The Blog Awards

My great friend Aubrey tagged my blog, along with 4 others, with the Fabulous Award. I don't know that my blog is very fabulous, especially when my post are so sporadic!


If you ask me, Aubrey's blog is the most fabulous of fab! According to Aubrey, she is the "least fabulous person she knows." Her reasons boil down to shopping exclusively at gap.com and oldnavy.com, her only handbag is a diaper bag, she doesn't watch T.V. other than Elmo, she loves to cook and read, she is a math teacher, and self-described nerd. Aubrey leaves the following information out:

• she is the mom to two of the cutest girls ever


• she went from living in a small town in Oklahoma to residing in Baltimore, England, and currently in Germany


• not only is she a "math nerd," but she has amazing writing skills and I believe she majored or minored in English as well as Math - basically she is super smart

The above qualities are just a few reasons why Aubrey's blog is FABULOUS. I especially enjoy it because it helps me feel connected to her and the rest of the PJs while they live so far away.

If I could, I would pass the award right back to Aubs. But there are rules for this award that I must stick to! Basically now that my blog has been tagged with the Fabulous Award, I have to share five things that I am currently obsessed with and pass the award onto five other blogs that I read.

1. Weight: I know this is vain of me. I'm sure you are thinking, "Ashley, you are pregnant. This is the last thing you should be worried about. This is the time to GAIN weight and be happy about it." I know you are thinking that because these are things people have told me. You have to understand that when I was pregnant with Eastan, it was not a pretty site. You can ask my mom. This time around, I am trying to keep up with my regular workouts and watch what I eat. I'm not pregger-exic by any means. I just don't run to Sonic or McDonalds just because it sounds good.

2. Christmas: I have always loved Christmas but this Christmas morning will be especially awesome! See The Best Christmas Present EVER? post.

3. iphone: Although I am not currently obsessed with this, I fear I will be soon. Nick and I are switching to AT&T on Sunday so we can have iphones. Nick is already obsessed and has been counting the days until our contract with Verizon is over. I have had the same piece of crap phone for two years and would be happy with any upgrade. I think my constant connection with the world via Facebook and the multiple apps that are available could soon consume me.

4. Zits: This pregnancy is making my face breakout. Primarily from my left temple, across my forehead, and down to my right temple. I sort of freak out about it because the majority of my life, I have been pretty lucky in the complexion area. I'm not used to having breakouts. What makes it even more annoying is that these aren't the type of zits that want to pop. They just want to sit under my skin, just enough to show but not come to the surface. This makes me pick at them while I sit at my desk or in front of the mirror at night. It feels like they are ready to burst but in reality, they are just a big tease!

5. Wilco: I don't know if this is a real obsession but I do love this band. Wilco is a band based out of Chicago that has been around for a number of years. If you aren't familiar with them, you should be. My brother introduced me to this band a few years ago. They are his favorite. I went to one of their concerts about 3 years ago and wasn't quite sure if I liked them. Then my brother gave me basically all of their music and I was hooked.

There are my five current obsessions. Maybe you learned something new about me today.
Now for the awards! My five favorite blogs are:

Carrie M. - Chicklet & Ducky

Carla - Two to Seven

Angela - The Hill Hotspot

Carrie R. - Happy Together

Stacy - The Silverwood Family

TAG - you're it!

The Best Christmas Present EVER?

I am sure you are thinking, "Christmas is a few months away. Why is Ashley writing about Christmas?" As you know, Christmas is my St. Nick's FAVORITE time of year. He loves Christmas and everything that surrounds it.

He has a few more events to look forward to this holiday season. On December 5, he will be participating in the St. Jude Marathon in Memphis. He has been training very hard the past few months and I believe he will ROCK (pun intended) it out!

The second big event in December is our ultrasound. On December 1, (assuming baby cooperation) we will find out if we are having a girl or a boy... or will we?

My friend Crystal passed along this grand idea that since our ultrasound is in December, we should ask the ultrasound tech to not tell us the sex of the baby but ask her to write it down on a piece of paper and put it in a sealed envelope. Nick and I would then take the envelope home, wrap it in a "beautiful box with a BIG bow" and open it with Eastan on Christmas morning. I thought that was actually a really sweet idea, until our ultrasound was scheduled for December 1.
I mean, I'm really suppose to wait another 24 days to find out the sex of this little shrimp? Then I begin to think about how magical Christmas morning would be. I know, I am being a little dramatic. But really, think about it. We would be so excited on Christmas Eve. We would wake up like little kids, anxiously getting out of bed on Christmas morning to open our little gift. We could re-wrap the envelope and when we go to my parents house for Christmas breakfast, we can give them the present. And again when we go to Nick's parents.

