Ashley Lately

Hey y’all!
Wow, it’s been such a crazy couple of weeks! I have so much I want to share here, but with Mother’s Day happening last week, TVP was insanely crazy. Every night when I came home from work, I crashed, and I’m still pretty exhausted.
Yeah, that’s about right :)
I have a few posts in the works for next week to talk about all of the things I haven’t had time to blog about, but here’s a little preview of what I’ve been up to lately.
Ashton and I took Cathy out for her birthday last week. Of course there was cheesecake :)
I went home for Mother’s Day and Grandaddy’s birthday!
I was on the news!
I watched C’s last soccer game of the season.
I went to Game 5 of the NBA playoffs and watched my Thunder boys win a crazy game against the Clippers!
I’m also getting a little bit closer to making my big switch to WordPress! Google Friend Connect is going away, so if you are still following there, please follow on Bloglovin’ so you don’t miss out!
Follow on Bloglovin
I’m working part of the weekend, and then I will hopefully get some downtime to catch up on some much-needed rest.
What are you up to this weekend?

The First Week of 2014

Hey y’all!
It’s hard to believe we are already one week in to 2014! 2013 went by so fast, but honestly, I am ready for what’s ahead in this new year.
I spent New Year’s Eve with Joyce, Wade, and the Littles for awhile. I was lame and went home at 10:30 or so. I’m not big on going out and staying up until midnight, so I decided to just hang for a bit and then spend the rest of the night in bed. I did enjoy spending some time with my Littles!
This Little Girl…she’s amazing.

The faces…

I don’t even have words. So much attitude in this girl. She’s like a teenager in a tiny body.
Last week, Colby and I got to go to an OKC Thunder game with a few people from TVP! I had never been to a game before, and even though we lost, it was so much fun! 

For Christmas, Colby got me a gift certificate to Hazel & Olive, my favorite online boutique! One of the things I got was this super cute cardigan!
It is so comfy and so warm, and it might be my favorite article of clothing right now.
I’ve only briefly mentioned this once (more details to come!), but my bff Neely got engaged a few weeks ago! I am so unbelievably excited for her, and I’m so honored to get to be a part of her special day.
As you know, I have a little bit of a problem love for Dr. Pepper. Because I now have a dress to fit in for this wedding, I have started cutting back on my beloved Dr. Pepper. I can’t give it up completely, but I’ve cut back to less than half a can a day, and I’m replacing it with water. Yes, water is SO boring to me, but the last couple of days, I’ve found myself reaching for my bottle of water over my Dr. Pepper. Crazy, I know. I”m hoping this will be the start of a life change for me!
So far, 2014 has been pretty good to me! I’m looking forward to what’s to come this year!
How is YOUR 2014?

What I’m Up To Wednesday

Hey y’all!
I’m still alive! It’s been awhile since I’ve had time to do anything but Sunday Social around here! Christmas time has definitely hit TVP, and things have been crazy busy the last few weeks. I have some posts planned with some stories about what’s been going on, but I thought I’d check in and share a little bit of what I’ve been up to lately!
Back in November, we had our annual Holiday Open House at TVP! We had an after-hours sale with cupcakes and a hot chocolate bar! We had a great time!
The week of Thanksgiving, TVP had a chalkboard contest between the three stores. At the Edmond store, we’ve been doing inspirational chalkboards for almost a year, and now that we have three stores, Erin decided we should have a little competition! We worked really hard on our board, and each of us contributed to the board in some way, and WE WON! 
Since I had to work Black Friday, I decided not to go home for Thanksgiving. I spent the morning at my church helping with Thanksgiving Day in the City, an event where my church cooks Thanksgiving meals for people in the community. After we finished the food, we had lunch together as a church family! I spent the afternoon and evening with Joyce, Wade, and the Littles, and we had Thanksgiving dinner at their house! I was sad to not be with my family, but it was great to spend the day with my second family!
Black Friday, TVP opened a couple of hours early and had a big sale! It was a crazy day, but we actually had fun! I’ve got such a great group of girls, and we really enjoy working together! Our prize for winning the chalkboard contest was delivered that day: an edible arrangements basket! 
To help myself calm down and destress, I’ve been doing a lot of evening snuggling with this guy…
…and eating a few of these. 
Last weekend, OKC got 4-5 inches of snow, and the city basically shut down! Today is the first day that the schools are back in session since Thursday. It’s been a cold, icy mess! 
I finally got my Christmas tree up on Sunday! I love having a tree with non-traditional Christmas colors! It’s pretty :) 
Hopefully I’ll be back around here in a day or two with more stories!
Have a great Wednesday!

Ashley Lately (it’s been awhile)

Hey y’all!

Like I said in the title, it’s been awhile!

Life has just been a little crazy lately, and I haven’t been making time for blogging like I should. 
Here’s a little bit of what I’ve been up to the last few weeks.

