July Sunrise <3

(sunrise with a “color pop” effect on it)

“There’s always a story. It’s all stories, really. The sun coming up every day is a story. Everything’s got a story in it. Change the story, change the world.”~
Terry Pratchett

(I don’t know if this source is correct)

Today I woke up early and watched the sun rise. Beautiful & inspiring & magical as always!  

Isn’t this a sweet quote?! So empowering. If we create positive stories, maintain positive thoughts and attitudes and energy, it will change the world around us and at the very least, our inner world. But our energy, thoughts, actions….have a ripple effect and go out into the larger world for better or worse. Let’s make it better! 😀 ❤

Also, thank you for the recent comments! I appreciate them all and will respond soon! ❤ 😀

Much love & light,

xoxo Kim

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June Sunrise <3

“The sunrise, of course, doesn’t care if we watch it or not. It will keep on being beautiful, even if no one bothers to look at it”

Today I woke up at 5:30am and watched the sun rising in the beautiful early morning sky!

It’s always magical and never gets old. 

(this one is edited with a “bold” effect)

And there, above, is a lovely quote about being our beautiful self even if no one cares or gives us credit. Keep being beautiful, keep shining, keep helping and loving even if no one seems to notice. 
It’s not about being acknowledged or getting credit or having a positive image in the eyes of others. It’s about being true and being the best we can be in general for others and our own selves. ❤

Much love & light to you, always!

😀

Xoxo Kim 

April Sunrise

I wrote this yesterday and it wouldn’t go through for some reason so here it is today!

“There’s a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they’re absolutely free. Don’t miss so many of them.” ~Jo Walton

Today I fulfilled my aspiration to get at least one photo of an April sunrise. I’m usually not awake that early. But in January after waking early (not intentionally) and seeing the sun rising, I decided to make it a point to awaken early at least one day each month this year and watch the sun rise and get some pictures! I have achieved my goal up til now!

It’s so beautiful to watch the sun rising so early in the morning. It’s absolutely magical and breathtaking. 
It energizes me and inspires me. Not to do anything specifically but just instills in me a general sense of deep inspiration.  

This one has an effect to make the pink stand out more.

It was a dramatic sunrise. It was startling but in a good way. I was all tired and groggy at first and the neon pink was shocking. This picture doesn’t show it as bright as it was. On this part of the sky, there was only a hint of pink but it was still brighter than it looks here.

“Rainy days should be spent at home with a cup of tea and a good book.” ~Bill Watterson

I did stay home today and drank hot tea while reading a great fiction mystery book in my warm pj’s! But I also went out in the rain, took pics, and got iced coffee and did some shopping with my sister.

❤

Today is very rainy and very cold here in Philadelphia and can only be described as Perfect.  The trees are vibrant green, the sky was gray all day, now black because it's night.  

"After every storm, there is a rainbow. If you have eyes, you will find it. If you have wisdom, you will create it. If you have love for yourself and others, you won’t need it." ~Shannon L. Alder

"You can dance in the storm. Don't wait for the rain to be over before because it might take too long. You can can do it now. Wherever you are, right now, you can start, right now; this very moment." ~Israelmore Ayivor

Oh, yes! It's never too late as long as we're living. Let's "bloom where we're planted."
Work with what we have. Change what can be changed if we feel the desire and use what cannot to our advantage. Have a problem that can't be fixed? Accept it and use it for the better. Let it strengthen us, deepen our wisdom & empathy, inspire us to reach out to others and show understanding. Let's not wait for that "perfect" beginning or circumstances.
Right Now is perfect just as it is. 

This is a pic I took of the sunrise and I turned it black & white but kept the pink the same. My camera has an option for that. 

Here are some more pics I got today. I was in the mood for b&w photos today. 

This pic I took yesterday. I wasn't trying to capture the birds; I did not even see them at first! I was trying to get the old looking building on the side!

But when I saw the birds I was thrilled. They flew away so quickly I couldn't get any more pics. So I zoomed in and cropped this one to show them better.

😀

I hope your day or night  is absolutely beautiful! 
Hugs & love to you!  ❤

Xoxo Kim 

March Sunrise

“Just before Sunrise there is a dark night.”

Today I decided to get up early and watch the sun come up.

