Stalkworthy

Do you ever feel like after looking (ok, stalking...) some people's Pinterest boards that you would totally want to be friends with them in real life? I know that sounds weird, but there are a few people that I follow on Pinterest that I swear totally pin EVERYTHING that makes me drool and gets me to hit repin instantly.

 

 

So that got me to thinking, what do I think makes someone an awesome pinner?

Here is a little list of criteria I would use to officially become your pinterest stalker (totally personal- you can judge as you see fit):

1. You love relatively healthy recipes that actually look appetizing (aka no weird things like quinoa, tofu, strange green things that I have no idea where I would even find it in the grocery store). On the flip side, I like sweets and junk food like the rest of 'em, but I can't look at brownies and cheese dips all day without fearing I will get cellulite in my desk chair.
 

2. You don't have a board called "For my future wedding when I meet Mr. Right." Come on now, lets get real. You should just be like my sister and have a secret file on her computer called "Investments" where she hides all of her wedding inspiration pics from her boyfriend and keep that private until he puts a ring on it. Sorry Jessie, but its true!

 

 

3. Your home decor pins have an emphasis on one thing- keeping your home light and bright. I have learned a lot about my design style and preferences in interior space. If it does not have amazing natural light then it is just not for me.

 

 

4. You love clothes but realize that life is not a runway or nightclub 24/7. You have a comfortable and casual style that mixes in basics with a pop of color or cute accessories.

 

 

5. You love DIY projects, but don't go all theme happy or make your home look like Michael's was having a flash sale and you took home the entire craft section. You keep things classy and generally glitter-free.

 

 

6. You don't pin photos of super toned girls in their workout clothes because you know that no matter what they subtitle says, a "30 pound in 30 day diet" is always a lie.

 

7. You are what I like to dub a "picky pinner." You only pin maybe a 15-20 things a week, but everything you pin is thought out and deliberate. Not a free for all to see how much you can pin during your lunch hour. Your boards are well organized and not cluttered or repetitive.
 

8. You are 100% confident that your baby/child will be absolutely adorable and perfectly dressed in trendier clothing than most of us grown women. Because of course our babies will all be that beautiful, right?! May as well start planning for their future Baby Gap modeling careers now :)

 

 

9. You DO NOT post your pins to your Facebook wall. The double exposure is just too much, if we want to see what you pin then we know where to find you.

 
 

10. Finally, and most importantly, you love all things having to do with kittens. Yeeaaah, that's probably just me...


 

Do you guys have any thoughts on what makes someone a "stalk-worthy" pinner??

 

 

XOXO Katie

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Getting My Fitness On

 

So I have decided that with the turning leaves of the fall, I am going to turn a new leaf myself.

 

I will be the very first person to admit that I have not worked out since maybe March of 2009. I don't know what my issue is, but I HATE going to the gym. The idea of coming home and changing, driving to the gym, sweating for an hour, and them coming home and cooking/cleaning/blogging sounds exhausting!

 

But today is a new day and I am going to really give it a go. I decided that my biggest issue is actually getting to the gym, so I have been browsing Pinterest all morning looking for at-home workouts that may solve my problem. I really want to focus on my arm, hips, stomach, and upper thighs (yeah, just realized its pretty much my whole body that needs some tuning up...) so here are some things I have found so far:

via backonpointe.tumblr.com

 

via weightloss.health.com

 

What are your favorite at home workouts? Any favorite videos or websites that motivate you?

 

I don't have room for any work out equipment other than a set of weights, so I need to be creative!

XOXO Katie

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Randomness

Random post here so bare with me:)

This is a little peak into what I have been up to and lusting over this week...

#1

Pretty Little Liars

Who would have thought that a Fox Family show would be so dang addictive?! I am just finishing up season 1, but I am full blown obsessed with these teenie-boppers.

#2

I NEED to grow out my hair again because I am totally lusting over the ballerina bun. I would love to have an up-do option for special events to mix it up a bit. I saw this tutorial on laurenconrad.com and thought it may be doable in a few months...

