Oh, Pinterest!

One of my favorite morning rituals is to steal twenty-ish minutes for coffee and Pinterest.  I use the blue coffee mug because it's the biggest one I own, not quite big enough to be American, but big for European standards (speaking of, why is it that Europeans prefer such small coffee servings?  I go out for coffee and they bring me this dainty little teacup and I always feel like asking where its mother is, and why can't I have that cup instead).  And then I sip and pin.

I should probably call this a guilty pleasure rather than a morning ritual.  I don't usually have time for it, but, like Tim always says, you have time for what you make time.  And, judging by the fact that my Pinterest account just informed me that I have 17 pinboards and over 3019 pins total, I think it's safe to assume that I make far too much time for this little hobby.

But I can't help it.  I love my pinboards.  They're what get my creative juices flowing.

A recent pin on The Occasional Feline Board.

Truth be told, I don't actually pin as much as repin.  When I first got my account, I "followed" everyone I could find (don't you just love all the virtual terms we use these days?  I'm following you - a vague way of saying I'm stalking you, or I stopped by your web-page once, I think).  That way, whenever I log in, there are thousands of new things for me to see.  Many thanks to all of you taste-makers whose inspirations I'm stealing on a daily basis.  I love you.

Pinterest has everything.  It's like flipping through an endless book of ideas, which you then get to organize into categories - a huge bonus if you're weirdly OCD like me.  

It goes something like this: Oh!  I need a teeny-tiny RV to park on a beach somewhere and what incredible photography and why is that model standing like that - nobody stands like that - and maybe I should paint something similar for my empty walls and I simply adore that Mason jar chandelier and Modcloth dress and artist who paints dream-catchers and sells them on Etsy for a living and oh-my is that dark chocolate cake really the size of the WHOLE WORLD and where can I get one and look at that yummy Cajun crab cake with jalapeno remoulade - I must make this!  (Translation: Tim must make this; I must eat it.  No really, I started my Food Board because I thought the pictures were pretty.  And then Tim found it and is now using it as a cookbook.  Which makes me oh-so-happy.  Tim actually just started his own Pinterest account.  I think it's because I make him look at all the things I pin anyway.  Especially my Outdoors Board because it is full of places I want to go.)

You can see how this could get out of hand.

And before you know it, twenty-ish minutes becomes a collective hour or two of stolen moments all day long.  But I think the trade-off is acceptable.  I lose a bit of time that should've been spent populating a boilerplate or writing or doing the laundry (joy), but I get an endless variety of creative ideas in return!  So.  It all works out in the end.

And on that note, I've got to go.  I'm out of coffee.