There is a lot of beauty in ordinary things…<3

Sep29

Here are some of my recent photos! I love taking pics of ordinary things each day and capturing the extraordinary beauty. ❤
I hope you are having a beautiful day or night wherever in the world you are! This depressive episode I have been in is lifting the way they usually do when they are so severe, gradually, fluctuating, better then worse, then better then worse then better…

I have been handling it well; not as well as I could have been but much better than I could have also. I have been putting things off and not able to concentrate but I’m slowly coming back.

It’s a great accomplishment to hold on and keep going, to stay positive (to some degree, any degree)even in the midst of an illness that takes away everything, including the desire and will to live. But I am here and choose to keep going and keep trying to help inspire and help others any way I can.

Much love & light to you always and please keep carrying on even when it seems pointless and feels impossible. ❤ 😀 Thank you to everyone who reads my posts, likes, shares, comments…I always appreciate it. ❤

xoxo Kim

Another Fall in Philadelphia❤

Sep23

(Me tonight – I’m just getting over a bad depression – it’s sort of like a bad, very, very bad case of Influenza (not that I ever had influenza but it seems kind of similar in certain ways) but in the “mind” and mixed with suicidal tendencies)

Fall in Philadelphia – Hall & Oates – mobile

Fall in Philadelphia – desktop

So here is my annual Fall in Philadelphia post! One of my favorite parts of the year is when Summer turns to Autumn. It’s still very much like Summer but there are a few signs of Fall, some crisp leaves on the ground already, pumpkin lattes, the decorations in the stores, cooler some nights….

Tomorrow is my mom’s b-day! My sister and me went shopping today to buy her a gift. We have been saving up money to buy her some gem stones because she loves those.

Tonight I’m celebrating Fall drinking Pumpkin coffee! It’s never too early for Fall or Christmas, to me. But I like to wait to drink the pumpkin coffee because when it’s really Fall then the pumpkin stuff while still thrilling, isn’t quite as thrilling after drinking it all August long. Lol So tonight I decided to get my first pumpkin coffee of the season! Yum! 😀

I hope you are having a beautiful day or night wherever in the world you are! Also, thank you to all those people with jobs saving people’s and animal’s lives, police, doctors, nurses, EMTs, first responders, assistants, and any others who work hard, even putting themselves in danger to save others. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! And I’m wishing you a safe journey each & every day. 😍❤💙💚💛💜💝💖💗💔💗❤💜💛💚💙

Much love & light, always.

xoxo Kim ❤

Gratitude<3

Sep21

Me, today! 😀 ❤

”I’ve got a heart that can hold love

I’ve got a mind that can think
There may be times when I lose the light

And let my spirits sink

But I can’t stay depressed

When I remember how I’m blessed.”

Seven things I’m thankful for:

1.) Waking up this morning

2.) Delicious cinnamon pastries with buttercream frosting – my dog ate half of one that he stole and licked a lot of the cream off the other one! Lol soo cute!! 😀 ❤

3.) All my senses

4.) Watching a movie with my mom and sister

5.) A chance to post here today

6.) Anyone who may read this post! ❤

7.) All the good things that happen to everyone, all the lives spared, the good news, the health tests that come back with great results, the acceptance letters, new friendships and any loving relationships…all good things for all sentient beings ❤ 😀

What are you thankful for today and/or in general?

Grateful – mobile
Grateful – desktop
Much love & light to you, always!

Xoxo Kim

The Black Widow❤

Sep17

“Poetry is a fresh morning spider-web telling a story of moonlit hours of weaving and waiting during a night.” ❤

Look how lovely! One night recently, in the backyard, I watched a beautiful spider weaving a web on the clothesline. I tried to get pictures but it was too dark and the spider was constantly in motion, spinning and spinning. I saw him\her clearly even though it was dark. The kitchen light in my house and the bright moonlight was enough to allow me to see but the pictures still turned up blurry and dark! I don’t put the flash on for fear of killing the little kritters.

I told my mom I really wanted to get a pic but the circumstances weren’t good for it. I hoped my little arachnid would be there still in the morning. But I was so happy watching him\her spin so beautifully. How magical!

