Lets become a little more patriotic!

Today I got to see one of the coolest things ever. My friend Emily and I decided we wanted to see Amanda's husband Dan come home from Iraq. We were going to prove our worth through being the family photographers and dashed up the airport to witness this great event.

We waited at the concourse waiting for all of these brave military men and women come home to their families and friends with news cameras and American flags. It was so neat, just to see the emotion on their faces and the faces of their families. It's so amazing to think of the sacrafice they have given to go and help our country and keep us all safe. I think everyone needs to go and see one of these events and you can just feel the patriotism in the air. I just hope that the people of our country realize what these men and women give up for us and pray our government will back these brave people and the things they do!! God bless them all and thank you Dan for being willing to take the call!!

Ashley

Just how do I do that exactly??

This week I have gotten a few new students in my classroom. One of the new little girls is from China. I sat down to test her on a few things today and she saw a picture of one of my friends' little girls. The conversation went a little like this...

Little Girl: Is that your daughter?
Me: Nope, I don't have any kids. It's one of my friends' daughters.
Little Girl: Why not? You almost 30!!
Me: I'm not having any kids until I get married.
Little Girl: You almost 30 and YOU"RE NOT MARRIED?
Me: Nope
Little Girl: Why not?
Me: I guess I just haven't found the right guy yet.
Little Girl: You need find boy!!

Yes, thank you I do honey...just how do you propose I do that?? Oh and thank you for pointing out the fact, ever so plainly that I'm almost 30 on top of it all...Really appreciate that!

Kids and their total honesty. This whole conversation makes me wonder what single girls in their 30s get treated like in China. Are they looked down upon?? Just another reason I'm thankful to live in America!! Thank you Lord!!

Ashley

You sound like...

Last week I lost my voice and had lots of trouble talking. As I'm trying to keep my kids quiet and at the same time not strain my voice too much, one of my kids look over at me and announces "You sound just like the lady my grandma watches on tv. You know, the one that cooks." As soon as he said it, I knew exactly which raspy-voiced, talk show hosts he was talking about...Rachel Ray. The rest of the day whenever he needed me he would say "Hey Mrs. Ray," Too cute!

Ash

Why does it have to be so difficult??

So I'm finding it very difficult to follow my budget. Between things for my car, dentist, and medicine, I'm completely off of my budget this month. At this point it feels like a diet...you know where you eat something you shouldn't and so you say okay, I'll start back up again next week. Except this is more "okay, I spent more than I should so I'll start again next month." It's so aggravating!! I hate unplanned purchases but I guess that's part of the reason to work on a budget, so you have the money saved back to be able to afford it. If any of you have any hints on what to do until I get the money under control, let me know!!

On a better note...THE COLTS ARE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL!! Woo Hoo!! So we are heading up to Blue Crew for the game. I'm super pumped. I'm taking the next day off and already have friends lined up to go with me!! Dre and I had a good time at BW's. Quite eventful too. There wasn't anywhere to sit so some guy who was sitting by himself let us sit with him. Ends up he was from Franklin but didn't come until after we already graduated. Who knew!! He had a lot to say about himself and Dre got an earful. I chose to watch the game instead...sorry Dre!! But then she got me back by making me give him my name so he can try to get a hold of us for the Blue Crew...we'll see...hopefully we won't have to worry about him ;)

Have a great week...Prayers for Amanda as she leaves for Cambodia tomorrow morning!!

Ashley

Help me out!!

You'll notice that I added my list of 30 things over on the side. If anyone has any ideas for 8 more, send them my way. It doesn't have to be anything extraordinary. You can see from my list there is nothing that is too out there. If you know me at all, you know that's completely me. Along with doing these things, I'm planning on writing about them and posting pictures when I'm able to. Thanks for reading...

Ashley

Here's to the first of hopefully many...

Today I am starting to blog...hopefully for a while. I'm not quite sure how this will all work and I'm definitely not much of a writer so do not expect anything much out of this. This is more for me than for anything else just so I can keep a record of 2010...the year I turn 30!!

For the past few years, a friend of mine and I have been making New Year's resolutions. Now our philosophy on this is if you have a few, you don't feel so bad about not following through with all of them as long as you get at least one. This past year out of 5, I accomplished 4...not bad if you ask me. So for this year, we'll see how I will do.

1. Blog the year 2010...this one has now officially started and we'll see how I do with it.
2. Run 2 races...Let's get one thing straight. I am not much of a runner. In fact, I HATE running. For the past 2 years, I have participated in the Drumstick Dash in Broad Ripple. I'm hoping to do that again and to also do another one along with it.
3. Cut back on Facebook time...I'm slightly addicted to it.
4. Get better with my quiet time...My time with God needs to be first and foremost and there are times that I don't do that. So I'm trying to make that a priority in my life.
5. Make a budget and stick to it...So I'm not the best with money but I want to get better and hopefully it will help. Not off to much of a great start after this past week.

My friend also started a fabulous idea for her 30th year. So I decided to piggyback off of her idea. We are going to be doing 30 things for our 30th year. As of right now I'm stuck at number 22 so I need 8 more to come up with but I have until June 1st to do that. I'm super excited about this idea just to give my life some goals to follow.

Well I'm going to go for now. Gotta get so sleep for a super exciting day at the zoo with my nephew, my best friend, and her daughter. Here's to hoping it doesn't rain tomorrow!

Ashley