Celebrate The Small Things – Las Vegas Edition

 

Vintage Las Vegas Poster

;

I am happy to back blogging, and to be joining you all in this weeks “Celebrate The Small Things” Blog Hop, hosted by the wonderful Lexa Cain.

We finally completed  our move to Las Vegas, which was not just relocating ourselves but our entire business, and as you can expect that took some time, especially considering that we are also in the midst of expanding. So I am grateful to be sitting in my apartment (albeit small) typing this post and connecting with you all. Thank you for all of the encouraging words and well wishes we received since we announced our move, and throughout it. This meant a lot to all of us.

I am also grateful that the pets (two dogs and the cat) did well on the trip from Tampa to Las Vegas. We drove, so this took a while, but they all adjusted fine to the trip, and are now comfortably resting in our new place.

The people in our neighborhood are very friendly, so that is also wonderful. I am grateful for everyone greeting each other, as well as for the some short conversations I had with fellow dog owners. Our place has a special pet court yard which has grass (a luxury in the middle of the desert), and there is a dog park within two minutes walking distance (thank you to the neighbor who pointed that out to me)

It’s almost fall time, and I am so grateful that I can switch my attention from summer decor to fall decorations. I am launching my home decor and lifestyle blog within the next few days, and I am looking forward to sharing some of the beautiful finds, I have already run across (and of course I had to purchase some of them, I just can not help myself).

Hopefully all of you also had a great week! It will be fun reading what you guys wrote, and if you have not joined in with this group of wonderful bloggers, but would like to, just follow this link and add your blog to the list!

Till next week!

Claudia

A Moment Of Gratitude – A Celebrate The Small Things Blog Post

Las Vegas aerial view taken from a blimp by DanitaDelimont
Poster is available via Zazzle

It is time again to join Lexa Cain for her weekly blog hop “Celebrate The Small Things” You can join this ever-growing list of gratitude practitioners there. Remember, when you look close enough, you will always find something to be grateful for.

This week I am grateful that our move is now in it’s final stages, and we are actually getting on the road on Tuesday. I am looking forward to finally moving out of here, and toward the West, something we all have been looking forward to for a while now. Las Vegas, here we come!

I am grateful that I am getting better at moving efficiently and in a more organized manner. This will come in handy in the near future again, our stay in Las Vegas is limited to about 6 months. So, basically as soon as we unpacked, we are going to re-pack. I better have that down to a science by then!

I am grateful that I have chosen to take the next few days off, and that I am flexible enough to do so. It is so much harder when your schedule is dictated by a typical job. I am glad that I am in charge of my own schedule.

I am grateful that found some baby pictures of my daughter, I did not remember we had. Somehow they got mixed in with some tax papers (I don’t know how that happened), but they are adorable, and put a smile on my face. I can’t wait to tease her with them later on today.

Speaking of pictures, going through all of our stuff, I also came across my own basic training pictures. Now there is something to scare the kids with. Is it a bad thing to be grateful for having been hurt bad enough in basic training to receive a medical discharge? Well, I am, because it brought me to this time and place, something that might have never happened would I have actually been physically able to stay. I guess it is possible to be grateful for torn ligaments and improper medical treatment after all. Was not that much fun when it happened, though.

What are you grateful for this week? I hope you take the time to write a blog post, and join the hop, or create a list in your journal. Gratitude is a practice that should be held sacred by everyone, no matter which spiritual background or the lack thereof  one comes from.

Have a great weekend!

Claudia

P.S. I will not be a part of next weeks hop. Monday will be the last day I will be on this blog until end of June. See you in July!

Moving Forward – A Haiku

“Sadness” Cell phone case by Avalon Media
http://goo.gl/lCmfHg

 

bitter-sweet memory
letting go off yesterday
no time to look back

Copyright Claudia H. Blanton 2015

 

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.

Territorial – A Haiku

“Just A Drop” Copyright Claudia H. Blanton

invading my space
an action you will regret
anticipating

Copyright Claudia H. Blanton 2015

I don’t think I have ever been as territorial, as I have been since I lived in this condo. We share our outdoor grounds with the other residence, yet everyone has their own private little area outdoors, at least those who live downstairs like we do. But we own a corner condo, directly across from the pool, which means everyone passes by right in front of our eyes. Which in itself is not a problem, expect that they ALL cut through our patio. It seems as if the highly decorated area does not exist, the pretty stone bench becomes a mere obstacle, rather than our place to relax. At one point, I had a pretty little flower garden on the edge of what is supposed to be our space. After it had been trampled by other residents and the maintenance crew, I gave up. What was supposed to be our little sanctuary, was disregarded by others.

I am glad we are moving, even if it is in a place that is for now not our own. At least that way I am not given the illusion of ownership and territory. It does not belong to me, and that is fine.

Missing You

Image by Eva Nev    http://shrsl.com/?~7fvh

 

I miss the warmth of your gaze, the fresh clarity of your eyes, as if looking at me, you could see my core. No secrets ever hid from this look, a gentle one, directed at me with such love, that even now my heart skips a beat, just thinking about its power.
Within those precious moments, your blue eyes resting on my green, I could see forever, endless possibilities without anything holding us back.
Those moments, as I am waiting for your return, sustain my very existence, every breath apart, filled with the sweet anticipation of your return.

Copyright Claudia H. Blanton 2015

This post was inspired by this weeks Five Sentence Flash Fiction Prompt: “Fresh”. 

(Disclaimer: The above image is by talented artist Eva Nev, and is called “Mauve Flowers on Tourquoise Background“, and is available on RedBubble, of which I am an affiliate – helping independent artist connect with a broader audience)

 

 

I Remain A Dreamer – A Haiku

after all that’s left
I will remain a dreamer
working for my chance

Claudia H. Blanton 2014

Dare

Take The Chance

breaking free, I dare
to dream far beyond the stars
time to take the chance

Claudia H. Blanton 2014

Today, we were asked to finish the sentence:

“Life is too short to __________”.

Here is my answer:

Life is too short to wait for chances to find you – forge your own way. I have no time for small dreams, that do not inspire, rather I dream big, and if I fall short of some of them, I still came a heck of a lot further than someone who dreamed small.

Do you dream big? Do you take actions toward goals that inspire you, motivate you, make you think of possibilities? And (more importantly), do you have a reason to follow through on them, something that propels you to take actions every single day?

Mine is simple:

I want to live my dreams to inspire my children to live theirs. If I can achieve what I want, they at least will see that there is a possibility for them to achieve their own, and forge their own way. Remember, we need more people on fire in this world, not more people who wait for things to happen to them.