Monday Inspiration Station 5 (I think)

Wheew! I don't know about you, but I am certainly glad that last week is over! This week I have so much to do and the list just got a little longer since my voice teacher informed me that next week I have to play him a "gig" as my lesson, including a new song I'm working on which is basically a letter I wrote to someone a long time ago, that while particularly painful to write, has turned into something musically genius. That sentence made alot more sense in my head. Strange things happened this past week, which I'll post about later in the week. I'm still sorting it out and trying to figure it out, but I'm excited and I think my two weeks of being in a "fink" are over now. By the by I learned today that a "fink" is actually a term used for someone who is a tattle tale. I've always used it in place of "rut" but apparently that is incorrect.

Tomorrow is the Zoo with Sarah and my siblings and mom. Ugg. I hate Zoo's but somehow Sarah managed to finangled me into going. It's cuz I'm such a giver...

It's hot today. It's supposed to rain this week. I can't wait!

Moving on.

At heart I am a t-shirt and jeans girl. I love these photos of Jane Berkin rocking some jeans. This reminds me I need new jeans...

This picture inspired a project I have in the works. There is something about abandoned houses that I love. Especially ones that look haunted. This also reminds me of Anne of Green Gables and The Secret Garden (Btw me and the secret garden are like this: *crosses fingers to signify close camaraderie*).

I should start calling this thing "Ashley's weekly excuse to post pictures of Zooey Deschanel". All I know is this photo is magical.


When I was in Jr. High and High School I had two best friends named Sarah and Alicia. Sarah was the quirky, odd ball with dark hair. Alicia was the quiet, yet bubbly blonde. Ashley was the smart ass, bratty girl with auburn hair. I'd like to think we were like these girls, but we thought we were the power puff girls.

This is going to be my house someday. The fairies will live with me, and the leprechauns will give me their gold, while woodland creature (including deers!) help me clean my house. There's also going to be a witch and a troll, and a lame faun who is really a prince in disguise. Basically it's going to be amazing. I'm also going to wear nothing but lace from spider's webs and flowers in my hair.

The {very} happy idiot

So today I was going through a box of clothing I have. It's all stuff that I've found that I love, but just can't fit into right now. I was going through it to see if there was anything in there that I just wasn't as crazy about now as when I found it. I pulled out this little dress. Now I love this dress. My sister and mother hate it, but I love it. It's very light weight and airy and makes me think of some 60's psychedelic fairy. But realistically it's very small. So I was asking myself "is it really worth it to keep it?" Well I hemmed and hawed and wondered. Obviously I have some strange pull towards this dress, so I said what they hey I'll keep it for now and re asses down the road. So I started to fold it. Dramatic Pause.

Friday night I was at Borders and bought a copy of Lula. Now I am not a designer kinda girl. I'd rather have something that nobody else knew about. I suppose this is to pet my ego, but that's not the point. I do have some designers that I love and even own a Vintage Dior coat that I bought at Goodwill for 14$ (yeah I know!), but mostly I'm good. I'm not even a name brand person. But I do love pretty things and things that are unique and different, which is one of the reasons I think I love Lula so much. They had this one picture of some model in a Lanvin dress, that I really liked. Lanvin is a new name to me, so I've been looking that their stuff and for the most part really like it. Dramatic Pause over.

The dress is a 1960's Lanvin. It still had the Goodwill tag on it. $5. I know. $5. I saw one similar going for about $150 on eBay. Basically I'm amazing.

And I'm keeping the dress.

Remember when I said I wasn't going to be blogging this weekend...

Third post of the day... But I had to post this. It is equal parts awesome and lame. I don't know whether to rank this with that bearded hippie painter on PBS, or to liken her to Monet....

Dear Jane Austen, I hope you have a sense of humor

I need to read this book. Unfortunatly it's out of stock at Modcloth. Someone buy me this book please? It's got Ninja's too.

*insert witty post title*

I am in a weird mood today...

That's my breakfast in the corner.

Movie tonight. Dentist tomorrow. I broke my tooth. It's highly annoying.

These pictures are really unflattering. I don't know why I posted them...

I inexplicably pin curled my hair last night. Today's hair is much less poofy, very flirty, and a little more giddy than yesterday's. I decided that I officially loved yesterday's result. Not so sure about today's yet...

I think my brain has reached full capacity. I am on information overload. Busy day at work, Busy week ahead. I've got a ton to do today and am not feeling all that hot, which is getting kinda annoying cuz it seems like I'm sick every other week now, or at least feeling crummy. At the beginning of the week I got the same Tonsillitis that Bri had last week and immediately began to set myself on the path to healing thanks to my mom passing on her witch-doctor tendencies. I Neti Pot-ted (which is basically a religious experience), and ate grapefruit and took Grapefruit Seed Extract (which no matter what you put it in will taste disgusting), and I gargled with Homeopathic cleansing salt (which is the same stuff you Neti Pot with), and I took a couple Vitamin-C's, and I put garlic oil in my ear (which is a weird sensation), and took a garlic pill. All day Monday I felt horrible and could barely swallow. So I went home and went to bed. At five thirty PM. I woke up around 11:00 and needed a glass of water, then I Neti Pot-ted and went back to bed. Tuesday I felt a little better, but took it easy. Then Yesterday I woke up feeling fine. my tonsil was still a little swollen and hurt just a tad, but I could swallow and be merry. Last night I forgot to Neti Pot last night, and now my whole ear is in a ton of pain and my throat hurts. Moral of the story: don't forget to Neti Pot. Man and now I'm hungry.

