Total Badasses

So I have to say these photos were taken about a month ago but I still can't get over the rush! Jay and I went to the shooting range for the first time!!

I will totally admit I was scared shitless at first. Even when we got there and they were explaining what to do and what not to do, I had a ton of butterflies in my stomach. When we first walked in we were a little overwhelmed...there were a ton of people in the store. Like around 30 people. That completely surprised me thinking this many people had guns/wanted guns/shot guns. So we walked up to the counter and told them we were here for the shooting range. Our guy, I forget his name so I'll call him Bob, asked if we've ever been here before. Since we hadn't, we had to sign a waiver and give them all of our license information. I mean you are handling guns so this is no joking matter. It asked you questions about your background, if you have ever committed a crime, have you ever been submitted to a hospital for mental reasons, etc. After we finished filling out the paperwork, Bob started explaining to us what to do and how to handle the gun. One of the main things he told us, which now I always watch out for on TV shows, is never to put your finger on the trigger unless you are shooting. You are to rest your finger above the trigger on the side. He said that is a way you can tell if someone actually knows how to operate a gun. If their hand is automatically placed on the trigger, you're in trouble. They most likely don't know what they're doing and you could really get hurt. Another key note is to make sure both of your thumbs are on the same side; otherwise you could break your knuckles. Bob also told us how to load the bullets, where to look when you're shooting (obviously), and to always point the gun straight ahead. When you were finished shooting, you had to put the gun down and then walk away. We were never allowed to walk away with the gun still in our hand.

After we got our lesson, we put on our ear plugs, eye glasses, and "headphones" because it's soooo loud in there. You could hear the guns being shot from inside the store. We walked into the shooting area. One of the misconceptions you have from TV is that everyone gets their own lane. This is not the case. Jay and I shared a lane and would take turns. The same goes for everyone else. It is extremely loud in there and you could feel the vibrations every time a gun was shot. Sometimes when other guns would go off, I would jump even though I knew people were ready to shoot them. We did pretty good! Our gun jammed once and we got a little scared but Bob came out and helped us. He was really nice (I need to go back and find out his real name!). We had 4 "people" that we were shooting at. I was a much better shot than Jay :) Bob even said women are typically better than men. But it was a ton of fun and gave me a little confidence. God forbid I was ever in some kind of trouble, now I know I can handle myself.

With love and pearls,
Ashley

I do not fear death, rather I fear an unlived life

Ok yes this is my next tattoo but I wanted to raise the question of Bucket Lists.  I believe you are never too young to start one.  I just wrote mine and it will forever be a work in progress.  But I am pinning it up on my bulletin board and crossing out whenever I do something.  Also be true to yourself when writing it.  Write down things you truly want to accomplish, whatever is important to YOU.  And I say it like that because I wrote on mine Buy a home and crossed it off immediately because yes I will own a house one day but you know what, that is not a dream to me.  And thats ok with me.  I am not going to write something down just because I am SUPPOSED to own a home, I am only going to write down things that truly are important to me.  Write your Bucket List out and lets get to living a life worth living, whatever that means to you!

Future Thanksgivings

It's holiday time!

Now that Thanksgiving is tomorrow I have officially started imagining what life will be like next year when I have my own house and my husband to share our "first" Thanksgiving together. I can't wait to decorate and put pumpkins and turkeys on the table and hang fall wreaths on our door. My poor fiance already knows he's in trouble when it's time to decorate. At least he has already mastered "Yes dear" :)

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and here is a glimpse of what my house will most likely look like next year :)

Love this for outside!

These would look great on a coffee table

What my centerpiece would most likely look like.

The cutest place settings in the world

For the mantle

Now, let's hope I get that crafty when the time comes.



With love and pearls,
Ashley

Public Schools

Watched Waiting for Superman documentary last night and some facts I learned that I would just like to share...
The Teachers Association Union funds more candidates than the NRA.
There is this system of weeding out the smart and the dumb that was introduced in the 70s when most children were not going off to college...and it worked then because you find the smartest and help push them along because they were going to be your next doctors and lawyers and politicians...but today that system fails more than 50% of the children because in order to make a living today you must attend college and more than 50% of the children are not college ready by the time they graduate.
There are certain schools that the government knows more than half of the children will drop out or be sent to prison.
The average cost of an inmate for one year is $33,000 and if you times that by 4 that is still more than if you send a child to a private school for 12 years.
The charter schools came about because they are government funded but do not have to follow all government regulations that public schools must follow.
The Teachers Union has something in their contract that does not allow you to fire a teacher or take away their certificate even if you know they are a horrible teacher.  So instead of firing a teacher you must pass the teacher along to another school in something called the Lemon Dance.  So ALL these bad teachers are still teaching or should I say NOT teaching our children.  Now being a nurse I know that if I am incompetent my license can be taken away.  So why is it that we are entrusting our future into the hands of someone who is incapable of doing their job.
There is a charter school called KIPP that started in the Bronx, an area where most kids knew more people who overdosed than went on to college and this school came up with a curriculum where no child is left behind and they even increased the school hours and held school during weekends and summers in order to keep every child up to par and guess what...these kids now score BETTER on standardized tests than the rest of the other public schools in the nation...yes these same kids that were once expected to drop out and OD or go off to prison.
 The No Child Left Behind Act is coming up to its final years where 100% of the children are supposed to score average on the standardized tests and guess what..in all states it is still only at about 20%.
Americans are not qualified for the jobs in America especially the technology based ones and that is why we are hiring Non-Americans to fill those positions!!!
So people get involved in your child's education, PLEASE!!!

