In 20 years of life, this is my first...

White Christmas!!!!!!!!

I was SO excited!!

It was a little sad because it started snowing after dark and I was exhausted from all the Christmas festivities  (which included, but were not limited to; opening presents like a madman at two different houses, an impromptu photoshoot with mom, loading software, reading books, making my famous mocha icing, and eating part of our annual "Happy Birthday Baby Jesus" cake.). Sooo I reluctantly went to bed and my mom woke me up with "ASHY THERE'S SO MUCH SNOW!!!" Needless to say I sprung from my bed, threw on clothes and went outside to take pictures. 20 minutes later we were on our way to the grocery store. An hour and a half, 4 miles, and about 6" of snow later we were back with the all important 3 cans of cat food, two containers of coffee creamer, a pack of bic pens, and my favorite in the world Bigelow "Eggnoggin" tea. The last two were add-ons to our list once we were in the store. 

I mean come on, how can you pass up new pens and your favorite tea? It simply cannot be done. 

For all who are curious, no Eggnoggin tea does NOT taste like eggnog, but if you add milk and a pinch of splenda it tastes like cinnamon buns. Nom nom!! I need to go buy a couple more packs of this for the rest of the year. Time to stockpile!

In our journeys we encountered about.... 13 cars and 3 other people walking. It was pretty quiet out there because we don't really have snowplows in the area so when it snows even a couple of inches the area shuts down completely. So now that we have a foot and a few inches I'd say we'll be shut down for a couple of days. That means another walk to the store is in order tomorrow! 

Now on to the photos!! (hopefully it'll let me post them because I couldn't post photos last time i tried!)

 Mom's pretty roses

 I had to! 

 Narnia!!!! 

Poor tiny little mommy in the snow... hah

I had such fun today! How about you guys?? Is it snowy where you are?

xoxooxoxo

Ash 

11 things I need and don't.

So, as 2011 is approaching, I decided to make a list of 11 things I do and 11 things I don't need in my life for 2011. 

Things I DON'T need in my life for 2011:

1. Self-animosity: I mean seriously, there's one thing I think we can all use less of. I feel like I think I have good qualities and such, but I really struggle with this one. I never feel like I'm enough, I'm not sure what I'm judging myself against, but... I do. Mostly I struggle with issues about my weight. I'm not fat, I have friends who wear the same size as I do and I definitely don't think they are, and I have a waist as small as most of the girls I know who wear 2-4 pant sizes smaller than I do, but I'm not comfortable with myself. I don't even wear tank tops or shorts in the summer for goodness' sake. This is something I really need to change, because I'm sick of thinking about it. 

2. Failures: I feel like I fail a lot. Mostly in the sense that I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to do something as well as other people, so I give up. This kinda goes back to the weight loss thing too. Whatever the issue, I'm not a fan, I need to stop. 

3. Fear: I let fear get the best of me a lot. I had a conversation with my mom about this the other day and she said she "never would have known" that I struggle with it as much as I do. Its easy for me to put on a happy face and keep going, but on the inside, fear gets the best of me, and I don't want to do it anymore. 

4. Childishness: No, not the whole me liking sparkly things and ice cream, I like that about me. I mean the not checking my bank account for days on end, not picking up my room, waiting a week and a half to do laundry, etc. I'm getting married in 10 months, I need to get a hold of this. 

5. Technology: Yeah, I need some (like... my camera), but I spend so much time on the internet just because I'm bored. Its a bad habit and I need to work through it. 

6. Carbs: Yes. I need less carbs hah. After the holiday parties are over I'm going to try to cut out most carbs. 

7. Stress: Everyone needs less stress, but I need less self-inflicted stress. No more!!!

8. Disorganization: This one kinda goes back to the childishness one, but I sometimes feel like my disorganization (of my room, my purses, and my life in general) is waaay out of hand and its swallowing me. Don't get me wrong, I don't need to be on that hoarding show, I just get busy and the I get messy and then I get flustered and its a bad cycle. 

9. Underestimating myself: I do this a LOT. This goes back to some of the other ones, but really I'm capable of so much more than I think, and I really don't take advantage of that. 

10. Interruptions: I need less interruptions in my personal life, and creative life, plain and simple. 

11. Approval-seeking: There are few people who's approval matter to me enough to strive for it, and I need to remember that. 

Things I DO need in my life in 2011:

1. Time for myself: I'm so bad about this. I need to spend more me time, and not like me being lazy, but me thinking and taking care of myself. 

