Random|| Picture Update.

Posted on April 13, 2018 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

pictureupdate

Hey!

I haven’t done a picture update post (besides photo a day or travel ones) in a month, so I have quite a lot of pictures to share. My total picture count was a little over 60 pictures. I decided to break it up and put my Disney on Ice pictures in their own post that will probably go up next week. If you follow me on Instagram (heyyitsashley) you may have seen some of these; others haven’t made it there yet, so you’ll get to see them first! Anyway, onto the pictures!

The hubby and I went to walk around Downtown Hollywood (Florida), because they always have new wall art popping up on buildings and I wanted to check them out and get some pictures. Here are some of the ones that we seen. I still have so many more to see though.

These mermaid ones were pretty awesome! It was one giant wall, so it was harder to get the entire seen in a picture. Instead I broke it up into three pictures of the mermaids.

These were some smaller ones or close ups. The parrot one is a smaller one that was on the side of a hotel. The anchor and fishes were a closeup from the mermaids above.

E50A17AA-6B65-4076-B5A8-2CB5A3181D84

I really loved this robot one so much.

1DE5FFAB-ACB3-47EC-9688-236B430AD74F

FLAMINGOS! This one was my all-time favorite one that I seen so far. This is also a big wall. The other side has more flamingos on it, but these two looked the coolest.

5115E22A-32AB-477E-BB2D-0DD9BF7A70DD

This one was across from the mermaids. It was also on a giant wall, so this isn’t even half of it! The other side looks identical though. Really love this one and the colors.

It was National Beer Day on Saturday, so we went to this bar in Downtown Hollywood called Old Hollywood Beerhouse. They sell 200 different beers, so we decided to check out a few of those. I loved all the ones I got (pictured above). The sour wheat ale was probably my favorite. We plan to go back again to try some more. It was a cool vibe there. They played old Hollywood movies on old TVs and played old music on a record player.

Random selfies, because why not?

PIZZA! We love pizza at my house. Right was from when the hubby and I went to go see Love, Simon at the movies. I love that our theater has recliner chairs now.

I am living for dresses lately. I finally got around to wearing my cat one (right) and my sunflower one. I am in love with my sunflower one. My yellow TOMS went perfect with it too.

Weekend Vibes.

32F68F36-8027-498B-9DE8-F0098B0F4355

My nephew Jackson.

I seriously hate these things (all spiders and bugs, really) and this time of year they pop up EVERYWHERE. We probably have 10+ in our backyard. Even little baby ones.

AF382E44-555B-4D59-9378-8D1332D9EDB5

These three above are just some random pictures. The last one of the sunset is really cool though. I took it from the side passenger mirror in the car. It came out really cool.

Little Leaf! She got spayed last Friday. Colby and October HATED her when she came back from getting spayed. They didn’t want to be around her and if she went near them, they would hiss at her. She went to hide in blankets and plastic bags to get away from them. 😦 I guess it’s a thing that happens sometimes with cats when you take one to the vet and bring them home. After about a day, Colby was friendly again with her. October took the entire weekend before they became best friends again.

4AE317B2-5391-4A93-A456-80F9994D8914

See! Friends again! 😀

Leaf (left), ColbyJack (top right), October (bottom right).

B2972096-3A6F-4684-B272-F3E05324F1A3

My boys; Colby & Dax.

I bought a lens ball recently, because I seen so many cool pictures on Instagram taken with it. I got the 80mm ball and it has a bit of weight to it and it’s a pretty big size. I also decided to get a 60mm one as well. I was so scared I was going to drop it, haha. I decided to take it down to the railroad tracks and get some pictures. I still need to get the hang of it though and try to get more creative with it. This was just me trying it out since I’ve never used one before! Here are a few of the pictures I got. The left side are the originals and the right side are the rotated versions.

01052317-F1B9-4820-8C63-A84EE3CFB545

And this one was just a random one that I took at my house. I didn’t rotate the picture for this one, because I really liked it like this and how it came out with the lighting. Depending on the picture, sometimes it looks cooler rotated and other times it looks better as it originally is taken (subject being upside down).

Minus the bad lighting in my house, I tried it out with a book. I also figured out that it’s so much easier to hold the lens ball this way versus how I was holding it in all my other pictures, haha. Easier for me anyway, since I have smaller hands and the 80mm is a little big and heavy. I already took all the other pictures before trying it out this way though, lol.

