Gratitude, Karma and Serendipity all rolled into ONE Make-Your-Day Story!

Not only is it FRIDAY, which is a great feeling - wrapping up a busy work week, looking forward to the weekend kind of day.  We have a story that will make you feel GREAT to boot!


A week ago my friend and I met before work for breakfast, and in walks an elderly lady to join her friend as well.  Well such as it would be, she felll down the stairs, and could not get up!  We ran over to assist, took charge to advise her to go to the ER - something this post-surgical hospital floor for years gal does NOT advise lightly...EEEK!  Her ankle was swelling quickly within a minute and did not look good!  She agreed and the two of us with another diner gent helped get her across the restaurant, back up another flight of stairs to the sidewalk level to her awaiting friend in the car to deliver her little damaged foot to the doctors.

Well, I know you must be wondering, as we were too - WHAT HAPPENED?  In those situations we are often left wondering about the outcome!  Kind of like when I dislocated my shoulder on the plane in front of a flight full of passengers...I think wowsa, what happened?  So we tried to check with the restaurant and see if anyone notifed them.  Indeed they had.  She had a terrible break, dislocation of the ankle and even a tibia break too, which resulted in 2-3 days' stay, surgery, pins and plates, and 8-weeks ordered of no weight bearing on her poor leg! Yowsa! 

Well lo and behold, today a week later, and I ran over there for a cup of coffee, and wouldn't you know at that EXACT same moment, a gentleman came in and I heard my NAME Serendipity!  He asked if I had helped his Mom when she fell and broke her ankle, so indeed I was one of them, yes.  Well, this fine upstanding citizen handed me cards for me and my friend since we work together anyway, and in it was a lovely THANK YOU note and a gift card to the restaurant!!!  Oh I about cried!!!  That is so sweet of her to send and for him to seek us out on behalf of his mom - and there is another card with a gift card for the other dining patron gent that assisted us too.  :) 

This goes to show you SOOOO many things - gratitude, helping others without expectation, just thos efeel-good-make-your-day moments.  And to boot, it doesn't hurt that the two fellas that insisted on ordering instead of letting the waitress help by gathering ice for her quickly swelling foot...well, they didn't get nothin'! ;)

Have a WONDERFUL Friday, Weekend and do something kind for someone...just because!
~Delightful Digital Diva

Daring Dancing Diva TOOOO.....Daring Delightful Digital Diva

One thing I like is FREEDOM creatively, and to be honest moving my blog to my photography website was not allowing me that freedom. I mean, really ONE photo per blog left or right??? Not for me.  Maybe I have two favorites, maybe I want it in the middle of the page. 

Soooooo, I'm taking it back!   I'm keeping my 'old' blog, now new again, freshened and will continue to tell stories from womanhood, parenthood, dating, photography, kids, life, love and more! 
Here we go!!!! Let's focus on the positive, capture things through thought and image...and we'll take another shot!

~Delightful Daring Digital Diva

Thanksgiving Massacre of 2010....

Title sounds gruesome, and what you are about to read might be as well, waaaahaha! Just kidding, sort of. You would never know it by the looks of this picture just what happened that Thanksgiving of 2010. It was a cold, dreary night...just kidding!

My parents, my sis and her hubby had decided to switch things up for Thanksgiving and travel to Utah to ol' sis' house and oh wouldn't this be FUN! Indeed it was...or at least in part!

My son threw up on the way there, and I thought nothing of it since he would sometimes get motion sickness. We were only an hour away. Then at 10 minutes from arrival he did again. Hopeful we could just arrive and get him grounded, oh he would feel better. The poor little fella headed straight for the garbage can when we hit the ground, and he did not leave it until the next MORNING...yup, every five minutes, even falling asleep in between right on the garbage! Oh how mommies do not like to see their kiddos sick, but most especially while ON VACATION! BOOOOO! I was up with him all night, doing the hopeful-head-bobbing thing...you know, the "oh, I think he's done, cjust start to doze, then WHAM...nope, up and at em again!" That proceeded throughout the night and into the morning with some sleep finally about 5am.

