Tuning Leaves

Tuning Leaves
Just Smile and The World Will Follow!

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Grow Your Blog

Hello bloggers!
My name is Kelly.

Today I am joining the Party at Grow Your Blog.  It is being hostessed by Vicki at

http://vicki-2bagsfull.blogspot.com

This will be so much fun, meeting other bloggers who bring so much inspiration!
Please check out her blog!

 My husband and I have relocated from California to South Carolina. After being retired in Mexico for four years,  we have been in the Southeast for three years now. This has been an adjustment period, to life in the United States again, after living in a small fishing village in Mexico, and then moving to a new region of this wonderful country! What an adventure it has been!  It is fun, scary, wonderful and weird!

This blog is my way of recording our journey of adjusting to our new life and new circumstances.

I initially started it to write about the steps we are taking to start over and create some sort of small business from home, to sustain us as we age. My husband is 70 years young and I am a 54 years young, and we have been growing younger each year we have been together!  We just celebrated 10 years of marriage!

What I have found is that this journey is harder than I imagined, but along the way there are wonderful lessons and experiences that are ours to learn and live. Trying to live with gratitude, despite what the lessons might be is my biggest challenge.

We live on five acres, which are densely wooded with four dogs and a cat named Max.  My mom has joined us here and has a home behind our house.  I am blessed to have her here, and not far away.

I love to garden.  I am a wanna be farmer.  I have high hopes for chickens this spring!  I would love to clear some land and start a flower farm, but money is not available for that adventure yet!  I have started a small sewing business, but have not given it my full attention and am struggling to create something that will fulfill my love of art, design, sustainability, creativity and still help pay the bills!

If money were not an issue, I would be a full-time learner!!  I love learning.  I love school!  I love workshops! There are so many possibilities out there, and so little time!  Hopefully, I will carve out a way to combine my love of learning, love of creating, and love of life to sustain us!

It is a tall order, but in my heart I know that it will happen when it is suppose to. We have started making soap, and that has been great fun and gives us hope for the future!

The most important goals are to be grateful, peaceful, healthy and happy.  Laughter is the best thing in the world!

The motto here is Baby Steps, Just Baby Steps!

Thanks for stopping by.  This has motivated me to continue blogging, I was starting to lag and thanks to this opportunity, I am excited about finding our way and sharing the journey!

Quote for the day:

"Two things define you,
Your patience when you
have nothing,
and
Your attitude when
you have everything."

BTK

29 comments:

  1. Hi Kelly,

    I'm visiting from the Grow Your Blog party. It is nice to meet you. Congrats on your 10 years of marriage and wish you many more years together. I love your family of pets. I love cats so Max caught my eye right away! I plan to look around a bit more and then be on my way to visit the others. I do hope you will stop by for a visit and enter my giveaway. Have a wonderful weekend! Hugs – Donna

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  2. Hi Kelly! Welcome to the Party from the GYB Party volunteer team. Hope you have a great experience with the event.

    I too am a perpetual learner, can't imagine life any other way.=)

    Be a darling and pop in a link to Vicki's blog somewhere in your post would you? Thanks a lot!

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    1. Thanks for your help! I appreciate any guidance! I put a link at beginning. Have a great weekend!

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  3. i want to be a farmer too. i love your header shot - that is too great!! giggles. ( :
    hi there. i'm Beth from E. Lizard Breath Speaks - so nice to meet you through the Grow Your Blog get together/party.

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  4. So happy to find my way here via the GYB party. I love your attitude and wish you lots of laughter. You certainly gave me some with that smile photo.

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  5. Kelly- So nice to meet you! I love your blog and can't wait to get to know you better. Sounds like you lead a very busy life! How nice that your mom lives so close. I would love that! Going to follow you and would love for you to follow me back. Please stop by and enter my giveaway- it's a fun one! Lori

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  6. So nice to meet you through this party! Sounds like you've had quite the adventure. I'll be following! Hugs, Terri

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  7. Hello, Kelly. I like your positive attitude and look forward to learning more about you through your blog. Back soon. Love the hats you make. Visit Quilter's Playhouse (not my blog) for another lady who is building a home business. You to have a lot in common.

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  8. Congratulations on your 10th anniversary; well done! Not sure where you are in SC, but don't forget farmers markets to sell your wares...great places to get to know community, make money, etc. Perhaps not clearing land for flowers but smaller flower gardens for cut flowers to take to farmers markets, sure your soap would do well also.
    Visiting via Vicki's GYBP and best of success in all your ventures. BTW, I was in Cherry Grove last week and it wasn't much warmer than southwest VA...brrrr!

