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Showing posts from February, 2014

i need your help

I have to do a project and then write an 8-page paper about it all before Monday at 11am. Since I know you're all dying  to write my paper for me but that's not an option, I'd sure appreciate your help with the project portion! I created a survey, and the results of the survey will be what I write my paper about, so I need as many people as possible to take my survey. It will probably take about 10 minutes, and all responses are anonymous. If you help me out, I will love you forever and be super grateful :) Here's the link:  https://qtrial.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_6gPENlGdo2NfbBX Don't worry about taking it if you're reading this after 2pm MST tomorrow (Saturday) because by then, I'll hopefully be writing the paper. Thanks lovelies! :) //edit// You can actually keep taking it til about 5pm probably. I'm not as far as I thought I would be by now. **ashleynicole

5 on friday

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one.  R & I don't agree on many boy names for future children. Just one, really [which will remain unsaid in order to not do anything to perpetuate the popularity of that name.]. But then there's another one we both like--Jack. Unfortunately, I already have a nephew named Jackson. Don't you hate it when that happens? Haha oh well, maybe we'll only get one boy and won't even have to worry about agreeing on a second name! :) two. This song is so my jam right now. LOVE IT. three. Tara over at  A Brew of Blessings  posted earlier this week about her  closet . It's so amazing that I'm making it one of my five. Go check it out, and follow her, too, because her blog is fun :) four. I should be excited for the weekend, but I'm not because I have to spend it putting together a project and then writing an 8-page paper about it. Anyone want to trade weekends with me? ;) five. Texas is calling my name. Two weeks til I get to be there with all my

him&her

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I was recently over at Life and Love with Mr. Wonderful and she had a post like this. Apparently it's part of a link up put on by Harley and Jane.  So here's ours :) Him: Peanut M&Ms Her: Peanut butter M&Ms Him: Runner Her: Dancer Him: Handy Her: Crafty Him: Salmon Her: Crispy chicken tenders Him: Blue Her: Teal Him: Imagine Dragons Her: Katy Perry Him: Action Her: RomCom Him: Cake Her: Cookies Him: Italian Job Her: While You Were Sleeping Him: Quality time (and physical touch) Her: Physical touch (and quality time) Him: Neuroscience Her: English Language Him: Customer support representative, Data quality reviewer Her: Editor, Tutor, Nanny, Personal Assistant Him: Introvert Her: Extrovert Him: Discovery Channel Her: The CW Him: 3-5 days of adventure and roughing it Her: 7-10 days of tropical paradise Him: 80 degree summers Her: 60 degree springs and falls Him: Love/hat

making a house a home

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One reason I love holidays is because it gives me an excuse to decorate and craft! I truly think that decorating (in general and for holidays) is one thing that turns a house into a home. And even though Valentine's Day was a little bit ago, my Valentine's Day decorations will definitely be up until the end of the month because I like them so much! Here's what I've got . . . Sorry in advance for the less-than-perfect pictures :) L-O-V-E letters and a heart chain ( tutorial ) Framed printable, though I'm not sure where it's from. R's cousin gifted this to us for our wedding, complete with like 15 different printables for each holiday and season. We love it! :) Wreath! Which I'm so happy to have back since R & I returned after three days to find it MISSING! The kids that live near our apartment are real terrors and they stole it. Luckily, my neighbor found it and returned it to me :) This wreath was inspired by this one

the day of love

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R & I have never been too showy about Valentine's Day, anniversaries, or birthdays. R gets stressed out thinking about getting me gifts because he's afraid I won't like them (though unjustifiably so, since I've liked every present he's ever gotten me!). I don't get stressed out about gifts, but I never know if I should get him something more practical or more romantic, and he doesn't give me any clues as to what he prefers. But even though we don't make a big deal of it, I don't have any problems with Valentine's Day. If you want to give your lover roses on the same day as everyone else, that's fine. If you want to give your lover roses on a random day of the year, that's fine, too. Valentine's Day is just all about love, so I have no qualms with it. I think it's silly to hate on a day all about love. Celebrate big, or don't, it's up to you, but don't hate! It's more fun to love, anyways :) So more than a w

