19 days. Holy Crap.

May 24th, 2010

19 days. I NEVER thought I would make it to the teens!! Not to say that I thought me and Aaron wouldnt make it, but we've have been engaged FOREVER and I never thought I would see the end of our engagement. I am so excited. I am stressed too, but not too much. My newest stressor is planning the Uhaul arrangement to get all of our presents back! Hopefully it wont cost an arm and a leg because we HAVE to have a Uhaul if we are going to be able to bring our presents home. We will have 2 very large dogs and one medium size dog in my small Kia Sportage. We will hardly have room for our clothes and my wedding dress! I am lucky enough to have a great friend Amber driving up and will be bringing some of our other luggage possibly.

Aaron and I had a nice weekend, I went to my final dress fitting on Saturday with Amber. She had to learn how to lace up my dress so that she can do it the day of. The lady who was helping us was so sweet, and almost had me in tears explaining things to me. She said the coolest thing, which Ill never be able to say it exactly like her, but she said that I need to stop and enjoy the moment because it will be in my nature to worry about everyone else but me and Aaron. I need to stop, and realize that all of these people will NEVER be in the same room together again, and the ONLY reason they are together is because of me and Aaron's union. We are joining these families together by this union. What a powerful thing once you stop to think about it!!! So, I have promised myself to stop and just observe, enjoy and realize that because of me and Aaron....all of it was possible.

It is now almost 10 Monday morning and this is the very last morning of my nanny job. I am sooo sad to even say that. I enjoy these babies so much. They are both playing quietly right now, before we leave for our daily outing. Not sure where to today, but I'm sure this little boy will let me know where we are going! Probably the park, his favorite. Friday is my last day...so I am going to enjoy this last week with them. I don't think their new day care will care about these kids as much as I do. I doubt they will be able to give them the individualized attention that I can, but their parents think this is for the best.

Well, I'm going to go feed baby girl her second bottle of the day. More later.

"There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage." Martin Luther King

A.P.

Tired.

May 21, 2010

I kept wanting to use my free time at work to blog, but tiredness or Jillian Michaels would win the war of my time. It's currently Friday and I am so thrilled that I have a full free weekend in front of me. I have no large plans outside of my final dress fitting tomorrow at Monica's Bridal and then church on Sunday morning. Aaron and I are also going to a birthday dinner for a friend tonight at Blue Water.

So, about Jillian Michaels....she is actually trying to kill me. I have done her workout DVD two days in a row now, and my body is so incredibly sore. My legs are the worst.....ugggg. If you don't know who the heck Jillian M. is, she is the trainer on the tv show Biggest Loser. I have actually never watched that show, but I figure if this woman can get 400 plus pound people to lose weight, then she can get my butt to lose weight. I have not hit the 200 pound mark, and I don't want to. I've done well staying away from it, but not getting any farther from it. I dread todays work out, but am excited to be able to stretch!

Wedding Update:

Wedding is currently 23 days away and I finalized the menu and bar packages yesterday during the kids nap. As a said before, the final dress fitting is tomorrow (Sat) at 4 pm and my sweet Chattanooga friend, Amber Brown is going to attend the fitting with me so that she is able to lace me up the day of. Aaron confirmed all honeymoon reservations including the flight...we have to be AT the airport at 4 AM so that we can fly out by 6! I am going to be dead tired....since our wedding ends at midnight...we wont even have time to sleep...it will be wedding, reception, head home to change, grab luggage and run out the door! (And maybe open some presents before we leave:))

That's all for now , folks!

A.P.

