Three Days in One: My Trip to the Great Lakes

Let's start this day off with a trip to the zoo. Minnesota has been BEAUTIFUL so far and the zoo at perfect weather. The clouds in the sky toned down the sun and was the perfect back-drop to the tall trees and green grass. We went on the Minnesota Zoo Monorail, and lucky us, it was the Dr. Seuss edition so the whole time the tour guide was reading in rhymes. Scoti (Travis' niece) was really good during the monorail, but didn't actually take much interest in the animals. Whenever I go on 'explorations' like that, I always anticipate a dinosaur jumping out of the trees and eating the train - though no such thing happened on this trip, but most of the animals were just as scarce as the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. Right after the monorail tour the Dolphin exhibit put on a show, it was SO fun!!! There was a boy dolphin that was 48yrs old, a momma dolphin that was 24yrs old, and her baby dolphin that was just 10 months old. Super cute family and very talented. We visited the grizzly bears after that and I have never seen bears this active. One bear kept swimming back-n-forth in front of the glass with a curious expression. At one point two bears started to rough-house a little bit and the third bear came over to regulate, slapped one of the bears on the shoulder and growled - it was pretty cool.

We came home after spending the morning at the zoo to take a nap before we headed out to a Minnesota Twins game. I don't know how long I'd been asleep, but all of a sudden Travis is shaking me awake and telling me Prior Lake, MN was just given a tornado warning. Not much longer after that did we hear the sirens. That was a pretty eerie sound, not like the movies, but not something I've ever experienced before. The storm passed us, but it got pretty intense there for a minute. You'd think 'oh we have a tornado watch, so the game is SOL' but actually the sun came out, the sky cleared up, and we were off to the ball park about an hour after the storm passed.

Baseball in Minnesota is NOTHING like baseball in Arizona. Minnesotans actually cheer for THEIR team and there is definitely a strong sense of spirit in the air. The park was huge and had some tasty food! Travis went to town on the most amazing nachos I've ever seen, and I enjoyed a foot-long hot dog - yummy. The umpire ejected the Twins coach in the 7th inning but other than that, the game was pretty eventless. We left at the end of the 9th still 0-0. On the radio we were able to enjoy the final minutes as the Twins win the game 1-0.

This day felt like 3 totally separate days. Probably because each event was separated by a nap and each event was so different. I love Minnesota! The people are nice, the scenery is beautiful, but I love the weather most of all. Rain, clouds, cold breeze...sign me up!

Summer Time and the Livin's Easy...

With summer just around the corner I thought I'd jump in and say a few things.

Travis and I have at least two fun trips planned. At the end of May we are going to Minnesota to do some sight-seeing and general fun! :} Travis' oldest brother lives there, so lucky for us we have a place to stay and people to do things with! On May 1st they had a snow storm, so we are looking at semi-cold weather (when compared to AZ's mid-to-upper 90s) when we are there at the end of the month.

Our next trip will be in June when we go to Disneyland! Travis' parents are taking the whole family to Disneyland, and I'm super excited. As I was cleaning out my office today, I found my VERY OLD Disney autograph book...and I think when we go in June I'm going to bring it and get as many autographs as I can. I have a few from when I first bought it, but not enough.

Some other exciting news, I got moved to a different department at work - same old role, but new environment and management so I'm excited to see how this helps. With the change came a change in schedule and attitude. I get off earlier, and I'm a lot happier - which is fabulous.

Bleeker is set to have his man-hood removed early June and no one is more excited about it than me. He runs around like a crazy-dog and humps anything that will let him - it can get pretty embarrassing when I have to carry my niece around so my dog won't continue to trip her up trying to get the best position...

I have blue in my hair, as extension pieces - it's a new thing and takes a little getting used to, but my hair dresser does a great job at making the pieces peek-a-boo through my hair so it's very subtle. My hair is getting longer, and I LOVE it!

Pandora

I love Pandora, because it gives me that window into a different world. I get to listen to Big Band and swing music whenever I want...well, as long as I have wifi and the best part is that it's free! Amy Winehouse Radio is my favorite station as of late - she may be crazy, but I love her voice and the variety of music that plays with her music.

