It's hard to stop and smell the roses when you can't smell a thing.

It is killing me not to have a camera! I just got back from Salvation Army and ended up dropping $138, and having two of their huge bags overflowing with some AMAZING things! For a while I've been thinking of starting an eBay store and selling the things that I find that are either not my style or too small, or too big, or... So Chelsea and Delaney and I went to Salvo's and all walked away with some awesome stuff. I bought a jillion (no joke I counted) dresses. My mom has expressed an interest in buying some off me, but the rest I'll be selling. I'll let you know when this comes about. (I hear a camera is helpful in online selling).

In other news My whole family seems to have this horrid cold that makes breathing a little hard. To add to this, I felt the need to rub and angora sweater in my face while shopping today. I'm allergic to angora. Apparently the car smells bad, but I wouldn't know.

This past week I've been gathering ideas for clothing for spring. There's no such thing as spring in California, we mostly call it Santa Ana Winds Season. It's like a slightly milder summer. However I am determined to put a very lovely spring wardrobe together. My mom and I have been brainstorming on all these things we want to make and whatnot, so I am very excited for the possibilities.

So I have this idea that I think would be fun. I came up with it in my spring clothing search. I'm going to post a theme each Sunday night. It can be whatever, and anyone who wants to join in, will use this theme as inspiration for one (or more if you so desire) outfit during the week. If you participate then leave me a comment with a link to photos of your outfit. I'll do my own during the week and post here. I think it will be really fun to see what everyone can come up with from just one theme. Does anyone else think this would be fun/cool/interesting?

And lastly I'm bringing back TDI. Remember? "Three Days In..."? Well I'm not going to be lazy about it now and do one each week. Maybe on Fridays or something, but it'll come back.

Okay I'm off to go blow my nose again, and see if I can't get that dern camera to work.

Hey mom, Mett my boyfriend Harold

I hope that I can find a man this confident. But, like, not old...

Oddly Enough Someone Called Me A "Gatsby Girl" Today

I'm sure by now you've heard that the world is swiftly going to hell in a hand basket. No joke as I typed that sentence, I figured out that phrase. We're being hand delivered to hell. Huh? This answers so many questions I had. Moving on.

I'm sure you've been hearing about how suck-ish the economy is, and how woe some the job market is, and yadda, yadda. Things are starting to fall apart, and history is repeating itself.

What? You ask. What on earth do you mean? Well, without stating the facts (because I'm tired and just had my first sip of coffee for the morning) we here in the United States are probably heading towards a depression. Barring a miracle, things are probably not going to get better anytime soon. I'm not trying to be depressing, so stay with me on this one. (You'll be glad you did!) I work in a law office that handles bankruptcies, so I do see the real hardships that some people are going through. If you of your family are facing difficult times, I really do understand and feel your pain. Please don't think I'm being callous or cynical.

But life needs a little bit of humor, even in the form of cynicism. Thus, this post. (which is getting to the point) Trust me when I say that I do not take the world's situation lightly. Being a musician in troubled times can either be a blessing, or an undoing, so I am treading carefully and fully mindful of how serious things are.

That said, I'm not all that afraid of a depression. Why? You ask. Well here's why:

I have always been a fan of the 1930's. I love the sleek silhouettes of the clothing, the cute and quirky attitude of the period, and most of all the resourcefulness of the people. My great-grandma told me about how her mother would make panties from potato sacks in the '30's, and My grandmother on my dad's side loves to tell us all about how she only had *3* dresses: Her church dress, her play dress, her work dress, her school dress, and her party dress. (yes I know that is five, I'm pretty sure my grandmother just can't count. There is actually a shtick I do imitating my grandmother regarding her dresses. If you knew her, you'd laugh)

I love hearing stories about the women who provided for their families despite the insurmountable odds, who rose above the occasion, who kept up their spirits, and who refused to let a little thing like a depression crush them. Isn't that what being a woman is all about? These are the stories that inspire me.

