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

75% of the way done with first day of classes

My first 3 classes where really good! I am really gonna be into my 8am which is a personal fitness class. I had never had a class in The School of Kinesiology and Recreation. I don't know what I am doing in The College of Education, this building was beautiful. But I really can't spell kinesiology without looking it up so I think College of Education is a good fit for me. Granted it is only about 2 years old, it is has updated classrooms with all that fancy high tech stuff. For that class I also have a lab at 12. I'm looking forward to getting the hands on experience of trying different exercises and spending time doing things I already enjoy doing. Also of note, the professor is from Australia. So cool to listen to. I can see myself getting distracted because I am listening to him talk. Wait that sounds weird. Please tell me I'm not the only one who listens to the teacher for the way they sound? Okay I know I'm a different duck.  

And who doesn't love an English class? The one I'm enrolled in this semester is focused on Children's Lit. I wish it was all picture books. Sadly it is not. I will have to face one of my fears. For part of this class, we have to view the movie Dennis the Menace. I think it has a really cute story line, but there is one downer for me. This guy: 

Soure: Found this lovely image in an article, "7 Incredibly Scary Children's Movies". I googled "scary guy from dennis the menace." 

I won't be able to sleep tonight, that guy seriously scares the crap out of me. My brother will have a good laugh. 

Because I have the bestest major ever I get to take an Art class for my major course work. I'm super excited for this one. I have some friends (if you can call people I have had a class with before and kinda know friends?) in this class. I think this class has a lot to offer and the teacher seems to be very organized and enjoy the class. But the best part? She has a dog or as she calls it "mascot" named Max. I almost cried I was so happy. I love dogs. But it always makes me miss my little buddy at home. 

He was laying on top of the clean and folded laundry. He likes to be right in the middle of whatever I'm doing. And he loves Bounce sheets. He will come up to clothes after I take them out of the dryer and hunt through it for the dryer sheet. Funny thing is he just likes to hold it, he doesn't shred it. It's a nice way to freshen up, isn't it Max? I wish the same would work for humans.

 My Art professor let us out reallllyyyyy early today so I am chilling in Club Milner aka the library on campus. I don't think I have ever seen the place so empty. I felt stupid taking the picture, but there are people who have no idea what they are doing walking around and snapping pictures of themselves with books. Awkward...

It's great for taking pictures of myself.

Sorry bout the hat hair, it's cold out folks. Don't worry I fixed it after I saw the crazy part.

I think that's enough rambling for now. Looking forward to watching TV with the roomies tonight. Monday night = The Bachelor. 

Happy Monday! Look for a Listen Up post sometime tomorrow! 

Ashlyn 

And that my friends is how you pack a car

I like to think I have some pretty stellar packing skills. In case you don't believe me, here is a picture of my work. 

Look at that organization right there. My dad taught me everything I know. I just like to think I can do better than him sometimes.

After breaking 2 ice scrapers (both from dollar store, good price, bad idea), my dad did some magic and made room for my car in the garage to heat that baby up. That way I could pack it up too. So smart. Didn't have to keep going in and out and dragging all of my stuff outside to get all wet. Good thinking dad. 

I headed out, loaded with freshly burned CDs and some oldies but goodies. In my case I refer to N*SYNC as an oldie. The awesome tunes made the drive fly by. And then before I knew it, I was back on campus and forced to start thinking in school mode. Luckily I was on the ball and very productive and left myself time for a quick run. 

It's Sunday and you know what that means! Honey Boo Boo!! I found this quote I thought was perfect for the first day of school, cause you know, gotta look good. Or in most cases, just try.

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Off to bed for me folks. I actually have to get out of bed when the alarm goes off. I know, sounds awful. But it's the first day of school! Hope y'all had a good weekend!

Ashlyn

Stickin' it to the man

So I found myself sitting at a red light you know what that means? Search all the presets in my car for some good music, I think so. As I'm searching for something good, I land on shine.fm where I hear the intro to "Washed By The Water". Happens to be by one of my most favorite bands ever. Naturally what do I do? Turn it up really loud, that's a no brainier. Maybe not the best idea sitting by a cop at a red light especially since I have seen at least 15 cop cars today. Okay that's a lie, but it was more than 5 so just to be safe I rounded to 15. Good thing I'm not majoring in math. Made sure to turn the music up nice and loud as a drove by the cop. What a little rebel I am. 

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Enjoy the start of your weekend friends!

Brooks PureProject Contest

I don't usually just enter contests, but I loveee Brooks and I figured I didn't have anything to lose. And they were giving away some awesome stuff from their PureProject line. See for yourself! Ps, I took this right from the entry page:  Each winner will receive a Brooks goodie bag consisting of two pairs of Brooks PureProject shoes (Value: $200), a gift certificate redeemable for $250 in purchases from Sponsor's Web site at www.brooksrunning.com(Value: $250), and a custom PureProject Brooks shirt (Value: $26).   

That's almost $500 of Brooks swag. Gahhhh. Crossing my fingers that maybe they go for red tutus and pick me, but I am up against 100's of other crazy Brooks fan like me. I had written much more than this but I had to cut it down to under 100 words. Rolled in at 89. Score.

