inspired for 2010

It can come from the most unlikely places...

It can lead artists to create masterpieces.
It can lead architects to design works of art that double as usable structures.
It can compel chefs to generate edible creations that appear to float through the air.
It can drive inventors to revolutionize the world with their frankensteins (you know, like the sham-wow!)...

So that's the theme of this year. In the interest of full disclosure, this past year in Houston has been taxing, kicking me a little bit, and leaving me a little worse for wear. But all that is going to change this year. I am determined to be inspired this year. And not just in the art world. In fact, there may not be any art...oh, who are we kidding...of course there will be art. But that's what's great about inspiration. It can come from anywhere.




So in that vein of thinking, I am taking the 365 challenge (as in taking one photo a day for a year), but with a twist. I am going to spend one year looking for at least one thing to inspire me everyday. I am going to write about that thing and include a photo (my photo of the day). Sometimes they may be unrelated, and by that I mean, completely related!! (sorry...dr. doofensmirtz reference)

But I am going to do my best to keep inspired, and feel free to do the same! Contribute in any way you like to this blog, as I welcome comments and suggestions!!!!

Let's enjoy being inspired by 2010 together, shall we?!?

Apartment Therapy

So in the wake of our economy, I have lost some of my favorite magazines...while magazines like Dwell and Elle Decor are still around, inspiring the do-it-yourself gurus and the wannabe interior designers, magazines like Blueprint and Domino have fallen by the wayside, leaving a large hole for those that really love edgy and fun modern design.

Well fear no more, internet readers! You can now read all about the inspirational homes that have been created all over, maybe even in your city! Apartment Therapy (a site I have been obsessing over for at least a year) is your newest fix!!! I am in love with the things this site provides, from DIY projects, to home tours, product introductions, and even a place to sell some of your stuff! The interiors are always beautiful, photographed with depth and artistic flair.

When you check out the site here, don't forget to check out their sister sites, one for kids, one on home cooking, one for at-home tech, and one for the green home! It seems like they've thought of everything!!! Now all you have to do is get on there and get inspired to create something fabulous of your own...

Who knows! You could be the next featured home tour!!!!
I know I'm loving this one!!!!

music's influence, woodstock's 40.

i have always had a sort of fascination with music. the sounds, the lyrics, the emotions, the music. it always seemed to speak to my soul from a very young age. i was so interested in the people that were making music, writing it, singing it, and just involved in the process. so involved was i in this love affair with music, it never occurred to me that others didn’t feel the way i felt about it. i was obsessed.
when i was a little girl, i asked my mother about woodstock. my mother was born in houston, the daughter of two small town texas residents, in the heart of baptist country. and yet when i was younger, i asked all sorts of questions about the hippie movement, woodstock, and the vietnam war. my mother was the perfect age to have taken part in all these historical moments in american history, and i wanted to know her part in them. she was married in 1969, just a few months before woodstock took place. i remember asking her about it, begging for some information--did you go? were you a hippie? what must it have been like? she simply responded with a “amy. my parents would have killed me if i decided to become a ‘hippie.’ and i would have never been allowed to go to woodstock, even if i wanted to, which i didn’t because it seemed scary and dangerous.”
my spirits were crushed. this epic musical event that in many ways shaped the way music was heard, and my mother didn’t even WANT to go! i couldn’t believe it. while my mother was a teenager in the late 60s, she and her friends were really more of the Jackie O style, with pencil skirts, lettermans’ sweaters, and flipped out hairdos. there was no room for hippies in houston texas, at least not in her momma's household.
that culture. that hippie culture. something about the whole thing always seemed so romantic to me. something about the organic lifestyle, nomadic existance, and the yearning for natural living, just seems so much more the way we ought to be living. in looking back on woodstock, as it’s 40th anniversary is this weekend, i am still so intrigued about its past. the people who were there, how much of the stories are real, and the music. the music that changed people’s lives.
music has always been a part of me. from practically living on our living room ottoman as i belted out tina turner into my fisher price microphone in diapers, to being called a human encyclopedia of lyrics by my friends now, music is not just a hobby or an interest. it’s kind of an affinity. a compulsion. one of those things that can’t be stopped in my bones.

happy moon walk!

today is the 40th anniversary of the first moon walk! no, i'm not talking michael jackson's...

i'm talking more neil armstrong, silly!!!

maybe we should all celebrate with a little moonwalk of our own??!!!!