tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28863565205027651202024-02-07T20:00:12.444-05:00Ryan and Ashley Do DCAshley Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890666437420270960noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2886356520502765120.post-40363597643437007012009-09-10T22:22:00.007-04:002009-09-10T22:39:17.143-04:00The One With The Most Awesome Cake in All the Land<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj31Wt9YQy7yAP7FEeCESacYxft1oXLuOs2v77cp4Wj13wa55BY2-cjnQ0ZefeE7x1z7LhlCw5S02cYRUY7ZvupmPdmSsVnb5CrWB0x23oODiMBUWCbJniV4WmI-xWon-NuhRkL_-iwEHwL/s1600-h/P1020884.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj31Wt9YQy7yAP7FEeCESacYxft1oXLuOs2v77cp4Wj13wa55BY2-cjnQ0ZefeE7x1z7LhlCw5S02cYRUY7ZvupmPdmSsVnb5CrWB0x23oODiMBUWCbJniV4WmI-xWon-NuhRkL_-iwEHwL/s320/P1020884.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5380032740471103682" /></a><br /><br />For Ryan's very special, once-in-a-lifetime, 27th birthday I decided to make him a cake just like he had said he wanted. Chocolate with peanut butter frosting. While I searched the interwebs for a recipe I found one that fit the bill: Chocolate with Peanut Butter Frosting and Chocolate Peanut Butter Glaze on top. Before reading all of the directions and assessing the equipment needed, I pretty much had my heart set on making this cake and Ryan's birthday would be ruined without it. And so it began.<div>First of all, I should note that I have very limited kitchen utensils and appliances and the ones I do have are of notably shoddy craftsmanship. I try and hold out on purchasing these items for it is a mere 338 days until we get married and, allegedly receive gifts in the form of bakeware and gadgetry. But I digress. I needed to go out and buy all of the fixin's to make this cake from scratch as well as some essential items: a hand mixer, a flour sifter, and a pyrex measuring cup because I thought I would outsmart a double boiler with it. </div><div>I came home with all my goods and got to work. I had forgotten to get wax paper but thought that if I just used enough butter on the bottom of the pan it wouldn't be necessary. So I mixed up my cake batter, put two pans in the oven and sat down thinking about what an amazing baker I am and how I should open up shop. </div><div>35 minutes later, cakes come out, looking all sunken and sad in the middle. This should have been a red flag for me, but instead I just decided that they would cool and it would firm up. I imagined it to be like letting the sauce thicken on Pasta Roni after it's done cooking. </div><div>Wrong. As soon as I tried to take them out of the pan it completely fell apart and turned into a hot mess. There was no way that I could even just load up the pieces with frosting and shove them back together. </div><div>But I would not be defeated. Today after class I stopped and got more supplies and wax paper, and set about remaking the cake. The structural integrity of the top most layer might be called into question, but all three layers are there, frosted, glazed and delicious. </div><div>Cake: 0, Ashley: 1. </div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNoZ5CizxzrrNh4xViwcXY13DCCIeUqDyE_l6Gx-ReiGuY3vF1orHJyT7QJaEiptKpKQ9S2UW0FJDCMfAc_9hxDmLWDjVJ7q71ncb3uX3aUITPRayFcuF5yB2xUyWYlFx1EW9SmgMrXssB/s320/P1020889.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5380032470100498674" /><div><br /></div>Ashley Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890666437420270960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2886356520502765120.post-85036365927714716302009-07-29T11:34:00.003-04:002009-07-29T11:43:18.382-04:00The One With Total Insect Warfare ResumedI realize my blog has been on hiatus, but, truly not that many interesting things happen here unless I wanted my blog to turn into a customer service gripe-fest, but, I know that the daily happenings of Ryan and Ashley has a HUGE following so I shall do my best to update more frequently. At least until school starts! <div><br /></div><div>Most of my daily activities include reading wedding blogs, looking at wedding dresses online, forcing Ryan to listen to and act interested in all of my wedding ideas. For the week that Ryan was at his Annual Training in West Virginia I also spiced up my afternoons by playing the Harry Potter video game on XBOX and reading Twilight. Full dork mode. </div><div><br /></div><div>One of those days however, while I was getting ready to go to work I saw that we had an unwelcome visitor creeping down the hall away from the kitchen. I frantically searched for the giant can of roach spray and called Ryan in a panic. There was no more roach spray and I suddenly couldn't find my friend again. Ryan told me to trap it under a glass until I came back from work. I did, and there was a lot of squealing involved. </div><div><br /></div><div>After work, I marched myself right down to the Harris Teeter, picked myself up an arsenal of insecticides and came home to make sure that Penny hadn't knocked over my glass and allowed my prisoner to escape. She hadn't. So, I lifted up the glass, sprayed the crap out of the bug and trapped him again when he tried to run under our wine rack cabinet. Every 5-10 minutes I liked to lift up the glass again and spray and trap him in a cloud of DEATH. After about an