Life is Good ~ 365 Days a Year!

Today marks a milestone for us!  One year ago we started a project we weren't sure we could finish but we were determined to try!  We called it "Life is Good" and our original intent was to focus on someone who did something good every day!   The idea came from the acts of a couple of strangers who went out of their way to do something kind, with no apparent reason for doing so.  Within a short time, the project kind of morphed into all kinds of things that were good in our lives...people, places, things, events, etc.  Today we are quite pleased to be able to say, "WE DID IT!"   Some of our posts may have seemed a bit far-fetched and some of them may have seemed a bit repetitive (such as how many we did of our kids and grandkids), but we did it nonetheless!

Many studies have been done and much has been published by people who know a lot more than we do about the beneficial effects that come from gratitude, the power of positive thinking and numerous other terms for the same thing.  Deborah Norville wrote a wonderful book that I read several years ago called Thank You Power, Making the Science of Gratitude Work For You.   In his book, The Power of Positive Thinking, Norman Vincent Peale says, “The way to happiness: Keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply, expect little, give much. Scatter sunshine, forget self, think of others. Try this for a week and you will be surprised.”   A former Phoenix news anchor, Daryn Kagan, created an amazing website (www.darynkagan.com), which says it is "your one-stop shop for uplifting and positive stories."  What we did on a small scale, she has been doing daily on a worldwide scale for years.  There is even a business we love and follow on Facebook called Life is Good!  Their tag line is "spreading the power of optimism" and everything they do is about just that.  They even just had a Life is Good Festival on September 21 and 22.  So you see...we didn't create the concept; we just jumped on the bandwagon!  Let's face it, there are a LOT of good people out there doing good things and good "stuff" happens every day to each of us.  The choice is ours as to what we do with it.

All we did was test these theories out in our own small world.  Really, the effects and results have been amazing.  It has kept us focused on at least one positive thing every day and has really magnified how many good things happen every day in each one of our lives.  We find this to be true even when some things are not going so great.  Just focusing on something good can change our whole outlook for that day.  We're not going to lie...some days have been harder than others, but the opposite of that is there have been times when we've had far more material to work with than we had days!  We also believe that our strong faith in God and His provision for us, along with belief in the power of prayer and in real-life miracles, has been directly related to pointing out so much wonderful subject matter for our daily observations.

In the end, it's been a great year for us in more ways than one.  This project has really helped us to realize that and we sincerely hope to keep the good vibes going, even if we just think to ourselves of one good thing that happened at the end of each day.  We challenge all our friends to do the same thing.

We don't know what our next project will be, but we do know there will be one.  We're thinking, though, that it might be a weekly project instead of daily.  Maybe that will give us time to post some of our awesome photography on other days.  Maybe we'll actually start blogging again.  We have far more ideas banging around in our heads than we have time for!  If you've got a great idea, we sure hope you'll share it with us.

And, before we close this blog (our first in a year!) we want to thank those of you who followed us, commented, liked, shared or even just smiled at some of our posts.  We couldn't have done it without your support urging us on to do the next one.

Since it's been a whole year since we started this project, we thought we'd share a few of our oldies, but goodies...otherwise known as some of our favorite posts and photos.  Don't forget to keep taking photos and having them taken.  They bring back some pretty awesome memories, sometimes just when you need them most. So, here we go...in no particular order:

 

 

Love and blessings...

Is it Really Possible?

Is it really possible that five women who fought like cats and dogs growing up, who tattled on each other, who tricked and kicked each other, who shared bedrooms, bathrooms, cars, friends, hot rollers and cars with each other could spend 3 days together and not only get along but have the time of their lives?  I'm here to tell you, YES it's not only possible, but the norm for me and my sisters!  After spending a weekend with all of them (yes all 4 counting me = 5) plus my daughter and Karen's daughter-in-law...it's the honest to goodness truth!  Several decades later there's nothing more fun for me (and I think I speak for all of us) than spending time with each other.  Maureen and Tiffany fit right in with the more "mature"women (yea right!) and we hope to have them along on many more trips in the future.  You have never seen so much laughing going on...with each other, at each other and for each other.  Our mom is HUGELY missed when we are together.  The last sister's weekend she had with us was also spent in Pinetop.

The Last Sister's Weekend with our Mom....oh how we miss her!

During our adult lives, she was the central point of communication to whom we could all turn to get caught up to date on what was going on with each other.  Since her passing nearly two years ago we have all had to work harder to stay in the loop with each other.

BIKES ONLY????

Cindy has always wanted to stop at the junkyard in Rye. We decided as we were approaching it that there was no time like the present, so off we went to explore the junk!  First of many laughs....

Karen and Tiffany in this little ? (what was it that
Cindy called this...a Tick Tick?)

Tiffany trying out some new wheels!

