Ode to Ohio

Four years ago, my little family moved across the country to Columbus, Ohio so my husband could attend The Ohio State University. Being a Utah girl, having never lived more than 5 minutes away from my family, it was quite a change for me. I tried my very best to acclimate to the new home, town, people, etc, but it was a struggle at first.

Over time, little by little, Ohio started to feel like home to me. I experienced new things, took up some new hobbies (blogging and sewing), and met new people.

Looking back over these last 4 years, I can't believe how much the time in Ohio changed me. I grew stronger as a person, a mother, and a wife. I realized just how important my faith is to me. I met people that have changed my life forever and that I now count as some of my very best friends. I could not have asked for a better experience, than I had in Ohio... Columbus is a great place!

As our time in Ohio was coming to an end, I found myself trying to soak in every last minute in Columbus. Savor every last bite of Graeter's and Jeni's Ice Cream. ;) 

Wishing time could stop, or that somehow I could bring every last person that I have come to love like family, with me, to my next adventure. 

So as we packed the moving truck, and pulled out of town, I couldn't help but feel like I was leaving behind a piece of my heart. Such is life, I guess. 

Right now, I am out in Utah visiting family for the summer, before we move across the country again, while my husband does some training for his new job. It's good to be back in this beautiful state... I love being able to look out over my parents backyard and seeing the gorgeous mountains I grew up looking at, the smell of summer in the garden, and watching my two beautiful children run around in the backyard- so carefree and happy to be with family for the summer.

Here's to wishing you all a beautiful summer!! 

xoxo, Ashley

PS:  Columbus is such a fun area! If you are ever in the Columbus area- You have to visit some of my very favorite places...

#1: SEW TO SPEAK

(Images via Sew to Speak)

It was so hard leaving this darling brick and mortar fabric shoppe. I love the staff, the fabric selections they offer, and that I was constantly inspired every time I walked in. I even taught my very first sewing class here and had such an amazing experience. 

I will definitely miss being able to visit Sew to Speak whenever my heart desired- which was sometimes more than once in a week!! ha ha

So if you are ever passing through Columbus, (or get lucky enough to move there) be sure to swing by and say hi for me! ;)

#2: The ice cream in Columbus is unreal...

Graeters and Jeni's are both so amazing!  I love the Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip at Graeters. The Brown Butter Almond Brittle and and Dark Chocolate at Jeni's (pictured above) is probably the best thing I have ever eaten. Lucky for me- I can actually buy both out here in Utah so I am slowly easing off my ice cream addiction- (Graeters available at Smith's and Jeni's at Harmons and Whole foods). But really- there is nothing like visiting either place! Definitely recommend it!

Last but not least, 

#3: Amish Country

I love the Amish people. They are so sweet and it is so interesting to see how they live. Our family loved going to Amish Country! We went probably 6 times in the 4 years we lived there. Our favorite place was Hershberger Farm in Millersberg, OH. It is a farm that has a free petting zoo, they sell furniture, do buggy and wagon rides (in the fall you can ride the wagon out to the pumpkin field and pick your own pumpkins), and they have a bakery- my husband is addicted to their peach fry pies (kinda like a krispy creme donut filled with fruit filling)- and I am addicted to their fresh kettle corn that they make over an open fire with a kettle (of course). It is definitely one of my kids favorite places to go and is worth the drive (just under 2 hours from C-BUS- but one of the prettiest drives I have ever been on). And if you are in the area, Heini's Cheese Chalet is a great place to sample amish made cheese and see how they make it! So fun!

Go visit Ohio!!

Fireflies and Fabric Crushes

 Ever heard of a fabric crush? Let me introduce you to mine...

Fort Firefly by Teagan White for Birch Fabrics

I follow Fabric Worm on instagram and saw a sneak peek of this line about 5 months ago and I have been crushing on it ever since!

 The colors totally caught my eye because it was a combo I hadn't really seen before and when I looked closer at the prints, there was no hope for me, I was in love!! The fireflies, moths, deer, and darling strawberry blonde haired girl are just plain perfect!

