monday's inspirational interiors

Today is a day of changes. Upon arrival at work I learned that my department has been closed down and I'm transferred back to pre-press. Basically I've been downgraded and my job now consists of folding little paper brochures and books. It's quite cool for the first week or so. I spent a month doing that and I couldn't wait for the replacement. It would be fine for a technical worker who's satisfied with his/her job as long as he/she gets paid. But I'm not that kind of a person therefore I'm on the lookout. I'm not staying for another month on this. 

On a brighter note, the weather for the last couple of days has been unbelievably brilliant. The skies are blue and the sun shining brightly whole day long. It would be a nice sight to see, however, I don't have any windows in the bunker I'm sitting in right now. Nevertheless the days are visibly getting longer and it won't be complete darkness when I leave the bunker at 6 P. M. Oh I'm so sorry, I'm complaining again... 

Let's talk about something else. Let's talk about beautiful, inspirational interiors.

MY CAR FRIENDS

Oh I'm so happy it's Thursday already! This week has been quite an inspirational for me. Even though nothing's changed externally, I feel very energized inside. The thing is, I feel as if I'm discovering more and more of what I want to do and achieve and learn. I'm beginning to grasp the outlook of my life the way I want it to look and feel, an overall atmosphere and feeling. That's a truly enjoyable sensation! Have you had any revelations recently?

Did I tell you about the sad happenings of my dear dear partner-car? It all began a couple of weeks ago, when V. and I began to count the money we spent on petrol. Since Freddie eats around 14L/100km during winter, we spend heaps of money to keep that petrol-burning station running. We calculated that if we bought a newer diesel, filling it up AND paying a loan would be even cheaper than buying petrol. So we found an intriguing looking SAAB 9-3 '00 2.2 TiD in the ads and went to see it on a chilly Saturday. The minute I got in it, I could feel that this is it - this car is for us. It reminded me of the wonderful SAAB 9-3 2.0lpt convertible that had been our partner during our road trip around the Peak District last year. Soon we had scrambled the money for the car (thanks to some very very generous people!) and took the little diesel to the MOT and - lo and behold - it scored ONE point for its broken rear-window wiper. You see, here in Latvia, absolutely everyone having a 10 year old car has to go through MOT at least two times, just because. Even if the car's in perfect condition, it'll get a mandatory point for oil leaking and rust regardless if it's true or not. But our little brave diesel had arrived from Italy 2 months ago and since then nothing had been done to it, it had just stood around and there you go - not a single problem with it! So we bought it. And it's an amazing car. The comfort level is beyond amazing. The engine is very dynamic and powerful despite its mere 115bhp and I finally have a turbine! BUT. What to do with our OTHER friend - Freddie? You know, our lovely trusty 9000! So we decide to lend it to a friend. Soon we receive a call for help. Our trusty partner has failed for the very first time. We rush to help as soon as we can and find Freddie stalled on a steep road uphill. I manage to start the car but the noise coming from its engine is just horrible. We tow it to a local service and a couple of days later get the verdict - the engine is ruined beyond repair. I still can't believe it, 2 years without a single complain and now it's just.. dead. I can't stop thinking about its heart breaking, I'm soo sentimental, I know. Surely we won't leave it that way and this weekend we'll be towing the car to our service and they'll see what they can do. In the worst case we're going to look for a new engine. This car is too much of a loyal friend to be left alone. And it's unbelievable, the paths of destiny! We had no idea Freddie had an engine problem but just out of the blue we decided to buy another car. If we hadn't bought the diesel, we would be left with no car and a huge bill for repairs. Now we have all the time in the world to get Freddie back on road while the diesel, Humphrey, as we like to call it, does the daily runner duty.

Let me introduce you to Mr. Humphrey!

{photo by me}

Can't wait for the summer - Humphrey's got a nice set of 16" Viking Aero alloys!

So there you go, this is the story about me and my cars this far. I really am quite a petrol (diesel?) head! 

FAMILY PORTRAIT

Meet Mr. Smith and Miss Elisabeth!

