Spread The Word To End The Word: March 6th, 2013

Huh? What's that mean?

Allow me to explain. Better yet, I'll just tell you exactly what their website says because I think it explains it perfectly.

"Our campaign asks people to pledge to stop saying the R-word as a starting point toward creating more accepting attitudes and communities for all people.  Language affects attitudes and attitudes affect actions.  Pledge today to use respectful, people-first language." Taken from this site

Personally I have a strong disliking for the "R-word". I think it's highly offensive. What people don't realize is that even though they maybe aren't talking about a person with a mental disability, it can still hurt people. They don't understand how much damage a word can do. It's the same as calling something or someone "gay". While the terms mean two completely different things, they both can hold a lot of negative power. I wish people would understand how much damage their words can do.

Here's a video with the very famous Johnny Knoxville:
I love how he talked about making "The Ringer" changed his life. Eddie makes great points too. There are so many more videos out there and I could post them all day. But the part that really matters is raising awareness for the cause. Pledge to stop using the R-word, get your friends and families involved and make a difference. I love being a part of Best Buddies, it has gotten me to be more comfortable with people with disabilities and taught me that they just want someone to be their friend or "buddy". They don't care about your grades, the clothes you wear or the car you drive. They just want someone to go shopping with or go grab a pizza. My buddy loves both!

This is only my first year in Best Buddies and I have met some many great people! I don't always run around saying "guys I met these awesome people". I truly mean the people I have met are super awesome.  We are even planning to do a mud/foam run this summer! Combing two of my favorite things: friends and running.

My other "buddy" as I call him is a my super sweet 12 year old cousin. Sorry ladies, he has a girlfriend. I know, he is such a stud.

He is just a bundle of energy and can bring a smile to anyone's face. I was lucky enough to live by this guy for about a year and it was awesome. He gives great hugs and makes us all appreciate how lucky we really are.

This posted turned kinda long, but if you can't tell, it's something I'm really passionate about. If you could, please take the few minutes to pledge to end the word. Today is the annual day of awareness, but this shouldn't be limited to a one day event. I encourage you to take the pledge and get other involved.

I hope everyone had a great day and thank you for taking the time to read all of this!

Ashlyn

Listen Up: Week #6

Since it was snowy and yucky out, I did my best to stay put. Whether or not I got any homework done was another story...

But I was listening to some pretty enjoyable music. I'm not really sure how to describe this week's artist besides that they have a very unique sound. I'm gonna skip the random filler talk because I'm lacking the creative juices tonight.

Warning: this music is great on all occasions

Florence and The Machine: Ceremonials

1. Only If For A Night
2. Shake It Out
3. What The Water Gave Me
4. Never Let Me Go
5. Breaking Down 
6. Lover to Lover
7. No Light, No Light
8. Seven Devils
9. Heartlines
10. Spectrum
11. All This and Heaven Too
12. Leave My Body
13. Remain Nameless
14. Strangeness And Charm
15. Bedroom Hymns

I know, I'm all full of words tonight. Eh not so much. Maybe tomorrow will have something more exciting in store :)

Goodnight Friends!

Ashlyn
  

Playin' in the Snow

I would usually have a Listen Up! post for you today, but I'm gonna skip it for now. 


Today I had two more observations: one at the high school and one in the elementary school. The high school one was pretty painless since all they did was watch a movie so I couldn't even see to even take notes. Which is totally okay, high school is not an age I am interested in. For me, I'm all about the little ones. So I loved every minute of my time I spent in the preschool room today. The teacher was the sweetest. She had come to speak at a meeting I went to and talked to us on how she was using iPads in her classroom. I really liked how she ran her classroom and was so patient and gentle with all the kids.She had a special treat for them today: take a trip outside in the snow! After everyone got bundled up, we headed out to check out the flakes. It was so fun watching them make observations about the snow, patterns our shoes were making and how slippery it was. On the way back inside, one of the girls was having a hard time walking. Her boots were extra slippery so she grabbed my hand and walked hanging on to me all the way to the classroom. That was pretty cool, here I was a complete stranger but she wasn't afraid to reach out and ask for a hand. Punny punny. 

