Mardi Gras update...

Well Lauren and I survived Mardi Gras, and it was a blast! It was so cold, but we survived that, and had so much fun. I am just no catching up on my sleep from while we were there, even though we were old ladies and did not go out as much as we could have. I guess we are just getting too old for this! We needed naps and went to bed 'early' and we still didn't make it out at night! This week, I am looking forward to Girl's Night on Saturday. We are going to have Mexican night at Lauren's apartment. I am going to be bringing a dip, and a dessert. I will be bringing an alternative drink for myself, because I do not do Margarita's!! I will have to keep this short today, but I will update later this week. I hope everyone has a good Hump Day! So long for now...

Wish us luck...

Lauren and I are heading down to St Louis after work today! Wish us luck that we do not get trampled on, and that we do not get frostbite on our extremities. The high is still set at 32 degrees but now there are supposed to be 20-30 mph winds. Of course today is a high of 46, but Mardi Gras is not today. Go figure. I am sure there will be lots of stories to tell once we return! Have a good weekend everyone! So long for now...

Mardi Gras here we come!

Well, it is official. I am heading to St Louis this weekend for Mardi Gras. This is a big tradition and party for people around here, because it is rare that fun things happen. And since STL is conveniently located about 2 hours from here, it is perfect driving distance for the weekend. The parade takes place in historic Soulard for any of you that know a little about St Louis. I am going down with my friend Lauren, and we are meeting up with a bunch of her friends that she went to SLU (St Louis University) with. Both of her sisters go to school in STL so we will be staying with one of them. I am excited. I have only been to the Mardi Gras once in STL, and it was an alright time. By the time we got to the parade, it was practically over, and it was cold... The high for Saturday is a balmy 32. Gotta love the Midwest in the winter. Someone was asking me what I was going to be wearing to the parade, and I said it will be a matter of function over fashion, namely I will probably be wearing long johns and a sweater! I am not about to walk around outside all day long and be freezing cold. It makes it a little harder to enjoy the adult beverages that are served, but it will be fun. I am sure I will update everyone on the time when we get back, and I will try to get some pictures, but my charger for my camera is hiding right now. So if I happen to find where it is hiding, I will be able to have a fully charged camera, otherwise no pictures. Hope everyone is having a great week! So long for now...

Digital Converter Boxes and Chocolate Covered Strawberries...

