Out goes 2016, In Comes 2017

Well, here we are, the end of another year. 2016 comes to an end tonight. I can’t say that I’m sad to see it go. I’m ready for the fresh start that 2017 is going to bring.

How about you?

Are you done with 2016?

Or was it a great year for you?!

Either way, I hope that 2017 brings lots of love, laughter, sugar, spice and everything nice!

Too cheesy?

I am also one of those people who really love New Year’s resolutions. I know, I know, most of the time they don’t actually happen. I enjoy trying to make it happen though and am always hopeful for the coming year!

Here are just a few of what I am hoping for in 2017:

~ Read more: My reading habits have dwindled lately and it is time to fix that!

~ Ski more: I want to ski more this year! I want to explore the backcountry more too. Skiing is the thing that I love doing the most!

~Picture a day: I want to see more around me and I want to enjoy and share those with around me!

~ Explore More: I want to see more and do more and go to places that I have never been to!

Those are just a few!

What are you hoping to pursue in 2017?

Let’s make 2017 awesome!

 

So It Begins…

Happy Monday!

Is there such thing as a happy Monday? I find that highly unlikely.

However, we are starting the week off on the right foot with this challenge. So pumped to get into better shape.

As we start this challenge, I want to share my aspirations for getting into shape, the reasons why.

I live in a very active state, but I also live in a state that has some extremely rich food and amazing craft breweries. In the past couple of years, I have focused more on the food and beer and less on the getting out and playing in the great outdoors. There are a lot of factors that go into why that happened, but ultimately, it was my decision to not go out and play. It happens. Seasons of life change and so do our habits. I am the heaviest I have ever been and it makes me uncomfortable. I am uncomfortable standing for long periods of time. Runs are not great. Sometimes even skiing isn’t great. I am not super strong. I am exhausted all the time from being so sedentary.

So, I am doing this to get strong and healthy. I definitely have no intention of being a stick thin model at any point in time but I want to be strong and lean.

I want to be able to play harder and longer when I am outside! I want to go further distances and achieve more in my outings!

My ultimate goal is to be a pro skier. I want every decision I make in my health, exercise, and work to point towards being a pro skier. I know I am in my prime for it right now, but skiing will last a lifetime. However, I want to get my butt in gear now and make it happen! Being as out of shape as I am right now, isn’t how that is going to happen. So, I’m changing.

I ran a half marathon this year and I know, the next step would logically be a marathon but I’m crazier than that and we all know it. I am going to be doing a 50 miler in July. Registration opens December 1st. I think that is also helping me kick my butt into high gear. I have so much training to do for that and its time I do it. I am going to start reading through Hal Kroener’s Field Guide to Ultrarunning and if you have any interest, you should read along with me even if you are just a shorter distance runner, he has some great tips in general! Get the book! It has been a great read so far!

Why do you want to get in shape?

What is your ultimate goal?

See ya!

My Mind is a Series of Bunny Trails

I have come to realize lately that my mind goes in so many directions all at once. I am constantly thinking about the work I need to do, and the laundry, the dishes, blogging, being active, making sure I get my dogs out on a run/hike, the book I’m reading, the TV show I want to catch up on. I can’t help it! I have so many things I want to do and am doing. I enjoy thinking about most of them, maybe not the laundry but oh well.

I am loving the Christmas season. I have put out my Christmas towels in the kitchen as well as the pot holders. We are getting our tree on Sunday and decorating it! 🙂 I love this time of year!

But I am also thinking about the New Year. I made goals for 2014 and have kept them relatively well. 2015 is a whole new year though! I will talk more about those later. I don’t want to get all of us thinking about goals already! We need to enjoy the Christmas season before it passes by us completely!

All I can say about goals now is, I am so excited about what 2015 will bring! I have plans and prospects that look great and promising! I am excited to see where life will take us!

Enjoy the season!

See ya!