These kind of people are the ones who say "no matter what happens, there is always a silver lining, and we are going to find it, dammit!" I like that mentality. I like the "can do" spirit of it all. The 1930's were an interesting time in our country. It seems to be full of contradictions. On one side you have the beautiful glamour of the golden age of Hollywood. These people entertained our grandparents, and gave them an escape from the worries of life. Hollywood offered that "look ahead towards good times" kinda idea, and people needed that. Of course the film stars of the era emanated grace, and beauty and glamour, and because of that, women at home did their darnedest to do the same. People made their own clothes out of everything and anything they could, and they would try and replicate the same nonchalant beauty of Hollywood. On the other hand, there was suffering, and despair, and hardship. Some people couldn't handle it, other's did their best.



So I have compiled a list of things that I would like to have brought back, if we do indeed get into a depression. Again, this is mostly humorous, but I'm also dead serious. I refuse to spend any coming struggle in ugly clothes, and an ugly attitude. So take that Mr. Economy!


Please bring back:
1.
Knitting

2.

Finger waves

3.

Cherry Red Lipstick

4.

Gardening

5.

Decent Movies in Hollywood

6.

Girl Groups

7.

Community Dances

8.

Reasons to get Dressed Up

9.

Turbans

10.

Cool Cars

11.

Dapper Men (preferably with those slinky mustaches)

12.

Agatha Christie

Please do not bring back:

1.

Au Gratin

Unless it's potatoes

2.

Man Pomade

Mostly because it would be AXE who would produce it now

3.

Outhouses

I'm good with modern plumbing

4.

Whatever the crap this is

Moral of the story is this: no matter what happens in this world, there's always a reason to smile. Because even if you're struggling, at least you're not eating Au Gratin Jello (my Great Grandmother actually had a recipe for that). Also Art Deco lives on forever.

*By The Way*

If there are any men out there who are thinking of proposing to me anytime soon, These rings are already pre-approved:

Sometimes I wonder about that man...

So after I made today's post, my dad walked into my office as I was looking at my blog. I had scrolled down to the post about all the stuff I bought last week. My dad saw the bracelet and was all "hey that looks like the bracelet you have!" I, in my infinate stupidity, assumed he was joking, thus I played along. "yeah that's totally random. What's great is that looks like the tile in front of our fireplace too. Weird." Then my dad looked closer. "Oh! You're right! That is funny! I guess you blog girls are into all the same things, even your houses." I stared at him. "You're kidding right?" He looked at me confused. "What?" "Dad, that is my bracelet, and this is the tile in front of our fireplace." He then knit his brow. "Then why couldn't you have just said that to begin with?" "Um, probably because I figured you could see that this was clearly my bracelet, my hand, and our floor." "Ashley, why would you assume that I know these things." He then walked away shaking his head. Then he told a client that I might, just might, be working on having a music career.

There are days when I wonder if his brain is plugged in, or if he's just that weird...

Pensively Wistful*

Sometimes there are days where the only words that describe them are "sweet melancholy." Today is one such day. Life is so happy, and good, and I'm excited for things that are coming. And yet there's a sort of happy gloominess that surrounds all these happy thoughts. I actually kind of enjoy these types of day. They seem calm, and pensive. I wish they were a little less pensive, but alas. I always get very productive-ish during these days. Yesterday I started a massive early spring cleaning thing in my room: getting rid of crap, sorting through stuff, forcing myself to actually scrapbook all that I need to scrapbook (I have like 8 trips worth of stuff sitting in a manila envelope in my desk that WILL get scrap booked this weekend!) , etc. It's no where near finished, but it will be by Saturday. I've blown through all my work today, save one thing that I'm putting off, because it's highly annoying. I also had a wonderful lunch with the ever wonderful Jill. I have a great time, so thanks for having Jury Duty Jill! I almost hope you get to come back this week! (not really I'm not that mean)

But despite all the happiness, there's something gnawing in my stomach like a warning. Maybe I'm tense because I'm afraid this is the "calm before the storm," so to speak. But that's not really it. I'm in a weirdly thoughtful mood. Y'know how sometimes you can feel that something is coming, but you just can't put your finger on it? That's what it's like. I want to curl up with a cup of coffee and just think. It's very bizarre.

Thanks to all for the camera advice. I'm looking into them trying to choose the best for my uses. All your advice has been very helpful!

* FYI This is redundant, and repetitive, and redundant, and repetitive, and redundant, and repetitive, and...