Well I hooked up my digital converter box to the TV in my room last night. Even though the channels do not have to actually change over until June or whenever now, 3 of the 7 channels that I get decided to go ahead and change over on the original date. It took a few tries,because I misplaced my English instruction manual and my Spanish is not great, but I eventually figured out how to do it, and right after I got it figured out Sarge stood up and I found my English manual. I am very pleased with it, because before I hooked it up, my TV was just plugged in to the wall and on a good day I would get about 7 channels, and depending on the weather or where I was standing/sitting in the room, the reception was always marginal at best. Now that my box is plugged in, I now get a whopping 14 channels, but I am pretty pleased. I now get CBS which I never did before, and even though I rarely watch anything on that channel, it is always nice to have more options. I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. I honestly had probably the best/my favorite Valentine's Day that I can remember. My parents went to St Louis for the weekend, so it was just Sarge and I for the weekend holding the fort down. Friday night I went to get my nails done (thanks G and G!) then I met up with Lauren and we headed to El Matador to dinner for our friend Karen's birthday. The plan was to have dinner then to go see Friday the 13th. Well we never made it to the movie, but we did go to Starship Billiards after dinner and shot some pool and had a good time. Justin and I were having a good time making fun of 'Happy Feet' who was this guy on the other side of the place just breaking it down to the music. I mean he was GETTING IN TO IT!!! I was dying laughing. Then there were the 3 beauties next to us (Lauren you know who I mean!). These girls definitely needed for fashion advice of something. This one girl was wearing a shirt that was way too small for her, and was way too low cut. Ever once in awhile she would bend over the pool table to shoot, and something would fall out, I will just leave that one to your imagination. I was the old fuddy duddy that night, because I had class in the morning, so I made Lauren leave, probably earlier than she wanted to, but all in all it was a fun night. Saturday morning I woke up and was not pleased that I had to go to class because I was cold and just wanted to stay in my warm bed! But I got up and took care of Sarge and started my day. Now my usual breakfast food on the weekend when dad does not make a big spread is my Special K with strawberries. So I got that all poured out in to my bowl and went to get the milk. No milk. No cereal for me. So my breakfast of champions was an extra Soft Taco Supreme from Taco Bell that I had from lunch the day before. I decided that since I was missing my cereal that I would hurry to get ready then make a Starbucks stop before class. I am glad that I did that! I do love my Venti Nonfat Half-Caf Iced Caramel Machiattos! Class was kind of a hoax. It is supposed to last from 10-12. I was walking out of the classroom at 10:27 because we were working on different skills in class and once we got our set things done we were free to leave. The day was looking up! Off to Blockbuster I went and I rented Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, The Secret Life of Bee's, My Best Friends Girl, Zach and Miri Make A Porno, and House Bunny. It is very rare that I rent 5 movies and really enjoy all of them, but I was laughing hysterically and really glad that I rented them. Next stop was Kroger to pick up supplies for dinner. As soon as I walked in I wanted to turn around and leave because it looked like Valentine's Day had thrown up in the store. There were flowers, hearts and balloons everywhere! I forged on and gathered my supplies for my gourmet dinner that I had planned. On the menu was Creamy Seafood Risotto and chocolate covered strawberries. I was so very happy with the menu. The risotto was AMAZING and the strawberries were fun to make. I will post the recipe for the risotto and some pictures of the dinner later. Lauren, maybe you could add this recipe to your repertoire, it is a little labor intensive, but easy, and there is nothing green in it so Chad would eat it! I made a drink of Mountain Dew and Bacardi and settled in for a dinner of movies. Like I said previously I was laughing hysterically, and you know something is funny when you are by yourself and you are laughing out loud. I don't know if I subconsciously picked funny movies, or if the movies that were out were just not the sappy kind. Usually I end up with movies that are all lovey dovey and make me depressed by the end of the movie because things like that never happen in real life. I am glad I did not spend my Valentine's Day watching depressing movies and feeling all sad. I really do have to say that my overall outlook on life and my demeanor towards everything lately has been really positive. I am so glad. I am tired of thinking 'Oh woe is me...'. Anyways finally about 3 am I made it to bed, because I watched Law and Order after one of my movies and it freaked me out and I was sitting in my bed thinking that I kept hearing things, therefore not allowing myself to go to sleep. I am such a baby when it comes to that. That is why I will never be able to live by myself. I would be so severely sleep deprived from not being able to sleep that I would not be able to function. Sunday was just a lazy day around the house. I made scrambled eggs with some of the leftover crab and shrimp mixture from the risotto and they were great. I do have to make one comment on The Amazing Race last night. Now I love this show, and this is the only reality TV show that I would ever consider applying for. For those of you who are now aware of it, the basic gist of it is that there are teams of two that are racing around the world following clues and completing tasks. It is a great show and I recommend everyone watch it. It is on Sunday nights on CBS (I guess I do watch shows on CBS, see comment above). Well last night was the first episode of this season, and I think it was the funniest one that I have every seen. My mom and I were laughing so hard that I had tears streaming down my face. Even my dad liked it I think, and you all know how hard he is to impress! Well the teams were in Switzerland and there task was to run up this hill and carry these 50 pound rounds of cheese down. They had to carry a total of 200 lbs of cheese. The funny part came when the cheap wooded racks tat they had to carry the cheese with broke and the cheese starts rolling down the hill. I mean these things were going fast! At one point an older man that was sliding down the hill on his behind screamed 'Don't let the cheese hit me!' If this is not funny to anyone besides my mom and I, then I suggest going to CBS.com and watching the episode. Hilarious. Next week the contestants will be travelling through Germany so that should be cool. Maybe they will be some places that I have been to. That is always neat. OK, well now that this is officially the world's longest post, at least by my standards, I will let everyone continue their days! Hope everyone has a great week! So long for now...

