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!