2014 Year in Review

December 31, 2014 By ashleylately 5 Comments

Hey y’all!

It seems like I’ve barely been around this blog in 2014! There are so many things that happened this year that I wanted to blog about, but I never made time to do it. Today I wanted to recap all of the fun things that happened this year!

January

photo (13)
Colby and I attended an OKC Thunder game!

It was so fun watching our boys play in person!

Neely asked me to be her maid of honor in her wedding!

February

I celebrated 28 with Teddie! She and her family came to visit before their move to Japan!

I finally got to meet sweet Baby D!

March

I celebrated three years at The Vintage Pearl!

April

Sweet C’s adoption was finalized!

We had a fun party to celebrate the adoption finalizations of C, Little Girl, and Little Man!

We attended Annie’s bridal shower.

May

Ashton and I took Cathy out to dinner and a movie for her birthday.

I went on a local TV station to talk about gifts from The Vintage Pearl for Mother’s Day!

I made a quick trip home for Mother’s Day.

We also celebrated Grandaddy’s 80th birthday!

Cathy and I went to see the OKC Thunder play the LA Clippers in the NBA Playoffs!

I had my last class with my kiddos in bible class that I taught for 15 months! I miss these sweet little guys!

Annie got married! We had a very fun TVP reunion at the wedding, and it was a beautiful night!

June

I spent a fun weekend in Dallas with Neely!

We went to George Strait’s final concert!

I had a fun little Princess party with my sweet Little Girl while she was sick.

July

I celebrated 4th of July with the Littles.

Neely, Ally, Michele, and I went to Austin for Neely’s bachelorette weekend! We had a fabulous time!

August

I took Little Girl to a Frozen party where she got to meet Elsa and Anna!

We had a bridal shower for Neely.

I got to meet Tracy’s second (yes, second) set of twin babies!

September

A precious new Little was born! Little One is an absolute joy!

October

Neely and Andrew got married! It was a beautiful day, and I’m so glad I got to be a part of it!

Sweet P turned 3 and had a Frozen party!

We celebrated Halloween at TVP! Of course we had to dress up!

November

I made a quick trip home to see the family!

I got to see my Sweet P!

Ashton, Christine, and I went to the Gaylord Texan Hotel to see the Frosty the Snowman Ice exhibit. It was very neat!

December

Rebekah and her sweet little man came to visit me! I got to meet him when he was six weeks old, and it’s crazy to think he’s a year old already! I love getting to see them when they’re in town!

We had a fun little Christmas girls night! Italian food and pajamas made for a perfect night!

Natalie, Ashton, and I went to Tulsa for the TVP Christmas party! It was a fun night getting to hang out with our Tulsa crew!

I went home for Christmas! It was a wonderful couple of days with my family!

The whole family got to be together on Christmas Day, and it was a perfect day!

2014 was a good year, but I’m definitely ready for it to be over. I’m always excited for a new year to start, and I can’t wait to see what things 2015 will bring!

Happy New Year!

Ashley Lately

December 17, 2014 By ashleylately 2 Comments

Hey y’all!

Yes, I’m still alive :)

It’s been pretty crazy around here lately, so this little blog has been pushed to the back burner. Hopefully after the holidays are over and life slows down a little, I’ll have more time for blogging.

While I’m here, I did want to give a little update on life lately. Most of these pictures were going to have their own post, but today they are just going to all go together!

A few weeks ago, Ashton, Christine, and I went to Dallas to the Gaylord Texan for the Ice exhibit. The theme was Frosty the Snowman!

It was seriously amazing! I hope to share more about it soon!

This darling Little Girl celebrated her 5th birthday!

I hung out with four of the Littles for an evening. We made paper plate turkeys, and we had so much fun!

This is the only picture I took on Thanksgiving (that wasn’t food). I know, I’m a terrible blogger. But Little Man sure enjoyed crunching up the crackers for the green bean casserole!
Black Friday. I worked fourteen hours and had three Dr. Peppers. It was insanity.
Bekah and James came to visit me at the shop while they were in town visiting their family! I love getting to meet up with her when they are here! I love having blog friends that are real life friends too!

