It’s been a busy week! My husband and have traveled to and seen Morro Bay (Morro Rock), Hearst Castle, Sea Lions molting on the shore and Whales!

Morro Rock is a 581-foot volcanic plug located just offshore from Morro Bay, California, at the entrance to Morro Bay Harbor. It was an amazing natural phenomenon to see. A volcanic plug is a volcanic landform created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. The volcano is inactive and now has this majestic rock to landmark it. Morro Bay was a sleepy town full of gift shops that sold salt water taffy and restaurants that specialized in fresh seafood and a beautiful view of the rock and bay. We chose to camp this night just down the street at a state park. The weather was perfect and the view was beautiful!

The next day we drove up the coast and stumbled upon Hearst Castle and decided to splurge and take a tour of the castle. This place was so extravagant, beautiful, huge, breathtaking and amazing! The history behind it is even more spectacular, read more here.

As we headed north up route one we stopped to see the seal lions. As we approached the cliff to view the shore where the sea lions were, we began to see what looked liked dead animals along the coast. They were barely moving, they’re skin is was peeling off and it smelled quite fishy. But in actuality it was quite amazing to witness. You see, the sea lions are mammals who need to shed they’re skin too just like us. Instead of small amounts flaking from their skin daily like ours, they shed their skin in a 3-4 week period once a year. And this is what we were witnessing. They call it molting and although it looks painful and slightly gross, it was pretty great to watch.

That night we camped again but this time only a few hundred yards from the ocean shore. The view was amazing, we even saw a few whales!

Next stop, Monterey, CA.

Today is day three in Los Angeles, California. As we drove from San Diego, made a quick stop in San Clemente, then arrived in LA, we passed brown and sand colored mountains dotted with green bushes. The skies have been blue and weather has been a beautiful 75-85 degree warmth.

As we drove into LA the first architecture that caught my eye was the spaceship-meets-toy looking building off of the freeway. We exited toward Hollywood and passed thousands of billboards, shops, cars and lights (oh, and we saw the infamous Hollywood sign) till we arrived at our friend Sergio’s home. Sergio is a actor/writer/director with a focus on comedy. He is one of my husbands friends from collage that lives in LA with his Fiance Julia, who is an amazing artist and actress herself. From there we grabbed some food and headed to a improv comedy show that Sergio was in. The club had an underground club kind of feel, full of laughter and a strong, supportive community.

The next day we bbqued, drove around LA and attended another comedy show. This time it was held at The Groundlings. The comedy was sketch (this is different from improv; improv is exactly that, improvisational and sketch is written) and full of hilarious skits and actors and writers and were familiar and new.

That brings us to today, our last day here. We plan to grab breakfast, go for a hike, relax and end our visit with one last show. Next stop San Francisco.

Yesterday commenced our first day of our two week exploration of the West Coast as part of our future home expedition. I ditched my fancy camera and decided to free myself of that worry and take pictures with my iphone, editing with vsco cam (thanks Kathleen!). Our first stop was San Diego, California.

We flew over hundreds of miles of desert, then as we got closer, the desert turned to green mountains and terra cotta roofs. I imagined how beautiful and inspiring this trip might be and was excited to explore a place I’ve never been. We arrived in warm 85 degree weather near downtown San Diego, picked up our rental car and drove through the outer city stopping at a whole foods then heading to La Jolla Beach. San Diego was full of pastel stucco colored homes with palm trees decorating every corner. The beach was sandy, surrounded by cliffs, beautiful homes, the department of oceanography of a collage and bright blue waves that crashed onto the shore leaving seaweed and plants I had never seen before.

Later, we met with of my dearest friends parents and relaxed, enjoyed an amazing Chinese inspired meal, had green tea mochi ice cream for the first time and slowly let jet lag take our night from us.

Today, we head to LA.

Last week, I opened up a package from a dear friend and here is what was inside: The Art of a Handwritten Note book and a lovely handwritten note. I am sometimes surprised at how special it is to receive a handwritten note. This gift and book reminds me of how much I would love to send more of these. Thanks Katie for the inspiration!

Have you sent any handwritten notes lately?

A few weeks ago, my husband and I set out on a journey to explore new cities for our future home. These are the three cities we visited. The only one we were actually scouting out was Nashville. And to be honest, I didn’t love at it first. Maybe that’s why there are only a few pictures of it.

