Happy Friday! (and the blanks are back!)

Happy Friday all! I've been absolutely exhausted this week. I worked from home at the beginning (kudos to those who do that all day, every day - it takes some SERIOUS discipline!) and then did full time in the office alongside some extra consulting, and it seriously felt like I was ready to pass out asleep by 9pm every night.

Any fun plans for the weekend? I hope everyone had wonderful weeks with better weekends!  I am currently at the Toyota dealership getting my car tuned up (and I've blogged at my last three visits...funny!).  I was absolutely dreading it since it's so much money to just kiss good-bye, but I found out it will be much cheaper than I thought!  So hooray for that, and fingers crossed there are no other problems with my beloved Kharr.

Aside from that, I will probably be heading up to Orange County for lunch with a longtime best friend/former roommate - which of course means I'll be getting some shopping in! I've heard of a beauty supply place that has some serious discounts on nail polish, so a haul of that will probably happen.  It's reaaaally not necessary, but I can't help myself!  My brother and his friends are also having a Nerf war (yeah. that's real) on Sunday, so I'll probably pop by. The last one they had I got to judge/moderate on, which was pretty fun.

Onto the blanks!

Hosted by the lovely (and new mom!) Lauren :)

1. My favorite place i've ever traveled to is Alberobello, a small town in the city of Puglia (Bari province).  It is possibly the most quaint, cute and steeped in culture town I've seen to date.

2. Australia is somewhere I'd love to go someday.

3. I pass the time on a plane (or bus, or car ride or train) by reading, listening to music, and (pending where I am), singing loudly to myself.

4. My three must-haves when I travel are music, at least one book (preferably 5!) and lotion (ridiculously dry skin on airplane!).

5. My favorite travel companion is my brother.

6. The craziest thing that ever happened to me while traveling is when I was going to San Francisco - a friend had given me her mom's frequent flier miles for a free ticket, but she'd also spelled my name wrong when transferring over the ticket.  I definitely had an asterisk next to my name on the reprint, and everywhere I went I was completely and totally searched: bags, carry ons, and my own person. Thank God my dad works for the TSA so everything they were doing I know to be "standard," because it was pretty rattling.  OHOH there was also this time I was on a flight from Italy to Atlanta and a girl got a bloody nose around Hour 3 (of 6).  It literally did not stop for the rest of the flight, so of course everyone was properly freaking out for her. Flight attendants were rushing around for ice packs and continuing tissue and passengers were monitoring the girl to make sure she wasn't going to pass out or anything (that's a lot of blood to lose!). The scary thing is that I knew her, her family and mine happened to be on the same flight because we were all moving from Italy to the US.  They were supposed to continue onto the Texas portion of the flight with us, but they had to get off in ATL for medical attention.

7. The most exotic food I've ever tried while traveling is umm...french fries with mayonnaise?  I really don't try exotic foods, and that answer is cheating since I lived in Belgium and that was the norm for us. We didn't know it was considered weird until we moved to the US.

8. If I could live anywhere else, I'd live in Portland. It's absolutely wonderful and weird there.  Or go back to Europe, of course, but I figured I'd keep my answer to the US else this would go on forever.

9. I have been to fourteen (14) states in the US. CA, OR, WA, FL, NV, NM, CO, AZ, UT, MD, VA, NY, TX, GA

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Fill in the Blank Friday!

Happy Friday, all! It's been an exhausting week back at work - I'm lucky that the work is really easy, but it's tedious, I never get enough sleep (I'm averaging 4 hours a night - averaging!), and I've discovered that I have not updated the music on my iPod in years. Which means it is mostly Josh Groban and Michael Buble; both I love, but their music often lulls me to sleep.  Not a good combination when you're tired and bored!

Any fun weekend plans? I intend to chill out and read the entire weekend :) It's been weird back at my old office, and while physically exhausting, the week's also been an unexpected emotional toll, too. The only way I destress is getting lost in a literary world, and I have every intention to do so!

Though since it is a 3-day weekend, perhaps I'll venture out into the world and have dinner with friends or play tennis or something. Who knows!

Link up here and join the fun!

