Friday Fuel

Tuesday's sunset = inspiration lived. Bogus Basin.
Photo: Hilary Oliver

Its the last Friday of August and its not lost on me that a year ago this weekend, I was pulling out of Seattle and driving east towards my soon-to-be new home, Boise. A stop for a fun weekend with friends in the Methow Valley gave me a familiar eddy to pause in for a moment and from there, onward. Reflecting just a bit on this past year, while also enjoying these (hopefully) last very hot days of summer, my creative mind is finding inspiration through these bits and pieces. Here are the stories and comics and images that are making up my Friday Fuel this morning:

Zen Pencils: A Cartoonists Advice. In Bill Watterson style (convenient as Calvin and Hobbes is still my favorite!), cartoonist Gavin Aung Than puts images to a few words from a graduation speech Bill gave to the freshly diploma'd. This is just the inspiration and reassurance I need today to not feel like a total crazypants for going out on a limb to pursue my own dream.

"To invent your own life's meaning is not easy, but it's still allowed. And I think you'll be happier for the trouble." - Bill W.

Time to get myself in a bit of that trouble, I'd say.

Humans Of New York. I love this Tumblr project. Through his images and simple questions, the raw honesty that photographer, Brandon Stanton pulls from the random folks he meets in NYC is a gorgeous reminder at how very human we all are. This has been my daily go-to site for the past few weeks since I stumbled across it. A warning though; if you haven't yet seen it, you might find yourself completely hooked, spending hours scrolling through all the images.

US Department of the Interior Instagram Account. If you haven't seen it yet, get ready for your socks to be knocked off. The photos are gorgeous and a fantastic mental vacation to a place where the wind blows gently, the only sounds are of trees and birds and bubbling creeks, and where you might just discover a few mysteries of the world.

Forest Woodward's Left of West Project, (via Filson). Forest has the incredible ability to tell stories of a thousand or two words in a single image. The souls of the people and places he photographs seem to speak right through the colored squares bearing their likeness. His Left of West project has been one of my favorite to follow this summer and captures the essence of the old west still found in the mountains and sagebrush. You can get more images by following his instagram feed, @forestwoodward 

Hope you enjoy these bits of inspiration too and Happy Labor Day weekend!