Sunset on The Cape Fear River

I took this picture with my iphone on the bank of the Cape Fear River while the sun was setting. The light was so beautiful over the brown (LOL!) flowing ripples of water. Muddy bottom equals muddy water.

In the background is a train trestle. All the times I have visited the river I have never hear or seen a train pass over. 

In the foreground, you can see the mud from the recent severe flooding that occurred in the area. The water rose up to the bottom of the train trestle. Incredible to see.

Despite the it's muddy scars, there is still beauty to be found and nature moves on. Time did not stop and life moved on.

Disappointments and setbacks happen in life, but how we recover and response to those stressful, frustrating, or sad passing moments defines our lives.

Rise Up. Refocus. Lessons learned. Keep flowing forward through life.

Thank you for reading. 

Thomasina

Live Life Like An Ocean Wave

Myrtle Beach SC  Nikon Cool Pix L120

 I have realized that to live the most peaceful life I can in stressful situations, I had to be a flexible and flowing as an ocean wave moving back and forth towards land.

It is important to evaluate the situation and decide calmly to work hard on the things I can change and to let flow around me the things I cannot change. The ocean waves do not become angry at the rocks blocking it's way on the beach. It will slowly erode the surface of the rock over a long period of time or the rock with dislodge and float away in the currents.

I have had to be honest with myself about what I direction I am taking in life, career and my art. Forcing myself to settle has never be the path to a peaceful mind and spirit. I have learned the hard way to step out on faith and follow my dreams and goals. What you fear will master you.

Ocean waves have to encounter many obstacles while flowing towards the shore. Each barrier is met with power and grace at the same time. I want to be calm, graceful, faithful and powerful against all negative situations that life throws at me. Stressing out about anything does not lead to good health or positive productivity.

I always get the biggest laugh when I watch the seagulls and sandpipers stand with their tiny bird legs in the water searching for food totally unintimidated by the crashing waves. The birds are watchful of the rhythm of the waters but they do not let the size and force of the waves stop them from reaching their goals.

Flow forward in all things.

Peace

Thank you for reading

Thomasina

Dogwood Trees Are Blooming

Dogwood

I had a wonderful time this morning photographing the gorgeous flowers in my backyard. Thankfully I was able to take pictures of the dogwood trees before their delicate white blooms fade and fall to the ground. It seems these flowers bloom quickly and just a quickly disappear.

What a wonderful sunny cool Spring day to be outside exploring my overgrown backyard. I had so much fun grabbing close ups of every flower I could find. Creative. Happy. Relaxed. Energized.

A beach trip would have been wonderful but it was nice to stay home and appreciate the things that surround me daily.

Camellias

My yard has two hardy camellia bushes that have stood the test of unpredictable Winter/Spring cold then hot temperatures. I was afraid the frost would ruin the flowers and buds but once again these flowers set an example to me to stand strong against the harshness of life and bloom ANYWAY.


I hope you are having a happy, creative and productive day.

Thank you for reading

Thomasina

Spring is here! Time To Bloom

Azaleas beginning to bloom.

 Hello Everyone!

 

Long time no blog. I am back now just in time for Spring. Thank God winter is over. Now it is time to enjoy the beautiful budding flowers and sprouts of green. I definitely feel happier during the Spring and Summer months. Sunshine and blue skies - my life's motto.

 

 

Love how everything is coming up green.
 

 

This photograph is a lesson in you can't believe everything you see. It looks like just a peaceful shady green corner of my yard. In fact, it is next to a busy street and drive way. Photographers frame and crop images in a way to compose a picture that is not the actual reality of the real place, situation or even a person.

 

Always remember "there is more than meets the eye". In my beach photo landscapes ,I have cropped out so many trash cans, random people walking by and drainage pipes it is hilarious.

 

 

A daffodil that is truly a survivor.
 

 

This flower (some people think of it as a weed LOL!) is a daffodil with the strongest will to survive I have ever encountered with any plant in my yard. I remember this seeing this flower's beautiful buttery yellow bell blooms since my childhood. It has fought back against being trampled, cut down over and over with the lawn mower, and harsh weather conditions for many years but magically appears alive and strong year after year.

 

 

This year has been a stressful time for me and America so I took inspiration and strength from not only seeing the daffodil spring back at the beginning of Spring but this time it looks even more lush and strong than it has in many years. This plant is growing completely alone but decided to return and be beautiful every year.

 

Be Persistent.

 

 

Be Consistent.

 

 

Be strong.

 

 

Rise Up.

 

Thank you for reading. More blogs are coming.

