BE Happy

A few things that make me happy right now...

(1) ITALIAN PHRASES: Recently, I began a deep dive into my genealogy (more on that in future posts) and as a result I started spewing all the Italian phrases I remembered my maternal grandmother saying. Some of them I could directly translate to English, like: “Manga!” = Eat! , and “Vieni qui” = Come here! But, there were others that I only knew phonetically and couldn’t quite translate. So I recruited my daughter who has taken years of Italian and sadly knows more than I do, to help me figure out exactly what my beloved grandmother was saying to me over and over again when I was a child. My young ears heard…"Stuts a zeet” which is really “Stai zitto” meaning “You shut up!”; “Dee mo dohna me” which is really “Di madonn’ ” loosely translated means “Holy shit!”; and finally, my favorite, “Dee ja nend a kwa” which is really “Dica nienta qua” meaning “Say nothing here!”. There was definitely a theme to these -HAHA! Now, if you read my BE Inspired post about Vincenza a few months back you’ll remember that I adored her and confirming that it is she from whom I get all my toughness and sass…makes me VERY happy!

(2) OrganizEat App: I finally bit the bullet and transferred all of my recipes to a recipe app and HOLY SMOKES it feels great! No more recipes on old note cards, torn from magazines, or printed from the web all stuffed into a binder. Now they are all neatly stored and organized on this app and it was so easy! You can just take a photo of your paper recipes (I loved this feature because my Mom/Grandmother’s handwriting was preserved 😊) or type in the web address and they are seamlessly uploaded. And, with just a few clicks of a button you can share any of them with friends and family. Going digital with my recipes made me very, very happy indeed!

(3) STUFF: When I find products that work for me I love sharing them with you so...

• Setting Spray: How do you keep your makeup looking fresh during the hot summer months? Use setting spray, of course! I did not know this existed until my daughter told me about it and now I’m obsessed. Just a few sprays on your face after you’ve applied your make-up and it will stay set and look good ALL day! Who knew?! I love THIS one.

• Blazers: Blazers are making a come back for the fall and I couldn’t be happier. Possibly my favorite outfit ever is a white tee shirt and jeans with a blazer! I saw many cute ones at Zara, Anthropologie, and Evereve. Check them out for a fresh fall look! Or try a shacket - basically an extra heavy flannel shirt that you can wear as a jacket. THIS one is adorable!

• Thereom Method Hair Care: This is a high end hair care line that uses science (I love science!) to formulate products that work for your specific hair type. I bought the Spectra Duo for gray hair (also for blondes) and I just love how it smells, how it keeps my grays from looking dull, and how it makes my hair so super soft! My friend Jeanne is a team member with this great company and she’d love to help you find the product that would work best for you. Shop with her HERE.

• Voila AI Artist Cartoon Photo App: Ok, I have a very silly side to me (as evidenced by my love of Foam Party Hats that no one in my family seemed very amused by - see BE Springy from May 2021) and so I jumped on the social media trend of a while back and downloaded this app. Basically, you upload a headshot photo which then gets transformed into various Pixar-ESQ caricatures. The laughs it produced alone was worth it! See my results below and try it for yourself!