Friday 1/31

Thanks to Mandy Hale for this gem. 

Here's a great article with tons of reasons to love being single even more. 

She's got the power, she's barely 5 foot 2

If the work week was high school, Thursday would be the biggest tease in your grade.
Friday is so close but so far.
It's the first week of the broadcast week for us media people which means invoices on invoices on invoices. And what better way to zone out, or rather in, on your computer screen than to some good music.
Here are 10 songs I am currently loooving.
Happy Friday Eve!

hUmp dAy

This was just too too perfect not to share.

Gosh, wouldn't we all?

Happy Hump Day. 

Monogram Maddness

If it's not moving, monogram it.

Life mantra y'all. 

And as a working 20-something year old who is in constant need of  photo updates of her dog, what is always strapped to my body?

iPhone. 

ding ding ding

I discovered the Monogram App app literally the night I got my new phone and have been obsessed ever since. They are constantly updating the backgrounds and fonts in the app and even better have all the Lilly prints! The latest update included these precious state badges. What better way to say GO VOLS! ?

I posted a picture of my new background on Instagram and had a ton of girls ask what app it was from so I figured I would share my secret with the world. 

Happy monogramming! 

Weekend Recap: 1/25-1/26

This weekend was, I wouldn't say perfection, but pretty damn good. 

Friday night I worked late, ran through Publix, and was in bed by 10pm.

Saturday I went off the grid, literally. Lately I've been fully utilizing my Do Not Disturb setting, that thing is gold. So after working the entire weekend before I decided to have a DVR binge, random nap, sit in the tub till the water gets cold kind of day. 

It was magical!

Saturday night I got to re-live my college days with my little Molly spending the night! She was in town to help her sister and brother-in-law move in with the added bonus of getting a big little date. Saturday night we talked and gossiped and laughed till 1am. Sunday we brunched it up complete with a mimosa toast to April 26th [3 months from Sunday] when we would be having mimosas but with half marathon medals around our necks!

After brunch it was back to the real world and getting ready for the work week ahead: nails, tan, cross training, oh and a cheat Sonic Reese's blast. 

To quote Vineyard Vines, every weekend should feel this good.

Hope y'all had a good weekend and even better week!

What #ABeautifulMess I'm in

First, it was The Twitter.

Then, Facebook.

Now, Instagram.

I am a social media lover. 

I recently got the iPhone 5C and am in love with the 32GB of storage I am now blessed with [I had been working with 8GB and way too many pictures]. With ALL the storage I had for pictures I had to step up my game, especially since I love posting pictures on here for everyone to see. 

Hello A Beautiful Mess!

Yes this is the app everyone with those adorable pictures with precious words on them uses! I had some fun with it this week and probably convinced five or six friend to download it in the process. 

So, here is my Beautiful Mess of a week.

Download #ABeautifulMess today in the App Store! 

Friday 1/24

Lord, it has been a long week.

Last night I was literally fanned across the couch, one leg on the back of the sofa the other hanging off, scrolling through Tumblr and came upon this gem.

For some reason it struck me as hilarious. I could not stop laughing.

So, if you've had a lousy week, a good week, or the best week ever I hope this brings you a giggle too.

Ladies who Lunch

Oh yes, I am embracing my Southern roots and becoming a "luncher." 

The thought of Copper Kettle was what got me out of bed this morning. And through posts this afternoon. And the wonderful yummy that is their Carrot Cake will be getting me through take home work tonight.

The best part though? 

Getting to sit and yack and gossip and laugh with the wonderful Tiernee. Oh, and the Nashville skyline as our back drop wasn't too bad either. 

So for your next lunch or Sunday brunch get your butt in some leggings [this is a no judging blog] and skadaddle over to 1st Ave South and the land of green been casserole, mac n' cheese, and really deep wooden booths [my favorite!]

Styling for a Snowglobe

In case you've missed the 97 screen shots of the iPhone weather app on Instagram, it is frAAAAA-eezing. And I'm not just talking about the Southern definition of "freezing" it is legitimately 8 degrees out. 

This calls for layering. Specifically, my favorite kind of layering, all JCrew everything.

I decided to go with red nails for Morgan's shower last weekend so I had to break out the red pants this week. My power [party, on the weekend] pants paired with a layered chambray top and red nautical knit make me very happy this Friday Eve. 

Let go and let God

I could feel the breakdown coming.

All it took was one text to give me a gentle push over the edge.

"I'm feeling angry and single" was my good night text to mom.

24 hours later, I was feeling a little less angry to talk.

