A P R I L 4 T H 2 0 1 5
fort saint john museum
enjoy these sneak peeks of this wonderful tea luncheon birthday celebration
19.4.15
Menchie's Grand Opening in Dawson Creek Alberta !!
i'm so incredibly excited and proud of my family!
they've just opened up a menchie's frozen yogurt shop in dawson creek, alberta!
and seriously, it's probably a good thing they chose the DC location. I always go all out on my menchies.. red velvet yogurt, brownies, chocolate, so much chocolate, strawberries.. drooool
congratulations cindy, steve, and randy vincent! they have just officially opened their doors!
- ash
xoxo
16.4.15
wanderlust wednesdays 00
this is an excerpt from my yoga teacher training travel journal from mexico
july 5th 2011, day 14
so i made it through my vision quest in once piece. craig and tearza drove giulia and i just about all the way to our spots, then we walked the rest of the way. once i got to the giant fig tree, i found an ant free area underneath and laid my yoga mat down. then i crawled in the sleeping bag but soon came to realize it was sweltering inside that thing, but i didn't want bugs all over me! how the night basically went down was walking up every few hours, 2:00 AM for rain, i just went with it, embraced the wetness, and bit by bit i creeped out of my sleeping bag until come 7:00 AM i was splayed out on the jungly desert floor bugs or not bugs. i didn't know what to do when i first woke up, but then i decided to climb my big tree friend with my mat and towel, found a perfect spot to sit and didn't come down until 1:00 PM. so i sat and thought about things, contemplated, put things into perspective for five hours. i came to the conclusion that my car accident wasn't my fault, i spent some time thinking about presley, had a much needed cry for her, thoughts about my other relationships, promising myself to endeavour to make the most of my friendships while i have them. i thought about danny a lot, missing him, feeling excited to see him in 5 days! i watched the birds, the goats, the cows, the ants, the hummingbirds. it went by so quick and the next thing i know it's 1:00 PM and i get down out of the tree and make my way back to yandara. we had an uplifting breathing exercise and then shared our experiences at the beach pavilion. after was dinner, delicious lentil soup, and then satsang, and finally came sleep.
- ashley
14.4.15
why you should take more selfies (as a marketing tool)
i used to take a lot of selfies. selfies are actually how i got into photography, though back then they were called self portraits. i actually thought i lost all these old photos back when ol Big Sally kicked the bucket (my hard drive died), but my mother just so happen to have a back up of all my old photography (gotta love her organizational skills). so thankfully, i have all these embarrassing old photos of myself as a keepsake and to share with you, my friend, with humiliating humbleness.
somewhere along the line though, i stopped taking self portraits. i think it was likely when i had enough clients keeping me busy that i just didn't have the time to take them, or was focusing my creative energy elsewhere.. and then fast forward a few years and smart phones come out. and then suddenly everybody is taking self portraits, though by this time they had taken on a new name: selfies. a clever and forgiving little name used as a free pass to fish for compliments... did i say that aloud?
don't get me wrong, i was just as bad as the next twenty something girl with my selfies for a long time, especially when instagram came out and they were so helpful for attracting new followers. but then once again, somewhere around the time i got married and had a kid, i quit taking them for the most part. but for different reasons this time - too busy, or not feeling particularly attractive, or maybe too humble - either way, i feel almost silly doing them now. so my instagram feed generally adorns an array of tiny beauties found in my daily life, my vitamix lattes or one of my many indoor houseplants. but here's the thing: i've recently learned that selfies could actually be a benefit to me and my business.
i've been reading this great book called show your work by austin kleon, and it's all about why sharing your work (and yourself) is so beneficial to growing your following and getting discovered. humans are curious creatures, and we love to see behind the scenes. and then a couple days ago i read this article via pinterest (forget where/which) and it claimed that the number one way to attract more followers on instagram was to post more selfies.
i got to thinking about what i've been reading in austin's book, and i think the reason why selfies work great as a marketing tool for artists, is because people will always be more interested in you (the voice, the creative mind behind the work) if they know what you look like. it gives your soul a body! they can relate to you and can imagine themselves talking to you, interacting with you. this is especially helpful when getting to know your clients before meeting them in person. this is a way to introduce yourself to all the new people that happen to swing by your blog for a read, or flip through your instagram profile for a creep.
but beware, there is such a thing as too many selfies. if your instagram page is nothing but selfies, you could be setting the wrong first impression and sending the wrong message to newcomers. you probably don't want these people thinking you're super self involved or come off as vain. i want my readers to enjoy meeting me, i want them to feel as though it was a pleasure seeing my face on their instagram feeds, and this would usually mean now and again, not everyday. just enough that they feel like they're getting to know me every time i come around.
so i could start posting more selfies, or at least try. its hard enough sometimes to remember to post an instagram photo as it is, so we'll see how this goes. hah! can you tell i'm oozing with excitement! #comfortzonebreach
ready or not, here they come!
... tomorrow
xoxo
- ash
10.4.15
My Top Ten Most Replayed Movies
I'm the type of movie watcher that doesn't stray too far or too often from my own movie collection. I love nothing more than re-watching the same old movies over and over again that transport me back to the time and place, the mind frame, the emotions, that I had once when I watched the movie for the first time.
My bestie Caitlyn says the same thing too, so I'm not the only crazy one. We share one of the same rewatched movies and will gladly sit down to watch it together repeatedly over the last fifteen years. This particular movie probably ranks high on my list of most watched films, if it's not at the very top, and so this is where we'll start as we take a peek through my most replayed films . . .
1. PRACTICAL MAGIC (1998)
2. ABOUT TIME (2013)
3. PS I LOVE YOU (2007)
5. DEATH PROOF (2007)
6. COLD MOUNTAIN (2003)
7. DONNIE DARKO (2001)
9. BRAVEHEART (1995)
10. THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE (2009)
It's a bit of a mixed bag now that I see them all written down, but nonetheless my favourites. Sawyer is fast on his way to building his own list of replayed movies as well. Ranking in at number one on his list would have to be Alice in Wonderland, the original, a child after my own heart.
xox
- ash
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