ABC's of Me

While catching up on some of my favorite blogs and discovering new ones I found this post and wanted to fill it out for my own blog, so here it is :) :

Addictions: Coffee! music, and of course Pinterest
Bed size: California King
Chore you hate:  Taking out the trash
Dogs or cats: Dogs, we love our Jett :)
Essential start of your day: checking my phone before I get out of bed.
Favorite color: almost any shade of blue
Gold or silver: Silver
Height: 5'3"
Instruments you play (or have played): the flute in middle and high school
Jobs titles you've had: cashier, certified nurse's aid, Interior Design Intern, Kitchen Designer, waitress, bartender, barista
Kids: none yet . . . unless you count our black lab like we do ;)
Live: Overland Park, Kansas
Mom’s name: Melodie
Nickname: Ash, Marie (middle name), little one, and Martin (since getting married)
Overnight hospital stays: none that I can think of
Pet peeve:  when my husband puts his dirty dishes in the sink rather than the dishwasher, grrrr
Quote from a movie: "
Right or left handed: right handed
Siblings: 2 brothers one older and one younger, 2 brother-in-laws one older and one younger, and 1 sister-in-law
Time you wake up: during school it's around 6:00 a.m., on clinical days it's around 5-5:30 a.m., during break usually around 8:30
Underwear: uhhhhh, Victorias Secret or Target
Vegetables you dislike: Beets and raw onions
What makes you run late: usually that one special piece of clothing, or last minute makeup and hair touch ups
X-rays you’ve had done: just in my mouth. but i'm learning how to take them in school ;)
Yummy food you make: hmmm chicken enchiladas, I also love to experiment with new recipes
Zoo animal: Zebras, penguins, or tigers!

I hope everyone is having a great Thursday! Oh and I thought I would add a photo for TBT, we're getting close to the time of year that always makes me think of my semester abroad in Europe, can't wait to go back someday!

The hubby and I in Capri

-xo Ashley

Continue reading ABC's of Me

Headboard ideas

Hello everyone! We have finally been able to stop traveling, and relax at home for a little while; which is perfect timing for me since my summer finals are next week. Since my summer break is right around the corner, I've been making a list of things I would like to accomplish during my two week staycation ;). Number one on my list would be to design and build an upholstered headboard for our bed (as long as my hubby and I can find and agree on fabric). Here are some of the designs I've been drooling over for a while:






Obviously i'm in love with the nail head trim and the ivory/cream colored fabric. What I'm having difficulty deciding is if I want it to be straight across or have a little curve in it to give it a little more character. Either way I will post pictures of my designs and my progress :).

 Next would be to repaint our kitchen, and if I was feeling really ambitious we would paint our cupboards, but that most likely won't be happening. Third thing is to wrap up a painting I've been working on and also try to get a little farther on another one I have in the works.

For anyone that is planning a trip to Kansas City in the near future, I highly recommend going to Gram & Dun in the Plaza during happy hour. The appetizers and a select few drinks are half price from 3-6 pm Monday-Friday. For those of you that know me well, I of course ordered the Boulevard Wheat, it was $3 for a pint, I thought that was a pretty good price considering we were on the Plaza. I also sampled the Duck Fat Fries (didn't sound appealing to me, but they're amazing) and the French Onion Dumplings (which were also amazing). If beer isn't your thing then I would recommend the Dark & Stormy cocktail, it has rum and ginger beer and a few other things in it, very tasty and a perfect late summer drink.

Another restaurant that I would recommend is Mestizo by Aaron Sanchez in Leawood, Kansas. It's a little on the pricier side, but the food and the drinks are definitely worth it.We went with some friends of ours, during happy hour when the margaritas were half off. The food was delicious and the perfect portion sizes. You could not go wrong with the Mestizo Margarita, Granada (pomegranate margarita), or the Mojito.

I hope everyone has been having a fantastic summer!

-xo Ashley

Continue reading Headboard ideas

Summer Fun

Time sure flies by when you're having fun! I can't believe how fast this summer has just been flying by, and how long it's been since my last post (sorry I've been really busy). Well this is what I've been up to this summer: Omaha Beer Fest (soo much fun and soo many tasty beers!), my cousin's bachelorette party and beautiful wedding, and a free Goo Goo Dolls & Matchbox 20 concert :). We still have one more wedding to go (next weekend), then hopefully getting to spend time with one of my best friends that may be flying home from Philadelphia, then it seems before I know it I'll be finished with my first semester of Rad Tech school!