Snow!!

 I could go on and on for hours about this, but it was one of those moments when I was so thankful for the school I'm at and working towards a degree in something I love. Do I doubt my choice sometimes? Yes. Do I wanna quit and just give up? Well yea, don't we all? Do I regret really going after what I want? Never. There will be many more hours of observations involved, more papers to write and more tests to pass. I know this is something I want to do and I know it won't come easy. It's gonna be work, but I'm ready. I just have to remember when I am having a rough day, think about in a few years what I will be able to do. All my years in school have taught me everything I know, with a few life lessons thrown in. My favorite one my grandpa tells us, "Don't take any wooden nickels". 

I found this image on Pinterest. You didn't think I could go a whole post without talking about Pinterest did you? 

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I kinda really like this message here. Bottom line, I may not know exactly what my future holds, but I'm ready. Bring it on.

I was all over the place there, but thank you for sticking with me.

Ashlyn

What's for Dinner?

Since the weather is not so nice, I wanted to make something warm and toasty tonight. And I found the perfect recipe the other day. The best part? I had all the ingredients in my fridge already. I love when this happens. 

Found this gem on Pinterest: Bubble Up Pizza!

What you'll need (keep in mind, when I make something, I am usually only cooking for myself, so I would maybe double this if you are looking to feed more):

Jar of pizza sauce (I had a jar already open, it was the perfect amount!)
1 can biscuits 
Cheese 
Pizza Toppings 
Spices

Fire up that oven to 350.

  

Cut biscuits into quarters. This would be super fun for kids to do!

Mix sauce and quartered biscuits together.

                  

Put into a sprayed pan.

Cover with cheese and toppings to your liking. I left off toppings, but this would be great with just about anything you like!

I have a favorite seasoning my dad gave me that I always put on pizza, so this went on after the cheese.

 Cook at 350 for 20-25 mins. 
 

Remove from oven let it cool before serving.

 

It was really hard to wait for it to cool, I wanted to eat it right away.

 
This will definitely be added to my dinner rotation. It's very easy and is just plain good. I served this with a side of American Idol - it's boy's night. I can't wait to see where this season goes. 

It's almost the weekend! We are getting snow tonight, everyone is hoping for a snow day. I'm not getting my hopes up. 

Ashlyn

Listen Up: Week #5

I'm a few weeks behind.

Will you ever forgive me?

I will just jump right into the music. Wait that sounds cheesy.

Today's album is by an artist I have grown to like, Miss Ellie Gouding!

You may have heard "Lights" on repeat this summer. My current fav is "Anything Could Happen". As I was watching last week's episode of Grey's Anatomy, I thought I noticed her distinct style towards the end of the show. After some researching, I confirmed it that "Dead In The Water" was featured in Grey's.

Here are the tracks from her album titled Halcyon.

Don't Say A Word
My Blood
Anything Could Happen
Only You
Halcyon
Figure 8
Joy
Hanging On
Explosions
I Know You Care
Atlantis
Dead In The Water
I Need Your Love (Feat. Calvin Harris)
Lights


So if you are tired of your current tunes, add these in your regular rotation. I'm sure they will bring some excitement to your day!

On the school side of things, I had some classroom observations today and a meeting tonight with NAEYC. Lots of good stuff.

Off the finish up homework before bed! Goodnight friends!

Ashlyn

Like I was saying

After Skinny Man got his Valentine's Day goodies, I would share them here. 

But first I would like to show you the pretty flowers I revived because he did a great job picking out something he knew I would love:

I'm a lucky girl!

Here is what I made for Skinny Man.

He had mentioned he might like a tie blanket. After seeing fleece on sale at JoAnn's, my best friend helped me pick out the right amount of fleece. Skinny Man is tall and skinny. I wanted the blanket to be long enough for him at it was! Before I tied the blanket together, I sewed a special message inside on a scrap piece of fleece. From the outside, no one could see it, but he could find it and know where it was. 

Max helped me over winter break on this project.

