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.”

Cold. Bored. But With A Song In My Heart. Or Something Like That.

February 10, 2014February 10, 2014 / Ally Bean / 16 Comments

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Let’s pretend, for purposes of discussion, that in an uncharacteristic development, I’ve discovered that I have NOTHING TO WRITE ABOUT here today.

That after a week of being at home, unable to get my car down our driveway onto the street due to an ice build-up at the bottom of the driveway where it meets the street, I have NO STORIES TO TELL.

That after this weather-induced hermit experience my creativity and awareness have disappeared, lost in the boredom that comes from DOING TOO MUCH NOTHING BY MYSELF.

Meaning that all I have to share with you, my gentle readers, is a photo of a birch tree branch that fell on top of the icy snow, making a lovely visual summation of my current situation: IT’S FREEZING OUTSIDE AND I GOT NOTHING MUCH TO DO.

Except, I guess, to decide what song needs to be in my heart. ANY SUGGESTIONS, ANYONE? Goodness knows, I have the time to listen to them all!

So You Want A Blog With Personality, Eh?

January 31, 2014August 29, 2018 / Ally Bean / 21 Comments

“In the midst of the personified impersonal, a personality stands here. Though but a point at best; whencesoe’er I came; wheresoe’er I go; yet while I earthly live, the queenly personality lives in me, and feels her royal rights.”

~ Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; Or, The Whale

• • •

Lately one Google search term has brought inquisitive minds to my blog. People arrive wanting to know:

HOW TO GIVE A BLOG A PERSONALITY.

When the inquisitive ones arrive here they find themselves looking at a post that I wrote called: Yea Verily, A Personality Test Doth A Blog Post Make. As this post talks about the variables that form a human being’s personality, I can only assume that the inquisitive ones leave here sad & uninformed.

WELL, THIS WILL NOT DO AT ALL.

Thus, as someone with a queenly personality, I am pleased to explain how I believe you give a blog a personality. Happy to do it, in fact. From what I can tell, there are four points to keep in mind.

#1 You, yourself, must have a personality that you are willing to share with the world. I’m not being snarky here, but I’ve come to realize that if you do not know who you are & how you want to be perceived by other people, then your blog will show it.

#2 Make your blog look stylish in a way that reflects who you are. Sounds shallow, but a smart-looking blog keeps readers coming back. Don’t know why, but it does. (See #1)

#3 Show up to your stylish blog on a regular basis and write posts that are the epitome of clarity, that give an insight into your values, that suggest an authentic person is keeping this blog. (See #1)

#4 Leave supportive, interesting comments on other blogs so that everyone who reads what you have to say will know that you have a personality– and that you’re not afraid to use it. (See #1)

SO THERE YOU HAVE IT.

Giving a blog a personality is really just about as simple as that. Not necessarily easy, but simple. And doable if you put your heart and mind into it.

Good Luck, inquisitive ones. I leave you with this blessing.

• • •

“May the blogging gods smile upon you– and reward your efforts with genuine followers, sincere likes & insightful comments.”

~ Ally Bean, The Spectacled Bean

A Funeral On Friday In Florida

January 13, 2014July 1, 2025 / Ally Bean / 25 Comments

A view of Sarasota Bay & the beautiful clouds above taken from my hotel room balcony.

~ • ~

Last Thursday I boarded a flight to Sarasota, FL, so that I could attend my aunt’s funeral on Friday. Although my aunt’s health had declined during the last few years, it was still a strange feeling to travel for this reason.

I knew that it was likely that she would proceed me in death, but when the phone call came a few days after Christmas that she had passed, I was sort of stunned. Granted at age 88 she was the last relative of the WWII generation in my family, but I think that we all thought that she’d go on forever.

~ • ~

The waterfall by the pool at my hotel. It’s all about water in Sarasota.

~ • ~

Family members from all over the country attended her funeral, which was about as happy as a funeral can be. She had lived a full & unique life– and after years of chronic illness she was ready to go.

Talking with everyone at a casual dinner the night before the funeral, all were in agreement that our aunt– or mother, or grandmother– was: generous, funny, kind, educated, creative, determined & a church lady, in the best sense of that phrase.

~ • ~

Prettiness while looking across Sarasota Bay at a pink building situated underneath the blue winter FL sky.

~ • ~

The service on Friday was in a lovely Episcopalian church on Siesta Key. It was late in the afternoon and the light from the setting sun shone through the multicolored abstract stained glass windows that rimmed the top of the sanctuary.

‘Twas beautiful & inspiring in a way that perfectly summarized the goodness that was my late aunt. And I do believe, set the stage for a wonderful, loud, cheerful family dinner afterwards at a local restaurant where everyone lifted their glass of her favorite wine, pinot grigio [or whatever they were drinking], to toast her one last time.

~ • ~

So long, Aunt Mary Jane. You were the best.