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! 

All in the name of change...

Lets rewind to May 31st, 2011:

Exactly one year ago, I left for the trip of a lifetime. I decided to spend my summer in Italy. All in the name of change. 


Italy was a place that I wanted to travel to since I was 16. I don't know where my obsession with the country came from at the ripe old age of 16, but I talked about going there a lot with my first love, making him promise me that we would go there together some day. I fell in love with the phrase "la vita é bella" meaning "life is beautiful" in Italian and wrote it all over my notebooks, myspace and facebook, once I got one.  When I got my first tattoo (the little heart on my left foot) I wanted to get "la vita é bella" but knew it wasn't relevant to my life at that point. I told myself that once I traveled to Italy or maybe even lived there, I would get it as a tattoo.

So this past year I decided to go to Italy. All in the name of change. 

At the end of my senior year of college, I decided to fulfill my dream. After spending 4 years of college with friends from the greek system, dancing on the collegiate dance team and dating a guy that I had fallen in and out of love with, I felt like I had really done it all.  I needed to create change for myself, for my life post college. I went to Italy to find what really made me tick and to fulfill my dreams of traveling to an amazing place far, far away.

I flew out of Seattle on May 31st and really did have the summer of my life. I met friends from all over the world and really began to love myself and life again. Each day that I was there, I learned about myself, others and lived a life that really made sense to me. I never really got home sick and knew that what I was doing for myself was a lot more riveting than anything that I could have been doing at home. When it came time for me to leave Italy, I cried the whole way from Florence to Rome, where I was catching my flight home. I didn't want to leave.

I know you're probably wondering where all of this is going....

Well yesterday, May 31st, 2012... exactly one year from when I flew to Italy...

I had my last day at Nordstrom as a Personal Stylist. I have made the decision to quit my potential career in Seattle and return to Italy.  All in the name of change.

After returning home from an amazing experience abroad, I knew that I wanted to go back and thought about teaching English as a means to get there but felt compelled to settle down a little, get a job and "pursuit growing up".  I moved back in with my parents and began job searching. I interviewed for a Women's Active and swim wear position at the Northgate Nordstrom, with hopes of moving my way up on the sales floor to a Personal Styling position. During the interview, I really hit it off with the HR director and he suggested I work in the t.b.d/Savvy departments instead. I interviewed with that manager (a girl 3 yrs older than me from my sorority) and was given the job on the spot. As soon as I left the store, the HR director called me and said that they wanted to interview me for a Personal Styling position. I was beyond ecstatic! After interviewing again, I was given the position.  Being hired as a Personal Stylist from outside the company was something that Nordstrom seldom does so I knew I was privileged to have my position.

I had amazing managers and made amazing friends. Girls that I spent a lot of time with at work and outside of work because we got to know each other as more than just coworkers.  I think I may have had the most enjoyable work atmosphere ever. I had become friends with people all over the store. And when I told them I was leaving, there was a sense of sadness because of the relationships and bonds we had built over my past nine months there. But I knew something wasn't right for me...

Working day in and day out as a Personal Stylist at Nordstrom wasn't answering my dreams and calling at this point in my life. No matter the title I had, I still thought of Italy. I talked about it with all of my customers and friends at work.  Many of them thinking that I was just a dreamer for saying that I was going to live there again.  I needed to make a change.

I began researching teaching English abroad and attended an informational meeting about it in the Seattle area.  From there on, I was convinced. It's what I need to do right now for myself in my life.  I began talking about it with people at work and started to get so much support and positive feedback. Women who were in their 30's and 40's began telling me "Honey,  if I could go back to 23 and do anything, it would be travel. Do it before you meet your husband, settle into your career and have children."  The more I thought about it, the more I realized that they were right.  Now is the time for me to pursuit this dream in my life. So I put in my notice at Nordstrom and I made a plan to return to one of my favorite places in the world. Italy. All in the name of change.


Now, I know that quitting your job and moving across the world may not be the right step for everyone and that you are going to have your opinions about my choice. But to be honest, this doesn't have to make sense to you. Because it makes sense to me. And no I'm not running away from anything. I know that moving across the world won't solve my problems, but if I had problems to solve, I'd start to work on them right here at home. I'm simply running back to a place that I loved and felt like I wasn't done exploring. And its something that I couldn't be more excited about.
All in the name of change.

