My new blog! *GASP*

Head on over to

http://helloashieebee.tumblr.com

Feeling a little Nautical

Pink Blazer: Thrifted. Striped Tank: H&M. White denim: Paige Premium Denim. Sandals: Italy. Watch: Michael Kors. Necklace: Nordstrom Rack. Sunnies: Burberry. Wallet: Tory Burch.

This is one of my favorite summer outfits because of its simplicity and class. Blazers tend to be one of my favorite staples because of how easy they are to dress up or down.  I found this pink one while I was selling some of my clothes to a used clothing boutique. I questioned the purchase at the time, but wear it more than I ever thought I would and get endless compliments! I've realized lately that the items that I question the most, almost always become my favorites! What's up with that?!

xoxox Ashiee B

YOLLO- You Only Live in Lewiston Once

Because I have been so sporadic about blogging lately, I thought I would paint a picture of what it is that I have been up to. Here is a snap-shot of my life outside of fashion blogging and photographing daily outfits.

Two weekends ago could have quite possibly been the best weekend that I have had in a long while. Me and a few of my girls from college went to visit one of our closest friends, Whitney Hise, who studied broadcasting while we were at WSU.  Typically, within the broadcasting world you have to start your career in tim-buck-two, so last fall Whit packed her bags and made the move to little ol' Lewiston, Idaho.  Since I had just finished my Teaching certification class a few weekends ago and had my first open weekend for quite some time, the timing could not have been better for a visit.

Friday, after working a double shift, Jenna, Amanda and I packed the car and made the drive back towards Pullman where we all went to college.  If we hadn't made that 5 hour drive before, I think we would have totally lost our marbles. We had the best drive and caught each other up on our lives.  We could barely squeeze everything into 5 hours! ;)

For those of you who aren't familiar with Lewiston, Idaho, it's a little town 45 mins South East of Pullman.  Everyone there knows everyone for the most part and especially Whitney because she is the lead Meteorologist for the KLEW news station.  It was fun to hang with a Lewiston celebrity. ;)

Here's a shot of Lewiston

And here is Whit at work for KLEW. You can read her bio here

After making cranberry vanilla french toast and drinking mimosas for breakfast Saturday morning, we went to the beach to soak up some sun and relax.  Once we stepped foot onto the sand, the entire beach got silent as they watched two blonde and two brunette bombshells pack a cooler from one side to another. City girls really stick out in the country. We spent the day soaking in some vitamin D and went boating with a baseball player and his friends who we met on the beach. All made for a perfect first day.

Our delicious breakfast

Me and Whit on the boat :)

That night, we downed iced quad venti americanos to keep ourselves alive and went for a little retail therapy. Theres not much in terms of shopping in Lewiston but we made due with the TJ Maxx and Ross that they had in town.  These stores were goldmines there!! Jenna found a pair of Prada sunglasses at Ross for a whopping $65! I told her that she wasn't aloud to leave without them.  Best purchase of the trip! Amanda and I bought a few pairs of shoes and some fun costume jewelry.

Later that night, we went to Barley Hopper's which is the happening spot in town and danced our little tooshies off. We seriously had the time of our lives, singing, dancing and flirting with all the cowboys in town.  The second we got there, I saw the man of my dreams (which I never would have thought would happen in Lewiston).  He was in town from Utah for work and told Amanda and I that people thought he looked like Ryan Gosling and Prince William.  Funny thing is people tell me that I remind them of Kate Middleton. Ironic huh ;). He told me that Florence, Italy was one of his favorite cities.  Brownie points.  We talked, danced and laughed the night away and that was that.

Me, Amanda and Whitney

Amanda and I at Barley Hoppers

After waking up slowly on Sunday, Whit took us out in the pasture to show us her horse. That was one of my favorite parts of the weekend because we got to see a part of Whitney's life that means so much to her. She has had Angel, her mare, for 10 years! Whitney is the perfect mix of a city girl with adorable clothes and sass, with the twist of a sweet country girl who loves to ride horses and sing.  Its amazing to have such talented and diverse friends.

A little glimpse at who Whitney is. I love her "If the tiara fits" signage ;)

I felt like a little girl going through moms jewelry.  Her vintage Chanel clip on earrings in the left hand corner were passed down from her mom and are my favorite!

Once we pulled ourselves together, it was back to the beach we went to enjoy our last day together.  Soaking in some sun before heading to dinner and then hopping back on the road back to Seattle. It was the most enjoyable weekend I had in a while and made me realize just how amazing the girls in my life are. I hadn't laughed, cried, sang and danced that much in a long time. Totally cheesy but totally true! I love the people in my life! :)

Amanda, Me, Jenna and Whitney

My gorgeous friends, Whitney and Jenna after a day at the beach

Theme of the weekend was YOLLO: You Only Live in Lewiston Once. ;)  We literally applied that to each and every situation. Too much fun!

xoxox Ashiee B

Listening: Foster the People Pandora Radio... AMAZINGGGG, give it a listen
Anticipating: Another weekend get-away to my friends cabin over in Gig Harbor, WA
Feeling: Sleepy from a long day at work yesterday and many late nights recently... having too much fun :)

A month and a day...

So its actually been a month and a day since my last post, which makes me sad! I haven't shown much love to my blog lately because well, I haven't had much time.  I found snapping a few photos of my outfits for work at Nordstrom was a lot easier and convenient then it is now, working as a barista [I know your all dying to see how fashionable my apron is! ;)].

