I am back.

I have great news for you guys/ whoever reads this gem of mine, I have time to blog again! We have hired more help at work so I am no longer everyone’s / for lack of better words/ bitch. It is just great.

This life of mine is turning out pretty great.. just some things to get you caught up.

Little sister started high school. She is just so grown up!

 Look at that transformation... and thank God our mother no longer dresses her. :) #bluejeanbaby

 Bo and I spent the weekend in New Orleans.

 

 Jillian and I went to the Katy Perry concert.

My Mom & Aaron got married... failed to get a pic of the groom... oops

 

"Nana" and great-grandma "Memaw"

 

I was in ANOTHER wedding...

 

 

That was pretty much a college reunion...

 

I moved into a new apartment with Bo-cita in September. Living together will be a post for another day. And I decided to just tell my father... oh the upcoming blog posts will be entertaining...


Bo turned 30! I got him some amazing TUMI luggage and buying luggage for someone is a sign of aging. It. Is. Sad.

“Fat & Happy” is in full effect so I signed up for a half marathon and bought new Brooks to get my butt motivated.

I am so excited to be back... I like having this portal to vent and document everything. I have missed it.

Hope everyone has a good Thursday!!





River Trip Shenanigans

I went to the river last weekend for my friends birthday party. We got there Friday night, pitched our tent (I need one of my friends to invest in a camper because I am too old for this), had a few beers and called it a night. Woke up Saturday sweating. It is HOT here in Texas. We had breakfast burritos and mimosas for breakfast, packed the coolers and headed to float.

The first half of the 6 hour float trip is easy to remember... the second half is a little hazy. Probably because the amount of alcohol I can consume on the river seems to be a little more than I ever would if I was just sitting around on a Saturday afternoon..& my drink of choice is vodka & crystal light...
I get a water bottle, pour like 2 inches of water out, pour in vodka, add the crystal light single packet & shake. Done & Done. Well, I had 7 of these bad boys.... I actually went to sleep about 7:30, woke up at midnight with a hangover (as everyone else was going to bed) and got it all over with so Sunday I actually felt fine. & here is a photo dump from what I found on my phone...



when is the last time you crimped your hair???
We did this Friday in our free time waiting on our drive
(aka Meredith's bf)

View from our fancy camp site

 

Sunni's cake

 

ryan was having trouble with those candles

 

Not sure why I made him pose alone...

 

Just a little side rant.. & all you really need for camping.
I had to go solo this weekend, Bo had to work and I was pretty much counting on him being off.. I didn't prepare much for this trip because I was thinking he would be there to take care of everything. Plus my friends were bringing the tent and everything else we really needed... Hence the reason I only packed a case of water, vodka, blanket, pillow, and bathing suit + cover up.
Everyone gave me shit all weekend, but they covered for me and let me eat their food and drinks...
because they are great friends I guess. BUT everyone else had a shit ton to pack up on Sunday and I was ready to go in like 2 minutes... & I was still wearing my bathing suit.. good times.

My pups went to their fancy vacation home... Nana's house &
she was super nice and got them groomed

 

Mom & Aaron got me this wine from Greece

 

& it came in this cute hand painted wine bag!

ITS HUMP DAYYYYY. I need a vacation.

My mom is engaged!

So my mom is a little crazy... her and my step-dad were married for 11 years then decided divorce was the only option. I was in college, it didn't affect me much. I am still close with him, I adore his girlfriend & we hang out every once in a while.

Back to my mom... well, she went a little crazy for the past 5 years... crazy as in she went from relationship to relationship and she blamed it on "re-living her 20's because she had 2 kids back then" which annoys me because, ugh hello, it's your own fault you had kids. Anyways, I couldn't care less to meet another boyfriend of hers. I was never super nice to any of them.. nor was Jillian. We kind of teamed up and didn't engage in conversation because we were just really over it. But we were never super rude.. we just did our own thing. The main thing that drives us nuts is the way our mother acts.. she can put up a front and be over the top nice and affectionate and we are like EW STOP.
Ok, My rant is over...