2. Good health: I need to start working out everyday again and eating right, its important and sometimes I forget, but... I have a wedding dress to fit into in 10 months, I better get cracking early! 

3. A happy marriage: Yay! I can't believe I get to say that! That's so exciting!! 

4. Creativity: 2010 kinda sucked for that. Art is such an important part of my life, and I need it to be again. NEED. 

5. Love!!: No one can ever have too much, right?? And to the right recipients, no one can ever give too much either!! 

6. Magic: I was pretty good about this in 2010, but in 2011 I want to look for the magic in the everyday even more! 

7. Courage: SO important. I feel like by having the courage and faith to live how I want to, so many of my things I don't need in my life will be gone. 

8. New hobbies: I don't really have much time for hobbies, I used to be an avid reader but I don't ever have the time anymore, and I probably still won't have the time until the summer, but gosh how fun would it be to have a hobby like... bird-watching or... poi or something?? 

9. Hula hoops: Well I don't literally need more hoops in my life as I have 3 big ones and a pair of mini-twins, but I need to make it an important part in my life again. I need to pick that hoop back up!! It makes me so happy and its such a fun talent to have! 

10. General awesomeness: One of my best friends has possibly the best outlook on life. She's awesome and she knows it. And not in like a pompous way, but she knows she's good at things and she knows she's pretty and she's not one to brag about it, but if you pry and ask her, she'll admit it. I think its such a great way to live, to realize just how awesome you are! I want to be like that :) (and no she's not even kind of a jerk and I have no intentions of being on either!!) 

11. Memories: I don't remember what it was I was watching, but a while ago I was watching something where there was a little boy who kept asking someone to go make memories with them, and by that he meant taking pictures while they were together. I love that image. I think I did well for 2010, I have so many memories that will never go away, and I made sure I documented them (engagement, Japan, etc) but I want to do that even more this year and although this year will be special no matter what because we're getting married, I want to make sure every year after this one is memorable enough that I can go back in 30 years and say "2010, that was the year that...""In 2011 we...." "Oh! And 2012 was special because..." and have the photos to prove it!! 

What sort of things do you need more or less of in your life??

Love you kitties! Have a wonderful Christmas!! I hope yours is full of love and family and God!

xoxoxoxoxo

Ash 

Best birds!

So Aric is making me do this. 

Like he's holding me at gun-point. 

For reals. 

Okay... not really. 

But he is making me do this. 

Today its time for a special blog post called "Ash's best bird of the day" where we discuss the lives of our favorite bird in a photo we've taken. So here we go. 

TIME FOR ASH'S BEST BIRD OF THE DAY!!!!

(help me!!!! he's making me!)

Meet Violet the cardinal. 

Violet spends her days bussing her baby birds to and from soccer practices, ballet rehearsals, and the occasional birthday party at the skating rink. 

Today she had the day off because Mr. Bird was home sick from work, so he offered to watch the chicks. 

She went and got her talons painted with her bffs, she got some last minute shopping done for the holiday season of festivities and lights. (Aric added that last part...) And she worked out at the local bird-gym. Finally afternoon was upon her and she took in the last few rays of the sun before heading back to the daily grind. 

The End!!

I will finish this post with informing you that we are not on any form of substance other than sugar cookies and lack of rest. 

Merry Christmas everyone from Aric, Ash, and the best bird of the day, Violet! 

xoxoxoxo

Ash 

p.s. these cookies kinda rock. 

I slacked again.

Once again I haven't posted in a while. Go me... 

I am SUCH a slacker sometimes. 

In my defence though, I just finished my finals sooo.... maybe I'm in a the clear? No? Nobody? 

Yeah... I didn't think so either. 

So, its the holiday season, and I want you to know I'm very much so avoiding the urge to quote one of the many christmas songs stuck in my head. Be glad!

Soooo, as I said I just finished up with my exams and did well. 3 semesters left until I graduate from college!! One semester and a summer until I get married! And one semester left for my guy. I know he's going to be glad to be done with school, this last year has been a rough one for him. That means he's going to be quitting starbucks, which I know is a sad thing, but at least we're one step closer to getting married and having our own place!

I'm glad to get to rest over break and focus more on photography than I have been. Lately its been like "oh i need a picture for class." snap. "there's we go." kiiinda lame. So I'm super excited about that. And I only have to work two days this week because technically I'm not supposed to be working this week anyway. Yay for working at school!!