hour I decided he was good and dead and I sucked him up in the vacuum tube, emptied the vacuum into a trash bag and promptly took it outside. </div><div><br /></div><div>Currently I am waiting for the exterminator to come since Ryan found a dying roach by our back door this morning. It is clearly time for a full frontal attack! Stay tuned. </div>Ashley Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890666437420270960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2886356520502765120.post-86224270440557990842009-03-24T09:20:00.002-04:002009-03-24T09:24:50.520-04:00The One With Mr. Jefferson's House, No Jefferson.This weekend we visited Monticello with James and Jennie. I did not realize that the Monticello was so close to us, but James is in Charlottesville at his JAG course and evidently that is where Mr. Jefferson lived. His house was actually a little more awesome than Mt. Vernon, the only thing really missing was people dressed up in period costumes to make me feel so very excited and so very scared all at once. <div>Also, a little fun fact for you: The back of the nickle is the same as the view of the back of Monticello...</div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8vgSxLl7SCzN_lpYqJfrsEYNBGoTgHBoj5Bj9DBhCLmuF2by_sC3cVkpfuQ75-WhW-5Rglu2l1YR9PdJoBxRBnJ2aKlpmK0A4x3Wx4hsDMdAoTR4VxAYi6mRnWeQLfNeUXMKcWG_bx4y8/s200/P1020534.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316744647598861106" />Ashley Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890666437420270960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2886356520502765120.post-54908374401333421152009-03-18T09:55:00.003-04:002009-03-18T10:02:57.650-04:00The One With Shamrock (cold, wet) Fest<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpgU5BqDyJlm-9UsIc4DP6_PnOUCnikRPzZGJxLCxkldcAOth_WjZlZRmZisdzqTKLTwbupYEdYI6sSOJVT-At6EmzcUFFOPxC3VCW6VK39TO0vbUD-9FIMery2NurkyhTE61kTXq-JG-N/s1600-h/P1020488.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpgU5BqDyJlm-9UsIc4DP6_PnOUCnikRPzZGJxLCxkldcAOth_WjZlZRmZisdzqTKLTwbupYEdYI6sSOJVT-At6EmzcUFFOPxC3VCW6VK39TO0vbUD-9FIMery2NurkyhTE61kTXq-JG-N/s200/P1020488.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314527973779080626" /></a><br />Apparently every year, DC has a huge, giant, St. Patrick's day festival that involves bands and booze. Ryan and I heard about it and were pretty excited to go to it. We purchased some tickets, Ryan got out of drill early and luckily I got off work in time to hit up the festivities. First of all, we road the metro down there and it was insanely packed with people wearing crazy green outfits. This probably should have been our first indication of what was in store. I wish I could have taken a picture of the sea of people getting off the metro at the Stadium-Armory stop, but, I did not and just imagine that it was like when I took a picture of the metro during Inauguration, only more people in green. <div>Anywhoodle, I should also note that it was cold, and rainy, but we had already paid for our tickets and the beer was included so we figured why not. (The website also had mentioned several fun INDOOR and outdoor events, so we figured we would be able to go inside and get dry if need be, but I will discuss what this "fun" "indoor" event"s" really entailed. </div><div>The event also included, evidently, carnival rides. Is it just me, or does it seem like an incredibly bad idea to include carnival rides (particularily those gravity ones like the kids from the Sandlot threw up on) at a beer fest? Needless to say, we did not partake in the rides, no need to get vommed on in the name of St. Patrick. </div><div>Overall it was a really cool event. Had it even just been sunny, even if it was cold, I think it would have been an A+ event. There were a few different stages (the website had claimed 9, but we found 4) and lots of little booths (where we purchased more clothes when we started to freeze our fannies off) and food and such. </div><div>The indoor event that we encountered was actually a sideshow, and involved a girl putting herself in a straight jacket and trying to escape, and a guy who swallowed swords and bent up hangers. The latter was kind of eerily fascinating, but I had to look away when he swallowed a 2 ft sword that went all the way into his stomach. Thanks but no thanks. </div><div>Hopefully next year it will be sunny and we can recruit some friends to attend with us, although Ryan did stalk and befriend a guy wearing an Oregon sweatshirt...</div>Ashley Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890666437420270960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2886356520502765120.post-49566521126580022532009-03-13T22:06:00.003-04:002009-03-13T22:09:19.230-04:00The One With The Most Magical Shirt In All The LandToday was the best day ever because my magical Barack O'Unicorn shirt arrived in the mail. Behold the magic: <img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrO9m5Z2-dNUku75dhRoTWJGtc-sBZDMfim9yO7VRBvbuhgxb-BQ5n7AnAWtcPGaEYvjuW4Dza-3lNnG3wMjt2eDPtButfgMcGLJCeMqCKMPA3RdWx5oEqvjfalmh5j7twVPAQjdXgEsbW/s200/P1020464.