my addiction...

I love coffee.  I love coffee like some women love shoes, purses, make up and chocolate.  I love it so much I'd give up all those above to have more coffee.  My favorite coffee is from the Human Bean right down the street.  They know my car and my drink.

'Hey, how are you? The White Mocha, fat free, no whip, right?'

Yes, kind lady- thank you for delivering all my dreams.

Hello, my name is Ashley and I have a problem.  I got $30+ in gift cards to coffee places for my birthday.  IT'S ALL GONE.  I can't breathe, I'm so sad.  Sad, sad, sad, sad...

Now, I am forced to drink plain ol' coffee that I have to make myself- no sugary syrup goodness, no frothy milk... ugh, what has life come to?  

Doesn't anyone feel sorry for me?  John doesn't. Anyone, help, anyone?

the magic of $27.00

We went to Chucky-E-Cheese last Friday. It was kinda a last ditch effort to find a restaurant where Pinkie wouldn't offend any other diners. I haven't been to this restaurant in years and years. I remembered it as kind of well cheesy... Pinkie loved it. John loved it. And my lazy self loved sitting with my diet coke and watching. It's a big self revelation when you find yourself saying, 'oh look at all those horribly behaved kids, where are their parents'... then your husband brings your daughter over and says, she hit some kid over there... Am I one of those parents?

I highly recommend Chucky-E-Cheese. Watch out for Chucky, however. He scared the crap out of Pinkie, she literally climbed up John to get away from that horrific monster size mouse. Best $27.00 we've spent lately- pizza, drinks and games for hours. They also have a great security system so any runners (definition: children who look for opportunities to explore this awesome world) can't get out.

Fantasy Football LEADER

It's a sad sad day at the Sheridan Family Fantasy Football League.

Why? you ask... I AM WINNING THE WHOLE THING!

8 guys are losing to me! John is having a huge identity crisis because of this. There is lots of trash talk around our house. In fact, a man who shall remain nameless tried to trick me into trading one of my best players. I am in it to win it, men. I'm paying attention- making trades, picking up free agents, benching the non-performers and playing the potential. I am not blamesless, however. I overheard John talking to his brother (who I beat today 108-65) about a certain player who was a free agent. As the phone call continued, I ran upstairs, logged on and picked up Marvin Harrison before John could. Not that Harrison has done me much good, but my competitive sneaky side came out. My motto so far: See you at the superbowl losers!!!

of course, i am joking. i love the sheridan men.

a MACbook affair

I have a PC laptop. I am a PC type of girl. I am loyal to PC because I've never used anything else. I mock all those people who pay $1200 for a Mac laptop. BUT, I have a project for my Expressive Arts Methods class that needs a Mac and the program Garage Band. I rented MacBook 12 from Pacific University College of Education. Shhh Shhh, I love MacBook 12. I heart it! It never freezes, never slows down, has everything a gal could want. I haven't even used the Garage Band program yet because I am so busy playing with all its other awesome features. Shh shhh don't tell my beloved PC.

These awesome pictures are from IPhoto. The computer has a camera built in, you can take all sorts of cool pictures and add all kinds of effects. Another reason I heart the MacBook... ahhhh.

I want to ask for a MacBook for Christmas from some wealthy family member. But, alas, I know no one will spend $1200 on me. How can I go back to my PC after having a brief affair with MacBook 12?

one last present

I know. I know. Everyone is soooo tired of my posting about my birthday.

Just one last thing. It arrived today.

This necklace my sister, Shanna, got me!

I spend a lot of time pining for the beautiful jewelry that Lisa Leonard makes. I causually mentioned it to my sis (aka. emailed her, please get me this) and she remembered.

Check out her website here.

celebrating a quarter century

I, a lucky child, had a four day birthday celebration. I am tired. Tara and Andy (left) Abby and Lisa (right) Friday night- we bowled.

Saturday night- we wined. Delicious! John and I balked at the club scene and went home at 11:30pm. That is WAY late for us. Oh, how life changes with kids. Sunday, we had a family dinner. Pinkie was the entertainment. She has this remarkable ability to repeat back anything you say. Her recent musings have been "bless you" "hey buddy" "ohhhhhh geezzzzz" "cheesch please" "colour pen" "i funny". One day we will tell her stories of how she single handily made the TV unnecessary in our home because she is so gosh darn funny.

Tara and my mother solved all my coffee addiction problems with gift cards. Shanna made me a color coffee travel cup. And Cassady bought me a beautiful silver necklace that means 'sisters' in Celtic. Chelsie and Candace are keeping my neck warm on the 41 degree mornings with a beautiful scarf. My grandparents, dad, aunts and uncles made my dreams of family portraits possible!

