Lucy

So... My recent life adventures have brought me to a realization. I should have been named Lucy. Truly. It just fits! Here...Let me show you:

FIRST-the immortal Beatles song, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. It's bizarre...and eclectic...and occasionally misunderstood. The Beatles are a staple in my music library...and this song is iconic.

Next: Who doesn't love Lucy? A fiesty wanna be performer who loves to dress up and make funny faces...shall I go on?

Thirdly: Lucy Van Pelt
The main purpose perhaps for my current obsession... I am playing the role of Lucy in the Musical Production of You're a Good Man Charlie Brown. Loud, brass, bossy, sometimes crabby...

And doesn't like the snow...All while dreaming of being queen and spilling out sage advice for cheap. But in the end, she's a family girl at heart and even has niceness deep down inside.

Soooo....there ya go....
these are little known facts that now...
you know!

Picnik

I took my favorite pics of my family and tweaked them...enjoy!

And when Mr. Brother #5 comes home from Ghana-I will post cute pics of him too!

25 Randoms

I got sucked into the facebook trend-everyone is doing them...so I thought I'd post mine here as well... enjoy. :P

1. My favorite thing to do is to pretend. I'm constantly trying on odd clothes-the people i work with often think i'm insane- and becoming someone else. I love story telling and theatre because of it.

2. i'm untidy...my desk, my room...i live with piles. i know (mostly) where things are in my piles, and thats how i like it.

3. i NEED things to be symmetrical, in odd numbers, and able to collapse into 1. My aunt i think is the only person who TRULY understands this about me

4. I can sleep ANYWHERE. buses, trains, floors, light, dark, sitting, standing...ok maybe not standing...but hey i guess i've never tried. i developed this skill while traveling. its very handy.

5. i'm a type 1 diabetic and a carboholic....i'd say a deadly combination...pasta and breads-oh how i love thee...

6. I usually dislike chic flicks-i prefer a good action film...but becoming jane makes me cry...every time. I'm an austen girl at heart.

7. when i was little, my parents would ground me from reading. i LOVE books.

8. knitting is therapeutic for me...all my unfinished projects testify to that. my hands CONSTANTLY need something to do-knitting, crocheting, silly putty, filing my nails, doodling, finger spelling, etc. etc.

9. 'there are DOZENS of us!' i'm an AVID arrested development fan

10. i prefer watching movies and tv shows with sub titles. it comes from watching bollywood films in hindi... i'm a dork but i don't care.

11. my middle name is my sisters first name: victoria

12. i have the BEST job in the world-i get to teach dozens of kids each week about Jesus. and get to be a total spaz about it. 

13. having a strong personality combination of otter and beaver makes me a squirrel.

14. i spend WAY too much time on facebook...i guess you could call it an addiction

15. my current favorite color is purple. it makes me happy. i wear something purple everyday.

16. someday, i'd like a pet snake.

17. the sound of styrofoam feels like someone is rubbing velcro up and down all my bones. it makes me want to scream. 

18. my hair is curly-please don't touch it. its very difficult to manipulate...and often rebels against my gentle pleads to lie still and in order. 

19. i'm very afraid of being trapped underwater-not of water itself, just being trapped...under it...

20. someday, i'd love to hang glide and bungie jump. but never sky dive-or ride in a submarine (see answer 19) 

21. sometimes...i think i will become the crazy cat lady who teaches children how to act, has pink hair and wears lots and lots of tie dye...another part of me denies it with everything in me...

22. Jesus loves me, and i love love love love Him. remove Him from my life and you'd have one nasty, vile, disturbed, vicious, horrendous hurting little girl...because of Him, I live free. and whole. with purpose. with hope.

23. my bestest best friend lives on another continent. i see her randomly and sporatically but i love her more than a sister. amberly, i miss you!

24. working with a bunch of women occasionally makes me not ever want to be married or have kids...they make me laugh-poor tyler...if its rough for me, i can't imagine what its like for him. 

25. I'd much rather plan everything than to be spontaneous. i like order and process-i see end results better than dreaming up ideas.
hmmm...guess thats 25.... :)

Insanity

I have recently fallen out of the blogging sphere for several reasons. Which I plan on outlining here:

1. my baby-my laptop-and I were calmly walking down the stairs when in a twist of terrible fate, I slipped and fell and my laptop went bouncing...resulting in my screen looking like this:

Sad sad sadness... the wonderful, friendly (not) people in the geek squad section in best buy calmly told me that my screen was cracked and there was nothing I could do to fix it.

Luckily, I am now the proud owner of 2 mac books-one with a broken screen that I can't part with yet due to all the pictures, music and general info still stored on it, and one beautiful new one I am currently typing on. Yay!

2. My family moved into a gorgeous house with lots of space for all of us. In a stroke of genius, we moved the weekend of thanksgiving and my mommy's 40th birthday. Like I said, brilliant.

3. Even with my own room apart from the rest of the children, life at home is crazy-so when my amazing friend Maggie invited me to move in with her into a house in town-I said yes. I'm moving out in a week. Who does that?

4. In December, my life was hectic. I overtook the project of the annual Christmas program at church-where I work. It was a HUGE ordeal for my little 19 year old self. And it turned out FABULOUS! I had a dance team who worked incredibly hard

 and a cast about 20 3rd-6th graders put on a play about the nativity. So precious.

