“Life can be so sweet, on the sunny side of the street”. These words come from a song written in the 1930s during the Great Depression when there wasn’t often much to smile about, but they go on to explain how you can leave your worries behind if you choose to walk on the brighter side of life.

Music can often inspire emotions & feelings in people. Songs have provided a form of comfort & soothing for as long as people have been around. Mothers have hummed lullabies to their children to soothe & calm them, slaves have sung spirituals & work songs as a way to not only convey messages but to also uplift spirits in the darkest of times. And music therapy is an important tool when working with people who have all kinds of conditions and ailments. From Autism to Alzheimer’s and even cancer patients fighting to regain their lives again benefit from the healing power of music. To paraphrase a quote, “music soothes the savage beast”.

I try & always subscribe to the philosophy that it is so much easier to be positive & happy than not. Even through the darkest of times, I have often listened to music when I need to be uplifted. I have what I call my “O Happy Day” playlist which I have shared below & you can feel free to copy on Apple Music or just jot it down with a pen and paper.

A particular favorite song lyric of mine is from a song written at a similar time as “On The Sunny Side of The Street”. It says, “When you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you.” It talks about how smiles and laughter can be infectious and spread from person to person in a most wonderful way. That song is appropriately called “When You’re Smiling”.

A third song I love when I need to feel a boost of sunshine in my life is “Put On A Happy Face”. It was written a bit later than the first two songs I mentioned and was actually featured in the Broadway musical “Bye Bye Birdie”, but it sings about how “gray skies are gonna clear up…put on a happy face”. Frowning is not only unattractive but no one wants to be a downer all the time. So “spread sunshine all over the place and put on a happy face.”

Sometimes there is nothing better than a great song about positivity to lighten your mood or brighten your day and give you hope that things will be alright. Give some of these songs a listen and remember that there are lots of GOOD things happening in the world even when you may feel like all you hear about is the bad. I hope you’ll consider walking on the “sunny side of the street” (with appropriate SPF, sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat of course).

* I should add that this playlist is always evolving and I would love suggestions so feel free to leave some in the comments for your favorite “Happy” songs. I’ve already added Stevie Wonder’s “As” and Pharrell’s “Happy” to it since I started this post…they’re JUST too GOOD not to!

Sometimes small-town communities are just the best. When you find your people it’s a really cool thing. My friend Cori is just great & we’ve been spending quite a bit of time together recently. She’s someone I met several months ago at a women’s retreat & then we finally connected one on one a few weeks ago and just hit it off. We have a whole bunch of friends in common and I’ve made some wonderful new friends through her too.

Yesterday Cori had a “Wood stacking Party”, which has become an annual event for her. She heats her home with wood throughout the winter. So she has a big pile of firewood delivered to her house that she needs to be separated, stacked & a majority of it loaded into her side porch so it can be easily accessed all winter long. Definitely not ideally a one person job if it can be helped.

A few weeks ago, Cori sent out a message on Facebook announcing the “Annual Wood stacking Party” and yesterday was the big day. It was a blast. They say “many hands light work”. But “they” can also take it a step further and help provide great conversation, extra sets of eyes and arms to wrangle kids, arms to form assembly lines of wood-stackers, & a sense of accomplishment with the satisfaction of knowing you’ve helped out a friend with what would have been an otherwise overwhelming task.

The fellowship at these types of gatherings is my absolute favorite part. Working hard, then swimming, eating, playing on the front lawn with the kids and munching on snacks while grownups enjoy some adult beverages and ending the night around a big fire under the stars.

So many people came up to me yesterday and said, “You’re Miranda! I’ve heard so much about you!!” It was absolutely lovely and the gals I did know already from the Women’s Retreat I attended earlier in the spring, I got to know even better. Sometimes having that “friendly soul-click” with someone or a few “someones” is just priceless. It’s a feeling of ease like you’ve known that person forever but in reality, you’ve just met them. I’ve had that happen several times lately and it’s a really wonderful feeling and connection.

We were blessed with great weather and a few people went swimming which was just fantastic and it really did feel like a community effort. To have people you can call & say, “Hey, I could really use another set of hands, I’ll feed you if you come help & bring some friends”, is a pretty great thing and I feel lucky beyond measure to have a few of those types of people in my life…and after yesterday even a few more.

When you find “your people” it’s a really GOOD THING. Hold on to them and cherish the gift they are in your life.

#manyhandsmakelightwork

We’ve all met them. Those girls who are the “Queen Bees”. The “Mean Girls” who seem to love to tear other people down. It used to feel like a high school problem, but now, girls as young as pre-school are experiencing this phenomenon.

My good friend was telling me about how her 3-year-old doesn’t like dance class anymore because she feels like the other girls are laughing at her. And adults aren’t a whole lot better. In an age where Roseanne Barr is garnering so much negative attention for her tweets about the appearance and race of another grown woman and Samantha Bee, and Michelle Wolf are using their comedy routines to cut down other women, it’s easy to feel a little disheartened about things.

But I won’t lose hope. I believe in building women up, not tearing them down. Celebrating their looks, talent, and intelligence. Nothing could have made me happier than seeing Serena Williams kicking butt at The French Open in her first grand slam in 16 months since having her baby girl, Olympia. Serena is an example of a strong, beautiful, talented and very smart woman who doesn’t take crap from anyone. She works hard for her success but has a vulnerability to her as well. She almost lost her life giving birth to Olympia and her journey to make a full comeback has been no small feat. When Serena stepped out at the French Open she was dressed like a real-life superhero. And personally, I loved everything about this. What an amazing thing for young gals watching tennis to see.

I recently saw an interview with comedian Tina Few (who wrote the screenplay for the movie “Mean Girls”). She talked about the motivation behind writing the movie which now has been made into a Broadway musical 15 years later. Fey explained how she had based the idea on a book about “Queen Bees and Wannabes” by Rosalind Wiseman. She said wanted to find a way to both empower young girls with humor and also help “dethrone” some of these “Queen Bees” by calling attention to them. In the interview, she commented on how it was an interesting process updating the movie to a musical after so many years, but how the subject matter still seemed relevant, as we still have mothers raising their daughters to “fight dirty”.

My Mom and I watched “Mean Girls” together the other night and every time I see the movie, I am so thankful for the wonderful group of friends I had in both high school and college. It can be such an alienating time and having a strong support system can make such a difference. Your teenage years are tough enough that finding your people or even just one person can be so key to making it a more bearable time.

I recently made a new friend named Cori and she and I were having drinks the other night and talking about our “superhero Moms”. How lucky are we that we both have Moms (& Dads) that are so wonderful they inspire us and make us want to do the same and be as equally inspiring. It was nice to share stories with her and Cori reminded me of some of my good friends from childhood who helped make me the person I am today. She’s definitely someone I’m looking forward to adding to my “squad of gals”.

I know that when I started this blog, I did so with the intention of creating a space where I could hopefully put some “goodness” out in the World. It was right around the time of the 2016 US Presidential election and there was so much negativity flying around on social media. It was my hope to carve out a little spot for just some “good stuff”. I know that sometimes my topics can take a turn for the serious and sometimes they are very lighthearted but in the end, I always have the goal of wrapping things back around to a positive note. I encourage people to read and leave comments but to also try and leave with as much good as you possibly can. The world is a tough place, so give yourself a break and let this be a safe space for you too. Soak up some goodness and leave any of the meanness and negativity you may have encountered throughout your day behind. Feel the “GOOD” and spread it. ✌🏼And no matter what, don’t let the mean girls win!

#findyourtribe

#squadgoals

https://youtu.be/aJOTlE1K90k