time for a new blog...and avoiding some physics!

Wow, it has been too long! So much has happened since I last wrote in here. I have moved home, started my summer school (yuck physics!), gone a cruise, and started a new job at Charleston's restaurant where Katie also works.

Okay, I forgot to add the most significant change. I am engaged to Matt as of May 30th! He chose to propose at my Dad's house approximately at 8pm right on the front porch with the beautiful sunset behind him. Well, let's start from the beginning. First, he gave me some red roses that were half real and half fake. He told me that our love will last until the last petal falls (because hopefully plastic flowers last forever!) and then we walked to the porch. There is where he got down on one knee ( we hope not in bird poo) and asked me to marry him with a gorgeous marquis cut diamond ring made out of white gold. Lizzy was the first to know as she walked up maybe 3 minutes after it happened! She let out a squeal of excitement that was only paralleled by Katie's. We came inside to tell Dad, then set forth to call the family and let them know first. After talking to Lizzy, Steph, and Jason, we went downtown to go to Taverna (nice Italian restaurant). We got dessert (tiramisu) and champagne that ended up being a free gift from our nice server who had found out about our engagement. After that we walked around downtown, then headed back to tell Larissa and Clint because they were home from their dinner out. Last, but not least, we told Katie when we got home who, as I said before, let out a squeal that might have woken the neighbors. My friend Jenna ended up there by a happy coincidence which was great. I think what the best part about telling everyone else is the reactions that people have to the news!



And that was my great, awesome, amazing, unbelievable engagement night. I am extremely happy and excited for this new chapter in my life!

Final free is the way to be!

This week was my last final at UNTs campus. It's been a bit nostalgic to me to finish this particular chapter of my life as I now move forward to summer school (Physics... yuck!) at TCC, and then I start my observation/student teaching in Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD this Fall. I also will not be an active member in my sorority next fall due to my schedule and the busy times to be expected from what UNT calls PDS1 and PDS2. It's weird to think one year from now I will be graduating!

Well, anyways, as these weeks follow there will be more and more change. Katie comes home this Sunday which means Babes, more Grey's, and less food in Dad's kitchen. Oh and fun that comes from Katie being home! I get to go to another Ranger's game tomorrow night with Dad, David, Lizzy, Stephanie, Matt and Jason. It shoud be fun as well! I will be moving back home for my student teaching so at least one full year at home which sounds incredibly weird at this point. I realized that I haven't been home for a year since 2005! That's a long time ago.... but will hopefully work for the better. I plan to paint the guest bedroom in order to rid it of some extra holes in the walls and black streaks from the bunk beds. I also want to paint the dresser and possibly a night stand from Dad a new and matching color as well.

I am going on a cruise in about two weeks from Monday! I get to go with my awesome friends Matt, Richie, and Jenna. I also get to go with my amazing boyfriend Matt. We had so much fun last summer that I can only hope this summer tops it! There is a BIG possibility that we will be re routed from our original Mexico destinations to Key West and Freeport, Bahamas. That is a nice upgrade! There is also a possibility for on board credit (aka money back) because of the changes they are creating. If you want a souvenir... let me know? If you want something specific, then tell me asap! Well, I am at work and probably should get back to it, but hopefully this is enough of a post for Matt!

My bucket list (repeat from Gaston blog)

I am posting this here also to keep this blog a little more up to date while also throwing some extra accountability in there. I decided to follow the masses into creating my bucket list. At first, I had a bit of trouble getting it started, but after reading through your entries and others online, I fear that I have too much! I did repeat some from your lists, but just think, CARPOOL! Also, who better to do these activities with than friends/family? Here goes (in no particular order):

1. Ride on a hot air balloon
2. Eat a pizza in Italy
   
3. Be a wife and a mommy
4. Race someone with a beautiful and fast car
5. Be debt free
6. Make a remarkable impact on someone's life
7. Meet a favorite author
8. Help build a habitat for humanity house
9. Visit 10 different countries (not counting the U.S.)
10. Have a role (small or not) in a musical or movie
11. Learn something new in depth (such as photography, languages, countries, etc)
12. Learn to ballroom dance (even if its just the waltz...)
13. Go white water rafting
14. See a solar eclipse
15. Be in Time Square for New Year's
    
16. Go to a Broadway show while in New York
17. Visit 7 wonders of the world (new or old)
18. See the Northern Lights (yes some of you have this too, that just means we can carpool)
19. Go to Hawaii with one and only
20. Water ski and sailing
21. Count my blessings each day (sounds easy but..... sometimes we forget!)
22. Go on a Disney Cruise with as many family members (or friends if my family is lame) as possible! It can be the cool package to go to Walt Disney World first then cruise or vice versa!

Hope you enjoyed my bucket list...

Catching up!