I could have just hugged and kissed the Fabric Worm team when they offered to send me a fat quarter bundle off the sample bolts... It's probably a good thing I don't live in California because I really would have done just that! ;)

 The fabrics are even prettier in person and it is pretty rare that I love each print in a fabric line, but I really do love every single one of the 13 prints. They are manufactured by Birch Fabrics and they are printed on organic cotton. So soft!

Annnnd... as if the collection couldn't get any cuter they have the most darling cheater print that I have ever seen... hexagons filled with darling little snippets of each of the prints... Birch Fabrics- Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!? I think I need a whole bolt of this one!

 Fort Firefly will not be available until September, but you can sign up to be emailed as soon as it is available at Fabric Worm... just click on the bubble of fabric that you are crushing on and then enter your email... Awesome right?!

Well, enough of my crushing and gushing about how much I love Fort Firefly... I am off to start a new quilt with these pretties!!! These colors are the perfect thing to help ease me out of summer and into fall! Happy Sewing!!

Confessions of a Stay At Home Mom

Being a stay at home mom is one of the hardest, but most rewarding jobs I have ever done in my whole life. 

It's something that I have wanted to do since I can remember. Whenever someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was always "a mommy". 

When the day finally came that I was finally living my dream, it was amazing. It is hard to describe the love I have for my little ones, other than that it is the most intense feeling of love I have ever felt. Of course I love my hubby like crazy too- but the love I have for my kids is that "momma bear, do anything to protect your baby" kind of love! ;)

But, like I said, being a mom is also the hardest job I have ever had. It has tried my patience to the extreme, pointed out my shortcomings, and at times can be physically draining! There are some nights that I literally fall into bed and feel like I never want to move again! ha ha I am sure my fellow mommies out there know exactly what I am talking about.

One thing that I have learned in my almost 3 years as a mommy (don't laugh- I know I am a newbie still), is that us mommies need time for ourselves! Even if it is just a few minutes per day. Luckily I have been blessed with a husband that realizes this and makes  a huge effort to let me have time for myself when he comes home from a day of work. In fact yesterday when I felt like I was going to pull my hair out because being a mom was feeling overwhelming at the moment- he sent me out for 5 hours of alone time to go shopping. Can I get a Hallelujah!?! What a guy! Anything that I want to do whether it is my monthly craft night, book club, or whatever- he makes it work no matter how busy he is. He really is the best husband in the world!

Ok.. I totally know I am rambling here! I guess my reason for writing this post is just to thank all of my readers. As a mom, sometimes praise comes few and far between, so to have all of you all write all the sweet comments you write on my blog, means the world to me!! I feel like I have already met so many new "blog friends" and gotten to know some of you through email and I love it! I  can't thank you guys enough for being so supportive of me and my new blog- you guys are the best!!

xoxo, Ashley J

Confessions of a Beauty School Dropout

My only claim to fame in high school is that my senior year I got voted "Best Hair". Somehow that year the "Senior Personalities" didn't make it to the year book so you are just going to have to take my word for it. ;)

Growing up with 2 younger sisters, I developed a passion for styling hair. I taught my self to french braid when I was in elementary school and I was constantly begging my sisters to let me practice on their hair. I started doing updo's for friends and neighbors for school dances and took every opportunity I got to style someone's hair. When I got to high school it just made sense for me to go to beauty school. I went part time for 2 years while I was a junior and senior in high school. 

Now for the confession... I am a beauty school drop out.

I know you all just started singing "Beauty School Drop Out" from the movie Grease in your head now- sorry.. ha ha ;) but- that's pretty much me, except that I did graduated from high school so I guess it's not all bad. I dropped out because I wanted to become a dental assistant. I had plans of going back and finishing beauty school later in life and just never have. People ask me if I ever will and honestly I can't say yes. It taught me a lot and I had a lot of fun with the girls at school, but I don't think doing hair professionally is for everyone. I love doing hair, but somehow when I was training and gearing up to do it as a job it started to loose it's appeal. 

