Merry Holidays!!!!

   What a wonderful time of year!! Sorry, it's been a long time since I have blogged! I have been so busy with school and working more than I was "supposed" to! But, I will give you a short update on the life of me... I finished my first semester at BG Tech with a 3.0 GPA. I am very proud of my accomplishment, and I really think I am studying what I want to do with the rest of my life. :) I do enjoy working again, although retail is growing very boring and old to me. I need a change, but that is why I am working on my degree so I can find a better job and start a family (the fun stuff!!).

Fall has come and gone, and we are now heading into to winter, and in just 3 short days I will, along with millions be celebrating the holidays with my family. I just want to take a moment and pray for the people who have hard times this year and won't be able to afford much celebrating. I remind myself that this season is NOT about buying gifts, and shopping... it's about remembering why WE are here on this earth and how our Lord was born and what the REAL meaning of the season is. It's not gifts, food, eggnog, sales, anything. Make sure that you tell everyone you love them, and do something nice for someone-- even if you struggle. It only takes a second to address a Christmas card, or pick up the phone and call someone. You'd be surprised at how much it can change someone's mood for the better!!


I still feel like life is just flying by- like I am stuck in this spot but the world is just passing right along by. Sometimes I feel myself trying to catch up but I am behind- I know I am. It's really hard to describe without sounding stupid but I just feel like I shouldn't be 22 already. I shouldn't be worrying about bills, jobs, etc already. I can't believe I wished for this! (LOL) I can't believe I told my mom I couldn't wait until I was 18 and could get out, can I just eat those words up now. What happened to field trips, sleepover's, going to Limited Too and playing with the makeup, and warm sweet milk before bed. It's just crazy! I love my life, every rough bit of it, but it's going by so fast. 2012 is at our feet! What am I gonna do with this year? Oh, there will be changes--- FOR SURE. I'm not going to list, but I am sure you will be along for the ride with me and I talk about them.



Well, it's 4am and I am rambling........ as always. UGH! Well, I will hopefully be able to post another blog soon letting you know what happened over my holiday. My hubby and I are both on vacation the week after Christmas so I should have some good time to be able post and get back on track. I will try my best to blog more regular after the holiday too. :)


Thanks for reading all, and God Bless!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Painters! ;)

Florida Family Vacation 2011

Painter Family Vacation!

So, on Thursday the 14th we headed down to our in laws in Memphis so we wouldn't have to drive that 4 hour trip Friday on top of a 14 hour drive to Tampa. We hit the road and was so ready for our trip! We spend the day with the family and left out Friday night in their van loaded down with all our luggage. (There was a total of 6.) We left at 9:00pm Friday night and got down there 12 noon Saturday. We stayed kind of outside of Tampa in Indian Rocks/Beach area. It was a remote place with several different condos around, but houses and small restaurants and surf shops nestled here and there. The name of the place we stayed at was called the "Beach Palms". It was really nice. We stayed in a 3 bedroom, and it was ocean front (walking distance to our private beach access), and had our own pool! It wasn't like a hotel it was an apartment that people could easily live in! I liked it much better than hotels I've stayed in, and honestly it was a better price as well. Here are some pics of the condo. :)

Access from the beach to the condo.

View from the ocean looking to the condo.

Living area, master bedroom, and patio.

Our bedroom for the week. :)

Condo again.

Last pic I took at condo. Front of the place.

So, after we got there Saturday we had to wait to check in so we went to the Saint Johns Pier/Boardwalk and walked around a bit. I got a cool necklace with an anchor on it, and some gifts for the family. :) 

Sunday through Friday we did several things, mostly just hung out on the beach, by the pool, and with each other. It was nice to be able to see them and do stuff with them. I wish we lived closer so we could do more things with Aaron's family, he loves them a lot but they are 4 hours away so it's hard to plan trips like that. We've decided more long weekends should happen with them though! :) Anyways, I took my very FIRST boat ride out the this island to explore (3 hours was a little long, my father in law started talking to the birds there, not sure if it was the heat, or just the crazy people around him :P). I also attended my first ball game to see the Yankees (and it was awesome!) If I had cable, I'd probably find them and watch them from home.. I really enjoyed it, and my mother would probably smack me for this since NO one in my family even likes sports ( I really enjoyed myself at the game!) We also went out to eat at our last night at Bubba Gump's ( related to the movie Forest Gump- they even asked us trivia as we ate our food.) They were a bit pricey, but it was nice to be able to eat outside by the ocean. The weather down there was PERFECT, nice and warm with few rainshowers and the ocean breeze to cool you off. It was nice, I could sooo live there someday. :) On the last day, we literally drug ( and I mean this) the boys to have thier pictures taken, you would've though we had given them shots down there or something!! LOL. Anyways, I will post pics of everything at the bottom for you to look through. As always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy. Please feel free to comment (even if you aren't a member!) :) 

Aaron and I at the game.

