It was the pendant that caught my eye, and the posts that kept me there.

Peacock millefiore heart on robles from For Giving Works Artisanal Jewelry

Lettie McArthur is the creator of ForGivingWorks. She’s a woman I don’t know yet. I’m looking forward to connecting with her.

For now, I’m just following her on Facebook (I “liked” her page) and I’m subscribed to her wonderful blog.

Why? Well, first I saw one of her pieces and thought it was extraordinary. I think I saw it on Facebook. Not sure. And then I wanted to learn more about her and checked out her blog.

That’s what really got me. Her writing ‘voice’ is lovely and truly speaks to me, and I imagine it will resonate with other women in my slice of life as well. The fact that Forgivingworks’ blended focus is on spirituality and artisanal jewelry just makes her all the more interesting to me. I’d call her a needle in a haystack sort of find, but on the web it’s not so crazy – all sorts of wonderful, meaningful connections are there to be found (if you look even the slightest bit).

I ‘found’ her not through her words but through her works. One connected me to the other, and I will most certainly enjoy keeping her stories and her works on my radar.

For more info:

• Forgivingworks’ one-of-a-kind creations are available on Etsy (http://forgivingworks.etsy.com). They’re beautiful to look at and even better to give as a special gift for a special person.
• Visit the Forgivingworks blog at (http://forgivingworks.wordpress.com)
• Stay connected on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/For-Giving-Works-Artisan-Jewelry/336777069657)

Btw, I endorse this site simply because it’s beautiful, meaningful, and worth sharing. .

Amazing Typewriter Art, and how it found me

This exceptional and innovative work of art by British artist Keira Rathbone caught my attention, that’s for sure! It was created entirely on a typewriter and the detail is just incredible!

I saw One Cool Thing A Day‘s post about Keira and her typewriter art because it was in Guy Kawasaki’s Holy Kaw!! blog, a roundup about interesting things which I happily subscribe to.

I’ve just subscribed to the site One Cool Thing A Day and now I can look forward to being refreshed with something extraordinary every morning!  Yay!

If you want to find things that interest you, follow those who share your interests and subscribe to their feeds. It’s that simple. I have the feeds I’m most interested in delivered to my email Inbox because that’s where I’m most likely to see them. You might prefer a feed reader. Choose what works best for you!

And if you like what Keira’s doing, subscribe to her blog, follow her on Facebook, or create a bookmark just so you can find her later. I found this video that shows Keira actually creating a piece and stuck it in here because it’s interesting. Enjoy!

There are many ways to find, follow, and engage on the web. If you find something that makes you happy, make it a regular part of your routine.

Proud Mom on Memorial Day

This gallery contains 2 photos.

Local kids (mine) participate in memorable Memorial Day events thru girl scouts. Great day. Lots of kids. Lots of pics. Continue reading →

A glorious walk with Becca

Becca, Intrepid Photographer

We welcome fall with open arms and a sense of wonder at the beauty, especially this season (so I hear) of the turning colors.  This past Sunday was an unexpectedly gorgeous afternoon with the scent of fall mingling with the warm, golden sunlight. So Becca and I set off on a walkabout, bringing our cameras with us. I used cameras as a ploy really to get her out for a longer walk, and we used the ‘photo adventure’ to head down Edgewood, a beautiful street around the corner from us.

I had no idea we’d take over 100 pictures, but it was just so easy.  Click on Becca’s picture to enjoy the rest of them.

There are some really beautiful, interesting things we saw on our adventure, including this humungous fungus.

What kind of mushroom is this??

The Beneficial Consequences of Social Meandering

I happened upon this image as I was snooping around trying to find out more about an old friend, Steve McKeown, who I found (stumbled upon) via Facebook earlier today. Steve lived around the corner from me in Framingham. We didn’t really hang out much but he was a good guy, so I pinged him to say hello. It was nice to ‘see’ him, and it brought back all sorts of memories and smiles.

It is exactly this sort of serendipity that makes Facebook such a wonderful thing. I don’t have many conversations on there and in fact feel a little uncomfortable sharing much about me and my life online in that way. (I bore most of my friends with social media stuff instead). But there’s a sort of goodness in making those little connections. Especially the unexpected ones.

My friend Stephen (vs. the Photographer Stephen, not the same person) notes on Facebook that he’s not sure what to do with it (Facebook). My advice to anyone out there reading this: Just go with it. If YOU stumble upon people who bring a smile to your face, friend them. Just make the connection. It might go further and it might not, but it just might lead to goodness of one kind or another.