5. I also got to be in a SUPER fun murder mystery masquerade for our youth group's volunteer appreciation dinner.  All dressed up and acting like a snob. So fun.

I think thats it....thats a pretty quick catch up on what I've been doing for the last few month...pretty exciting huh?

Snow White

Oh the fairest of them all....
They SAY mirrors don't lie...
Hmmm....
I'll let YOU be the judge.

Harvest Carnival 2008

Sisters!

ANYONE who knows me, knows I take EVERY opportunity to dress up. You don't have to ask me twice. :D Heres what I mean:

Butterfly

Indian Girl (This one is authentic-I actually wore this around India)Waitress (For the EDGE)

Super Splash! Twin NightA Pirate? Go figure....

Ezekiel : Psychedelic!
Guess it kinda runs in the family :D

Cats Beware!

My little sister's birthday was last Thursday.
She loves dolls.
She has grandmothers who love to sew.
What does that equal?
PLENTY of new dolly clothes for the birthday.
BUT...
There are 4 brothers living with me and my wonderful little sister.
And two cats.
Hmmmm....
4 brothers, 2 cats, LOTS of new doll clothes...
What does that equal?
Dress up time for Dorito!Luckily Simon must have been stuck outside.
We'll have to dress him up later.
Sad thing is...
This isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened.
And it's not usually the boys' fault.
I once did a whole photo shoot with my kitties and dollies.
Complete with backdrops and props.
Not even kidding.
:^)

I won't go into all the other crazy things our cats go through.
Involving socks...scotch tape....CATapults...
Yea...
I'll stop there for now.
Believe me!
We love them!
We really do!

Life...in general...and otherwise...

I promised to ramble, so here I go:

We're moving. Yep, for serious. Hopefully to a house just down the road. Bigger bedrooms, newer house, less land. EXACTLY what my family needs right now. However, moving means just that; MOVING. The whole crazy process of packing, cleaning, re organizing, and learning to be comfortable in the NEW home dwelling. How long does it take for a new house to become your home?



I enrolled in the Bible School-Discipleship Course-Counseling-Theology-Worldview-Thing my church offers. It's pretty sweet. My little group of people I get to sit and study with are pretty awesome as well. Randi babe! You bless me! Every time I'm around you, be it for 5 min. or 3 hours, I leave feeling so uplifted, you rock! Anyways..back to the school itself: Lots of reading and self evaluation. I've been identifying ways my view of God is incorrect. Kinda painful sometimes, but good. It means I'll be able to go deeper in my relationship w/my best friend. That's always a good thing right?
Part of my homework:
I finished Chip Ingram's book: AWESOME book. Made me take a close look at what I actually believe and why....really, I was challenged. Healthy processing for me. Yay!
The book I start this week is:Should be good... :D



My little sister's birthday is tomorrow. Her first one in America. It's a BIG DEAL. Princess party, pink cupcakes, presents, pop up jumpy castles....We are so excited to BLESS this little soon-to-be 10 year old joy who is now a part of my crazy wonderful family. :D



The nucleus of my life. The center of my world (other than my Father-but you know:). The core of what I do. This ministry, that I help direct. Nearly daily blows my mind. I plan and plan and plan and give it all to God. And WOW. I'm astounded by what comes out of what my flawed being tries so hard to create mixed with the AWESOME, HOLY power the Almighty graciously gives. I mean, I realize there is NO WAY I could EVER do the stuff I get to do all by my onesy. But with Him, all things are possible. I have also been BLESSED with an amayzing team of volunteers and the coolest co-director ever. MCT-your passion rocks, the kids love you and God's gonna work some amayzing things through this ministry this year! God is good. All the time, and all the time, God is good. I feel blessed. ALOT.



"Embra". 'member her? my bestie? my awesome buddy? my other half? ya...gone again. Moved back away overseas. This time-no tears on my part yay! Gonna miss her....like crazy...all our late night FRIENDS marathons, crazy Phoebe obsessions, LCC companionship, silent laughter, hurting faces, rants on her bed, and just the overall everything we had together... specially since my other good buddy moved away too...Leaving me 'good buddy-less'. Isn't that sad? Guess it's time to find new friends...
Me and Embra on one of our "Little Cruise Club" outings...more on those later...


This is my other buddy-after 'kidnapping' me for my 19th birthday from another party to bring me to MY surprise party at my house. They were not gentle...but it was fun! :D

On the other hand, my wonderful Hippo friend is back in town until December at least. Which means we can go Hippo Shopping! YAY! Again...more on that later...



Last thing for now:
I LOVE MY iPod TOUCH!! I bought one back in feb. and it was cool and everything...but I recently downloaded the newest software... and Oh My Goodness! It has changed my life! I now believe that I own the sweetest iPod EVER! All the new applications have blown my mind. Totally thrilled...happy happy happy happy Ashlie!*This is NOT an actual picture of my iPod-Cause mine is much cooler with LOTS more applications. :D

On a distracted side note: my favorite band right now is Angels & Airwaves. Their song 'Breathe' LOVE LOVE LOVE. :D



So there's a mini snapshot into Ashlie's current insane life...hope you enjoyed it.