John bought me tickets to Carrie Underwood which is where we were last night!

I'm overwhelmed with birthdayness and love. Thanks family and friends.

finally finished a project

I really love Christmas, but I hate giving sweaters, gift cards and cds. So, in the grand plan where I have all the time in the world and someone to make me coffee, I plan every year to make my Christmas presents. This year I found these pillows.

I love them! I thought, how great! I can think of the living room/bedroom colors of family and friends and make them special pillows. This is my second attempt. SUCCESS!!

It says to use felt, but I found this red cotton print that I really loved and the S is black felt. I made one front cover and tried to outline the letter with the sewing machine. But, I'm not skilled enough to make all the curves and corners. So I hand stitched em. And I actually think that hand stitching looks better, like maybe a little more homemade (its really uneven, but overlook that part). The whole thing (after the mess up) took me an hour and half. And it only cost $18 (with enough fabric for another 2 more pillows). Guess what you are all going to get for Christmas???

a blessing for all

Yesterday, I was so lucky and honored to go to baby Tia's blessing at the Thompson's church.  I was unprepared with no gift (Catholics always bring gifts to these things) but I hope that my prayers and support for Tovey's prayers follow Tia and lift her up.  Really, truly, thanks for inviting me to something so important and beautiful. Love, Ashley

Birthday Party!

If anyone would like to join us for some of the following, we'd love to have you

(especially the Thompson's)

I think I shall ask for the red one in the center for my bday

Shanna and I are celebrating our 25th birthday all weekend Nov. 14, 15 and 16.

I guess that's the excellent part about my twin living so far away--- when she comes home we get to party all weekend! So, on Friday we will be going to Park Lanes Family Entertainment Center for bowling. I think we will be there around 7:30pm or 8pm.

Saturday, we're having a small dinner at Le Hana with our significant others (John and Aaron).

I plan on eating a lot of sushi

After dinner, my sister's wish is to go to a wine bar in downtown Portland for some wine tasting. I don't quite know if I will make it as my bed time is usually 9:30pm and I never ever do so many fun things in one weekend. I will try my hardest to not yawn.

On Sunday, my parents are hosting a intimate family dinner for 18 people. I don't know what I want to request to eat. The birthday people always get to request the meal. And then if you are twin, you get to request your two favorite meals even if they don't go together.

It's good to be me

politically persuasive?

Today is BIG day. Barack Obama will be our president soon. If you voted for him or not, this is an amazing day in US history. I'm so proud and excited. I'm ready for change.

I'm not one of those involved political people that recruits their friends to vote a certain way or spends time on the phone, email, blog trying to persuade votes this way or that. I firmly believe we all get to decide what we want. I don't want anyone pushing me. I won't push anyone else. So, now that the voting is over, I just have to say how grateful I am that Measure 58 and Measure 60 were shot down. Phew, I was worried, phew, I prayed and phew I sweated.

Measure 58 would limit the use of foreign language instruction in public schools to: 1 year for students in kindergarten to 4th grade. 1.5 years for 5th grade through 8th grade. 2 years for high school students. It would also prohibit ESL (English as a Second Language) teaching programs for longer than the mandated time.

my note: research shows that full mastery of a second language takes 5-7 years

Measure 60 states that teacher pay raises and job security shall be based on job performance. Pay raises for public school teachers shall be based upon each teacher’s classroom performance and not related or connected to his or her seniority. Note: "Classroom performance" and "most qualified" are not defined in the measure.

my note: had this measured passed it could have led to teacher pay being connected to standardized test scores, not student learning. It is widely known that standardized tests are poor determinants of student learning. And what if you have that one class that are behind in reading, writing and math when you get them, that are always sick or absent...

I feel so strongly about these two measures. I am in Graduate School for Education. I'm so grateful that Oregon put down these two measures. Thank You.

ballot information found from http://www.ballotpedia.org/

Halloween

We went to downtown Hillsboro's Safe n' Sane Halloween. All the businesses pay highschool students to dress up and pass out candy in front of the stores. We had a great time and all the costumes were amazing. I think the most popular was some sort of animal- dogs, bugs, bees, cats, unicorns, cats... Pinkie was a DOGGY right down her to her feet!

I put a pink ribbon on her doggy ear so people would know she is a girl... it didn't work. Everyone kept saying 'oh there he goes', 'oh he makes a cute dog'... I was so annoyed by the end of the night. Don't you see the PINK ribbon people???

The candy was a big hit (see video below). She was up and hyper until 10pm last night.

Candy Tantrum