New Year follow up

 

 

 

 

 

I feel like the new year should officially start in February. We don’t get our act together until then I think. Between coming back from vacations. Putting your house back in order. Getting back into the routine of everything can take a few extra weeks. Even longer if you start the new year sick like I did. But it has forced me to finally get some rest. Finally give myself those days off to veg out like I originally intended in the beginning of Fall. So if you are like me I grant your full permission to start your new year in February. Get back into the gym, reorganize your house, start a new project etc … just in February.
I’ve got a lot of goals for 2022 so I’m excited to see which ones pan out. However, I want to make sure that I press that enough. Don’t be too busy. Don’t burn your candle at both ends. Just take each day as it comes and give yourself a lot of forgiveness and grace. 

Let’s have a great 2022 …… starting in February.

12 Days of Christmas Outfits: Day 10 {Rocker}

Plaid leggings are such a staple. Any leggings are a staple to be honest. Had to throw these in the mix. Plaid just says Christmas. It might not be the last you see of the plaid. But this is another addition to the casual Christmas outfits. Paired with a leather Moto jacket and a cropped white chenille sweater.

 

12 Days of Christmas Outfits: Day 2 Nutcracker

Today is a more casual comfortable outfit for Christmas
The sweater reminded me of candy land or the nutcracker and the four realms. Just big pastel colored lollipops and sweetness.
Super comfy and cozy perfect for lounging around Christmas Day or going out for a Christmas movie.

12 Days of Christmas outfits: Day 1 {Living Generously}

 Ever since we went debt free it became even more important to stick to a budget. We never went crazy, but we having a budget has allowed us to buy for other people. It has allowed us to have extra to be generous with other people. 

Honestly not just over the holidays, all year round.

Nothing beats the feeling of giving to others. Especially when they are in need.
There are so many ways to be generous.
There are organizations like operation Christmas child, where you pack a shoebox full of gifts and toys and they send them to orphanages in other countries.
Some places have Christmas trees with little kids faces on them and you can buy Christmas gifts for kids when their parents can’t afford it.
You can also gift your time. Helping elderly people or sick people mow their lawn or do house projects.
Some churches hand out food or there are soup kitchens that feed the homeless.

People tip extremely large amounts to unsuspecting servers. Most places they live mainly off their tips. That’s a huge blessing to those in the service industry.


Do you have an abundant amount of clothes that are just taking up space? Or an extra car that you don’t really need. A teen mom might be in need of a vehicle to transport her newborn baby to drs appointments or to her new job.


We can’t pass a homeless person while driving without my son asking to give them money. It doesn’t matter to him what their sign might say. He loves to give and be kind to others.

We can definitely learn something from kids.


I hope you find it in your heart to give in some capacity during the holidays. And I hope that it sparks a fire in you to be generous all the time. It really is the best!

Mad World

                                                                                                         

      How many of you are going a little insane already with this remote learning? Not just remote learning but the idea of homeschooling my tween who's pretty much already a full fledged teenager at this point. We've been doing it wrong this whole last week and half and are now playing catch up. I also hate math. My brain automatically shuts off when a math                    problem presents itself. Which is ironic seeing how I am nerd when it comes to our monthly budget. My need to solve a problem must overpower my hatred for math at that point I guess.

        It's Good Friday everyone and Easter is right around the corner. I hope you are all gearing up for your at home festivities and picking out your basic Easter outfits that no one will probably see.  

              We are pretty much used to that anyway. We will miss going to actual church though. I hope everyone has a great Easter!

                                                                                                                                                                        He is Risen!                             

If the world was ending...

What a bizarre time we are living in now. There's been some days this last week that we've driven around just to take a ride. It's like living in a ghost town in some places.
I want to go to the movies. I want to go bowling. I want to go to Target for crying out loud. 

Out of boredom we even signed up for Doordash just to make some extra money. I mean why not right? We aren't doing anything else might as well make some extra money. 

If you read my old post over the summer "Freedom"

you will see that we have been following the Dave Ramsey program. We were doing it based off of the baby steps that can be found on Pinterest and listening to his podcast. Well, thankfully Dave Ramsey is now offering Financial Peace University as a two week FREE trial on his website. We've been binge watching all of the videos. It's gotten us fired up for the future. It's got great information on how to avoid making stupid financial decisions. Which we have in the past for sure. 

I know this might sound boring to some people or hard to do. But I've heard so many stories of people paying off thousands of dollars in debt. Paying off their houses in just a matter of years!

That's insane to me! Even single parents are doing it. We weren't in that bad of a hole thankfully. But we've managed to get through the first 4 Baby Steps in 8 months. 

It's worth it! You're stuck at home anyway! Might as well make a plan for the future once this craziness is over and we can go back to normal.

Cheers to 2020

I'm writing this on the last day in my house before they pack up my computer. 

I've had a good long break from blogging and even some social media. I've had some time to reevaluate things. I'm implementing some new things this year. It's not only a new year but a new decade. I'm saying goodbye to the old ways, the old way of thinking. Making a conscious effort to reach goals, personal and professional. 

The changes you will see right off the bat are within this blog. I've been doing this blog for about 8 years. From the beginning it was a creative outlet for me. I loved sharing my personal style, my hobbies, home decor, and family adventures.  Then I started getting wrapped in what I should be posting, how often I should be posting,  a "keeping up with the Jones's mentality." Even getting caught up with the copycatters out there. As frustrating as all that can be it deterred me from my passion. I shied away from what brought me into this world in the first place. I doubted myself, I compared myself, I've felt left out and even invisible. 

This life has the ups and downs and the good and the bad. 

So here we are in 2020. New year. New Rules!

I am pushing out Fashion Friday. I am now going to be posting whenever and whatever I want. I am still going to post the favorites. Fashion of course, but also some new elements. 

So goodbye Georgia!

You've been good to me.

I took big steps here. I stepped out of my comfort zones. I grew a lot, I challenged myself. Watched my kids grow. Next time you will be seeing me I will be at our next duty station. 

In the mean time you can still follow on instagram @ashley.reed or @ashleyreedmusic

Fashion Friday

 How is it already November?! There's literally 52 days left of this year. This has been such a crazy year. I started out this year dropping my very first EP in February. It's been a slow and steady pace since then. I have learned that the music business is very slow. It's a constant waiting game. In fact it was until this week that I finally wrote a song for another artist. That sounds so crazy to me. It's definitely a new experience. It's hard to put time and effort into something creative just to give it away to someone else. I'm learning to cope with it. Because that's part of the gig of being a songwriter. At least that's what I've been telling myself. All singer/songwriters do it! Avril Lavigne wrote for Kelly Clarkson, Jessie J wrote for Miley Cyrus. I can do this!! 

Until the next track comes along...... Who knows what the future holds for me. #Dreamsdonthavedeadlines

On a side note. This whole outfit is from Ross!! I can't say it enough. Ross is my jam!! I love cute, on trend affordable fashion. This military wife/artist needs things to be affordable!