Sharing Thanks

Thanksgiving Duckies Welcome to Day 8 of the #TurkeyThanks gratitude challenge. Today I want you to focus on the friends in your life that your thankful for. I am blessed with a few very close friends. I got to see 2 of them today! Thanks to my friend Stella, we got to go for a walk at Hecksher Park in Huntington. We enjoyed the fresh air fall colors and watching the swans in the pond. Then I got to walk to Hempstead Lake State Park with my friend Margaret. After our long walk we enjoyed some wine, cheese and these delicious new cranberry and sage Triscuits. I spotted these cute Thanksgiving Ducks at her house. They made me smile. I love spending time with my friends, talking, sharing stories. Thanks to my friends I hit 14,000 steps on my Google Fit. That's a personal record for me. Share your thanks for some of the friends in your life. Life is more meaningful when we have people to share our joys and sorrows with. I'm thankful today we got to share a joyful day out

Blue Hydrangea on a November Day Today's Challenge, is to go outside and take a walk and look for something beautiful that your thankful for.  Bring your phone or your camera and take a picture and share this beauty. Email me your picture at sharingthanks@gmail.com or Tweet it to me at  @sharingthanks  . Today I saw these beautiful Blue and Purple Hydrangea's. I am enjoying seeing these last blooms of November. Flowers always make me happy. Love these deep hues. I enjoy seeing the patterns of color and nature's wizardry. A few weeks ago I even saw some Monarch butterflies flittering around some wild flowers at the Norman Levy Preserve. When I see something beautiful, I take a moment to stop, look, and then breathe it in. It energizes me and I love taking pictures to capture this moment. Sometimes looking in my camera helps me focus to see the beauty. With the days getting shorter and cooler I relish being outside and capturing the colors of the changing season. I wa

Organic Mountain High Chai Tea at Spuntino's Today's challenge is thinking about something or someone your thankful for that gives you comfort. There is something comforting about sipping a good cup of tea. I enjoyed trying this new Organic Mountain High Chai from  Two Leaves Tea  at a cool new Tapas Italian Restuarant called Spuntino on Old Country Road, in Westbury, NY. The tea warmed me up from the inside out. It was the end to a perfect healthy meal, of brussel sprouts, and butternut squash ravioli. Small satisfying portions. Drinking a hot cup of tea any where warms my soul. Growing up I enjoyed having tea with my good friends in high school. We would make a hot pot of tea and share our hopes and dreams of the future. I still love getting together with my friends and sharing a pot of tea. My mom is a tea drinker, and would often make me a cup of tea. I have also been know to cozy up with a good book, a cup of tea soaking in a hot tub taking a bath. So relaxing. Shar

Turkey discovered during my morning walk! Thanks to everyone leaving comments on facebook, twitter and my blog!  Today's Gratitude Challenge is to think of an activity you did today that your thankful for! Today I was thankful for my walk around the neighborhood.   I love taking my dog Oreo for 2 or 3 walks a day. We also have a fenced in yard which she likes to play in. I love bringing my phone and am always surprised and different things that I see during my daily walks that amuse me. This Turkey on a lawn gave me a smile. The #TurkeyThanks Challenge has Turkey on my brain! The trees in my neighborhood are turning fiery red, orange, and yellow. It's an autumn rainbow! Autumn leaves in East Meadow  Walking is also a great way to stay fit. I just started using the Free Google Fit App to track my activity level with the goal of improving my health. It was easy, I just downloaded on my phone, and let's face it I always have my phone on me, so it is a buil

Today's gratitude challenge is to think of a song or piece of music your thankful for. Music speaks to us on an emotional level. It can energize us, uplift us, and sometimes even move us to tears. Often a song can trigger memories of a special celebration or bring you back to a specific time and place in your life. This Fall I have had the priviledge to play a ground breaking concert with the South Shore Symphony and Keith Emerson from Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. Can you find me playing in the violin section in the video. Our orchestra got to share the stage with a legend. Music genres collided. Jeffrey Biegel, played Emerson's piano Concerto brilliantly. It is a moment which I will always treasure! I am also always thankful when I hear Madonna's "Crazy For You" on the radio because it is our wedding song. Earth, Wind, and Fire's, "September" gets me dancing and transports me back to my disco days of college. Share a song that your thankful fo