❤

The next day my mom told me s\he was still there so I happily went to see and was pleasantly surprised! This is a different one! A much bigger and more vibrantly colored one but equally beautiful. 😍

If you look closely at my picture, you can see the beautiful web s\he worked so hard to spin. This one was in a recycling can. It was recycling night and I implored my mom to put a different can out that night so as not to disturb the beauty and ruin (her?) Web. A neighbor stole the actual recycling bucket one day (even with our address on it and did not try to remove or cover up our address, my mom checked the cans of those she suspected would do such a thing and sure enough…lol) and my mom “stole” it back and started just using it for the yard and putting a small trashcan out front on recycling \trash night. And the spider was in the trashcan one.

At first my mom refused my plead to leave the spider be but I implored and whined all day til she gave in(a technique that has worked since i was a little girl…beg, whine, stomp around, throw conniptions…til I have my way! Never too old for that, right!?) Lol 😉

So the spider remained undisturbed until late that night when she left on her own. 😍

For these pics, I increased the saturation, structure, and sharpening to bring out the detail of the web. And to bring out the vibrant colors of the spider’s body. On this last picture here, I took the “warmth” option on the slider on Snapseed app and decreased it into the negatives to give it a cool blue look (increasing it would give it a warm yellow\orange color that blends too much with the spider’s natural colors.). The spider’s coloring looks good against this cool blue.

I love how the one part somewhat resembles a human thumbprint! ❤

On the first photo, after bringing out the detail, I just experimented with different things and got the pretty rainbowy background! 😍😀🌈

Do you know what kind of spider this is? Boy? Girl? Poisonous? Deadly? Harmless? Do boy ones and girl ones both spin webs? I can look that one up on Google, I’m sure of it , but I’ll just wait to see if anyone reading knows.

I LOVE spiders!! They are some of most beautiful creatures on Earth.

“(Vincent price speaks)
Leaving lepidoptera… Please, don’t touch the display,
Little boy, aha cute! Moving to the next aisle we have
Arachnida, the spiders, our… Finest collection.
This friendly little devil is the heptothilidi,
Unfortunately harmless. Next to him, the nasty licosa
Raptoria, his tiny fangs cause creeping ulcerations of
The skin (laugh). And here, my prize, the Black
Widow. Isn’t she lovely?… And so deadly. Her kiss is
Fifteen times as poisonous as that of the rattlesnake.
You see her venom is highly neurotoxic, which is to say
That it attacks the central nervous system causing
Intense pain, profuse sweating, difficulty in
Breathing, loss of consciousness, violent convulsions
And, finally… Death. You know what I think I love about her
Most about her is her inborn need to dominate,
Possess. In fact, immediately after the consummation
Of her marriage to the smaller and weaker male of the
Species she kills and eats him… (laugh) oh, she is
Delicious… And I hope he was! Such power and dignity
… Unhampered by sentiment. If I may put forward a
Slice of personal philosophy, I feel that man has ruled
This world as a stumbling dimented child-king long
Enough! And as his empire crumbles, my precious Black Widow…” ❤

The Black Widow – Alice Cooper – mobile

The Black Widow – desktop

Here is to that lovely, Black Widow! ❤

I hope you are having a beautiful day or night wherever in the world you are! A day\night filled with lots of love, laughter, beauty, inner peace, and spiders!! 😉

I’m at work now working a ten hour shift! Already worked five hours and have another five to go! 😀

Much love & light, always.

Xoxo Kim ❤

My Sweet girl❤

Sep6

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This is my sweet girl, Boobie three years ago on her birthday! I had her since I was sixteen years old! I have been dreading today because it would have been her 14th birthday but she died two months ago. Her death devastates me but I’m much stronger than I was when my other dog, Koko, Boobie’s best friend died, three years ago. I love Boobie just as much as I love Koko but when Koko died I couldn’t laugh about anything for so long; I was numb for months. Sometimes I still experience raw grief for Koko and will for Boobie too, just like other losses. When koko died, I was still positive and thankful often, for her life with us but my strength and wisdom has deepened through the years and now I can cope with my more recent loss much better. I can still laugh everyday. I’m not as numb and I can look at pictures of Boobie more frequently than I could bring myself to do with Koko so soon.

Boobie had a beautiful life with us and was always happy! Each year we celebrated her day with cake and gifts and candles and singing. Her blankie in the pic above is a b-day gift for her 11th birthday. She loved it so much! ❤

I am shattered but have so much love and so many happy memories of my girl.

