Creating a Party from Cancer!   |   Thursday, September 30, 2010





Diagnosed with Stage 4 Lymphoma, Traci J. wasn't going to let cancer steal her joy, nor her love of a good celebration. After a dramatic and unexplained weight loss, Traci was found to have a tumor in her intestines and was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma after being sick for almost 18 months. She speaks of the need to find just the "right Doctor for you... someone you can feel comfortable with, trust and that will treat you like a person." Somehow, facing this grim diagnosis, she invited 14 women to accompany her to the wig shop for a celebration... she relates a story much like Olympic judging, complete with her friends voting on wigs they liked and didn't like! They had dinner and drinks and she ended up buying two wigs... "a me wig and a sassy wig!" Seeing her without her wig, she has a tiny elfin appearance, with the cutest little smile and accompanied by someone who obviously loves her, with or without wig, with or without cancer... her devoted and attentive husband. They have so much love between them, it's palpable.... and enough to share with a daughter they welcomed into their home from Guatemala. When she learned about her mother's cancer, she asked if she was going to die. Traci's ever positive comment was, "I can't promise I won't die, but I do promise I'll FIGHT." She has found that journaling has helped her and has started her own blog, as have many cancer patients, at caringbridge.org. Her 'helper' during chemo has been her iPod and the music she loves..."I have to find the laughter in the process."
Can we find laughter in our days and our situations? I'm sure that no matter what we each might face today, it's not cancer and it's not threatening our lives. Traci manages to find humor and laughter in her situation, can't we? Look carefully today at how you react to comments, news and others around us... there's probably a lot to laugh at if we look with Traci's eyes.

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Our first billboard is up!!   |   Wednesday, September 29, 2010



Have you ever had a dream? Sure you have! But, have you ever had a dream, that seemed so far fetched and wild, and you thought could never come true? BUT, eventually, it did? Can you believe it?
Well, I had a dream....several years ago, to use my photography skills for something good. To have the ability to 'give' it away to those who needed it more than me, who couldn't afford it or who would never have them done otherwise. The far fetched dream of starting a non-profit came true. With some hard work, persistence and some help from those who believed in what I was doing, we got that coveted 501(c)3 status.

Then I had another dream, to use this non-profit to do something amazing.... photograph women who were undergoing treatment for cancer and had lost their hair. My husband thought I was nuts, people looked at me like I was crazy and I'm sure wondered, "what woman will ever think about having a portrait done without her hair?" WELL, almost 60 Bold and Beautiful women later, here we are at almost the conclusion of this project.

At the beginning of this project, I thought of ways we could use these images to bring awareness of these diseases to the community... and I dreamt of someday having these women's faces on billboards throughout the community! WOW! That would be cool, for these BRAVE women, to be on a billboard, 30 ft. tall and 60 ft. wide, showing the city what cancer looks like, but how beautiful they are! Some real "In your face" images... stark, provocative and real... but beautiful.

Yesterday, we saw the first step of this dream coming true. Our first 'teaser' billboard went live on the south side of Lansing!! Adams Outdoor has generously offered us space on some of their billboards throughout the month of October. What I thought was a far-fetched dream, HAS become a reality. I actually cried. To see all of this dreaming and hard work come to this.... is very moving for me. To see these women, who have 'bared' themselves through this project, getting the publicity they so deserve, thrills me. To see the community come together to help promote this project through the print media, radio and now these billboards, is humbling.

I am so thankful to these women who have shared their lives, feelings and this most intimate journey through cancer. I am so grateful that you chose to trust me with your appearance and your feelings. I will forever be changed and my life and career will never be the same. Thank you for helping this dream to come true. Thank you for being a part of such a moving project. I know our community won't be the same either.

Dreams do come true. Don't ever think that they won't. Work hard. Invest yourself. Pray. Ask for help... and be thankful.