I'm really sad I didn't snap a picture of the handmade book. Basically, I picked up some brown bags at the dollar store and 2 pieces of felt. Typed a few notes on note cards. Printed some pictures. Decorated the cover. I found this idea here, but I modified it and was very happy with the results. It was something simple, but I think he really liked it. I was worried he would find it girly and lame, if he did he kept it from me. I joked with him that he can read it every night before bed. 

After hearing that his lightening cable was tearing, I immediately knew something I could add a personal touch to something he uses daily. 

While this one was very easy to complete, it was very time consuming. I'm not complaining because it will help the cord stand up to everyday ware and I know he will get a lot of use out of it. He talked about getting a new cable earlier this week and I tried to differ him from purchasing one and ruining my plan. Luckily I think he was pretty surprised to see what I came up with for him. 

Since we would be seeing each other on Friday, he got his gifts from me when I "tried" to surprise him at school. I had told him I was stopping home first before leaving to pick him up when really I was already parked outside his building. My plan was working perfectly until he heard a siren in my end of the phone and then heard it go past him. It almost worked. Either way, I know he was very happy to see me. 

Even though it was well below freezing we made a stop at Red Mango tonight. Any fro-yo fans out there?

This girl is going to bed. Goodnight all!

Ashlyn

Hey Good Lookin', What's Cookin?

Hehe. I'm so clever. But you wanna know what's more clever? These cute little cupeycakes. Yes I just said cupeycakes. They are just too cute, I can't help it.

During the hours I spend on Pinterest, I found the recipe for Chicken Pot Pie Cupcales here. I made a few modifications based on what I had on hand.

Chicken Pot Pie Cupcakes 

Adapted from: Heather  

Featured on: Sunny Slide Up  

2 cups of cooked chicken breasts diced (being the lazy college kid I am, I opted to buy pre-cooked, frozen chicken breast that was already diced. Thanks for doing all the hard work for me Tyson))
1 can cream of chicken soup (again went for a low fat, less sodium option here)
1 cup frozen mixed veggies (didn't mess with this part, gotta get those veggies in there)
1 can biscuits (I bought a 4 pack and just used one, but the original recipe calls for 2. Being as I was the only one eating them, I was afraid to make too many.)
Sprinkle of pepper (Original called for a bunch of spices I didn't have, I also don't like when things get too salty)
Sprinkle of cheese (Original calls for 1 cup, I felt that was a bit much since I scaled back the number of biscuits I made)

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. If chicken is frozen cook according to package instructions
3. Make sure you use a big bowl here! Add cooked chicken, frozen veggies and soup. Mix it all up.
4. Spray muffin pan
5. Put biscuits in the pan. I flattened them and then put them in, but do however you please.
6. Scoop mixture into the biscuited pan. Yes, I'm making up words here.
7. Add pepper and finish with as much cheese as you you
8. Bake for 8-10 mins

Notes: You kinda have to watch them, because depending on the biscuits you are using, they all bake at different times. Also they might bubble over since this original recipe was intended for more biscuits.

And now for you visual learners:

I know this looks gross, but keep going, it gets way better!

Spray good!

Pile all the yummy stuff in. Try to make it as even as possible.

Bake 'em up.

Now the most important part: post to social media and brag to all your friends. Because that's what cool people do of course.

Lucky for me, I have some leftovers for the rest of the week. Hooray! I love that this is a fast, easy meal. It's nice to be able to throw together some simple ingredients and make a warm meal. This will be made more now. I think I can even get my roommates to eat it to, as long as I do some without the veggies.

I have my first clinical observation hour tomorrow at 8am. Going to the high school. If I remember correctly just about everyone hates that time of day. Should be fun! 

Ashlyn 

Saw it on Pinterest

This so called "Sharpie Mugs" have been all the rage on Pinterest. Some work better than others, but this one I found to be the most helpful. I had made a few with different markers and they faded fast. I just took the writing off with nail polish remover and put the mug aside until I could get better markers.

I like the mugs from the Dollar Store. I'm sad to say that I am there wayyy too often. I just can't help it, everything is a dollar.

After the first round of mugs fading, I knew I needed something different. I talked with someone at Micheal's and they recommended the Sharpie Paint Markers, that are oil based. Guess who had some awesome coupons and saved ten bucks? ME!

