Month: August 2011

I’m writing this as a sort of guide for people that use pinterest. And by guide I mean, I want you all to fix these things that bug the shit out of me. If you don’t have a pinterest account, YOU SHOULD GO GET ONE. I have invites so leave a comment and I can send you one.

I really love the site. I’ve already tried several recipes and got a lot of inspiration for Cassidy’s room makeover in the few short months I’ve been obssessed using it. It’s such a great tool to organize those bookmarks that seem to get lost in the shuffle as we surf the massive web. Plus, I love getting to see the things my friends have pinned. Different girls all of them, but cool to see how many things we ALL love.

There are a few pet peeves I have though and I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen these two things happen and it annoys the creativity right out of me.

#1 – If you are going to pin something, pin the individual web page for THAT recipe, craft idea, etc. So many times I see it where instead of linking to an individual blog post containing the recipe for something, people copy/paste what they see at the top of the page. That’s fine if the blogger never blogs again, but once that item is pushed off the main page of the blog, now I have to go searching for it.

Example!

I made these really awesome pink lamonade cupcakes the other day which I found on pinterest. The problem is that when it was originally pinned, the blogger had just published the recipe so the pinner just had to copy/paste the blog’s main URL. But the blogger has blogged many times since then so instead of the pinterest picture linking back to the actual recipe page, it links back to the main blog. So now I have to go to the blog, find the search bar, enter the recipe name, find the post and click. I know it’s not THAT much work but if you are looking for good cupcake recipes and you have to do this on EVERY CUPCAKE RECIPE PIN YOU CLICK it can get old fast.

Even worse, several times I’ve gone to click on a pin and it just links back to a picture! No blog post, no article, no recipe, just an image of some awesome thing I want to know more about! FRUSTRATING!

Solution: Make sure that when you submit your pin, that you are linking it back to the ACTUAL blog page. Just click the title of post, copy and paste the URL of that post, submit! Easy! Also, if you’ve had to search like I said above, rather than repinning, create a new pin with the correct linkage.

#2 – Image theft is OUT OF CONTROL. Like, when I see my photos floating around out there being repinned and linking back to a tumblr (NOT the individual POST, but the tumblr’s MAIN PAGE {SEE #1 OMG}) it does get annoying. Now my awesome image is getting attributed to some random girl on tumblr that looks like she just makes it a habit to steal photos and repost them WITH NO ATTRIBUTION EVEN THOUGH RIGHT THERE ON MY FLICKR PAGE I REQUIRE IT.

I’ve seen this happen SO MUCH to Melanie

Six of the below pictures are her’s. One links back to a blog post with no attribution to her, one links back to a blog’s main page so I have no way of knowing if she’s attributed (SEE #1 ABOVE!!), one links back to a failblog WIN (the main page, OF COURSE SEE NUMBER MOTHERFUCKING ONE) where people in the comments who recognize her link to her flickr page, one links back to some random photo sharing site and TWO actually link back to Melanie’s flickr account.

I understand that we can’t ALWAYS find the original artist to attibute but some people don’t bother trying at all. This is also why, as a general rule, I don’t link back to tumblr blogs. Most tumblr blogs that I’ve come across make no point of attributing the original so I have no desire to then promote the blogger in some way.

*steps off soapbox*

For the most part, Pinterest really is just all around a completely awesome site. Right now I’m off to search it for something yummy to make my coworkers for a Monday Morning Treat. Don’t let these two things discourage you from using it!

(Just don’t commit either of these crimes or I will have to hunt you down and pretend I don’t like you for like five minutes.)

Flower.

Some random blooms creeping over our arbor in the back yard. I’m pretty sure they are from the neighbor’s yard but I don’t mind. 🙂

Far away.

We are surrounded by mountains. These are to the East of us. The mountains to the West always have a blanket of marine layer just about to pour over them after heading off the Pacific Ocean.

Up close.

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

They turned out REALLY well. I think you all need to go make them RIGHT NOW.

Something fun.

Cassidy and I really have been having so much fun redecorating her room. I’ve pretty much let her have freewill as far as colors, placement and decorations and I think she’s doing a great job!

Something I made.

I made that scarf.

And that kid.

I am pretty bad ass at making things.

Faceless self portrait.

The blue paint… It haunts me!

Technology.

Childhood memories.

These are a small sampling of the many photo albums that my grandma would make for us (my cousin Stefanie and I) at the end of every summer.

I just spent some time with Cassidy looking through them and while they are awesome memories that I am so happy to have and be able to share with my daughter, it’s still incredibly painful for me to look through them and see pictures of my grandma, her handwriting, her humor… the amount of time and love she put into these makes me feel so very, very special.

So today was actually “childhood memory” but somehow I got it confused with tomorrow and thought today was “something new”.

So I’m going to reverse them. Because I can. And because it’s a 30 day challenge in a month with 31 days. AND BECAUSE I’M A RULE BREAKER.

I bought these adorable glass necklaces yesterday at Pier 1 Imports for $5.50 each on sale. I LOVE them. They will be great little pops of color on a black or white shirt. Although I think that I’ll put them on silver chains because I’m not digging the black cord.