Maybe Easier To Say What Does NOT Inspire Me...

in keeping with the holiday spirit, i bring you another installment in the 'what inspires you?' series.  if anyone is interested in participating, please email me. i would love to keep the inspiration going throughout the new year...

sometimes you meet people online. and you develop a friendship with them that you know would surpass keyboards and emails and virtual shout-outs. you know that you would invite each other over for room painting parties and impromtu photo shoots and game night. you just know.
melissa, aka monkey, is one of those people. she is all sorts of amazing. if you don't believe me, check out her photography website. 
if you're in georgia, you should hire her. 
seriously. 

When Krista wrote the email asking about what inspires all of us...my first reaction was "HOW COOL IS THAT?!" and my second almost immediately after was "OH CRAP, THAT'S HARD!" I'm one of these somewhat hippy types that can be inspired by the rainbowish colors mixing in an oil puddle...I'm not sure why I'm like that, it just happens. :)

So to keep my inspiration list from running longer than a bad biography, I quickly wrote down the first things that came to my head, and this is what I got. Not only does my list inspire me to create, these things inspire me to do all kinds of things, like be nicer to people, love more...

Genuine compliments.
Friends who love me for me and want to hang out with me.
The way colors and objects interact with each other.
Warm, furry beasts lounging next to me.
The ONE person that puts the sunshine and rainbow pooping unicorns into my days.
Speaking of poop--friends that can discuss poop and then laugh like crazy afterward.
The way paint mixes together in the sink when I wash classroom brushes out.
A newly discovered song that I love so much that I play it 10 times in a row---but never to the end because the end of songs and their redundant nature drives me crazy.

When something is somewhere unusual--like the leaf stuck to the door today or taking pictures of a bride in a clean, white gown standing next to a grungy, graffiti covered train or the girl who was drawing on top of a Coke machine--that awesomeness helped me choose my college.
Good, long hugs like someone really means it and how a hug can instantly make you feel like you know somebody better.
People who make things that I cannot.
Staying up really late and sleeping in.
My closet being in ROGBIV order.
Kindness given with nothing expected in return.
The trust and adoration that babies and pets give.
The way the house feels when it's really clean.


Those are the things that rock my world and inspire the hell out of me.