Decorating

2 Movies, 2 Books & 1 Unique Bumper Sticker

/ Ally Bean / 12 Comments

As part of my attempt to live a more balanced life in 2013, I have given myself the assignment to watch 2 movies and to read 2 books each month.  Here is my February report.

2 Movies

The Magic of Belle Isle – Bland + trite.  With Morgan Freeman and Virginia Madsen in it, I thought that this movie would be a sweet, but nuanced, look at life in a small town on a lake.  It was not.  In fact, it was boring, mildly insulting to women over 40, and just a plain waste of beautifully decorated lakeside homes.  Not recommended.

Helvetica –  Fascinating + inspiring.  Helvetica is a font that was born in 1957 and permeates our lives.  It has been revered and it has been marginalized, but it is still here.  The interviews with graphic artists are compelling, even if you disagree with what they’re saying.  Recommended if you have an interest in typography and the world around you.  [H/T to alejna at collecting tokens for telling me about this documentary.]

2 Books

The Spice Necklace –  Charming + fun.  I enjoyed this book.  In a nutshell, Ann Vanderhoof and her husband decide to live on a boat, travel around the Caribbean and research the local cuisine.  Along the way they make friends with some nutty characters the locals, learn about alcoholic beverages regional history and decide to conjure up recreate Caribbean specialities in their tiny  galley kitchen.  Recommended if you like recipes, travel and cheerful adventurers.

Marrakesh By Design –  Beautiful + informative.  In this colorful book on Moroccan decorating, Maryam Montague explains the history of the region as well as the reasoning behind this style of decorating.  The photos of patterns, colors and homes are perfect.  I read the book all in one sitting, then came back a few days later to get lost in the photos.  Recommended if you have an interest in African history, art and/or home decor.

1 Unique Bumper Sticker

The bumper sticker on the back of the van said: Play More Viola.  I saw it first and was silently thinking about it when Zen-Den noticed it, too.  Naturally we needed to know more about it, so I googled it.  I half expected it to be a line from a Saturday Night Live skit a la “more cowbell.”  But its origins were much simpler than that.  It’s a bumper sticker encouraging everyone to be more joyful… by playing more viola.  Cute, huh?

The Stuff & Things Of Life

/ Ally Bean / 12 Comments

This year my desk calendar displays a vintage ad above each monthly grid.  January’s ad is for a Big Ben alarm clock.  The style of the ad is mid-century and the vibe of the ad is cheerful.  I smile when I look at it.

Unlike the nature photo calendars that I’ve had in the past, this one inspires me in a more creative way.  Suddenly I want to paint something– or bake something– or color something, even.  Funny how the imagery on something can influence me in such a way, but it does.

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I’ve always been fascinated by what objects people put around themselves.  I enjoy knowing what stuff a person finds important enough to keep on his or her desk– or on his or her kitchen counter– or in his or her magazine rack.  The little things that make someone smile.  Or be productive.  Or feel safe.

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I stumbled on this article about abandoned suitcases that were found in an old insane asylum.  It’s an interesting read.  The photos of the contents of the suitcases are amazing.  Plus there is documentation to explain who owned the suitcases– and why he or she was institutionalized.

There’s no way of knowing who put the objects into each suitcase.  It might have been the patient or it might have been the person who institutionalized the patient.  Or, I suppose, it might have been the nurse or doctor who came to escort the patient to the asylum.

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Looking around my home office I see the details that make it mine.  Like the calendar that inspires me.  Like the colorful Le Creuset mug that keeps my coffee handy.  Like the books in the old wooden bookcase that ground me.  And I wonder, what would I take with me if I knew I was going to an insane asylum… probably for the rest of my life.

Impossible to know the answer to such a hypothetical question.  Yet interesting to ponder.  On a Saturday morning.

The Lady Of The List

/ Ally Bean / 20 Comments

We’re expecting about 30 people at our holiday party on Friday.  I like that number because that means there will be enough guests for everyone to know someone else here– & to meet someone new as well.  But it does mean that there is a lot of planning going on around here.  To wit, I’ve started living a list-centric life.

At first I was scribbling little lists every which way on scraps of paper, but I kept misplacing the scraps of paper.  No surprise.  I tend to be a bit scattered to begin with.

But being smarter than the average bean bear, I decided to designate one of our clipboards as my own.  Then I purloined a pad of legal paper from Zen-Den, Esq.  Putting these two items together I created The Official Party Planning List.  ‘Tis a wonderful document– that I suspect only makes sense to me.

I’ve also decided that post-it notes are my new BFF.  I write what food I want to be in a certain serving bowl/plate/platter and then put the post-it in/on/under the item so that when my helper elves arrive pre-party they’ll know what to put where.  I feel very managerial.  

And on that upbeat note, I’m off to the Kroger to buy a heaping cartload of ingredients to make yumminess.  Which will go into/onto the aforementioned serving bowls/plates/platters.  Which have already been given assigned spots on the tables & counters.  Which is where the people will stand during the party while eating & drinking & talking with each other.

Which will make for a good party.  *yeah* 

This & That

/ Ally Bean / 16 Comments

{november  – monday – morning}

√  I’m still trying to get used to my iPad.  I got one about 2 months ago, but have yet to really use it for much of anything.  It seems to be a device on which one consumes, not creates, media.  I didn’t realize that when I got it.  I thought it was like a small laptop computer so I planned on using it to write blog posts and do photo editing.  But so far I haven’t seen any way that I could use it for my intended purposes.

And as I don’t have a smart phone, I’m finding all this app crap to be rather tedious to learn about.  How in the world do I know if an app is something that will be useful to me if I don’t know what the thing does/replaces/adds to my life?  And more importantly, if I put an app on the iPad can I get it off/deleted/made to go away forever– not just hidden somewhere out of my sight, like a portrait of Dorian Gray?

√  I started re-decorating our home office about a month ago.  First, Zen-Den and I re-configured the desks and the file cabinets.  We left the 6′ x 4′ bookcase in the same place, but I decided to take out all the books so that I could re-do the shelves in a way that is more user me friendly.  I re-commissioned an older table lamp that was catching dust in the basement because I thought that it’d provide better ambient light in the room.

When I began this project I was all optimistic that I could do it with what we have sitting around, but so far I haven’t been able to get a groovy vibe happening in that room.  Pretty much all that I’ve managed to do is create a big mess that spills out of the office, across the foyer and into the LR.  So much for flying by the seat of my pants.

√  We’re hosting a Holiday Party in a few weeks.  I decided that we’d do what I’d call bar food.  That is, a menu that is more filling than just munchies, but less bother than a buffet supper.  We’ll have trays of small sandwiches & bowls of chips.  Then hot dips & crunchy snacks.  Plus a table of cookies & candy.  We bought all of our beer & wine over the weekend, so that’s out-of-the-way.

Any suggestions for a great dip of some sort?  I’m making Skyline Dip & Jalapeño Popper Dip already, but would like to add something more to the menu.  Also, if I make some hot mulled cider what kind of alcohol would you want available to put in it?  Rum? Red wine? Bourbon? Something else?  [I’m not a fan of mulled cider so what to add to it is kind of a mystery to me.]

… enough babbling for now.  later.