Summertime Fun

Since it is now June, I will officially call it summer. It's sure hot enough to be! David was supposed to journey to Thomasville for the weekend and we were going to go down to Wakulla Springs to spend the day on Saturday. Well, he had some issues pop up on Friday at 5:00 at work with the phone lines and ended up having to stay in Savannah for the weekend. So I took my free weekend, and headed home to see my family and my puppies. Which is always a good thing! I had one thing on my agenda this weekend- to do as little as possible and spend as much time down at the creek as I could. I love watching the dogs swim and have a good time. They LOVE to swim! It's so cute! So be prepared for lots of dachshunds swimming photos!

Brutus and his obsession - fetching balls out of the water

The dogs love to fetch balls out of the water. They will do this for hours on end. As long as you are throwing the balls, they will jump in to go get them. Especially Brutus - he is majorly OCD in this department. He is obsessed with those balls. He can't rest until he has gathered every ball up and it is safely on the bank.

JJ likes to swim, but I think he prefers the boogie board.

Brutus eventually realized the redeeming qualities of the board. He could be "in" the water in the middle of the action, but without all the swimming.

Jack got his turn as well. My nephew Barrett had fun with his new "aquarium" aka, a blow up paddle boat that he filled with water and creatures like minnows, tadpoles, and crayfish. Here he is with his cup trying to catch his prey.

 He finally got one (with cousin, Colton's help).

He calls the crayfish lobsters. It's pretty darn cute :-)

This is for you, mother!! And you are welcome!

We put in two long days of swimming. I may have added fuel to my already sunburned skin. I need to be more careful! But it was fun. I got some good float time in, and also went off the zip line a few times, which is always a blast!

JJ was pretty funny. At the end of the day, he was tired and needed to rest. The ground wasn't good enough. I looked up and he had decided to take his nap on my chair and towel. Hope you all had a good weekend!

Friday Faves

Happy Friday morning everyone! I'm back today with this week's installment of my favorite things from this week. Let's see what makes the list!

1. Art Finds: I have been looking around to find a piece of art to go in my office. I wasn't really sure what I wanted, but when I came across a shop on Etsy that sold pretty watercolors of various dogs, I knew I wanted a dachshund one! Follow the link and check out the different prints!

Every week the artist let's you submit a photo of your pet on Facebook for a contest for him to do a custom art print for you. I submitted a photo of Moxley for David, since I have one of a dachshund. Thought it would be nice for David to have an original piece of art of his dog. So please go vote for Moxley! Hopefully we will win the contest this week. If not, then I may have to pay to have a portrait done of Mox for David. He seems to really like the idea and has started a campaign to get everyone he knows to go vote for Mox. It's pretty adorable to see him get all excited about this contest. Ha! So go vote!

While I was at it, I found a whimsical print for my bedroom to put on my shelf. It's cute and would be perfect one day in a nursery, if I ever have a little girl! This is from The Wheatfield another shop on Etsy. You should go check out her other prints. Very cute!

2. This Picture:

David sent me this photo yesterday. This is Mox waiting for his doggie ice cream that I bought him last weekend at the grocery store. However, with all of David's stuff packed and ready to go for his visit to come see me this weekend, it looks like Mox is going on a trip himself and saying "see ya later, loser!" to David.

3. Adapt and Overcome- With a Grill: Yesterday it was storming after work. On the drive home, I got an intense craving for some chili. Yes, I realize it is normally 90 degrees and not chili weather, but the dreary weather just got me in the mood for some comfort food. So, I got out and braved the pounding rain to run in Publix to get the ingredients to make chili. Then I got home to realize that the electricity was off. Totally my luck! I would not be derailed in my valiant effort for chili. That's where the grill came in. So I took my pot and my chili stuff and headed outside to cook on the grill. Needless to say, I got my chili. So take that Thomasville Utilities! You will not ruin my day with no electricity!

Although I was a little upset that after all that effort, I realized that we were out of cheese. Oh well! It was still yummy!

4. My New Necklace: I finally got around to wearing the necklace I had been stalking at Target that I bought a couple of weeks ago. Love it.

And..I also found a pair of shoes that I forgot I had. They are pink and purple, so I decided to pull those out and wear them too!

And if you are wondering why I am taking random pictures in my office, so am I! But it's only because I just got a new remote control for my camera and had to try it out. Which brings me to my favorite "fave" of the week!

5. Remote for my Nikon! David was my first victim this weekend. I will spare you all the pictures that I forced upon him because I set the camera up and then would randomly press the remote when he would least expect it. I have to admit I enjoyed this power way more than I should. We got pretty silly by the end of it all.

I even made Stacey have an impromptu photo shoot one evening in the kitchen. I asked her to look adoringly in my face. I got her "really?" face instead.

Love it! Anyways, those are some of my favorite things/moments from this week. Hope you all have a fabulous weekend. I know I will. I bought a tripod for my camera, so David will have more fun with the remote control feature at our photo shoot this weekend! (insert evil laugh here!) He's super pumped about it.