Nick is totally sold on the idea. Of course, he would be sold on something that would make Christmas even more awesome! It would be the best Christmas present ever. But what if I wanted to peek?

How to Plan & Implement a Successful Man-date

Man-Date: (n) Night of man-tivities such as drinking beer and playing video games
ex. My husband and his friend Jason had a man-date on Thursday night.

Step 1. Call your friend to set-up the date

Step 2. Call your wife to consult on the dinner menu

Step 3. Go to Harter House 24 hours prior to the man-date to purchase your steak & marinade

Step 4. Place the steak in the marinade before you go to bed

Step 5. Toss the steak around in the marinade before you go to work

Step 6. Call your wife again to confirm the sides that will go with the steak

Step 7. While you are at work, daydream about your night of man-tivities

Step 8. When you get home, make sure the house is clean

Step 9. Start the grill

Step 10. Pour a glass of wine

Step 11. Wash the windows (yeah, I don't know) while you are waiting on the grill

Step 12: Place your deliciously marinated steaks on the grill

Step 13. Eat your wonderfully crafted dinner of steak, sweet potato chips and corn on the cob

Step 14. Lock your wife up in the bedroom

Step 15. Lock your son up in his bedroom

Step 16. Have your buddy make his profile on the PS3

Step 17. Stand as close to 46" High Def, Flat Screen TV as possible

Step 18. Demolish all players & conquer the world of Call of Duty while you drink

Step 19. Say things such as:
"Get out of my way, dude."
"That's freakin' awesome."
"HaHaHa, did you see that?!"
"I couldn't move! They were right on top of me."
"OOOOHHHHHGGGG!!!"

Step 20. Say "good-night" to your buddy, go to bed, and dream about next man-date where you will resume kicking of ass and conquering of the world.

Extreme Weekend of personal records, joyrides and dream coats

I had one of those "perfect" weekends last week. Nothing special happened, it was just a fun and relaxing weekend. It started out with a unplanned date night with Nick. We decided to go to dinner and while I was in the shower, he told me that he was going run to "get something" from his dad. When we walked out the door to leave, I saw that the "something" was his dad's little black convertible. We had such a good time riding around in the car all weekend. I think Nick had an even better time driving the car. After a nice dinner at Rivals, one of Nick's favorite places, we decided that we really wanted ice cream. So, off to Andy's we went! YUM!

In the morning, I ran in the Girls Just Wanna

Run 5K with Katie, my mom and her friend Marilyn. It is a fun race because (if you didn't get it from the name) it's an all girls run. What made it even better was that I ran a personal best at 26.54! The last race participated in was the Turkey Trot which I ran around 28.30. Fantastic!

After the race, we went to Anton's. Believe it or not, Nick and I have never been to Anton's. For those of you who aren't from Springfield, Anton's has been around for a LONG time. It way surpassed my expectations. The coffee was wonderful, the pancakes were crusty around the edges, my omelet had yummy feta inside, and the hashbrowns were not greasy. Perfection.

My day continued at the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition site near Ash Grove. I helped my friend Jessica in the VIP tent. I know this sounds special, but I think the volunteers in the hospitality tent actually had more interaction with the people from the show. I did get to see Michael but not being a regular viewer of the show, it wasn't too exciting. Jessica and I were able to get in a shot for the show. I told Jessica that it would probably get cut in the final edits - but we were excited anyway! I found out later in the week that Jessica has a higher chance of getting on TV because she was able to be in a few more shots. She is a pretty big deal now and I hope she will still be friends with an "extra" like me! She also got to meet Ty.

Back to me! The weekend wrapped up with a performance at Missouri State's Tent Theatre. Jason, Katie, Nick and I saw Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat. The weather was perfect for an outdoor theatre and the show was pretty good too.

What a GREAT life God has given me!

I miss Carrie

My friend Carrie moved to Detroit in May and I miss having her around the office. Not only is she extremely sincere, but she is probably one of the wittiest people I have ever met. After random emails between the Squirrels today, Carrie posted A Day With Squirrels. I encourage you to read it!
I love you, Carrie! Your story is fantastical (fantastic & magical)!