I also nabbed some fancy graphite pencil we used in art. I had a few ideas in mind and I want to be able to trace something and have it go onto the mug before taking a marker to it. This worked very nicely after a few attempts.

This mug is a gift for my youth director. It's part joke but she also partly said she wanted an "I heart Honey Boo Boo" mug. I am hoping for a nice finished product to surprise her with!

Here is how I did it: 

I typed up what I wanted and printed it out. This was the easy part.

Cut it down to size so it would go on the mug. Also, very easy.

Take that fancy graphite pencil and trace on the back of the paper. I put it on the window so I could get a nice trace. I also went over it another time to make it dark. 

Why on the back you ask? So when you type it on the mug, the words are the correct way. Any tape works, it just happened I had painters tape handy. And I knew it wouldn't rip the paper.

Why is she tracing the front of the paper? It's to put pressure on the paper and get the tracing you did on the back to go on to the mug.

 After you take the paper off the mug will look like this.

Then just go over it with the paint markers. And don't worry if you make a mistake, it wipes off with a little nail polish remover.

I think it turned out pretty good! I just need to throw it in the oven after waiting for it to dry for at least 24 hours. Based on a few articles I've read, I bake my mugs at 325 degrees for 40 mins. You must put the mug in the oven while it preheats so the mug warms up with the oven. You might need to adjust the time based on how long your oven takes to preheat. Be sure to keep an eye on them to make sure they don't turn yellow, another problem I've read. After 40 or so minutes turn the oven off, but leave the mugs in there to cool. I made the mistake of touching a mug after it cooled down and it smudged it. I touched it up and I will send it back in the oven with this mug here. I can't say for sure if these guys are safe for the dishwasher, but I will try it and let you guys know!

I'm gonna go watch the Grammy Red Carpet for now and later tune into Honey Boo Boo. Enjoy the last few hours of your weekend, friends!

Ashlyn

I seem to be a bit behind

You see, this little thing called school, is taking up a lot of my time. Sad, I know. 

No actually I'm really happy with my class this semester. They are keeping me busy, that's for sure. This weekend I'm working on a few projects (I can share after Skinny Man sees them). And no Skinny Man, I won't tell you what I am doing, just know that you will like it.I guess I should do some homework too. I mean that's the whole reason I'm in school isn't it? 

I hope to get a few post written for the upcoming week. I know you are all waiting to hear from me again. Just humor me and pretend that you are, it makes me feel good about myself.

Well I'm curled up watching Nicholas Sparks movies in bed. It's kinda awesome. Probably will be falling asleep early even though I'm the only person I know who gets 9 hours of sleep on a school night. Wow, I'm more lame than I thought. 

Thanks for stopping by! Anyone seeing any movies this weekend? 

Ashlyn

Listen Up: Week #4

It's pretty rainy and icky out today. I got up and ran this morning. I was thankful to only have one class and then able to hang and do homework all day. And laundry. Gotta love laundry day!

If you are a fan of American Idol (I like the show, can't stand the judges right now) you might have seen this contestant:

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Tracks from "The World from the Side of the Moon"

Man on the Moon 
Home 
Gone. Gone. Gone 
Hold On 
Tell Me a Story 
Get Up Get Down 
Where We Came From 
Drive Me
Wanted is Love 
Can't Go Wrong 
A Fool's Dance 
So Easy 
 
 Check out his performance on Ellen recently:

Skinny Man

He has been begging me to write about him on here. Looks like you get your wish Skinny Man! 

Needtobreathe Concert #3 together. Seeing them again in May!!

Few things he loves: Apple products (and the late Steve Jobs), bacon, Coke products, making things look and sound pretty (lighting and audio), Switchfoot and How I Met Your Mother. Anything I left out Skinny Man? 

Please don't hurt me for including this picture. I love pictures of my dog :)

Okay so his name isn't really Skinny Man. My family started calling him this last fall. You see, Skinny Man is in fact skinny, thus Skinny Man. It's kinda a funny nickname and we mean no harm by it. Luckily he doesn't mind it too much.

Since I never had a date in high school to dance with at homecoming, I get to make up for it in college right? I think yes. Had a great time 2 years in a row!

