.....I'm back!!

Oh hello there,

I'm back!!! 

I was reading through my old blog posts the other day and was reminded how much I really love sharing parts of my crazy mind and life with you. I cant believe it has been since spring break that I have made a post! 

So.. without further ado, some more of my mind jabber. 

My parents told me I could be whatever I wanted to be when I grew up. I went with the obvious first choice, a rock star, and while I was working on that dream I explored my way through many of my other prospective career ideas. I was going to be a ballerina, a fashion designer, an interior designer, a journalist, and even at one point thought of being an accountant. I had quite an imagination as a child and I suppose its what has gotten me this far in my life, but I never dreamed I'd end up here.

I never took any medical classes when I was in high school, so its strange that I ended up here. It happened in my first year of college, I took one anatomy and physiology course and decided I needed to be in healthcare like I needed air to breathe. It just fit, it clicked and i'm so glad I somehow stumbled into a health professions meeting at the right time and found my way into one of the coolest professions in healthcare. High five to all who wander for we are not as lost as they think we are, and we eventually get where we are going.

My parents told me I could be whatever I wanted to be.. and I decided I wanted to be this guy:

For those of you who are uncultured swine, that is Beaker.  He is the highly anxious, mildly insane, very shy assistant of Dr. Bunsen Honeydew in The Muppets. He's essentially a laboratory technician and physician assistant all rolled into one gigantic ball of stress, and its fabulous.

I am currently a Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT) and I love my job so much. When I talk to people, they often have no idea what I really do. Basically, if it comes out of you I look at it, test it, and give your doc a list of results from which he/she makes a diagnosis off of. I love the people I work with and while I sometimes have classic disastrous Beaker moments, they always help me through it.

Pick a career in something you love and you'll never work a day in your life. I think I've done that, and if I decide to move on and become a PA, at least i'll still be Beaker.

Anyways, what i'm getting at is chase your dreams. Find your inspiration. Be your own Beaker.

Shlog

Spring Break Fun!

My dearest friends,

I apologize for such a long break on my end. I am so sorry and I'm hoping that you don't think that I was giving you the silent treatment. I have been very busy with life!

However, I recently had spring break and I accomplished so much when I had time off, so today you get pictures instead of my clever little jabbers about my life.

First things first, Dayton and I went to St. George with my family and we had so much fun! We went on beautiful hikes and spend some much needed time together.

Here are some photos from the trip:

 We obviously had our fun and when it was time to go home we were very sad.. I mean how can you leave something so beautiful as that?

When we did finally make it home I set out on a new project, re-doing my kitchen! Now this post is my first post in a series of updates about the process. One of the things that is most important to me when planning this project was keeping this process within a budget. Dayton works really hard to provide us with a really bad ass house and I wanted to keep the price tag on my hobbies reasonable so as not to stress his wallet much more than I do already. (love you honey!)

So with out further ado, here is step one in the kitchen re-do, refinishing my cabinets.

Before:

As you can tell, my house is pretty sweet! I love everything about this house but it does need a little bit of an update. By the way, the picture on the left there is my dad helping my plan out our project. He was the biggest help throughout this and i'm so glad we got to spend some time together! We had a blast and basically became experts at refinishing these cabinets. (Thanks Dad!!)

Here are some in between pictures:

Yes.. paint. Sanding? Nope, not one second of sanding. WOO HOO!

We used the product Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations to do this project and the kit requires a step of de-glossing which allows the paint to bond to the wood without sanding.  

After this stage we did a glazing stage, however we didn't take picture of this process because we honestly didn't have free hands or probably because we forgot..  

Ready for final-ISH pictures?

.......

TA DAH!!!

We haven't put on our new handles yet but for the most part this is the finished product!

And that budget I was talking about?

This project and all the supplies involved including the new handles cost around $300. Not too bad for a fresh new kitchen look!

Next up on the agenda for Mission: Kitchen Update?

New countertops!

Stay tuned my cute little followers!

I promise you will be hearing from me soon!

--Shlog--

Rest Stops

My lovelies! I've missed you terribly!

So sorry for the skipped post last week and the late post this week, I have been very busy with school and side projects. MY RESEARCH PROJECT GOT FUNDED!! Woo!!!!!!!

Any way, time for some of that rambling you all love so much...

The thing that has been floating around in my mind lately is reality. No, not like the TV shows, because lets face it no ones life is that cool. I'm talking more like the whole real life thing that is happening just past that glass screen you've been holding in front of you for the last few hours.

But i'll get to that. First, story time.