Bummer of a Day

May 18, 2010

So, after my posting yesterday I got some crappy news. I was at work which I have just started less than 2 months ago. I am a nanny for two children who I have grown to adore. 2.5 year old boy and 6 month old baby girl. I will withhold names to protect the innocent. During their nap time, their mother comes home and informs me that at no fault of my own, they have decided to put their children in day care. WTF. FML. Daycare? Really? My first reaction was to be really upset and cry...which I did oh so well, but after she left...I was livid. Why did they hire a nanny and THEN decide day care was the better choice? This is someones life they are toying with and finding a GOOD nanny job like this in Chattanooga is almost impossible. Trust me, I know. Don't they know what I went through to find them, and that I had a better opportunity to chose from, but that I chose THEM because of how quickly I "clicked" with them and their children during the interview? I think they knew for a while what they were going to do, and I find it shady of them to pull one over on their nanny. I probably would have taken this job, even if I knew it was temporary, that way I could have been looking for a new job. So, I am currently employed until May 28th, but being paid through June 3. Oh...thanks...and extra three days of pay...is that my severence pay? Can I file unemployment...NO. And the cake topper on this (pun intended) is that I am T-minus 25 days away from getting married. Nothing says "prepared for the future" like going into a marriage unemployed!!!!

Thats the end of my soapbox...for now.

On a lighter note, which I sooo needed today, I found out that I passed 2 more of my 6 Praxis tests. 4 down...2 to go. Any future teacher, or current teacher knows the importance of these tests, so it was wonderful to find out that I am that much closer to graduation. I even passed the 2 hour Special Education one which is a b*tch to pass.

Currently, I am at my work....temporary work and I am letting the little girl take her nap and the little boy play quietly on his own. I hope I don't lose momentum in these last two weeks, but it is so hard to care as much about their expectations.....because what are they going to do....fire me??? BHAHAHAH. Not funny.

So, as I said before.....25 days away from being married. My sweet mother has promised me that she will man "handle" anyone that stresses me out or is mean to me. I love her. She has been my backbone, my right hand and the pain in my tail end through this whole thing.....and I can't thank her enough.

I just can't wait for our 7 day honeymoon in Riviera Maya, Mexico. Good bye and good riddance USA for one week!

Love all, Trust a few, do wrong to none. -W. Shakespeare

A.P....almost M.

Can I keep it going?

May 17, 2010

So, I was laying in bed last night thinking about the movie Julie and Julia...and I have no idea why. And if any of you have seen that movie, Julie decides to blog about her cooking adventure "with" Julia Child. I thought "what a good idea to keep in touch with the world!" Yes, we have Facebook, Myspace and email, but with how exciting my life is currently, I think it would be nice for some of my family to be able to log in and read about my daily life. Maybe not exciting to others, but I bet my sister will at least read!!

So, without further adu..(ado? you will learn spelling is not always my strong point) here is my life...on display...for anyone who is curious.

Where my life is right at this moment:

Most of my close family and friends are aware that I am approaching my wedding date, June 12, 2010. I am blessed to be marrying an incredible man who I can trust, and who shares the same love of God I do....which is so important in a marriage. We have similar goals (which I will discuss later) and both want children, although the number of children is still up for debate! He would like 2 children, and I think I can only endure child labor once.....need I remind him that I push out these children.....hmm..

June 12 is currently 26 days away, and all of the important arrangements have been made. Dress is being altered, tuxs are being made, the cake and flowers are set to be made and the dj is booked, paid off and ready to go. Because I live in Chattanooga, Tn with Aaron, but the wedding is in Ohio, my family has had to help plan this wedding. My mother, sister, Aunt Susan, Step Mother Victoria and Mother In Law to be Melody have been my backbones of this wedding. I honestly could NOT have done this wedding without them. These are all amazing, strong women who I obviously trust and love with a tremendous love. My mother and I have even restrained from choking eachother :)

June 12 will be our (Aaron and me) 5 year anniversary of being an official, exclusive couple. I am sure I will give the ENTIRE story in the next few posts, but Ill TRY and keep this first post short...ish.

Thanks for reading, and I may do more than one post a day so you can get your fill of Ashley each week! :)

I need a cool sign off..any suggestions?

Ashley