What inspires me most...

I am following in the footsteps of Dashily who has passed the torch on to me in sfgirlbybay's blog it forward. Basically, we are 300 bloggers talking about what inspires us most, and there are 10 groups of 30 blogs that are spiraling forward in a chain of thought.

I prefer images more than words when it comes to inspiration, these are the things that make me light up. I am inspired by beautiful things, by fonts, by physically sensing the world, by light, color, textures. I am inspired by seeing other people do things I wish I'd thought of. I am inspired by my husband who indulges my photographic whims. Eating a lot of chocolate tends to do some good as well.

Photographers

by diane arbus

this picture is of salvador dali by phillippe halsman

by walker evans

Miss N by Gertrude Kasebier

by Richard Avedon

Fashion//Photography

nothing makes me happy like a good dress. I love excuses to wear great clothes, and seeing other people do it flawlessly.

dress by Alexander McQueen

image by Eugenio Recuenco found via makool loves you

image by mads teglers via postcards from dreamland

via bleubird vintage

alice in wonderland image by annie liebovitz

Childhood

I want to keep jumping on the furniture and I don't see why not. I think grown ups encourage children to grow up because they're jealous they are no longer children. My favorite books are children's books. I still love the idea of being under the blankets, playing in the ocean, pillow fights, and sleepovers.

blanket fort (via flickr user smwright)

treehouses. (image source)

I never had a cape, and my life has suffered for it. via say YES! to hobeken

jelly shoes via flickr like_shipwrecks

pretending to be a spy or detective was an everyday occurence.

(source: flickr)

twirling in dresses (via flickr)

Quilts

I have wanted to make a quilt for at least 6 years now, and now I've married into a family of quilters. I want nothing more than to collect fabric from everyone that means anything to me and put them into a quilt. They are the most beautiful things you can possibly own.

source

by denise schmidt

via you are my fave

this one is called "single girl" how perfect is that? denise schmidt

Blogs 

The lovely things these ladies write, find and create make me want to do the same. They are the reason I will be getting a sewing machine this year. And forcing myself to do 101 things in the next 1001 days. I know they could do it.

Other bloggers posting today::

alexander salvage::monkey in l.a.::brin and nohl::peanut butter and poetry::scoutie girl::haley and rose::taking the long way::lana de lanna::thompson family-life

Check Daughter Earth tomorrow for her post on what inspires her most!

The getting and keeping of hair; V-day

One of my 101 in 1001 is to take pictures of my hair every day for a month because I always try to dress & style my hair better when photography is involved. So, here's a trial run. The back is really messy because I styled my hair at night after keeping it in a top knot all day. But it is very similar to my hair for our Valentine's Day outing yesterday (actually Galentine's Day if you watch Parks & Rec). We saw Casablanca at the Alabama Theatre (I'd never been inside and it is breathtaking) and ate dinner at Fleming's with our friends Ian & Onna (they had a sharing menu with a filet and half lobster each, and 2 sides + a salad. we won.). I wore a dress I'd bought with no occasion in mind while we were in San Francisco after the National Championship.

Process: hot curlers, lots of bobbypins. I used a curling iron for a few pieces that resisted my curling efforts. Top off with a lot of hairspray (I use Nexxus and I really like the resulting texture)

Helium :: The Pre-Memorial ::Running out of gas

I discovered via A Cup of Jo the other week that we are running out of helium (she always seems to know what's up!) and immediately freaked out. They estimate that we will be completely out of helium in 10 years. What?! My children may never see a balloon float. It makes me want to hoard a helium tank in a basement somewhere so that my kids can experience helium. UP is going to seem even more fantastic by the time my children see it. I am almost crazy enough to want to hurry up and have children just to extend their balloon eligible years. Okay, so forget all of my craziness and enjoy this tribute to the magical element via photographs taken by other people.

via The Design Files

also via The Design Files, this is actually a project by Clementine Henrion entitled Helium Eternal inspired by the impending doom for helium. The balloons are actually made of fabric and suspended in air with wire.

via Jessica Paige

99 red balloons? It doesn't matter, they are lovely. And endangered.

via Jakob E

via anne

via Millie Motts

via Bloom, Grow, and Love

via Elle Moss

via photographer Ben Blood

via bleubird vintage

via Green Wedding Shoes, photography by W Scott Chester.

via Sarah Yates Photography

via Snippet & Ink

via sweet eventide (she's part of blog it forward, so you should visit her blog!)

balloon garland from 2000 dollar wedding

Who's in for a giant going away party for our helium friends?