Happiness Project

So I picked up this book called The Happiness Project.  The insert read something like..."I am not particularly not happy but I'm not the happiest I could be.  I have a husband and child, am a writer and live in NYC but I feel as though I am not appreciating life as I should be...blah blah blah."  I said this is perfect a woman's journey to find happiness when she already has it, I must read this book and see what more she finds out.  Then as I started reading, I thought to myself, wait there are definitely a number of things I want to change in my life but when I think of them all it seems overwhelming and so you always put it on the back burner for a rainy day, yet the rainy day never seems to come.  And it clicked, this chick is simply taking something we all want to do, which is better ourselves and progress to some type of growth through out our daily lives and has simplified the shit out of it.  She has picked 12 things to change or alter or better about herself or something she wants to learn and dedicates a whole month to that one thing in hopes that it will carry on.  Research has shown that it takes 30 days to break or form a new habit and so this project seems completely doable and worth trying.  And at what better time then start of a new year. I have tried to narrow it down into 12 things...here is what I have so far and in no particular order of importance...
1.) Cook more

2.) Write

          Book

          Blog

 3.) Health

          Exercise

          Drink more water

          Decrease Alcohol

          Poop regularly

          Cleanse

 4.) Meet new people

 5.) Money

          Work more

           Work out Debt

           Launch Double Aces Event Planning

 6.) Learn French

 7.) Learn piano

 8.) Simplify life

          Connect with nature

          Hike more

          Walk more

          Camp

          De-clutter

 9.) Bond with my son Colin

 10.) Be a better girlfriend

          Be sexier

 11.) Become more cultured, worldly

          Better vocabulary

          Current events

          Volunteer

 12.) Learn Photography

So here I go...on my journey to a happier more balanced me.  

I Said Yes to the Dress!

I can't believe it...I'm officially getting married now! Now that I have my dress, it truly feels official. I would love to post a picture here for all of you to see but I think my fiance secretly reads our blog so I don't want to spoil the surprise! All I will say is that it is absolutely gorgeous, totally me, and made my mom sob like a baby.

My mom, Alicia, and I spent a Saturday dress shopping. I made 2 appointments with lunch in between so we could have time to discuss what we liked, what we didn't like, etc. I purposely picked Alicia and my mom to come with me as well because I know we all have different styles but all can agree on what looks good, what is flattering, and what makes my Kim K booty look even bigger. I knew I wanted to look like a princess, Alicia wanted me to show off my curves, and my mom just wanted me to try on different dresses.

The first store was great and they had tons of dresses from the designer I liked. Plus I found this one dress online and they had it at the store. The process was exactly how I thought it was going to be. You strip down to your bra and undies and the sales associate completely dresses you. It was tons of fun and I could definitely get used to someone dressing me everyday! I have to say I was a little disappointed when I left though. There were 3 beautiful dresses I was torn between at the end of my 1 hour appointment but none of them gave me the "this is it" moment. Even the dress I thought I would most certainly be buying didn't give me that feeling. I expected to cry or have my breath taken away but that didn't happen. At lunch I was a little down thinking I would never find a dress or that I would just never know which one I wanted.

I went to my second appointment not expecting anything. We picked dresses off the rack that were unlike any of the dresses I tried on earlier so I could make sure to try on every kind of style. I tried on about 10 dresses at the first store and picked about 12 dresses at this store. There was one that caught my eye that I really wanted to try on first. The details I could see peeking out of the bag looked beautiful. I tried it on and pretty much knew that was my dress. I didn't cry but when I saw myself in the mirror I could picture me walking down the aisle in that dress. I was super excited to show my mom and Alicia. I came out and big smiles came across their faces as well. Kim was helping me at this store and she had a really good point to tell us all to help keep us on track. She told us we will narrow everything down to top 3 dresses and at the end of the appointment, I can try those top 3 on again. Once I got my top 3 dresses she would ask if I wanted to replace the current dress with a dress in the top 3. It really helped us narrow things down and figure out how much we liked each dress. This was my first dress here but I knew it was instantly in my top 3. I agreed to continue trying on dresses because I didn't want to sell myself short and there may have been something better for me out there. I went through all 12 dresses and had my top 3. One my mom really liked, one Alicia really liked, and my dress. Unfortunately for my mom, her pick was the first one to go. It was just a little to basic for me. I was torn between my pick and Alicia's pick. Alicia's pick was a little bit tighter to show off my curves but still fairly comfortable to sit in. Both of our picks were elegant and classy but modern at the same time. Luckily for me, my pick won! It was the only dress all three of us agreed upon and had all of the characteristics that we originally wanted. It makes me look like a princess, shows off my waistline, and made my mom cry and be happy for me.

I cannot wait until September 14, 2013 now! I have been excited ever since Jay popped the question but now I can't wait to wear this dress and just feel absolutely beautiful. It will be the most magical day ever. Maybe I'll even show you guys a sneak peak once it gets a bit closer :)

With love and pearls,
Ashley

Laugh Out Loud

A very short post today ladies and gents but this is one to surely get you laughing out loud!

One of my girlfriends found this website and sent it out to about 4 of us. We all know which ones we are (I am definitely the "PIZZA IS LIFE!" one and the "When I Get Ready to Shakira" among many, many others). It puts a smile on your face and a good laugh when you have either done these, or can send them to your friends who have done them.

Sit back, relax, and laugh your ass off!

http://whatshouldbetchescallme.tumblr.com

With love and pearls,
Ashley