If You Were Here With Me In Las Vegas – A Weekend Coffee Share Post

Hey there, glad to have you here again for coffee. Do you like this cup? It is one of my own designs, and yes, you can take it home with you.
I hope you do not mind that I will use your visit as an excuse to stop organizing my Zazzle stores for a moment. I did not bake anything this week, too busy, but I bought us some streusel cake.
So this week had been another busy one. I am trying to get ready for a few things, first the above-mentioned stores have to be ready for the upcoming holiday season. I have given them and myself a week to make them just the way I want to. By next Saturday, they better are that way.
Also, NaNoWriMo is only a month away. I want to have the first draft of a book finished by then and use that month to edit the mess I wrote. I say mess because the first draft is always a vomit draft – just a bunch of stuff written on paper – it is the subsequential stages that carve out a true story. Apparently this story will the intro to the town most of my Paranormal fantasy series will be centered in. So the details have to be right at the end. And they will be – hopefully.
Amazon is launching an Etsy-like business section for homemade products, and I am trying to find out as much info as I can. I really love the idea, and will be writing about it on the blog, whenever I get info about it. This will be interesting. (P.S. saw some of the pre-launch selection of some stores and darn they look good – impressive stuff)
If you were here  with me, I would tell you all of the reasons I do not like living in Las Vegas – the gambling in the grocery stores, the groves of homeless people in the parks, just a little bit away from tourist section, the dirtiness of the city, the personal stories of loss and addiction I have been listening to. It is a hard, dangerous city that takes so much out of so many people. On one hand, I see tourists and people with money (as obvious by their clothing, and expensive cars), walking around and partially stepping over people with no place to live. Poverty is everywhere in the US, but I have never seen it so much in your face and seen so many people act as if it is okay. It is not okay. But for me, a temporary resident only here to work for a few months, there is not much I can do. And that is what is killing me. I do what I can, donate where I can, listen to people’s stories and give a kind word or two. As I worry about the content of my next blog post, they are worried about what to feed their children or themselves. It took me a while to learn that I can not rescue everyone – an affliction my husband and I seem to share – so we do what we can to help. I just don’t feel like it is ever enough.

Okay, I’ll stop with the depressing talk, turning back toward my usual more upbeat self, hoping that you enjoyed your coffee, and I will bid you farewell with a blessing of prosperity and happiness, hoping that you and your loved ones will always have what you need, and wishing that you would share with those who do not.

Blessings!

P.S. Please check out all of the other wonderful people who write as a part of the “Weekend Coffee Share”. Give them some love!

Stumbling Through The Darkness

“Dream On” by Avalon Media http://goo.gl/XS6xHj

unknown path ahead
yet I stumble through the darkness
one step at a time

Copyright Claudia H. Blanton 2015

This is what following your dreams sometimes feel like: stumbling through the darkness, not knowing where the next step may take you, just aware of what is at the end: the goal.

It is what scares many people off in following through, not knowing how to get there, and only be able to plan a little bit, having to let go of certainty. Any creative endeavour surely is about letting go as well, allowing the process to unfold.

The key is to not allow fear –  which is natural, especially in the beginning, before any momentum sets in – to take so much hold on you, that it stops you in your tracks. Pushing beyond that fear, through the darkness will eventually get you where you want to go. But there is no other way then through.

Our move is somewhat like that. As I mentioned yesterday briefly, we are letting go of most of our possessions, taking with us only the things most dear, and the irreplaceable. There is a good reason for that. When we first moved here to Tampa, to be close to my recently widowed Mother-In-Law, it was only temporary. It ended up a few years longer than we expected, but it was nevertheless a short term solution for the sake of our family. We did not add fancy furniture or expensive items to our dwelling because our heart was on the other side of the country – our goals set to move to Los Angeles.There are no friends to leave behind, no ties to this community, as they were never made in the first place. So we made due with the necessities, and less luxury and comfort than we all would have liked to. None of this temporary life (with the exception of our extensive collection of electronical gadgets and consoles) will come with us. Our journey to get what we really want, how we really want to life will begin in Las Vegas, and end in LA. Something I am very much intending to write about.

But it means letting go of everything, of anything familiar. If we would let fear stop us, we would not be able to see all of the beauty that is about to be in our lives. Hanging on to yesterday, would keep us from enjoying a new and better tomorrow.

Whatever your dreams are, whatever goals you have, do not let your fears deter you from following through. Change and progress might be temporarily uncomfortable and scary, but that is a temporary state, on which’s other side lays the reward for having taken a chance.

Keep on dreaming.

The above image is available as a poster in various sizes in our Zazzle store. You can find it here.

