The West Coast life is giving me creative vibes!

Hello everyone! It's so great to be back on my blog again. I've really missed being about to chat with you all about my creative life. A lot has happened since I posted last. I'm living on the West Coast now with my husband, dog and two cats. How did that happen? Well I took an early retirement from my job, and got to purging what we didn't need in our townhouse, bought a new vehicle and drove across the country. What an amazing trip that was! I fully intend on scrapbooking some of the photos we took very soon and get to making that album.

We've been here now for a little less than four years, and it's been the best move possible for us. It brought us closer to both our parents. My mother moved out here about 3 years before we did. And of course, my husband Paul was missing the Pacific Northwest life and his parents. I'm so thrilled that we finally got to move here for his sake. I know that he missed his family dearly, and until I took my retirement, we really had no plans to move out here due to our finances and being stuck in the day-to-day.

What have this move and these four years taught me? Hold onto your dreams. Heck, have a dream! I realized that in terms of where I wanted our family to be in the near future, five years, ten years down the road...I didn't have any clue! Now if I had given it some serious thought after we got married, and we sat down to discuss our family plans, we probably would have been out here much sooner. That in itself has taught me that you need to take time to actually dream. Don't just daydream when it's convenient, but actually make time to dream, and work toward that dream. It's also taught me that no dream is too big. Honestly. I would never have thought that we could make a move almost five thousand kilometres away.

So now I dream a little more. I still have to try and make time for it. And I have to silence my inner critic who thinks it's silly to dream. We all have one, right? Now to set those dreams into motion, I have to set some goals. Ugh. I really hate that word. It sounds like work. But goals aren't work. Not really. They are just this abstract thing you want to accomplish, but they themselves don't mean any work. What did someone say about goals and plans? That if you don't create a plan, with tasks (work), then it's just a dream? That is not going to be my life any more. I am going to give myself work, even if it's difficult, to reach for my dream.

Here I am again, on my blog, starting on the plan. I'm back sharing some of my latest scrapbook layouts, perhaps some art journal pages, and more creative works. What's my dream? Honestly, I'm still working on nailing it down. Right now it's a lot like a feeling, a yearning. I know that it feels right when I get back to creating. So for now I'm going to say that I'm dreaming about being more free to create.

I've ventured into different ways to explore that creativity, including a new YouTube channel. And the videos will be primarily scrapbook and art journal process videos. But I'll be back here regularly posting updates on my creative life, twists and turns it might take, and give my creativity another voice by sharing it with you.

I'd love to hear your opinion on my latest videos as I get started out on YouTube, and would love it if you'd subscribe or share them. Thanks for sticking around and I look forward to your comments.

I'll see you again soon with a creative update. In the meantime, stay safe and healthy (look for a blog post on the current pandemic soon)!