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Protecting his mother...   |   Tuesday, September 28, 2010





Every now and again, you might run across a young man who just makes an impact on your life. In our current social situation, man young men have drooping pants, have earbuds inserted in their ears, listening to some unintelligible music, are texting on their phones, don't look you in the eye and certainly wouldn't be caught dead, showing affection for their mothers. I don't want to make generalizations, and I know that MANY don't fit that stereotype, BUT, the young man I met was a bit out of the ordinary or at least how I'd like to see my son treat me, should I ever find myself in this position.
Nick is VERY protective of his mother. He obviously loves her very much and it's also obvious that he would do anything to protect her from this ravaging disease that is threatening to take his mother away from him. He literally says, "I'll kick anyone's a** who looks at her funny or makes fun of her."
As he holds her during their photo session, Kathleen cries.... she says nothing, and doesn't have to. It's obvious what goes through her mind. They both look tired, tired of working to keep their farm going, tired of Dr. visits, tired of cancer, just tired of fighting what appears to be a steep uphill battle. Originally diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer in 2007, she now is fighting a recurrence, with the disease now invading her bones... and it's obvious, it's painful and makes life very uncomfortable. But, she's fighting and when she fatigues, her young knight in shining armor has his sword drawn and is ready to do battle for her! Such is the love of a son for his mother.

Kathy's words of wisdom for us... "Make sure you get your annual exams and do those monthly self exams. I thought it couldn't happen to me. But here I am."

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We WON!!   |   Monday, September 27, 2010

I want to thank those that voted for us on the SMILE.fm radio promotion!! While we didn't win the BIG prize package, we did end up being one of the top 5 finalists and did win the ability to place a table of information at the upcoming concert this week and a $1000 radio promotion package on smile.fm (88.1) radio... a Lansing area, Christian radio station. We'll take all the promotion that we can get and I'll be there Wednesday night with a display of some of the amazing women we've photographed! I hope to be able to speak to lots of people about what we're doing.

I'm away from my office and the ability to post more photos for another day. I'm attending the funeral of a dear photographer friend today. He and his lovely wife have been huge supporters of The Oldham Project and I need to be here. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh post and another "beauty of the day" and a powerful story to share!

Thank you for your faithfulness!

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Cancer doesn't discriminate....   |   Friday, September 24, 2010




Cancer is an equal-opportunity killer, it doesn't care about sex, race, religion, or AGE. These are not the "normal" faces of cancer, or what you would think cancer 'looks like'... these are young, beautiful, vibrant young women who have been stopped in their tracks to fight a disease trying to steal some of the best years of their lives. They are 20 and 26... and should be thinking about college or starting a career or finding the love of their lives. But no, their days are consumed with chemotherapy or radiation, feeling sick to their stomachs and doctor appointments. They have perhaps mentally planned their funerals and thought about who would inherit their 'things', should they not come out on top of this battle.

Please follow this LINK to read a bit more about two of these amazing women. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers... they shouldn't have to be going through this at their age. Let's all pray that these days will pass quickly, that their treatments will go well, that they will gain physical and emotional strength and those that love them will rally around them to hold them up when they feel like falling.

Also please remember to VOTE here for The Oldham Project in a local radio contest. It only takes a moment and you don't have to sign up for anything. We would love to win this funding for this project. You can vote numerous times, from different IP addresses and on different days, so please continue to vote! We certainly appreciate your support of this program and interest in these amazing Bold and Beautiful women!

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Finding your spiritual self...   |   Thursday, September 23, 2010





We all have a spirit... I don't care what your 'religion' or faith, we have a spirit within us that guides, comforts and directs us. Clare R., says that her cancer journey has been a 'spiritual one' . Being proactive and finding her own breast lump, which proved to be an aggressive breast cancer, Clare says she that the overall treatments for cancer in the US. needs improvement. She's a 20 year resident, originally from South Africa, now firmly entrenched in Michigan and American customs... recently going through the senior picture process with her high school daughter. Thinking about her daughter and breast cancer, she's concerned about early detection and the debate about mammograms in younger women..."things need to be changed."

Her cancer journey has brought her to a new knowledge of herself, "finding that being inside you and feeling joyful, no matter what." She says she is working on finding a BALANCE and discovering many life lessons while on this journey. "Self care" is important, learning to love and care for oneself and acknowledging yourself and your needs. Of course having family and friends there to support you is important too... but she reiterates, "it's been a spiritual journey of self discovery. I see myself as lucky." "I'm rethinking my life and priorities." Discovering the book "LIFE OVER CANCER" Dr. K. Block, really helped her discover many other complementary therapies with chemotherapy and radiation. Reflexology and acupuncture are a few therapies that helped reduce the many side effects of treatments.