Squirrely Girls

I am a proud Squirrely Girl. The Squirrely Girls are comprised of fellow crafters that spread across the country (yes, I can say that because Carrie now lives in Michigan). Squirrely Girls originated when Jessica and I decided to craft our own Christmas ornaments. See Squirrely Girl Craft post. The name fits us, not only because we are squirrely of nature but we also like squirrels. We have squirrel nicknames, a logo, set-up a site on Etsy to sell our squirrel crafts, cut out random pictures of squirrels from the newspaper to give to fellow Squirrels, craft our own squirrel shirts and basically go over-the-top for anything squirrel.

In saying that, I don't believe you will ever find one of the Squirrely Girls in the situation as this lady (that might be too proper of a term) in this news story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw_BQNP7pM8

Dragon Eggs

Last night Nick and I found two letters on the kitchen counter. The letters were addressed to two different people but both were requesting a dragon egg to be delivered to our house. We both thought it was a little odd, but it was late and I decided we would question Eastan later about his dragon eggs.

This morning, while still laying in bed, I heard this conversation:
Nick: Who are you sending these letters to?
Eastan: I don't know. Gabby and I got the addresses from a book that she has.
Nick: Well, you aren't going to send a letter with our return address without me knowing who you are sending it to.
Eastan: But I have to send it so I can get my dragon eggs.
Nick: I hope you have a stamp because I'm not paying for you to send a letter requesting a dragon egg.
Eastan: Well, can I show mom the book? By the time I can get it from Gabby, you will be gone.
Nick: That will be fine.

At this point, I had drug myself out of bed.
Eastan: Did you know that the dragon will grow bigger than the house.
Me: What is your purpose and goal of having a dragon?
Eastan: I am going to grow and train it. Then I will let it out in the wild so it can be free. Gabby sent of for her egg last week and should have it any day. It only takes seven days to hatch.

Moses and the broken commandment

Moses, my dad's yellow lab and Jax's best friend is one lucky dog. He was involved in a hit and run last weekend when he was traveling back home from dumpster diving at Highland Springs. Of course, this is just a speculation as Moses does not talk.

After missing for two days, my parents found him in a ditch. When they took him to the vet, they learned that he had a dislocated hip that would need surgery to repair. The vet recommended taking Moses to MU for the surgery because they have a great veterinary school.

On Wednesday, my dad drove Moses to Columbia and left him in the care of Benjamin a student at MU. Benjamin referred to himself as Moses' student. When he would call my dad to give him updates, he would say, "This is Benjamin, Moses' student."

Moses had his surgery on Thursday and was able to come home today. I decided to take the day off and go with my dad to pick-up Moses. Once we arrived to MU, we found Moses' student Benjamin. Although I did not meet any other students, I was very impressed with Benjamin as he seemed to have a good bedside manner. I learned that Ben is graduating in the summer and plans to doctor "large breed animals" as in cows and horses. His wife will graduate this semester and will doctor "small breed animals" as in dogs and cats. I could tell you a lot more about Ben because my dad asked him a lot of questions such as:

Where will you move after graduation?

Will you be a partner at that hospital?

My dad also gave him advice like:

Stay away from the exotic animals.

My vet, Rick Smith could use some help in Springfield if you want to move down there.

Anyway, after Ben showed us x-rays, talked us through the surgery, and the after care, it was time to see Moses. He was very excited to see his dad but we had to get him to contain his excitement so he wouldn't put too much pressure on his back leg. Other than the shaved hair on his hip and front leg (from the IV) and the staples, he looked great.

Ben and my dad hoisted Moses into the car and we were ready for our ride home. If you haven't seen Moses, I have to tell you that he has a HUGE head. They put one of those cones around his neck and it was extra huge. So big that a few times on the ride home, Moses would get the cone stuck on the back of the seat and the ceiling of the truck and start to choke a little. I had to turn around and get him unstuck!

Moses is now home and receiving much deserved pampering. Moses will be able to stay inside for about eight weeks despite the massive amounts of hair that will be shed in my parents' house. I told my dad that he would just have to vacuum a few extra times each week.

Isn't it annoying when people have a big win or success and won't stop "bragging" on themselves? When they crash and burn, you never hear about it. You might even ask them how their event, meeting, game, etc. went and they say, "I don't even want to talk about it." That always annoys the crap out of me because I remember how he/she wouldn't shut up because he/she is "so AWESOME!"

I have to confess that I am guilty of this. A few weeks ago, we won our first co-ed softball game and I dedicated an entire post to brag about our team. Since then, we have lost three games and I haven't made a single post. Last week was BAD. Not only was the weather horrible, it was about 44 degrees and had been raining most of the day, but we had a double header.