My mom was 27 when she finally met my dad, her person. She had a good chunk of her 20s to date "the same damn assholes" [her words], live, and learn. Yes, it's frustrating. And annoying. And really sucky sometimes. But, "it's just not your [my] time yet Lina" In lieu of getting all Christian Mingle on you, it's God's plan right now not mine. So I'll just keep doing good and being happy, just like mom told me. And the next time I get to feeling angry and single I'll just remember I can order Lilly Pulitzer bedding and not have a boy to get all huffy over it. 

Weekend Recap: 1/18-1/19

Everybody's working on the weekend! 

That's how the song goes right?

I'll just say it now, my weekend was boring and full of audits and TV guides; things you never want to see after 5:30pm on Friday. But don't feel bad for me just yet, I had a wonderful time at Morgan's shower [read all about that] Saturday morning and a super yummy Sunday dinner with my sweet neighbors in town from TX. 

My "Kitchen Bouquet" for Morgan!

Woke up early Sunday morning to have some personal time with my planner and new Southern Living. Then it was off to the office with all the necessitates. Seven hours later and a whole lot done I could finally relax for a nice 12 minute nap in the tanning bed. Hello warmth.

Hopefully this week will fly by since Molly comes to town Saturday!! Hope y'all had a good weekend and a not too Manic Monday.

#MrsClings

It's always funny when you're laying in bed on a Saturday morning trying to remember how you and one of your good friends first met. Morgan McCormack was, to me, the super pretty blonde accounting major Phi Mu who I would see around a certain fraternity house and was always super nice. The first time we ever really hung out, besides greek events, was my 21st birthday. 

-I had deactivated my Facebook since I had just survived a break up and wanted to go off the grid for a couple days. Well this happened to overlap with my birthday. Morgan texted a friend of mine [who happened to be sitting right next to me at the time] to make sure I was okay because she couldn't find me on FB to wish me a happy birthday. Morgan had recently stopped dating a boy from the same fraternity too so we invited her out with us for the big 2-1 celebration. We had an absolute blast and the rest is history.- 

Steeplechase, Re-Bar nights, drunk men asking us to reorganize their wallets at Tin Roof [the night the epic "You're from Chicago, do you work for Obama?" quote was born], Halloween on Broadway, more birthday dinners, and loads more snarky texts all lead us to this morning and Morgan's wedding shower [and yes that boy she had just stopped dating, well he wised up and put a ring on it.] I can not wait for April 26th and all the memories to come! Happy Shower day [finally] Morgan! 

#MrsClings

Friday 1/17

Pick me up lord, every day

There's this rule about siblings. You can mess with them all you want, but the minute someone else decides to make a stray comment about them it's on y'all! I had ice cream [for dinner] with the little brother last night to celebrate his first day of classes. We talked about everything under the moon [I will not list those topics, to protect our reputations] but we somehow came full circle to the onging family joke of me trying to kill Joe. It's quite funny really, I would do everything I could think of to hurt him [my favorite was pinching cheeks] and yet when mom would confront the small child with BRIGHT RED cheeks he would never rat me out. 

-oh, don't worry, he got his revenge when he split my head open a couple years down the road-

I love the phase we're in as siblings, we're more friends than brother/sister. I couldn't be prouder of him right now and all he's doing. 

Whenever we hang out [aka get something to eat] I always try and get a picture with the kid. He gets more than just his hair from mom; he hates pictures. So I end up using the excuse of us having to send a picture to mom or I take one when he's not paying attention. And just like when I use to pinch his cheeks he always lets me send mom the picture. 

This week has been just gosh darn terrible, like no good awful. I all but exploded in the middle of Maggie Moo's Hendersonville last night. And Joe sat there to listened, paused, and then "People are mean, Sissi." And he's right, people are mean. But with a little brother like Joe I think I'm gonna make it.

Pretty in Prints

Every since I moved into my sweet little loft in April I have been bound and determined to perfect the floor to ceiling built in book shelf I have in my bedroom. Lord knows I had enough books to fill the shelves but as any girl knows, it's all about the accessories. I had gone round and round with picture frames, box frame quotes, flowers, heck even the occasional Tervis [I kid, but really.]

And then it all came together.

Joe and Mom hit me with the perfect one two punch this past Christmas with a trio of colorful owls and a gorgeous pink jewelry box [to compliment my pink striped "Victoria's Secret" arm chair.] These goodies paired with my iron Eiffel Tower looked bomb, but my top shelf was letting the team down. 

Enter Mary Beth Goodwin. 

I follow her Etsy boutique on Instagram and had been eyeing a couple of her prints for a while. Well, this past week the design gods were on my side and she ran a $5 print and free shipping sale. 

HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH!  

My book shelf has never looked better, oh my sink got a little more southern to boot. 

Check out her boutique through the link above. She has all kinds of goodies: phone cases, notebooks, prints, desk calendars, cut-out necklaces [and all monogrammed, of course.] 

On Wednesdays we lunch

There's a bond between graduates of the University of Tennessee's Adv and PR program. And it's not just because we're all amazing, successful, and good looking. Nope, it's because we survived. I will put my hand on a Bible and swear that Blakeman was trying to kill us junior year. 

There's a good group of us who landed jobs in Nashville and although we live and work within miles of each other meets up happen rarely, if ever. So when I ran into Tiernee last week in the razor blade isle of Target we made all but a blood pact to meet up for lunch ASAP. 

So now on Wednesdays, we lunch. 

Corner Pub was as close to Knoxville and bings as we could get. And, with a similar set of new year's resolutions, I think it's safe to say we have some great adventures ahead of us in 2014. 

VFL baby.

You know Where the City is

So, I know, I'm late to the party.

I'm a stubborn girl.

 Maggie and I have a Spotify playlist cleverly titled "Work" [yes, we work in advertising] that we have on shuffle from sun up to sun down [literally, 4pm sunset? eww.] There was a certain song that kept popping up that I was really loving on. A little musical investigating and wa-la: Chocolate by The 1975. Yes, that The 1975, the band that everyone and their mommas have been tweeting/instagraming/whatevering for the past couple months. Again, I openly admit I'm late to this beautifully soundtracked party. So, in a throw back post to my Wordy Wednesday days, I wanted to share with y'all The 1975.

Pekarsk-ing Around's The 1975 Top 3:
1. The City
2. Robbers
3. Chocolate

Hope your ears enjoy this album just as much as mine have been!
Happy Hump day!

Pesky Tuesday

Today was, as dad would say "a character building day."

I would call it freaking annoying. 

But another day down. Another day closer to the weekend. And a lot learned today.

Push it, Push it real good?

Last week I laid it all out there by listing my resolutions. Yesterday I talked about a blog resolution but today I'm back to the list hanging on my bulletin board. Can you sense the theme for this week's posts? 

My main goal of 2014 is to run 13.1 in 2 hours or less. 

Wait..back up: this was my main goal of 2012. And I missed it by twelve minutes. 2:12 is the time that haunts me. Dang bathroom breaks. Y'all, hold it. Your time will be worth it. 

Okay, back to what I was rambling about. 13.1, sub 2. 

I will be completely honest in saying this scares the hell out of me. 

Can I really do this again? Heck, 5 miles feels like a marathon right now. 

But after a lunch date/pep talk with the little brother I am hydrated and motivated.

How motivated you ask? I ran in the dang rain last night.

My last 13.1 I trained for without a plan. I also had no more than three classes a day and could run 6 miles at two in the afternoon. This time, eh not so much. Joe runs with a Garmin, but he also doesn't run with music like I do. So I went off in search for an app I could use to track my training and *bonus* could set a training plan for me. 

Hellllo Nike Running+

Download it. 

The new "Coach" feature is amazing. I now have a 12 weeks training plan with my goal pace loaded complete with run reminders waiting to kick my butt starting February 3rd. Till then I can do Distance Runs or Speed Runs to get my butt ready for this thing.  Oh, and lots and lots of chocolate milk.

See ya soon April 26th. I'm coming for ya this time. 

[NO bathroom breaks]

Work Week Warriors

Mom found this in a magazine a couple weekends back and now it hangs front and center on my bulletin board. This is such a wonderful quote and words to always remember! 

Weekend Recap: January 11-12

Last week I shared my personal new year's resolutions with y'all, but while planning out some upcoming posts this weekend I decided to come up with some blogging resolutions as well. One of my favorite bloggers and designers Ashley Brooke posts a Weekend Lookbook every Monday. I love these posts! It's always so much fun to see what people get into on the weekends. 

So Pekarsk-ing Around resolution #1: weekend recaps! 

Here's what I got into this weekend, complete with pictures and a fashionable appearance by Sophie:

Saturday morning I perked myself up with a quick visit to Sun Tan City and then off to the office for a good four hour work session with Maggie. We thought we were busy before Christmas, HA. We've got audits AND posts due this month. But if you've got to work on a Saturday might as well do it with Chipotle. 

Then it was off to Hendersonville for football, pizza, and beer! Sophie was stylin and profilin in my infinity scarf. This was the best picture I could get.

