Today was a busy day, not necessarily in the stressful way but just in the jam packed with work kind of way. The day seemed to go by quite fast and before I knew it I was writing out my list of tasks to do for tomorrow. I've been writing things down several places to ensure that I don't miss something. I love my dry erase board, the millions of post-its scattered around my desk and my Outlook "appointment" that I set which is really just a a to-do list that pops up reminders for me. Tomorrow night I will be working late since it is our annual Operator's Dinner. It is an event we hold for our local cooperators before fire season so they are reminded of the precautions they need to take during the hot months. It is also a time to some refresher trainings. Since I will be getting home late Mark will be picking up Amelia and I will have little time with her in the evening. Tonight after dinner I thought it would be fun for her and I to go for a walk... and it was!!! We went to Tot's Park just up the road from our house. I like this park over the others in our neighborhood because it is for the younger kids. We had a blast!!! Of course, as always I am going to share tons of pictures. 

 Playing at the park

 My Girl

 Cheese

 Swingin'

 After the tot's park we headed across the way to the big kid park. They have this huge water area so I convinced Amelia that we needed to run in it. She was unsure at first but I grabbed her hand and we sprinted through. We were drenched by the time we headed home. 

 Balancing

 Here we go.... 

The aftermath... she was squeezing me and we are soaked

It was a strange food day for me today. I somehow managed to skip breakfast all together and finally drank some Bolthouse Berry juice around 11 o'clock. I didn't have a lot of time this morning to make a great lunch so I cut up two huge slices of watermelon and grabbed a chicken patty, it turned out to be a pretty tasty meal. My awesome husband put together some spaghetti with turkey sausage for dinner, it was tasty! I didn't get my walk in at lunch today but I'm hoping I get my butt going tomorrow.

Well I think it is time to hit the sheets. Amelia left her blanket at Auntie Erica's house so I'm hoping for an easy night tonight... but I won't hold my breath just in case. 

My new shoes!!!

Today was my second interview for the position that I have been working in over the past 10 months. I feel as if I gave a better interview than before, but I doubt I could have done any worse. I will hopefully find out toward the end of the week if I got the job or not.  

This past weekend was very laid back! Saturday I lounged about watching a documentary on Taylor Swift, then finally got myself up and showered to head over to my Grandma's house. My cousin Ricky was in town with his three kids and I wanted to go visit with them. It was wonderful catching up with him, letting the kids play and just hanging out. Amelia really enjoyed dancing around with her little cousin Eva, who is one year younger than her. Sunday I spent the day in sweats, playing and snuggling with Amelia. We had a lazy day like we haven't had in an incredibly long time, and I really enjoyed it. 

 The little ladies dancing... and a happy Great Grandma watching

Eva and Amelia dancing

In the weight loss world... I'm down almost four pounds from last week. I was glad to see the scale move down a bit considering I had gained about 8 pounds. My bag is packed for tomorrow with exercise pants and tennis shoes for a walk on my lunch break and a possible stop at the gym on my way home. My head seems to be doing a tad bit better. The pain meds don't work all that well and I'm still having to resort to Tylenol and Ibuprofen, in fact I realized the other day I had taken 14 throughout a 10 hour time period... probably not the best idea. I'm looking forward to my doctor's appointment on June 27th. My sister Erica suggested her as a great internal medicine doctor; I haven't had a regular doctor (I've seen a naturopath) since before Amelia was born. I can definitely tell when I forget to take my muscle relaxer before bed, it usually results in waking up about 3 times throughout the night with a swollen head. Even though this whole things sucks, I'm trying to stay positive! Maybe positive thinking will lead to positive outcomes! 

I really don't have anything exciting to share with y'all so I will, as usual, leave you with some pictures of Amelia... and kittens. 

 The kids

 Amelia wasn't in the mood to look at the camera, but I did get a smile

Good Night All!