We joked that with the gold sleeves on our shirts, we looked like the Bad News Bears!

We fumbled around when catching the ball and all in all we looked very uncoordinated. We almost made a come back on the first game. The score was 2 - 22 and it ended 19-22. The second team we played was semi-pro and we had no chance! Maybe they weren't semi-pro, but most of them were on competitive teams and played three times a week. The game was actually called early due to a run rule. This means they scored too many runs for us to be able to catch up and the umpire called the game.


Our plan of action is to have a practice this week and work on our fielding as this seems to be our major area of weakness. We hope this will ensure Team Domination a win when we go against the Bud Light Slammers on Friday at 9:30 p.m.

Citizens of Sweatsville: Dead Guy

Dead Guy is approximately 55 years old and balding. His workout consists of riding the "old school" stationary bicycle. This is the kind where the handlebars move back and forth and the "tire" spins around like a fan when you peddle.

There are two things that make Dead Guy noteworthy. Before Dead Guy travels upstairs to get on his stationary bicycle, he has to stretch. There are many places to stretch at the gym, most of which are tucked away and not out in the middle of the cardio area. Apparently, Dead Guy likes to stretch in front of others. His location of choice is in front of the StairMaster. For some reason, 75% of the time that I am on the StairMaster, I look up to find him standing with his legs stretched apart and his bicycle short-wearing butt up in the air, in all its glory. It's a little distracting, but I'm a mature adult, so I don't let it bother me. Who am I kidding? If you are reading this, you know me and know that statement is false. I try not to look, I really do. It's like a train wreck and I can't look away. He continues to do other stretches that are obscene to my immature mind.

What does this have to do with being called Dead Guy, you ask? Well, his name was actually coined by Katie. The first time we saw Dead Guy, he was on the bike and we were lifting weights. Katie looked over and said, "That guy on the bike looks like he is dead!" I looked over and saw a middle aged, flushed-looking man riding the "old school" bike with his eyes closed and his mouth gaping open. His head remained still while his legs peddled and his arms pushed and pulled the handlebars. And so, Dead Guy was named. The name stuck because anytime he is on that bike, his eyes stay closed and his mouth remains open.

If only I could figure out a way to take a picture of the Citizens.

Next Week in Citizens of Sweatsville: The Magazine Girls

Citizens of Sweatsville

Nick and I are members at a certain gym in town. Nick has been going on a daily basis for four years now. I joined him in his quest to "be fit" about four months ago. This is really the first time that I have been disciplined and regular. I finally talked a friend into joining "our" gym so I could have a workout partner. What a difference it has made to have Katie to workout with!!

This posting isn't to brag on my recent attachment to the gym. It is to introduce a new feature, if you will, to the Family Hillosophy blog. When you go to the gym on a regular basis, you begin to see the same people every day. It's like a weird community where nobody knows your name. BUT in a bizarre way, you feel like you know them because you see them every day and begin to notice all their unique characteristics or tendencies. Since you don't know their name, you make up a name for them.

Enter Crazy Stepper Lady. Not to be confused with The Other Crazy Stepper Lady, as Crazy Stepper Lady is the original. CSL is approximately 58 years old and has the legs of a 25 year old. Don't get excited, boys. Don't get jealous, girls. Read further. You do not want to be like CSL.

Until recently, she could only be found on the StairMaster (the big one with the rotating stairs). I believe she has had an injury because you can now find her in a habitat that is rare to the CSL species - upstairs in the weight area. That's another thing about going to the gym each day...not only do you come up with names for complete strangers, you being to make up stories about complete strangers.

CSL wears a gray sweatshirt every time she works out. If it's 28 degrees out and snowing, she wears a sweatshirt. If it's 95 degrees outside, she wears a sweatshirt.

CSL disregards the rule that you can only use the stepper for 30 minutes. She will get on the stepper and when her "allowed" 30 minutes is up, she will get off, quickly get a drink and get back on for another 30. I am pretty sure she knows that no one is willing to mess with her by jumping on the stepper before she is really finished.

I forgot to tell you that she is SCARY. Forget the fact that she has witch-like, long, gray hair that is worn in a pony-tail. Forget that her bony frame (from being over worked) resembles that of a witch. She is MEAN. You know the mean lady that lives down the street that all the kids are scared of? That's her. One day, Nick overheard a couple of girls politely ask her how long she does the stepper each day. Her response was, "ENOUGH." My friend, Madaline said CSL rarely speaks when spoken to but when she does, she cusses like a sailor.

