{this moment} - and the weekly {Smile-Up}

. . . . . . . . . . 

"There are no ordinary moments." ~Way of the Peaceful Warrior

{no ordinary moments} - a Friday ritual. Photos capturing moments from the week. Simple, special, extraordinary moments.

This started as the "365 Grateful Project" (A year long photographic project which involves taking a photo a day of something you're grateful for) 

and has evolved to my own liking -  using Daily Gratitude to see the world as anything but ordinary. 

Served with the weekly {Smile-Up} - gratitude practices to love and appreciate your life. 

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' and 'smile up' in the comments for all to find and see.

. . . . . . . . . . 

{no ordinary moments}

{my week of photos - 365 Grateful Project}

{Smile Up}:

☺ Getting in touch with friends I haven't talked to in a while ^_^ 

☺ Sunny Sunroom that makes me feel like summer 

☺ Bare legs! I miss not wearing layers and layers of clothing! haha

☺ Daydreaming  

☺ Tea Dates!!! ♥

☺ Morning workouts  

☺ Oh my kitties, my kitties, my kitties ♥

☺ Drawing on my cintiq  

☺ Sketching & Writing for "Everwake"

☺ Being lazy

☺ Positive Texts and mutual support for and from friends :)

☺ Getting my health on track 

☺ Mountains

☺ Amazing inspiring women ♥
☺ ReLove Plan.et at Vegan Store "Republic of V" --and friends sending photos and messages of seeing my stuff there! ^_^

Loving: Reading • Daily Gratitude • Everwake • Long cozy socks • Drawing • Writing • Sunshine • Kitties • Tights • Totoro •  Laughing and Smiling • Yummei Artwork  • 

Interests for the week:

✯ Reading: "Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdomes" by Christiane Northrup (this book and this woman are Brilliant!) 

✯  Current Anime/Manga: "Black Butler" anime. Finished "D.Gray Man" Manga (I want the next chapter to be released!!!). "Dogs: Bullets & Carnage" Manga.

✯  TV Shows: none this week. 

♫ Music Playlist: Breaking Benjamin. Thirty Seconds to Mars. Evans Blue. "Beats Antique" Bassnectar Remix. "Sleepless" Excision ft. Savvy.  "Zombie Eaters" Ill Nino & Chino Moreno. ♫

✯ Food Faves: Avocado Pudding ♥ Kayer "G35 Series" Vegan Chocolate! ♥ "Raw" Cookie Balls ♥ Gluten free Bread ♥ Daiya Cream Cheese ♥ Stir fry with rice pasta ♥

Lessons of the week: 

 More and more attention needs to be focussed on Self-Love! Especially as Women in a society we are meant to feel rejected in. ☀ Healing takes time and patience and kindness to one's self. ☀ Encourage others, feed them positivity and you both reap the benefits. ☀ Practice Daily Gratitude--repeatedly throughout the day! ☀ Start with YourSelf--Healing and Love must start with your self--everything else flows more easily thereafter. ☀ Go with the Flow. Don't stress about things that have not yet come. Always look to the Positive. ☀ 

Wishing you all the most magical and amazing week and day ahead!  Remember to Create the life of your dreams and to Create an awesome kick-ass day! 

What amazing moments did you have this past week? Please share (and link to your blog if you're taking part in similar projects)!  ♥

So much Love and Hugs! 

If you found this article to be helpful, please consider a small donation or visit the shop. Thank you for your love and support.

{no ordinary moments} + the weekly {Smile-Up}

. . . . . . . . . . 

"There are no ordinary moments." ~Way of the Peaceful Warrior

{no ordinary moments} - a Friday ritual. Photos capturing moments from the week. Simple, special, extraordinary moments.

This started as the "365 Grateful Project" (A year long photographic project which involves taking a photo a day of something you're grateful for) 

and has evolved to my own liking -  using Daily Gratitude to see the world as anything but ordinary. 

Served with the weekly {Smile-Up} - gratitude practices to love and appreciate your life. 

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' and 'smile up' in the comments for all to find and see.

