Gratitude Challenge Day 30: Challenge Wrap Up

Happy Friday everyone! Today is the last day of the gratitude challenge and I can't believe how fast the month has flown by! I'm surprised that I was able to stick with the challenge and post everyday. Today's final post will be about why I'm grateful for taking part in this challenge.

For the last 30 days I have been writing about topics that I wouldn't normally and have learned to be grateful for the little things in my life. Even though you might not be in a good place at the moment or you might be at the best place in your life, it's always good to be grateful for the things you have or even don't have. 

I'm grateful for waking up everyday this month and having something to write about.

I'm grateful for this challenge so other people can also recognize how to be grateful as well!

This challenge has made me look at my past, my family, my achievements, my childhood, etc. and have made me realize that even though it might not have been great, there's always something great to take away from it. 

I'm grateful for Aurelie who was the host of this challenge. Without her I most likely wouldn't have took part in the challenge so thank you Aurelie!

I'm grateful for all of those who commented on my posts and took part in the challenge as well! I love reading all that you have to say and it's nice to know that other people out there have gone through similar issues like I have. 

Until next time!

Ashley

Gratitude Challenge Day 29: Body

  We're back with another day of the gratitude challenge! Only one more day to go I can't believe it's almost over! For today's theme, we'll be talking about my body! What are some reasons I'd like to say thank you to my body and why do I accept the way it is?

First off, I'm so thankful for being healthy and am blessed to not have had any major problems with my body in the past. I was born a healthy weight with all of my fingers and toes. Just take a moment to appreciate that fact because there are some people born with less than you!

Thank you to my hair for being thick and for the fact that it grows like a weed. I can't imagine having thin hair or no hair at all. I love being able to get my hair done and trying different colors out. I think if I had a problem that left me with no hair, I would love trying out different wigs! Maybe that's why I love Halloween so much because you can be different people and dress differently.

Thank you to my eyes for being big and brown. I love my eyes and I think they're one of my best features. I was a little self conscious of them growing up because they are pretty big and I didn't want people to make fun of them especially because I had to start wearing glasses when I was younger. 

Thank you to my height for allowing me to be a shorty! I have grown to appreciate the fact that I'm only 5'2 because I can wear heels without towering over people. It does make me feel a little weird though when kids half my age are so much taller then me but it's what God gave me so why not appreciate it?

I'm thankful to be a woman! I love having boobs and a bum and it makes dressing up challenging but fun! Even though us women go through having periods and giving birth, I wouldn't have it any other way. I couldn't imagine being a man at all!  

I have learned to accept my body mostly but still have my days where it's quite hard to appreciate it! I'm not perfect at all! I look in the mirror and think that I look bloated or that I wish I was just a little bit skinnier but I shouldn't be complaining if I'm not doing anything to change myself right? One of my goals for myself is to start eating right and eating more fruits and veggies! Taking care of your body and what you put into it is so important and beneficial! 

What about you? Do you appreciate what you were born with? 

Until tomorrow,

Ashley

Gratitude Challenge Day 28: Life Lessons

Welcome back to another day of the gratitude challenge! I hope you are enjoying being grateful and find it easier to be thankful for what you have in your life. Today's theme is about my life lessons- what are the life lessons I've learned and why are they necessary?

In my 29 years of existence, I have to say that I have learned quite a few lessons. As I came out of high school after I turned 18 I thought that I might as well get my first credit card "in case of emergencies" or at least that's what I convinced myself it was for. I liked how easily accessible it was to buy things if my paycheck was gone and soon one card turned into multiple, you get the drift. I am thankful that I was able to pay my minimum monthly balances and I never went over my limits. One thing I'm grateful for is that it's a great way to build up your credit. From 18 to about 26 I had really great credit. After having credit card debt I have learned that you either need to have full control of your spending habits or just don't get credit cards if you can help it.

The next lesson I've learned is that as you grow up you need to expect the unexpected. You tend to think that your friends will always be around but then they get married and start a family or move away and you don't get to see them as often. Relationships will come and go as your life changes and you grow up. If you asked me 15 years ago where I thought my family would be in the future, I wouldn't have thought that my parents would be divorced and that we would all be living in different parts of the world. 

