Archive for April, 2010

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if i could.

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

If I could eat bread and cheese for every meal, I probably would.

If I could live in a library and read books all day long, I likely would. If I could wear flannel everywhere, to every occasion, I certainly would. Wouldn’t you? If I could move to Hawaii, give up my blowdryer, and write for a living, I surely would. If I could travel the world and photograph every beautiful thing that caught my eye, I absolutely would.

If I could make just one person’s dream come true, I most definitely would.

What would you do if you could?

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love, marriage, and p90x.

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

Pull-up bar? Check. Protein powder? Check. DVD set plus $26 shipping? Check check.

For those of you who have not heard, my darling husband has embarked upon a personal 90-day dedication to fitness, also known as p90x, also known as the bane of my existence.

Now, let’s get a few things straight. Was Brett 100% supportive of my 30-day vegetarian challenge? Of course he was—have you met my husband? However, I would like to argue that my little non-meat experiment affected him in the slightest of ways, and if anything, was beneficial in the sense that I was cooking more healthily and more often than usual. This p90x program, on the other hand, is turning my sweet husband into a whole new monster person. Instead of coming home from work to play with me, he immediately vanishes into our home gym where I hear a combination of grunts and groans. He’s swapped his nightly bowl of ice cream for protein shakes, and is doing enough push-ups to make me tired watching. He’s even (prepare yourself) swapped caffeine for…..get this…..WATER. No joke. The worst part? He is making me feel SO lazy. And if you’ve met me, you know I’m not lazy.

All that being said, my dear friend Ruth recently wrote a lovely blog post about acts of service and unintentionally reminded me how important those acts are in marriage. While acts of service is only my #3 love language, after quality time and words of affirmation, I have a feeling it might be more important in these next 90 days.

So, despite my urge to complain about his sudden animosity towards all things related to sugar and laziness, I am jumping on the acts of service bandwagon and resolving to embark upon my own 90-day journey of expressing my love through serving. These acts will hopefully include: cheering him on, not eating chocolate in front of him (sorry about that), refraining from suggesting we order pizza (starting tomorrow), and taking his monthly measurements without giggling.

You can do it B!

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the great vegetarian update.

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

For those of you who are dying in suspense/couldn’t care less and everything in between, I wanted to post a quick update on how my 30 day vegetarian challenge is going. In case you missed the memo, I gave up meat for 30 days. Yes, that includes chicken. And turkey. And pepperoni on my pizza.

Well, it’s been 22 days and I haven’t slipped. Yet.

Just kidding. In all seriousness, it’s been great. I don’t know if I’m losing my mind or if I was slightly crazy to begin with, but I keep waiting for something to happen. A physical change, an emotional epiphany, a sudden angry outburst….SOMETHING. But nothing has happened yet! Maybe I was hyping this vegetarian thing up a little too much? Or perhaps you vegetarian readers (hello? Bueller?) out there can enlighten me. Is something supposed to happen? Or does it just take more than 22 days to notice a change?

Honestly, I feel great. I’ve been eating loads of fruits and veggies, practicing yoga regularly, and (perhaps the only thing I’ve noticed), sleeping better. Like, I-am-practically-in-a-coma-once-the-lights-go-off. Phenomenal.

As much as I would love to tell you that I have been super adventurous with my cooking and tried 22 new recipes, that would be a big fat lie. However, I have tried a few new recipes, and I have also been modifying other favorite recipes by swapping out meat for veggies. But don’t be fooled by the fancy photos—there were plenty of emergency moments, including but not limited to: having cereal for breakfast AND dinner, eating PB&J three days in a row, eating a starbucks pastry for lunch (sick), and of course, driving 10 minutes out of my way for Jamba Juice, simply because I knew I would be safe in their non-meat corridors.

Nevertheless, here are a few of my favorite meals I’ve made over the past couple weeks:

{grilled panini : whole wheat bread, pesto, cheddar cheese, spinach, grape tomatoes}

{trader joes veggie fried rice + stir fry veggies}

{veggie pizza : whole wheat dough, marinara sauce, mozzarella, zucchini, squash, bell peppers, more cheese}

{“green pasta” : elbow macaroni, pesto, lemon juice, garlic, asparagus, zucchini, pine nuts}
(This recipe was 100% made up and created on the fly. It was de-lish)

{veggie risotto : four cheese risotto, steamed carrots, zucchini, squash, asparagus}

{vegetable lo mein : recipe found here}

Everything has been tasty and satisfying thus far, and I only have 8 more days to go, yippee!  Do you have a lovely recipe to share? I’d love to try it!

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to my sweet readers.

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010


I did something today I haven’t done in a long time and looked up how many people subscribed to my blog through google reader. I know, it’s completely self involved and I apologize for my selfish curiosity. Nonetheless, I was beyond ecstatic to see that I have 54 subscribers(!).

Insert huge smile here _________ .

The first time I ever looked that up, I had 12. I was super excited that 12 whole people (as opposed to you half humans) actually read this little space, where my heart resides.

As weird (or perhaps not) as this sounds—this IS where my heart resides. This is where I tell stories, self reflect, and share a tiny piece of my heart with a tiny piece of yours. To know that 54 of you actually care enough to occasionally stop by here, means the world to me.

So, to my sweet readers, thank you. Thank you for reading and laughing at and/or with me. Thank you for listening to me complain and vent about the things that bother me. Thank you for supporting me when I have something lovely to share. Thank you for leaving me comments. I absolutely love reading what you have to say. I love clicking the links to your blogs and seeing what you’re all about. Thank you for lurking and not leaving comments, because even though you don’t announce yourself, I know you’re there. Thank you for telling me in person that you adore this blog. It is by far, my favorite compliment to receive.

And most of all, thank you for letting me be me. Because here, in this little space where I share my thoughts, I always feel the most me.

Thank you for reading, and thank you for subscribing.

I love writing for you.

-Ashlee


p.s. if you want to hop on the bandwagon, you can subscribe here. no pressure. seriously.

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no phones allowed.

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

We promised each other and swore we could do it. One weekend—no computers, no TV, no cell phones. We were headed out of town to soak up the sun and each other, with no technology, reality TV, or social media to distract us. Just him, me, our bathing suits, good food, and good conversation. It was going to be perfect.

And then we left the house without directions.

Do you remember what your life was like before GPS? I don’t. I can’t even remember the last time I printed directions from my computer, or even more absurdly, looked at a map. They’re still called maps, right? In fact, I’m fairly certain and simultaneously embarrassed to admit that I’m not even sure if I know how to read a map. Why would I need to when my trusted iPhone gets me from point A to point B while also showing traffic updates and pointing out frozen yogurt stops along the way?

So, we turned on my phone.

Just for a minute, and just to get directions. Despite the fact that my little e-mail button flashed 9 unread messages and there was a text impatiently waiting to be answered, I stuck to the deal and only opened the map application. We mentally memorized the directions, and I promptly switched my phone into its foreign “off” position. Back into my bag it went, where it was ignored but not forgotten about, for the rest of the weekend.

While it was somewhat difficult at first to shut myself off from the universe, by Sunday morning I was feeling so free. I didn’t know what anyone else was doing, and nobody knew what I was doing. I felt this weird sense of privacy and spontaneity, like we could go anywhere and do anything without anyone knowing. No tweets, no e-mails, and no foursquare check-ins to worry about—just us, 100% unplugged.

In fact, we loved it so much we are already planning another unplugged weekend getaway. Only this time, we’ll remember to print directions. Who knows? We might even pick up one of those map thingys.


{lovely walks and talks}


{outdoor brunch}

{loads of sunshine}

Are you in need of an unplugged weekend?

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