This is L.A ...

Once again, I haven't blogged in awhile but this time I have a great excuse! I was on vacation in a land filled with lush palm trees, terrific shopping, beautiful people and (usually) lots of sunshine. I went to Los Angeles and while the weather was less than pleasant, it was better than the snow storms my friends back home had to endure and the laughs I shared with my best friend
 more than made up for it. Seriously, we're really funny.


This was my third time visiting L.A but my first as a single lady and without any men in company, which made for an interesting and very fun adventure. We ate, shopped, made ourselves pretty, laughed, danced and enjoyed every ounce of sunshine we were blessed with. It doesn't get much better than that, does it?

 Here are some highlights...


Our first walk in the sun!



Our destination? Latte's at Urth Cafe





Shopping at The Grove

Shopping at Bloomy's at The Bev Center

Justine's faggle tooth

I wish they all could be California Girls

Dinner on Sunset. Audrey Inspired

 Yeah

lovely ladies before dinner at The Cheesecake Factory & drinks at Fiesta Cantina. Also know as the night I met old scruff and Justine got hit on by a swedish chick.

The newest dance move in LA. The "double slap" or The "devil's slap". Whichever you prefer

Ladies before going to Happy Endings

We met boys from Alaska and formed a flip cup team with an amazing handshake.

Somehow Dawn and I ended up on a double date.

It may have rained every night we tried to go out.

Palm trees are my favourite

Thank you to a best friend who always makes me feel beautiful inside and out, laughs with me, cries with me and gave me my best trip yet! I love you & your faggle tooth miss juxt!

Finally, I leave you with my favourite of all the songs written about California...

Made up my mind to make a new start, going to california with an achin' in my heart. Someone told me there's a girl out there with love in her eyes & flowers in her hair.

*Ish

Sidenote: if you like ANY of my makeup in these pics, click on BEST FRIEND at the top of my post. She is one talented lady!

You are making me new.

As many of you may know today is Ash Wednesday. When I was a child I thought it was a day to celebrate Ashley's. Of course, that is not the case, much to my disappointment. I now know that today is the beginning of lent. Many people who belong to the christian or catholic religion decide to give something up today and for the next 40 days.

I hate labels. I hate rituals and I especially hate following traditions without even knowing the significance of them. So as someone who doesn't want to label myself as a "christian" or follow man made traditions I've never actually participated in the giving up of something for lent.

Until this year. This year I had a different feeling about it and I can connect a significance to lent. Lately I have been thinking a lot about simple comforts and pleasures that are so easily taken for granted. As humans we really cling to these comforts and usually we do not even know the weight of them until they are lost. I am talking about comforts, both large in small. Whether its your significant other, a special blanket or the morning coffee from Tim Hortons. When it gets taken away from us, it can really interrupt our flow. I know from experience. I especially like routine, order and when things go according to plan.

I'll let you in on a little secret... I still sleep with my baby blanket and if you asked me to give it up today I don't know that I'd be ok with it. I would definitely have some issues getting to sleep.

With all that said, I'm starting small. I have decided to give up chocolate and pop. Two addicting, comforting things I am sure I can do without. I turn to both things in times of stress. Giving something up for lent is only worthwhile if one can use it as a chance reflect on an awesome God who should be the only comfort humans need. Instead of turning to an earthly comfort I can be reminded of the love and grace I receive from above. It's also a nice time to reflect on rebirth, fresh starts and the beginning of new habits. I leave you with this...

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, and what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18

There is so much hope in this passage. Not only do we know there is more to life on earth but it also points out the important things on earth today. Things we cannot see... love, peace, hope... Not material and man-made comfort.

You make beautiful things out of the dust

*Ish

I get the news I need from the weather report...

"Once you've written about your Dirty Dancing calendar, its hard to top" -Sara M. Sinclair (Doesn't putting a middle initial in someone's name when you quote them make them sound so much more dignified?)

true story. As you may have noticed there has been a lack of posting lately... and really it all boils down to the fact that I really couldn't think of what to write about. Lot's of things have been going on in my life but nothing inspiring which I feel is a problem in an of itself. Life is kind of, in transistion right now so maybe thats why.

Nevertheless, here I am. A friend prompted me to get writing again last night and I realized that maybe I could at least offer up some thoughts on my transitional phase. 

I can start by telling you this, the mind of ashley is usually a jumble of things and I can often be found zoning out into space. Usually its a multitude of things going on in my head but lately my mind has been specifically focused on thoughts of what to do with my life. Career-wise, that is. I used to give little thought to this and figured that I was just headed towards marriage and motherhood. Obviously, that is nowhere soon on the horizon for me and I think I've realized that there is more for me to accomplish on this earth before I take those steps.

I have been reading The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything and as the title suggests, trying to find my element or my passion. Now, I know you're probably thinking, shouldn't I already know my passion? This is what I used to think as well but this book has been eye-opening for me. I had never considered many of the obstacles one may encounter on the road to finding one's element. Up until very recently I had thought myself to be quite passionless. Of course, there are things I am passionate about but I don't know that I had really found a perfect little niche or habitat where me and my passion fit. 

Reading The Element has also helped to put into words why I no longer want to be a teacher, something I had previously felt called to do. Reason's that have led me to feel so passionless. Here's a little excerpt that gives a peak into it...
"...young children are wonderfully confident in their own imaginations. Most of us lose this confidence as we grow up. Ask a class of first graders which of them thinks they're creative and they'll all put their hands up. Ask a group of college seniors this same question and most of them won't. I believe passionately that we are all born with tremendous natural capacities, and that we lose touch with many of them as we spend more time in the world. Ironically, one of the main reasons this happens is education. The result is that too many people never connect with their true talents and therefore don't know what they're really capable of achieving. In that sense, they don't know who they really are." (Robinson xi)

I have felt passionless, uncreative and stifled by never being able to fit in with the normalcy that formal education requires for, probably as long as I can remember. Until now. Until I have began to realize that maybe this isn't how it is supposed to be. Maybe God has more for me. I work with children under the age of five, and one of the things that I love about it is seeing this inherent creativity that is completely untarnished. I recently read an article that challenged me to look at my current job and wonder to why God has placed me there for this moment. Maybe thats why. Maybe I needed to be reminded of how creative people are before we are squashed like bugs by life.

As I have been trudging my way through this book something keeps sticking out at me. In grade one, we were given the assignment to write a story. I wrote a book about a bird named Melanie. Melanie loved to sing but had lost her voice. After trying a variety of things to regain her ability to sing, she drank a glass of water and sang happily ever after...

My teacher was very impressed with my story, and "published" it into a book that my Mom still has today. I don't know many six-year-olds who can pump out a story with a beginning, middle, end and conflict that gets resolved. I'm not trying to brag here, because honestly at 24, with a BA in English, I don't think I could sit here and give you a low-down of all the elements of a story. But that's how its always been with writing for me. I start and somehow all the blanks get filled in. In ways I cannot explain.

Maybe that's my element.

Oh, and as for my title of this post? It's from a Simon & Garfunkle song and its true. I hate the news but I love the weather network. If this writing thing doesn't work, I think I'll try and be a weather girl.

Sara, this jam is for you. Thanks for asking me to write
*Ish