It was a cold, lightly windy morning. My dogs and me went into the backyard bright & early and watched the amazing sun rising into the perfect blue.

It’s awe inspiring to witness! First, it was a darkened blue sky with hazy white/gray colored clouds, then a hint of orange appeared!

Breathtaking! The most amazing thing to see is the first hint of the sun rising.

The Sunrise always reminds me of hope and new beginnings, like almost anything is possible and everything is ok and will always be.

Just before the sun came up. Isn’t it beautiful?!

Like always, I took pictures at some points but also just watched some moments and basked in the pure beauty. In my opinion, just seeing/feeling beauty is often more important than capturing it!

😀

Even now, hours later, I still feel that awe surge through me that I felt while watching it. ❤

I hope you are having a beautiful day or night wherever in the world you are!

❤
Much love & light,

xoxo Kim

January Sunrise <3

“Good mornin’ sun, I say it’s good to see you shinin’
I know, my baby brought you to me
She kissed me yesterday, hello to silver linin’
Got spring and summer running through me”

Today, I got to watch the sun rise early in the morning! How beautiful!

I don’t usually see it rising. It was pink & orange and brilliant looking. 

It doesn’t look as bright in the pictures as it really did. 

Watching the sun rise is always a beautiful start to the day.

How can we watch the sun rising in the early morning and not have a great day?! ;-D

Also I thought of this sweet song today! Isn’t it lovely?  Another one of those sweet, happy songs.
We don’t have to have a lover though, to feel this way! Lol  

“Hey everybody on the street, I see you smilin’
Must be because I found my baby
You know, she’s got me on another kind of highway
I want to go to where it takes me” (98.6) ~ Keith (performer)

mobile:

desktop:

I love the way he feels as if the whole world is happy for him! 😀 ❤

I think a good goal to have this year would be to get a picture of the sun rising for each month of the year. Usually when I catch the sun rising, it’s by accident, I just wake up to it and run out and get a pic. But it would be sweet to catch for each beautiful month! I think I will! Luckily I already got January’s before it’s over & I miss my chance this year! Now I hope I remember each month! ;-D

These pictures here aren’t edited. I do have ones I put an effect on earlier to make the colors pop and they are pretty but since that isn’t real, I’m just sharing these for now.
To some people, they may not be as pretty as the edited ones but I love what they symbolize: the gift of a new day. And the blessing of having the chance to watch the sun coming up. I have my vision to see it and the chance to see it. Also, I have passion & desire and a sense of wonder. And the life of a new day.

I hope you are having a wonderful day!! ❤ 😀

xoxo Kim

November Sunrise

“There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.” ~
Bernard Williams

It’s rare that I’m up early enough to see a sunrise! But this morning after 6:00, I woke up in an urgent state to unplug my phone because it was charging overnight and the battery was probably destroyed! But I soon realized that my phone wasn’t charging! It was in bed with me, under a book so my dogs wouldn’t find it and chew it! (I sleep with books…lol) I remembered that I decided not to charge it last night and just go to sleep! 

Then I noticed a pink, very bright pink, hue seeping through the window and reflecting off the walls, I thought to myself “is that the sun rising?!?!” I looked out and sure enough, it was! What a gift! Whenever I would purposely wake up early to see it, I don’t catch it, I look out and nothing. But on a few rare occasions I woke up accidentally and saw it! Even better!

So I ran downstairs and into the backyard
 and took pictures (hoping people weren’t looking out thinking I’m some creeper taking pictures of their windows). It was much more beautiful than it looks in the pictures!

It was more pink than my pictures suggest. My phone camera often has the tendency to make pink skies look more orange than they really look. 

I love how it reflects in the windows on the house next door.

Here are two that I altered:

It’s so disappointing when I take a picture of a beautiful pink streaked sky and it turns out looking orange in the picture! Blah! But i’m so happy I got pics of the sunrise this morning! Sometimes the sky really is bright orange! It’s beautiful when it’s really orange and not a simulated orange!  

Like here:

(this is a sunset)

This is exactly how the sky looked that night. It’s completely unedited. It really was that bright, that dramatic, that orange! It was amazing to see! It looks so fake! It looked like some orange entity taking over the city! It was reflecting off all the windows on the cars and buildings. 

It was only that orange though on parts of the sky. I held/tilted my phone a certain way to make it look as if the entire city was drenched in orange.

