THE SPECTACLED BEAN

In Which Ms. Bean Confirms She Is Who She Is: A Dreamer

I took the fast & fun interactive What’s Your COLOR ID Quiz on the Sherwin-Williams website. Click HERE to go take it for yourself.

My quiz results told me I am a Dreamer. A Dreamer is defined thusly:

I was further told that as a Dreamer I do the following:

Here is a screen shot of a few of the Sherwin-Williams colors that a Dreamer likes to see in her home.

Here is a photo of the wall in this particular Dreamer’s home office [or study if that’s what you want to call this room] where she is currently sitting. This wall is painted SW 7666 Fleur de Sel, one of the colors shown in the image above.

It’s not often that I take an online quiz and end up with results that I agree with 100%. In fact some of my previous posts [here & here] have been less than kind when discussing my quiz results, but for whatever reason, this time the quiz results made sense to me.

And with that I’ll end this pleasant post about knowing who I am by wishing you, my gentle readers, a Happy Weekend. May it be colorful in a way that pleases you and filled with sweet dreams ’til sunbeams find you.

One-Liner Wednesday: Well, If Nothing Else I’m Truthful & Consistent

This is trippy.

I was on Twitter reading some comments when I thought I recognized a handle from someone who’d had a blog back around 2007.

It wasn’t the same person, but it got me thinking about bloggers who were part of my daily life 12-15 years ago, so I started looking for these long-lost bloggers.

Most of their blogs were either deleted or abandoned.

However for the heck of it on one of the abandoned blogs, Chasing Daisy, I stopped to read a post, then I clicked on the comments.

There in the comment section was a comment I wrote over 12 years ago.

It’s a comment gleaned from my own personal experiences in which I talk about how people can bug you. It’s a comment that I believe still rings true. Yep, I said it then and I say it now:

“Just when you think that they can’t get any dumber, they do.”

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*This is the brainchild of Linda G. Hill. Click on the badge to learn more & to connect with other bloggers who are doing #1LinerWeds this week.*

One-Liner Wednesday: Shopping With He Who Knows Me Best

Zen-Den and I were shopping at a large outlet mall, an outside one on about an acre of land.

Lots of walking. Lots of people.

Good deals everywhere.

As we were moseying along, me staring in all the store windows, him guiding me along so that I didn’t bump into anyone or anything, I got grumbly with him.

He kept telling me where the stores were. The stores had large signs that I could read but he kept calling out their names like a disembodied voice on a subway line.

Finally I asked him why he was doing this. He said:

“It’s my job to point out the stores to you. It’s your job to judge them harshly. That’s how it works with us.”

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Three Thoughts Thursday | Doing. Organizing. Watching.

This is when I tell you stuff and don’t make a story of it.

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ONE

I think that this month I’ll try Susannah Conway’s The August Break [#augustbreak2019] photo prompts on Instagram [also on Facebook if that’s your jam].

Janet at Janet’s Smiles made me aware of this challenge. No pressure, no hype– just a chance to do something creative and different than my usual lackadaisical approach to sharing pics over on my IG account [@thespectacledbean].

I’ve never tried anything like this before, so I anticipate some anxiety at first, but I imagine I can follow through and do this more or less daily.

TWO

I think that the idea of learning to batch your time is intriguing.

A friend mentioned this concept to me so I did some research. According to a productivity hack from Brazen, batching: “allows you to take advantage of your full concentration by grouping a bunch of similar activities together and doing them all at the same time.” [More here and here.]

I’m sure I do this naturally in some areas of my life already, but I could apply this concept to how I blog.

THREE

I think that Dead to Me is a wonderful TV show that just goes to prove great TV is possible.

I watched the 10 episodes in a 2-day binge. This show, starring Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini, is funny + sad + clever + outrageous. I won’t go into the deets about the plot, the characters, the settings but I will say that I didn’t see the ending coming. And I loved it.

There’s nothing better than being pleasantly surprised by something unexpectedly smart.