TVP Life

My sweet Becky moved on from TVP a few weeks ago.
She has been with me since the very beginning, and it was very hard to let her go. She is a precious girl, and she has taken on a new opportunity that is going to be wonderful for her! I’m sad to lose her, but I’m thrilled for her new adventures!
Ashton made us all ADORABLE new name cards for our cubbies! 
It’s kinda hard to see in the picture, but the letters are all glitter! We love sparkly things :)
TVP’s Love for Oklahoma necklace was featured in People Country’s latest issue!
It was such a fun surprise to open up the magazine to see that! It’s one of my favorite necklaces, and I loved seeing it get that kind of recognition.
We are so excited to announce that a third TVP location is opening this weekend in the Houston area!
The shop is opening in the Sugar Land Town Square. Houston friends, you don’t want to miss this! Our grand opening in Edmond was one of the most fun days we’ve ever had, and I know the Houston grand opening will be a blast! If you stop by, be sure to tell them that Ashley from the Edmond store sent you :)
Life with the Littles
I’ve gotten to spend a little more time with the Littles lately. They are just too sweet! 
Food is definitely Little Bit’s love language. 

How cute are these two with the iPads??
Little Man is obsessed with bandaids. He begs for them when there is absolutely nothing wrong with him! I spent the afternoon with them last week, and he searched for boo-boos all over his body until he finally found a tiny scratch on his face. Joyce put the bandaid on his cheek, and he walked around the rest of the evening patting it saying “Bandaid. Headache”. He’s so adorable!
Oh, my sweet Little Girl…
There are no words to describe how much I adore this child. I was laying on the couch, and she just climbed up next to me and snuggled up to talk. It’s rare that she sits still long enough for a chat, so it was nice. Of course we had to take some goofy pictures :)
A few more randoms
I FaceTimed with Momma a couple of weeks ago, and I got to talk to the cats. Jack enjoyed watching Oreo and Hershey play together!

I’m having THE BEST time teaching in a three year old bible class at church. A few weeks ago, I got to introduce them to Light Brights! They had never played with them before, and they had so much fun! I love helping these kiddos learn about God.

Joyce’s niece Mikayla came over for a girly movie night a couple of weeks ago. We watched John Tucker Must Die, Because I Said So, and Beaches. I didn’t have any Kleenexes, so we used rolls of toilet paper for our tears.
I hope you’ll stop by later this week. I have a few posts in the works that I hope will help me get back to a regular blogging schedule!
Have a fabulous Tuesday, y’all!

Weekend Update

Hey y’all!

I hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was busy but fun!

Friday, I finally broke down and bought my ticket for Bloggy Boot Camp Dallas!
I’ve been waiting, hoping I could make it work, and I finally got my work schedule figured out so I can go! I’ve heard great things about Bloggy Boot Camps, so I’m excited to be able to go.

I’m also THRILLED to be spending the weekend with these fabulous girls!
Fingers crossed that I get a little bit of time with this girl too! Pleeeease Meg, you have to come! :)
Saturday I worked part of the day and then spent the evening hanging out with these little cuties!
I haven’t been able to babysit them in a few months, and I’ve missed them a lot!

We had a really great time! I always bring a fun craft for us to do together, and in the fall I always bring pumpkins to paint!

It’s been fun to look back over the years at what the kids have created. So cute!

After the painting, J wanted to show me a video game, which led to us playing Just Dance.

I’ve heard about this game, but I’ve never played it. I had fun watching the kids play, but then it was my turn.

I had fun, but my goodness it’s exhausting! After doing about three dances, I crashed.

I won though! :)


At bedtime, we all piled into J’s bed to read books. I always bring books to read, and they have a couple of favorites that they always request. One of them they even bought at a book fair because they love it so much! Normally, I sit and read to them, but the last time A asked if she could read one of the books. This time, J asked if he could! He has been learning to read, and he was so proud to get to show me what he’s learned!

It was a fun night! A and J are always so good for me, and they are so much fun. It never feels like work, and the time just flies! I’m always a little sad when it’s time for them to go to bed :)


After I put the kids down, their cat Girl was waiting in the living room for me.

She hides the whole time the kids are up, but as soon as they are in bed, she’s in my lap. She’s super sweet and super snuggly. 

Precious girl!

It was a great weekend!

What I’m Loving Wednesday

Hey y’all!

Hope y’all are having a great week so far!

Here are a few things I’m loving this week.

I’m loving that I got to see Rebekah this weekend! 
She was in town for her baby shower, and I loved getting to celebrate her little guy with her! She is one of the sweetest girls I’ve ever met, and I’m thankful to be able to call her a friend.
Her sister and best friend put on a fabulous shower! It was so so cute!

I’m loving these cute new bangles from The Vintage Pearl
I ordered one with one of my favorite song lyrics on it, and I can’t wait for it to get here! I’ll share pics of it once I get it.

I’m loving these cute tops from Hazel and Olive

I have both of them, and they are my favorite things right now!

I’m loving these sweet girls! 
I miss them all terribly, and my life wouldn’t be complete without our fun group texts :)

I’m loving my sweet Littles! 
I’m so thankful to get to be a part of their lives.