First we visited Asheville, NC. This is home to my brother and a beautiful quaint city full of local food restaurants, music and a laid back feel all surrounded by big beautiful mountains. Although it’s not much bigger than my current city I call home, I loved it there.

Next stop was Savannah, GA. Now this place was gorgeous. The trees that garnish each street, corner and square are breathtaking. Not to mention the horse and buggies that sprinkled the streets and the historic buildings that screamed for attention. I was in love. I can’t imagine living here, but the slower paced lifestyle and southern charm made it easy to relax and enjoy our time there while attending a friend’s wedding.

Last stop was finally our possible future home, Nashville. When we arrived I was tired, hungry and it was close to 7pm. We decided to grab a bite to eat and catch up with a friend at a local bar. The food was sub-par but the company was comforting. We talked about his own experience moving to Nashville and all of what he loves about Nashville today. It was exciting to daydream as he painted a picture of what it’s like down there. I would say the biggest downfall that I noticed and was not happy about was the smoking. This particular bar allowed smoking on the outdoor porch. Yeah, I know we’re outdoors and all, but the second-hand smoke ruined the mood about every 5 minutes or so. I learned this is very common in Nashville. And some bars allow smoking indoors!

Moving on…the next morning we woke and explored the downtown city of Nashville. I was shocked at how small and touristy it was. Honky-tonk bars, Elvis manikin’s and souvenir shops infested the downtown strip. I was unimpressed, in fact I was very discouraged. After expressing this concern to my husband, we got in the car and started to explore neighborhoods and possible places where we would want to live. One place that I really liked was Historic Edgefield. There was a little cafe, a natural food store in walking distance and beautiful tree dressed sidewalks. We even witnessed the filming of the TV show Nashville.

By day three I could imagine us living there.

Today, we are planning to take our next trip to explore a completely different part of the US. We are leaving next week to fly into San Diego, CA, rent a car, then drive up the coast all the way to Seattle, WA. I will be sure to take lots of pictures and have plenty to gush about when I return.

Do you love where you live? What city do you love?

After a wonderful week long vacation/future home expedition, I had time to re-evaluate what matters most in my day to day life.

First thing, I need to make more time for me. As an entrepreneur, it’s so easy to take on exciting new projects, without thinking about time for yourself…and husband, family and friends. My mom said to me the other day “I know you’re SO busy all the time…”. I can’t remember what she was referencing or what she said afterword, but what I do remember is that my mom considers me to be SO busy. I felt awful thinking about leaving a feeling like that with people. I don’t ever want to be SO busy that I can’t do things or my friends might not ask me to join them for lunch because I am SO busy. I want to change that, so starting today, I will begin that change. This new post on my blog is the first of many steps to that goal.

Another thing I realized, is that the people I admire most, when it comes to being an entrepreneur and business woman, are their stories. It makes them who they are. It makes me want to be their friend, call them when I need advice, it make me want to be more like them. They share their struggles, their loves, their accomplishments, they ask you how you’re doing, their are straight up personal and willing to share it with you. When I think of sharing my story, I think of the ways that it might help me grow as an individual and as an entrepreneur. I also think of the ways that it might help me connect with others, help them and inspire them. And one thing you should know about me (if you don’t already), is my mission, my passion, the thing that fuels my life is to help others become their dream. There are so many different ways I might be able to do that, starting with this blog. So, here I am sharing with you my story, with the idea that I might learn more about myself and perhaps learn more about you. So, what’s your story?

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I first discovered Arminho on Etsy and fell in love with their Whale Poster and overall their vintage approach to art and creating. Naturally, I just had to learn more about them and their story. So here they are…

1. Tell us about yourself and where you’re located.

Hello! We are Arminho – Stationery Boutique managed by the couple João and Raquel, we are currently living in a portuguese city called Caldas da Rainha and we are adoptive parents of two cats called Pipo and Jójó. We have met in University while studying Art and Design courses, soon we started planning projects for the future and in 2011 we started Arminho – Stationery Boutique, working with letterpress printing and also using our illustration and designs skills to came up with our nature and vintage inspired Posters and Notebooks.