I was reading Clint and Larissa's adorable picture blog about Maylee's first solid food meal and I got a little shock when I realized that it has been 3 weeks since I last posted! So much has happened that I feel it best to describe it in pictures with a bit of commentary to go with it. Sorry if this is long but hopefully it will catch everyone up on what has happened in the past weeks.

First I shall start with the weekend of Texas Motor Speedway where I worked the full four days (minus a small break for school on Sat morning) and dealt with crazy NASCAR fans while living in my cubicle. I don't have pictures which is why I started there.


These pictures are from my sorority's (Sigma Alpha) participation in something UNT does every year called Shack-a- thon. The purpose is to raise awareness for the homeless by devising fully cardboard shacks to live in for 3 days. There is also cups placed for each group to "vote" for the best by giving loose change. This is our first year to attempt a shack and we did amazingly well. We were one of the best out there and gave ourselves a good name amongst the other sororities, fraternities, and school groups.




This is from before the NASCAR weekend (maybe I should have started with this...) when me and Matt went to the Reunion Tower to celebrate our 3rd year anniversary. We ate an appetizer and a delicious chocolate souffle together, and while it was pricy, we got a great view and a fun memory.


I gave Matt tickets to go see Relient K at Six Flags for our anniversary, and we had a great time! We were late arriving due to the paper route and needing sleep, but we had fun when we got there. Our seats were front row on the right side of the stage and the lead singer from Relient K walked on a side stage right next to us! It was another amazing concert from one of our favorite bands.

Last, but not least, this last Saturday some friends, David, and I went to go paintball at a nearby farm. I don't have pictures of us actually going paintballing, but I do have the bruise to show for it. After, with much cleaning up and driving, David, his friend Connair, my friend Emily, and I went to the Rangers game against Kansas City Royals. While our team did not win =( we still had a fun time and really got some great seats on the lower level. The pics will be up as soon as I get home to finish uploading.

I hope you enjoyed my photos and that this finally catches me up to where I need to be. Larissa posted pictures from Easter, and I had a fun day of helping Maylee "read" one of her new books, hanging out with Matt, playing games with the family, and going to see Hannah Montana with Lizzy and Larissa. It was a fun day as well! I'm sorry again for the length, but I have posted and now its everyone else's turn to catch up!

Wow! What a week and a half!

Sometimes I forget to update or follow up on what I wrote before. It seems that now is the time to do that. My car is fixed and it only cost one arm thankfully. I'm still not in the green as far as money goes, but I am taking on a "second" job and helping Matt with his paper route early Friday morning.
I went to two receptions, one wedding, and an "awkward party" in the past week and a half. The weddings were two guys from Matt's fraternity (BYX) and one of the brides was a girl I have known/lived with/been in a sorority with for some time now. The wedding was beautiful, the one reception was a sit down dinner with a lot of cookies, and the second reception had some dancing and chocolate covered strawberries. The party was last night and quite enjoyable though it was expected to be awkward. There was some kareoke fun, a little dancing, hanging out with good friends, and cheesecake. Lately food is ruling my weekends!
Spring break happened too in this period of time and it was a break from school that was neccesary for my survival. They say student teaching is a hard experience, but I believe it is equal to the last semester before student teaching as we have to work in a preschool, tutor a child, complete projects, and much much more as we prepare for our training in future school districts. My blog gets neglected because sometimes it is just enough for me to make it from one place to the next with everything prepared.
Today is me and Matt's third year together (or anniversary as we celebrate it). It's wild to think that it has been three years, though I have enjoyed it immensely. We can't celebrate till Tuesday due to Matt's job, but it is nice to stop and look back at our three years together and smile when we think of the future. Next weekend is the Texas Motor Speedway races, and I will try to take note of all funny occurences for the next blog. The week after that is the Relient K concert/Six flags day with Matt and Easter! It should be a fun time and hopefully make up for the craziness of next weekend! So wish me luck, love, and say a prayer for there to be peace amidst the chaos and I will try to be updating/commenting as much as I can.

Until next time....
~Ashleigh

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Here I was thinking of the best ways to pack up all the "winter" stuff to make way for spring and in comes the cold, rainy weather. BRR! I say this as I sit in my office wearing socks under my desk, warming my feet, in hopes that no one notices that I am not wearing my shoes....

In recent news, I am mostly over being sick! I have my voice pretty much all back, and am only dealing with congestion still for some reason. Inductions for our new Sigma Alpha members happened last Friday, so it sorta feels like I have gotten my life back a little. School is hectic, but spring break might just alleviate that. My boyfriend, Matt, has been apparently fighting "dragons" as he deals with the Hut (his other woman ;) ) and trying to look for a better situation in work. Also, my umbrella broke in the worst way yesterday afternoon and did the comical movie break where it completely flipped itself with the wind.
Just imagine me like this...


