Crockett Christmas Time

Christmas Eve night we went to church and ate supper with the Crockett's. Matt's family has a tradition of seafood on Christmas Eve so there were delicious scallops, shrimp and salad. It was a merry time. I even got a family picture!

Me and Marg prepare the Christmas Eve salad.

Margaret and Grandmother

Setting the table.

Matt, Me, Margaret, Dale, Ed, Grandmother, Michael and Martin

Merry Christmas!

Sending you all merry and bright wishes for the upcoming holidays!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and that Santa treats you well.

love, Ash

December 20, 2003

Happy Anniversary!

Matt and Ashley - December 2003 (5 Years ago....)

Matt and Ashley - November 2008

Leaving the Church


Chilly bridesmaids


Groomsmen

Down the aisle

It's been a wonderful 5 years and I'm looking forward to so many more.
I love you, Matt!!

Steve and Wil get a visit from Santa...

Stevie and Wil got a new bed from Santa.

Steve and Wil got treats while I got their present.

Wil knew immediately what it was for...Steve was hoping for more treats.

Wil works on the blanket placement

Tradition!

Matt and I will be celebrating our own Christmas this weekend. It gives us a chance to have Christmas dinner and presents in our own house. It's also a chance to create some traditions and carry on others.

This year we are just doing "stocking stuffer" type stuff for presents to each other. We split up at the mall with a set amount of money and had one hour to shop and spend the money on each other. I'm excited about the surprises I got for Matt, but I can't blog in too much detail since he'll read it!

What are some of our other Christmas traditions, you ask?

1. Red Velvet Cake - The second Christmas after we got married we hosted a dinner for our families. Our parents and siblings were there. I made my first turkey for dinner and I made Red Velvet cake for dessert. Now I make it every year with cream cheese icing and green sprinkles. Since it's been just me and Matt for dinner for the past 2 years, I've made cupcakes. Very tasty...

2. Presents with treats in the for the dogs to open - Yes, I know, I'm weird about my dogs. I don't have any kids yet, so cut me some slack. There is nothing funnier than seeing Stevie try to nose her way into a package to get to the food. We also buy them a new bed every Christmas. After about a year, the older one looks pretty rough.

3. Bing Crosby - I could listen to Bing Crosby anytime of the year and I could watch White Christmas any day. Andrea and I would put in White Christmas on Sunday afternoons even in mid July (nothing keeps you cooler in the summer). I know all the songs and lyrics and lines. Bing's soft, mellow, deep and awesome voice always puts me in the Christmas spirit.

4. Advent countdown - I love Advent/Christmas countdown calendars. I found an awesome Christmas scene made from PlayMobil toys at a toy store in St. Augustine. Each day you open up a new part of the set, whether it be a bird, park bench or kid with his dog and the last day you open Santa. It sets up an entire scene. SO FUN! Check it out here.

5. Presents for family - Matt and I really enjoy trying to find creative ways to gift our loved ones. We have some fun stuff this year. We have even done some home made gifts that were very successful.

6. Salvation Army Angels - I love to shop for babies, so I adopt a baby every year to buy toys for. Our first year to adopt a baby was when we were living with my parents and praying for Matt to find a job. We were so worried about our future that year, it was nice to focus on someone else. We were broke, but we did the best we could for that baby. Her name was Josie and I obsessed over what toy was the most age appropriate but would still grow with her. I hope her Christmas was merry that year, she certainly blessed ours. This year we adopted 2 angels, a baby girl named Tymisha and a 12-year-old boy named Devonte. Matt and I have decided that this will be a tradition we carry on with our children.

7. Christmas lights - we love to drive around and listen to Christmas music and look at Christmas lights. Steve and Wil love the drives, too.

