Pinterest

I am on Pinterest. I'm not sure I fully understand the concept, except that it's a virtual "vision board", but I have mixed feelings about it. For one thing, it's another time-suck. And if we spend all our time pinning various pictures to a virtual vision board, how much time are we spending trying to achieve those "dreams"?

I noticed that I mostly pin to my board entitled "OMG! Yum!" Those are the recipes I find that sound delicious and I hope to make. Unfortunately, I also noticed they are mostly desserts. If our pin boards are any indication, Pinterest can tell a lot about a person. For instance, mine clearly says "I love sugar!" I have virtually no pins on the boards entitled "Favorite Places and Spaces" (although that one was pre-made by the site for me, so perhaps I need to change it to "Places I'd Love to Visit" or something), "Products I Love" (also a pre-made one), and "Things to Read" (which I made but have not pinned any book ideas to it, because my Kindle Fire pretty much takes care of my book addiction).

I have the most pins on my food and craft pages, which is ironic, because I spend very little time cooking/baking or crafting. Maybe this is a sign - cook more, bake more, do more crafts? If we "listen" to our pin boards, we might actually learn something about ourselves. Perhaps we'll find out where our true passions lie and maybe just get brave enough to do something in the real world that relates to our pins. Like actually make a recipe, do a craft, travel to a "favorite place".

My husband has a real vision board. He actually cuts pictures out of magazines and pastes them to this big posterboard he keeps on the wall beside his bed. Some of the things on it are pictures of: an expensive guitar, a Harley, the kids, a roll of toilet paper that looks like money (?), hunting, fishing, his truck, a picture of a "kangaroo crossing" sign (he wants to go to Australia?), and a fancy wooden boat. Many of the pictures are of things he's already acquired or done - so maybe this whole "vision board" thing DOES work? If you dream it, you can have it?

At any rate, it's inspired me to think about things in a new way (using a days-of-the-week pill container to hold small amounts of spices for a camping trip), and it's made me want to get my house more organized, take more pictures, write more, and dream more. It's a nice little break in the day to check out what others are dreaming about, too.

I've already pinned dozens of recipes so today I'm going to try a few of them. Who knows? Sometimes all you need is something new and different.