Friday, March 29, 2013

High Five For Friday

Man, this has been a pretty intense week. I had to work late one night, had a late meeting another night and even celebrated my 2^nd Wedding Anniversary, all while maintaining my normally busy life – so this week has been jam packed!!! I’m super ready for the weekend.

Kicking the awesome weekend upon us off, here are my top five moments from the week.

1.) Tolar and I are taking the advice of all of our friends and going on as many dates as possible before baby girl arrives. Including our Anniversary date, we went on three dates in five days! Whoa!!! Who are we? It’s like we aren’t even married yet.

2.) My Bestie Erica (check her out over at Looking to the Stars) came over for lunch and a good gab fest. She used to live in Los Angeles and we would only see each other about once a year and now we live in the same city and get to see each other almost every week. I’m so grateful for how close we are now!

3.) You guys are seriously awesome. I hit 500 GFC followers this week. I cannot believe it!!! My goal for 2013 was to hit 500 by the end of the year and I hit it in the first quarter of the year. Thank you. I love hearing from you all and reading your fab comments. Let’s keep the conversation going strong!!!

4.) Walking to work in the snow (where are you Spring?) I saw this beautiful tree. For some reason it reminded me of the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast. Anyone else get that from the picture?

5.) As I said, Tolar and I celebrated our 2^nd Wedding Anniversary and he made me a Tolar Trivia crossword puzzle. It was so fun to reminisce while figuring out the clues. I’m actually embarrassed to admit that there were a few I didn’t know! Including what the letters mean for Tolar’s department at work!!! Hugh wife fail there (I now know and won’t be forgetting anytime soon!).

Did you have a good week? I sure hope so! Enjoy the weekend, I hope there is good weather wherever you are.

I’m linking up with Lauren over at From My Grey Desk for this High Five For Friday post.

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Thursday, March 28, 2013

New Blog Design With An Awesome Designer

I’m sure you’ve all noticed a few changes around here and I hope you love them as much as I do. Yes, Pursuit of Pink just got an awesome facelift and I owe it all to the lovely Aubrey from The Kinch Life Design.

I’ve seen Aubrey’s designs all over instagram because every Friday she offers up a Friday Freebie on her personal blog. For the Friday Freebie, you can download these graphic freebies and send them to your phone to use as a background on your lock screen or home screen. So many of my instagram friends would post their freebie and I finally got curious and decided to check it out. The graphics are awesome and oh so pretty. Check out this one I downloaded last week, which you can customize with your own initial:

And don't forget to stop by her site tomorrow to get the newest Friday Freebie.

After seeing her freebies, I decided to check out Aubrey’s design portfolio and I fell in LOVE! Every design was gorgeous – so of course I went to her design website, selected the package I wanted for my blog and contacted Aubrey right away. And let me just tell you – the girl is super fast!!! And not only fast, but she captured exactly what I wanted without me even realizing I wanted it. :) She certainly channeled her inner Lindsay to create my new space.

I cannot say enough good things about working with Aubrey. She was in constant contact with me throughout the whole process, even when she decided to take more time to devote to developing my board so it would be something she could be proud of, she let me know. And I didn’t think she took a long time at all. Aubrey is great! I’ll let her design speak for herself. And judging by the comments we both received on twitter and all of your comments on here already, I’m sure everyone agrees. The Kinch Life Design is a must see! Go check her out today.

And she doesn't just do blog design work, she also has other graphic design options to help you out. So anyone can benefit from her amazing talent.

Now I do still love my first blog design and I always will, but I just needed some new items now that I have a better feel for this whole blogging thing. But just for reminiscing sake, here’s what the old design used to look like. Still just as pink as I like it!

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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Wore: Black on Black on Black

I was feeling very chic and decided to wear the most classic thing ever – all black.

Something about putting this all forgiving color on just makes me feel so dressed up and ready for anything (well maybe not anything, I’m definitely not ready to hang around a bunch of cats that shed hair like crazy!).

Yes, I love pink and try to wear it when I can, but I must admit that black takes up quite a lot of space in my wardrobe. It’s just so easy to pair black with multiple items in my closet. But wearing all black is a very rare occurrence because I don’t want people to think I’m in mourning. I’m a very happy person who just happens to dress in less color sometimes. For no particular reason other than I feel pulled together and sleek in such a dark color.

Pants: Target. Black Tshirt: H&M. Cardigan/Shrug: LOFT. Shoes: DSW. Bracelet: Lou Lou. Necklace: gift.

Do you ever wear all black? What accessories do you pair with your all black outfit?