8. Anniversary Christmas Ornament - The holiday season means so much to me and one important date in my life is December 20, when Matt and I got married. We started giving each other a Christmas ornament then and have kept that tradition every year. This year he got Ninja turtles and I got Rudolph and friends from the Rankin/Bass movie that comes on during the holidays. (I love that movie almost as much as I love Bing). Matt's also gotten fish and Santa grilling and golfing ornaments. I've gotten lots of cute, sparkly snowmen and even a white terrier to represent Asta, another character from a beloved movie (The Thin Man - watch it!). There's an ornament I found at a surplus store in Russelville, it's of a couple that look to be set in the 40's or 50's dressed to the 9's and seem to be walking down a windy sidewalk. The man is carrying a playbill in one hand and escorting his lady with the other. We love this ornament as we love to go to performances and plays. It reminds us of each other and all our fun dates. In fact, every ornament on our tree tells a story.

9. Books - I love to collect children's books. My favorite section of the bookstore has always been the kids' section. I have several copies of The Night Before Christmas (which I can recite by heart). Some are pop-up and some just have pretty pictures.

10. Decorations - Matt and I have often jokingly referred to ourselves as Who's from Whoville. If you've ever seen Ron Howard/Jim Carey's version of the Grinch, then you understand why. We kind of OVER decorate for Christmas...I have 3 full tress and 7-8 small trees throughout my house. Tons of lights and garland, Green and red bows, nutcrackers, stockings, snowmen, nativity sets, candles and Santas. We love it though, our house is like a Christmas cottage and we wouldn't have it any other way.

I redecorated the tree after shopping in Hobby Lobby over Thanksgiving break. It's cute now. I love the look of red with lime green and kelly green. You can't see the lime green too much from this picture, but it's there.

We also put out lights in the front yard. Matt and I were really excited to do this. It's been fun to have our own house to decorate and fix up. We have big plans for house stuf to do in the spring.

We are just enjoying the holidays here in Tallahassee. I'm looking foward to the SEC championship game this weekend. We're planning on going to the Tallahassee christmas parade. It's always fun. Plus, Santa will be there. This Saturday I'm going shopping for our Christmas angel. We saved all year just to give some child a VERY special Christmas. This is something we've done for a few years now. We always pick a baby and we buy toys, diapers, clothes, socks and other stuff to give a child a Merry Christmas.

I can't believe it's only 3 weeks til Christmas. This week has flown by. I've got a lot more shopping to do. Here's wishing all of you good deals and great sales!

Happy Thanksgiving

In honor of the holiday I wanted to put down somethings I'm thankful for. I did this last year and it was nice to look back and see what I had mentioned. First, I'm thankful to God because all the things I'm about to mention were only possible through him.

Matt - my new house - safe, reliable cars to get me home - a fun, new, challenging job - my fun coworkers - my parents - Andrea - The Burns Family - The Willinghams - My in-laws - Marg, Martin and Michael - Stevie and Wil, who make my day brighter - Warm blankets - trips to DisneyWorld - Ikea - safe neighborhoods - backyards with fire pits - HD TV when Alabama is playing - Warm Comforters and comfortable beds - hot water - being able to do graphic design - the beach - the mountains - nature - my kitchen - the strong support group I have - my friends in Florence and other friends I don't get to see much at all - Facebook so I can easily get in touch with these friends - Music - my health and the health of my family.

Blessings to all of you and Happy Thanksgiving!!

Deck the Halls a little early....

Our Tree

This tree is covered with ornaments we've bought on our travels or ones that specifically mean something. It's a tradition that my mom has always done. Soon we're going to need a bigger tree...my parent's tree is 12 feet and it's full.

Our entertainment center. Matt bought the Santa hat for the fish.

Nativity Set. I've gotten all these pieces from my mom-in-law. Just like hers. :-)

The figurines are so detailed. It's a beautiful set.

My, Matt, Steve and Wil's stockings. Matt cross-stiched the names and images for the stockings. I got a snowman and he got Santa.

Our nutcracker collection, we have a chef, a football player, a drummer and a golfer.

Our kitchen tree. LOVE this tree.

My pink girly tree for my craft/guest room.

