Randomness and links

I'm really enjoying reading blogs again and having time to explore new websites, spend a little bit more time on Twitter, read interesting articles... It really is amazing, this online world of ours, so full of inspiration and information. Of course what makes this possible is all the wonderful people who share their knowledge, all the artists and creative bloggers who are very generous with their own inspiration and processes. The Internet has only made this sharing easier, but could you imagine living in a world without it?

I was recently thinking about inspiration and how ideas spread while watching this fascinating video on "influencers" (or "trendsetters").


INFLUENCERS FULL VERSION from R+I creative on Vimeo.

Of course we all suffer from information and connection overload from time to time. Or worse, from a sense of not being enough or not doing enough after reading how many creative people are living their dream lifes. I have been there, but I do think that it had more to do with how I was feeling in other areas of my life than with what I was reading online. However, it's always a good idea to have a digital detox from time to time, don't you think? If you feel the need to do this right now, Susannah has plenty of advice on her blog.

If on the contrary you're looking for new blogs to visit, you should go and see  Paris vs New York. It's such a beautiful collection of illustrations about the differences between these two cities... It just makes me want to visit both! Which I'll probably do next year, if everything goes according to plan! These are my favourites from the blog:

There is so much beauty online, that perhaps sometimes we forget to transfer all that inspiration to our offline world.  I'm definitely guilty of this, sometimes I spend most my time working and when it's time to relax I sit in front of my laptop to read some blogs. The Tour de Word (see video below) is just one way of taking something that started as an online adventure and develop it into something to do face to face. Our Blog camps are another example of how you can take relationships and friendships developed on the blogosphere to the offline world. I haven't been to a Blog Camp in a while, but if there is one next year, you can bet I'll be there!

Off to get married...

Before I disappear to get married (Yay!) I thought I'd leave you with some of the inspiration pages from the wedding booklet I've created this year.

First the inspiration for the big event, when we'll be getting married in Spain on 18th September...

We've also organized a picnic brunch the next day for a more relaxing catch up with our friends...

Then we'll go on honeymoon to Santorini, Greece, and then to Barcelona for a friend's wedding (She's getting married two weeks after me)

On our return, we've organized a stylish (I hope!) champagne and cakes party in Oxford for some of our friends who couldn't make it to Spain...

I'll be back with photos and stories (but not too many) of all these events at some point in early October...

More bloggy weddings.

A holiday...

If you look at my browser right now, you'll see around 39 tabs. This is mostly your fault. You who post about interesting links that I just have to check out, you who write a brilliant post that I read in Google Reader but that I then have to open in another tab to comment on, you who suggest that book or that movie that I need to go and read about. I also have interesting articles or ideas that I think may the basis for a good post here, my Flickr page, where I've been planning to add some photos for weeks... I think you get the idea.
For the most part, I love it, all these interesting ideas, things to read, things to watch, things to think about. I love the stimulation and the creativity. But at the moment, it's all becoming too much, there is too much going on, I can't focus and it's distracting me from other important things in my life.
So I've decided to take a break from it all. Blogging, Flickr, Google Reader... For the most part of April, I'll be on an Internet holiday. I wasn't going to have much time for it, anyway, as I have a busy week of work ahead of me, 10 days of holiday back in Spain (aka wedding planning madness!), and a lot to catch up on afterwards. I'm not making any rules, I may pop up from time to time, but I'm giving myself permission not to.
I'm not leaving by any means, I'll definitely be back in May. If everything else fails,  I'm planning a nice day with a friend at the beginning of May full of writing and photography that will surely get my blogging juices going. So I'll see you back here in May! Enjoy the beginning of Spring!

12 months of being 30: Our wedding, our way

* This post is part of my 12 months of being 30 project, an attempt to record what happens during my year of being 30 through my own collage, photography and words.

