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I am a blog surfer. One of my favorite things to do in my down time is find a blog, a writer, a voice that speaks to me and scroll through the archives. I have a list of favorites that I check pretty regulary (Hi Elise, Ali, Joanna, Aidan, Lindsay, Jordan!) and what I have found with these women and their writing is that I am so often inspired and motivated by their ideas, their words, their creations, but then I click off and go back to my regular life; to work, to responsibilities, to daily routine. I’m not doing anything with all of that inspiration. I don’t want to say it’s wasted because I honestly believe nothing we learn is ever wasted, but it’s just not used. It’s a lot of consumption with no creation. But today was different. Today, as I was scrolling through Elise’s list of her 29 Favorite Things (to correspond with her upcoming 29th birthday), I decided to take action.  I have recently committed myself to this online home and I am now constantly on the lookout for possible topics. What a great outlet for this dose of inspiration! I decided to write – and will soon post – my 36 things (turning 36 on March 2, yikes!) and what this year has brought me. I made a list of the 36 things that made my year great (although I feel like Grayson would be #1-36) and it got me thinking in really positive, creative, fun ways. It also made me really think. Not just a passing “cool idea!” but a dig deep and really try to understand and capture my year. Whenever you are going to make anything public, it changes and evolves into something real and tangible, clean and crisp. You take your ideas and your words more seriously when you are putting them out there for public consumption…and that’s a really good thing. You are paying attention to the details and you are bringing them to light. You are changing your own perception of your “regular” life.

This is why I think the online world is so beautiful and inspiring and fun. There is so much negativity about the internet and the decline of social interaction, but if anything, I think it’s improved our social lives. We are “meeting” people we never would have connected with if not for this online world. We are getting ideas and thoughts and dreams and inspiration. Our world is so much bigger because of this online world. So stay tuned for my 36 Things (thanks, Elise!) and keep searching for your own inspiration. It’s out there, it’s everywhere, you just have to decide what to do with it.