2015 Word of the Year: Flow

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes.  Don’t resist them — that only creates sorrow.  Let reality be reality.  Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” -Lao Tzu

Many people write new year resolutions.  I still write down my goals for the year, but I have found it more helpful to have a word, an intention, to focus on throughout the year.

This year, in addition to my animal spirit totem, a deer, I decided the word flow would be my word for 2015.  Last year I chose the word trust and the year before that, I chose the word create.

Flow defined: flow /flō/  verb 1. move along or out steadily and continuously in a current or stream.

I am going to keep moving along steadily with my long-term photography project, which I hope to be done photographing by this spring; and I am going to practice flowing with what comes my way.  My hope is that positive benefits will flow from this practice.

Are you considering selecting a word for yourself (or letting one find you)?  There is no right or wrong.  The main thing to remember is that this is your word.

And what do you do with this one little word?  You live with it.  You invite it into your life.  You let it speak to you.  You might even follow where it leads.  There are so many possibilities.

Animal Spirit Totem: Deer

On New Year’s Eve, I took Victory out for her final walk and potty that night.  During this walk, a magical event happened — from out of no where, a family of deer walked in front of us.  The family of deer were roughly eight feet from us; and they all stopped and looked at us very calmly for about a minute or so.  It was interesting that the deer stood still for what seemed like a long time at the time just back gazing at us very calmly.  The only illumination present was the lights from the houses.  Victory was calm and she also gazed back at the deer.  I have never in my life been so close to a deer, let alone a family of deer.  I need to take note more often that there is so much beauty in nature.

As a result of this unusual experience, I decided to make the deer my animal spirit totem for the year.  (Plus Victory’s face resembles a deer to some extent.)  I have never had a spirit animal totem before, but I have heard and read about other people having an animal spirit totem each year or for years at a time.  After doing some cursory research, I discovered the following about the deer spirit animal:

When you have the deer as spirit animal, you are highly sensitive and have a strong intuition.  By affinity with this animal, you have the power to deal with challenges with grace.  You master the art of being both determined and gentle in your approach.  The deer totem wisdom imparts those with a special connection with this animal with the ability to be vigilant, move quickly, and trust their instincts to get out the trickiest situations.  (Source).

Additionally, below is a summary of the symbolic meanings for the deer: love; grace; peace; beauty; fertility; humility; swiftness; regrowth; creativity; spirituality; abundance; benevolence; and watchfulness.

My hope is that this spirit animal totem, the deer, will be helpful to me in 2015!

Image: Favim.com.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  It is difficult to believe another year has come and gone already.  We had a nice Holiday!  It is also nice to have a break from everything, if only for a little bit!  I believe that breaks can do wonders.

Just before New Year’s we took our fur girl, Victory, to D.C.  Victory is always up for an adventure!  This was always something that we wanted to do with our Biscuit and, unfortunately, we never made it to D.C. with him.  We took Victory to the National Tree, the Washington Monument, and the White House in Biscuit’s honor!  Victory had a great time!  When we took her to The Ellipse, near the White House, where Victory was a hit with the tourists who started photographing her in unison (shown below) and then they petted her one at time.  However, after a couple of minutes, Victory stood up as she was a little anxious with so many people near her.  Overall, Victory did well on her visit to D.C.  I love the images of her exuding so much joy, especially the images at the end of this post!

We hope that you had a great New Year’s Day!  I look forward to curating more content this year.  I have a feeling that this is going to be a good year!

Happy Pawlidays!

“Holidays are about experiences and people, and tuning into what you feel like doing at that moment.  Enjoy not having to look at a watch.” -Evelyn Glennie

Thank you so much for a wonderful year!  I am so grateful to have many blog readers and subscribers!  I am very much looking forward to new series and exciting adventures in 2015!  I believe 2015 will be a terrific year filled with so many possibilities!  Thank you so very much for reading and following the blog — it means so much to me!

We are headed out of town soon, and I am taking a brief break from the blog.  I hope to use some time off to reflect and to come back to you with new creativity with new things to see and read here.  I will return to the blog in early January.  Meanwhile, if you are in a blog-reading mood, you are warmly invited to check out the archives — a link to the archives is on the right side of the blog!

Before I sign off for a little bit, Victory is pictured below on Christmas morning with her Christmas gifts that she received from Santa; both sets of grandparents; and Auntie Kassie and Uncle Jason!  Victory received a new monogrammed blanket; a monogrammed pillow; another blanket; toys; an ornament; Christmas money; and many yummy treats!  To say the least, Victory is a happy pup!  (Indeed, she is exhausted today from all of the festivities!)

Have a wonderful new year!

*Note: I do plan to post images regularly while we are away via Instagram (our Instagram feed is also shown on the right side of the blog!)

Happy Pawlidays!

Merry Christmas!

“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” ~Charles Dickens

Merry Christmas!  We are home for Christmas this year, and this is our first Christmas in our new house!  We hope that you are having a wonderful Christmas!  We, along with Victory, are headed to our friend’s house today to celebrate Christmas!  Little Victory is doing well and she is enjoying her Christmas as well as her gifts!

Below is the front of our Holiday card along with our matching envelopes using custom stamps and stickers of our beautiful little Victory!  I design our Holiday cards and packaging, and Doug helps me write (and proofreads) our message shown on the back of our Pawliday card!  This is my way of sharing our Pawliday card with all of our blog friends!  Thank you, thank you, for reading this blog for however long or short you have been visiting!  I truly love creating content for the blog to share with all of you.  We hope that you have a splendid Christmas!

You can view our previous Pawliday cards here and here.

Happy Pawlidays!