I promise I'm not turning my dear blog into a wedding blog, despite evidence to the contrary. I do think that the wedding planning needs to feature in my 12 months of being 30 posts, even though I'll be 31 when I get married (but let's not think about that). And what better day than today, exactly 6 months before I get married? On the 18th of September, I'll be marrying Jon. I can't wait! And not only because the planning will be over then! :)

I'm still having a hard time with the stress of wedding planning, and with the pressure to do things "the proper way" (whatever that means), but for this post, I'm focusing on those things that I'm enjoying. The best wedding advice I've got is to pick two or three things that are important to you and concentrate on those. One of the most important things to me is the fact that we're writing our own vows (something still pretty unusual in Spain), but apart from that, these are the things that I'm looking forward to:

• The dress: Yes, I'm that shallow but I think I'm allowed. I'm incredibly excited about my dress. I found it in two days, after visiting two shops in my hometown of Salamanca. On my first visit, I tried on lots of different styles. I thought I had a clear idea of what I wanted, but when I tried on those floaty, understated dresses that I had envisioned, they seemed a bit... boring on me, so I changed my mind and chose something a bit more fun! I won't post a photo here, but let's just say that this was my inspiration:

• The photos: We both decided not to have video, as we can't really see ourselves watching it much after the wedding (I think I'll bow to the pressure, though, and get a friend to record the ceremony, but I'm not paying for it to be done professionally). I do see myself looking at the photos in years to come and remembering the day, the details, the guests... so it was important to find a good photographer that understood what we wanted. The search for a photographer was stressful, specially because we had to do it all online, but we think we've found the perfect photographers and we're meeting them in a couple of weeks, when we go to Spain for Easter.

• The stationary: Jon is a designer and it was important to him to design our invitations and make them fun! They're now ready and we're about to send them so when they've reached our guests, I'll show them to you.

• That people have a good time: Let's be clear, we all know (even if we don't like saying it) that weddings can be incredibly boring... I know my guests will be happy for us, but I also want them to have a good time! My biggest fears are that our guests get bored or hungry during the evening!

Thanks!

I feel I don't say it enough! Thanks to my bloggy friends, my Flickr friends, my Twitter friends. This amazing community of people who offer inspiration, wise words, a smile, a laugh. People who open my eyes and my mind to new possibilities, new ways of doing things, new places to visit, new things to say, new photos to take....

Some of my favourite photos that have been inspired me on Flickr: 

1. 47 365 Golden, 2. 46/365: Go Girl, 3. 44/365 Shine the light on Lake Peten Itza, 4. 46/365, 5. 45/365 Pink Love, 6. 46/365, 7. sideways, 8. DSC_0012, 9. 36/365, 10. cat posing, 11. LA Sky Last Night, 12. Tea and books, 13. in the post {34/365}, 14. rubber balls {35/265}, 15. Happy Snowy Bokeh Wednesday :D, 16. Pink Vanilla Meringue, 17. it snowed., 18. 24:365 winter watercolor, 19. 25:365 casting shadows, 20. paris et ses monuments, 21. 100119_WellThumbed, 22. Orbs, 23. IMG_0030, 24. hear the silence**, 25. 7/365, 26. Untitled, 27. 6/365 2010, 28. 5 365 A whiter shade of lemon, 29. gull, 30. DSC_3738 (55:365), 31. 1 365 The pylons are coming, 32. Untitled, 33. white snow crystal, 34. Bicycles and Polaroids, 35. dirty diana, 36. i want to run away

Thank you, most of all, to those of you who visit me here, read my ramblings and continue the conversation. Your comments always make my day. And your comments on my wedding post were amazing! They made me smile, they made me furiously nod in agreement, they made me so happy...  Happy that you understood what I meant and reminded me what's important about my wedding day.  Thanks Francesca, Jan, lamediterraine, An Open Heart, Cyndy, Spud, Rach, Kristina, Jane, Julochka, Green Ink, Ida and Christina. If you send me your addresses (My email is in my profile), I'll send you a little present to thank you! Because I'm feeling happy and generous today! :)

Wasting time

Oh, where does time go? That's exactly what I wondered when I realized I haven't posted here in more than a week! I'm not the only one who feels like this, of course...

Through the beautiful Peonies and Polaroids, I found Alison Provax, who is creating a series of letterpress prints that form The Time Wasting Experiment. She says of the project, In part inspired by tracking 'billable hours' but also coming from the compulsion to always be doing and producing objects. This series is sort of an audit of how I spend my time, but could also be thought of as permission slips to spend a period of time in a wasteful way (maybe recontextualizing a private, shameful activities into something which one tries to get done in a set amount of time).  You can buy the prints from her Etsy shop.

I love the simplicity of these, and seeing all these "wasteful" activities with a timeline attached to them is also a real eye opening. I'm definitely guilty of many of these, and since I'm not sure I can stop, maybe I should start trying to set a limited amount of time to do them.



