rushley & crew

I was never really one to do crafty things . . . that is, until Pinterest. Now I do crafts whenever I have the time and money! This year, I did TWO crafts for Halloween.  My inspiration for the googly eyes frame was found  here  and for the chevron pumpkin was found here . Both projects were pretty simple, but they turned out really cute! My one tip is to always buy spray paint at Lowe's! They have every color imaginable and they're way cheaper than Walmart or Hobby Lobby. Who wants to do Thanksgiving and Christmas crafts with me? :) **ashleynicole

Spiritual Sunday If you could keep just one thing with you when you died, what would you keep? For me, it would be my amazing husband, Russ. I had to put a funny one . . . cuz my husband is funny! :) And just cute :) He's wonderful :) But, if I could keep one thing collectively, it would be my whole family: my parents, my siblings, my nieces and nephews, my grandparents and aunts and uncles, and my future children. And that is what I love about my  church . I get to!  We believe in life after death, and we believe that we will be able to share that life with all of our loved ones. Relationships don't end with death; they continue on into eternity. Today in church, we talked a lot about doing genealogy: learning about ancestors, writing down our own histories for future generations, and basically just linking generations together.  It made me want to learn more about my family. I want to learn things about those who have already passed on, but I als...

Sometimes, life gets super busy. When life gets super busy, the sink tends to fill up with dishes. Then it gets harder to want to do them. But then sometimes, Mom has a great idea . . .  Load those dishes into a laundry basket and bring them to my parents' dishwasher! Best. Idea. EVER.  I was so happy because I really hate doing dishes :) What chores do you hate? **ashleynicole

Have you heard Roar  by Katy Perry? It's on the radio all the time, and for a while, I loved it.  Then I heard Sam Tsui's cover of the same song, and I liked it even more.  I heard about Sam Tsui three years ago, when I was a freshman. He did a mash-up including  Dynamite, Love the Way You Lie, and Teenage Dream, and I pretty much loved it. Me and my roommates would sometimes listen to it like five times in a row. If you want to listen,  go ahead ! So today I'm featuring Roar Sam Tsui + Alex Goot Enjoy!  Let me know what you think in the comment section :) **ashleynicole

Spiritual Sunday [Cool graphic coming soon . . . ] If you're new here, and don't know what Spiritual Sunday is, head on over to  this blogpost  to see what it's all about! At the most recent  General Conference , Elder Uchtdorf gave a talk entitled, "Come, Join with Us." I was sick that day, so unfortunately, I fell asleep. But I watched it the other day, and I just love it! I highly recommend reading or watching it  here  :) (unfortunately, I can't embed the video . . . ) He spends a lot of time inviting people to come and join with the Mormons  (hence the title), but if you want, you could ignore that and you'd still find goodness in the things he shares. What I really enjoyed about the talk was how much he focuses on telling people, "You're not perfect, and that's okay." I think people spend so much time thinking that they're not good enough, that they're hopelessly flawed, and that they'll never be able...

Wahoo! Thanks to Laura Lambert, my blog should now show a comment option!  Let me know if it still doesn't work. That would be upsetting . . . Laura is pretty much a pro blogger, so you should head on over to check out  her blog ! She's quite witty :)  She directed me to  this website  that showed me how to fix my problem. So if anyone else is having problems with a comment box, you can check it out, too! And now, if you feel so inclined, you can go back and show me some love on previous posts, via comments<3 Also, if you read my blog but don't follow it, you should remedy that! Head on over to the right side of my blog and click my stalkers and then hit JOIN! :) **ashleynicole

When Hamlet says the famous quote "To be, or not to be?" he is basically saying "To die, or not to die?" I pose a similar question today: To dye, or not to dye? I grew up hearing that naturally, you have ten colors in your hair, and when you dye it, you have just one (or however many colors you use, I guess). It's something my grandma used to say, and my mom is a HUGE proponent of that advice. So my grandma, my mom, and both of my sisters have never done anything with their hair by way of dye. My mom pretty much freaked out when I put three blonde streaks in my hair three years ago. She'll probably freak out even more now that I'm considering dying all of my hair. I guess that repeatedly-given advice is what keeps me from dying my hair. Well, that and the cost. And the possibility that it will look terrible. So I guess there are a few things holding me back :) BUT. My hair looked so red when I was little. See? So some...

Another of my weekly posts will be Tune Tuesday! I'll post a music video of a song that I feel like everyone in the world should see. Or maybe just one that I like :) Today's tune is  Still Into You by Paramore I really don't know why I love this song and video so much, but I do.  Perhaps it's the ballerinas and the 80's feel.  Enjoy! **ashleynicole

In becoming a more avid blogger, I've decided that some days of the week will be set aside for certain types of posts. Every Sunday will be "Spiritual Sunday."  On Spiritual Sundays, I will share my thoughts and feelings about Jesus Christ and His teachings. I will share these things from my perspective, which means that what I say will be colored by the fact that I am a Mormon.  Before that scares you away from reading on Sundays, let me share a story with you.   * * * * *  A couple weeks ago, Russ and I had a yard sale. I have no problems getting rid of stuff that I no longer use, so I went through my closet at my parents' house and rounded up a great big pile of everything that was just collecting dust. Among the items was framed quote that I probably got from Young Women or Relief Society [those are groups in my  church ]. The quote talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It was a nice quote, but I knew that I wasn't ever going to use that chea...

My in-laws are all crazy readers. Whenever we get together, conversation eventually comes around to who's been reading what, and what everyone is learning from what they're reading.  it always makes me wish i read more. I used to read all the time in elementary school. I'd check out two books from the library every day and I'd finish them both within the day. (The small-type chapter books, but still!) But between studying, having a social life, and talking to boys (and eventually having a husband), I mostly stopped reading. Until last March. I started reading again, and I found that reading a book is a much more efficient way to procrastinate than cyber-stalking on Facebook. Facebook gets old, but I'd still keep looking at it when I didn't want to do my work. Reading lasts a lot longer and it's a lot more satisfying! My latest book is one of my favorites. I read it for the first time when I was about fourteen, and I've said it was my favorite b...

This is why I quit my first blog: i never post! But somehow Miss Leann convinced me to start up this blog, and for a while, I posted frequently enough . . . but now it's been eight whole months without a single post. Sorry to any of my avid readers. Well, if I had any. BUT I want to do better and post more often, so hopefully this is the start of something new. I hope you sang that last line :) So here's the update on all the goings on in the glamorous life of Rushley Holmes: We're both in school right now and we both graduate in April. Happy day! Russ has a job at ancestry.com, where he gets to stare at a computer screen for hours on end. But somehow, he enjoys it, so it's all good :) I have three jobs right now: I tutor a sixth grader in various subjects, I do laundry and grading for a teacher, and I edit for a magazine on campus. I work half as much as Russ, but somehow I feel twice as busy! Oh, and actually, I guess I have a fourth job: fr...