#3: move to a new city

my wonderful new teaching job brought me to the city of atlanta, i am looking forward to exploring this new town!

101 in 1001

a couple of months ago. my friend kristin told me to look up this thing floating around the blog world called 101 in 1001. the goal of this project is to make a list of 101 things you want to do in 1001 days. (which is about 2.75 years) each time you complete a task you put 10$ into a savings account so by the end of the list you'll have $1,000 saved up! i thought about if i wanted to do this for a while, it really gave me anxiety to know that by the time i finished i will be 24/25ish and in a whole different life time than i am in right now but i decided to just have fun with it and see what happens!

so here is my list...

1. graduate from the University of Alabama
2. find a job
3. move to a new city
4. find a church community
5. make new friends
6. go to food trucks in the park
7. go to a concert in the park
8. go a weekend without technology
9. stop what i'm doing and watch the sunset for a week
10. do 10 acts of kindness for strangers
11. save money
12. mail more snail mail
13. wake up early enough to have "slow mornings" during a work week
14. go to an alabama game as an alumni
15. watch a sunset and a sunrise in the same day
16. write down something positive when i wake up every day for a month
17. go to pure barre every day for one month
18. read 25 new books
19. run a 5k
20. get an updated address book
21. go to a drive in movie
22. have a picnic in the park
23. go to a pumpkin patch
23. start a new tradition
24. go fruit picking
25. do something creative for myself (not early childhood related)
26. try paddle boarding
27. travel to 5 new places
28. visit my family members
29. go to a psychic
30. color my hair
31. try new food
32. cook an entire cook book
33. find a signature meal
34. become a regular at a new restaurant
35. visit ichiban when i'm an alumni
36. clean out belongings
37. write a letter to myself to open on my 25th birthday
38. learn more about my family's history
39. make a recipe box with family recipes
40. do one "must do atlanta" thing once a month for my first year living there
41. meet my goal weight
42. learn how to sew
43. have a photo shoot 
44. no junk food for one month
45. get a pen pal
46. go hiking
47. play hooky to spend a day with myself
48. do something that scares me
49. whiten my teeth
50. improve my posture
51. join a book club
52. have brunch with friends
53. learn to make sushi
54. bake a new pie every week for a month
55. find a signature scent
56. learn new quick go to hair styles
57. invest in quality make up brushes
58. buy fresh flowers every week for a month
59. surprise someone
60. take a pottery class
61. refresh my french
62. travel to europe
63. go to the beach
64. learn sign language
65. go to a wine tasting at a vineyard
66. go to a karaoke night and sing
67. make friendship bracelets
68. tie dye something
69. make s'mores
70. give a toast
71. show someone around my new city
72. donate $100 (0/100)
73. buy a piece of furniture
74. go antique shopping
75. go on a mother/daughter trip
76. go on a father/daughter trip
77. have a girls weekend
78. attend a festival atlanta summer beer fest
79. learn calligraphy/improve handwriting
80. drink recommended water a day
81. treat my parents to a meal
82. wear yoga pants/nike shorts/tshirts only when working out (ha this might last maybe a week)
83. teach someone how to do something new
84. be a bridesmaid in a wedding
85. go camping
86. complete 5 pinterest crafts
87. complement 20 strangers
88. wear make up every day for a week
89. do my hair everyday for a week
90. watch jaws and Jurassic park
91. throw an award show party
92. host a shower
93. become an aunt (to not furry animals)
94. complete a 100+ piece puzzle
95. fly a kite
96. build a ginger bread house
97. leave a note in a book at the bookstore/library
98. read a classic novel
99. take a picture completing every task
100. put $10 in an account for every task completed
101. complete a list of 101 things

my TWENTY SECOND birthday

i feel so old... but luckily all my friends and family treated me well!

^^ i got home from class and park had decorated for my birthday... she told me last night we should probably take it down and i said no because every morning i walk out and it makes me happy!

san fran

san fran was jam packed with fun things, and a nap in the park one lazy afternoon!