1. The last thing I ate was a caprese pizza with five different wines!  A wonderful wine tasting night at The Wine Encounter with my girls .

2. The last song I listened to was Lana Del Rey's Video Games.  But Gotye and Kimbra's Somebody That I Used To Know is playing right now!

3. Using the letters in my name I can spell {Ashley }...yes, ash, say, hay, hey, lea, lash.  I've got to be missing more, right?!

4. If I had to dress in one color for the rest of my life I would pick black. Boring, I know - but you always look good in black! .

5. If you were to look in my bag right now you'd find my wallet, keys, iPod touch, earphones, A Million Suns book, a hand mirror, Strawberry Lip Balm, Rose Salve, Nivea lip balm (if not obvious, my lips have been super dry lately), cell phone, a Luna bar, lotion, hand cream (hands have also been dry...stupid weather), a packet of Skittles, 4 pens, 3 pencils, a mini notebook, my camera, eyeliner, Sephora gift card.  Yes, I am one of those obnoxious people with a massive purse .

6. When I finish filling in the blanks I'm taking a quick shower then heading straight to bed! .

7. My all time favorite song to dance to is Ciara's 1, 2 Step, Usher's Yeah, or Jessie J's Domino.  I'm sure I'll think of others as soon as I hit Publish on this post though!.

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It's Friday Blanking time!

Happy Friday, all! Any exciting plans for the weekend? As far as I know, there's nothing in my book: which means all bets are off! So far the possibility of a small hike to a hidden waterfall smack in the middle of San Diego, taking down all the Christmas decorations, taking in a movie, and a Board Game night with friends have all come up - who knows what will actually happen. Isn't that a wonderful feeling?  Now if only my lingering sickness would go away entirely...

I leave you with a fabulous quote from the illustrious John Green's Paper Towns to inspire your weekend:

"If you don't imagine, nothing ever happens at all."

Link up here!

1.   One of my favorite things to do when I have free time is   read. Usually I go to a coffee shop with my computer, a notebook and a book, and see what happens. Watching others is pretty fun, too (in a non-creepy way, of course!)   .

2.   When I have free time I tend to   be lazy. I'll think of all the places I want to go, but then...get lost on the internet haha     .

3.  If I had an entire day completely to myself I would   go for a small jog in the morning, have a nice breakfast (fruits!), walk around a mall or in Pacific Beach, if the weather is right maybe read on the beach, grab a burrito somewhere, then lazy around at a Coffee Shop or Barnes & Noble with my computer, notebook, and a good book.  Head home, maybe play some tennis, have a peaceful dinner (pasta + wine), maybe watch a lovely movie or TV show, finish up with some hot chocolate and a book in bed   .

4.  I would prefer to spend my free time (alone or with others...)    proooobably alone. Does that make a horrible introvert? It would depend on my mood, sometimes all I want is to grab some girlfriends, a cup of coffee, and laugh at a table in the sunshine. But most times, I'm best at a bench in a park with a book and iced latte by my side   .

5.  Most of my free time happens    since I'm unemployed, mostly during the day - my family is home from their jobs in the morning and night, so the times to myself usually fall between 11:30am and 6pm .

6.  The best thing about free time is    the blissful irresponsibility and potential of it all .

7.  The next time I have free time I should probably   get my resume together and apply to jobs, fix up the layouts on my blogs, and clean up my room  but instead, I'll probably    lazy on the couch and read  .

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Fill-in-the-Blank Friday!

Link up here!

1. New Years is a good motivator for a New Year, New Start. Obviously we don't have to be dictated by an arbitrary date, but it's a good motivator to believe a refreshed calendar can mean a refreshed you.

2. One of my New Year's resolutions will be to exercise. I was doing really, really well before I started my last job - running and tennis. Then I couldn't get a schedule worked out, and it's just...been lost. So, I resolve to get an exercise plan back in place. No pressure about a specific weight or a rigorous regimen: I just need to do it.

3. A New Year's resolution I've made in the past was to finish a novel. I have yet to actually meet that, but I've definitely gotten closer!

