May I Pinterest You in Learning About a New Social Network Time Squanderer?

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Blogging is on the wane, I believe. It's like the old cordless phone you keep around and use occasionally but do not rely on ever since you emotionally soldered your cell phone to your psyche.

Facebook is going strong, and Twitter itself is "trending" bigger than ever.

But just when I thought I was safe from spending more time staring at this screen, along comes Pinterest.

Also known by me as, "I gotta have my pictures!"

The best way to describe Pinterest is to blatantly steal words from Pinterest:

Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. To get started, request an invite.

First of all, why is this available by invitation only? It's not a black tie gala. It's a giant bulletin board in the sky. It's as big as the Web, and the Web is not checking credentials before you enter. So I don't get the secret society shadow that hovers over Pinterest.

Anyway.

My friend invited me to join, and since I'd already been seeing others post on Facebook about Pinterest, I was curious.

Soon I got the gist of it and started pinning my pretties to my boards.

Pinning pretties has turned into "Gotta get more pictures! More, more, MORE!!"

Check out this great combo of taupe and coral for Fall--LOVE. And Starbucks, too? What the WHUT?! I'm so into this outfit that I want to pin it to my style board even though I've already pinned it. I can't contain my enthusiasm for this ensemble. Or pinning.

I learned that you can put a small Pinterest icon in your toolbar and whenever you're browsing the Web and see something you adore, you can pin it to a board from that website. THIS MAKES GRABBING MORE PICS EVEN EASIER!!

LOOK! It's a picture of an Amy Tan book I just read and loved. And now ... I have a picture of it!

I have the following boards: Music, Classic Films & Movies, Favorite Places & Spaces, My Style, Books, Products & Activities I Love, Favorite Foods/Recipes, For the Home (Which is currently bare) and White. Yes, White.

White is the first of my boards that I will be doing by color. Do not ask me why I thought this was a good idea. Perhaps I thought I'd be teaching preschool and need boards of color?

These earrings are featured on "My Style" board. Aren't they adorable??

I noticed that other people name their pages whimsical names like, "Cottage Dreams," "Outward Bound," "Bucket List," "Plottings and Plannings," "Get Crafty," etc. But I was all jazzed about "White." That's kind of embarrassing. I'm going to have to dress up my boards with cool names. Maybe "White" will become "Alabaster Dreams." Maybe "Stuff I Like" will become "J'adore!"

All I know is, in 3 days, I have pinned 142 items, none of which I will ever purchase, cook, wear or be seriously inspired by. But I gotta have the pictures. I'm outta control.

I can't figure out why this is so appealing to me. But I have a sneaking feeling it has to do with fantasy purchasing. I'm the Michael Jackson of Pinterest, pointing to outrageously expensive knick knacks, saying, "I'll take that and that and that ...."

And right now, I'd like to take this piece of key lime pie to my mouth, but I can't, so I'll just collect a picture of it.




I also have a feeling that I have entered a grown-up version of the Pokemon craze, in which theme was "Gotta catch 'em all!" Sound familiar? Hey--maybe I should pin Pokemon characters on a new board entitled, "Stuff my kids liked in 1996!"