Boo

As much as I dislike being sick, I dislike being back to work even more... Hope everyone is having a better day than me!!! So long for now...

Finally a post about the weekend!!!

So, sorry for being a little late in posting, but I have food poisoning, but I am on the mend, and so that has put me back a few days!  Anyways, on to the exciting weekend that we had!  Friday night was fun, because my Grandparents were coming back from North Carolina and they stayed at our house that night. We had a really yummy dinner, and had fun hearing all of the funny stories that happened while they were in North Carolina. Saturday the fun began! I slept in and then got up and did a little bit of homework. After getting ready I headed to Fringe, the best salon in Decatur! My good friend Alyssa was going to do my hair for the big night out. Lauren was in there getting her hair done when I got there, so it was fun to just hang out and chat while we were all there. I must say my hair looked fabulous, and I do always love to get my hair done, especially to get it washed! After hair, Lauren and I went to Verizon so she could get her new Blackberry! She was so excited to finally be getting one! After Verizon, we went to Panera to have lunch because we were STARVING! Actually it was more of a late lunch, since we ate at 2:30 and we had dinner reservations at 5:30, but we could not wait any longer! Our friend Alyssa, and our talented hair stylist met us at Panera. We then all headed to the mall to see if we could find any good deals. Well I think I found the deal of the day. I was looking at the dresses in Von Maur, because I am going to be in Mindy's wedding next October, and with my luck I would not be able to find anything if I waited very long to look. I tried on a very pretty black dress with some black embellishments, and a bubble bottom. Needless to say it was super cute. The tag said that it was $70, so I figured that was a decent price for such a nice dress. Well I went to the check-out to pay and the lady said, "Oh this is on sale!" I figured she meant like 10% off or something. The dress was on sale for $18!!!!! I was so excited!!!! This is the second time that I have bought a dress that was on sale at Von Maur and did not even know it until I checked out! I bought 2 other shirts and a pair of cute earrings as well. After our shopping spree we realized that it was getting late, and we better get going so we could get looking beautiful for the night. Alyssa, Lauren, and I headed off to Lauren's apartment to get ready. It was a rush, but we all looked spectacular by the time we left! Next stop was Pastabilities for dinner. We were meeting Mindy, her 2 friends from high school, Erica Lauren's sister, and our friend Sam there. Dinner was fantastic and there was good conversation all around. I got my present from Mindy and Lauren, and I got the best card. I am thinking about getting the front part framed, it talks about Girls Night, and gives a funny definition of it. We had to rush across downtown to make our movie at the Avon. We went to see "He's Just Not That In To You". I really liked the movies, but I was feeling a little jaded through out the whole movie, because I really don't things like this movie happen in real life. Or at least not to me, and I wish they would! I really did enjoy the movie though. And it is always fun to go see a good girly movie with your friends. After the movie, it was time to head out! After a short stop at Block's, we went to Lincoln for a drink, then we headed to Katz's. We were at Katz's for the majority of the night, and it was a lot of fun. I tried several different flavors of the martinis that they serve there. There were several random things that happened that night. Some of the stories might not be too appropriate for the blog...BUT I did hear the lamest pick-up line ever at Katz's. I was standing at the bar ordering a drink, and this guy comes up to me. He asks me if he was bigger than my boyfriend, when I told him no, he then asked me if he could kiss me. I of course declined, but I did think it was a funny pick-up line. We then ended up seeing him the rest of the night. For clarification, this guy was not a winner, and he could hardly even stand up haha. After we left Katz's we went back to Lincoln, and this is where I met Joe Kinney. I had ordered a shot for Lauren and I, and while Lauren was in the bathroom, Joe was sitting next to me and asked me if the shot was for him. I for some reason said it was, so that is how I started talking to him. It was just nice to have a conversation with someone that was not one of my friends already. After the Lincoln, we went back to Block's because our good friends Chad and Chris were there. I must say that I have missed them, but it was so nice to see them again. After typing all of this, I think I actually met Joe Kinney AFTER we were at Block's because it was right at the end of the night. This was the first time I had been out until bar close, in a VERY long time. I had a blast though, and am so very thankful for the friends that I have. They are amazing, and I couldn't ask for anyone better! The end of the night brought an AOK taxi ride back to Lauren's apartment, a sausage pizza, and a little Facebook before heading to bed around 3:30. For some reason I woke up at 7:30 the next morning, and amazingly I felt great! The rest of the weekend was just spent hanging out and catching up on my sleep. Once again to my friends, thanks so much for such an amazing time! And I can't wait to do it again! I better get going now, I think this is the longest post so far. And I was going to add some pictures to it, but I only ended up with 4 pictures from the whole night, so just use your imagination on how much fun we had! So long for now...

Short and Sweet

Not much has been going on this week. The rest of my birthday was great. I received amazing flowers and a balloon from my family later in the day. They are still sitting on my desk at work, but they are starting to droop a little :( The still smell great though! I am getting excited for the weekend! It is almost here. After class tonight it is home to watch the Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice mega extravaganza! I think it should be good. I have made my New Year's Resolutions finally. I wanted to make sure that it was a good one, and one that I could actually follow through with for more than a month. This year I am going to go somewhere at least twice a month that might be out of my comfort level. The whole experience is to hopefully meet some more people, but if not, I will at least get to go to some new places and become more comfotable in different situations. Those of you that know me, know that I am not a shy person with my friends, but for some reason if I do no treally know someone, I am shy. So I am trying to fix that.... More updates to come on that. This might be the last post for a few days unless something fabulous happens. I will for sure post after Saturday night, to fill you in on all of the fun details there! Have a great Thursday! So long for now...

24 seems so old...

Well I am beginning to think that the older you get, the more anti-climatic your birthday is! I remember as a little girl thinking about my birthday for months, or at least once Christmas was over since it was the next 'holiday' in my mind, and how magical and special the day was. You took your cupcakes to school and sometimes even got to wear a crown all day at school. Now ever girl loves to wear a crown whether they admit it or not! I loved being the center of attention for at least one day! Now, you get up, go to work, go to the doctor, go to class, take a test, and then head head just in time for bed. Or at least that is what my day will look like today! Now I do have to give credit to my good friend Kacy, because she got to work before I did today and put up some Happy Birthday paraphernalia around my office, and even had a warm Hardee's breakfast sandwhich waiting for me on my desk! Now there is a girl that knows me best! I mean, food pretty much makes up for the fact that I cannot wear a crown anymore! Last week as I was thinking about my approaching birthday, I was really stunned to think about how much older 24 seems than 23. At 23 you are 'usually' just a year or so out of college and it is ok if you are not sure what you want to do, you don't have as many responsibilities, etc. Now at 24, it seems like the world now will accept you as an adult. I am not sure what I will think about 25, but shoot that is a whole 364 days away! So for now I will concentrate on being 24, and will practice being 'grown up'! Now I guess that means I should pay my phone bill that came in the mail last night. Nothing like getitng a bill in the mail instead of a festive birthday card! I guess this is a 'Welcome to the Real Worl Ashley' sign. As a disclaimer, the picture that I added is not a cake that I received, but I thought it was funny and appropriate! Well better get going. Hope everyone has a fabulous day! So long for now...