4. The most time consuming resolution I ever made was...hmm..I don't think I have one, really. I don't make resolutions often, and when I do, they're not very adventurous or time consuming. Maybe the novelling thing because it takes awhile to do that, but that's a bit of a stretch for the answer.

5. This year I will be spending New Year's Eve hopefully downtown with my best friend and some other friends partying, but seeing as how I've been sick for the past two days it's making it seem like NYE is closer to being spent at home, watching the ball drop on the TV while I suck down saltines and gatorade.

6. If I could wish one thing for my new year it would be to commit more. I'm such a flake on so many different aspects of my life, and I sincerely hope to curb that. It's not healthy!

7. 2012 is going to be filled with looooots of change. I'm starting the year unemployed again, so I have a plan of finding a job, finally moving out of the parents' house, getting together my portfolio and really freelancing and learning my craft.  Hopefully, 2012 will be filled with a lot of passion.


PS. Speaking of New Year's, we've all seen this ABSOLUTE cuteness from Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, right?  Because it is whimsical and beautiful and sounds fantastic and can they please just have precious little babies together already?!

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Reminiscing the good ol' days of 2000s pop music and filling in some Friday blanks!

YOU GUYS.  You guys. You guys you guys you guys. Guess what I saw at the library and had to check out as soon as possible?

No? No guesses? LOOKIE HERE!

And because that's a crummy webcam picture and backwards, that DVD I'm holding is this:

Yeah, that's real. I totally forget it came out awhile back, and I mean...I didn't get to see these episodes with them in the Mickey Mouse Club days. I was pretty young, and the show didn't even air in the countries I was living in. I've seen clips of course, as any child of the Millennium Pop era has (*NSYNC FOREVER)...but I'm so excited to actually see the horrors of this for reals. Oh Justin Timberlake...no matter what I see, I hope you know that I will love you always. Unconditionally.

And I guess it'll be cool to see some pre-crazy Britney and pre-boobs Christina.  And a girl can always hope for a peep of Ryan Gosling!

Anyway, the weekend! Christmas Christmas Christmas. That's about all it will entail.  I've made a promise to myself that I will be sending all my Christmas cards out by Saturday. I was doing so well with them, and I've just...slacked like crazy.  (Which, if you would like a card, email me your address and you shall receive! prickslikethorn[at]gmail[dot]com - and of course your information won't ever be shared or used for another use other than a holiday card)  After all that, tons of gift wrapping. Luckily I'm done with all my actual shopping, so I don't have to worry about the crazy crowds.

Happy Friday all, have a wonderful weekend!  Onto the blanks...

Link up here!

1.   My most favorite "little thing" is    the little chocolate flake sprinkles they put on top of a peppermint mocha at Starbucks. It's so cute and small and you don't really see them since the drink is covered...but it's there, and little, and I love it  .

2.   I'd give anything to  be in Paris right now    .

3.  I can't believe   that there's only 9 days left until Christmas, and 15 days to the new year.  WHERE DID THE TIME GO?!   .

4. The one thing I'd like to achieve today is   finishing at least 10 of my ~25 Christmas cards   .

5.  The last thing I want to do today is   clean. Urgh .

6.  If I were writing my own blank today, it would say:  'a movie i want to see in theaters right now is______' because I still want to see Arthur Christmas haha. .

7.  My favorite candle scent is   actually, I'm not sure. I usually like Christmas-y smells and all, but we don't burn candles in my house so I can't...answer .

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It's a Holiday-themed Friday (which suits me just fine!)

So as a small reminder, check out Girl With Curls for my guest blog post!  Apparently my math was way off (I am not surprised) because it's already up on her site - so have fun with me and the 10 Christmas Things that Make Me Happy!

This weekend promises a lot of Holiday madness! My dad made a deal with me that when I cleaned the living room (it's been sorely neglected in all the November/Thanksgiving busy-ness), he'd get the Christmas decorations down from the garage.  And guess what I spent all day Thursday doing?? It is spotless (if I do say so myself...), so I get my decorations :)

Unfortunately, we had a small beehive issue in the summer and it happened to be right in the corner where we store all the decorations in the garage. A few bees had made it into the garage, so we had to spray the bug killer inside as well, and now we're uncertain if it's damaged any of the boxes or if the chemicals have gotten into the bins. Which means, we may have to toss out the majority of our Christmas things :(  This is horrible news for my mom and I as we have several keepsakes and memories in there, from childhood or handed down to us from generations. Keep your fingers crossed that most of it is fine!

