Welcome back...again.

So, it's been a while since I've made a post, but thanks to my friend Danielle I've gotten some inspiration again! First, I'll fill you in on what's going on in my life.

I'm finished with school!!! And I got a job!!!

Yeah, that's about all that I've got going on right now, but dangit if that's not awesome! I'm pretty excited about it.

Right now I have nothing on my mind to blog about, but I thought I'd let my faithful readers (ha!) that I'll be back soon! Never fear!

Love,

Until next time, I've decided to leave you with a picture.

I said brr...it's cold in here!

Any other fans of the movie "Bring it On" just finish my subject line with "There must be some Toros in the atmosphere"? No? Just me? Ok. Moving on.

So I sit down and decide, "You know what? I haven't blogged in a while, I'll give it a whirl" and the second I click on the button that says "new blog entry" I go blank. Yup, blank. Speaking of not blogging in a while, I'll go with a heart-felt "my bad". Things have been super busy lately and I've not been blogging much. Maybe I'll update my settings so that way I can email my posts at work when I'm ridiculously bored. Who knows? This may change my entire outlook on life! (Sorry, moment from the Grinch)...moving on!

So for those of you who don't know, I'm finally in my last semester of school! I'll be finished in May and I have no immediate plans to return to school. I'm labeled as a "non-traditional" student, which means, "Hey, aren't you a little old to be here?" and I'm ready to get out in the work force. I can safely say that, at almost 27 years old, I'm ready to be a grown up. Took me long enough, right?

Anyhoo, I'm awfully tired and I need to go to sleep, but I thought I'd check in! See ya on the flipside!

Love,

Oh she's so quirky...

So, lately I've been relatively brain dead when it comes to writing in my blog. I really enjoy writing and I love the little thrill you get when you see that yay...12 people have read my blog!! I've been trying to come up with ideas, and the other day one struck me at work. We were talking about people's different little quirks that make them who they are and I was laughing over some of mine and that's when it hit me to blog about them. So without further delay, here are some of my quirks. Hope you enjoy!

• I hate yellow highlighters! Call me crazy if you will, but for some reason yellow highlighters get on my nerves. Maybe it's the contrast between the brightness of the yellow against the white of the paper. I don't know, but whatever it is, I hate them! I always throw them away or give them to someone else when I get a pack of highlighters for school.

Ew.

• I hate seafood. I want to like it, I really do. However, I spent a lot of time going fishing with my grandpa, so I've been in a lot of bait shops. I just can't bring myself to eat something that tastes the way a bait shop smells. Yuck!

You said it, Bruce.

• I hate food with air. Yes, food with air! Have you ever taken a bite of whipped cream or mousse and had little air bubbles pop in your mouth? Yeah, that's gross. I can't stand it! 

Chocolate...now with air! Yuck.

• I love blue pens! For some reason, I like blue better than any other color pen. Black is too depressing and blends in with the page and red is always associated with doing bad on a paper, but blue is just right! Love blue pens! 

Crazy, I know.

Well, that's all I'm going to bore you guys with today...what are some of your quirks?

Love,

Ashley <3

Welcome back...kinda.

So, it's been a while since I've blogged. I'm sure you guys have missed me, right? Well, if not, I'm going to pretend you did anyway.

I wish I could say that the reason I haven't blogged in a while is because my life is so fantastically exciting that I just haven't had the time, but if I said that, I'd be telling lies. My mama taught me not to tell lies, so I'll just fill you in with my mundane life starting with where I left off last time.

Last time I filled you in on how my grandpa passed away and we traveled to New York for his funeral and stopped by in Hoboken, NJ and stopped at Carlo's Bake Shop from the TLC show Cake Boss. Since then, my grandma had been staying with us. I can honestly say that it was so fantastic to be able to spend so much time with her. I know the circumstances sucked, but I love her lots and I missed her dearly! She went back to Florida mid-July. I miss her being here, but I'm happy knowing that she's creating her new life.

me and Nana the day she left to go back to FL

Since she's gone home, my church had bible school for 2 weeks. It was exhausting, but it was a lot of fun! We had a good turnout of kids and they seemed to really enjoy themselves. This years theme was Big Apple Adventure since the first vacation bible school happened in New York. It was a really cute theme and I personally really enjoyed it, however I still have the theme song stuck in my head! *Bi bi bi bi bi bi big apple adventure...where faith and life connect Jesus directs my future...*

We ended bible school on Thursday, July 28th and then the next morning, we took our youth trip. This year we went to Gettysburg, PA (which was awesome) and I really wish we would have had more time there. We got to tour the museum but didn't have enough time to tour the battlefields because we had to be in Lancaster by 6:30 to go see the play "Joseph" at the Sights and Sounds Theater, which is FANTASTIC. I love that place. If I lived closer, I'd go every time they put out a new play. They're always amazing! We went back to the hotel that night and crashed, then the next day went to Kennywood. For those of you who don't know, I love amusement park atmospheres, but I'm a complete chicken when it comes to rides. Well, I rode a ride and apparently I was pretty amusing. I had a goofy look on my face the whole ride and screamed like a little girl. Please note that there were children about the age of 8 on this ride and they were just fine. I know, I'm a dork.

