The Wedding: The Dress

Kathy Jennings Photography 

My dress. My dress and I have a love/hate relationship. It put me through a lot of emotional distress. Well, it wasn't the dress' fault, it was my fault, but still!

Of course I went to Becky's Bridal and Formal to find my dress for several reasons. First, Becky has the best selection for great prices. Second, Becky tells me the truth and not what I want to hear just to sell me a dress! Third, I've been going to Becky's for my formal dresses since I was in high school. Why would I go anywhere else for the most important dress of my life? And last, Becky is just one of the most awesome people ever. She was my Fairy Godmother when it came to this dress.

Kathy Jennings Photography

This was the second dress I tried on and before Becky even had it on me completely, I had fallen in love. I never thought I would want a full skirt dress. It was never my style, even in high school. But, there it was! Looking amazing! And once Becky put the veil on and "jacked me up" the tears started falling and I knew it was the one.

Kathy Jennings Photography

So, I asked Becky to order the dress for me, event though the one in the store fit me absolutely perfect. Because I'm hardheaded, I didn't allow her to measure me. I just asked her to order me the exact same dress. I had worked 80 hours in one week to pay for my dress. So, I was determined to have my own dress instead of the one off the rack.

Fast forward to my next wedding visit to Virginia. (Planning a wedding five states away was not the easiest thing by the way. I had to learn to just give up control and let my family and friends just take care of it, or else nothing would've gotten done and I would've gone crazy. Thankfully they knew what I wanted and were better at bringing my vision to life than me.) I go to try on the dress and it doesn't fit. It's too small. Again, I didn't take into account that the dress in the store had been worn in and that's why it fit more, even though they were the exact same size/measurements. If I had allowed Becky to measure me, it would have been the exact right measurements and would have fit. Already being stressed and having your dress be too small, is ridiculously stressful. Needless to say, I was in tears. And not the happy tears from before.

Then, Fairy Godmother Becky came to my rescue and made my dreams come true! Between her, our neighbor Pat (who works at Becky's) and Becky's amazing seamstress, my dress was good to go come wedding day. (I had another "it wouldn't fit" scare the week of the wedding and the team rescued me again!) I was zipped perfectly into my dress without issue and was walking down the aisle with my Daddy to my Husband!

Kathy Jennings Photography 

Honestly, how many stores can you get THAT kind of personal attention? There aren't many and I'm so thankful to Becky and her team for all the help and relieving my stress come wedding day. Thank you Becky!

She's already turning Amelia into a "Becky's Girl"! And the first dress Amelia needs, we will be going to Becky!

Binge Watching Anonymous: Part 2

After I wrote the other post, I realized I forgot HALF of my shows that I love. Which is probably a good thing, because it would have been way too long for one post. Eesh. Yes, I'm a TV nerd. I constantly have something playing in the background. Probably because I was an only child. I'm also never going to be a parent that keeps her child away from TV. Okay, getting off course. MY SHOWS!!!!

1. Modern Family

This is the only show that I pay to watch! I have bought every season on Amazon Instant Video. There's just something about it that makes me happy. Whenever I'm missing my family and missing home, this is the show that I watch. Gloria is my favorite. I always find myself thinking things in her accent. It's great.

2. Doctor Who

Really, I feel quite silly for forgetting this one. I mean, it's where I got my daughter's name.

The first doctor I encountered was David Tenant. I loved he and Rose. Really I did.

But, I fell in love with The Doctor and The Ponds. I love Amy and Rory and their story. 

Before you watch the next clip. Be prepared for #spoilers

Oh the feels!!!! I was pregnant when I watched that episode. You want to talk about emotions. Emotions were ALL OVER THE PLACE.

3. Frasier

This obsession is my mother's fault. She makes me watch it 24/7 when I go home. Now it reminds me of home. Plus, I now have a crush on Kelsey Grammer. Again, another sign of getting older ha.

4. Arrested Development

I don't know how to explain Arrested Development. It's one of those you either like it or you don't. I love when Ron Howard and Henry Winkler throw in Happy Days mentions.

Ha. Get it? Jumping the shark? Get it? Ha. Ha ha. Ha........

