Pin-sanity!

I'm not sure what I was thinking when I decided to join Pinterest and then write a blog post about it. I mean, I had heard all of the warnings: "It will consume your life," "You'll never get anything else done," "I pee in a mason jar by my desk now so I don't have to stop looking at DIY jewelry organizers." I already have a hard enough time getting shit done! Hell, since starting this entry I've watched a cute baby panda video, checked Facebook three times, and created a new Spotify playlist. But Pinterest seems to be all the rage for the grown ups in my life, so here goes nothing.

I joined Pinterest months ago, but after about ten minutes of "not getting it," I was over it and moved back on to watching funny videos of drag queens on You Tube. After my friend Emma pinned one of my blog posts a few weeks ago, and I saw how many page views were being generated because of it, I decided to give it another try (page views are how I measure my self worth now).

Clearly I still wasn't grasping its full potential

I deactivated my old account, I started a new one specific to my blog, and I dove in. I set aside three hours to play on the site, thinking it would give me plenty of material to write a complete post from.

I spent those three hours looking at sangria recipes...

You guys, I spent THREE HOURS looking at recipes for sangria. Do you know what I learned about sangria in three hours? Basically I learned that you can take any kind of wine you want, mix with whatever the hell else you want, cut some fruit up in it, and you get to put it on the internet and call it sangria. I finally had to shut my computer down and try to live some sort of a normal life. 

My mistake was going into it without a plan. I needed to have clearer goals, a time limit, possibly some of those water wings that keep kids from drowning, and most importantly, an exit strategy. I consulted with friends who I consider to be experts on the subject. I was told by everyone that organization was key. I needed to get my boards set up before I started wildly pinning. I set up all of the standard boards (food, drink, humor, fitness, etc.), but I was also advised to set up boards for more specific topics that I'd be pinning a lot of. One friend, for instance, has an entire board dedicated to Harry Potter. I set up a few specialty boards of my own focusing on some of my favorite things: Joss Whedon, glitter, and drag queens.

Another bit of advice I received from nearly everyone I asked: Your wedding board is inevitable, don't be a crazy person, make it private until you're actually getting married (my future husband is going to be SO pleased with my level of preparedness).

I was advised to be sure that I have my About Me section filled in and a picture included on the site. I linked my profile to my Facebook page to make connecting with my friends easier, and I started following my Pinterest mentors. With my boards set, my profile complete, and a jumping off point for browsing in place, I was ready to start.

First of all, I wish someone had told me I was supposed to be saving all of my old wine corks. I seriously had no idea how many ugly things you could make with them. If I'd known, my kitchen may have a completely different design aesthetic. 

I decided early on, while browsing the food sections, that I would be disregarding any recipes that contained ingredients that I didn't comprehend. Cilantro Thai Grilled Chicken looks delicious, but "2 Tablespoons Asian Fish Oil?" F#%! that. I did find a few that I can't wait to try though (I also discovered a slight obsession with asparagus)!

Garlic Pesto Chicken with Tomato Cream Penne

Crispy Baked Asparagus Fries (and I totally even know what Panko is now!)

Hours will no doubt be spent on the humor boards. Just typing this paragraph is hard knowing that in my other browser tab there is an entire page of eCards that have loaded and are waiting to be browsed so I'll keep it short.

Preach, Emily Gilmore.

Honey Boo Boo gets me

Laughing hysterically by myself in a coffee shop right now.
I can't even with this lady.

After a lot of practice, I closed my window filled with glitter related pins, and ventured back into the booze section with new found confidence. I wasn't going to be distracted in my quest to find an easy white wine sangria to make for Pride. I did pretty well for myself actually, and I can't wait to give them a try (and maybe do a few practice runs beforehand). 

You can all find me on Pinterest under user name "ChrisGrowsUp." Follow me, and share your favorite pins, especially if you've tried them and failed miserably! I ADORE Pinterest Fails (In fact, I'm not really interested in the success stories, I get it...you can cook). And if you have any suggestions of good boards to follow with easy recipes or craft ideas (or drinks that will get me good and drunk for cheap), let me know!

For now I'll be looking for adorable ways to decorate the mason jar I'll no doubt be peeing into in the near future.