So what have I been doing? Apart from wasting time, that is... I've been getting used to a new job, new projects, a completely different new way of doing things (in fact, part of my job is coming up with new ways of doing things!). I'm getting used to a new office and new colleagues. It's been almost two weeks and I'm starting to get a clear picture of what it's going to be like, exciting but crazy and stresful times lie ahead!

All this has left me with little energy to do much with my free time, and so I have been wasting my time with lots of movie and DVD watching (guilty secret, I've become obssesed with Brothers and Sisters... should I worry?). I've also been watching lots of Friends and listening to Regina Spektor, two things that never fail to put me in a good mood. And I've finally found a way to post music in the blog, so I leave you with my favourite Regina's song. 

Inspired by book covers

And more book covers inspiration. I really like this week's collections, I feel calm when I look at these covers. They are simple, beautiful and have a mysterious air. As if the calm was hiding something dark... Can you find something calm and unsettling at the same time?

Otra colección de portadas de libros. Estas portadas me encantan porque me inspiran calma. Son muy sencillas, pero preciosas y tienen algo misterioso. Como si detrás de su aparente calma se escondiera algo oscuro... ¿puede la misma cosa inspirar calma y miedo al mismo tiempo?

Inspired by book covers

More book covers inspiration! Of course, yellow was going to make an appearance on my favourites. You've probably heard of people organizing their bookshelves by colour. As much as I like the idea (colour coordination is VERY important to me!), I could never do it. With the amount of books that I have I could never find anything if they were organized by colour (yes, they are organized by fiction and non ficition, and then by author, since you ask).

Aquí hay otra colección de mis portadas favoritas. Por supuesto, tenía que hacer un póster en amarillo, dado que es el color del año. Probablemente, habréis oído de gente que organiza sus estanterías por el color de los libros. Me encanta la idea (la coordinación de colores es MUY importante para mi), pero nunca podría llevarla a la práctica. Con todos los libros que tengo, si los organizara por colores, nunca podría encontrar nada (vale, ya que queréis saberlo, os diré que los tengo organizados en ficción y no ficción, y después por autor).

Inspired by book covers

The book cover archive website is a beautiful collection of book cover designs. Just flicking through them, you'll find tons of amazing designs, but you can also search by publisher (Penguin, anyone?), by author, or designer (The Jonathan Safran Foer book covers, all by Gray 318 are instantly recognizable), and even by typeface! There is also a blog with news on book and design.
These are some of my favourite covers, but I'll be posting some more, grouped by different colour or theme in the next weeks.

La página web The book cover archive website (La biblioteca de las portadas de libros) ofrece una colección de portadas de libros preciosa. Solamente mirando las portadas, encontraréis muchísimos y originales diseños, pero también se pueden ver por editorial (las de Penguin son clásicas), por autor o diseñador (las portadas uno de mis autores favoritos, Jonathan Safran Foer, todas del diseñador Gray 318 se reconocen enseguida), en incluso por tipo de letra. La página también tiene un blog (en inglés) con noticias sobre el mundo del libro y el diseño.
Arriba podéis ver algunas de mis portadas favoritas, pero iré añadiendo más en las próximas semanas.

British design

This new Royal Mail stamp collection, showing classic contributions of Great Britain to Design makes me feel proud of my adopted country. See the whole collection here.

Esta colección de sellos con imágenes de la contribución de Gran Bretaña al diseño me hace sentir orgullosa de mi pais adoptado. Podéis ver la colección completa aquí.

Girls like boys

She's so beautiful... and she makes the boy look seem so easy. I'm not convinced about the shoes, I think it's taking it a bit too far, but love the overall effect.

Esta chica tan guapa hace que el estilo chico parezca tan fácil... No me convencen los zapatos, pero me encanta el efecto de todo el conjunto.

Photo @ The Sartorialist

Lucyna Moodie

This photo seen on Purple Area took me to Lucyna Moodie's online portfolio. I love how she uses colour and flowers for special touches in the spaces she styles.

Pinchando en la foto de arriba, que vi en Purple Area, encontré el portfolio de Lucyna Moodie. Me encanta como usa el color y las flores para añadir toques especiales a los espacios que decora.

