Guess What I'm Doing Today?

eeek!

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Here's a little holiday playlist for your liking. I even included some guilty pleasure bands like N Sinc ;)



I am loving being home! It just feels so much more like Christmas here. I've been doing my procrastinated holiday shopping and just enjoying my time here. This is my favorite week of the whole year :)
XOXO Ashley

Holidazzle

Hello friends, family, and stalkers,
It has been so crazy around these parts lately! (I know, I say this alllll the time. But it really is!)
I have barely had time to get into the Christmas spirit this year with all the nasty homework and stress pressed upon me, but I wanted to take a little time out to talk about....


PRESENTS! of course :)
But not just ANY presents. I want to talk about giving gifts that keep on giving. Yes, that extremely insightful and deep sentence is the thesis of this blog post.
I love giving/getting gifts that not only are fun to get, but also help other people. Here are some of my top picks for gifts that keep on giving:

Toms Shoes

Not only are these adorable and comfortable, for every pair you buy another pair is given to a child in need of shoes.
www.toms.com

Invisible Children Apparel



Invisible Children is a really amazing organization working to end the war in Uganda and child soldiers. The proceeds of these purchases go to help them do just that!
http://store.invisiblechildren.com/christmas

Earthlust Water Bottle

This extremely cute and functional water bottle gives 50% of its proceeds to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
http://www.shopkirdevries.com/earthlust-frog-20-oz-stainless-steel--water-bottle--hea20.html?gdftrk=gdfV22008_a_7c387_a_7c1028_a_7cearthlust_d_frog_d_20_d_oz_d_stainless_d_steel_d__d_water_d_bottle_d__d_hea20

Penguin Classics Book Collection

This redesigned collection of classic Penguin books gives 50% of its proceeds to the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa.
http://www.joinred.com/red/#shopred

Beads for Life

These are handmade beads from Uganda that help support health care, job training, and affordable housing for local communities there. You can also buy premade necklaces, bracelets, and earrings!
http://beadforlifestore.org/disk_shaped_funky_paper_beads.asp

Aren't you in the mood for giving now? I definitely am. I would also like to give all of my homework away as well. I'll let you know how that pans out...
Happy Holidays!
Ashley

I have no time to blog.

But isn't this picture cute?

Be back later!

Leavin' On a Jet Plane

On Tuesday I will be heading out to the beautiful, sunny, WARM state of California for Thanksgiving! This will be the first Thanksgiving I have spent with my family since I left for college (meaning three years) so it's kind of a big exciting deal! Since I am currently planning my trip and packing, I thought I'd make a little "Perfect Traveling" list of my must-haves.

1. Comfy shoes. I love these cute pom-pom slippers from Gap


2. Pretty Luggage. Vintage is best ;)


3. A yummy snack. My favorites are Miss Vickie's Sea Salt & Vinegar Kettle Chips and Honest Ade Pomegranate Juice


4. Excellent tunes. Tis the season for my favorite Christmas music: Sufjan Stevens' Songs for Christmas.


5. A good book. These are just a few on my must-read list




6. A cute & cozy pillow

7. Something to keep your hands busy. (P.S. I only dream of being able to create something so fantastic)

And as I was looking for the above image I found this:


I think I NEED that giant knitting machine!

Happy Holidays everyone! And if you are eating Tofu-Turkey, please load up extra on mashed potatoes or something that tastes good...

XOXO, Ashley

The First Snow

It looks like this outside today:

And I am planning on sipping some of this

And cuddling under these

And all of this is making me really, really excited for this.


XOXO Ashley

Lately

This semester is going by SO quickly! I feel like every day there is a long list of things I need to do and want to do and rarely any of it gets done.
This past weekend was Halloween, which happens to be the mister's birthday! We went to a place with laser tag, bumper cars, mini golf, an arcade, and batting cages. They were unlimited so we had a lot of fun :) We also played a game called Redneck Life on his birthday with his family. It was pretty hilarious.
Friday night we attended a little party, and I had to come up with some costumes in a few hours.





Noah and I went as Mr. and Mrs. Fox from Fantastic Mr. Fox...We didn't look very much like them but it was the best I could do with the time given. I sewed a little pouch on my dress that held scissors and paintbrushes like Felicity Fox's dress, but the scissors kept stabbing me so I took it off :)



AND the boyfriend got a HAIRCUT! He looks so handsome now :)







My cutest little nephews dressed up this year as well. Ian was a pirate and Colin was Justin Beiber. I wasn't too happy about that one, but he still looked adorable.

All of this chilly weather has me itching to start knitting and crocheting again, but I need a project! I'm thinking I want to try another blanket. I'm not too fond of the one I did last winter, so I might unravel it and reuse the yarn. I am so inspired by these blankets:






My biggest issue is I do not know what kind of yarn to use. With my other blanket, I just chose a soft one, but the blanket feels like it could fall apart at any minute. If anyone knows of any good blanket-making yarn that is soft and not too expensive, please let me know!

And finally, I wanted to show my last completed project.



I showed a photo of one of these a while back in one of my posts, and I finally made my own :) Noah's mom helped me a lot with the sewing because my hand-held machine doesn't work for this. I'm hoping to make a Minnesota one, but that probably won't get finished for a while.


Oy. I need to get some homework done, among other things. Have a fantastic, magical, adventurous day!

XOXO, Ashley