The yankees at the pitching mound.

Jeter hitting a run. :)

View from our seat!

Jeter hitting again!

We won!! The guys lining up. :):)

Birds on the beach.

Adam (aarons brother) and friend Cole behind bars in a deserted fort.

Adam and Cole seashell hunting with bridge in background.

The pier to ride the boat.

The pier on the island.

View from the boat.

Crane staring at me, so I took a pic.

Bird on the water.

Dennis and Sherry waiting to ride the boat.

Dolphin!!

The boat we rode!

Beautiful. :) 

Aaron and his dad. :)

Aaron and I at Bubba's!

Beach pics. :)

My sweet hubby. :) Love this!

Adam, a great pic of Aaron's little brother!

The ocean. :)

Sunset on the beach, breathtaking. :)

Daytime on the pier. :)

Dennis and Sherry. :)

Candid pic of dennis and sherry. :)

Collage of vacation. :)

Another collage. :)

Our feet in the ocean. :) Oh, how I can't wait to get back there! 

God Bless Yall. :)

Beach Bound. :)

Welp blog readers.... as of tomorrow I will be heading to the beach with my sweet hubby and my awesome in laws. Thanks to them, we are going to be taking our first big vacation together! We will be staying in Tampa for a week. We are going to see the yankees play (pretty exciting) and spend time with Aaron's family and sit on the beach! :) I also got a sweet new camera and will be taking plenty of pics... maybe even a scrapbook. :)  But will post more later, I swear I'm like a kid right now. So giddy and excited! :)

Diet Day 1!

Well, it's been a while since I've blogged, but I have some interesting thoughts tonight so I will just throw it all in here, sorry if I ramble (I am carb and Caffeine deprived!)


Aaron and I have started the atkins diet. A diet consisting of (for the first two weeks) nothing but meats, cheese, oils, eggs, very few greens. As I read the book, it also says if you like Caffeine you should kick it at this point so you can wean yourself off of that as your weaning off carbs. So, we took our list, went to the grocery and loaded up! We spend about 20 bucks more than a normal weeks groceries (I wonder due to the amount of meats)... anyways, I did stock up on sugar free jello, heavy whipping cream, and sweet n low. I found a little recipe if you whip up heavy cream with sweetener and dallop on top of jello and its a nice little treat. Also, instead of like chips if I need a snack, Im gonna eat pork rinds (they have BBQ!!)  


So, today is day one of my diet- I feel really tired and grumpy. I crave a diet coke so bad, and I'm having a really bad headache. The vitamins I am taking are supposed to kick in within the next few days and help make me feel better!

I will write here what I ate today for each meal so you guys can get a feel for what exactly I ate today!

Breakfast- 1 hardboiled egg, 4 slices of bacon, a piece of mild cheddar cheese
Lunch- Chef Salad with egg, ham, bacon,cheese, homeade ranch, cucumber
Dinner- 2 steaks, 1 cup salad with ranch, 2 pieces of colby cheese
Snack- BBQ pork rinds and cheddar cheese stick
Snack #2- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream sweetened and fluffed. (Like coolwhip).


I didn't feel hungry at all today, just really tired. I will post pics of my meals tomorrow I just forgot to bring my camera in the kitchen this time!

Also, good news- we are heading to Florida in less than three weeks!!!! I am so excited to be able to get away with my hubby and my in-laws are so sweet for inviting us along, they really mean so much to us!

I am still jobless @ this point, but I am taking time to carefully plan our dieting (hopefully for more success) and I look for jobs like 4 times a day, I am hoping something comes up soon. Really soon.

Life is going pretty okay right now, just struggling but doing it as best as we can!

This is a little milkshake thing (it has one net carb). It honestly tasted like strawberry flavored water, def will not spend 6.00 for 4 of these things ever. They were not good at all. lol.

This was SOOOOO worth the 64 cents!!! It tastes like a pina coloda!! :) It's got the fizziness I like about a coke, and the sweetness without the carbs, cals, or caffeine. I am glad I stocked up on these!

Summer Dumps. =(

Welp, its summer! While I should be my normal happy go lucky self, ready to indluge in sunning with my mom by her pool and enjoying each moment of daylight I can, I am not. I am in a state of depression at the moment. I am more mad at myself than anything, and I don't think there is anything anyone can do to fix it. I am currently unemployeed, which me and not working isn't a good combination. I have to work. I have been not working for two weeks and I am already stir-crazy. I can only clean my house and re-organize so many times. LOL.  Anyways, ususally I don't feel this way this time of year but for some reason I do. Maybe it's the fact that I feel so alone most of the time anymore. Everyone has thier own families and friends to hang out with, and I mean I have Aaron after 7:30 pm most days so I am grateful for that but during the day I have no one, and I do is sit here and think, which isn't a good thing at all. I'm not one to sit and complain so this blog will be short. Just please pray I find a decent job, and am able to pull myself out of this slump I am in, it would really mean a lot to me. Thanks.

