Disconnect

I have a goal this weekend....to disconnect.

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We don't have serious plans this weekend, so I'm going to take some time to go out, take photos [which I haven't done in ages], go for a run [which I also haven't done in ages--are you seeing a pattern here?], and enjoy a meal without taking photos of it! Hahah It's all about the little things, and I haven't be paying attention to the little things lately.

 Hope you all have a great weekend! See ya next week :)

Blessed Habits

Wanna hear something funny? 

Not in a ha-ha way, but in the "Oh, what a coincidence" kinda way.

 If you follow me on Twitter, you might have caught my
wedding budget tweets yesterday...

Well, right after I tweeted about being blessed, I actually felt the part for a bit. I was in my car driving home and enjoying Tom Petty on the radio.

Naturally, I rolled my windows down. In case you don't know, when this [Tom Petty + windows down] happens it causes your happiness levels to peak.

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That's exactly what happened....I was feeling beyond blessed and thinking of several other ways that I had been blessed that I hadn't tweeted about.

After I enjoyed a few minutes of Tom Petty induced cloud nine time, I realized that I was traveling on the interstate in the sweltering heat. It took about 1 of those minutes for my arm to sunburn and I had about 200 new freckles...so I rolled the windows up and cranked the AC up. 
Well, I tried to anyways...it didn't work. It was spitting hot air into my face, onto my feet, and all through the car. The AC was not working. I think it was in that moment that I quickly remembered the blessings I had been counting just minutes before.  Then I laughed. I couldn't help it. Though I knew that this problem would be expensive to fix, and that I would have to drive 30+ minutes both ways for work the rest of the week with this kind of weather...

I laughed anyways.

It will all be ok. Even if it means I'll be hot for a few days, I know that's a small problem compared to the ones other people have...I can handle it. I guess that's what Bob meant when he said "Don't worry, be happy"? Either way, I enjoyed the positive outlook I had for those 15 minutes. ------------Happy Thursday ladies--try out feeling blessed today, it might turn into a habit!

Summertime [from around the blogiverse]

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 Here are some fun summer themed posts from around the blogiverse. Enjoy! -------------Crabby Cupcakes, anyone? Navy summer must-haves. What's a summer without at least one great baseball tee? Blueberry, Banana Cream, and Peach. Sweet additions to an everyday BBQ. DIY your own pickles! [The boy has done this before--delicious!] Summertime was MADE for wearing mint. AmIright or AmIright? Don't forget about making yummy [cool] treats for your pups :) Sunscreen tips. Take them. Summer isn't summer without white, now is it? I'd love any of these summer wishlist pieces! A fun summer happiness list. Anchor shorts? Hello, gorgeous! Who doesn't like a good summer playlist? Super cute denim cutoff DIY. Watermelon keg? Well, duh! A summer recipe for those who don't do BBQs. [Though I'm convinced they don't exist ;)] Helpful makeup and hair tips for surviving a summer in the South. Don't like veggies when it's warm? Try one of these 20 yummy recipes. Did you enjoy camp as a kid? A fun summer DIY project.

Sweet 10K

I just wanted to take a moment to celebrate my blog's 10,000th page view! Yup, a number that high deserves a little attention, no?

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In addition to reaching 10,000 pages views, I've also surpassed my 1 year blogging anniversary [read my 1st ever The Sweet Life blog post here]!

I've blogged for over a year, published 198 posts, met some precious bloggers, made a ton of friends, had a big girl redesign, and surpassed 170 followers!

Thanks to everyone that follows along and pays attention to this blog. It means the world to me to have each of you around day in and day out

[or post in and post out?--either way, y'all make me happy]!

Thrifty Tuesday [Short & Sweet]

Happy Tuesday lovely ladies!

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 For the sake of not counting down the days 'til the weekend, I'll just say that today is going to be an awesome Tuesday. It doesn't sound as good as saying we're almost half way to the weekend though, does it? Hahah Well, I'm going to try to enjoy today and not get too excited about the weekend just yet.

This week's Thrifty Tuesday post is all about cute shorts. I wear dresses a ton during the summer, but sometimes you just need to wear shorts! I know that I wear the heck out of my 3 favorite pairs--I dress them up as well as down. All of these beauties are well under $50, with most under $30!