The halloween tree that doubles as a "masculine" tree for Matt's study.

I haven't put out the outdoor decorations yet. I'll wait until after Thanksgiving for that so my neighbors won't think we're too weird (we ARE new to the neighborhood). Of course I'll post pictures of those once it's finished. My vision is to make our house look like a gingerbread house. Wish us luck!

My parents are probably coming down this weekend! I'm really excited!!

Christmas in November...

For those of you who are sticklers for the seasons, don't hate me...I've started decorating for Christmas...

I know, I know, it's not even Thanksgiving yet! But y'all have to understand something: Matt and I LOVE Christmas. We started dating seriously during the Christmas holidays. We got married 5 days before Christmas. We had Christmas trees and candy canes at our wedding reception. We love it.

Since we've moved down here, we are out of town almost 3 weeks during the holidays (Thanksgiving to the New Year). Because of that, if we wait until December, we only have a few weeks to enjoy the decorations. And we have a LOT of decorations. We have 2 full size trees and tons of garland and lights. It's a lot of work to put them out. If they're only going to be out a few weeks it's almost not worth it. So I put them out early, so I can enjoy them longer. Matt did suggest leaving our Christmas decorations up year round because he loves the way they look, but I thinks that's going a bit overboard. I like the special, distinctive, once a year look of Christmas decor. It's homey and warm and comforting. Our little house looks like a little Christmas cottage from the inside.

So I admit that it sounds crazy. But I have reasons for my madness. When I take down the tree in January I'll be glad I got to enjoy the festive look as long as possible.

I'm glad for the extra time to embrace the early holiday season, get ahead on my shopping, sing a few more carols and just enjoy this time of year

Cell Phones

Matt and I just got back from a much needed weekend getaway to Orlando. We went to Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom with a ballgame and a rock concert squeezed into the middle on Saturday. This morning we shopped in IKEA, one of my favorite stores. We bought some great and useful stuff for the house. Including a new chandelier for the dining room. We were quite proud of ourselves when we installed it today. It was a little intimidating, but we pulled it off and couldn't be prouder. It's like we hung our first-born in there. We leave the light on and go in the room occasionally just to gaze at the splendor.



The rock concert I mentioned was a little trip to the Orlando House of Blues to see Metro Station. After being at the concert, if you know a 14-20-year-old person, chances are pretty good they'll know who Metro Station is.I say this because that is the average age of the concert goers Saturday night. (Most people my age do not know this band when I mention it) Matt and I stood in the back by the bar, I had my cell phone out, constantly clicking refresh for Bama-LSU updates and Matt was trying not to wince too obviously when the 14-year-old girls next to us squealed whenever it seemed like the band was about to start, (if we thought their squealing was bad NOW, we had no idea what was coming when the concert actually started. We are both deaf in one ear.) Anyways, the band comes out, very high energy, lots of jumping up and down from the crowd on the floor and I saw something that bothered me...TONS of cell phones up in the air, bobbing with the music....These cell phones were grasped in the hands of the kids, I guess they were recording the show and taking pictures to show their friends later. It was kind of sad to watch, I remember before cell phone cameras, when I went to a concert we actually watched the performers with our eyes, not through our teeny cell phone cameras...it was like they were missing this really cool thing of their youth because, although they would have the memory of it on their cell phone (which they'll probably lose in a few months when they upgrade to a newer, cooler model cell phone), they wouldn't have the memory of the concert in their brains, the memory of what they saw with their own eyes.

I guess it's just a personal thing. I love to have pictures of stuff, but I also like to take the time to look around and establish a memory in my brain. I always loved on the original Parent Trap movie when one of the twins met her grandfather for the first time after they had switched. She looked at him and smelled him and told him she was "making a memory". I've got a lot of good memories from the weekend and I know it's because those cell phones made me stop and think and actually look around me.

