Guess who is back?

Yeah, it's me. Do I have to introduce myself again? I think I might. Hello, I'm Ashley, the writer of this blog. However, I would understand if you don't remember me. I can't believe this is the first post I've made in 2013! I have been very neglectful towards this blog. I apologize.

There has been tons going on in my life. Like you previously knew, I am engaged, still. Our wedding is coming up very soon! Twenty days to be exact.... 2-0, twenty. I feel like I was just getting engaged, that's how fast this whole year has gone for me. Our planning has gone pretty smoothly, although it definitely had some ups and downs. Lately it's been all about the little last minutes that always show up for weddings. I've made all my appointments, in fact this Friday I'm getting my hair highlighted so it's nice for the wedding. My nails have been done and will just need a fill 2 days before I walk down the isle and marry the man of my dreams.

Okay, stop talking about the wedding right? Okay. But that means I get to talk about my Graduation! I recently graduated with my undergraduate degree on May 18th! It was exciting and I'm so happy to be done with that adventure in my life. What's my next adventure you ask? A family? I don't think so. My next adventure is heading to Graduate school! I've been accepted and I will be starting in the Fall semester. (I'm nervous, but I can't wait!) My program is Mental Health Counseling, which of course goes quite nicely with my undergraduate Psychology degree. I can't wait to hang them up together once I've completed my graduate degree! I will have to wait though, three and a half years. Almost as long as my undergraduate adventure, but not quite. It's going to be one hell of a run though, and I have a feeling that it's going to be amazing.

So, where does family fit in now that I'm getting married? Not until I'm almost done with my degree. Sam and I have thought a lot about it and talked a lot about it, and even though I'd like to have a child right away, it is smarter for us to wait until I'm done or almost done with school that way we're established in our house and we have some savings. (Because school bills are a biotch!) Sam should be done with his student loans by the time I get done with my degree, that way we'll only have my student loans to pay for... and hopefully I'll be in a nice position counseling somewhere to be able to get those paid off asap!! If you have any tricks of the trade on paying those off, let me know... its going to be in the tens of thousands. Darn private colleges that hardly offer ANYTHING to help cover costs. $$$

However, even though college is expensive, some are some aren't, if you can get in somewhere, you should go. It teaches you many, and I do mean many, life lessons. I don't know where I would be today without taking that leap of faith and going to college. It was definitely an experience that I will never forget, and I can't wait to start this new journey of my life, furthering my education even higher.  Who knows, I may be Doctor Ashley someday. :)

Other new? We have a new addition to our family! Obviously I'm not talking about a child, but he'd a child to us. We have a little Yorkie Terrier named Atreyu. That's A-Trey-U. Like the little Indian boy from The Neverending Story. One of my favorite childhood movies! It was either Atreyu or Falcor! But, I think we made the right choice. We also call him Peanut Buttah. He's a good boy, and here he is folks! Atreyu's big blog debut!

He's such a cutie isn't he? He's definitely my baby, and he's a good boy. He's a little over 5 months old now, born December 16th. He's a precious thing and in the 2 months that we've had him he's become quite attached to Jacob Marley and Leah Maria.

I've got quite the family. And I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world. 

Monkey Cake.

Basically, it comes down to this. Monkey Cake. 

Earlier this morning I woke up, grabbed my phone, and strolled Facebook. I do this every morning before I get out of bed. Helps me wake up. I don't know why, but after creeping on my friends and family through my news feed, I'm wide awake to start my day. Well this morning, something special popped up. One of my Aunts had posted a picture of Monkey Cake, which my Grandmother used to make all the time. Seeing this definitely made me hungry for it, so the first thing I did (after of course using the facilities and taking my allergy medicine for the day) was walk into the kitchen and pull everything out to make it! (I could remember making this in early mornings with my Mother and my Grandmother. As I made it the memories definitely came floating in, which I love.)