 

Thomasina

 



Find Your Peace

Myrtle Beach SC    Nikon Coolpix L120

Lately I have been appreciating the peaceful moments in my life. We can all get caught up in the stressful and hectic moments but every single day we need to take time for peace and calm.

In my peaceful moments, I find my inspiration which leads to my creativity. When I do not connect with my creativity, I instantly feel like life is more stressful and my mood darkens.

Finding your peace is also very important to your health. Take the time to stop during your day to breathe and focus your thoughts. Are your thoughts productive? Are you seeking peace in your thoughts and actions?

Life will definitely have it's stressful moments but how you react throughout the day will decide whether or not you find a way back to peace. Search for constructive, productive solutions to overcome the stress in your life. Can you prevent the stressful situation before it happens? I try to be as proactive as I can in life. Anticipate what you will need and bring those items with you will alleviate random problems that pop up during the day.

If I allow clutter to creep up and takeover in my surroundings, I feel my stress level rising until I do a "organize, clear out and put back in it's place session".

As you may know from reading my blog and my twitter the beach is a very important part of my life. I try to escape to the beach as much as I possibly can. Pictures of the beach on every wall (LOL!), road trips, creating art and writing are all ways I actively pursue my peace.

Create your peaceful environment everywhere you go. You can do this with pictures, music, creating art whatever make you happy. Be aware of stressful situations and unhappy people. Avoid them whenever you can but if you can't do not allow them to draw you into the drama. Happiness is a choice. Peace is a choice.

Be powerful and knowledgeable in a stressful situation. Do not make the situation worse. Actively seek positive solutions. After I go through a negative experience, I take the time to realize what life lessons I just learned. This is very helpful to stop the cycle of going through the same stress situations over and over.

Finding your peace and being very aware when you are not peaceful will help you have better health and quality of life.

Thank you for reading!

Thomasina

A New Day. A Clean Slate. Don't Waste It.

Myrtle Beach    January 2016 with a CanonPowerShot ELPH 170 IS

I love sunrise and sunset at the beach. The symphony of soothing colors playing in harmony on the brightening or fainting sky is truly awe inspiring.

Watching the sun rise over the ocean waves gives me have so much hope and enthusiasm for the fresh new day. At the end of a day at the beach, watching the sun set over the ocean horizon, I feel thankful to have lived another day of life.

Life is too precious to be wasted. Every breathe is a gift. The older I get, the faster time seems to fly by. I appreciate life so much now. Getting through the hard times in life has made me stronger and more aware how precious life is.

My goals are to have a peaceful, creative and productive life. I love encouraging people to be their best and live life to the fullest.

Watching sunrises and sunsets fill me with respect for the Creator and the creation. I hope you will have a wonderful inspiring day today. Go pursue your dreams today. Give yourself permission to live the life you always wanted.

Thank you for reading my post.

Thomasina

Peace

 

 

Waves from the Atlantic Ocean at Myrtle Beach

 

 

 

The beach has always been a place of peace, relaxation, happiness and mental cleansing in my life. As I drive down to South Carolina, all of my problems fade away to nothing. The constant chatter in my mind is silenced.

 

 

There were many years when I was unable for many reasons to go to the beach and my life suffered because of that. Being near the water (a lake will do in a pinch LOL!)  instantly makes me focus my calm energy and smile. I will never ever take for granted any trip to ocean after so many years of wanting to visit and being unable to.

 

 

It's my "inner mermaid" longing for her ocean home beneath the crashing waves that pulls me towards the coast every chance I get.

 

 

I am sending out this peaceful foamy sunlit wave to you. I want to give to you the same peaceful calm strengthening positive energy I receive every time I stand on the sandy shore.

 

Today is your positive hopeful productive day. Believe in your inner strength. Run towards your goals.

 

 

Peace be with you my friend.

 

Thank you for reading!

 

Thomasina



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year! 2016 is going to be Amazing!

Happy 2016 Everyone!

I saw this T shirt in Express today when I was in Raleigh, NC. These simple words are so true for my life. Things may look bad or sad but never give up on reaching your goals and dreams. 

In 2015, I was hugely blessed to finally reach certain goals that took many months or even years to come to reality. 

Lesson learned: Those sad dark depressing times WILL pass. Do NOT ever give up on reaching positive meaningful goals in your life. 

Make it happen! Keep encouraging yourself. Surround yourself with positive people. Get the help you need. Do let fear stop you from trying. Take it one step  at a time.

Believe in good things coming into your life. Life will definitely have difficult moments but keep moving forward. I am so much more stronger having gone through the tough times. 

Take Care and Bless You!

Thank you for reading.

