a contest

I entered this photo of my cute little brother and his pets in a" pet and best friend contest." You can vote for it starting April 7, 2008 at snapfish.com or go here. Pass the word.

Our Easter in a blur....

A picture post....

Here is our Easter in an egg shell. My camera caught mostly blurry pictures. Ah. We had  our family Easter on Saturday. Including a kid hunt and an adult hunt. The Easter visited our kids on Sunday. And they were in AWFUL moods before church, so no cute Easter outfit pictures. Maybe will we will try in a couple of weeks. 

Random

I have not blogged in awhile because I don't feel like I have much to say AND my camera is having issues. 1. issue- dropped it in LA so pics are fuzzy. 2. issue- out in my car and don't want to go and get it.

SO tonight I emailed my friend this email and I thought, A BLOG. So here is the email that I sent.

Hello Friend-
Here are today's confessions.

I HATE short stories. I think they are just starting to get good and then.....nothing. It is over and I like being more involved in their lives.

We made cookies for Family Home Evening. No, volleyball and hot chocolate. Just cookies. We sang, I Am A Child of God and made cookies. No religion discussed at all.

I check www.people.com everyday.

I think I don't like Anthropology. I think the plates, the jewelry and the books are all pretty cool but I think people like to shop there so they look second hand, but are really wearing SUPER expensive old lady shirts.

I still have a bowl of RAW dyed Easter Eggs sitting on my table.

I am thinking of throwing out a pair of underwear of Crewe's that have poop on them. He said, "Yep, it was really slid-ey". What was slidey? The poop before he made it to the toilet? Which he did- made it to the toilet.

Sometimes I say, I have to go upstairs because I have to go to the bathroom and really I want to just leave the kitchen so I won't have to help with the dishes.

I almost died of happiness when my sister-in-law asked me today if I wanted to watch the hills. Then during the episode she was able to talk about past episodes. AND she made no judgement when I told her that Monday night I dreamed that I made out with Brody Jenner*

miss you,
Love Ash

*this one was not included in the email. Another confession that is not for a blog that my parents read.

a treat

This is my Creme Brulee Recipe. I made it today for book group, tomorrow night. I would suggest making it in advance because you want the Creme Brulee to be totally set up and cold before you torch the sugar on it. Enjoy. * this isn't my picture. I made my creme in cute egg ramekins. My camera is having issues so pictures are.......

Creme Brulee

1 c. whipping cream

2 egg yolks

1/3 c. sugar

Pinch of salt

1/2 t. vanilla

6-8 t. special brulee sugar ( i just use brown sugar or even super fine white sugar)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Put cream in saucepan and stir over medium heat, just to the point of boiling. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt together. Into this add the cream, a little bit at a time, whisking as you go. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve. Place 4  (4 oz) ramekins in a hot water bath, and fill them evenly. Bake for about 35 min ( today I ended up baking my over a little an hour). Custards should be mostly set with a center that still jiggles. Remove from hot water bath from oven and cool.  Cover with clear wrap and refrigerate at least one and 1/2 hours or as long as 2 days.

Just before serving sprinkle with sugar and torch. I put the custards in the oven on broil since I don't have a torch.

A flower Guide

* Painting by Renior

I love tulips. My kids bought me beautiful purple tulips for my birthday. When we went to Amsterdam I spent hours in the flower market picking bulbs to bring back. Ah.....

I also love this blog. (I will post about how cool this blog is later.) Today there was an interesting post about Tulips. Here is an interesting part about buying my favorite flowers.  

1. Buy the freshest tulips. Don't buy tulips that are limp; make sure the stems are thick, plump and strong. In general, the bigger the stem- the bigger the bulb- the healthier the flower.

2. Make sure the leaves are tight and curled inward toward the stem. If they are already bending outward, they are not very fresh.

3. The bud should be closed and on the tighter side, but you should still be able to see the color of the flower.

*Renior  is a favorite artist of mine. I am thinking of starting a weekly posting of favorite things. Just call me Oprah.

A return

Rumors have it that the CW is working on a new version/spin off of the greatest show ever. BEVERLY HILLS 90210. How could you not watch?

