People are reading this?

So I understand it's been a good little bit of time since my last entry but I've been super mega busy people...AND normally I wouldn't have cared or it wouldn't bother me that I hadn't actually written on this thing in awhile but I was let in on a little secret not too long ago....someone actually reads my blog, and they like it, and they want more. How do I react to that? I guess I write — I find time to write and I keep it saucy just like your used to.


(random chocolate craving paired with a cold glass of water = happiness)

Today I'm trying to find things to keep my mind busy because I never actually went to sleep last night and I am indeed at work right now (have been all day) and it's a rather slow day and the coffee I got like one hour ago was finished in a few slurps and well I'm having people over tonight so I can't really go home and take a nap like I so desperately want to and it's great that it's not raining or else I'd be in more trouble than I already am. Yep. This is what happens when your mind stays full, you want to do it all, you have too many projects going on and your side biz unexpectedly took off faster than a speeding bullet. Point of the story, my lips are chapped, I'm glad I bought Visine the other day with the last of my flex dollars, I'm not 20 anymore folks, recovery time is a bitch and I'm really really really glad someone is reading this. ;)

my eyes are closed.

That's what I do several times a day when I start thinking about certain things. Some people can day dream with their eyes open but mine are closed, they need to be in order for me to feel fully devoted to my thoughts and to be able to hold on to them for as long as possible. I've always been somewhat of a hopeless romantic and it seems lately that most of my day dreams are visions of me and you. Little pieces of life and the happiness we share...Never too detailed...probably because we do not share that many memories yet or maybe it's because simplicity is what is sought after. In my day dreams though you always make me smile, that's really all I can say.

You Were Meant for Me" performed by Jewel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGj77BrEgj4

i scene it

I love taking random photos as much as the next person, here are a few bar scene pictures, see if you can tell what's been going on by simply observing the scene.

All Cops are NOT created equal

Every girl dreams of finding the “one” but nobody really knows how it’s going to happen. Well guess what it's your lucky day! Ya know what I'm gonna do for you? I'm gonna tell you how it’s NOT going to happen, well for me at least but hopefully I'm not alone here, some of these are pretty ridunkulous. By the way, not all of these are speaking from experience, actually let me take that back, most of them are - but not all.

OH and if you’re a guy reading this please, please, please take this shit to the bank, it will only do you good.

Now if you don't mind I'll begin.

ahem.

You will not find yourself being the “one” or even remotely close to being the “one” if……

1)you aks me fo’ my numba

2)you do certain things in public on a regular basis that should be reserved for private – like scratching or picking something

3)you can’t handle the fact that I am a strong independent woman who doesn’t NEED someone in my life rather I WOULD LIKE someone to share life with.

4)you order a drink for yourself and not me, even though I’m standing beside of you and you know what I want to drink

5)you think that just because I got my own house and my own car – you are entitled to live with your mother until you move in with me

6)you call me everyday and want to hang out with me all the time but you just want to be friends for now

7)you completely bomb meeting the parents (I’m not talking just fudging up a sentence or completely blanking when they ask you of your intentions with me, I’m talking like getting completely blitzed and cussing out my little brother type of bomb)

8)you constantly change your mind about everything. I mean Jesus! There should be some things in your life you can hold on to for more than a day.

9)you bail out on me more than once, more than twice, more than three times for something that means a whole bunch to me.

10)you think out loud waaaaay tooooo much – yep, you know where I’m going with this one

11)you hit on any of my friends in a creepy way – friends, you know what I’m talking about, there’s playing around and then there is taking it a little too far and if you can’t tell the difference well that’s just too damn bad…next.

12)(due to recent events) you leave me at a bar in a city I’m unfamiliar with and you’re my ride

OH NO! I almost forgot. For anyone reading that doesn't know the story it wouldn't hurt to have a little background info. So I recently became friends with a cop. We started hanging out a bunch, then something, I still don't know what - changed. All of the even numbered no no’s starting with #4 (#’s 4,6,8,10 & 12 - for those on the slow boat today) are some of the reasons 'All Cops are NOT created equal'. I'll let you formulate the missing parts. It's not rocket science.

Man, I needed that. Thanks for letting me vent here.

I do! Butterflies and all.

Originally I had a side-kick who was coming along for the wedding weekend bliss but since that didn’t work out so well, I was left with two choices - Go by myself or not go at all - well actually I didn’t have a choice and I’m damn glad - Never would I ever have imagined my responsibility in my friend Kelly’s wedding to be – are you ready for this? – The Butterfly Handler. Yep that’s right; of all people she could have picked I was the one she chose to be responsible for these precious little four-winged creatures. I was honored in a way but I also felt slightly hesitant in the beginning to take on such a unfamiliar assignment because I had so many questions and the bride-to-be was so busy with all the wedding planning it was hard to get butterfly details from her (I think part of it was that Kelly didn’t really know much about the little beings either) BUT as you all should gather, I, being the newly carefree broad that I am was ready for the challenge and so I awaited the details, which never really came and so onward I went. With little to go on, and being the only one ready, willing and able to take care of the butterflies I headed to the farm (which by the way I was slightly skeptical even about where this place was considering when I MapQuested it there was no “exact” match) but in any case unknowingly I set out.

After pulling into the wrong driveway I was quickly redirected by the guy at the storage place to take an immediate right out of his driveway onto the dirt road. I can see how I missed it, the dirt road was fully lined with tall magnificent Leyland Cyprus and there was a small white sign that said “farm” with a red arrow on it – yep that’s it, and you wonder there was no match on MapQuest?


