New Days

From one ending comes another beginning.

My trusty Dell died yesterday. It was quite sad... I lost a lot of pictures, files, etc. I had planned my wedding on that computer, started my photography business, and learned how to use photoshop! Never the less, Dells were not intended to last forever and mine contracted a nasty virus that even wiping the hard drive didn't fix :( So. My wonderful husband bought me a MacBook Pro :) I love it.

So, in a bad situation a good thing may arrive.

Now, to apply this principle to my stressed out life. Haha.

Home

Whenever I've had a bad day or I'm extremely tired it's like a switch flips in my head and all I can think is "I want to go home, I want to go home, I want to go home." But I'm sitting on my couch in my "home". So why do I still have this yearning for "home"?

Not feeling so hot today... God's plans are running on an entirely different schedule than mine and while I know His timing is perfect, patience has never been my strong suit.

On a (maybe not so) unrelated note, I was listening to an interview on the radio today and the person was talking about how hard it is to deal with the death of a dream. I think that when dealing with death, in any form, you must allow yourself to grieve in order to move on. If you don't allow yourself to do so eventually the grief will eventually express itself in other ways...

It's been an interesting day.

Band Camp!

Today is the last day of band camp! What a week it has been too! We've learned all of the pre-game drill and memorized all the music for it. We've also began learning our half time drill and we've memorized through the middle of "spiderman". The weather has been gorgeous this week and this morning is no different. We're finishing up our last field rehearsal of band camp in only moderate heat ;)
Last night was the annual band luau and we all had a blast. Winners of the men's belly flop and women's cannonball contest were impressive to say the least! Lots of food and swimming later and we're all back at the field ready to finish strong! Make sure to become a fan of our Facebook page to check out all the pictures from the week!

Disney Name Tag Countdown

I just discovered this and I am SO excited! I may not actually be going when this says I am but a Disney name tag with my name on it and a countdown?! So cool!

upgrade

The next few weeks are going to be filled with lots of upgrades! I just got my second new lens! I am SO excited, it is definitely my nicest lens so far and I have to say... my camera looks legit! I'm also doing a major overhaul on my photography website this week, starting with lots of new pics. Here is one that will be taking center stage for awhile.

More details to come! I hope your Monday has been fantastic and this week has lots of exciting things in store for you!

Oh, what a wonderful morning

This is my current view this morning.



I scheduled a massage for this morning since I've had a headache for a full week now. The salon is running a little behind which is fine with me. They gave me some sparkling cider (grape too, my favorite!) and I'm getting to catch up on all my favorite style magazines all in a very relaxing atmosphere. The music is soft and relaxing and the workers all speak in hushed tones, the colors are beautiful shades of beige and everything is very plush. I'm the only one here, I guess Tuesday's aren't a very popular day for salon visits but I am perfectly okay with that.

There are a lot of exciting things happening in the next few weeks. This week is my last week as a social work intern. I'm actually pretty sad about that but I'm praying that a position will open up soon so I can continue doing this job I love so much. Next week I should be getting in 2 new camera lenses I've been covering for months as well as my very own copy of Photoshop! Then next weekend is our friends Leisa and Ryan's wedding. Luke is a groomsmen and will be playing in their quintet which I will also be playing in.

Luke and I practiced together yesterday and we had so much fun. Rehearsing together was really what brought us together in the first place. He was helping me with our school's wind ensemble audition piece and we would spend hours playing our instruments together. It was a lot of fun going back to that yesterday.

After the wedding I will be getting my braces off! And from there everything will undoubtedly be on fast forward to band camp and the looming marching band season.

In other news, my sister and I and 2 of our friends went to busch gardens this past weekend. It wasn't what I was expecting (remember this is the girl who lived at disney world for 6 months) but it was still a lot of fun.











And a cute puppy picture to perk up your Tuesday morning.

Happy 3rd... 4th... 5th... of July?

