Opinions for Nothing

Polyvore + Pinterest = A Cure for Shopping Addiction

Last week, I saw a link to an article about how Pinterest can curb the urge to shop. After I read the title, I knew it was true, at least for me. Since I started using Pinterest in earnest, and combining it with my use of Polyvore, I have shopped significantly less. In fact, I am in danger of losing all my Foursquare mayorships at the mall.

For me, the most therapeutic part of the shopping experience is not the buying, it is the finding. To look through a store and find the one perfect thing I had in mind provides a lovely thrill. Browsing is pretty nice, too. Looking through lots of things to find a hidden gem of something on clearance, or a brand new thing that I have never seen before gives me a great feeling. I can replicate those feelings on Polyvore and Pinterest.

For example, I spent an hour building this set on Polyvore. I knew exactly where to buy several of the things in this set, but now that I have found them, I don't necessarily need to buy them.

 

My Closet Needs This by peevedmichelle featuring a panties thong

Well, I do need a denim pencil skirt and some new panties.

Passive Aggressive Pins #2

Your style pins make me question our friendship.

Follow me on Pinterest

Passive Aggressive Pins #1

Honestly, some of your food pins are revolting.

Follow me on Pinterest

What I wore... on Polyvore

 

What I Wore: 1/13/12 by peevedmichelle featuring bootcut jeans

You've no doubt heard of Pinterest by now. I really like it. (Leave me your email in the comments if you need an invite.) But, Polyvore, have you heard of that one? That is really starting to suck me in. Lately, I have been recording what I wear each day. I've used it to help a friend choose accessories for an event. I've also created sets of things I love (bags, boots, rings).

I'll be posting my outfits here as well, but please follow me at Polyvore if you use it.

Video: Shit Girls Say - Episode 1

Watching this video was like having a conversation with myself.

 

What I've Been Reading (Links Galore)

After I finished the Hunger Games Trilogy, I moved on to the Vampire Academy series. Hunger Games kept me hooked from start to finish and was excellent. I recommend it to anyone, unless you are staunchly against post-apocalyptic fiction. I didn't take to the Vampire Academy series right away. Once I got into the second half of the first book, though, I found it entertaining. There is one book left in that series, which will be released in December. Yesterday, I started reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin on the Kindle app on my iPhone.

Online, here are the things I have read and bookmarked:

Cheap Styling Products for Curly Hair [That Work]

A list of popular weight loss surgery posts on Journey to a Healthier Me

Roundup: Social Media Monitoring Tools

 

10 Tips for BlogHer '11

I returned home from BlogHer '10 today. One year from now I am not going to remember nine out of ten of the following tips, so this is really more of a note to self than anything else.

1. Bring Tums
2. Go Wednesday to Sunday, but leave late on Sunday and take Monday off of work
3. Wear your hair up for parties because it gets HOT in there
4. Eat before parties because you will DRINK
5. Or, skip the parties and do more things in town with your friends
6. Bring your own Diet Pepsi because the dude at the Diet Pepsi booth is only handing out samples as if there was a single person at the conference who might be thinking, "Hey, I wonder what Diet Pepsi tastes like."
7. Attend some sessions, you jackass
8. Bring pre-cut moleskin strips (again) to prevent blisters on your feet even though you brought comfortable shoes to wear
9. Scope out all hair, make-up, and spa services as early as possible because they have sign-up times that fill up quickly
10. Don't share a bed

Bonus tip: Get new luggage. That $15 carry-on you bought at Sam's Club in 1995 has reached the end of its life.

Related: 10 Things: A Very Short Guide to BlogHer

31 Days in October, 31 Posts on the Opinions Blog

I've had 31 opinions in the last five minutes, so there is really no excuse for the neglected state of this blog. To get it going again, I have decided that I will put a new post every day in October. I have a couple DVD reviews coming up (and a giveaway), some product reviews, some opinions about marriage and family, and hopefully answers to some reader questions.

Need an opinion about something? Ask away.

Tim Gunn Has a Peeve

At the BlogHer conference, in the expo hall, Tide and Bounce had a booth. On day two of the conference, they had Tim Gunn of Project Runway there autographing headshots and getting his picture taken with fans. I have only seen Project Runway and that other makeover show he did a few times, so I was planning to go to a session, but my friends wanted to meet him and I wanted to hang out with them, so I waited in line with them. Some of those ladies were crazy nuts to meet Tim Gunn. One lady just about had an orgasm when he said he liked her outfit.