What do you have inside you that you've never discovered? Will it take a cancer diagnosis to break down the walls of self-discovery? Will it take staring your mortality in the face to acknowledge yourself and your needs? For women, it's particularly difficult to take time for ourselves and to tell someone we NEED something or that we need help... today, take a moment to look deep inside. WHO may be lurking just under the surface that we show everyone else? Most likely, someone you haven't seen in a while.

Also, if you haven't VOTED for The Oldham Project in a local 'contest' for some funding for our Be Bold, Feel Beautiful, please click HERE to vote and then make sure to ask all your friends and family to vote as well. This money could help us expand this program and run it for a longer time frame! Thank you from all the amazing women we've served so far!

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We need your VOTES!!   |   Wednesday, September 22, 2010



The Oldham Project is one of the nominated charities to receive a portion of an upcoming concert proceeds as well as other monies and promotion if you VOTE for us! Please follow this link and vote! Voting will end on Sunday night, September 26th.
We certainly could use this money to promote our Be Bold, Feel Beautiful campaign. Forward this to as many people as you can so that we can win with the most votes by Sunday! I'm counting on all of our faithful readers to help us with this amazing promotion!

Thank you,
Terri

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Does GUILT ever haunt you?   |  





Have you ever felt guilty about feeling well and being healthy? Until this project, I certainly hadn't. Sometimes I feel guilty about having such a good life, but not guilty because of my health... that I wasn't as sick as someone else. We tend to take our health for granted, until something happens and we're sick all of a sudden... then we just want to feel good again.

Annette A. sometimes feels guilty about having cancer and still feeling so good. She's positive, upbeat and appears to be perfectly healthy, just bald and undergoing chemotherapy. "I feel guilty. I'm feeling good, my counts are good... so many women have it so much worse than I do." A STRONG advocate of breast self-examinations, Annette even sports a shirt given to her by a family member, "Don't slack, check your rack." Finding her own 'lump', Annette says, "I can't be angry at the world, I've got to take control." Her two sons, as well as family and friends are her inspiration and keep her moving forward. She's still working through this and I'm sure inspires those she comes in contact with. She also says she's come to appreciate the simple things in life and she "doesn't take anything for granted" anymore. Just knowing a little bit about her, I KNOW that she will move through this cancer journey as though it were just a 'lump' in the road, not letting it slow her down, but learning from the experience and improving her life because of it.

Can you change your life before an illness strikes you? I'm certainly learning from these women....every day. Ladies, let's be PROACTIVE and check those racks! We can't rely on just mammograms. Get familiar with the 'girls' and question anything suspicious!

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Some upcoming events you may want to help with....   |   Tuesday, September 21, 2010


I have a couple of fundraising announcements that I'd like to make you aware of! Opportunities for us to raise awareness and make a little money for The Oldham Project and I'd love you to consider participating in some way or sharing it with others.

Women LOVE jewelry.... well, most women! There is a Lia Sophia consultant who will be donating the proceeds from an upcoming show, to our project!! If you can't attend, please consider calling to purchase something from the catalog or online. With Christmas coming, this is an excellent opportunity to pick up a couple very nice gifts for those special women in your life!
Party details: Hostess is Julie E., one of our Bold and Beautiful women, who will host the Lia Sophia consultant, as well as a couple other home party consultants at The Atrium Event Center, 2685 Jolly Road, Okemos, 48864, on September 27, 2010, from 6:30pm to 9pm. If you have questions or would like to place an order, call Julie at 517.676.4166. You can view the jewelry catalog here. I hope to attend with some of the prints from our project and share a bit about what we're doing with this project! I'd love to see your beautiful and smiling faces!!

And, on Saturday, October 9th, I will be speaking at another fundraising event at The Grand Oak Herb Farm. She is hosting her annual "High Tea" and 50% the proceeds will be donated to The Oldham Project to fund our campaign and help with the Gala expenses. The Pink Ribbon Tea will be a lovely event with lovely things to eat. If you've never been out to the Herb Farm, it's a delightful place with a peaceful atmosphere and gorgeous things to buy. Details about the tea and registration information can be found here.

