It's a wrap (bucket list wrap-up)

At the beginning of this summer, I made myself a "summer bucket list" of things I wanted to accomplish this summer. I would love to say that I did every single thing on the list, but life happens and some things don't work out as planned. Regardless, I did do almost every thing on the list to some extent.

The Summer Bucket List

Hiking Bell Canyon with Shelby

·         Lots of hiking-Corner Canyon  5/23/13, Bell Canyon with Shelby 6/4/13, Millcreek Canyon 6/6/13, and Ensign Peak 6/15/13

·         Maintain my weight-I actually gained some weight, some of it being nice muscle definition

Camping for Bike MS

·         Go camping more than once-6/29/13-6/30/13 and 8/10/13-8/12/13

·         Learn more about blogging and do it regularly-proud to say I posted over 30 posts this summer, and learned a little about html coding and the like.

·         Spend a week in Vegas with my girlfriends for my 21^st birthday.

Cute little Austin that I had the privilege
of babysitting. He is such a stud!

·         Get a summer job-plasma, yard work/cleaning for my parents, one-time babysitting

Plasma!

·         Donate plasma- 6/4/13 

·         Make new friends-a few here and there. Still praying for some awesome Christian girls

St. George golfing with my
best friend Amanda.

·         Try new things (golf 6/9/13, Indian food, make sushi 8/18/13)

Fruit/protein popsicles

·         Make fruit popsicles-7/17/13

·         Watch two of my good friends get married (Tristen&Enoch 8/17/13 and Kaitlyn&Michael 5/13/13)

The beautiful bride & her groom.

My first legal drink, a gin fizz!

·         Drink a fruity cocktail on my 21st birthday

The Capital building with my love.

·         Visit the Capital building-7/29/13

·         Read lots and lots of books-I probably read over 20 books this summer

I've moved!

I moved this last week.

I now live on the U of U campus in an apartment with 3 roommates.

I have a small room, but it's cute.

I am able to ride the shuttle to all of my classes.

I don't like change, nor do I do well with it.

Anyways, here are some pictures of my new casa!

Standard bathroom.

Storage room and such.

This is the living room. It needs more decorations.

The small, ugly, kitchen. Haha.

Dining room table.

This is the shelf that I painted a few months ago and never got around to hanging it up. It's finally hung! I feel so crafty.

My desk and dresser area. This dresser is a girls best friend. The drawers are really wide and very, very deep. Holds lots of clothes. ;)

Entry way, mirror, and closet area. 

My comfy bed.

All the food that for some reason, hardly gets eaten.

A spin on 30 for 30

I stumbled upon this blog while reading another person's blog. She has an awesome clothing challenge called 30 for 30. She picks 30 items of clothing and for the next 30 days she can only wear those items. She mixed and matched and didn't allow herself to go shopping for that allotted time period. Before I read the "fine print" or "details" of this challenge, in my mind, I thought it was just 30 different outfits for 30 days. That is going to be my spin on this challenge. Although I probably shouldn't be spending any more money on clothes, I am not going to make that a part of my challenge. I want to do this to so that I am not being lazy in what I wear to school, venture out into new/other fashion trends that I haven't yet tried, and learn to be more creative with my style. With that, here is my day one outfit.

First day of school outfit and first day of the 30 for 30 challenge

Sandals: FREE! Acquired through a friend about 7+ years ago

Bracelet and necklace set: $5 at Charlotte Russe

Sheer button-down: $15 at Papaya

Green skinny jeans: $10 Plato's Closet (but really H&M)

This whole outfit cost around $30. I love it because it is cute and very comfortable; which is what I'm all about.

Day 26: Gifts Smelled

Smells that I love:

• Food (especially desserts)
• Colton!
• Rain
• Coffee
• Clean laundry and laundry detergent
• Bath and Body Works
• Fresh flowers
• New cars
• The beach
• Halle Berry perfume
• Scentsy candles
• The list could go on and on!

Smells that I don't love so much: 

• Vomit, throw up, poop, etc.
• Bad breath and body odor
• Cigarettes, drugs, etc.
• Dirty dishes that have been sitting for days
• Dentist offices

I am thankful for smells, even the bad ones, because then I am able to distinguish the very pleasant ones. This works would be very boring without them!

DAY 27

Day 25: Gifts Painted

I'm not a huge fan of paintings and such but I do love painting walls. There's so many colors to choose from, and the work is enjoyable as well. Mainly what I love is color! Here are some awesome pictures (courtesy of Pinterest) of colorful rooms. When I have my own house, there will definitely be A LOT of color!

DAY 26

Parade of homes...because I can :)

I am in love with the parade of homes. So many cute and creative homes! I cannot wait to be able to decorate my home, and hopefully showcase it in a parade of homes someday. Here are some pictures I took when Colton, Karen (his mom), grandma (his grandma), Nancy (his aunt) and toured te houses. I hope theymake you as happy as they did for me. Enjoy! :)

This is "The Carmel" house. Price at 2.7 million! Crazy, right? It was soo huge! There's a whole other garage with rooms above it as well!

This is a house that is more like apartment but super cute! It is three stories tall.

My favorite kitchens/dining rooms.

My favorite bedrooms.

I want to do something like this in my own home. I'm not sure what these pictures signify, but I would either do pictures in the states my family has been to, family member pictures who live in that state, or people we want to pray for.

I love this idea for storage, such as kids toys, crafts, or just decorations.

Such a good idea for storing kids' things (backpacks, lunch boxes, coats, shoes, chore charts, etc.).

If you haven't ever checked out a parade of homes, or even if you have, I highly suggest you do! It was so fun getting to spend that time with Colton's family, and see beautiful ideas, even if I can't implement them for a couple more years. 

Day 30: Gifts in Today's Work

This summer I was not able to find a job (besides donating plasma). It was both good thing and bad. I had to watch my spending more closely, and jump on money-making opportunities, but I also had lots of free time to do things I enjoy. It's really hard not knowing how I am going to pay for things. My parents help me out and I have savings, but I didn't want to have to use my savings or ask my parents for more. Some days it was really hard and others it was easy. I had to trust God that he would provide for the things that I needed and show me that I can do without some items. As nice as it would have been to have extra money that a summer job would have provided, I am really glad that I didn't work and was able to have the relaxing break that I wanted. It's really reassuring after this jobless summer to know that I will be going back to my previous nanny job forthe  school year. God is good!

This is the last day of the 30 Day Thankful Challenge. It was a "challenge" to be thankful and happy for some of the things, and even though I didn't blog daily, I am really glad that Colton and I decided to do this. It makes me ore aware of the many ways that God blesses me, even when it may not feel like it in the moment. I pray that whoever read/reads this is inspired and a little bit more thankful. 

Xoxo,

Ashley