Artists are from another planet.  That's the conclusion that I've come to. 

In general, people who give advice on productivity always tell you that it's better to get up early...blah...blah...blah.  Sure, this may work for other people, but the creative people I know are night owls who work into the wee hours of the morning.  They're idea of waking up "early" is 10-11 a.m. 

There's something about working in the very early morning...say, 1-3 a.m.  Except for the occasional dog barking, the earth is very silent.  No birds chirping and no rooster crowing. (I have a neighbor with chickens!)  Absolutely silent...and during those hours I'm able to just be inside my head.  There's no oohing and ahhing at how beautiful the sunshine is outside.  I'm focused on the task at hand (Usually I'm writing). 

As someone with a great deal of creative energy flowing through me, I often find it a challenge to stay focused.  Many people have told me that I should focus on one thing, but for me that's hard because I have so many interests.  I love writing, but I also like to make jewelry and greeting cards...and I've built businesses around these interests. 

Perhaps, yes, my jewelry business would be much bigger now had I focused solely on that.  Or maybe I would have finished that ebook I've been working on for the past year had I focused just on my writing.  However, focusing on just one thing just isn't me.  I'm moody like that.  My creative moods are different from day to day. 

"The Abundance Mentality...flows out of a deep inner sense of personal worth and security.  It is the paradigm that there is plenty out there and enough to spare for everybody.  It results in sharing of prestige, of recognition, of profits, of decision making.  It opens possibilities, options, alternatives, and creativity." -- Stephen R. Covey

The quote above comes from Covey's bestselling book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People ".
I thought it would be a great quote to share - especially during this time when so much focus has been on the stock market and the economy.

I invite you to read my blog, The Good Life, to learn more about how to create an abundance mentality for yourself!

Being that I am an artist, I wanted to discover other artists who blog and I came across The Affluent Artist Blog which is written by Rick DiBiasio.

I like this post, Too Busy to Get Anything Done, in which Rick talks about how many of us need to "declutter" our life to make room for the important things.  Here is a video clip of Rick expanding on that thought...

As part of my quest to do something different everyday in 2009, I thought I'd check out this cafe. It's located on the busy street of Lemon Grove Avenue right across from the Lemon Grove Trolley Station. I was going to do some work at the Starbucks on that street today, but Starbucks was out of sandwiches, so I ventured out to see if I could find some good food nearby.

I hope that everyone had a great holiday!  I spent Christmas at my parents' home in lil' ole Lemoore watching the basketball games and catching up on pop culture.  My family celebrated "Noche Buena" on Christmas Eve, so that's when we had our big dinner.  It's been real nice to just relax and not think about a "To Do" list for once!

I have done quite a bit of reflecting the past couple days and feeling very grateful for everything that has happened this past year.  The year has gone by so fast - and although I say that every year, this year in particular has sped by.  I told myself that I was going to savor every moment of this year, but I think I may have slipped a little and tried to hurry up and accomplish all the goals that I had set for myself.  As much as I preach about living in the moment, sometimes I didn't follow my advice - and that's ok.  I'm not going to beat myself over it.  I'm learning. 

However, I am becoming more aware of those moments when I'm not present whereas before I would just get lost in my thoughts - not even realizing that I had just missed a week of my life because I was "overthinking".

Endless Possibilities

I'm really excited about what's in store for me next.  Instead of thinking, "Oh, it's just another day", I'm anticipating the endless possibilities out there.

During the 80's I lived in a small town in Central California called Lemoore. My dad and stepmom live there right now and just about every month I go to visit them.  Because of my aversion to L.A. traffic, I prefer to take the Amtrak train when I go to visit Lemoore.  It's just so much more relaxing to take the train.  I can read a book and do my writing...take a nap...or just enjoy the scenery. 

During a recent trip on the train, I decided to film little clips of the scenery to share with those of you who have never been here and want to see what the Southern California Coast looks like. Most of these clips are in the Del Mar and Oceanside areas. I put all the clips together and created this short video...

If you ever visit San Diego and want to visit Orange County or L.A., but you don't feel like driving, I highly recommend taking the train. The trip takes about 2 hours and 45 minutes - about the same amount of time if you would have driven a car.

By the way, I invite you to check out all the other videos I created for YouTube. If you have an account at YouTube, let's be friends! Visit: www.youtube.com/user/salondemaria

Today my creative energy was urging me to make greeting cards and since the holidays are around the corner, I decided to work on handcrafted holiday greeting cards.

It actually felt good to focus my energy elsewhere besides writing! I really got into a creative zone where I was feeling as if I was on cloud 9 - "La La Land". I listened to inspiring talk shows on BlogTalkRadio.com while churning out greeting card after greeting card. One of my favorites is this one pictured here with the little reindeer.

All of my greeting cards are available at my online greeting card shop. I also added a couple new birthday cards as well.

In my opinion, there's nothing more life fulfilling than being able to get into that creative zone and just to do what you love. As I write up this post, my boyfriend says to me, "You're glowing..." Whatever I'm doing - whether it's making jewelry, greeting cards, or writing, I really and truly enjoy every minute of it. I'm happy...and it shows!