Our calendar is going to the printer this Friday and will be available to start selling by October 4th! I'd love it if you'd contact me and let me know how many you'd like and if you'd be willing to take a few to sell for us at your office or perhaps at the cancer center you attend. All the proceeds will go to The Oldham Project and making this Bold and Beautiful campaign even better next year! You can see here just how gorgeous this calendar will be and what an impact we can make on this community!

Thank you all for your continued support and let me know if you'd like to pre-order a calendar. They will be available for a minimum donation of $12.

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The women who surround us....   |   Sunday, September 19, 2010





Much like little sapling trees are protected and sheltered from storms and uprooting winds by the taller, older and stronger trees around them, Linda F. is held up and supported by the strong and encouraging women that fill her life... a tiny, pixie of a woman, she was floated into the studio on the emotional winds of these women.. it was a party coming in!
Most women have a strong support system of other women surrounding them; who by their very nature, are nurturing, helpful and stong people, willing to reach out and much better at giving than receiving. Linda's strong Italian family ties are what keep her going through this very difficult journey through ovarian cancer. "I have days that I'm scared to death and days that I feel like this isn't me, it's happening to someone else. I hope I have a lot of life left..." All the women sitting around her to chime in with, "you sure do!" The chatter, laughter and emotion in the room is palpable.
Linda and her cast of female supporters are now all advocates of early cancer detection. The demon, ovarian cancer, is a silent cancer... many not being detected until the disease is well advanced, and confuses patients with symptoms that mimic so many other illnesses. They speak knowledgeably about the disease, the BRCA genes and being tested, saying, "You've got to get educated." Young and old alike can fall victim to ovarian cancer, it does not discriminate and usually isn't caught early. Linda is now undergoing her second round of chemotherapy, but keeps a very positive attitude, surrounded by her entourage of those women who love her the most.

Ladies, please don't discount or disregard unusual symptoms.. abdominal bloating, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly, menstrual changes, urinary problems, such as an urgent need to urinate or urinating more often than usual, or any other issues lasting more than a couple weeks. Please educate yourselves and be informed and proactive!

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Another angel has joined Heaven's choir....   |   Saturday, September 18, 2010





I received word yesterday morning that another one of our Bold and Beautiful women have gone to heaven... Monica T. entered her new life in heaven on Thursday after a 4 year long battle with breast cancer. I spoke with a friend who had been caring for her for the past month and she reported that Monica had a rapid decline shortly after her amazing photo session, that her abilities to care for herself were compromised and she needed full time care. She remained pain free until the 24 hours before her death, entered the hospital for pain control and died peacefully and not in any discomfort. I am happy to report that either due to the contacts from her blog entry or family and friends, she was able to find loving and caring homes for all of her dogs... and it's reported that she found great comfort knowing that they would be loved and cared for as she would have. Heaven has a new angel in it's choir. Monica expressed to me her great faith in her Saviour, Jesus and has gone home to be with Him.
Note: Her friend Connie wanted me also to correct some information from her blog entry of a month ago... Monica didn't ride in the Ididarod race, she volunteered helping one year. It was my misunderstanding and my mistake. Monica didn't want to mislead anyone into thinking that she had actually ridden in the race. She was indeed a dog-sled musher and had several beautiful Siberian huskies. I stand corrected.
I say again... life is brief and time is a thief. Enjoy life my dear friends...you never know when it will be taken from you.

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We've reached a HUGE milestone!!   |   Friday, September 17, 2010



I wish I had pictures of celebrations, balloons and confetti to 'throw' around this blog!! We've reached an amazing milestone with this project!! We have officially over 10,000 hits on this site in a mere few weeks!! Thanks to all of our faithful readers! When I first told my husband I was going to start a blog to host the pictures of these amazing women, he said, "Yeah right, who would read that?" To say he was leery, would be an understatement. But, after a single week and we had 100, he began to think a little differently. Now, several weeks later and with analytical numbers that most bloggers would envy, here we are!! The average time spent on this blog is almost 2 hours and we've now had people reading from all over the country and even at least one international reader. These images and your amazing stories of courage and beauty are reaching people you will never know. Your bravery and encouragement is affecting men and women going through the same trials.

