Meet Sully!
Friday, February 12, 2010
My Lover and I exchanged Valentine's Day gifts and he got me my second most talked about "want (following my DSLR)!" The Cricut Expression! I love, love, love this thing! I have been talking about it for some time now and after watching the infomercial months ago, I couldn't stop thinking about how cool it would have been to own it! Well, shows that he listens. :-] I decided to name him 'Sully.' One of Josh's friends girlfriends has one so we are in the need of Gertrude meeting Sully! :-] On top of Sully, he bought me a giftcard for Archivers so that I could buy some things for it. So, we decided to move our "date night" to tomorrow and instead go to Archivers so that I could buy some things and spend the night playing around with my new toy and getting familiar with it. BUT, we didn't buy much at Archivers because the cartridges are $50 each! I am going to look around on eBay and buy the other tools at a different store (since Archivers just got the Cricut Expression, they have nothing to choose from; that is just expensive!).
Sully can make anything and everything. Let me just say that Hallmark no longer has my business . . . I will be making all of my cards from now on. The tutorial video walked me through making a card and it took me literally 3 minutes. Crazy! So . . . if I really, really like you, you'll get a pretty homemade card. If not, you'll still get a Hallmark. Haha, no, I'm kidding. Or am I? ;-] I will definitely get back into scrapbooking (after brutally burning myself out for Josh's anniversary gift 6 months ago!) now that I have to world's best tool!
Oh, and here is a picture of Josh's Valentine's Day gift. I thought this bookshelf thing was cool because for different occasions (i.e., anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas, etc.), I will make more books for Josh to add to his little bookshelf (it holds 12) that are theme-appropriate. Yeah, I know, it's kinda (really) girly, but he really appreciated it. I also made that giftcard holder! :-] Now, if I would have had Sully about 12 hours ago, Hallmark wouldn't have made that $3.99 off of me. ;-]
Posted byAshley C. at 9:02 PM 0 Love Notes
Labels: fun, holidays, scrapbooking
The new go-getter
Sunday, January 3, 2010
I know I'm a little late, but I realized that I didn't share my New Year's resolutions. It wasn't intentional, heck I just feel like mine are boring and would rather listen to other people's. So, I know that I am always telling you guys I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that, but never actually complete it. Sometimes it's just me being the optimistic person I am. Other times, it's me simply not doing what I thought I could. I think that's partially why I didn't feel like I wanted to share; I don't want to seem like this big failure, because I'M NOT! I think I'm a real go-getter, but sometimes things just get in the way. :-]
So, what are my resolutions? I don't know. I really don't. I had a few things in mind, but there are three that I think I have chosen: 1) make it through 2 rounds of P90X, 2) no fast food for 3 months, and 3) save money in unique ways. First of all, P90X is a 3-month program, so for me to set 6 months aside really hoping to make it work is huge. I am about to start my third week; when I did it the first time (when I originally blogged about it), I made it 1 week shy of 2 months. I loved the results, but school and work just began getting a little too much for me to work out for an hour and a half 6 days a week. So, now that I have a lot more time on my hands, this shouldn't be so hard. Second, I am a fast food addict. I eat it all of the time. Too much. I want to wean myself away from it, so that's why my goal is not 12 months; that would just be too unrealistic. 3 months is an easier goal to attain and maybe by April 1st, I will not want it at all. Lastly, I stink at saving money (as I've shared before). So, I need to practice more fun, involving tactics. I have decided that clipping coupons is my new favorite thing to do. Have you ever come across another blog of a mother that clips coupons and pays like $15 for a whole cart full of groceries? That'll be me. I clipped my first batch of coupons today and can already see myself being successful doing it! You can seriously use manufacturer's coupons, store coupons, and mail-in rebates (triple whammy!) and save sooo much money! I don't want to be "that girlfriend" that spends all of the money and doesn't bring anything back to the table. Josh will thank me at the end of the year when we have receipts telling us that I saved us hundreds of dollars!
I think this will be a fun, rewarding year. I am setting myself up for goals that are realistic yet challenging. Here's to all of our attempts at resolutions and the opportunities we have to try again!
