Yes!

Hazy With A Chance Of Slot Machines

/ Ally Bean / 13 Comments

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On Saturday some friends who live in a small town north of here came to the ‘Nati to play for the day.  We get together a few times a year and just goof off.

And the best part?  No detailed plans, just hanging out for the afternoon seeing where life would take us.  Yeah Team Mellow.

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We drove up a large hill, on the west side of town, into an old part of the city called Price Hill, and stopped at a small city park dedicated to a long forgotten form of transportation, the incline.  An incline was a cable railway that took passengers up & down steep hills.  In this park there were a few plaques commemorating The Price Hill Incline, which allowed people to ride out of & into the city of Cincinnati from 1874 to 1943.

And the best part?  This tiny park was a hidden gem– clean, quiet, providing a city view from a different angle than I have ever seen before.  Way cool.

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While we were up on the hill we went to lunch at a restaurant, Incline Public House, located beside the park.  We sat out on the deck that looks over Cincinnati, the Ohio River and into Kentucky.  Even though it was a hazy day, seeing the buildings, railroad tracks and barges from way up high was mesmerizing.  The food was delicious.  I had lamb sliders with goat cheese + cherry bourbon chutney, along with a side salad of fresh greens + peppercorn ranch dressing.

And the best part?  A shot of Woodford Reserve Bourbon in my iced tea.  Yum.

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After driving around Price Hill so that we could admire the architecture of the old homes, we drove down into Cincinnati and went to the casino that opened there in March.  Casinos are a new big deal in Ohio.  While I’m not much of a gambler, I’m nothing if not a curious person so I was happy to see what Horseshoe Casino was all about.  It was much nicer than I thought it was going to be– beautifully decorated, good sound system, a variety of restaurants and smoke-free.  [Take that Indiana.]

And the best part?  I walked away from the 25¢ slot machines, $5.00 richer!  Cha-ching. 

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2 Movies, 2 Books & 1 New Name

/ Ally Bean / 15 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 June report.

2 Movies

Life Happens – Smart + funny.  In this comedy, Krysten Ritter, Kate Bosworth & Rachel Bilson star as three very different 20-something women who share a house in a hipster part of L.A.  One of the roommates becomes pregnant and after the baby is born all three women try to continue to live their lives as before.  Witty dialogue.  Fascinating sets.  Charming ending.  Recommended if you enjoy laughing at the ups & downs of relationships, careers and motherhood.

Brother Rat – Wordy + dated.  Set at the Virginia Military Institute, this uneven 1938 movie is a black-and-white classic.  Three cadets try to keep one cadet’s marriage secret from just about everybody.  Hijinks/whining/confusion ensues.  The movie is best known for 2 facts: 1) it is Eddie Albert’s first role in a movie;  & 2) Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman met while filming this.  Half-heartedly recommended if you are curious about early films and stuck at home on a rainy day.

2 Books

Beautiful Ruins – Wonderful + memorable.  This novel by Jess Walter is one of the best that I’ve read in years.  Set primarily in Italy and Hollywood, it is a decades long love story between an Italian innkeeper and an American actress.  It is alternately amusing, insightful, satirical and heartbreaking.  The writing is smooth, the plot is flawless and the ending is just as it needs to be.  Highly recommended to anyone who likes to read fiction.

The Year the Music Changed – Clever + sweet.  This story is about a brilliant & lonely 14-year-old girl who sends a fan letter to a then unknown country singer named Elvis Presley.  He writes back and they become pen pals telling each other their secrets and triumphs.  Diane Thomas, the author of this book, does a marvelous job of weaving facts about Elvis into a warm, captivating story of self-awareness and the power of friendship.  Recommended if you like coming-of-age stories and music history.

1 New Name

I cannot resist silly, pointless, time-wasting name generators.  They call to me.  I’m curious.  I NEED to know.  So when I found the Old West Name Generator, I knew that I had to find out what my name would have been if I had been born between 1860 to 1890.

And here is what I discovered.  Back then you would have known me as:

Lily Jessamine Roush.

Pretty name, huh?

Christmas In June

/ Ally Bean / 28 Comments

Years ago I met an Australian woman whose husband’s company had transferred them to the U.S.A. for one year.  It wasn’t until after she got talking about how much she had disliked experiencing Christmas in the wintertime here, that I got thinking about how people in the Southern Hemisphere celebrate Christmas.  For them, Christmas is a summertime, outdoorsy holiday.

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I think of this woman every June 25th– and pause in her honor to reflect upon how much more I, too, would enjoy Christmas if today’s weather was our typical Christmas Day.

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Sunny skies.  Warm temperatures.  Colorful flowers.  Green grass.  Games on the lawn.  Easy outside living.

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So today, just for the heck of it, I have decided to put this red poinsettia* in the middle of the dining table on the deck.  Sure, the calendar may not say that it is Christmas Day, but I think that I’m going to go ahead and pretend that it is.  Care to join me?

“Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la” 

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* Yes, this is the same poinsettia, previously featured here & here & here, that I’ve had growing inside the house since November of 2011.  Best. Christmas decoration. Ever.

Revenge, I Now Know, Is Lime Green

/ Ally Bean / 27 Comments

A few years ago I attended a good-bye party for a woman who lived across the street.  At this party were other neighbors who I met for the first time.  One was a nice woman who, until not too long ago, lived up the street.

During the party this woman got talking about her husband who feared color.  She told me that he would only allow her to have pure white walls and trim in their house.

Fear?  Allow?  Say what?!  What decade is this?

Naturally I was curious.  So I asked her how fear of color manifested.  I mean, I dislike certain shades of color but I do not fear them.  They are not my enemies.  I do not cower in their presence.

She told me that for her husband seeing anything that wasn’t uniform made him uneasy– so much so that different shades of any color, including white, were anxiety producing for him.  She also said that they had nothing hanging on the walls because that made him crazy, too.

I asked her if she, too, feared color.  But she didn’t.  In fact, she volunteered that she liked all colors a lot.

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Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I was out for a walk and saw a For Sale sign in the front yard of this couple’s house.

Not surprisingly, they had divorced.

She had kept the house for a while after the divorce, but now had put the property on the market using a realtor who always puts photos from inside the house on the For Sale sign outside the house.

When I got a close-up of the For Sale sign I almost couldn’t stop laughing.  On the sign was one large photo of the interior of this modern, open-concept house which features 14′ cathedral ceilings on the first floor.

And what color were these large dramatic walls inside this house?  They were a shade of citrus-y lime green so glaringly bright that parrots would look pale standing near them.  Bold + loud.  A decidedly in-your-face color.

Yes, that’s the color that this newly divorced woman painted the walls after all those years of living with a color-phobic husband.  And, damn, do those walls look good.  Finally.

Way to make a statement, girlfriend.  Way to go.  😉