Ben Harper
Caroline	David Gray
Fighting for My Love	Nil Lara

In my fridge this week, pumpkin cupcakes. Get the recipe from Shimelle.com and make sure you make the cream cheese frosting with brown sugar and cinnamon too. The real secret - bake them, try them and take them to work to share (it saves you from becoming a pumpkin!!!). The plate is one that I painted at one of those paint-your-own places. I had forgotten about it, but it was perfect for these!

Oprah's magazine takes a little longer to get over here to the UK, but I am already excited about November's issue. The indie biz chicks posted about an online quiz from the new issue, so I rushed on over to check it out. I love quizzes. Of course, I realise that they never give you the full picture and it is pretty easy to tweak the results in a direction that you want them to go (we've all done that with the "Is he the one?" type quizzes, right?). However I do still think that they are a useful tool for a bit of self-reflection. Even if you are tweaking the answers, it tells you something about the sort of person you want to be, even if that isn't where you are yet. 

That is exactly the focus of the quiz: who are you striving toward being? Who am I meant to be? It was written by Anne Dranitsaris (link kindly provided by Heather). Many people are reporting very accurate results for this too, which is intriguing. I did it twice, on two different days, because that's the kind of thing I do! I've decided, not surprisingly, that the first results are more honest.

So what did I learn?

I came up most strongly in the areas of striving to be knowledgeable, striving to be creative and striving to be spontaneous. What this means for me is that I learn about myself through being in learning situations. I need to be creative in some way, in order to feel authentic. Stimulation and movement feed me and give life meaning.

I was very interested to see the warnings in the results too. I should watch out for withdrawing from situations where I feel less knowledgeable, isolating myself through my creative practice, and feeling trapped (and lashing out) when in a stable situation. These areas are all ways in which I am already seeking balance, to maintain beginner's mind, to connect with other creative people and to embrace a degree of routine to anchor me. If you know me, you will be laughing a little by now at the truthfulness of what I strive for, and the pitfalls that occasionally befall me! 

If you take this quiz, do share your results, I find it just fascinating! Either chat in the comments, or feel free to link to your own blog.