^^the painted ladies/post card row/ the opening credits to full house/ alamo square

l.a. baby

mother and father treated me to the best senior trip a girl could ask for, and even better is that i got to go with my mom! we started my spring break in los angeles then drove up to san fransisco for the rest of it. i LOVED california and i even told my mom multiple times that i could see myself living out there. i wish i could upload every single picture i took on here but i will spare y'all :)

^^i grabbed a quick breakfast at tiffany's our first day in town

life lately: photo dump

i visited jimmy a few weeks ago and he took me on a ghost tour, literally the best ghost tour i have been on in my life and i've been on a few in my life time. if you are even in the roswell area and want to go on a ghost tour go on this one!

dollywood: where all your dreams come true

the weekend after christmas kristin came to visit us and we finally got to take her to dollywood. it definitely wasn't the best experience but it was still fun! we promised to take her back in the summer when she can get the real experience. the rest of the weekend was spent lounging in our matching pjs and cuddles with the muff

^^ this is the tennessee tornado with christmas lights on it, the park was so pretty all lit up! fun note: jimmy and kristin are in a car of the roller coaster in this picture!

^^ our first stop at the park is always reds for lunch, they have yummy-tastic milkshakes and now have veggie burgers!! they are even the ones from morning star that i eat all the time, i was so happy!

^^ i beat a child for that reindeer and i don't at all feel bad for not giving it to him

^^ the game of life knows me and my life all too well

tale of the hushpuppies

i got attacked. i got a attacked by birds at a restaurant we frequent often in FWB while strangers laughed and video taped me. i got attacked by birds who stole and ate my hush puppies, stepped in my coleslaw, and then followed me around and touched me.

i will never not be scared of this experience. let me set the scene for you and share with you this disgusting story.

it was a lovely day, beautiful weather, i had just finished my semester and mother and i were having a wonderful lunch with her old high school pal. unfortunately, said friend's father had just passed away so we had just finished putting the final touches on her father's funeral plans and were trying to have a nice lunch on the beach to relax. the birds did not get the memo. 

we have been going to this restaurant for as long as i can remember. the food has gotten worse and the prices have gotten higher and yet we still go all the time. i was minding my own business, counting down the bites i had left of my salad until i could eat the best and final part of my meal - the hush puppies; all of a sudden i feel a soft brush touch my cheek, it all happened so quickly, i had no time to think or react. there were dozens, it felt like hundreds of birds attacking me and my meal. i duck and run across the porch, look up and see a grown man with his iPhone LAUGHING and RECORDING the experience. i look back at the table in time to see mother and her friend running from the table and to see the final bird, pick my giant hush puppy up in its tiny little beak and fly away. i could've cried.

our waitress returned from inside, "that's so weird, i've never seen that happen before" she said. "cool. BRING ME SOME MORE HUSH PUPPIES"

the rest of the meal i sat indian style in my seat, spraying any bird that came within 10 feet of me with some squirt bottle the waitress handed me. those birds would not let up. eventually we left and i almost wanted to burn my clothes but rest assured, i washed them and myself immediately.

the rest of the relaxing break in florida was just that- relaxing. this is a photo of mother and i at another one of her high school friend's condo. this picture doesn't do this view justice.

back at it

i got back to tuscaloosa today for my last semester of classes before my internship. i may have procrastinated a little bit when it came to my departure but mother and father finally pushed me out the door. i got back and unloaded my car just to hop right back in it to go pick eloise up... that little stinker came running to greet me when i got to her house and then yakked in my car 10 minutes into the ride. she obviously missed me and didn't know another way to show it besides throw up. thanks eloise, missed ya too. tuscaloosa has some of the prettiest sunsets i've seen in my life, i miss them so much when i go out of town. i wish this picture didn't have the power lines, but can we just take a minute to look at the cute little squirrel running across it, you go buddy!