5 on friday

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one. TGIF, for real. Somehow, even with a day off from work and school, this week has been crazy busy! Too many assignments and upcoming tests. Goodness. Can't wait to see R for more than 10 minutes at a time! two. I've decided there are too many fun blogs in the world, and not nearly enough time to read them all. Some of the new ones I started following this week are Cheers Y'all , Two Thirds Hazel , and Treelined Avenue . Check them out! :) three. I've been reading this forever-long series for almost a year now (nine books, 500-700 pages each). I'm finally  almost done. Just 130 pages left! Maybe I'll get that checked off my to-do list this weekend :) [The series is The Work and the Glory , and it's good, but maybe too long for my liking.] four. Someday soon I really want to learn more about html and photography. And by soon I mean . . . I really hope it at least happens someday . Ha :) five. I really wish I had time to paint my nails

bloglovin

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/6353491/?claim=u9k33bcerzg">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a> Not really sure if Bloglovin' is as good as everyone claims, but here's to trying it out. Make sure to follow me! :) **ashleynicole

the bachelor

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I got into The Bachelor last year because a couple of girls in my ward were talking about it and I had no clue what was going on. Since then, I'm hooked. Unfortunately, I can't convince R to watch with me, or even listen to me talk about anything that is going on, so you all get to hear about it here :) Feel free to skip this post if you're not interested in The Bachelor :) Here's my biggest pet peeve about the show: when the girls say "I deserve  that rose tonight" or "Getting the rose tonight would mean more than any of the other roses up to this point" or really anything about the rose in general. First of all, it doesn't matter how much you share, or how personal what you share is; it matters how JP is feeling, and he'll give the rose to the girl that he's feeling it for the most that night. Second of all, of course  the rose means more the later on in the game it gets. Why state the obvious? Also, related but not quite the

valentine treat

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Sugar cookies have always been more of a Christmas cookie at my house, but this year I made some for Valentine's Day because sugar cookies are pretty dang delicious so why not enjoy them more than once per year? I've had many sugar cookies in my life, but this is the only recipe I absolutely love. It's perfect! Enjoy :) Ingredients: 1/4 c. Shortening 1/4 c. Butter 1 c. Sugar 1 Egg 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract 2 2/3 c. Flour 1 tsp. Baking Powder 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda 1/2 tsp. Salt 1/4 tsp. Nutmeg 1/2 c. Sour Cream Directions: Cream together shortening, butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla. Add sifted dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg) alternately with the sour cream. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Roll dough out to be 1/4 inch think. Cut into shapes and place on a greased cookie sheet with at least an inch between shapes (so they don't stick together). Bake for 5-8 minutes. Makes about 35 cookies (with about a 3-inch diameter if the

quirks

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I love this quote because I whole-heartedly agree with it.  In honor of Valentine's Day, I decided to share some of the weird and quirky things unique to my own relationship with R.  We randomly lick each other. Nothing romantic or sexual about it, it's more like what you do with your brother when you're both kids. Like, obnoxious almost! If we're cuddling or close, one of us will just randomly lick a cheek or a nose or, if we're being especially obnoxious, maybe an ear. But those ones are always annoying so we don't do that one much anymore. Today he licked my arm . . . too bad for him I had just worked out, so it was a little salty! Haha :) We sing out things that we're doing--in bad tunes and nonsensical melodies. Like "And now I'm going to microwave the oatmeal!" But in song. Normal words, abnormal expression :) Whenever one (or both) of us is looking for something and then finds it, we both claim to have found it. For instance, i

