31 Days of Reading Well: Day 19

The To-Be-Read List, via Pinterest

Source: amazon.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

The more I read ... the more I realize that Charlotte's Web is the perfect book. Seriously. I think this would be super interesting to me!

Source: amazon.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

When I was researching and talking about epistolary novels, this one kept coming up. I've heard it's great, and I am feeling the need to read it.

Source: amazon.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

I finished the first book of this two-book series last week, and it's one where I really just want to jump in and read the second! The main character was charming, the story fun, and I like Walker's writing. (I've read several of her others fiction books.) Sadly, neither our public library nor the school library has it, so I'm trying to determine how I should procure this one.

What's at the top of your to-be-read list?

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Embracing My Own Style

I've always thought I just had no style. I almost never like the outfits I throw together - every now and again I find an outfit I love and wear it again and again.

It turns out with the event of Pinterest, I do have a style. I know what I like. I just don't ever spend the money to buy it, or have a notion enough to look for it secondhand. I'm sort of excited to find that I know what I like and what I don't like. From pinning this and that, here's what I've discovered.

I love ruffles and feminine touches. I love rich colors like turquoise and purple as well as gray and black mixed in.

Source: polyvore.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

I'm crazy about cardigans, which work well with my figure, and about funky flats. (I don't wear heels much because of my back; and after my chiropractor visit today I am wondering if I ever should again.)

Source: store.delias.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

And I really like some floral touches here and there.

Source: etsy.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

I'm kind of excited to know this, finally: I DO HAVE STYLE!! It's just hidden under a lack of funds (which is no excuse for the creative!) and lazyness.


Do you have any key fall pieces you're itching to get? Right now I'm hoping to find a few gorgeous cardigans to add to a couple I have and love, a good jacket, a some fun necklaces, and a nice pair of gray flats.

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Why I Think Pinterest Is Good for Me

Yes, it's just another social-media tool that has sucked me into its abyss. I've already told you why I love it.  But seriously, I think Pinterest has definitely pushed me to do something! Yes, something. Lots of things.

Recipes I've had bookmarked for years? I've made them! Craft projects with Libbie? Not so daunting when I can see oodles of them and pick out the ones that look easy. Not to mention the delight of visual menu planning.

Here are some of the things I've actually done because of Pinterest:

I put all the books from my Want to Read It board on reserve at the library instead of on my Amazon wish list or Paperbackswap Wishlist. Because really, I just want to read them. Not own them. In the last few weeks I've read Sisterhood Everlasting, am most of the way through The Kitchen House, and have Shanghai Girls to pick up next!

Libbie really loved these homemade bath paints; she's played with her cardboard-box town quite a bit; and she totally stamped with the end of the bok choy the other night when I noticed it looked a lot like this celery-flower stamp!

Source: dollarstorecrafts.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

And as for the recipes? Here are some I've made because the pictures are just so tempting!

Source: sweetpeaskitchen.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

Source: annies-eats.net via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

Source: tastykitchen.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

Of course, Pinterest is a time-sucking abyss if you let it be, just like anything else. But for me, I say the benefits outweigh the bad parts, at least for the time being. 
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Pinterest; or, Like I Need Another Thing to Do Online

Have you heard of Pinterest? It seems that, as usual, I'm slightly behind the social-media times. (See: Twitter.) So many of my blogging friends have already joined Pinterest and written tutorials that there would be no reason for me to do the same.

• Pinterest {Top Ten Tuesday} at OhAmanda - I love how she calls the Internet an adorable black hole. So true!
• A Beginner's Guide at Sorta Crunchy
• I'm Lovin' Pinterest at TidyMom

So, if you're on Pinterest, look me up. I am - what else - Vanderbilt Wife.  Something I'm trying to do that might interest you is a visual menu plan. For example, here are all the recipes I had planned for 6/27 to 7/10 (I plan and shop two weeks at a time).

As I cook the recipes, I'm trying to remember to go and leave a little review. If you love cooking, like me, you might find these useful! Just having pictures of all those recipes I had bookmarked in various places on my Yummy in the Tummy and Dips Apps Dessert boards has been wonderful. So much easier for menu-planning purposes. I've already tried several recipes I'd been thinking about for months. Having them stare me in the face with their goodness was enough for me to take the plunge and cook!

Here are some of my favorite things I've discovered through Pinterest:

Source: beeinourbonnet.blogspot.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

Source: kalynskitchen.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

So tell me ... do you Pin? 


And P.S. I WILL be back with "Why I Friday" this week! Get your posts ready to link up!

Added to Things I Love Thursday at The Diaper Diaries.
 
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