Welcome Home!

Megatron and Velociraptor are making their official move to my place tonight!

Tron on Christmas morning:

Ivy two weeks ago:

Can this day go by any slower?

Babysitting Miss Sadie

Natalie from Nat The Fat Rat shared this article this morning about French vs. American parenting. It was a fascinating read especially in evaluating my babysitting skills last night. My friend Kristin is again out of town for work and her husband had a meeting regarding their company, so I offered to watch their daughter Sadie.

I headed to their house right after class last night. Even though I only had a 2 hour nap in a 48 hour span I was oddly lively while watching little miss Love has a way of keeping you active. Especially when she looks up at your with those bright blue eyes and asks "Auntie Ashley can we _____ "? (Fill in the blank with appropriate toddler requests.) I generally oblige which is why we danced around the living room, had a mini photo shoot and played kitchen before story/bed time. 

Sadie loves to play photographer and tonight she took a lot of photos, mainly of her hot pink pants. What can I say, the girl's got taste! Really she does, Kristin allows Sadie to pick out her own clothes while shopping.

Sadie's Photos:

Our dance party was choreographed to Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye featuring Kimbra (two of my newest musical obsessions). Selected on repeat, we listened to that song again and again. I can't get enough of the music video. So simple and yet how many hours did they stand there to be painted? Another music video/song that I keep on repeat is Kimbra's Good Intent. I really want her dress!

Anyway, during the dance party Sadie sat next to her "sister" Tessa and pet her/gave her hugs. Break my heart, kid. I had to pause my interpretative dancing to snap a few photos.

It's 5 O'clock In The Morning....

Monday: work from 8am-6:15pm, lock the door, close out the register and insert textbooks. Start studying/doing assignments for school 6:30pm-now (5:00 Tuesday morning)... Luckily, I have a fantastic study partner who came to the shop and has been trudging through the pages with me. 

Work in 3 hours? No sleep and only time for a quick shower? Of course. Perks of being a college student...

The nectar of the Gods and the only way I'm still functioning:

P.S. Have you checked out the Starbucks Cup Magic app? 

Weekend Adventures

Friday Afternoon:

Somehow every few months Brittany and I find ourselves sitting in  Beaches Restaurant and Bar  with their B52 cake in front of us spoons poised ready for us to take our first bite without knowing exactly how we got there... it's true, I swear. ;)

These also magically appeared at the table, someone must have known I needed them...

Afterward we sat on the waterfront and watched the most gorgeous sunset I've seen in a long time.

Saturday afternoon:

4:00, how did the day get so late? I arrived at Essentials Spa ~ Salon to see Anna my stylist and good friend, I was overdue for a trim and decided that after a year my boycott of coloring would end. While waiting I people watched and once again laughed at this sign:

Sunday:

It's been a month since I've seen Mrs. Kristin, the last time was at her NYE party. She and her husband have been incredibly busy with her accounting company because they just expanded to a store front! Kris is the hardest working woman I know, I'm really proud of her company's growth! I visited their new location and helped her and Dave arrange and assemble furniture and equipment. Sadie (their adorable daughter) was helping dad put together furniture, she's quite the little handy lady.

I love the couch and the vintage book table Kristin found:

After a few hours of setting things up we headed to Thai for lunch. Sadie decided no forks were needed that day, so messy yet ridiculously cute:

Afterward I headed to campus for more studying but couldn't resist taking a few photos, this was my favorite:

The weekend ended with a DIY project I'll be sharing later this week, here's a sneak peek:

I hope everyone had a lucky weekend!

Happy Friday

Today it is insanely sunny, not a cloud in the sky, but the wind is quite ridiculous. The trees are permanently bend sideways. 

I attempted to get a picture, it doesn't do the bent tress justice.

This week has not been a favorite of mine; I've had work/school for a minimum of 10 hours a day (12 hours on T/Th) plus at least 2 hours of homework a night. I'm very glad it's Friday, a stiff drink is in order tonight.

The things that made me happy this week:

This commercial made me laugh.

I'm loving rainbow inspired things right now, I want to try this and this.

Online shopping for my birthday shoes and I found about ten other pairs that I want to purchase.... I added them to my Pinterest board here.

My friend Kate posted about these. I wish my sister would put them up in her classroom. They're probably a bit crass for her taste though. 

I want to get this for my pups.

My professor showed this video (first video of the two) during our 5 minute break. The first bit is odd but I particularly enjoyed the clever trick from 3:31-3:48. I really want the remix on the second video.

Would you dance with someone if they busted out moves in front of you? Or are you more apt to sit and watch?

Have a lucky weekend!

Hello February

February is a favorite month of mine, namely because my birthday is in it. 

Birthdays are my favorite holiday. Yes, holiday. You get to celebrate the fact that you were born and lived yet another year. It's a day to honor who you are, what you've contributed to this world, spend time with loved ones and of course party. 

Today I received my first birthday present in the mail. A gift I purchased myself, which I find totally acceptable. 

Here's a sneak peak but not too much I don't want to ruin the surprise. ;-)

Also Day 1 of Chantelle's February Photo Challenge:

"Your View Today"

Happy February!

Notes; It's The Little Things...

Already this week I've gotten two short notes that have melted my heart.

This showed up in the mail yesterday, a complete surprise from my one of my dearest friends. P.S. don't you love how small the note is compared to it's delivery envelope? Perfection. I felt like Alice in Wonderland.

And this was from THE man he handed it to me when I was on the phone with my brother. So ridiculously cute. I love when he gives me sweet notes. And I have a crush on his handwriting, is that weird? I think it has to do with our early dating months while he was in Iraq and I was here in the States. We e-mailed basically daily but the weekly handwritten notes were the best surprises.