New Orleans, June 2014

For someone who is from Texas I would get asked "Oh you have never been to New Orleans? It's like right there." Yes I am very aware of geography and the fact that the state in which New Orleans is located is the neighbor to the east of Texas, but as a person that spend most of her adult life living in Washington, DC. WHY WOULD I GO?

On my trip to California my friend Raquel and I started scheming about where we should spend our birthdays this year. Ironically enough, we were both celebrating our "golden birthday" this year and neither one of us has never been to New Orleans so it was a fairly easy decision.

Day 1:

We drove up on a Thursday after she flew into Houston and made the 6 hour trek down I-10 to that Big Easy. We met up with our friend Daniel and his friend, for arguments sake let's call him "lic-o-rice" and we went out on Bourbon Street that night. First had dinner a bar and got to sit outside on the balcony which was cool. Then from their meandered down Burbon stepping into any place we heard with decent music. Along the way I got  a Hurricane from Pat O'Brien's and a Hand Grenade from The "Original" Tropical Isle, probably seems silly I remember the drink I got this night so well but I wanted to make sure that I got all the things I've heard I should get while in New Orleans, that whole "When in Rome" saying is being applied here. Not really a fan of the Hurricane even though I am a lover of rum, it was just too much for me. But the Hand Grenade I really like probably because of how sweet it is. We spent the rest of the night bar at a bar called... well to be honest I do not recall the name (haha), until we decided to call it a night.

Day 2:

NOM NOM!

One of the main things on my agenda was to sight see different areas of NOLA because of the history behind the city. So Friday morning we left the hotel around 1 p.m. and headed to Cafe' du Monde for some beignets and chicory coffee. As a woman sitting near us so delicately put it "this is the best thing I've ever put in my mouth", we had to reluctantly agree with her. With such a simple menu Cafe' du Monde definitely lived up to the all the hype. After brunch we walked down to the French Market and walked around observing all the different booths set up. We left and walked back towards Cafe' du Monde and went inside St.Louis Cathedral, which is absolutely breathtaking! Pictures do not do it justice. By this time we were ready to eat again, and the guys finally rose from the dead so we all met up at Johnny's Po-Boy's restaurant and each tried a different po-boy so we could share. They were OK not the greatest thing "I've ever put in my mouth" but I would try them again. We walked down Bourbon St and went inside Marie Laveau's House of Voodoo and left offerings, walked to see Madame LaLaurie's house and then headed back to hotel for a workout. Later, had dinner at Pat O's, which was delicious, and sat at the piano bar with a drunk bachelor whom Raquel knew a friend of his. We drank, sang and laughed as he flooded the aisle with his ridiculous dance moves. I honestly do not remember leaving the piano bar, or where we ended up next.



Day 3:
Well to say the least I did not start this day off gracefully.

Mississippi River

Woke up feeling not very flawless. I tried downing water bottle after water bottle but that did not seem to help much. We had to pack to check-out of this hotel and check into the Sheraton (baller status) so with the time we had before we could check-in we decided to go to Mardi Gras World. It was a rather waste of time. It is just a warehouse where they store the floats and where someone is working and preparing floats for the next Mardi Gras.This place was not impressive so we decided not to go in. But I did get to take a picture by the Mississippi River while a tug boat passed and what I can only assume was the captain came on the intercom and said "selfie" haha. We decided to have brunch at Mother's Restaurant. With the line outside the building I knew this had to be a good place and Mama did not disappoint! I ordered a ham and cheese omelet and devoured it within minutes. We checked in our hotel and laid around a while until we decided on our next move. We decided to head to Louis Armstrong park where they were having a Zydeco festival and different booths to try some authentic Louisiana cuisine. We tried to go to the St. Louis Cemetery #1 but got there too late for "visiting hours".

Yup! Me. Getting smacked. In the face. With Beads. Priceless

We went back to the hotel for a bit, met up with the guys and headed to Hark Rock Cafe for dinner. I think at this point we were all for the most part pretty worn out so we stood and people watched for a little bit, the drunk debauchery that took place was awesome. OH and there were children, children just walking around with their parents. But before leaving for the night I managed to get smacked in the face with some beads!


I began the next morning with a run, knowing I ate my way through the city as well as drank it, and knowing that a 6 hour car ride was ahead of me. I ran through the city of all the places we had walked during our visit and actually got to go inside of St. Louis Cemetery #1 where Madame LaLaurie is "rumered" to be buried. Her alleged grave is marked with offereings and X's all over the grave, it's actually pretty spooky. I can honestly say this was one of the best trips I have ever been on! I fell in love with this city, the sites and the culture. I will definitely be visiting again and hopefully really soon.

Until next time NOLA!!!

Simply Me,

Ashley Marie

Palette Garden

This is by far the biggest project I have done to date!

I got this idea from Pintrest after searching around for some fun, creative crafty things to do and I stumbled upon this.

Supplies!

My cousin was building a house last summer and they had a lot of theses shipping palettes that were just going to go in the trash when my creative gears started grinding and that's when I came up with the idea for a Palette Garden.

Now yes you may have noted that I mentioned "last summer" and the fact that I am writing this post means yes I just completed it but that is besides the point... Let me also note that I am in no way shape or form an experienced gardener and am merely doing this as an experiment, hopefully it will be a successful one, but only time will tell. Moving on...

I started by washing the palettes. This may seem counterproductive but seeing as they have been sitting outside for almost a year there is not telling what has been in or on them so better safe than sorry seeing as I am growing things I would like to one day eat.

After washing the palettes I start stapling landscape fabric to the bottom and sides of the palettes to prevent weeds and to hold the soil and seeds in place.

