Don't call it a comeback. I've been here for years!

Am I even allowed to call myself a blogger now?  Now-- after posting only 4 times in the last MONTH?  Well of course not.  I am not a blogger.  To be a blogger you must first blog.  I know.  It's sad.  So many fun adventures have come and gone.  So many potential blogs have been left by the wayside because of school, events, holidays, and lack of internet (this past week anyway).  I apologize for not writing lately.  I plan to fix it... even though I'm positive the 3.5 people who actually read this have forgotten all about me since I never update anymore.  I'm making a comeback.  You just wait and see.

Since I had no internet connection on Thanksgiving, I didn't have a chance to write a "things I'm thankful for" list like everyone else.  So, that is what I will write today.  I find that I enjoy making lists.  I know what you're thinking!  "Ashley?  A list-maker?  Is she that organized?"  You're right.  I don't appear to be very organized.  I do like lists though.  And I will admit, most of my lists never make it to paper.  They are normally mental catalogues of what I must get done in a given day or things I need to pack for a weekend trip.  You know, stuff like that.  Anyway-- enough list-rambling.  On to list-making!

The What I'm Thankful For List (Top 3)

1)  God.  Isn't he truly amazing?  I'm so thankful to be a child of His.  I'm thankful his patience, forgiveness, and grace.  I'm thankful for every single prayer answered, whether I like the answer or not.

2)  Family.  Durrrr.  This is an obvious one, isn't it?  But I am.  I am very thankful for every member of my family.  I got to spend another Thanksgiving week in Huntsville this year.  My parents and brother weren't able to make it down, but I still enjoyed my time with family in Huntsville.  I enjoyed being with my grandmother for the week, as well.

3)  Friends-- new and old.  Each person present in my life has left some sort of impact on me-- some very lasting impacts.  I have no doubt that high school would have been completely terrible without my core group of friends.  For them I am very thankful.  And it's safe to say that the people I've grown close to while attending Freed-Hardeman are the reasons this is such a special place to me.  I don't know what I would do without them all.  My life would definitely be void of adventures, time-wasting schemes, and gut-busting laughter.  I'm thankful for friends.  That's all there is to it.

Anna, Jessica & Sarah --Youth Rally 2003

Alex & Dave --Prom 2005

Julie & Melissa --Camp Ney-A-Ti, Summer 2005

Mandy, Nicoll, Amy, Janie & Shea -- The river, Spring Semester 2006

Jessica & Jennifer -Thriller! --Summer 2006 

Lauren, Amy, Nik, James, Anthony, Kyle, Van, Mandy, Janie, Nicoll --Bowling Alley/LB's Birthday, August 2006

Abbey & Megan --GTO Mixer, Fall 2006

Shea, Kayla & Marcia -- Harry Potter Book Opening, Summer 2007

Me & Nik --XBX Fall Retreat 2007

Emily &  Robert --Rosie's, December 2007

me & Amy --GTO Fall Retreat 2008

Nikki & Homer --Summer 2009

MaryAnne & John --Summer 2009

Katie &  LB --Homecoming Banquet 2009

Alex, Alyssa, Megan & Christine --Homecoming Pep-it-Up 2009

Y'all know how I love my pictures.  Couldn't leave ya hangin' without a visual of all my best buds over the years.

Oh, and don't judge the title of this blog without being made aware those words are lyrics of "Mama Said Knock You Out" by LL Cool J.

Don't call it a comeback
I been here for years
Rockin my peers and puttin suckas in fear
Makin the tears rain down like a MON-soon
Listen to the bass go BOOM

Haha!  I guess I was reminded of the song when I talked about my blogging comeback.  I'm ridiculous, I know.  Maybe you should youtube the song if you've never heard it.  Then again, if you haven't... you aren't missing much.  

Let's give Wordless Wednesday a whirl.

I know, I know.  I've been the worst blogger in the history of life the past few weeks.  Real sorry.  I've been pretty busy... and honestly I haven't felt like blogging.  Don't hate my life.  And since I still don't even feel like writing a lot today, I will post some pictures of what's been happening in my life lately.  Okay?  Okay.

This is pretty much it... in a nutshell.  I promise I'll do better later!

Cute. Real cute.

I want you all to know I stared writing a blog.  It was amazing.  Then it disappeared.  I don't know what happened.  I'm blaming it on the bell witch.  Maybe I'll try again later.  Maybe.

"SING!!! Sing into my necklace, you poor unfortunate soul!!"

Last night, I may have had purple skin... I may have dressed as an evil sea witch... and I may have tried to steal some voices.  Hint:  I did.

For 3 glorious hours, I was Ursula.  You can't tell by the pictures, but I was a very glittery Ursula.   Which also means that today I'm a very glittery Ashley.  Even after showering, I'm still finding glitter everywhere.  Cute, I know.

 

Ursula was not alone in her under-the-sea adventures.  Ariel was there, thingamabob in hand.  She wanted legs to walk to men's priv to see her Prince Eric/Bobby.  In exchange for legs, I took her voice.  Her fin magically began to unravel while traveling to the Priv House.  Don't tell me Ursula doesn't have real powers.  Who even needs King Triton?  I don't.

There was a mini Disney villain reunion last night as well.  Ursula got to spend time with her villain vixen BFF Cruella DeVille.  We made quite the puppy-catching-voice-stealing duo.  Check out those eye lashes. 

Ariel was NOT excited about the villain vixen reunion.

