I'm a Pinja!!

So, chances are these days, if I've seen you around, or we have had a conversation of any kind (electronic or live) I have raved about the website Pinterest.

I full on admit.  I'm obsessed.  I have sent out a ton of invites to the site, I have (as of the writing of this blog entry) 36 different Boards, 1191 pins, and 229 likes.  (If you know Pinterest at all, you will understand this, for the rest of you, hang tight.)

I got started on this a while ago, and never really got the hang of it at first.  Then, during one of my oh so fun afternoons of funemployment, I forced myself to start exploring more of the site.  Well.  There went about 4 hours of my life before I knew it.  (In a good way, I assure you.)

I'm obsessed.  I have always been a Facebook addict (though I'm getting better, trust me, it may not seem like it, but I am), and go through phases with Twitter (mostly with a few certain people in the yarn world), but Pinterest has recently become a bigger time suck than any of the others combined.

For those of you not familiar with Pinterest, let me give you a bare bones rundown.

Common Pinterest terms:

"Pin" - Picture (with corresponding website link) of item you don't want to lose track of.
"Board" - Place to organize Pins
"Like" - Much like the Facebook "like", this one will simply save the item in your likes, doesn't mean you've saved it in any category or on any of your boards.
"Follow" - Your friends might already be on Pinterest, you can follow what they pin, and it shows up when you log in.  You can easily browse through to see if there are common interests ad

Seriously, that's it.  Terminology is simple and basic, much like a standard bulletin board.  In fact, honestly, that's what you can equivocate this to: A Digital Bulletin Board.

If you want more details (because lets face it, I just want to show you what I've been up to instead of tell you how to run your account, however I am more than happy to give you lessons one on one if you would like), Mashable.com has a great article about the basics of the site, complete with a Beginner's Guide.  You can find that article here. In fact, in doing a bit of digging, Mashable actually has some great articles about Pinterest in general, check them out here.  Also, if you get yourself an account, make sure you look me up!  :)

ON TO THE FUN STUFF!!!!

As I have said, I am a full on Pinterest addict, and I listed my stats above.  Of the many boards that I have with my account, I have quite a few crafty boards, and quite a few food related.  I used to just have one food one with recipes I'd love to try, but it got so full, I couldn't find things easily, so (another beautiful thing about the site) I simply created more boards to make it easier to find.  Appetizers, Drinks, Entrees, Crock Pot, Desserts...you name it.

I have a few favorite things on there myself.  One is my board that has all my funnies on it, if I ever need a giggle, that's where I go.  Plus, my love for all things Mason Jar.  I don't know what it is about something so basic and simple, but I adore those things.  They are all over my house.  So, that board has all kinds of ideas for using them on it as well.

A small list of the recipes I've tried already:

Roasted Sweet Potatoes (big hit at Thanksgiving)
Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies (The Boy raved about these, I wasn't as much of a fan)
Ham and Cheese Crescents (Would have been great if I didn't leave them in the oven a skosh too long)
Mini Chocolate Chip Cheesecakes (HUGE hit at girls night)
Buckeye Bark (easiest thing in the world, big hit at Christmas, and is quickly becoming a go-to for something easy to take to parties for a dessert)

This weekend is action packed (as is par for the course for me most weekends it seems, right?),  and The Boy and I are going to a dinner party tomorrow night.  Sadly, running all over hither and yon for other things before our party, doesn't leave one much time.  So, tonight I will be making these: Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites  (Update: they were a piece of cake, and the only way they would have been easier would have been having more freezer space).  As well as my traditional Pretzel Magic (thank you SIL Maggy for that recipe). (Update: both were HUGE hits at the party, and at the office on Monday when I had too many leftovers of the Pretzel Magic to safely leave in my own house.)

I know that there will be many more recipes tried, and hopefully more crafty ideas attempted.  :)

If you are already on Pinterest, please find me and follow me!  If you're not on Pinterest, hopefully I've piqued your interest to start pinning!