The worst news I have had this week is that everything I need to do costs so much more money than I had anticipated. Sam (my Ford Focus car), is needing a new timing belt and maybe extras which for some reason costs an arm with a leg. The dentist will cost my other arm to re-fill a cavity, and the optometrist will take out the other leg to up my prescription so that I won't get headaches anymore and can read small signs in the distance again. So now that I am out of appendages, I get into my car this morning and discover that it is leaking pretty bad during the rain. So I guess as the saying goes, when it rains, it pours! I am taking Sam into a new mechanic tomorrow for a free estimate, so please join me in praying that this only costs 1 arm instead of both arm and a leg. Oh and pray that I can afford everything else in the near future without extra stress and that another rain storm does not come in! Thanks!

Fun and a bit of mystery..

Last night, Matt took me to Dallas for a surprise birthday event. It turned out to be a murder mystery dinner party at Fair Park's Old Mill Inn! At first it was a bit daunting to walk in and be asked to mingle with other guests while asking questions such as "Have you ever killed anyone?", "Do you have a lot of money?" or "what kind of underwear are you wearing?". Some of it was awkward.... but then we went upstairs where the real who-done-it got started.

While upstairs, we hunted for clues (I found one!), interrogated suspects (amongst who was yours truly), ate dinner, and suspected all. By the way, I was a suspect because I owed a loan shark for the Jonas Brothers: How Not to Party book ($24 dollars). I felt I was a little in my element because of the many reruns of CSI and Law and Order that I have watched and the many, many books of Sherlock Holmes and Nancy Drew (not together!) that I have read. I felt confident that I might be able to solve this puzzle. At the end of the evening, we were given a sheet to guess who did it any why. I got two of the murderers and one motive correct, but missed one murderer and two motives (though mine were closely related). Back to the books/tv for better crime solving skills.

I was very proud of what I got right. They also gave us a number code which I got 2 out of 3 of the parts right. So maybe I'll have to consider a new career- Ashleigh Gaston, Private Investigator. Now if only I could figure out who took my voice and why.....

Sleepy and slightly frustrated!

This week has been a bit frustrating for me. Work has been ridiculously busy and so homework has not been completed. We are still in the midst of pledging and only a few have called to set up their appointments, which will make the coming week even more crazy. Oh and I have a cold that keeps me up at night and then won't let me sleep in. YUCK!! I'd cut off my nose but it would look very weird on my face!
Okay out with the negative, in with the positive! I get to go to a surprise event that Matt has planned in honor of my birthday (this is our first "free" Saturday) and I am really excited to find out what it is. I got to see all the High School Musical movies and had a successful dinner party except for some rude comments about the movies from friends. Sorry Lizzy! If I had known the way some of them would act, I would not have invited them. Other good news, pledging does end this week which means more free time hopefully. Oh, and we're going on a cruise on June 1st (don't worry, we will be back for Liz's birthday!). Matt Melanson, Jenna, Richie, Matt, and I will all be driving to Mobile, Alabama to go on the Carnival Holiday on a 5-day cruise to Cozumel then Calica in Mexico! Mobile because it is cheaper, and this time we get an ocean view room! Yay!

What a week!

This week has been one of my busiest! I have had 5am and 6am wake up times, 7 appointments for my sorority, school itself, work at TMS, and a LOST party with sorority sisters. I have never been more grateful for a weekend where the most I have to do is pass a Geology test, go to a wedding shower, and discuss cruises with friends during a game night. I am praying/hoping that Sunday will be a peaceful day! So I want comments from you all, and so I will elicit some. What should I discuss in my blog? More than my weekly life? What do you think? I feel that all I've got lately is more of the same: sorority, TMS, school, and occasionally Matt. So help me make this a success.... please?

Tired..

I feel that if I don't write anything, then my blog might die. I can't have that happen. SO to save the blog I shall write that I am tired, grateful Matt has a car, sad that Lizzy's nose hurts, glad that Clint fixed the blog into awesomeness, missing miss Maylee and Katie, wishing to hear London stories from Steph (or more details about a certain someone..), loving my star necklace from Dad, and glad that Larissa is always around to lend the right clothes at the right time and giving me such a great example of sharing/caring/loving. Hopefully that is enough for now. Maybe more soon?

And so it begins?

Dear everyone,

Hi, it's me. I feel that with everyone else creating fun/cool blogs that it might be time for me to join the blogging world with my own spot. I am not sure if I like the name and I could definitely use some pointers on backgrounds... So for this post, please comment suggestions for a name and/or ideas for this blog. I want it to be a huge success story, so please help it be one?

Love you all,
Ashleigh

p.s. the url is http://www.ashleighgaston.blogspot.com/