A year ago she started dating a new guy, I actually met him on accident. I was going to meet my mom & her friends for wine and he surprised her and me when he busted up our cocktail hour. But he seemed very nice and I decided I should give this guy a chance. Fast forward a year to a bar downtown where we all met up for a drink one night where Aaron asked if I would have his blessing to marry my mom. Literally my first reaction was , "Really, are you sure?" and he said, "One thousand percent" and I said, "yes of course I am totally fine with that." And that was about it. He asked my brother, Jillian & my grandparents. Everyone said yes.

Aaron took my mom on a last minute trip to Greece this week.. First of all... Who takes last minute trips to Greece?? Only place I go last minute is somewhere within a 100 mile radius. I digress. He proposed to my mom on Monday and we all got picture texts of the ring with her saying "I said yes!!". I think she knew it was coming... but I am glad she is happy and I am 100% done having to meet her boyfriends. Looks like they are having a great time in Greece and I may have to make a trip there one of these days!!



here is the ring!

this is their fancy patio...

Mom & Aaron with Greece in the background.

It is almost Friday!! I am headed to the river this weekend for my friend Sunni's birthday. We always float the river for her birthday & it is an amazing time... Last year I had 1 (or 4) too many Vodka/crystal light mixtures on the river... ran through a fence and this happened to my back/shoulder... good times.

What's happenin' < is that how that's even spelled?

 A lot has been happening...

Let's start with work. It is insane.

• We moved into the triple wide. Keeping it classy.
• I am still over payroll, HR (we have a new lady Karen who took this over for me), marketing & PR, Insurance, Accounting  (I have accounting help now and we are hiring someone full time on Thursday), & anything else that needs to be done.
• Speaking of hiring someone... I was in charge of getting candidates... I reached out to several sources and came up with 6 people who are well qualified (they are all perfect on paper) one of the bosses is coming in from Holland to conduct the interviews.. and I will just sit in to make sure these people are a good fit for our office. A good fit for our office will be... a lady.. who likes Ellie Goulding, Alanis Morissette & Clay Walker Pandora stations. Is it bad that I don't want a guy? I have to share an office with this person for the time being...

That 30 day cleanse I started... lasted a solid 3 weeks. 3 weeks is better than nothing.. and I need to do another one ASAP.

IT IS SUMMER TIME!!!!!!! There is nothing better than floating the river (or laying out anywhere) & having a cold one with friends. Love it.

I am kind of dating someone... and as in kind of I mean he brought his laundry basket to my house so its a little more than kind of. We met through work... it is off to a good start. We have been hanging out for about a month and a half now. Here is a little breakdown of how this happened...both of us went to a co-worker's crawfish boil & hung out... found out he is a reader... both bought Divergent on Monday, read the whole book by Friday .. so our first date was at the movie theatre on Saturday followed by a few beers. Fast forward a week... I went up to his house (1.5 hrs. away) and spent the weekend.. then he spent 3 weeks in Canada for work.. I thought, OK if I miss him, this could be something. Well, I missed him. I picked him up from the airport as soon as he got back from Canada... we went to his house for Mother's day to visit his family- while we were there he did his laundry... I assumed he would take me home and stay the night since its a far drive and I am 30 minutes away from work opposed to his 90 minutes.. well when we went to leave he grabbed his laundry basket overflowing with clean clothes. I thought... hmmm that is more than 1 night's worth of clothes... but I kept it to myself. It is crazy and weird that I am totally OK with someone wrecking (in a good way) my single lifestyle. These past few weeks have been fun. I will keep you (if anyone even reads this anymore?) posted on how this turns out.

My mother is engaged. This will be a whole new post on it's own tomorrow.


Happy 4 day work week!!!

Crossfit almost did me in..

So, you know how I announced yesterday that I was doing a 30 day cleanse? Well, day 1 was going great... I stuck to my plan and ate my 4 little meals (at work), drank tons of water, and headed to Crossfit at 5. I was feeling a little weak but I thought it was because I was tired. Sunday night I had to sleep on the couch because the smoke detector in my room kept beeping.. I took the battery out and almost ripped the thing out of the ceiling until I realized I didn't want to pay for those damages so I refrained.

Workout:
1000 meter row
50 thrusters
30 pull-ups.

Note: last time I did this WOD I killed it so I wasn't worried at all...