As I’m driving along the approximate 2 mile stretch of dirt road and dirt dips at oooh about 5 miles an hour in my 2-door sports coupe I couldn’t help but wonder what I was about to pull up to and what my duties would entail once I had the butterflies in hand. While the road was pretty rugged the view was beautiful and the weather was healing up nicely after a short hard rain and I was starting to get excited about this butterfly handling gig. So I pull into a large field that reads “Parking here” and I park and at this point I’m starting to gather that details and butterflies obviously don’t go together. So I stood in the field for a little bit then headed towards what looked like a greenhouse, took some pictures, waited for someone to appear, walked a little further over a wooden plank to a nice-sized house (didn’t look like a butterfly pick-up spot to me) and well, I knocked on the door. Much to my dismay I was at the right place indeed and was greeted by a young woman whom without even questioning who I was or what I was there for she proceeded to give me butterfly handling directions. The butterflies were packed in a cooler on ice, could stay there for 48 hours and were to be taken out and hour and fifteen minutes before the wedding to sit at room temperature and wake up, as she put it. Then they would be let off, the Monarchs individually and the Painted Lady’s as a mass. So she handed me the tightly sealed cooler along with an instruction sheet and sent me on my way. So as things became clearer to me...or not really any clearer at all...I sloshed back across the field and over to my car.


I set off for Asheville and I made sure I guarded the butterflies with my life; after all they were a pretty important part of the wedding. I kept them in a cool dark place over night and just like the lady instructed and hour before the wedding I took all of the butterflies out of the cooler and set them out at room temperature. Two nieces of the groom were to help let off the butterflies and I managed to snag them beforehand to let them see the butterflies and hold the little packages in their tiny hands. I told the little girls – Staley Rose & Isabelle, the little bit I knew about the butterflies and I wanted to make sure they were comfortable with what they were doing and continued by letting them know if they opened up one of the envelopes and the butterfly did not fly off, not to worry, it wasn’t ready to fly just yet, but that eventually it would…and the girls looked at me with depth and took my words. I even managed to get a basket to place the butterflies in then took the butterflies and placed them by the small table and awning where the “I do’s” would take place. Who knew there was so much that goes into this???

The mountain top wedding was absolutely beautiful. We sat there in awe overtop the landscape that Asheville offers in the springtime after an afternoon rain while Kelly & Scott exchanged vows. The butterflies were amazing and went off without a hitch.


The day after the wedding we all gathered at neighbors of the bride & groom to watch a slideshow/video of the wedding and drink margaritas. While watching the video Kelly noticed that after the wedding was over and the camera was still rolling that I went over to the table, gathered up the butterfly garb and made sure the remaining few butterflies who hadn’t yet taken off did. She looked over at me slightly teary eyed and said “Wow Ashley, when I asked you to be the butterfly handler you really took that to heart, you handled those things from the very beginning to the very end, thank you.” – And those words made the experience worth every bit.

It’s nice to be noticed. I’ve always tried to be the type of person that if I say I’m going to do something, I do it and when I do it I try my hardest to do my best at it.Even though the details were lacking I think it made the experience all the better. I took something that was just a task and turned it into something that ended up meaning a lot to me and hopefully meaning the same to many others.

Every bit of this wedding was truly sensational, but in the end it was the butterflies that carried me along. They made me realize I am a good person and not because of what I do or how I do it but just because with each day I live I strive to be a better person and that's all that really matters.


So thank you Kelly for letting me be a part of your dream come true and thank you butterflies for just being you.

Ok, so...I went into a Relapse

So…this thing we call life definitely has ways of carrying us where we need to be or are "supposed" to be. In the infinite days since I last wrote I was working on regaining myself after a break-up, exploring new things, meeting new people, etc. etc. etc. - well mind you the absence from the blog, I've been having a hell of a time out here! - with this said, for a mere 3 1/2 or so months I've put blogging on the back burner in hopes of finding something else to keep my mind off the silly little things.

And that’s just what happened.

So…just what have I been up to since Monday, November 3rd 2008?
Well everyone knows how much “fun” my list are so for all of you peeps out there following my blog, which to this day amounts to a big fat “zero” – (don’t worry I don't blame you, I know I'm not a dependable blogger) – but I assure you I will let you know what I’ve been up to in my next blog.

I just wanted to write today to let you know I’m still alive and kicking. K?

oh yeah... this will be random

Seeing how life is totally unpredictable my blog entries will follow suit. I am a neat freak and OCD about too many things in my life for this blog to also be calculable, after all this is supposed to be helping me out, right?

If perhaps you might wonder what I'm OCD about, below is a partial list:

1) My sock drawer. I organize it when I'm bored.

2) Crumbs. As long as I don't see them I'm fine.

3) There is a place/spot for everything. I know where it is, where it should be and why it's there. You may not, so don't move anything. Umm, in the instance something is moved I have and uncontrollable, immediate reaction to put it back where it belongs.

4) Why do people 'loud eat'? If you seriously have to make that much noise to get your food up on your utensil, there is either

A. not enough food to do so
or
B. not enough food to do so anymore.

This is the time most people 'non-loud eaters' get a refill or call it quits.

5) Drivers that stop when they're supposed to be accelerating onto the highway by use of this thing we call the ON RAMP. There is just no reason, or no reason I have found yet to STOP. It causes tremendous grief for all other drivers including yourself, so why do it? It's called MERGE, look it up on wikipedia if you have to.

Okay, I already see possibilities that my partial list could turn into my full list 'cause I'm on a roll and getting riled up at the current moment.
OH! and I'm kinda OCD about finishing things that I've started.
So you see this might be a good thing for me.
So I'm stopping now.
Don't be sad, there will surely be plenty of time for me to express the remaining, exhaustive list of inclinations I have.