2. What is your business and what sets you apart from others? 

Arminho is a stationery shop and also a space were we can use our creativity, we do not like the idea of doing always the same thing. We letterpress print our notebooks, also illustrate our posters and design them. We don’t think that we have to set apart from anyone, we are very passionate by what we do and we really take it seriously, we hope that comes through our work.

3. What is your passion in life and/or business?

Work, we are workaholics! Always thinking, searching, drawing, painting. We are just so thrilled when we have something new in mind, we can only rest when its done! We also love the vintage aesthetics and we are very inspired by it, we love not only the ancient techniques like letterpress and book binding but we also love the vintage designs, illustrations and materials.

4. What brings you ultimate joy and inspiration? 

Our future home! We always get excited when we have to redecorate a room, or when we get a new object to our house. Now that we are about to move to a great house with a lovely garden we day dreaming about the decoration, planning how every room is going to be.

5. Who are your dream customers/clients? 

Everyone! We don’t have any “profile” for our customers, they are all different people, some of them are sending a gift to a friend who loves whales, some of them are having vacations and want to take a little journal with them, the only thing they probably have in common is the desire of having something unique and the appreciation of handmade work. In the end when we read the feedback from our costumers is just amazing to know that that person in another conner of the world now has something that we have carefully created, and that now is part of someones life.

6. What has been one of your biggest lessons or challenges as an entrepreneur, and how did you learn from it?

The biggest challenge is to manage our daily life and work, to keep with schedules while working from home and to know when stop working, although is great working from home we do have to manage the boundaries between working and our family life.

7. Where do you see yourself in 3 years from now?

Maybe in a different city and home! In a few months we hope to have the house and the studio that we are dreaming off! In 3 years from now are hope that we have more time to dedicate to the ideas that we have in mind, to expand Arminho project but most importantly to continue doing what we love to do.

8. If you had 30 seconds in an elevator with your role model, who would it be and what would you say? 

It will be 30 seconds facing each other, looking at us and planning things for the future, telling each other how much happy we are because we are together.

9. If money was no issue, where would you be and what would you be doing? 

Probably we will be doing just this, something that we love! We would travelled a lot more and would eat out more often but beside that we will be just like we are, just having a luxury now and then! We would probably like to have our own dream house with the little details that we dream of, beside that we were making things, involved in projects because we are 24h creative minds.

10. Any words or wisdom you would like to share with others looking striving to become their dream? 

Do it! Don’t wait, don’t plan, don’t make excuses, work, try the hardest that you can to make it truth! This may sound a little hard, but sometimes all that it takes is moving from your comfort zone. We have already some people complain that they don’t have the materials, that it takes a lot of money to start something, not true, we have started this project with almost nothing, some sheets of paper, cardboard and a few ideas, that time we were already at University and did not have time or money but we knew that this was something that we will love to do.

Fun facts

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I am currently listening to: ”Os sobreviventes” – Sérgio Godinho

My favorite book is: One vintage Botanical book from our collection

My favorite business tool or piece of equipment is: Our letterpress Machine!

My favorite quote is: “Choose a job that you love and you will never have to work a day in your life” – Confucius

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Thank you Arminho for being a part of my series! To find more on Arminho, shop at their Etsy store here and read their blog here.

If you have been following my blog, you may have caught on that I love food. But not just any food, healthy, nourishing, colorful, organic, local and beautiful food.

I am always looking to grow my knowledge of plants, herbs and food so I thought I would pick up some new fruit I don’t know much about and have never tasted. Here is just one of many photos and illustrations of the fruits I sampled. This one is the  dragonfruit, or pitaya.

The dragon fruit is native to Mexico, Central and South America, but can be cultivated in places like East and South Asia, Hawaii and Australia. Like a kiwi, you consume the fleshy part, not the skin. Unlike the colorful and striking exterior of the fruit, the flesh was bland with a slight sweetness like that of a melon or kiwi. The dragonfruits are a good source of vitamin C and is rich in fiber and minerals like calcium and phosphorus. The seeds are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids. Dragonfruits contain phytoalbumins, which have antioxidant properties that help prevent the formation of cancer cells. Additionally, dragonfruits are also known to increase the excretion of heavy metal toxins from the body. These are just a few of several nutritional benefits you will find about the dragonfruit. More fruit and food profiles coming soon.