#3

Totally craving kiddie food lately- why do little munchkins get all the fun?? Super basic, but honestly sometimes that is better than a fancy meal when summer is in full bloom.

via Navywifecook.com

via Happygoodtime.com


#4
I would love to be able to jump on the wallpaper bandwagon, but I just need to figure out if/where I can utilize it in our place. How amazeballs are these??


via Urbanoutfitters.com



via Houzz.com

#5

I have decided that I want to learn calligraphy. I have seen so many stunning invitations in the mail and on Pinterest lately and I have decided that I want to give it a try. I am on the hunt for a class in Boston, but they seem to be a good chunk of change. So for now I am surfing the web for tutorials, but I think I need/want the one-on-one instruction you get from a live person.

via Marthastewart.com

XOXO Katie

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Is This Real Life?

I was chatting with Kerry over at Monograms & Martinis last week because she and her hubs bought their first home (yay!), and she had to make some quick picks for wall colors since they had scheduled painters to come ASAP. I had a flashback to how stressful that can be for a first time homeowner. I remember when we had to choose our paint colors from 800 miles away (we were still in Chicago when painting was done) and only had a paint store swatch as a preview. We got lucky with our choices, but the key word there is LUCKY. 

So, last week when I came across a website called Favorite Paint Colors, and I could not help but applaud the creator, Kristen. What a genius idea it was to gather REAL LIFE examples of what a paint color looks like. Not just magazine worthy photos- these are people's actual homes and real lighting so DIYers like myself can see what we are in for.

Just in case you were getting worried- I of course have to include one of my all time fave videos...you know to confirm your question..."Is this real life??"

Yes, David, why yes it is!


Pinterest is my obsession- those gorgie pics do it for me every time- but it is good to see what a wall color will look like for all non-professional photographers like myself.

You can search by a color (ex. blue, gray, pink, etc.) and the site pulls up tons of different true to life images of colors used in peoples homes. All images list the exact color and the brand name. You can also search by a specific color name and see if any photos have been submitted with that color.

Here is an example of how it works:
My living room is Rockport Gray by BM. So I searched "Rockport Gray" on Favorite Paint Colors and this image came up:

via Favoritepaintcolorsblog.com (submitted by Margot Smith)

This would have been great to see before the paint was up on the 12' high walls in our living room. Don't get me wrong, I love the color, but it does have a slight taupe undertone that I was not aware of when looking at my swatch card.

So heads up to all of you pining away over paint swatches and sample cards- go check out Favorite Paint Colors before you make the plunge!

XOXO Katie

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Its The Little Things...

Sometimes its the little details, that not everyone notices right away, that really makes a home beautiful.

I took a walk on Sunday and I passed an old Victorian home in our neighborhood that I had never really noticed before. Something about the way it looked really resonated with me, but it took a few minutes for me to figure out what it was. Then it hit me- this house had a light gray siding, white trim, and BLACK window casings. It was subtle, yet stunning. Maybe the way eyeliner is used to give the eye definition, but not compete with the rest of the face.

This detail has just gone on my "must have" list for my future abode...right next to my garage for mess making :)

 I wish I had has my camera to take a pic, but alas I was too busy burnin' some cals to carry my phone. So I found a few examples of how this small detail can add depth and interest to a room  without taking away from the view.

Via remodelingguy.com

via House Beautiful

via Houzz.com

via Design Manifest

via House Beautiful

via Houzz.com

XOXO Katie

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Seeing the Light

Occasionally, I go back through my Pinterest pins and see trends or styles I have gravitated toward without even being conscious of it. Its amazing to see that I am pretty consistent with my color choices (who knew I was fully obsessed with anything gray and white?), and I need one important quality in my space...it must be light and bright!

Over the last month its been all about lighting. There are so many amazing light fixtures out there and they set vibe for an entire room.

Here are a few that I have pinned lately...

via onekinddesign.com

via Lonny Mag

via Moooi.com

via me- saw this in real estate office in my home town- love!
And thats big pic of my high school in the back- double love!

via Delightbydesign.blogspot.com

via 19miracles.tumbler.com

I'm trying to decide if I want to hunt down a light fixture for my dining "space". I feel like the area needs some definition and a chandy might be just what the doctor ordered.

 XOXO Katie

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My Attempt at Going Green

I have been seeing beautiful glass terrariums all over Pinterest lately and to be honest- I was a little intimated. I checked out various instructions for the DIY indoor planting craze and I was a little overwhelmed- maybe it was the unsettling number of moss species that you could go with (who knew there was more than one?!).

But when I found a glass trifle dish at my local thrift shop for $4 I knew I wanted to give it a try. So I gathered my supplies and dove in.

