Oh hey there...

Oh hello. 

After having a cold that knocked me off my feet for a week and then taking a long weekend to go camping, I haven't been around these parts much lately.

But after spending the weekend going 'balls to the wall' and eating a bag of non-vegan marshmallows and my body weight in guacamole, I am back with a vengeance (and a tummy ache).

Sidenote: I ran 17 miles today and my body H.A.T.E.S. me right now. Feeding my body crap for a week and a half and then pushing it to it's breaking point with running makes for a sad Ashlee and sad tummy.

But back to more awesome things. Like camping with an adorable puppy and handsome husband.

If you don't remember, I recently wrote about my last camping experience here and our encounter with a bear. Needless to say, I was beyond terrified to go camping again but decided to suck it up and went back into the woods armed with a bear bell and bear mace (which I bought off of a stranger I met online and had to go to a local gas station to get the goods/exchange money. Isn't the internet so weird?).

Other sidenote: I am pretty sure my punctuation on that last sentence with the parenthesis was way off and I am sorry if that bothered you or you judged me for it. I get confused and flustered with commas and parenthesis. I have been told by many of teachers that I am too comma happy.

So besides having bear mace in hand and better flashlights than before (so I could peer into the woods every minute after it got dark), I still was unbelievably stressed out the first night. My anxiety level was at an all-time high and I honestly didn't fall asleep until the sun began to rise in the early am. From 8pm to 6am, I was convinced that a bear was sneaking up on me to maul me to death (or steal my marshmallows). Each night got a little bit better but I never did sleep through the night and had terrible nightmares when I did finally pass out. 

Wait...wasn't I supposed to be talking about awesome things, not how much of a freak I am now about bears? 

So on to the cool things...

/My husband made me some of his amazing guacamole to eat for lunch/dinner one day. I was in an avocado lover's heaven\

/We stayed at a campground called Cooper's Creek and it definitely lived up to its hype for our black lab Cooper. PS...we may or may not have been swayed on staying there because of the name.\

 You can see the creek in the background on the right hand side of the photo. 

/Cooper is a very good and appreciative camper.\

 

/Our camping trips consist mostly of reading, drinking, playing games and letting our inner pyros out.\

/On Monday, we hiked up a little bit of the Appalachian Trail which was a first for me and it was so incredibly beautiful. I have to remember that not all the pretty mountains are in Colorado. Although most are. Also, I get to cross this off of my 52 in 2013 list.\

 

/Guys....fall's coming. And isn't nature so cool.\

 

I hope you guys had a great labor day weekend and are pretty much recovered from whatever mischief you found yourself in. 

 

 

Linking up with Sami for some Shenanigans. 

PS....I'm embarassared to say how many shots it took to get this pic and now looking at it....I don't look all strong and awesome, just awkward and constipated. 

 

~ With Love, Ashlee ~