Also, I'll just leave this here:

Okay. Now that everyone knows my favorites, what's some of yours? What should I binge watch next?

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

From Our Family,

To Yours!

We hope everyone has blessed and amazing day filled with family and fun!

Binge Watching Anonymous

Hello, my name is Ashley and I am a binge watcher. 

I am obsessed with Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and binge watching all the shows!!! I decided I wanted to start sharing my addiction with you. Hopefully opening your eyes to some things and getting suggestions from you! I'm going to start this post with shows that I turn on to binge watch in the background while I'm doing other things around the house. Brace yourselves, this is surprisingly long haha.

1. Once Upon a Time

I am so in love with this show. I have rewatched the episodes on Netflix SOOO many times. It's probably unhealthy, but I don't care! And I mean, see evidence below. Captain Hook. Oh Captain Hook.

2. The Office

The Office is one of those shows that my husband and I watch EVERYDAY. We bonded over it when we first started dating. At that time I believe the first two seasons were available on Netflix, oh so long ago. Oh the end of that second season. I also found that I could relate the most ridiculous work situations with something from The Office. And I hear quotes in my head during certain situations and laugh to myself. Then people think I'm crazy. I don't care if it's over #theoffice4lyfe.

3. Parks and Recreation

Oh Parks and Recreation, how do I love thee? Let me count thy ways! I first started watching Parks and Rec during it's first season because I was working for our city's Parks and Recreation department. I couldn't get into the first season much (if you start watching it, you'll see why they changed characters around, don't give up after the first season!). My husband then made me rewatch the show after the second season came on Netflix. I have never seen a show with so many lovable characters. I have said many times that goal in life is to be the perfect mix between Leslie Knope, Ron Swanson and April Ludgate.

If you need happiness in your life, you need this show.

P.S. I often put this GIF into my presentations at work. If you work in IT for any educational venue, my guess is, you will get the significance of this.

4. The Walking Dead

I love this show, but honestly, I don't know why! It's so draining and gloomy, but I CAN'T. STOP. WATCHING! You keep holding on to hope and then *fart noise*. And I ended up getting my dad hooked on it, who then got my mom hooked on it. Can anyone else explain why it's so addicting?

Seriously though, if they kill Darryl, we riot.

Sorry for the feels! 

5. Community

Accidental segway into my next favorite. This is yet another show that my husband got me addicted to (it's really all his fault). As a person who has always been obsessed with TV and movies, the many, many references in this show make my heart happy.

See below for a perfect example of what I mean:

It's such an intelligent, well thought out comedy (IMO). I hate that it kind of fell apart. I'm getting ready to watch the sixth season on Yahoo! 
#sixseasonsandamovie 

6. The League

Oh The League. The League is a very vulgar, full of disgusting humor TV show. And I love it. I know. #dontjudgeme

And my favorite character is Rafi. Again... #dontjudgeme

7. Vampire Diaries

Another one of my guilt pleasures. I read the first book in high school because it was about a blonde haired, blue eyed girl living on Maple Street in small town Virginia. Seriously. My life. How do you not read that? The book was one of the most terrible books I have ever read. I had to force myself to get through. Thankfully, the show doesn't really go by the books and the characters actually have substance. This show sucks you in and you just have to keep watching. I started watching it while Jon was deployed. So, here I am, pregnant, fatigued, unable to drink caffeine and I'm staying up until 2 to 3 in the morning because I HAD TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED NEXT. I did that for the 5 seasons of the show. That's 22 45 minute episodes per season. I think I finished it in a week. That's how addicting this damn show is. Plus, everyone is so ridiculously beautiful. Like, really? 

Personally, my crush is on Alaric. That's how you know you're old, when your crush on the teenage drama is the "older" mentor.

I also got really excited when they showed this map:

It's the little things.

Okay, I had way too much fun writing this post. I'm going to go watch all the shows now! K. Thanks. Bye!

Don't forget to tell me your favorite shows!!!

Life, or something like it.

So, I know there have been several times where I say, "oh hey, I'm back!" and then I'm never actually back. I'm not going to make that promise again. But, I would LOVE to get back into my blog. I miss it. I find myself thinking EVERYDAY of my blog. So many things have happened since I last blogged. 