Happy July everyone! This weekend has been very eventful for us, we ended up making a spontaneous trip to Washington D.C. to watch their fireworks and it was a blast! (no pun intended, haha) We were definitely tourists, well mainly I was... but we had a lot of fun. My sister and our friend Leisa went with us and between our search for the capital building and the mad dash across town so I could see the White House (which ended up being blocked) we made lots of memories. 
Here is Elizabeth and Leisa on their way to the metro!

Luke and I on the metro... 

he likes to make fun of me because I'm a tourist but really I think he likes that I'm so obnoxiously excited about everything :)

Me and my sister, Elizabeth, on the metro! She's living with us for now until school starts in early August. It's going really well and it's so nice to be able to spend so much time with her. Love this kid :)

Group picture! (while the rest of our car looked on, haha)

Can you read the sign? Haha, it says something about no trespassing! This is in front of the house of representatives... maybe the senate? Either way it's a pretty darn cute picture!

Luke and I in front of the capital!

The fireworks... and our last stop of the night, Wawa!!! Luke and I had never been and it was absolutely delicious! I had a philly cheese steak sandwhich that was literally the best I ever had and chili cheese ruffle chips! Delicious!

After arriving back home at 3:30am, this morning was easier than I thought. I have 8 cups of coffee in a thermos waiting on me and nice hot mug already filled up :) I kind of feel like I got bumped by a bus, not full on hit, but bumped definitely, haha.

This weekend definitely remind me of a quote from Gretchin Rubin, the author of "The Happiness Project".

"The days are long, but the years are short."

Even though yesterday seemed like the longest day ever when we were sprinting across DC, it also seems like just a second ago that I was holding my baby sisters hands when she would be afraid of the dark. Now look at us. So live it up folks! Make the trip, invest in relationships, and don't be afraid to experience this wonderful thing called life!

June 30, 2011

WARNING YOU ARE NOW ENTERING A RANT IN PROGRESS...
First of all. No, I am not pregnant.
Second of all. No, we are not currently trying.

Okay, now that's out of the way. If we did get pregnant you had better believe that child would be our everything. We would be happy and we would love that baby and we would work as hard as humanly possibly to give that child the world. In fact, I believe that is what most parents would do. Most sane, fully functioning, loving, normal parents. However, it seems that there are a plethora of people that do not fit that description and yet have children. Children that do not have the benefit of someone that loves them to the moon and back. I think that is the saddest thing on the face of this planet. And that, my friends, is why I am going to be a social worker. Because there are people out there that would love a child to the moon and back fifty times and they are looking for that child. And I am going to help them find that child. And if for some reason there is a child that I cannot find the family he or she is supposed to be with. Then by goodness I am going to do my best to at least show that sweet innocent child that even though it doesn't seem like it, there is good in this world. There are people out there with love that overflows, there are times when your heart is so happy it feels like your flying and there is a reason to keep going. There are people out there who need them. They just don't know it yet, but when they find them it will be worth every step they took to get there.

So that's where I'm at on Day 1 of this "365" journey. Passionate, a little irate... and unfortunately without an outlet to help. (P.S. The only social work job within an hour driving distance was taken off the job website today. Sadness abounds.)

But there's good news. Tomorrow is a new day (and I don't have to go to work til noon!) :) I will leave you with a quote I found today...

Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do i t. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. -Howard Thurman

Now go live.

 

A 365 project?

I'm considering using this blog as a one year snapshot (although I guess that would be a long exposure... Haha photography humor) of my journey post graduation. I think it'll be fun, maybe I'll start later today :)

Until then I'll be work work working my day away :)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

In the air

Today we are flying to Asheville, NC to visit Luke's family. I love visiting but I do not love flying to get there. I get super motion sick in the little plane he flies, I'll be very glad when he starts flying those big commercial jets! Here Are some pictures of us this
morning :)










I hope that you are all enjoying the beginning of this beautiful weekend!

...because it takes more than pixie dust
Ashley :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My how things change

It amazes me how much things change in life. This time last year I was completely involved in my upcoming wedding and could barely focus on school or anything else in my life. I had a job waiting for me when we got back from our honeymoon and I was excited for it. Fast forward to today and I am stressing out about finals and graduation while looking forward to a much needed beach weekend for our one year anniversary. Where does the time go?

