Springtime: Musings On A Season’s Return

April 3, 2014April 3, 2014 / Ally Bean / 18 Comments

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Spring weather is variable. Today it’s wet + gray + cold. Drab.

On Sunday it was sunshine + blue skies + mild. Lovely. In fact, it was so pleasant outside that we went to a nature preserve and wandered around an old farmstead that is there.

After a Winter spent inside looking out, the freshness of the day inspired me, charmed me. The new sights. The idea of possibility.

As a rule I don’t enjoy beginnings, but Spring is a season that forces me out of my comfort zone. And despite its unpredictable weather, Spring entices me, reassures me with fresh starts, beautiful colors and the promise of growth.

So how about you, gentle readers? What is there about Spring that speaks to you?

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Fess Up: When Was The Last Time That You Did Something Just For The Heck Of It?

February 26, 2014January 30, 2021 / Ally Bean / 16 Comments

I don’t know if arty is the right word to use here.

Maybe what I did by cutting out images from catalogues and then placing them in a stylish way upon our dining room table isn’t arty.

Maybe it’s just plain goofy.

Or maybe it’s just an example of nostalgia. You know, the sort of thing that we used to do when we were young and had time on our hands and there was no Pinterest.

Yep, that’s the explanation that I’m going to go with here. This inspiration board is RETRO.

Something that I did just for the heck of it.

Like when I was a girl with an eye for graphics and design– but didn’t know that was what I really was doing when I made my inspiration boards.

Or, as in this case, like an adult trapped inside the house courtesy of frigid temps, looking for ways to “refresh” & “make a statement.”

A Book Chat [Sort Of] About The Three Books That I’m Reading [Kind Of] This Month

February 25, 2014August 29, 2018 / Ally Bean / 12 Comments

[This month I’ve read three books. Well, to be more accurate– I’ve been browsing through, glancing at, skimming across three books. Because these books are not my usual fare of novels, histories, memoirs, I didn’t feel like I needed to read them in a linear way. Kind of fun to read like this, btw.]

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• For Christmas I received a copy of Giada’s Feel Good Food by Giada De Laurentiis. The book is mostly a cookbook with a few pages of personal details every so often. Over the weekend I sat down to read the personal parts of the book and found this quote on page 198: “I have curly hair, so I always brush it in the shower.”

This makes no sense to me. I’ve always been told to never brush my curly hair when it is wet. Yet here is Little Miss Accomplished & Gorgeous telling me to do this.

I’m confused. More than normal, that is. Why is she doing this?

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• A business acquaintance gave me a signed copy of Bring Your Superpowers To Work by Darcy Eikenberg, ACC. As some of you know, I have a love/hate relationship with self-help books. A few of them I’ve found to be useful, but most of them I find to be stating the obvious, poorly written and ultimately defeatist.

That being said, I love this book. Darcy is a life coach who knows how to write and provides practical ideas about how to become a better version of yourself. My favorite witticism of hers is on page 51: “affirm the squirm.” Meaning that if you’re intellectually uncomfortable with a new healthy behavior, then you’re growing a superpower & going in the right direction for you.

I’m still working on my Superpowers List; but when I complete it, I’ll be epic.

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• I’d forgotten all about Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg until I found a copy of it when I was reorganizing our home office after the new desk arrived. I decided that reading bits & pieces of this book, in no particular order, would be a great way for me to jumpstart my writing career.

To wit, the piece that I’m currently enamored of is on page 119 where she talks about making writing sweet: “… always associate learning with sweetness. It should be the same with writing. Right from the beginning, know that it is good and pleasant. Don’t battle with it. Make it your friend. “

Isn’t this a lovely thought? Who doesn’t need more friends?

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The Good News Is That The Neighbors Are Getting A New Roof

June 3, 2013June 3, 2013 / Ally Bean / 20 Comments

I cannot catch a break lately.

Last week as I watched my life get rather wonky, I decided that on this Monday, when I had nothing scheduled, I’d hang out on our screened-in porch. I figured that I’d take my laptop out there and set up camp for the day. To do this, all I need to do is to move the round glass-topped side table in front of a wicker lounge chair, add a few pillows for back support, reposition a smaller wooden side table for my mug of coffee– and I’m good to go.

And considering that the weather today is finally sunny + clear + mild, you’d think that I’d be out there, wouldn’t you? Doing my own suburban take on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Walden Pond lifestyle. Finding spiritual inspiration sitting next to the trees with the birds chirping and the squirrels squirreling. Being all peaceful and such.

But I’m not.

Instead, I’m in my home office with the French doors to the foyer closed, shades on windows down, trying to ignore the loud ruckus that is going on next door– and in front of my house. This is because my peaceful screened-in porch sanctuary looks out upon the chaos and mess going on next door as a new roof is being installed. Meaning that I am not feeling passionately at one with the whole world a la RWE, but I am feeling passive like a victim of Lemony Snicket’s Unfortunate Events.

However, be that as it may, looking on the brighter side of things, the neighbors are getting a new roof that they need after theirs was done-in by some hail damage last summer. So this is necessary. And when this is all finished I’ll be the one who gets to look at the prettiest roof in town.

So there’s that.

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