Home for the Holidays

Well hello there!

I guess I'll start where I left you guys off... Have you ever seen the show Survivor? I have recently decided that that is the only way I can describe the past three and a half months at college. Except it's kind of twisted because instead of competing for a million dollars, I'm paying an arm and a leg to make it to the finals. While I love the academic side of the school, there's not much I can say positively in regards to the rest of it and quite frankly I'm ready to be voted off of the freaking island. But, the good news is, I made it through my first semester and even managed to pass each of my classes with a fairly good grade in each!

As for home, it has been great. I got home on the 14th of December and have been catching up with friends, family, and sleep for the most part. The day I flew home, Mom and Dad flew out to Texas to catch Binky's graduation from Hardin-Simmons University with a B.A. in Psychology (Good job, Bink!). While they were gone I had my annual Christmas party with a few close friends and emphasized on trying to regulate my sleep schedule while catching all of the Christmas movies on Abc Family. I couldn't wait for Mom and Dad to get home because those two are basically my two best friends in the whole wide world! (I'm not being sarcastic, they really are!) Once they got home, we were tuned into full force "Get Ready For Christmas Shenanigans" mode. Two days later we had our annual Ornament Exchange with a group of family friends which was tons of fun! Chrissy, Cameron, and Marcus even made it out to the party so I definitely got my Marcus fix in too. The next day, Grandma and Papa came to celebrate the holidays with us. Chrissy (and family) had to leave on Christmas Eve so we had "Christmas Morning" with Chrissy, Cam, and Markie on Christmas Eve morning followed by Mom and I venturing out to Auburn to spend the afternoon with Shirley and Grandma Staudinger. After leaving Auburn, Mom, Dad, Grandma, Papa, and I hit up a Christmas Eve service at Calvary. It was a beautiful service that really got you in the spirit of the true meaning of Christmas (sometimes, when all of the Christmas chaos hits a reminder is helpful). Then came Christmas which was a day of practically nothing aside from opening the gifts that Santa had left us and pigging out on Christmas dinner. (We did a whole lot of lounging around!)

The day after Christmas, Mom had her tonsils removed and we were told by the surgeon that her left one was "horrifically infected" he also said that she should have gotten them out years and years ago (we're talking when she was around eight years old) and that she wouldn't want to even move for the first three or so days of recovery. His estimation was... incorrect by far. While she was in quite a bit of pain, I found her sweeping the floors and doing dishes on day two. (Needless to say, I put an end to that really quickly!) But anyway, she is recovering well and what seems to be quickly but prayers for more success in healing without complication are still appreciated!

Tomorrow (Dec. 31st) we head out to Chrissy and Cameron's house to celebrate 2012 and welcome in 2013 as a family. I head back to school on January 6th and quite honestly would rather have my teeth pulled out one at a time than go back there but I am going to keep telling myself that it'll be worth it in the end. Besides, for Jan Term I am taking a Psychopathology in Film and a Snowboarding class, it should be a fun month!

I hope you as a reader are having a wonderful holiday season and a very happy new year with your friends and/or family. Thank you for taking the time to catch up via my blog!

Much love,
Ashley

Here are some pictures I've taken since my last blog!

This is a small part of my dorm all decked up for the dorm Christmas party.

Top left to right (Tori, Me, Sam)
Bottom left to right (Katie, Me, Tori, Andrea, Emily, Sam)

The week before finals Pre-Stress.

Exhausted Mid-Finals week.

Tien standing next to my truck, "The King", and Grandma and Papa's car at the airport.
(She was on my flight to SeaTac!)

Reunited with my Pinnacle Peak Crew.
a.k.a Cuddle Puddle Time!

Emily and me watching Christmas Movies and waiting for Mom and Dad to get home.

I baked cookies while I waited for Mom and Dad to get home.

He's a photogenic little stinker!
I love being an Auntie!

Alexia and I went on a sushi BroDate.

Best friends by the Christmas tree!

Gobble-gobble, meow, grumble.

I'm sorry it's been so long since my last post. People weren't kidding when they told me how busy college would keep me!

I decided that I was going to go home for Thanksgiving about a week before the break and I'm very glad that I did. It was great to be able to catch Chrissy and Cameron right before they left for their late honeymoon to Hawaii. Chrissy and I were able to go see the last Twilight movie (Breaking Dawn Part II) on Thanksgiving morning which was nice because that's kind of been our thing since the first one.

I also got to spend an entire day with a handful of my favorite friends sitting around talking, taking silly pictures, and even getting some pancakes from Denny's. I really missed them and it was great to be able to pick up right where we left off.

