365 days project 2: Day 27. Expect the unexpected

   Today was the perfect spring day: warm, full of blossoming trees, delicious spring scent in the air, bees and butterflies around, green grass, colors everywhere. The perfect heaven picture! :) Nothing unexpected until now, right? But I had reasons to be surprised today.

   When you know someone for 13 years you think you pretty much know everything there is about them. The beauty of it though is when one day you find out something completely new, a detail that you somehow missed all along these years. And you let yourself be surprised. You learnt one more thing about your friend. Live and learn, right?

   The other unexpected thing is related to a movie the whole internet said it was bad. I went to the cinema because I wanted to spend some time with friends but my expectations were very low. I won't lie to you. It wasn't the best movie I've ever seen, but it wasn't for sure... BAD! I actually liked it! 

   Interesting, huh? How everyday life keeps sending us unexpected gifts. We just have to receive them with open arms. And so I did :)

365 days project 2: Day 14. Happy SUNday

   Every day is a miracle. It brings a new gift that can make your day beautiful. It's right there, in front of you, you just have to reach it and grab it. 

   I had the perfect Sunday, full of sun, new books, smiles, kisses, love, addictive games, new recipes and just laying in the sun and soaking it in. You don't need a lot of things to be happy. Anything will do, really. It's just a matter of opening your heart and accepting the wonder of life unfolding in front of you. 

   Happiness day, first day of spring and everything is in bloom. At last, our spring is here. Less than two months :)

365 days project 2: Day 13. Right here, right now

   Close your eyes. Listen. Feel. Can you hear the birds chirping? Can you feel the sun on your skin? Everything's happening Right Now. Spring is in full bloom. Look around. What's new compared to last week? When was the last time you paid attention to what was happening to you Right Then?

   Today I remembered some experiences happen just once in a lifetime and I want to fully live them. This is the place (picture) where I'll celebrate my wedding in less than 2 months: Wonderland. 

   Today we tasted some food for the big event. Many other people tasted the same food in the same time as we did. How many of them did it automatically because it had to be done and how many of them lived the experience to the fullest? No one knows. But once I got outside of the venue and I looked around I saw THIS: beautiful and elegant, ready to receive brides and grooms and their families celebrating their big day. 

   I'm so excited! We're one step closer to the wedding. I hope it'll be sunny. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Until then I want to live in the NOW and enjoy this feeling for 2 more months :) It'll never come back. 

Joy(full)

Dear diary,

   I've started to bake again. Cupcakes this time. I'm enthusiastic because these little cookies give you the opportunity to be as creative as you can. And we all know I'm all about creativity:) 

   I'm filling my time with positive vibes, positive people and positive activities. Things that make my soul rejoice. Hard times are always overcome with positive thoughts about the future. Something like this:

   I have good days and bad days, but I'm continuing the "new year, new attitude" idea with a shift in my way of thinking. More than ever I'm focusing on the bright side of life and I'm making all my wishes come true without expecting anyone to do that for me. I'm living every day as it comes and I'm doing everything on my "Must do" list I wrote along the years. TODAY is the best moment to do that. 

   Spring inspires me every step of the way. I'm taking photos, I'm smiling, I'm rejoicing the best season of the year through all the pores of my skin. Let it spring! :)

Joyful,

D.

Spring lessons

Dear diary,

  Life goes on. Always. No matter what happens deep inside every one of us. Nature follows its course and spring is in full bloom. I love that about life. That it can find the power to always go on even in the strangest situations. Life prevails. And it keeps teaching us lessons every day. And today our lesson is that 

... we gotta move on, 

... try to take the best of everything that happens to us,

... be ready to rearrange plans if needed, 

... take wise decisions

... and regret nothing. 

... be in full bloom, just like the trees outside, 

... be feminine, colorful and joyful.

   The first true days of spring have brought a never ending smile on my face. I'm finally dressing light, wearing new flowery clothes, smelling of watermelon, eating strawberries and spreading love all around. I'm experiencing a whole new side of life, I'm doing things I've always longed to do, I'm happy and I know it. Life's good.

Breathing spring,

D.

Quilling, my love

Dear diary,

   I always secretly loved quilling. But I never showed it. I was impressed by how skillful artists have to be in order to produce something so beautiful and interesting just by twisting paper. I thought it would be really hard and you needed some special talent to be able to create something like that. So I decided to just admire it and wish that one day I would be skillful enough to learn how to create something so magical myself. Later on more and more people around me would start getting into this beautiful hobby. So I decided to gather my strengths and get into it myself. I had to make a card for someone but I knew nothing about quilling so I literally took a baby step because my first creation was a little heart (cute, huh?) and it turned out something like this:

Then, after having watched "How to" quilling movies on Youtube I realized it's all waaay easier than I expected. And you don't even have to create everything in your head. You can take examples from the internet and produce them your way. So, I started making Birthday cards for dear people around me:

   Now, the quilling fever got to me so much that a day without creating something feels like a lost day. So I'm looking forward for the next occasion I'll have to create something for someone. I know people usually practice and practice at this stage, but I'm more motivated by real commissions:) 

   So this is how, my dear diary, my spring got a whole new spin and how I added a new crafty hobby on my list :)

Crafty as ever,

D.

