The Sun is always t h e r e ... { and I believe in m i r a c l e s ! }

{listen while reading}

I'm an avid gardener.

Pretty proud of my* succulents in the winter garden,

the olive tree in the bedroom,

{brought straight from Greece in my mother's suitcase pretty please, when she came to visit last winter,

mom you are a darling hero, have I ever told you that?}

the new, wonderful - whatever its name is  - dark green leaf plant

also currently residing in the bedroom

{which I'll show you very soon - smiles},

the aloe vera which has finally grown its roots and is happily multiplying

{also brought from Greece during a visit in the early autumn of 2011.

These "babies"  have grown from two large mother plants, residing at my parents balcony at Apart44.

And these two large plants have grown from the very first aloe vera I planted for one of my own apartments,

when I lived alone back in Greece, sometime in 2006...

you get the picture I guess ;)}

and most of all,

the plants that are welcoming us and people,

when they take the private stairs to our** maisonette,

{located on the 1st and 2nd floors of a little house,

hosting alltogether 4 homes}

and the little trees and bushes and flowers planted in the front veranda.

All with my hands.

Dipped in dirt.

Placed in carefully chosen flower pots,

patiently bought one by one with little back then own earned money.

I look at them all now, during Spring,

taking so much pleasure and happiness for every new, fresh leaf they grow

and I think to myself***

If I can do that,

if I can plant and carefully nurture plants,

I can nurture myself and my life.

This is why, 

I   d o n ' t   g i v e   u p 

cause I already passed with success {to my surprise}

the moment I was ready to do so.

I didn't.

I'm still here.

Fighting for my LIFE,

the way I choose to do so.

As an adult.

With a clear vision,

Lots of faith,

and ready to enjoy every moment of the journey.

I don't know if you can follow or understand, but I'm immensly happy about it.

In ways that words cannot express.

Few months ago when it all seemed that all possible forces in the Universe

were against me,

I managed to say with a quiet but firm voice

sourcing from the deepest center of my existence:

I   t r u s t   m y s e l f .

I'm happy to share with you my way.

I'm convinced that something incredibly wonderful & positively impactive

can take place.

To close this post,

let me use the title:

The sun is always  t h e r e  {even when there are clouds in front of it}

&

I  b e l i e v e   i n   m i r a c l e s

......................................................................

*{would love to say ours, but when people separate, so do their belongings} 

** { have decided to be considering it my home till the movement time arrives, despite it officially belonging to my ex life partner, still co - living partner &  little bit of a friend}

*** {pretty often I think to myself... "what a wonderful world"}

.......................................

picture credit clockwise from top left: 

1 / 2 / 3 {kindly drop me a line if you can help with locating proper credit} / 4 

collage curation: Iro - Ivy Nassopoulos for Domestic Stories with Ivy, 2013

Just b r e a t h e . . .

in order to keep the flow going,

 when remaining  c e n t e r e d , 

f o c u s e d ,  g r o u n d e d   &  f e e l i n g   g u i d e d 

seems like a hard task to accomplish,

I hereby decide to take but a few moments to put together posts,

which will be expressing  emotions,

while keeping my feet on the ground,

distracting me from feeling helpless,

while also putting into use the combination of visual & verbal inspiration

that I have discovered to not only love, but indeed actually

being able to  b r e a t h e  through it

till  R o o t s  grow...

l o v i n g l y ,

s t e a d i l y , 

till the first twigs and leaves appear,

till the little tree,

creates a  s o l i d   f o u n d a t i o n, 

able to sustain  g r a c i o u s l y   &   t h a n k f u l l y 

any kind of weather

I hope that you'll also enjoy seeing and reading such posts,

till I share again some of my own visual work,

while also having the chance to come along, to participate,

to support, or to even perhaps and hopefully find some support yourselves.

Much love to you,

I'm immensly grateful for your support and sweetest, kindest of "welcome back's"

in my latest post  There can be so much love...

......................................................................

picture credit:

up left { adoring the mix of geometric shapes and the freshness & coolness of the blues!}

up right {what a beautiful package design for dairy products!}

down {got to love all the collection!}

There can be so much l o v e...

When it all looks as if  THE END has come,

I'll pick up my paint brush and draw A NEW BEGINNING.

I'll draw and build a life where love & creativity prevails

A life where shortcomings, difficulties & apparent blockades are but

a CHANCE to gain insight, 

to deeply comprehend,

to listen close to the heart,

 to accept and 

fear not to let go of all we LOVE.

For how could we ever loose all that we truly love?

that would be a contradiction

Life makes its circles,

people we deeply love might go,

but so long as we keep them in our hearts

they remain forever alive.

About letting go,

the time for me has finally come

to let those fears behind...

let them turn into a fairy dust...

 a fairy dust of countless sparkling stars that will serve

as my guide through my quest in life.

I let go of the child inside of me...

it has been enough loved and can finally grow up

I let go of my fear of being poor & alone

I embrace the woman I have developed into

I set up plans to support my life & my dreams,

step by step every day,

one day at a time

always keeping my vision crystal clear in sight,

while simmultaneously allowing space for it to manifest 

in any way it's meant to be the best.

Hello everyone,

I've missed SO MUCH being HERE

I'm sorry for some readers that were dissappointed

and so very grateful for all those people,

who despite the silence here

kept on believing, having trust and patiently awaiting for the time

that this place is ACTIVE again.

Thank you to all new readers who subscribed despite the inactive posting of last months.

There'll be lots to share and so much WORK to do!

If you are reading this,

give me a shout, by raising your hand, puttng a smile on your face

and letting me know that together with you,

I CAN DO THIS

I CAN BUILD THE LIFE I DREAM FOR MYSELF

to share with the world & the ones I love.

Kindly yours,

Iro - Ivy

Collage creation: Iro - Ivy Nassopoulos for Domestic Stories with Ivy 2013

Picture credit from left to right: 

left - middle - right