I whipped out my Bundt Pan and sprayed it down with non-stick spray, greased that baby right up. Then I pulled my biscuits out of the fridge. I braved up for the next part of unwrapping the paper and having it pop in my own hands. Always makes me jump and I typically make Sam do it, but this time I was making this as a surprise so I suffered through it on my own. After popping them open I grabbed my bag of sugar and cinnamon mixture and started cutting the biscuits in quarters, dropping them into the bag to be shook around until there was a generous amount of the sugary mixture coating the biscuit pieces. (I typically only throw in 8 pieces at a time to get evenly coated = two biscuits cut up.) After throwing those into the bundt pan and then repeating the process until they were all done, I pulled out a small sauce pot and plopped it on our stove top.  turned it up on high and once my sugar & butter were melted, I poured the mixture all over the top of my biscuits in the bundt pan. For about 45 minutes I had to wait for that yummy dish to come out of the oven, but once it did it was glorious. Luckily, our large plate was clean so I could immediately turn it over and lift off the metal bundt pan from the blue serving plate, leaving the sugary Monkey Cake ready for eating. (I wouldn't advise eating it right away, it's quite hot.) 

I did have some extra icing from some cinnamon rolls in our fridge so I pulled that out to drizzle on top, but if you don't want to add anymore sugar then there already is inside the dessert/breakfast then you can leave it out. 

I'll add in the specific recipe so you can enjoy this amazing Monkey Cake too! 

Enjoy, and happy baking! (: 

Oh, hello again.

...Update Begin...

It's been quite a while since I've updated this blog. And really, I don't have a very good excuse. My life hasn't been terribly busy like I thought it would be. However, it's about to be. I think... 

My last year of undergrad is going well. My first semester is about over, I've only got the rest of November and the first week of December. Speaking of December, I can't believe it's almost DECEMBER! It's almost Christmas, and I can't believe it. However, I can believe the stupid Christmas Music that is already playing throughout the stores around town. I find this quite ridiculous, even though I do enjoy Christmas Music. It's not even THANKSGIVING yet. That's still another 2 weeks away basically. Once Thanksgiving comes and passes though, best believe this girl will be decorating the CRAP out of her new house.

Which, by the way, I have my own house now! Samuel and I had the great opportunity to get out of the renting business and purchase a place to call our own. It's not the biggest place in the world, but the almost 1300 sqft are definitely nice. It's a quaint 3 bedroom 1 and 1/2 bath home. It was a flipper house, so almost everything was redone. The kitchen is our favorite update. Once we walked into the kitchen we couldn't pass it up. Thankfully our offer was accepted and we moved in! Just in time too. So definitely we have a lot of decorating to do, and I'm so excited for it! 

So, going back to school. Like I said, it's going well and it's almost over. I'm taking 6 classes this semester, and then 5 next. (It's not as much as you think. I'll explain.) The way my first semester is set up, I only have 1 on-campus class and then 5 online classes. Luckily through my school, all online classes last 5 weeks only. Since I am an undergrad student I can only take 2 classes per "session". We don't call them quarters, we call them sessions if that gives you a better idea about it. (AKA 4 "sessions" a semester.) Well I took two classes in the first session, which are over. I'm almost done with my only session two class which is awesome. Then starting towards the end of November I'll start two more classes in the session 3 section. All the while I'm taking these classes I'm taking the constant on-campus class. So, technically the most classes I'm concentrating on at once is 3. Not too shabby.

Since school isn't taking up too much of my time, I am left with work. Well, that's about to take a huge change. In April I had joined the Claire's team here in Fort Wayne at the Glenbrook mall. It's been really great working there. I love everyone I work with and I would do just about anything for them; however, I have just received a job opportunity that I can't refuse. On Tuesday, October 29th I interviewed for a position at Lincoln Financial here in Fort Wayne. That Friday they called me and offered me the position! It's not something people always dream of, working in a Call Center. But I won't be calling people thankfully and trying to sell them items, I'll be receiving the phone calls and trying my best to answer their questions about their accounts. The amount of pay is almost double what I am making at Claire's so that made it that much easier to leave. I'll be working full-time, 40 hours a week, plus possible overtime. Once I start on December 3rd, I have a feeling I'm going to feel how much less time I have than I do now. Looks like I'm going to have to pull some deep power out of myself and push through the work week. I'll definitely enjoy my weekends off though! 

