Easter feast

   Dear diary,

   It's Easter time again, that time of the year when we're both sad and happy: sad remembering Jesus's great sacrifice for the whole humanity and happy because He won the battle over the evil when He has risen. Easter is also the time when I get to cook with my mom and bond over the little things, the same time when I get the chance to be creative again because a holiday like this also involves decorations:) 

   This year I've decided to go back to my Romanian roots and dye a part of the eggs the way my dear dear grandma used to: with cute leaves and natural onion dye. 

    But given that spring always brings a huge splash of color in my life, I felt inspired to dye some other eggs like this: 

   Add two or three more decorations and my room is invaded in a sea of eggs, green grass and bunnies:) Nothing new for Dana, huh? :)

   I should be preparing for my upcoming inspection but vacation makes me lazy and sometimes it's good to just lay back and chill. Deadline's not over yet, so there's still plenty of time to finish all my lesson plans. I'm following my inner instinct. And that instinct tells me to enjoy every day the best I can... in the end, it's not vacation all the year:)

Veeeery relaxed,

D.

Day 365. The big day

   Today's the last day of my daily journey through my first year of adulthood, the year I started working. 

   It was a project I dived into because I wanted to fight the laziness that comes to us artists from time to time. A project to encourage me to take photos and write in spite of having little free time. It wasn't easy. I had to come up with new photos and new posts every day. Some days I had no idea what to write about because nothing special happened to me then but I still had to do my homework so I had to look deep down and find a piece of mind hidden on a forgotten shelf. Yes, a couple of days I thought about postponing or canceling the project but each time my inner voice told me I have to finish what I started. And here I am now.

   This experiment made me look at my life through a magnifying glass and find emotions and thoughts I didn't pay attention to all the time. 

   These past 365 days I had the chance to analyse myself, my reactions and my choices, my worries and my moments of happiness. It was a bildungsroman I got the chance to read while writing it.

   And like any other bildungsroman, I started with 0 work experience, a lot of theoretical information that I wasn't going to use in the kindergarten, questions, doubts and anxieties. 

I felt my hands were tied and my expectations were too high. I was down...

But I knew I loved kids more than anything.

Because when kids smile and they tell you they love you, it's all you need to move on.

I found little things that made my days beautiful and that made my inner photographer really proud.

I always did what I love. I cooked and I baked.

I read a lot. For me and for the exam I had to take this summer. There were books and movies I'll always remember. 

And a lot of movie like moments. 

I spent a lot of time in the middle of the nature. I saw sunrises, sunsets, gloomy clouds, rain and snow.

Autumn, winter, spring and summer. 

I celebrated Christmas, New Year's Eve and Easter. I finally had the Christmas tree of my dreams.

I gave and received gifts.

I spent precious time with my friends, family and my beloved boyfriend.

 I received an amazing birthday cake from my best friend, I went to my first color fight and I had my first textbook sleepover.

I made new friends. Dogs, cats and people who helped me rediscover my childhood and my adolescence. 

My feet went to a lot of places.

I was sick, sad and worried. I questioned life and existence. I complained.

But each time I fell down, I stood up and moved on stronger.

I learned I still need to work on being patient.

And accepting change.

I learned that I have to fight for what I believe in.

And always find a reason to smile.

That it's good to keep your spirit young especially if you're living an adult life.

Shoot for the stars,

And be creative. 

Love unconditionally,

Be yourself even if the world expects to see something different.

And keep close to whatever makes you happy:)

 It's been a wonderful journey. One that I'm planning to continue. Not daily but still, twice a week. On Tuesdays and Saturdays. 

Thanx for sticking around and reading my posts, supporting me and putting me on the right direction. It was all very helpful:) See you next Tuesday!:)

Day 239. Encourage creativity

   Today I felt just like I did last Christmas when I finished decorating the Christmas tree of my dreams. And all this because I got creative:)

   This year I decided to add my personal touch to the tradition of dyeing the Easter eggs and I've done some extensive research on how I want them to look like. So today, besides the traditional red ones, I can proudly check having dyed the Easter eggs of my dreams:) 

   While I was looking at the final result I was thinking about how easily 

it is to get creative and personalize things around you without even spending too much money. 

   If I wouldn't get creative every time I felt like, I would be living upon the others' opinions regarding my life and I wouldn't be ME anymore. So take a good look at present day Dana:) She's doing what she feels like and she loves what she's doing:)