Memorial Day Wrap Up

This post is going to be really lame. I'm just not feeling very "bloggy" lately. So this post will be short, sweet, and to the point. I had a pretty relaxing long weekend in Savannah. I was truly thankful for the extra day and I have decided that I like 3 day weekends, especially when going to Savannah because it gives me a little extra time to enjoy the city.

Friday after work, I headed that way. I arrived in Savannah at about 8:30 and met David and his sister and her friends for a night on the town. His sister and her friends had rented a place in Hilton Head, SC about 1.5 hours north of Savannah, and so they wanted to come down to Savannah Friday evening to catch a little bit of Savannah whimsy during their travels. I met them at Rocks on the Roof, the roof top bar/restaurant on top of the Bohemian Hotel, my #1 favorite place in Savannah due to the view of the river. We then all headed down to the Olde Pink House for dinner. In all my travels to Savannah, I have never eaten there. David and I have tried to go on a few occasions, but without reservations, so we never wanted to wait. I have to say, it didn't disappoint. It was really good and I loved it! It was great getting to see David's sister and meet her friends. We all had a good time.

Saturday, we braved the masses at Tybee Island and went and parked ourselves on the beach.

It was pretty crowded and only got worse as the day progressed. My main form of entertainment was focused on the girl you see in the picture above. She was my age or younger and was with a man old enough to be her father. So I spent most of the day trying to ascertain if she was his daughter or if she was a major gold digger. I never got complete proof one way or the other :-) I will give her the benefit of the doubt and say he was her father.

I had a complete tragedy happen on the beach. There was a tropical storm rolling up the eastern coast, so the surf was CRA-ZEY! I dumbly wore my sunglasses in the ocean and a ginormous wave took me under, and my new monogrammed sunglasses were gone, never to be seen again.  I was upset, but luckily for me, when we ordered a pair of sunglasses for our cousin Caroline, the place screwed up the order and sent a pair with my initials instead of Caroline's, so I have a back up pair. Score! But that didn't help me on Saturday in the glaring sun. But the ocean giveth and the ocean taketh away. And although it took my sunglasses, it also gave me a replacement pair. A pair washed up on the beach, just minutes after me losing my pair. That was pure luck!

These were my new replacement pair. I couldn't believe my luck! After staying out on the beach ALL day, I came home with a pretty brutal sunburn. Good thinking Ashley, with that SPF 4 tanning lotion. Oh well, the red has now turned brown, so I guess I can't complain.

Sunday was low key. David and I got up to go downtown to one of our favorite brunch spots- J. Christopher's. We usually don't venture downtown for brunch, due to the crowds and stay out at Thunderbolt and hit up Tubby's, but I had a craving for J's pancakes. So we braved the loooong wait.

I snapped this picture of David. He looks so enthused! I don't know if you can see, but over his shoulder, that picture at the very top is a painting of a bunch of dachshunds running the wiener races. No wonder I love this place! We finally got a table and I could indulge in their signature blueberry crunch pancakes. These bad boys are so good. It's not even funny!

They are of course blueberry pancakes, but they put this granola crunch stuff on top that makes these things out of the world. My favorite! After brunch, we just walked around downtown a little bit and prayed that it wouldn't start raining (which it did). I made David walk me over to the Parker's Gourmet Market Store to get what has quickly become one of my favorite things- Chewy Ice. There is a local chain of convenient stores around Savannah called Parker's. On my drive up on Friday, I drove on fumes so that I could stop at the first Parker's on I-95 on Jesup Hwy just south of Brunswick so I could get my first cup of chewy ice.

This stuff is the bomb and it's like crack to me. I'm an ice chewer, which is a terrible habit, but I love it. This ice is the best stuff. It is kinda like Sonic ice, but waaaaaaay better. So after brunch, I scored a cup to walk around with downtown. Most people grab one of Savannah's infamous "to go cups" (of alcohol) I instead opt for a cup of chewy ice!

So I had my ice and I was a happy gal walking around shopping. Needless to say, I have a routine down concerning my drive home. I stop at the Parker's closest to David's house, score a cup of ice and then stop at the last Parker's on my drive home on Hwy 99, which is about an hour away, and grab another cup. It's pretty sad and I think I may have a problem. Especially since I have written an epic novel dedicated to the accolades of Parker's Chewy Ice!
Monday, it was rainy and gross, so we just stayed in. I made David some homemade biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast and we lounged around and watched movies. Am I the only one who was a little disappointed by The Vow? Then it was time for me to hit the road. So, that was my escapades in Savannah. Hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day! And I just want to thank all the men and women who serve/have served our country and the sacrifices that you make for our freedom. A big thank you!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

A very special lady celebrated her birthday over the weekend. My gorgeous, mother, of course! God totally hooked me up in the mom department. I am so very blessed to call this woman my mother. I couldn't have picked a better mom out for myself if I had tried. Love you bunches, mom! Hope you had a wonderful birthday!

Friday Faves

It's finally Friday, ya'll!!! Who's with me on high fiving the fact that it's a long weekend? I'm back today with a few of my favorite things from this past week. Here we go....

1. Sweets!  I've had a good week in the sweets department. It's always a good time when I have a reason to visit the Cake Shop to pick up a dozen cupcakes. FYI..that mint chocolate chip was the bomb!

