The happiness of small things

....about the happiness of small things...that are able to bring great pleasure....this is how this post begins today.

 Small things, like a pair of ceramic mugs - one for him & one for me - accindentally discovered while doing some small shopping at the neighbourhood, right after an order was personally delivered at the post office on Saturday morning....probably the last one of my bicycle rides for the season, as the weather has become quite chilly....especially while being on a bicycle!

...small things, like enjoying a hot cup of tea at home, in favorite, hanamde mugs, which had cost just €1,99 each....how much happiness can  €3.98  buy alltogether ?

...am sure you agree happiness cannot be bought at all, still consuming individuals as we all are in the societies where we live in, finding pretty items for small amounts of money, simple feels good.

...small things like dealing with fragments of my life, captured in pictures, which have now become the  

subject of the little shop my partner and I have set.

Pictures to be framed, to be incorporated in stationary, or to be used as details in the packing of orders.

...small things like simply enjoying living in the present, unlike the paper boats seen above, which are actually Time travellers, wandering between past and future, then and now.

Speaking about time, I'm ofen asked what my plans are...and it's then that a kind of blockade comes...something feels unnatural about this inquiry.

We people need plans to feel secure,

to fight the fear of the unknown,

to not risk surrendering in simply being daily the best people we can ever be

and taking life as it comes.

When we plan our life, life is actually happening, 

and quite often we are missing it, 

being occupied with planning it

planning our next steps most probably...

how to achieve more,

how to earn more,

how to move to a bigger house,

how to travel more,

how to be more beautiful,

more successful,

more....

more...

more...

if only we could stop and simply be grateful for all that we have and are at this very moment, 

so much conflict,

so much stress,

so much sadness,

so many diseases would be avoided

Let me tell you about some plans...

Last time I really planned a change, I returned to the very same American University, where I had graduated from Psychology, this time having enroled myself in Interior Design courses.

It was 2007, and I was already partly working as a decorator during weekends and mornings, when I was free from teaching classes of English and holding Art§Crafts seminars (they were taking place in the afternoon).

My plan was to gradually turn my passion and hobby into my daily job, step by step.

My plan was to go on with the courses....

Only that during the first semester, I had already met my current life partner

and my life came upside down in the most delightful of ways, as I wasn't only expreriencing mutual love  in a way I had always wished for, but I was also relocating from Greece to Germany.

So, from being a university student in one of the nicest  private colleges in Athens, I soon found myself being a student in a simple school learning a fourth language, while being 33...

When I was knocking on the doors of opportunity....other ones were opening for me

...and had I not been able to trust myself and my instinct,

persisting in completing my original plan,

 I would have never been where I am now,

I would have probably entered some golden doors,

while actually I would have missed the Silver Diamond ones,

 that were bright open and waiting for me.

If Home is where the Heart is,

then never had I been more at home than in this little Penthouse apartment,

 with this heaven sent partner 

while step by step also building a business of Interior Design,

 while setting up our online/home based shop

step by step, slowly slowly, day by day.

About plans, I remember us expecting our flight to Paris this Spring, looking so much forward to returning there after our last visit to enjoy more of this magical city....

Still, a volcano happened to erupt that very same day and all flights were cancelled, including ours,

all central and northern European airports were closed, 

leaving us with no other alternative, than to take a road trip.

And we did.

We drove to France's Strasbourg, just 2 1/2 hours from home and we were delighted by this new city we were visiting for the first time....

There's always a hidden blessing as a dear friend of mine says

And to bring all this plan talking slowly to an end, I guess my partner's mother was planning to live long enough to enjoy her wonderful son, having his beloved wife/companion at his side, also probably meeting and enjoying her grandchilden...when life had unfortunately other plans for her....the ones we never think of ...the ones we never wish for...such as when cancer knocks on the door...and life comes to a fast end within four months.....I've only known her through pictures and her husband's narations, but I can reasure you she was a beautiful woman and a wonderful, kind, patient, giving soul, a person I'd love to be spending time with.

This is why my dear friends I prefer to actually make no fixed plans, still though I do hold my wishes and try to live in a way to support them....

So, my wishes are to be given the gift of life, being blessed with living it together with my current partner, so long as we are meant to be around this world....being blessed with the gift of seeing him smile when wrinkles will be all over his face....being blessed with having the ability to wipe his tears away when they arise...being able to contribute into making our dreams come true, while at the same time achieving this in a meaninghful way...leaving a positive impact on the world throughout this unimportant passage of ours from this life....

...speaking of wishes and dreams coming true, I wish us to have a home in Mallorca's Valldemossa, a place where I feel deeply connected to and where some of the shop's recently listed pictures were taken. 

Like the ~ happy letters ~ above.

Seen below are a couple of more newly listed items at the shop, such are

~ writing letters ~ photogrpahed in the old city of Limburg

and

~ knowkedge ~ represented by a collection of our favorite vintage books

I'm leaving you with a favorite shot taken this summer on a Saturday afternnoon, 

on our way back home from a visit to our closest Ikea store...

Hope to meet you all, there where the light shines....

and hope that we all find the places inside our souls,

 where the light constanlty shines

Have the most wonderful week ahead!

Love, Ivy xx