. . . . . . . . . . 

{no ordinary moments}

 {my week of photos - 365 Grateful Project}

{Smile Up}:

☺ Discovering the power of EFT 

☺ Beautiful Snowy days 

☺ Sunshine to bask in my sunroom 

☺ The exciting reminder of sunshine and summer 

☺ Morning Mantras

☺ Morning workouts  

☺ Visiting family

☺ Drawing, drawing, drawing 

☺ Writing, writing, writing

☺ Kitty Love

☺ Yoga

☺ Sleeping in 

☺ Living in the Kootenays

☺ All the amazing women in my life ♥

☺ Winter Hermit = Creative Awesomeness

☺ Hot tubs on cold nights with the hubby  

Loving: EFT • Practicing Daily Gratitude • My Cintiq • The infinite Inspiration to be found online (in both fashion design and art development) • Drawing • Hermitting • Kitty Cuddles • Cozy Sweaters • Colourful Hair extensions •  iPhone • Pinterest • 

Interests for the week:

✯ Reading: "Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdomes" by Christiane Northrup (this book and this woman are Brilliant!) 

✯  Current Anime/Manga: "Black Butler" & "Full Metal Alchemist" anime. "D.Gray Man" Manga. 

✯  TV Shows: How I met Your Mother. Wilfred. Louis C.K. show. 

♫ Music Playlist: "Passenger" by Deftones feat. Maynard. Norma Jean. Marilyn Manson. Chelsea Wolfe. Skylar Grey. "Snake Eyes" by Feint. ♫

✯ Food Faves: Avocado Pudding ♥ Kayer "G35 Series" Vegan Chocolate! ♥ Sun Warrior Protein Powder ♥ Curry ♥ Chocolate Quinoa Cake ♥

Lessons of the week: 

 In a society that teaches us to feel badly about ourselves, it is important to remind yourself that you are Loved and Awesome! ☀ Every Physical problem in the body is the result of an emotional problem manifested into the body. ☀ Women are constantly apologizing for their very existence--time to reenforce love for ourselves and fellow women. ☀ Practice Daily Gratitude--repeatedly throughout the day! ☀ Digging into our pasts is a bumpy journey but necessary to move forwards. ☀ Stop using forms of escapism in life; face your problems instead of running or burying them--because they will come back to haunt you. ☀ Life is about Enjoyment and Happiness--if you enjoy it, then enjoy the hell out of it! ;) ☀

Wishing you all the most magical and amazing week and day ahead!  Remember to Create the life of your dreams and to Create an awesome kick-ass day! 

What amazing moments did you have this past week? Please share (and link to your blog if you're taking part in similar projects)!  ♥

So much Love and Hugs! 

If you found this article to be helpful, please consider a small donation or visit the shop. Thank you for your love and support.

{My 365 Grateful Project}

. . . . . . . . . . 

{The '365 Grateful Project'} -  was created by Hailey in early 2008 in an effort to fight depression. 

This effort began a year long photographic project which involved taking one Polaroid photo a day of something she felt grateful for. 

The discipline of having to look for the good things that happen every day is life-changing, in so many ways. Hailey found not only her marriage, spiritual life and health improved, but this project accidentally, wondrously spread and affected the lives of many others.

Are you taking part?

. . . . . . . . . . 

{My 365 Grateful Project}

My week of photos for the 365 Grateful Project ^_^

{Day 10 - I am grateful for a gift in the mail from Sarah of "Pretty You and Me"}

{Day 11 - I am grateful for Vegan Potlucks with amazing friends and new people}

{Day 12 - I am grateful for all my art books and time to sketch, draw, and create}

{Day 13 - I am grateful for full moons from our hot tub}

{Day 14 - I am grateful for my wonderful cintiq so I can perfect my art}

{Day 15 - I am grateful for lunch dates with my hubby}

{Day 16 - I am grateful for my printer so I could create my new calendar with all my favourite anime/manga artists}

Are you taking part? What are you grateful for this week? 