I try to finish all the things I start in life. So obviously the fact that I never finished beauty school goes against the grain on that one, but I guess I justify it because I at least learned a skill that I can apply in my life and the lives of my family. (I cut my husbands and my kids hair and have saved our family hundreds of dollars over the years because of it.)

There have been ups and downs as far as my hair styles go over the past 7 years since dropping out of beauty school... And I would have to say right now is kind of a down time for my hair. For those of you that are moms can probably understand why- when you have kids, sometimes styling your hair and taking care of yourself are the last things that get done! So most days you can find me with my hair in a pony tail.

I have 2 friends , Mallory and Meryn, that just happen to be sisters (not mine) that do hair blogs. They have inspired me to step it up a little as far as hair goes. They are each doing a challenge of wearing their hair different everyday for 30 days and they are blogging about it. Check them out. They are amazing!

I've decided that I have about 5 hairstyles that are my "go to" hairstyles... And I do them each in about 10 minutes or less. Each of us can take 10 minutes a day for ourselves right? 

The first thing you need to know is that these days I am all about easy. So I let my hair air dry pretty much everyday except Sunday since I have church at 9:00am. Some would probably call it laziness, which in reality it probably is, but I like to call it taking care of my hair... Ok who I am kidding here- I am just lazy! I wash my hair either the night before and sleep on it wet (sometimes not a pretty sight when I get up in the morning) or I spend half my day letting my hair air dry while I take care of the kiddos or do things around the house. After it is all dry then I tackle it. With that said- here are my 5 ten minute hairdo's. 

1. The frizzy curl

To do this style I use a 1/2 inch curling iron and I wrap my hair around the outside the barrel and hold it there until it's ready and then unwrap it. It takes only ten minutes because I only do the top layer of my hair. The underneath is just crazy hair that dried on it's own while I slept. Sometimes you just gotta embrace the crazy, right? After I do the top layer of curls I rake my hand through it to get the frizz. and voila you have frizzy curls! These last for days in my hair and I think it looks even better after I sleep on it a time or two because the curls get looser. I can get 2 maybe 3 days out of this hair before I wash it out... If you take the time to style your hair and it looks fine the next day just roll with it! 

2. Little Bit of Body Curl

When I let my hair air dry it gets a lot of body. It is wavy and has parts that are weird curliness and other parts that dry straight. So for this hair style I pretty much just go with what my hair is doing that day and throw in a handful of curls using my flat iron to make it look like I styled it. 

3. Tip it under

Sometimes it's nice to just have your hair flat ironed and not really do more than that- I just tip my flat iron as a go to slightly curl it under but not too much. This is one of my favorites because it's just soft and sleek and I can tuck it behind an ear and go. If you want it to look a little more finished you can back comb it a little to make it fuller and get more of a "styled" look.
P.S. That is my super duper hottie of a husband in the picture with me:)

4. Diffuse it

I mentioned that my hair is kinda funky- some of it is a little curly and other parts are stick straight. So when I want a 5 minute hairdo I put some gel or mousse in it and put my diffuser on my blow dryer and flip my head down and dry it using my hand and diffuser to scrunch my hair as it dries. Sometimes it turns out curly enough to just wear it down and if it turned out kinda weird I just throw it in a pony tail and it looks like I put a little more effort into my hair than just putting it in a pony.

Now for the hairdo my hair is sporting most these days... Drumroll please....

5. The Lazy Hair

With the heat of the summer and all the play dates at the park I do with my kids, this is how my hair looks most days. Pretty isn't it?? JUST KIDDING! This hairdo takes approximately 1.2 minutes depending on how many kiddos are hanging on my leg. I braid the front part to keep the shorter pieces out of my face and also for my peace of mind that I didn't just pull it all into a ponytail without putting any effort in- But who am I kidding?? ha ha It's just plain lazy hair...  but with the help of my friends blogs, I am freshly motivated and inspired to put a little more effort into my hair these days. Who knows- I might go crazy and go a week without a ponytail. :)

Linked up here.