She was sweet and funny, loved to cuddle, especially with my mom! She was a big yapper and sometimes snappy. Lol She begged for food so frequently by throwing her head back and screaming and bringing us toys. 😍

She has twins! 💙

Woody & Quinny ❤

Boobie’s baby daddy, Emmy! So cute! ❤

We celebrate her today, giving her babies new bones! And our other dogs got treats too! We will love & celebrate Boobie furever! ❤💙💛💜💔💝😍 😀

Much love & light, always,

Kim ❤

Kindness makes the world go round ❤

Sep4

Screenshot_2016-09-04-22-10-23_kindlephoto-8538685

(Not my photo)

Perfect! Imagine if each one of us does even just one kind thing for someone, anyone, each day. The world would be so much brighter. And one kind act not only helps the one being targeted for kindness but can inspire others to engage in kindness as well. ❤

There are endless opportunities to make things better each day; we don’t have to wait until an opportunity arises; we can just go out and act.

It can be as simple as smiling at someone walking by, putting change into a tip cup at a store, buying coffee for a coworker, doing extra little things around the office at work, feeding pigeons and squirrels in a safe place, giving money to a homeless person, rescuing an insect instead of killing, picking trash up off the sidewalk, forgiving someone who cuts in front of us in line at a store or traffic, a sweet compliment, an encouraging message…the list goes on & on & on…

I think most of us are kind and do kind things for others occasionally or when we see a chance but imagine how much more sweetness we can put out into the world if we put more intention into our kindness, plan to do at least one kind thing each day even if we aren’t feeling very kind at the moment

We may be in a hurry, tired, in a bad mood, have a headache, feeling betrayed by someone, depressed, pissed off, numb, anxious, shy…some days but let’s push through it, rise above, and reach out in kindness to help another and bring just a little more beauty & love into our world. ❤💙💜💛💚😍

I hope you are having a lovely day or night wherever in the world you are! It is a beautiful, somewhat cool night here in Philadelphia!

Also, thank you so, so much to everyone who liked, commented on, read, shared….my last post!! I greatly appreciate it and am so honored! 😍

“Throw your hearts up Let it fly high. Let your love for all the world Spread through the skies Let it drop down Let it all go. Spreading kindness to every Single living soul” ❤

Being Kind – Empty Hands – mobile

Being Kind – desktop

😀

Much love & light,

Xoxo Kim

Be.YOU.tiful ❤

Sep3

This is me today at work! ❤

And here is a quote I saw recently:

**“It’s okay to be who you are. If you’re nervous, be nervous. If you’re shy, be shy.” 💜**

I love how this quote encourages us to be just us. It’s a good thing to change what we want if we truly want to change it. But it’s also great to just accept our own self just the way we are. Some things can’t be changed and some we may think we want to change or think we don’t like but it’s really someone else’s opinion or the opinion of the society in which we live, influencing us to change, to “fix,” to make better.

Let’s stop and think. Do we truly want to change whatever it is because we our self wish to change it or is the view of others getting to us?

If it’s the views of others, let’s consider not changing just for that. And if we truly want to lose the weight, get the surgery, makeover, dye our hair..we can still love our own self while changing it. Our beauty and value are not dependent upon anyone else.

My sister loves to cut, style, and dye her hair. It’s just how her personality is. She gets many compliments on her style and boldness, shaving half her head and having the other half blue or some other dyed color. On so many occasions, strangers and people we know, come up to compliment her and then ask me, “So when are you going to cut\dye your hair?”

I don’t cut or dye my hair and have never dyed it and am not going to. Five years ago I got my first haircut in seventeen years! It was cut in layers and still fairly long. Now, five years later and I haven’t got it cut since then other than trimming it now and again. It’s long enough for me to sit on. My dogs and people sit on it and pull it by accident! It annoys me but I love my hair!

Also, I am very shy and always have been. When I just meet someone or don’t see someone often, I am usually not talkative. It’s not fear or anxiety or introversion. I love meeting and being around people and am calm in social settings and am extroverted, just a shy extrovert. 😀

I have frequently been told to start getting loud and outgoing. It’s not my choice to feel shy; I just am. I don’t have a problem with it and don’t wish to change it. Being loud and outgoing, frequently changing hairstyles is all great. It’s just not for me.

Also, I LOVE Oldies music and people think it’s weird and I used to be embarrassed about it but now I embrace my love for old music.

And I don’t watch TV but love to read. This is embarrassing sometimes but I never try to conceal it.

I dont drink alcoholic drinks and never had more than a few sips in all of my days. It’s embarrassing but alcohol just does not appeal to me in any way and never has. It’s just not my cup of tea(except to take pictures of!).

