The Continuous Adventures of Ashley

I've been a bit busy, I feel like that is how I start all of my posts lately. I have been lucky enough to spend some serious time in Pennsylvania over the last 2 weekends, unfortunately I have to drive 8 hours to get there so that bites into some of my free time. But overall it was nice to do normal errands with Nate and eat at our favorite places and sleep next to a warm and familiar body without worrying if someone was going to make me into a kebab while I slept. Here are some of the super cool things I've done...


I finally upgraded my phone and went a little wild and crossed to the dark side. I got an Android. I am still not sure I made the right choice. There are some cool things about it but I am still in Apple mode. I constantly complain to Nate, how come this phone doesn't do this? or How can I make the phone do this? ( Nate is a lover of Android stuff) I'm slowly picking up the basics. One of the pros of this new phone is the pictures taking quality is way better.

Anyone who knows me well (or even just met me) know that I LOVE BEER. One of the issues is that I sometimes have a beer that I love and then I can't remember what is was when prowling the bars. Even worse is when I hate a beer and then can't remember it's name and have to make the mistake of ordering it a second time. I'm not one to be wasteful, I"ll still drink it even if it's gross. I'm no fool. Nate's bestie Doug introduced me to the app Untapped where you log beers that you drink while you are out. You get extra badges for taking pics with your beer and checking into bars. GENIUS! I'm loving it already. 

I attended my first Katie Herzig show this past weekend with Doug and Nate who are SUPER FANS. I like her as well but not with the same passion as these two guys. They snagged posters off the walls to have her sign them after the show, I even snapped a few pics of them together as they made awkward banter with her. I felt like I was with 2 high schoolers who were at their first dance. LOVED IT! Plus the venue had some delightful beer. Chocolate peanut butter stout? Yes please!

Nate and I did what we love to do best, thrifting (get your brain out of the gutter...) we hit up some community garage sales which here hugely disappointing. What is the point of participating if you're only going to put out one table of junk? And almost everyone had the same theme: Baby clothes, kids toys and exercise equipment. NO THANKS. It got to the point that Nate would drive by real slow and I would just look at the spread and be like "Nope, just crap". We did hit a jackpot of sorts. It was more like an estate sale in this cool mansion that was pretty much picked over but anything without a sticker on it was free. I was still able to find some mason jars in the kitchen and a first'ish edition of Gone with the Wind (I think it's a first edition, second printing). For some reason all of the GoodWill's we hit up in PA were pretty bare this past weekend but I hit the jackpot at HomeGoods. New swimwear and an apple peeler. SCORE! I wasn't even looking for those things and they just jumped off the shelves and yelled "please take me home with you".  While we were shopping we spotted as what I can only describe as NJ housewives gone wrong. 2 ladies with their 6 guido kids. The boys had gelled coifs, loafers and polos on and the baby girls had gold hoops and styled hair as well. The Mom's were what made us do a double take. Mom #1 had 3 inch stilettos, skin tight black jeans and a black lace peplum top. She was coated in make-up, very frosted lips and bleach blond. Mom #2 was wearing a thin peach tube top with a black bra and it was sporting an unflattering muffin top to go along with her gobs of make-up and bleach blond hair. The weird thing is all those kiddos were brunettes with dark features...They were the annoying clan in the store who let their kids run amok while they're busy chatting, unaware that they're causing everyone else a bit of distress. GET OUT OF MY WAY, I NEED TO BUY THIS APPLE PEELER/CORER COMBO! YOU"RE KIDS ARE BLOCKING THE AISLE!

In other thrifting news, Nate and I got bored and decided to drive an hour over to Vineland NJ to check out their flea market. It should be called a crap market. It was filled with all the items I could purchase at a dollar store, plus any automotive accessories or tools I may need, an endless supply of bootleg DVD's some questionable women's fashions, produce booths and more garbage. On top of all this, Nate and I were probably the only non-Latinos there. Who would have thought we would be the only Gringos there.  We did get some good people watching in and soak up some delicious smelling food. I would have gotten some but was intimidated by the Spanish only signage. Luckily I know what tacos and quesadillas are but my other food vocabulary is a bit rusty. Yo quiero that (and points) It's bad enough I was already attracting stares, I didn't need to make it worse by utilizing my Spanglish skills.