Zombies at the Water Cooler Part 4

One of Matt's loves is movies. He loves any kind and probably one of his favorite places to be is in a movie theater. He's seen tons of girly movies with me, just to get the chance to be in a movie theater seeing something, anything on the big screen. He doesn't just watch movies, he loves to make them as well. Last year he, me and one of our friends made a Halloween movie for the local paper's movie contest. They screened the winning movies at the huge haunted house downtown. Matt's video won and this year all his coworkers wanted to be in the new one. The Democrat did not hold a movie contest this year, but he made a movie anyways. It's actually really great. I'm proud of him for all the work he did on this. It will make you laugh, cry and laugh some more, in Matt's words"

My latest Halloween film is available for public viewing. This year's entry contains comedy, horror, action, and absolutely no romance. Go here to see "Zombies at the Water Cooler Part IV":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwGw-8V5bhg

-Matt C.

Please watch and enjoy.



p.s. I promise not to turn my blog into a bunch of video posts, but I loved the Aha video and now I have to give publicity to my hubby's awesome hobby.

Literal - Take on Me by Aha

This is awesome.

Did you ever want to see a music video where they just sing what's actually happening. Now you can, with one of my favorites. If you haven't seen this yet, please watch and enjoy. If you can't see the video, click here.

Beachy Fall

The nice thing about the beach in the fall is that you usually have it all to yourself. We all had a great time at the beach Wednesday afternoon. It was totally deserted so the dogs had the run of the place. I think Wil sniffed and "marked" all the sea grass we passed. We packed a picnic dinner. There were so many shells, and as you'll see, plenty of room to run.

Sunset

Steve and Wil had a GREAT time running all over the beach.

I love this picture. She's so happy and the colors of the sun and sky are gorgeous.


Wil is pretty happy to be there too. You can't really tell from the picture but he's covered in sand.

Picnic dinner with the pups.

This picture was totally spontaneous. I love how the dogs are chasing him.

This picture is less spontaneous, but it looked too fun not to try.

Enjoying the sunset with my hubs.

Catching up...

The new job is still going well. I'm still doing a lot of the old job stuff too, plus, filling in for another assistant who recently moved to another section of the building. I'm pretty swamped and I'll be glad when the 2 new assistants get their paperwork through.

We painted the living room and put up crown molding last weekend. I was recovering from that all last week. It was tiring! It looks great though, we're really happy with it.

This is the old living room....

And here is the new look...

The green paint didn't quite turn out the way I thought it would so I was ready to go back to a more neutral color.

Matt's camping this weekend and I'm cheering for Bama. Roll Tide!

Good news!

I just started a new job at the Deparment of Education working as a program specialist under the Title-II D grants office. This grant focuses on integrating technology into the classroom. There's a lot more to it than that, but that's the best i can do in a nutshell. I'm excited to be doing something new and the work is really interesting and challenging.

Matt and I are doing well. We were home last week. Matt went to the AU-Vandy game with his dad and had a great time despite the loss. Currently he's hashing out the firing of Tony Franklin with his mom, another huge Tiger.

We're staying in tonight, resting and reading and listening to the rain outside. It hasn't rained here in several weeks. Things are going well and I'll get a longer blog in later.

Clear Blue Water

Let me just start off this blog with stating someting, I love politics. I minored in political science in college along with public relations because I wanted to run political campaigns. I wanted to write speeches and be part of the team that gets behind a great candidate and helps promote the beliefs we all share. I campaigned in college during the presidential election, I worked the phone bank making calls on behalf of the local county commission candidate. I proudly wore my candidates button everywhere I went. I joined politcal groups, I rallied, and I encouraged others to do the same. I watched the last two inagurations like some watch the Oscars. I knew all the faces and names. When I went to D.C. in high school, my friend Lora and I had our pictures made with statues of William Jennings Bryan and got starstruck when we passed the office of the Senate Minorty Whip. I love politics....