Also I'm going to "Christmas town" this week, which I'm super excited about. I wanted to go last year and I didn't so.... yeah way excited. Carolers, christmas lights, penguines, santa?? How much better can it get?? Not much, that's for sure. 

So I guess on with the photo! 

It snowed the other day (it hardly ever snows here) so Jess and I took a break from work and went out to play in it!!

Does it snow where you live? Do you like snow?

xoxoxooxoxo 

Ash

Well goodness me...

"Well goodness me, they seem to be letting all kinds of trash into decent people's houses these days..."

So.... sorry about that. That particular quote is completely stuck in my head right now since its from the play we've been working on for the past couple of weeks and... since tonight is the last night I thought it would be appropriate to get it all out of my system. 

So, moving on! 

Today for class our prompt was "the view from here", so...I posted two pictures. One of some pretty berries I saw, and another of Daniel looking at the first snow of the year!

Next on the list, I'm taking part in the reverb10 "movement" and today's prompt was "letting go". It asked what things we let go of this year. 

That was kind of a tough one for me. 

I let go of a lot of things this year. Emotionally I let go of a couple of things. I let go of a lot of "I can't"s and a lot of "I'm not _______ enough"s. 

I'm definitely still struggling with that last one. On a daily basis I run though plenty of "not ____ enoughs." Not skinny enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough, not whatever enough. I'm starting to get over some of them and realize that with others that maybe I need to change the way I'm doing things if its that big of an issue to me. 

Another thing I let go of this year wasn't something I wanted to let go of... my grandpa. He was an amazing man and he really was so inspirational to everyone he met. I can't even being to describe how great he was. I miss him terribly, but I see things every day that remind me of him, so it makes things better. 

What have you let go of this year?

Oh what a tangled web we weave...

So, day 4 of "Picture the Holidays" is upon us. I'm going to be sad when this class is over. (Which is why I'll be taking Picture Winter right after.) 

Today's prompt was "key". It asked when our "soul-cure" was for when we are getting down in the dumps to too busy to notice anything. The thing I chose as my soul cure was trying to find the beauty in the most unexpected places. 

This is one of my favorite pictures I've taken all year. It was actually a photo from Japan which kinda makes me feel like I cheated, but at the same time I did in fact take photos today, and Japan definitely has the key to my heart, so maybe its okay. 

Speaking of Japan, I can't even begin to tell you just how much I miss it. I most definitely left my heart there. And no, its not just the shopping or the food, its just such a beautiful country full of beautiful people. Japan, I love you and miss you. 

xoxoxo

Ash

What has the key to your heart?

All you need is love.

So, I'm taking part in the "Picture the Holidays" class over at Big Picture Classes (see the pretty new icon in my side-bar?), and today's prompt was love. 

So, in the spirit of love I donned my favorite (and recently neglected) pair of heart-shaped glasses and went to town. 

I've been really liking out of focus desaturated photos lately. Nooot really sure why. Oh well. 

I'm going to try to keep up with the prompts for December over at reverb10.com , we'll see how that goes... so... today's prompt was to pick the moment I felt most alive this year and fully describe it. So, here goes...

My moment was definitely when Aric and I went to Williamsburg a few weeks ago. We love Williamsburg, but we never get to go so its always such a treat. We spent the whole day there (after furniture browsing at World Market that morning.) and had a nice dinner, but that night was just glorious. It was a dark, dark night. I wish I could say it was dark and stormy just because its more dramatic that way, but it was just a nice clear dark night. Regardless, we went to the candy store and bought candy apples (my first one ever) and we walked around the colonial area in the pitch black, listening to ghost tours and the rustling leaves. We sat outside the huge church and listened to a concert that was going on inside, eating our candy apples until we were sick of them. The air was crisp and cool and it smelled like autumn, it was by far the perfect moment. Then again, I feel like most moments with him are the "perfect moment" when I look back on them. 

Do you guys have any favorite moments from this past year?

xoxoxoxo Ash 

Responsibility as an artist?

Okay, so just kidding I guess I'm not done posting for the day like I thought I was. 

So I wanted to get this all out and down before I forgot it again...

Today in my improv class my teacher was quoting our papers on how our faith and improv interscect and one of the papers said (and I'm paraphrasing this because I forgot the exact wording):

"As an artist you have the responsibility to bless others with your creativity." 

Now there's a thought, huh? 

Personally I had never even once thought of it that way, but it was absolute brilliance. I'm like... tempted to get this tattooed on my body so I never forget that sentence.

It hit me like a ton of bricks. 

(And here's where I get kinda preachy...)

Some Christians are charged to go out and preach the Gospel, some want to help their churches by being super involved, some want to go to foreign countries and help build cities, and while all of these are important to me, none of them seemed like my passion and I've struggled with that for a while wondering if there was something wrong with me, but today I realized there isn't. God gave me creativity because I am to bless others with it, not simply for my own amusement. 

And honestly even if you're reading this and not a Christian this totally applies to you too. You were given creativity for a reason, so share it!!

Another thing interesting in that lecture was that he said that being creative, regardless of your field, is the human parallel to my all time favorite words in the Bible:

"In the beginning, God created..."

My professor went on to say that creating is the closest we'll ever get to see to that "light, be." moment. 

How do you guys feel about that, have you ever thought about it that way?

"light, be."

xoxoxo

Ash

Reframing the holidays.

Okay, so today was day 2 of my photo class and the prompt was "reframing the holidays". It was to make us look at things differently than normal so... being that I'm back on the horse working the show at school, two of three of my unusually framed images are from the stage. 

Christmas tree from backstage behind the window.

On stage.

Christmas tree. 

How are your holidays going so far?

xoxoxoxo

Ash. 

p.s. Sorry I'm boring tonight! I'm super tired. 

Christmas bells are ringing...

Hey guys! 

Happy December 1! You know what that means, Christmas is only a few weeks away. I've definitely tried to stay ahead of the present-buying game this year, I think I have about 2/3 of what I'm buying bought. Yay! How are you guys doing on that front?

I started a holiday-themed photography class today run by Tracey Clark of the Shutter Sisters blog she's definitely in the hero category for me, so I'm excited. 

Today was day 1 of the class and the theme was "Gratitude" so I decided I was grateful for sleepy kitties in winter!

I love my kitties :)

Also, I've become obsessed with bokeh lately. Like. OB-SESSED.

In other news, the weather is super weird here right now. Its cold one day and then rainy and humid and warm the next and then freezing the next day. Oh gosh. So today is the rainy humid day. I'm not a fan personally... how is the weather where you live?

xoxoxoxo 

Ash

Thanksgiving and all that jazz.

How was everyone's Thanksgivings?

Mine was pretty rad. I went over to Aric's grandparent's house with my mom and we hung out with him and his family for dinner. It was lots of fun. We didn't do much for black friday except get a little white tree for my room and get candles for our moms because, as we all know, the holidays just aren't complete without yummy smells!

I'm trying to get back in the habit of blogging during the week and... I failed miserably this week. Ugh. Lets hope this week can be better! 

I have to say, I'm totally exhausted. I'm not sure I 'rested' at all over this break. I'm just glad Christmas break is a few weeks away! I'm glad this semester is almost over. 

How was your thanksgiving? How are your lives going?

xoxoxoxo Ash

Time for another installment of "things I'm thankful for"

1. Inside jokes

2. The smell of pine trees. mmmmmm

3. When kitties get cold and night and snuggle under the blankets. 

4. Real life "hallmark moments"

5. Pretty floofly nightgowns. I look forward to owning these soon. 

6. Fresh baked cookies in winter. The baking, the smelling, and the tasting. Mmmm. 

7. Fiances that bring you coffee and soup when you have to tech two shows in one day. 

8. How it feels when you've been up all day working hard and its late and you finally get into bed. 

9. The sweet people in Japan. I miss them :)

10. How beautiful my family and friends are. 

I'm a lucky girl to have her for a mom. Isn't she the cutest?

What are you thankful for?

xoxoxoxoxo

Ash 

Thankful.

Okay! So I'm back with ten more things I'm thankful for. Ready, set, go!

1. Peppermint coffee on a autumn morning. 

2. The fact that for one week in autumn my hair matches the leaves.

3. Teeny tiny kitty snores when they're comfortably sleeping

4. My beautiful wonderful friends. Life just wouldn't be an adventure without them. 

5. How satisfying a shutter release can sound when you know you just got the perfect shot. 

6. Swinging on a swing set all bundled up in scarves and coats on an autumn morning. 

7. Autumn mornings. I've mentioned them enough that they deserve their own number. 

8. VW Vans. Everytime I see one, regardless of the color I get happier than I can tell you, I think they represent freedom to me. An orange one is my dream car though. 

9. Sun glinting off the flower/leaf filled glass vases on my kitchen windowsill in the morning. 

10. Jumping pictures. 

What are you thankful for?

xoxoxo 

Ash 

What are you thankful for?

So... 

I'm in a bad mood today, and I really want to remedy that so per my friend Sarah's suggestion I'm making a list of things I'm thankful. My plan is to have 50+ by Thanksgiving! Maybe lets call it the blessing challenge. 

So here goes....

1. God - I know I don't talk much about my faith on here, in fact... I'm not sure I've talked about it at all, but honestly I don't know where I'd be without God. Definitely not here right now, getting married and finishing school and being artistic. I'm not one of those people to shove my faith down other people's throats, hence you probably not hearing about it, but know its a big part in my heart. 

2. My Mom. She's amazing and I admire her so much.  

3. Kitties. 

4. That feeling you get when you wake up early on a fall/winter morning all snuggly in bed and your nose is cold and sunlight is streaming in the window. 

5. Photography. What an amazing gift to be able to physically capture a moment. Do you ever think about that?

6. Lens flares. I think for some reason they might be the most beautiful thing in the world to me.

7. Aric. He's such an amazing guy and I'm definitely the luckiest girl in the world to get to marry him next year.  

8. Papasan chairs. They're like nests for the bird in all of us. 

9. The coffee Aric is driving over to me right now. 

10. Mysteries. I'm so so glad that I still have things to wonder about, and I hope that I never forget that. 

What are some things you are thankful for?

New Hair!

Sooo... I have new pretty hair!!

Its now red and blonde and purple. Amazing. I love it so much. Being a hair model is fun!! You get free pretty hair :)

When my hair is back in a ponytail I feel like an owl or a wren or something. It's just something about the blonde and red. I love it. And the purple, oh the purple. I'm in love. 

So, this weekend I'm spending most of my awake time learning to be a lightboard operator for the show going on at school right now. I love it. Lights are preeeetty. :) We signed up for our crew position for the spring shows today and I sold my soul and signed up for two shows. I'm going to be sound op for Madea and spotlight op for Bye Bye Birdy. Fun stuff! I'm going to hate myself by the end of the semester, but next year when I don't have to be married, working and crewing twice in one semester I'll be a happy camper. So today I'm here form 1pm-11pm and tomorrow from 1pm-12am. Like I said, I'm spending my weekend at school. 

What are you guys doing this weekend??

xoxoxoxo

Ash 

Unrequited love.

No, this is not a post about how I have a secret crush on someone. 

I have a fiance, I love him very much, and thankfully he loves me back a lot. 

This causes me to feel like the luckiest person in the world. 

Moving on. 

So what is this unrequited love, you say?

Hooping. I love hooping. (yes. with hula hoops.) 

Annnnd I haven't done it in a long time. Sad, but true. 

I fully intend on hooping once I mow the lawn tonight. 

Oh I miss it so much I can't even tell you. 

Dear unrequited love/passion, tonight you will be mine. 

What things do you love that you don't do nearly enough??

What a lovely weekend.

Warning, this will be majorly picture heavy. 

So this past week was kinda sucky. Like reaaaally kinda sucky. 

Thankfully though, I had a relaxing weekend to recuperate! 

I really wish the weekend didn't have to end!

Alas, back to work. 

So Aric and I got to spend a lot of time together this weekend just kinda exploring and having fun in the autumn weather!

On to the pictures! 

I love kitties in the early morning sun. 

I'm glad my fiance plays on the playground with me :) 

We're going to have happy kids. 

Mmmm autumn. 

Explorers

Many epic jumping photos took place this weekend. 

Favorite photo ever. 

Second favorite photo ever. 

This road was so creepy. There were random abandoned trucks on the side of the road and scary rednecks lurking in the trees with crossbows. So. Scary. I felt like I was in a zombie movie. We went down this road on accident and went forever and there was no where to turn around. Yikes. 

What did you guys do this weekend? Does it feel like autumn where you live??

xoxoxoxo

Ash 

Its true what they say.

You know how people say that weddings bring out the best and the worst in people?

Yeah, well its true. I didn't believe it, but its so true. I'm not posting this to be vindictive or to name names just in case the people who know the people I am talking about were to read this. I'm not posting this to hurt anyone, but more as a warning to future brides. 

Holy crap. 

Seriously.

This whole wedding planning thing is great, its so fun to be able to pull all my ideas together and see where they're going, and to get to meet awesome new people like our photographer, baker, lighting company, and d.j.. And its SO awesome to be able to know that in 11 months, Aric and I will be married. How cool is that???

 BUT, as amazing as that all is, it definitely makes people's true colors shine through.

Fascinating. 

I'm not going to go into much details on this, but I'm becoming more and more aware how antagonistic people can be, maybe without even realizing it. I'm starting to feel like my poor kitty Abby who always gets attacked by Daniel (another kitty), and is just never ever left alone. I'm not going to really say any more, but all I can say is this is really upsetting and I think if people decide they don't like me all of a sudden, they should just leave me alone. But that's just me. What do you guys do in situations like these? Any fun suggestions for pick-me-ups?

In other news, guess who can wear her fun thrift store find now that its cold out? :)

xoxoxoxoxo
Ash 

My kitties, halloween, and autumn.

These are a few of my favourtie things...

I love my kitties. 

One might say I'm obsessed. 

Emily 

Bean (Abagail)

D (Daniel)

In other news, 

I am SO exicted about the fact that I get to sleep in until 7am tomorrow. 

YES!!!! And I'm excited that its finally feeling like autumn. Tomorrow is a high of 54 which means I get to take my new leopard coat for a test run. Pictures soon. I promise. 

Speaking of pictures, I was a witch for halloween thanks to a dress I got in Japan and a witch hat mommy bought me at cracker barrel. I had a fun night, two of my friends came over to pass out candy with me and then Aric came over after work. :) 

What were you guys for halloween/did you do anything special???

Witch, Minnie Mouse, and a Pumpkin. We're a pretty typical group, right?

xoxoxox

Ash

Back from Japan!

Wow, nice creative title there, huh?

What can I say, I'm a genius...

Anyway, as the title says I'm back from Japan!
I've been trying to post this post for about a week now and my computer hasn't let me so... hence my inactivity. ANYWAY,
I had an awesome time, I love love love that country.
The food is awesome, the clothes are amazing, the makeup is fantastic, there are kitties everywhere, and the people are amazing. Example, we went to a shrine and walked for an hour and a half and these cute old men were in front of us the whole time. We stopped at a lovely view and shared some bonding time looking out over the lovely country and then we all stopped at a store to buy drinks and rest and you know what? They bought us a drink and shared their lunch with us! How cute!! I love them!

And oh all the kitties!! There were kitties at all the shrines I visited! I loved it!

IN OTHER NEWS, Aric and I have booked our honeymoon hotel in Canada and we've booked our hotel for our wedding, so we're officially getting married on October 9, 2011! SO excited about this! My dress came in too and I went to try it on and evidentially I'm taller than the average bride because they had to send it back and re-order a dress with "extra length". Oh great haha. Oh well. I still love love love my dress though! I can't wait for it to come in... again so I can take it home!!!!

Oh other exciting wedding news, Aric and I have chosen our first dance song! Check it out and let me know what you think!
Stella Maris
Oh how I love this song.

Also thanks to all my new watchers and all the kind comments you guys have left me! I'm sorry I've been bad about replying, but I'm going to get back on the horse I promise!

Count your blessings instead of sheep.

Well...

Here I am on the eve of the flight to Japan doing of all things, blogging. 

I'm actually putting off cleaning my room which is something I know needs to happen before I go to bed but... whatever. 

My feelings are super mixed at the moment. 

I'm WAY excited to go to Japan (like WAY EXCITED.), I'm terrified of the flight, I'm sad because my friend really needs me right now and I'm going to be out of the country and away from internet and phone, and because I miss Mom and Aric already. 

My mom and I are super close, and this is the first time I'm going to be away from her for this long without even being able to call for five minutes to say "hi, i love you, i'm having fun". So... I'm not a fan of that. Plus I wanted to spend time with her tonight, and I spent most of the day with her, but then I had to do my final project for one of my classes so for about 3 hours I was starring at the computer screen and of course now that I'm done, she's asleep. I kind of hate school sometimes. 

I miss Aric because he's on a mini-vaca for the weekend and he has no reception where he is right now, so we had to say our goodbyes last night and via email this morning. Plus, this is the longest I've been away from him (with him gone before me it'll be almost two weeks), the first time I've been away from him without contact of some sort, and definitely the first time I've been away from him being my fiance. 

And I'm listening to Christmas music. By myself. 

I've noticed doing that, especially when you're worried and its late at night makes you sad and borderline uncomfortable. I just want to procrastinate and not clean my room until morning, but I know that will make the morning WAY more stressful than it needs to be, and it will definitely help my packing in the morning if I clean now but... I kinda just want to go to sleep so I can stop feeling alone.

Okay, I'm done being all emotional on you guys, I promise. 

Like I said, I'm super excited to go to Japan, and I'm super excited to get to spend time with the other side of my family. I don't see them much, so its going to be a lot of fun :) PLUS, I MEAN COME ON ITS JAPAN, HOW CAN IT NOT BE FUN?? I'm going to take so many pictures its going to be stupid. My computer is going to blow up. I need to buy more memory cards in the morning. I forgot about that.... *facepalm*. I'm going to be shopping (DUH) while i'm in Japan.... I'm mostly looking for something to wear in the engagement photos... maybe a skirt? I got a rockin' sweater I can wear in them. Oh gosh I love it. It has like... a bustle almost. Win. Plus its grey. Perfect, my favorite color. (not actually true.) 

I guess I'm going to go for the night. I'll be back in about two week with lots and lots of photos. Hopefully the benadryl will make my flight a very nice, restful one. Oh gosh. 

 Au revoir mes amis!!!

xoxoxoxo

Ash 

Halloween

Hey look I'm posting before I go to Japan! 

I'm doing so good. 

Anyway, I'm excited (obviously) about Halloween. 

Clearly my love of all things spooky isn't evident thanks to my blog title. Oh the lies. 

So it's "that time of year" again. The "lets figure out what we're going to be for halloween this year" time. 

I'm kinda feeling being a witch. I've never been one before, and last year's tribute to old school halloween costumes (I was a black cat. I'll try to find pictures....) makes me want to keep this thing up. 

So... I already have the hat, I have some rocking shoes that can't be worn out much (the ones i posted about earlier in the month) and legwarmers, and ripped tights so... I guess I just need to make myself a dress. 

(all images from weheartit )

Last one is my favorite :)

Do you celebrate halloween? 

If you do, what do you want to be this year?

xoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxo

Ash

Japan and such.

So I'm posting this now in case I become a slacker and don't post before Saturday. 

On Saturday I'm going to be flying from here to Washington D.C. to Tokyo/Narita airport!! I'm super excited. I know the trip is going to be "go, go, go" the whole time I'm there, but I'm WAY excited. I think I'm going to get a lot of my Christmas shopping done while I'm there and I'm going to be on the look-out for wedding shoes and engagement photo outfits. (And clothes for the Aric-guy.) 

On to wedding stuff!

We're working on venues and stuff right now. And can I just say how much it helps to have a mom that's a certified wedding planner? Yeah. So much help. Especially since I'm in school and working right now and don't really have a lot of time to go on the hunt for things. Thank you Mom for being an awesome designer/wedding planner!!!!! 

My Grandma has been sending me photos of her wedding and my great-grandma's wedding and gosh I have some pretty ladies in my family!!! 

Grandma and Grandpa :) How cute were they? Oh my gosh. 

I guess that's it for now! I'll try to post before I go, but if I don't I'll see you somewhere halfway through October!! 

Engagement parties and things of the like.

I'm writing this as I sit here with a trash bag on my head wearing nasty old clothes and hoping to not have chef boyardee colored stains on my face. Ah the joys of at home hair coloring. 

So, as the title says we had an engagement party thrown for us by one of the BFFs, Tianna. (She's super cool, you guys would love her.) We had so much fun, we ate yummy stuffed shells Tianna made and played an awkward couple questionnaire game and apples to apples (oh my gosh i love that game. especially with my group of friends. oh hilarity.) 

SO the following are pictures/explanations of the night's events. 

Reeses, the puppy/wizard. 

Aric's new short hair!! I have such a cute fiance. 

Can you tell that we're both half asleep? haha

Epic. 

"HEEEEEY MACARANA!"

Okay, so... I have to go wash this gunk out of my hair and hope its the right color and then I'm off to meet with the lighting guy for our wedding, blow a bunch of money at steinmart (a.k.a. my best kept secret), go pick my car up, go to dinner, and then its off to poetry night at our local cafe!!

Also guys, thanks so much for your kinda comments! I read them all and they mean a lot to me! I should start replying to them, huh? lol oops... 

xoxoxox

Ash 

p.s. I leave for Japan a week from tomorrow!! Exciting!