She is also, in my opinion, a repeat offender in the locker room. As most of you know, I am not the most modest person. I do feel that walking around the locker room with only a towel around your waist or while you dry your long, witchy hair is not very polite. I really don't need to see her oddly-fit-for-her-age body and tiny, mature, lady lumps while I change clothes.

Next week in Citizens of Sweatsville:
Dead Guy

DOMINATE

Team Domination had its first co-ed softball game last night. On the way to the park, I began to feel completely unprepared and nervous. I had my little league softball glove in my lap, the same one I played with about 20 years ago (holy cow...20 years ago!). It still had my name and phone number written on it. Ashley Bradley 736-2310. Maybe that was part of the problem. Other than our practice a week ago, I hadn't played softball since my little league days.

Nick tried to calm my nerves by telling me to just keep my "eye on the ball." Sounds easy enough, right? I told him that I tried to do that at practice but didn't always connect with the ball. He said I had to watch it through, "watch the ball hit your bat and swing through." His pep talk took me back to my little league days too. It reminded me of the same pep talk my dad used to give me before my games. I always wanted to make my dad proud at the games and I found myself wanting to make Nick proud of me too.

We got to the park, found our team, warmed up, and took the field. I played left center with Nick at left field and our friend Trip at right center. This wasn't going to be as bad as I thought because I knew that Nick or Trip would be able to get the ball if I needed help. The ball did come to me once, I got it but got nervous and tossed it to Nick to throw in for me.

When it was time for me to bat, I tried to calm my nerves. It was pretty anti-climatic as the pitcher walked me. I guess he knew not to mess with the Queen (see yesterday's post)! The second time I was up to bat, I walked again. The third time, I hit the ball to third base and made it on first. I was so excited! That was really all I wanted to do - hit the ball and not strike out.

Our team did an awesome job, living up to our team name. We dominated the other team, winning 16 - 4! Our next game is Friday at 7:30. If you don't have plans, come to Summers at the River for a little domination!

Queen

My middle name is Rena, pronounced with a long "a", usually spelled Renee. Most people who see my middle name, pronounce it with a short "a."

Today, at my grandma's, I was zoning out while staring at a piece of her mail. Although she goes by Jane, her first name is Lorena and as I stared at her name, I saw that my middle name was part of her name. I asked my mom if she spelled my name r-e-n-a because of Lorena, l-o-R-E-N-A. My mom said no, but that if I wanted to go by Rena, with a short "a" sound, I could and say I was named after my grandma. My dad then said that Rena (with the short "a" sound) means "queen" in Spanish. That confirmed my decision. I will now be Ashley Rena (with a short "a" sound) Hill. For those close to me, Queen will do.

Jinx

I think I jinxed myself. My last post was about how bored I was at work. Since then, I have been SO busy! As most of you know, I am the communications director at the American Cancer Society. My job consists of writing press releases, pitching story ideas to the media, securing media sponsorships and a basketful of other things that I don't care to go into detail about.

When I get home at night and on the weekends, the last thing I want to do is sit in front of the computer and write something. My creative wheels have been spent. Not to say that events haven't happened over the past few months that have made me think, "I need to blog about this!" Several things have happened. Here is a quick, non-creative run-down:

• We spent a weekend in January with 12 close friends at a cabin near Branson. We were suppose to go to Arkansas but they had no power due to the ice storm. Not willing to cancel our highly anticipated weekend, we came up with a Plan B and secured a really neat spot in Blue Eye.
• I joined a bookclub.
• Our good friends, Jason & Katie are getting married in November. Katie and I have been dress shopping twice and found the perfect dress for her. She is going to look so pretty! Added bonus...I get to be in the wedding!
• Speaking of Jason & Katie - we went to their engagement party on Saturday.
• We painted our bathroom green and brown.
• We started the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University bible study. Since then we have paid off my car and will have Nick's paid off in May.
• Nick is crazy deep in March Madness. It's pretty bad. When I complained about the constant basketball on our tv he said, "Just let me have my March Madness." I am ready for baseball so I can see my lovely Pujols in his baseball pants.
• Eastan beat Halo 1. He is pretty excited about it.
• Almost forgot a big one! We are on a co-ed softball team. Much more about that later!
• Eastan made it to his last quarter of 4th grade alive!
• Jax is having surgery on Friday. Two lypomas (I don't think I spelled that right) are being removed.