See? I look like I'm about to cry.

After we got back, it was Christian's birthday!! Little goober face is 8 now! He's playing football this year and I couldn't be happier. Better than that, HE couldn't be happier! He loves it!

So grown up!!

Well, I think that's about it. I'll try to update more often! 

Love,

You take the good, you take the bad...

Well, I'm sure a few of you have wondered where I went. I didn't go far, I've just been busy! So where to begin with the update? Hm...let's start at the end of May.

For those of you who don't know, my grandpa passed away on May 27th. He had been sick for a while and while I miss him like crazy, it's good to know he's finally at peace. He's not suffering anymore and is in a better place. I'd love to have him back, but I wouldn't want him back the way he was. He suffered too much and was too good of a man to go through that.

For his funeral, we traveled to New York. That was an interesting trip! We drove up on Wednesday (the 1st) and stopped that night in Hamburg, PA. We got up the next morning and traveled on in to Long Island. My dad was driving through the trip and he got to drive in NYC for the first time. Heck, he had never been there at all, so his first experience with NYC was driving it. For those of you who have never been there, holy moly, it's crazy. So we're there for a night and go to the funeral the next day. The service was beautiful and the cemetery he's buried in is beautiful as well. It's a national military cemetery, so of course it was beautiful. On our way back, we stopped in Hoboken, NJ and stopped at Carlo's Bake Shop from the TLC show Cake Boss. It was a wonderful experience! We got my birthday cake there and it was delicious! It was a 2 layer cake, one white, one chocolate and had a layer of chocolate ganache in the middle. Holy guacamole it was wonderful!

That brings me to my next point. On the 30th, it was my birthday! Many (if not most) of you wished me happy birthday on my facebook, so you're already aware, but hey, a birthday is worth mentioning twice. I turned 26, so I'm officially closer to 30 than 20. A lot of people my age are scared of that 30 mark, but I'm totally cool with it. It's just a number!

Welp, that's all that's been going on in my life lately! Hope all is well with you!

Love,

Goodnight?

All my life I've been the person that can go to sleep, sleep through anything and if I get woken up, I fall right back to sleep. That is, until recently. Recently, I've become this person who has so much trouble going back to sleep it's not funny. And for those of you who don't know, I'm not the kind of person who is made to run on just a few hours of sleep. I need 7, minimum. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's stress, maybe I'm just thinking about too many things, who knows. Whatever this is needs to quit. ASAP. Does anyone else have this problem? I mean, I know some people are just light sleepers, but has anyone else gone from one extreme to the other?

Sigh...I just wanna sleep. Goodnight kids (I hope)!

Love,

What's with the storms?!

"A wise man in the storm prays to God, not for safety from danger, but deliverance from fear." --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Has anyone else noticed all of the storms lately? It seems like every day here, it's raining or storming. In the south, hundreds were killed by tornadoes caused by storms. Just yesterday, over a hundred people were killed in yet another storm. And I'm not just talking meteorological storms either. It seems like everywhere you turn, someone is dealing with a personal storm. I know I've talked to several people recently that it just seems like this dark cloud is following them around. Heck, I'll be honest, I'm one of those people. So tell me, what's with all of the storms?

We don't have any choice but to wait them out. We can run, but the storms are going to come anyway. You can move from a place that has lots and lots of storms, but no matter where you are, you're going to get hit. There's going to be lightning that sends chills to your toes. There's going to be thunder that practically stops your heart. There's going to be rain, there's going to be wind, it's going to happen no matter where you are. So what do we do? We wait. We take cover. We pray for the deliverance from the fear. 

I used to be terrified of storms. Now, when I say terrified, I mean I was in high school and if it were storming, I'd  go sleep in the room with my mom. Not sure what she was going to do to protect me, but it sure was nice knowing she was there with her arm around me, making sure that I knew that everything was going to be OK. Now, they just make me a little uneasy. Is it because storms stopped happening? Oh no. It's because I've learned that I can't do anything to change them, but I sure can change my attitude toward them. I've learned that they don't last forever and soon the sun will shine again.

Keep this in mind when you're going through the next storm of your life. Whether it's literal or emotional lighting, remember that the storm doesn't last forever. Things will get better and you'll be stronger. 

Love,