How many pins is too many?

Don't look at me like that.
I know it sounds like a really dumb question.

I'm talking about Pinterest of course. Pins on pin boards. How many is too many?

I was tooling around Pinterest today. I get a weekly email showing me boards I might want to follow. The message is assembled based on my pins and 'likes' on the site, and, I don't mind if they keep track of that kind of data. Considering the kinds of things I pin, I think it's pretty harmless. We're talking about art and fashion dolls, clothes and kitchens, favorite movies and Marilyn Monroe. These are the same things most every other pinner on Pinterest is interested in. I'm sure of it. A flock of folks obsessed with pinning. Why it has become a twenty-first century sport!

Sampler Blanket from Ravelry

So, you're probably wondering why I ask this question. Okay. I'll tell you.

Labores De Aguja. It means "needlework" in Spanish. A lovely needlework image was offered under the "Boards To Follow" section, so I clicked on it. The name of the board was "Labores De Aguja" and there were 9,572 pins. Nine thousand, five hundred and seventy two.

Holey mackerel! It would take two days to look through 9,572 pins!

This got me to thinking about my own pin boards. I'm not in a profession that would make Pinterest useful to my business. I simply love dolls, fashion and art, and any combination thereof. However, I had recently capped my board, "Lookbook As I See It" at 1,000 pins. I realized that was enough. I even considered that it is too many.

Then, today, while researching for this blog post, I saw that my "Type & Art, plain & simple" board has 1,098 pins.

Oh, yeah. Clearly, I need to sort through them and create new boards that are more specific. Maybe one for "Type" and one for "Art." I have one dedicated to "Watercolors" and it has definitely made it easier to find an item than, say, having to pore through a thousand pins. Yep. I think I'm gonna do that.

I don't know if other folks use their pin boards for reference. I often refer to my "Good Eats" board for those saved recipes. And, my board, "My Style & then some..." has been a lifesaver when shopping. I always have to show the stylist what I want at Supercuts because I don't always get the same stylist. And, I pin clothing purchases so I can refer to them when I'm shopping if I want to match color or some other little detail. I actually use them.

Who knew?

So, as I question my own use of Pinterest, I realize I must also edit my "Fashion Dolls" pin board. That one has more than 1,600 pins, and that's waaayy too many! How am I going to divvy those up?

Well, I guess you can figure out what I'm going to do during my down time today. Yep.

Sift and sort my doll pins. It's sort of like pulling weeds. It's an opportunity to bring order to something in my life, and considering there are so many things I have no control over, it's nice to be able to do this and see the results.

Enjoy your day!

And, hey! Thanks for stopping by!

My Top 5 Best Ever List

As my regular readers know, I am a doll collector. Recently, there was a thread on the W Club Forum asking for everyone's "Top 5 Best Ever List" for the Poppy Parker doll. It was a fun thread to read, and I learned a lot about the facial screenings of the dolls. It seems they're not all the same. The lists were as varied as the W Club members posting them! Some liked blondes, others, brunettes. There were so many different reasons for why a person chose these dolls over those. And, for some, it was a simple list of 7 or 9 or 12 dolls because they couldn't decide which ones were the "5 best ever." Some people posted beautiful photos, so it will come as no surprise that it took me quite a while to read through all the posts because I had to stop and drool over all the beautiful images of my favorite dolls.

So, in the spirit of all things fun, I posted my "Top 5 Best Ever List." I thought it would be fun to share my list here, with photos.

No. 1: Coney Island Saturday was my first Poppy Parker doll. She was part of the 2010 Mainline Collection when Poppy was still "new."  I bought her on clearance on Marl & B's web site and had her for about six months before I ever took her out of the box. Why I waited so long, I couldn't tell you. She was something new and I wasn't sure I was going to like her. I was apprehensive about the "Fashion Royalty" dolls so many of my doll friends collected. I really didn't have room in my life for anyone other than Barbie (and, Momoko, but that's another story!), so I wasn't in a rush. When I finally deboxed her, I redressed her in some Randall Craig fashions and took her picture. This is my first photo of her. When I saw it on the computer screen, it was over. I was in love!

No. 2: I Love How You Love Me 
(aka ILHYLM or 'Love Me') was a DOLLS magazine exclusive gift set offered in January 2011. She was limited to 300 sets and cost $150 for those lucky enough to purchase her. I was NOT one of those persons. :(

Today, as I write this blog entry, there is one for sale on ebay with 13 bids (so far) and the winning bid is currently $620. The auction closes in six hours.

Here's a closeup photo of her so you can see why I am so infatuated with her. (The photo is by JennFL on Flickr.)  According to knowledgeable folks on the W Club Forum, "To The Fair" has the same facial screening. I was lucky enough to get her and the link is to my photo of her! Still, I would love to have this beautiful girl at my house, even if it was just as a weekend guest. I would take lots of photos of her so I could say I had seen her in person.

