have you heard of Pinterest?

i've been 'pinning' pretty little things over at Pinterest for some time now and it's such an inspiring part of my daily life. i'm not quite sure why i've never mentioned it here.

(image source: Art Made with Heart)

i'm here to tell you....if you've never heard of Pinterest, you must check it out, like ASAP! for reals.

confused?

think of Pinterest as a virtual inspiration board where, instead of tearing pages from a session of magazine browsing and tacking them to your corkboard with a pushpin, with the click of your mouse, you categorize favorite images from your online browsing onto pinboards that you set up. there's so much inspiration, you'll never waste time looking at a paper magazine again.

it's the perfect, non-messy, storage solution for anything and everything you've ever wanted to reference back to, including: inspiring quotes, do it yourself home decor projects, recipes, inspiration for that kitchen you've always dreamed of having, etc.--all kept nice and neat in one little spot.

not only can you pin what you see out and about on the web, you can also follow other people's pinboards who have a similar style to your own.

some people think it's a huge time-suck, but for me, it's a major creativity booster. i fell head over heels in loooooooove with Pinterest and my life will never be the same!

i currently spend about 10 minutes (or less) a day pinning to my boards. i have 22 different inspiration boards on my account with over 1,000 pins. and i can't tell you how much this has saved my sanity.

not only does it save the image to your pinboard, it also let's you see other images from the same website AND it keeps track of where the image came from with a clickable link right with the pinned image. oftentimes images link back to DIY tutorials, information on where to buy a product, etc.

my family's favorite find so far from Pinterest is these yummy homemade pretzel bites. the entire batch gets devoured in no time flat!


have i mentioned that Pinterest is totally AWESOME? like, totallllllllllly. :)

i most frequently pin to my boards labeled: color love, lovely words, home sweet home, kidART, see it make it, & scrapcrush.

some of my other board i've named are: garden, on the wall, i want her hair, cel-e-brate good times, party grub.

so, hey....if you're already on Pinterest, come follow me.



if not, have i convinced you that you need to get your own Pinterest account yet!? if so, i have 4 invites that will get you pinning on your own pinboards, right quick.

who wants 'em?

my [ornery] brown-eyed girl....

....er, um, [spider]girl.

while waiting for our order at Dairy Queen while on vacation in myrtle beach, i said..."hey spidergirl, pretend you're in a photobooth. ready? set. go!"

gosh, i love this girl!

in other randomness....

• today we'll go to the second of three doctor appointments this week. ugh.
  
• tonight i'll be working late into the night to meet some deadlines.
• someday soon i'll wrap up my week in the life photos---documenting friday, saturday, sunday (gosh, that seems so long ago)
• someday soon-later (spidergirl lingo) i'll start sharing vacation pictures/stories.
• school starts in 5 days. *insert eyes bugging out*
  
• i still haven't purchased school supplies......but they will be well-outfitted. we've got that part under control.
• yeah, so, that's about it. pretty boring around here.

actually, not boring, so much as i'm just feeling rather introverted lately, could you tell? ebb and flow. ebb and flow. just waiting for things to flow a little more than ebb, i suppose.

all good things must come to an end....

did i mention we were spending a week in Myrtle Beach for a much needed, long awaited, vacation? and did i mention that it's the first vacation we've taken in 6 years?

no?

well...darnit. i knew i was forgetting something.

hey ya'll, we went on vacation. LOL. :)

but all good things must come to an end. today we're heading back home, happy and healthy, where it'll undoubtedly take me the next 2 weeks to sort through the 1700 photos i've taken here.

i can't wait to share. :)

now i'm off to see what kind of celebrating i can do with this husband of mine----today we're celebrating 16 years of this thing we like to call 'happily ever after'. :) go us!

might just have to map out a cupcake shop along our route home.

Week In The Life 2011: Thursday

these were all taken last thursday. sheesh, that seems so incredibly long ago. it's usually on thursday of every week in the life series i've done that i decided i've captured enough. but ironically, it turns out i have more photos from this day than any other. funny how that works.

...noticing::
hat skipping my evening dose of pain medicine just because i feel good is not a great idea. definitely not a good idea to skip several days in a row. :(

...loving::
how pleasant spidergirl is when she wakes in the morning and how adorable she looks, even with bedhead. :)

...hating::
waking up three hours before my alarm, completely nauseated from the sheer amount of pain i was in. a warm shower, two hours on the heating pad, and sitting through an episode of The Glee Project while snuggling spidergirl (and her ginormous puppy) was enough to get me functioning again.

...laughing::
at ashlyn's self-chosen chores. "don't whine" cracks me up. i've pretty much decided that it's impossible for her to do.

...practicing::
spidergirl is content with the littlest things. i was getting her morning medicine ready and turned around to find her attempting to stack these rings in under a minute a la the game show called 'Minute to Win It'.

...dreading::
the morning hairbrushing. did you see that bedhead!?!? it's double the fun when there is a sensory defensive child involved. chlorine from their two-day-a-week swimming adventures does nothing good for their hair. sometime soon i'll do a seperate post on summer haircare for the kids--it's a question i get asked often.

