Dreams of Succulents and Downtown Lofts

Hello all! (and by all I mean, hello MOM and one or two other people who have stumbled upon this little blog of mine). All of you, hello.

I've been thinking lately about where I'll be living this summer and beyond. Right now I'm thankful to be renting a dream house in Seattle, sharing with 5 of my best friends. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, and the owners of the house (which happen to be my best friend's parents!) are actually moving into it in July! As they should...it's a great place to live!

But, that means us girls are stranded. Left to the streets. Kicked to the curb (totally joking).

My usual tendency to dream about the extremes of what could be has definitely kicked in, and I've pictured all sorts of living arrangements that I would not be mad about.

You know, like a chic loft downtown Seattle with few brick walls and hardwood floors and massive windows with sprawling views of the city. Across the street from a hipster-esque coffee shop serving Stumptown coffee and Eggs Benedict all day everyday (basically The Fat Hen or Moomah Cafe). Oh and there would always be fresh flowers from Pikes sitting sweetly on my coffee table. And I'd have succulents and orchids perched around the room and they would NEVER DIE. And the scent of Anthropologie's candles would be present at all times. Oh and did I mention it would only be about $450 a month?

ALRIGHT! Back to reality. Hi, I'm back. For some reason, dreaming up ridiculous things like that doesn't bother me even once I realize how unrealistic it is. And a part of me truly thinks...hey, I've had a lot of little 'dreams' come true in less extreme ways. Like being able to go to school for what I love. And having a dream internship. And now working for my mom at The Inspired Room. And all sorts of other things along the way that I'm so thankful for.

So why not dream a little bigger and hope for the best? (Although I do realize all of those requirements are impossible. I mean seriously, what coffee shop would serve eggs benedict all day everyday?) Hah.

Really, I think when you allow yourself to think of the best possibility, you'll make choices that you may not have made otherwise...and those choices can lead you a little closer to that ultimate dream.

I mean, if a tiny part of your dream is to have pretty plants throughout your house that never die...hey. You don't have to wait just because you don't have the beautiful downtown loft to put them in yet. If you wait for that, it's possible it's never going to happen. Start little and go to the store and grab a succulent and set it in your less than perfect apartment. Yeah, it might die eventually, and it might not be in the ultimate perfect space, but that's okay. It probably still made you a little happy to see that sitting in your home, right? Catch my drift?

Even just in life in general...if you have a dream in mind and you go full speed ahead and seriously intend to get there...you'll be much more effective than if you just simply wish you'll get there, but sell yourself short by being too realistic with yourself. 

Maybe you'll work really hard with the intention of success, and your 'success' will turn out to be a bit different than you originally intended. But that's okay too. You just succeeded in a different way.

Hopefully this is inspiring to someone...it is to me! Whether your dream right now is something simple or something bigger, strive to make it happen in the little ways that you can control now!

PS: This post started out as a post of 'ideas for studio apartments' and then my dreaming shoved that idea out of the way and created this post. Oops. Stay tuned for another post soon about space-saving ideas for studio apartment living!

sources: 

#1: Danielle Moss' apartment on The Every Girl 

#2 and #3: I could not find an original source for the life of me, but I believe it was just a house for sale in another country. Here's the closest link I could find.