Here is the same night:

Driving into the sunset! 

They are not all the same picture. They are slightly different and none of those are altered.

But this one is one of the above ones altered with an app on my phone:

I love both sunrises & sunsets. Sunrise is symbolic of new beginnings and hope. No matter what happens, the sun comes up in the morning. ❤

😀

Hugs & Love, ❤

xoxo Kim

Sunrise <3

Today is April 18th but when I post this it will very likely and very annoyingly claim it’s April 19th because when I post after 8:00pm, it deceivingly says it’s the next day. I can change it but I won’t. When I change the date, it changes the links to my posts then in the e-mails when people click on my link it goes to an error page. How annoying!

Today I woke up at 5:45 AM because my dogs woke me up and I just decided to look out the window and I couldn’t believe my eyes! I saw a beautiful sunrise!

I rarely, very very rarely see a sunrise! A couple of mornings I even got up early to attempt to see a sunrise, I checked the night before to see when the sun would be rising and got up to see it and it wasn’t there! At least not where I was looking! Today though, I saw it serendipitous-ly! I was thrilled!  

Sunrises, to me are symbolic of hope and life and new beginnings and rebirth.

Today I’m inspired to share some fantastic quotes about Sunrise!

Here goes!

“There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.” ~
Bernard Williams

So true! No matter how dark it seems now, there IS a light still glimmering to carry us through! I struggle with depression in episodes and severe physical pain in episodes and sometimes I’m not depressed or in physical pain but I have some problem that feels so hopeless or insurmountable but I always try to remind myself that nothing is hopeless. 

“The biggest cliche in photography is sunrise and sunset.”
Catherine Opie

I think this is true. Many, many of us become aware of a dramatic sunset or sunrise and that’s a great thing! Sunrises and sunsets are the simple life treasures we can experience at no cost. I think there are different depths of taking pleasure in or experiencing them. We can take a quick glance, feel the beauty and hurry on our way without really feeling it. Or we can be obsessed with sunrises and sunsets just to get a beautiful photo for our cover photo on Facebook or blogs or instagram to impress people. That’s good too but I think it’s even better to take full advantage of the beauty all around us, soak it up, absorb it, feel it in every cell of the body. Not just to get a picture to share on social media. In my opinion if we can only do one, it’s usually more important to experience life all around than just take pictures. Luckily we can find the perfect balance of doing both! 
Also, while sunrises and sunsets are absolutely lovely, there are even simpler, more overlooked, mundane treasures all around us. 
Like the edges of buildings and the reflections of sunlight streaking the concrete, spaciousness, streetlights, bricks, just little everyday things that make up our lives but we rarely stop to appreciate.

Example:

I love the way the light reflects on the wall and the pole and I love the traffic sign!

Spaciousness, emptiness, quietude, stillness, beauty, serenity

I was struck by the beauty of the daylight creeping in through the window that evening I was at work and reflecting off the freezer doors.

“Lost, yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered for they are gone forever.” ~ 
Horace Mann

Yes let’s cherish every moment we have been given.

“Nothing is more beautiful than the loveliness of the woods before sunrise.” ~ 
George Washington Carver

I love how this quote conveys appreciation and mindfulness for a simple moment right before a “big” or dramatic thing, the more obvious thing that usually gets more attention. An unidentified moment often overlooked.

It reminds me of this quote:
“‘Well,’ said Pooh, ‘what I like best,’ and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn’t know what it was called.”~A.A. Milne

And my previous blog post:

https://inspirationalgem.wordpress.com/2015/03/17/the-simple-unidentified-moments-3/

I was hanging out with Buddha reading and drinking tea! What better way to spend my day?! ;-D

“There’s never one sunrise the same or one sunset the same.” ~ 
Carlos Santana

Sunrises and sunsets are everyday occurances but it’s true none of them can ever be the same. They’re all unique and all beautiful. They never get old! 

I love the beauty of the setting sun and the way it reflects on the top of the car and that water tower off in the distance! What beauty that exists in this life! And all we need to experience it is our senses and an appreciative mind!

I hope you’re having a beautiful day or night! I’m at work right now and it’s a cool night so not very busy!

Much love to you and may your heart be open to receive the beauty all around us in whichever form it exists.

😀

Xoxo Kim