Happy Friday Series Archives - Page 2 of 11

The Happy Friday Series: She Loves to Heal

12/06/2013 By Jayme Soulati

When a woman the likes of Michelle Quillin gets on your good side, and she’s never on anyone’s bad, you have the privilege of a friend for life, a supporter extraordinaire, and the most loving individual you’ve never met.

It’s a good thing we now can all G+ Hangout, for it took me about three years to “meet” Michelle in sorta IRL. She’s worth the wait.

Michelle is the better half of New England Multimedia, the WordPress design and development firm in Rhode Island. Back in the earliest days of our ‘raderie, she was part of the SMB Collective with Neicole Crepeau, Jon Buscall, Jenn Whinnem, and me. We blogged together in 2010 for awhile, and it’s been nothing but a building relationship ever since.

Michelle is one of those people who makes instant friends with most everyone. On Facebook she has a scourge of admirers from foreign lands who insist on getting to know her…LOL…I’m not supposed to share that with her husband, Scott!

What always impressed me about Michelle is her command of Facebook community building. In the earliest days, she took to the channel like a fish to water and had oodles of likes and comments on her posts. She asked questions, and got people to reply; she posted surveys and earned responses…she knows her Facebook!

In her real other life, Michelle is a youth minister guiding troubled youths through troubled times. Yet, she serves over and above and home schools teens (not hers) who need attention. She has played nanny to infants and toddlers whilst the teen mother attended school. Michelle keeps this side of her life private to the extent she can; however, a woman so devoted to nurturing, giving and caring needs to also be recognized in some small way. She is an angel and messenger who loves and lives to heal.

She has always been part of this community, and she wrote a piece for The Happy Friday Series, too. I thank you, Michelle, for always contributing, being there and here. My warmest best.

The Happy Friday Series: Suddenly Delightful Jamie

11/29/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Think about your online friends and how long you’ve known them. In 2009, when I was a Twitter noob, this woman with my same name and different spelling asked for people to vote her to the top of some contest. What did I know? I stepped up to help without a clue what I was doing, but I lent her support because she asked and it seemed to be a good cause.

Since then, Jamie Wallace and I have uncovered more similarities betwixt and between. She’s a good egg and one who shows her smarts in a variety of places. As communities go, she’s one to invite, befriend and love for life.

As Suddenly Jamie on Twitter (I never knew why she suddenly became Jamie – maybe she changed her name suddenly?) and via her blog, Suddenly Marketing https://suddenlymarketing.com, Jamie writes about stuff like this:

I help my clients craft standout brands, transform ideas and visions into profitable content, and create rave-worthy brand experiences. Part strategist, part writer, and part cheerleader, I love making marketing fun. I’m also a mom, an aspiring fiction writer, a prolific blogger, and a student of voice, trapeze, and horseback riding (not at the same time … though, that would be interesting …).

When she was invited to write for The Happy Friday Series, she did that with aplomb; her obvious life zest is apparent in the story when she asked whether life should be serious.

Here’s what’s cool about Jamie…she approaches life with appreciation, asking why all the way.

Look at this post she wrote about “delight.” It’s a word she says we don’t use often…see here:

Delightful is not a word we use very often. It seems, perhaps, slightly antiquated for our times – a little too naive, a little too simple.
Such a shame.
To me, delight is more than just pleasure or even joy. Delight embodies a more complex feeling that is layered with the sense of having been given a gift (as in when we say, “Delighted to meet you”) and a sense of surprise – of happily coming upon some unexpected goodness, beauty, or kindness.

But what is really delightful is this sentence Jamie wrote and today’s gift Jayme gave:

So, to be delighted is to be gently jolted out of your everyday existence by someone or something presenting you with an unexpected gift.

Thank you for writing for The Happy Friday Series, Jamie.

Love, Jayme.

The Happy Friday Series: Alaska Chick

11/22/2013 By Jayme Soulati

She’s just about the most #RockHot person to write about because she’s so darn easy to tease; yet, she is always right there to volunteer, say yes, support you, send a hug, be happy, and share a good yarn or three from all the way up in the darn middle of Nowheresville, Alaska.

I kid you not; this single mom, I call AL because her name is too long to tweet, has a herd of kids (well, maybe three). She’s the face of Pioneer Outfitters in the heart of Alaska where there’s no road or airport. They have to fly their own little planes, until they blow up (not kidding). They have horse trails, and the mail gets dropped from a bi-plane like every two weeks (kidding)

Have you met Amber-Lee Dibble?

You may know her as Alaska Chick, Pioneer Outfitters’ blogger extraordinaire, or Girly Grizzly; I think she answers to all three with a guffaw every time. Ask her why she has so many brands, and she’ll tell you to ask me.

