Starting today and going forward you can come link-up any and all of your social media platforms that you'd like to grow. Each week (starting next week) I will focus on one social media below and tell you my tips for optimizing it! Grab the button and spread the word! If you are interested in co-hosting in the future - definitely email Shaylee (email below). Can't wait to network with you!
The rules are thus: follow your hosts and co-hosts via GFC and all other social media sites that they have linked up, visit/follow/like as many links as you can,
link up to as many social media sites that apply to you,
share, tweet, and blog about this link party if you so wish,
grab the button {below},
and have fun meeting new people!
If you would be interested in hosting this party permanently, or co-hosting it periodically, send an email to {shaylee.motheratheart@gmail.com}. Anyone is accepted - there's no limit to the hosts. :)
If you think of another site that you would like to see in this linkup, leave a comment and tell us!
Alright, ladies! Button-up, link-up, and meet-up! :)
Tell us about you >>> I am a Christian, wife, and electrical engineer with a dose of sarcasm. I have lived in the Seattle area for my entire life and couldn't imagine living anywhere else. My favorite thing to do in life is to travel and my list of places to visit is a mile long. I tend to be somewhat spastic and once I get an idea in my head that I want to try I obsess about it until I actually get the project started. Being a cliche Seattle-ite, I love my coffee and have perfected my daily mocha.
Tell us about your family >>> My husband and I met in highschool and started dating in 2003. We got married in July 2006 at the church that I grew up in. Brad is an owner of a tech support company, and loves to tech-out our house (this past week's project was a video surveillance system). We have 2 cats, Pico & Pixel; along with 2 dogs, Princess & Pip. This "P" name convention will not continue with our kids. Every year since we have been married I have made Brad get a Santa picture and for the past few years the dogs have joined us.
I also consider my friends part of my family. My closest group of friends is unusual in the fact that most of us have known each other from Kindergarten and early elementary. These friends also tend to be test subjects on the recipes and crafts I make.
Tell us about your blog >>>
After joining Pinterest last summer I wanted to share all of the projects that I attempted so Adventures of Brad & Kendra was born. Ever year around our anniversary I make a shutterfly book documenting the year with the same title so I felt it was fitting for the blog too.
Being an engineer I never really considered myself creative; however, I'm discovering that I am a lot more creative than I ever gave myself credit for. My Silhouette Cameo and I are starting to become best friends.
This summer I will continue to be posting about canning and any craft projects that I make. I'm working on getting an Etsy shop put together since I never buy the materials to create just one item and find that crafting is an amazing relaxer.
***
I've been loving getting to know Kendra this month as I've followed her blog.
Today - she has a special prize bundle for one very lovely BaxtronLife reader!
I hope you've been enjoying my BlogHer12 Recaps - I promise I'm almost done with them - in fact, the next and last one is going to be all of the great tips I learned while there, so check back this week for that one!! Today - I want to share my Sunday after BlogHer officially ended. Let's start with a little swag show-off:
I know this might look like a lot of swag, and trust me - I'm super grateful for the generosity of the brands and reps that gave them out. Everyone loves a little freebie here and there. But, I have to say - the most awesome swag I received was the business cards of PR/Brand Reps and personal connections from the conference. <3
Sunday BlogHer held their Family Fun Day event sponsored by the Oogieloves Great Adventure. I originally had no intention of signing up for this - but as the event came closer I thought it would be great to take advantage of a special opportunity for Zion.
The event had yummy picnic food, tents and tunnels, glitter tattoos, coloring stations, and the ultimate bouncy house - all inside the Chelsea Piers field house. I was so excited for the chance to spend some quality time with Zion that I decided I didn't really want to network - I wanted to hang out with my little lady - who I missed!!
We had such a fun time - Zion didn't want to leave. As we left, we were given a few fun things from the sponsors to take home, including: a glitter tattoo kit, stickers, a fun mobile to put together and a tent set. We can't wait for the Oogieloves movie to come out this month on Oogust 29th! (August).
It wasn't long after leaving that I looked down at my little lady and saw she was totally spent.
If you've missed my other BlogHer12 recap posts - you can catch them here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
One thing that I wish I had done during Zion's first year was a monthly milestone picture. There are so many amazing baby portrait ideas for how to do this - but none of them make it easier than this creative product I want to share with you today!
Picky Sticky Baby Month Onesie Stickers allow you to turn any ordinary onesie or t-shirt into a creative milestone marker which you can use in all of your creative baby portrait ideas.
Just peel and stick!! I love that this product was designed by a Mom, and with other moms in mind. Here are some of my favorite Picky Sticky designs:
Which one is your favorite? Let me know in a comment below for a chance to win a pack of your choice of Picky Sticky baby month onesie stickers! Don't have kids? These are a great baby shower gift for any expecting mama, so enter anyway!
Before you start entering this fun giveaway - I want to show you a few other great products from the Picky Sticky shop:
Stickers for the expecting mama - which can be put directly on the belly or on a cute tee or tank, stickers for your young child, and stickers for the major milestones or holidays (not shown).
I thought it would be funny to put a Zero on my shirt since I'm currently TTC. ;)
Don't have kids? These are a great baby shower gift for any expecting mama, so enter anyway!
I realize this has taken me forever to get to, but I need to finish writing my posts about the conference for future reference - so if you've heard enough about the event already - just skip this post and head right down to my Beauty Box Reveal or my collection of Pale Yellow for the Fall!