Over the Weekend

OK, so I promised that I would update you with all of the fun and exciting things that went on this weekend. I already mentioned going to the Bourbon Barrel on Thursday with Lauren. Friday night I did some homework and went to bed early. Saturday morning started with going to class. It was only the second class so it is still kind of new to everyone. We got there a little late, so Mom and I had to sit in the front row. I guess she was nervous that we would not be able to find 2 seats together, but she told me that she would have just asked someone to move! Mom, you are getting so good at this, you would be fine on your own! I ended up having a 'sigher' on the other side of me. She was getting frustrated with not knowing how to do things, and she kept sighing every minute for the whole class. At one point I asked her if I could help, and she asked me a question. When I showed her how to do what she asked, she told me that I was wrong, so that was the end of helping her! I was trying to be nice, but I guess she wanted none of it. After class Mom had a visitation to go to so I just sat in the car and had a little snooze. That was really nice!!! More homework was done that afternoon, and then Bryce showed up!!!! He surprised me! I thought he was just going to meet us in Bloomington for dinner, but he drove all the way home just to be with his favorite sister!!! You know it is true Brycie!!! We decided to open my presents on Saturday, since we were all together, Dad is going to be gone tomorrow on my actual birthday, I have class until late, and Bryce would obviously be back at school. I got just what I asked for...a Wii Fit!!! I am so excited to start using it as often as I can! I also got a pink cover for it, a gift card for Von Maur, which I hope to use to find something exciting to wear for this weekend, and a cookbook of different foods that 'travel' well to potlucks and such. It seems that I was good this year, because I really made out well!!  After that we headed up to Bloomington to eat at Kobe which is a really neat restaurant.  It is a hibachi style restaurant where they cook in front of you and it is all a big show.  I really enjoyed myself.  At the end of the dinner I thought we were done, then all of a sudden these guys came out banging on drums and come up to me.  They tied a really awesome headband around my head and stuck 2 chopsticks in the headbacnd.  They then proceeded to sing to me Japanese style, but funnily enough, none of them were Japanese!!  After that embarassment we drove home and all decided to try out the new Wii Fit.  I must say it was pretty entertaining to see Bryce 'Hula Hoop' and swing his hips this way and that!  We are all going to work on or weight apparantly, and I am sure we will all do great!  Sunday morning we woke up, and Dad made a HUGE breakfast that was very yummy!!  After breakfast we got ready and headed to Champaign.  Our neighbor gave us his tickets and parking pass for the Iowa-Illinois basketball, thanks Dave!!  We had a really good time there!  One of us, who shall reamin nameless, got a little worked up over some of the calls, but they calmed down.  Iowa showed up to play and I think we were all surprised when they only lost by a single digit margin.  Go Hawks!!!  The last excitement of the weekend was of course the Super Bowl.  We rushed home after the game, so we could watch the next game.  I think we were all cheering for the Cardinals, because we love Kurt Warner, being from UNI and Iowa...  Plus it is always fun to cheer for the underdog.  I thought overall it was a great game to watch.  There were a few questionable calls, but overall it was a good time.  I love to watch all of the commercials, and I think there were some pretty funny ones this year.  A few of my favorites were the one on the moon and the astronaunts get their tires stolen which was for car insurance, the 3-D commercials were great, and of course all of the beer commercials are always great.  We of course had WAY too much food, but I love just to snack on things throughout the whole game.  A part of me was sad that this was pretty much the last of football until next fall.  I do love my football.  Well that is all for now, and for my exciting weekend.  Stayed tuned to see what exciting things happen in my life this week!!  And I am sure I will be having lots to write about from next weekend, which is when I am celebrating my birthday with my girlfriends!  I cannot wait.  Hope everyone has a great week and is not too sad that the Groundhog saw his shadow, therefore another 6 weeks of winter...  So long for now...

Quick Note

I just wanted to write a quick note to all to let you know that I will post a full blog, with pictures from the weekend, tonight when I get home. Hope everyone have a GREAT day! Happy Groundhog's Day!!!!