Well well well.... it didn't even start out good.... I was 500 meters into the row and my friend said, "Ashten, get a big pull with your arms and you will be done quicker".. I looked at her and said, "My
arms are F*cking tired, I don't care how long this takes me." I immediately felt bad after she told me my looks could kill. (oops)

The row took me about 4 minutes and 45 seconds... then the thrusters began... I got through 12in a row.. then 7 in a row... then squatted down because I started to get a little light headed....then I got 5 in a row, and another 5 and had to squat down again... At this point I wanted to walk out. I never sit down during a WOD so everyone was really encouraging and help push me along...I finished the thrusters and attempted to walk over to the pull up bar until I realized I just might pass out so I went and sat in front of the fan for a minute... this is about the time I started to tear up.. There is no crying in crossfit! I got it together and finished the pull-ups 5 at a time, grabbed my water and walked straight out of the gym. I was so weak! I am talking so weak as in I contemplated putting my car in park at a red light because my foot was shaking. As soon as I got home I ate a turkey sandwich and came alive again. It was a close call... but I survived & I apologized to my friend forgave me for being a total B to her.

& tonight I am off to the track all alone so there will be no one around to see me cry.. just kidding.

& that my friends is how Crossfit almost did me in.

30 days.

This past weekend was pretty great.. Friday I had dinner and drinks with a friend and got to meet the new man she is talking to. Saturday, Direct TV sent someone out to fix the satellite (and you know I cant live without my TV). Then I hit up some shops down the road and found some new work clothes. Those dresses were only 30 bones from Old Navy & they are perfect for work with a sweater & they were on sale at JC Penny for $15.00. win, win.

 

 

I had to do a little dog walking this weekend for a friend who was out of town......

 

& they cried as they watched me walk away through the window....

& Princess gave someone the wrong address...

 

Big News!

I started a 30 day cleanse today.

 

For the next 30 days I will...

• not drink alcohol (my liver needs a serious break)
• eat clean
• work out regularly
• start running again
• & blog more :)

Hope everyone has a great week!!!!!!!

Valero Open 1. Ashten 0.

This past week has been a blur. But a great blur. Let's rewind back to last Thursday.. My dad, step-mom & Jace arrived. We all went to dinner at Papacito's & had fajitas (duh). They don't have the best Mexican food in Indy so that is what they ate a lot of over the past week.. along with Whataburger, Sonic & Ninfas... BTW Ninfas is hands down the best Mexican food we have in Houston and I will fight anyone who thinks differently.. they have a secret sauce, pachuca gravy. It is to die for.  

Anyways, after dinner we went back to my place and got them settled in. Friday morning I headed out to San Antonio for the Valero Open.

 

Friday night we headed downtown in a fancy party bus for a nice steak dinner. It was amazing. The bus was a little low key on the way to dinner...

 

 

But it got a little wild on the way back.....

Some of us had a little too much fun too early...

 

Saturday morning I hit up the spa and then hung out at the pool for a few hours. I was supposed to get some work done but after a few glasses of sangria that wasn't happening "ohhh I can do it tomorrow" (which didn't happen either, alcohol got in the way all weekend)

 

Saturday night we went to The Spazmatics concert on hole 17. Have any of you heard of them? It was SO fun. Then we had a nice dinner at the hotel afterwards.

 

 

 

Dinner was followed by hours of sitting by this fire chatting it up with co-workers and clients.

 

 

Jennifer and I didn't go to bed until 4 AM... did I mention this is my boss's wife? He wasn't happy. OOPS.

 

Sunday was kicked off with watching some golf on hole 18 & lunch which was then followed by a much needed nap. Sunday evening our group attended the welcome party which is just a ton of sponsors along with a bunch of Valero employees. That ended at 10 so we hit up the lobby bar and played pool until 2. I am not really sure how I survived this weekend but thank God I did.

 

Monday's hangover almost put me over the edge but I kept it together and rushed home to this crazy kid.

The family went back to Indianapolis today.. and I am counting down the day until my trip up there in 2 months.

 

My liver needs a break and I cannot wait to go home tonight and sleep in my own bed. Did I mention I have slept on my couch with a 7 year old for the past 3 nights. It has been rough.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

It's almost Friday!!!