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312859721152323522" />Ashley Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890666437420270960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2886356520502765120.post-7257479637203489522009-03-10T14:06:00.003-04:002009-03-10T14:12:21.457-04:00The One With The Washington Monument<img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP40g-LxIc6ph9LW4zQdLp6aTseJ1VKLUAnaK5ZbbzQLUH-CekEyeuIymfR4TE7sgmvS3XMp1vSLlN3rnI4Yg7iaTGX9M0CIqjptu02arJuyNjxCP_MO7z9pBsHkV5EbHz1SiNGLhKtXC0/s320/0310091112a.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311623210389816002" /><br /><br />Ever since we moved her I have been wanting to go up inside the Washington Monument. Actually no, that's a lie, because originally I did not even know that you could go inside, but once I found that out I was really wanting to go. You have to get tickets ahead of time though, because evidently it is very popular and they sell out quickly. Caitlin and I went down there this morning, and barely made it in time for our 11 AM tour. I was pretty confused as to how it works, so rather than wait in line like everyone else, we just squeezed through the barrier and went up with the first group. I feel like that was a pretty good decision because it was very cold and a little windy outside.Anywhoodle, it was about as cool as I thought it would be, only it might be a little cooler if it had been nicer out! Whoooo wants to go back on a sunny day?! <div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha1qd3gOnE_wnLCCBfoRZ_aJvG8FdbBWGNUrakOxFtJpp9pB_8zOTDoSzz7I3gIU7HIec6jLhy4z9-xgZcGZv9A3-p3bZH41pWKx7Wwza81tKXCf5niswzyJ9Qaot0ja3KE_LJ4WoCVsnx/s320/0310091119.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311623427039047506" /></div>Ashley Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890666437420270960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2886356520502765120.post-12361686908700582162009-03-05T19:07:00.005-05:002009-03-05T21:37:01.774-05:00The One Where We Shaved PennyEvery couple of months we like to take Penny to the groomer to get her nails clipped and her bedroom slippers trimmed. We always try to be pretty careful to make sure that they clip her leg hairs a lot because they get really long and bushy. I also like to have her ears trimmed so that the hairs are shorter and she looks younger. It makes her oh so much more lovable. <div>Today I dropped her off at the groomer, and they asked me a question which I thought was "is she a cocker spaniel?" so I said yes. Evidently the question truly was "would you like us to give her a reverse mohawk and make her look incredibly stupid?"</div><div>I understand that the typical cocker spaniel hair cut invo</div><div>lves shorter hair on top and then long hair on bottom, but literally there was no hair on top, and what was basically a grass skirt made of hair on the bottom. </div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiHZBb8sm_iuzti3eexZVYg9ksrUUdAJc-Q2R59wlzkV-y8NJ1xDQI7bAB_utZXWhoFEk9OirvtcrUL3Av-3Gfw2tJeO3aHKMTRsbAvmEdBEM3q5YhBjsmMkNEkRMdz5JttJwM1bsYBF8U/s320/0305091705.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309866209829508562" /><div>We went in to pick her up and they make you go pay at the front counter, so I waited in the grooming section while they brought her out and Ryan went to pay. When I saw her I </div><div>could not stop laughing and barely concealed my look of disgust as laughing at her having bows in her hair. I wish I could have taken a picture of Ryan's face when he walked back in, because he was clearly horrified and trying as best he could to hold it in.</div><div>As soon as we walked out of the building the consensus was: "What the eff did they do to our dog?!?!" At what point did they look at how Penny was groomed, clap their hands and say "Welp, it's been a good day at the grooming salon!" and think that they should leave her like that. </div><div>We decided to remedy the situation at home, and are now the proud owners of $50 grooming sheers and a naked dog. </div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQtiZqyTADCpV7inO084GDHA2NfmpXpMBSHk7gZ-vrU8bzwHeu5gr7KRpn0ra867JteAd2SwBqLP1nQWBE5nhXBoE-F1quV81qcVCMn_cX5gFlB1840YZmQE6BJo8MO2NGPnsntpQUufOD/s320/0305091935a.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309898055923172002" /><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPXt8Q8ry6qIvhTGFfnBhSpbBMR2fOadR8-xXRUHBRoDYMc61-Uddu4MY9Pu0YiVSpVeSafhNpj5tIea-m0SEAq8EY8IaFVPXx-BjlIW1GYzSg_trkNwQQJT6JlPPhhyphenhyphenLJF7C1rWU0S-zf/s320/0305091934.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309867338200972242" /><div><br /></div>Ashley Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890666437420270960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2886356520502765120.post-5441169640962899732009-03-02T18:15:00.002-05:002009-03-02T18:20:37.347-05:00The One With All The Snow<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dz_X81dZpswDleF0ZVQDccxlOEITvUS2quSiRwfM34XTZRqRk0XQo4fgi2M2IDUwgiHYZIdkpnixaesBiIctw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><div><br /></div><div>I waited all day on Sunday for the promised snow storm to hit. It started snowing in the afternoon but the ground was so wet that it wasn't sticking at all and I was pretty disappointed. I woke up this morning to a pretty decent amount of snow, and was pretty excited that I would not have to take my Anatomy exam this morning.