Ash :)

May Showers & such!

It's been so long since I've been able to blog... I've missed it!!

Life for me has been a blur recently working two jobs and going to school, but I'm gonna make it!! :)

 A couple weekends ago, we celebrating my husband's Grandmother's 90th birthday- most of the family came and it was such a joyus occasion :) Here's a pic that follows of Aaron and myself, My mother in law Linda, and Aaron's Granny Eva! :)

I love my new job, and I am excited at the opportunities that lay ahead with it!
You know I am not above at starting at the bottom and working my way to the top, which is exactly what I plan to do! I am finishing out school so I will have a degree and then work up from there. I love the fact that I am working now and helping pay bills. I love working, I have such a sense of worthiness working and being in the real world!

I did get a new car, finally... but honestly I refused to buy one until my Honda fell apart, and fell apart is exactly what it did. It's so funny, but I'm stubborn. :) I got a 2006 Saturn Ion, i LOOOVE it!! It's silver, which I wasn't crazy about, but it will be okay. Aaron got me some decals from Ebay in my favorite color orange to go on the back, and I got some accessories for the inside, dad put a system in it so I can jam while I drive (I love to drive with the music so loud is drowns everything out..) and I am paying for tint on my windows, and Aaron is putting rims (NOT the skanky chrome kind...) I refuse to look ghetto but Aaron said no hubcaps on his wife's car.. LOL. I am thinking black rims, or maybe brushed gunmetal. Anyways, the inside is awesome and it runs really nice, it drives so smooth!! It's gonna be my MOM car, with touches of my personality in it.

I actually had a weekend with Aaron, and we were gonna work on our cars, and the rain came so we took advantage of a little eating out, and watching our DirecTV forrr freeeee:) Did I just say free?? YES! :D Love the perks of my job man!

Anyways, life for us has been going great. I guess I should give an update on the baby makin'... we are on hold for right now. I have made an appt with my doctor to go get a check up, and we are planning to start trying around August/September full force- and until then, whatever happens, happens.

Not much else to say right now except I am like the happiest I've been in a while, I love life right now.. I'm not thrilled being busy all the time, and I miss my friends... but it'll all be alright soon! :)



Love you guys! Peace!

Monday Updates and such! :)

Happy Monday to all! :) I have had a bit of spare time this evening, so I am going to throw up a bunch of stuff I've meant to write about in the past couple of weeks, I just haven't had the time.

First of all, I redid my bathroom on the cheap (like seriously less than 30 bucks for everything) a couple of weeks ago, and when I went shopping I knew I wanted COLOR. Everything in my apartment was themed like black and beige, and most of it was gifts that were expensive from when Aaron and I had our little 1 bedroom flat apartment, with not a lot of room so all my stuff (bedroom included) went together. Anyways, so I loved daisies and I decided to redo my bathroom in such. I personally think it's cute... Aaron thought it was bright, but he's a guy. ;) Anyways, here's some pics of what I threw together. Hope you all like! :)

Okay, funny random little story. I was heading into work the other day, working for a coworker and I am running late (as usual), and I see this guy half naked on a moped.... weaving in and out of traffic without a care in the world. I started to freak out at first, then realized he was probably just enjoying his day off. lol. I did happen to snap a pic so you can maybe laugh too. ;)

Last weekend before this one, Aaron's mom took us to dinner at this place in Hendersonville, TN where her boyfriend lives. We've eaten at this place in Nashville and it's my FAVORITE place to eat when I'm down there, but anyways it's called Demo's. Thier food is delicious, and cheap as well. On this particular trip I got steak and chicken, with alfredo noodles. I know that sounds crazy, but they are known for thier free homeade bread, and the fact you can get any kind of spaghetti with any entree, so the possibilites are endless for what you order from there. Anyways, I also got a strawberry daquri too. (2nd drink I've bought since I was 21!) It was really good too!! Anyways, here's a sneak peak of my food, yes I'm the weird girl who always takes pics of her food. LOL.

Last but not least, I have to blog about my sweet puggies!! We took them to Dad's for a family cookout sunday. They had such a good time running and playing in the backyard, and just being outside in the yard. We ate good that night too, Aaron loves to grill- I swear he would grill every night if he could. Anyways, Lily Belle will be 2 years old in May, and Jaina Leigh just turned 4 months old the 15th! :)

And so I end another day, successfully writing my thoughts down and thank God for this wonderful day. Thanks for reading all, I appreciate it! :)

                               (No makeup, full of flaws.)                (But that's the beauty of life...)