I want a white Christmas...

No flakes to fall. No, none at all.
Not even enough to throw a ball.
No ice to skate. No men to build.
I thought this was supposed to be winter.

The perfect Christmas. You hear about it everywhere. With its snow, warm fires, and hot coco. Why can't I have a "white" Christmas? I live in the Bakersfield- we don't get snow. There has been snow here only once in my life. It happened back in 1999. January 25th. Just one month too late for Christmas! I remember my parents waking me up near 5 o'clock in the morning telling my sister and I to look out the window. It was dark. We couldn't see anything. They promised there was snow outside so we got up; they made us put on our snow clothes and then we ran outside as quickly as possible!
Best. Day. Ever.

School was cancelled. Everything was covered in white and the flakes were HUGE! Six inches of snow fell that day. I know it was probably not good for some people who had to work and what-not, but I was a 8-year old kid. To me, the snow was the most awesome thing to happen all month! I remember running down to my friend's houses and having snowball fights. And in our front yard we built a family of snowpeople. One for each of the five of us.

After our fun at home my parents drove us to my grandparents house where we made a snowman with our cousins. I remember it being gigantic (then again I was 8 and everything was bigger than me). It was a 5 or 6 tiered snowman, so he probably was pretty big though. If I remember correctly it only snowed for that one day and the next day they sent us back to school. It was quite sad. They had all the snow in piles out in the play yard and we weren't even allowed to go near them!

The theory is it is supposed to snow every ten years here. Well, it's been twelve and there still hasn't been any more snow! I don't think I'll ever have a white Christmas. At least not in Bakersfield. I guess since the snow won't come to me, I'll just have to go to the snow!

Even without the snow, this Christmas has been good. My whole extended family got together at my grandparent's house for lunch without fighting (a pretty big feat nowadays) and I got a call from my boyfriend and his family in Santa Barbara (no snow for them either :P). This day has been pretty near perfect if you ask me. I got a few gifts from my family and they all loved the ones I got for them. I'm just so grateful for everyone and everything that happened and is going to happen today. I have two more presents to give out and I know neither one of the recipients actually wanted any presents, so this should be fun!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all have a good day and remember to spend time with your love ones, like I'm about to do after I get done with this post (: I love you all.

xoxo
Ashley

Wordless Wednesday

Influenster Holiday VoxBox

Woohoo! I received my first VoxBox from Influenster! Influenster is a website that sends out monthly voxboxes to those who qualify. They send out samples of items for free and when you get them you are supposed to review them. It's free and fun! I made a video of me opening the Holiday Voxbox. I know my webcam sucks, and I promise not to use it again! 

My holiday voxbox came with XOut Wash-in Treatment, imPRESS Press-on manicure by Broadway Nails, Softsoap Coconut Scrub bar soap, Montagne Jeunesse Face Mask, New York color Liquid Lip Shine, Mentos Pure Fresh Gum, and a Coconut Cream Pie Larabar.

So far I have tried out the Mentos gum (chewing it right now), the Larabar, the NYC lip shine, and the imPRESS fake nails. The gum is pretty good. It hasn't lost all of its flavor yet, though it is pretty weak. The Larabar was not good at all. I received the Coconut Cream Pie flavor and it was just not enjoyable.  The texture of it wasn't bad, maybe I just need to try a different flavor. I put the lip shine on when I was making my video and it still looks and feels great. The applicator is nice and smooth. I just put the nails on; the box says they are supposed to last for a week* (when applied properly). I received red ones, and I love the color. The only thing I don't like about these is some of the edges are not cut properly. Some of them are a little jagged. They seem to be lasting through all this typing pretty well though!

I will probably write some more when I've had time to sample all of the products, but so far I'm liking all of them (minus the Larabar).

If you would like to receive your own VoxBox from Influenster, just go to Influenster.com! It's completely free and you get awesome stuff in the mail!

Gift Giving

Why do people exchange presents on Christmas? Do they give gifts just because they are expecting one in return or do they give gifts because they love to see the recipient's face light up when they open it? I'm like most people- I do enjoy unwrapping presents, but that is not the only reason I enjoy Christmas. The gift giving itself is what I enjoy most. I love giving people presents. I love finding something that they will like and seeing the reaction on their faces when they find out what it is.