Squash and Zucchini seeds

I placed the palettes side-by-side and began filling them with soil. This was by far the hardest part because the spaces are so tight that I had to take a lot of time to fill each one, water it, place the seeds, then add more soil, then finally water again, and those bags are not light! After all the soil was poured in I watered again for good measure and stepped back and admired all of my hard work.!

I decided to plant some salad spring mix, carrots, tomatoes, zucchini, squash, red pepper and cucumbers. I am really hoping that everything grows into delicious, edible organic veggies.

UPDATE: There has been amazing growth in my zucchini, squash and cucumber areas!! The row with my red peppers has yet to show it's pretty little face but everything else is looking pretty good.




 Keep you updated : )


Simply Me,

Ashley Marie

13.1

On April 6, 2014 I ran in my first half-marathon!

Here's my story......

I have never been a runner! The last time I competitively ran was in Junior High and after that I since retired my runner shoes. Up until a few years ago at least. Being a college athlete we were demanded to do a lot of training (anyone reading this and knowing where I went to college knows this is complete sarcasm, but more on that later).

Throughout college I struggled with gaining weight then losing it just to put it right back on again. So as I was ending my college year I realized that I really needed to pick up a new hobby of working out because I DID NOT want to be one of "those people" who gained a lot of weight and metaphorically "fell off". My mom started running a lot and seeing how it made her look and feel I want to see what it was all about. I ran my first 5k in the summer of 2009 and was hooked. I loved the adrenaline rush, it felt like I was playing again!

I trained for a half-marathon 2 years ago but never got the courage to actually sign up and do one. This time I wasn't leaving any doubt! I signed up for Angie's Half Crazy Half-Marathon and I knew once I hit the submit button there would be no turning back. I used the NikePlus+ App for my training runs and also incorporated Shaun T's T25 to my daily workouts and felt better than ever.

The week of the race was rainy and there was a chance that it could storm on the day of the race. Knowing this I thought to myself that I was just not meant to run in a half-marathon. But as the week went on it started to clear up for race day on Sunday.

Race Day:
I did this race completely by myself. This was the first race that my mom would not be running in and that fact alone I was a little nervous, other than that I felt excited and prepared! The race was a turnaround race so half way (at 6.55 miles) you turned around and went back the way you came. As I passed the halfway point I just started to think "It's go time!", because one of my goals was to finish in under 2 hours and there was no way I was not going to accomplish it. I started "picking off" people and just talking to myself saying "you need to catch her and keep going and find someone else to catch up to" I ended up placing 4th in my age group, which was a little disappointing because the top 3 got prizes, but I did finish in under 2 hours! The one thing that I will say is that as proud of myself that I am of my accomplishment I wish my mom would have been there so I could have shared it with her.

All in all it was an AMAZING experience and I can't wait to do another one!

Simply Me,

Ashley Marie

California 2014

For those who know me know about my love for travel. I have been to several countries as well as states in the U.S.

During my spring break this year I was fortunate enough to travel to California, specifically the San Francisco/Oakland area. My friend Raquel, whom I met in college while working at a "high end" bowling alley (seriously it was a fancy bowling alley!), moved out there about a year ago and having been to California in my teenage years for a volleyball tournament I have always wanted to go back!

Day 1:

On my visit we had brunch at Straw in San Fran. It is a carnival themed restaurant which is displayed throughout their decor and menu. It was delicious! Raquel ordered a "Texas Sate Fair" which is a doughnut burger breakfast sandwich, crazy, right? I just ordered a simple " Hanky Panky", a Belgian waffle with two fried eggs. It was brunch so of course we ordered mimosas! The entire meal itself was unique and yummy!

Alamo Square

After brunch we spent the rest of the day taking in sights of San Francisco. Walking around the different piers; I could not believe all of the sea lions I saw just hanging out on the docks and wailing and playing with one another it was amazing! Walking around Alamo Square (famously know from the television series "Full House"), which  are absolutely beautiful in person. And ending the tour at Baker Beach on the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge, where I might add that while climbing some rocks I almost lost my phone in the bay, scary!



Day 2:

We took a drive down to Gilroy, CA and went shopping at the outlet mall. We mostly went there because they had a Lululemon outlet and we're both obsessed! On our way back er drove to the top of the hill where she live where you can see the entire bay area. I took pictures of this scenery but there is not a picture in the world that can do the sight justice. You could see the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Treasure Island, and all at sunset, it was simply breath taking. We went out on in San Fran that night for a couple of drinks and we took an Uber and the Bart into the city. At the time I had no idea what an "Uber" was but the concept of it is ingenious. All in all it was a good day, minus all the money that was spent haha.

Cell Block D of Alcatraz

Day 3:

This was my last full day in Cali. After a morning run we got dressed to go visit Alcatraz. I am not sure why this creeped me out but I just got an eerie feeling about going. It was weird because the cell reception was pretty non existent except for when we were right by this cell EEKKK! While on the island our tour guide told us about all the "attempted" escapes from Alcatraz and the history behind the building itself. Also, there was a former inmate there signing copies of his book. Went out to eat at Eureka! in Berkeley and ended up staying there all night, half price glass of wine... What would you have done??



Day 4:

Sad day! We walked around Berkeley, slightly hungover from an interesting night, had lunch at Melt, a grilled cheese heaven,  a ice cream cookie dessert from C.R.E.A.M, while I shopped around for souvenirs for my family before my flight.

Visiting California was a great experience and if I ever had to forcefully leave Texas it would be one of the places I would consider moving to! But more than anything I am grateful for the time I got to spend with my friend, who I hadn't seen in almost a year. Too often I get caught up in life and being busy with my ridiculous schedule I don't take time to enjoy the true beauty of what the world has to offer.

Until next time SF!

Simple Me,

Ashley Marie