Well, that’s all for this post! My Disney on Ice picture post will come at some point next week. I should also hopefully have a review of Hot Mess. I am hoping to finish it this weekend. I think I am also going to finally get to some of those tags done as well. I currently have eight drafted tag posts that I need to finally work on. I think once I get this next lesson done for school, then I’ll have a little free time to do some tags.

In case you missed it;
Thoughts|| Invictus.
WWW Wednesday #49.
Thoughts|| Huntress.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblack

Random|| Birthday, School, & Other Things.

Posted on March 12, 2018 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

pictureupdate

Hey!

Doing a picture/life update, because I haven’t really been reading that much lately. I don’t know if I am necessarily in a reading slump or not though. I am just preoccupied with other things going on or wanting to do other things instead. With that being said, I am still in the middle of Immortal Reign and The Hammer of Thor. I really want to try to finally finish them this week though.

1A3CD2A2-C776-4ECC-8BED-9341A95561EF

BIG THING THOUGH! I signed up for school again! I now have a valid reason for buying ALL THE SCHOOL SUPPLIES. 😛 I already do, but I never use it and feel guilty for spending the money. But now I can finally use the things I bought and buy more. LOL. 😉 I signed up for a Bookkeeping program, which is pretty exciting! I signed up over the weekend. It’s an online school, so I’ll be able to do it from home. I am not sure how much time I’ll have to read now that I am doing online school as well, but I will definitely squeeze in as much as I can. The school is pretty flexible too, so I can work at whatever speed I want. So I can do everything ASAP or I can space it out over 12 months. So that’s a plus! Another cool thing is that my aunt and my older sister are also doing the Bookkeeping program, so we’ll be able to help each other out. My mom is also doing a program too, but hers is something medical related. I think Medical Billing.

8E790667-2108-423B-B88E-038D2E5DD6E1

For my birthday (it was on March 3rd), the hubby and I went to LauderAle to get some beers. We’ve never been to this brewery before and it was such a cool place. We ended up both getting a flight of beer. The ones that I got were Gulfstream Cream, Gozezilla, We Dem Boysenberry, and Black Widow Cider. The hubby got a couple of the ones that I got and a banana pepper one. Mine were so good! The place was really cool and chill. They even had a dog roaming around, which was cool. He would bring you his ball to throw to him. Every day they have a different food truck that you can get food from. They also had this really cool octopus painted on the building and a shark. If you didn’t know, I LOVE sharks. Below is the flight of beers I got and the octopus mural.

Cadbury Mini Eggs and champagne for my birthday. 😀 The hubby got me so many mini bags of mini eggs. HEAVEN! 😛 He also got me some cute socks too. I’ll share them in my haul post later this month. I don’t have a picture of them right now. My mom and sister literally got me a 1.5 pound bag of mini eggs too. HOLY CRAP! Honestly, the best birthday present though. I love those things!

I got a lot of shoes for my birthday this year, LOL! I’ve been obsessed with shoes lately, so it’s what I wanted. HAHA. My mom got me the yellow TOMS (top left), the hubby’s parents got me the pink bow TOMS (top right) and my friend Lauren got me the black skull/cacti VANS. I am freaking obsessed with them all. I’ve never had slip on VANS before and I’ve always wanted some. Now I am obsessed and need more. HAHA.

I’ve been wanting to try out different clothes than I typically get (I love t-shirts & jeans), so my older sister got me these two shirts for my birthday as well. They’re really cute and I am pretty obsessed. The first shirt in the first two pictures is something I wouldn’t typically buy. The second one is one I would typically buy, but I don’t have enough. I like cute designs like that. I also decided to buy a few dresses this weekend. I NEVER wear dresses unless it’s like a cover up for my bathing suit when I go to the beach.

Here are the dresses I got this weekend. Sorry about the lighting. I used just the light coming from my window and I didn’t brighten the pictures up on my phone. My mom and I went to Ross and I picked out a few to buy.

The first was this sunflower one (it’s navy blue) and it came with this gold necklace too. I don’t know if I like the necklace though, haha.

I seen this pink one and had to have it, because it has cats all over it! Plus pink is my favorite color. 😛 BUT THE CATS!!! It’s really cute.

FCD11E49-BFE9-4E71-8AE6-20BC843E214D

Last one I got was this pink one. I really liked the design on the top and it’s loose fitting, which I love. It’s gonna start getting really hot here (t’s forever hot here, but it’s gonna get worse), so it’ll be nice to have some dresses. Like I said, I never wear dresses, so it’ll be interesting trying these out. If I like wearing them, then I’ll buy more.