To top it all off, I scored a few days with just Mom, Dad, and Marcus. I am so thankful to have been blessed with probably the greatest couple of parents on the planet! And in terms of Marcus, you all probably know how lucky and happy I am to have him in my life too. (In case you were wondering... We played with trains a LOT!) Mom and I went shopping, got Panda Express, and the three of us even had nachos after Markie went to bed two out of the four nights I was home(big surprise, huh?). It was great after I got over the "stranger in your own home" feeling and got back into the swing of how it felt to be home. I really didn't want to leave.

Grandma and Papa did us all a big favor by meeting Dad outside of Spokane to make the drive a little shorter for him (and Mom on the way back). That was pretty cool too. It's amazing to me how quickly people are willing to jump up and help you if you just simply ask for it. Dad, thanks for driving me, Mom thanks for riding back with us, Grandma and Papa, thanks for meeting us!

I'm  not going to lie, the past couple of months have been very up and down for me and they most certainly have not been easy but I have been blessed with a great group of family and friends that have helped me get through the adjusting period of college and it's actually starting to get a little easier. So, thank you family and friends for you wonderful prayers and encouragement. I am truly blessed.

Other than that, I've been busting my butt trying to get my homework/studying out of the way (while setting some time aside to practice the tuba of course) so I can enjoy the bright side of college (the random, fun adventures and ice cream runs).

Oh! Before I conclude, I should probably say that our first band concert is tonight! So there, I said it.

I hope you, as a reader are doing well and had a good Thanksgiving with your friends, family, or whomever you decided to be with during the holiday. And I wish you a blessed and pleasant 2012 holiday season.

Love,
Ashley

P.S. In case you're a visual person, here are some pics.

                                          Dad and I cruising on one of his visits to Spokane.   

                                               Mom and I the day before Thanksgiving.
                                             

                                          My girls reunited over Thanksgiving break.

                                                We painted up for a basketball game

                                                Chris and me in the theatre.

Markie giving his Auntie Ass his best smile.

Freshman... again.

*If you haven't caught my last post: Preparing for the Jump, I accidentally forgot to publish it so it's under the September tab.*

Here we are; it has been exactly a week since Mom and Dad left and I am starting to get used to the swing of things. The first couple days were a little rough for me but needless to say, I am adjusting to the way of the Whitworth. I have been blessed with two roommates, Hannah and Stephanie and whether they know it or not, they've been fairly helpful with the transition... they're both pretty cool. Oh! By the way, Grandma has already made me two batches of cookies in the past week that I've been here... Spokane may be alright. ;]

I had my audition for the Wind Symphony on Friday night and unfortunately I completely biffed it. But, on the other hand, only two tubas auditioned (me and an upperclassman) and with two bands we had to be split up. So, I am jumping into my position in the Concert Band with my eyes set on the goal of somehow boosting into the Wind Symphony by the end of the year. That was definitely a tough day for me because as much as I knew that that was not "me" playing in that audition, it was the way I reflected myself and it made me feel as if that was "me". However, I'm taking this as a blessing in disguise because everybody needs to be humbled every now and then, right? I'm super excited to play with this band and this also opens up more time to try to find a local job!

Other than that, the food here is pretty edible and my classes haven't gotten the best of me yet. I have fairly late mornings and get out at a reasonable time too! The dorm I'm in is called Cornerstone and is an all freshman girl dorm which is jam-packed with a bunch of friendly, outgoing, and all around fun ladies not a mention a ridiculous R.A.! I am very happy with all of the lifetime friendships that I'm starting to form and am very excited to see what this year has in store for me and the rest of the class of 2016.

I'll update y'all soon on anything exciting (or horrifying) that may happen while I'm on this ridiculously long train ride. Until then, keep it classy my friends... and family.

A tour of my dorm. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekDXlwKnIs4

 

 

Preparing for the Jump

So, when we last touched base I was recapping the end of my senior year and gave a sneak peak of how my summer had been going so far. Now, as I hit the brakes on my journey through the best summer of my life (it takes a mile to come to a complete stop, right?) I can't help but sit back with a smile on my face as I reflect with you on my jam-packed goodie bag of summer.