If you found this article to be helpful, please consider a small donation or visit the shop. Thank you for your love and support.

{this moment} - and the weekly {Smile-Up}

. . . . . . . . . . 

"There are no ordinary moments." ~Way of the Peaceful Warrior

{this moment} - a Friday ritual. A photo (or few) capturing moments from the week. Simple, special, extraordinary moments. Moments I want to pause, savor and remember.

Served up with the weekly {Smile-Up} - gratitude practices to love and appreciate your life. 

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' and 'smile up' in the comments for all to find and see.

. . . . . . . . . . 

{this moment}

{my week of photos for the 365 Grateful Project ^_^}

{Smile Up}:

☺ Our new hot tub! 

☺ Finally getting my hair trimmed 

☺ Fluffy pretty Snow

☺ Fresh New Year! 

☺ Doing the Magic again, so loving it!!!

☺ Jar full of Happinessness; emptying my 2013 one and reflecting on the year, and starting my new one :) 

☺ Cory making me dinner and dessert ^_^

☺ Drawing, drawing, drawing 

☺ Tea Dates

☺ Getting Motivated again and being in control of my own happiness and mood

☺ Yoga

☺ Elliptical after a two week hiatus 

☺ Blogging every day again

☺ Feeling inspired by amazing women

☺ Being a hermit and being creative

☺ Making relationships better 

Loving: The Magic • Gratitude Practices • Happiness Jar • Vision Board on Pinterest • Drawing • Blogging • Kitty Cuddles • Warm socks • Colourful Hair extensions •  Tattoos • 

Interests for the week:

✯ Reading: "The Magic" by Rhonda Byrne. "D.Gray Man" and "Noragami" Manga. 

✯  Current Anime shows: "Black Butler"

✯  TV Shows: Not much TV lately, just a couple episodes of Wilfred.

♫ Music Playlist: Deftones. Nightmare Before Christmas Remix soundtrack.    ♫

✯ Food Faves: Raw Cookies ♥ Peanut Butter Granola ♥ Raw chocolate ♥ Chocolate Smoothies ♥ Roasts ♥ 

Lessons of the week: 

 You are in control of your own Happiness, it just takes some effort and motivation, and the reward is fantastic! ☀ Remember to stand up for yourself. ☀ Learning to be take back my fire, empowering myself, being firm in wants and desires and taking charge of my own life. ☀ Gratitude is the key to everything, seriously amazing! ☀ Admitting we don't have all the answers. But we can share our experiences and inspirations to help one another. ☀ Allow yourself to be vulnerable, to open up your world to possibilities. ☀ 

Hope you are all off to an amazing start to the New Year! And if you're not, I hope you have the courage to stand up and take back your happiness! 

Are you taking part in the #365grateful project? What's your "this moment" of the week? Please share!  ♥

So much Love and Hugs! 

If you found this article to be helpful, please consider a small donation or visit the shop. Thank you for your love and support.

{this moment} - and the weekly {Smile-Up}

. . . . . . . . . . 

"There are no ordinary moments." ~Way of the Peaceful Warrior

{this moment} - a Friday ritual. A photo (or few) capturing moments from the week. Simple, special, extraordinary moments. Moments I want to pause, savor and remember.

Served up with the weekly {Smile-Up} - gratitude practices to love and appreciate your life. 

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' and 'smile up' in the comments for all to find and see.

. . . . . . . . . . 

{this moment}

{Lyla has become quite the cuddly kitty--this is how I spend most my mornings}

{Smile Up}:

☺ Vegan Potlucks!

☺ Meeting new people.

☺ Pretty Snow. ♥

☺ Manifesting wonderful things! 

☺ Getting back to using my Vision Board on a regular basis!

☺ Tons of kitty cuddles! And first ever Buster coming to me for cuddles! 

☺ Helping others.

☺ Art, art, art!

☺ Tea Dates.

☺ Feeling Inspired!

☺ Meditation.

☺ Exercise and Yoga.

☺ Sharing, Giving, and Accepting.

☺ Sharing Laughter! Laugher is the best!  