Just to update you all, in the past month, I have started taking my teaching certification course which actually ends next weekend!! Yippie! I'm excited to have weekends for my pure enjoyment again. My class has been every Saturday and Sunday from 9am-6pm. I have been working full time during the week, attending three different community groups through my church at night and squeezing friends in every second I get. I have been BUSY to say the least. So shopping and blogging has taken the back burner. Le sigh...

Here's a little shot of me at work... I'm sporting my little crocheted headband that I bought last year at the Folklife festival. Gotta try to spice up the ol' uniform in any girly, cute way that I can! :)
Hope life is swell for you all!

Xoxoxo
Ashiee B

Barista Glamour Shots ;)

Feeling: Tired of the rain here in Seattle!! Come on, its the middle of July! 

Anticipating: Road tripping to visit a best friend with a few other best friends in a couple weeks :)

Listening: "You don't know me" Ben Folds 

Fearlessly Fuchsia

Dress: Angie. Shoes: Tory Burch. Belt: Vince Camuto. Sunnies: Forever 21.

  Necklace: Nordstrom Rack. Watch: Michael Kors. Arm Party: Stella and Dot, Forever 21, Nordstrom.

Have you ever found something fabulous but it wasn't your size? I know the answer is probably yes. Most of the time I shop for things that I like and if I cant find my size, I try the wrong one anyway, disregarding the size to a certain extent. Of course when it comes to some things (high priced items, shoes, etc) shopping for the right size is crucial but there are lots of situations when you can bend the rules in terms of fit and make something work.
Thats just what I did with this dress. I found it at Nordstrom Rack and just loved the bright somewhat neon fuchsia color and couldnt find another one anywhere in the store (and believe me, I searched high and low). So even though it was 3x my usual size, I knew that I could make it work with a belt and decided to take it home to play around with. Threw some accessories into the mix and voila! I love how it looks and think that the belt completes the outfit entirely. I love being a resourceful fashionista! ;)

xoxox Ashiee B

Listening: "Another Kind of Green" John Mayer Trio
Feeling: a little "under the weather" if you will, from a night out with my friends blahhhh :/
Anticipating: A relaxing night in doing absolutely nothing but hanging out... A much needed break!

Little red hot crops and a peplum with ditzy dots

Over the past week I have been doing a lot of adjusting to my new schedule. Checking things off my list of "to-do's" before leaving the country, purging of unnecessary possessions, organizing, etc. I have to say that as each day goes by I am getting more and more used to, and excited about, the idea that I am actually pursuing going to Italy again.  Not going to lie, my first weekend (last weekend) without work made me feel a little out of sorts. I got so used to working 6 days a week that when I had more then one day off, I went a little stir crazy.

I made the most of my time and got a lot of the "to-do's" done.  The recent series at my church has been about money management and last week after the service they had shredders for people to cut their credit cards.  I made the bold move to jump in and shred away. I've been meaning to get rid of them anyways and watching them run through a shredder was somewhat a relieving yet anxiety-driven experience. Feeling inspired by the message, I decided to reduce, reuse, recycle and made a trip to Plato's closet to sell some of my "un-loved" clothes and made a whopping $93+ dollars... cha-ching! ;) Besides hanging out with friends, I spent the rest of the rainy days enjoying my cozy bed and catching up on my blog reading. It was the week from heaven! :) 

Empty hangers from cleaning out my closet... So many!

Four bags of goodies off to Plato's Closet! 

Yesterday I judged auditions for the competition team at the dance studio I grew up dancing at. It's called Turning Pointe and is one of the best studios in the Seattle area for competitive dance. Many of the girls I grew up dancing with have gone on to have dance careers in New York, LA and a few have been on the T.V. series So You Think You Can Dance (Paris Torres, Natalie Reid, and Sarah James, to name a few).  The girls auditioning had the long, lean bodies of a dancer that you see in the movies and could dance like what you see on T.V.  It was amazing to watch and judge such talented dancers, some just barely 12 years old.  

It was so great to see old friends, and the instructors that I used to take dance classes from. With all the hours we spent together dancing at the studio, they always felt more like family rather then friends and it was so, so good to see them again! :) I decided to wear this outfit for the auditions...  my favorite red hot crops with this cute little peplum top! 

xoxox Ashiee B

Peplum top: H&M. Red Crops: Vince Camuto. Sandals: Forever 21 (old). 

Necklace: Nordstrom Rack. Sunnies: Ray Ban "Wayfarer". Watch: Michael Kors (old). 

Lipgloss: Butter London Lippy "Trout Pout"

Listening: "She is love" Parachute 

Feeling: Excited to be getting discovered by more bloggers. Your comments make me so happy and encourage me to keep going! :) Thank youuu!!

Anticipating: The start of my new job and teaching course

InstaStyle

Some days when I couldn't photograph my outfits to blog about, I resorted to Instagram and Diptic. Not a bad way to change things up and double dipping with apps is kind of fun. Still waiting for PicFX to release an app for the Android... or for me to breakdown and switch carriers so I can have an iPhone again. #firstworldproblems ;) Hope everyone is having a great start to the week!


xoxox Ashiee B

Listening: John Mayer "Gravity" on Where the light is: John Mayer live in Los Angeles 

Anticipating: The start of my teaching certification course... Italy here I come! :)

Feeling: Cozy all snuggled up in my bed on a rainy day off of work. Candles lit, music on... I really cant complain right now!