Valentines Day

So it's cool that I'm finally blogging about Valentines day about, oh, you know a half month after the fact? Well, I want to document it so i can remember it forever and ever! DUH!

Anyway. Here is our Valentines Day story -- 2012.

Oh my oh my was I a lucky girl when I discovered that I would be working in Lexington during the week of Valentines day. As soon as I found out I knew where we needed to have Valentines Day reservations.

3 Suns Bistro in Brannon Crossing.

Why this place? well about 4 years ago this is where Michael and I went on our first ever Valentines Day date. We had been dating for only a week and he took me out for a pretty fancy meal. Spoiled? I realize this.

I knew it would be meaningful to me and hopefully Michael especially since #1 we are highly likely to be moving away in the next couple of months for Michael's residency and #2 Michael and I have issues with restaurants that are important to us closing.

Exhibit A: Buddies Bar and Grill on Tates Creek/High Street - This is where Michael and I went on our very first real date (you know if you don't count fazolis, which I don't!). A few months ago the place went out of business. sad, sad day.

Exhibit B: Murrays Restaurant on Harrodsburg Road - This is where Michael and I ate dinner before he took me back to his house (now our house) to propose. Michael used to work here too. It's a fancy restaurant like Malones where basketball coaches and the like ate. They shut down about a year or more ago. Even sadder day.

Both restaurants were VERY good. Never really had a bad experience there, but now they are gone :(.

Back to the Valentines day story.

Anywho, so I knew we had to hit up one of the few remaining influential restaurants still surviving.  I called and made a reservation about 3 weeks in advance to make sure! i'm a planner!

Also, I wanted to make our Valentines day gifts special this year. So I devised a plan that I got the idea from Pinterest on. It wasn't going to be expensive, just time consuming. I call it "Gifts on the hour"

A week or 2 before Valentines day I started collecting small, random, unique, or useful gifts for Michael. Nothing costing more than $8 or so a piece.

Once I collected about 12 items it was time to set my plan in motion. I selected random times throughout Valentines day that ended up being signifcant to our relationship:
- 6:26 pm (wedding anniversary)
-4:01 pm (Willis' birthday)
-2:08 pm (dating anniversary)
-10:26 am (MIchael's birthday
etc, etc.

I did have to fudge 1 or 2 hours because I was trying to get them to be hourly from about 8 am until 10 pm.

Each gift I wrapped separately and attached a time stamp for when to open and a little note about the gift. I hid everything in the closet and told Michael if he went in there I would seriously hurt him. Cause I'm loving like that! :)

Valentines day approached as I frantically wrapped and finished things up the night before to ensure the perfect giving. Valentines morning Michael woke up with me (he had to be into the hospital an hour later than I did for work) and we headed to Magees (a local bakery) for breakfast to use a Groupon that was expiring on that day.

Michael got a yummy egg and bagel sandwich while I munched on a delicious pumpkin muffin. We chatted and it was wonderful to spend time together before we went our separate ways and started our busy days. As we were saying goodbye I ran to my car and pulled out a card and a brown paper sack. The note told Michael where to look once he got home and addressed the rules of the gift game. In the brown sack I gave him our camera to document everything since I'd miss a good part of it. He was confused but I think he thought the idea was cool.

Sadly though and to my great disappoint he didn't have time to go home after breakfast. I pouted, saying my hard work wasn't going to workout right. Luckily he only missed about 3 gifts and headed home. So he just opened them all at once!

I would get random texts throughout the day and pictures of him with some of the gifts. It made me smile. Here are a few with some explanation:

After coming back from our honeymoon Michael used my toothbrush by mistake. Silly gift! :)

When in Louisville for Michael's marathon we tried on crazy sunglasses at Lynn's Paradise Cafe

This is silly, acting like socks are mittens! :)

This is the gum Michael ALWAYS chewed when we were dating, the smell of it brings back great feelings.