I don't know how exactly this happened but somehow I think my friends and I gave this summer a theme of: ADVENTURE because that's basically all we did this summer. July was full of all kinds of crazy events with some of the greatest friends I've ever had. We went on a 2 day camping trip up at Mt. Rainier NP which I may mention had a couple of the most beautiful viewing points I have ever seen in my life. We also did a couple different hikes (one of which we may or may not've been stopped for trespassing... oops. My fault.) We also did a 15-mile bike ride to South Prairie and back which consisted of a coffee stop once we got there. I also went to Denny's a lot this summer (I bet those waitresses probably almost know me by name.) Then came August which Mom and I started with a week long trip to Utah to see the Helliges. That was really nice because I've been really missing those guys lately! C.J., Shaun, and I did a pretty neat hike there that lead us to a neat little cave with a waterfall inside (Doughnut Falls is the name), we also went bowling which I totally whipped their butts at, and even saw Rock of Ages with the parents (Which Shaun thinks should be rated PG23). The last day in Utah, I spent with just C.J. and it was buckets of fun. We went and saw The Hunger Games (both of us this was the second time seeing it in theaters), drove around a little bit, went and got lunch at a really neat restaurant called The Porcupine where we split a serving of chips and salsa (my
favorite) and then went to town on overcooked fish tacos and salad (can you guess who had what? I am my mother's daughter). Shortly after getting home from Utah, I had my wisdom teeth out (which ended up being a LOT easier than I expected). And after that, every thing's been pretty much running full force ahead. I am ready for the journey that awaits me but still nervous for what it holds. I will update once I get all settled in! See you on the flipside!

*I apologize: apparently, I forgot to publish this post so it has been sitting in my drafts for a couple of weeks.*


At Mt. Rainier NP

The crew I went camping with

Our bike riding crew

Hiking Pinnacle Peak

 

C.J. and I

 

A few of my favorites

Closing Doors While Opening Eyes

After my first post being the prime side effect of Benedryl, I'm sure you're assuming I have typed this blog with my front teeth or maybe even my butt. Well unfortunately, that is not the case. Just eight fingers (no real person types with their thumbs, right?) typing the keys.

June has been the month of many. I've partied hard (completely soberly), closed some big doors, and spent some much needed time with my family.

When graduation starting coming around the corner I had no clue what the etiquette of grad parties was. Do you invite your friends? Am I supposed to give gifts too? How much notice do you give people for the party? Do you send a separate invite? I was full of questions! So, I did the typical Ashley response and didn't ask any questions about how to run the thing and threw it in the first weekend possible. Needless to say, I was amazed at the support system that has racked up for me within the years. I am incredibly blessed with the friends and family that have been placed in my life!

So with graduation came the end to my most favorite thing in the entire world: band. Our end of the year concert went out with a bang! The end of the year concert has always been a little sad for me because I am stuck reminiscing on all of the hard work that was put in to make it happen over the year but this year's was by far the saddest. I can't help but think about all of the underclassmen and how much I am going to miss them, but even more how proud I am of every single one of them for putting in an abundance of tedious work to make it all happen.
With band coming to an end, followed the end of The Jazz Fiasco and the Sweet Nothings (for me at least). And that group will always hold a special place in my heart. Behind open doors we were more than a band, we were a family; dysfunction and all. I love those guys.
I also had one more door closed to me that caught me by a blow to the gut; my job. At the time, I was kind of stuck laying on the floor with not a clue to do. Reapply for jobs? Try to land a last minute job at camp? I had no clue. So, I went to a handful of people closest to me and got their opinion and after a long brainstorming process, I decided to take the summer off. This door closing was a blessing in disguise because honestly, it's only the beginning of July and I've already had the best summer of my life!

Between all of this commotion and shtuffs was a great day trip to a city of books, doughnuts, and hipsters; Portland. I went with a small group of a few of my favorites and definitely had a day well spent! We went to sushi, Powell's Books (an AMAZING bookstore), Peet's Coffee, a sweet vinyl, tape, and CD shop, Voodoo Doughnuts, and even thought the car was stolen. I believe was a great little break from Orting and the stress of the transition we're all going through.

My most recent adventure was done with my mom, dad, sister, and nephew. We drove over to Montana to join our family for a pre-fourth of July campout at our family cabin. Now, when I say cabin I mean a legit "Little House On the Prairie" style cabin; outhouse and all. Upon arriving at the cabin we noticed a "slight" problem... it was infested by mice. This caused a massive problem when it came to sleeping arrangements because it voided the use of the bunkbeds inside we were planning on sleeping in. I ended up sleeping in my dad's car because the tent wasn't quite big enough for the five of us. Aside from the sleeping problems, it was a wonderful couple of days with my family!

Now, I am just sitting on my Aunt Stacy's (yes, Stacy's mom does have it going on) porch in Missoula, MT awaiting a long ten hour drive home with my sister, nephew, and grandma tomorrow. I am so excited to get back to my friends and start swinging back at my summer vacation. Here's to a blessed and safe month of July!