Whimsy, according to Webster’s Online Dictionary, is the quality or state of being whimsical or fanciful. I’ve never been a whimsical or fanciful person. I’ve never tacked tiny windows and wooden doors to my tree for the trolls or made my bathroom cabinets look like little doll-houses. The closest I’ve come to whimsical is sprinkling fairy dust, a.k.a. glitter, across the pillow and along the window-sill for my daughter when I had to be the Tooth Fairy. Then one day, not too very long ago, while helping inventory new stock for Happy Mango Beads, I happened upon little lampwork glass beads made to look like cupcakes and ladybugs and mushrooms and flowers and rubber ducks. And I thought, these are just so darn cute and, dare I say it, whimsical.

Maybe it was the vibrant colors, maybe it was the craftsmanship, and maybe it was the fact that getting older has helped me to realize that everything in life doesn’t have to be practical or prudent or pragmatic. Some things in life can just be fun. Some things can just be for the sake of beauty or joy or even just a laugh.