November 15 (belated): Things I Wish I Was Better At

In case you guys haven’t heard, I am no savant. I am no genius. I really just am not great at a pretty decent amount of things. Now before you get all, “Ashley, don’t be so hard on yourself.” I am not being a Debbie Downer here. Just being honest. I have my faults just like everyone else! There are things I am halfway decent at and there are things I am not. It happens. Welcome to life!

Things I Wish I Was Better At:

~ Eating healthy. I am terrible at eating healthy. I am currently sitting here eating Moose Munch which is caramel corn and chocolate cover caramel corn mixed together. I love me some chocolate and I love me some caramel. I have a major sweet tooth which I try to subdue with berries or other fruit as often as I can but honestly, I just love sweets! I also love salt. Lots and lots of it! I have gotten better about not eating as much but I still just love it!

~ Working out. Or even just being more active. I would much rather just sit on the couch and watch Gilmore Girls while eating Ice Cream. You feel me? Why can’t that be exercising? Why can’t you burn more calories reaching for the remote? I mean for real, I just think we should work on that.

~ Cleaning the house. I am not bad at picking things up, such as laundry to put in the hamper. But honestly, I am terrible at vacuuming and dusting and mopping. I do not enjoy it so I avoid it as long as possible. Being married has made me try a little harder but TJ doesn’t mind so oftentimes he will get to it before I do.

~ Cooking. My food doesn’t taste terrible. I mean some recipes have just not worked out, but the majority has been relatively delicious. I mean I am terrible at mustering up the energy to make food. (Remember the couch scenario from above?) I just do not want to make food sometimes! I would much rather sit on my bum than stand in the kitchen and prepare a meal after working all day.

What do you wish you were better at?

See ya!

Down in the Dumps

Not gonna lie guys, I have been feeling a little down in the dumps lately. Feeling super run down with work and just not inspired at all with where I am at in life. I have dreams and aspirations but I really just feel like I am going nowhere with them. I really feel stuck in retail, which is definitely not where I want to be. I think my husband feels the same way. So you have two peeps who are feeling stuck, that doesn’t exactly ignite any kind of passion in marriage either lol. Not to say that things are dying, it just isn’t steaming passion at the moment. It happens. There are periods of abundance and drought in every relationship, whether it is marriage, friendship or even family.

But anyway, back to my main topic of thought today. I want to work and do something I am passionate about. I love talking with people and sharing info or tidbits or just revelations in day to day life. I mean I have been at this blog for about two and half years now. How crazy is that?! I honestly love it! I love seeing peoples lives and I love sharing my own. I love writing! I really do. I write a lot. I journal on my own. I write here. I have random little notes all over the place in my house. It is kind of ridiculous. I truly think that writing is good for the soul. I think it gets things out and who knows, can sometimes lead to wonderful things.

I have seen this Passion Planner pop up on Facebook multiple times this week and I have watched her video and read a little bit about her. It is wonderful! I think it is a great idea. Such a great way for some inspiration.

Watch the video!

I hope that gives you and I some inspiration for the day!

See ya!

Resolutions, Cars and the Joy of Having a Rib Cage

So, this week went better in regards to my resolutions. I think bringing it up in my blog earlier this week really helped me get excited about the resolutions I had made as well as why I had made them! Some of my resolutions I did more days that I had originally planned. I also felt like I had been cheating a little bit on some of my resolutions last week so I resolved to be better about them this week. I definitely managed to be better about them! I feel great about my week! Yay!

Two weeks ago today, TJ was heading up to Arapahoe Basin for Ski Patrol tryouts and heading up I-70 on a Saturday morning has a ton of traffic. Long story short, an accident happened, no one was hurt and our vehicle had way more damage than the other person’s. Took it to see how much the damage was and it was totaled. So, we have been driving around a rental car for the past couple of weeks. A Dodge Avenger. The nerd inside me definitely was super excited about the name. Lol. We drove it around until just the other day we found a car that met our needs almost exactly. We bought a 2006 scion. It is one of those boxy looking cars. I don’t have pictures at the moment and TJ took it to work so there will be pictures later! But it has so much room inside. Enough for a couple friends as well as two pups! It gets just as good of gas as the Honda Fit if not better. So, there we are, we have a new addition to the Parnell household!