Check it out if you can.

Kisses!

Ashley

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Today has not been the best of days. And as I sit here with tears in my eyes trying to decide why I feel this way, a series of unfortunate events flash in my mind.

I know this is pathetic, but it all starts with being laid off from University of Phoenix. Some might say "it's just a job, you'll get another one!" "You have so much to offer, don't worry about it - it's just one of a million jobs." But it was so much more to me than just a job. Besides the fact that I was amazing at it and loved what I did. University of Phoenix was my first real job after I got divorced. UOP saw me through 3 heart breaks, a Bachelor AND Master degree, countless friends, disappointments, successes - for the last five years my life has changed drastically, but my one constant was always UOP. So to be thrown to the curb when my life is now in the process of changing again and making big decisions, I feel like the carpet has been pulled out from underneath me. The sure confidence I once had is injured. What's worse is I got a job in the same field doing the same thing, and I hate it. It's seriously like I just went through a traumatic divorce (UOP) and instantly jumped into another relationship that is exactly the same, except worse (new place).  :{

Earlier this week (Tuesday) I was rear-ended. The line of cars ahead of me stopped quickly so, as I quickly slow down, I automatically look in my rear-view mirror and was shocked to see and instantly comprehend that the car behind me wasn't going to stop in time. I quickly looked forward and let go of my break petal, in the next instant she hit me and I slammed on my breaks. Luckily I didn't hit the car in front of me and my car is okay for the most part besides a few scratches that will get fixed through her insurance. But now my back and neck hurt and - again - I am reminded that the health insurance that had been so easily accessible through UOP is no longer around and the COBRA insurance hasn't processed. I go to the ER by myself on Wednesday night to get an x-ray and some medication.

Today, the trainers at my new job let us go an hour early, and I'm thinking "Life is good!" but as I'm merging lanes on the I-10 a truck changes his mind about letting me in and slams into my back tire wheel well. His bumper gets stuck on my wheel well and separates a chunk of my wheel well from the body of my car.  He doesn't stop, I can't get his information because he changes lanes and is behind me...lovely.

So, where am I at? Oh right, no job, no insurance, got hit, hurt my neck, got hit again, hurt my car - oh and did I mention that it took almost a month and a half to get my severance (which was supposed to process in no more than 30 days) - that one was my fault, but due to mistaken information relayed to me on the day I got laid off.

I know that sometimes I'm a cynic, but I would like to think that I'm genuinely a good/fun person. I guess right now I just don't feel secure. So what does one do when you feel this way? Vent through a blog? Go see a movie by myself?

I hope something works.

Kisses to all who got through that mess of a post.

Angry Birds

I started this week off with three chickens; but now I am down to two. Chicken #1, #2 and #3 were great layers in their day, but it has been months since they have earned their keep. I have been keeping them around any ways because killing chickens is serious business (mess-wise) and I just can’t bring myself to kill a perfectly healthy animal. Chickens #1 and #2 somehow escaped the coop while Bleeker and D.O.G. were outside.

At the time the terrified SQUAK from chicken #2 rang out, I was chatting with Travis. When I ran out to see what the matter was, she was huddled in a pile of her scattered feathers. Bleeker alert to my arrival ran up to me, excited to show me what he had discovered. He was quickly shuttled into his crate so I could evaluate the damage done. I couldn’t see much because it was dark so I ran back inside and shuffled through my rooms looking for my flashlight.

I couldn’t find my flashlight so Travis came over with his. #2 wasn’t doing good, there was a large chunk of feathers missing and she wasn’t going to heal so Travis and I were left with the responsibility to stop her pain. I felt so bad for her, and the last thing I wanted to do was botch her execution…so Travis and I threw some ideas around trying to determine which would be the best. I don’t have a hatchet, so we used a scraper I had.

The scraper was on the end of a 5ft pole; so I held the pole in place while Travis took a heavy swing with my rubber mallet…unfortunately, his first swing missed the pole entirely and instead fell on my hand. OUCH!

