PORTO, Portugal: You are too beautiful for words, so I won’t even try.

I’m in such a good mood and I insist that it be contagious. I hope that you read this and that I’ve magically transferred some positive energy, giddiness, happiness your way. If you’ve had a bad day, it’s now a good day. I’m booking Vegas tomorrow morning. Book your trip.

This is the Lisbon Cathedral in Lisbon, Portugal.

I’ve got another houses-in-Lisbon photo below available as a print at my Etsy Shop.

There’s talk of Las Vegas in November…

And Brazil next summer…

I was always what I lived in. It didn’t need to be big. It didn’t even need to be beautiful. It just needed to be mine.” LISBON, Portugal: Packed with beautifully run down, paint-chipping, pastel-coloured, rustic houses. I walked tirelessly up and down many, many hills solely for the viewing pleasure of all the houses glued side by side and stacked on top of each other. The house photo below is available as a print at my Etsy Shop. MANY more to come though.

This is also me in Commerce Square, in Lisbon. I urge you to pay a visit to Lisbon and let it take your breath away.

More pretty in pinks from Prague. And myself in Prague.

I’m heading out to Hamburg, NY today for the Erie County Fair and then stopping by Buffalo for some shopping!

I feel INSPIRED, REFRESHED, RECHARGED, HAPPY, etc. These travel highs last me for a good while and the greatest of all is the infinite amount of photos that I have to go through, which extend the high for an even longer period of time. I’m reliving the trip every time I look at the photos. Travel NOW. Even if it’s just for a week or two at a time. See more of the world so that you nourish an open mind. Get out of your little box for a bit and then go back to it – your routine suddenly feels fresh and new and you’re excited all over again. Life is so much better this way.

My trip was rejuvenating. I lived most of it through the lens but that’s how I go through life nowadays. If it’s not captured, it didn’t happen. Lisbon, Portugal was my favourite, closely followed by San Sebastian in the Basque Region in Spain, and then Barcelona. When all is said and done, I thought Portugal surpassed Spain with it’s dashing underrated beauty. But then again, we all appreciate different types of beauty and that’s the beauty of it all.

This is me in the Pena National Palace in Sintra, Portugal. We only spent four hours in this city and I was stressed and overwhelmed for the most part, trying to capture it before we had to leave for the next city. The other two photos are for sale as prints at my Etsy Shop.

I’m up at all hours of the night working on my Etsy Shop. This blog has almost taken the back seat this past week. It’s really like running a real business because if you don’t give the shop the time it needs, it’s going to rot and you’ll never make your 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th sale. If your listings get old for example, and no longer appears at the top of search results, then that’s it. People will never even see your items, let alone purchase them. So, you have to constantly maintain, relist, and renew, but there needs to be a strategy or else you’ll just erode your profits. I have this sudden burden to do my due diligence with this shop and see where it goes. I’m reading up on tips and tricks for more exposure and sales. I wonder if it’ll break through one day.

My photos in the next couple of months are going to take on a different direction – they’re going to be photos that I can sell on my shop. So it’ll be less people shots; more objects and things and places.

Come shop for prints: charleneprecious.etsy.com

I think it’s appropriate to pull out photos of my EuroGirls and I outside the Buckingham Palace in London last summer, where William & Kate tied the knot today. Can I be a princess and live in a palace, too? Thanks!

Because I’ve set my mind to it. All it takes is a renewed mindset, and just like that, it’s done. I will not give it room to linger in my skin and in my thoughts. I will only work hard and I will keep on working hard today, tomorrow, the day after, and the day after that. Hard work and a clear conscience is all I need to make it past all of life’s poison, games, and energy wasters.

Rise above it and keep doing your thing. Be consumed only by happiness and good things.

An oldie but goodie is Oasis’ All Around The World.

Is She Really Going Out With Him is an MTV show about hot chicks with douche bags.