Poor Snooki's Baby

I cannot resist any longer! I have to comment about the Snooki being pregnant thing. I will admit, when Jersey Shore first came out I was fist-pumping with the best of them. But now, it's kinda creepy and The Situation is 200 years too old to be hanging out and partying like that. The worst part about this is Snooki's baby stands no chance in society. Nicole, as she now likes to be called, may be growing up and maturing, but the Jersey Shore will live on forever and her child will have to deal with her behavior for the rest of his/her life. We have all made mistakes. I have made plenty...we'll just call them my college years. But my life was not broadcasted on television for millions of people to watch me hook up with some fugly dude and then fall on my face as I was doing the walk of shame (that may or may not have happened). Snooki did all that and more and I'm sure her poor child will never be taken seriously or will have to prove themselves much more than the average person. All in all, I feel bad for this baby and I hope that Snooki and her baby daddy are doing this for the right reasons and not to try and change their images.

But as bad as I feel for the baby, I cannot help but pee myself anytime I read some of these...

With love and pearls,
Ashley

Practicing My Gang Signs

I saw this post today on The Luxury Spot (we totally love this site by the way and it actually inspired us to do this one) and I could not stop cracking up. There will be no long post to go along with this picture, just pure laughter. So sit back, relax, and practice away.

With love and pearls,
Ashley

Oscar Deliciousness

In honor of the Oscar's this weekend Food & Wine Magazine put out some Best Movie-Inspired Recipes. Click the link for all 13 of them and their recipes but here are a few snaps of my absolute favorites:

Oscar Nominee: The Help

Minny's Chocolate Pie

Side note: Have any of you seen or read The Help and know why this pie is so famous?

Oscar Nominee: Midnight In Paris

Hemingway Daiquiri

Oscar Nominee: Moneyball

Hot Dog Melts

Side Note: Only a few select of you know my obsession with "Texas Tommies". Those of you that do know, I will be making these every day until the day I die.






I hope all of your mouths are drooling as much as mine is! Are you doing anything special for the Oscar's?

With love and pearls,
Ashley

February Resolution - Teach Someone To Ski

Obviously I missed January's edition but I made it for February...I taught my boyfriend how to ski! My boyfriend has never been skiing before and my family skis quite often. In order to entice him, I made sure we went down with a whole bunch of friends so we could ski all day and party all night. I even made sure the house we rented had a hot tub so he could relax. It worked!

There were 16 of us who made the trip to the Poconos and it was fantastic. We were all on different ski levels so he did not feel intimidated. Some only learned how to ski the prior year so we tried to keep them all together. I encouraged him to take a lesson to learn the basics. We got there about an hour before the lesson started so I figured I would help him out with learning to put his skis on, falling and getting up, etc. Well he put those skis on and off he went! He is a natural athlete so he picked it up easily. When it was time for the lesson, he already made it down a trail so we decided to skip the lesson and keep on going. I felt like a proud mama watching my child walk for the first time. He really did so good, listened to what I had to say and took some hilarious falls along the way.

It was such a success I even got him to go down a black diamond on the 2nd day! Man we are good. Until next month's adventure...

With love and pearls,
Ashley

Restaurant Week

It's Restaurant Week in Philadelphia! Well actually it started last week and is still continuing this week but you catch my drift. Some people are overjoyed. Some people could care less. I, for one, love it.

The trick with Restaurant Week is knowing which restaurants to go to. You do not want to go to the big name, uber popular restaurants. I've been going to Restaurant Week for about 5 years and I've been to many, many restaurants and made many mistakes along the way. Anytime I've gone to the big name, tourist spots, I've been disappointed with my meal and understandably so. Your paying $35 for a three or four course dinner (which is a great deal) but to them, it may be the equivalent of one entree or an entree and a side salad. The owners aren't happy, the servers know they're not getting as big of a tip as they're used to so they're not as friendly and doting as you want them to be.

I typically stick to the BYOB's or the smaller, not as popular restaurants. This year I went to Salento and GiGi's. Both were seriously awesome and I'm sorry to say I forgot to take pictures of my food. Salento was a small, Italian BYO and was the perfect restaurant for girls night. Me and the man went to GiGi's and were treated to a very delicious 4 course meal. We were actually so stuffed we got our dessert to go!

So all in all, Restaurant Week is awesome and if you need any suggestions, don't hesitate to ask!

With love and pearls,
Ashley

I'm Sorry?

I'm sure I'm going to offend some people with the post but I seriously need to vent.

I am in charge of sending out emails for my work to our clients. I sent out an email the other day that had a picture included. It was a white family with grandparents, parents and children. I sent this picture out to show that my workplace is very family and friend oriented and did not even pay attention to their race. I received a phone call today that someone took offense to the picture because it wasn't diverse enough. Is that what society has come to, that I need to make sure each picture has someone from every race photographed in it before I send it out? How is it that a picture of a family laughing is offensive to people? Why do I have to walk (or type) on eggshells to make sure that I don't offend someone? I can't even tell a story without looking over my shoulder to make sure no one is close enough so that I may not offend them. If I sent out a picture of an entire African American family, would people feel the same way and be as upset? Am I even allowed to say African American or am I going to receive some hate mail now? I though we were supposed to be moving forward in society and it almost seems as if we're going backwards. We've gone from one extreme of excluding different races to the other extreme of making sure each race feels included. Are we ever really going to live as equals? Not if we treat each other like this.

With love and pearls (I'm sorry is that offensive too)
Ashley

The Sandlot Era

I am so happy my son's favorite movie is The Sandlot and not some hyped up, unrealistic, battle movie that most of today's kids are watching.  I wish we lived in the era of The Sandlot, when life was simplier, kids played outside, and there was little to no worry of your child getting raped and killed by people that should be shot and removed from the population ASAP.  This movie encompasses all the morals I try to teach my son in this hateful, money hungry, depressed world.  To have friends, play hard, stay loyal to those you love, laugh and make fun of yourself and others (in a cordial way).  I love the olden days and hope to embody and pass on to my son as much as I can from the fun-loving, gay impression I capture from stories and books and movies.  Long Live the good ol' days!
Peace Love and Happiness