 

Rebirth

Dear diary,

   The past two weeks have been crazy but I enjoyed it all even if I had to work day in and day out evaluating kids for school. In the middle of all that, March surprised me with its wonders and its soft touch, its mild rays of sun, its snowdrops, tulips, hyacinths and all those colors I've missed so much during wintertime. 

   I realized life's a kaleidoscope. When we're little we only see the first image and then, as we grow up, we keep turning it and turning it until we see other shades of it every year that passes by. It's interesting to see how even if the months are still 12 and the events are the same every year, their meaning changes every step of the way.

   Things have dramatically changed around me but for the first time in my life I embrace change with a smile on my face knowing that everything happens for a reason and being open to all opportunities that come around. I won't be able to work at the same kindergarten next year, but I accepted the fact that the universe wants me somewhere else, that I have other kids to help, other stories to write, other hugs to give away. 

   Spring is the time of rebirth, isn't it? I'm being born again. I have been bent and broken, but I'm sure, into a better shape:) And I'm happy with my transformation. I live the life I chose, I do what I love and I'm surrounded by good vibes and beautiful experiences. So, take me by the hand, spring! Let's explore the world together!

   

Always a spring lover,   

D.

Walking on sunshine

Dear diary,

   Today I remembered how awesome it feels to be high on serotonin. I've been born again once I went out and saw the sun shining over the trees, breathed in the crisp air, listened to the birds chirp and rode the bus on French jazzy notes. 

   I felt like a tourist. The city looked completely different in that beautiful afternoon light, so beautiful that I decided to leave my book aside for some minutes and just enjoy the view. I kept smiling. I smiled at buildings, at a little girl who smiled back at me, at the dog in the bus station while petting him, at my mom who greeted me:) I kept smiling for the rest of the day while cooking for my family and I'm smiling even now while the sun is sound asleep.

   I missed the sun. So much. It made me realize that every day that's not sunny is  yet another day in which we gotta keep holding on until the sun is out. I don't know about others, but the whole world seems different to me when my sunny friend is out for a walk. 

   I missed walking carefreely, looking up and saying "Spring is in the air!" so now I'm happier than ever! Future looks bright already. Can't wait to see what's next!

Still smiling,

D.

   

The clean up

   You wake up and you look outside only to see it's cloudy again... A lot of free time on your hands. You're not in the mood to drag your body out of your bed yet so you just linger there and you start contemplating life. Yeah, unlike others, you can just sit in bed and think. You get to the conclusion that the best way to spend this Saturday is to clean up. Autumn is the perfect time for that. 

   You start with things on your phone. A lot of notes of movies you have to see, random thoughts and useless data. You have breakfast and then you start hiding your summery clothes and bringing up the autumn ones. Next. Papers on your desk. So many of them piled up over the last months. And you have no idea how that happened. You stop for a second and realize you're moving slower and slower. You're one with the gloomy weather now. 

   There's something bothering you but you can't really put your finger on it. It's like the dreadful side of autumn got under your skin and now it's controlling your body. You gently take a paper, read it and throw it next to you. You repeat the process until you're surrounded by a big pile of "leaves". You soon cleaned all the trees around you and now the leaves are down there covering the floor with memories you made along the way. Things you'll throw away because you no longer need. 

   Your trees will get new memories next spring. But you'll throw some of them next autumn and the thought of that somehow makes you sad. You'd love to keep all the memories you gathered, all the feelings you invested in. But you know life's not an endless summer. You have to focus and take decisions. What will you throw out? Will you keep things just in case you might need them sometime or will you throw out anything you didn't use in the last month? 

   If it was up to you, you'd keep all the leaves until you had a sea of them in your room. And then you'd float on your own sea of leaves until you got lost in the distance while contemplating life. You'd later wake up on your bed on a sunny autumn day and everything would be perfect again:)

   

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 259. Beyond the rain

   It's been raining on and off these days. And it wouldn't even be as annoying if it wasn't for the gloomy clouds and the sleepy mood everyone seems to be into. If it's sunny now, it will rain again in less than an hour. So it seems that Spring is back to being bipolar. And today we match. Actually, we're all like her. All the time. 

   We're fragile little beings that bend according to the wind. A simple word said at the wrong time or in the wrong way can shatter our whole world and yet, another one, can make us raise from the ashes. 

   Words mean everything to us. We're emotional beings and what we say is influenced by our thoughts and emotions. Our whole life is an EKG. Going up and down as the others talk to us and as we do our talking. And we're so influenced by the rain that our whole body goes to sleep wanting to avoid it. And the saddest part is that we're incapable of seeing beyond the rain. I, for one, no matter how much I try to make myself smile while rain is coming over me, I just can't. It's wrapping me in its gloom and it's telling me the saddest story I've ever heard. 

   So here I am, longing for the sun, for better times, for someone to teach me see beyond the rain:)

Day 232. Reasons

   There are times when you think you hate... something or someone. You're so annoyed things aren't happening your way that you're getting angry and you feel that anger can change something. 

   You're blinded by it and you walk like this, being all gloomy. But right then something happens and you understand that you can't... you just can't hate. Because in front of you lays something so beautiful that brings the sun back on your face. That's just another reason to love. And there are plenty out there. 

   Why waste time trying to hate when all you need to do is open your heart to love?:) Spring is one of those reasons.