Quest For Happiness

I really hate how depressed I've been feeling lately. Especially because I am truly excited about Maddi's arrival, yet somehow this depression is over-shadowing my excitement. Damn pregnancy hormones! I was determined to get out of this emotional rut, so was consciously (and unconsciously) working hard to overcome it. In my quest for happiness... the universe came back with three answers.

First Answer:

Yesterday, I ended my day with a Skype chat. I was telling a friend how I don't understand why I feel so depressed about leaving work. If I want my job, it'll be there for me when my maternity leave ends. If I don't go back to work, it's because I have a better alternative. So why am I so upset about leaving?! Thinking things through logically usually puts things into perspective when I'm being emotional, so this definitely helped.


Second Answer:

Today, I stumbled upon a picture on Facebook that a friend had shared a link to. There was a write-up on what the picture was about. It was a mother who used her body as a shield to protect her 3-month-old baby from their collapsing house during the big earthquake in Japan not too long ago. Her body was crushed and therefore died, but her baby was miraculously alive. There was a cell phone in the baby's basket that had a text saying "If you can survive, you must remember that I love you."

I don't know if these stories that circulate online are real... but nevertheless, this one had a message for me. It put into perspective my grieving for leaving the work life in just a little over a week. It tells me that I will love Maddi so much, I would be more than okay to give up the life I've always known to embrace my new life with her in it.


Third Answer:

As I was leaving work today, I packed up some of my personal items to take home. And among those was my Soul Coaching Oracle card deck. When I got home, I pulled a card out of the deck. I got "Gratitude" - it reminded me that gratitude is the secret to a joy-filled life. If I find what's good and wonderful in every moment, I can experience happiness and peace.

So, whenever I have the urge to feel sad, I can just look down at my belly and be reminded that I can't wait to meet and snuggle with my precious baby girl.

Sweet Dreams

Tonight, I unpacked some of the boxes as I organized our den into an office when I stumbled upon something that put a big grin on my face - one of my Sweet Dreams romance novels from my early teen years!

I remember cleaning out my old desk years ago and it was hard to part with my collection of teen romance novels. I thought it would be silly to keep them all, but I'm so glad I decided to keep one for memory's sake even though I got rid of the rest.

I don't know if these were popular here in North America at the time, but they were huge in Manila, where I grew up! They were definitely up there as one of my favourite things!

Guess what my bed time read will be tonight? I'm curious to see how I would enjoy this read now, as an adult and almost ready to pop a baby out! Can't wait to be brought back to one of my happy places which I haven't visited in a long while... so excited!

Sweet dreams, everyone!!! =)

Almost

It feels like I haven't been outside for a while. Other than the trip to the Okanagan and the camping trip, most of my daily photos have been of just stuff around the house. Before I get even lazier with my daily blog, I thought to invite hubby for a walk tonight since it was nice out.

After dinner, we took our cupcake desserts to the park near our house for a mini date. Hubby's just recovering from being sick, so he didn't want to be out for very long and we are both also feeling pretty tired. I keep looking around and asking for what the universe's message is for me today... I want to take my picture outdoors today!

On our way home, I saw this bush with yellow buds and the more familiar white cottony balls that I would blow on. I did not realize those cottony balls transformed from yellow flowers! Neat - you learn something new everyday! So, I took a picture of it.

Further, it also made me think of Maddi. Not to compare my baby to a weed, but I thought it was a neat message from the universe to view her as a small bud that soon will blossom into a thousand wishes! Babies symbolize such a great start, a blank page, a future with infinite possibilities!

p.s. I shared my thoughts with Sean and he said, "So sucky." I said, "What did you say?" He replied, "So sappy." LOL =P

A Little Evil

 

Today, we learned about posing. We learned to compose a shot by starting with an emotion we want to convey to our audience.

When Kendra showed up with her hair done up like that, I immediately thought of a Vogue-ish Alice in Wonderland. More specifically, I thought of the Queen of Hearts. Here was what I told her - overbearing, angry, and a little evil. I gave a bit of direction for body positioning... and this is what I got. Pretty neat, isn't it?!

A Historical Beauty

On many of my walks with hubby, we pass by the Yaletown Roundhouse which houses the magnificent looking, fully restored Engine 374. It is the engine to pull the first transcontinental train from the East coast to Vancouver in 1887.

I don't really know much more about its history, but I always take a second or a third glance at it every time I pass by. I could stare at it for a while and just be in awe of how handsome and shiny it is, imagining how it might have been... way back when people rode aboard it!

Dancing In The Moonlight

 

Hubby and I went for a walk tonight... in the rain. This was my favourite part of the walk... so pretty. 

And now, just as I'm writing this post, hubby is playing some really old tunes. Earth Angel came on, and I just had the image in my head of a couple slow dancing under moonlight in the middle of this courtyard.