i haven't unpacked, besides getting my backpack ready for my day of classes tomorrow and reading all my mail, which eloise helped me with. i've determined that the mail lady steals my cosmo magazines because every now and then one never arrives... very questionable.

wish me luck on my last first day of classes, probably ever.

p.s. tomorrow (january 8th) is my 1 year anniversary of being a "vegetarian" yay

*tap tap* is this thing on?

hey.

i can't believe it's been a WHOLE year since i last blogged... not funny? i laughed.

anyways... happy new year!! i hope everyone had a great holiday with their loved ones and a safe new year so far! this is this first time i have taken my computer out since i got home from school three weeks ago, so to say i have had a relaxing break would be an understatement.

my top 5 highlights from break would be:

1. spending time with family and muff. obviously

2. getting a KITCHENAID MIXER FOR CHRISTMAS. OMG i am in love

3. getting my eyebrows waxed - long story short, the girl in tuscaloosa messed them up but i grew them out all.break.long. and today a lovely girl fixed them, the whole ride home i kept telling mother, "praise the lord for ashley, she needs to come live with me"

4. getting breakfast in bed multiple times thanks to mother

5.  not having to think about school once or thinking about the fact that i have to make a huge, important life decision within the next couple of months

to close this post, i will leave you with a picture from our christmas

a house divided

so that whole blogtober thing lasted a whole... day... oops. i decided i didn't really like any of their prompts so i just didn't do it and then you know, that whole life thing happened and all of a sudden it was november. how did that happen?? this whole time change thing has got me like 

am i right? but moving on to more important things, let me catch you up on my life. first things first 4 weeks until i am done with classes for the semester. and only 7 saturdays till christmas. now that we have that out of the way...

a couple weeks ago my family met up in knoxville for the ut/bama game, obviously the pros won but the vols did play a good game. i even said at the end of the game how fast it went by because i actually paid attention since it was interesting (besides the first quarter).

sorry for the picture overload, i am too lazy right now to combine and down size but the most important thing is that we got our christmas card photo and i ordered them for mother this past weekend.

roll tide and see y'all here real soon!

road to 16

happy wednesday!

hopefully this week will fly by since we had monday off and in only 2 wake ups it will be friday! my parents are coming this weekend for family weekend and my mom said she is planning on cooking for me on saturday so that will be yummy!

this past weekend i went to atlanta to kick off football season with my brother and a few of our friends. it was a great weekend and so fun to get to see everyone! we went bowling friday night at the painted pin and i came in third! then saturday we watched to tide beat the mountaineers with a 33-23 win!

and i want to wish my little muffin a very happy birthday who turned 13 this week!!

it's a party in the usa

so i went to the miley concert about two weeks ago and it was one of the best concerts i've been to in my life, the other best concert being last time i saw miley on tour. i took my favorite kristin with me and we went for "round 2" birthday celebration. i call this "round 2" because these tickets were a 21st birthday present from my wonderful parents and we were supposed to go in april, however, we were the first of her many cancelled tour dates so it was a kinda really bad plane ride back to tuscaloosa but besides that part, the rest of that weekend was fun!

but back to this visit, it was for sure worth the wait! she even fessed up and admitted that she wasn't sick when she cancelled on us last time and i think that it was just mature of her in general to admit she messed up. her opening act was lily allen, kristin and i listened to some of her songs the night before the concert and we didn't really care for her - but after that night i am obsessed. she was so cute and performed so well live, like she sounds better live than on her tracks.

miley, of course, is one of the best performers i know, people question why i like her and all i say to them is that yeah she's a little crazy and a wack job but you can't say she's not a good performer, she really knows how to entertain; and entertain she did that night. so enough with the blabbing... here's some pictures from one of the bests nights of my life.

thanks mom and dad!!

and shout out to kristin for making me try salmon for the first time!

my little friends

a few snip its from our visit to the georgia aquarium. it was a great day that was filled with lots of funny moments and a few gross moments (i was forced to touch anemones) but it was worth it in the end with a wonderfully choreographed dolphin show to end the night!