I’m linking up with Style Elixir for Style Sessions, The Pleated Poppy for What I Wore Wednesday, Because Shanna Said So for Random Wednesdays, Get Your Pretty On for I Feel Pretty and Hooah and Hiccups for Wildcard Wednesday.

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Have you checked out Kiersten over at Good Day Sunshine yet? If you are looking for AWESOME photography, some terrific writing and blog posts to put a smile on your face, you must click this link now.

Kiersten definitely takes advantage of this thing called life, you can tell just by looking through all of her photos, like this one:

The girl appreciates the beautiful things in life, and I’m kind of jealous of her college life and all that she gets to see and do. Just like me, she had dreams of living in New York City. But of course, she realized that where she is in her place in life is exactly where she needs to be.

In getting to know Kiersten through her blog, I realize we both have a lot in common. She is a journalism major who appreciates and vows to always read the written word. Me too girl, me too. Actual books and hand written cards are where it’s at.

I love what Kiersten says about her blog, so I’ll let her tell you it directly:

“I'm a 20-something college student, trying to make my way to the ‘real’ world, and hoping something will be there waiting for me when I make it. I've loved writing since I could take a pencil to paper, photography since my mom handed me my first Polaroid and the Beatles since my dad introduced me to Yellow Submarine. Good Day Sunshine is a collection of essays, stories and photographs inspired by life, The Beatles and the sunshine. It's my life, the best I know how to write it.”
One of my favorite regular posts on her blog? Her Friday Letters; so funny, cute and creative.

Isn't she great? I sure think so. Hit up Good Day Sunshine immediately! Just trust me.

Facebook / Twitter

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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Happy Anniversary!

Two years ago today I married the man of my dreams. Our wedding day was such an amazing time in our lives - all of the people we love were together in the same room, God was glorified through our wonderful ceremony (thanks Pastor Matt for such an encouraging service!) and my ultimate goal of our wedding was realized: people had tons of fun and still mention the wedding fun to me today!

Tolar and I are huge nerds who love to laugh and just have fun and we wanted our wedding to reflect that. We are still so thankful to our wedding party for dancing down the aisle and starting the whole day off with a bang. And to my parents - thank you so much for throwing us such a wonderful wedding. I so appreciate all you did to realize our special day.

And to Tolar - thank you for loving me the least on our wedding day. :) You have showered me with love every day since we became husband and wife and have made me feel like the most important person on earth. You are the love of my life and I will spend my days wondering what I did to deserve you.

All photos by Owens-Lugar Photography

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Two Tips Tuesday

#1:

My new favorite obsession? Pic Monkey. As I have admitted here on this blog, I am not that great at Photoshop. My skills are extremely remedial and it takes me awhile (plus plenty of youtube tutorials) to figure things out. Enter Pic Monkey. The website is a free photo editing site that is extremely user friendly. You can touch up your photos, add text, overlays and texture and pick different themes to enhance your photo. I have started using the site more and more to edit my photos and have saved so much time. So go check it out for all of your photo editing needs – your facebook profile pictures are just screaming for a little Pic Monkey action.

#2:

[via]

Sorry to make this tip kind of exclusive to moms, but you must check out BabySteals.com. This is like Living Social or Groupon, but for baby items. Each day they offer two deals (one at 9 a.m. and one at 9 p.m. MDT) on maternity and baby products. The deals are up to 80% off! I’m sure we all know that babies and kids are expensive, so this site should help save a little extra cash.

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Monday, March 25, 2013

Pregnancy Update

Quite a lot of people have asked how I am doing with my pregnancy – and I’m thankful for everyone checking in on me! So I decided to give everyone a little update on my progress.

How far along: 24 Weeks

Thoughts: I cannot believe I am over halfway there – in a little less than 4 months our sweet baby girl will be in my arms. That is quite exciting, but also quite terrifying. I do wish time would slow down a little bit because I feel like we have so much to learn and do before she arrives, but I know God will have prepared us for all we need to know once she is here.

Advice from friends and family with babies: Everyone is telling me to go on dates while it’s still just Tolar and me. And we have definitely followed that advice, in fact this weekend alone we went out on both Friday and Saturday night (Watch out world, a bunch of crazy kids are over here).

Baby: She weighs a little over a pound and is almost a foot long, about the size of an ear of corn. Her brain is growing quickly and her taste buds are continuing to develop (I sure hope she likes bananas and peanut butter, I’ve eaten my fair share). The baby’s lungs are developing branches of the respiratory tree and her skin is still translucent, but that will all change soon. Her heartbeat continues to be strong, I love hearing the sound whenever we go to the doctor.