I finally got my Christmas tree put up! I love non-traditional colors, so there’s lots of purple, pink, and silver. Olaf was the new addition to the tree this year!
My little guy tried to help me wrap gifts, but I think he played more than he helped :)
Speaking of this little guy, he’s been such a snuggler lately! I injured my neck a couple of weeks ago, so I think he knows I feel bad. He’s been so sweet to me!
For the second year in a row, Neely and I got each other mugs from Ashley Brooke Designs! They are so fun! We opened them via FaceTime so we could pretend we were there together!
I’ve been so tired and so stressed and in pain, so I’ve been trying to take some quiet time every evening. I turn off all the lights, turn on the Christmas tree, wrap up in my favorite blanket, and fix a cup of peppermint hot chocolate to try to destress and relax. It’s nice to have a few minutes of calm in the middle of all of the holiday crazy! Hopefully I’ll be able to squeeze in another night or two of blogging before the end of the year!

OKC Greek Festival

November 13, 2014 By ashleylately 1 Comment

Hey y’all!

A few weeks ago, Ashton, Cathy, and I went to the Oklahoma City Greek Festival! Ashton’s friend Christine was one of the dancers and invited us to come watch! I had never been to the festival before, so I was really excited to see everything! In my mind, I was picturing scenes from My Big Fat Greek Wedding :)

Love these two so much! I love that we can all have fun together outside of work!

We walked around for a little while until it was time for the dancers. They were very good and really fun to watch! Christine is the one in the red.

After they finished dancing, we walked inside where they were selling food. We tried several of the desserts, like baklava and almond apricot cookies. Everything was really good! We went back outside to watch the dancers again. Several kids jumped up on the stage and danced around a little. They were so cute!

The festival was a lot of fun! It’s always neat getting to experience different cultures, and the Greek culture is so much fun! Opa!

A Weekend Home

November 12, 2014 By ashleylately 2 Comments

Hey y’all!

This weekend, I had a rare Saturday off, so I made a quick trip home to see the family. Two weeks ago, my Grandaddy fell and broke his hip in two places, so he’s been in the hospital. On Friday he was moved to a hospital for rehab, so I wanted to go spend the day helping out and giving my Mom-mom a break. I got up SUPER early on Saturday and headed home.

Because no roadtrip is complete without a mix CD

It felt so good to be home! I quickly got ready, and Momma and I headed to the hospital, But first, Sonic!

We spent the whole day with Grandaddy. It was hard to see him in pain, but I’m glad I got to spend some time with him. He’s getting a little better and a little stronger every day, so we are hopeful that very soon he’ll be back to his old self and will be home.

Some friends from church came to visit. Jason brought his guitar and sang a few songs. His “Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road” song was too funny not to share :)

Before we left town, we went to eat at Ta Molly’s, my absolute favorite restaurant in the whole world! I had my favorite chicken quesadilla, and it was just perfect.

Sunday morning, I had a little bit of playtime with the cats before church. This little fella was being cute and snuggly before he decided to play a little rough. He grabbed my arm and pinned it down, nipping at my fingers every time I tried to free my arm! He’s a funny little thing!

I helped Momma in bible class again. We talked about the story of Jesus calling his disciples to follow him. We made cute fish to help reinforce the story, and they turned out so cute!

“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”-Matthew 4:19

Before I headed back to OKC, we went to lunch with a group from church. Jessica and Sweet P came with us too! They’ve been meeting us for lunch the last few times I’ve been home, and it’s been so nice to have some time with them. I love having best friend time, and I love having Aunt Ashley time with Sweet P!

It was a great trip home! As always, it wasn’t long enough, but it is probably the last time I’ll get to go home before Christmas, so I’m glad I had some time. I would appreciate prayers for my Grandaddy for strength and healing, and prayers for the rest of the family as they help take care of him!

