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 :)

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

San Fran thru a filtered lens

I know I keep promising a post about my trip to San Francisco and I promise it's on its way. Until I can cut out the time to go in detail, here's a diary of my trip thru instagram photos. Instagram just released the android ap before I went and it made me such a happy girl! :)

Xoxo Ashiee B

My first day in town with bows on my toes :)

Union Square

Friday Night: Librarian vs. Barbarian Party- SO fun!!

Driving to Napa

Just a pretty necklace that I loved in a shop

Driving over the Golden Gate- Destination, Napa!

I LOVE the Italian influence in SF. This is one of my 

favorite cheeses from Italy :)

The "TBD" (besides the department I work in at Nordstrom) the name

 of the drink that I had at lunch in Napa. One of the best meals I've ever had. 

View from the clouds over SF during my flight back home... until next time!! 

I've decided that San Francisco is one of my all time favorite cities. It only took 4 times of visiting ;)