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Questions of the Day

Have you ever tried a monthly photo challenge on your blog &/or on IG &/or in FB? And if so, how’d it go?

What do you know about batching your time? Do you do this?

Got a suggestion for another wonderful TV show that you’ve found to be amazeballs?

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Don’t Let The Smile Fool You, It’s A Sad Ad

WHO YOU CALLING OLD?

The above advertisement has been following me around the internet like a bored toddler. It showed up on my email sidebar a few days ago and has stayed with me as I research and read all over the intertubes.

I can’t decide if I’m insulted by the advert’s implication that I’m mature [old?] OR if I’m charmed by its desire to help me look better. Presumably.

Of course if you look closely you’ll notice that there’s no indication of the name of the company that makes this allegedly fabulous lipstick nor where I might buy said lippy.

IT’S A SAD AD IF YOU ASK ME.

But here’s the thing, no one has asked me. It’s as if no one cares about my need for or opinion about the product featured in this unsolicited advertisement that will not go away.

And no matter how much I keep smiling about this advert, and all the other unsolicited ones that clutter my computer screen, I cannot help but feel irritated by the impudence of these wet-behind-the-ears companies assuming I’d want to buy anything from them because they’ve decided I’m mature.

PIFFLE, I SAY.

#ThursdayDoors | Visiting A Rose Garden, Finding Some Pithinicity

Today I’m joining Thursday Doors, hosted by Norm Frampton, so that I can share with you photos of the following doors plus a little more.

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A few weeks ago Zen-Den and I had the chance to stop by the Columbus Ohio Park of Roses again. [Click HERE for post about previous visit and information about this park.]

It was a beautiful summer day but the garden was not at its rosy best like the last time we were there. I snapped a few pics anyhow, ostensibly to be part of this project.

While the doors we saw were more utilitarian than awe-inspiring, the carved stones in the walking path that connect the Shelter House [event venue] to the park itself were eclectic.

I hadn’t noticed the messages on the stones during our previous visit. So below, for the heck of it, are two photos of the doors we saw and the pithinicity on which we walked.

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DOORS on side of Shelter House looking into the park.

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*“HAD I ALL LANGUAGE AT COMMAND AND SPOKE THE* [1 of 4]

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*TONGUE OF EVERY LAND, I COULD NOT FIND THREE WORDS* [2 of 4]

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*MORE SWEET OR FORM A SENTENCE MORE COMPLETE: THAN* [3 of 4]

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*THESE THREE WORDS I LOVE YOU.” ~ YOUR FAMILY* [4 of 4]

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DOOR on side of Shelter House leading into Bridal Room. [*Doesn’t this door look ominous to you?* It does to me.]

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This Is How I Make 2 Types Of Images For My Blog

Have you ever heard someone say that their mantra is to always be recommending? I love that idea. Information is part of what makes the world go round.

To wit, here’s what I use to make 2 types of unique images that I share on The Spectacled Bean. I’m often asked about where I get my images, so here you go.

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WHEN I TURN PERSONAL PHOTOS INTO ART I use a ~~free~~ app called Waterlogue. It’s on my phone, ezpz to use, and offers a variety of looks. Here’s an example of a before and after image.

First I took a photo with my phone. This is that photo.

Then I used the app choosing one of their filters, in this case the Illustrator, to make my photo look snazzy. This is the after.

As you can see the app has taken a so-so photo and turned it into a bombdiggity blog-worthy picture.

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WHEN I CREATE IMAGES WITH TEXT I use Canva on my desktop computer [or here for your phone]. It’s a graphic design website [or an app for your phone] featuring a variety of free templates, many pre-sized for any social media you might use.

First I picked a template. This is the before.

Then I did a fast little rewrite using the first movie quote that came to mind, thus creating something clever and unique. This is the after.

In this example I did a color change & resized the font but there were many free and $$$ options I could have used to make this image even more amazeballs.

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I hope that this information is of some value to you.

If you know of other ways to create blog post images [preferably free] please recommend them in the comments below.

And on that note, with nothing more to say here, I shall wish all of you Happy Blogging.