Have you tried Pinterest, the new(ish) social media/photo/shopping website that everyone seems to be talking about?  And if you did try it, did you kind of play with it for a while, and then forget about it?

I did too.  I thought it was pretty, and I liked the neat-o images, but it seemed more like a time waster than an actual tool.

Then, a few weeks ago, I was trying to collect my thoughts (and collect inspiration images) for a landscape design project. We’re going to rip up our front yard (we have a tiny patch of grass that’s about 80 square feet – so silly) and put in a perennial garden. I started flipping through magazines, thinking I’d scan the images into my computer, and then I remembered Pinterest. I started a pinboard for landscaping, and started to add images with notes about what I liked about them. I searched for landscaping images that were already on the site, and then I added some from other websites.

Check it out – here’s my landscaping board on Pinterest.

Have you thought of useful ways to use Pinterest? Or do you just look at the pretty pictures and drool on your keyboard?

I found this image really captivating.

Photograph by Horst Kiechle, taken in Bangkok.

[via Twisted Sifter]

Designer/Illustrator Mikey Burton made these awesome “inspector stamps” for his business.  Now you can too, courtesy of Cranky Pressman.  I would love to have one of these, and go around stamping random things. Napkins, receipts, whatever.

Sorry blog readers, I know I promised a discussion of Jill Bolte Taylor’s Stroke of Insight TED talk… but it’s been a busy morning!  So I’ll have to postpone that for later in the week.  In the meantime, here’s a quick deal for you – 25% off photo gifts at Pinhole Press.  Use the code FAVORITES to get the discount, valid until April 23.  An excellent idea for mother’s day gifts!

Pros of working from home: no commute, no office rental fees, comfy clothes (I will neither confirm nor deny occasionally working in pyjamas).

Cons of working from home: Clara’s getting molars, so she’s a teething monster.  She cries and fusses a lot lately, and it’s really hard to work through it (I’m not abandoning her, she has a nanny).

My pipe-dream solution: a backyard studio.  Of course, this is a total pipe-dream, since my backyard is about 150 square feet.  And there are some practical issues of heating and electricity.  But if we’re just dreaming here… wouldn’t the “Tetra Shed” pictured above be awesome?  More details here.

[via archdaily]

Did you watch the TED talk I posted on Tuesday?  The one from Sir Ken Robinson, about how schools kill creativity?  If not, here’s the link.

I found it very enjoyable and insightful.  I’m not an educator, and I don’t necessarily have strong feelings about standardized education. But I do know that it fails many people, and as Robinson says in the lecture, “Many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think they’re not. Because the thing they were good at in school wasn’t valued, or was actually stigmatized.  And I think we can’t afford to go on that way.”  Don’t we all know someone who struggled with traditional education?

And while you could come away from the lecture thinking that Robinson is advocating for the arts and artistic disciplines, I think that’s a bit short-sighted.  Creativity isn’t limited to the “traditional” arts.  I like Robinson’s description of creativity as “the process of having original ideas that have value”.  There is room for creativity within the more “valued” academic disciplines of math and science.

What did you think of the TED Talk?  What moments stood out for you?

Next up in our list of the 20 Most Watched TED Talks (So Far) is Jill Bolte Taylor’s Stroke of Insight.  I’ve actually seen this one already, but it’s worth revisiting.  Let’s all watch it this weekend, and talk about it next Tuesday.

Here’s a nifty way to procrastinate on the internet… check out this Vintage Toronto page on Facebook.  It has over 13,000 “friends”, and there are so many great photos that people are sharing.  Of course, there are lots of really old photos of Toronto, but the ones that I thought were the coolest are the ones from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. (like the “Girls of Ontario Place” – ha ha ha!)

Two things I noticed when looking at the pictures:

1. So many of the photos feature streetcars.  The TTC really is at the core of Toronto’s visual identity.

2. There are lots of pictures of things that I remember about Toronto that have already changed.  Like the shot of the Eaton Centre, above, with the Eaton logo.  I’ve lived in this city for 13 years now, and it’s cool to see it changing right before my eyes.

[via blogTO]

We want to get a little baby pool and sandbox for our backyard for Clara.  We have a tiny space, so I was just thinking of doing something simple, like getting a basic pool and turtle sandbox from Canadian Tire.  But then I saw a link on Pinterest to this blog, showing how to make a “backyard beach” for toddlers.  Don’t you love it?  I could totally do this in our backyard.  I’m a bit worried about the sandbox not having a cover though – I’ve heard they can become litter boxes for animals.  Any advice?

Do you like watching TED talks?  I do. I came across this list of the 20 Most Watched TED Talks (So Far), from June 2011.  I think I’d like to work my way through this list and watch them all.  Seems like a fairly achievable goal, right?  Feel like joining me?  Let’s watch them and discuss!

First up is “Ken Robinson Says Schools Kill Creativity”.  If you’d like, watch it, and then let’s meet back here (on the blog) on Friday with our thoughts.

Oooooooh yes.  Jenny Lawson, aka The Bloggess, has written a book.  Let’s Pretend it Never Happened comes out April 17 (just in time for my birthday).  If the book is even remotely as funny as this blog post about buying a 5-foot tall chicken made out of recycled oil drums, naming it Beyonce, and giving it to your husband as an anniversary present, then I’m so in.