A couple of months ago I went shopping with my mom and friend and found the cutest little flower dish. For months (okay maybe not months, hehe) I have been pinning cute ways to display my jewelry and finally found the perfect little dish at Hobby Lobby for $5! It fits perfectly on my nightstand and is the prettiest shade of pink that goes perfectly with my gray bedroom. Here is my new little dish that i'm excited to show off :)

I also thought I would share some of the other cute ideas I found on Pinterest:

I hope everyone had a safe and fun 4th of July, and if you want you can send me some of your fun and creative jewelry displays either in the comments or to my email at amartin0820@gmail.com. Have a happy Sunday!

-xo Ashley Marie

Continue reading Summer Fun

Gratitude

Well I've made it halfway through the first week of the Radiology program, only two more days to go! This week we've only been going through the student handbook and visiting the various clinical sites we'll be going  to during our junior year. Next week our actual classes begin, i'm soo nervous, but i'm also excited!

This past weekend I participated in the Kansas City Color Run with a few of my friends. We had so much fun that we decided we're going to do it again next year! Here are a few pictures:

Yesterday I was given the idea to start a gratitude list everyday. Making a gratitude list can potentially change your life (for the better) by helping you realize what you already have and continually looking for the positive in everything. I decided to share my gratitude list with you today:

1. I am grateful for my handsome and very supportive husband for putting up with my craziness (at times) and fully supporting me in my decision to go back to school.
2. I am grateful for coffee, because without it I wouldn't be able to function during the day. lol
3. I am grateful for every person that takes the time to read my blog and sometimes leaves a comment (or becomes a follower) ;).

Continue reading Gratitude

I'm back!

And i'm back! Sorry i've been gone from my blog, so much has changed since the last time I posted, but don't fret, I will fill you all in :). So here's what's new in the life of Ashley Martin:

1. Last year I made the very difficult decision in going back to school to change careers. Interior Design is still a very big passion of mine and I still plan on being involved in it somehow as I start my new adventure. After working in the field for a few years, it made me realize that my heart was not fully in my work and I never felt the satisfaction I thought I was supposed to feel after helping clients design their homes. What helped make my decision easier was that I had the full support and understanding from my amazing husband, family and friends. So last fall I enrolled in the prerequisite classes I needed, and participated in a job observation at St. Luke's Hospital in their diagnostic radiology department. Then in January of this year, I enrolled in my final prereqs and applied to St. Luke's Radiologic Tech program. I was not expecting to get an interview this year, let alone be ACCEPTED!!! My program starts June 3rd and I can't wait to begin!

2. Also last year I gained another sister :), Matt's older brother got married in a beautiful ceremony at a wine vineyard in September. Then a month later I became an aunt on the same day that two great friends of ours got married at the beautiful Hawthorn House here in KC.

3. Our puppy Jett seems like he never gets tired and just keeps growing! Hopefully I can try to get some pictures of him uploaded (if he would ever sit still long enough).

4. We also celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary by doing a "trash the dress" session. It was soo much fun putting my wedding dress on one more time and taking some amazing photos, Matt was a really good sport about it, probably because the photographer and I brought some booze along ;).

 

My adorable nephew Robert

Our puppy Jett

I think that is pretty much it, I will do my best to post at least once a week . Also we're still slowly working on the house and trying to turn it into our dream home, we're pretty much at the point where we'll have to wait til i'm done with school and have a job before we can do any of the big renovations.

Continue reading I'm back!

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

The new way to make a photo album: photo books by Shutterfly.

Continue reading Photo Book

House Projects

I would like to thank everyone again for reading and responding to my last post. It's not an easy decision to make, but the important ones never are:). For now I've decided to save money by not going back to school just yet and continue to pursue a design related position. I have a couple leads right now, so keep praying that something will come through for me soon!


Matt and I have been very busy this past month finishing up all our house projects. Matt finished framing out the opening we made in the kitchen wall, we're waiting on wall tile for the guest bathroom to come in, and we finished painting the master bedroom a couple weeks ago. We decided to go with a faux finish even though I wanted to do a stencil. The next project I want to tackle is putting the stencil in our 1/2 bath in the basement and painting and organizing our office. The ideas I'm thinking for those spaces are similar to this:

 

 

I printed some of our photos from our honeymoon and my favorite one that I framed was this:
Matt's proud of it since he's the one that carved it into the sand :). I'm hoping we'll get our wedding pictures back soon so I can finally frame them and hang them all over the house.

Here are a few more ideas for my future office space when I have the time and money to fix it up.

Continue reading House Projects