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.