Inspiration Daily: 02. 25. 10

Winter Fairy Tale by Loreta J.

+ All the Beautiful Things blog

Inspiration: Making Faces

Image credits: 1. laranjina C, 2. a nice beret is what we all need

I love it when people play with their images in this way and really want to give it a try myself one of these days.  So cute and playful!  Thanks for the inspiration ladies! xo Ez

In Good Company: Raven & Lamb

I've long been admiring the wonderful greeting cards from Australian site Raven & Lamb but their offerings printed onto kraft paper are my absolute favorite.  I love how the ink practically pops off the page!  They've got a whole bunch of fantastic designs that can be seen over on their site Raven & Lamb.  Check it out.  xo Ez

Inspired By: Artist Anna See

I've really been loving the work of artist Anna See lately.  The cobination of technique (hand-carved linomium block printing) and subject (shoes + wildllife) are unexpected and wonderful!  You can see more in her shop (link below).  xo Ez

+ PORTFOLIO  |  ETSY SHOP

Getting Real: Great Expectations

Expectations...  It seems that we must all feel the pressure of expectation to varying degrees and forms in our lives...from how we ought to behave as children, performance at work, relationships, how we should raise children, what we should believe in and more.  Much of the time these expectations can propel us forward and motivate us to become better people.  But they can just as easily stifle you, quiet your spirit or make you feel a sense of unease. 

So my confession is this: I often feel like a bit of a fraud.  It's weird to even write that because I generally keep these feelings to myself.  But the truth is that I am a very regular ordinary sort of person.  And sometimes I feel that I live in the shadow of expectations built by being a "design blogger."

Please don't get me wrong.  I really love blogging.  I am endlessly grateful for the incredible community of talented and kind individuals who make it what it is.  It's just that I am ridiculously and quite often awkwardly average.  (I hope that doesn't disappoint.)  I have insecurities, I get jealous, I have piles of laundry to sort and days when I skip out on housework out of pure laziness.  I don't own a house in some exotic location or jet off to Paris on holiday.  I like Haagen-dazs a little bit more than I should, am a total klutz and cut my own bangs to save money.  The majority of my wardrobe is black, grey or white and I don't own a single pair of "designer jeans."

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's hard when I realize (or assume; because after all maybe nobody really cares) that some people might think of me as being an example of what it means to "have it all figured out." Living up to my perceived expectations of what being a "design blogger" means often overwhelms me.  Again, I so appreciate the admiration and lovely bits of it all, it is just that I never want to disappoint anyone and I would hate to think of anyone feeling different or worse off than me because of the label.

In the past I used to visit several popular blogs that were beautiful to the eye, but in the end only left me feeling that my life was lacking.  That unless I too owned this thing, decorated my house that way, or was in this and such circle of people that I couldn't match up.  I finally made the decision to stop reading those blogs and decided to just chart my own path.  It's my hope that you will never leave from visiting Carrying On or Creature Comforts feeling anything less than wonderful and hopefully inspired (at least in some small way).

The truth is that what you own, how many vacations you take, or what designer you are wearing doesn't determine how I feel about you.  If these things make you happy then I am happy for you.  The only thing that I truly care about is whether you are a genuine and good person, that you find joy in life to the best of your ability, and spread kindness wherever you can.  Because honestly that's is all that really matters.

So my question at the end of my rambling is this: How do you personally deal with expectations?  I would love any tips or advice that you might have on finding a balance and peace with it all.  At the moment I am rather stymied.

Thanks for listing...I really hope I didn't scare you all away.  xox Ez