Movement: I have felt her kicking since I was 18 weeks, but the past two weeks she has been very active. Her kicks are getting stronger and I am hopeful that Tolar will be able to feel her move soon. I grab his hand whenever I feel a good kick, but so far he hasn’t been able to feel anything.

Sleep: I’m not sleeping that well, I wake up at least three times each night. Unfortunately I am normally a back sleeper which isn’t a good position when you are pregnant. I try to turn from side to side, but it takes awhile to get comfortable. I did buy a Snoogle pillow (in pink of course!) and have tried it a few times; I will probably use it more as my belly gets larger.

Food: Luckily I haven’t really had any aversions to food since I’ve been pregnant. During my first trimester I did get a little nauseous whenever I smelled cooked chicken or ham, but that has passed (let’s get real – I was nauseous all day every day during my first trimester; I’m so happy to be finished with that stage). Grape tomatoes still continue to taste even better now that I am pregnant. I’ve always loved them but during my pregnancy the tomatoes taste amazing!

Preparing for baby: We are searching for childcare now and are quite overwhelmed. Luckily, we have lots of friends and my expert sister to give us plenty of advice. The nursery is underway; I found some bedding that I love, we decided on a glider and now we just have to add some accessories and paint the chevron wall. We also registered – now that was an experience, I think we need everything!

Prayer requests: I could definitely use your prayers for more sleep, because I recognize that once she gets here sleep will be quite the luxury. I also covet your prayers to lessen my fears during labor and delivery. I’m a pansy who DOES NOT handle pain well, like at all! So please if you think about it, pray for me to be calm and focus on the end result – my precious baby girl.

Thanks everyone for following along and for your prayers and congratulations thus far! Your support really means so much to me!

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Saturday, March 23, 2013

Let's Have Some Fun Together

Looking for some fun? Well you have come to the right place! Why not sponsor Pursuit of Pink for the month of April? Heck, if you don't want to wait until April 1, you can start now! Just click this link to learn about my sponsorship options and with a few simple clicks your ad will go up on my sidebar. The prices are low, but the love that I pour into your ad and sponsorship are high!

Here are a few facts that you should know about this place I call my portion of happiness on the internet:

BLOG STATS:

(As of March 23, 2013)

Pageviews per month: 8,000-9,000

Blog followers via GFC: 494

Twitter: 540

Facebook: 381

Instagram: 161

Pinterest: 221
Bloglovin: 186

All Pursuit of Pink posts also filter through 678 friends on my personal Facebook page.

I look forward to working with you all - and if you have questions or ideas on other ways we can work together, I'm always interested in talking with you!

Oh and don't forget the awesome March Group Giveaway I have going on now thanks to my wonderful sponsors and blog friends! The giveaway ends on Tuesday, so get your entries in now!

Hope to see you very soon lovelies!

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Friday, March 22, 2013

High Five For Friday

It’s the weekend and I’m so excited. I have plans to get my new office organized and start decorating the baby’s nursery. I love a productive weekend!

Here are my top five moments from the week:

1.) Can you resist these adorable pink baby shoes? I sure couldn't so I had to snatch them up. Yes, it will be awhile before our baby girl can wear these, but come on – the cuteness just took over!

2.) Eating a piece of pound cake from an Organic Market makes it healthy right? (It was totally worth the calories, so yummy)

3.) My sweet friend Katie brought me flowers on Wednesday night, just because. Isn't she the best?

4.) I got my Sugar n’ Spice Vox Box from Influenster, it was filled with awesome products for me to test out; I mean it was packed! I plan to try everything and then do a blog post for you all.

5.) Tolar totally surprised me when I got home from visiting my family. He cleared out my whole office (which will now become the nursery), built my new desk and moved it and my book case downstairs into his man cave, painted the nursery (we just have the one chevron wall left to complete!) and put together the crib and the book shelf. He is amazing!!! I was completely shocked and didn't expect him to do ANY of that while I was gone. I thought he was going to be busy all weekend. J

I hope you all had an awesome week. I’m linking up with Lauren over at From My Grey Desk for this fun High Five For Friday post. Go check out some other fab bloggers when you visit her blog.

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Thursday, March 21, 2013

March Group Giveaway - Winner Takes All

I am so excited to share with you this awesome group giveaway for the month of March from my amazing sponsors and blog friends! Below you will find all sorts of items that one lucky Pursuit of Pink reader will win – that’s right, you read that correctly…Winner Takes All!

All you have to do is enter using the rafflecopter below. You can enter as many times as you like, because there are plenty of options. Of course, the more options you complete, the better your chances are for winning. And with warmer temps right around the corner, wouldn’t you love to treat yourself to some new items? So go ahead, check out what everyone is giving away and get to entering.