Willis smelling the "bouquet" of tootsie roll pops. I mean a guy deserves a bouquet of something too! Carson is so jealous in the background!

fazoli's giftcard.... no awkwardness about who is going to pay... i had it this time :)

A canvas with the words to our first dance song on it...didn't turn out as nice as I'd hoped though :(

Since it is busy season I worked until around 7 and headed home to get all fancied up. I couldn't wait to talk to Michael about my gifts and get ready for our dinner (which the location I kept secret from Michael).

I arrived home to see a BOUNTY of Valentines day gifts. I was like woah! He went super way overboard. It was intense. I felt SO very much spoiled.

Look at this, I mean it's crazy!:

I have been talking about wanting a toaster oven forever, our ghetto $10 toaster just doesn't do it sometimes. He also gave me socks, cause he complains about how dirty and nasty mine are. I don't even know how it happens. Its not like i walk around outside shoeless. Crazy. He also bought 2 bottles of wine and a bottle of dark malibu since I was finishing up the bottle I received for my 21st birthday! Oh and he also got my CHOCOLATES! I have never received chocolates before and was so excited about this!! And lastly....boot polish. Cause my boots needed it, it's true! So super random assortment all so wonderful!

Once Michael and I got all fancy I handed him a gift that I had timed for him to open before we got in the car. It was a CD "mix tape" of songs that were important to us, I even put a picture of us on the case. I have NEVER made him a CD before, I felt like I was in 8th grade. It was awesome. Unfortunately Michael's CD player in the car only likes to play to about song 5 on the CD. BUMMER.

Once we got in the car I gave him another gift. He, still unknowing as to where he was driving  me, unwrapped the gift to find a picture frame with a picture of a map and the 3 Sun's Bistro logo on it. So now he knew where to drive me!

Now is the unfortunate part of the night, slightly disappointing. We arrived at the restaurant at 8, our reservation time, and had to wait about 20 minutes for our table. Even though there were about 4 empty tables. The place was VERY understaffed and VERY unorganized. It kind of made me feel bad for them. However, the only accordion player in the city of Lexington was playin' away in his sparkly shirt. He was a very sweet man!

 Once we finally got seated it took us FOREVER to get any service. Michael and I were polite, but also starving. We didn't receive bread or anything until about 8:45 and our food at 9-9:15ish. 2 other couples at different tables got up and left after they had ordered because the service was terrible. It was like I was foreseeing the future of 3 Sun's. Oh restaurant. Please don't fail!
We still took pictures of ourselves though while waiting:

Our food was mediocre. But we enjoyed each others company and had a great time. I know many of you are Valentines Day haters, but you know what, I enjoy showering my spouse with love. (it's not like I don't regularly, but its just another day that you can make extra special!)

So there's that....my long Valentines day story!

Thankful Thursday!

Despite a pretty tiring workday today (worked from 8:15am to 7:45pm at the client) and a icky run at 5:45 am this morning I can say to sum it up that I can find wonderful things in my day. And the optimism continues.

Maybe my optimism can be somewhat annoying, but on days when we are working 12 hours I think it is a way better option than being a negative Nancy.

Things that made my day:

1.     Let start with the big one, cause you know it really was pretty awesome. Today I became an AUNT! Isn’t that weird sounding? No, none of my siblings had a child, Michael’s oldest sister Jennifer did! She was a week late with no symptoms still so they induced her on Tuesday hoping to have a child by Wednesday, which also happened to be Leap day! Well after hours of waiting – almost 48 – Baby Antoine entered the world on March 1^st around 5am (Seattle time of course). What a great way to start the day. I nearly shrieked with joy when I received this pictures of little Antoine:

2.     An employee at our client, who dresses cute and such complimented me on my shoes today. It made me feel good. You can’t bring me down work!