Music For Your Monday

November 3, 2014 By ashleylately 8 Comments

Hey y’all!

We’re going to talk about music today, but first, a vlog!

The Swon Brothers

I LOVE these boys! This is a really solid debut album, and out of all of the contestants on The Voice up to this point, I feel like these guys have the best chance at a successful career. They have a great true country sound that I feel like country radio is missing right now. The album starts off strong with “What I’m Thinking About”, and it just gets better from there! Upbeat songs like “Later On”, “Songs That Said It All”, and “95″ are radio-ready, and slower songs like “Breaking” and “Same Old Highway” will break your heart. The boys don’t shy away from singing about their faith, and they have two great songs in “Pray For You” and “This Side of Heaven”, which features background vocals from Carrie Underwood and will leave you in tears. Eleven songs just doesn’t feel like enough, and I’m already excited for album number two!
Download Now: “Songs That Said It All”, “Later On”, “This Side of Heaven”

Little Big Town: Painkiller

Like I said in the vlog, I’ve been waiting for Painkiller since Tornado was released. These guys are my favorites, and I just can’t get enough of their sound. I didn’t know if it was possible for them to top Tornado, but Painkiller does a really great job! The biggest surprise of the album is a song called “Girl Crush”. I promise you, it’s not what you think! It will completely surprise you, and it’s awesome! They slow down and show off their beautiful harmonies on songs like “Live Forever” and “Tumble and Fall”, and they really rock out with “Stay All Night” and “Save Your Sin”. Karen sings better than I’ve ever heard her on “Painkiller” and “Things You Don’t Think About”, and I catch myself listening to these two on repeat. I wish there were more than 13 songs, because I already want more!
Download Now: “Girl Crush”, “Painkiller”, “Stay All Night”, “Things You Don’t Think About”

Taylor Swift: 1989

I feel like I should just list off every single song and why I like it, because this album is THAT GOOD! I won’t do that, but I’m telling you now, there’s not really a bad song, like at all. Even the ones I don’t like as much as others are still good songs. This album definitely feels like a grown-up Taylor Swift, but I don’t feel like she’s selling out or changing who she really is to try to appeal to a more pop audience. Even though it’s a new sound, it still feels like a Taylor Swift album. She co-wrote a few songs with Max Martin, who wrote for *NSYNC, BSB, and Britney back in the day. That’s probably why I like so many of these songs! “Blank Space” has quickly become one of my favorite T-Swift songs ever. A few were co-written with Ryan Tedder from One Republic and Jack Antonoff from fun., so it’s a really fun mix of songs. Of course I have my favorites, but you should probably just get the whole album! The deluxe edition from Target has three extra songs, and those are great too! Go get them all!
Download Now: “Blank Space”, “Style”, “Shake It Off”, “I Wish You Would”, “Style”, “All You Had To Do Was Stay”

Ok y’all, let me know if you have any of these albums and what your favorite songs are! If you try

Sweet P’s Birthday

October 27, 2014 By ashleylately 3 Comments

Hey y’all!

Last weekend, I went home for my Sweet P’s 3rd birthday! It’s hard to believe it’s been three years since that tiny little girl was born! I had prayed for Jessica and Ralph to have a baby girl for so many years, and she is just an amazing answer to those prayers!

Like all three-year-old girls, she’s all about Frozen, so of course she had a Frozen party! Like me, Jessica is also all about Frozen :) She had costumes made for her and Sweet P to be Elsa and Anna!

It was so so cute! I wish that I had worn a costume too!

Best friend selfie!

Jessica had a beautiful cake made, but when she wasn’t looking, Sweet P decided she wanted to decorate it herself! Oopsie!
It has been an amazing three years, Sweet P! Aunt Ashley loves you so much!

#marriedmoldovans part 2

October 23, 2014 By ashleylately 8 Comments

Hey y’all!

Today starts the recap of the wedding day!

