A Letter To Summer...

Dear Summer,

I always look forward to you. In March, I always think I might die without you. But, by the end of August, I'm ready to see you go. It's not that I don't love you, Summer, it's just that, sometimes you bring more trouble than your worth. This summer has been sweet and sour to say the least. Made new friends, lost some friends, reconnected with some, saw others drift further away, saw my business continue to grow, questioned my path, questioned my decisions. Summer, you always seem so much more dramatic than I remember you being the year before. Why? I swear, sometimes I just don't understand you Summer. I just don't.

Now it's the last day of August, and I'm ready to say goodbye to you for another 9 months. I'm sure by the time Christmas rolls around I'll be begging to get you back. But thats just how life works. You always want what you can't have, the grass is always greener, yadda yadda yadda...

But hey, Summer, no hard feelings. Let's see where life takes us next year. Until then...

Your Friend,
Ashley

Revived Love for Sixteen Stone

Ok, I am officially the worst blogger ever, I know this. But, I thought I'd give you a little peak into my life as of late. So here it is. I sat in on a late night jam session at a friends recently and had my love of Bush rekindled. Epic. Why so epic? It's simple really...

Sixteen Stone is one badass record, and I had forgotten how much I loved it until a friend began playing the riff from "Machinehead". AMAZING. I literally had not thought about that song in years and years but as soon as that riff came in, my 7th grade heart almost burst. Everyone joined in pretty effortlessly and it was a full on jam sesh that then moved into "Glycerine". Totally nostalgic and 100% enjoyable. In fact I feel badly that more people don't experience that sort of fluidity and connection with others via music. Its a magical thing. Saying "magical" makes it seem like I'm not being all that serious, but really, I am. There's something about the music you listened to while growing up that brings you, or at least me, such a honest and deep internal satisfaction. When you don't hear it for a while you might not even really realize that you miss it, but when it falls back into your lap, it's like you've been holding your breath underwater until you think you might pass out, and then you come up and take that huge gasp of air.

Thats what I love about music. It never really leaves you. It waits for you.

Enjoy the tunes.

Halloween is coming... OPINIONS PLEASE!

OK, know I know, I'm rushing things here, it's not even August! However, one of my busiest seasons just happens to be early Fall/Halloween season! It's so fun for me to come up with new stuff to offer my awesome clients with a taste for Halloween whimsy!

So, this year, I'm thinking about offering Sugar Skull rings! But first, I want YOUR opinion! Would YOU like to see Sugar Skull Rings offered in the shop? Which Sugar Skull do you prefer? Heart Eyed, Flower Eyed, or both!?

Weeds Season 6 : PEEING. MY. PANTS.

I think the title of this post says it all. The wait has been killing me! Season 6 is ALMOST here!

If you know me at all you know I really only watch 2 shows religiously. The Office and Weeds. And since The Office seems to be going down the tubes sooner than I would have liked, at least I'll still have the Botwin Family to see me through seemingly endless nights of packing orders and assembling chains when the holiday season rolls around.

In fact, now that I'm thinking about the holiday season...This is an open invitation to my friends to come watch full seasons of Weeds, in one sitting, any day of the week beginning Sept. 1st with me whilst I work. I have plenty of room, a comfy couch, a sassy hot dog and a couple jokes.

By the way, I'm not entirely sure how my train of thought moved so quickly from Weeds to the holidays???

Muse vs. Jes Hudak : "Time Is Running Out", MUST WATCH

So, I hope your not sick of me posting about music because it's pretty much the biggest thing in my life besides my business...

Anyway, just a quick post to show off my friend Jes Hudak's disgusting talent once again. Here's her cover of "Time Is Running Out" by Muse. Love her take on it! And holy wow, can she sing the sh*t outta that song or what!!??

Great Job Jes! Woohoo! East Coast power!

P.S.: Jes just played the LA date of Lilith Fair...I forgot to tell you all! But anyway, yeah, high fives all around :)

Happy 5th of July!

No, that's not a typo. I've never been one who is overly enthusiastic about the 4th of July, nor am I really all that patriotic. That said, playing with sparklers is fun regardless. Pyromaniacs rejoice!


Here are a couple sparkly sparkler photos for your viewing pleasure...

And with that I say to you, my fine friends, Happy 5th if July to you all.

Snapshot of the Day

Here's one of my favorite shots that came out of a A.N. Original Jewelry promo shoot in May. A little late in showing this off, although you may have already seen it on my website, but anywhooo...

Penny For Your "Deep Thoughts": Thought #1

I don't know about you, but I can read through "Deep Thoughts" by Jack Handy for hours and sit and laugh by myself in a corner until I cry, eventhough I've read them all before and have most of them memorized. I think it's the fact that I often have my own non-sensical "deep thoughts" running through my head on a daily basis, so I'm happy to know someone else in the world thinks these weird things too. Jack Handy is my mythical unicorn soul mate

"Deep Thoughts" never get old to me. So I was thinking, I'm gonna start posting a random deep thought from the series from time to time, along with a photo. Now, this photo may or may not have anything to do with the quote. It's just a fun little way to share some of my photos I've taken, along with the comedic genius that is Jack Handy. So, here it goes, Deep Thought #1 of many more to come...