If I ever write a memoire, I'm going to title it "The Diary of a Psychopathic Dreamer"

I really am a bit of a psycho. It's a little annoying. And has nothing to do with this post, just a random observation. So actually I'm writing because I am shopping for a camera. Target has one on sale this week for 139$ which is totally in my price range. Usually I use my mom's camera, but Grace decided that it would be fun to dip it in the bathtub while the bathtub was full of water. Yup. She's a genius. So we're pretty sure it, the camera, bit the dust. So Sunday morning I was looking at the adds in the paper and there was the jolliness of the camera sitting there saying "Ashley buy me, buy me!" So I looked at all the other electronic-y adds and didn't see anything that looked to be as good a value. It's a Kodak with 10. something (I forgot) Megapixles. Does anyone know if this is a decent-ish camera? I'm not looking for anything pro status, but I'd like my pictures to look like I put some thought and effort into them. I'll probably go buy it tomorrow night, or at least look at it. It would be nice to have my own camera again.

I hope everyone had a really wonderful weekend. I did, though it went by too fast. Saturday was a ton of fun and I learned that an all-you-can-eat-dessert-buffet is no place for me. I had WAAAAAAAAAY too much sugar and ended up acting drunk the rest of the night. It did make for a rather hilarious Facebook video. My voice sounds really weird and low and tired, and I'm acting like a four year old, so mostly it's very accurate. Speaking of Facebook videos. I think it's at 2:08 mins that you should watch this. It's brilliant. Nice job Eric. But don't listen to the rest. It's a song I wrote, and well it's not amazing. So skip that, just watch the end. I tried to make this video about 30 times (actually it was only three times).

Alrighty I'm off to search for creditor addresses... My job is a barrel of monkeys.

I give you winter: The California Edition

Happy 12th Birthday Eric!!!!

I realize that I don't usually blog about Eric. While all my siblings are crazy and hilarious in their own special way, Eric is frankly the bomb. Or as the boys I grew up with would say "Da Bomb"*. I can't believe he's already 12! I'm ten years older than Eric and he's the one who's birthday always freaks me out. Eric is one of the absolutely coolest (and I honestly mean that) kids ever! He's got bright red hair, a hilarious smile and laugh, a sharp wit, and a knack for computer hacking (or so I've been told). He's horribly smart and nerdy, and Eric I love you so much!

We're spending his birthday in the wonderful world of Disneyland where we will gorge ourselves at Goofy's Kitchen. Love you Eric! Have a happy birthday!

Eric is not actually a stoner. he just looks like one. I promise.


*I'm a child of the 90's, and this was usually said in refference to mountain dew.

Chocolate wine, and tea cup bracelets.

Last night I had a really wonderful shopping excursion with my lovely mom. My mom is way cooler than your mom. Don't argue, you won't win. Remind me to someday tell you about how crazy my childhood-up until I was 15-hood was. My mom is basically my best friend. She's my confidant, my shoulder, my encourager, my 'get your act together Ashley L***** Barrett*'-er. We took my brothers and sisters to their respective church activities and then went shopping. First stop Target: My danged shampoo has been discontinued at target meaning I have to pay twice as much for it at Albertson's or something. So I bought what is basically the same thing but in a different brand. Pissed me off though! I also bought Lily Allen's new album which I haven't listened to yet. I have high hopes. Then we went over to Joann's. I have been jonesing to make something really cute for St Patrick's day so I went to look at fabric. FYI St. Patrick's day is my second favourite holiday. I love it! So I'm super excited for what this is going to become:

Then I went to World Market. My sister told me about a pair of earrings that she thought I'd like. I hated the earrings, but loved this bracelet:



Here's the top view. I love it very much!

I also found this, which looks really yummy. Plus it was on clearance for $10.

Then I saw this:

I have no idea why I bought this. I think it had to do with the fact that it had a hot pink label and a black bottle. I have a thing for that colour combo. It is also very yummy. I can only drink a little wine at a time because it tends to give me a headache, so I figure this bottle will last me a few years!

I always check out the tea and coffee selection just to see what's brewing (I laughed out loud at this horrible pun.). And I came upon this:

I hope that by now you will know why I bought it. If not you're living under a rock. I'll give you a hint: Edward Cullen = hot, hot, hot! I couldn't not buy it. Delaney is trying to steal it from me. I think I'm gonna buy her one to give her for her birthday.