1//2//3//4//5//6

I'm loving the cuffed look right now, and I can always go for a new pair of tie shorts, as they are usually pretty comfy. What's your favorite short style?

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I'm linking up over at Whispering Sweet Nothings today.
Go link up and have some fun!

We moved to the desert?

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It's Mooooonday....what's on your plate this week? Is it going to be a busy one for you? It's going to [hopefully] be a perfectly paced one for me. My three, yes three, bosses are out of town this week for a huge trade show, so I'm planning on getting lots done and doing it quietly. We'll see how that pans out!
I don't know about you, but having a fun weekend always helps me get through the beginning of the week a little easier. There's just something about carrying over the happy feeling and being able to look back on the recent memories that keep a smile on my face [for at least a few days!].

This past weekend we did a little traveling to see my cousin, aka soon-to-be-baby-momma! We did a lot of driving, and boy were we worn out when we got back, but it was worth it to see my family :)

Momma Heaven

Aunt Barb, Heaven, and I.

Bard, Heaven, Me, and Uncle Bill.
Fun Fact: Barb and Bill are twins!

The boy and I...terrible picture of me, but you get the point :)

After we got back to town on Saturday we
visited with the boy's sister and niece/nephew before they left town.

Aren't they cute?

I hate that this is going to make me sound old, but I skipped out on going out plans Saturday [bowling even] so I could catch up on tv and rest at home. It was sooooo nice!

Sunday was an extension of Saturday night. We slept in a little, had a slow morning around the house [including pancakes], and just hung out. Once it hit noon we headed to the pool. It was a scorcher yesterday...it was so hot the pool felt more like a hot tub than a pool. I couldn't even lay out cause it was so darn hot. Thank goodness for cold drinks and clear water.

Yea, when I saw this I questioned where we
were living...the desert?

We wrapped Sunday up with some delicious food from the grill and the boys having a poker night This obviously lead to me doing something totally different! Lol I went home and started watching Revenge, which I'd never seen before. I'm only two episodes in and I'm in LOVE with it. Can't wait to watch more this week.

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How was your weekend? Hope you had a great one :)

Shiney and New!

Notice anything new around here?!

I'm so so so excited for all of you to see the brand new, shiny, beautiful new version of The Sweet Ashley Life! Thanks to the amazing Chelsea at Yours Truly, I now have a blog design that reflects ME--my style, my favorite colors, and a new layout that is so fresh and new. I feel like I'm starting out brand new! It's definitely a help with motivation to blog on the regular ;) Keep reading to meet Chelsea and read more about her blog and her design offerings!------- Hi The Sweet Ashley Life readers! My name is Chelsea and I am a blogger/designer at Yours Truly. My favorite things are my boyfriend, friends & family, edamame, kitties {crazy cat lady alert!}, graphic design and kayaking! You may have noticed that Ashley had a little spruce-up done of her blog...I had SO much fun doing it! She was amazing to work with. If you need a new blog design or just bits and pieces, for a limited time I have a little *special* going on, so shoot me an email at yours.truly.chellie@gmail.com and we can definitely sort something out! I look forward to hearing from you!-------
Seriously, I can't say enough about Chelsea--she was so great to work with from start to finish. She let me show her many little things that inspired me including color schemes, fonts, photos, etc. She then turned all of that into a great design that reflects me and my blog! She even put up with a little cray cray along the way.....she feels like a friend now. I hope y'all can find something to spruce up around your blog so you can work with her too!

Friday's Letters

Friday, Friday, Gotta Get Down On Friday...Name that song? It's already been played and sung several times around the office. Yup, grown people singing Rebecca Black. What about it? ;)

Dear Road Trip, Please be nice. I would enjoy it if everything went smoothly on Saturday. Dear Chelsea, I'm so so so excited to see what you come up with for my blog redesign. Can't wait!! Dear My Sweet Readers, I'm so excited to have reached 170 followers! I'm long overdue for a giveaway, so keep your eye out for one in the near future! Dear Forever 21, Thanks for always coming through when I really need you for dresses! [And these earrings] Dear [really good] Nashville Wedding Photographers, Why so expensive? I know you're dang good, but jeeeez! Dear Work, It's Friday, remember? Don't try to get too busy on me today! Dear Hollie, Thanks for being so SWEET to me!