1. I was working as Help Desk Supervisor at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, FL. 

2. We had our wedding! Finally! And it was everything that I dreamed and more! I plan on doing posts about all the details, because, I would love to share them!

3. A week after Jon left for deployment we found out we were expecting our first child! I sent him the picture of the pregnancy tests and he received them while he was in Spain. Oh military life!

4. I had to go through the first 7 months of pregnancy alone, in Florida while living on the 3rd floor with no stairs. It was MISERABLE! Please let me know your experiences with morning sickness! My sickness was all day sickness and EVERYTHING triggered it. Especially my favorite foods. At one point I had the stomach flu ON TOP of the morning sickness. I didn't eat anything for 2 days and on the 3rd and 4th days, I could only eat saltine crackers, apple slices and drink Gatorade. But, I got to binge watch Buffy, so there was that. Once Amelia was born, I immediately saw WHY I had morning sickness the entire time. She kicks CONSTANTLY.

36 week belly.

A photo posted by Ashley Hamilton (@ashleydsworld) on Jun 7, 2014 at 4:59pm PDT

5. We decided I would become a Stay At Home Mom so I begrudgingly left my job at UNF (which I loved and I loved the people I worked with. They were amazing and I miss them everyday.)

6. Amelia was born!!! And her birth was...shew. I'll get into that later.

I'm late with #tbt but since my little poop head kept me up ALL night, it made me think of the very first moment I laid eyes on her :). Thankfully Jon took a picture.

A photo posted by Ashley Hamilton (@ashleydsworld) on Feb 6, 2015 at 6:53am PST

7. We bought a house and moved to Virginia Beach!

Like I said, I'm hoping to start updating on a regular basis. I've been knitting more and learning how to cook, knit, to mom and more about photography! I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to actually "teach" anyone anything. I just enjoy the ability to document my life and share it with others :). And I hope you'll enjoy it!

I'm Really Back Biotches!

So, so, so very MANY changes since I last wrote here. I got a job at the University of North Florida as a Help Desk Supervisor. We had our wedding. Jon's been on a 7 month deployment. Annnnnd, we are HAVING A BABY!!!

I'll be doing blog updates of ALL the details!

Yeahhhh, Hi! Remember me?

Sooooo, hey guys!!! I'm not sure if anyone is still reading this, since I disappeared for over 10 months... Sheesh. But, I am alive!!! Lots of things have changed. Jon and I got engaged and married (in the same day, yup) and then we moved from Virginia, to South Carolina and then to Florida all in about a month's time... Yeah, that was fun (said no one ever).

So, we're living in Jacksonville now. Jon's gone a lot what with duty nights and under ways and so on and so forth, so a lot of times it's just me with the dog and the cat. They're actually a lot more work than I thought they would be, so I don't get to craft much anymore. I'm still trying to adjust to everything and just when I think I'm getting into a routine, something changes.

I randomly decided I want to start blogging again though. I miss it. Although, it's more of just something for me to do to have an online diary for other people to read and to organize my thoughts. Maybe one of these days I will be crafting again. But, I doubt it.

Here's a few pictures of life for us, it's really not so bad... And I'm willing to admit some craft time is taken away because of the beach, which we live 10 minutes away from. Muahahaha.

I'M ALIVE!!!!!

Believe it or not, I am still alive!!! Sorry for disappearing, but, I haven't had much time for anything else because we just recently added a furry addition to our ever growing zoo.

This is Lucy! I had fallen in love with her at one of the SPCA booths back in August when she was a puppy, but didn't get her. I saw her again at another booth in October and still wanted her, but, still didn't get her. Then she got adopted and I though, okay, it's done. No more. But, I just happened to be checking the SPCA website and there she was!!! Apparently her previous owner had developed Alzheimer's and had to return her. I took this as a sign that she was meant to be mine and went to the SPCA that weekend and filled out the paperwork. And now she's my baby girl. 

Cute Animal Monday: Emotional Weekend

So, we had a pretty eventful, emotional weekend in the Hamilton household. My pretty kitty Sheba started having very labored breathing.

Magnolia Plantation Swamp Garden

Remember when Jon and I went to Magnolia Plantation back in June?

