Valerie Bean is the lucky winner of our door prize for filling out the WomenBloom survey back in January!  She won–this is so exciting–a WomenBloom calendar (delightful!), a WomenBloom mug (adorable!), and a 3 pack of Mary Louise Butters’ brownies (scuuurumptious!).  These brownies are unbelievable in their sheer yumminess as well as the vast array of flavors available:  hazelnut and chocolate, cranberries and chocolate, stout beer brownies, crystallized ginger brownies…these are only a drop in the bucket and best of all, you can order them in the mail!

Valerie lives outside Toronto (that’s right, WomenBloom is INTERNATIONAL! :)) and between corporate and technical writing gigs, Valerie Bean writes magazines features, news, profiles, and general-interest articles. She is a published book author and an internationally published poet.

I was tickled by her response to my email proclaiming the good news:

“I won?! I won??? I won!!!!!!

How exciting! I cannot wait to receive WomenBloom swag. I promise to show it off at the office and to post a pic on my blog. ;-)”

Yes, Valerie please DO display the WomenBloom stuff everywhere!  

I think Valerie’s sense of humor is great so I asked her what she found most funny, most unexpected about this midlife thing.  True to form….

“Midlife? Who says I’m midlife???? Oh. Right.

I have yet to find anything FUNNY about being middle-aged. LOL. Seriously. I’m just in a place now where I’m waiting for menopause to begin and worklife to end …

I dunno …

… but what I do know is that most unexpected thing is how much my mannerisms remind me like my mother. I mean it. I find myself driving with both hands on the wheel, twiddling my fingers in a certain way when I eat breakfast, and even shuffling when I dance. I can easily remember how much those mannerisms bothered me when I was teenager. And guess what? Now my pre-teen looks at me — with that look — when I drive, when I eat breakfast, when I shuffle as I dance.

I’m surprised at how long it’s taking for my dark blonde hair to turn grey. Maybe that’s the most unexpected thing.”

Then in a follow up email…

“I’ve been thinking about this question. It’s an awesome question. And maybe the thing that surprises me most is how young I feel. I look in the mirror and see my mother’s face at 45, but most days I feel as if I am still in high school.”

No kidding, Valerie, don’t we all??  Although I’m thankful to FEEL like I’m in high school, I am extremely GRATEFUL that I’m not!

Valerie has a blog, check out People, Places, and Things!  Thanks again, Valerie, for contributing to the survey!

Posted on February 11th, 2009 by admin
Filed under: Awards, Humor, Uncategorized