Here are a few books that I got this month so far! I had to buy Children of Blood and Bone. Super stoked to read it! Little, Brown Books for Young Readers sent me Defy the Stars and Defy the Worlds. I had no idea these were even coming, so that was exciting. I’ll talk more about these books in my haul post at the end of the month. And some other random bookish pictures.

We got a new sofa!! We haven’t had one for a couple months, so it’s nice that we finally have one now! It also reclines! SO COMFY. As you can see, Dax is LIVING for the new sofa. 😛 Leaf LOVES it. She likes to parkour on it and climb in the back. It’s closed with velcro, but she gets it opened and climbs inside. She’s weird. Ocotber and ColbyJack love it too.

6A61E633-2C50-488D-886C-C0FFDCB9F4D7

Here’s a random picture of my three kitties. ColbyJack, October, and Leaf. Love these guys so much.

My mom planted these really cool orange and yellow flowers. They’re pretty cool and pretty.

7B6BCA2E-71B7-404D-89DF-41B5F125DBBD

A random sunset picture I took in the parking lot of the grocery store. Featuring the hubby pushing the cart. I am obsessed with this picture.

That’s all for this post. Feel free to follow me on Instagram to see more. 🙂 A few of these I haven’t had the chance to post on Instagram yet, so you got to see them first.

Instagram: heyyitsashley
Bookstagram: foreverbookish_

In case you missed it;
Thoughts|| The Roanoke Girls.
Random|| Photo Update.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblack

Random|| Picture Update.

Posted on February 9, 2018 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Hey!

I have a random picture update for you guys. Basically just what’s going on in my life, what I’ve done recently, what I’ve taken pictures of recently, etc., but really just a ton of pictures of my furbabies. Kidding…half kidding… 😛 There’s others too, haha.

The hubby and I stumbled upon a brewery (Hollywood Brewing Co) that was on the beach, so we had to check it out! Amazing beer and food! I got the sliders and they were so good. I also got a mango IPA and a Limon Lager. Loved them both! I don’t remember the first beer the hubby got, but his second one he got the Limon one too. Hands down though, the fries stole the show. SO AMAZING! We sat outside and you can see in the last picture the beach right across from us.

Speaking of the beach and food…we ate at this place another time called Taco Beach Shack and OMG it was amazing. I forgot my ID at home, so I couldn’t drink that day, sadly. BUT the tacos were so damn good. I need to go back ASAP! Maybe I can talk to hubby into going this weekend, because damn I need these tacos again.

5B377B25-B11A-417F-BDE5-4EC7AA2F249E

Here are some other random pictures from the beach from the last two times that we’ve gone. I love taking pictures at the beach. There’s always neat things. I need to go back again ASAP. I literally live like two miles away. It’s even walking distance.

A728C5A5-CAB9-4F81-851E-5D3520F06A6F

A random picture of some of my favorite things. I spotted Cadbury mini eggs at the dollar store last weekend and I was STOKED! These are hands down my favorite Easter candy (and probably my all-time favorite candy ever). I am impatiently waiting for the stores to get the bigger bags though, because I plan to hoard as many as I can because waiting a year to get them again SUUUCKS. Not going to lie, I ate every single bag in one day, but ot be fair, they were mini bags. 😛 I got this cute “crazy cat lady” mug from the hubby’s family for Christmas. I finally used it to drink my orange juice, because I am trying to do everything I can to NOT get the flu. GIVE ME ALL THE VITAMIN C!!!

The hubby’s parents got me a felt letter board as one of my birthday gifts (my birthday is in March) and I was able to have it early. I am OBSESSED with this thing. The pictures I take with this letter board will be endless, haha. I was reading your name. by Makoto Shinkai…..

and you guys…it was amazing. HOLY CRAP! SO MANY FEELS. Hands down one of my favorite books that I read so far this year. I cried quite a few times. I plan to watch the movie this weekend. It was SO FREAKING GOOD!! I am living for it. I also got some new glasses that I am currently living for right now. I haven’t taken them off (well besides going to sleep, duh.). I have four pairs of glasses, but these have been my go to ever since getting them. New favorites. 😀

Books I got in the past week and a half. IMMORTAL REIGN, YOU GUYS!! It is finally hear and I am dying to open it and read it. I’m kind of trying to wait until my Immortal Reign bookmarks get here, because I want to use them with this book LOL. But I don’t know if I can hold out much longer, to be honest. I also came home to a package of ARCs from Fierce Reads. I was SO STOKED! So many books!!! SO MANY! I am really excited about all of them. A couple (Outcast and Between Frost and Fury) are sequels in a series and I think Outcast is even the 4th book. I don’t know if I will be reading those anytime soon or if I will do a books for trade for those two. I am really excited for all of the other ones though! Thank you to Fierce Reads for sending me this amazing package of Spring ARCs.