First Magnolia Plantation Visit

Well, last weekend we went back. This time with our friends Brandon and Mary-Jane (and this time to the Swamp Garden). Here's some pictures from the day.

Cute Animal Monday from Charleston

Here's your dose of cute animal Monday from Charleston.

And you are welcome for that! Editing some pictures from the swamp garden right now! 

Cute Animal Monday on Wednesday

Just got back from Charleston on Monday and been running around like a chicken with my head cut off since! But, I did get a custom jewelry order for 6 bridesmaids done! :)

Here's your Cute Animal Monday video! This is Arthur (the little black cat Jon and I adopted). Jon had gotten a toy helicopter, pretty much just to mess with Arthur haha and this is what happened:

And here is the jewelry set that I made for the upcoming nuptials this weekend :)

My First Treasury Feature!

My jewelry was featured in someone's Etsy Treasury for the first time!

Thank you so much Bambi!

Around the Interwebs: Front Yard Overhaul

So, the warm weather the other day got me super antsy about getting our front yard looking good. I've kind of let it go to the wayside... At one time I had it looking cute, now, this is what it looks like.

Cute Animal Monday: Back on Track

So, Guys and Dolls is officially over and it's now time to get back on track with life! And the blog of course :). So, here's your cute animal fix for your Monday blues! And, with Spring just around the corner, I'll be doing a blog post about projects I'll be doing for the front yard and our front porch. Lots of spray painting, cleaning and flowers to plant!

Cute Animal Monday

Hey Guys. I know, I know, MIA again. I apologize. I had personal things going on and I just didn't feel like doing any blog posts. So, to make up for it, here's TWO Cute Animals for Cute Animal Monday!

See you guys tomorrow for a blog post on Valentine's Day baking :).

Around the Interwebs: Children's Valentine's

It's officially 3 weeks until Valentine's Day! And for those of you with little ones who are tired of the same old store bought Disney character Valentines and want to do some fun crafts with your little ones (or make some fun Valentines for your co-workers to remember the good ol' days) this blog post is for you! Here's some of the super cute, super different, super fun Valentines DIYs I found around the Interwebs.

http://graceandivy.wordpress.com/2011/02/08/valentines-day-cards/

Cute Animal Monday

Getting back on track! Here's your cute animal for this Monday :).

After having two tortoise shell cats and my Aunt having a tortoise shell cat, I'm pretty much convinced that they are all BAT (you know what) CRAZY. Everyone who knows Sheba knows how crazy she is. This video pretty much proves that theory for me, yet again.
Tomorrow's Blog is going to be VALENTINE'S DAY related!!! :)

A Handmade Christmas

For Christmas this year I only bought 2 gifts that weren't handmade or personalized. The other two that I bought were gifts from shutterfly.com. I made a Bubby Book for my Nana (idea from the Boo Book). By the way, if you don't know who Boo is, your life is horrible and empty.

Trust me. Your life will be better with Boo in it!

Sorry, back to the blog. The other Shutterfly gift was a collage poster of Miss Susie Q for my Daddy. I also gifted a few redneck wine glasses and, I must be getting faster at knitting because I made 5 scarves for Christmas...FIVE!!!!!

Thanks to ravelry.com I got all the patterns for free :). Here's the ones I made with links to the patterns.

http://suzies-yarnie-stuff.blogspot.com/2010/03/peppermint-special-olympics-scarf.html

Universal Studios and Harry Potter World

So, my wonderful, amazing, loving boyfriend surprised me with a trip to Universal Studios and Harry Potter World for Christmas!!!! Isn't he awesome? I think so.

This was one of the BEST vacations I have ever been on and I think the both of us really needed it. It was nice because it was just the two of us. We had nowhere to be and no one to answer to. Just us, enjoying a theme park :).

Our first day in the park was New Year's Eve and our day started out with a fellow Dallas Cowboys fan, upon seeing my license plate holders, giving us a free parking voucher. Pretty good way to start the day. Then we headed to Harry Potter World!!!!!!! It is beyond amazing! A little too crowded for my taste right now, but, it still didn't take anything away.

Hogwart's castle from the Lost Continent section of Universal