....Update Complete.... 

Home Sweet Home.

Look who is a new homeowner! This girl.

I'm pretty excited about it. We're all moved in and it's getting put together pretty well. The guest room is done and completely finished. Luckily we don't need to paint in there. The office needs a LOT of work. It's temporarily our storage room. The master is up and doing pretty good, except it still needs painted. Same for the family room. The kitchen is in the same boat, all it needs is paint. Once everything gets unpacked, we'll definitely start painting and get some things done and comfortable. 

Other then that, school has gone pretty well. I'm staying caught up on everything, which is always a good thing. My only on-campus class got cancelled for tomorrow, which is nice! Yay! Now just to get all my online course work done for the week before the week is over. I can do this, I can do this. 

And then for once, I really don't need to think about wedding stuff at all. :) 

Overwhelming.

As my title has spoken, I am a bit overwhelmed. But, it's in a good way. If there is such a way to be. 

In a couple days, I move yet again. Samuel and I have bought out first home together. It's really a magically and exciting time. It's a huge step in our relationship, prior then to becoming one in marriage which will be happening in June of this upcoming year. The house isn't huge, but it is a bit bigger then our current apartment. The house has 3 bedrooms, one large master with a walk-in closet that I am happy to have. It only has a full bath & a half, but that's enough for us. We don't really plan on having a family in this home, it's just a starter one for us. If we do have a child, it'll just be one, and it won't be for very long. The house is a flip house, so it's been just about redone to it's roots. The kitchen is the most spectacular out of everything in my opinion. They redid the whole thing, and they chose the cabinets very well. There are a few things around the house that need some help from us that the Sellers wouldn't fix but it's nothing that Sam and I can't handle. 

Other then that stressful experience, we both have also started our last year of Undergrad. I'm in my Senior year now, and I'm really excited and anxious about it. I hope this year flies by so I can start applying for Graduate school at IPFW and hopefully, cross my fingers, get in and start my studies towards gaining my Masters Degree in Marriage & Family Counseling. It's either that degree or a more general Mental Health Counseling degree. Until then, I just need to get through my last year day by day. I am taking 5 online courses and one course on-campus this semester. Then next semester I'm hoping to take 4 online and 1 on-campus. The online courses help me with my boatload of stuff going on in my life, and I find them easier to get through. The courses are much shorter, and I can concentrate a lot easier when I sit down in my office and actually look at everything in front of me, instead of being surrounded by friends in a classroom on a fun campus. 

The last thing that has brought me to this overwhelming feeling is something I mentioned earlier. My wedding. Like I said, I am getting married in June and there are lots of planning and anxiety when it comes to planning a wedding. In reality, I have gotten so much accomplished and planned out and ready for the wedding, but in my mind I feel like I am so behind. I think up until the actual day, I will feel like I'm behind with something, which is crazy. I've got my ceremony location booked, my reception hall booked. I've got a deposit securing my DJ, Photobooth, and Cake all done. My dress is ordered and I've picked out my bridesmaid dresses with the help of some amazing ladies in my life. I've already spoken to my cousin who has agreed to doing our hair, and her twin, also my cousin whom is a photographer has agreed to do my wedding. I've really got a lot done, what's wrong with me? I'm pretty much a perfectionist, so I'm pretty sure that's the reason. The only things not done yet is my invitations being ordered, and then them being sent out. I don't have a complete list of people attending either, I'm waiting for one side of my family, but that's even not really that bad once I say it out loud. I still have 9 months. I'm good.... right?