It's very effective to yell at the ski slopes because there are a million of guys with his name.  

Skiing last weekend. Safety first my friends!

I'll give you the short handed version of how we started dating. We had gone to church together for a couple years. Basically he might to text the person above me on his contact list. Well, I received the text instead.  Kinda caught me off guard, but I responded and we started to hit it off. I was bored out of my mind up at my grandparents and he was at home. It was a nice way to pass the time. I don't really think either of us knew what would come out of talking for a few days, but we agreed to grab a sandwich and then meet my best friend and her boyfriend at the movies. 

We kept hanging out and talking a lot.  Then came the church mission trip. Everyone thinks that we started dating on the mission trip, false. My brother and him went to the movies together and Skinny Man was nice enough to drive him home. We went to hang out at the park and then he asked me out. Yea yea I know it's cheesy. 

Football game last fall with the rents

Then came August and I was packing up to head off to college, I was ready to go and I had been really looking forward to it, but I was kinda sad to leave Skinny Man for the first time. I didn't know this until after the fact, but he took it way harder than I did. He wanted me to settle into school and not worry about him. Looking back on it, I feel back I knew nothing about it, but at the same time, I'm not sure I would have known how to help him.

Like anything new, we had to learn how to be together without physically being together. Since we didn't have much time together before I left, it was hard to know what being in a relationship was really like. I think it took us some time to get used to it, but we have gotten much better over time with phone calls, texts and usually Skyping before bed. 

Of course I hate leaving him, but I know I am where I need to be to go to school. My focus while I'm away is to get good grades so I can land myself a job after I graduate. He supports me and encourages me to be the best I can be and I make sure I do the same for him. It's nice to have someone always on your side to cheer you on when you are down. My favorite parts about our relationship is that we can have a good time doing just about anything, we know how to make each other laugh and we really have gotten to understand each other.

Group hug!

I have been working on a few projects for him and I can't wait to share them, after he gets them of course.

Hope I did you justice Skinny Man! Spending the rest of the night watching Friday Night Lights and getting organized for the week.

Ashlyn

 
 

But really

Truth! I love getting up and getting a few miles in before starting my day. My mom signed my family up for a race the last weekend in March, which is my dad's birthday! Last year the race was on my birthday and I made sure to stand out: 

Red tutu power!!

I offered to make my dad a tutu in the color of his choice, he declined my offer. His loss, he doesn't know how run it is to run in one of those things. 

One class left until the weekend. Probably just laying low this weekend. I feel like it's been ages since I've been at school for a weekend. 

Laterz!

Ashlyn

Listen Up: Week 3

I'm kinda behind here, please forgive me. 

But I do have a few minutes to tell you folks about some music. 

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This week I picked The Lumineers self titled album. 

Just like last week, for me it's all about the sound of the artist. 

I'm still trying to figure out how to describe their sound. Have a listen for yourself and tell me what you think!

Flowers In Your Hair

Classy Girls

Submarines

Dead Sea

Ho Hey

Slow It Down

Stubborn Love

Big Parade

Charlie Boy

Flapper Girl

Morning Song 

Listen Up: Week 2

Today got to be a little crazy than I was anticipating. So I apologize for the short post, but I have some reading to finish before I crawl into my nest for the night. 

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This week’s listen up is someone who is a newer to my iTunes library: Andy Grammer. I think of him as a mix of Adam Levine and Gavin Degraw. 

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 I really like the sound of his voice and his has a “whole cd artist”. Whoa making up words on us on. In my book I think of that as an artist where I enjoy listening to their whole cd. I tend to get bored of the same artist (unless it’s NeedtoBreathe), but there are always a few I can listen to their entire cd and be entertained. Maybe it’s because I was singing in the car to it on the drive back to school? Who knows? 

If you are in need of some new music, be sure to give Andy a listen.

Here are the tracks on his self titled album:

Keep Your Head Up

Fine By Me

Slow

You Should Know Better

Lunatic

Miss Me

The Pocket

Ladies

Love Love Love (Let You Go)

Build Me A Girl

Biggest Man In Los Angeles