Friday, December 13, 2013

Meeee Time is always important

Posted by Daring Delightful Digital Diva at 9:44 AM 0 comments
One of the things I am still ever-grateful for as an outcome of my divorce was finally learning the value of taking care of ME.  I was insanely burnt out, old, haggard, frumpy, and taking care of everyone else, so I lost myself.  Like many, I didn't know who I was, I didn't know what to do with my free time, I couldn't remember what I liked to do, so I spent some serious time figuring that out.  It was fun, valuable, and many learning lessons too! 

I set some rules, such as never saying NO if I was invited to something!  I have met the most wonderful people and friends that way, or learned a new thing I like to do.  Oh man, did I experiment with myself in so many ways - dating, hobbies, passions, creative outlets.  THE biggest thing that has come from these years in figuring it out - is that I HAVE to have a creative outlet AND have to push myself or be striving in some way.  I have bellydanced, presented to large groups, travelled, tried new things, met new people, and the latest was/is RUNNING.

Along the way, I found that one of the things I love and found value in, peace, calm and more was Labyrinths.  You might not know what that is, but I wrote a blog on them here as well as one on my own personal experience in them here, but the gist is that they are kind of like a maze but NOT - one path in, one path out, no getting 'lost' per se...

Well a little while ago, I discovered that there IS a labyrinth in my home town now!  It is simple in all it's glory - white pain on an old parking lot...but it exists and is in my town, so I can go anytime!  Do I have a lot of time?  NOOOO! But knowing I can go anytime I want is comforting to know.  To de-stress, meditate, move my body, anything! 

Find your joy, your peace, your creative outlet, your calming "thing" and you will grow and be a better person for it!
~ Delightful, Daring, Digital Diva

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Connected Disconnect along our travels

Posted by Daring Delightful Digital Diva at 7:00 AM 0 comments
Have you ever wondered or thought how disconnected we are, yet with technological advances attempting to 'connect' us?  I do all the time!

I watch people everywhere, tied to their phones, checking who knows what when they are clearly with other people! You know who they are:  the couple dining together but both on their phones, the walk and texters, the teen at the dinner table texting friends or playing games, and the most obtuse example I have was while travelling in airports! 

 The Minneapolis Airport is now DESIGNED for all this technology believe it or not! I walked to my gate and was stunned, quite literally (I even stood there staring like a kid!). There were tons of tables and chairs, bars and bar stools ALL with iPads, electrical connections!  And to boot, the people were all singles sitting at the 2-person tables anyway.  So, we have just set up an airport to be similar to the movie "Wall-E" with screens in front of us, removing the human interaction, the connection, and keeping us plugged in. 

So what happened to visiting with people, hearing a great story on where they are headed or coming from?  How about talking while at the gym on machines side by side?? NOPE...now people have the TV, headphones and a magazine or book. 

I find it appauling and have been trying to DIS-connect better - for my kids, my sweetie and my friends. I prefer attention, focus, and a more 'real' connection, not some distracted, multi-tasking version of an "um hmm", "yeah" or "ok". 
What are YOU going to do today to make a real connection, disconnect from your technology, including iPad, iPod, iPhone, iCrap, Droids and more?????
~Delightful Daring less-Digital Diva ;)

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Moment "Mishaps" Make the Most of Memories

Posted by Daring Delightful Digital Diva at 5:30 PM 0 comments
We try to capture the BEST shots with the camera, and sometimes the funniest and cutest ones are the natural, silly, funny, awkward, bring out the laughs ones!  I love to throw some of those in for clients too for the fun of it! 

 One of my favorites is this gigantic attempt to catpure my redheads lying in the gress head to head like people do....WELL, if you only knew how very sensitive their eyes are to the sun, oh my!  Well,we decided to get down there, and do the 1-2-3 OPEN their eyes....and THIS is what we got!!!!  HAHA!  The 'bright, bright, my eyes are burning' with squeals and protests ended up being hilarious!!  I love this picture for me as a mom because of the story behind it and what it means to ME. 1-2-3-OPEN! 

Same goes for how many pictures do we get of siblings fighting, arguing, wrestling, teasing, poking and prodding??? Many!  Save a few for fun memories...and for my daughter this will be even MORE funny when her brother is big enough to grab her around the neck! ;)

So, don't throw out the good, bad or ugly ones because while you may not order a large canvas wrap with it, they DO create and capture funny memories and inside jokes! HAHA
Happy Camera-ing!
~Delightful Daring Digital Diva

Friday, November 22, 2013

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

Posted by Daring Delightful Digital Diva at 2:46 PM 0 comments
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

Monday, November 18, 2013

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

Posted by Daring Delightful Digital Diva at 10:15 PM 0 comments
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

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Thanksgiving Massacre of 2010....

Posted by Daring Delightful Digital Diva at 6:30 AM 0 comments
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 :)

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Oh what a birthday present ;)

Posted by Daring Delightful Digital Diva at 12:00 AM 0 comments
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 :)
 

Diaries of a Daring, Delightful, Diva! Copyright © 2009 Girl Music is Designed by Ipietoon Sponsored by Emocutez