High Five For Friday!

It's been a few months since my last 'High Five For Friday' post despite the fact that I have been known to enjoy a Friday or two in the past. 

So here are my top five things I am excited about today...

1/ The Farmer's Market!

Tomorrow the husband and I are going to our first Farmer's Market of the season and 

I 

am 

 e.x.c.i.t.e.d. 

Maybe its because we are pretty much vegans and love our veggies, maybe it's because I have an 'official' farmer's market dress that I only wear at one, or maybe its because I want an excuse to buy stuff.... but man oh man, I am stoked for tomorrow morning. 

We are visiting a new farmer's market that's big and supposedly has farmers selling out of their goods around 10:00am, so I am going to be there bright and early with my reusable bags, sun bonnet and smugness-in-hand, ready to buy local, organic food. 

And this is my farmer's market dress...

what...don't you have one?

2/ Exploring...

After the market we are going to go explore Savannah looking for possible neighborhoods we might like to live in once he is done with school next year. 

It's kind of weird to think we might be living permanently in Savannah this time next year, but I should be used to it now as we tend to be pretty mobile people. 

In the last five years we have lived in Colorado, Virginia, Back to Colorado, Washington DC, Athens Georgia, Atlanta Georgia, Decatur Georgia and maybe soon Savannah Georgia...

3/ The Beach

I already hung out on the beach for an hour earlier today, but I think it might be fun if we have a picnic and hang out at the beach on Sunday. 

John hasn't really had a chance to go the beach yet despite the fact we are currently living .5 miles away from it. 

And I refuse to go in the water without him standing by as my lifeguard. 

4/ Ice cream  

I will have some this weekend. 

Believe me, I will....

 

I went to Leopold's last week in Savannah after discovering they are the 5th best ice cream shop in the world. 

I found out this fact and within two hours I was experiencing their deliciousness. 

The long line at the shop was worth standing in, but next time I am not going with the Chocolate Raspberry Swirl (shown above). 

Thinking something nutty and with caramel next time.

5/ This weather. 

When we first moved to Georiga in early May three years ago, it was easily in the 90's every single day. 

I remember thinking at various outdoor events that there was no way I would ever survive the heat and humidity that summer. 

I easily lost my body weight in sweat that month. 

Now...82 degrees every day. 

Seriously....2013 May weather.... you rock. 

July....I know you are going to be extra awful to make up for May's laziness.

~ With Love, Ashlee ~

Summertime...

Summer. 

It's the time of the year when I get to eat my body weight in ice cream & watermelon, I wear my hair in a pony tail 24/7 and switch from wearing yoga pants to running shorts. 

Pretty much bliss.

Summer also means flowers are in full bloom, nautical designs are everywhere and I reach for simple jewelry that won't be hot and heavy in the humidity and heat. 

1/ Lemon Yellow Rosebud Earrings

2/ Green Lily Earrings

3/ Light Coral Chrysanthemum Earrings

4/ Fuchsia Chrysanthemum Earrings

5/ Red Rosebud Earrings

6/ Mint Dahlia Earrings

1/ Gold Seashell Necklace

2/ Emerald Green Leather Wrap Bracelet

3/ Light Vitrail Swarovski Crystal Necklace

4/ Vintage Seashell Locket Necklace

5/ Gold Sand Dollar Necklace

6/ Light Amethyst Leather Wrap Bracelet

7/ Teal Sand Dollar Necklace

8/ Olive Green Swarovski Crystal Necklace

9/ Emerald Green Swarovski Crystal Necklace

These are only a few of the new items that have been added to my etsy stores over the past week. 

Now if you will excuse me, I need to go eat some cappuccino fudge blitz ice cream. 

~ With Love, Ashlee ~

Eyelashes - Fysiko Lash Growth Serum

When I was in sixth grade at a Girl Scout sleep-away camp, I was cornered by a seventh grade girl and accused of stealing and using her mascara. 

My lashes looked luscious and full and she didn't believe that I hadn't secretly swiped her make-up until I agreed to allow her to grab and pull my lashes in hopes of trying to take off the 'mascara' I had on.

This is me with my cousins when I was in the 6th grade. I am the one with a boy haircut and wearing overalls. Needless to say...looking very feminine and girly wasn't too much my thing when I was that age. 

As my mom likes to say, I have the hair of ten people. It's thick, dark and I shed like crazy.

(I have bought so many gallons of Drano in my life thanks to my hair clogging up every drain in the house).