**Please note, you can MOST CERTAINLY enter if you do not have a blog. If the winner does not have a blog, the gift card prizes will be awarded and a second winner will be chosen for the ad space prizes.**

(And if you want to be included in a future giveaway, check out my Sponsorship options here. I’d love to have you join us!)

Good luck everyone!

Bloglovin / Instagram

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

KitchenAid Mixer Giveaway

Today is the first day of spring!!

To celebrate, Newlywed Moments and friends are giving away a KitchenAid Mixer!!

Why? Because it's a newlywed must-have.

I absolutely love my mixer. I can just leave it mixing while I finish up another part of dinner! It is so very helpful!

One lucky reader will win this white-colored KitchenAid Classic Series 4.5 Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer!

Rules & Information:
-- Giveaway is open to U.S. readers only.
-- The winner will be verified, so please enter honestly.
-- The winner will be notified by email on 3/27/13 and will have 24 hours to respond.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Wore: Cardigans Save the Day

I simply adore cardigans and lightweight jackets because they are so versatile and help increase the size of your wardrobe. You can easily take your sleeveless/short sleeve dresses or shirts into colder months with the help of a cardigan. (Confession – I have a cardigan in virtually every color of the rainbow!)

Take this dress for example. This dress is a sleeveless dress that I bought last spring to wear on our trip to Hawaii. And it was perfect for the warm temperatures.

But since the colors are darker, the dress can easily be worn in more seasons than spring or summer.

Enter my trusty cardigan.

By adding this embellished cardigan, tights and a belt, I was able to create a totally different look from when I wore this dress while walking on the beaches of Honolulu. And because the cardigan has sleeves, I wasn’t worried about getting cold (don’t let the sun in these photos full you – it was really windy and chilly). And trust me, I’m a sucker for wearing jeans, a tank top, a cardigan and a scarf in the winter and then stripping off the cardigan (maybe not the scarf, they're versatile right?) in the summer. I just love how you can get more wear out of your wardrobe that way.

Dress: Kohl's. Cardigan: LOFT. Tights/Belt: Target. Shoes: Payless.

Do you have items in your closet that you like to wear year round? Tell me about it in the comments section below.

I’m linking up with Style Elixir for Style Sessions, The Pleated Poppy for What I Wore Wednesday, Because Shanna Said So for Random Wednesdays and Get Your Pretty On for I Feel Pretty.

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Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Two Tips Tuesday

Tip #1:

Have you heard of Bloglovin? If not, let me tell you why you should check it out. Bloglovin is an awesome website that ANYONE can join to follow their favorite blogs. You don’t have to be a blogger to join, its open to anyone who wants to sign up for an account. With the demise of Google Reader coming at the beginning of July, this is an excellent resource to help keep you up to date on all of your favorite blogs – including Pursuit of Pink of course!

All you have to do is create an account and then start searching for your favorite blogs. And actually, Bloglovin makes it super easy for you to continue following all of the blogs you currently follow – under the settings tab (once you create an account), you can import your blogs from Google Reader. Bloglovin then takes every blog that you follow and lists the posts for you on one webpage so you can follow along easily, no need to remember a million different blog URLs. I really like that Bloglovin also offers a tab called “Similar blogs” which you will find on every blog profile. This is a great way to become even more addicted to all of the fabulous blogs out there. They basically hand you blogs that you are sure to love!

So go check it out and be sure to click the icon above or below to follow Pursuit of Pink on Bloglovin. I don’t want to lose you guys once Google Reader goes away!

Tip #2: I’m going to get very sentimental with this tip, but spend as much time with your family as you can! I have already mentioned, I spent the whole weekend with my family as we celebrated the Baptism of my sweet nephew. As always, the time flew by and I have spent the past day in quite the sad funk because I miss my family and cuddle time with my little bug. Too often in this life, we let other details get in our way and rob us of quality time with family and close friends (and I am very guilty of this!). My tip and challenge to you is to truly cherish that time. Kiss your niece/nephew or baby or children as much as possible. Tell everyone in your family and all of your close friends that you love them and enjoy their company. Laugh with them, spend time with them, don’t let laundry or a to do list or even work get in the way. Life takes over more often than not and I find myself sad that I don’t get to visit with my family more often. I realize more and more every day just how important my family is to me and all I want to do is see them.

So now enjoy some fun photos from my weekend with the fam. And I'm not going to even apologize that every picture includes my nephew! (However I will apologize that there is a pic of me first thing in the morning, I just couldn't resist posting a pic of cuddle time!)