☺ Learning, remembering lessons, being in touch with lessons. 

☺ Christmas Lights. 

☺ Cozy evenings hermiting. 

☺ Gifts to make me smile on rough days. 

☺ Being surrounded by amazing, loving, wondering people who lift me higher. 

☺ Remembering to Stay Positive.

☺ Being busy with etsy sales! ^_^

☺ Making the top 5s shortlist of the 2013 Canadian Weblog Awards (in the "Life" category!) ^_^ 

Loving: Manifesting • Vision Board • Drawing • Writing • Kitty Cuddles • Leggings • Slippers •  Handmade anything! • Oversized Sweaters •  Love • Dance Breaks • Personal Space • Camilla d'Errico •

Interests for the week:

✯ Reading: "Black Spring" by Alison Croggon. "D.Gray Man" Manga Comics. 

✯  Current Anime shows: "Black Butler"

✯  TV Shows: How I met Your Mother. Sons of Anarchy. Wilfred.

♫ Music Playlist: Shuffle on my iPhone ;)   ♫

✯ Food Faves: Chocolate Mousse ♥ Oatmeal ♥ Cauliflower ♥ Apple Pie Smoothies ♥ Mountain Magic Cookies ♥ 

Lessons of the week: 

 To have fun no matter what you're doing! ☀ "There are other people out there who are looking for you!" I loved this reminder this week, because I've been seeking out new friends and people in my life and it's easy to feel discouraged. Then, I heard this, and it was a fantastic reminder that as much as I am searching, they are searching for me too. ^_^ ☀ Learning to be an Introvert in an Extroverted Society. (I foresee a blog post coming…) ☀ Dance Breaks are so fantastic for the soul and keep you positive during a mundane or busy day! ☀ Remembering to Give and to Share--using the Law of Attraction, we learn that giving is as important as receiving. ☀ Taking charge of your Happiness--being honest with yourself about what works, what doesn't, and what needs changing. ☀ Hope! Dream Big! All things are possible, always remember this! ☀

Needing rather badly to get back into the swing of the blog, but I have been rather busy with etsy orders, so my apologies! I hope you are all enjoying a snowy holiday season and remembering to smile and look for the positive every single day!  

Tell me about your lovely week and what you're grateful for in this moment! Tell me about your 'Smile Up' and 'this moment!' :)  ♥

If you found this article to be helpful, please consider a small donation or visit the shop. Thank you for your love and support.

{life reflections}

. . . . . . . . . . 

{life reflections}

 Weekly thoughts and rambles. A glimpse into my mind and world. 

These are entries that I might jot down in my Happy Diary; what happens when we put our fingers to the keyboard and allow our thoughts to flow uninhibited. Reflections from the soul. 

Reflections of life.  

I hope to leave you inspired. 

If you want to share your own reflections of the week please leave a link to your "life reflections" entry in the comments for all to find and see.

. . . . . . . . . .

Today I feel good. Life feels pretty fantastic. My tummy has been up and down though, so I've been trying to do a process of elimination to figure out what I've been eating that's affecting it. It's hard to figure out sometimes, but when you know how good you can feel you strive to get back to that. Anyway, that's about my only complaint right now, otherwise I've been feeling pretty blissful. 

I feel as if I've found a good balance between work and play. I'm finally feeling good about money again and, low and behold, it's flowing ever so fluently at the moment. Which brings me to today's mention of the Law of Attraction. When it works, it really works! When you feel good about something and secure about something and abundance is rolling in, it's easy to attract more. Likewise, it's also really easy to spiral at the first sign of doubt. I think that's why we experience so many wide ups and downs in life and in varying aspects of our lives. But it's important to remember and try to get a grasp of the Law of Attraction, because it really does spiral very easily either direction--either with abundance or with loss. Gratitude helps a lot, but more than that, feeling good in general is the most important part. When you start to feel good--just overall happy, blissful, satisfied--then that's when everything else starts to flow more fluently. Piece of cake right? Sometimes. Other times, I think we all know how hard it can be to stay on track and to not get down. But there's always a light at the end of the tunnel and things work out in the end. So what's to complain about? Maybe there are things, maybe life is pretty easy for you, but either way, there are always always always things to be grateful for and ways of seeing the positive. Even if it takes a little more effort, feeling Good if achievable. Anyways, that's my spiel on the Law of Attraction today, because it never ceases to blow my mind. Like magic! 