I purchased three kinds of plants: a Basil Boxwood (smells really yummy), Alyssum and Cosmos. Honestly, I had no idea which ones to buy- I just found ones that would look pretty together and had different textures. So mark my words- these are likely to be dead in a week. But worth a shot, right?!

OK this part is where I got ghetto- I needed some rocks for the bottom of the glass dish to allow for drainage of the water and I was not about to pay for them. So I wandered the neighborhood and felt like a total clepto as I shoveled half my neighbors driveway into a zip lock baggy. Then ran...

*In retrospect, I should put 2" of rock at the bottom as opposed to 1" because its looks little like a "dirt cake" according to my husband. Lesson learned- go with 2".

OK here is ghetto part #2. I read that you need to have some sort of material that will help adsorb the water so that it does not get all stinky and many sites suggested a few pieces of charcoal or stuff called Perilite. The guy at the hardware store explained that this is a Styrofoam like material that helps distribute and absorb the water.

So I guess buying one or two pieces of charcoal or like a cup of Perilite is not common practice because they only had 10 lb. bags of the stuff- no thank you! So, me being the genius (not!) that I am pick up a Styrofoam cup that I found lying in the road and thought, "Totally the same thing, right?!" Yes, it was used- and not by me- I warned you this was ghetto...don't judge...

 With the base layer complete, I put in a thin layer of the potting soil, wiggled the plants out of their pots and arranged them into a grouping that I liked. Once that was set, I filled in with the potting soil and made sure they were nice and snug.

*Sorry, not too many pics of this step because my hands were covered in dirt and I didn't want to ruin my cam cam. *

I shredded the pot that the purple plant came in because it was a grassy like texture and blanketed it on the to cover some of the dirt.

With that I was pretty much finished, except I did add a white ribbon around the base to break up a little bit of the view of the dirt.

Viola!

As expected- it took about 30 seconds before this happened :

Oh geez... Well, if these plants did actually have a chance of survival with my ghetto planting then they will ultimately succumb to death by way of kitten attack.
* I did make sure that these were pet friendly plants- gotta be careful! *

Anyone else try their hand at live plants recently? Did yours live???

 

XOXO Katie

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Calling All Bloggers- Let's Get Our "Pin"spiration On

This is a shout out to all my fellow bloggers out there. I am officially announcing a friendly challenge- and YOU are the are the competition!

 

I call this challenge "Pinspire Your Life" and here is the gist on how you can enter:

1.Comment

Let me know in the comments below that you want compete. Feel free to tweet or post about this to your readers- the more the merrier!

2.Follow, Blog Roll & "Like"

Become a follower, add my blog to your blog roll, and "Like" me on Facebook (if you already do/are then you are ready to go!)

3.Pick a Pin 

Choose something that you have seen on Pinterest and thought, "Hey, I could do that! But I'm too lazy...". Well, lazy no more! (Because there is an endless array of choices, lets make it an even playing field and say you have a $40 budget for the project. No restrictions on what you choose- it could be home decor, apparel, jewelry...anything!)

4.Give Me the Deets

Complete your DIY project then send me an email with one photo, the pin that inspired you, and a link to your blog by Monday June 18th, 2012

5.Promote Some Votes

 I will make a master post on June 20th that will link to all of your blogs and readers can vote on who's "Pinspire Your Life" project is their fav. You just need to send your readers over and have them vote for your project. Voting will last one week.

6.Get Crowned Queen! 

The winner gets crowned as "Queen of Pinspiration" on June 27th and will get to be the next host for a "Pinspire Your Life" challenge.

Any questions?? Feel free to contact me.

XOXO Katie

*Disclaimer- I have no affiliation with Pinterest, just love the pretty pictures!!

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My Shades of Gray...

Of course I have jumped on the bandwagon and ordered myself a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey and I can't wait to start! According to my girlfriends, its as addictive as Twilight but totally steamy...like late night HBO steamy...And with all the buzz going on about this book I can't wait to jump in and see what is making everyone squeal:)

So with this page turner in mind, I have compiled a little collage of 

my fave shades of gray.

All of these images are "Pin"sperations that I have compiled from various websites. I have used gray as my "neutral" throughout our apartment- such a great backdrop and the options for accent colors are endless. I am guessing once I finished this book we will be seeing a lot of blush pink accents around here:)

XOXO Katie

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