Inspiration

Mid-Week Inspiration

I think this applies to the little stuff... and the big stuff. 

Mid Week Pick-Me-Up

Resolution #2

Little bit of inspiration

Amazing journey

The London Olympics start today. We will probably tune in a few times over the next two weeks to cheer Canadian athletes... but there is one American athlete I am really rooting for. The story of Lopez Lomong is nothing short of incredible.

Good fortune

This was in my fortune cookie a few weeks ago.

Tomorrow officially starts our two weeks of summer vacation, and a much anticipated visit from far-away family members we haven't seen in a long, long time. While tomorrow probably won't be productive for us in terms of practical or home-related projects, it probably will be productive in terms of relationships and fun. I can't think of a more wonderful place to be.

Jonathan's new violin

A long time ago, I played duets in church with a boy who played the violin. He grew up to become the Concertmaster of the Montreal Symphony, and then, the Toronto Symphony. And now, he's playing a remarkable violin.

Inspiration

Inspiration

Preparing for Easter

Yesterday, we had friends over for dinner and, for the last time this spring, I was able to steal some flowers from my in-laws' beautiful rhododendron for a centerpiece (the snow birds arrive home this week). I was searching for some Easter centerpiece inspiration when I found these mini arrangements, placed in a decoupage egg, by a florist shop in California. It's not a realistic project for me but I thought it was really sweet.

                      

                    All images courtesy of Fleuretica

Different esthetic

Over the weekend, Jeff and I got to talking about what home improvement projects are on the agenda for this summer. In addition to a new garage roof, our main bathroom needs some attention.  We learned a lot while renovating our basement guest bath last year (see our progress here, here, here, here, and here as well as the final reveal here) and feel more confident approaching another bathroom project.

That being said... we have different perspective on a "dream" bathroom. While Jeff was studying last night (he has a major professional exam mid April), I started looking at some bathroom ideas. The most unusual photo I came across was of this bathroom, designed by Antonia Martins, from October 2010 issue of California Home. 

Photo by Drew Kelly

When I showed Jeff, the only word he could whisper was, "Beautiful!!" Me, on the other hand, could only imagine the number of times I would stub my toe on this contraption. And wonder, where I would hide the toilet bowl cleaner. 

I'll admit, it is certainly a conversation piece. Despite Jeff falling in love with this, I think we're headed back to the drawing board. 

Inspiration

It's actually quite a cathartic and rewarding process, this editing business. I was thinking today that once this project is done, there are a few areas of life where application of this would be a good thing. You know- closets, dresser drawers and life in general.

Maybe this is where I'll start when I wake up in a few weeks and find out, to my great shock, that I am no longer a graduate student. I guess I'm going to have to start thinking about what I'm going to do next...

Inspiration

This week, I have been writing the last chapter of my thesis, a literature review on the topic of organizational change (and how to lead it effectively). In the end, I think it all comes down to this:

Graphic Source

Seems like common sense,huh?

Inspiration

Poster found on Etsy

Inspiration

Easily said. Less easily done.

Thesis update

With less than a month to go, a good friend emailed me to see how things were progressing with my thesis.  I am about 35 pages from being finished, but they are the toughest 35 pages of all. I spent most of last week working on the dreaded Chapter 4, the longest (and most challenging) chapter. It's a review of all of my research data (200+ pages of data summarized down to 20) and no matter how you look at it, is just really tough to organize, analyse and write.

Last week, I realized that my approach (and result) looked something like this:

Far Side Cartoon by Gary Larson

So I started over. Hopefully, this week will be better.

Inspiration

This actually applies more to writing a thesis than one might expect...

Inspiration

As I am spending long days completely immersed in thesis writing, I've been relying on inspiration (from a variety of sources) to keep me going. Inspiration, I think, is always worth sharing.

And there we have it. Back to the books. 

Inspiration

Yesterday over my morning chai tea, I read a great article on the Huffington Post that I found so inspiring, I had to share. Last month, the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art  opened a surprisingly simple yet ridiculously amazing art installation by 82-year old artist Yayoi Kusama. Kusama constructed the interior of an average home- with every wall, chair, table, piano, and household decoration in a brilliant white, creating a giant white canvas. 

photo courtesy of the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art

photo courtesy of the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art

Over the course of two weeks, children visiting the museum were given thousands upon thousands of colored dot stickers and were invited to be part of creating art, transforming the space into a vibrantly mottled explosion of colour. 

photo courtesy of the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art

photo courtesy of Anna

photo courtesy of Yayoi Kasuma Studio

photo courtesy of Anna

photo courtesy of Stuart Addelsee

How great is this?!  While in real life I probably gravitate to the all white spaces, I thought this was fantastic.