I am so encouraged as we move into our final weeks of this project! Calls continue to come in daily, with more women wanting to 'help someone else' by being bold and taking those wigs off and sharing their lives and their cancer journey! I am blessed beyond measure to get to meet and know so many amazing women, who are now and always will be part of my life.

I will be away for a few days... don't know if I'll have time to post. My 94 year old Grandmother went home to heaven last night and I'll be traveling 'home' to be with my mother, during these difficult days and the funeral. She lived a long and very full life... she was an amazingly determined and independent woman, being widowed for almost 40 years. She was a hard worker and built a very successful catering and cake decorating business, which she continued till about 10 years ago. These past couple years were very difficult for her and she is now at peace, in a much better place and with my Grandfather and most of her children. She lost 4 of her children in the past couple years and missed them very much. She will be remembered with the fondest of memories.

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"United Hearts", women caring for each other....   |   Thursday, September 16, 2010






I have so much exciting news, some of which I can't share quite yet, but will as soon as possible. First, we've received so many calls since the Sunday article in the Lansing State Journal, which you can read here if you missed it the first time around. I have 5 women coming in today to be photographed and more tomorrow, with several more who've called, but haven't scheduled yet! An amazing response of women, wanting to help other women!

I'm thrilled to announce that we'll be partnering with Citadel Broadcasting to create a fundraising calendar using your gorgeous images! It will be a 15 month calendar, starting with next month and continuing through December 2011! It will sell for $12 and all proceeds will go to The Oldham Project!! We will be working with their creative department to design it and work with a local printer to have it available for the "Pink Tie Affair" event on October 4th! I'm hoping that all of our Bold and Beautiful women will want at least one for themselves and be able to sell a few more to family and friends for us! It's not often that someone offers to create and print something like this and WE get all the proceeds! I'll keep you posted about where and when you can start to purchase them!

Also, I wanted to share a bit about one of our sponsors... Petra Azar and the "United Heart" jewelry. She has generously donated 12 pieces of this jewelry that we'll be giving away at the end of this campaign! Necklaces, earrings and rings!! The United Heart and it's unique design and magnetic attraction symbolizes the bond of sisterhood that helps these women through this most difficult journey of cancer and chemo. This battle will forever join these women together in a unique sisterhood, just as the magnetic closure of this jewelry bonds it together in such a strong and seamless attraction. Please stop in sometime at Wheat Jewelers in Okemos to see all the gorgeous and unique pieces in this collection! Mention this project and let Kevin know that you've participated in the Be Bold, Feel Beautiful campaign!

And lastly and most excitedly, I'm happy to announce that our annual fundraising Gala to honor these women will be January 13, 2011 at Eagle Eye Golf Club in East Lansing, MI. Please mark your calendars now to make sure you're able to attend this amazing event. We hope to have all or most of the women who participated in this campaign attend so that they are able to meet each other, share their stories and be honored for their bravery through this journey of cancer! I may have more exciting news about the event to come in the next weeks, so stay tuned!!

Let's go out today and tackle the world with the same courage and optimism that these women approach their cancer!

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I love parties!!   |   Tuesday, September 14, 2010


The most amazing article appeared this past weekend in the Lansing State Journal and here is the link to read the online version. Read more about some of these fabulous women! Just since this article came out on Sunday morning, we've had a dozen calls and have scheduled 8 more women! More women wanting to help each other by participating in this program. All stepping out, taking off their wigs and being Bold! A 73 year old is even coming!!

We've begun the process of planning this upcoming event to honor these very Bold, Brave and Beautiful women! Lots of ideas swirling around to make this a very special event! One of our 'planners' has a VERY BOLD idea of inviting a nationally known woman, a cancer fighter, to join us as our keynote speaker.... we're deciding if it's even feasible financially. She's another incredible woman, in the middle of a cancer battle and I'm sure would be very inspiring to our audience. BUT, the issue is money. As much as I hate to do this, we aren't having much luck with grants or securing large corporate sponsors, so I'm relying on our faithful readers to help make this event happen. And not only happen, but be the biggest thing that's hit the greater Lansing area in a long time! These women deserve the very best and we not only want to honor them for their bravery during this project, BUT, to bring this project back next summer and fall and make it even bigger and better.