It would be so romantic, wouldn't it?

Imaginary Friends

This sight caught my attention as I was walking to my car from my chiropractor's office. I thought that disregarding it's surroundings - parking lot on either side with a few cars, this small patch looks like it belongs in a rustic, romantic, overgrown garden; the kind that fairies live in. It reminded me of one of my favourite movies, Pan's Labyrinth.

That movie showed me how powerful imagination can be - even in a really bad and scary reality, imagination can save us. It can give us a happy place to go to, introduce us to fairy friends for guidance and companionship, inspire us to be courageous and give us hope for a happy ending.

Make A Wish...

On a dandelion!

I have always thought these to be sooo neat, albeit many consider them to be weeds. I love that you can blow on them and how interesting it is to see bits of them disperse and fly away... like sending your wishes to the wind, to find ways of making each of them come true!

Admittedly, it is a bit of a romantic way to think. It is a bit childish and a bit of wishful thinking; but sometimes, one has to spend some time with their heads in the cloud in order to catch a dream, then come back down to earth in order to realistically plan how to make their dreams come true!
 
Have you spent any time indulging your imagination with your head in the clouds? If so, what was your experience like? What realities did you dream up for yourself?

Vancouver Public Library

Today was election day. I wanted to post a photo of the voting center I went to, encouraged by the fact that it was busy. According to one of the volunteers, other than a short lull just before noon, there has been a steady stream of people showing up to vote all day. However, no photography was allowed in the voting center... bummer!

I had to pick up a few items at the grocery store, so I made a detour up Robson St. to IGA. On the way home, despite carrying a bag of fairly heavy groceries and it being very wet out as it has been raining for most of the day, I was drawn to walk into the courtyard of the Vancouver Public Library.

Stepping in immediately took me back to my university days, to the odd times that I had been at the library. It wasn't so much studying there that I remembered, but how cool I thought this place was. I remembered that I was more excited for the breaks that I gave myself between studying, because I just loved checking out all the shops along the courtyard and sitting there enjoying some food or coffee. Did you know there's even a flower shop?! It felt as if I was in Europe somewhere, although I had to daydream people around me to be enjoying themselves instead of stressing over their schoolwork... but daydreaming was something I was good at, so that wasn't a problem at all. I will admit, I was an easily distracted student back then!

Despite not having spent a lot of time at the library, it definitely is one of the most beautiful buildings in the city for me. It is one of my favourite places, I think it inspires me with it's beauty... it encourages me to imagine more than what my eyes can see.

Do you have a place that does that for you?

Don't Just Survive...

During my appointment with my chiropractor tonight, I noticed this token on his desk. What an awesome message from the universe!

One of my fears is to live an ordinary life. I don't want to just scrape by... I want to live a full life! Sure, there will be hard times when it will be good to just get by... but for the most part, I would want to be happy, consciously living the life I want to live, experiencing all that the world has to offer.

Play, be creative, be curious, be happy.

Imagine, dream, believe, love.

Live with passion!

Winds Of Change

Today was April artists' date with my arty ladies. We went to Bella Ceramica in West Vancouver and tried our hands at pottery painting. This is my unfinished work of art. It still has to be fired and glazed, so we left our painted pottery pieces at the studio... to be picked up next week. I'm excited to see how it turns out!

It's interesting how I went through a similar process as last month with regards to how I felt about my artwork. I started out with an exciting picture in my head, then as I transfer it onto paper or in today's case, ceramic plate... I immediately started getting discouraged, thinking that it is going to be a major disappointment. But then, I keep working at it and in the end it actually emerges to be something I quite like and can be proud of. Lastly, an artist needs to learn when to stop.

Whimsically Dreamy

Today, I had another date with my artist friends... and this month's theme was watercolour! Experimenting with watercolour is a great way to practice playing, being curious, and just letting your imagination take you away.

This was my work of art - it makes me think of the words dreamy and whimsy =)

London Fog

It's been over 2 years since we've been abroad... (other than to the Philippines last year for my sister's wedding). I'm itching to go somewhere... dreaming of adventures in new places...

Where would you go?

Nostalgia

Today, Sean and I had a visit with his grandma. We took her to Steveston Village, had lunch and walked around a little. We were walking along the boardwalk as grandma was telling us stories from when she lived on Vancouver Island for a while in a village of houseboats... and how one of the guys would take the ladies in his boat to go shopping on the mainland every once in a while.

Like any curious artist's mind would, my mind started to wander... imagining what it would've been like to live that life (with the help of the view I had, of course). When it came time to post the picture of the day, I decided to play in Photoshop to make the photo match the mood of my imagination.

By the way, Steveston Village is my new favourite place!