More yellow

I absolutely love this look from the J Crew lookbook. The skirt is perfect, even more because it's in the colour of the year. The simple top and cardigan are accessorized with a fantastic stripe belt that makes the whole outfit feel special. And don't you think this room from The Haymarket Firmdale Hotel that I found at El beso is the perfect translation of the look into a room?

Me encanta este conjunto que he visto en el lookbook de J Crew. La falda es preciosa y todavía más porque es del color de la temporada. El top y la chaqueta, de líneas simples, se complementan con el cinturón de rayas que le da un toque muy especial a todo el conjunto. ¿No os parece que esta habitación del Haymarket Firmdale Hotel que he visto en El beso es la manera perfecta de traducir este estilismo a un espacio interior?

House inspiration

I love the house of the couple behind ZAI. Simple, uncluttered and beautiful. More here.

Me encanta la casa de los creadores de la tienda ZAI. Simple, sin objetos innecesarios, y preciosa. Podéis ver más fotos aquí.

Found @ Visual Notes

Marie Antoinette

When it got released, Sofia Coppola’s film, Marie Antoinette was much talked about. Fashion and décor magazines run articles and editorials inspired by its aesthetic: luxurious, feminine and excessive. For some reason, I refused to see it then, I only saw it some weeks ago and I liked it more than I expected. Of course, I loved the cakes, the shoes and the dresses. But for me, the most inspiring scenes were the ones in Marie Antoinette's country retreat. Simpler decoration, white and floaty dresses, nature... It must be because I’m in a moment in my life where I want to relax, get rid of some baggage and live a simpler life.

En su momento, se habló sin cesar de la película de Sofía Coppola, Marie Antoinette. Las revistas de moda y decoración realizaron editoriales y artículos inspirados en la estética lujosa, femenina y excesiva de la película. Yo la vi hace poco y, aunque me gusto más de lo que me esperaba y no puedo negar que los pasteles, zapatos y vestidos son espectaculares, lo que mas me inspiró fueron las escenas en la casa de campo de Marie Antoinette. Decoración más simple, vestidos blancos y vaporosos, el contacto con la naturaleza…. Será porque estoy en un momento de mi vida en el que quiero relajarme, deshacerme de cosas innecesarias (materiales y de otros tipos) y vivir de manera mas simple.

Genius video for a beautiful song

Soon she's down the stairs
Her morning elegance she wears
The sound of water makes her dream
Awoken by a cloud of steam
She pours a daydream in a cup
A spoon of sugar sweetens up

Bubbles

Katie dibujó bocadillos de diálogo y los colocó por todo Brooklyn. Después, hizo fotos a la gente que pasaba junto a ellos e imaginó lo que estaban pensando. ¡Me parece una idea genial! Podéis ver más aquí.
Katie made some thought bubbles and put them all around Brooklyn, then she waited and took photos when people passed next to them, before imagining what they were thinking. Such a fantastic idea! More here.

Via noquedanblogs

An unexpected source of inspiration

A Thousand Words from Ted Chung on Vimeo.

Video found @ Noquedanblogs

What do you think happens after this? Is she going to call? Did she leave the camera behind on purpose? Or, is it too late and she's gone? Maybe she never intended to leave the camera and she'll never know that the guy found her. She missed her chance when she didn't say anything to him.
This makes me think of all those missed opportunities that we never learn about. Not the mistakes that become clear after a while, but the decisions we didn't take, the lives we didn't live. Do they get lived in a parallel universe, or are they lost forever?

Letters on the wall

Últimamente, encuentro inspiración en las letras y la tipografía y he visto muchas maneras de usar letras como decoración. En este collage hay algunos ejemplos. Mi favorito es el "America" hecho con cubos, de la oficina de Mary Randolph Carter.

I have recently been inspired by letters and typography. There are lots of ways you can use letters around the house or the office. Here are some examples. My favourite is the America made of cubes from Mary Randolph Carter´s office.

Collage made with photos from Aesthetic Outbourst, Cookiemag, The Selby, Simple lovely, among others.

Good morning!

Que bonita manera de empezar el dia (y la semana), sobre todo ahora que ya no me tengo que levantar a las 6 de la mañana para ir a trabajar a la escuela!

What a lovely way to start the day (and the week). It´s eve beteer because I no loger need to get up at 6am to go to work at the school!

From Desire to inspire