More Snow, More Gray, More Mellow

February 15, 2016February 15, 2016 / Ally Bean / 30 Comments

SATURDAY THE SKIES WERE bright blue and it was sunny outside, but very cold. We spent the whole day driving every which way around the region, doing errands.

Not being at home, basically.

Then Sunday arrived, even colder than Saturday. We decided to stay inside, doing pretty much nothing worth talking about.

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LATE IN THE AFTERNOON it started to snow again, so I grabbed my camera and took some photos of winter scenes in the waning afternoon light.

As shown here, the midwestern winter colors are a natural earthy palette all their own. Very subdued, tending towards gray. Either you like them [I do], or you don’t.

To me, these shades of gray, which I only see for a few weeks during the year, are a reminder to relax and mellow out.

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Breakfast In The Afternoon On The Way To Being Charitable

February 2, 2016January 28, 2021 / Ally Bean / 26 Comments

While I’ve no doubt my readers know what a McDonald’s Egg McMuffin looks like, I present this image for future Historians who 200 years hence will need a visual to understand this post. Historians, you may thank me in the footnotes of your doctoral theses.

I had my first afternoon Egg McMuffin last week.

It was late Thursday afternoon, and Z-D & I were on our way to Habitat for Humanity to drop off our old, but still usable, outdoor light fixtures that have been in my way in the garage for months.

[We replaced them last autumn with new black ones that use LED bulbs, with clear beveled glass– and the value of our home doubled. Really. The improvement is amazing.]

I was feeling peckish as we drove along, and in a moment of inspiration I directed Zen-Den to stop at the next McDonald’s so that I could feast on the one item I like at McDonald’s.

[Also I wanted a cup of black coffee. They have good coffee, which I needed to wash down my formerly unavailable after 10:30 a.m. sandwich delight.]

Hello again future Historians. This logo, which we saw all over the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, was easy to recognize as we followed the signs on the streets through a working part of town. Once at the store a friendly employee helped us unload our donations to the store.

So he did.

And I got an Egg McMuffin, which might have been the best one I’ve ever eaten. A bit of an exaggeration, but it was good.

Especially at the “wrong” time of day.

Eaten in rush hour traffic while someone else chauffeured me around the city on our way to doing good.

Talk about your win-win situation. 😉

If We Were Having Coffee On This January Morning…

January 30, 2016August 29, 2018 / Ally Bean / 45 Comments

{ image via @lawyermom1 }

THE SETTING:

We’d be sitting at the local Starbucks, enjoying the fact that we were out of the house, doing something together.

I’d be drinking a vanilla latte with an extra shot and you’d be drinking whatever it is that floats your boat. My treat, of course.

We’d be listening to the sound of the overworked espresso machines, the indistinct conversations of fellow Starbuckians, and the random genre-less background music that seems to be in every Star$.

THE CONVERSATION:

√ We’d be chatting… about how I read that the colors for spring clothes are rust, mustard and poppy. I’d assure you that there’s no stinking way you’ll be seeing me in any of those colors. I’d also mention that I have no plans to go shopping for spring clothes this year.

√ We’d be sharing… our latest podcast obsessions, which in my case is Call Your Girlfriend. I’d tell you that the podcast’s tone is smart and warm, and that it is lots of fun to listen in while girlfriends talk about a variety of subjects such as feminism, fashion, politics– and whatever else is newsy and relevant this week.

√ We’d be talking… about how after reading this article about raiding your own cookbook collection, I’ve decided to make one recipe per month from a cookbook I already own. My first recipe, Braised Pork With Sauerkraut, which was delicious, was from Joy of Cooking [75th Anniversary Edition]. Considering I have over 30 cookbooks, this could turn into a fun longterm project.

√ We’d be laughing… about how Zen-Den, the confused, asked me if I’d be “calamari-ing” our house. Somewhere he’d heard about this new Japanese declutter trend. While he understood the principles, he’d gotten the name wrong. My answer, when I finally figured out that he was talking about KonMari, was NO!

THE CONCLUSION:

We’d have to part after about an hour or so because each of us had things to do, things to do.

We’d hug and promise to get together sometime in February, weather permitting, daily life allowing, work schedule be damned.

And we’d count our blessings that we have each other to talk with. Like friends do everywhere. Over a fancy coffee in one of the most ubiquitous places on earth.

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Idea for this post came from Diana at Part-Time Monster.

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