BAM, Kids sure do feel better when they feel better! He was up and at em in the morning, and we all had hustle and bustle preparing a nice meal and all the fixin's! We even went out to take these lovely pictures, and by evidence of these and more on that Thanksgiving DAY, you would never even have a clue what happened! Well.......we enjoyed those photos, play time, and a delightful meal, most of us together at my sister's home!

She and I even headed out for some shopping, and then in the morning WHAM.....in the middle of JC Penney and without warning I had to make a RUN for the bathroom! Oh it hit me like a ton of bricks...and I proceeded to go home and lay on the couch alllllll day, only to rise ever 15-20 minutes to rid my body of the last possible anything left within me. I cannot recall a time except once in junior high school that I had been so sick! UGH! And, of course the BEST part, was being sick on a vacation, and IN SOMEONE ELSE'S home and trying not to breathe or touch anything! Each time to the bathroom, we would wipe everything down on the way out! Oh it was awful! At least everyone else hadn't gotten it....

Well, at bedtime, my mom said "honey, you should at least move to your bed it's bedtime" WHAT? An entire DAY and evening had passed? Who took care of my kiddos, who fed them, what did they eat? I had NO recollection of anything! Nada, zip, zero, zilch! Man alive was I sick!! So, I grabbed my bucket, balanced myself to head downstairs to the guest room. And I begged my sister to help me get them to bed, which she was in the process already, and she said "Houston, we've got a problem" and as I glanced down the hallway, what did I see? My daughter with her head in a bucket groaning....OH NO!!!! I wasn't even done being sick myself!! I was clearly incapable of caring for them, I figured if she threw up I would gag and throw up again myself, oh was I in for a long and delirious night!

Here's a funny part - my daughter is admittedly the 'weeny' of the bunch and she actually made me laugh during this when she said "Oh oh oh mom, you have to take me to the doctor, what I have is soooooo much worse than what you and Owen had..." I stifled my giggle even while hanging onto my bucket and said "suck it up ya silly girl and get ready to PUKE!" what more could I say? She needed a little tough love right then, and I didn't really have much empathy left in me!

Well, at least her time frames were farther apart and I did feel better myself, and we did get SOME rest, but boy oh boy what a Massacre that was! And you know what??? That morning we bleached everything we possibly could in my sister's home, washed rags, towels, bedding, you name it. And NOBODY ELSE got sick - admittedly my parents took off a day early wanting to avoid the plague, understandable, but thank goodness nobody caught what we brought!

AND, having just arrived back from a weekend jaunt to visit my sister and her hubby again, we got to have a successful NON-ill trip, so PHEW!!!!!! Now you know the rest of the story....as Paul Harvey would say!
~Delightful, Daring Diva - with Delightful Darlings too :)

Oh what a birthday present ;)

What a birthday present this fella got this year!! It is such an honor to be part of one's life in the littlest ways and help someone make a very special and intimate gift.
But there's MUCH MORE....

Being comfortable in the health field, approachable, easy-going and a women's advocate seems to have affected one line of my photography business - the DARING DIVA collection! 

My very first official photo session was for a wedding gift, and I have done many since!  Each Diva session is fun, amazing and I see or learn something new about women from all my Diva's!

So what an honor to be part of someone's ah-ha, to inspire someone, to help someone feel beautiful, get comfy, let go of the nerves and have FUN behind the camera for themselves and the recipient of the photo album!! AND what fun to create the final product to WOW the Diva AND have a very special gift for someone too - what a birthday this fella got! :) Contact me today to feel sexy & beautiful!
~Daring Diva - - - Dial the Diva at 406-498-6993, or digital at tabatha@divadigitaldesign.com :)

High School connection, families growing up...

While I like to think that I do not age - - I am growing up - - well we all are - but you REALIZE it when you have your 20th high school reunion, right? Wake up!