Tralala.

I have been busiest writing and drawing and being a little introverted geek. Putting out this book is exciting to me, just putting out this creative project in general is exciting to me. It's really not like anything else I do. In case this is the first time you're hearing about it, this book is a fantasy, anime/manga-inspired, tale that I've titled "Everwake." The story is dark and twisted and whimsica,l and full of emotions, in-depth characters, and all sorts of other fun things that make a story exciting. I used to write stories all the time in my teenage years but that sadly stopped at the end of high school because I felt it was too "geeky"… ah the fun (not) of not being yourself at that age. Regardless, I started writing again a couple years ago, and drawing (obviously) which brought this story about. I'm already on Book 3! I can't even believe it. The ideas and story have just been flowing so smoothly and easily. I've also been doing a drawing every day to keep inspired and perfect my sketching. I can't wait to get my Cintiq (wacom tablet that will allow me to draw out more professional final artwork), so that I can start releasing more artwork for the book. I haven't decided exactly how I'm publishing, but I do know there will be lots of artwork and even some comic bits to toss along with the book. I just can't not place art with it. If I felt that I could then I would do the entire thing as a manga comic book, but I do love the writing aspect, the novel aspect, of the story, so I think combining the two will be something new and fun. So, yes, that's been taking up a lot of my time and I'm loving every second of it.
(You can check out the progress of that on my deviantart (click) since I won't be plaguing this page with too much news on that).

What else is new? 

Summer is winding down but the fun certainly hasn't stopped, and neither has the sunshine. We've had some crazy rain and thunderstorms, but then the sun comes back out and we can play and hike and swim and camp and enjoy the summer life. I may say this a lot, but I feel so blessed to live where I do. I look out my front windows and I'm staring out at epic mountains, a sparkling lake, and ospreys that soar above the treeline, occasionally swooping down to catch a fish or fly away from (or gang up on) the eagle that also lives around here. Nature is supreme, it's hard not to breathe it all in and be grateful to be where I am. Moving away from the concrete jungle that was Edmonton was the best decision I ever made. And, it's funny, because I never thought I could live in a small town again; too small, not enough to do, not enough opportunities, blah blah blah. Excuses. I can't stand big cities anymore. They're overwhelming whenever I have to spend too much time in them. Fun to visit sometimes, but not to live. All the things I thought I would be missing I didn't, and even if I did, those things fail in comparison to what I get living where I do. 

So, yeah, life is good. ;) And I've finally gotten around to writing another of these posts, it's been a while! 

Hope you are all smiling and singing and dancing, and being yourselves, and making the most of your day and week and life! I'm off for a saturday morning breakfast with my two siblings. 

Create a Nice Day! 

Much Love!    

If you found this article to be helpful, please consider a small donation or visit the shop. Thank you for your love and support.

♥ New Sweaters and Necklaces in the Shop! ♥

Just listed these yesterday; two styles of lovely oversized slouchy sweaters in the etsy shop! These are seriously the comfiest sweaters ever!! 

Limited quantities so grab yours! 

 "Pile of Kitties" in Purple. "Magical Unicorn" in Fushia.  
Sizes small, medium, and large available in each. :)

I also had fun shooting the new hoodies that were available for pre-order. The next round of pre-orders will probably be sometime in November or December if you missed out this time. Lyla was outside joining in on the fun. :) 

Other new necklaces and magnet artwork available in the shop so be sure to grab yours! I also have pins and new art prints with inspirational words and cards on the way. :) 

Hope you're all having a lovely day!

If you found this article to be helpful, please consider a small donation or visit the shop. Thank you for your love and support.