I have
an addiction to checking Facebook (not posting on Facebook, thank goodness) but
I also have many blogs/websites I like to keep up with, but I think for now, good
‘ol cliché pinterest takes the interweb cake.
I can’t help it; they make it so easy. You start to believe
you could sew together a string of
autumn leaves using nothing but monogrammed needles and twine you found on your
weekly Michael’s trips, since, of course, you are competent enough to search
for sales each week.
I start thinking I should
keep a journal for all of my future children’s wedding days, or I should wrap everything in burlap, and,
come on, it can’t be that hard to
chalk paint every piece of furniture in my house. My brain begins to warp its way around the fact that I cannot
sew, knit, crochet, or even tie my shoes quickly, so the fine motor skills (or
any skills for that matter) it requires to throw a shindig that looks like
this, is way out of my price/ability/(p)interest range.
I still visit this site daily, out of habit now. Well, and out of a lustful desire for a more sophisticated wardrobe, meal planning that would kick Donna Reed to the domestic curb, and a few peeks at blue kitchen cabinets. I just can’t
seem to pass up the canvas art with travel quotes on them written in perfect
cursive, nor can I ignore old window frames put to good use. How hard are those to find? I just need to make more mental notes, I need more awareness of everyday items that, with a little effort, could be transformed. That broken microwave could totally be made into a dolls house with a few doilies, 12 flower stems, and maybe some bleach..
It's absolutely manic.
I can't help but blame disney a little bit. Many girls I know add their Beauty & the Beast complex to their already problematic Pinterest issues.
We all want a library that looks like THIS
And Pinterest provides personalized version of this. It's sick because it seems realistic enough to attain, so girls everywhere continue to swoon over a life that could look like this, this, and this.
"I'm just looking, I know I don't can't have it now" We say confidently while simultaneously clicking on the profile of the girl who posted it. Just to be certain she categorized our dream library on her "want-to-have" board and not "in-progress" board.
If it is the latter, there may be virtual blood spilled.
Domesticity means floral aprons and a trendy belt around
your Anthropologie dress, right?
Thanks Pinterest. I can’t afford anything Anthropologie
aside from their mugs (still $9), and I’m pretty sure they have a drool charge,
and I’m already over drool stipend for the month thanks to J. Crew and Barnes
& Noble.
But hey, even if I can't afford anything besides the same Target dress every other college-aged woman buys, I can virtually shop for clothes. I'm
just gathering ideas for
future sale hunts (and imagining a wardrobe post-lottery winnings). Maybe I do gaze at hand-painted Toms and those skirts knitted together by Etsy-savy people. The ones who have their virtual life
together: a blog they consistently keep up with, a life list they keep track of and record, and a mason jar for every
occasion. These are a special breed of fictional people I love to loathe.
Okay, and yes, I believe the “Pinterest Wedding” is a farce. Yes, I am
fairly certain staring at clothes I cannot afford (if you go to my Pinterest
boards, you’ll see what I did there) is probably unhealthy if done too often
and will lead to the eventual demise of a materialistic soul blah blah. I know I cannot
personalize every cupcake I ever make (as if I ever make anything anyway) and probably won't get around to gathering twigs in the forest to hot glue together to make a fall vase.
Note: this would be difficult since the nearest "forest" is about 35 minutes from my house and I do not own a hot glue gun.
I GET IT.
I get it, I really do. Idolizing any amount of “things” is
unhealthy, not exactly what God has in mind for us. It’s silly and distracts us
from what really matters like smiling at people or eating a good breakfast. I am not blind to this. I am not justifying it, nor
am I saying all websites are evil and we have to abandon our virtual homes.
I am saying I love chalk and stacking old books as much as the next girl, but I also love fresh air. I love eating a sleeve of fig newtons while watching terrible TV. I love walking next to my closest friends knowing that we are procrastinating our "should-be-doing" tasks to spend time with each other. I know I love the buzzing sound my window air-conditioner makes. I love sweaty bike rides. I love my t-shirts I've had since high school. I love real life, and I constantly need to be reminded pinterest life and real life do not always jive, and they are not always supposed to.
