Open for Business #SoulFoodAndCo

Open for Business
I had a dream to open a little store of my own one day, selling flowers, mosaics, craft, books and bric-a-brac.
I'd hoped to bring a smile to the face of my customers. Of course I wanted to be a little reminder for people to enjoy life more and to be an inspiration to reduce the pressures we carry around every day.
This little shop would be stocked not only by my own art but also by the talent of my neighbours and community. It would be such a welcoming place that people would like to linger. This lead to ideas of a B&B on the property.
It's hard to believe that this dream has materialised!
Okay, it's in a different form to that which I originally aspired, however something better has happened.
I have opened my dream shop online. #SoulFoodAndCo
I am reminded of Steve Jobs Quote:" The Only Way To Do Great Work Is To Love What You Do"
When you visit, you will see, personalised crafts including Mosaics, Mirrors, Wall Hangings and many more unique items. Also I'm a distributor of Usana health & body products. ( this includes health shakes, vitamins, personal health care eg, shampoos & conditioners, toothpaste, full range of skin care produces ).https://trinas-healthy-side,usana.com/
Encouragement to dream comes with a strong recommendation from me. Don't stop dreaming. Dreams can come true.

You don't know what you don't know

I'm going to let you beautiful people in on a little secret.
I've been keeping this to myself recently, well most of my blogging career ( four short months ).
Things have been going along swimmingly and that's really okay with me.
Creative inspiration only lasts a matter of a few minutes for me. I'm a busy little beaver most of the time.
Back to the secret...yes, as most of  you will have guessed  ( nobody tells you these things ) those little square boxes to your right where 'followers' can put their little, smiley faces or something that we can recognise you by.
Here's the thing... I didn't know how to get these little boxes up on my blog in the first place.
So my dear blogger friend  +Alisha Trost   kindly told me step by step how to do this and Boom, up came +Jeremy Crow in my very first square. Welcome to you and  Alisha, I'm honoured to have you both on board.
It's a waiting game for me now, anticipating the rest of  you popping your portraits on my blog too.
I'm eager to follow the excitement and enthusiasm  to master this new hobby to keep up with you.
Over the last few months I've met some awesome people online who I would never have thought I would call friends.
Occasionally in my comments I realise each of you are really only a conversation in a queue away from becoming long time friends.
What I do know is that I have met some amazing people who have shown generosity, kindness, humour and wisdom. I love you all for that.

The Banana Cake date...

It's hard to believe, that my partner of  16 years welcomed me into his heart and home.
He was single, never being married, had no children and owned his own home.
Me, on the other hand, had been married for 14 years, was in the middle of a divorce, had two children age 9 and 12 at that time and was in the process of selling the family home and organising new financials.
A wee bit messier then 'his' ordered life.
But he soon made it his mission to fix this mess.
We met through a friend we both knew. Her son was to have his first birthday party and we were both invited knowing the other would be there ( kind of a blind date so to speak ).
My partner and I didn't even talk at the party, we were too busy observing and watching each other I guess.
A long week later we made arrangements to meet over at Pilot Bay for a coffee.
I arrived with a rug, thermos of coffee and two slices of freshly baked banana cake.
He must have thought, "Cool!, this hasn't cost me anything yet, lets see where this leads".
His shyness and my reserve meant that our relationship moved slowly.
We became good friends and over the next few months we grew fond of each other and enjoyed the excitement of  a new romance. This man was quickly becoming a great father figure to my children. It was easy to fall for this guy. He was my rock in those troubled times.
He showed me how to open my mind and heart again.
" To live fully again you have to be at the bottom", he said, " start over and begin to see what life has to offer. Enjoy the little things. Watch a sunset across the water, picnic in the park, close your eyes and listen to music and holding hands". 
These small, simple and significant things brought happiness.
We still picnic, watch sunsets', listen to music and hold hands.
My man is good! Life is good.

Chocolate!

They say you shouldn't do anything by halves! Clearly this is not me
Ridiculously, I love everything chocolate...
I can eat chocolate anytime, day or night, I can snack as I walk around the house, snack as I read (this draft). I can even snack preparing to eye up another square of  delicious, mouth watering chocolate.
At the moment my whole thinking and being is consumed by something as ridiculous and unimportant as chocolate.
I think nonstop about the stuff.
As I admit this to you, it's actually making me giggle typing this.
Monday is supermarket day. I hate the day as a rule, it is my weekly chore but it's a great and exciting time to venture down that favourite isle to fetch-well you get what I mean. Treating ourselves, yes I'm going to drag my partner who is responsible  for this addiction in to this conversation.
When we are having a simple cup of coffee in town, the barista will say, " would you like cinnamon or chocolate on your coffee",. I'm like..."honey, we have come into this lovely café for sometime now and you might well remember what my topping is...chocolate"!
Okay let's play the game of guilt out loud.
Why do we feel guilty!, Chocolate is made for happiness and enjoyment, right!. I choose dark chocolate (Whittaker's).and if you think I'm on a dangerous path, well, I am.
Easter, I love this time of the year. I'm a sucker for the bunnies, marsh mellows,crème eggs. What type of chocoholic are you?.
One by one, it doesn't take long feeling like I have stepped over my quota for the day-week-month.
So, yes, go have a slice of  the goodness but make sure it's dark chocolate to make you feel a little less guilty.