</div><div>Then I checked the school website and it had an alert that the campus would be open at 12 PM due to the snow. My class starts at 12:30. Bollocks. So, I emailed the professor a couple of times to see if he planned on having class anyways, and was THISCLOSE to stalking his home phone number when he wouldn't respond to me, when I noticed that the college website had updated that they would be closed all day. Huzzah! </div><div>Penny and I celebrated by drinking a lot of coffee, catching up on The City on demand, and then falling into a light afternoon coma. I decided that she should be aloud to play in the snow in the courtyard. I opened the door and she ran out, and then stood there by the door so confused that she a) wasn't on a leash and b) wasn't getting yelled at for escaping. I had to tell her to go run around about 5 times before she did, then she ran amuck and came back inside when I told her to. Penny loves snow days. </div><div><br /></div>Ashley Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890666437420270960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2886356520502765120.post-29486439861937461942009-02-17T16:31:00.000-05:002009-02-17T16:42:25.760-05:00The One With Mr. Washington<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicCzJ4gTsWIHpCD4vVYgQXkJmuOZhCvVDqg6CudJT7nm56Mf95b-cvfj_Uettp3pNoTasMpCWq_teOYtOM3NtSCiDVa6kay2Ydip-HbqUEVqY3AXVSXyX6IiRH7Qg3xeMepWEyLGzaAj0i/s1600-h/P1020398.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicCzJ4gTsWIHpCD4vVYgQXkJmuOZhCvVDqg6CudJT7nm56Mf95b-cvfj_Uettp3pNoTasMpCWq_teOYtOM3NtSCiDVa6kay2Ydip-HbqUEVqY3AXVSXyX6IiRH7Qg3xeMepWEyLGzaAj0i/s320/P1020398.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303884877026393682" /></a><br />As you all know, this weekend was a holiday (for some, and evidently a bitter point of contention for others). We celebrated President's day on or around George Washington's birthday, presumably because he was the first president and set the precedent for all other presidents after him and was an all-around good guy except that time it was totally his fault that the French and Indian war started. (Yeah, a little FF fun fact for you). <div>Anywhoodle, Kyle and Nicole came to visit this weekend and it was really fun. I really wanted to go to a Revolutionary War re-enactment, but we didn't quite make it to that on time. We did, however, make it to Mt. Vernon in time to wish Mr. Washington a very-special-once-in-a-lifetime 277th birthday. </div><div>We were waiting line outside of the mansion for the tour, and Kyle went around to investigate and see if he could locate Mr. Washington. He did, and reported back that there was a) no line, b) the actor playing Mr. Washington looked like he was using his real hair and c) was very serious and would not break character. </div><div>I was really excited to go see him, so Nicole and I went over and creeped up on him and just sat down next to him in some chairs on the back porch of the mansion and didn't say anything. Mr. Washington asked us where we were from, and when we said Oregon, he said he did not know where that was, because of course he was in George Washington times and America stopped at the Ohio River. </div><div>Essentially, it was probably the most awkward I have ever felt in all of my life (which is saying a lot, considering the amount of awkward situations I find myself in), and I am sure it was quite painful for Mr. Washington as well. I am not satisfied with the way that encounter went at all, and plan on studying my GW facts so that Nicole and I can give him a pop quiz the next time we visit him at his home. </div><div>Ugh. </div><div><br /></div>Ashley Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890666437420270960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2886356520502765120.post-3574975125102352892009-02-03T16:25:00.000-05:002009-02-03T16:39:23.414-05:00Trapped in the AOL vortexRemember back in about 1996 when everyone had dial up AOL on their computers and it was so awesome to sign in with your screenname and chat with people. And then AOL evolved and it was more just chatting with people on your buddy list in high school and college and everything was rainbows and butterflies? Well, now I am an adult, and adults use gmail, and chat with their parents and friends and coworkers on gchat all day and it is all much more respectable. So today I decide to clean up my gmail inbox and had to delete some 600 emails from the last year or so that were no longer pertinent. I am down to 30 in my inbox and feeling pretty good about myself. <div>As a curious individual I decided to see whatever happened with my AOL mail account. I logged on, and low and behold I had approximately 4,000 emails, dating all the way back to May 2006. All of the e-mails were complete junk, so I decided I better just cancel the account entirely and free up some space on the ol' AOL server...