To say I was excited would be a bit of an understatement. I don’t think I slept more than a couple of hours on Friday night because I was so excited. When our alarm went off, I was ready to go. The bride wasn’t quite as ready as I was…

We had a really fun day leading up to the wedding. Neely, Michele, Ally, Laura, Neely’s mom, and our friend Amber all hung out together in the bridal suite, getting our hair and makeup done and just hanging out. It was nice to have a quiet, calm morning together. Early in the afternoon, we met the groomsmen and the family down at the wedding venue to take all of the pictures. We had a lot of fun ones, and I can’t wait to see how they turned out!

We hung out together in a room off of the ceremony site until it was wedding time!

Neely looked absolutely amazing. Even though I was with her through all of the hair and makeup, and I helped her get dressed, seeing her completely ready made me tear up! She looked happier and more beautiful than I’ve ever seen her!

The ceremony was beautiful! They did a few traditional Jewish things, and since I’ve never been to a Jewish wedding before, it was really neat! Of course, I cried when she walked down the aisle, I cried when her dad gave her away, and I cried when they said their vows. It was a beautiful ceremony, and I’m thrilled I got to be a part of it!

After the ceremony, we had cocktail hour while Andrew and Neely ate dinner, and then we headed down to the reception!

I’m not sure who I stole this picture from, but it’s beautiful! Their first dance made me tear up again :)

Since I was the maid of honor, I had to give a speech at the reception. Neely’s friend Megan caught this moment after the speech, and it still brings tears to my eyes!

These two…I love them so!
One of the sweet things about being friends with Neely is getting to be friends with Michele too! I love that we all three get along so well! Michele is precious, and I love that I get to call her a friend too!
Just a little photo booth fun :)

We slow-danced to Brad Paisley…because that’s what we do.

I can’t even tell you how happy I am that Whitney and Amber got to come to the wedding! I hadn’t seen Amber since February, and I hadn’t seen Whitney since Blissdom! Our friend Caitrin was there too, but sadly I didn’t get a picture, but it was great to see her too! It was like a fun bloggy reunion! I wish we all lived closer to each other! I miss my friends!
Oh yes, the Wobble happened…it was a fun little Blissdom flashback :)It was a very fun, beautiful wedding! As happy as I am that Neely and Andrew are finally married, it’s a little sad that everything is over. It’s been a fun year getting to see my friends and celebrate Neely and Andrew, and I’m a little sad to see it end.

The next day, we all had brunch together, and then we headed back to Neely and Andrew’s apartment and watched the Dallas Cowboys game until it was time for me to fly again.

Another Dr. Pepper for the flight home…

I got a very nice welcome home from the kitty cat. I was gone just long enough for him to miss me and not quite long enough for him to hate me for being gone. He didn’t let me out of his sight the rest of the night!
The wedding weekend was such a beautiful celebration of Neely and Andrew. Neely has been one of the most important people in my life for a few years now, and I love that she has found such a great guy. Andrew has become a good friend to me as well, and I’m so happy they are so happy together. It meant so much to me to be a part of their wedding and to get to celebrate with them!

#marriedmoldovans part 1

October 22, 2014 By ashleylately 3 Comments

Hey y’all!

I finally feel like I’ve recovered enough from my trip to finally do a wedding weekend recap! Because there was so much happening, I’ve divided everything into two posts. So here is part one of the Moldovan wedding, through the eyes of the maid of honor :)

If you read my Flying Solo post, or if you’ve known me for any length of time, you know that I have an intense fear of flying. Thursday night before the wedding, I flew to Dallas alone. Honestly, it wasn’t as bad as I was prepared for. I think I got myself a little too worked up beforehand, so it was nice that it ended up not being as bad as I thought.

Of course I got a Dr. Pepper on the plane! The cutest little flight attendant man accidentally brought me water instead of Dr. Pepper, so when he brought me the right drink, he handed me a whole can of Dr. Pepper and said, “Shh!” Everyone else just got the small cups, so I felt special :) When I was getting off the plane, he said, “Goodbye Dr. Pepper girl!”