To be notified of each new post on my blog, simply enter your email address in the box just above the word “SUBSCRIBE” on the right hand side of this blog. I post about 2-3 times a week about art, music, food and inspiration.

Information for the dragonfruits was found here and here.

My name is Christine Lindstrom and I am currently in the lovely little beach town of Ocean Grove, NJ. I am such a nature lover, and my work is so very inspired by the feeling of calm I get when I can grab a second to just relax outdoors – whether it’s for a cup of tea on my porch, a bike ride around town, or a long walk on the boardwalk to clear my mind. I often think of myself as similar to a plant, in the sense that, if I don’t have sunshine, I wouldn’t be able to live!

I am an illustrator and designer, and I like to think that my business is an ever changing, constantly growing expression of my creativity. I love all things pretty, and my goal in life is to simply keep making, sharing and experiencing things that make a person feel delighted at the sight of them. I have always made it a point to stay true to my own vision and intuition when I make my work, so I suppose my business is unique because of my own personal taste and vision. I have never been good at this question when I’ve read it in business books, except to know in my heart that I am unique because I stay true to what’s in my heart at all times. Not many people live by that guiding light so stubbornly as I do

My passion in life thus far has been to inspire people and to bring a little beauty into their lives. I used to work as a pastry chef for a cake decorator, and the feeling of satisfaction I got from knowing that I had created a memory of happiness, just through something I created, was amazing. I am passionate about our connection as human beings and I feel that art speaks to this connection and brings all of us closer in a world where we are often so alone in our own minds. It may be a small contribution, but I have had many experiences when one piece of art, whether it be a song, a book, a movie, or a painting, has changed my trajectory so drastically, that I know deep down that I am doing something worthwhile.

It’s the little things that always make me happy and inspired – a sunny day, French macaroons, buying new art supplies, a quiet moment in my garden with my sketchbook, watching my cat enjoy a spot of sunshine, grocery shopping, fresh flowers. The list of little things that inspire me is endless. I find that happiness comes easiest when one pays attention to simplicity.

I’m obsessed with Anthropologie, and my dream would be to sell some of my stationery or future home decor designs in their gorgeous stores. Other than that, I don’t really know if I would weigh any other customer as more of a dream than any other. All of my customers are so lovely and the messages they send me about my work is always such a dream in and of itself!

Dealing with the ebb and flow of business has been a challenge from day one. Even years later, I find myself worrying that one day this will all just come to a complete stop. I always need to keep myself balanced, calm and confident, though, knowing that I have created this business and I have structures in place to continue its growth. Reminding myself that all of this has come from hard work, and not luck, has been a good mantra to live by. Also, keeping a healthy work/life balance is a constant struggle when you work from home and your to do list beckons you at all times. Actually scheduling in down time and time to see friends and family has been helpful at evening that out lately.

“A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.” – Bob Dylan
As long as I’m still living by that statement, then I’ll be happy. From what I can tell now, that would mean painting, eating good food, having people in my life that I love, and experiencing all this world has to offer. I don’t need much, what can I say?

This is interesting, because the universe has somehow brought some of my role models into my life and turned them into actual mentors. So, I suppose any new role models that I come across in my life would probably simply get me saying something like, “I’m a big fan of your work. How’s it going?” That has worked out pretty well in the past.

9. If money was no issue, where would you be and what would you be doing?

I would definitely still be painting, but would probably experiment a LOT more than I already do. I have always wanted to spend my summers here in New Jersey with my friends and family, and spend winter someplace warm (as much as I love nature, I can’t stand the cold for more than a few days). I would also travel a lot – spending time someplace different for a month or so at a time would be fantastic.

Be authentic to who you are and listen to your intuition. Also, it’s good to remember that life is constantly changing and often comes in cycles of good, bad, stressful or blissful. Learning to accept the shifts and changes as they come is important to keeping the balance.

Fun facts
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I am currently listening to: I can’t get enough of Lana Del Ray lately!
My favorite book is: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Or The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle
My favorite business tool or piece of equipment is: Romantic answer: My Russian watercolor set, or a new panel or canvas to paint on. Practical answer: My iPhone. It does everything!
My favorite quote is:
“I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been no for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”
― Steve Jobs

Find Christine’s work here: Shop, Blog, Pinterest and Facebook. Hey Christine, let’s meet- we only live 4 hours from one another!