Having said that, though, even with my passion for the stuff, lately it's putting a foul tast in my mouth. I'm tired of it. I really am. I'm tired of this presidential election. Doesn't it seems like it's been going on for years?Our entire country is almost completely divided in half. I'm tired of the polarizing effect that the election is having on people. It's stressful. It's a taboo topic with friends and coworkers. No one seems to accept the other person's opinion anymore. No one seems happy. I realize this is all just part of what's going on the world today. There's wars, bad economies, people without jobs, high gas prices, global warming...and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. That's not going to magically change, no matter who is elected in November.

My political leanings or opinions are not important. I'm not going to use my blog to force them on anyone because I really don't want to read anyone else's opinions on this. It won't change my mind and I don't expect I can change anyone else's. Everyone has to make their own decision. I urge you to do your research. Being in public relations, I KNOW how the ads and speeches are spun to make the other look the worst. Check on the facts, don't take them out of context. Don't listen to the pundits, be it Hannity & Colmes, Bill Maher or John Stewart. Go to each candidates website, find the issues that matter to you and find out who will take the action you want to see.

It's something I'll be praying for....

Clear Blue Water - Originally a term from competitive rowing referring to an obvious gap between the leading boat and those following. In more recent years it has been used allusively to mean the discernable distance between the ideologies of two political parties.

Heavenly Fall

I love the fall. We've had some wonderful days of low humidity down here. It's just been so refreshing to be outdoors. I love summer stuff, but I am more than ready to see the cooler air blowing in. I love eating candy corn, cooking hamburgers over a campfire, taking the dogs on walks in the afternoon, opening the windows and watching the curtains blow around in the breeze, decorating my home with fall colors, watching college football, carving pumpkins...there are so many things to enjoy about each season, but fall is probably one of my favorites.

A book I read several years ago, The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold has a cool idea of what heaven might be like. I won't go into details about the book (it's a good one, though), but, the main character has died and is in heaven. At one point, her grandfather comes to see her, there is a party and she and her grandfather dance in a beautiful meadow surrounded by lights. She describes how they dance and dance and time seems to pass by quickly and stand still at the same time. I thought that was an interesting way to describe eternity. I imagine that God is creating the "mansions" he speaks of in the bible and to my earthly body, this mansion will hold all the things I love: Steve and Wil will be by my side, Matt to cuddle with, I can hear the ocean, there are endless M&Ms, a fire in the fireplace and my family around to sing songs with. We all harmonize to each song and we vary from old hymns to 80's hair band songs. We sing and time seems to pass by quickly and not at all at the same time. Every now and then a cool fall breeze comes through and I can feel it blowing my hair around. I can't imagine anything better, but I know the real heaven will be a 1,000 times better than that. This fall weather takes me to that place in my heart where I know I am experiencing something that makes me so happy I want it with me to eternity.

Happy Birthday Matt!

Today is Matt's 29th birthday. I'm so excited to spend this special day with him. We celebrated with cookie cake and presents yesterday between all the games.

The only candles I could find were tapers so he got one huge candle instead of several small ones.

Matt and I have known each other for about 7 years and have been dating for about the same amount of time. It's been a wonderful time. He's my knight in shining armor, he listens when I'm upset, he surprises me with little things, he stands up for me and worries with me. He understands what makes me tick better than I do. He reassured me when I had roommate troubles and when Andrea was sick. He does so much for me and I truly appreciate him.

Matt is a HUGE Auburn fan. He kept that hidden from me when we were dating. We have such a fun time during football season. We kid about the other team, but we always show good sportsmanship. He reads everything there is to read about Auburn, all year round. He keeps up with recruiting, with spring practice, with fall practice and of course when the games actually roll around he's the first to know what kind offense AU plans to run. (other than the coaches of course) He knows stats, names, numbers, hometowns and tons of other stuff about the players. When we went to the AU-So. Miss game, we went to the Tiger Walk. Matt took a video and I just snapped pictures for him. He knew every player. I'm ashamed to say that although I'm a lifetime Bama fan, I probably couldn't look at the players walk by and tell you who they were, except for JPW.