I don’t want kids and never have. I love kids and want to work with extra needs children. But being a mom isn’t the life I want for me. Not for any specific reason though; I just have no desire to have kids. I used to lie years ago and tell people I do want kids so people wouldn’t think I’m a bitter old witch who doesn’t like kids. Now I embrace me for all that I am. I would love my kids if I had kids; that’s just not the life I choose.

If you love to loosen up with a glass of wine or shot of whisky, embrace who you are! If you’re like me and hardly ever had more than a sip, embrace that too!

Shy or ououtgoing , love and accept who you are.

Bookworm? Embrace it!

Watch TV all day?

That’s OK if it’s what we truly want!

Stay at home parent, working parent, not a parent, don’t want to be, can’t be… Whatever…love yourself. 💜

As long as we aren’t hurting others or directly interfering, let’s embrace and love it. ❤💜💚💙💛😍😀

And if it is interfering with someone, we can always change for the better.

Live with it & love it. 💙

But let’s remember not to be stuck up and sanctimonious about it(unless we really want to be, lol)! We don’t have to negatively judge others for lifestyles we would never choose or for loving stuff we don’t love or not loving stuff we love. Let’s celebrate our oneness, our similarities, and our diversity. ❤💞

Much love & light,

Xoxo Kim

Shine. <3

Aug25

“And we’re all gonna shine a light together, all shine a light to light the way, brothers and sisters in every little part, let our love shine a light in every corner of our hearts.” ❤

😀

Saw this inspiring greeting card at CVS today(yesterday – I tried posting this before 12:00am but it wouldn’t work)! We all have a light to shine onto the world whenever we choose whether it’s through an act of kindness, creating something, arts n crafts, baking, photography, makeup & hair styling, giving birth, having a beautiful child, falling in love, doing the best we can, encouraging others, adopting a pet, volunteering to help others, saving an insect, feeding a squirrel…., or even just smiling brightly at a stranger…, anything that brings us alive, stirs something within, and makes the world just a little bit brighter is our way to shine our light into the uni-verse touching everyone & everything for the better. 😀 ❤
I hope you are having a beautiful day or night wherever in the world you are!

Love Shine a Light – mobile

Love Shine a Light – desktop
Much love & light,

Always,

Xoxo Kim ❤

Inspiration❤

Aug23

13413793_1196299880414524_7557158172375897310_n

This isn’t my photo! Just an inspiring quote I recently discovered! I haven’t been doing much for the last few days except working & meditating (and eating pita bread & hummus! Yum! 😍 )

I haven’t even been reading much which is extremely unusual for me! I have been engaging in meditation more instead. My meditations have been deeper and longer and more persistent than they used to be, over an hour for each one. I notice a significant difference each day than when I don’t meditate much. When I don’t meditate for a while, even when I’m very calm and peaceful and not anxious or depressed, I’m not as mindful of my inner peace and it doesn’t feel as deep as when I meditate even just once in the last two days. The feeling of tranquility, inner peace, calm, serenity…, is almost palpable. For me, the effects of meditation last two days. I noticed this because when I meditate just once one day and not again, I still feel the effects two days later, that smoothness, that seemingly indestructible inner calm. Two days later! Imagine the effects of meditating every single day! 😀 I have much experience with meditation but never made it a constant habit. I meditate off and on, stopping for a while then starting up then stopping, then again…which is better than nothing! 😀

I am not someone who experiences much anxiety or sleep problems but after losing my close friend unexpectedly to a heart attack, a year and a half ago, I experience anxiety and a sense of panic (not full blown panic attacks though) in ways I never used to before and I find meditation so very helpful. But we don’t have to have a specific problem or condition for meditation to be helpful. Even if we’re generally, naturally very peaceful and joyful, meditation can still be fantastic.

So I have been on a kind of retreat, not like a trip somewhere but not doing as much as usual (other than working) like reading, social media….

In Buddhism, sometimes we are encouraged to go on a retreat in our minds, even if we have to work. We still go to work and do things we have to but lay off other things for a while, like Internet. It energizes and calms us. This wasn’t my intention now; it just sort of happened that way.

