Friday Wisdom Brought To You By My Addled Brain + The Breakfast Club

May 16, 2014February 27, 2015 / Ally Bean / 8 Comments

In my addled brain, one thought leads to another.

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I bought some new nail polish. It looks like this color.

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I put the polish on my toenails and then put on a pair of leather sandals that are in this color.

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The color combo reminded me of Claire Standish, played by Molly Ringwald, in The Breakfast Club.

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When this movie came out, like every other girl of a certain age, I wanted to dress like Claire. Truth be known, I still kinda want to dress like Claire.

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Do you realize that it was 1985 when this movie was released? This means that I’ve grooved on this stylish look and quoted what I believe to be two of the best movie lines ever… for 29 years. Oh my!

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[Image Sources: 1) me; 2) Pantone here; 3) Pantone here; 4) Elle magazine, courtesy of Universal Pictures, here; 5) Not So Witty Witterings here; 6) me.]

I Tried, But The Joyful Bee Would Not Cooperate

May 1, 2014May 1, 2014 / Ally Bean / 8 Comments

“Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.”

~ William James

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If there’s one lesson that life has taught me, don’t take yourself too seriously. For instance, when you grab your camera and go out into your front yard to take a photo of the cute flag thingie that hangs from the tree, and the wind keeps blowing the cute flag thingie the wrong way, you do not get upset.

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Instead, you do your best to take a photo that captures the cute flag thingie in action. Giving it a whirl, so to speak. That is what you do.

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And then if after about 40 pics of the cute flag thingie your photo shoot has not gone as planned, you find a way to turn your experience into a charming ~~life lesson~~ blog post.

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Happy May Everyone. We made it through April. I do believe that it’s time to be joyful & twirl in the breeze. Care to join me?

Words Are The Best, Aren’t They?

March 18, 2014May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 25 Comments

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” ~ John 1:1, The Bible (KJV)

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This morning is the first one since we changed our clocks that I’ve gotten up at 6:00 a.m. without a struggle. Feeling more springy, I am, I am. That would be the good news.

On the other hand, even though I’m sitting here typing my heart out at my usual writing time, my mind is a complete blank when it comes to tales to tell. That would be the bad news.

So I thought that instead of a story I’d share with you three items that I discovered while surfing the ‘net. We’re all wordy people here, so I’m sure that you’ll get a kick out of the following fast and fun links.

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1. HERE is a “List Challenge” which is fast, fun and has cool sounds when you click on the books.

“The BBC believes that most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books below. How many have you read?”

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2. HERE is the “Are You a True Fashionista?” quiz which is fast, fun and more difficult than you might imagine.

“Test your style smarts by seeing how many fashion terms you know.”

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3. HERE is “Grammar Madness” on Twitter which looks like it will be fast, fun and worth watching throughout the rest of March.

This is the “battle to determine the most MADDENING writing error.”

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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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