Stay tuned for more blogging...I haven't given it up. Just took a little hiatus.

One of my favorite comedies is Office Space. If you haven't seen it before and don't mind a few f-bombs and other crude language, I would recommend it. It's just way too funny!

Today, I feel like Ron Livingston's character Peter. See above clip.

I had an extremely productive week last week. I got everything done on my "to-do" list. Even though this is only a four-day work week, I can't get motivated. I spent yesterday morning trying to hook my computer up to our projector so we could watch the inauguration speech. Unfortunately, a million other people had the same idea because the site was too slow. I moved on to trying to get a decent picture on a very small, ancient television in my boss' office. Although the reception was very bad, a group of us were able to "see" (but really just hear) the inauguration.

After that was done, it was time for lunch. After lunch, I decided that I could work ahead and then remembered that being proactive is entirely overrated! So, I messed around on Facebook, read some blogs and felt very lazy.

I had very high expectations for myself today...HAD is the key word here. It is now 11:33 and I have completed one task and read through a few emails. I am meeting a couple of friends for lunch at 12:30 so I can't get a lot accomplished in an hour. Even if I did, what would I do the rest of the day?

No Shallow Hals in this family

I think I need to clarify something. The previous post "Short Hair is Sexy Hot" was written to be funny. Make you laugh at the stupid things couples can fight over. In no way did I mean to convey that Nick would love me less or find me less attractive because of the way I look. Please do not think that Nick is that shallow because that is the furthest thing from the truth. Nick has shown me nothing but unconditional love over the course of our 8 1/2 year relationship. I know that he will love me even more for the next 50 years to come. Don't come down on him - it was all a playful post.

Short hair is sexy hot!

I think my husband would love it if we were Pentecostal. You know, the women have super long hair and wear skirts all the time. I say this because we got into a little tiff yesterday over hair. Yes, hair.

I decided that I wanted to cut my hair shorter. This is after Nick has recently complained that my hair keeps getting shorter each month even though he has told me that he does not like short hair. I thought I would be respectful and ask his opinion before making the cut. I showed him a picture of what I was thinking of doing the night before my appointment. His response was, "Why are you even asking my opinion when you know my answer?"

This discussion carried into the next day as I tried to get his blessing for my new do. Nick was refusing to give his "blessing" and the more I begged for his blessing the more up upset he got. The discussion was via phone and then via IM. Bad choice on my part. Most heated discussions that I have with Nick are shared with my BFF. She is my sense of reason at times like this when I really don't understand Nick's point of view. So, Nick and I were discussing the cut via IM and, in my opinion, his arguments were a little over the top. I told him that it was just hair and shouldn't be a big deal. To that, he told me that he was going to grow a comb over. The "discussion" continued. This is where it went south. I was having a conversation via IM with my BFF at the same time as my discussion with Nick. Since our conversation was getting so out of hand, I attempted to cut and paste it into my BFF conversation so she could see how stupid we were being. When I hit paste, I realized that I cut and pasted my conversation with Nick back into my conversation with Nick instead sharing it with my BFF. Nick's not a dumb guy and I knew immediately that he would know what I was trying to do. It went something like this:

Nick: what are you doing

Ashley: nothing

Nick: why did you just cut and paste our conversation?

Ashley: I was trying to scroll up

Nick: who were you trying to share it with

Ashley: no one

Nick: whatever.

Ashley: really, I wasn't sharing it

Nick: don't lie to me

Ashley: I was going to share it with Jessica, but I changed my mind

Nick: I'm done

Ashley: Please don't be mad at me. I'm sorry

Nick: You lied

Ashley: No, I changed my mind. I didn't share it with her

Nick: Yeah, when you paste the conversation into the wrong window, it can change your mind pretty quickly

Yeah, I'm stupid! I know it. I can't lie and when I do, I get caught because I suck at lying. Ask my parents, I've never been good at it. I called Nick and tried to make things better. It didn't really help because he was mad at me for not telling him the truth. I was still trying to get his blessing to cut my hair. He told me that I can cut it if I want but just know that he finds me less attractive with short hair.

I left work and was on my way to Blush, still not knowing what I was going to do. I decided to compromise. I didn't go as short as I wanted so he would still find me sort of attractive.

I shared Nick's statement with my mom later. She told me that I must have pretty high confidence since that didn't bother me. I told her that I know he was just saying whatever he thought would make me change my mind. I think short hair can be sexy hot. Isn't it really how your hair makes you feel anyway?

Even Miss Rachel McAdams has short hair!