checking in with Pinterest!

If you're new here, you should know I LOVE Pinterest. I was mildly active before we bought our house, but now that we own a home and are deep into the routine of  married life, I find myself using it all the time! I refer to it for recipes the most, and I keep a running list of decor inspiration and fitness tips to keep me motivated! You can find my profile here or click the button to the left.

Here's what I'm pinning (and doing!) : 

I am pleading with Mark to let me repaint our main bathroom in this slate blue color (shown above and below). It's currently navy, which isn't far off, but we went wrong when we chose to use satin for the bathroom (according to recommendations). It's TOO shiny and a little too dark. Help me convince him!

These look SO good! My mouth waters just looking at them...

I've been dying to make my tiny laundry corner a little more functional, so I've been pinning lots of ideas for worksurfaces. Look for a blog post in the future if I ever get around to it!

We have explored 500+ options for our next backyard landscaping project. Right now I'm liking the below image, but the grass would be pebbles because grass isn't growing in the area we want to do this.

I've seen SO many people repin this and they look super yummy! I have a jar of Nutella in my pantry just begging to be turned into this...

I saw this picture and was like - YES - this is my style, to a T. Do you agree?

I made this baked cream cheese spaghetti last Sunday and it was pretty tasty!

I also had this chicken taco bowl recipe cooking in the crock pot all day Tuesday. It was really tasty, very similar to a chili I make in the fall, but I didn't serve it over rice because we didn't end up eating until about 9:45 that night! 

Love this print... 

...and this one too!

This California club pasta salad is DELICIOUS and perfectly light for summer. I didn't have avocados (oops) so I just put a tiny bit of ranch dressing in there, and it was SOOO GOOOOD. Seriously, this is going to become a staple recipe, which I don't currently have, other than desserts. :)

I'm still trying to come up with things to do for our trip to California in September. Santa Barbara is high on the list!

We've decided on pretty solid plans for our backyard, but now we just have to implement them! I'm thinking of doing a garden on one side of the house. I love this quaint one below! Looks manageable!

Happy pinning!

Pinspiration

I want to take a break from posts about my own home and focus on something that has changed the 21st century and is accessible to so many people:

Pinterest.

I know, I talk about Pinterest in almost every post, but it is SUCH a good resource. 

I work hand in hand daily with a well-known design company (pretty much a sister company to my workplace) and as I was scrolling through their website recently, I found designer profiles which had a smattering of Q&A. One of the questions was this: "Pinterest, thumbs up or thumbs down?". Many of the answers were along the lines of "what's Pinterest?", "I don't have time for that" and "thumbs down". One answer really got me thinking, though. A female designer said "thumbs up, but there will always  be a need for a professional designer." While I agree with her, I think that Pinterest is an excellent resource for many of us that can't hire a designer.

In addition to design ideas, there are thousands of recipes (for those without a professional cook) and workout routines (for those without a professional trainer). I think you catch my drift. Pinterest is an accessible designer, chef, personal trainer, graphic designer, etc. for regular people.

Since Pinterest, weddings have gotten more elaborate. 

Since Pinterest, photography has gotten more creative. 

Since Pinterest, baby showers have become an extravagant party. 

Since Pinterest, we have all been able to get dressed day after day. ;)

Since Pinterest, people have reached inside for their own creativity and we've been blessed with original ideas.

I am in no way compensated by Pinterest for writing this, but I just have to sing it's praises for a bit and pass on the good news to anyone that hasn't tried it yet. 

I've got quite the boards going on my account, and here are a few that legitimately make my day better just by scrolling through them:

I've used Pinterest to inspire me in many areas, even some outside of our home. I'm sure you've seen them before, but here are some pins that I copied or adjusted for my use:

As soon as I hesitantly bought my booties, I got on Pinterest in the parking lot (#girl confession) to see how I was supposed to wear them.

I took a new spin on this pillow here!

Post coming up soon on the dresser I redid, but you can see it here!

I've done this with an old canvas for our living room.

I've worn this outfit!

I posted a picture of how I did something similar with my too-short shorts here!

I just wrote about my take on this here!

I was torn on whether I could pull this off, and I asked you guys here about it.

One of the first things we did when we moved in was paint our knobs, which I wrote about here.

I always have to double take to make sure this isn't a photo of me, but it's totally my style!

People tell me all the time that they think I'm creative or artsy or crafty, or they wish I would come decorate their homes. I just want to share the fact that you can do it yourself (and I'm really not all that creative)! Pinterest is the perfect tool to get you started and spark an interest in a creative field or even just to learn something. If you don't already have it, try it out. If you do have it, reinvent your profile so it's a constant source of inspiration. You'll be amazed at how you view things after you are a part of the community of sharing ideas. 

Pin away, friends!