By the way, I find it interesting that the photographer’s site is entirely dedicated to the late race car driver Tom Herron and this is the only unrelated photo on his site. Also interesting is that upon drilling into this  photographer’s links, I found (stumbled upon) many motorsports links that are most definitely going to be of value to me and a company I’m working with – Motorsports Marketing Resources.

And so it goes. Meander away – you never know what you’ll find.

Just make sure you have a place to stash all those links you stumble upon yourself!

Do you have any stories to share about your own social meanderings??

Who knew a walk on a bridge would be so wonderful?

Yesterday was a banner day. Not only was it gorgeous, our girls both had afternoon play dates and sleepovers. Somewhere else !!!

So Steve and I took total advantage and set off on an adventure to Portsmouth, NH (Steve’s choice) and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. What a great town! The galleries were fabulous – I especially liked the Hand-blown Glass studio and a few of the crafts boutiques.

Raw Bar at Jumpin Jays. Yum.

We had dinner at Jumpin Jay’s after checking out some reviews on Chowhound etc. and it was fun and funky even at 5:30 (that’s when we could get a reservation, although we could have walked in any time up til  6:15ish no problem). Highly recommend the mussels there – best EVER. Seriously. Skip the pasta provencale (although the scallops on it were amazing). Would go back in a heartbeat!There was also a folk festival at Prescott Park which we enjoyed as we walked around the waterfront (there is an incredible array of activities in Portsmouth – fairs, festivals, concerts – who knew??!!)

Prescott Park Arts Festival on the Portsmouth, NH Waterfront

The ride was easy, parking was $.75/hour, a very energetic, nice, walkable town. We’ll be going back for sure! And the stroll across the bridge into Portland, ME was excellent – a very special way to watch the sun set.

Other places we’ll check out next time:  The Monkey Bar, maybe a cruise, drinks on the waterfront, a nearby beach. And we might try to get back for Richie Havens, who will be playing at Prescott Park on Wed. July 29th. (Want to join us??)

Even better (don’t get me wrong, I love my kids) was one-on-one time with Steve, sleeping in, and waking up (on MY terms) to a beautiful sunny (and quiet) morning!

Josh’s Getting Married …

My brother Josh is 47. He’s always wanted to be married, never gave up on his dream, just never met the right person until he found Michael Chandler … a wonderful woman and fellow journalist (he at the LA Times/Tribune, she at the Washington Post).

I am thrilled beyond belief that they have found each other and welcome Michael to our family with open arms – she ROCKS!! We don’t know when the wedding will be but it can’t come soon enough.

What are YOU doing to follow your dream??

Josh & Michael's Official Engagement (self) Photo

Some great ideas and examples for ‘selling’ Social Media to your future champions

Chris Brogan posted some great content today about helping to win over the skeptics and get your Social Media agenda greenlighted.

Adoption, and willingness to invest in new social media-oriented programs, is ramping up slowly,  too slowly for me and the projects I’m trying to get off the ground.

I bet many of you are having the same issues.

In an effort to get the corporate sponsorship and commitment required to “green light” SM projects, you need additional resources … ideas, tools and examples of successful SM implementations.

How do you find your champions and equip your  mission to be successful?

In my book, proven success stories and shared best practices are some of the surest ways to communicate potential and win over the skeptics. There’s a boatload of both in Chris’s post, “Get on the right side of the Fence”.

Read it here

photo credit: ScottieT812

MIT CIO Symposium’s Academic Keynote Panel (featuring Gary Beach, Publisher Emeritus, CIO Magazine)

“Grugging” = Blogging reduced to Mono-Syllabic responses

Awareness Networks today unveiled the concept of “grugging” which is short for grunt-blogging.

Grugging returns the act of communication to a more primal level and requires the user express all they need to say with monosyllabic expressions.

Continuing on this trend, Awareness unveiled the concept of “grugging” which is short for grunt-blogging. Grugging returns the act of communication to a more primal level and requires the user express all they need to say with monosyllabic expressions. “If you look are today’s culture you will see we still find ourselves communicating in that primal way,” Carter explains. “As an example, Johnny Depp brought resurgence in the expression ‘Aargh’, in his role as Captain Jack Sparrow. Just the other day, I wanted to let a colleague know I did not find any value in his ideas so simply stated ‘Duh!’.

Grugging is ideal for communicating in a downward economy as it is more concise, efficient and cost-effective. “People are having difficulty finding an ROI in more cumbersome forms of communication. In today’s economy, we have to do more with less.”, said Mike Lewis VP of Marketing at Awareness. In a private press briefing, journalists found themselves agreeing or disagreeing with the new product by simply stating “ahh” or “huh?”