White Trash

This stuff is going to be the death of me! I can't stop eating it... My neighbor makes it every year and I finally got my own bag of it when we got back to Tampa yesterday! What is better than M&Ms, pretzels, and peanuts covered in white chocolate?! ... Nothing!!! Mmmm. *This is my first post completely from my phone so I hope it shows up! I finally got it set up after talking about doing it for the past almost year. Woop Woop!*

Ask and you shall receive!

I had a blog dedicated to things I "wished" for. They were purely wants... and I didn't think I'd really get any of them, but I did! I actually got more than half and I'd say I made out like a bandit! I got my spice rack, my monogrammed sticker letters for my car, money, and a camera/bag/lens/etc (ya, so it was stolen, but I still had it at one time!). I feel very blessed to have had such a fun, loved filled Christmas with both of my families! I also got other goodies to include: a BETTY WHITE calendar *hehe*, a steamer to unwrinkle my clothes with, my first pair of Crocs, a set of knives (wow! they actually cut - we used them tonight with our steak dinner!), a cast iron skillet (that we used to cook our steak tonight - score!), a set of new baking pans!, gift cards to Chili's and Olive Garden, stackable tupperware (hello organized cabinet!), a bacon genie, and a cute bag with S on it I can take to/from school! Thanks everyone!!

These are items I got from my "Christmas List"... minus the $$!

We also had been having issues with our dish washer. We'd take out cups/plates/anything really and they'd be covered with nasty bits of something and we'd wash them again, but it didn't help. We bought hard water remover and glass shine stuff, but nothing was cutting it! We complained to the leasing office and voila! While we were gone a nice, shiny WORKING dishwasher was installed! I'd say that's another great gift! :)

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas with family/friends! I plan on relaxing for the rest of my time off - Monday is going to come way too fast!

-Ashley

Christmas Additions

I went around and took pictures of Christmas decor that has slowly gotten better this month...

Our wall of cards...

One of my favorite blog readers (LA!) cards is missing. Zach spilled syrup on it and no matter how hard we tried to get it off... there was a line of ants up our wall to the card so it had to be removed. Tragic, I know, but LA and fam is there in spirit!!

And yes, our own is up there because I like it that way!

We finally got our stockings embroidered!
Love my font!

Not sure why Z ordered a different font then everyone else!

I guess he's just special like that!

A few of the presents... I was just impressed with my wrapping abilities this year! :)

Christmas Eve went really well! Z and I went to a 5:30 service at a friend of his church. He actually spoke and did a nice job! I loved the fact that instead of having lit candles... they gave out glow sticks! Ohhh times are changing! Straight from church we headed to grandma/granddaddy's house for lasagna! It was delish, as usual... and then we headed over to my aunts for drinks/desserts! I just can't say no to sweets... SIGH! Here's to a wonderful Christmas tomorrow filled with great family and friends... and to a 6 hour drive after dinner!

-Ashley

Cookie Monsters!

I spent all day over at my parents house baking, cutting, and decorating cookies with my mom and my husband (for as much as he could stand... he left after awhile and went shopping!). We made peanut butter cookies with hershey kisses, white cholocolate chip and macadamia nut cookies, sugar cookies, peanut butter cup cookies, brownies, and rice krispy treats! It was a lot of fun spending time with the fam and snacking my whole way through the day! hehe.

Starting to decorate!

These are Zach's favorite!
Z made these ... and even added the festive red/green sprinkles!

Z did the legless gingerbread man... mom helped with a tree and star..

I did all of these on my own... I think they are pretty good, actually!

I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas! We are having our annual lasagna Christmas Eve dinner with the family tomorrow night at my grandparents and then will be up early for Christmas breakfast at my parents. My dad always makes a huuuuge breakfast for us and then later makes a huuuuge Christmas dinner with lobster, super yummy steaks, and other goodies! Mmmm. My mouth is already watering! After dinner we will be leaving for Atlanta to spend almost a week with Z's mom, brothers, and extended fam!! I love the holidaysssss.

-Ashley

"Once you go King...

you never go queen!" is what I heard from a friend a few days ago when I told them Z and I were upgrading our bed. After 4 years with 2 adults and 2 pups in a queen bed - more space was much needed! Zach's mom bought a new mattress for herself and was left with what to do with her old one. Thankfully.. she called us and we had it *finally* delivered on Monday! - Thanks John and Scott and thanks Mom#2! We went out and bought a new sheet set and comforter and had been sleeping on the mattress set on the floor. Today Z went out and bought us a headboard/footboard/rails and I LOVE it! It is quite high though and our puggle is having a hard time making it up there without some help! lol. Anyway.. here is the debut of the new bed! Looking foward to sleeping in it tonight...

-Ashley

Gifts Galore!

Friday at school was crazy, but also fun! We played (slightly) educational games, went outside for PE AND teacher PE (a first!), and had quite a hopping par-tay! :) I had Britt come with the pizza right at 1 and then I had two other ladies in helping pass out things/run the food lines! The kids seemed to have really enjoyed themselves and we had SO much food! Everyone brought in what they said they'd bring in.. and more! I was so spoiled by my students! Cards and gifts and notes and hugs! I needed Britt to help me take things home because I was out of hands! I received 3 gifts with smelly stuff in it: lotion, soap, body splash, etc! A couple of candles, a picture frame, a purse, and a scarf! It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! They like me.. they REALLY like me! haha. Parents stopped by in the morning to wish me a Merry Christmas and, for the most part!, it was a great day! We did have a few meltdowns, but we got through it! Who needs kids of their own when I have 17 and can send them home every day!? lol.

This was my desk by 11am!

One more was added after lunch!

Wearing some of my gifts! The ears were mine... and I took off my fun holiday Mickey Mouse sweatshirt! LOL.

Yay for 2 weeks off!!

-Ashley

Goodie Bags!

Tomorrow is FINALLY Friday!!! That means we will spend the last hour of the day in school having a holiday party! :) I'm going to get pizzas and bring in a bottle of soda or 2 and (hopefully) my students will bring in the rest of the snacks/goodies! :) I spent a little bit of time making them goodie bags and they will also take home their ornaments I bought them! Ashley and Britt are going to be joining us for the party to help pass out things and what not so that is pretty exciting! Right after school ends and the kids are gone we'll be leaving for DISNEY and Z gets home sometime on Saturday (but unfortunately decided to work that night - booo)! Woot, woot on not being alone anymore though!

Some of the mess around me! They will get candy, a pencil, an eraser, a fun straw...

I'm cheap! :)

The goodie bag and myself...

Happy ALMOST Friday to everyone!

-Ashley

Checked Baggage

Sunday night Z and I stayed at the Marriott in the airport in order for him to be able to sleep in as long as possible... and for me to not have to wake up at the crack of dawn and drive him to his 7am flight! Well, things were going quite smoothly at 6am when our alarms went off, but by 2pm it seemed like our whole world had turned upside down! ...

It seems as though it isn't a good idea to check valuables into your unlocked luggage on a trip. Who knew the scum that was hired as "security" at airports?! Zach had packed our new camera (and bag, extra lens, charger, ETC) and after only 8 days our days with our "bad boy", were over. Someone actually opened the bag and and took out the camera bag filled with everything! Ughhh!!! Karma is a bitch (pardon my French, but whatever!) and I hope that whoever decided to give themselves an early Christmas present gets what is coming to them. The airlines are no help, but it looks like insurance will be of help...

No one was hurt, we all have our health, and it can be replaced.. for a monetary price! We learned a lesson the hard way, but it still sucks! I hope someone who reads this will also learn something valuable and will change the way they travel! I know we will... I may never check a bag again!

On a happier note... 2 more days until a 2 week vacation! and I'm going to "Ladies Night" tonight at the Melting Pot with my friends! and DISNEY WORLD on Friday night for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas *with 3 other couples*! Ha! 7th wheel much?!

-Ashley

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad... Santa!?

Well, to be honest... I was afraid of Santa growing up, but not all Santas - just one in particular. The one who my mom put on top of the fireplace mantel every.single.year. and had crazy eyes. and awkwardly stared. I would be afraid to wake up before anyone else did during the Christmas season because he always seemed to be watching me and I just didn't like that he was so high up and kind of just ruled the house, I guess. Literally I'd run by the fireplace to make it to the kitchen to get breakfast if my parents weren't awake yet. I didn't tell anyone about this fear until a few years ago and my mom told me she would've taken it down if she had known that, but too late for that now!!

A few days ago Zach brought in a large bag and said he had gone Christmas shopping at a yard sale and found somethingt hat he thought I'd LOVE! ........ Yes, you guessed it, my mom has handed down that Santa and he's now living in my home. Thanks, mom! I haven't had any nightmares yet but it's still early! :)

Kahlua was a little uneasy at first...

Getting acquainted...

Lacey makes friends with everyone!

Kahlua prefers to eat them!

Is this not the scariest thing?!

Those dang eyes!

-Ashley

Oh Christmas Tree... *Number 2*

Since Zach and I have been married... we've never celebrated Christmas in the city we'd been living in at that time *thanks Army!*. BUT this year is Christmas with my family and since we're in Tampa and they're in Tampa we finally decided to get ourselves a tree! :) We only had a few strands of lights and a few ornaments, but I know it's one of those things that the collection will grow each year as you pick up random items you like!

Anyway, we headed to a local HS on a semi-chilly day to find the perfect tree! After walking around for just a few minutes we picked one and brought it home with us! It smells so yummy in here and although it likes to lean daily, I love having a tree! Now if only we had ANY presents under the tree we'd be in good shape. lol! Z and I won't have any under our tree... and we did a "Secret Santa" with his family so the presents aspect will surely be bare.. oh well!

Anyway... here's a bunch of tree pictures in a crazy order! (One thing I wish blogger made easier - just takes too long to upload and move around - I don't really have the patience!)

Slowly cutting the string...

Almost there...

Our first pic with our first treeee!

Zach helping out!

Bye, bye bottom!

The star!

Booze enjoys laying under! :)
Zach's ornament...

Another one of his *I let him get this ... in return I got the "JOY" one seen in another post.

After a longggg day at work... wish it was lit!

-Ashley

Oh Christmas Tree... *Number 1*

While Z and I were at Walmart a little over a week ago buying lights for our own tree.. we ran into the fake trees section and my mind started racing! How cool would it be to have a tree in the classroom!? Especially one pre-lit and ready to go after just placing the 3 sections together... I really wanted to multi-colored one, but inside all they had were white lights. The hubby came to the rescue and went outside to see their stock and voila! My classroom tree was in my buggy! We strolled outside again to continue our journey to find lights and I spotted ornaments. How can I have a classroom tree without some fun ornaments?! So... I thought about it again and saw a package of multi-colored ball ornaments that came qith 18 (I have 17 students and 1 me = 18!) PERFECT! I knew I'd write their name with a silver sharpie on it, decorate it after school, and watch them come in with wide eyes and looking for their very own ornament... and it's exactly what they did!

I loved watching them get excited and they loved knowing that they were apart of the tree! Zach also bought an ornament with a chalkboard on it that says "ABC" so I stuck that on the top and it really is just perfect! I haven't lit it yet because technically we're not allowed, but I think I might just have to during our holiday party on Friday! :)

The ornament Z found at Target...

I will have to blog about our first Christmas tree ever as a married couple shortly (ours is real!)! :) Two firsts for me this year!

-Ashley

The Bucs Game!

Zach and I went to the "Throw Back" Bucs game on Sunday night against the Atlanta Falcons. This is the 2nd year that they have done this game! Players wear the old (super ugly) cream sickle uniforms and the stadium is decorated with old school logos all around it! It was actually a lot of fun, even though we did lose! Seeing players in orange, and not red/pewter, was so strange! This was the first time we had charged up the camera to take some shots and Z got a few great action photos during the game! I love how clear the moving ball is in all the shots... Which reminds me! I took a few shots of running water yesterday just to see the clarity - and Z made fun of me and called me a loser! Oh well, I thought it was neat to play with the camera's shutter speeds and actually see the droplets of water and what not! So I'm a total dork.. give me a break! :)

These are a few *backwards, of course* of the shots he took! (The rest are on facebook LA if you want to see them!)

No idea if 15 caught the ball... or 25! I hope 15 though.. LOL

Some sort of pass... 1st Down!
Everyone in the stands got throw back hats... I HATE this pic, but love the hat!
Fire the canons!!

Every game jets fly over right after the national anthem.. if it's timed right!

Until next time!!

-Ashley

Merry Christmas to us... Early!

Yesterday Zach and I went Christmas shopping for ourselves and bought the "bad boy" mentioned below in the last post! The Nikon D3100 is officially ours! We bought a bundle at Best Buy and got a pretty good deal on the camera, an extra (much nicer) lens, a bag, and a fast SD memory card! We took it to the Bucs game last night and Z got some GREAT shots!! I can't wait to figure out how to use it... He actually wants to take classes with a friend of ours and learn some things!

I walked around the house earlier and got a few shots of some random things, on auto, of course! lol. The dogs will probably be blind by the end of the year with all of the flashes they are going to have to witness! hehe.

Anyway, I'm proud and excited of our purchase because I know it will last us a really long time and we will get a lot of use at it whether we are traveling, at a sporting event, or just hanging with family!

I love when the object is in focus, but the background it blurry...

Here was my attempt!

Creative? I don't think so... LOL

Finally got to hang this up!

She's smiling!!

Z got this beauty of Lace!




-Ashley

Christmas List

People have been starting to ask that famous December question: What do you want for Christmas?? ... Usually that is super hard for me because if I want something I really just go out and buy it, unless it's expensive, then I wouldn't ask for it because it is a lot of money! So. I started thinking about what I really want and I've narrowed it down to 7 different things...

This bad beauty right here. The Nikon D3100. Not pictured is the bag I will need for it, but I do want/need the lens too. Zach and I are thinking this will be a gift we get for eachother. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Okay, let me explain. In order to afford gift number 1 on my list we'd need a little bit of this, gift number 2. MONEY! Lol. For as long as I can remember my parents have been giving me money for Christmas so I can buy myself what I want. Impersonal? Yes. But does it make me happy? Very much so!
Uggs.
I've never owned a pair and I now live in Florida, but I love the brown ones. Size 7. No knock offs.
:)$$$$ to spend at Old Navy! I love their clothes... they fit great and it's not too expensive! I know, I know.. how impersonal! But my sizes are different everywhere so if I can shop for myself nothing has to get returned!
ANOTHER giftcard?! Mmmmmhmmmm! I can do some damage at Target.

Monogrammed letters for my car. I would like it in pink or blue. Font: Curlz.

This next item is something I've never had before, but I think it'd be fun to have one and experiment with different tastes on chicken and what not... A spice rack!! lol.

I thought about posting this last night, but didn't. I told myself I'd do it after work on Friday. Well, work is over and I posted it, but something happened to me today that really put things in perspective. I have a student whose mom was diagnosed with cancer last year. She has been through chemo and has had her ups and downs, but within the next day she will probably no longer be with us according to the doctor. The student is such a sweetheart.. he's one of my only boys that gives me a hug every day and always has a good attitude and smile on his face. He has a younger brother at the school and they were both picked up early by their dad today and were taken to the guidance counselor so she could talk to them. I didn't learn this until after school ended, but my heart breaks for him and his family. I can't imagine losing my mom - not now... and especially not at 9 years old! It literally brought me to tears knowing that he has to go through that and to make it even worse - around the holidays. It will be something he will have to go through every single year.

I really am sometimes selfish and greedy - I'll admit it, but this really opened my eyes to how blessed I am. I am surrounded by family and friends every year and sometimes we take the most important things in our lives forgranted. Like they will always be there... If I don't get one gift this year - as long as I'm with the ones I love the most - I'd really be okay. I have everything (and more) that I need...

I hope everyone has a great weekend. I have two Christmas parties tomorrow... looking forward to them both! :)

-Ashley