MY BELOVED TEA

PAPERCRAFT AS ART

Over time I've grown to realize that it's not all procrastination about me and my grand plans. Now I finally realize that it's more of a ripening than hesitating.. and I've come to understanding that one mustn't underestimate the role of time. I've been plotting, planning and scheming to an absolute absurdity and it's become a subject of good fun-making in the eyes of my relatives. Nevertheless I do begin to feel a sort of development of my plans, even if they're anything but tangible. So it's good news, everyone, we're approaching steadily, gradually and irreversibly to our goals even when it feels like nothing's happening! 

To continue on more or less the same subject let me introduce you to a wonderful, delicate yet intricate craft - papercraft as art!

PATCHWORKING

Hello there! Hope you had a great start to an inspiring week! I began my week with a slight feeling of change in the air. During the weekend I visited my parents and talked to my dad about patchworking, which is an amazing new concept for people like me, who hate 9-to-6 jobs and whose creativity is slaughtered by routine. Patchworking means taking things you love to do and combining them to earn your living and enjoy doing that. Let me explain it to you with an example. Let's say, you enjoy photography and are quite skilled with your camera. You can earn money by taking photos at local events, selling your photos to stock photo sites, selling them as photo prints.. This constitutes a part of your income, you have to decide for yourself how big that part can be and how much time you should spend doing that. For example, you can earn 20% of your desired income by working as a photographer. You might also like web design. You could offer your services as a freelance web designer and earn some 30% more. Add writing for a local newspaper to that and you have 80%. Add some more until you get your 100% of desired income and working time. This way you can have a lot of diversity in your working life and enjoy what you do a lot more than if you were forced to sit in a stuffy office for most of your life. Think about it - you trade your life for your salary. Is it absolutely necessary to make such sacrifices or maybe you can enjoy what you do and earn by doing what you love? I prefer to believe that it's possible to do what you love and love what you do. For me the answer is patchworking and I hope to change my work life a lot this year by gradually setting myself free from the 9-to-6. I hope it looks like a year of change to you as well. Let's make it happen :)

{image: Allard Schager}

THRIFTY FINDS

It's been years since we started going to a town more than 100 km away to a one-of-a-kind thrift store. It's always been a great adventure for us - the drive, the shopping, the lunch, the return home, filled with joyous chatter and sharing of the great finds. It's something of a little not-so-guilty pleasure that I share with my mom and now with my boyfriend as well. There's nothing better than a road trip. Here's a couple of my finds!

note: both pendants in the top-left image aren't thrifted. 

LAZY FRIDAY

Today is a really peaceful day. I'm sitting on the couch, doing calligraphy. My hand has gone off this and all the lines turn out crooked but it's a lovely hobby nevertheless. I also got a message that I'd been waiting for, so I'm really happy about possible change in the near future. We also browsed through the ads for a diesel SAAB because petrol has become sooo expensive lately.

All the snow is melting away and the temperatures stay mild. Skies are grey and everything is just so peaceful. I keep adding things to my list of to-do and to-try stuff but there's not much I can cross out..lazy me!

Let me show you some of the finest equestrian portraits by the famous French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand. He's mostly known for his aerial photography but I'm a long-time admirer of his equestrian photography, shot against a canvas backdrop. He captures the relationship of the animal and its owner in the most expressive ways possible. And the lightning! You must take a look!

And the person in the last photo is someone I admire as well. It's Mario Luraschi, an amazing stuntman, who trains his horses with so much love. He's such an amazing professional, I'm truly stunned by his work. He can train a horse to run straight into a wall without ever doubting his master's will. Of course he's never made any horse run into a wall - the wall is actually made of paper but since the horse can't see through it, to his understanding it's a solid wall and he'll get killed if he runs straight into it. It's the ultimate gesture of trust as the horse knows that his master would never hurt him. It's so amazing! He's a true equestrian genius!

Cheers!

DUAL PERSONALITIES

Oh goodie goodie! I'm testing out Blogger! When I was using Blogger ages ago it was a really really boring blogging platform, so I picked Tumblr instead. But one day I was browsing through one of my favourite blogs - Haus Maus by Holly Becker, author of one of the most inspiring blogs ever written, decor8, and then I noticed that the theme she's using is exactly what I've been looking for. So I found out that Blogger has changed a lot and now it's an amazing blogging tool that's really easy to use. And here I am! :)