The Original Ashley

Building a library in the stairwell, while it is an awesome idea, I don’t think my carpentry skills are quite there yet. So likely before I make my awesome stairbookcase, I will probably just cheap out and grab a couple of storage boxes from ikea, paint a few for good measure and clip them together as I see fit. For a visual reference, please see the photo below, borrowed from a Swedish blog that takes items from ikea and takes them to the next level.

Another busy week followed by another interesting weekend. The week was pretty much just waiting for news about granddad, and trying to keep any and all pressure off mom and dad by any means necessary. On Thursday Dan and I went to go see Granddad in the hospital and I was relieved to see him looking at least a little better. He showed us some of the exercises he was supposed to do with his hand (which we later found out were wrong…) and I gave him a raspberry for good measure before leaving to go for dinner. Friday night Granddad was supposed to come home so after grabbing dinner with marni we went back to the house to walk to dog when mom and dad came home with no granddad. Apparently the nurses didn’t want to do the paper work that night so he had to stay overnight again. Its also at this point that I found out that Papa had fallen in his house and suffered some serious bruising to his face. More worries to which there are no actions to follow. I went upstairs and cleaned my roo

Found a link to this new artist on Poppytalk, and I thought it was a photograph at first! It kind of reminds me of impressionists, its all light and colour and you can almost see the water moving! Love it! Here is a link to the Artists page: http://poppytalkhandmade.com/table116

Yet another reason why Teddy is AWESOME. Also, typography ftw

Despite the fact that this is a post about the weekend, it actually starts on Thursday night, otherwise known as St. Patricks Day. No I didn’t go out drinking, I can’t imagine green beer is any less revolting than regular beer… But I did go out with friends for coffee and to share our stories of the week and discuss our plans for the weekend. It was at this point that I got the call from my mom saying not to panic, but that she was taking my Granddad to the hospital. I of course was if not panicked, than at least really really upset, as an 82 year old visiting the hospital at 10 at night can never be good. Thankfully my friends were amazing and kept my distracted until I went home and set up camp on the couch, determined to wake up the moment my parents got home. Only problem is that they never did. They were in the waiting room at the hospital all night and didn’t see a doctor until 6am. Feeling gross and strung out, I then went to work in a daze jumping any time my cell made a nois

It might be because I'm happy that Crabtree brought out a new line of Lily products, but I love the new designs as well. Its such a nice change from all the Vector illustrations that cover EVERYTHING because vector is COOL ... ick. I love the water colour and the whole idea behind it. The new designs come from Pearlfisher which is in New York, and we all know that everything that comes out of New York is AWESOME! "The graphic design of the range works within the conceptual world of ‘romantic femininity.' The design for each fragrance is an original water-colour illustration that 'grows' around the bottle and the secondary packaging. All colours, patterns shapes, illustrations, photography, and textures are inspired by, or abstracted from, a representative of a specific garden plant or flower. The design story celebrates this natural vibrancy and passion; it is brimming with originality, colour and movement."

Its been almost 8 years since I graduated High School. It seems hard to imagine, but the time has flown by and I find myself sitting at my desk counting my fingers to double check that, yeah, holy cow it really has been that long. And 8 years can be a really long time, with lots of opportunity for change. I think I've changed. Not in any major way, but I have a lot more confidence. I'm mature (sometimes, when the situation absolutely requires it) I've seen people who I thought I would be friends with forever fade into people I only sometimes check up on facebook. Thankfully, by luck or determination (or not being able to run fast enough...) most of my best friends from High School are still my best friends. And like myself, they have changed as well. But as a group, I have to say that although we have our mature periods, I think we are still exactly as we were 8 years ago. This is mostly because the things we come up with in our spare time, our random conversations, are abo

Beautiful Simplicity...

The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom. H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

...visit 5 Different countries with 5 different people http://candychang.com/before-i-die-in-nola/

In a form of continuation from one of my previous posts, http://theoriginalashley.blogspot.com/2011/02/stairway-to-heaven.html I found this and decided that my dream house will have something like this on the bathroom window… I’m thinking along the lines of a New York map….

A Modern Day Tea Party! On the Sunday Kim and I woke up early and got to work getting ready for the Tea Party! The menu consisted of tiny sandwiches, scones with strawberries, tea (of course!) and then gingerbread cupcakes and ina a better world squares for dessert. This wasn’t just any Tea Party though, one of the stipulations of the invitations was that if you came you had to come in style! Sun dresses, lace gloves and hats if you had them. In the end we had a wide spectrum from sensible dresses (lynn) to holy cow! (marni) The Tea was delicious, and the company was even better!

The last two weekends were so packed full of stuff, I can’t even fit it all into one post. The long weekend alone was amazing! Kimberley came over for some classic girl time, so after taking her and Matthew out for Indian Buffet at Mount Everest, the two of us wrapped ourselves up in snow gear and drove to Ski Lakeridge for snow tubing! It was very cold getting up there but once we were at the top of the hill you couldn’t feel it. Probably because I’d just realized I was about to rocket down the side of a ski hill in a mini tube. Now don’t think I’m some chicken or something, I assure you when it comes to sledding and sledding like activities, I’m up for pretty much anything! I mean I’ve gone sledding on the twin rivers hill and lived! But all that aside, at the top of that hill, I admit I may have felt some miniscule motions resembling small winged insects in my upper abdominal area... But I mustered up some courage, as there really was only one way down the hill, (and also I wasn’t