I have been noticing lately that my lashes have been falling out when I take off my make-up at the end of the day. I don't wear make-up that often and I try to be really gentle when I do take it off, but I seem to always lose a lash or two. 

My lashes aren't quite as full as they used to be and I don't want to put on fake eyelashes (I tried once for a Snooki Halloween costume and despite my attempt looking better then hers usually do, it was such a hassle). 

I was overjoyed when I got selected by Influenster to try out the new Fysiko eyelash growing serum. 

It's all-natural and doesn't have the side effect of possible blindness (like Latisse) so I agreed to try it for 16 weeks and report back on my findings. 

I have been using it everyday for one week so far. You apply it only once a day (like liquid eyeliner) and they recommend using it at night before you go to bed, but you can use it in the morning (you just need to wait 15 minutes before applying any other eye make-up). 

One of the possible side-effects is possible eyelid darkening, which I have noticed so far. It's very slight and just looks like I still have a little bit of eyeliner on, so I don't mind it. They say that if you cease using it, the darkness will clear up in a few days, so I am not too worried about it being permanent. 

I have already noticed a few hairs starting to grow in. I think these are due to the eyelash serum because they are sprouting on my eyelid, not at the very tip of my eyelid where all the rest of my eyelashes are. They are incredibly close to the eyelash line though, so don't think I have random hairs sprouting up all over my eyelids. These hairs are where I apply the eyelash serum (eyeliner area), so no one but me will ever notice that they are barely out of place. 

I guess except all of you now.

Read more about the reviews of Fysiko here.

Here are my awkward 'before' photos and I will be showing you my progress each month for the next four months. 

Please do your best to ignore my slightly cross-eyed photo.

"I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes."

~ With Love, Ashlee ~

UPDATE: I just read this blog post to my husband and after I finished reading it, he leaned forward, rubbed my chin and asked if I applied any there. He then giggled to himself looking pleased.

Dear In-Laws...

Thanks for living on an island and not in Omaha, Nebraska.

Sorry to anyone who loves/lives in Omaha. I imagine though that it is not as awesome as an island. 

Today I walked, biked and laid all over this lovely island and just enjoyed life. 

I also got a wicked sunburn because I thought I was too cool for sunscreen. 

~ With Love, Ashlee ~

The Blog Post With Terrible Transitions...

See what I did there with that title? 

I played off of a popular book series, 'The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo.'

That's the kind of hip blogger that I am. Bringing in pop culture references a few years past its prime. 

And here begins my blog post featuring not so great transitions...

TRANSITION!

When I was like ten years old, I painted my nails a light blue thanks to a nail polish set from Limited II (wasn't this the best store ever? I shopped there pretty much exclusively during the ages of 9-12). I showed my dad my fabulous nails and he told me that he didn't like it and it looked like I was dead. 

Hence when at the age of ten, I learned that your fingernails turn blue after your die.

Well, this stuck with me for 20 years and I purchased some light blue nail polish again a few weeks ago and finally talked myself into it today.

I hate it and I can't help but think that I look like I am dead. I tried to take a few photos, but they are pretty bad. Not my nicest painting job, so no photos for you.

By the way, I feel like it is some sort of universal law that as soon as you paint your fingernails, you simultaneously have to go pee, get hungry for a sandwich and your puppy also has to go pee RIGHT NOW! I painted my nails and all of sudden, like some weird trifecta all three happened and I botched up my nails. It's cool though because I am taking this color off in like a day or two.

TRANSITION!

We have this semi random container of millet that we are trying to use up so tonight I made us a plate of millet topped with a 'cheezy' mushroom gravy. 

 Vegan friendly, pretty delicious but not so photogenic.

I swear there is millet in there underneath the mushroom gravy. 

We just like us some gravy okay?

TRANSITION!

I have been wearing my hair curly lately (as I talk about here & here) thanks to Miss Jessie's curl cream. 

Miss Jessie, call me already! I am so ready to be your spokesmodel!

I have decided that me and Shakira are going to bring back big, sexy, curly hair. 

TRANSITION! 

Tonight after our millet feast, we went on a walk along the beach and took a few photos...

TRANSITION!

~ With Love, Ashlee ~

Currently...

Reading: I finished reading 'The Fault in Our Stars' last week and became convinced for about three days that I had left-side cancer. You know...that form of cancer which consumes your entire left side? Not too common thankfully. Terrible book for a hypochondric to read. I just started the audio book 'Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?' by Mindy Kaling yesterday and I am in love. I feel like Mindy could be my twin sister if I was Indian, more extroverted and fashionable.

