Blog it Forward : Inspiration

Have you been following and enjoying the Blog it Forward series put together by Victoria from sfgirlbybay? It has been a pleasure to peruse all of the inspirational posts and today is my turn to share what inspires me most - I decided to pick ten.

pretty books & magazines

I am really drawn to classic literature, and these redesigned Penguin Classics are stunning. I also love beautiful art, photography and coffee table books along with well-thought out magazines. Don't you love to curl up with a good book? I find them inspirational and uplifting. What have you been reading or perusing?

{Seeing the Everyday | Lulu | Penguin Classics designed by Coralie}

Maps

I don't think I could ever get enough of maps. I think there are three hanging in our house, two of them I picked up in a flea market in France. I remember gasping when I first saw the above map dress by Elisabeth and the Screenprints by Paula Scher -- my word, they are amazing!

{Places on earth Print |Elisabeth LeCourt Map Dress| Paula Scher Screenprint Maps |Ork City Posters}

sketchbooks&inspiration_boards

Other artists/designers sketchbooks and inspiration boards are incredibly beautiful. It gives a peak into their creativity and window into their inner thoughts, just love.

{Chickenwire Board | Jen Causey's Inspiration Wall | James Gallagher Sketch Book}

style look books

Sometimes I feel like certain catalogs are just as good as magazines because of impeccable photography, creativity and styling. It makes me really happy when I receive a good look book or catalog in the mail.

{Anthropologie | Toast | J. Crew}

balloons

My endearment for balloons has grown after having our daughter, she adores them too the moon. My husband will often surprise her coming home with them after work, it lights up her world -- that inspires me.

{Louis V | Glass Balloons | White Balloons photographed by Pia Ulin}


music

Music has always been a huge and inspirational part of my life. Music has a body + soul connection that can alter a day into something even better. It is a wonderful simple pleasure in life. Oh, and bad music with awful lyrics can do the opposite effect, and sometimes you won't even know it. -- beware.

{Bach | Feist | Jeff Buckley | Art by Robert Longo}

travel & discovery

My husband and others who have traveled with me like to tease me about a few of my travel habits. While traveling I take lots and lots of photos and will sometimes turn to complete silent mode because I am soaking the experience in. I also like to get lost -- as long as it isn't in a sketchy area. I adore travel, adventure, learning about new cultures and going somewhere I've never been before. Do you do anything nutty when you travel?

{Book - mine | Photo by Ben Watts from Self | Me in Beynac, France | Mac & I in Paris}

nature

Nature is inspiring and uplifts my heart and soul, patterns and colors in nature compel me to be a better creative person. Of course, fresh flowers brought indoors makes me wonderfully happy too.

{Tulip Gardens in Holland | Sheep in Scotland by Jim Richardson}

learning & inspirational people

I often get goosebumps when I learn about powerful new concepts, you know that really good wow and awe feeling? I am empowered by learning about motivational people who have impacted and changed the lives of others -- it is moving.

{Hellen Keller | Abraham Lincoln | Ted Talks}

food

Food and Cool Packaging Design by themselves make me light up, so when you put those two elements together -- watch out. I can spend hours in a gourmet grocery store perusing the shelves just to look at the pretty packaging design. I also enjoy improving my cooking skills.

{Macaroons |Lemon Curd | Coconut Cupcake |Sadaharu AOKI}

Well there you go, I hope you enjoyed. What has inspired you this week -- I would love to hear about it! To keep the Blog it Forward chain alive -- yesterday was Bits of Beauty and tomorrow is Black White Yellow!

47 comments:

Mary said...

Gorgeous and inspiring post!

Catherine said...

Love the post...I was earlier in the chain. Also love your map...check out my post I had queued for today! Great stylists think alike.

rikshaw design said...

what a beautiful selection!! you and your man are so cute!

melody said...

just wanted to say this has been my favorite post from the b.i.f. series! beautifully done, and very inspiring. thanks!

Liz Stanley said...

beautiful post! i love TED talks too..and the rest of that stuff of course

Katie*Belle said...

This post is absolutely stunning! And I couldn't agree more about maps. They're so inspiring!

courtney said...

After reading this I feel like you're a best friend I haven't met yet! (esp. about getting lost. The hubs and I got "lost" in the back streets of Venice and I still think it's one of my favorite travel memories.)

Hope you have a lovely weekend!

jones said...

amazing post! thank you so much for such beautiful inspiration.