I was able to connect with many people and hear stories, see pictures and realize that we all have

Kim and I reconnected at the reunion when she loved the reunion pictures, so we planned a photo shoot for her and her two VERY photogenic kiddos! What fun we had with them all over downtown with the historical buildings, trains, you name it! This is one of my favorites, and THANK YOU for the honor of capturing your family memories!!!
gotten jobs, degrees, married, divorced, had kids, etc in any certain order of course, along with many other things! It was then in seeing other's photos of their children that I realized this is part of the cycle of life and one of the many many reasons I enjoy photography so darn much!!

More of Kim's photos coming to the Diva Digital Design Facebook page, or you can see more at the Diva storage site: www.divadigitaldesign.smugmug.com and book your session today - fall is filling up fast and so much fun!!!
~Delightful Digital Diva

Spread Your Wings and Fly

Many times in my life, or yours, we can look back...BACK being the key here. We look back and THEN we see with more clarity, more ah-ha's, and more insight. We see the bigger picture, we see how things have turned out, and do you know what I've found? That things really do turn out how they are supposed to be, and for my highest good.

That means there are sucky times that we have to sit in the hurt, the pain, even just the unknown. But, I have finally figured out that even in those times, I take the learning, the growing and the opportunity - and have learned to let myself FLY....knowing I really and truly am onto bigger and better things - whether a new job, new town, new hobby, new partner or relationship, or any such new adventure. I will continue to spread my wings, fly, and encourage you to do the same. Please reply and tell me something you have done to spread your wings and FLYYYYY!
~Daring, Delightful Diva

My WISH for you...

Look at this shot! It took me back to childhood and making wishes with the dandelions, and also reminded me that I was asked recently to give my 16-year-old self a piece of advice, and I thought it wouldn't be anything different than I would teach my kids or WISH for them, or YOU or ME! 
So here are my WISHES for all of you!

• Do more, be involved and TRY new things! A rule I applied when I was newly divorced and I've never regretted it once! I've met new people, made new hobbies, discovered something about myself, or someone else, good or bad!
• Be kind to others - but also don't take any crap from anyone either - and if you learn the balance between the two, then you've got it made! We may regret it if we are unkind, so I try my best to just be that "nice girl" even though we and the nice guys may finish last. I also know Karma is a bitch if you are, so great things are coming to me! :)
• Speaking of, Karma, I believe like thoughts attract like thoughts, and actions, deeds - so, do the right thing, and good things WILL come...they WILL! Positivity is INFECTIOUS and people often will ask how such crazy good and sometimes kooky things happen to me - it's my thinking and attitude for sure!
• Love and love big - fearless, which can be hard at times, especially after break-ups, trials and tribulations. Being loved deeply gives you strength, but loving deeply gives you courage...
• Relationships - DO choose wisely, and cut your losses earlier on, not that there is anything wrong with putting in work, but I have seen far too many red flags and far too late, so prefer to just accept that things are not working and not meant to be...respect and care for each other should say it all!
• On accepting when to let go and move on - I was told long ago that it helps to think that that person simply moved out of the way of who you are meant to be and who you are meant to be with - so YEAH for that! 
• Back in high school or earlier years, we all can care about what other people think of us so my wish is that my children figure out early on that it REALLY doesn't matter! Life is SOOO much more enjoyable and full of life when you do what you want, with whom and how! Take it all in! Besides, I've already shared with them that if someone chooses to spend their energy thinking on you, then you must be pretty awesome, otherwise they wouldn't care!
• In college and work, find something you LOVE to do!! You will never mind making student loan payments and you will live your days as a much happier person and doing good for the world.
• Do good for the world! Recycle, reduce or reuse when you can, refurbish, get creative and just in general be considerate of the earth, materials and people too. This doesn't mean be a nut job, just don't be wasteful! 
• Material things are just that...material and stuff and fluff. We don't need it - simplify, and life is better - people are important in life, not things.

That's about all my wishes for you today, and caught on camera too!
Enjoy something in your day today, on this Labor Day, and try not to labor too hard ~Delightful, Daring Diva