xoxo

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Wow! I've gotten nearly twice as many hits on my last post as I've gotten on even my most popular posts so far. Guess everyone gets excited about babies! Well don't you worry. The blog world, and the whole world really, will definitely know it when I am, in fact, pregnant :) Which, hopefully, isn't too far in the future.  But for today, a tutorial! With Valentine's Day coming up, I wanted to have a few more Vday decorations to my name, so a couple weeks ago, I got together with my sister-in-law, Amy, and we made some Vday letters! Here's what you need: Cardboard letters (I got mine from JoAnn, Michael's has some, too. But no matter where you get them, definitely print as many 40 or 50% off coupons as you can find online to buy your supplies because all craft stores match competitor coupons.) Different valentine-y or love-related decorative paper. I used eight different kinds and I used about 12x4 inches of each. I had 4 pink/red desi

"are you pregnant?"

In the past week, I've been asked this question FOUR TIMES.  But it's always after I say stuff like, "I've just been so exhausted  lately!" or "I'm just ravenous like, all the time!" so I'm hoping that means people aren't asking because they think I'm getting fat or something (because I don't feel like I am, and we're all our own worst critics, right? So I would think I'm getting fat before other people would think so, right??) Anyways. I just think it's funny how it's happened more times this week than in all in the rest of the one year, eight months that I've been married. Not that it bothers me. Some people get so bugged by that question, because it's really personal or something, but not me. I don't find too many things to be too personal . Just funny :) But just for the record, I'm not. So I guess I just need more sleep and snacks in my life to keep me from saying I'm-such-a-pregnant-la

editor

Hi, my name is Ashley, and I'm a grammar guru. Which is probably why I'm studying to become an editor. And sometimes, it's a hard life. Not the studying or the editing, but the fact that not everyone in the world is a grammar guru like me.  A friend of mine (who happens to be in the same major as me) recently posted on Facebook:  It doesn't really affect my life. Everyone has the right to make their own choices. But gosh, I'd sure smile a little more if people learned the proper use of the apostrophe. I had a good laugh because I feel that way about all grammar :) So here's my friendly grammar lesson on a few simple things. Hopefully you'll take a minute to make sure you've got these things under control, because your writing credibility goes wayyyy up when you use correct grammar, even if you're just writing to friends and family :) This post is not written to offend, but to inform, so please don't be offended! :) Homophones W

olympians

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Do you know what curling is? In case you don't remember, here's a reminder. About a year and a half ago, at Russ's cousin's 29th birthday party, we made a list of 30 things for her to do before she turned 30. Well, we didn't quite make the deadline for going curling, but hey, better late than never, right? So in honor of the upcoming winter olympics, we finally went curling! We went to the Olympic Oval up in Salt Lake and for $12 each, we learned to curl. It's kind of weird, and definitely harder than it looks, but we had a good time. Russ especially likes it and already wants to go again, ha :) Russ Russ's sister, Lacey Me Our whole group, all set to sweep! Newlin (boyfriend of Eliza), Eliza (cousin), me, Russ, Lacey, and Jessie (cousin) It's something fun to do if you're looking for a new adventure, or if you have aspirations of becoming a future olympian ;) We're pretty much pros now and we'll be comp

valentine advent calendar

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Last year sometime after Valentine's Day, I put together a Valentine's Day advent calendar, so I'm so excited to use it for the first time this year! Inside each envelope is a small Vday-related activity to do. Since it's just me and my husband, the activities I wrote on the notes are more romantic and are geared toward a couple rather than a family. But the awesome part is that once we do have kids, I can just write new notes and still use the envelope board. Here are my ideas for Vday-related activities intended for a married couple :) Watch a romantic movie tonight Give each other a nice, long massage Each tell 5 things you love about each other Play a game together Be sure to make love today Pick up a small gift for your lover today Make valentine cookies together and deliver some to friends Do sealings at the temple today Enjoy a luxurious bubble bath together Write a love note and hide it somewhere for your lover to find Enjoy a late-