Having "it all".

When I read Paulo Coelho's words on visions and goals (went something like: "Once they were visions and dreams, now you've made them come true") I immediately thought of Jada Pinkett Smith's words when she talked of "having it all", emphazising that "it all" means different things for everybody. I liked that and I agree, with both statements.

I sunk into Paulo's words and thought back, way back at first, to when I was a kid and dreamed of an exciting life with travels and a handsome and smart and loving husband. Semi-way-back, when I for sure had found that husband kind of recently, we'd both dream of living in a house with some kind of garden and maybe having a child together and a dog.
I'd dream, very secretly, of working as a manager, mainly because it seemed very difficult and equally exciting. My husband would dream of getting a PhD.
Today we live in a small house, with an even smaller garden  - but it IS a garden! We have a son and a dog and I work as a manager and have done so for over six years. My husband got his PhD and is now in the process of fullfilling yet another very old dream: one of studying to become an economist (he got a job already as an economist).

When I got to thinking about all this I felt it was actually mindblowing and I couldn't comprehend that I didn't think about it more often! I mean, they were distant dreams and goals and almost all we could think about and talk about, especially the house part. Now we live it. What happened? Why don't we rejoice like crazy all the time? We're living the dream and we sure have "it all". We're insanely in love also, still after 15 years, it's incredible!

Another even more sought after and essential thing that I would dream about, was a life without fear. I have that too, since six years.
Unbelievable.

So, you see why Paulo's and Jada's words struck me!

We live our dreams and we have it all and I am very happy about that, I often think about how lucky I am. At the same time it amazes me that we seem to not even notice when we reach our dreams. It seems to be the same phenomenon as the one that strikes us, in a bad way, when we slide into toxic relationships and don't quite understand when "a relationship" turns into a "bad relationship" and then "a dangerous relationship".
It's mysterious boundaries that are strong and visible at first but turn invisible at a certain point.
Life, eh?!

So, I'd suggest you take a minute to think about all the goals and dreams you made come true. I'd love for you to share one or two with me, if you'd like!

Love, me.

Dreamin'...

Dreams
I once had a "dreamblog", where I used to count down to the big dream of having a house of our own. I would also dream of having a dog, another son and a carefree life.
I actually dreamt of working as a library manager too, so you see why it did strike me as striking (!) today when I came to remember this dreamblog of mine.

It is nothing other than fantastic that one can dream big, one year, and then another year all the dreams have come true - and you didn't even think about it!

(yeah making that very house beautiful is also in the cards, dream wise and thankful wise)

Painting still going on! I'm now done even with the bedroom. 

Now hubs is in the middle of the stair case.

We celebrated Father's Day last Sunday. With small simple things.

A gift and a tiny fall bouquet.

Sitting down by the kitchen table together. 

The Boy had a chance to show us some of his favorite episodes on kids TV.

Simple dreamin'?

Nowadays I have simple dreams. If I then dreamt of peace and quiet, a house that's mine and another child, I now dream of evenings with candles. I dream of a really good home cooked  meal, come Sunday and a foam bath, come Friday evening. Things like that.

On another note I also dream of these things:

-Going to Miami again

-Going to New York again

-Going to California

-Going to Paris

-Going to Italy

-Trying a water scooter

-Trying a snow scooter, for that matter

-Going speed boating (yeah, I said I'd do it this summer but I didn't)

-Celebrating Thanksgiving

Lit candles to long home for.

An existence to love.

This crazy little dog keeps his carpe diem cherished: by shutting his blanket as often as he can.

You go dog!

Good "fall-goes-winter" times.

The ill boy

The Boy has been ill the last days. He has had a very high temperature and really been burning up.

Today is day three for him, lying on the couch alternating to the bed and he has high hopes being back in business tomorrow, because tomorrow his friend is supposed to come with us home after school.

Horrible as it is having a boy that's burning up with fever, it's very cute to hear his first sentence of the day, this morning:

-Today I'll have a popsicle for "fika" (the coffee break)!

If nothing else, it tells me well times are in the loop for him, soon!

I just can't believe these lovelies are still in bloom. It's winter, sweetheart - take a well deserved nap!