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  9. Nice to meet you along the blog party route! The practice of gratitude on a daily basis is required for fulfillment! No matter how small, there is always something to be grateful for! Everyone here in the tundra of New York needs one of those hats you have there. Enjoy the party. Hope you'll stop by for a visit. Aloha

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  10. Hello from the Yukon. I hope you're enjoying this party as much as I do :)
    Evalina, This and that...

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  11. Hello Kelly
    Lovely to meet you! I love the lifestyle that you have chosen and the attitude you have chosen too - so positive!
    Love the final quote on this post - so true!
    Enjoy your partying travelling through the blogs.
    I'm sure you will meet some lovely friends.
    Suzy

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  12. Hello Kelly lovely to read your blog that has such a wonderfully positive outlook and I love all your animals!!' I admire your courage and trust in Life! My name is Hettienne and I am also participating in GYB - please come and visit - I have two blogs!! x

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  13. Hello from California, You are one brave woman. It was traumatic for me to move one hour away from my hometown, I can't imagine moving to another country. I'll follow you via bloglovin.

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  14. I am in SC too. It is our first year with chickens. They are a lot of fun. We are also beekeepers.

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  15. I am in SC too. It is our first year with chickens. They are a lot of fun. We are also beekeepers.

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  16. I am in SC too. It is our first year with chickens. They are a lot of fun. We are also beekeepers.

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    1. Congratulations on 10 years, plenty to go yet. Life. Can be tough, hang in. I raised chickens and we collected the eggs daily, I had hens that laid twice a day, we had to start selling eggs. Now the gov board has put a stop to using. Oh wlel.

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  17. Hi Kelly, Lovely to meet you through GYB. Thank you for sharing your life and experiences here with us. The quote you posted at the end of this post is wonderful :D Much love from another Kelly x

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  18. Hi Kelly, I'm a South Carolinian, too! Its great to meet you here at the Blog Party. Enjoyed reading your post and look forward to reading more about you. Have fun at the party and please stop by my place any time.

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  19. Hi, nice to meet you and learn something about you. I am visiting from Mexico but live in Canada. I enjoyed your blog very much. Thanks for sharing. Happy hopping!

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  20. Kiara - nice to meet you & would love to read more about your adventures. I'm going to try to follow you thru Google+ but I don't have much luck with that site. I follow most of my blogs with Bloglovin which is so easy to read. Thanks for the great post.

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  21. Life is certainly a journey of learning! I would also just learn and take classes if I could. We lived in So Cal for 7 years and now are in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Nice to meet you, I'm Lyn.

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  22. It sounds like you have a very rewarding life. We have 50 chickens and they are a lot of fun (and work). Don't be afraid to try - the eggs are amazing. It is nice to meet you via the GYB hop.

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  23. Hello from a fellow South Carolinian! Love your blog. The header is so cute. My neighbor has chickens and I love to hear the rooster(s) crowing. It reminds me of my childhood. My daughter and her family also raise chickens as a hobby. It seems to be addictive, once you get started.

    I do not have any dogs presently because we like to be able to pick up and go when possible. We have had pets in the past and we have 2 grand dogs who come to visit while the daughters go on vacation or when one of my son-sin-law, who has cancer, is in the hospital. Their 3 children also stay with us during those times.

    Progress with the party is slow with me, because we have had children and a dog staying here for much of the past 2 weeks. I am trying to visit as many folks as possible and am having a blast meeting everyone.

    I am signing up to be a follower of your blog and hope you can take a moment to visit me over at my blog!

    Have a beautiful Sunday afternoon and a wonderful week ahead!

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  24. As if I didn't write a book above, I wanted to apologize for the miss-spell of son-in-law! Duh!

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  25. Hello , my name is Dawn your my one stop on the blog party, Hope that I soon will be friends with all of you cyber neighbors. Can't wait to see more of your great photos . My site http://overboardcreations.blogspot.com/ and contact info is ovr_brd@yahoo.com I wish great success in your soap business. Courage to ride the storms, and happiness in your comforts of home.

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  26. Will be back, want to find out more about you, lol! Visiting from GYB

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  27. Your home and land sounds wonderful, I wish you every success with growing a small business I am sure you will be guided into making right decisions and enjoying what life has to offer. I hope you will visit my blog when you get a minute.
    Jackie

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