 Photo with some of my managers (left to right): Store Manager- Trevor Cobb. Regional Personal Styling Manager- Melissa Merrit. *ME*. Customer Relationship Manager- Jessica Stewart and Personal Styling Manager- Emily Auza

One of my Personal Styling coworkers and buddies, Britta Satterlund.

Me and my friend Lacey Marek, who worked with me in t.b.d and Savvy

Me, Allie Gotz and Lacey Marek. Some of the girls of t.b.d and Savvy.

Personal Stylists of Northgate. (Left to right) Amy Foss, Britta Satterlund, Me and Samantha Horvath. 

On to the next thing...
All in the name of change  ;)

xoxox Ashiee B

Time Traveler's Daughter

If you're somewhat close to me in any way, you probably know that my dad has been working diligently over the last two years on a vintage car. Either I have told you, posted about it via Facebook, Instagram etc. or you know me well enough to have met my dad and the car was probably one of the main topics of your conversation.  Two years ago while I was a junior in college, my dad found a 1936 Dodge on Craig's list that was in "immaculate shape" (so he said) and just couldn't pass up.  When he bought the car, I was thoroughly annoyed because I couldn't see its full potential and thought that it was the biggest waste of money! After hundreds of hours of patience and hard work, my dad (along with the help of my mom) has turned this old beater, called "The Adam's family car" by my sister, into a beautiful dream boat! :) I'm so proud of my dad for all of his hard work and now instead of giving him grief for the ol' thing, I'm asking him to take me for rides around the town in it! Someday this will be my wedding get-away car.... someday... ;). It really is a beautiful car. 

Here is my Dad with his car before the restoration process started

I titled this post, Time Traveler's Daughter not only because of the photos of me with my Dad's 1936 vintage car but also because of my vintage inspired outfit. The dress that I am wearing reminds me of something a 1950's housewife would wear.  Its somewhat "Stepford-esque".  Imagine me as a character from the movie "The Stepford Wives" haha... that's kinda silly ;) 

Xoxox Ashiee B

Dress: Boutique in Vancouver, Canada. Shirt: Splendid. Belt: Vintage. Necklaces: Forever 21. 

Shoes: Bata (Italy). Watch: Michael Kors. Sunnies: BP, Nordstrom. 

Feeling: Proud of myself for running in the Beat the Bridge 8k this past weekend without previously training. I need to kick my butt back into shape!

Anticipating: The biggest move of my life (Don't worry, if I haven't told you in person... I will eventually blog about it)

Listening: To my dad talk to our cat, Reggie... "Hey Dude!!" -Dad (spoken in a cartoon voice) haha why do all people interact with animals in an accent??

As always, thanks for following my blog and continuing to give me a reason to write and share my passion with you! I really appreciate it! XOXOX

Lime- you will be my main squeeze

Loving the neon trend and just cant get enough of the color lime! :) I had been eyeballing this pair of lime denim at Nordstrom for a while now. They had recently been marked down so I jumped on them first thing. Paired it with my favorite new Zara piece (beaded peter pan collared white top) that I picked up while I was down in San Francisco. If Zara were to open a location in Seattle... I would be one happy girl!

Just wanted to thank all of those who follow my blog! It really makes my day when I bump into you somewhere and you compliment me on it. Your continued support, positive feedback and encouragement constantly motivates me to keep pursuing this adventure in blogging! :)

Xoxox Ashiee B

Beaded Peter Pan Collar Top: Zara. Neon Lime Denim: Love Fire, Nordstrom. 

Beaded Bow Sandals: Naughty Monkey, Nordstrom. Sunnies: Ray Ban "Wayfarer". 

Watch: Michael Kors. Lips: MAC Viva Glam- Nicki Minaj

Listening: "I feel it all" Feist

Feeling: Rested after 11 hrs of sleep... Guess I needed it!

Loving: Sunny day after sunny day in Seattle. Love, love, love! :)