Sunday was full of errands, recipe planning, and lazy TV watching. I refused to watch football, but did rep my Steelers while grocery shopping!

Sunday night I wrapped myself up on the couch and watched ALL the Golden Globe coverage, I'm talking pre-red carpet to the last award. Topped the night off with a long talk with mom, full of laughter and life advice [be on the look out for a future post on what I talked her ear off about.] 

Did you do anything fun this weekend?

Stay dry this rainy Monday!

I like big books and I can not lie

One of my resolutions for this year was to turn off the TV and get lost in a book more nights a week. So I wanted to share the stack of books on the end of my couch I am hoping to work my way through by May. 

Why May?

Because that's when the new Emily Giffin comes out! 

Emily's own description of the book gave my book worm self heart palpitations

"It’s a story about love and friendship set against the backdrop of Texas football. Think Friday Night Lights meets When Harry Met Sally."

But I digress, here are my beautifully bound best friends for the next couple months:

1. Dark Places- Gillian Flynn [yes the same author as Gone Girl, get ready!]

2. Beautiful Ruins- Jess Walter [will probably pass this one off to mom as soon as I'm done, we're a sucker for an Italian setting]

3. Keep Calm and Carry a Big Drink- Kim Gruenenfelder [same author as There's Cake in My Future, hot Southern mess characters #obsessed]

4. The Single Woman- Mandy Hale [don't worry, I haven't given up on love yet. A great read for any 20-something]

5. Jesus Today- Sarah Young [I think it's becoming a tradition to add a new Sarah Young devotional every New Year's Day] 

Happy reading to me! 

p.s. if any of y'all have recommendations please please let me know! 

Should old acquaintance be forgot, and old lang syne

Pekarsk-ing Around 2014 Resolutions:

1. Less TV, more reading

2. 150% at work, every day

3. Mass, devotionals, journaling
4. Explore my city, and brunch-ing is a must

5. $ave money

6. 13.1 in under 2 hours

7. Say "I love you"

Keeping it short but sweet this year!

What are some of your resolutions? 

Friday posts are back!

Happy first full work week back TGIF.

2013, CYA!

So here it is, like I promised, Pekarsk-ing Around's Year in Review.

Buckle Up, it was a bumpy one!

January: Well, NYE was an absolute bust but New Years day I made one of the best purchases of my adult life, Jesus Calling. My media placements were complimented in a client meeting by the client AND I returned to Rocky Top to guest lecture ADV 490: Social Media!

February: Well, Valentine's Day was an absolute bust but work was trucking right along!

March: I BOUGHT A HOUSE! It's a two story loft, but to me it's my very first house.

April: I MOVED INTO MY HOUSE! Half marathon weekend, in the rain, and almost got killed my a bed frame. But we did it!! [I say "we" because I could have never done any of this without my sweet family] And accepted a position on Ad2 Nashville's Board! 

May: May was full of graduations and celebrations! I got to see one of my very best friends and had my first house warming party!

June: MY BIRTHDAY! And Oller's Nashville bachelorette party, I danced on a bar...

July: July was an interesting one. Moved offices. My grandmother died. The Pekarsky family ventured up to Pittsburgh [Ohio is the loooongest state ever]. I finally got to see dad's beloved Pitt and geek out at Hienz Field. 

August: Oh lord...Said goodbye to my first job. I guess filing for Unemployment is a life moment?

September: September was momma and Joe's birthday month, I applied for jobs right and left. Got to celebrate my best friend Sara's bachelorette party AND watch her finish her first half marathon all in one day!

October: WEDDINGS Y'ALL! Celebrated the Lunns and the Leitchs on back to back weekends. Got a job offer, started a job, and love my job! It was also Dad's birthday month!

November: Thanksgiving!!! I conquered not one but two Southern Living recipes! 

December: Maggie and I finished audits in record breaking time so we could fully enjoy our two weeks of Christmas bliss. Wonderful long weekend in the mountains with just mom and dad [and Sophie]. Amazing Christmas full of love. And mNw got engaged!!
Oh and, NYE was not a bust this year! 

So here's to 2014! Bring it on yo!

2, zero, 1, and a four

I haven't had time to sit down and do a 2013 recap or even a short and simple resolutions post. I owe y'all one of each. But for now I'll simply post this. 

I had a long talk with mom when we were up in the mountains for a long weekend after Christmas about my year from hell, 2013. Per usual, mom had the right point of view about all the crazy that turned my life upside down last year. 

It was the year that defined who I am. It made me stronger. It got me ready for the road ahead.

So for this post I simply leave y'all with this: