Fitness challenge is paying off!

Hey guys! 

Okay, so I know I kinda fell of the face of the planet for about a week, but fear not! I'm back. 

So... not much for me to report to you, so this is going to be a really short post probably. 

I'm on day 15 of my 30 day challenge!! I can't believe that! It's almost scary how fast time just zips on by, huh? I have to admit I was lame and totally slacked yesterday. Aric and I went to the library and watched t.v. with my mom until 4 and then he had to leave to go to work so mom and I had dinner (yeah, we eat really early...) and then went to the mall for a few hours and then I was too tired to run when we got home. So... I walked around the mall. That should count, right? 

So I'm back on the horse so to speak and I'm going to be a good girl and get out on that treadmill and run! Well... after I clean the train wreck I call my room. 

OH! But exciting news! The 30-day challenge is paying off! I have officially dropped a size!!! I am now a size 11. I know some of you are probably like "yeah big deal..." BUT, you have to realize I've been a 13 since as far back as I can remember. Seriously, I don't remember the last time I was anything lower than that. So... this is kinda a big deal. I want to drop another pant size before I go to Japan in October. Actually... I would like to drop 2, but let's fight our battles as we get there, huh? So let's plan on one and if we get there we'll go for two! 

So I guess this post wasn't as short as I was planning on... sorry guys! 

In other news, Aric and I have been together for nine months! That seems like it's a way smaller number than it should be. We had this weird almost dating thing going on for a few months before hand so... yeah. But that's exciting anyway! We celebrate a year in october (my favorite month... now for more than just halloween and autumn) and I can't wait!

Workout + pizza = sabotage.

Sooo... day 4 of my 30 day workout challenge was a success!!! 

My arms were mega sore from the past few days (I'm not normally an upper body work out person) so... I took it kinda easy today and just ran for a bit. I plan on doing the same for the rest of the weekend. I want to keep working out, but I need to chill because every day next week I'm doing some sort of strenuous work out and I don't want to feel like dying all next week. So... yeah.

So I worked out and that was good, but then mom and I ate pizza and dark chocolate and... that was bad. So very very bad. BUT! We watched/bought "The Bucket List" (which I love, by the way) and my creative writing teacher liked my poetry! (I'm very shy and unconfident about my poetry) So that was very very good!

Um... I don't have much more to say tonight. I'm pretty dang tired.

Oh!! I'm coloring my hair tomorrow! I know, I know "ash. you always are coloring your hair. it's not exciting anymore, just drop it." Oh hush, its fun. So... sad moment, Loreal Feria discontinued my all time favorite haircolor ever. It took me years to find this color red, so I was very very upset. So... I'm going to be lame and color my hair a natural copper red, but then I'm going to be cool and condition it weekly with manic panic so... we'll see how that goes. But it's sad because I got my hair professionally done about a month ago and it was the prettiest watermelon color ever but... alas, I do not have the money to get it done every month. I do have money for box color. End of story. So I'll post about my new hair color soon, and maybe I'll throw in a outfit of the day post somewhere in there. That might be fun. 

I actually have no plans for this weekend except to work out and rest. 

What about you guys? Any exciting plans??

xoxoxoxo

Ashlotte

p.s. sorry no pretty pictures for you guys today! 

30 day fitness challenge/photo dump

Whew!! It's been an intense few days!!

 I've been working out like a crazy girl! I needed to get off a few pounds I packed on when I was with my family after my grandpa's death. Yeah... we like to eat and... it was a sad time so needless to say, my caloric intake was tragic last week. I think I've evened it out now, so I should be safe but seeing as how I'm visiting Japan in October and I fully intend on buying clothes I think I need to work off more than those past few pounds. 

So in saying that I've decided to join the 30 day fitness challenge over at Bueno Bueno  and I'm actually pretty excited about that. I'm technically on day 3 of my workouts. On Tuesday I only had a hour of yoga because my teacher had to leave early. Sad face. Wednesday I worked out with my friend Tianna at a local gym thanks to our amazing discovery of groupon!!!! Seriously. Okay, time out about our work out conversation, groupon is AMAZING. It's free to join, and you never know what's going to happen. They email you daily deals for things in your area and sometimes it sucks, but other times its ah-mazing. Like... out 10 workout classes for $35 instead of $210. Yeah. Exactly. So anyway, it's worth joining GROUPOOOOOON . 

Now back to your regularly scheduled program. So we did that workout class on Wed. night and then I came home and ran for a half an hour, and today I did two hours of yoga and then walked through the botanical gardens for an hour and a half. So... excited about the 30 day challenge, you'll see lots of entries about that. (hopefully) Annnnd I definitely encourage you guys to take up the challenge with me!!

So on to our next subject! 

I promised you a photo dump and YOU SHALL HAVE IT! 

during our drive to upstate ny

how pretty is this view???

and this one... oh my gosh. aric took this one

though, i can't really take credit for it...

during our botanical gardens walk

this reminds me of christmas. it made me happy...

So yeah... botanical gardens walk seemed like a good idea until I was in jeans and it was in the 90s. We were sweating so bad that we were both dripping, and I was sweating through my jeans. Yeah. Visibly sweating through my jeans. Gross. It was baaaad. 

So, I'm off for the night! Have you guys done anything fun lately? If you guys are working out, what do you do to work out?

xoxoxo

Ash.

In Memory of....

Hey guys, 

I know I've been gone for a while. Its been kinda hard to write this summer because not much has happened in my life up until now. I'm not one of those people who enjoy the summer or have adventures in the summer so... yeah. I'm not going to lie to you and tell you I'll update every day, but I promise I will try, and I promise I'll update more once gross summer is over. Oh how I can't wait until fall. 

So, I said nothing has happened in my life until now, so I wanted to share with you what has happened in my life recently. 

On monday morning, July 5th, I got a phone call from my dad and stepmom down in GA telling me that my grandpa has just had a massive stroke and that there was blood in his brain. He was hanging on for a while, but because he was on blood thinners for his heart my grandpa unfortunately passed away. 

My grandpa was a wonderful man. He was one of those people who became a role model in some way to everyone who got to know him. He was a colonel in the army, and volunteered for more things that hundreds of people do in a life time. He was an amazing person. He had the best sense of humor of anyone I had ever met in my life, and he was the kindest person I think I've ever known. There's no possible way that I can put into words how amazing he was, and I don't think there were ever be an accurate tribute to him. I miss him a lot, and it's hard for me to think I'll never hear him call me "pal" again, but obviously God needed another angel up there. 

So, on Tuesday morning Aric and I woke up bright and early and were on the road to upstate NY. (For those of you who don't know... that's a loooooooong drive from southeastern VA). Despite the sad circumstances and the fact that I was sick (of course....) we had a good drive, and a good trip. It was nice to spend that time with him since he starts work at starbucks this morning, and it was great to see my family even though we were all upset. 

(most recent photo I have of grandpa. I'm going to try to dig up some from when I was little and I'll post them.)

Well friends, I'm off to yoga, but I'll be back soon, I'm feeling some photo-adventure sharing coming on and I have enough for a few posts. Catch you later alligators. 

Animation camp and things of the like.

Hey guys! So... as you probably know I've been nonexistent for a while now. I'm going to work on that. For real. I am. Anyway, I'll give you a run down of my week.

So... Animation camp started, so I've been locked in a room with a bunch of preteens since monday. Okay, it's actually not nearly as bad as it sounds. It's actually fun. The thing I love about art kids is that they're generally pretty quiet when they're working and they're always working. I love my co-assistant teachers and the main teacher, so that's good. The kids are smart and don't need too much help so really we get to sit there and draw all day. It's a lot of fun and I've actually finished some pieces and started to work on some others, which is nice since I've had major art-block since.... january? I think I might work on some actual animation today. We'll see how that goes... its been a while.

This looks cooler bigger, I swear. 

A ghost wallpaper I made for Aric haha.

Aric and I made banana nut bread french toast yesterday morning for breakfast. It was amazing. Seriously. Try it. You haven't lived if you haven't tried it. I made the banana nut bread from scratch the night before (it's a recipe we now like to call baNOManut bread) but I'll bet store bought is ALMOST as good. Kidding. I'm not a baking snob, I swear. 

In other news, Kaylah over at The Dainty Squid is having an awesomeeee giveaway, I never ever ever win giveaways, but maybe you're just cool and lucky like that and you should go enter too! Anyway, go check it out over here. 

Anyway. I have to be on my way to yoga class so I'm not late, but I'll post again soon. Maybe during camp... hmmmm.... 

For now I'll leave you with what's inspiring me today! 

This:

annnnd....

-Jiri Trnka (creepiest stop motion animation ever..)

-Weird Russian folk art/stories

-Black, black, and more black. 

-Hooping.

xoxoxo

Hey guys!

It's been a wild week. I have an interview with MAC today! I was supposed to have one on Monday, but the manager had to go home sick. Poor thing! Soo... it's been rescheduled for today. I'm nervous a little, but not nearly as bad as on Monday. I was panicking on Monday haha it was bad. 

I got my hair done yesterday. When I tried to dye my pinkish red purple it came out this nasty muddy dark brown red, and I was okay with it, but then we dyed my hair a light natural red which was fine but then I tried to fix it by putting the pink over it which kinda worked, but it was pretty dark and then it faded. (Can you tell I like to dye my hair?) So I went in yesterday and had my mom's hair stylist fix my hair. I don't have a picture yet, but its so much better. She bleached my roots and dyed it bright bright red, and I like it a lot. The ends of my hair are still kinda dark, but its pretty. Next time i go though (probably before the japan trip!) I'm going to see if she can pre-lighten the rest of my hair, and I might just go pinker. Yay! 

Poor Aric has tonsillitis. How sucky is that? He doesn't have to have them out though, which is good because I've heard that's really rough for adults. Oh boy. So lets just hope he doesn't get this again or he'll have to! Poor boy... its kinda hard not being able to live with him because I want to be able to take care of him 24/7 when he's sick and... I can't. Oh well, soon enough, soon enough. :) 

I came across this picture the other day and thought it was cute. 

Aric was teaching me how to make enchiladas. I'm pretty sure he won't marry me until I've mastered mexican cooking.

We put green peppers in them. Yum!

So animation camp starts on Monday, and we have a parent/teacher conference thing on thursday. I don't even know what I'm teaching yet!! I find out tomorrow before the conference hah we're all going out to dinner, it should be fun! I'm excited.

This weekend my mom and I are going adventuring, I'm not really sure where we're going yet but.... I'll tell you when I know haha.

Are you guys doing anything fun this weekend??

xoxoxo

This might be sacrilegious but..

Okay, seriously, this might be sacrilegious, but... come on, you can't tell me this is a fantastic wedding photo. 

 A reenactment of the last supper painting by the groom and his groomsmen. 

Fantastic. 

That's all.