"Sometimes when I feel like killing someone, I do a little trick to calm myself down. I'll go over to the person's house and ring the doorbell. When the person comes to the door, I'm gone, but you know what I've left on the porch? A jack-o'-lantern with a knife in the side of its head with a note that says 'You.' After that, I usually feel a lot better, and no harm done." ~ Jack Handy

*This pretty little sunset photo is one I took just a few days ago in Lake George. Lovely, if I do say so myself :)

Summer Snapshot: "My Best Friend Tommy"

This is Tommy and Lucie. They are cousins. In fact, they are my cousins as well. However, Lucie refers to Tommy as "My Best Friend Tommy" on a regular basis. She frequently asks me if I know her "Best Friend Tommy" and when I explain to her that yes, I do in fact know him, and he is my cousin, silly goose, it seems totally lost on her.

Anyway, I took this picture of the two of them having a love-fest a couple weekends ago in Lake George and felt I just had to share it with you all because they are the cutest little dude and dudette ever.

"That's the beauty of music, they can't get that from you..."

I think that this might be the most brilliant scene in a movie ever.

EVER.

Around the 4 minute marker is pretty much my exact feeling about music.

Time Warp Mind Trap

Any time I listen to Interpol its a full on time warp. Back in NYC, back on the roof, back in time. And I'm always left wondering...

Trying to live without regrets is a tricky thing sometimes...it's a lot easier said than done. That's for sure.

The attached picture in this post is a view from my rooftop in NYC looking downtown. I wish I had appreciated it more back then.

With that, I'll just say... I miss you.

That was the life.

My 18 year old brother had a revelation this morning when I went over to my parents house for a little visit. I've pretty much been laughing at it since it came out of his mouth.

"If I could go back to any point in my life it'd definitely be when I was 4yrs old. Think about it. Grilled Cheese and Chocolate Milk. Imaginary Friends. Gushers. That was the life. - Cody

And, a little background on this picture...Cody was the Evil Kinevil kid who has had 11 sets of stitches. Roughly 3/4 of said sets of stitches occurred by the time he was like 7 years old. This picture, (which just happens to be him, post stitches and totally jubilant ) perfectly illustrates him, even now, as an 18 year old man-boy.

Summer Concerts: First up, Kings of Leon

Back again. I'm the queen of inconsistent blogging :)

Anyway, last night I went to a Kings of Leon concert in Saratoga. Good times with friends and good tunes. I must admit though, I was pretty distracted by the fact that I have to pee about 2 mins into the show. Why did I drink so much beer before hand? Silly silly girl.

Unfortunately, my dudes in Kings of Leon didn't play either of the song's I was really looking forward to them playing, but I will forgive them for that. Maybe.

One of those songs I was looking to hear is called "Manhattan", and I've been listening to it a lot lately since I've been going through a bout of homesickness for my former home in NYC. Gahhhhh, why didn't you guys play it? What, you don't take singular requests from a crowd of 25,000 people? Well, thats just ridiculous!

On a more positive note, Caleb's (the lead singer) voice was on point and Nathan (the drummer) and the husband of the one and only Jessie Baylin, was a joy to watch. I wish I could play drums and blow superb bubble gum bubbles at once as Nathan has seemed to master. And, you know, these boy's aren't bad to look at. Riiighhhhttt? Good lookin' family...

So now, I'll leave you with a pretty picture and a song. This is "Manhattan" by Kings of Leon. Thanks for the show boys!

I'm in LOVE with a 5D!

As my photography hobby grows into an obsession and quite possibly a new side gig, I find myself dying to upgrade my camera! In my down time, I've spent countless hours perusing camera body's online in the dead of night, reading reviews, and scouring flickr groups for photos taken with different Canon Camera Bodies...

And now, I think I'm in love, or maybe in lust... with the Canon 5D Mark II.

Yikes. It's a little pricey. But, when I figure just how much use I get out of it I think that greatly eases the sticker shock. I think it'd really help bring my images to the next level. And now you can take video on this little baby! I can't do that with my Canon 30D! While I love my 30D, I think that an upgrade is in order asap. I've been working with my 30D for 4 years now, and sure, it's a great camera, and I'd certainly keep it around but....

...the allure of a new fancy schmancy camera body, like the 5D Mark II is haunting my dreams...

What do you guys think? Any photographers out there have thoughts to share?

Snapshot of the Day: Thing 1, Thing 2 and Thing 3.

I know I've been a bit MIA lately but I'll be back! SO much going on and business has been booming! Thanks to all my awesome customers :) I really appreciate all you guys and that your all spreading the word about my work!

Anyway, here's a quick little photo for you all. This is my best friend Lindsay (center) and her twin sisters, Cat (right) and Aliza (left). Beauties! I love the crap out of those girls. And so does my camera!

Hi girls! Don't hate me for posting this :)