A Giveaway at Savvy Seasons by Liz

Hello.

I don't seem to write often...just been crazy busy. But no matter how busy I am I could not let you miss out on this amazing giveaway. If you are not familiar with www.savvyseasons.com, you must hop over there now. Liz is an amazing decorator and all I know is I want to go shopping with her! She is doing a very generous giveaway, so go check it out. Just click on the button to your left of the screen.

Now that I think about it, one of her blog entries was, if I remember correctly, about a sister of hers in AZ...maybe I could shop with her when she comes to visit......how fun would that be?!

OK, that is all I have for today. Go check out Liz's giveaway and decorating ideas.

Ashley

Now Showing in Merchant Square...

Just a quick note...

AshleyLisaDesigns is now in Merchant Square in Chandler, Arizona.

If you are in the area, please stop in and take a look.

Also, you will find some destash items...time to clean out. If you are not in the area and see something you like, let me know. I am happy to pull it for you.

Have a great week and I hope to see you soon at Merchant Square.

Ashley

The dreaded "M" word....

Yep, you guessed it, I had to get a mammogram today. Why is it we let this little machine scare us so much? I know why I do. You see back when my Mom was pregnant, she was told she would lose the baby (me) if she did not go on bed rest and take this hormone shot regularly. Although it did save the pregnancy, it turns out the shot was not so good for my Mom or me. Among many things, I have been told that my breast cancer risk increases two and a half fold when I turn 40. So, guess who turned 40 last October, that is correct me. My doctor told me last year right after my birthday, to get a mammogram before I see her again in July 2011. I put it off as long as possible and finally went today.

The office looked pretty enough. It still gave me anxiety anticipating the reason I was there.

Then you go back and are told to undress from the waist up and put on a robe and sit in another waiting room until you are called to go in.

When you go in you see a machine like this....or at least this was what my machine looks like.

The lady tells you she needs 4 pictures...ok 4 pictures, no big deal is what I think to myself. Then we start...then she needs a 5th...whatever she saw made her say she needed one more to try to get the chest wall on the right side. Not something I wanted to hear on my first mammogram at age 40.

But now I wait to get the results...or as she put it to see if the doctor wants more pictures. I think you know what I am praying for.

Ashley

Looks amazing right?

Well, this is what I tried to make for dinner last night. Let me start by saying that I am a wannabe cook. I wish I had the time and wasn't so tired to make amazing dinners each and every night. Most people dread cooking, but to me, it sounds fun and healthy and a great way to save money.

So I have recipes sent to my email and I look at them on a regular basis. I print the ones I think I am able to make and hope that one day I will have a lifestyle where I can make dinner when I get home from work and not feel so tired or be eating when it is 8 pm.

So in looking at many recipes, it appears I confused two recipes and went to the grocery store yesterday after thinking I knew what I needed. I usually make a list of ingredients when I try a new recipe, but yesterday, I was out and thought I could do it from memory.

Here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
1 lb extra-lean (at least 93%) ground beef
1 small onion, chopped (1/3 cup)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 jar (25.5 oz) Muir Glen® organic Italian herb pasta sauce
1 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon ketchup
3 cups (6 oz) uncooked mini-lasagna noodles (mafalda)
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1 cup shredded reduced-fat Italian cheese blend (4 oz)

WHAT TO DO:
1. In 12-inch nonstick skillet, cook ground beef, onion and garlic over medium-high heat for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is thoroughly cooked; drain.

2. Stir in remaining ingredients except cheese. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low; simmer uncovered 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with cheese.

What did I do? I purchased a rotisserie chicken, shredded mozzarella cheese, pasta sauce, olives and mushrooms (my own little addition).

Now mind you, my sister said healthful skillet lasagna, don't we need ground beef. Oh no, I tell her. This is with chicken. Little did I know.

We get home and I look at the recipe and said uh-oh. I confused two recipes. Combined the ingredients and thought I had the right one. So I prepped everything and put it in the skillet. I made it anyway, my way. It actually was not a total loss, it was good. However, my boyfriend did tell me to never make it with beef because he may like it better that way. But he did go back for seconds. That is always a sign it is good.