After observing my selections from World Market I have to say I think this is the oddest array of things I've ever bought. I'm always afraid that the cashiers at stores look at me funny when I buy random stuff, and wonder why the crap I'm buying all this. I think this is because when I was a cashier at Target, I would wonder why people bought half the crap they bought. Oh you didn't know I cashiered at Target. I did. For three weeks. They fired me for working too hard, but that is another story for another time. They still owe me money too. Well maybe not. They owed me $21 for the last day that I worked there. Then about a year and a half ago I got a notice that they were being sued for some reason. I ended up getting a check for like $5.50. Whoo-hoo. I got another notice that they are getting sued on Tuesday. My part in this one is anywhere between something like $17.45- $88.64, or some such numbers. Hey maybe I'll come out even in the end.

This last thing my mom and dad bought me while in Portland from my favourite vintage shop. I'm very excited for the possibilities. It's brooch by the by.


It was a very successful night and I spent more $$ than I should, but alas! While out my mom and I had some good conversations (even though every time I got to the good part of a story she'd interrupt me) and we had some very good tunes. So thanks mom for the night. I had a lot of fun!

*Don't bother asking what my middle name is. I revealed it in a much earlier post, so either go find it, or live without knowing.

A I'm dead post

So I'm back. I love it when people do the "I'm alive" post. What if you died? Would someone really do a "sorry so and so is dead" post? These are the questions that haunt me.



Yeah I know you all missed me so much... Or not. Either way I'm back. So I rethought all this stuff. I didn't really re-think it, mostly I just had to tell myself this isn't my personal diary to pour out how much I hate certain things going on around me. So I started to go over why I wanted to blog in the first place:

1. To share my love of fashion.
2. to have an outlet to write about the things that i find funny
3. To make everyone realize just how awesome of a thing music is
4. to make someone laugh
5. to make myself laugh
6. To find others out there who share my interest in the weird things I find interesting

So that's what I'm gonna do. I have some cool themes planned. and Starting in March I'm going to do an outfit shot everyday. This will a. encourage me to get my arse out of bed on time, and b. allow me to develop my sense of style. Also no more complaining (unless its humorous). Also I think something is wrong with me because ever since I saw Coraline I have been anting a really cool black cat. I hate cats and am allergic to them so why i want one I don't know. I'm a little worried. Anyways so I'm just letting anyone who bothers to read this stuff that i am alive and well and in a much nice mood. And again i apologize for my former sourness!

Love and tootles,
~Ash~

I promise I'm really on hiatus

I just wanted to take a moment to comment on the absolute lovelieness that has been our weather. It's been raining and pouring and right now I'm sitting in my office listening to the rain crash down on the outside world. The heater is on and it's far too hot in here, but I like the sound of the rain falling.

I think I'll go for a wet walk and get some lunch.

I hope everyone is have a lovely day.

Tootles!

I like the shinyness if my breasts...*

I just found the coolest download. It's called Poladroid. I found it via the blog She's a Betty. I'm still working on my American Idol post. I wrote the whole damn thing last night, then as I went to post it, the Internet freaked out and so only about half of it was saved. Alas. It's rainy and cold here and I'm loving that, but I would really love to go home and curl up in my bed and read a book with a hot beverage. I'm on my fifth cup of coffee so far, and no matter how much I have I still feel sleepy and lethargic... I have no reason to be so tired. I slept great last night! No joke! I mean I slept soundly listening to the rain through my cracked open window, and I was nice and warm in my bed. I woke up to my alarm having had a very nice dream that involved no babies. Then I went back to sleep for some inexplicable reason and though I continuously woke up for the next two hours to remind myself that I needed to get up, I still slept. It's not that I'm actually tired, just sleepy. Weird. This weekend should be fun times, filled with sisterhood and Coraline. I do promise that I am taking a week's hiatus for real now. And if any rich millionaires are planning on dying this weekend, I'm more than happy to be your heir. There are far too many shoes I want to buy.

Tootles loves!

*This is about the picture on your right. I don't really have shiny boobs. That would be weird and possibly uncomfortable for the people around me.

