* blogger mashup

As a participant in Blog It Forward, a collaborative project created by the lovely Victoria at sfgirlbybay, it is now my turn to share with you things that inspire me.  And now that the time is here, I’m totally stumped and haven’t a clue what to write that hasn’t already been said by one of the 200 & something amazing bloggers that came before me.

The problem is… there are far too many things that inspire me. Opposing things even. Sunshine and rainy days. The zen of simplicity and the curiosities of clutter. Mountains and alleyways. Equally.  Where do I even begin? I thought, I can’t very well state the obvious sources of inspirations, which are essentially all the links in my sidebar (they are there for a reason) and those things listed on my about page.

So I went for a run, which is how I often find inspiration. I ran and pondered all the way around Parc Lafontaine, then continued along Roy, veered right up Rue Drolet (one of my favorite streets in Montreal), crossed Duluth where all the bring-your-own-wine restaurants are, caught the most delightful scent of pasta puttanesca wafting on the wind, which brought me right back to Italy, shared a few smiles with a few strangers… carried on past small dogs with big attitudes, love notes painted on buildings, children playing in their cardboard clubhouse,  the laundromat with the guy wearing bright pink pants, sitting on the windowsill, reading Jack Kerouac (one can’t help but wonder if those were the only clean pair of pants he had left) and two old ladies sharing a pain aux amandes at a little table outside a local patisserie.  And with every step, I wished I had my camera to document and capture these moments or my note book to jot them down.

And then it struck me.  That’s it.  This is what’s inspired me over the past two years. My city. Montreal.  And how it is a feast for the senses and how there is a story around every corner.  The typical beauty, but also the unexpected, the unusual, the unnoticed.  All there for the taking.

The internet is so rich with fabulous sites and I spend an inordinate amount of time surfing the web, lost in those worlds.  But my true joy lies in getting out there and experiencing it all.  Me. My camera. A notebook. And a place to explore.  That is what inspires me.

Sometimes one hour on a Wednesday is all I need to carry me through the week.

And hands down the sweetest sign I’ve ever seen…

Thanks to Wishful Thinking for passing the torch on to me and now I’m sending it over to the uber cool Words and Eggs for tomorrow’s post.

And last but not least, can I hear an AMEN for Victoria at sfgirlbybay.  The woman is truly the epitome of fabulous taste. Thank you, Victoria, for creating this project and for inspiring us each and every day.

PS. I encourage you to take some time to visit the bloggers that participated in this mashup. There are some true gems in there.