Move Over Proust, Aromatic Advertisements Are The New Madeleines

August 7, 2014May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 25 Comments

I DON’T KNOW THAT I can adequately answer the question posed below, but I can tell you about what happened to me yesterday when one of those aromatic advertisements fell out of an Ulta mailing and landed on my lap.

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I WAS SITTING ON THE screened-in porch, glancing through the mailing, when an aromatic advertisement for Donna Karan’s newest fragrance, DKNY MYNY, plopped itself down on me.

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I DIDN’T THINK A THING about it. I grabbed the aromatic advertisement intending to put it on the table beside me, but I stopped mid-movement when the scent immediately reminded me of being a little girl.

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I WAS PULLED BACK TO decades ago when my family lived in an urban apartment above my father’s medical practice. At that time, my mother always wore one particular perfume, Ma Griffe, which– oddly enough— I remember as smelling like this new Donna Karan fragrance.

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SO I BEGAN TO WONDER what was in the new perfume that reminded me of my mother’s perfume. A quick check of the two fragrances at basenotes gave me my answer: both scents have Galbanum top notes [a fresh, natural “green” scent]; Jasmine middle notes [a sweet, intense “calming” scent]; and Vanilla base notes [a warm, boozy “comforting” scent]. Now how trippy is that? Hmmm?

Deconstructing A Delightful Comment From A Dubious Source

July 24, 2014May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 30 Comments

WP tells me that this comment is spam, but it’s so uplifting that I had to share it with you, my gentle readers. Despite its tarnished origins, I think that it might be one of the best comments that I’ve received in 10+ years of blogging. Let’s see if we can learn from it, shall we?

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• Sentence #1 – a nice simple greeting.

You can never go wrong with direct and pleasant.

• Sentence #2 – flattery.

Oh yes, I like it. More praise please.

• Sentence #3 – a glance backwards.

Isn’t it sweet when someone shares a piece of his life with you?

• Sentence #4 – more reminiscence.

I feel like I’ve found a kindred spirit here.

• Sentence #5 – action intended to create friendship.

Please do, I’m sure that he’s as charming as you are.

• Sentence #6 – flattery again.

Oh sir, I blush thinking about how much you like what I wrote here.

• Sentence #7 – expression of gratitude.

What better way to end a comment, I ask you? ‘Tis perfect.

Pretentious Much?

June 23, 2014May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 16 Comments

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HAVE YOU EVER HEARD yourself say something and think to yourself:

Did I really say that? Honestly, who am I?

Zen-Den and I, with some friends, were at an art show in a park that is along a river. We’ve been to this particular show many times together, and we each have our favorite artists who we want to checkout. It makes for a predictable, leisurely afternoon.

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Z-D AND I WENT into one particular artist’s tent to see what he had going on. For Z-D this guy is the highlight of the show, so he stopped to talk with the man. I looked around but didn’t see anything that I wanted so I went outside to stand with our friends who were waiting.

When Z-D caught up with us he hadn’t bought a thing. He turned to me and said: “what did you think of his stuff this year?” And then I said the most out-of-character statement that I may have ever said. I replied:

“Oh, his work is so derivative now that it’s passé.”

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THERE WAS A PAUSE while all of us looked at each other– and then we started laughing so hard that we had to stop looking at each other because of my absurd statement.

Accurate as it may be, I have no idea where that sentence came from. I’m not exactly an art critic [or a critic of anything, for that matter]. All I can think is that I’ve read too many scholarly articles on Arts & Letters Daily. Might be time for me to focus more on People magazine.

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I’M GOING TO FILE this charming little story, ridiculous as it is, under:

Do Not Take Yourself Too Seriously.

Derivative? Passé? Who says things like that? Not me, usually. That’s for sure.

QOTD: What Do You Really Call Your “Honey Do” List?

June 14, 2014May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 12 Comments

We all know what a “Honey Do” List is, right? It’s that wonderful list kept by almost every woman on which she tells her beloved sweetie pie what tasks around the house need to be done next.

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[If you’ve always thought that people were talking about a “Honeydew” List I’m sorry to disabuse of this charming, albeit wrong, idea. We women are not keeping lists about melons. We’re keeping lists about things to do.]

[Image sources here & here.]

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So getting to my point, in our household the “Honey Do” List has been renamed. As we all know Zen-Den gets to the essence of things, and in this case he got it right when he began to refer to what you might call a “Honey Do” List as:

Ally’s List of S#%t That’s Wrong Around Here.