Well I am pretty much just sitting on the couch all night, there is good TV on (Grey's Anatomy anyone?) and the weather is kinda mweh.

Almost the weekend folks!

Ashlyn

T-Shirt Blanket

Today friends I would like to share a very special blanket with you. I present the T-Shirt blanket! I am one of those people who has a hard time letting go of shirts, especially if there are good memories attached to them. After seeing these guys pop up all over Pinterest and knew I needed to make my own.

Wait Max, sit there and let me take your picture.

Since I'm so nice and kind, I thought I would share the steps I took and my recommendations with y'all! 

 -Save shirts that you find to have meaning to you or are from something special, like a trip or school event. 

-Take your time! This is big. I am very impatient and it was hard for me to really slow down because I just wanted to finish it. If you rush your blanket will end up sloppy. 

-Use a template. After looking at all your shirts, decide what size you wanna make the square tiles. These will have to be the same or the blanket won't turn out correctly. 

-Locate a rotatory cutter or sharp sewing scissors. Cotton shirts are difficult to cut. Trace your template on to the shirt and cut along those lines.

-After you cut all the squares, start laying them out and figuring out where you want each one to go. Once you have a piece for each shirt, start pinning them into rows. Now sew them together.
 
-Once you have sewed all the squares together you will need to decide what kind of material you want to put on the back. I have heard of people using double the amount of t-shirts and using that as the back. For my blanket I choose to use a flat bed sheet. My mom picked up a full sheet from Walmart that had lots of colors to match my shirts. I like the feeling of the sheet because it is cool and I tend to always be warm. Good combo for me, but pick something that suits your needs. 

-Pin both sides together and sew. This explains itself. Again take your time!

-The last thing you need to do (what I finished today) "tack" it together. Tacking meaning sew the corners of the squares together and through the backing. That's the best I can explain that step. Sorry guys. 

And then I could get him off of it...

But I didn't mind because he was super cute.

Ta da!! All done. I started this project last Memorial Day, but soon realized I got myself into a big mess. Grandma to the rescue! She took almost the whole thing apart and resewed it together. When I sewed it the first time, I had trouble lining all the seems up and making it look nice and neat. My mom wanted it to look nice so it's something I could be proud of and keep for years. Needless to say, I'm very happy with the end result!

Now this blanket needs to be washed before I can take it back to curl up with at school. But I might take a nap with it first. Mhmmm tempting.....  

Ashlyn  

Daily Mile: 2012 Totals

I am a fan of Daily Mile. I like how easy it is to log my runs, bike rides and other activities. They have a variety of fields you can edit with each entry that allow you to really keep track of your training. And for my app lovers out there, there are apps that let you log your miles from your smart phone. The one I use is Electric Miles. 

They send out weekly emails with your total mileage for the week and gives you all sorts of helpful info. Another tool it offers is almost like a social networking for athletes. You can see what other athletes are doing in your area and connect with training partners. Also you can comment, like and send cute little badges to encourage others. 

Here is what the end of 2012 looked it (I started this new account right when I got to school in the fall, I fell out of using it and forgot my username that was tied to an email that was closed):

Alright folks, I'm heading to do some much needed catching up with my best friend. We are hitting up the local outlet mall. Happy hump day!

Ashlyn

Question of the day: What's your favorite place to shop? 

Listen Up: Week 1

I'm that girl sitting at the red stoplight jamming out to whatever music I can get my hands on. And when I say jamming, belting out the lyrics (all singing technique is out the window here) and getting some funny looks from the cars next to me watching me dance. Sometimes it's the a random combo of songs on a burned CD or if I'm up for an adventure, I'll scroll through the radio stations. The problem I have with the radio is that I feel like I always hear (at first I wrote the wrong here, bad self, you should know better) the same songs are played on repeat. I'm constantly flipping and looking for something exciting to listen to. I can't stand when people are always flipping through the channels on the TV, but it doesn't seem to phase me if I channel surf in the car. 

Anyway, on to the good stuff. Is it really cheesy if I do 13 songs since it is 2013? It is? Good. This week I will do 13 of my current all time favorites. 


Something Beautiful – NeedtoBreathe  

What I Know – Parachute

Hanging By a Moment – Lifehouse

Keep Your Eyes Open – NeedtoBreathe

Wanted –Hunter Hayes

Slumber –Needtobreathe

Kiss Me Slowly – Parachute

You Found Me – The Fray

White Fences – Needtobreathe

American Secrets – Parachute

Gone Gone Gone – Phillip Phillips

More Time – Needtobreathe

White Dress – Ben Rector 

Alright the cat is out of the bag. I love NeedtoBreathe. My most favorite song by them is Something Beautiful. I've probably listened to it 500+ times. Sorry to everyone who got tired of hearing it on repeat. That's why I wanted to use it as my blog title. I am planning on explaining the meaning behind the title another time.  

Happy Tuesday friends! I have a few errands to run and a few projects to work on before going back to school. Let's just say if they turn out okay, I will share them, if not I will keep the embarrassment to myself. 

Ashlyn