on a semi related note, if you don't know about it Gwenyth Paltrow has a weekly online newsletter called Goop filled with useful tips, recipes, places to see, and things to do. I've been receiving it for a while now and really love getting it in my inbox each Thursday. Today's newsletter was all about living organically and healthy. It was funny to read this because as I read each section I was thinking "huh! this sounds just like my childhood." Then I got to number six. I'm fairly convinced that Gewnyth Paltrow stalked my parents while I was a child. From the moment I read the first sentence, I knew where this was going. This is the reason I spent most of my childhood in the wooden toyshop at Seaport village:

6. Take playtime back to the basics.

Having a child shouldn't mean turning your whole house into a toy box. Kids are better off without piles of plastic play things, battery powered gizmos and all sorts of complicated gadgets that profess to make them smarter. Simplicity is better for your child’s imagination, intellect and health – and, yes, much better for the planet. Stick to toys made from natural materials like solid wood and organic textiles, and opt for nontoxic art supplies and recycled paper. Use items you already own as playthings, like cookware drums or sock puppets, and visit our website (http://www.healthychild.org/) for a quick video on how to make homemade play dough.

It's nice to know that mine weren't (and aren't) the only crazies out there.

Excited for this weekend! We're going to go see Red Dawn in the movie theatre. Yes the 1984, Patrick Sleazy, Charlie Sheen Red Dawn. Incidentally I just discovered that in 2010 there is either a remake or a mini series that has nothing to do with the movie coming out with the same title. Imdb is making it hard to tell which. But anyways, the Theatre at The UV (where we saw Grease last weekend) does a late night "classic" movie showing on Friday and Saturday nights. Tickets are only five bucks and they show movies that you always wanted to see on the screen but never did (at least not if you were born post 1980). Next week is some lame movie, but the week after that is Top Gun, which I've never seen. We've decided to make this a weekly tradition of seeing a movie at this thing. I was so excited when I saw that it was Red Dawn this week. I saw it once on TV and loved it (though I was supposed to be watching Red October and Sean Connery in all is glorious glory, which I still haven't seen), So I am really looking froward to seeing it in the theatres. The Trailer cracks me up. Of course my parents have talked about taking my siblings to go see it (mostly I think my dad just wants to see things blow up) because of all the interesting conversations this movie has sparked in my house. It should be fun.

I think I'm gonna be outie for the rest of the week. Remind me to get a picture of the Harley Davidson Lite-Brights on the walls of one of the guys I work with. To quote Jim Halpert: "That's not Classy."

Monday Inspiration Station #4

So I wrote this thing Monday morning and never bothered posting it. Apologies.

You should note that some lady in my office told me that I reminded her of Kelly Osbourn on Monday, and while I have mad Osbourn love (they're new show is the shizz), I am nothing like Kelly Osbourn. I'm really bothered by this. The lady called me Kelly today when I came in. So now I'm worried that I'm like Kelly and that's kinda sad...

And on a totally unrelated note: my hair has reached wow status today. I put it in rag curlers last night for some inexplicable reason (actually the rag I shredded to make rag curlers were sitting on my dresser and I was like, Huh, I think I'll do my hair like this.). It's somewhere in betwix a Poodle and a Silent Movie Star. If Barbara Stanwyck had been into bestiality, my hair would be the love child of that. (Oh my gosh, why did I write that...) I think I like it, but I'm not sure.... It kinda looks like and outta control version of this:

Which is kinda interesting since this is what I had for inspiration this week:

I'm a huge Clara Bow fan. As I'm sure you've figured out I absolutely love all things from the 20's and 30's (except Au Gratin jello), and the style of hair, make-up, and clothing is just so beautiful! Someone once told me I looked like Clara Bow and I was like, okay sure, then I did that "which celebrity do you look like" thing on that genealogy finding site and Clara Bow was my top match. I don't see it, but hey I like the idea of it. P.S. that is the skirt of my dreams.

And continuing on with the theme, this picture makes me happy on so many levels. I love Art Deco prints. I love how sophisticated all these kids look (look at the boys in their suits!), I love the white stockings and shoes, I love that this appears to be a tennis party, I love the colours, and I love the caption down below: "Molly Poured Out For Everybody."

On a similar note, this picture has so much in it that I love, I don't even know where to begin. THAT BAG! THAT COAT!




Yeah, um, I love this video. Like really love it. Like I've played it seven times this morning and have probably driven all my co-workers nuts with it. Karen O please be my friend.













I hope you realize the pure genius/epicness of The Decemeberists. They're from Portland too. If you haven't heard the new album The Hazards of Love go now and listen to it. Genius. Epic.