Volunteers collecting food for Island Harvest at Stop & Shop Today's Gratitude Challenge is to be thankful for the helpers in our lives! Think about the people that have helped you or someone else. Take this space to thank them for making a difference in your life or the lives of others. We all have a need to help someone if given the opportunity. Yesterday these are the people that were my helpers! Thanks to these  beautiful volunteers for collecting food for Island Harvest. These smiling girls greeted me at Stop and Shop yesterday. I was happy they gave me the opportunity to do something kind. I bought several items to donate with hopes of feeding hungry families in need on Long Island.  Thanks to my daughter Becky who helped me peel potatoes while I was cooking a beef stew in the crockpot. This hearty meal sustained us on this cold, windy, fall day! Thanks to the stranger who held the door open for me at Dunkin Donuts. Small kindnesses from strangers always make my

GOD ONLY KNOWS VIDEO FROM BBC Watch this video and it will make you smile! Beautiful things happen when musicians collaborate in the the name of Charity. Thanks BBC for making me smile watching this video today! Another thing that made me smile today was watching the leaves dance to blustery weather. Thanks to my husband Spencer who put air in my car's tires in the pouring rain yesterday. It made me feel loved. Thanks for the coffee talk this morning shout out to my good friend Sejal. Thanks to my friend Ellen who I enjoyed catching up with this morning! I am looking forward to hear what made you smile today! Tweet @sharingthanks #TurkeyThanks anything that made you smile today. Or just leave a comment below. Enjoy the video and smile!

That's not a turkey it's a ROOSTER!  TAKE THE TURKEY THANKS NOVEMBER GRATITUDE CHALLENGE! Start November by learning to cultivate a grateful heart ready to bloom just in time for Thanksgiving! Gratitude is a heart muscle that can be flexed by the simple act of listing what your grateful for each day. Sharing what we are grateful can inspire others to think about gratitude in a different way! It's easy to participate in this challenge. Here are a few different ways you can start! Share what your thankful for in the comments of my blog Sharing Thanks! Everyday in November I will be giving you a new idea on "How to be grateful" and posting what I am thankful for. Or you can email me at sharingthanks@gmail.com! Or email me a picture of something your grateful for! I will share your gratitude in a post! Like my facebook page by clicking the button on the side of the blog or going to http://www.facebook.com/sharingthanksblogspot. You can post a pict

This is a fun fall activity to start a gratitude habit! Today I want you to sit quietly and think about all the people who have helped you today. They could have offered you a ride, gave you a smile, held the door for you. We tend to forget each day how many people help us in some way.I am going to continue adding names to my Thankful Pumpkin throughout October. Making this little Thankful Pumpkin will help you understand that you are part of a wonderful giving community. All you need to make a Thankful pumpkin is a pumpkin and a sharpie!  I just bought a small sugar pumpkin at Trader Joe's, and found a sharpie in my craft room. We are a creative family so I always look to see what I have in the house before I go out and buy art supplies. Please tweet me a picture of your #ThankfulPumpkin @sharingthanks or email me a picture at sharingthanks@gmail.com. Will share your thankful pumpkins on my blog and twitter. Let's get those creative juices flowing. Here are so

Love these crimson leaves. Fall is the perfect time to start a gratitude habit. In this spirit I am going to start blogging again about what I am thankful for everyday. Join me in the Sharing Thanks #TurkeyThanks Challenge starting on November 1st! If you want to join like my Facebook page or follow me on Twitter. Beginning November 1st post something your thankful for with #TurkeyThanks . You can post words or pictures! Let all of our gratitude send ripples of thankfulness in to the world. Here is what I was thankful for yesterday. So thankful for my friendship nature walk yesterday. I met my good friend Stella and we hiked down to the beach at Caumsett State Park. We spotted several deer families along the path. I have never seen so many at the park. They were fun to watch and were easier to see now that the leaves are changing. I was thankful to my daughter Becky who went grocery shopping for me. I really appreciate when family members pitch in. I was thankful for dramatic

