I’ve spent a lot of time recently on Pinterest, and I was starting to be afraid that I’d just found a new way to waste time. Before I resorted to a knee-jerk assumption that it was a total time-suck and required drastic intervention such as a “no pinning except on weekends” rule, I decided to pay attention to what I was doing and why.
And fairly quickly I realized what was drawing me there: I was allowing myself to like the things I liked, without conditions.
My shopping in real life contains too many of these moments:
- “that top costs HOW MUCH?”
- “but that won’t work in this house”
- “what would I ever use it for?”
- “we never entertain!”
- and my personal favorite, the moment of holding a pair of jeans up to realize the crotch hits me at about the bust line. (Seriously. The average American woman is 5’4″. The entire woman, not just her legs!)
Pinterest just lets me like what I like, without considering any of the real-life, adult factors like cost or availability or the lack of interest in actually having a turquoise room. It lets me like these things without having to clutter up my house with clippings from magazines that I normally wouldn’t buy. I was surprised by how empowering that feels.
Especially since the only person here who tells me not to do that is ME.
And then I realized that collecting these images was prompting me to DO things!
Recipes
OK, I’ll be upfront about this: if you look at my board for recipes, you will think that I exist on alcoholic beverages, appetizers, desserts I hope I can convert to be gluten-free, and, occasionally, a healthy smoothie. A fair amount of what’s pinned probably falls into the category a friend of mine calls “food porn” — things to look at but not do! 
But so far, I’ve collected a couple of yummy smoothie recipes which have become part of my days, and then there’s this fantastic idea for salad in a jar. I have the Food Saver and the jars, so as soon as I go get the lettuce, I’m trying that out!
Oh….this basil pesto chicken recipe (I made it without the pine nuts) saved me from throwing out a huge amount of basil last week. (Doesn’t that mean I saved money by using Pinterest?)
And I almost forgot! After I had seen a bunch of smoothies in wine glasses for the sake of beautiful pictures, it hit me: Wouldn’t you feel like such a rebel if you used your wine glasses early in the mornings?
Yes. Yes, I do. Cheers!
Clothing
After pinning more than 100 images to my style board, I can now conclusively tell you that I love cardigans. I can also see the shapes I’m drawn to, as well as the colors I like the most. Then Kel and I were talking about this (we happen to like many of the same things) and she mentioned that she’d never thought about putting outfits together like you see in these pins from Polyvore. They show not just the clothes but shoes, jewelry, bags, sometimes even nail polish colors.
My response? What if we did that with the clothes we have? Any fashionistas out there are probably shaking their heads in despair, but this was a new idea in my world. I will actually plan outfits! And shop for specific things instead of “oh, well, this will do” items!
Home Goods
Boot trays. They may save my floors from the perils of slush and road salt, but I hate looking at them. Almost as much as I hate washing them.
Ugly, no? Then I found this post about spiffing up a boot tray. (If you aren’t familiar with Pinterest, you see and “pin” the pictures, but the pin contains a link to where the image came from. Great for cool craft DIY ideas!)
I had several bags of rocks in the basement. (Can you say “rock obsession,” kids?) I had my preferred-shape boot tray sitting there, and it was clean. I now have this by my front door:
I have no idea how it’s going to work over the long run, but right now, it makes me happy.
Vision Boards
The thing I’m enjoying most about Pinterest is the ability to make “vision boards,” collections of images of things you want or that inspire you. Kel mentioned them last week in her post. It’s so easy to do here, and you can share it with others as well.
Please feel free to visit our boards and see what’s inspiring us! Find Kel’s here and mine here.
Are you on Pinterest? We’d love to connect with you there too!
Tracy
|
 |
“Seriously. The average American woman is 5’4″. The entire woman, not just her legs”
That is a fabulous statement! I know there is much more to your blog ,but that cracked me up!
The world expects you to wear 6 inch heels! Nay, demands it! While I like a good pair of heels, some days, my feet just don’t. And so, my pant legs shall drag on the ground and cover my flats. And that shall be the fashion statement.
You know me, I’ve been known to be funny from time to time. Somewhere I still have those emails from when I was pregnant…
Yeah, my feet rebel against the “Must Wear Heels” code as well. Perhaps we should foment a rebellion! Burn the stilettos!