Lastly, one of the most important lessons is that no matter what, you should always put yourself first and take care of yourself. My mother had my brother and I and was always looking after us making dinner and helping with homework etc. and working full time as well that she didn't have the time to focus on herself. I think a lot of mothers are like that and it's quite sad to see. It's not a bad thing to focus on yourself whether you're married or have kids, but making yourself a priority is super important. 

Hopefully you can relate to these life lessons. Let me know what you have learned down in the comments! 

Until tomorrow,

Ashley

Gratitude Challenge Day 27: My Past

Hello and welcome back to the final few days of the gratitude challenge! Today's theme is about my past and certain occurrences that I am grateful for. Let's get started shall we? 

If I could sum up my past in one word it would have to be bittersweet. I grew up having a mother and a father who loved me and took care of me and was lucky enough to be able to have an older brother to look up to. My home life wasn't the best because my parents argued a lot and both drank quite often and their marriage ended in divorce when I was a teenager. I would say that witnessing my parents and how they were towards each other made me realize that that is not what I want for myself. I told myself that once I got into a long term relationship or once I got married that I would do absolutely everything I could to make it the best. No relationship is perfect but you get what you give don't you? I'm grateful to have gone through my parents divorce because it gave me an understanding that life isn't perfect and some people just aren't meant to be with each other and they're better apart. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't a fan of the arguing and name calling but going through what I did only made me a stronger person in the end. In my own marriage I would prefer to talk about things than to yell about it. I absolutely hate yelling, I think it's such a waste of time and breath! 

One thing that I loved was when my family had a vacation to Disneyland and we surprised my aunt who had no idea we were going for a visit. I was so excited to be able to travel to California for the first time and to experience Disneyland because it seemed like such a magical place for a kid. To be able to meet up with all of my extended family was so much fun because we don't get to see each other very often. I hope one day that we will get to have a family reunion like that. 

What event in your past made you the most grateful? 

Until tomorrow,

Ashley

Christmas Gift Swap

Hi lovelies! With only 90 more days left until Christmas, I wanted to take part in something I came across on Twitter recently and thought why not spread the word! Christmas is a holiday that I'm obsessed with and I love being able to give gifts! There's something about gift giving that is so fun and exciting. Viola over at https://apieceofviola.wordpress.com/, came up with this lovely idea which was a success in the past so she decided to give it a go this year! Why not visit her page and show her some love! 

SO here are the facts:

• You will be paired up with another blogger at the beginning of November and then you can start to get to know that person to get an idea of what they might like for the gift.
• The budget it totally up to you and your fellow blogger
• UK only

If this sounds like something you'd love to do, here's how to get involved!

1. Fill out the Google form here and wait for a confirmation email from me (Viola).
2. Write a blog post about this event within five days of receiving confirmation so that we can get as many bloggers involved as possible!
3. Once paired up, get to know your fellow blogger, buy their gifts and send them off!

*November 1st is the deadline for completing the submission form

*November 6th is when you get to find out who you'll be paired with

*By December 17th Cutoff date for sending your gift(s) to your fellow blogger

In order to take part, you must:

• Fill in the Google form document – here’s the link again.
• Write a blog post about this event within five days of receiving confirmation.
• Send a couple of nice gifts to your paired blogger by December 17th.
• Write a post about your gifts (must include photos) after you have received them.
• Send me links to all of your blog posts so I can see how the event has gone!

I'm so excited to be able to take part in this gift swap (#apovgiftswap) and I can't wait to see who I'll be paired up with! Why not join in the fun?!

If you would like more info from Viola on the gift swap click here!

Happy gifting!

Ashley

Gratitude Challenge Day 26: My Hidden Talent

Hello again and welcome back to day 26 of the gratitude challenge! We are nearing the end and it's been so much fun being able to reminisce and to be thankful for so much! Today we will be talking about a hidden talent I have and what I use it for.

This one is a little tough for me because I honestly don't think I'm talented in any certain field at the moment. I think it takes practice and a lot of experience to be able to be good at something. I look at this as things I do well and in that case I can say that I am a perfectionist. Obviously I'm not perfect but I try to get things right as much as I can. When I'm baking, I hate to make mistakes so I try to measure out the correct amounts for the ingredients. 

I suppose cleaning is one of my talents! I do it well since I do it often and I'm happy to see the results at the end. 