We left on a good laugh after the
"Junkyard
Dog" chased us away for
touching the inventory!

"And this chair fits just right"
said "Little Kim" as she settled into
Hailey's sherpa chair!

Painting our wine and margarita
glasses rendered us as serious
as we got all weekend...

Our creations!

We whiled the weekend hours away on the deck with coffee, painting wine glasses, photographing critters, cocktails, a fire in the fire pit, celebrating Cindy's birthday, and games on the deck.  And we ventured out for photo shoots, antique shopping , an evening in the "Orchard" at Charlie Clark's Steakhouse, dinner at our favorite Mexican food spot, and more photos in "The Thing".  And if we weren't laughing we were talking...non-stop!  Our journeys through life have taken us on different paths but we come together with the commonality of our childhood memories, the moral compass our mother instilled in us, and a book of memories that we are thankful is continuing to grow with each passing year of life.

 

Celebrating Cindy's birthday Saturday!

"Where the Wild Things Are"

             

    

And... "Where the Wild Things Are"

Our pictures prove that in our case you're never too old to act silly in the company of your best friends!

So yes....it's really possible, and true!  I love and cherish these women with all my heart!

By the way...I love and cherish the photos we take with each other too!

                         Hug the ones you love!  ~Tina 

On the front of the shirts Karen had made for us :-)

    

We're on the Road Again!

We're off to the cool country tomorrow and "girl" are we excited.  Years ago we vowed to plan and follow through on a "Sister's Weekend" at least once a year.  A weekend where all five of us could leave jobs, kids, spouses and the ties of our home lives to frolic, laugh, shop, eat, drink, and be merry- uninterrupted.  Forty years ago that would have been the LAST thing we would have wanted to do is spend a weekend with "those sisters" that we shared everything from a bedroom to the hot rollers with! But with much of our lives behind us we have come to cherish our relationships with each other and I think I speak for all of us when I say that our relationships with each other are one of life's greatest blessings.  Our mom used to accompany us on our weekends and her absence has made making time for these get-togethers seem even more critical.  In fact, it's only been 9 months since our last trip and we were all feeling the need for a "sister fix"!   This year we are so happy that two of our "Gen Y" offspring are accompanying us (girls only)!  They are either going to be completely flabbergasted by our antics, totally embarrassed, or sorry they haven't joined us sooner.  I'm guessing it will be the latter.  So...down the road we go!  We hope to have some classic pictures to share.  Don't forget to record life's best moments by freezing them in time with photographic images...they'll be good for some heartwarming smiles later on!

At the "Shady Del"~November 2011

Until next time~ 

Tina

"Our roots say we're sisters, our hearts say we're friends."  

 ~Author Unknown

 In Memory of Baby {B}

January 13, 2012-June 11, 2012

A couple of weeks ago I received a call from a stranger who introduced herself as an older sister to a new mommy of a terminally ill baby boy who was just 4 months old.  On behalf of her sister she was desperately seeking someone to take professional photos of him before he passed away.  For a couple of weeks she had been frantically trying to contact photographers who have volunteered their services for just this purpose with no luck.  She told me she had contacted 10 photographers and not one had called her back.  

We normally photograph happy occasions and milestones so this blindsided us.  Additionally we were swamped with other jobs and timelines and not sure how we could commit to this endeavor since the window of time was potentially very small.  But a little voice in my head told me this challenge was placed in our path for a reason and God would help us find a way.  And He did.

We knew going into this that it may be a difficult session but we were prepared to provide a service that was very important to them. What we didn’t think about was how it would change us.  They opened their hearts and shared the story of their beautiful baby with us, and we instantly felt a connection with this adorable family of five.  Often we as humans find ourselves asking how or why things like this happen but I sensed after spending time with them that their baby touched the lives of not only those that loved him, but those they had never even met until this time in their lives. Photographing this family in the face of a tragedy allowed us to witness first hand how God has given them strength, courage, grace, humility and love to deal with His plan for Baby {B}.

We have been in contact with them since then getting some things ready for the time when they will want to share his beautiful images with their loved ones at his funeral services.  We were just a sprinkle in his timeline on earth, but he and his family have left their footprints on our hearts forever.  

Yesterday we received the call that Baby {B} had passed from this life and is now resting in peace in the arms of God. With heavy hearts we are thinking of his beautiful family in their time of sorrow and wish to extend our deepest sympathy to them. 

Go in Peace,

Tina

 

"Have courage for the great sorrows of life, and patience for the small ones.  And when you have laboriously accomplished your daily tasks, go to sleep in Peace.  God is awake."  ~Victor Hugo

It's Christmas Time...Our Wish for You!

Our wish for friends, family and those we don't yet know...

PEACE

HOPE

LOVE

JOY...

And on that note, here's our card for you...

Love,

"The Sisters"