It seems strange to me that I'm graduating college. That I'm married. That I have a salaried job. Sometimes I look in the mirror and think "Who is that?" I'll be 23 next week. 23 seems iconic to me for some reason. Or maybe every new age seems that way. Like a new adventure waiting to be embarked on. 22 seemed full of romance and growing up, getting married, being an adult. Now, looking back, 22 seems so young, so naive. I'm sure when 24 rolls around 23 will seem young too. My Dad turned 50 a couple weeks ago. I wonder what it's like to be 50 and look back on all that life. Yet, his question was similar to mine, "Where did the last 30 years go?". I guess no one really knows where the time goes, and it doesn't seem to be any different from 23 to 50.

There once was a little boy named Bradley

It was a regular day at the Magic Kingdom. I was scheduled to work at the Liberty Tree Tavern being "friends" with Chip. I had done this shift before I knew the rotation. It was a fun place to work, relaxed atmosphere, good break room. I was looking forward to it.

My second time out in the restaurant Chip is going from table to table hugging and signing autographs, taking pictures with little kids while they ooooh'd and awwwww'd over his apron and scarf/handkerchief. Everything was normal.

Then Chip saw a group of people all wearing the same shirt at the next group of tables. Fun, a family on vacation. Cute. So Chip went over and the most adorable little boy ran around the table and hugged Chip tight. Chip knelt down and held the boy at arms length to read his shirt, pointing at each word, the mother read Chip the shirt, "Bradley's Buddies: Volunteering at Give Kids the World" ...Give Kids the World (the resort for the Make*A*Wish kids)! Chip pointed at the words and started clapping and pointed at himself and then the shirt. "You volunteer there too, Chip?" the mom was good at charades. Violently shaking his head yes, Chip wanted to speak so badly! The mom started to tear up and Chip was confused, the little boy was still holding on tight. "You can be one of Bradley's buddies, too!" the Mom said, "Bradley was his (pointing to the little boy clutching Chip) twin brother. He passed away 2 years ago. We come back every year to volunteer at Give Kids the World and come to Disney World." The boy, Bradley's brother, was so small. He couldn't have been more than 10. It broke my... Chip's, heart and I was sobbing. I hugged that mother for all I could and we cried together. A broken hearted mother and a broken hearted girl in a costume. She gave Chip an orange rubber bracelet that says "Bradley's Buddies" on it. After I left my time at Disney it wasn't the mouse ears, or the porcelain figurines, or my many filled autograph books that I treasured, it was that bracelet that I tucked away in my jewelry box. And here I am 3 years later, still thinking about Bradley and his brave buddies.

Recently I found a website for Bradley's Buddies and have seen how they are helping other families through their own battles with leukemia. I've worked on several e-mails to that mother, but I just can't put into words how much she and her little boys affected my life. I am forever grateful.

a s h l e y

Craft time!

Last night my biffle and I made these gorgeous little flowers.

I made the black one for when we go on "tour" to go with my oh so not attractive Wind Ensemble dress. Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to attach it to in order to put it in my hair, ha ha.

Annnnnd I made this headband too!

I'm loving the crafty thing :) and my Audrey Hepburn calender in the back... which is still on January, ha ha. If you want to make them too check out this blog where I got my inspiration! 

My Sparkle

fabric flowers,

a s h l e y

Baby fever!

Forget "Beiber" fever, I've got full on baby fever! I always knew I wanted babies but boy as soon as we were home from the honeymoon my biological clock has been going absolutely insane! It doesn't really help that these baby magazines come to my house (from my old roommate buying a baby gift online for one of her friends) and I read them, everyone of them, cover to cover. It really is a sickness.
I have come up with a few remedies though. The biggest one was to get a puppy, my sweet Khloe

...then she ate my brand new nine west stilettos. Grrrrrr. The hubby says she should cure my baby bug but, alas, no cure in sight.

Then we brought my childhood puppy from my parents house to our house. My sweet, loyal Sable-Anne :)

(That's her trying to cuddle with me while I do homework... pretty much exactly where she is now, haha.)