Well, all kidding aside, AL has written for The Happy Friday series none other than three times! Apparently, she’s really happy, or she keeps writing about it to tell herself she is!

Should I put all kidding aside for a sec? (Hard to do; that’s why I said a sec.)

Amber-Lee Dibble

She’s the most loyal friend you’ll ever meet. She will always help someone down and out. She will write a guest post for you whenever one is needed, and she never puts on airs suggesting she knows something when she doesn’t. She is so transparent and vulnerable which both make her the sweetest candy on Earth (because she lives in another part of the Milky Way, uhmm, maybe she’s a bit salty up and over there).

Why I love AL is because of all this and more.

The more is so astonishing because she’s a woman of the wilderness with a hot temper who wears pink all day long. Pink riding gear on horseback, pink galoshes and boots, probably pink panties, too. She sticks out like a sore thumb with all that snow up there, and I’m sure the grizzly bears are afraid of her, too.

No, seriously, she is kick ass in the wilderness communing with Mother Nature and the 30 below temperatures. She is a trainer of wilderness guides, a big game guide and a survivalist (I just made that up; AL, are you one of those, too?)

The really funny thing that makes me happy about this post today is that AL is like six hours behind me; so she’ll be in the middle of R.E.M. when we go live without her. So, anyone want to banter a bit in comments about AL before she wakes up and grabs some Joe?

Thanks, Amber-Lee Dibble, for being part of this #RockHot community and contributing so many times to this series. I certainly would not have gotten this off the ground without your help. Much love and warmth to you and your Alaska family.

Happy Thanksgiving; we have much to be thankful for. I am thankful I have such a good sport friend who allows me to poke a little at her; but who’s to know if that’s really true? We’ll see in about six hours!

The Happy Friday Series: She Writes Right

11/15/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Erin Feldman of Write Right Words

Have you ever met Erin Feldman? Perhaps you’ll remember her Happy Friday Series in February about the joy she finds in Latin dancing, and I turned green with envy. I’m one of those people who won’t try something unless I can do it; which means I get hung up trying to be perfect at something I don’t even know how to do; sigh.

Erin is a blogger at Write Right, and she illustrates stories and badges with the cutest little cupie doll characters (and I know she has a name for them, but I have to go find it). At Write Right, Erin is the go to for all things grammar, punctuation and word choice.

I’m going to do something I should not, for Erin’s drawings are COPYRIGHTED. This is a copyrighted work, which means I do not have permission to use it; Erin, would you mind terribly if I put your gorgeously intricate drawing here so people can see your creativity? (P.S. I’m also trying to get you hired!)

I’ve enjoyed her renditions of corrections over the years, and you know what? She’s right. There isn’t a blog named as appropriately as hers, and you should check it out here and here.

When you dive in a bit deeper about Erin right here you’ll see she has the credentials to back up what the heck she’s talking about. I mean she went and got a Masters degree, too, not to mention she does graphic design.

In fact, I believe she’s for hire. Who wouldn’t want an excellent writer who can also design for your business?

Oh, and one last thing…Erin, thanks for all you do and how you contribute. There isn’t a community around the ‘sphere that hasn’t benefited from Erin’s ‘raderie and smarts, especially mine.

The Happy Friday Series: Being Happily Half Empty

11/08/2013 By Jayme Soulati

You meet the most remarkable and provocative people online. When you engage a tad deeper and peel back the layers, you see the seedling sprouting into the fruit of the earth. That’s Jenn Whinnem.

When she wrote this Happy Friday Series, Glass Half Empty and Happy in February 2013, she knew it very well could be regarded as different with a bit of a twist.

Indeed.

Laura Click, Jenn Whinnem and Stanford Smith at Social Slam 2012

My Twitter Pal, Jenn

Jenn Whinnem is the best writer I’ve seen around, and she’s an amazingly good editor, too. She works at the Connecticut Health Foundation, and she’s #RockHot, teaching peers and colleagues about social media and communications because she is totally an expert.

Jenn recently married, and she’s step mom to a young boy. She is always around to listen to me rant about something on my mind, and she’s always there to pitch in and pick up the ball to help. The load she manages every day puts her squarely in my stratosphere of respect every day, and she manages half empty quite well; better than most.

I want to say thanks to Jenn for being the consummate community manager, friend, peer, colleague, and avid listener. I also want to thank her for writing with her neck out to show a side of persona, perspective, and pizazz that is not mainstream at all. I like that, for she consistently makes me think a little harder and a bit differently.

Thank you, Ms. Whinnem for writing here and being you.

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