I did not take a picture of it, but if you like the idea of mixing it up, buy the above ingredients with a noodle pasta. I used quinoa elbow noodles (gluten free) and saute garlic and mushrooms in a bit of olive oil, then add the chicken (shredded like), olives, pasta and sauce and simmer until it is all blended well. Then top with the shredded cheese. Once it melts, serve. I made a salad to go with it.

For those that like to cook and are good at it; I thought you could use a laugh at my expense.

Happy cooking!
Ashley

What to Write...

So I don't write very often.

I know this and you know this. Well, if I am truly honest with myself, you may not know this. If I wrote more often, you might follow more and not get bored waiting for the next post.

So, why don't I write?!

I think the main reason I don't write often (other than being super busy with 2, no wait 3 jobs) is I may not want to write about jewelry and don't feel like I can post other things here. But why can't I post other things on this blog. I am not just a jewelry designer, I am so much more.

I am a cluttered mess....I am not kidding, if I wasn't just out of space in my home, I would be mistaken as a hoarder.
I am a reader....I read everything I can get my hands on. Magazines, books, pamphlets, everything!
I am a game player....not that kind of game player, I am too old for the head games. I love playing games on the computer or my kindle or friends smart phones...(I am not certain I am smart enough for a smart phone.)
I am a dreamer...I like to think about what my jewelry studio will look like one day, what my dream kitchen looks like, etc.
I love other things that I don't have time for like baking, cooking (sometimes) and gardening (but I am not good at it).

So let me ask you, my dear followers who have stuck with me through the dry spell. Do you care if I don't always talk about my jewelry or etsy? And if you like other topics, what do you want to chat about? Cause let's face it, a blog is just chatting with all of your cyber friends.

Chat again soon.
Ashley

Tuesday Treasury

I have been away for a while. I have no excuse other than I have been sick and did not feel up to posting. First came the flu and now I have a sinus infection...but I am on the mend so here is the Tuesday Treasury.

Today I was thinking about rainy days. I thought how I missed out on the last rain we had becasue it was a rainy night and I was sleeping. Now don't get me wrong, I love sleeping when it is raining out, but I would love a rainy day when I can stay in and just do nothing.

The treasury I created for today is all about rain. Please venture over to Etsy and check out this treasury of incredible artists. Please leave me a comment there on what you like and your thoughts.

As a sampling, here are three items you will find in this treasury:

The treasury can be found by clicking here.

Thanks for looking.

Ashley

Contest Winner on www.LisaSmithBlog.com and Promotion

So you may have been to Lisa's blog today to see the winner. Congratulations to Nana's Nuggets! As soon as I receive your address, I will ship the necklace off to you.

As all of you know, I created this necklace to help Lisa with her medical bills...you know the ones that her insurance refused to pay. For every necklace sold, I donate 20% to Lisa and her family. To finish off this giveaway, I want to give everyone a chance to help me donate more.

If you would like to purchase a Lisa necklace, I will donate 50% to Lisa and her family. I will run this promotion for one week. Please order your necklace(s) and help Lisa chip away at that surgery bill that insurance refused. The promotion will end on 2/9/2011.

Any questions at all, please contact me here or through my etsy shop.

-Ashley

Tuesday Treasury

Well, since most people are having snow days, I decided to find blizzard pictures.

I think this picture says it all:

How would you like to be in here?

To see the entire treasury please click here.

I would love for your to look at all the pictures and leave me a comment on the treasury.

As always, I love your comments here and try to respond to everyone.

-Ashley

Treasuries on Tuesday

I am so happy to list my items on etsy.

I feel that I am among some of the most amazing talent. I am not certain if you have ever looked around etsy; but if you have not, you should.

I decided to do a treasury every Tuesday and post it here. Here I will feature my favorites, a theme or who knows...it could be anything.

This Tuesday is my first and in honor of the blog giveaway that started yesterday, I decided to find so pretty animal prints. I think Lisa is partial to animal prints. :) Want to participate in the giveaway, click here.

If you have a theme you want me to search around for, leave me a comment...I am happy to do your requested searches.

So please go check out these fabulous etsy sellers...and the best part is, I do not personally know any of them.

Tuesday Treasury...Grrr...Animal Prints...click here! (part of the way treasuries get to the front page as a feature is when people click and comment on it. So I encourage you to do so.)