When I was a kid I spend a lot of time on the road. My loving parents would load me and my brother up in the car and drive to Idaho every other weekend to pickup my other siblings. These trips were long and my brother and I would almost kill each other by the time we got there. Naturally my parents would stop for gas which meant we all got to get some fresh air and my parents could remember they loved us and didn't want to leave us there. I'm the youngest and therefore the most spoiled, so these big brown eyes usually fluttered their way into getting a treat in the store when we stopped. I learned to love these trips because to a little kid, that Flintstones push up Popsicle made the trip worth every second.

I realized the other day that I spend a lot of time dreaming about the future. I have these big plans of what I want my life to look like and i'm constantly thinking, "Its going to be so great when I get there. I'm going to be so happy. I just need to do x,y, and z."  I think a lot of us do this, we assume that we won't be happy until we get where we are going. We get so busy planning our lives and what we want to accomplish that we forget to stop for a deep breath and a Popsicle.

The really sad thing is, we aren't necessarily unhappy, we just aren't focused on our current happiness. Stop what you are doing right now and think about your life. What was the last thing that made you smile? What was the last thing that made you laugh? and now.. for the Dr. Phil moment of this post, "how does that make you feel?" Really though, when I think about the last thing that made me laugh I realize how happy I am.

Its fun to plan your life, there so much potential to change and grow and so many things to do. However we have to enjoy the little stops along the way. We have to stop and realize our happiness is just as much about the trip as it is about getting there.

So that is what I'm going to try to focus on. I'm going to love my little stops, because I've got so much to be happy about. Including but not limited to the fact that i'm pretty sure I've got Popsicles in the freezer.

In conclusion, be happy in your stops. Be happy with the things that are happening right now. Those are the thing that will make it worth it when you make it.

"We are at our very best, and we are happiest, when we are fully engaged in work we enjoy on the journey toward the goal we've established for ourselves. It gives meaning to our time off and comfort to our sleep. It makes everything else in life so wonderful, so worthwhile" - Earl Nightingale

--Shlog

Sounds Like Home

Hello my beautiful people, welcome back!

Story time! Lets just get right into it shall we?

Growing up my house was always filled with beautiful sounds. From the dog barking at literally nothing, the dishwasher loudly making its hard work known, to the pipes rattling when someone flushed the toilet or took a shower, my childhood home was far from quiet. Add the fact that there was often four rambunctious kids running around and its amazing my poor parents even have some of their hearing and sanity left.

When you move out you don't realize how much you miss those little things. You have to get used to the new sounds and that takes some doing. The first night in our new house, I struggled to sleep and was convinced for a good month that we had a ghost that liked to use our toilet in the middle of the night.. (nope, not kidding.) However, I got used to it and now when people visit and ask what that sound is I have a hard time figuring out what they are talking about. Isn't that weird? We get comfortable and used to the natural moans and groans of the things around us, even the people. Maybe its us getting used to the idea of  this new place feeling like home instead of  just a house.

That being said, there are still some moments where you can tell something is missing.

For instance, my dad has played guitar for my entire existence. I was one of the lucky kids that got to experience an amazing musician first hand for my entire life. I got to be the ears that heard the first strums, working drafts, and final sets of masterpieces. I got to be front row to every living room concert, every kitchen jam, and every backyard gig. I got to star in renditions of songs we made up on our own and sing along to songs that had been around for years. I had the coolest childhood and whoever let me become an adult is totally fired. I miss those sounds every single day and its one of my favorite things about going home.

So I hope you start to notice those little sounds that are unique to your home. I hope you appreciate the memories you are making for your family. Because even if its just those annoying little creeks in the floor or your midnight pooping ghost, those sounds will stick with them for the rest of their lives..

And it will always remind them of home.

--Shlog

Ramblings of The Sleep Deprived

Happy Wednesday! (sort of..)

I'm officially at the point of the week where I'm sleep deprived enough to write a new post! WOO! Okay, shh.. I can hear your cheering and your going to wake up Dayton.

Have you guys ever realized how fast time goes? It feels like just yesterday I was writing my adorable post glamorizing procrastination and yet here you are again, ready for another adventurous journey though my brain.

Also, its February?
If you are wondering, no that was not a typo, that was a question. I cannot believe we have already made it to the month of shattered resolutions! Back to eating like normal humans and not going to the gym, we tried our best for a month, YAY!

So, on that note...

February is one of my favorite months because I get to love on that handsome man I like so much. No, this is not a goey romantic shpill about Valentines day, i'm talking about his birthday!