(Although I have to say it'll be fun stocking up on decorations again if we have to replace any!)

So what is everyone else's plans? Are you starting in on the Holiday hoopla too, or putting it off for one more blissful weekend?

I hope everyone has a wonderful end of week, and let's get on with Fill in the blank Friday!

Link Up Here!

1.   The holiday season is   perfection. A time of family and loved ones and remembering how lucky and blessed you've been through the year; and a time to be determined and look forward to the new year .

2.   Snow makes me  cold. And it makes me miss Belgium, because that's the last place I've lived that really gets any     .

3.  The best comfort food to eat when it's cold out is   soup in a bread bowl from Panera. Delicious! 

4. Winter is the best time for    baking and cooking! Our house heats up when we use the stove, so it's almost torturous to use it in the summer months (Southern California weather + heated house = bad news). So when it's cold out, all the better to make it warm and toasty inside - PLUS, you get delicious holiday goodies!  

5.  I can hardly wait for   decorating my house and wrapping all the gifts. I'm almost done with Christmas shopping, 2 gifts left! .

6.  When it comes to holiday gifts I prefer to   give them, and if I can, make them. It's awkward receiving gifts, but I love giving people presents and showing them how much they mean to me .

7.  If I were to rate my excitement about the holiday season on a scale from 1-10, I would say I am at about a   9. You would think a 10, but I get the holiday blues/grinchiness about a day or two of the season when it's overwhelming and seems a bit...pointless.  But then I look at garland and turn on the lights to my Christmas tree and I remember how much I have to be thankful for and perk up  .

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Fill in the Blank Friday!

So, this is going up a bit earlier than normal - because I'll be at Disneyland tomorrow! Brother and friends are going to the New Found Glory show at HOB there, so I'm going to hitch a ride and Christmas shop in the park using my pass (and probably pop on a few rides, of course!).  The rest of the weekend is reserved for another birthday celebration of a friend, which will be exhausting but fun (karaoke, boba and laser tag!).

Have a happy weekend all!  What are your plans?

Link up here!

1.   A nervous habit I have is    tapping my pencil (if I have one) and/or twirling my hair. Both equally annoying, and one almost painful, but...I can't help it!  

2.   Something that makes me sad is  stores open during Thanksgiving and/or at midnight on Black Friday. I mean, I'm down with the BF - I'm one of those crazies in a line at 3am. But to infringe on Thanksgiving? To shorten it, cut out family time, just for sales? That's horrible     .

3.  Today I am thankful for    the baristas at my local Coffee Bean - although to be honest, one in particular (Keith). A lot of them aren't that friendly, and I've been going in there 3+ times a week for the last 8 weeks, and Keith is the only one to remember my name and order. I'm not saying you have to, but...an effort is nice. Anyway, he's always incredibly nice, attentive, considerate and makes nice conversation.  It's pleasant going in there - which is why I go often    .

4. My favorite room in my house is   the living room. It's cozy and comfy and always the perfect temperature   .

5.  I can't stand   the Target black friday commercial. I hate that character  .

6.  If I had an extra $100 to spend on whatever I wanted today I would   pay off next month's Student Loan payment. Even though I budget for it, losing that chunk in the middle of Holiday season hits hard .

7.  The last person I hung out with was   if my mom is asleep on the couch next to me, does that count? Otherwise, I went to dinner with one of my best friends two nights ago  .

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Fill in the Blank Friday!

Join the fun here!

1.   My favorite new blog of the moment is     John Green's Tumblr. He's such a brilliant writer and I love all he blogs about   .

2.   Something I am thankful for is  wonderful friends who support me no matter how much I disappear on them    .

3.  Something that made me laugh this week was    this tweet because Big Bang Theory is hilarious, and Kunal Nayyar is my favourite!  .