She only made it worse though because she's just such a sweet cuddle bug. So my next plan was to, well do just that, make plans. So I have goals, plans, directions in life I want to go. And yes, a baby (or 2 or 3...) is included in those plans as well as my princess goals, grad school, the hubby flying... It just seems like those plans are so far away! So... here I am dreaming about holding babies and cuddling with my fur babies in the mean time :) So here's to being a grown up and trying desperately to be a patient one!

Babies, puppies, and big dreams,

a s h l e y

Day 04

A picture of someone who inspires you....

Kandee Johnson -- I read her blogs, watch her youtube channels, friend-ed her on facebook... basically I'm obsessed. She is amazing! I like to consider us kindred spirits :)

Yay for happy inspirations!

a s h l e y 

Day 03

A picture of your favorite movie...

I have entirely too many favorites. Therefore, I give you my top 5 in no particular order :)

Disney, Audrey and Diane Keaton,
     a s h l e y

Day 02

a picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest...

my sister! Elizabeth! I think we look just a like in this picture! Pretty much she's been my biffle since I was about 4. When she was born she brought me a troll ring out of the shop in my mom's belly. (Yeah, my parents really warped my outlook on Biology, ha ha!)

one of "those days"

Actually, this whole week has been one of "those days". My car got towed, my windshield got a crack in it, my puppy had to go to the vet... a lot has gone wrong. Currently, I am hiding in the quiet study room at my University. At least here I know that no one will bother me and I can listen to my Adele & Jack Johnson in peace and just try to forget that this week has been one headache after another.

On the bright side, it is Friday! Thank goodness. I am very ready to take a break from everything, put my feet up, and get a lot done. Ha Ha! Always working, this is the life of a college senior though. I have several projects that are in need of some inspiration. I get to design a "program" for a couple of my classes this semester and I really want to do something that is related to the Make*A*Wish program so that I can include it in my some-day application.

I'm thinking about doing a program for the family post-wish. The wish child may or may not still be alive but I want to work on something that helps the families realize that illness or no illness life is precious and they need to keep living it. We'll see. Most of my projects end up being about the Make*A*Wish Foundation and 9 times out of 10 they end up being very depressing to read. Maybe this time will be different! :)

I'm off to play my french horn for 2 hours and pray my teeth stop hurting. Oh yeah, I got braces. :( That's a whole other blog post though, ha ha!

Rest & Ibuprofen,
a s h l e y

Elizabeth visits Lynch-Vegas!

My sister, Elizabeth, came to visit us this weekend! We had so much fun! Yesterday we slept in (which is a rarity in both our lives) and then we went to school where we finished writing her routine for color guard try outs in a few weeks. She is such a beautiful dancer! I'm so impressed because she has never been in a marching band before and she is picking up on the spinning like a pro! We also had an impromptu photo shoot kind of in honor of our favorite you tube/make-up guru Miss Kandee Johnson :) She had her 4th baby today and we are so excited for her!

Kandee's new baby girl :)

Isn't she the cutest?! I'm pretty sure that there's no way she could've been anything but adorable though :) Maybe I'll post some of mine and Liz's pictures on here tomorrow but after running for almost 3 miles tonight I am exhausted. I hope you all have had a super amazing weekend and are ready to start the week rested and refreshed! :)

Babies & photo shoots,

a s h l e y

...because I neglect you

I found this incredibly awesome day by day photo posting tag that I am so incredibly excited to do for you guys! I think it's supposed to be a facebook thing but I feel like I don't really use facebook as that type of outlet so this will be much better for me. On your mark, get ready, get to know me! :) 

Day 1 - A picture of yourself with 10 facts.

1. I am married to the most amazing guy in the world :)

2. I am a HUGE Disney fan!

3. I am the oldest of 5 kiddos

4. I am graduating with my bachelors in may :)

5. I love Jesus mucho much :)

6. I love indian food/culture/people... (hehe Shara)

7. My hubby and I are moving to Orlando next January

8. I used to be one of the Drum Major's for my school's 200 member marching band :)

9. I play the french horn and trumpet

10. I'm getting braces for the 2nd time in 2 weeks!

Hotels, Skype, & Music City!