Wondering: About the feelings of 'nostalgia.' I read an interesting article on the New York Times today (sophisticated I know) about the idea of nostalgia and how it can be dangerous. I know that I can tend to over glorify past events and think negatively of present situations, which isn't helpful for me or those that I am around. I am trying more and more to be thankful for where I am today and what I have. I have so many things to be thankful for now and I need to train myself to objectively look at and appreciate the past, but not idealize it as much.

Feeling thankful: For my job. Working from home can be difficult sometimes but it allows my husband and I to take advantage of so many opportunities that if I was tied down to a desk job, we couldn't do. I have a very flexible schedule and can I squeeze my job in around my life's activities, not try to squeeze in a life after my job.

Eating: My father-in-law made me dinner tonight which consisted of black beans cooked with tomatoes, peppers, onions, kale and delicious spices. Super yummy and vegan friendly (thanks John!) I am currently drinking some merlot and thinking about making myself some strawberry cocoa chia pudding for dessert later.

Watching:  The Voice. Don't even get me started on how Garrett was voted off last week. True, I didn't vote because we watch it on Hulu the next day, and his Backstreet Boy song wasn't his best performance...but still. I loved his growl and he was sweet. Sarah has now moved up to my number 1.

/source\

Working on:  I edited photos all day. Slowly but surely I am getting a whole bunch of new items added to my store. Trying to refresh my shop and my brand. There should be a blog post later in the week showing you some of the new items!

Loving:  The lovely weather we have been having here in Georgia. It is almost the end of May and the high was 80 today. If it stayed like this all summer, I would be happy, but alas, soon my face will be melting off and my hair will take a life of its own.

Celebrating: My husband successfully finished his second year of law school last week and now he is working at a fancy law firm for the summer. He is such a hard charger. I swear, the discipline and stamina this guy has is simply amazing.

I have been editing photos today and decided to clean some photos off my computer which weren't being used. I stumbled across this gem which was taken by my father-in-law in February right before we left to run the Tybee half marathon. I am happy to know that I have a picture which makes all three of us look really stupid.

Thanks to Danielle for the inspiration behind today's post.

~ With Love, Ashlee ~

Kirkwood Spring Fling!

My husband and I have been trying to eat healthy the past few months (vegan, no processed foods, no sugar) and we have been doing pretty good. 

I still indulge in a chocolate bar every now and again, and get raw sugar in my coffee, but other than that, I am off of sweets.

Don't try to take away my chocolove. It's like heaven gave birth to an angel in your mouth.

My husband asked me to make cookies to bring to his internship and I decided to go all-out and make oatmeal pecan chocolate chip cookies. 

Real butter, real sugar, real flour, real processed. 

I may or may not have eaten six of these giant cookies tonight and now I may or may not feel like $#!%. My heart is racing and pumping hard thanks to the sugar and butter overload and my head feels like it may explode. 

But I will probably eat another one tomorrow. Just one though. 

Maybe two. 

In other news, this past weekend was the Kirkwood Spring Fling and I had a great time at the festival! The weather stayed pleasant most of the day (only a touch of rain) and I loved getting to meet people in my neighborhood. 

This was the first craft show that I have ever done in the Atlanta area and it did not disappoint. The vendors were great, the music was awesome and I was situated right at a corner between the beer and the toilets (festival hot spots).

Thank you so much to everyone who came out and supported the artists/businesses in our community. Your kind words and business are greatly appreciated!

~ With Love, Ashlee ~

Spreading some love...

I was watching Celebrity Apprentice earlier today while doing some work.

Next thing I knew I had spent the last 30 minutes reading the Wikipedia page about Illusionist Penn Jillette and google image searching Lisa Rinna's lips.

This then lead to 30 minutes of google image searching what Lisa Rinna looked like in the 80's and reading more about Penn Jillette's atheist beliefs.

Needless to say that I am a little bit behind on my to-do list today.

I am still trying to catch up with some missed blog posts this past weekend so I can complete the 'Story of My Life' blog challenge.

Saturday - Favorite quote (from a person, from a book, etc) and why you love it

artist

I love this quote (as well as this artist) so much and think that it is such a beautiful reminder that there is always good present in bad situations. Most of us forget that and it is always good to be reminded :)

Sunday - Publicly profess your love and devotion for a blogger.

