Rhode Island Archives

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: Fine Art Photography And Family

06/07/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Live Life Like A Kid by Ed King Photography

The Happy Friday Series is a perfect name, especially because Fridays make me happy. This isn’t just because it is the end of the week; for us, it’s family time and about doing things together.

One of the highlights of my fine art photography business is sharing my work alongside family adventures. Having a super supportive wife and kids with a sense of adventure make it really easy to mix work with play although having a camera by my side for so many years if you were to look back at family vacations they almost look nonexistent for me.

What does a weekend of fine art look like from my wife’s point a view? It consists if of long drives, little sleep, singing songs in the car with my youngest daughter and breakfast on the run. I know to some it doesn’t sound like much of an adventure but it’s about family time, being a bit crazy and creating memories.

These times spent together are enjoyed by my daughter so much that on a Friday night with a blanket in hand she’ll ask where we are headed the next day.

This sense of adventure started way before the camera.

I’m writing a secret for the first time my wife Karen and I share. (I apologize to our parents!) When Karen and I were dating, most of our time together included drive time in the car. I picked her up in the early morning, and we headed to New Jersey 400 miles away or drove 11 hours cruising mountain roads in New Hampshire. We were hundreds of miles from home, and I would drop her off late as if we had been at the movies. Together we created some of the best memories of our lives.

The Wildest Adventure

Living in coastal New England there are so many beautiful locations to shoot. Sometimes I think my wife wonders what I see in water and boats hundreds of miles away where similar compositions can be found within a close walk of our Bristol, Rhode Island home.

Ed King Race Point, by Ed King Photography

Have you ever left the house at 11 p.m. Friday night to drive all night several hundred miles to share a sunrise with the ones you love? We have! And, then we continued to drive the coast for another 10 hours only to have dinner and get back on the highway with a warm

bed in sight.

Karen and I are both Gen X’ers but that doesn’t stop us pulling into a toll both at 1 a.m. singing do-op or the same set of songs from a tape (now CD) over and over and over. She is by my side because she doesn’t want me to adventure alone; I play that up because I want to adventure together.

Lost by Ed King Photography

Life Is About Balance

As a Gemini I internally struggle with balance. I have an internal light switch that is all on or all off. The one part of my life with no switch is my family, and to share the passion for family with the passion for photography and business make for the best Fridays a person could ever have.

About Ed King

Ed King is a freelance and fine art photographer living in Rhode Island with his wife of 22 years and their three children. Ed also has a background in business, sales and marketing and enjoys the artistic side of his photography business while influencing its growth from the ground up. You can find Ed on a variety of social platforms with Google Plus his top favorite as well as Facebook and Twitter, you can also find a large variety of his work on his site at https://02809photo.com/

The Happy Friday Series: Spring Does Come To New England

05/10/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Credit: Michelle Quillin

Do the changing seasons affect your moods, and by proxy, your productivity and creativity? If you live in an area of the world where winter means months of early darkness, cold nights, and endless bouts of ice and snow, you know all about the winter doldrums. You may even suffer from depression directly tied to the seasons.

I was raised in the deep south, where the seasons are marked not by changing weather, but by major holidays and celebrations. Christmas and New Year’s Eve come in the winter, St. Patrick’s Day and Easter signal spring, the Fourth of July is a summer celebration, and Halloween and Thanksgiving mark autumn. But while holidays and celebrations are a great source of joy for most of us, they’re a harbinger of deep sadness for others, a reminder of loss, or of what’s missing from their lives. Now, tie those winter holidays to a dreary New England winter, and you’ve got a recipe for a real darkness of spirit.

My junior year of high school, my family moved from Georgia to Rhode Island, where I first discovered seasons marked not by holidays and celebrations, but by s eagulls and sailboats in summer, vibrant palettes of gold, red, and orange leaves in the fall, and blankets of deep snow, ice skating, and sledding in the winter.

For many, though, winter isn’t a time for fun, or for the joy of playing outdoors in the long-awaited snow. Instead, winter brings a shutting down, a closing in, and a sleepy, dark hibernation of the soul. And like the trials and hardships that come into every life, winter seems to go on and on, for far too long. The clouds hang heavy and low…

But then, enter spring! Glorious spring! Harbinger of life!