</div><div>First I looked in the AOL help section about canceling accounts. All they had in there was about canceling acounts that you pay for and converting them to free. I didn't even know that people still paid for AOL, and kind of felt like if they still did than maybe they didn't deserve to have free ones and were also possibly living in a cave and using their etch-a-sketch as a computer. No word on how to cancel your free account, so I went to google. All I could find was how hard it is to cancel and how you have to do it by phone, mail, or fax. I chose phone, because I am such a people person and love to dialogue with customer service representatives. I feel it adds a nice cultural aspect to my otherwise vanilla day. So, I call and spent about 10 minutes with a very polite automated menu system. Unfortunately, he cannot locate my account information and sends me to a "counselor" to help me...enter: Simon. </div><div><br /></div><div>Simon: Thank you for calling AOL, My name is Simon, how can I help you?</div><div>Me: I would like to cancel my AOL account.</div><div>Simon: I am very sorry to hear that, but certainly...what is your name?</div><div>Me: Ashley Joyce</div><div>Simon: Hi, can I call you Ashley today? Like I said before, my name is Simon.</div><div>Me: Yes. </div><div>Simon: Great, now you mentioned that you wanted to cancel your account? Is this correct?</div><div>Me: Yep.</div><div>Simon: Ok, can you spell your AOL SCREEN name for me, one character at a time.</div><div>Me: (I really tried to enunciate because this is where the automated system got confused) A-S-H-A-N-N-E-2.</div><div>Simon: Hmm...you said A-S-H-A-N-N-E-Number 2?</div><div>Me: Correct.</div><div>Simon: Why do you want to cancel it? </div><div>Me: Well, mostly on account of I haven't logged into it since 2006 and when I logged in today there were over 4000 junk emails and it is just ridiculous.</div><div>Simon: But you don't pay for it?</div><div>Me: No.</div><div>Simon: Then why do you care?</div><div>Me: Because I do not use it. </div><div>Simon: Then just ignore it, don't even worry about it. </div><div>Me: Oh, ok. </div><div>Simon: I don't think it is even active. </div><div>Me: There was a lot of junk mail.</div><div>Simon: Yeah, well, don't worry about it and just don't even go look at it. </div><div>Me: Ok...</div><div>Simon: Well, it has been a pleasure helping you today. Good bye! </div><div><br /></div><div>No, no, Simon. The pleasure was all mine. </div><div><br /></div><div>I would like to make an observation about AOL's alleged spam filter. However it is not filtering my mail that well, considering I had 4000 junk mails in the inbox, and only 20 in Spam. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Ashley Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890666437420270960noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2886356520502765120.post-38940047825271808222008-12-13T22:26:00.000-05:002008-12-13T22:35:07.500-05:00Roses are red, violets are bluish, if it weren't for Christmas, we'd all be jewish...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixxrhPOIuBQaLmTPjwm2rLZpEUU5veCwFvDBodHziiRkiGxk_ZuGxy-YAnoZMdQc9oUzZKgFCZhMiSOdQrCxrlWOQl_VeJtRwCbkjB-fOBM0vkp2srn9h8ISHuH3VeXi2SeZFkNL5ap8Ya/s1600-h/HolidayTreeSunsetandLights.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixxrhPOIuBQaLmTPjwm2rLZpEUU5veCwFvDBodHziiRkiGxk_ZuGxy-YAnoZMdQc9oUzZKgFCZhMiSOdQrCxrlWOQl_VeJtRwCbkjB-fOBM0vkp2srn9h8ISHuH3VeXi2SeZFkNL5ap8Ya/s320/HolidayTreeSunsetandLights.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279483853269138082" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div>Tonight we ventured out of our neighborhood down to Old Town Alexandria. Originally we were going to participate in a candlelit holiday tour of Old Town, but as I am still pretty set on exploring Mount Vernon with Martha Washington next week, we decided to just make the tour ourselves. </div><div><br /></div><div>On the way home we pass the George Washington memorial before going back into Arlington. Old Town definitely had an old-time feel and we passed a lot of really cool brick houses that would be cool to live in once we are kajillionaires and can afford it.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>We had dinner at The Light Horse which basically touted a menu of gourmet comfort foods. I had the most delicious beef loaf and taters, with a tomato gravy. It was glorious. Seriously. Most people would normally shy away from a beef loaf on a menu, and I don't blame them, but I am glad I went for it. Definitely keeping that restaurant on the backburner for future forays into Old Town. </div><div><br /></div><div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcNwgqmq6QBDxSKrZQPx04obq-0Tgia5FfrjigxVNZMiA8p5jfNI56f6D5-Pfa__Seppu9dTZtt8QY9nR9NZvaFbWPeWdrOpwUtQmOg8kfyPgjhgjKWn9I7lgAAW3qTI0mvCHKF9xrlyME/s320/OldTownHolidayLights.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279482425130005666" /></div>Ashley Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890666437420270960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2886356520502765120.post-17115392935560971662008-12-06T18:54:00.000-05:002008-12-06T18:55:01.616-05:00Just your average evening walk to the local Harris Teeter!<div style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVSVlSq9kQlRXAe4mmv4BVE6PT7J2DOUiF69E-SsWQwkg3kZcfvSQgxEyxLgqT9ggUaVh1Pen1GvBv6-YXVvr0AN4-u7yOjdNSEc8OADogFd7T0ZOddIWFHwcsP2ai1R52g5fHa3V69Xfp/s1600-h/CIMG0933.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVSVlSq9kQlRXAe4mmv4BVE6PT7J2DOUiF69E-SsWQwkg3kZcfvSQgxEyxLgqT9ggUaVh1Pen1GvBv6-YXVvr0AN4-u7yOjdNSEc8OADogFd7T0ZOddIWFHwcsP2ai1R52g5fHa3V69Xfp/s320/CIMG0933.