Good Things - An Origin Story
good thing:
“When I started taping our tv show almost five years ago, I thought it was very evocative to make the statement ‘It’s a good thing’ every time I did something neat, quick, particularly simple, or sensible.”
-Martha Stewart, 1997
(Quick note: The following post was the first in a new email series I’m sending out weekly-ish, called “Good Things”. As my email list continues to grow, I wanted to point new readers back to the beginning of the series, hence I’m parking it here on the blog. Even though this post isn’t specifically about photography, I do offer some photo-related tips as part of “Good Things”, plus other goodies as they occur to me.)
When I got married in 2001, Martha Stewart was in her heyday, captivating American women with her domestic prowess, kitchen skills, and decorating know-how that, for me at least, evoked equal parts admiration and defeat.
Admiration for the innate ability (or genes?) to create such beautiful things (I seem to have been born without that gene).
Defeat because the lush gardens, sprawling estates, and complex recipes and projects featured in her magazine’s pages seemed so far out of reach.
However, there was one section of the magazine that seemed mostly accessible - the Good Things column. These few pages highlighted items, crafts, recipes, and home or cooking tips that, for the most part, were within reach of my limited skill set, budget, and available time as a working woman.
In Martha’s words, Good Things was “a collection of inspired household ideas and projects.” I enjoyed browsing through the ideas as much as actually doing a few of them.
That’s the spirit I’d like to bring to this new newsletter series that shares the name Good Things. I’d love to help you start your week off with three quick things that I’m enjoying now. I’m not an influencer and receive no commissions, payments, or free products for sharing these things…they are just things that are helpful and/or enjoyable for me right now. Maybe you’ll find them enjoyable, too.