I am laying in our hotel room in Nashville, TN waiting for my Dad to skype me and may I just say that putting 'sleep number' beds in a hotel room is a simply fabulous idea. Luke and I must have played with these things for at least 20 minutes, ha ha ha. At one point I was so sunk into the bed I couldn't even roll over! Then we went down to the lobby for a yummy bedtime snack. I had a delicious 3 cheese grilled cheese and it was soooo good! Luke had a cheeseburger... big surprise, ha ha! And now he is watching tv while I type away and wait for my dear ol' Daddy to figure out how to make a skype ha ha. We're trying to figure out some bills that got crossed and we need to have a screen share, but my sister is asleep and my phone is dead so he's been figuring this out on his own for ohhhhh 30 minutes now ha ha.

Tomorrow we're going the wedding of 2 of our friends (the groom was one of Luke's groomsmen :) ). It should be lots of fun and then... the 8 hour drive back home. Ugh. Not looking forward to that one, but luckily I married one very fun dude and he makes those long drives a lot better :)  I hope you are all having a super fun weekend with lots of yummy foods and fun things to do!

Yummy hotel food & technologically slow Daddy's...
a s h l e y

money-money-monaaay ...monnnnaaaaay!

Because one of the most popular new year resolutions is to be more financially "wise"... I'm sharing my favorite budgeting website!

1.   www.creditkarma.com -- you can check your credit score without affecting it negatively, also you can enter in different scenarios like paying off debt, opening new credit cards/mortgages/car loans/etc. and see what effect it would have on your credit score, as well as see where your credit score ranks against the national  average and those your age.

2.   www.learnvest.com -- this one is the one “meant” for women, but it is awesome. You just sign up for their e-mail list and they send you the most amazing articles and you can also choose which kind of emails you want to get (get out of debt bootcamp/ personal finance/ cut your costs bootcamp/ investing bootcamp). And they have a budgeting program too but I haven’t tried it out yet.

3.   www.mint.com -- This one is all about keeping up with the different accounts and budgeting. It also has goal setting which has proved really helpful for us and weekly e-mails telling us how we’re doing on our goals.

Hope these help!

a s h l e y

Ebay? Shmee-bay!

I am an official ebay seller. Today I realized (well "re"-realized) that I have SO much that I simply do not use. So in the name of organization and living a "simpler" life I decided to begin my "stuff condensing project" (ha ha ha) I tinkered with ebay until I figured out how to sell one of my purses. I seriously have a problem, I love to buy purses and shoes, and not even because I want to use them but sometimes I just can't pass them up because they are so beautiful! This purse was one of those cases. It's a beautiful patent embossed PINK Hello Kitty bag and I LOVE Hello Kitty (mostly thanks to my role model Kandee Johnson) but I just never carry it. It has been sitting underneath our nightstand for way too long. A bag this beautiful deserves to be shown off! We'll see if I make enough to buy the real Hello Kitty bag I've been eye-ing that would get a lot more use :)

P.S. Here's the link to my ebay ad! Click HERE for Beautiful Bags!

The Bag I'm Selling

the bag I'm hoping to buy :)

Beautiful purses,
a s h l e y

Why helloooooooo!

Oh hi blogger world! I've been pretty slack about updating lately but don't worry, I didn't forget you! Since it is now January 2nd and I have had 2 whole days to think about what I am resolving to complete/change this year here is my list of 2011 resolutions!!!
1. Lose 20 pounds. (but for real, like I already bought expensive running shoes which will force me to do it! ...right? haha)
2. Run a 5K with my sister and husband in July! :)
3. Be the best house wife ever :)
4. Take care of my childhood puppy Sable Anne (She's 12 years old but she'll always be my puppy :) )
5. Become a better photographer and accomplish 2 collections this year.
6. Forgive & Forget (in 2010 I mostly accomplished the "forgive" part but for 2011 I'm working on the "forget" part)
and finally...
7. Meet Kandee Johnson. (a girl can dream!)

I hope your hearts are full of lofty aspirations and lots of goals to reach those dreams!
Happy 2011!
a s h l e y