Until tomorrow,

Ashley

Gratitude Challenge Day 25: Memories

Hello and welcome back to my 30 days of gratitude challenge! I can't believe that I have been able to post every day so far this month without fail so I'm pretty proud of myself! It's easy to get into a writing routine once you stick to it. Today's theme is all about memories and which memory is my favorite and why I'm grateful for it.

I have so many memories growing up but because I grew up with an older brother we did a lot of things together as kids. My brother loved playing hockey and started playing when he was about 6 or 7 years old. I can remember he would make me be the goalie and would dress me up with a helmet and cushions on my legs and just take shots at me. Sounds nice huh?  He taught me how to ride a bike and I would ride it around the yard and around the house. 

I am very thankful for having a brother to grow up with. I think it taught me how to be tough in a way. Holidays were always fun because we would go trick or treating together and get dressed up and come  back with loads of candy. In the winter time, we would both go outside in the snow and build snow forts and it was a lot of fun. It was nice to have someone there to always do something with and even as we grew up we didn't grow too much apart. 

My brother and I don't always see eye to eye now that we are both adults but I know that we will always be there for each other and that's what family is about. I am thankful to have shared a lot of good memories as well as the not so good ones together growing up. 

I'm thankful for all of the times that we laughed together and cried together.

I'm thankful that you taught me how to do so many things and gave me the inspiration to work hard and earn lots of money.

Thank you for being a role model to my younger self and showing me that I could achieve anything!

Thank you for joining me today! Hopefully it brought you back to some good memories of your own!

Until tomorrow,

Ashley

Gratitude Day 24: Seasons

Hello all and I hope you are all having a fabulous weekend so far! Today is yet another day of the gratitude challenge, day 24 to be exact. Today I will be talking about which season I'm most grateful for and why.

Growing up and living in New England my whole life I was lucky enough to experience literally ALL four seasons most of the time. The Springtime was mostly wet and dreary, Summers were blazing hot and humid, Autumns were so gorgeous and the leaves would always change to those red, yellow and orange colors, and the winters normally brought tons of snow!

I'm most thankful for Autumn though! There's something about the smell of the air and the leaves falling that gets you so excited about the upcoming holiday months. As a kid, Halloween was always an exciting holiday because I always seemed to know what I wanted to dress up as to go trick or treating. It was usually a witch or a princess, etc. I loved decorating and carving a pumpkin with a scary face on it. I'm thankful for those special memories with my mom as she helped me pick out our pumpkins.

Thanksgiving was another holiday that I used to look forward to. Being American, my family always had large portions of everything you could think of for Thanksgiving dinner. Just thinking about the turkey meal and all of the trimmings makes me excited. I still like to celebrate being thankful because that's what Thanksgiving is all about. I try to not go crazy cooking a ton of food because my husband looks at me like I'm nuts. Plus you have to get a small enough turkey to fit in the English ovens anyway. I'm thankful for all of the memories I had with my family for the past years for Thanksgiving.

There are SO many things I'm thankful for about the autumn season: The fashion, everything pumpkin flavored, being able to bake yummy things and the decorations! I've already started to pick up some Halloween decor because I plan on going all out this year whether we get trick or treaters or not! I'm thankful for the scary movies that are shown on t.v. this time of year. I love the classics like Casper, The Adams Family, Halloween with Jamie Lee Curtis, Hocus Pocus, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Ghostbusters! The list is endless. 

Now you can see why the season I'm most grateful for is Autumn! I'm so excited that it's finally here again and can start going nuts with decorating and baking! I'd love to know which season you're most grateful for so let me know in the comments below!

Have a great day!

Ashley

Versatile Blogger Award

I'm so excited to be tagged by the lovely Jay & Jessica for the versatile blogger award! This is my first tag so thank you girls for nominating me! This tag is all about getting to know your fellow bloggers out there by including 7 random facts about yourself. When your finished, you then have to nominate 10- 15 other bloggers. Let's get started shall we?

#1- I grew up having a love for horses and still do! I used to go visit my aunt who had horses and ever since I could remember I would be in the stall wanting to help out cleaning up poo, feeding, and putting fresh shavings down for them. I also took horseback riding lessons for a while and wish I was still doing it today! Maybe it's time for me to get back in the saddle again?!