Grace, Chris and Vicky

After work, as I was driving home, this little voice in my head was telling me that I needed to pull into the Haagen parking lot, walk in and buy some wine. I don't drink often at all, maybe a glass of wine or a drink every few months or more, but wine just seemed like the perfect way to end the night. When I got home I got a call from my sisters that they were heading in to my Grandma's to visit, so I decided to put the wine in my fridge to chill and head over as well. It was a nice chat and we will be going back tomorrow for a BBQ with my cousin Ricky and his three kids! I am so excited to see him and the kids, I adore them. Now that I'm sitting here writing this I realize that I never even had the wine I bought. Let me just say it was a tough decision. I walked the four wine aisles for quite some time before deciding on two bottles. I'm a sweet white wine drinker so I got Oregon Blossom and a nice Moscato. 

Too many options!!!

It's raining here in Oregon tonight... I love the rain. As much as I would like it to be sunny and warm, the rain is just relaxing to me. I think I will head out first thing in the morning for a walk/jog. Exercising in the rain is so refreshing! I've gained a few pounds even though I've been really good about watching what I eat this week. I have to remember that as a girl I tend to gain a couple of pounds one week out of the month, just means I will have to work harder before my Monday weigh in. 

Oh I almost forgot to share the great news!!! Mark went in for an interview at a chiropractic clinic on the 21st and last night he had received the contract, meaning the job is his if he wants it! At the same time though I think another chiropractor is interested in him and will probably make an offer as well if he agrees to the hourly wage Mark requested. I'm so incredibly happy and proud of him. He works so hard with such crappy hours that it will be nice for him to do what he loves (and what he went to school for). I have an interview informal meeting for the job I interviewed for on the 22nd. I had mentioned a while back that I bombed the interview (during all of my head crud... which I'm still dealing with) but thankfully I've been asked to come back a second time as one of the top three candidates. I've been working in the position as a work out of class assignment for the past 9 months and have really enjoyed the job. I've decided what will be, will be... and if I'm not who they choose then God has a different plan for me. 

I feel like I've been neglecting Amelia lately, which makes me incredibly sad. By the time I get home in the evenings I'm so worn out that I'm not much fun to play with, and we really don't have a lot of time to just relax and hang out. I'm hoping to spend the next few weeks improving the time I spend with her, both the quality and quantity. I've been thinking of craft projects and activities that we can do together and have come up with quite a few great ideas. I'm looking forward to them. 

I know this post is sort of random, and I'm jumping all over the place, but I'm looking for some advice. We have a serious infestation of ants in this rental house and I want to get rid of them STAT! Any suggestions from those of you who have dealt with the pesky crawlers? When I first moved in with Mark we lived in a finished basement of a family member's home, he was in school and we had just had Amelia so saving money was a plus. The place was crawling with ants, not just in the basement but in the main house as well. We were never able to get rid of them and eventually made it a priority to move into a new place (which was where we were at before we made this last move in December). This will be our first summer in this rental home (last rental home was ant free) and it has been sort of neglected. Mark has been trying to find the nest of ants but I've decided they are simply EVERYWHERE! We have them in every room in the house except our bedroom upstairs, and they are filing in rapidly. Please, if you have had issues with ants and have a good solution I'm willing to try anything at this point! I can't wait until we can buy our own home! 

Holy cow... 1am and I'm still up!!! This girl needs some sleep! I will try posting my before pictures in the weight loss tab this weekend. I plan to take pictures every 10 pounds. Well until tomorrow later on today... good night all!

