I have to say I'm 23 now.

Back at our apartment in Ickenham (I think...somewhere London!)

Me and my brother, back when we were wee young kiddies.  I was trying so hard to hold up that cake...so proud.  Weren't we freakin' adorable?  My brother especially.  I don't know what happened to both of us...such potential.

As noted, it was my birthday this past Friday (much thanks to those who wished me a happy birthday!), but things have been kind of strange with the responsibilities stacking up that happens when a military kid turns 23.  I did get to go to a lovely dinner with my family on Saturday night, and I was able to go out with a small, select group of friends Friday night for a yummy dinner as well.  There was drama, and I did get a bit upset so it wasn't the best of nights, but overall it was a rather decent run.  It definitely beats the birthday I was dumped (6th grade! So naturally, I was heartbroken beyond belief) and the birthday my first year in college when I had a final and later found out I indeed failed the class--which was not only the first university class I ever failed, but the first class I'd ever received lower than a C on in my entire life.

Oh 19th birthday, you slay me.

Anyhow.  Don't say "aww" to me or feel bad, because I've never really cared too much about my birthday.  The fact that I did something for it pretty much makes it much more memorable than most of the rest.  Next weekend will be the full celebration with my friends, so hopefully I'll have some fun stories and pictures to share with you then!

No pictures of these last two dinner celebrations (I was entirely too focused on the pizookie from BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse and the delish barbecue sauce and apple butter from Lucille's.  So bad for me, and so good for my taste buds), but I do have pictures of the two gifts my family gave me!  They're footing the bill for next weekend's birthday celebrations, so I was quite surprised to have received these things in the first place!  Apologies for the small, crappy pictures; I was too lazy to use my real camera so I resorted to my crummy webcam.

excuse my chipped nailpolish! and the reflection of my computer screen

We all know I love penguins, so it was natural for my mom to choose this for me.  My walls in my bedroom are disgracefully bare, so I'm excited to hang it.  And, it is pretty freakin' adorable!  Her co-worker makes these, so it's even more personal for us.  I took a picture of the detail (again, sorry for such shite quality!) so you can see that the penguins are actually scrolled paper.

And from my brother...as I told David, I have a soft spot for Wall-E.  I love him, I love the film, I pretty much love it all.  And most especially, I love the Microbe Obliterator, aka MO!  I mean, he's small, he's cute, he's the cleaner of the ship and maintains the proper order--what wouldn't I love about him?!  One of my favorite parts is when Wall-E puts his foot/tire tread onto MO's face and he has a freak out..ugh.  So cute!  Which made this little gift perfect.

I want to take him out of the package, but I don't want to ruin him!

My family knows me so well.

Before I close out this post, two things to take care of:
1) Thanks to [another] David for the One Lovely Blog award!  I never thought the order of me following someone would pay off :)  And I am very glad, because you have quickly become a favorite!

2) ABC Family had a Harry Potter marathon this entire weekend.  I'm not sure if this ruined or made my days.  But they did show sneak clips of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1), which I am going to consider a personal birthday gift from ABC Family, Disney Co., and all companies therewithin.  Thanks!

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These Are A Few of My Favourite Things...

In the last days of this overbearing love-fest, I realized I'd completely neglected a facet: superficial love!  Not fake love, I mean the love of objects.  Materialism, if you will.  I'm not against it by any means, as long as we acknowledge it and understand that loving things doesn't take the place of loving someone and sharing love.

That said, I thought I'd go around my house and take pictures of things that I love.  You know when you leave your house for awhile (vacation, college, moving out, etc.), and you realize there are items that make your house a home (whatup Dionne Warwick and Luther Vandross!)?  These are some of those items to me; the ones that I can take with me to have a piece of where I belong, or the ones where I can walk into my house, see them, and know that's where I belong.

My DVD collection!  Sorry it's messy and some are missing and things aren't in the correct order--I haven't re-organized it since Christmas, and that means an additional 20+ DVDs have to get shoved in there somewhere.  I'm not a big movie person (despite how it seems), but I love seeing a collection of movies I love and enjoy and know I can pop one in and immediately lose myself in that world.

One of the more random objects in my house: a diskette clock!  We've had it for as long as I can remember, and even though it's not even set on the correct time (I don't know why no one moves it), it's one of those objects that has to be somewhere or it's not complete.