And, I’m loving this song!


What are YOU loving this week?

A Little Bit of This and That

Hey y’all!
Ok, so there has been a lot happening in the last couple of weeks that we seriously need to discuss.
First? This.
I don’t feel like there needs to be any explanation, but I’m going to give you one anyway :) It’s no secret around here that I’m an *NSYNC fan. I was obsessed with them through middle school and high school (I could tell so many stories), so I was one of those girls glued to the VMAs for the first time since…probably the last time *NSYNC performed. Honestly, until this year, I didn’t know the VMAs were still a thing. I enjoyed the little Justin Timberlake concert a lot, but the *NSYNC part could’ve been a tad longer. Although, I imagine Joey Fatone would’ve had a hard time going on too much longer. Just keeping it real.
It was awesome, and I hope that someday they’ll follow in the footsteps of the other boy bands and give us a new album and a reunion tour. I’ll be there in the front row screaming like crazy person :)
In other news, I cut my hair!
It was getting soooo long and I was getting bored with it, so I decided to change it up a little. I used a girl in OKC that I’ve never gone to before, and she was WONDERFUL! She was super sweet, and she did such a great job. I love it!
Last week, I was flipping through my latest issue of People Magazine (my favorite!), and I came across this exciting ad!
How cool is that? My store’s ad in my favorite magazine! I might have actually screamed out loud a little :)
Monday, we found out the news that Blissdom is no longer happening. It hit me a lot harder than I ever imagined something like this would. I’m genuinely sad. So many people have said “it’s just a conference. Find another one to go to”, but after attending this conference twice, for me, it was so much more than “just a conference”.
Blissdom was a place where I spent time with girls who have become some of my closest friends. As someone who doesn’t have a lot of close blogging friends where I live, to spend several days with a large group of people who get ME was amazing. My first Blissdom I spent most of my time with Neely, Amber, Meghan, and Kiley, deepening friendships that are so special to me. This year brought me a wonderful support system in Neely, Amber, Heather, Stephanie, Meg, and Whitney, girls that I talk to almost every single day.
At Blissdom, I was introduced to the awesomeness that is Jon Acuff. I met him and heard him speak three times. If you don’t know who he is, look him up. You won’t be disappointed.
More than anything, at Blissdom I learned to be proud of myself as a blogger. I’m not just a girl sitting behind a computer screen throwing words out into the internet for whoever. I’m a part of a large group of women that are changing the world. I’m proud of that. Under the leadership of Alli Worthington and Barbara Jones, Blissdom gave me confidence as a blogger, and it showed me that what I do here in this space matters. I left that first conference changed for the better as a person and as a blogger, and I will forever be grateful for that.
Also on Monday, one of our own lost her precious newborn baby boy. Diana from Hormonal Imbalances, who also writes for Babble and She Reads Truth, said goodbye to her sweet little Kaden on his three week birthday. I’ve been reading Diana’s blog since her pregnancy with her twin babies, and I’m absolutely heartbroken for her and her family. I can’t imagine what it must be like to lose one child, but to think about having three babies in heaven just rips my heart out. Please join me in praying for peace and comfort for this family as they try to move forward with their lives. If you’d like to help Diana’s family, visit the Pray for Kaden facebook page for more information.
Have a great Thursday!

A Little Bit of Life Lately

Hey y’all!

Not a lot happening around here, at least not a lot of blog-worthy stuff. Here’s a little bit of what I’ve been up to lately.

We had a little going-away dinner for Haley a couple of weeks ago! She’s leaving us to go to college. She’ll be close enough that we’ll still get to see her, but it’s going to be sad not having her around every day. She’s going to do great in school, and we are so excited for this next chapter in her life!

The chocolate cake was soooo yummy!

Sarah has been with us off and on all summer too! It’s been nice having her back for a bit. We sure miss her!

The bank a couple of doors down from us at TVP brought in an ice cream truck a few weeks ago and gave us coupons for free ice cream! It was a fun little surprise!

I’m having the best time with my sweet kiddos in Bible class. Wednesday night, we made popcorn, also known as manna from heaven :)

Jack’s favorite game is attacking someone’s hands. It’s not a fun game for anyone but him!

I helped Joyce clean out her classroom last week and found this super creepy doll. Definitely trashed that toy :)

Little Man just celebrated his second birthday!

Poor guy! Colby was being…Colby.

Trying to steal Little Bit’s cupcake

Little Miss sure enjoyed hers!

So did Little Girl :)

Future baseball star (if Colby has anything to do with it)

Joyce’s niece Mikayla is here from Japan to go to school! Excited to have her and Jonna both here this year!
Is anyone else super sad about Lee Thompson Young passing away?
I was a huge fan of The Famous Jett Jackson, and between him, Gia Allemand, and Cory Monteith, it’s been a sad few weeks :(
Alright, I’m out!
Have a great Tuesday, y’all!