Fancy Little Things – A Haiku

Eaton Canyon Waterfall

fancy little things
surrounded by luxuries
comfort and content

Copyright Claudia H. Blanton

This Haiku was inspired by today’s Daily Prompt “Feeling Fancy“, asking us to contemplate a day of luxuries, if money was not an option.

Well, here is a list of a few things that would have to be a part of my day (of course I would take my daughter):

Start the day with a trip to the Beverly Hills Hotel Spa, they have an “Ultimate Indulgence” Spa treatment, which would take about two hours.

Then it is time to swing over to Cafe Gratitude, and eat myself through the menu (hey there stuff is healthy, so I can pig out, without feeling guilty – well too guilty).

If weather permitting, we’d go hiking – there are some really cool hiking trails in the Hills (Hollywood Hills that is), that I want to check out. Got to work off all of the food we just downed. And we can take our high energy dog (this would be too much for our little one, but Athena would have a blast)

And to end the day, we will hang out in our backyard and grill – hopefully jump in the pool (again, weather), if not, just enjoy the sunset together.

The ultimate luxury for me, personally is not one that I can get in one day, it is having our home there, in the Hills. And that is not a dream, it is a goal which we are actively pursuing. The rest is just detail.

Los Angeles – A Haiku

City of Angels
filled with bustling energy
should I dare to dream?

Copyright Claudia H. Blanton 2014

This post was inspired by today’s Daily Post Prompt “Make It Anywhere”.

And because I love that city so much (and am a Thirty Seconds to Mars “fan”), here is a little video

Reality TV, Guilty Pleasures And A Book (Of Course!)

I am not a fan of Reality TV shows (I am not talking about competition shows, but rather the Kardashian or The Housewives of…), but even I have a guilty pleasure in that category:

Million Dollar Listings LA! And to add to my bliss, it will return August 7th on Bravo. I love the peak into the Multi-Million dollar homes, the drama not so much, but that part is far less in this reality show, then in the others I had the “pleasure” of watching. The show focuses around high profile real estate agents, who compete, and sometimes battle for clients, sales and turf, understandably, if one sale can create more income then many of us make in a year.

Here is a sneak peak

But did you know that there is a published author in their midst? Josh Flagg wrote a fascinating book about his grandmother Edith Flagg, who is truly an inspiring woman.

Surviving World War II, by becoming a member of a Dutch Underground resistance to Hitler, at a very young age, she not only survived this trying time, but rather flourished, and created a Multi-Million dollar clothing company, once she made her way to the US. A truly inspiring story, told with care and love by her Grandson, a now successful business man in his own right. I recommend for you to check out: “A Simple Girl”. And watch him in action on August 7th on Bravo.

I will.

A Tale Of Two Cities

Today’s Daily Prompt asked us to think of two cities, we would choose to split our time in, if we had to choose only two cities.

Those two cities for me are Los Angeles and London.

Los Angeles, the city of dreams, the city for dreamers, and also the city in which the most contacts and work is available in the industry all of my family members are working, or want to work in. Our business is based out of that town, our employee lives in a section of the beautiful patchwork of little towns that actually make LA. I have a daughter who wants to get into film and acting, a son who is beginning to design video games, and well, you know already, that I write – anything from film reviews to screenplays, to my Urban Fantasy Series “The World Walkers”.

30 Seconds To Mars made a short film about Los Angeles, set to their song “City of Angels”

Now to the second city:

London, because I think of it as hub, a place to start from to be able to connect with any part of Europe should be choose to, and they speak our language (duh – or do we speak theirs, that is probably a little more appropriate to say). It has the energy of New York, minus the attitude, the traditions I love about Europe, and the history that comes with it. From there we could take short travels to nearby Ireland, or hop over to France, revisit Barcelona, or my favorite vacation spot in the whole world, Lake Garda – think Northern Italy, beautiful, but large clear lake, mountains, and not too far away from Verona (second favorite vacation spot). It is far enough away from those of my past, whom I do not want to reconnect with, but close enough to reminisce in the parts of my European upbringing, which I cherish.

You can take a video tour, via this documentary:

Predictions – A Daily Prompt Post

Today’s Daily Prompt:

There are 344 days remaining in the year. Describe what you’d like to be doing on day 211. (Hint: that’s July 30th.)

I like this daily prompt, because I believe in setting exact goals, knowing what you want, and then letting the Universe handle the rest. Well, where do I want to be?

July 30th, we have already moved to the Los Angeles area, by that time (our goal is the end of February), so I will be in LA, having lunch with my Agent, discussing publishing details. I still have to find a place with really good vegetarian cuisine there, but considering how this town is a foodies dream come true, that should not be any problem. If anyone of you lives in LA, do you know of a great restaurant that serves some if not all vegetarian meals?

Have a wonderful day, everyone! 

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/daily-prompt-future-3/