I can't say what I've bought for people this year, because there is a small chance they might read this and find out, but I can't wait for Christmas to get here so I can give them their presents. Half the fun of giving someone the perfect gift is hunting for it. And if you can't find perfect, settling for great is always okay (: There are at least three presents that I'm very excited about this year. Is it weird that I'm excited about presents that aren't even mine?

I think one of the reasons people do not like gift giving on Christmas is because they think "what if the person I bought this for doesn't love it as much as I do?" That is something that always worries me as well. I like to think it's the thought that counts and you should be happy that person thought of you in the first place. I don't know. I just like giving things to people. And what's the big deal? Christmas only comes once a year; if you ever need an excuse to be thoughtful/sweet/romantic/funny here it is!

And I know that Christmas isn't just about presents! I love the entire holiday: the lights, the food, the music, the family, the friends... just everything about it! It has always been my favorite. Christmas is about being selfless and helping spread cheer. Why not give a gift and make someone you know (or don't know) happy?

Merry Christmas everyone!

Wordless Wednesday

Plan B

So recently there has been some controversy about Plan B, otherwise known as "The Morning After" pill. Currently the pill is available over the counter for those who are 17 or older. This was going to change to allow girls who are 16 and younger to be able to buy it without prescription, but as of yesterday morning, that initiative run by the FDA was overruled by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Young girls who are 16 or younger still need to have a prescription in order to buy the pills and common knowledge tells us that oftentimes getting a prescription can take multiple days to do. The pill is called the "morning after" pill, not the "couple of days after" pill. What good will it do by the time they actually get the prescription? I do not agree with Sebelius' choice. Many people have said that girls that age shouldn't even be buying Plan B- they shouldn't have a need for it, and while I agree, that's not going to stop them from having sex. Whether or not they can buy the pill without prescription is not going to stop them from having sex. If they're going to do it, they're going to do it.

One of Sebelius' reasons for denying the change was that younger girls will not know how to use the pill properly. She claims "there are significant cognitive and behavioral differences between older adolescent girls and the youngest girls of reproductive age". It seems simple enough to use to me. The directions say to take the pill as soon as possible withing 72 hours of unprotected sex. Wow. So hard to understand. This issue has actually come up multiple times, and every single time is has been a political decision to not allow Plan B to be available OTC.

The medical experts have it right and the politicians just need to butt out. I don't think anyone really wants their 11 or 12 year old child having sex, I know I wouldn't, but wouldn't you want them to have a chance to be safe about it if they did?

So I'm curious, what are your thoughts on Plan B being available OTC? Should young girls be able to use emergency contraception without a prescription, or do you believe they aren't mature enough to handle it on their own? Comment below and vote on the poll!

Guess I'll Go Eat Worms...

Nobody likes me,

                Everybody hates me,

                                Guess I’ll go eat worms…

I don't remember how old I was when I first heard this saying. It never made much sense to me either. Go eat worms? Why should anyone go eat worms just because no one likes them? Such a sad and lonely song and yet I remember singing it quite often when I was younger. I never really felt like I was part of a group of friends. In elementary school and junior high I had a group of friends to hang out with, but I always felt like they were the group, and I was just the weird kid that hung out around them.

When I was younger, I wasn't one of the popular kids, I wasn't attractive (as far as little girls go), and I definitely wasn't fashionable. I cringe when I look at older pictures of myself... especially school pictures! Oh my gosh what was I thinking?! Or more accurately, in most cases, what was my mother thinking? Haha, I'm sure we all have those pictures... or at least I'd like to think everyone else does too :P  Though I'm sure my appearance wasn't the only thing that kept me from making friends.

I'm just not inherently a social person. I sometimes feel like I have to push myself out there when I'm around friends. It's gotten much better over the years. This is the first year I've felt really surrounded by friends. I met an amazing guy in March 2010 and ever since then my life has gotten immensely better. My "group" of friends has grown and over-flowed. I do still feel like I'm on the outside looking in sometimes, but I'm working on blocking those thoughts out. I have so many new people in my life and I am thankful for every one of them. It's nice to feel wanted. Necessary. I think that's something everyone looks for in life.

P.S.
  School photo examples to come soon... when I'm not so tired -.-