Psst...Pass it on!

Today is day one in sfgirlbybay's blog it forward! The project has 300 blogs participating in a modern chain letter of sorts. There are 10 groups, each starts off with a post about what inspires them most and links to the previous blog in the list and the one to follow. My post will be on 2/17 if you plan to head back over. In the meantime, check out some of the other blogs on the list! I'm planning to visit each blog when their day is up (10 a day, not so bad!) and link back to my favorites & of course comment! Comments are like crack for bloggers.

inspiration: DIY projects: hang something pretty

I've been seeing a lot of oh so pretty things to make and hang lately, and now that my wedding is over (I did no hanging projects but I certainly should have, they are beyond wonderful) I am craving hosting a party or just covering our apartment in paper flowers.
[Garrett would kill me, but can you imagine if I covered every inch of the walls? It's not such a big apartment, and if I were a crazy cat lady instead of newlywed I'd do it this instant!]

Either way, most of these images come from sites with instructions so you can try them out yourself. If you do I want to see the results! There should be some kind of crafting team available to brides in major cities, yeah? They'd put together a party so that the team and your girlfriends could all come make your DIY projects. It'd be great. They'd be called The Marthas or something.

ltr:

top row: Yellow page flowers from the wedding chicks (the best part of this project is that I have at least 2 or 3 old worthless phonebooks lying around just itching to be torn to shreds); miniature fabric flower garland from oncewed (I want these in a canopy across my ceiling); Lighted Paper Pennant Garland from Oncewed.com

bottom row: Martha Stewart Style Rosettes from Mrs. Taffy on weddingbee; coffee filter garland from EAD; holiday banners via the wedding chicks.

Halloween/Fall inspiration

In the spirit of Halloween, here are some fall/halloweenie things I'm craving. I know Halloween is long gone, but I also know that there are plenty of girls getting married next fall, and it can't hurt to plan ahead for next years' parties! Maybe I'll plan a big seated dinner. That I force my sister to cook. (I want to have a fall party next year so bad I can already taste the candied apples).

6 images on the left (masks) from strawberry lemonade, candied apples from mattbites.com, glitter pumpkins from apartment therapy, baby boo pumpkins from country living, canisters and trick or treat cards from casa sugar (halloween decorations found on etsy).

I feel like the key to any theme is subtle. I wanted alice in wonderland to be incorporated in our wedding, but subtly, and it manifested itself in the form of teapots. I've seen a lot of other really cute ideas as well, and you can definitely have a lot of details that correspond without screaming "I'm in a Disney movie, oh God!"

I think unless you are actually disguising your halloween party as a wedding, you should follow the same rules. Instead of orange and black, pick one of the two and let your other color be white. Instead of using halloween puns everywhere, pick an antique font and off white cards (like the trick or treat cards above) with black text.

The baby boo pumpkins are my new obsession, and I want them as my pets.

With glitter pumpkins you could add a fall hint to any color scheme and it will be glam!

Try an all black (or all orange) candy buffet (the image above is actually beans and lichens but I like the idea of placing cards in the candy vertically so that when the candy is taken a message appears! If you use a stand like restaurants do to display their specials, you wouldn't have to worry about it falling over or getting messy from melty candies. Just pop it in and pour the candy all around!)

Masks can add a great addition to a photobooth (they are not easy to breate in, though). Animal masks are pretty much always creepy and they also have a breakfast at tiffany's vibe. Let the dressing up be a part of the reception without having a bunch of zombies show up and drip fake blood all over your wedding.

I'm certainly not Kathryn from Snippet & Ink so here are links to her halloween/fall themed boards for you to take in: here, here, and here.