Posted byAshley C. at 10:20 PM Post a comment (1) Love Notes
Labels: coupons, Health, holidays, New Year, struggles
Party of one
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Here I sit with a bowl of popcorn, a 7-up, and a couple cookies. By myself. And I must admit it is very refreshing and relaxing. I am just excited about being able to stay up late tonight (by myself) and catch up on all of my Internet "stuff." Feels good.
Can you all believe it is almost 2010?! It really feels as though 2009 just began. I remember when the New Year first began and I was looking forward to all that I thought was going to happen. The only thing that happened that I was looking forward to was an early graduation. No engagement, no new car, no new body, no finished scrapbooks. It's can seem a bit depressing to look back and see everything that did not happen. But come to think of it, there are plenty of things that happened that I did not intend on happening. For example, I have made a couple close girlfriends this semester at school, I have learned what it means to begin loving my body for what it is, I have been introduced to the blogging world. I am more grateful for those things that did happen than I am upset about the things that didn't happen. I think this whole year has been about learning about me. It has been a very exciting year and I do not think I would change anything about it.
What are my New Year's resolutions, goals, etc.? Well, I'm not quite sure because last year I made all of these resolutions and did not meet any of them. I kind of think that setting a "goal" for the heck of it (or because everyone else is doing the same thing) makes it that much easier to abandon. But, I must admit, there is something about a whole new calendar year that makes you feel that you can conquer the world and achieve any goal you set before yourself. If you think about it though, God gave us night and day and the chance for a renewal each day. If you look at it that way, you have 365 chances of starting over. If you look at each week as a chance to start over, well you have 52 chances. If you look at months, you have 12 chances. But, if you look at years, you only have one chance; I think that's one of the main reasons people fail at their resolutions so easily. Once they slip-up, they (we) think "Too bad, now I have to start over next year." And if you slipped up January 1st . . . that's not good! One thing that I have to learn to remember is that God is there every day, every minute, every hour; He is there, waiting to forgive you and encourage you to move forward. If you ask God to give you the energy and focus, you can do all things! But, if you go on and try to achieve your goals without consulting Him or asking His Spirit to strengthen you, odds are you're going to fail. The Spirit is our strength . . . and that's not just for no reason. God knows we are vulnerable and easy to manipulate so that's why there is a Trinity and not only God and Jesus. Ask Him!
So . . . if you all didn't notice, this is my 100th post! That's really exciting! I have not written as much as I'd wish I did, but hey, it's a start! I came across a website that allows you to turn your blog into a book . . . as I was telling another person, I think it would be cool to print my blogs at the end of every year in order to preserve them and use them as a portal for my children to get to know me in ways they weren't able to after I'm old and gone. :-] So, that's just what I'm going to do. I think it will even be fun for me to look back at my daily adventures, thoughts, and struggles.
Well, off I go to finish my popcorn and cookies. So, to close up, I'm wondering . . . What are your New Year's resolutions and what gives you strength in your attempts?
Posted byAshley C. at 10:13 PM 0 Love Notes
Labels: God, holidays, lesson learned, random, relaxing
Oh, Christmas tree . . .
Friday, November 27, 2009
Posted byAshley C. at 7:46 PM Post a comment (1) Love Notes
Labels: Ann-Marie, holidays, Josh, shopping
Yummy Thanksgiving
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
For the past 3 years, I have gone to Josh's family's house for Thanksgiving. My mom works third shift, so she goes to work, step-dad goes to his family's and I am left home. By myself. But I cannot complain, I am welcome over Josh's with open arms and his mom is the best cook I have met (psst, I only want to marry Josh to inherit his mom's recipes!). Food, family, "The Christmas Story," and sleep . . . perfect Thanksgiving.
How many of you are going shopping on Black Friday? Josh and I decided that we are going but only to get a couple things . . . and I do mean a couple. We thought it would be fun to hang out all night and just head to the mall really early in the morning, crash from exhaustion and eat leftovers.
Oh and side note, Josh and I went out to take our fall picture that I was telling you about. You won't be seeing it. We went through a tornado, hurricane, and a snow blizzard to get it and we failed. Okay, not really, but we faced some extreme circumstances for a bad picture. :-[
Enjoy your Thanksgiving and shopping trip!
Posted byAshley C. at 4:25 PM 0 Love Notes