What a busy day it was today! I seemed to be going non-stop at work and the day flew by. I'm so glad that tomorrow is Friday; I've borrowed a small tiller from Grace's boyfriend and plan on getting my garden in. When I picked up Amelia today she was full of stories and humorous things to say. When we first got in the car she had to tell me all about her new freckles. I LOVE that she is getting freckles; she is the perfect mix of Mark and I... dark hair, blue eyes and lighter skin with FRECKLES! "Mama, I'm getting freckles (long pause) I don't want you to wash them off, I'm gonna be like you" and she looked at me with the biggest smile. I reassured her that I would not be scrubbing them away and that she could be like her Mama. Even though I have thousands upon thousands of freckles and she has only a few, it made me smile to think she wanted to be like her Mama. With her looking up to me it makes me all the more determined to lead a happy healthy life. I want her to grow up active, excited to get out and enjoy the sun and all of the activities that come along with it. As we were driving home she was very observant today. Usually she sits back and falls asleep but with the tiller sitting on the floor behind the passenger side she had to sit behind me and was able to see me in the rear view mirror as well as my side mirror. I had the sunroof open and my window down, it was so cute to see her hair blowing all over... but then she said "Mama, I think you going too fast... slow down" so I had to lay on the brakes for a bit so she could see everything on the new side of the road. 

The beautiful view in my rear view mirror today on the way home.

Dinner ready for me when I get home three nights in a row... that husband of mine is spoiling me! Tonight he made a delicious dinner of cod and asparagus. He made a ginger, soy sauce and garlic sauce for the cod which was amazing. I wanted to eat more but was comfortably full so I figured I shouldn't go back for another helping. 

It tasted wonderful! Thank you husband.

I'm excited for lunch tomorrow! My co-workers and I were going out to lunch quite regularly a few months back and decided we were a "lunch club". Well one of our members Vicky is a temporary employee and her last day with us will be June 5th. Tomorrow the lunch club is going out for the last time with Vicky to the Chinese restaurant in town. It will be a nice treat, and great to go out again since we haven't been lately. Lunch club consists of myself, my not blood brother Jesse, my sister Grace, her boyfriend Chris, one of my greatest friends Steve and our darling Vicky. I am going to miss Vicky a lot; we have had some wonderful conversations over the past six months and I feel that we have become great friends during the time she has worked with us. She has given me some great advice that I will carry with me throughout my life. Thankfully the good ol' Facebook will keep us in touch! and I'm still promising that I will one day visit her in Hawaii when she makes the move there. 

I'm hoping for a very laid back weekend, but one that allows me to accomplish a lot around the house. I want to get my garden in, visit my Grandma, take Amelia for a walk around the neighborhood with a stop at the park, hit the gym Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, try a few new recipes, clean like crazy, perhaps take a trip up to the local frozen yogurt shop and maybe fit in some crafting. I know, quite a long list for what I envision to be a "laid back" weekend but to me these things are all relaxing and will hopefully relieve some stress. I also want to get my blog a little more complete, adding to each of my sections. No matter what I do, I'm sure you will all hear about it :) 

Have a great night!

Ashley

This is my awesome lunch! My water bottle, strawberries, grapes, carrots, a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, and amazing salad and my homemade olive oil & balsamic dressing

Today felt somewhat like a Friday, and oh how I wish it were! We are gearing up for fire season and work has been quite busy lately. I got an email today about pre-sale tickets for a singer I LOVE but I looked at the date and was instantly depressed... right in the middle of August. I wish I could buy them and go but knowing my luck we will get a fire and I will have to be at the office...missing out on all of the awesomeness of the concert. Bummer! 

Last night, as well as tonight, dinner has been ready for me when I get home. What a wonderful husband I have! Tonight he made stir fry with peppers, onions and chicken, and knowing that I can't have rice he made quinoa for me! Awesome. Thankfully he made enough to have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. 

Our yummy dinner! 

So tonight I started watching this BBC show on Netflix called North & South. For some reason I've been obsessed with British shows recently: Downton Abbey, Land Girls and now North & South. I don't have any shows that I'm watching regularly now so these are a good lazy night activity. 

I am hoping to try out a few new healthy recipes this week, so I will post them in my recipes section if they turn out. I hope you are all having a great evening. I'm off to get lunch packed up for Amelia and I, and to get her little booty to bed. I'll leave you with a picture of her in the car today, my little pirate.

Goodnight,

Ashley