Travis was able to carry on without me and I am happy to say he did a clean job of it. I think this was Travis’ first ‘farm-life’ experience, but he was a natural :} Chicken #1 disappeared for a day but was roaming around two days later, so I’m just assuming she was in hiding.

I hope I don’t have to do any more executions for a long time! They are not fun! But I’m glad Travis was there to help me, he was fun to watch – since it definitely freaked him out a little, but I think he was trying to be brave for me :}

Sorry this was so long!

Kisses!

Family

IF there is one thing that I have come to appreciate more and more as I get older, it's family. I love knowing that my parents are there for me - no matter what - and I am so grateful for the sacrifices they have experienced so I could live life with opportunities and confidence. I can always rely on candid opinions and thought provoking words of advice. Even though my parents have both supported and protected me in their own ways, I am so grateful for their consistent level of love and respect for each other, that has probably made the biggest impact on me.

At this time of thanksgiving and quality time with family, I just wanted to express my gratitude and love to my immediate family and the family I have gained over the years through my friendships!

Love you all!

Kisses,
Ashley

Justice

This is quick - I just wanted to say, thank goodness November is over and taking Justice with it! I welcome December and my new virtue: Chastity.

Disneyland!

Travis and I ventured out to Disneyland a couple of weekends ago - it was sooo much FUN! Here's a candid documentory of the trip:

Driving!

I drove to CA and Travis took over from there - I'm so glad too, because CA drivers are crazy and the freeways are even worse, but he knew what he was doing and where he was going.

At the park!

Yes, we consecrated our trip with the purchase of Mickey ears...I mean, could we really say we were there if we hadn't?

Christmas!

The second day at the park all of a sudden there was this HUGE tree - like 15 stories high! - at the beginning of Main Street. So we snapped a picture with our Mickey hats. 

Rides! 

Autopia, here we come! Travis let me drive - so sweet but he ended up pushing on the gas peddle - there was too much resistance for my little legs - and I steered.

Boats!

We went on the Mark Twain steam boat! I've never been on it and it was SO much fun!

Tron!

The event we came to see! California Adventure has been putting on a party for the new Tron movie that's coming out soon, so we got in on the action.

DJs!

We had to get a picture with the DJ in the background - my boyfriend is cute.

Try as we might...

We didn't get it out...

This is our 1 picture with the characters. Every time we saw one there was a huge line to just get a picture, but we caught Goofy strolling around Tomorrow Land and grabbed a picture - so cute!

Let's end the post with a dance!

Kisses,

Ashley

Pondering

I wanted to check-in with a few life updates. Life is going great – I‘m still working on my list of virtues, but I have to say this month’s virtue (Justice) is kind of hard to conceptualize into a working virtue for me. I’m not a liar and I don’t find that I commit injustice to people – so unless I’m supposed to wear a mask and run around in a bath robe at night helping people, I’m not too sure what I’m supposed to be doing.

As always, I’m working on my humility and (surprise surprise) I’m having a difficult time with it. :} Something that my dad said to me a while ago keeps coming back to me when I get in moments where my stubbornness is trying to take over. He said, “Everyone has their limits, and sometimes your limits will exceed those of another person. And the way to live in harmony is to recognize that usually it is easier to taper back and meet that other person’s limits, than expect them to hyperextend their own.” At the time my protest to this was, “Well, then I’ll ALWAYS have to be the bigger person who has to make the sacrifices! That’s not fair.” But now that I’m looking back on that conversation there’s a balance in life, and to make those people, who I love, feel unnecessary stress because of my own conscious selfishness, or stubbornness isn’t fair. Not the other way around.

I’m not perfect, and I will probably have selfish or stubborn relapses, but I know I will get better, because I want the people I love to be happy, not stressed.

Kisses,

Ashley

Halloween

I have never spent Halloween this way. Firstly, I had a costume, and while some of you may raise an eyebrow to the idea…I rocked it!

My friend Erin did my make-up and this picture doesn't do it justice - she did an amazing job!