With spring comes the first signs of new birth budding on the barren, storm-battered trees, and sprouting from the still-cold ground, covered in dead debris left there from the previous fall.

Spring in New England brings with it the sights, sounds, and smells of new beginnings. A promise of the veil lifting. A sense of renewal, of opportunity, of change. Change that heralds good.

Resurrection.

A New England spring reminds us that no matter how long or dark a season of life may be, there is always hope. Because just as spring follows winter, after darkness comes light.

Things always get better.

Always.

And hope? It springs eternal.

Credit: Michelle Quillin

What does spring mean for you?

About The Author

Michelle Quillin is chief connectivity officer of New England Multimedia and writes a blog at New England Multimedia. Connect with her on Twitter and Facebook as one of the best around for engagement strategies and search engine optimization.

The Happy Friday Series: Let Go Of Sad

04/12/2013 By Jayme Soulati

What really intrigued me about Jayme’s invitation to write for her Happy Friday series is that for the past couple years I have been on a mission to be more positive. So the first thing I did was scour this wonderful little Happy Friday series she has going and I LOVE it.

One of my favorites was the science of happiness and do-overs by Geoff Reiner. Geoff is in the midst of re-training his brain to be happy, and that’s exactly what I did, but not quite so deliberately and scientifically.

In my mind there are some folks who always have that “glass half full” attitude. I am not one of those people, but I’ve secretly envied them. It took me many, many years to recognize that I come from a family who just seems to see things negatively. There’s always something to worry about, there’s a dark side to everything. Having grown up in that atmosphere, it just seems normal and natural. But when someone points it out to you, then you stop and think.

I thank my husband for being the one to really point this out to me. I honestly didn’t realize how negative my attitude and my outlook could be. I would see faults in people often before I saw positive traits. I’d recognize the down side of a situation without seeing the benefits. For the most part, I was NOT a happy person, even if I seemed it outwardly.

So two years ago, I decided to change that. I bought a journal called “Gratitude” that helped on this journey. Each day had little tips or tricks or positive sayings, or little assignments for the owner to do. For instance, one of the daily assignments was to “find three things that went right in your day and figure out why they went right.”

And so I kept my journal, and made a conscious effort to find and be grateful for little things. I had to teach myself to recognize the positives each day, and even help others see the brighter side of things. Through this, I’ve discovered that sometimes you have to really look for things to be thankful for, but when you do, they’re always there. It also helped me come to a conclusion: happiness doesn’t just happen; it’s something you must choose, and something you have to work at.

And now? I’m SO much happier. I am not saying that every day is a joy, but there are definitely days that would have been much darker if I hadn’t adopted this new approach. It’s still a challenge because it doesn’t come naturally for me. I know I have to make a conscious effort to not dwell on the down side of things and remind myself that it’s important to see the positives in a situation.

If something goes wrong with our house, I now think of how much worse it could have been, and how lucky we are to be able to have this home. Now, when I’m talking to my mother and she’s focusing on the negative, I try to steer her in a more positive direction, rather than wallowing in the negative with her. When my company was having a difficult financial year and said “no raises,” I was thankful I still had a job. When I had a medical issue arise last year, I thought of how much worse it could have been and how lucky I am to have the good health I enjoy.

Through this whole experience, I’ve realized that it’s not how you’re born and raised and it’s not about luck. It’s all in how you look at things and about training your brain to choose the positive, count your blessings, recognize there are things to be grateful for, and find happiness in your everyday life. Because let’s face it… life is way too short to be unhappy.

So, how full is your glass?

About the author

Nancy Jean is a communications and media relations professional now specializing in social media for healthcare. She is currently with the Lifespan health system in Rhode Island, managing social media for five hospitals and a women’s health practice. A lifelong Rhode Islander, she is a mom to two rescue dogs and a diehard Red Sox fan who loves reading, writing, music and the beach. Follow her @NancyCawleyJean.

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