Around the same time as the accident, I must have fallen skiing or something. I have had sore rib since. The only thing I can remember is doing a Jillian Michaels DVD and not being able to finish because my rib was killing me! So, it has been super sore off and on since then. I’m trying to just take it easy and let the rib heal. I have come to realize I am terrible at taking it easy. First, I have a relatively physically demanding job. I do a lot of stocking shifts at work which means some lifting of sometimes heavy boxes. I love stocking but my rib does not. Lol. Then I just want to be outside, hiking or skiing or walking the dogs. That is not a good idea right now. Today was 50 degrees! It was screaming to have me outside because that is the warmest it has been in a while! But I am doing as the doctor (aka TJ) ordered and trying to lay around and let it heal. Seriously, so much harder than it seems!

Well, anyway. I’m off to laying around again!

See ya!

Book Review: The Happiness Project

I just read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. Usually, I take some time to process the book before posting but honestly, I have been processing as I have been reading the book. This book was a really good read! She takes 12 majors areas in her life that she wants to improve her happiness through everyday changes. She makes resolutions for each month and keeps track on how she does everyday. And then when she goes on to the next month, she still attempts to keep up with the previous month but shifts her focus to the resolutions of the current month.

Pros: She made very practical resolutions. They were things that every person could do. She was down to earth and very inspiring. I loved how she took her resolutions seriously but also didn’t and just tried to enjoy life also. She was funny and enjoyable. She had such a great sense of humor. I loved how brutally honest she was about her failures and her victories. It was wonderful! (I also realized I am using the word wonderful a lot!)

Cons: There were aspects of her life that I could not quite relate to. She had young kids and lived in an apartment in NYC. I have pups (which I guess are like kids) and own a house in the suburbs of Denver. Super different. She also made some references I had no idea about but did end up doing a good job of explaining them.

Overall: What a great read! I really do recommend reading the book. It is such a great book to start the year off with. Reading it in January gets you so excited to be a better person and change some things in the upcoming year. I had some vague resolutions for 2014 but while I was reading this book I made them a little more concrete. I started focusing on things weekly. I want to make some changes (moderate) so that I can increase my happiness and well being this year.  I would like to say, so far so good! W00t!

I have knocked a couple things off of my To-Do list. Read a couple books and made a few things. Pictures to come soon!

See ya!

2014!!!!

Happy New Year everybody!!! Hope you all had a safe and fun New Year’s Eve! TJ and I just stayed in, had a delicious dinner and watched the Walking Dead marathon that was going on lol.  We watched the ball drop and then proceeded to fall asleep watching Modern Family. I know, super exciting! 

I love new years. It means a fresh start and I fully intend to take advantage of that in the new year. I have some things that I want to change in the new year. I have some things I want to finish in the new year. I definitely want to dedicate more time to this blog! Thanks for all of your support in 2013! I can’t wait to share 2014 with you! 

I know that December and capturing it in pictures ended up being a flop. working retail during the holidays ended up getting the best of my december again. Oh well. Such is life. We had a great Christmas with friends! The majority of us ended up being sick together so that was kind of entertaining whenever someone tried to laugh and ended up having a coughing fit instead. 

With 2014, I do have some goals in mind. Nothing too huge. But might as well share a little bit of what I have in mind.

~ pay down some if not most of our debt. No matter what, I want to work to get this debt paid down. 

~ Finish my reading list. Obviously I failed at taking care of it in 52 weeks…. but I told you I would finish it, so I’m going to finish it. 

~ knock a couple things off of my to do list around the house and just in general. super vague I know but I don’t have anything specific in mind. I just want to try some things that I have been meaning to try and not just waste time. 

All of that being said, I do have a book to knock off the list. I just finished reading Eldest by Christopher Paolini. It is the second book in the Eragon series. Definitely a good read if you like fiction. It was a fun read and I got swept away by the story. I don’t have a full review of it today but keep an eye out for other reviews coming your way!

See ya! 
Happy New Year!