#2- I'm a Masshole! If you don't know what that means it's a term for people from Massachusetts and how they have a certain arrogance when they drive, except I'm more or a grandma when I drive! I was born there and miss it so much! 

#3- My husband is 14 years older than I am and no it doesn't bother me (I'm 29 and he's 43). Age is nothing but a number in my eyes. He doesn't act his age or look his age either so I'm pretty lucky!

#4-My father used to be in a country western band in the 80's and toured all over the U.S. Maybe this is where I get my love and appreciation for music. I would love to learn how to play the piano one day!

#5- I have an obsession over anything spicy! I always have a jar of hot sauce handy to add to almost any meal that includes a sauce, the spicier the better! I actually don't mind getting heartburn either, I know weird right?!

#6- I'm an avid hand washer and am obsessed with keeping my hands clean! Possibly a little bit of a germophobe? I always wash my hands after I go out somewhere and I feel like I can never touch a door handle in the center, I try to use the bottom because it gets less hand traffic? Haha probably one of my weirder facts about me! 

#7- I used to be pretty messy and unorganized all throughout school and now that I'm married somehow I seem to be the complete opposite and love cleaning! I love the scent of cleaning products and use bleach for almost everything! I have so many pet peeves about things staying clean like dirty laundry being left in the bathroom, seriously so disturbing to me!

I hope you know me just a little bit better now after these facts but it's seriously taken me some time to come up with anything interesting. I love learning things about new people so I'd like to nominate the following bloggers to participate in the Versatile Blogger's Award:

@ellymitchelll

@GeorgiaRMK

@ashleelizdotcom

@ClosetKate

@souhaaliarafa

Feel free to all of you who would like to do this tag for yourself, I would love to read all of yours to get to know you all more! 

Have a lovely weekend,

Ashley

Gratitude Day 23: Accomplishments

   Happy Friday everyone and hope you have a wonderful day! Today marks day 23 out of the 30 days of gratitude challenge and it's crazy to think we are close to the end of the month! Today's theme is my greatest accomplishment and how did it make me feel to succeed?

I have accomplished a few things so far in my life that I'm pretty proud of, if I do say so myself. One of my greatest accomplishments is leaving everything I know in America, my family and friends, to start a new life with my husband in England. Now I know that English is the main language in England but it still has it's differences from the U.S. I dropped my job and left my apartment to come and live with my husband which I think says a lot about who I am. I've learned that I can do anything that I want to do including travelling on my own. 

I'm thankful to be able to have had the chance to move to England and hopefully I will be able to remain here with my husband and finally be able to work! 

Travelling alone is exciting and scary all at the same time, let alone going to a different country by yourself. I seemed to always ask myself what if this happens or what if that goes wrong, but honestly it's better to not think about those things only when and if something was to go wrong. It was a little hard for me to leave my family because they were my security blanket in a way.

I'm thankful to have had the courage to live life for myself and nobody else. My family want to see me happy but were sad that I wanted to move away to be with my husband. As long as you are happy with you're decisions, don't listen to anyone who puts your ideas down. I'm happy to be married now to a great person but starting a life here is not easy. The visa process is long and seems endless but I feel like I can fight my way through anything now. 

I'm thankful to have brought my cat with me and it's like I have a little piece of home here.

Thank you for joining me for today's gratitude challenge! Leave me a comment and let me know what your greatest achievement has been in your life! I love hearing what you all have to say. 

Until tomorrow,

Ashley

Gratitude Day 22: A Challenge

Good afternoon! We're back for another day of the gratitude challenge!  Today's theme is one of my greatest challenges in life and how do I plan to overcome it?

I have a faced a few challenges so far in my life, some of them personal and others that are family issues. Currently, I'm waiting on a decision for me to be able to start working here and remain with my husband (he's British and I'm American). It has been such an emotional time for my husband and I going through this challenge. I'm thankful that we have each other to lean on and I know that we will get the outcome that we want and deserve.

If I'm granted my visa, I will be allowed to remain in England for 2 and a half years before having to fill out yet another application to remain for longer. It's hard knowing what we're going through, while there are other's who are in the country illegally and who are working but they aren't going through as tough as a time as we are. 

