I Found My Car!

I cleaned my car today, and ohhhh how I wish I had a before and after picture. In fact, I'm going to find a similar before and after picture on the interweb.

Before

After

I don't think my car has EVER been as messy as it just was. I feel very accomplished for cleaning it, so I thought I would share my experience with the world :D


Anyway, can you guys believe that Christmas is in 3 days?! I'm oh so excited. We weren't planning on having any presents this year, but my wonderful aunt got my family and me lots and lots of presents from her trips. She has recently traveled to New York and Amsterdam and got us some things from both locations. I can't even express my gratitude. She is such a kind person! She reminds me of the true meaning of Christmas. :]
Anyway, I have spent a lot of time watching Christmas movies and drinking hot coco, as everyone should this time of year. My favorites are The Polar Express and Elf :] I can't really say that "lately" I have been watching them because honestly, I watch them year round. Especially Elf:] They are such warming, comforting, classics. They are the kind of movies that make you feel fantastic inside :] So, you guys should tell me your favorite Christmas movies in a comment. If I haven't seen them, I will definitely rent them and if I have seen them, we can start a conversation about it. Sound good? Good. :]

Thanks for reading,
Ashley.

Merry Christmas

Hey everyone :] I just wanted to take a minute and tell everyone Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I love all of you so much and want to thank you for being in my life and always supporting me. I wouldn't be here without every single one of you, and you all should know that. You all play such a huge role in my life. I'm so grateful that I'll be able to spend the holidays with family and friends. (Jordie!) The Christmas season would not be the same without all of you.



For those of you who are interested, here's a peek at my life.
School is going awesome. I have good grades, good classes, and best of all, I have good friends. I have never actually genuinely liked school until this year. I almost look forward to going each day. I love PG and I'm proud to say "I'm a Viking." :]
Dance is going AMAZING. I love it so much. We just had a recital, and although we completely messed up the first dance, we did awesome on the second one. However, I messed up.. But everyone said they didn't even notice so that makes me feel better. Unfortunately, I don't have the link to the video, but if you go to my facebook you will be able to see it there under "my videos." So go take a look and give me some feedback! I'm looking for more of a challenge so I might find a class that is more advanced, but I don't want to do that if I look like I can't do the dance level I'm doing know. So please, be honest with me! :]



Jordan - Can you believe we will be seeing each other in 6 days? I sure can't. I am SO excited though! It has been way too long girl. We are going to have such a blast! I literally don't think I can wait any longer :o What am I going to do!? It's even worse that you aren't getting any of my texts. Which is super lame because I text you ten times every day. Maybe even more lol. Yeah, probably more :p Anyway, drive safe when you come up here. The roads will probably be pretty bad. I will pray for you lots! Love you best friend :]


Garett - Hey punk, text me. I love your guts. I will text you back, I promise :] Merry Christmas :] I hope you had a wonderful 2010 and have an even better 2011.


Brent - I dunno if you still read this, but if you do, than Merry Christmas. Thank you for everything. And by the way, you owe me for not coming to my recital and not taking me to temple square :p Just sayin :p Nahh kidding. You don't have to do anything except come to the next recital and have a fantastic Christmas. Don't get me a present, I don't deserve one. Good luck on your new independent life.

Ohh Life.

A Time to be Thankful

Thanksgiving just passed so I thought I would take the time to make a list of all the things I am thankful to have.

• Family
• Friends
• Life
• A home
• Food to eat
• Clothes to wear
• Material possessions
  
• Water
• Music
• A smile

There is soooo much more but those are just the basic things. I wouldn't be here without my friends and family. They mean so much to me and I sure hope they know that. I am thankful to be alive. I love my life so much, and I thank God for it every day. There are some people who left this earth too soon, and I am grateful to wake up every day. So many people around the world have nothing to eat and go hungry. I am grateful that I have enough to eat until I am satisfied. I am grateful to have a roof over my head, for many people spend the night in the cold snow. I have a warm bed and a safe place to stay. That means a lot to me. Music is my escape, and many people do not have the music or the possessions required to be able to listen to music. Not only do I have things that allow me to listen to music, I have materials that help me create it. I am grateful for my smile. It cheers me up to smile and I hope it cheers others up as well. I am so, so, so blessed. Thank you to everyone in my life, and especially God. Without His help, I would not be here today, and I would not recognize all the things I am blessed with.

Also, I am grateful for this song :p

I'm a Puzzle.

Lately I think of my life as a puzzle. A few weeks ago, I was missing many of the pieces to my puzzle and I could not get the pieces I did have to fit together. I became so frustrated with my puzzle that I tried to throw it away. My family noticed this, and they offered me help. Slowly, we found all the pieces and put my puzzle back together again. It took a lot of patience, faith, and hard work but we got it done. This gave me the opportunity to start a new puzzle. Now, instead of getting frustrated, I use my resources-friends, family, and God to help me. I use skills I have learned to look at all the pieces, separate the ones I can use now and the ones and I can't, and I use them to my advantage. I want to finish the puzzles I start. I want my life to be filled with hundreds of puzzles that when put all together, display a beautiful picture. One that will portray a feeling of happiness and success. I love my puzzle even though sometimes I can't find all the pieces. I don't want to give up. I want to be able to say proudly, that I finished my puzzle.

-Today is a good day because I choose it to be one.

Just Leave The Pieces When You Go

OH MY GOSH. What an emotional couple of months.


For those of you who knew about my school situation, I am officially caught up. So Jordan, come and see me. Garrett, you can text me :p I promise I will text back. Erika, we can play more. Lindsay.... Well Lindsay forgets about me sometimes I think. So I will just skip that one :p


I am really falling in love with guitar. Lately I feel like it is the only way to describe myself and express my feelings. As lame and cliche as that sounds, it is completely true. When I play, I lose myself. All my problems and stresses disappear for a bit. And it's amazing to me how many beautiful sounds can be created by just 6 strings. I really love piano but I could never really get attached to it. When I started to play guitar, I immediately fell in love. It's almost all I can think about. I feel like I am getting better too which makes me want to practice even more. The most exciting part of all of this, is that I got asked to do a show! I didn't do it, but it did inspire me to get to the point where I am comfortable enough to do a show. I took my first step towards that today and played for my class. To my surprise, I got 100 out 100 on my song. Seeing my score made me feel SO happy.


Speaking of love, I am overwhelmed with it. For some many people and so many things. I'm almost falling apart. I feel like I am getting a grip on life though. Wish me luck on... life? Please and thank you. I love you all!

P.S. Sorry (especially to you Garrett) for not writing for a million years.

Just For Garett

HEY GARETT!

I'm wasting time, just for you.
Because you love me and my blog so much :p
Just kidddinnn

You're great kid (:
Anddddd I love yerrr guts.
You are like number +7875
on my best friend list
The + sign is like a negative
but obviously way better.


Back to homework [:
Don't be a stranger,
and I'll do my best to text you back xP