When I got off the plane and headed down the escalator, this happened. Clearly we were meant to be friends! I think it was that moment that it finally hit me that she was really getting married! It was a great beginning to a wonderful weekend.

When we got to their apartment, Andrew had his homemade pizza ready for us, so we ate really quick and watched Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder laying in bed. Because that’s not weird at all. Haha! Believe it or not, that’s the first time Neely and I have watched Scandal in the same room.Friday morning the wedding festivities got off to a fun start! We picked up Michele, checked into our hotel, and met Neely’s mom and the rest of the bridal party to get mani/pedis and have lunch at Neighborhood Services. It was great to get to have some downtime together before all of the crazy started. I LOVED getting to meet Neely’s childhood best friend Laura for the first time, and of course it was wonderful to see my Ally again! We had a great lunch together, and then headed to our hotel to relax for a bit before rehearsal and dinner.We had a good quick rehearsal and then headed to dinner at Eddie V’s. Can I just say how wonderful it’s been do spend time with these three girls? It’s making me sad that everything is over now because I don’t have Neely/Ally/Michele time on my calendar anymore!Seriously, they are just too cute!
I love her. How did we ever live without each other?
The dinner was a lot of fun! We had great food, watched a video of Neely and Andrew’s love story, and Andrew’s parents, grandmother, and several of their friends spoke. It was so great to hear the wonderful things their friends had to say about them! After a fun dinner, we headed back to the hotel to get some rest before the big day!

Stop back by tomorrow for the recap of the big wedding!

The Sunday Social, Week 123

October 12, 2014 By ashleylately 7 Comments

Hey y’all!

It’s Sunday! I’m in Dallas for the weekend, and yesterday I watched my bff and fabulous cohost Neely marry the love of her life! It was a wonderful day, and I’m grateful I got to be a part of their special day! Love you Neely!

Today is the day! It’s our very last Sunday Social. I’m a little sad to see it end, but I’m excited for our new Sunday linkup to debut in November! Y’all will love it!

Today, we are revisiting the very first Sunday Social questions. Introduce your blog!

1. How did you come up with your blog name?
My blog name actually came from a post that Neely did on her own blog called “Neely Lately”, where she shared a bunch of random pictures and thoughts about what was going on in her life. I actually copied the post and did my own “Ashley Lately” posts for quite awhile! When it came time for a new name, Ashley Lately just really fit me and my blog very well. I love it!

2. What is your favorite thing about blogging?
Hands down my favorite thing about blogging is the friendships I’ve made! I’ve met some amazing girls that I would’ve never met if we didn’t blog! So many people wonder how online friendships can be real, but I have seen how you can meet some of your best friends through your blog. For example, I was maid of honor yesterday in Neely’s wedding! That’s proof right there that blog friendships are real!

3. What is one thing you have discovered because of blogging and now can’t live without?
Oh my goodness, SO many things! Twitter, Instagram, The Vintage Pearl, just to name a few!

4. Facebook or Twitter? Why?
I’m a big fan of the Twit. It’s short, quick, to the point, and so much fun!

5. If one celeb read your blog, who would you want it to be?
Oprah :)

6. What is something you want people to know about your blog?
I want people to know that my blog is me! The person you read about here is the same person you’d meet in person. I’m not trying to be someone I’m not. What you see is what you get!

Your turn! Answer the questions, grab our button, and link up with Neely and me!

Thanks again for a wonderful two and a half years! Your support of Sunday Social has been wonderful, and we are truly grateful! Be sure to watch for our new linkup coming in November!

Happy Sunday, y’all!

Happy Wedding Day!

October 11, 2014 By ashleylately 1 Comment

Hey y’all!

Today is the day!

After a wonderful, fun ten month engagement, Neely and Andrew will finally get married today! I’m so excited to be sharing this special day with them and standing beside them. They are such a great couple, and I’m so happy they found each other.

Happy Wedding Day Neely and Andrew! Love you both so much!