I knew our visa situation was not going to be easy but we are definitely facing the hard reality that the decision is in somebody else's hands for my future. It's a pretty scary thing really but I have to remain positive. I want to start my future with my husband, being newlyweds and to make a home for ourselves. I have always wanted to be able to decorate my own place and to be able to buy new furniture and to make a home someplace where we can both fully relax is one of my goals. I find that it's always best to look at the bright side of things in any challenging situation. Who wants to always look at the glass half empty? I want mine full to the top! 

I'm thankful to be able to live in England so far and I hope that I will get the chance to remain here and not be separated from my husband and my cat. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Until tomorrow,

Ashley

Gratitude Day 21: Era

Good afternoon everyone and welcome back to day 21 out of the 30 days of gratitude challenge! Today's theme is the era I live in and what makes me grateful for living in this time and age? Do you ever think back to the early colonial days and the things they had or didn't have? I can't imagine living back then but I guess you can only utilize what you have available to you right?

I am so thankful to be able to live in this day and age because we have so many more advances in technology that they didn't back then. Everything seemed more complex and the life expectancy wasn't much past 40 years old. Could you imagine only living to your 40's?  

I'm thankful for women's products that are available to us today that weren't around back then. That time of the month is still a tough time even with the products we have, I can't imagine what it would've been like to live 100 even 200 years ago. I think I would've caused me to drink a lot more than I do if I lived in those days haha.

Even though I love the style of the clothing worn back then, I definitely prefer the clothing today! I mean as a society, we are allowed to get away with wearing little to nothing and back then it was frowned upon. You wouldn't see women out in bikinis or showing their bra straps with a tank top. I'm thankful for leggings, push up bras, flip flops, and pretty much everything that I love to wear that's comfortable.

Technology has come a long way as well! I'm thankful for the quality of the pictures we take; They come out much clearer and sharper versus the cameras that first came out. It's amazing how far we've come with technology and the things we have learned. 

I'm thankful for being able to travel by plane to visit places and to go back home to visit my family. Can you imagine a time where they had no form of air travel? The people back then definitely lost out and were only able to travel by ship. A lot of countries weren't even founded yet. It's interesting to think where we will be in the next 50 - 100 years as a society and the new things that will be around that we have no idea about.

What kinds of things do you think will be around in the future? I'd love to know your opinion so please drop a comment below! Thank you for catching up on my gratitude post! I'm so thankful for all of you out there who show an interest in what I have to say! 

Until tomorrow!

Ashley

Gratitude Day 20: My Emotions

Happy Tuesday to you all! Today marks day 20 of the gratitude challenge and I can't believe we're reaching the end of the month already! Today's topic is all about emotions and what brings me joy.

My astrological sign is a cancer (shout out to all my fellow cancer people out there!) so it only goes hand in hand that I am such an emotional person. I think one of the qualities that I like about myself is the fact that I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve. I appreciate people more when they are emotional instead of being cold hearted. 

I'm thankful to experience A TON of different emotions in any given month due to being a woman. At least I have an excuse right?

I'm thankful to be able to cry whenever I'm feeling sad. I think being able to experience different emotions is what makes us human. Imagine if we weren't able to express how we are feeling, we would be bottling up everything and people wouldn't be able to read us as easily. There would be no signs of aggression or love or sympathy, the world would be a much quieter and boring place.

I'm thankful for being excited and I get excited for almost anything! It's nice to have something to look forward to.

I'm thankful to show aggression so I don't keep my anger bottled up inside.

There are so many simple things that bring me joy. Going outside when it's a sunny day and going for a walk sometimes is the best thing, just to be able to get some exercise. I absolutely love traveling whether it's by train, bus, or car. I've been in the mood to travel a lot lately but haven't had the opportunity. Hopefully by the end of the year!

It's so simple to find things that bring me joy. What about you? What different emotions are you thankful for having? I hope as you read the different days of gratitude, maybe it will become easier for you to become more grateful on a daily basis?

Until tomorrow,

Ashley 

Gratitude Day 19: My Hobbies

Today is day 19 out of the 30 days of gratitude challenge! Thank you for joining me again for another day of being thankful and today we'll be focusing on my hobbies and why I enjoy them.