Fuzzy pic of a gorgeous flower, still in bloom. Yep, the Blackberries.

Thankful

So, of all those dreams I dream big, there's one I can make come true right away: the Thanksgiving celebration! Why not? Good tasty food, sitting down talking about what we're thankful for. I can't wait!

I am thankful, for much the same things that I dream about:

-My family

-My friends

-The fact that I'm slowly making new wonderful friends here in the south

-My cosy home

-My dog

-The evenings in our home, that are some kind of wonderful

-The car rides to work, with hubby, where we sometimes have coffee, sometimes talk and sometimes do both!!

-The walk from The Boy's school, after picking him up, when I feel the free time lying ahead of me the rest of the afternoon/evening

-Blogs, mine and those few I follow. I love seeing other parts of the world, other people's minds and get to follow them. It's a magical wonderful treat

-Instagram - that allows my soul to have candy from all over the world every day

I'm thankful I have a boy who can play air flute to me.

Not to mention air guitar!

Sometimes That Very Boy is not thankful he has a mom with a camera glued to her face...

Always thankful for beauty:

One sunrise, offered recently.

Another one.

It's Thursday instead of Wednesday today. My boy has been very ill, so there was no problem with priorities. It looks like he may get better now, please keep your fingers crossed!

Have a great Thursday, folks!

It's going to be a special weekend in many ways.

Beaches a little north of Miami... (part 1)

Is there anything better than, coming down after a sleep-in, finding a son and a dog jumping hooraying, saluting my coming down? They both almost raced each other in order to get to me first and the son exclaimed:
-I looooove you
and kissed my lips!
The dog almost volted in the air in pure extatic frantic happiness. How blessed I am!
In my heart there was nothing but love and warmth.

****
Saturday was a beach day!

Nothing out of the ordinary, for some readers, if it wasn't for the fact that it is cold here.
So cold my fingers literally got numb taking the pics. The camera wouldn't obey the clicks my finger tried to make, after a while.
But I'm not complaining. It was beautiful and refilling of the soul. In the evening I felt as if I had had a day of vacation or that the weekend was longer than it was and I think the visit to the beaches had something to do with that.
Yes, I said beaches! I got the family to endulge me to two beach visits, despite the temperature!

Ice cold, is the word.

Weird looking ice clumps out in the ocean makes it look like Greenland or Antarctica!

Johannes thinks it is way too cold to step outside at all...

Funkie disagrees.

He enjoyed barking out into the chilly wind!

I get chills from the beauty aswell as from the cold.

When the sun paid us the compliment of a visit I could hardly believe my eyes.

Mommy's love.

Marcus and Funkie walks in order not to freeze stiff....

Note the wind capturing Funkie's ear!! Cute dog.

Johannes' mood improved and running was fun, aswell as climbing and jumping.

A favourite pic of all times: dad and dog running happily!

Noone was up for a picnic, I can assure you ;-)

The "bath path".

It was time to go into town for coffee and cake after the cold sejour att the beach.

The boy was happy to get inside and ordered two chocolate cookies!

After spending time at the beach and a whole lot of time being spent together the heart gets comfortable, warm and very loving. It feels more "open" and present.  I have long days during the work week, since we opted to buy a house in the town where our hearts were. So I travel 3-4 hours a day which means that the free time or "together time" is minimal monday through friday. 

But the weekends: wow!

We enjoy long breakfasts together, we visit favourite places, we hug and kiss and we plan and dream. We do all those things a lot and we really enjoy it to the fullest.

To me it's like this: I need the hectic full week days in order to love and enjoy the weekends. I need the cold winter in order to love the warm summer. That is one of the many wonderful things of living, aging and getting to know yourself: you befriend your own "you" and you know what you need to feel good.

This passed weekend hubby and I made huge plans for the future! Exciting!!

We live in an attached house and we really dream of a totally detached house with a bigger garden (when the boy is a little bit older, now we wouldn't have time to manage a big garden). As of this winter  we're at a place in life where we can start saving up money and now we decided we're going to start.

Buying a house is expensive in our country, due to the market and the high taxes, so we're going to save for quite some years but we're going to start and that in itself feels exhillirating. I'll keep you posted!