Also, I recently heard on the radio that eating any kind of beans each and every day can add eight years to our life! Hummus is one example the person provided. I love hummus! Lol My mom thinks it sounds like a dirty word. 😂😍

I’ll have to look it up to learn more about that! Very interesting! Today is the fifth day of my twelve days in a row of work! It’s not so bad. It is a bit busy! ‘Tis the season for ice cream, milkshakes, banana splits….😍

Thank you to everyone who wrote me comments! I will respond soon! I appreciate every comment, like, share…..😍

Much love & light,

Kim ❤

Photography & inspiration❤

Aug20

IMG_20160812_020920-01

“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place…I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” ❤

This post I had planned for over a week now but never prepared or published it yet and today I saw on Facebook that today is the 177th anniversary of photography! I’m not sure how true it is but what a perfect day to actually publish this here post! 😀

I am extremely trusting in general but also extremely skeptical in another way. Both of those aspects of my nature are not usually conscious decisions; I’m just that way. Whenever I see a source, statistic, something in the media….my brain automatically questions the accuracy or truth of it. I’m not a conspiracy theorist or totally paranoid but I’m often even skeptical when I see things in the news or anything.

So this 177 years thing may or may not be accurate but anyway it’s the inspiration for me fixing up this post and hitting “publish.”

Screenshot_2016-08-20-02-38-15_kindlephoto-14904575

This (the very first one at the top) is the first photo ever that I truly tried to edit using real photography “rules” or tools. Photography is my passion, reading about it, looking at people’s photos, professional or not, taking my own pics, I am so inspired!

Sometimes my hobby taking and editing pictures I take brings life back into me when I’m severely depressed and inspires me to live. I am not a photographer and know very little about photography other than the beauty of it. One of my goals is to learn more about it on my own and even take classes one day just for fun! I mostly use my phone to take pics but I do have a Nikon camera I don’t really know much how to use. It takes beautiful photos though.

Here is that same pic but not edited:

IMG_20160812_020920

The colors here are less vibrant because in above picture I increased the saturation. Decreasing saturation into the negative numbers will turn an image b&w. Also, in the above image(the one way above), I increased the structure and sharpening to bring out the detail better and I straightened the photo.

Here are some more of my photos that I edited:

My main source of inspiration for taking pictures is mundane objects like buildings, traffic lights and signs, everyday objects like lightbulbs, ceiling fans, towers outside, fire hydrants….anything…I love to capture the beauty of things often overlooked, ignored, taken for granted and sometimes edit them to make certain things stand out. Shadows and reflections for example, in person we often do not stop to appreciate or just see them but in photos, we often can’t miss them!

These seemingly trtrivial things make up much of our lives each day and I want to capture and share their stunning beauty and promote mindfulness of them each day.

Here is my page:

https://inspirationalgem.wordpress.com/small-things-forgotten/

There are basic composition rules for taking pics like the rule of thirds, leading lines, negative space… And basic editing tools like straightening, sharpening, structure, vignette or central focus, tonal, ambiance, …that we can use to make our pictures more appealing. I like over editing some of pics. I think they look pretty

And don’t want my hobby restricted by rules. But I also want to learn the general rules (that photograpers agree have exceptions and are made to be broken once in a while) and the basic editing tools That most digital photos can use. I decided to make a goal to at least once a day, take a few minutes to read about photography and try to learn and apply some photography techniques to my pictures. The above pic is the first one I edited using Snapseed in an attempt to use real photo editing tools, not just how I usually do editing them just in random ways or on a whim or whatever I think looks good. That’s good too but I am so happy to learn and try something new! This pic I edited using the basic tools on photo app Snapseed, a popular iPhone photo editing app. I don’t have an iphone, never have, and likely never will but I just love IPhone photography for some reason! Its my favorite! My android marshmallow phone can get Snapseed. I wanted it when I used a blackberry phone but its not compatible with BlackBerry.

IMG_20160812_022143-02

This pic here I also tried to edit using real photography techniques but instead of looking at the instructions I used my memory and forgot a couple steps. The first picture is very bright to convey the feel of a hot summer day and this one I made darker using the vignette tool, to bring more attention to the window with the reflection of the blue sky. If i understand correctly, vignette can be used to draw the viewers to a certain part of the photo. I hope to master this skill one day! I have much to learn! I think this pic can use an increase in saturation.

I wish my skills were already developed and my knowledge about photography vast but there’s also something so beautiful about having so much more to learn! So much fun and possibility! One day my knowledge of and skills in photography will be increased in both breadth & depth! 😀❤💜

And here are some of my intentionally very over-edited photos!

😀