One of the hobbies that I'm thankful for  is horseback riding. I used to take horseback riding lessons when I was a kid and I wish I pursued it further and went on to show horses. I love horseback riding in general and there's something about being able to saddle up and go out for a trail ride, it really is so peaceful. I took my little sister for a trail ride because she was obsessed with anything and everything to do with horses so I thought it would be a nice little treat for her. We had a lot of fun! I would love to find a place in England that offers horseback riding lessons because I really want to get into it again and make it a routine.

I'm thankful for being a lover of photography and I take tons of pictures whenever I go to new places. It's so nice to be able to capture moments so you can always have them to look back on. I can't wait to be able  to purchase a better camera so I can take better quality photos as well. Scrap-booking is something that I've recently gotten into. I made one for my husband for Christmas one year and I loved doing it for him and it was probably one of the most meaningful gifts that I've given him. I plan on making one for our wedding day too.

These are just a few of the things that I love doing in my spare time. Hobbies are something that allow you to have fun and keep you busy doing what you love to do. I think life would be pretty boring if we didn't have things to occupy our minds. Are there any hobbies that you're thankful for?

Until tomorrow,

Ashley

Gratitude Day 18: Food

Hello and welcome back to day 18 of the 30 days of gratitude challenge! Today's topic is food and what foods make me feel good and why. 

This topic is quite easy really because who doesn't love food? I'm not a fussy eater at all and I am thankful to not be allergic to anything that I know of so I'm able to eat pretty much anything. I love to bake and I get very happy with myself when it comes out as it's supposed to. I wish I could become a better cook though but I don't think I have the knack when it comes to preparing a meal. What normally would take 45 minutes to prepare  usually takes me an additional 30 minutes because I'm not used to chopping, etc. I would like to practice more so my husband can say that he loves his wife's meals.

I LOVE going out and trying various restaurants and finding new places to eat. I know it's not healthy to eat out a lot but we try to go out when we can. I'm thankful for having an Italian restaurant literally right across from where we live because they have the best pizza! I'm thankful for comfort foods like Mac n cheese, pizza, spaghetti and meatballs, and I love salads too! I'm thankful for the healthy foods as well as the not so healthy foods!

One of my favorite foods is sushi! I crave it a lot but it's one of those foods that you either love or hate. I'm thankful for last week when I visited Yo Sushi for the first time and absolutely loved it! If you've never been before there are a ton of various sushi plates on a conveyor belt that continuously go around and around and you can choose a never ending supply of food, it's great! Please don't judge that I took three plates haha.

Tell me what kind of foods you are thankful for? This post is definitely making me hungry now! 

Until tomorrow,

Ashley

Gratitude Day 17: My Childhood

Happy Saturday to you all! I hope you are having a fantastic weekend so far. Today's topic is about my childhood, what I loved the most about it, and how it made me the person that I am today. 

I grew up on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, USA and I remember enjoying a lot of my childhood. We lived at a few different houses but one of my favorite ones we lived at had a lake as our backyard. I was fortunate to grow up having an older brother and we used to go swimming and fishing together. We didn't live too far from some of my relatives and I loved visiting them because they had tons of dogs and horses. There was always something going on in their lives that seemed like a lot of fun to a child, so I loved it. We got our husky dog right before we moved from that house too. I miss those days because they are so carefree and the only worries you'll have is what toys you'll play with next. Growing up, my family didn't have a ton of money but we weren't poor either so I'm thankful for that. I'm thankful for experiencing my childhood living in Massachusetts. It was a nice place to grow up. I'm thankful that my family was my life.

When I was 10 years old my family relocated to Maine due to my father's job. Maine seemed to be a lot different than Massachusetts. The way of life is slower, people aren't rushing around as much, everything is just more laid back. It was scary for me to leave my friends and go to a whole different school where I knew no one. I met my best friend that year and I'm so thankful for her and our friendship even to this day. We've known each other for 18 years now! 

I love that my childhood was filled with imagination and I spent a lot of time outdoors either playing with my brother or my friends. I think that's where my appreciation for nature comes from, My childhood was far from perfect though. I can remember my parents arguing a lot which was not nice to witness sometimes. I've learned that my parents divorcing  made me want to work that much harder at my own marriage. I was lucky enough to understand that arguing is not the best way to get your point across. All in all, I have some great memories when I was little but I can't wait to make even better memories now that I'm an adult!

Until tomorrow,

Ashley