Thomasina 

Fighting The Fall and Winter Blues

Some people love this time of the year when the temperatures are cooling down and the leaves are changing color.

I am definitely NOT a Fall or Winter person. in fact,  I wish there could be blue skies and bright sunshine every single day during the year but this is not reality where I live. 

The beautiful sun shining has always made happy and energized therefore I really struggle with cold overcast cloudy weather. This year I made a very important decision that I will make an strong effort to bring "sunshine weather" into every single cold weather day.

At the very end of Summer, I brought a lot of beach and tropical themed home décor items to decorate every room in my home. Transforming the interior of my house into a beach house with bright happy colors, sea shells and pictures of the ocean has been my first line of defense again the sad feeling I get from the changing weather.

I will be positive  and productive about Fall and Winter instead of giving into my usual habit feeling down and unhappy. The cool and cold months take up half the year and I do not want to waste a precious moment being sad.

Choose happiness. Choose life. Everyday is a gift and should be lived to the fullest.

Tell me how you deal with the "cold weather blues."

Thanks for reading!

Thomasina

Thankful Lessons And Hard Work

Hello Everyone!

I have missed you all so much! This blog is a little different than my usual blogs. I am updating you all on what has been going on. Life is amazing and very busy.

Computer problems. Car problems. Finding a full time job problems.  ALL of this things has been taken care of. I am truly blessed. God provided.

So much as happened to make my life a LOT better than it was a year ago and definitely better than it was two years ago. For a long time I was struggling with a long term job search, I finally got a full time job in an office.

It was a long difficult stressful process but I learned a lot about being persistent and believing in myself. In order to get back into an office environment, I had to work in retail for a while which was something I thought I would never have to do again after having so many years of office experience.

Today I am in a place in my life where I have never been so thankful and blessed. Never giving up and a lot of hard work was the key to bring me through the tough dark times. I was also forced to learn to be patient. You have to sometimes go through the process to discover new things about your life.

The best thing about my long  job search is that I started my blog Thomasina's Words. Lately my work schedule is really busy and long hours, I realized just how much I missed blogging regularly. Learning how to use my time wisely and being productive as possible was a huge lesson I learned when I was searching for employment. I am determined to fit in blogging more often into my schedule.

I will be doing another blog post on the hard learned lessons of being in a long term job search.

Being an artist and a writer helped me cope with the stress being out of work. I had an outlet to vent my feelings in my journal, write a blog post or create an art piece. I would not be the artist and writer I am today if I had not had the time during my unemployment to focus on this important part of my life.

More blogs to come :)

Thank you for reading!

Thomasina

Sharing Something Bright and Colorful

I saw this on the wall in a restaurant I go to once in a while. The nice lady who works there said it is for Chinese New Year.

The beautiful bright happy colors and sparkling glitter caught my eye. Looking at this made me happy and changed a blah day into a better day.

Bright bold colors give me energy and inspiration. 

I love it when I find inspiration in the most unlikely places. 

This reminds me to look for good things and positive inspiration everywhere I go. 

Btw can someone translate the characters for me?

Thanks for reading my post!

Thomasina

Believe You Can And You're Halfway There

 

Bracelet - silver tone metal rhinestones in the word "Believe" on a black elastic cord.

Love this saying on the display card of a $1.00 bracelet I got from Rue 21 today. 

Believe you can and you are halfway there. This is so true. If you don't think you can do something, you won't. 

Not believing in a goal will cause you to consciously or unconsciously put up obstacles to reaching that goal.

Believing is making the effort to do the hard work to move forward. Believing is pushing through rejection to get to the next step to reaching your dream.

I am glad I just happened to go into Rue 21 to browse their sale section. Who knew I would leave with a cute rhinestone bracelet and words of encouragement.

It felt good to get out of the house after the ice storm melted a bit.  I had a bit of cabin fever. 

The sunlight shining on the ice covered bare branches is beautiful.

My Alias season 4 is intriguing to watch - learning geography and some vocabulary.  More on that in an upcoming post.

Take care, stay warm and be safe.

Thomasina

Thank You So Much For Your Support!

This tiny little blog has just gone over 3700 page views! 

Thank you all so very much for stopping by and reading my posts. I am deeply honored and humbled by your support.

My blog is not fancy with all the bells and whistles of other blogs. I mostly post from my iPhone 4 because of computer issues but I don't let that stop me.

It's been fun sharing my interests and hobbies with the world. We can all learn from each other. I have met some wonderful new friends online.

My goal for my blog is to be a place of encouragement,repurpose/reuse, creativity, hope, inspiration,faith, crafts, lifestyle, beachlife, art, crafts, books, music, DIYs, jewelry, and  how to save money.