Look at what we've been able to accomplish with NO marketing. 5" x 8" postcards floating around the community at a few cancer centers and word of mouth. THINK about the numbers we could reach with a bit of money to invest in marketing! Think of the amount of women we could help to feel so good about themselves, while their in the battle of their lives!

I've made this so easy for our readers and visitors to this site... there is a small donate button, just to your left. Paypal makes it so easy to donate using either your checking account or credit card. If everyone of our almost 10,000 visitors donated just $10 or $20, we could make a huge difference. Please don't think that if you can't donate a large sum, that it won't make a difference. Lots of small donations can make a big difference!
100% of our money goes to this program. We have NO administrative costs, except our rent/utlilties and postage to mail these packets with CD's to our women. I draw NO salary. Our Board is totally volunteer. I am a volunteer. So please, consider giving something to help make this upcoming event so special, for these incredible Bold and Beautiful women. What would this project be worth to you.... should you be the next person given one of these cancer diagnoses?

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Together, we can make a difference. We are empowering women, making them feel beautiful and confident, during the fight of their lives.

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Into our final weeks! We need your help!   |   Monday, September 13, 2010





As we head into our final two weeks of the project, I have bittersweet feelings.... We've met and been emotionally touched by these amazing women and hopefully have made an incredible difference in their lives, as they traverse this journey of cancer. I've heard such positive comments and we've gotten such good publicity, I hope to finish these last weeks with more women than ever! I know that you are sharing this project with lots of people. I'm praying that the word will spread and we'll continue to get calls daily.

This past weekend, another wonderful article appeared in the Lansing State Journal LIFE section! Our beauty of the day today, Patty S. was featured, along with 5 other women, previously photographed for this project. Tricia Bobeda did an amazing job with the article and the photos speak for themselves. These women have been affected positively by this project and it's evident in their stories.

Patty S. was diagnosed May 14th, after battling a persistent cough for weeks. Not the diagnosis she expected... she started treatment within days and has undergone surgery, chemo and currently radiation. With small children, 5, 6 and 8, and one of them with special needs, she doesn't have much time to think about having cancer. She says, "If I didn't have kids, I wouldn't have gotten out of the bed. They keep me moving... I don't have much choice, I have to take care of them."
Her attitude is positive, as we find most of these women. Her prognosis is good and as she moves through this journey, she relies on a childhood friend for her support, her "chemo-buddy, Kristen."
As we looked at photos during her session, she laughs.... "It's still funny to see myself bald." She was a really good sport through her session... there were photographers there from the State News and the Lansing State Journal, photographing me, photograph her. So many cameras!! Lots of laughs as the "paparazzi" flashed and moved around us, making the situation both funny and a bit uncomfortable for both of us! Thank you Patty for your sense of humor!!

Let's keep our eyes open for those that might benefit from this project. We also are beginning to plan for the Gala that will take place to honor these bold and brave women. Currently, we're looking for local businesses, health centers, and retailers that are willing to host a large, poster sized print of some of these women during the month of October. We hope to complete a map of all the locations that these prints will be, so that those desiring, can follow the map and see them all... so if you know someone who might be willing, please have them contact me directly, using the contact information below.

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Great publicity for The Oldham Project and Be Bold, Feel Beautiful   |   Saturday, September 11, 2010



I'm so excited about the recent publicity for The Oldham Project and "Be Bold, Feel Beautiful"! Yesterday there was a wonderful article, written by a talented writer from the State News, Meagan Choi. She captured what we're doing perfectly and articulated the feelings of these amazing women. Click here for link to online article.

Watch for tomorrow's Lansing State Journal LIFE section... another wonderful feature, profiling 5 of our amazing women and showing them off to the public for the first time!
Later this coming week, if you have the opportunity, pick up a copy of NOISE magazine, another custom publication of the Lansing State Journal, for a feature story talking with our two youngest Bold and Beautiful women, Channon and Heather.