Marisa Seguin said...

Gorgeous inspirations! I love everything on this list.

Lila said...

Love the pics. I think those patterned book covers are to die for. Stunning!
Lila Ferraro
Queen Bedroom Sets

feathermar said...

This is pretty amazing. Your image choices are mcgorgeous!

Dennice {Fringe} said...

Wonderful wonderment! Your inspiration post would make a perfect inspiration board...

Thank you so much for sharing...xo

Laken said...

Absolutely love this post!

kate harrison said...

gorgeous and so inspiring!! love that map dress--wow!

Brit said...

Inspirational loveliness! I love this post!

Tiffany Kadani said...

Beautiful and thoughtful post. I agree about catalogs.. Anthropologie looks like an art book that I can never throw away.

forget.me.knot.weddings said...

love the inspiration and all the different things that make you smile!

Colleen / Inspired to Share said...

Gorgeous collection. Love all the images!! xo

Krisanne said...

Yes!!!

Unknown said...

I get quiet when I travel, too! It's such a great experience to be completely present; I always try to bring that home to familiarity with me. :)

Emma said...

What a lovely collection of images and thoughts! Thank you!

Hijiri said...

great inspirations!!! really enjoyed the post, thank you so much!!

I do love maps, too, I have so many of them :)

Jenny | Aubrey Road said...

wonderfully thought out and very comprehensive. thanks for sharing!

nichole said...

This was absolutely beautiful, Rachel!

Pixie said...

Wow...so many of those things inspire me too. I wish I had the time to travel more, books are my passion. I have WAY too many books but then, I think you can never have too many books.

casapinka said...

I have a lot of your pictures in my inspiration journal and it was so fun to see what you picked. Great post.

Karyn said...

Yesterday I picked up 12 orange balloons for my son's birthday party from the grocery store. It was so much fun to walk to the car with all of them trailing behind. Silly as it is, it was one of those life moments.

Eva / Sycamore Street Press said...

Rachel, I love your list. You really hit the nail on the head. With every single source of inspiration you listed, i was thinking: i agree! i agree!

something that kirk teases me about when we travel: i love going to a local grocery store and slowly walking down the aisles..stopping here and there to pick up an especially pretty or interesting package. it's like i'm in a museum. since you share my love of food and pretty packaging, i'm guessing you might do the same thing when you travel!

Brandi said...

I feel like you wrote this post for me... I feel the same about all of these. And I was just singing Jeff Buckley out loud and proud in the car with my husband the other night :)

asia said...

ah, balloooons :) what a great post!

dancinginchiffon said...

lovely photos!

Aron said...

That doesn't sound nutty, it sounds great. The crazies thing we do when we travel is walk. walk for hours and hours. Again, assuming its not a bad neighborhood, we'll walk 10-20 miles for hours to get a feel for the place. Crazy? yes, but we find things we never expected to see.

Cookie Cutter said...

Thank you for sharing. I really enjoyed your list and the gorgeous images that accompanied it. Wish we have more nature around here but I've learnt to appreciate our little bits of green.

Melanie said...

So beautiful! I was lusting after those Penguin Classics myself this week. The entire post describes so many of my favorite things!

Anonymous said...

incredible post. love every bit of it :)

xo Alison

Anonymous said...

What a gorgeous post!

Gabby / Gypsy*Diaries said...

Such a gorgeous post... huhhhhhhh love all the pics

mrsjling said...

YOU inspire me everyday. In my simple life and as mom of two toddlers this kind of posts get me going. Keeps me creative and keeps me dreaming. Thank you so much for sharing!

Love from Stockholm.

Jenny said...

Thank you for this inspiring post! I love your blog by the way and check it every day. It is definitely one of the most inspiring blogs that I know of.

alli/hooray said...

This is an amazing post. It has me completely inspired right now!

Arcadia said...

i loved your choice of inspirations

Unknown said...

O yes, i love this lil' duop!!!

Anonymous said...

Another wonderful and thoughtful post. Everything you have here is just beautiful!

Julie @ Chapman Interiors said...

THis is just a BEAUTIFUL post! I was uh-huh-ing with all your choices!

cheers :)

-julie

Lucy said...

Rachel every thing you do is wonderful!

Lucy said...

Everything that you do is wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing!

Lucy said...

Everything you do is wonderful! Thanks for sharing!

Post a Comment

I really appreciate your thoughts and ideas, thanks for reading!