A sneak peak of my new blog design color scheme!
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Check out the rest of Friday's Letters [here].

Oldies but Goodies!

Friday, is that you?? I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I can't wait to get this work week wrapped up, so we can spend time with family this weekend. Ryan's sister and niece and nephew will be here today thru Sunday, and we're going to see some of my family Saturday
[hello hometown!].

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Aren't these itty bitty outfits SO stinking cute? They are part of the gifts we're giving to the mommas this weekend. I seriously melt over cute little clothes!

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Now, onto the oldies but goodies subject. Do y'all listen to Spotify? It's awesome...I rock out at work to my favorite tunes on the regular with their desktop program.
If you don't have it, get it [here]!

Today I found myself with the urge to hear City High. Do you remember them? Well, once I brought them up in the player Spotify suggested a few other older groups and singers.
City High turned into Dream, which turned into Britney Spears, which naturally turned into 'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys.

Long story short--I now have an awesome Oldies-Goodies playlist that I can jam to anytime I want to take a step back to the 90's [and who doesn't want to do that at least once a week?].

Here's a few of the awesome songs I added to the play list...

He Loves You Not--Dream
I Do--98°
No Scrubs--TLC
Put It On Me--Ja Rule
If You Had My Love--Jennifer Lopez
I Think I'm In Love With You--Jessica Simpson
...Baby One More Time--Britney Spears
Larger Than Life--Backstreet Boys
Tearin' Up My Heart--'N Sync
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What would you have to have on your 90's list?

So What Wednesday

Happy Hump Day ladies! Another middle of the week celebration is happening around here. Another countdown to a great weekend is also happening. What are you looking forward to this weekend? We are traveling to my hometown to visit with family and shower two mommas with baby gifts for their cutie pies [one baby's already here and one will be here any minute!].
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To get through the hump day, I'm linking up
with Life After I Dew for another round of So What Wednesday.

So What--if I want to buy every single item in this post and then gift it to my best friend!

So What--if I turn every dress I have into 'work appropriate' with tights and a cardigan? They changed the dress code unexpectedly and I can't go buy a ton of dress pants
[nor do I want to ;)]

So What--if I 'm now failing miserably at the #JunePhotoChallenge. I must have jinxed myself!

So What--if I want to copy this outfit piece for piece. It's adorable!

So What--if we ate cereal for dinner last night.
That doesn't make me a bad soon-to-be-wife does it?

So What--I care waaaay too much what people thing about me. It's a life long habit.
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Check out the rest of the So What Wednesday posts here!

P.s. Happy first day of SUMMER!

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Blog Makeover

Alright ladies, I need your help! I am itching to give my lil blog a face lift. This is where you come in. I don't want to spend a ton of money, and don't want anything too advanced, so who do I use?

Can you refer someone you know or have used in the past? I've heard some horror stories, and I'd like to avoid them at all costs! Please let me know of someone you suggest, or someone whose work you love! Thanks in advance!

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[Me] Monday

It's a Me Monday. What's that? Just a few things about me....on Monday.
And somewhat of a weekend recap.
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I'm obsessed with my perfectly fitted Merona cardigans from Target. Yup, it's all about the little things. [I have Cardi for the party stuck in my head...]

I'm finally wearing my hair the way I planned it for years [the reason I started growing it out over a year ago], and I LOVE the curls/waves.

Another low quality iPhone pic...

I had a Lunchables lunchbox for lunch today. And yoo-hoo on Friday. I'm a kid at heart.

I have just about everything concerning our wedding day planned or
decided on in my head. Now, to put it into action!

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I had a blast this past weekend. Good food [like, REALLY good food, all homecooked/grilled], family time [with the soon to be inlaws, who are already like family], and some outdoor fun [canoeing, again!].

 

a baby fox on the side of the river!

I tried the Ryman....brie, fig, and turkey. Yum!

Fruit tart and a cannoli. Sooo delicious!

 

Chocolate and pistachios macaroons. My first time!

I love my new photo app--Snapseed. It lets me use the photo effects on full screen photos. Sometimes I don't want to trim a picture down in Instagram. Am I alone on this one?

Enjoying the patio after breakfast. Love my boys!
P.s. Notice the subtle effect?

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What'd you do this weekend? How are you on this Monday? I'm so glad it's almost done...I'm already counting down to the next weekend!