People have called my house "The Museum" because we have a lot of random souvenirs hung around everywhere.  I love all of them, but these stand out to me the most.  My family collects Souvenir Spoons and Shot Glasses, which we display a small selection of in the Italian curio cabinet.  You can also see some of the castanets we bought while in Spain.  The Venetian masks are by far some of my favourite, as I have a small personal collection as well (not pictured, though).  I wanted to have a larger collection, but they're expensive and difficult to ship.  The knotboard (bottom left) is from Spain, something my dad picked up while on a business trip there.  It's a fascinating piece, and even though we've had it for upwards of 15 years, I can still look at it and see new knots I'd never noticed.  The last one are two fans we got while in the Philippines.  They're beautiful and delicate and a nice reminder of the heritage.

These are a bit indulgent, I'll admit to that.  The left is an Asian-art inspired vase I made in 11th grade Advanced Ceramics.  It's a lot bigger than it seems (accidentally the largest panel-built vase made in the history of the ceramics class.  I didn't mean to!), but it's oddly familiar to me.  It just seems to fit in my house, even though there's almost nothing else asian-inspired (aside from the Philippine fans).  The other object is something I love dearly and am very proud to be able to display in the house.  I had to blur most of it since it is a personal item, but it's my dad's Shadowbox, given to him when he retired from the Navy.  The middle has his history of locations and military bases he was stationed in; the left are pins of merit; and the right are his medals and bars and rankings.

All of these (except military ribbon keychain) were gifts to me, and I love them so, so much.  The big A keychain and the Eiffel Tower keychain where given to me by one of my best friends Jenise, and if you can see the oversized ring-keyring (how's that for confusing?) that's holding them all together, that was given to me by my roommate/closest friend Emily.  I love these keychains because they're very defining of who I am.  The slinky was given to me by a friend from my dorm days.  It's an adorable story as to why, but I'll share that at a later date--just know it was meaningful.  And yes, you're seeing the middle correctly: it's a purse modeled after the old-style Composition books!  My brother and his girlfriend gave it to me as a grad gift, and it's so fucking perfect I pretty much die every time I get to use it. 

I'm a nerd, I know, but I can't help it.  Like many others, I find that I have a slight obsession with Post-Its and Sharpies.  I dunno what it is, other than the fact they're colourful and amazing and so practical and useful it's ridiculous.  Ok, maybe having so many isn't necessarily the most economical, but I swear I use all of it!  These are the spares I have in the drawers, there are a bunch more scattered throughout my room.  The organized me (which, face it, is pretty much all of me) falls in love with these.

I know I'm 22-years-old, and I'm "too old for stuffed animals."  But these two are special.  I've had Wheezy the Penguin for a bit, as it was a birthday gift from my brother last year.  If you recognize his name, it's because he's from Toy Story 2!  The Toy Story movies are my absolute favorites (Toy Story 3 out June 18!  I'M SO EXCITED).  He even wheezes when you squeeze him!  Whenever I was upset, my roommate would squeeze him and make him squeak because she knew it would cheer me up.  The other is my most special stuffed animal, and I can't bear (unintentional pun!) to let her go.  Her name is Snowball, and I got her while visiting England when I was younger (probably 7).  I don't know why I became so attached to her, but she's soft and squishy (nowadays her padding has moved and bunched a bit, but she's no less lovable) and I bring her everywhere.  Snowball has been with me in my three ER trips, on the couch recovering from oral surgery, waiting rooms of hospitals as I wait for family/friends, camping, all my Girl Scout trips, through all of college...everywhere.  She even got me an A on one of my journalism papers (a story for another time).

And lastly, my necklace.  I have to wear a necklace or else I feel unbalanced, and 99.8% of the time it will be this one (the other .2% is when I go to bars/clubs because I don't want to risk losing it.  Plus, somehow I don't think wearing a cross will attract the boyz).  Originally two separate necklaces, my mom gave me the heart necklace when I was 18 and my dad gave me the cross necklace when I was 16.  When the chain on one of them broke, it seemed obvious to combine them.  They both put a lot of thought into these, despite how simple they are.  I find a lot of symbolic meaning in them from my parents, and I like knowing I carry something of them with me everywhere.

What are some of your favorite items?

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An Ashley Absolute

An Ashley Absolute: a little thing about me you may not know.

Today's AAA: I have an Emperor Penguin in Antarctica. (Courtesy the WWF and one of my best friends)

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