How To Charm Me

/ Ally Bean / 12 Comments

My late aunt kept a scrapbook throughout her teen years.  In it she put mementos from her social life.  After she died a few years ago, I inherited the scrapbook.  Below is an invitation to a girlfriend’s party that I found in the scrapbook.  I love how it reflects the style of the times.  Hello, Art Deco!

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As if the beauty of this old invitation isn’t enough to charm me, if you look closely you’ll see that the girl giving the party has signed her name quite clearly. And who is this girl, you wonder?  Well, I know the answer to that.

She is Marilyn Meseke, who later became Miss America 1938.  And as such, thanks to news reel footage shown in movie theaters around the country, Marilyn was the first Miss America ever seen on-screen receiving her crown.

Pretty cool, huh?

Come Inside, Come Inside

/ Ally Bean / 13 Comments

“Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends.  We’re so glad you could attend.”

~ Emerson, Lake & Palmer. “Karn Evil 9.” Brain Salad Surgery.

•  We awakened yesterday morning to snow.  We’d taken down our outside Christmas decorations over the weekend, so we were happy to see it.  It was the first snow of the season and as such, looked delightful.  Just a dusting that sparkled– and provided a unified color scheme for the outside.  A perfect conclusion to the holiday season.

•  Looking back on events I realize that this year during the holidays we got together with all sorts of different people.  We had a party here at the house that went okay.  [If we decide to make it an annual event, next year I’ll know better what to do: more beer & carbs/less wine & healthy.]  We met friends for breakfast, lunch &/or dinner at various restaurants all over the city.  We went to the Zoo & the Art Museum;  we shopped at outlet stores & a huge, unique, locally owned grocery store that specializes in foods from around the world.  In other words, we had some low-key, middle-aged, inexpensive fun.

•  We’re not ones to buy each other Christmas gifts per se.  Instead, in the month of December we tend to buy some things that we each have wanted during the year, but never got around to purchasing.  So our “gifts” this year were some Le Creuset coffee mugs in a variety of colors;  a new [“virtually indestructible”] Swiss Diamond skillet to replace our previous Swiss Diamond skillet that I destroyed;  and a Roku for our un-bedroom (aka the upstairs sitting room).

•  There’s really not much more to report from here.  I’m feeling rather mellow today.  No issues to discuss.  No events to explain.  No reason for me to keep babbling.  So I think that I’ll just say Happy New Year to everyone– and be on my merry way.

[Hello FTC!  Just a note to let you know that I haven’t received any sort of compensation for writing about these products.  But you knew that already, right?  I mean, have I ever been paid for anything I do here on this blog?  Heck no!  That’d be the day….]  

Take Joy

/ Ally Bean / 16 Comments

The holidays are almost upon us.  Things to do.  Places to go.  People to meet.

Because Z-D & I will be sort of busy and because I’m sort of tired of writing here, I’ve decided to put my blog on hold until after the beginning of next year.  A short break from blogging sounds like a good idea to me right now.

But before I go, gentle readers, I’ll leave you with this charming video about– well… kindness, curiosity & joy.  “Oskar, what did you do?”

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~ Happy Holidays Everyone ~

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Speaking Of Archetypes

/ Ally Bean / 5 Comments

“If you can’t say something good about someone, come sit next to me.”

~ Alice Roosevelt Longworth

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‘Tis the season of… meeting and socializing with lots of different, unique people.

So we’re sitting at home discussing where we’ve been and Zen-Den, who is not at all fluent in archetypes because he did not major in English in college, asks me:  What’s up with X?

I explain to him that she considers herself to be a Possibilitarian.  That it’s an archetype.

And he counters with: that’s the most ridiculous term I’ve ever heard– you mean, someone who doesn’t actually do anything, just talks about what is possible?

I tell him that’s the gist of it–  someone who focuses on aspirations.  Who thinks and talks about what might be.

A dreamer with a fancy vocabulary.

He nods in amazement.

Then Z-D, who doesn’t usually drink very much, asks me:  Do you suppose if I drank more alcoholic beverages more often I could call myself a Chillaxatarian?

I tell him that I’d refer to him as such.  And that he could definitely get X to refer to him as such.  And that by doing this he’d have his own, very special, archetype.

A goofball with a bottle of beer.

He nods his approval and then wanders off to the frig to get something more to drink.

And so, with that, a new archetype was born.  One that encompasses all that is relaxed and beer related.  One that you know is bound to be popular.

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Hallelujah and pass the brewskis, there’s a Chillaxatarian in our midst!