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><br />The street ner our apartment is all lit up for Christmas, and it's Snowing! We walked down to the Harris Teeter (local brand new grocery store) to get the fixin's for some enchiladas and give Penny some excercise. Very cold!<div style='clear:both; text-align:CENTER'><a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a></div>Ashley Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890666437420270960noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2886356520502765120.post-61628212761245530322008-12-06T17:48:00.000-05:002008-12-06T18:01:06.251-05:00Camping indoors with a 42 inch flatscreen and an x-box.It turns out that even in my unemployment, lack of furniture, lack of funds, lack of hobbies I still can't find time to a) update the blog I just created or b) fix the two posts I DID manage to create that contain grammatical errors (thanks for pointing them out, Mother) and wonky photos. I will try to be better, but I can't promise anything.<br /><br />We arrived in Virginia! Wooo! The rest of the road trip was fun, we spent about 4 days with Kyle in Nicole in Kentucky and did all sorts of fun things like eating taters and going to Dino World and the Maker's Mark Distillery. But now too much time has passed and I don't feel like going into all the fun details.<br /><br />I will, however, update you on live in the VA. Basically life in our nice luxury apartment consists of 2 camping chairs (with footrests, nothing but the best!), our 42 inch tv sitting on an overturned plastic storage bin, an air mattress (that actually isn't that bad, I was concerned that when Ryan got out of bed, I would sink to the floor or that during the night he would weigh his side down so much that I would slide over and be stuck in the middle of the bed. Not the case with this air bed). Our stuff is still pretty much strewn all over as we don't have the appropriate receptacles for our items.<br /><br />The job hunt is on, but as yet has been unsuccessful. Ryan got a pretty promising response from a phone interview he had, so we are thinking good thoughts about that but trying not to get our hopes too up.<br /><br />In the meantime Ryan and Penny have entered into a power struggle. Immediately outside of our "Veranda" aka "Porch" is some dirt and we would really enjoy for Penny to make that her designated potty area to avoid having to walk all the way out of the complex in the cold only to have her poo on the floor of the parking structure (in front of a person no less, naughty puppy!). She has been resisting. Ryan refuses to give up on her, so on day one of the power struggle he took her out to the spot, which she can access by jumping through the bars on our patio, repeatedly with no success. She pretty much is just holding everything in and had been pretty good about not having accidents on the floor. She finally went #2 out there, and he got so excited that he let her come back in and started playing with her. Unfortunately this caused a tidal wave of urine to come out that she couldn't even control when he tried to pick her up to carry her out.<br /><br />The struggle continued on to today. She last had used the facilities when we took her to the dog park at approximately 5:30 last night. She continued to defy Ryan all day long, when she finally peed on the dirt as FAR as her leash would possibly go away from the porch at 4:30 PM. Success after nearly 24 hours of probable discomfort!<br /><br />Stay tuned as the saga continues...Ashley Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890666437420270960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2886356520502765120.post-46001907060547565622008-12-01T19:45:00.000-05:002008-12-02T09:34:29.835-05:00"...And that's why Kevin Bacon was so Successful. Everyone loves Bacon. If it had been Kevin Ham...or Ground Beef..."Last we left off I was climbing on the Ball of Twine in lovely <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Cawker</span> City, and I would like to take this time to ponder the reason that in most of these towns housing such amazing and precious attractions, I felt like I may or may not get knifed before snapping my pics and heading on my way. At the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">BoT</span> there were 2 hoodlums racing around the block housing the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">BoT</span> playing loud music and being <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">hoodlummy</span>. They clearly hate all things <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">BoT</span> including intrepid pilots who make a quick stop to check it out. I doubt they participated in the Twine-a-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Thon</span> the third weekend of August every year.<br /><br />Moving on. Day 4 was a big day, though did not have many attractions planned, so we were relying on the POI we found along the way. One thing I do love to do is go into old houses and snoop around. So, I was pretty excited when I found a sign for the Harry S. Truman house and olden times jail. I thought yes! A chance to redeem myself from the tragedy that was the closed frontier prison, and I would be able to poked around the homestead of the ??