Birthday Baby

Happy Birthday Baby Dayne! Yesterday was the big day for our little girl. Can you believe it? I seriously am shocked at how fast the year went. We LOVE you, Baby Dayne!

something to say

I have something I have been thinking about and I think, I am ready to share it with you.....

I....HATE.....GIRLSCOUT COOKIES!!!!!!!!

I have been concerned about my new feelings for awhile. I was a member of a Brownie Troop. I gladly wore the green vest or was it a sash? Anyway, I loved selling cookies as a girl scout. I loved having my dad take me up to the court house to push my sweet child face onto people and make them buy my cookies. I was driven to always sell, sell, sell. I wanted to sell enough for the T-SHIRT. Very cool.

This year a little girl came to our door asking if I wanted to buy cookies. I said, YES!!! Of course, I love the cookies. I love the Girl Scouts of America.  Wait, $3.50 a box. Only one sleeve of cookies in each box. Are you Freaking KIDDING ME?????? So I bought 3 boxes and waited a month for delivery. Delivery? Another thing that bugs, I do no like being accosted outside of my Walmart, Lucky's, the bank, and nail salon. NO! I don't want to buy MORE cookies. I was already sucked by the girl next door. No impulse shopping for me!

Rich and I sat down the other night to enjoy our Tag-alongs (what is up with this name?), A box of Thin Mints, and the Lemon Suck it To Me's.  They were......gross. Over processed. Tasted like wax and really not enjoyable. In fact, I. only.ate. one. cookie. ONE?!?#$%%

My name is Ashley and I am no longing in love with Girl Scout Cookies.

Finally, I said it.

LA Shoes Baby

Don't you love my new sandals??? I bought them in LA *. They are simple and casual yet could be worn with a skirt. They are Jessica Simpson sandals. Who knew she had taste? I found these beauties while looking for a picture to post.....ah lovely.

Movie Review

A Movie Review by Me

It was Tuesday night- the first of the month- so I went to Mom's Night Out. Once a month the women of my Huge playgroup get together for dinner and movie. Actually they were going somewhere sucky so I took a rouge group elsewhere.  AND we saw this movie: Vantage Point. Everyone always wants my thoughts when I post about a movie SO here is a movie review according to Ashley.  *

+++The Good++++

+Interesting idea.  An assassination on the President happens in Spain. The story is then replayed over and over from many different VANTAGES. Get it?

+ Very fast past and clean language

+ Matthew Fox (also known as Jack on LOST and Charlie on Party of Five)

---The BAD----

-No back stories. Why are they trying to kill the president? What are they going to do with him?

- Unreal and UNBELIEVABLE people are all "in on it"

-William Hurt and Sigorney Weaver has too small of roles

-HUGE car chases and wrecks that would kill most; do not kill ANYONE.

-HUGE BOMBS that kill MANY people but not kill the good guys. This happens in many movies but I found it annoying in this movie.

-Totally lame ending!!! Spoiler Alert:  Really, a little girl (13age) wanders into the street and causes a car wreck that  only kills the bad people but lets a good guy wander up and find the President in the car. Alive. Lame!

*Let's be honest. I was just happy to be out.

Girls Weekend 2008

Where to start? A Story:
4 girls who call themselves family decided that they needed a little bonding time. So they awoke insanely early, 3:30 am for those who primped, and jumped on planes to LA. They were unsure of how they were going to get around in such a big scary town so they brought the kind old brothers magic seeing ball. (Also known as a GPS).
They set off to have their nails buffed and polished. Their feet were scrubbed and soaked. They laughed and talked for the 3 hours they took over the nail salon.

Soon they were hungry and the following FAMOUS places were visited (Def of FAMOUS: as seen on the Hills, Oprah talked about it, mentioned in People or the Schofields discovered it in New Orleans):

Houstons
Pinkberry
Sprinkles

2 girls got makeup makeovers in a MAC store. 1 girls acquired new clothes at the GAP. 1 girl bought a sought after coat at MACY'S. 4 J. CREW flip flops were given as gifts and worn right away.

Because they are cultured girls, the weekend concluded with a viewing of theater. WICKED. And a 12:00 trip to In-n-Out.

At the end, 4 sad girls climbed abord their planes with happy memories of the 2008 Girls Weekend.

Thanks Mom and Dad!!!!