Remember that part in the movie when Ursula... I mean I... am fixin' to get married to Prince Eric and have Ariel's voice forever and take over the human world AND under the sea world?  BUT then all of a sudden Ariel's friends attack me and break my beautiful shell necklace?  And I get real REAL angry?  And turn into the giant sticking up out the water I'm gonna eat you and your ship Ursula?  Yeah.  That's what this picture is I feel like.  This is my precious pumpkin roommate Hannah.  She's tiny and I'm giant and angry and hungry for some ships apparently.

I told some people to sing into my shell necklace.  Some complied.  Others didn't.  However, I collected enough voices to last a good while.

I love Halloween.  It's one of my FAVORITE holidays ever.  I'm for real.  I love dressing up.  I love candy.  I love scary things.  I'm glad I get to celebrate Halloween for 3 straight days this year.  I'm headed to Nashville this weekend for more Halloween festivities and to visit some fun time people.  I can't wait!!!

My dear, sweet child. That's what I do. It's what I live for.  To help unfortunate merfolk like yourself-- poor souls with no one else to turn to. I admit that in the past I've been a nasty.  They weren't kidding when they called me, well, a witch.  But you'll find that nowadays I've mended all my ways. Repented, seen the light, and made a switch to this... And I fortunately know a little magic.  It's a talent that I always have possessed.

Farewell to all the poor unfortunate souls out there.  I must go now.

Random Thoughts of Today

Two days after Pumpkin Chicken Night (!) my pumpkin is drying out and withering.  Goodbye, beautiful Judy Garland.  Hello, Zombie-2-Face-Dorothy.  Good then.  I turned her pumpkin-demon self around to face the wall so I couldn't see her.  I'm not even going to provide a picture.  it. is. not. cute.  And no... I'm not bitter about it.  Not at all.

I'm starting project carve MJ one day this week.  You just wait.

Today, I went to Sonic for happy hour with Kristina and LB.  I couldn't decide which flavor slush I wanted... so I got a green apple slush because it matched my shirt.  It seemed logical at the time.

Speaking of my shirt-- it's green and has a giant peace sign on it.  Hippie much?  All I know is it was $2 er something when Steve and Barry's was going out of business.  I like it.  That's all that matters.

Did anyone see the moon last night?  It was HUGE!  And Halloweeny!  And YELLOW!  Gorgeous.  Absolutely gorgeous!  I spotted it while driving home from Nashville last night.  The sky was clear, a million stars were visible, and this moon was just spectacular.  God is the supreme artist.  My drive to Nashville yesterday afternoon was also gorgeous.  All the leaves are turning into brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows.  It definitely made Interstate 40 a little less mundane.  The sun was out, the trees were so pretty and the temperature outside was perfect.  I love fall.  Then, James took me to the Percy Warner Park to see even more beautiful fall trees.  'Twas a fantastic Sunday evening.

Those are all my ramblings for today.

Pumpkin-Chicken Night!!!!

Do not be confused by the title.  No, we did NOT eat some sort of weird foreign chicken pumpkin concoction.  However, we DID have a delicioso dinner cooked by Chef Batchaspaghetti-- baconcheesebbq chicken.  It was all real good.  We also had amazing pumpkin muffins by Chef May-May.  But that's not the only pumpkin fun we had Friday night.... we. carved. pumpkins.  Please contain your excitement.  Here are some instructions for a fun time pumpkin night.

Step 1:  Go to the Walmart House and buy beautiful $4 pumpkins.

Step 2:  Buy an over-priced pumpkin carving kit.

Step 3:  Place hair in pumpkin-carving-side-ponytail.  It's the only way to ensure peak carving performance.  It also helps if you wear an insanely stylish tie-dye t-shirt.

Step 4:  Cut the top off your pumpkin and clean out all the grody guts and seeds.

Step 5:  Make sure you have a diet coke handy.  Pumpkin carving is hard work and you will need to quinch that thirst.

Step 6:  Pick out a fun time template or think up a design to carve into your pumpkin.

Step 7: Attach and trace your template.  AKA punch out approximately 234098234 holes around the shape of your design.  Real fun, right?

Step 8:  After several hours of wonderful hole punching you can begin to carve, shave, and shade your pumpkin for several more hours.

Step 9:  When carving is complete, take a picture!!

Step 10:  Put a candle inside and share your pumpkin with the rest of the Halloween world!!

There you have it, folks!  Pumpkin Chicken Night was such a great success.  You should have one of your own.  There are several more pictures on my facebook you can look at if we're friends... and if we aren't friends... we should be!!!

Okbye!

Art Therapy

It all started today at lunch when Lauren decided to draw a portrait of all the roommates in Priv House 103W... including me and Katie since we basically live there, too.

Isn't it cute??  I'm the one with an A on my skirt.  I'm sure that was a "durrr" statement.  A is for Ashley.    And apparently I'm eating sushi.  I'm holding chopsticks.  I love it.  P.S.  Emily pointed out I'm the only one in this picture that isn't depicting a life skill.  Thanks.  See this blog to give suggestions on what I should do with my life.  Ahem.  Moving along.

I'm taking a class called Art for Children.  I like it on most days, but today I especially loved it because we got to paint with watercolors.  I know I've mentioned several times that I love to color.  It's soothing and calms me.  I also looove to paint.  When class let out I immediately went to Fred's and bought some watercolors and painty brushes.

And the creations began...

 LB is so cute.  I love the candy corn.

 We had waaaay too much fun tonight.

 This is my sunset.

 And this is my pumpkin.

Every child is an artist, the problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. - Picasso