4. An item that is currently on my wish list is   a cute pair of grey heeled boots because my only pair were crammed in the corner of my closet and are now thrown out due to mold :(  (these, these, or these'll do!)  .

5.  I am excited about   seeing where my NaNoWriMo novel goes. I've finally passed into that point of being invested, so I'm going to toss weirdness in and see where it takes me .

6.  If I were a color I would be    royal blue. It's classic and common, but stands on its own .

7.  My favorite way to spend a chilly fall day is    wrapped in a cuddly coat or fresh out-of-the-dryer comforter with a mug of hot cocoa in hand .

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Cookies, birthdays, cute boots and what makes me happy: It's Fill in the Blank Friday!

Birthdays are stressful.

Three birthdays were this week, so all the celebrations were kind of little throughout the week - and coming to a big culmination this weekend.  Dinner, potentially super formal, activities, parties, drinking...it's going to get down.

Or at least get fun.  I question how this will affect my damned NaNoWriMo novel (current count: 3547 words).

But anyway, what are your guys weekend plans?

Join the fun here!

1.   My favorite thing about this week was/is    that it was filled with things to do but was not overly stressful. Good hanging out watching old movies and passing out candy on Monday, fun music making at a practice space on Tuesday, finally beginning NaNo-ing Wednesday, cupcakes and friends Thursday, more writing and friends-ing Friday and throughout the weekend  .

2.   Colder weather makes me   excited!  It means holidays and family and fun! It's also my favourite kind of weather: that crisp air that requires boots, cardigans and scarves, that makes the tip of your nose freeze     .

3.  Three things that make me terribly happy as of late are    IMs with best friends who are far away, leg warmers (not quite San Diego appropriate, but still), and really really amazing books. I've luckily been on a streak of brilliant novels   .

4. If I could only wear one kind of shoe for the rest of my life, I'd choose   boots. Cognac, below the knee, slight heel, probably a buckle. Always cute!   .

5.  My personality type is   something I don't remember from that Personality Test, but it was basically and extroverted introvert haha.  How about we say I'm a Pisces? Because even though I'm not positive I believe in astrology, I am a token Pisces woman .

6.  I have a serious problem resisting     cookies. I keep baking, and then friends give them to me, and family buys them, and it's just a sugar smorgasbord.  We currently have nutella cookies, m&m cookies, chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies and the ingredients for dark chocolate mint choco chip cookies in the house .

7.  My favorite color to wear is   shades of grey. And black. Lots of black .

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It's Friday! Let's kick it off with Childhood blanks.

Happy Friday, all! I finally got started on all my NaNo stuff, so this weekend will be more prep and probably just hanging out with friends.  This is also the last weekend I have before holiday & birthday things happen (seriously, starting November 1, I don't go a single weekend without some birthday or holiday following.  Ridiculous!), so I'm going to take my time to chill out before I get all stress-y and busy.

Then again, I'm complaining about having too many friends with birthdays and the holidays. Not much of a complaint there, is it?  I know I'm lucky.

Anyway. Have a wonderful weekend, and let's get on some blanks!

Link up here to play along!

1.   When I was a kid I wanted to be     a writer or a ballet dancer    when I grew up.

2.   As an adult, my dream job would be   a YA book editor      .

3.  W hen I was younger I wanted to be just like  Josephine March from Little Women(still true!)   .

4. The childhood Halloween costume that I remember most was when I was   Pocahontas. Mostly because this other girl named Ashley also dressed up as Pocahontas and it was so much better than mine, but I looked way more like her. It was an upsetting time haha   .

5.  My favorite childhood toy was    Oregon Trail. Does this not count? I've been on a computer since I was a wee one, so I loved Oregon Trail and my Creative Writer program .

6.  The time I got into the biggest amount of trouble when I was a kid was when I     didn't buckle my seatbelt. I was super pissed off about something and refused to wear my seatbelt as an act of rebellion. I think I lasted an hour, and then got a week with no TV, an immediate time out at home and probably some other punishments, too   .

7.  I get daily inspiration from    other blogs, Twitter (it's a funny world out there, my friends) and most recently, Pinterest  .

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