Most people don't really like celebrating birthdays as they get older. Something about the constant reminder that their body isn't as fresh as it used to be freaks people out. Some people just think of it as any old day, I on the other hand LOVE BIRTHDAYS!!

You are probably assuming i'm going to say that I love them because of the chance for a "new you" or a nice reminder that you are moving closer to that older wiser person you are going to be one day, and yeah those are true assumptions, but lets be honest.. the real reason is the cake. The cake/dessert item is the best freaking part. No, i'm not kidding. And for those of you that hate birthdays you gotta admit.. the fact that you get free cake sweetens the deal a little bit.. (see what I did there? I know, so clever..)

For whatever the reason, I love birthdays. Dayton however, is not the biggest fan.

If any of you know me you know that this doesn't phase me at all. I try to make it a big deal for him, especially for him, because I'm so thankful to share another year with him. I'm so glad I get to see him turn into that older wiser person. I am so excited to see what he does with the new year he gets. And of course, I love sharing cake with him. (jk I don't share cake.. but you get the point).

He's my human. I'm so glad he was born. SO I make a big deal about it. Everyone should make a big deal about birthdays.

Why? BECAUSE SCIENCE. (OH Yeah, i'm pulling out the nerd card.) It takes a lot of stuff going right to make a human.

Now, don't get nervous because i'm not about to give you "the talk" here, and if you really don't know how babies are made i'm going to have to direct those questions to your favorite search engine, but I will say that the science that goes into making a human demands to be celebrated. And those people that call babies "miracles" they aren't just being annoying.. they are right. There is a lot more that can go wrong when trying to grow little parasites than people realize. Millions of cell signals and processes have to happen to make that tiny human and then its born and millions of things have to go right for it to grow and become a bigger more opinionated human.

Basically, the odds are stacked against you to begin with. Celebrate the years that you defy them. Celebrate that you are a product of some pretty fricking sweet science. Celebrate another year of not dying,

AND LET ME EAT CAKE DAMMIT.


--Shlog

The Dance of the Do-er

When I was six I entered into the amazing world of education.

 Oh yeah, buckle in folks its going to be one of those kind of stories.

I started kindergarten as everyone does: decked out in my barbie gear, hair perfectly ratted on top of my head with a gigantic bow, (shout out to the 80s-90s moms who did this to their poor children!) and my sweet Velcro strapped shoes. I remember clinging to mom begging her not to leave me with all these strange people but then I spotted the crayons and soon warmed up to my fellow snot monsters and life went on.

Kindergarten is an interesting time because you aren't really doing anything different than you did at home, you just have new people in charge of you and more people to share stuff with. Its like a test run to see if you can handle actual humans that don't share some DNA with you.

Luckily, for most of us, we make it past kindergarten and were shuttled right along into first grade.
Now, this is when the game changes on you. They throw this thing at you called homework, and you have to take it home and do it. WHAT IS THIS GARBAGE? They try to jazz it up with pictures and fun scenarios, but the actual work part is super annoying and leads most kids thinking: BRING BACK THE COLORING DAMMIT!

And from then on you become one of two people: "the do-er" or "the dancer".

The do-er is the kid that goes home with his homework that is supposed to take him an hour. He sits down with his glass of Sunny D and his homework takes him the predetermined hour.

The dancer is the kid that goes home with her homework that is supposed to take her an hour. She sits down with her glass of Sunny D, does one problem and then decides she wants a snack. She eats her snack and then sits down, does another problem and then decides that she needs some music because it "helps her focus". She then does another problem, and realizes that she forgot to take her shoes off. On her way back from taking her shoes off she decides that the current hit on the radio is just too dang catchy to not dance to, so she dances her butt off until the song is over. She then does another problem, and eventually its 8:00 and her homework has taken her 5 hours.

 Now, if you haven't already figure out which of the two you are, let me explain. Just like most things, there are gray areas. You can be both and some days you can switch back and forth between the two if you try hard enough. However, you will always present more strongly as a do-er or a dancer. [I'm a scientist so you can consider this scientifically proven ;)]

Me? Can you guess which one I am? :)

I have been the dancer my entire life. I have tried with all my might to force myself to be a do-er and its just never stuck. It would take me hours and hours to do my homework because I would dance my way through it.
Luckily for all of you, I haven't changed. Its now 11:58 as I write this and I am supposed to be in bed snuggled up to that guy I love some much, dreaming about normal ranges and critical values for the chemistry test I have to take tomorrow.
And I dance on..