I solemnly swear I am not going to bitch

I owe you all an apology. A long, dripping in niceties, tear worthy, apology. But before we get to that I think I need to discuss "The LaRocca" or commonly known as "the douche". Back when I started gophering for my dad in April of last year, he was always complaining about a certain Attorney here who was a not very nice fellow and annoyed everyone quite alot. So when I came here and met said fellow I coined him as "the Douche". I shan't recall our first conversation because I don't use words like that, but he does and he thought that I was a client. Since that day I have found it very fun to come up with nicknames for him that involve the word "douche". Some of my favourites included Albus Dumbledouche, Harry Doucher, The jolly little Leppraudouch, The little Merdouche, Douchey Mouse, Frankendouche, The douche-bag of Notre Dame, etc. They continue on like this. He is really a horrible man. In reality he is a sad, strange, little man (no joke he's super short and thinks he needs to justify his shortness to everyone), who will probably die alone, but it would be of his own doing and frankly my dears I just don't like him enough to care. Then Jessica came to work here. "The LaRocca" has taken a sudden liking to Jess and calls her "his surfer girl". It's really rather creepy, and also makes me laugh hysterically. He just walked in to our office and made a horribly lame surfing motion and smiled at her. Jess and LaRocca sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. I'm sorry Jess that's horrible of me, but you'd do it to me if the situation were reversed. Just be glad it's not "Andy Bernard" who's in love with you, he might offer you some of his crack*.

On to business. I have to apologize for my horrible mood as of late. There is no excuse for how sordid** I've been. Well there is, but I need to get over it, so whatever. Thus I am going to take a week off from posting (other than my American Idol post(which btw, omfg! Bikini Girl!!!)) to re-evaluate what I'm doing here. Also because I am having a bit of a hard time figuring out how to manage my time in regards to job/life/career/other stuff. It's very taxing. So good bye until next week (or tomorrow...) have a very jolly one.

*This is another character in my office and yes, we are absolutly certain her really does use crack on a daily basis. There is no other excse for his behaviour and weird way of walking around like he had to take a crap.

** Once when I was like 17 I had an audition with the word "sordid" in the line, and I'd never heard the word before so I assumed that it was a typo and meant to be "Morbid", so I read it "morbid". The director proceeded to have me read this same part like a million times and he kept staring at me like I was a moron and I couldn't figure out why. Needless to say I didn't get the part, but I did get a better part full of words that I actually said correctly

Video killed the Radio star

I have an addiction to music videos. Here's my top ten right now.


10: Graveyard Girl- M83. This is like a John Hughes movie set to music.


9. Your English is Good- Tokyo Police Club. Everything that is good about youth is in the video.



8. Sooner or Later- N.E.R.D. Everyone needs to listen to the words. And I'm gonna marry the guitarist in the plaid shirt. (Embedding was disabled on youtube for this song so go here and watch)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM1V3tANdYQ

7. Thinking of You- Katy Perry. I don't care if you don't like her, this song and video makes me bawl like a frocking baby. I love it.


6. Hot'n Cold- Katy Perry. Again I don't care what you think of her, this video is genius.


5. The Fear- Lily Allen. I love Lily Allen. This Video is like Sofia Coppala's Marie Attoniette set to music. I love it! Also Some day I will live in a candy coloured caravan in the middle of nowhere. Plus, um, can I please have that dress?


4. The Littlest Thing- Lily Allen. Yes it's older, but I still love it!


3. Pumpkin Soup- Kate Nash. I love Kate Nash. I could do an entire post about Kate Nash and her music videos. But this one is definatly my fave.


2. Under the Weather-KT Tunstall. Again this may have to do with my dream of Caravan living, but probably has more to do with her boots.