<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">th</span> president. Wrong. We drove deep into the heart of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Independence</span>, MO only to find that the Harry S. Truman house was not open and there was a huge fence around it so I couldn't even go peek in the windows. The olden times jail was also closed.<br /><br /> <a href="http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/?action=view&current=RyanAshleyDoAmerica124.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/RyanAshleyDoAmerica124.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /><br /><br />I was determined to make lemonade out of these lemons, so I demanded we go instead to the Pioneer Museum nearby. $10 and 10 minutes of browsing later, we didn't even get to poke real artifacts. The museum focused mostly on the Lewis and Clark trail which unfortunately I already learned about in great length in elementary school. The lady at the front desk touted the real diary excerpts housed in the museum because they had some awesome artifact library. "Real <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">diary</span> excerpts" = "typed up papers printed out not even on old <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">timey</span> looking paper." Total bust. <br /><a href="http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/?action=view&current=RyanAshleyDoAmerica125.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/RyanAshleyDoAmerica125.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />So now we have wasted 1 hour in Independence, MO, and I do not feel at all like I was "where it all began." as the signage promised me. The day was not a total loss, however. After Independence we went through St. Louis and got to see those cool arch things. (We saw them while driving by, no time for stopping as Independence received our allotted attraction viewing time.) <br /><a href="http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/?action=view&current=RyanAshleyDoAmerica132.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/RyanAshleyDoAmerica132.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /><br /><br />We were able to squeeze in some time to view the World's Largest Catsub Bottle in nearby Collinsville, IL. Unfortunately, it is not filled with ketchup, but awesome nonetheless.<br /><br /><a href="http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/?action=view&current=RyanAshleyDoAmerica139.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/RyanAshleyDoAmerica139.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/?action=view&current=RyanAshleyDoAmerica145.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/RyanAshleyDoAmerica145.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /><a href="http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/?action=view&current=RyanAshleyDoAmerica138.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/RyanAshleyDoAmerica138.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/?action=view&current=RyanAshleyDoAmerica140.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/RyanAshleyDoAmerica140.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /><br /><br />We rounded out day 4 by crossing into Kentucky and arriving at Kyle and Nicole's house in Fort Knox where we will spend the next 4 days before finishing our trip to DC!Ashley Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890666437420270960noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2886356520502765120.post-46067215103184919822008-11-24T23:48:00.001-05:002008-11-25T00:24:30.527-05:00Mormons and Potatoes don't accomodate my travel schedule.<a href="http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/?action=view&current=RyanAshleyDoAmerica020.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="width: 463px; height: 348px;" src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/RyanAshleyDoAmerica020.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br />With an anticipated departure time of 10 AM on Saturday morning, we went ahead and left Eugene at approximately 1 PM after we got a big rip in our giant car topper bad and had to do some patchwork.<br /><a href="http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/?action=view&current=RyanAshleyDoAmerica025.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="width: 508px; height: 382px;" src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/RyanAshleyDoAmerica025.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This ruled Attraction #1: Underground Pendleton. So we pushed on to Boise and got in real late and went to sleep. The good news, the bag patching job that Ryan and his dad did seems to be sufficient, and his loose beer mug boxer shorts we shoved in there at the last minute haven't didn't end up all over rural wherever. Penny has a special little spot in the car with her bed and some sweet toys. She stays up there most of the time except she gets a little creepy in the last couple hours of driving and launches herself on Ryan's head.<br /><a href="http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/?action=view&current=RyanAshleyDoAmerica024.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="width: 524px; height: 393px;" src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/RyanAshleyDoAmerica024.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We wake up bright and early on Sunday morning and am pretty psyched about the attraction line up: giant roadside dinos, Idaho potato museum, Dino park in Ogden Utah.