8.02.2011

dis-pinterested?

i am finally, and with much trepidation, wading into the shallow end of pinterest. tons of people i know having been falling in love with it recently, and i am late on the train. i discovered this brilliant website (where you can take all that you find good and wonder-inducing from all over the internet and show it off in one place) a few months ago through my friend merran and have been popping back occasionally since then to gawk over her and her sister's boards.

i was also super excited to hear that a reader (and now half-marathon training buddy!) had pinned layla's name art to one of her boards. so one of my projects was living on a board, but i didnt even have any of my own to show off projects that inspire me. so i started last week. i dabbled.

my sparse beginnings

i didnt want to make the full jump and start curating my own boards because i was scared it would kind of consume me. i already have a bad tendency to lose hours at a time down interwebby rabbit holes, and pinterest seems like the mack-daddy-mother of all warrens.

i was also afraid that this little hobby would become a stronghold for lots of things that i fight against in myself on a daily basis: stuff-worship, consumerism, superficiality, and retail medication. i dont want this to be a constant, colorful barrage screaming at me, "you need more/better/different/shiner stuff!" and i definitely dont need to be wasting my own time spending hours actively making myself shallower.

slippery....veeeeeery slippery.

like how do i gather drool-worthy ideas that i want to have in my one-day dream house without starting to hate the little starter home that is currently keeping the rain (and mega-moths if the massive thwunkcs i hear against our windows at night are any indication) off of our heads.

so i need to know your best tips and tricks for pinterest. who to follow? how to categorize?

i also, and more importantly, would like to know how you keep from losing hours at a time on here and becoming a vapid, belongings-crazed meta-junkie. can i just pin jesus to one of my boards and count that as "staying centered?" have any of you had to have an inter-pin-tion (i heart me) with yourself already and swear it off?

11 comments:

  1. Keight, I just started pinterest this weekend! Looks like we had the same mindset. I wonder what subliminal message was put in what commercial/ common fb buddy that made us finally join. My boards are a little sparse too. I look forward to people's comments. :)

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  2. CLEARLY YOU SHOULD BE FOLLOWING ME.

    Unless you want someone who thinks about it more often than once a week. Which I don't. Which results in a pretty pathetic Pinterest account. Which is okay, because honestly, there is too much shit going on here to devote much more time to the internet, you know? I think you're wise to be careful.

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  3. ugh, I just joined today... my goal is to let it evolve organically. I don't want to start throwing crap up there just to have an impressive board. I do this with amazon's universal wish list, too; I slowly build a list based solely on what I come across. But I'm having trouble interfacing with pinterest- it keeps telling me I'm following people I'm not. Want to slap the ho.

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  4. I avoided it for a long time for the same reasons. It is easy to get sucked in, when really I need to be spending these precious minutes focused on my family. But I do like having some place to keep track of ideas for birthday parties or nursery designs... More for me, less a place to show off.

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  5. I really only categorize things that I would already keep in a notebook somewhere or something (i.e. craft ideas, dream home decorating ideas, etc). I don't categorize things like "hot people" haha. Just stuff I would naturally bookmark on the interweb :) Love you!

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  6. hey keight! i'm erin, nathan and erin mcdade's cousin! erin introduced me to your little blog when i was in the mexico with them (where i met jesse as well!). i was hooked- i love your hilariosity and i'm always encouraged by your insight.

    i was just telling my roommate about how much i LOVE pinterest! i actually don't use it as much for pinning material things that i want, but i use it for crafty things, recipes, and especially photos that i like. i am a collector of all pretty things, and i've found that this is a really fun place to put them. it's great to go back and look at ideas and inspiration later.

    it is a time consumer, though! so beware, but i find it very useful for these types of things. and i'd followyou!

    cheers :) (pinterest.com/erineoakley)

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  7. set a timer to cut yourself off after 10-15 minutes or whatever. or if that doesn't work- let your computer battery run down to 15 minutes remaining- and spend your laptops dying minutes "pinning" away. i'm a pinterest junkie with no self-control =P

    -Holly Sax

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  8. Oh you are so punny (I accidentally wrote "pinny" at first, lol)! I LOVE Pinterest. It is definitely easy to get sucked into. For me, I generally don't go on Pinterest and just poke around. I usually just pin stuff to my boards but don't really look at others. Kind of rude, yes, but like I really need ONE MORE brain suck. I have enough of those to keep way too busy with! I do love being able to categorize the things I've found and SEE them. Sometimes I wish I could have private boards though, for ideas for showers or parties that I don't want the guest of honor to see beforehand, or just to keep some ideas to myself. I've already pinned you a bunch girl, watch out! ;)

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  9. ooooooh, you guys are good with the self control. i like the idea of only using it for ideas, inspiration and general beauty-recognizing and not so much for lusting over $3000 purses and $2 million houses. we'll see if i can walk the fine line!

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  10. I need an invite :(. I totally agree about not PINing for stuff but projects etc that I'll really do or use.

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  11. Pettitt family, send me your email and i will send you an invite if i can!

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