...collecting::
random markers throughout the house. if there's one thing that ashlyn is addicted to, it's buying markers. they are never fresh enough for her unless they are brand new. without a doubt, 2/3rds of these markers could be pitched. someday.

...awaiting::
new artwork from the kids to hang in (more) frames that never stay straight. LOL. kidART makes me ridiculously happy and i think it deserves to be framed. it's important to me to put their artwork on display.

...smiling::
every time i walk by my newly acquired spiderplant, that has yet to be potted. i got it at a garage sale for $1 because it reminds me of one we had hanging in the kitchen in my childhood home.

...wishing::
that i had a cleaning fairy that went around behind me cleaning up my snail trail. as of late it's been bad. especially the passenger's seat and floor of my car. it pretty much always has a pile of paperwork needing my attention, bank errands needing run, etc. maybe i just need to start carrying a shoulder bag or a purse. ha.

...eating::
chipotle chips & guacamole with a side of rice. yummo. that makes mexican twice this week.

...trying::
really hard, trying to find new frames. mine snapped at the bridge and eyewire on july 4th and i've already made 3 other attempts to find something i liked. apparently, i'm quite particular about how my glasses look. i was determined not to leave until i had something ordered this time. and i'm thrilled to say it was a successful trip.

...purchasing::
my weekly stop for prescriptions from walgreens only cost me $59. gah.

...rushing::
home from work and straight to a pep rally for the house they are building locally on an episode of Extreme Home Makeover.

...celebrating::with our friend oliver because he landed himself a design gig/art installation in two of the kids' rooms in said house on Extreme Home Makeover. taping of the episode is next week, but it will air in December.

...adoring::
spidergirl pretty much adores everyone. i love that she spreads joy the way she does. i also love that she still can't say oliver, but instead says oviler. it's so cute, i hope she never gets it right.

...eating::
yep, you guessed it. mexican. again. third time this week. heh.

...observing::
the way ashlyn builds a fajita. she has a very methodical way of doing so. she spreads sourcream super thin on the whole tortilla with her finger---don't even suggest she use a knife. then she tears her meat into pieces and places them all over the whole thing, and sprinkles the smallest of small amount of shredded cheese & rice over the whole thing. she's done this for as long as i can remember.

Week In The Life 2011: Wednesday

...noticing::
i need that "keep calm & carry on" reminder more today than any other day. the clutter left behind from 2 months solid of me running to and from doctors appointments and working part-time outside the home and full-time on freelance work from home is wearing on me. i don't do clutter well. but i'm thankful for a cheerful reminder that greets me every morning.

...enjoying::
several emails back and forth with my sweet friend sherry. we email often every afternoon, but it's a delightful treat to have a spare moment in the morning to chat with her.

...wishing::
that i could rip up all the carpet through the whole house and install hardwood floors, everywhere. oh how i hate carpet----especially this carpet. it's so dark and depressing. it hasn't been in our budget to do anything about it---and it was brand new when we moved in. it's perfect and super durable for raising kids though. *sigh*

...anticipating::
moving a vintage couch, purchased at a church rummage sale earlier in the summer, from the garage into the livingroom. it's SO perfectly me and reminds me of visits to my grandma rose's house as a child. it just needs a little steam clean first, then i can chuck that nasty recliner. :)

...washing::
mounds and mounds of clothes. i'm convinced it multiplies overnight. this was my first morning home in about 2 months. i liked revisiting a familiar morning routine.

...avoiding::
cleaning the disaster that is my studio. i honestly don't even know where to begin. as you can see, it's beyond a mess.

...wondering::
how long before this rheumatoid flare goes into remission and i can put away this handicap sticker. i don't use it often, but there are days where i wouldn't venture out if i didn't have it.

...feeling::
major pain on the whole right side of my head. i'm sure it has more to do with being without my glasses than anything else.

...promising::
myself, that tomorrow i'll make time to pick out new frames.

...sampling::
the pineapple mango smoothie from mcdonald's.....it's delish.

...walking::
through the entire church, down the long hallway to the activity center to pick up the girls from daycare. i'm usually the one dropping them off, not picking them up, but doug had a meeting tonight.

...looking::
at a myrtle beach coupon book turned to a page ashlyn is jumping out of her skin about while sitting at a stoplight. they are beyond excited to be going on vacation.

...gathering::
rounding up coupons to hand off to a friend who is treating them for a night of roller skating.

...celebrating::
doug at a meeting + the girls rollerskating = a whole night to myself! awesomesauce. these nights are very rare.

...eating::
chef salad with suzi.

...folding::
gobs and gobs of laundry with suzi.

...watching::
beastly with suzi.

...loving::
that i have a friend who will help me tackle laundry, like suzi. :)

...thinking::
that it's time to update the photo wall (how many times have i said that here on the blog??) and figure out a way to keep the frames from going crooked. my kids (& husband) are way too rambunctious for perfectly straight wall frames.

...giggling::
at spidergirl's sleep mask. simple irresistible.

...bumming::
about the attitude i'm going to deal with in the morning when spidergirl has to brush through tangles of hair because she fell asleep on the couch after her bath--and before brushing her hair. :(