stop & smell the flowers

Yesterday afternoon, my dog reminded me to stop and smell the flowers.

{not my dog, but still so adorable!}

The ground was all soggy with mud, but I made sure that Shadow had enough time to peruse around our neighbourhood. That was when he noticed a bushel of flowers on the edge of the park. He stopped and literally smelled those flowers for a good thirty seconds. I almost wished I had bent down beside him and smelled the flowers with him. But having that thirty seconds of quiet reflection reminded me that it's good not to be on the go all the time.

A few minutes later, he paused and looked at the little kids playing on the jungle gym -- the next generation of kids, in my mind. Just ten years before, me and my childhood friends had dominated the area, playing with sticks-as-swords as my guy friend pretended to be Cloud Strife, his little brother played Vincent, and I was Aeris or Tifa (and sometimes both simultaneously) as we played Final Fantasy VII in real-life (we were cool, okay? Oh, and click that link to get an idea of what we pretended to be heehee). 

It made me miss the simpler times; yet, it also made me realize how complex we make things nowadays. Sometimes all it takes is a simple 'hello, how have things been?' phone call or e-mail to someone you haven't seen in a while, instead of just wondering why you haven't talked in so long. Sometimes, you just have to give a hug or a simple gesture to cheer up someone's day. Sometimes all it takes is to be given a simple compliment to know that you are loved. So, stop and smell the flowers every now and then :) Trust me, it's pretty therapeutic. 

So, here are some awards that definitely made me feel loved! The lovely and fashionable Kristen and Megan from Bon Bon Rose awarded me with the Honest Scrap award! I did this a little while ago right here, so you can check out my ten pieces of honesty! I award this to Jessica and Archana!

Next, Nicole {who is a sweetheart!} awarded me with:

The Superior Scribbler Award, which is so cute! You can find out more about it from here. I award these fellow superior scribblers:

Becks, Manju, Margarita, Andhari, Mayra {get well soon!}, Sarah, East Coast Ecstasy, Girl With The Golden Touch, and Lilu! You are all very superior haha :)

My step to trying to take a step back and relax was writing my first poem in about a month; usually I take an 8-month hiatus when school starts, but was suddenly inspired. Me happy, haha.

Well, now I have a three-hour break to catch up on school readings (ah, what a luxuriously laid-back Monday), followed by class, a meeting with a Prof to talk about a Multimedia thesis in which me and my friend want to send a camera into space (more on that later!) followed by graphics design at night.

Hope you're all having an a-okay start to the week!

And make sure to stop & smell the flowers every once in a while,

or perhaps to crunch the leaves that litter the ground.