Short story…when I was on my way to Erin’s house to get my make-up done, I was wearing the head stuff (because it was so amazingly realistic!) and I was on the US-60. Well, I get level with this VW Jetta and look over; this guy, about my age, is driving and he looks over at me and half smiles before he takes in what he’s looking at and then in a split second his eyes triple in size and his mouth drops. I can’t imagine what was going through his head, but that was by far the funniest thing I have seen in a while! I laughed so hard in the car tears came to my eyes…haha…okay. Moving on...

When I was done with my make-up I ran to the Mac store to pick up an adapter for Travis before I headed over to the party.

I went to the San Tan mall and for some reason, I couldn’t for the life of me parallel park! I finally just gave up and parked straight, but like…2 yards away from the curb (good thing I didn’t take too long because I was definitely in-line for a ticket).

Anyways, by now I had my whole get-up on. Make-up done, do-rags and scarf in place, and of course dress on (which I made by the way). When I walked into the Mac store I drew an eye from everyone. One guy pulled out his iPhone and snapped a picture of me and whipped around to look at speakers when I looked over at him. It was so funny…

The party was…HUGE. I helped out in the front and there was a non-stop line from 10pm – 12:15am, people were saying they were waiting 45 minutes just to get to the door! What an experience! Travis and his buddies were terrorists and we were all definitely the most original group of costumes there.

I didn’t get home until 5am and it was definitely the longest day of my life. Almost a week later and my body still hasn’t recovered completely.

New Project

I've been wanting to redo my bathtub area in my main bathroom ever since I moved into my house, so today I started the demolition! 

Sorry I don't have a true 'before' picture but this is about 30 into the demo

Two band-aids and a few smashed fingers later...

Taking down that tile was WAY harder than I had anticipated! I'm SO tired and sore I need to clean out the tub before I go to bed and sweep up the floor to get all the dry wall off the floor. I wore eye protection, but didn't wear a mask and I think I'll be tasting dry wall for a while! *cough cough*

Kisses!

Ashley 

Camping!

So I was invited on a camping trip last weekend! A group of people went to the rim (about 2 hours out of Phoenix). It was a lot of fun, but Travis had to leave early to get the camp to set up and I couldn't go with him because I was still at work, so I had Jon come with me so I wouldn't have to drive up there all by myself (yay for cool little brothers!)

Jon and me on the Rim.

That's about as close to the rim Travis would get. :}

Travis and me on the rim

Oh yeah! I live on the edge!

Banana boat -  we made these on Saturday night. They tasted great, but maybe needed to be cooked a little more. You basically slice open a banana (without peeling it) and you stuff it with peanut butter, marshmallows, M&Ms, nuts, etc. wrap it in tinfoil and cook it on the fire. Yummy!

(Hurley and Max)

Travis brought Hurley and another girl brought her dog (Max) and they were like peas and carrots! So cute - we also observed Hurley's unique appetite for tree bark and dirt. It was all fun and games until he had an explosion in his crate later that night...poor puppy.

I brought my dad's quads up and we had a lot of fun riding those around. I'm not a huge camper, but this was a fun trip!

Kisses,

Ashley

August

Here are some more pictures from Charla's birthday dinner:

The whole group!

Some weird girl, Charla and me - Gavin thinks he's being cute sticking his tongue out and that girl is just creepy...

Dave, me, Charla, some girl...

me and Charla

I know it doesn't look like it, but we are actually on a saddle from the restaurant, it's a part of their 'birthday' celebration thingy...

Man if I wasn't so freakin' tall I could've just stood up normal! But maybe I should've any ways, because I look awkward in this picture.

July

I got some pictures from Charla that we took back in July...so here they are:

Yes, I like sushi, and here's proof! Me and Boyce

Smile for the camera!

After sushi we all went back to Charla's house and played the card game 'golf'

I wasn't ready!

Shaun, me, and Ryan

Another day later in the month we made a Pizookie with Ryan and his friend Shaun.

The pizookie was fabulous!! and these were the pictures from July!

Kisses,

Ashley

Games and Toes

I went to a baseball game with Jody and Anthony Gross, and their little girl Francis. The D-Backs won, which is typical when Becca or I go to a game without each other.

