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!

Random favourite things

It still amazes me what an inspiring place the web is. After only an quick browsing of my favourite websites, I've found some very inspiring things for the weekend...

You know how much I love yellow!

Via Forever is Today

I'm a bit tired with my winter wardrobe (and totally fed up with winter now!!) and can't wait for spring so I can wear pretty dresses...

Via Spool No 72

Ah, my favourite girl crush has done it again... Isn't Zooey Deschanel the cutest?

Via Lily & the Muse

We've decided to go to Santorini for our honeymoon! I can't wait! Two weeks of doing nothing but being together.... In the meantime, I've been scouring the web for pretty photos of the place:

Via MarcelGermain in Flickr

Small details

We're back from the lovely Cotswolds town of Woodstock, not to be confused with Californian Woodstock, this one is not as hippy. We've spent a relaxing two days celebrating the boyfriend's birthday. He's turning 29 so of course, doesn't get my whole "I"m turning 30" crisis. He's still in his twenties after all. And, yes, my own birthday is in a week and a half, so we're both Geminis, plenty of drama and multiple personalities in this relationship!

While there, we had plenty of fun with our new camera, which we are carrying EVERYWHERE with us at the moment. Last week, in an attempt to overcome the frustrated state I was in, I gathered some friends from work who are also interested in photography. We're going to choose a topic every month and go on a lunch expedition taking photos. This month, the topic is small details and, while on Woodstock, we were trying to focus on these small details too. These are some of my favourite:

My new favourite shoes. They are yellow! This is my new profile photo, have you noticed?

Hello! (and five rules for life)

I'm so excited to see new people coming to visit my blog! Some of you are coming from Julie's blog, Moments of Perfect Clarity, which was made blog of note this week! (Congratulations, Julie, you truly deserve it!) or I've found you through her blog. So thank you all for stopping by and thank you, Julie!

Among my new readers, I found Lynette, and through her blog My creative fling, I found the Five rules for life blog. I love this idea: people sharing "what they believe are the most important rules to follow for a happy, successful, and fulfilling life. "

So I was inspired to think about my five rules for life. And of course, I'm sharing them with you!

Learn, learn, learn
I’ve said it before. I love learning. Doing new things and discovering new skills really stimulates me. I love the feeling of going back to school, taking notes, thinking about what has been said... I’m interested in lots of random stuff, from languages, to knitting (some friends and I are going to start a knitting group) to literature, cinema, development and human rights issues… almost anything!

Spend time on your own
I think it's important to be comfortable with ourselves, and to not rely on others to define who we are. We're not only someone's partner, or someone's friend, or someone's mum/daughter. We have our own personality and it's important to keep some parts of your life to yourself: do a course on your own, take solitary walks and take photos of what you see, enjoy your own company.
I also think it's important to get to know yourself, what you like, and what you enjoy. When we spend all our time with others, we don't have time or space to listen to what we want and we end up believing that we want what others want. I’ve recently started a journal to record all the things I like, from my favourites movies or books to how I like to spend my weekends. I really think this will help me finding out more about myself.

Change your surroundings
Travel is such an important thing in my life. I love discovering new places, new cultures, and new languages. But I don’t have to go very far, just a change of surroundings, a day in the countryside or a visit to a museum you’ve never been to will help me to open me mind in lots of different way. It’s about leaving your comfort zone, and discovering new ways of doing things.

Don't take anything personally
I’ve unashamedly copied this from Lynette’s list because it really resonated with me. I do take things personally, but this was a real eye opener: People are simply too busy with their own problems! They’re not judging me, they are not talking about me, they are not thinking of how I’d react to their words… at least not most of the time.

Have fun!
Ah, yes! We tend to forget this one! I certainly do! Have fun, make the most of any situation, laugh at yourself! Be silly, jump up and down, sing in the middle street, laugh out loud!

What are yours?

She

Julie, from Moments of perfect clarity wrote a post on third person here, and invited us all to do the same. It's incredibly liberating! If you try it, leave a link so we can read it. Here is mine:

She likes pink, the sea and riding her bike. But sometimes, she prefers yellow, the city and going places on the train. She doesn't believe in horoscopes, but she is a real Gemini. More than two, she has multiple personalities.
She enjoys a good conversation (online or offline) with her friends, but sometimes, she'd rather be alone. Or with a book.
Books are her friends. "Books are not the answer to everything", a good friend told her once. But she convinced her that she was wrong. Of course books are the answer to everything.
She is starting to realize that good friends are difficult to find, but keeps on finding good friends in those that she has known for a long time.
She loves going to the cinema. The movie is not that important. The big screen, sharing the experience, leaving the cinema and talking about what you have just seen. Those things, she enjoys. She doesn't have a TV but she spends too long on her computer. She likes writing, but she can always find excuses not to do it.
Sometimes, she'd like to live in a small house in the middle of nowhere. Others, she dreams about living in New York, London or Tokyo, and never stop doing, learning, seeing.
Her home is in England, but her past, and possibly her future, are in Spain. She lives in two worlds, not the same, not too different. In Spain, people tell her she is very English. In England, everyone reminds her that she Spanish. She likes traveling but she is bored of flying. Right now, she'd like to be back in Buenos Aires, walking around Palermo.
Belly dancing makes her feel better. Coffee makes her feel better. Breakfast in bed, a nice surprise, the sun between the clouds, walking in the park. All those things make her feel better.
She is a hypochondriac, with herself and with those she loves. She worries, all the time, about everything. She doesn't know why she is like that, but she is trying to find out.
She'll be 30 soon. She doesn't feel old, but she's starting to realize that time passes too quickly. It's time to take decisions. Or let life take them for you.

Some journeys

I love traveling, but, most of the time, for me it´s about the destination (getting to know a different place, its people its culture...). The journey is just the way to get there. But sometimes, only sometimes, the journey becomes more important than the destination:
A Navimag trip from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales, Chile, around the fjords, the islands, and the glaciers of North Patagonia.
Riding in the roof of a train through amazing landscape from Riobamba to the Devil´s nose in Ecuador.
An impromptu road trip with good friends, from Oxford to Edinburgh, with time to barely see the Scottish capital but plenty of time to chat, to laugh, to listen to music...