3.     I was able to run 5 miles before my work day even began. Yes the run felt AWFUL, which I blame on mozzarella sticks, French fries, and mcDonald’s hot fudge sundae (I hadn’t had ice cream all week and was really craving it guys, how bad!) that I had consumed the night before at dinner. But you know what, I’m glad I got a significant run in during the middle of the week! (i am so sweaty and gross and look like death warmed over):

4.     I am 75% through my “February” book. I am counting this as keeping up with my resolution. I sure hope you accept this. Still enjoying Mindy Kaling’s book, I read it on the touch pad during our 30 minute drive to the client and in the hotel room at night before bed.

5.     My fortune cookie from the Chinese Buffet we had for lunch today was actually a fortune for once. And you didn’t even need to add the usual “in bed” at the end, it was sort of implied! :)

6.     Um hello guys. The sun. it’s shining. Like crazy. And it’s so warm. My lunch break rides in the car to lunch are spent smiling and gabbing about how much I am loving this.

7.     And it wouldn’t be an Ashley post without some dogs. Loving that I have an awesome hubby that knows I can’t get through a week without some pictures of my pups!

8.     I’m about to go out to eat pizza with coworkers and watch UK. Michael is at the game and it’s Senior Night! I love me some Darius and Eloy! Go Cats!

And the fun don't stop!

Whew! Guys, life has been crazy busy!

Like I have been so busy Michael has taken it upon himself to clean our house 3 times!! I haven't cleaned it in sooo long! But things have been good the past couple of weeks!

Yes, I am working 55 + hours a week...but I'm finding that work life balance they talk about except its like. Workkkkkkkkk 8-7 then hurry workout....then doing something fun...then go to bed...do it all over again!

So why not get caught up on what i've been doing?

I have a hefty amount of pictures on my phone so here we go!

- I have been running...well when time permits

- I have been trying to cook new recipes...well when time permits --- Tonight we made spaghetti squash with chicken, peas, broccoli, sundried tomatoes, and garlic and it was tastey and you couldn't tell it was healthy. Michael even gave me a high five.


- I have been patiently awaiting becoming an auntie! Michael's sister is due on the 21st!! whoop whoop! exciting!

- I have been trying to read but failing due to my busyness and trying to incorporate fun into my life.

- I went to the UK vs Ole Miss Basketball game on Saturday. Walked straight from work to the game. It was awesome and it made me a very happy lady.

- I have been taking full advantage of our free work meals on Saturdays. Um hello can you say Panera bagel + half a pumpkin muffin + fruit for breakfast?!?! So I definitely wasn't that hungry for lunch and filled up on pudding with bananas, cool whip, and nilla wafers!

- I have been having a movie night with my love Becca, with wine, and peanut butter m&ms and cuddling under blankets.

- I have been counting down the days until Michael's match day ---25 if you'd really like to know

-I've been mentoring my girl Adrielle. Bowling and getting our nails done all in one week?! super fun!
  

- I've been celebrating birthdays...you know...Kara's birthday...cause she's awesome

- I've been enjoying large margaritas!
 
- I've been playing scrabble with awesome friends...you know like real life words with friends?!


- I've been celebrating Valentines day (post to come about this wonderful day)


 -I've been enjoying the little things in life like Dunkaroos!


- I've been visiting Columbus to visit the very Cute Drew and Catherine Hamilton while enjoying a tour of the city and some fancy ice cream from Jeni's and yummy lunch from North Market (Columbus has reached the top of our list of places for Michael's residency)(this is gooey cake ice cream!)

I've been spending a TON of quality time with my hubby since I have been home the passed 2 weeks and it's been wonderful. Just the perfect work pick-me-up I needed!

 
It's been great! It's been crazy busy, but I'm young, I can handle this. At least I'm having a good time!!

Goodnight friends!

Griffey

In loving memory of my family's dog Griffey.

Lisa, my stepmom, found Griffey one day during my sophomore year of high school. He was standing in the middle of a fairly busy street near our house. No one claimed him. We were very excited to have him in our lives. We soon discovered that Griffey had the tendency to escape and "run away". Probably how he ended up with us. Oftentimes during the summer someone from the Ryle Marching Band would call to say they found our dog Griffey. He was so friendly he just wanted to hang out with everyone.

 He was super spunky. He liked to lick ...well... EVERYTHING. He had a favorite toy that made bird sounds.
(My brother, Dustin, whipped up this drawing in a day after Griffey leaving us, isn't it awesome?)

 He really loved Lisa a lot. He was a cuddler. He thought he was a guard dog. He was small yet mighty enough to scare the living day lights out of Willis.

Yet he was still like a puppy in some ways. How he felt comforted by sucking on blankets, towels, etc. while kneading them with his paws, kind of like a cat or a puppy feeding off it's mother. It was cute and gross at the same time.

He had bladder cancer for a year or more and was given a very limited time to live but he kept on keepin' on despite the bloody urine and doggy diapers. He lived much longer than we expected with the cancer but that doesn't mean we were ready to see him leave. He was only 8-9 years old.

It's never easy to lose a dog. They are so helpless. And so loving.

I saw this in a blog I was reading the other day and it made me cry. But I'm happy knowing he is no longer in pain.

A Dog’s Purpose

Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog’s owners, Ron, his wife, Lisa, and their little boy, Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle.

I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn’t do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.

As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane might learn something from the experience.

The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker’s family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away.

The little boy seemed to accept Belker’s transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker’s death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives.

Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, “’I know why.”

Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I’d never heard a more comforting explanation. It has changed the way I try and live.

He said, “People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life — like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?”

The six-year-old continued, “Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don’t have to stay as long.”

Live simply.

Love generously.

Care deeply.

Speak kindly.

Remember, if a dog was the teacher, you would learn things like:

When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.

Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.

Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure Ecstasy.

Take naps.

Stretch before rising.

Run, romp, and play daily.

Thrive on attention and let people touch you.

Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.

On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.

On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.

When you’re happy, dance around and wag your entire body.

Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.

Be loyal.

Never pretend to be something you’re not.

If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.

When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently.

There comes a time in life, when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh, forget the bad, and focus on the good. So, love the people who treat you right. Think good thoughts for the ones who don’t. Life is too short to be anything but happy.

My sincerest apologies

Hello little bloggy

I’m Ashley and I’ve been a bad blogger as of late.

Can I make excuses?

Will you forgive me?!

Guys, honestly, my days have been packed.

Some of these days they are packed for the good and some of them, depending on the week, are packed full of icky.

And I mean I feel bad every day that goes by that I don’t blog. But it just can’t happen

Last week, well I won’t give last work week more than a few sentences. It just was not a good week. I’m not going to harp on it. Tears were shed but it’s over.

Now this week. I’m pretty happy with this week. My client is pretty low stress. I’m working in downtown Cincy. I have gotten to see my parents 2 nights this week. See my high school girlies (Bailey, Olivia, and Azra) for a chic sushi dinner in Hyde Park and ice cream at Bay’s after. I’ve been able to get in my parent’s hot tub. Michael joined my parents and myself for dinner Monday night. We visited ice cream heaven (Brusters). This week while working and living “on the road” I am a happy Ashley. And it’s allll good.

Optimism and Joy?! I think so!

And you know what else I haven’t even mentioned yet?! I haven’t exercised in a full week today. Ok that’s not good news. It’s actually bad. I had plans of starting my official half marathon training on Monday. But last Tuesday or Wednesday (can’t remember, week was a blur of ick) I was doing a circuit workout in the gym at like 6 in the morning. Sometime during that super intense and awesome workout I did something wrong. And now my back is jacked. Like I am constantly uncomfortable, even lying down I feel it. So sitting in conference room chairs that are built for 300 pound men does not do my petite frame well.