{BIG SIGH}

No. 3: The Young Sophisticate
This beautiful girl was the 2013 W Club Member Exclusive. It is said she has the same facial screening as Bergdorf Goodman Fashion's Night Out, which was a small issue of 200 dolls, sold at Bergdorf's in September 2010. (Bergdorf is the holy grail of many Poppy collectors.)

You had to be a club member to be able to purchase The Young Sophisticate. I owe my doll friend, Randall Craig, a huge amount of gratitude for encouraging me to join W Club. It has been one of my most gratifying doll experiences since I joined in 2011. It is, without question, the best way to get Poppy. The secondary market is killer to any doll budget!

No. 4: She's Not There
This little honey pie was part of the 2012 Mainline Collection and was limited to 600 dolls and cost $99. I almost didn't get her. I really like her. A lot! She's one of my favorite dolls to redress. She came in a Mod fashion, but the red fishnet stockings bled onto the white boots, so I stashed those things away and she has since been my favorite model. I especially like her short hair. (Reminds me of me!)

No. 5: Joyful in Japan was part of the "Mainline Collection" of Poppy Parker. Issued in 2013, she was one of six dolls, with each doll reflecting a different country as would have been appropriate during the 1964 World's Fair. She was a limited edition of 750 dolls and sold for a mere $89. I could only afford one of the six dolls, and I'm so glad I got her. While the others are all beautiful in their own way, she appeals to my conservative side of being a "prim and proper lady!" She was, I believe, the last of the six dolls to sell out, too. I think it may have been the kimono that put collectors off. She came dressed in a lovely pink kimono which didn't have much fashion going for it. After all, Poppy was visiting Japan and that is what she would have worn. It took a while, but finally she sold out, and photos began to appear. Let me just say, Oh! Boy! Once collectors got her in hand, they realized how stunning she is! Her face, her hair, all perfectly aligned! And, no matter how you dress her, it suits her! Vintage or modern, doesn't matter. She is a really beautiful doll and the hundreds of photos on Flickr prove it!

I had the good fortune to attend the IT Convention in Los Angeles last November and I met David Buttry, the designer of Poppy Parker. He is a marvelous graphic designer whose favorite era of design was the 1960s. I think he was influenced by America's discovery of color TV because so much of who Poppy is can be linked to that generation of "The Jetsons" and "Laugh-In." David is a kind and gentle man and I'm thrilled beyond words that I had a chance to get to know him a little. I hope I get a chance to know him a little better next time!

So, there you have the Top 5 Best Ever Poppy Parker Dolls, according to me! Odds are the list will change over time, but, then, that's what collecting is all about, isn't it?

I wish I had more time ...

Life sure does get in the way, doesn't it? It seems that no matter how inspired I'm feeling, I just don't make time to do the things I really want to do. Have you ever set out to make dinner, thinking you'll get to it after and the next thing you know, it's 8:30 and you figure you might as well just read a few news articles or watch a TV show and then go to bed? After all, one has to rise early to go to work in the morning.

That's how many of my days end. I leave the office with the idea I'm going to work on a project, even if only for a few minutes. Then, I arrive home and the cat's litter box needs to be cleaned and the trash needs to be emptied and there's dishes to wash and laundry to be folded. Then, dinner ... then ... 

There you go. The next thing I know, Monday has melted into Friday and it's the weekend and the darling husband has other plans and all I want to do is work on restoring the Skipper doll I won for a great price on Ebay or resume work on that scrapbook from our last vacation three years ago.

I need to make a commitment. How can I scrub Skipper or glue pictures when the weeds are taking over in the garden? How can I work on my watercolor painting skills when the recycling bin is overflowing and the cats are meowing at me to brush them?

Yes, this one.

I sense a huge burst of creativity on the horizon, once all of this housekeeping fuss has died down, of course.

Take a look around. 

Any projects you've been delaying forever?

Around here? Earth Day hangover approaching ...

Around here, it's the "busy" season. As an environmental educator, the months of March and April are filled with requests for presentations on water pollution and events focused on conservation. It is, after all, south Florida and we do, after all, live in the Everglades!

visited over 400 fifth grade students at three different schools, one classroom at a time and talked about water pollution

served as the outreach connection at Water Matters Day at Tree Tops Park for more than 500 folks who care about things like saving water ~ the kids love the Enviroscape model and they don't realize that they're learning something important while they play with the little cars

challenged the local politicians about the significance of teaching school children about the Everglades (they don't seem to find it important enough to fund)

photographed our mascot, Teddy the Turtle, with a lot of the local environmental 'celebrities' at the Waterway Cleanup along the C-11 Canal

clipped news articles about the next steps in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, a 30 year plan to restore the flow of water to Florida Bay at the southern tip of the Florida peninsula

organized the 8th Annual Children's Art Competition, "Everglades Eyes: What Children See," and accepted 119 entries from five different schools in Celebration of Earth Day on April 22 ~ the artists are fourth and fifth grade students that I've visited with my Enviroscape model and my pep talk about the Everglades and they totally "get it!"

planted a tree in honor of Arbor Day on April 25, a dahoon holly, a Florida native tree that has red berries that the birds love to eat

shopped for a bottle of wine with which to nurse my "Earth Day hangover!"

