You make beautiful things out of the dust.

{via}

I love this picture because I feel like it can have so many meanings depending on what's going on in your life.  When I first saw it, I was confused and it took me a few minutes (yes, I'm that slow) to figure out why the words weren't upside down.  Then, after staring at it for a while I started to realize how genius this photographer was to see something so blatant, that we see every day, and turn it into art. Then, today I looked at it again, and I thought about the busy-ness of my life in California right now with my new career and The Rock, my whole world was flipped upside down.  I realized that time to relax just doesn't exist in my life anymore, and with that, time to enjoy life gets put on the back burner. Just as you would make time to see someone you love, you make the time, even if you don't have it. Get up a little earlier or cut something unnecessary out of your life. 

Sometimes I forget to just STOP and look around me and realize the amazingness of living in San Diego, one of my dream cities!

I have realized that when you live anywhere for a few months, you become used to it and stop appreciating the small things you would've if you were on a vacation.  Sometimes, I just look around and force myself to examine what I see, feel, hear around me that is different, & I just breathe it in, inhale it, and savor it.  To me, that is the beauty of life, the differences.  It is one of my passions in life- different cultures, different sights, sounds, languages...  You don't have to go anywhere to see this beauty though, it is simply just the act of stopping and opening your mind to the beautiful things you skip over every day.

When we were on Magnetic Island in Australia, my friend B took this photo and then flipped it upside down.  No one in their right mind would do that, but that's why I love her.  I love that she can see what I can't- that she saw this tree and saw it's beauty in turning it upside down.  Sometimes, we need to flip our worlds upside down to finally open our eyes. We get so accustom to seeing the same thing in the same way.  So, I encourage you to take a look at the everyday things you pass by, and look at them with new eyes...eyes seeking beauty in everything, and I guarantee your boring, same-old world will seem to change right in front of you!

p.s. check out my "You're my favorite... for today" daily posts of my daily-changing inspirations and musings in the upper right corner of my website!  You can send me things that inspire you, and I will post them up there to share with the world!