Matt loves Nintendo. He's had just about every product they have produced at one time or another. He loves Legend of Zelda, Mario, Tiger Woods Golf, and tons of other new games. He bought a Gamecube with his limited law school funds and played NCAA football constantly. He now has a Wii and has a collection of games that he rotates. He even plays golf online with his dad occasionally. This is his wind down, form of relaxation. It's fun to play with him, we have a good time with Mario Kart.

Matt loves Steven King novels. He's been shopping at used bookstores lately to collect all of King's books. I never knew there were so many. He has the complete collection of the Dark Tower, practically all in hardcover. He loves to read, which is a quality we hope to pass on to our children. Matt at his happiest sitting by the beach in a comfy beach chair with a good book.

Matt really enjoys art projects and is very tolerant of my crazy projects around the house. He even joins in with ideas. We had a hilarious time getting Steve and Wil to paint a canvas. He's painted so many pictures, our walls are covered. He's done some amazing oil paintings and he's really talented. If we ever have to evacuate for a hurricane I have a list of things I MUST pack and all of his paintings are on that list. In law school he even cross stiched several presents for me, his mom and his sister.

Matt is a neat freak and believes: "there is a place for everything and it should be there" - I'm not that way. Fortunately he knows this and understands it so I don't think it drives him TOO crazy. He also likes for the light to be turned off if no one is in the room. Even if I've stepped out the room for a second, planning to come back, he'll flip the light off on me. I've left the kitchen to do something in the middle of cooking and he turned off the light while there were pots bubbling on the stove.

Matt is a movie buff as well and would go to a movie every night if I went with him. I'd rather see it on my own TV, but, he likes to see it in a theater with people all around him. He likes the dark, cold theater and the smell of popcorn. We've found inexpensive ways to see a lot of movies by going to matinees and the dollar theater.

Matt likes to cook and is very good at it. He gets creative with spices and other ingredients and he finds a way to use what he has in the cabinet. When we were first engaged and living in Tuscaloosa, he was my upstairs neighbor. When I came home from work in the afternoons he always had dinner ready. I do a lot of cooking now, but I enjoy it more than I did then. Part of the joy I have in cooking now is from watching him and becoming less fearful of using the exact ingredients. He taught me to be more creative and braver in the kitchen. Now I have famous recipes and requested recipes of things I've made that people really like. If you had seen me back then in my Sr. year of college you would have never believed it because Matt was(is) the true chef.

As you can tell, Matt means the world to me.

Matt, I wish you a wonderful birthday filled with all the things you love. Most of which are mentioned above. I love you!

Cruise

Matt with the view out our window in the back of the boat.

Me and Matt rocking the wind on the cruise Formal Night.

The main temple at Chichen Itza - the Mayan Ruins

The gaming area. You don't want to know what they did to the winner of this game. Let's just say that human sacrifice was a popular part of the culture.

The hoop where the goals were made. These things were incredibly high off the ground.

It started to rain while we were there. It POURED. The Mayan craft vendors all around were selling plastic rain ponchos for $5. Twenty minutes earlier they were only 50 cents. Funny how a rainforest doesn't feel that much different than summer in the south.

Me in front of the main Temple, in the rain. We got soaked.

The Temple of 1000 columns. They were everywhere.

Me and Matt on the ship in Rick's Cafe, modeled after the one in Casablanca.

Cruise to Mexico was completely refreshing. We had a great time. We went to some amazing Mayan Ruins and just slept and ate a ton. The seas were rough from Hurricane Ike passing through (we were safely on shore in Mexico when he went through the gulf). I think a lot of people were seasick but Matt and I did fine.

A cool note to my high school friends who went on the cruise for our Senior trip. This was the exact same boat. Pretty crazy huh? It hadn't changed much. I recognized the country western bar where we danced, the dance club, the tiki bar with kareoke (sp) and tons of other stuff. I couldn't remember where our room was though....