A Pinteresting Year

After resolutely avoiding trendy newfangled things like Facebook for years, I finally plunged (after being repeatedly chastised by my far trendier sister) and plunged hard, quickly accosting my employer nearly five years ago to hop on the social media bandwagon. Since then, I’ve learned my lesson. If I was an early advocate of those newfangled Palm Pilots, surely I would also be an enthusiastic early adopter of social media.

All of this brings up a separate conversation for another day, but in summary: I’m not enthusiastic about advertising that assumes my ignorance and attempts to brainwash me. I am, however, exceptionally enthusiastic about real and effective communication, and I wouldn’t have made it an inch in the world if truly passionate marketing, i.e. sharing your enthusiasm in a real and convincing way, were ineffective. But I digress…

I did, with some chagrin, hop early on the beta-only Pinterest bandwagon. I confess my initial disdain and thoughts along the lines of “why would I want to waste my time on this?” However, eight months after finagling an “invitation” and four months after TIME magazine called’ll it one of the 50 Best Websites of 2011, I’m here to tell you that I have not simply wasted my time pinning daydreams. If you’re not one with the Pinterest, let me interpret: it’s common to simply hit the “repeat” button and hastily grab ideas (recipes! outfits! crafts! quotes!) that will never cross your mind again.

I can actually say that a number of good ideas spotted on Pinterest were not simply pined for, but were actually incorporated into our lives in 2011. A sampling:

• I made cute dry erase boards for my sister and daughters for Christmas.
• There is a new artwork clothesline in our craft room (watch for a separate post on that!)
• My Dad has set aside multiple pallets for my crafting pleasure, much to his chagrin. Don’t tell my husband. (Rats! He does occasionally read my ramblings, shockingly…)
• I properly expressed my parenting sentiments in the kitchen, per Where the Wild Things Are (I’ll eat you up I love you so)!
• The eight year old crafted mixed media artwork for my mom, my sister and me… and was visibly proud of her meaningful contributions to Christmas (and the carefully, painstakingly wrapped results made my heart sing)!
• My sister bought me (the cutest!!!!) I heart Arkansas necklace for Christmas from Etsy. Be still my heart!
• I hosted a spy party for my eight year old and may have secured my spot in the cool mom hall of fame.
• We made 125+ Nutter Butter chocolate/peanut butter balls and delivered them to the neighbors. And my diet came into sharp clarity for 2012. But oh… they were amazing!
• Potato and French Onion soups occurred, and they made me happy (if no one else…)
• I am STILL DETERMINED to someday have a porch swing bed!!

The moral to the story is not what we did… it’s the power of the collective good that is achievable if you grab onto the good ideas of others rather than simply watching life pass by. We do have time, and inspiration is all the more at our fingertips if we choose to tune in.

Are you taking action on the ideas you see every day (or on Pinterest)? Are you participating, or is life passing you by? Sophie and I have some crafty plans for tomorrow. And next up on my project list: