Ashley and Daniel's Wedding Day!

The real reason we drove across the state was to celebrate the marriage of my "randomly chosen" roommate in my dorm at FSU.. who I ended up living with in an apartment the next year as well and her bf she started dating our first year in college! The wedding was beautiful! The ceremony was held in a church in downtown Fernandina Beach and her reception was at a resort/golf course area known as The Plantation. They had a live band... a nacho bar... and unlimited amounts of "Pirate Punch"... Dancing... a great sunset... and many happy memories! Congrats to them both - they are truly perfect for each other!

Z and I outside of the reception hall (covered in gnats!).

The porch area of the hall... Daniel, Ash, and Ash!

The hubby and I again! :) The girls!

I love Z in blue!!

We had a wonderful weekend together with our bffs! Many fun memories!

-Ashley

A+D Wedding Day

So on the day of Ashley and Daniel's wedding a lot of fun things happened before the wedding...

1. Z got his first (and def not last) pedicure!

2. We went to lunch at a beach side restaurant on their deck... perfect!

3. Jess and Kyle joined while Britt was doing "bridesmaid stuff"

4. Zach and I left the restaurant and went straight to Target to pick up a wedding gift. (Don't judge, we are ALWAYS last minute). We made it back to the hotel in time to change/shower, BUT something happened to where I had literally 15ish minutes to get completely ready. We walked into the hotel room and Jess is in her towel, hair wet, etc and starts off by saying "Don't get mad.. I've already called the front desk". Z and I looked at eachother and had no idea what she meant. Well, apparently while she was showering she needed to shave so she moved the showerhead over so it wouldn't wash away her cream and the WHOLE SHOWERHEAD CAME OUT OF THE WALL! She said she had shampoo in her hair and it was spewing out of the hole everrrry where!! A guy eventually came up to fix it, but said it would take awhile. I was freaking out because I was in no way going to a wedding as gross as I looked. Thankfully after 15 minutes of talking to the front desk they allowed us to use a booked room's shower (but the people hadn't checked in yet)... it was insane! I didn't feel I looked very nice, but whatever it was still a fun wedding... and that will be the next post!

-Ashley

Amelia Island Boat Day!

Friday morning Z and I got up early to get to the marina to take out a boat we were going to rent for the day! It was chilly when we first went out, but the weather ended up being perrrrfect! We stopped at a dockside restaurant to have lunch and picked up Kyle so he could spend a few hours out with us on the water. We heard about Cumberland Island, GA being a small island with wild horses so we docked there and through the woods we found them! It was so cool getting to see them eating and running around where ever! It was a great day out and about...

Kyle trying to be artistic!

Kyle searching for horses... sand spurs much?! OUCH! Trying to get the boat unstuck from the mud... Horses... crappy point and shoot! Captain Z and his firstmate Kyle!

I swear I was the one taking the pics... even though I didn't make it into any of them! :)

-Ashley

St. Patty's Day!

Yes, this post is titled St. Patrick's Day. Yes, it was almost a month ago... BUT it's here now so whatever! Anyway... we spent the 4 day weekend in Jacksonville/Amelia Island/Fernandina beach mainly for a wedding, but also celebrating my bffs 25th bday *which happens to be March 17*. We got to the hotel at about 6, got ready, and headed downtown for dinner and drinks. It was low key, but a lot of fun! We did Mexican and then visited the "oldest saloon" in Florida, the Palace! Pics below to start the weekend!

The bday girl and her bf Kyle!

She's easily embarrassed. Haha.

Z and I in our green!

Z and his bff! :)

Me, Britt, Jess! So much fun!

-Ashley!

The City Scramble!

Sorry for the lack of posting (to my 2 loyal readers - hehe) ... each day seems to go by quicker than the one before!! Work is crazy busy getting ready for testing in April and my weekends have surprisingly been jam packed with fun activities! Last Saturday I participated in an "Adventure Race" around downtown Tampa called The City Scramble! It was so much FUN! We (Britt and I) were given a piece of paper with 12 clues - 9 being places you had to take a picture at, and 3 involving different puzzles/challenges. You could start at anyone and check off the activities in any order, but the clues were actually pretty hard and it was necessary to have a phone-a-friend (or 10!) helping out! You couldn't use any other form of transportation than your feet and we up ended running around for about 5 miles and completed it in 2 hours and 08 mins! We placed 8/25 ... which we considered not too bad since we were mapless! Oops! :)

Afterwards Justin and Melissa picked us up and we went out for lunch... and one too many drinks! What a fun day! :) Pictures below are in a crazy order - I thank blogspot for that for making it so annoying to change the location of each!

I will definitely participate again next year... with a map! Go Team BASH! (Britt/Ash put together.. clever, I know!)

-Ashley

Couch Potato... to 5k!

Well, I FINISHED all 3.1 miles without dying so I would say that it was a success! It ended up being SUPER hot when the clouds went away... 84 or so! :) My goal was 45mins.. I finished in 43. I never said I was a running super star, but I did increase my time of almost 3 miles in 47 minutes when I first started... and that's all I really wanted to do! My 5X (or more!?) marathon running bff idol Heather was there for support and met me at the finish line all smiles! Zach chose to sleep in and not go to the "community jog", but I guess he is forgiven! ;) hehe. I actually had a lot of fun and would do one again in the future! I ended up running a lot more than walking which was another one of my goals... I hadn't "trained" in over a week due to our trip to Louisiana and such, but I'm happy with the way the morning went! Anyway.. here are so race day pics!

Heather and I before...

I was too fast to catch... haha!

Thirsty much!?

My first medal!

Shoutyyyyy: Congrats to Heather for finishing the half marathon in the Top 25 Females... and to my other bff Brittany for finishing her first 1/2 Marathon ever - and not stopping! WOW! Love you guys!

-Ashley

The Big Easy: Our Night OUT!

Last Thursday my brother Justin, his fiance Melissa, and myself made the long drive from Tampa to New Orleans to hit the town before my grandmother's funeral on Saturday. We missed Mardi Gras by one day, but I'm totally okay with that now! It was crazy enough on a non -holiday occasion! lol. Anyway, we stayed the night in a pretty fancy hotel and hit the bars by 6pm! It was quite the night filled with a lot of laughs and drinks! I love my brother and my soon to be sister (April 29!).

Our hotel one block from BOURBON street!

My favorite older brother and I with the famous Tropical Isle hand granades! :)A hurricane from Pat O'briens! A grenade from Tropical Isle! Wooo! lol.
After a couple of hand granades! ;)
Two hurricanes, Missy?! hehe.
We ended up being back at the hotel just after midnight and slept until about 10. We had hit the road at 6am on Thursday and after 9 hours in the car.. we were exhausted! Next blog will show pics from our day out in The Big Easy!

-Ashley

Wiggin' Out!

In early February two good friends of mine had a joint 25th birthday party! If you know my friends you know "themed" means FUN"ner"! We went out for dinner at a nice restaurant dressed up in.. WIGS! Yes, we got stares, but it was worth it! I decided to go blue while the bday girls went pink and green! It was so colorful and different and everyone loved it when we went out for drinks and told them why we were walking around with crazy hair! Zach chose to work through the event so he was unable to join us, but I had a blast out and about in Tampa!

The birthday girls and I!

Should I go blonde!? Hehe..

I went brunette too!

Days of Love!

Zach and I have celebrated VDay this year over a couple of days! It started Friday night at a lovely dinner at The Melting Pot! He surprised me with reservations after I got home from work and it did NOT disappoint! Mmm! :)

Take One!

Take 2!

Last night he came home with a bouquet of tulips! They are pink and so pretty! I decided to give him part of his gift as well so he got his card and his Skittles *since I forgot to get those for his stocking he can now forget that I did that....*

Thennnn today around 1pm my door opened and in walked an ESE teacher with another bouquet for me... but this time they were gorgeous roses!! 12 red, 6 white! I felt so special and all of my kids did the famous "ooooooh aaaaaah" and asked if they were from Mr. S. I told them I hope so, and they were right! :)

I got home from work and gave Z his other gift. We had been talking about blu-rays and I finally bit the bullet and bought him a player, 2 movies, buuuut no cord! Siiigh! Way to read the "sold separately" Ash! lol.. He seemed to enjoy it and was surprised anyway!Thursday of this week I leave early in the morning with my brother and his fiancee to go to my grandma's funeral in Louisiana. We are going to drive to New Orleans first and stop there for dinner/a day of shopping and touring until we pick up Z from the airport around 4... Then we are going to go to Baton Rouge for dinner with the family Fri night and the service on Saturday. I'm looking forward to family time, but not so much the reason for the time!

Hope everyone has a happy, love filled day!!

-Ashley