When it was my turn, he said hello, and I think he shook my hand. He asked my name and how to spell it. I asked him to please make it out to Joanne instead since she LOVES him but was not attending the conference. After that, I didn't really have anything to say to him. He asked me what my blog was about. I told him The Peevery is a group blog where we post about all the little things irritate us. He thought that was funny.

See? He's cracking up. It was all in my delivery.

I said, "We have a fashion category. One of Joanne's biggest pet peeves is words on asses." He cocked his head to the side a little, like, "Huh?" and I said, "Like Juicy Couture where it says 'Juicy' across the ass."

Tim Gunn lit up and said, "Don't get me started. It's ridiculous! Ridiculous!" Then we posed for our official picture. I might use this as my Christmas card this year. Even though I am mortified at my hideous outfit which will never be worn again.

After our picture was taken, he asked me what my blog URL was so that he could visit it because he thought it was funny. That's when I had my orgasm.

(Thanks to Kate the Peon for taking a picture right at the moment he asked me for the blog URL.)

I Met Tim Gunn Wearing K-Mart Pants and Other Totally True Adventures from BlogHer 09

The main reason I went to BlogHer was to meet some of the Peevers who have been posting on The Peevery (my main blog, for those of you who are new here) for years and who I have never met in person. I was hoping to meet more readers but I was only able to connect with Neilochka from Citizen of the Month. There were five of us Peevers there; three at the conference and two galavanting around town.

If I had gone alone, I would have had an entirely different, much more boring experience. I am not outgoing when it comes to meeting new people and I doubt I would have met any who hadn't spoken to me first. I wouldn't even have had as good of a time as I did walking the expo floor, because I was with Jen14221 most of the time and she talks to EVERYONE. Thanks to her, I found out way more stuff from the exhibitors and I got way more stuff from the exhibitors. This is where I admit to being a whore for free stuff. I am so aware of this aspect of my personality that I packed an extra bag to bring home all the free stuff I was going to get. And I shipped a box of free stuff home. (It arrived today. Yay!)

I am not a mommyblogger and I will admit to being as judgy about some of them as the bloggers to whom I linked in the previous post. For instance, the lady who let her baby crawl on the floor of the airport, and the lady who breastfed her baby while standing in the middle of the ballroom during a morning keynote, and the snotty bitches in the elevator who couldn't even be bothered to smile back after they returned from their fancy private sponsor party.

The highlights of the conference for me had little to do with the conference itself other than the fact that it made these moments possible.

Highlights:

I had dinner with Joanne, Kate the Peon, Jen14221, and Blaugra at Frontera Grill. I'd seen Rick Bayless on Top Chef Masters and wanted to eat at Topolobampo, which had been named the best restaurant in America, but it seemed too fancy so we went to the more accessible Frontera Grill. I ate the tongue tacos he won with on Top Chef. Delish! Blaugra and Joanne even tried them after some bullying by me.

I saw my schoolfriend, Liz (BabyBlooze), who was there with HP, a corporate sponsor of BlogHer 09.

I had my hair styled at the Sauve booth by Anna Vidito of Lukaro salon in Beverly Hills. She taught me a fantastic and totally easy technique for making my wavy hair look polished, instead of messy like it normally looks. I will be going to Anna for my cuts from now on.

I got a picture of Rick Bayless at the National Pork Board booth. I was going to tell him how much I enjoyed the tongue tacos but some food blogger was hogging his time and I didn't feel like sticking around.

I picked up all kinds of swag that is totally useful: deodorant, hair styling products, a cold Diet Pepsi, cute Playskool toys, Strawberry Shortcake dolls, Mr. Potato Head, nylon reusable shopping bags.

I entered to win prizes that would be totally useful if I managed to win any of them: laptop, vaccum cleaner, washer and dryer, and someone to come to my house every week for a year to do my laundry. Seriously.

I met Tim Gunn and he wants to read my blog. (That is going to be a post of its own, coming soon.) And, yes, I was wearing K-Mart pants when I met him. Boo hoo.

I got a picture of Paula Deen at the Wal-Mart booth but, I swear, more people wanted to meet her than Tim Gunn and there was no way I was going to even get close enough to say hi.

I drove around Chicago with Blaugra in a new Chevrolet Camaro thanks to Chevrolet and MotherProof.com who brought various Chevrolet vehicles to the event.

I met up with a friend from high school who lives in Chicago and found out I was there from one of my Facebook status updates. It was great catching up.

I drank lots of free booze.

The best part, though, was getting to meet Blaugra and Jen14221 in person, and seeing Kate the Peon and Joanne again. We've been online pals for years through The Peevery and we had a great time together in person. I hope we can make this an annual thing, whether at BlogHer or not.