And, what have you been up to this month?

what's doin'?

celebrating my daughter's departure to Paris, her first journey to Europe!

watching "The Sopranos' final episode again and discussing what it means. What DOES it mean?

crying because I still miss my dog.

thanking my darling husband for finishing the kitchen cabinets. (A custom job, it took a while. After all, he does work full time!)

watching as the back porch is transformed into a livable space.

cleaning my closet and donating under worn items to Goodwill.

taking an inventory of my Momoko dolls. (I have 34 of the little darlings.)

eating more veggies and fish and less red meat and fast food.

designing marketing materials for Art Gallery 21.

getting a summer haircut.

updating the German Bread Haus web site for my best girl friend.

discovering the organic coffee beans now available at Trader Joe's!

counting the days until school lets out.

researching how to protect my neighborhood from exploitative investors.

keeping up with pulling weeds in the yard before rainy season arrives.

seeking a good book to read that I haven't already read.

improving my writing skills by taking a stab at short stories.

shooting Jazzercise technique photos for the instructors.

enjoying the last "cool front" of the dry season.

needing to find time to play dolls.

What are you doin'?

my most pinned pin on Pinterest

Pinterest was launched in March of 2010. For the first couple of years you had to be "invited" to join. I requested an invitation on a couple of occasions after I discovered the site in 2011, but I never received one. Then, finally, in December 2011 they let you in via Facebook and this pinner was born!

In the first few months, I was obsessed, which I wrote about here. I overcame the obsession and began to use Pinterest for my own purposes (mostly dolls and clothes) and now it is my favorite inspiration board. Like Facebook, I visit Pinterest almost daily. I "pin" things to bookmark them and I really do return to my boards on a regular basis. Lately my watercolors pin board has been my favorite inspirational board. And, my photograph board. There is so much to learn about both of these subjects and it's delightful to have one place to put all that stuff! It beats rifling through a drawer of file folders!

So, this post is about my "most pinned pin." That's it, right there. The haircut. It's pinned to my style board and, as of today, has been pinned 2,200 times and liked 491 times. And, it's evoked quite a conversation of comments about short hair, particularly pixie cuts. It seems that young women are eager to try the pixie cut but are afraid it won't look good on them. I don't think anyone looks bad with a pixie cut. That's just my opinion, of course, but every woman I've known of any age who got her hair whacked off into a pixie discovered it is the most flattering cut of all.

The only thing I know about the young woman in the photo is that her name is Ema and she is from Romania. I found the picture on a photography blog that included about 20 photos of this lovely young woman, apparently shot in the spring of 2012. This particular photo appealed to me because she's wearing red lipstick and glasses and I think the contrast makes for a really great portrait! Oh! And, I love the haircut!

I'm not entirely sure how they keep count of who pins what, but it really doesn't matter. What became clear to me since I first started this pinning thing is, it's all about connecting to people who share your views. About art. About fashion dolls. About personal style. About a great haircut!

Who could ask for more? Certainly not me!

spring is here?

Only five days left in March. It's such a long month, isn't it? 31 days. They say it's spring break this week, and the tourists prove it to be true. I heard it was snowing up north. Still. It was 55 degrees on my back porch this morning, and, I'm in south Florida. Go figure.

Around here, it's been busy. Still missing my dog though. It's been two weeks and one day, but if feels a lot longer.

cleaning closets and cabinets and sifting out some of the junk that's accumulated. Where DOES all this stuff come from? Can someone tell me that?

learning how to create documents using Photoshop instead of QuarkXPress.



designing a golf tournament brochure for my Soroptimist club;
it's the 20th year!

editing a database for the Pioneer Women of Fort Lauderdale to reflect their activity over the past five years; boy, was that tedious.

assembling the pieces for a scrapbook, which I'll share in another post.

making lists of my dolls in a feeble attempt to "thin out" my collection.

waiting for news of the Integrity Toys Convention in Orlando this year; they announced in February last year, so what's the holdup?

thinking about "Tea with Barbie" in July at Old Davie School.

taking lots of pictures at work related events ... and, it's not like taking "society" photos or portraits or landscapes either; it is an entirely different animal.

repotting plants to accommodate the new growth.

enjoying all the blooming in my garden!

waiting for spring ...