1. Wintersong-Ingrid Michaelson and Sara Bariellis. How flipping adorable is this song! I want to live in this world.

*I will not write a whiny post, I will not write a whiny post*

*I will not write a whiny post, I will not write a whiny post* I hate February. *I will not write a whiny post, I will not write a whiny post* I know it's stupid to hate a month. It's not like February ever did anything to me (well not directly), so why do I hate it? I just do! It's just a dumb month. *I will not write a whiny post, I will not write a whiny post* I'm sick. My dad just walked into my office, felt my forehead (because I've been whining all morning), and said "holy crap you're sick". Gee, dad ya think? Then he said "then why'd you come in today?" Then after I mentally punched him in the face I reminded him that he called my mother this morning so that she could, and I quote, "harass" me until I went to work, even though this morning at whatever ungodly hour my dad walked into my room and said "Ashley are you coming in to work?", while I ignored him hoping that I was just dreaming a very bad dream and that in reality it was still three am and I could sleep for a few more hours, I mumbled something along the lines of "go away because I hate the world and it hates me and I'm fairly certain that if I hear anything about a ground hog today I'm gonna shoot it and make ground hog burgers for dinner, not to mention that I'm a lonely old hag, who's mother called her a loser yesterday ( and I don't care if you were joking), with a zit the size of Montana on the tip of my nose which hurts like a mother by the way and makes it very hard for me to wipe my nose, which is running like a refrigerator, thankyouverymuch and goodnight." Yet somehow I trudged down here and sat at this computer and answered phones and got called a man, and wanted to poke out my eyes with a toothpick. I'm thinking it's because I'm a living saint. I expect the Pope to come around any day now. *I will not write a whiny post, I will not write a whiny post*

*I will not write a whiny post, I will not write a whiny post*

The Good:

• My fingers are nicely calloused after this weeks power guitar playing.
• My toenails are finally painted
• I had yummy fresh organic chicken noodle soup for lunch
• I went to Disneyland yesterday and my brothers managed to piss off half the people in line for space mountain which was actually hilarious.
• My hair is pretty co-operative today
• I am listening to the Kings of Leon, which makes me happy and I don't care what you think they are amazing and Sex on Fire is possibly the best song ever written, in my ever humble opinion and it just came on.
• The sky is very beautifully blue today
• My new shoes should be arriving in the mail today along with some presents I bought for friends!
• My dad finally admitted to and apologized for the lameness that is my name.

The Bad:

• @*!7$@$*$@(@$(!@$*)*!@$^&%#*%! <------ You really don't want to know what this is about, because it would lead to a horribly depressing post filled with tears and whining *I will not write a whiny post, I will not write a whiny post*
• It's 75 on February 2nd
• My head feels like a balloon and my throat is practicing for an audition for sandpaper. I'm pretty sure it'll get the part.
• I am highly annoyed with dorks who are happy with being in their dorkish ways. Grr.
• I'm not a loser mom, thankyouverymuch
• Speaking of dorks why is it that they seem to have wonderfully perfect lives?
• What exactly is the point of valentines day?
• How is it that I manage to always be the babysitter on said day of valentine whilst my parents plan to go cavorting around Portland for the weekend, and my sister plans on going cavorting around San Diego for the weekend? Speaking of this does anyone know where I can take a 16 yr old, an almost 14 yr old, an almost 12, yr old, a 9, yr old and a 3 yr old, that doesn't involve my brain dying or anything having to do with lovey-doveyness? I'd be much obliged to suggestions. *I will not write a whiny post, I will not write a whiny post*
• It is highly depressing to listen to people play the guitar and know that I will never be that good dammit. *I will not write a whiny post, I will not write a whiny post*

Crap always happens in February and I always feel horribly gloomy. But I am determined to keep up my spirits this year. After all it's on 28 days, and I'm down to 26 by now. I can handle this:

1. I will not become angry at extended family. Mostly only because no extended family is coming to visit this year. See silver lining number one.

2. I will not gripe about how the ground hog predicted six more weeks of winter, yet it's 75 degrees here. I will not gripe, I will not gripe. *I will not write a whiny post, I will not write a whiny post*

3. I will not sink into the "February Gloom" and will continue to strive towards my goals.

4. I will ignore Valentines day. Don't get me started, cuz I'm in a bad mood, and I really hate valentines day.

5. I will go to the beach on said day of valentine and I will surf with my siblings and not think of anything else, because I am yet again stuck with the kids this year.

6. I will stop being in a crappy mood. *I will not write a whiny post, I will not write a whiny post*

7. I will not eat chocolate. As soon as I'm done with the chocolate chip cookie.

8. I will eat more cheese. Preferably provolone or whatever it is that Chipotle uses.

9. I will learn five more guitar chords on top of the four I already know. I will also make myself practice them for hours everyday.

10. I will just ignore anything that annoys or bothers me by slipping into my own little world full of rainbows and music, and candy canes and roses, and poppies and blue eyes. So there.

I'm going to go drowned myself in tea. Have a lovely day.