Ahhh Saturday. The day I threw that beautiful google calendar plan in the garbage and decided to just wing it through the event. Let me start with saying - after Friday night, I was gravely tired - like first two weeks post-partum tired. I decided to skip breakfast at the conference and take my time getting ready to go - instead relaxing a bit before heading to the event.
When I arrived at the Hilton - I went straight for the expo hall. I had decided that I wanted to spend my time there, meeting with PR Reps and Connecting with Brands. I just found that I made the best connections there. I scheduled a head and neck massage for later that afternoon at the Pfizer Booth. I learned about all kinds of new products - including:
Lifeproof iPhone cases - a must have for a mama with small kiddos!
And the Zeo Sleep Manager - a new at-home tool that helps you to get restful sleep.
While in the Expo Hall - I received the BEST compliment ever - "Are you a Fashion Blogger?" Hello - I love you, can I kiss you!? That was such a boost right there - of course I said no, and thanked the brand rep. for their very sweet compliment.
After spending all morning in the Expo Hall - I realized that I had completely spaced on my Geek Bar appointment to learn about the new SquareSpace 6 - the platform I plan on moving over to when I leave my lovely home at Google/Blogger. (I'm totally NOT doing Wordpress folks! When I get ready to switch I will share with you all why!)
L-R: Me, Kirby & her adorable daughter G, & part of Gangstagrass
Mid-day it was time for the Awesome Baby Blogs Social with a very special live performance of Gangstagrass. Hello - they are amazing. Wow. So amazing I have to share a track with you right now.
It was such a fun time of meeting other members from the ABB Directory and just enjoying some time away from the chaos of the hotel.
Immediately after the social I headed up to the 42nd floor of the hotel to schedule in some time with Starbucks and the other suites. Unfortunately it took me FOREVER to get up there with only 3 elevators going there at any time. Almost as soon as I got up there, I turned around and headed down to my massage.
Just as I arrived...the scheduler was turning down a beautiful preggo lady because their spaces were all filled. I knew immediately who it was and I was so excited to meet Ilana from MommyShorts! I love her blog - and so I said, "Hey, you know what - you can have my massage!" She immediately tried to turn it down - thinking I was giving it up because she is pregnant, and I said - nope its not that - I'm just a super big fan! She still refused, but took my business card (yay)! What a fun chance to make an impression on a blogger I look up to! <3
After enjoying my massage - I had to high-tail it over to the Getting Gorgeous party hosted by CVS.
At Getting Gorgeous - I got to check out a ton of fun products and connect with Melly Atkinson from My PB and J! I think we were both a little tired and weary at this point. Plus - waiting in epic lines is never a fun way to spend your day.
I rushed back to the hotel after spending a short time there and made it just in time for my Starbucks Verismo demo! Now, as a Seattle native, I consider myself a part of the coffee elite. Everyone knows that if you live in Seattle, Starbucks is rarely a choice of places to go for coffee - you just have so many wonderful local coffee houses that are amazing and worth going to. However; now that I live in NYC - Starbucks is the ONLY reliable place for a great cup of coffee. Its either that or what I like to call "coffee water" - the stuff served at most cafe's and carts in this city. Anyway, the demo is for their new single cup "pod" brewing system that will hit the shelves just in time for the holidays. Because they haven't given me one for free (yet) I'm going to not give you the run-down...but get ready friends - it is amazing!
After the demo - I popped in to see what was going on with the NY Moms meet-up. Then I headed down to take a rest before the first ever BlogHer Fashion Show. It was around this time (I think) that I did a wall sit to recharge my batteries (as well as my iPhone). And this is where the first major high of the day occurred.
I was so blessed to spend a good 30-45 minutes having a sweet sit-down chat with Alissa from Rags to Stitches. We both chatted about what God was speaking to us in our lives with our various ventures. And I just remember feeling at the end of the convo - wow, so much of what she said was Him speaking through her to me. I seriously will treasure that conversation - as it has helped me to really focus on what God wants me to do going forward in terms of my life, blogging and dreams.
The high continued through the Fashion Show - an amazing and inspiring event that I am super glad that I didn't miss, especially because I didn't really plan on attending it. The evening went on from there to party after party - none of which are really worth mentioning. :) I said my good-byes and headed home, very much missing my hubby and daughter after the whirlwind of the weekend.
Read Part 1 & Part 2 here. And stay tuned - I have one more recap post - as well as a very helpful list of take-aways coming this week! And then you won't hear another word about BlogHer from me - at least for another year! <3 <3
Thanks to the LOVELY and not so plain Jade, at An Organized Mess, I was spoiled with a bunch of e.l.f. cosmetics, as well as some other fabulous items in my Beauty Box from the swap! I had such a great time participating in this!! <3 <3
My beauty box from Jade arrived RIGHT before BlogHer, so I got to try out a bunch fo the items one of the days I was at the conference - and LOVED them!! <3
Thank you SO MUCH JADE! And HAPPY Birthday!! <3 <3
I sent a Beauty Box to the lovely Aimee at Aimee's World - I was really nervous about whether or not she would like the things I picked out, having never done anything like this before. And I didn't shop off her blog beauty list (cause I didn't find it until after) so I was even more worried when I hadn't got any of the items on her list! (I shopped off the small description provided to me by the hosts of the swap)! Eeeep! See if she liked it on her reveal post here.
Natalie! Feel free to grab the button, and flaunt it!
Each week a winner is chosen to flaunt the title of "Winning at Pinning" for successfully wowing us with the best Pinterest find. The winner will be featured/announced in the following week's post!