It has been a huge blessing and learning experience having this blog and I can't wait to see how it grows and changes.

Thank you!

Thomasina

Comment below or you can contact me at Thomasinawords@gmail.com

Create The Best You

I saw this little sign in a store and the message is powerful.

For many years, I waited for someone or something to give me "permission" to become a writer and an artist. If I just had that outside "validation," then I could feel completely comfortable telling everyone about how important my creativity is to my life.

Life is too short to wait to become your true self. Be courageous and be the real person you always dreamed of being right now.

Start exactly where you are. You don't need a lot money or any money at first.  Find ways to begin your true self journey by just visualizing and planning your path to your dreams and goals. 

I always wanted to be an artist and a writer so I just started writing and drawing. Just do it now. You must begin to learn and to practice your skills in order to master your craft. 

Through the years, I always kept a journal   of my thoughts, blessings, frustrations, book ideas, pain, wishes, art, etc. My journals were my creative outlet.

Find your creative outlet. Create a blog - it's free. Grab a piece of paper and write down your amazing idea.  

You have been given your talents, interests and hobbies for a reason. The things you are interested in are important because they make you who you are. 

Create the happy and fulfilled person you have always wanted to be. Go forward boldly towards your dreams and goals. Stop comparing yourself to others. 

You are unique. There has never been another you in existence. Love yourself. Accept yourself.

Life is absolutely about creating the BEST you possible.

Thanks for reading my post!

Thomasina

If you have questions or comments, you can also email me at Thomasinawords@gmail.com

Have A Beach Day Everyday

Go after those dreams. Never give up! But don't forget to make time for those "peaceful time at the beach" moments. 

Your time is so precious. Seek balance and peace. 

Take Care and Bless You!

Thomasina

Photo: Taken by Thomasina at Myrtle Beach, SC

Stop Waiting. The Moment Is Now.

Today's Words To Live By Everyday

I am reminding myself everyday to always try new things.  Fear will always to to stop me. Being tired will try to stop me from be persistent in reaching my goals. 

Just try. It doesn't hurt to try. Most of the time trying is absolutely free. 

Try your best and if something doesn't work out then revise your plan of action. 

Believe in yourself and try. 

Thanks for reading my post!

Relaxing Reflecting Planning

I am not only relaxing on my holiday days off from work, this is a time to wrap up 2014 and get ready to move forward confidently into a brand new exciting 2015.

This past year was a very good one. I have so much to be thankful for. I reached a lot of personal goals for my career and my creativity. 

I have big plans for 2015 and the determination to make them happen. 

This year I experienced situations that not only made me stronger but also gave me the wisdom to have a better future. 

Find solutions for past problems. Move forward with a clean slate. Believe the best as yet to come. 

Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!

Sunset - End Of Great Day

What are you going to let the sunset on in your life today?

I had a small problem that was stressing me out a lot more than I should have let it. Unfortunately, I was still letting that annoying situation bother me as I was about to go to sleep. This is not good for my health and happiness. Of course all of this rehashing the problem without deciding on a definite course of action did nothing to help. 

I should have been confident enough to bring my thought process to a logical stopping place. Let it go. Have faith that things will work out. Acknowledge to myself that I "worked the problem" and move on.

The next day, everything worked out fine. All the stress was for nothing. All of the "worst is going to happen" thinking was completely unnecessary.

At the end of the day, just as the sun is setting, I will remind myself to let go of that day's problems because I know I did my best. Be confident. Have faith. Let it go.

Thanks for reading!

Driving Towards Better Times



Love the sun and clouds in this picture.

I feel like I just woke from a very deep up to a new chapter in my life and I have hit the ground running as fast as I can.


 Life is what you make it.


Time is passing by faster and faster as the years go by. if you wait around for things to get better by themselves, there is a huge chance things will get worse. Take action and make changes for the better in your life.


Starting a new job and learning new skills has brought me face to face with the fact that you can either make your life very small or very big. It is always your choice.


 Do something everyday to move forward towards your dreams.


Take calculated smart wisdom guided risks. If you do not try you will never ever know what the outcome could have been. I am learning to have the courage to not think about what others think of me and just live my life.


Live your life to the absolute fullest.


I had the BEST summer this year EVER because I went to places I never been before and made the effort to break out of my shell. Being shy will make you have a boring lonely sad life.


Life is too precious to live it isolated because of fear. Fear will stop you from becoming the incredible human being you are supposed to be.


Get out of your comfort zone and LIVE!




Thanks for reading!