One of my favorite blogs is 'Life of Bon.' Bonnie is hilarious, seems like a really great person and does a lot of fun things on her blog 

(that is if you are like me and consider having a book club on your blog to be fun).

Bonnie likes to create corpses in the high school English classes she teaches, paints her living room walls bright green and has a pretty funny husband.

So you should definitely check her out.

Alright everyone, I have a lot of guacamole and wine to drink. My husband just finished up his third law school final (only one to go) and we need to celebrate!

~ With Love, Ashlee ~

What Makes Me Uncomfortable...

This weekend I was supposed to participate in the highly anticipated Indie South Fair in Athens, GA. Lots of rain, strong wind and chilly weather ended up making this a no-go for me. 

I sat with my husband in the parking lot of the craft show, after driving 1.5 hours in the rain, debating on whether or not we should set up. After about 40 minutes of talking, walking around to look at other vendor's set-ups and checking out how wet people's wares was getting, we decided to head back to Atlanta. 

It was a painful decision to make because so much preparation went into it, but in the end it was the right decision. We just couldn't risk ruining all of my inventory with the sideways rain and sudden wind gusts.

I drowned my 'too windy and rainy to set up at the craft show' blues with a glass of wine, a Chocolove bar and some pizza on Saturday and woke up yesterday with some sort of weird sodium hang-over. After not eating processed foods for a few weeks, a pizza really threw my body out of whack but gosh darn it, it was so delicious.

I am looking forward to another show this weekend and I now have a looooot of awesome new items to stock in retail places as well as on etsy. I am going to be taking photos all week of all the new items that I made and will be adding them in my etsy store throughout the week!

Here's to looking at silver linings!

With the weekend, I got a bit lazy on my blogging everyday in May challenge hosted by 'Story of My Life.' So here are of the things that I missed....

Friday - Things that make you uncomfortable

1/ Applying makeup to my face and lips. 

I totally got the eyes down and think that I do a fabulous job on them, but if I feel the need to apply concealer, foundation or lipstick, I come out looking like this....

source

 2/ Having to walk through a crowded restaurant where the tables are super close together. 

I always, always seem to hit people's heads/shoulders with my hips and butt when I am trying to navigate a crowded restaurant. 

I need whiskers on my hips because I always knock them into people/things. 

3/ Any kind of circus act.  

Just thinking about Cirque de Soleil makes me nauseous.  

Trapezee acts, knife throwing, contorchonists, motorcycles jumping through flaming hoops. 

I hate all of it.

I am certain that everyone is going to die that is in the circus and I am have to sit there and witness their death. 

source 

 4/ Going to bed without socks on. I needs them on my feet to go to sleep and it just feels weird if I don't have any on. 

5/ Talking to strangers about my business. It seems like a small business owner should be able to talk to anyone/everyone about what they do, but I still get a little embarrassed and uncomfortable when I talk to someone in person about what I do. 

Email/blog/etsy - I am just fine, craft show - ahhhhhhh!

That's all I got for now. Any of these make you uncomfortable?

 

~ With Love, Ashlee ~   

PS... I finally figured out what was wrong with my email subscription link and bloglovin' feed. So if you tried to sign up in the past to get my posts delivered via email, you need to do it again because it didn't work the first time around. You will find the email subscription link on the right side of my blog, underneath my photo. 

 Also, my Bloglovin' is up and running, so follow me on there since Google Reader is saying good-bye!

My Expert Advice...

For the month of May, I am participating in the challenge proposed by the 'Story of My Life' blog. She wants us to blog everyday in May and gives us a topic for each day.

Today, I am supposed to give you all expert advice on something that I am knowledgeable about and I figured that there is nothing that I know best than how to be a good puppy mommy.

So here are all my top five tips for you puppy moms or expectant puppy mommy's.

1/ Make him do constant photo shoots when he clearly doesn't want to. He will thank you later for the adorable photos.

You get extra brownie points if you can incorporate costumes.

 

 

 

2/ Whenever he gives you this face....

give him whatever the hell he wants. 

That's just plain adorable.

3/ Let him give you puppy kisses whenever he wants.

 

4/ Be strict with rules like 'no puppies on the furniture' and 'no begging.'

5/ Take plenty of walks. 

Lots of walks with lots of sticks and lots of friends along the way.

So there are my five tips for you coming from me, clearly an expert. 

Also, I did just do a blog post with 19 photos of my dog. That's how I roll.

~ With Love, Ashlee ~