 Yesterday, I had to run over to our warehouse to drop off some stuff. It was so hot that I decided to run up the road to Chick-fil-a and grab a milkshake. Of course, I had to try their new cookies. I can't believe I haven't tried them before now. So yummy!

2. Dachshunds I love coming across random dachshund finds. I may have a problem! I came across this little fellow over in Spanish Fort/Malbis, AL when Stacey and I went shopping.

This was at the Scout bag display. They carry some pretty cute bags/totes! Check them out!

Image via

And any company that has a dachshund for their logo gets two thumbs up in my book!

3. Road Trips Loved my road trip with my girl.

Even if the road trip resulted in a little run in with the Alabama State Patrol. Oops....

That ticket, will not be making it onto my Friday Faves :-)
4. The Garden The garden has taken off and gotten all kinds of wild in no time.

We even have a few baby squash out there.

5. Spring Fever I've definitely got a bad case of Spring Fever. I'm ready for these warm months, long days, and more importantly a vacation! In the meantime, I will have to settle for a bright top and fun, funky shoes to get me through being stuck in an office all day instead of lounging on a beach somewhere!

6. Saving my plant My poor little plant that Stacey donated to my office was majorly struggling. I finally ran over to Espositos yesterday and got a bigger pot and some soil and repotted it. Hopefully that will help the little guy spring back to life now that it's no longer cramped in an itty bitty pot.

And I'm sure moving it over to the window and perhaps watering it from time to time will help too!

7. Wedding Planning! Calm down, it's not for me :-) My cousin Heath is getting married in December, so I've been pinning a few ideas for my aunt for rehearsal dinner ideas. I forgot how much fun it is to plan a wedding. It's even better when it's not yours! Heath is a farmer and avid hunter, so it's been fun pinning unique wedding ideas.

You can follow me on Pinterest here! Granted you may be disappointed. I haven't gone all Pinterest crazy, but I still pin stuff when I see something I want to remember later.

Alright guys, that's all I have for you today. Hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. And I want to give a special shout out to my wonderful mother, who will be celebrating her birthday this weekend. Love ya mom!

I Actually Got Paid to Do This

This is pretty random. But I think it's worth mentioning because I am thrilled with the results. What you are about to see, is actually something that I did at work-and got paid to do. I guess you can add random photoshop work for a stuffed buffalo to my resume on top of all of the financial stuff that I am responsible for. I would love to see that on a resume- complete with a picture for back up. A few months ago, my boss commissioned me to do a job for him. He is really involveded in the Springtime Tallahassee organization and wanted to do something funny/special for this year's incoming new Andrew Jackson. The new AJ's name is Dave and he used to be a ski instructor. And Dave decided that he wanted his mascot to be a buffalo (I told you this is random stuff today!). So as a joke, Randy wanted to get Dave a "little Dave" aka the buffalo and have the buffalo on a set of skis in honor of Big Dave. So, Randy got a pair of Dave's favorite pair of skis and brought them into the office. One day he lugs those skis into my office and asked me to help him with this project. He had ordered a stuffed buffalo and had come up with the exact size the skis need to be in order to fit and be to scale on Little Dave. Randy wanted to the skis to be an EXACT replica of Dave's skis, right down to the sticker that Dave had put on the skis himself. So, Ashley had to get to work. Here is a picture of the skis I had to replicate (although this picture is the only one I could find online, and the skis are slightly different than Big Dave's actual skis).

Image via

I had a task to complete. So I got to work. Here is what I came up with:

All of the logos and stuff I was able to find online, but things like the stripes, and that weird purple and green triangle thing, I had to design myself. You don't even want to know how long it took me to make this ski! Randy finally got the skis printed up on some thick material of some kind and made Little Dave his skis. He brought Little Dave in yesterday, so I could admire my masterpiece. I think it turned out pretty cute!

What do you think? Ha! You ever get paid to do something at work that is definitely not in your job description? I would love to hear all about it!

To Catch a Bug

This weekend, my nephew Barrett had a big time playing with his newest toy, a bug catcher. He is absolutely fascinated with all things bug/animal related at the moment. This weekend, I slept in the bed with him and on Sunday morning, he slipped out of bed without me knowing and went and hung out with my grandmother (who I should mention is 89...). He convinced her to let him go in his parents room, grab the keys to the car, and go outside to fetch his bug catcher out of the car and walk around and look for bugs. Poor Mama Bernice. I'm sure that's exactly what she felt like doing at 6:30 in the morning.

Finally we had all gotten up and were at Barrett's mercy on his bug hunting mission.

First he enlisted the help of my father, then he got me into it. Which, I have to admit was pretty fun. Ha! We searched and searched. Looking on flowers, in the grass, out in the cotton field-everywhere!

There were a few butterflies fluttering around the field, so we sat and watched and hoped that they came close enough to catch. I chased and chased those butterflies. I couldn't catch Barrett one, but apparently my father is the butterfly catching expert.

Here he is showing off his catch! I was a bit jealous. Thankfully, Barrett grew tired and had to rest, so we could all rest!

Oh the simple joys of being 4 years old again! Glad I could help him on his quest for his bug collection.