Pinspiration.

The rain finally let up a little today, and I had the pleasure of meeting up with an old friend.  We pretty much walked all over Santa Monica for a few hours (really long but wonderful walk), and then did something I haven't done in a long time: went to Barnes and Noble, grabbed a random mix of books, sat in a corner, and shared and compared different pictures or stuff we read over coffee (whoa! THRILLING!! :P).  And I remember I used to do this all the time.  Sometimes I'd go by myself, sometimes I'd go with a friend, but I used to go to the Barnes near my old house any time I needed a pick-me-up and would go through magazines, design books, photography books, travel books, cookbooks, fashion books, architecture books, psychology books... pretty much books and magazines on anything and everything.  The one I used to go to when I was younger was only a half hour walk from my house, so I'd put a slip of paper, stubby little pencil, and the couple of bucks I needed for coffee in my pocket, and I'd actually take notes on things I thought were interesting or a good idea (never knew what actually happened to those slips of paper... they'd pretty much just disappear in a drawer or among papers on my desk as soon as I'd get home).  I realized today how much I miss that.  Those few hours would do for me the same thing that art exhibits or movies or live theater do: I left feeling inspired, rejuvenated, and energized.

Also, this week a friend introduced me to this website called Pinterest.  The main idea behind the site is that it serves as a sort of public pinboard, and people put up random pictures of things they find online that they like or find interesting.  Thus, combining these two things, and in the spirit of the random mix of stuff that is this blog, I'm starting a new section on here that's just going to consist of random pictures (yeah, probably mostly from Pinterest... go check it out!).  They'll be pictures I like and think are cool, beautiful, touching, moving, cute, innovative, nostalgic, or which just strike me for reasons I can't put into words.  Feel free to share any pics that do the same for you.

Cheers.

(via http://pinterest.com/?category=photography)