The point is this, if you know how you are, own it.
I dance my way through stuff, but I eventually get it done right and on time, and in the end that is all that really matters.
Other people work better by powering their way through stuff and get it done fast, right, and on time and then they feel like they can dance.
 The important thing to remember is that its okay to do things on your own time because if we were all the same, the desks or dance floors would get really crowded.. and the only thing worse than sharing your crayons is not having enough space to dance.

--Shlog

Ch- Ch- Ch- Ch- Changes.

Changing our minds, I do it all the time. While most people would just chalk it up to me being a woman I like to pretend that I do it purposefully every once in a while. Ya know, as opposed to doing it just for fun.

Changing my mind ranges anywhere from switching between what T-shirt I want to wear, to driving my Tona crazy when he asks what i'm feeling for dinner. However at this moment in time, those minor changes seem quite insignificant to what I've had brewing in my brain.


Anyone who has talked to me in the last few years about what I want to do with my life has heard a very long description of my plans. I was, for a very long time, confident in my choice to go to medical school and NOTHING was going to sway me, I was ready. AND THEN.. life. I realized very quickly after spending the majority of my time at school buried in books, that I really wanted a life to go along with this amazing knowledge.

Now understand my dear friends, this is not an easy thing to write about. My poor little ego is screaming with horror at this very moment that I even considered changing my mind. BUT the other part of me is excited about possibly having the best of both worlds.


You know those Chinese finger traps you played with when you were a kid? I felt like my career self and my family self were jammed into either side and the more I pulled one way or the other the more stuck I felt. When you are in the moment of questioning your already planned out life, you get a serious pang of panic and fear when you realize that you actually might not know it all.


Surprise, Surprise..


This is when you turn to your family. My family is the most supportive group of crazies you will ever meet. Dayton is my biggest cheerleader and he even looks good in the outfit, (haha just making sure you are still paying attention) but really, he is amazingly supportive. They all helped put things into perspective and let me realize that I don't have to give up one part of my life for the other.


So, for the moment I have decided that I want to be a Physicians Assistant. This will cut my school time in half and allow me to spend more time with the people I love.. maybe even having my own little people one day. I said ONE DAY mom.. don't go buy me baby crap.


The take away from this post is that if you are in the conflict with yourself, prioritize. Figure out what you want from life, and go there. You won't be giving up on yourself, you will be giving yourself the gift of choosing a different kind of happiness. And that is a good way to change your mind.


In closing, I part with one of the greatest quotes I have ever heard by the Dalai Lama when asked what surprised him most about man,"Man, sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”


Live in your life. Be there for the things that matter to you. Changes can be good, even if they are scary.
--Shlog

Starting A Blog..

So, starting a blog... not really something I saw myself doing. That being said I usually have a lot to say about a lot of things, as most of you know, so it makes sense that I ended up here. I'm not sure how many people will even read this but it is a good outlet for me to vent, HELLO CHEAP THERAPY! The good news is I know I will have one fan (hi mom!) because even when your artwork sucked as a kid, she still thought you were on a fast track to The Louvre.

SO, Here goes nothing!

On any given day I have about 10-15 things bouncing around my head at one time but for the sake of your sanity I will only limit this particular post to a few, one of us should stay lucid right?
On my mind lately is life. Now if you have made it this far into this post you are sitting there thinking "Wow Ashley how very unique and deep, what a beautiful thought" in what I hope is the most sarcastic tone ever because that is literally the most general thing I could have said, but in all seriousness I can't say it in any other way.
I have been thinking about life and what an interesting thing it is. As homosapien's we are programmed to question things. We question if we really should eat those leftovers that have been in the fridge since.. well we aren't ever really sure. We question if we really like that shirt we have had in our closet that we have never really worn but refuse to give up on. We question why sporks are only ever used by KFC and why you even need a spork to eat a drumstick? (no? just me.. okay..) We question why we keep scrolling through Facebook when we have already seen that post about the Powerball 1 billion times. We even go as far as to question why we keep going to that job that we hate every day. WE QUESTION EVERYTHING. The good news is, we should. We should question those leftovers, that really ugly shirt, the spork, that annoying facebook post, even our big life decisions. If we don't stop wondering, questioning, we wont figure out the important stuff. We won't figure out that eating those leftovers will land you on the toilet for a good two hours.. (hope your TP is soft!). We won't figure out that the shirt we are holding on to needs to be given away because really, that thing is a mess. As long as we keep challenging our minds we will be able to understand ourselves better. We will maybe even one day figure out that illusive piece of frankenstein silverware, or how to make the change we need to, to be happy in our job.
So if you take anything away from this post let it be that life isn't in the problems we face daily but what we get from experiencing them.
Life is in the answers. Life is in the discovery.
--Shlog