thank you.

bday recap.

i celebrated my birthday with my newest friend, Brandi.

because of this little blog of mine, i met this fellow blogger five months ago.

she is now someone i call a friend :)

this was my first birthday away from home, so i was feeling a little down.

especially after my initial birthday plans fell through.

miss brandi, went above and beyond to make my birthday a special and fun day!

we spent the day doin' girlie thangs...

gettin' nails done, shopping ALL day, and taking our sweet time getting ready.

she even surprised me with a cute lil' cake!

what a doll, right?

we finally made our way to d.c and met up with her husband and some other cool people.

oh.em.gee i had sooo much fun and i'll just leave it at that! ;)

cheers to birthdays and blogger!!

happy biirrtthhdddayyy toooo meeeee!!!

don't ask how old i am...

{okay, fine. i'll tell ya. we are friends after all}

twenty-seven.

ekkkkkk!

my mommy sent me this email:

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my daughter Ashley. I’m very proud of you Ashley and I give thanks to the good Lord for you. I miss you and I love you so so much. I don’t care how old you are, you are still my one and only Baby, my Elaine. God Bless you my Baby. Love MOM"

shortly, she called to sing me happy birthday in English and Spanish.

yeah, i cried.

thanks A LOT, mom!

can't help it.

i miss my mommy :(

butttt...today's been a good day.

receiving calls, emails, texts and FB notifications all day really makes a girl feel special.

on top of that...my cube was decorated, my co-workers took me out to lunch and bought me an ice cream cake! yum!

cheers!

hope twenty-seven treats me darn good!!



tagged.

Today I've been tagged by my gorg friend Nini from Mrs. H

Ok so here goes the rules to this thing:

1. You must post these rules.
2. Each person must post 11 things about themselves on their blog.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
4. You have to choose 11 people to tag and link them on the post.
5. Go to their page and tell them you have linked him or her.

11 THINGS ABOUT ASHLEY?

1. My birthday is tomorrow! Friday the 13th! Ekkkkk!
2. I'm a self-help junkie! I just can't get enough of learning about the law of attraction and all that interesting stuff!
3. I secretly want to get my nose pierced...always have - just tooo much of a chicken. 
4. I have clothes in my closet that still have tags and shoes I've yet to wear - pitiful I know!
5. Every year I buy a new planner - I rather write stuff down than use my iphone calendar.
6. I have a love/hate relationship with working out.
7. I'm an Apple whore - I can't live without my iphone, ipod and Mac.
8. I despise pumping gas - literally, I hate it! The whole getting out of your car and all that - hate it! I'll literally let the gas light come on - which forces me to get gas! Ugh!
9. I cannot whistle. Just can't do it!
10. I love ice cream and eat it year around - don't care how cold it is!
11.  I was named after a Soap Opera actress from Days of Our Lives - when my mom came to the states at 18 she learned English by watching TV and she fell in love with the name Ashley!

So here are the 11 questions Nini asked me:

1. What's the most interesting or moving book you've ever read? Bible
2. Which do you prefer the book or the movie? This is hard: read the book first then watch the movie!
3. If you could move to anywhere tomorrow, where would it be? Back to North Carolina - I miss home!!!
4. What's the one thing in life you can't leave the house without? Earrings! I feel completely naked without earrings!
5. What's the furthest place you've flown to? Panama - Central America to visit my mother's family!
6. If you could be anyone for a day who would it be?Ann C.  from the Today Show! Want her job!
7. What is one word that best describes you? (ONLY ONE) Passionate
8. What's been your greatest accomplishment to date?Working for three amazing Volvo companies all before the age of 30!
9. What's your favorite type of food? Spanish - homemade authentic...the good stuff!
10. What's one nickname you have? Ashy
11. What's the best thing you did in 2011? hmmmm....idk

my turn to pick 11 questions for my 11 lil' muffin's to be tagged:

1. What was the last thing you bought?

2. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning?

3. What did you do for your last birthday?

4. What was the last thing you ate?

5. If you had to choose between Facebook and Blogger? Which one?

6. Name three things that make you happy.

7. What is one of your resolutions for 2012?

8. What would you do if you were given one million dollars?

9. What would be your theme song when walking into a room?

10. What is something you wish you could change?

11. What is your favorite television show?

 And in no particular order, I repeat these are in no particular order, here are the results of my 11 choices:

1. Brandi at Home Team Dreams

2. Emily at Amazing Grapes

3. Kristyn at Read July

4. Whitney at Just a country girl

5. Erin at Captivated by the beauty of grace

6. Meli at Meli Faif Life

7. Marz at Royal Mail

8. Ashley at Run with Me

9. Jessica at Pretty Physicist

10. Erica at Young and Fabulous

11. Amie at Sassy RN

hold the pose.

this speaks volumes to me.

a little reminder always helps.

i spent the holidays...

soaking up every detail of Christmas...

spending a whole lotta time with my wonderful parents...

catching up with some of my girlies...

traveling to see my beautiful god-children...

baking with my momma...

ringing in the new year with class...


and...thanking God for all of His blessings.

hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! :)

wishing you the very best in 2012!

you soooooo funny.

i'm pretty entertaining, eh? :p

get in my belly.

what i've been eating lately...

according to my iphone :)

1. homemade white chocolate pretzel bites

2. mother/daugther time. cheers :)

3. typical Spanish dinner: meat, rice and beans.

4. bento box. yum.

5. homemade chocolate chip cookies.

6. more baking by my mamma. she found this recipe on pinterest. 

got her hooked already! hehe.

7. lil' Starbucks date with one of my girls.

8. fruit basket from one of our customers.

9. Bojangles. welcome to the south.

gosh, this makes me look like a fat ass :/

hi there!

hey lil' muffins! 

i'm back home in NC. yay!

i'm soaking in every second of being here...

spending time with family/friends, shopping, baking...all the christmasy stuff :)

gratitude, love and change.

my heart is so full.

i've finally come to peace with being in pa.

God has been with me along this difficult journey, and He

 continues to guide me on this amazing adventure.

my heart is full because...

He is answering my prayers.

of course on His time, not mine.

God is continuously giving me a loving and forgiving heart.

i feel it. and, this makes me so happy.

i've asked Him to change me.

to help me become the woman i was created to be.

slowly, but surely He is doing just that.

this makes my heart smile. BIG.

God, knows i'm not perfect nor do i try...

but, everyday He gives me another chance to do better.

to learn. to grow. to love. to smile. to spread His word.

my heart is so full because.. He loves me more than i can imagine.

this move to pa has certainly made me cling onto my faith,

and i have no plans on letting go.

i wonder if this was His plan all along.

He is the glue in my life.

i'm overwhelmed with gratitude.

what an amazing feeling...words cannot describe.

i pray everyday for all of my bloggie friends...

you guys certainly have helped me during this chapter in my life as well :)