I'm so proud of all of these women and their boldness! We are moving along, gaining momentum and reaching more women every day! Thank you all for your faithfulness in spreading the word. Together, we can make a difference in women's lives across this city and state!

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"Saying goodbye..."   |   Friday, September 10, 2010





Today, we'll say a final good-bye to my lovely friend Holly Martin at a Memorial Service at 10am, here in Lansing. If you haven't been following, or read back far enough through the blog, Holly introduced me to our very first Bold, Brave and Beautiful woman, Denise Acker. Holly and I had been friends for years, since she married my husbands' boss, 10 years ago... Holly and Greg moved to Iowa and then to Minnesota, where she passed away gardening.... the very SAME day that Denise passed away....just hours apart.
I spoke with Holly within a couple hours of her dying. We talked about Denise and how she was now at peace and out of pain... AND how life was such a treasure and that we needed to cherish it. And then, she was gone too. How ironic. I still can't get my head around it. I still keep a voice mail from her on my phone and wear a necklace that she gave me when I photograph these amazing women. Funny, how life can send us a curve ball....

Harriet (Holly) Hunting Martin, age 48. Died August 13, 2010, leaving behind her husband of 10 years, Greg Martin and daughter, Sydney, age 8.

Friends, live is brief and time is a thief. It's my mantra, I live by it every day. I try to get the most from each and every day. I strive to make the most of every bit of time I get with my husband, my children and my family. I try not to take any of them for granted, nor treat any of those moments carelessly. I don't assume anything. Don't live life, just going through the motions. Loves and friendships aren't to be taken frivolously. Invest in your family and friends. Treat them as the treasures they are.... it could all change in a heartbeat. We are all just one phone call from our knees.

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A Project Update...   |   Thursday, September 9, 2010




We are now winding down this project and are into our final three weeks of this campaign. I can't tell you how much this has meant to me and I KNOW how much it's meant to these amazing, Bold, Brave and Beautiful women!
I am hearing comments like, "I want to thank you for the most wonderful afternoon. I felt so beautiful. We had an extraordinary experience, almost spiritual in a way. I'm so GLAD I did this. I felt so alive when I left, I felt like I could have taken on the world."
or
"This is an awesome thing you are doing for women. It was so moving watching you photograph my sister."
or
"I want to share with you that as of the afternoon of my photo session, I have been wig-less. You made me feel so confident!"

THAT is what this entire project is about. Empowering women. Making women feel beautiful. Helping women to feel confident and emboldened during a struggle in their lives.

I want to update our faithful readers on some exciting things that are happening with our project. Sometimes my head swims with the progress of this campaign and the amount of support we are garnering.

We are nailing down the final date of our GALA to honor these amazing women. It will be either January 13th or January 27th, so mark your calendars to be there. It will be held at Eagle Eye Golf Club, very near the studio in East Lansing. It will be a very special event to treat and recognize your braveness and your journey through cancer. Each of you will leave the evening with an 11 x 14 mounted portrait of yourself to remember this empowering time in your lives.

We also will be creating a fundraising calendar using some of the images we've created during this project. 100% of the proceeds will go to continuing this project next year and making it even better. Do you realize that we haven't spend a dime on marketing this project... it's been the lovely women participating that have made this happen. YOU have been sharing about your experience and spreading the word for us! Imagine what we can do and how many women we can reach if we were able to invest in marketing our program!! The calendars will be available in a month or so and I'm hoping that all of you will help us to sell a few! If you're interested in helping with this calendar project and either selling a few personally or locating a group or location to sell some, please let me know! The more we sell, the bigger and better we can make this project and reach a larger number of women next year!! I'm so excited to see it actually in print.

Lastly, watch the Lansing State Journal this Sunday, September 12th. In the LIFE section, they will begin a profile of some of the women who have participated in this campaign! I don't know who they are... it's a surprise to me too! They'll have photos and interviews from several women and will continue to showcase this campaign till it concludes at the end of the month.

I'm so thankful for all of you and what you've done in my life through this project. I know I've said it before, but, I will never be the same person because of all of you... You have given me more than I could ever give you in a portrait! I'm so thankful for all of you!

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