Here are four items you will see and a dozen more:

who doesn't need a new make-up bag?

how adorable are these baby booties?

protect your kindle...

cook in style...no one can have too many aprons

Enjoy!

Ashley

Featured Giveaway on www.LisaSmithBlog.com

A dear friend of mine is sitting at MD Anderson in Houston today having scans to make sure that the very rare breast cancer she is fighting is still in remission. Me and many fother riends and family members are praying for clear scans.
January is her anniversary month. Her anniversay of finding out that the lump she felt was not a good one. So this is the month she chose to feature one of my necklaces in her blog giveaway.


Here is a little background....
Back in March of 2010, I was on facebook and I saw a lot of high school friends joining the prayer wall for another high school classmate. Oh dear, I thought...what could be wrong. I did a little research and found her blog. I began reading....reading until I found out why she had a prayer wall. I found out that she was diagnosed with a very rare breast cancer and that she was fighting with her insurance company for a much need surgery....a surgery to save her life.
How can this be, I thought to myself. She is my age...a mother of 4 young children. I ask why to a question there are no real answers for. But as I log in every.single.day. to see how she is doing I find out exactly why. Lisa is the strongest, bravest woman I know. She gives so many people hope and inspiration. She is a bright light at the end of the tunnel.
I am not a religious person, but I was religiously reading her blog. Silently, mind you...never commenting and letting her know. You see, although Lisa and I went to the same high school, I was moving to Arizona around the same time she was moving to Dallas...to the high school I went to. I knew of her, but don't even remember ever chatting. So I could just start commenting on her blog...I didn't know her well enough...
Then on March 22, 2010, I read her blog entry that really upset me. Upset me to the point where I had to reach out. I emailed her....
Since that day, we have chatted often. I still read her blogs regularly. Some days I can still see afterwards, other days I have to wait for my tears to clear.

As you know, I design and make jewelry. That is the reason I started this blog...to help promote the pieces I make and talk about my love for designing and making jewelry.
When I read that Lisa was fighting her insurance company for surgery, I was shocked. Insurance companies that don't pay...we have them to pay, not fight paying. She lost the battle with the insurance company. She had her much needed surgery and she has a huge hospital bill to pay. I wanted to help in any way I could. So I designed a very simple and delicate necklace that I like to call Lisa's necklace. I vowed to her that for every necklace sold, I will donate to her to help her pay her hospital bill or for whatever she needs.

Please visit Lisa's blog here to participate in this giveaway.

Enter to Win I Found

Does your blog need a makeover? I was surfing around blogland and found this contest.
You should definitely check it out.
http://adventuresofabettycrockerwannabe.blogspot.com/2011/01/something-new-is-here_14.html

Enjoy!
Ashley

Resolutions

We are over half way through January....how are your resolutions going? Did you make any?

I don't normally make resolutions, I just go about life as normal. This year, I made some statements to myself about things I wanted to do or change...so it looks like I made some resolutions. I am succeeding at some and not so much on others.

What I am succeeding at:

Cleaning out and getting more organized. Some members of my family will tell you this process is so painfully slow that they don't see any difference. I am here to tell you, I know what has gone into the trash and what has made its way to the recycle bin and there is a difference.

What I am still yet to start:

Eating healthy on a regular basis and going back to the gym. I really want to do these things, I just am so tired and lack the motivation to get started. A quick (processed food) meal is just easier when you are tired. And as for the gym, all of those other resolution people are there so it is probably very crowded. These are the things I tell myself, with maybe next week I will start.

So what are your "resolutions" and how are you doing with them?

Do you have the energy and motivation to complete everything in your day as you would like?

Ashley

It's been a while...

It has been a while since my last post. I have been given the best reason possible to start blogging again.

Today is my friend's one-year anniversary...the anniversary of the day she was diagnosed with breast cancer. It has been a long year, but she is very strong and is fighting this fight.

Please see her blog here.

I made a necklace for Lisa and sell it in my etsy shop. I donate to her for every necklace sold to help pay the hospital bill. Her insurance refused to pay for her surgery. Purchase your necklace today to help Lisa and her family.

Ashley