I have used a heating pad multiple times, refrained from exercise (which is IMPOSSIBLE for me), even had a licensed massage therapist work on my back, applied icey hot, Lisa rubbed it down for a while. And it just doesn’t seem to be feeling better. I’m going through workout withdrawals. Plus, I can’t give myself an excuse to eat that ice cream and not feel bad about it later, but since I’m used to working out all the time I’m used to burning it off relatively quickly by working out every day. UGH. So there, I haven’t been exercising and it’s so annoying. I really don’t want to get behind on my training plan but here I am already behind. And I guaranty I’ll feel out of shape on my first couple of runs!

But you know what? It’s hasn’t gotten me down! Not this week! I have my family and friends to distract me at night. And I think a cold came along to help me realize to chill too, so my body is appreciating the extra hour of sleep that I can get in the morning, or more work that I can get done in the evenings. I mean if you can’t hear out of your right ear and your back is feeling strained constantly I’m guessing its time to listen to your body.

Anywho…enough about my body.

I have so much to fill you in on and some pictures to post but this is getting pretty lengthy and well, I might just try to catch up on a little tv since I haven’t watched in a week.

Tonight on tap in Cincy fun?! Dinner with my good ol’ J-Boh.

Also, be looking forward to a recipe post. I NEED to make one this weekend and I have one in mind. Kinda excited about it. I failed at the whole recipe thing last week.

Also, need to get to reading my February book. I just haven’t wanted to read after the awesomeness that is the Hunger games, nothing can compare!

Well goodnight little blog and I hope to see you shortly!

Granola!

So today I forced myself to keep up with my resolution and make something new to me. Since there wasn't much extra time in my day I decided to make homemade granola. I had all of the ingredients already and I knew it would keep since I would be gone all week at a client.

I stole this recipe from a blog I read called Ben Does Life, it's his girlfriends recipe and its really simple but tasty! I tried a tiny bowl of it tonight with some milk but I can't wait to mix it in with my yogurt later this week!

Fact: Granola is delicious. AND easy to make (even I can do it!). 

• 3 cups large flake oats
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup chopped or sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup chopped walnut
• 1/2 cup liquid honey
• 1/3 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy.. doesn’t matter)
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup raisins/dried cranberries 

• Heat oven to 350. 
• Mix together oats, coconut, almonds, walnuts in one bowl.
• In another (microwaveable) bowl, mix honey, peanut butter and cinnamon (sometimes easier if you microwave it before for 25 seconds). Add to the oats/nuts and fold in until all mixed up. 
• Spread on one cookie sheet (I would go with one that has a lip/edge to minimize mess).
• Bake for 9-10 mins. Take it out, flip it overstir. 
• Bake for another 9-12 minutes. Add raisins/cranberries. 
• Let sit to cool then store or eat!

Using large knives to chop up almonds is scary!!!

 There's my yummy granola bakin' in the oven!


So there ya go. I am keeping up with this even though it's getting really hard! This week I've worked the most hours that I've worked so far. I guess I can't complain though since the client was in Lexington. But I did end up with something like 57 chargeable hours!!

However, I did get to enjoy my time off. Friday evening Michael and I had a little date night and hit up Hugh Jass Burgers for some yummy burgers, sweet potato fries, and there's marshmallow dipping sauce! SO GOOD! Afterwards we came home and snuggled on the couch to catch up on a few shows. With Michael and my schedule our show watching is REALLY behind!

After working until about 3:45 on Saturday I ran home to take care of my pups and then headed over to my friend Mollie's house to hang out cause the Robertsons were in town from NKY visiting for the weekend!! Michael was out hunting quail with his dad, yuck, so he wasn't there until later.

It was fun hanging out with bailey, tim, mollie, and becca. After the Cats won a nice little game of basketball we headed out to grab some dinner at Sals. I stuck with their classic wedge salad and consumed 2 of there AMAZING rolls in record timing!

On the way home from dinner we swung into my favorite place... ORANGE LEAF!! I can gladly hit that place up at least once a week. So if any of you need an orange leaf buddy, look me up!

After hanging for a while I was quite tired from my long week and wanted to head home to put on some stretchy pants. I wasn't feeling the whole going out to the bars thing, especially cause it was so chilly out. That is when the Larson's came over to chill and watch a couple episodes of Arrested Development. Fun times!!

Then today was another great day. Church. Lunch with the Kastens (I haven't been in ages and we got to get the dogs out of the house for the first time in a while!). Then Michael and I used a Groupon that I had to use at the Movie Tavern since it was expiring this week. We saw "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close". Michael and I weren't exactly sure how we felt about the whole 9/11 thing. Not sure if it's been enough time. But I thought the plot was moving and I teared up a couple of times! We rounded out our day with bible study and picking up around the house. Oh and packing my suitcase once again.

I guess that's about it in my life. I thought some of you might want to know what's going on. Sorry there wasn't really much of a purpose to my post! Goodnight Friends!

Recipe update plus more

I wanted to keep you all up to date with my recipe making! This week wasn't a true "recipe" since it was so simple, however, I had never made it before so I thought that would count, plus it was SUPER easy!

 I made pulled chicken (Michael had it in sandwich form, I ate mine without the bread because I discovered my sandwich thins had turned green, that's what happens when you are out of town for 2 weeks!), corn bread muffins, baked beans, and peas! It was an easy comfort food filled meal. And man oh man, how much did I love having 2 home cooked meals in a row. Dining out is no fun to me anymore especially when you have pizza 2 days in a row, Bob Evans for dinner one night and for lunch the next day, and other nasty fried food.

My awesome home cooked meal yesterday was made by my one and only hubby!! He found a recipe on the spicy chicken sausage package for some yummy taco/burritos. The meat mixture had onions, corn, hot sauce, and sausage. Then we had refried beans, lettuce, and tomatoes! This was way better than something you would get at a Mexican restaurant. It was sooo good!

Of course I had to help clean out our fridge and polish of the orange juice with a splash of malibu coconut rum! Can you believe I have had that rum bottle since my 21st birthday?! There is probably enough left for one drink, sad day! (sorry for the blurry pic)

Also, since everything is so awesome I wanted to share my awesome workout that I did at the Johnson Center today. And can I tell you how at home I felt finally being back at the Johnson Center. Surrounded by motivated people, nice machines, and plenty to keep me distracted.

This run was awesome and with the intervals the 6 miles passed by so quickly! I ended up finishing in 47:59 which I was ecstatic about since I haven't ran 6 miles in months!

Distance	Speed
0-1 mile warm up	6.5-7.0
1-1.50	8.0
1.50-1.75	7.0
1.75-2.25	8.0
2.25-2.50	7.0
2.5-3.0	8.0
3.0-3.25	7.0
3.25-3.75	8.0
3.75-4.0	7.0
4.0-4.25	8.5
4.25-4.5	7.0
4.5-4.75	8.5
4.75-5.0	7.0
5.0-5.25	8.5
5.25-5.5	7.0
5.5-5.75	8.5
5.75-6.0	7.0

My endorphins were out of control after this amazing run!!

Even though I had to work from 8-5 today I still felt like today was a pretty awesome day!

Oh and I totally forgot to mention, I finally got to see my Becca today! She moved a week or 2 ago to her very own 1 bedroom apartment and I went over to hang out with her while she got ready to go out and hang out with friends tonight. I was invited but couldn't convince myself to get myself ready and presentable and I kinda just wanted to chill at home in my PJs since I haven't been here much. I loved seeing her though and we talked for a full hour. I just sat on her toilet lid while she got all prettified! 

One last note. If you are one to read blogs I would recommend reading this one. My friend Jessica (and birthday buddy, we have the same birthday and went and got our permits on the same day) has been writing an awesome blog for the past year and she is a great inspiration! She has lost an awesome amount of weight doing weight watchers so far and working out hard, I am so proud of her!! So check out her blog!

Ok, I'm going for real now! Happy Saturday everyone!!