<br />Giant roadside dinos? Check. They were as sad and pathetic as you might imagine.<br /><a href="http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/?action=view&current=RyanAshleyDoAmerica053.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="width: 468px; height: 564px;" src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/RyanAshleyDoAmerica053.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/?action=view&current=RyanAshleyDoAmerica058.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="width: 459px; height: 612px;" src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/RyanAshleyDoAmerica058.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Idaho potato museum? Bust. Not open on Sundays.<br />Dino park in Ogden? Bust. Mormons don't want me to see the dinos.<br />So instead we stopped by Twin Falls Idaho, my mom's former stomping grounds. I was pretty much wallowing in the severe dissapointment of not seeing any dinos or potatoes until we saw a group of people decide to base jump off of this giant bridge. We stayed to watch 4/5 of them. #5 was clearly a rookie and we didn't have time to wait around for him to sack up and jump.<br /><a href="http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/?action=view&current=RyanAshleyDoAmerica078.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="width: 542px; height: 406px;" src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/RyanAshleyDoAmerica078.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We went down through Utah and back up into Rawlins, Wyoming where we spent the night to prepare for the first stop of Day 3. I decided to call ahead to get the hours only to discover that the Frontier Prison Museum is by appointment only. No sitting in a real gas chamber for this kid.<br /><br />Today we got up even earlier and detoured to Medicine Bow, Wyoming where the sites of the Como Bluff dinosaur fossil dig are located. The site yielded 28 new species of dinosaurs at the time it was discovered including the great Diploducus which is on display in the NY museum of whatever history. You're not allowed to to go off the road to check out the fossils as it is private property and also undeveloped land that is the home to rattlesnakes, but you can stop and see a cabin made entirely of dinosaur fossils. The cabin allegedly is also a museum that contains some fossils but I would not know as it was closed. It was also 19 degrees out so we had to keep the visit short.<br /><a href="http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/?action=view&current=RyanAshleyDoAmerica112.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="width: 558px; height: 418px;" src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/RyanAshleyDoAmerica112.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Onward through the great state of Wyoming, which consists of a lot of nothing and a few little towns, we went through Laramie and saw a giant Abe Lincoln head statue off the highway. Constructed in honor of 150 years of Abe's birth. We stopped to say hey. It was also the highest point on that highway, 8,000 something feet.<br /><a href="http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/?action=view&current=RyanAshleyDoAmerica121.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="width: 538px; height: 404px;" src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/RyanAshleyDoAmerica121.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We drove down to Colorado and got on a toll road to avoid going through Denver. $7.45 and 15 additional minutes to our route later we were hot on the trail of the Biggest Ball of Twine. On the freeway I saw several really awesome signs that were urging me off the freeway. See Live Rattlesnakes! Pet Baby Pigs! 6 Legged Steer! and the kicker: World's Largest Prairie Dog! I looked it up online and saw that it was part of Prairie Dog Town! Just off the freeway! A must-see for the intrepid pilots of 1-70 East. WE are intrepid pilots! So we call the number listed and it rings and rings. It would add about 40 minutes to the trip to go to PDT, should we do it? Should we chance it being closed? Would we always wonder if we had missed out on a giant Prairie Dog (visible from OUTER SPACE!) or the 6 legged steer (2 underdeveloped legs hanging out of its neck?! SICK!). We decided to chance it. It was closed. Looked like it had been closed for the last 10 years. We could see the prairie dog over the fence, it was not that huge, and doubtedly visible from space. Bust.<br />Time for the ball of twine! Everything I dreamed of and more, although I am dissapointed that we didn't arrive in the 3rd weekend of August to partake in the annual Twine-a-Thon and add our own twine to the ball!<br /><a href="http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/?action=view&current=RyanAshleyDoAmerica050.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="width: 496px; height: 661px;" src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/AshANne2/RyanAshleyDoAmerica050.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br />So that's it, the end of day 3.Ashley Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05890666437420270960noreply@blogger.com1