In other news, I hurt my big toe on the right foot a couple of nights ago when I went to a dance with Charla. It was dark, I was wearing flip-flops, and I wasn't paying attention - bad combination. Any ways, I ran into a guy and stubbed my toe on his shoe. But of course I continued to dance and jump around all night. Then for church today I shoved my toe into a pair of high heels so I could look cute (pain is beauty) and now my toe is all discolored and it's kind of freaking me out a little bit. But I will see how it goes. It only hurts when I walk on it, touch it, or try to move it. Other than that It's just fine.

Old Picture

I found this picture from when I was in Young Womens...I don't remember what we were doing, but it was obviously something fun! Probably something to do with modesty/fashion.

Yay for organizing emails! I get to find little treasures like this picture! (I am counting cleaning out my inbox as something 'industrious' for my virtue of the month) :} 

Kisses,

Ashley

Updates

I was moved to a different team at work, specializing with graduate students only, so a couple of weeks ago I went bowling with my team one last time for our 'team-build'

Dave, me, and Chad 

(it bothers me that this picture is off center with all the other ones!)

Kellisa (new to the team) and me

Erin and me

I took my shoes off and Olivia instantly starts to put them on her feet. I need to pay close attention to the things I do and say - she seems to think I'm pretty cool and I don't want Amy to get mad at me if I teach her the wrong thing!

She loves my shoes :}

Bye for now!

Kisses,

Ashley

Meet Bleeker

Hello world

he is so sweet -  I got him from a couple in Phoenix, AZ. They have been breeding their mama and papa standards for 9 years. He has a small belly-button hernia and the vet said it was genetic. My vet says he can fix it while Bleeker is under for his *snip-snip* and I called the breeders and they said they would reimburse me the cost of the correction.

Beautiful puppy!! (Charlie Brown Christmas tree in the back ground)

D.O.G. and Bleeker - mind you Bleeker is only 14-weeks in this picture, he's gonna get huge!

Me and Charla

As of late I have been spending a lot of my time hanging out with Charla and her friends. So here are some pictures and narratives of my life:

Happy Birthday

This was at Charla's birthday dinner - we went to Texas Road House (which currently reads: as Road House...someone needs to change the light bulbs...)

Night Out on the Town

Me and Charla are wearing the same shirt - just difference colors :} Before this picture was taken I went shopping with Charla and she let me borrow her shirt - I think we pretty much know we're dorks, but this is the outward symptoms of our dorkiness.

Me and Dave

Ralphie May

Charla's really good friend Dave (AKA: The Bodyguard) got us all tickets to go see Ralphie May. So in this picture there's me, Dave (in the back) and Boyce

Charla, me, and Boyce

Me and Charla

In other news of my life, I recently got a baby standard poodle (thanks to Travis and his azcentral.com suggestion!) Bleeker (my new pup) was only 14-weeks when I got him, but he was already potty trained (for the most part) and has the sweetest temperament. He's gonna be all white - so now I have two white fluffy fur balls (pictures are coming shortly!).

D.O.G. is actually handling Bleeker very well! He hasn't once looked at me like "I hate you." which I think is a good sign, because with Oscar he gave me that look at least twice a day! Speaking of D.O.G. he lost what little manhood he had on Thursday morning...poor guy, but he's recovering very well. Thank you for all the letters and kind words, he really appreciates them...

And I'm going to leave you with a question Jason asked me when I told him I was going to get another boy standard poodle: "Why do you insist on getting the male versions of the most frilliest dogs out there? Why not just a girl?"

The world may never know...

Kisses,

Ashley

Pool Party

I went with Erin and her kiddo Isabella, to her community pool. Isabella is such a cute little swimmer - she can totally swim, but she sticks to the edges. She is also quite the little social butterfly...and when she doesn't know the kid's/adult's name she goes: "Hey you! Want to play with me?" :}

My World

Dear God, 

When I am power full like you, I'd like to create a galaxy similar to this:

Thanks for being so perfect and creating so many beautiful things. I have a lot to look forward to.

Kisses,

Ashley