Amazing playful work by Jeff Koons. Can you find my daughter?                  I was so thankful to get to spend a Friday Afternoon with my daughter seeing the Jeff Koons art exhibit that is at the Whitney! It was a beautiful fall friday afternoon. Here is what we were thankful for. Thankful to stand in front of an inviting steel sculpture of Playdoh. It is so realistic you really want to touch it and make a playdoh sculpture of our own. Craft night is so much fun even as an adult. There is something relaxing about getting your hands dirty and trying to make something. Thankful to explore the upper east side with my daughter. We stumbled upon a great Thai place on Second Avenue. The interior looked like a garden and they had a great lunch special for just $9.  Up Thai  is a relaxing eatery with delicious thai flavors. Thanks to my mom who recommended this fun art exhibit to us. She loves art and I had given her and my dad a gift membership to the Whitney for the holidays. I lov

Chalk art at Norman J. Levy Preserve Thankful for this beautiful end of summer weather with hints of Fall in the air. It was a top ten day on Long Island so I went for a 2 mile walk at the Norman J. Levy Park & Preserve. It felt great to just get outside. There is something soothing about being in nature. I love bringing my camera along and taking pictures to capture the joy of seeing a moment of beauty. I am listing my thanks today with the pictures I took of these small joys Water Lily Pond at the top of the Preserve I love this part of the park. They have a Monet like bridge overlooking the pond. I was happy to spot a few water lily blooms. After you walk around the pond I came across this incredible view. Great South Bay View from Norman Levy Park and Preserve I love the tranquility of this park. You pass a few kindred souls, walking or running in the park. I saw  someone enjoying the peace and reading a good book. It's lovely to smile and say hi to the few

My new organized empty closet. Sometimes good things happen from things that go bump in the night. On Friday night I was woken up by the sound of huge crash at 2:00 am. I jumped out of bed and turned on the lights to find that my wall closet rods and shelf had collapsed. My clothes laid half on the ground in a heap, and I'm embarassed to say it reminded me of an episode of "Hoarders." Thank goodness my cat was ok, sometimes she sleeps by a cuddly sweater. How could I be thankful about this? Well sometimes it takes a calamity to force you to become more organized. Here is why I am grateful for my collapsed closet. I was thankful to have the opportunity to go through all of my closet belongings. I made my 3 piles, keep, give away to goodwill, and absolute trash. I have lived in our house for over 20 years. Some of my clothes are even older than that. I decided if I had not worn a piece of clothing in the last 10 years it should be thrown out or be given away. I fel

Remember a shot of water can be just as much fun! I love being around people who know how to orchestrate fun! I am a UMASS alumni, and one of our college friends hosts a reunion party every summer. It is so much fun to reconnect with old college friends and more important make some new memories together with all of our growing families. Thanks to our hosts Keith and Dora who hosted the party. It's a pool BBQ, and mostly everyone sleeps over. Guests from as far as Arizona, NY, Washington DC gather in Massachusetts to celebrate. Thanks to Keith and Dora for making a Shotski. Looking for something to do with your old skis? Keith organized pool game Olympics. And the games began with the a ceremonial SHOTSKI. There is something goofy about holding a ski and drinking with your friends. It just made me laugh Thanks to my team mate Annie in the swim relay. She held her own with the recent college grads. It was so much fun to be silly and be in an innertube kicking race. Although

There is nothing better than going to see a summer indy matinee in a cool dark movie theater with my daughter Becky. Did I mention Becky is a recent film studies major? Boyhood is a masterpiece at capturing life's moments. Some scenes trigger memories of conversations I have had with my kids, fighting in the back seat of the car! Moments matter. Boyhood was filmed for 12 years and shows the cast aging and growing right along with the story line. See this amazing movie. Ethan Hawke's performance is Oscar worthy! What was even better was the discussion with Becky that followed the movie. Hearing her insights on the film and being able to discuss the movie and family dynamics. Take someone special and see this beautiful insightful film. This was a moment I will savor. Thanks also to the Cinema Arts Center in Huntington for celebrating independent films year round! \