Another thing I am LIVING for is the new camper bracelet from Pura Vida Bracelets. I had to have it. I currently wear it all the time. I am also reading it right now as I type up this blog post, just saying. 😛 Below are pictures of the front and back. Front is a little camper and the back says “happy camper”. Pura Vida Bracelets currently has so many bracelets I really want. They have these new desert themed ones (a Teepee and some arrows) and this pine cone bracelet. I NEED! I am trying to hold off though. I’ve been spending way too much money lately. I’m supposed to be in saving mode this year. I just love stuff so much, it’s hard. I’m trying though!

I recently found out that Snapchat works on my kitten, Leaf. I’ve tried it with every single one of my furbabies and it doesn’t work on them except for Leaf. I am now obsessed with taking pictures of her with all the new filters. She probably hates it, LOL.

And speaking of furbabies. This is the part where I spam you with a million pictures of my cats and dog, because I love them and they are so cute.

These are a couple pictures of my girl October. It’s hard getting many pictures of her, because she doesn’t always like to come up on the bed or she usually just likes to be in her own little world by herself.

My other girl, little Leaf. She loves cuddling. My other cats don’t really like it and RARELY do, so I am thrilled that I finally have one that loves it. HAHA. We actually almost lost her. I guess the front door wasn’t closed completely and she pushed it opened and ran out. Luckily we caught her just in time before she got through the fence. We have to be very careful with her, because she always likes to sit up against the front door when we get home and she likes to try get out a lot. By the way, I don’t know why I always end up with pictures of her sleeping versus awake, lol. It just happens.

My ColbyJack. Honestly, he was my dream kitten. I’ve always wanted and dreamed of having an orange kitten and I finally got one. He’s a huge drama queen though and likes to eat everything in sight. I still love him more than I’ve ever loved anything. He’s a total mamma’s boy too.

And of course, my boy Dax. He just had his eighth birthday yesterday (recycled last year’s birthday picture because I packed away the birthday hat). I love this guy so much. He’s the oldest of them all. He’s also ColbyJack’s best friend. It’s cute that when Dax is scared or hiding, Colby will go find him and check on him.

Dax went crazy licking Leaf one day and it was seriously THE BEST thing. I got some any funny pictures of it, but she didn’t mind it. She loves Dax. Everyone loves Dax and Dax loves everyone.

I love that they all four get along with each other so well and love each other. They don’t usually fight and when they do, 9 out of 10 times it’s play fighting.

Last but not least, here are some random flower pictures. I haven’t posted them to Instagram yet, so you’re seeing them first! They’ll eventually make their way on there. A few other pictures in this post haven’t been on Instagram yet either, but those will also eventually make it there too. I love the little red ones (I forgot what my mom said they were called), but we forgot to water them and now they are about to die. 😦 I thought the little purple flower was pretty cool. It was just this random purple flower in a sea of green leaves, lol.

That is all for this post. I hope you enjoyed seeing all of my pictures. I always think it’s fun sharing them. I love taking pictures for fun, so it’s nice posting them here too and to get random little updates about what is going on in my life. You’ll definitely be seeing more of that this year on my blog since I am changing things up a little bit and not only focusing on books.

In case you missed it;
Top Ten Tuesday|| Books that have been on my TBR the longest.
4 & 4.5 star reads of 2017.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblack

Photo A Day|| January 9-12.

Posted on January 16, 2018 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

photoaday1

Hi!

I’ve been taking part in monthly photo a day challenges on my Instagram account (heyyitsashley) and I’ve been having a lot of fun with them (when I don’t fall behind on pictures). I figured I would also cross post them to my blog as well. I think for the purpose of blogging, I will post 3-4 per blog post that I do throughout the month. That way I am not spamming my blog with a million photo a day posts back to back. You can follow me on Instagram (linked above) if you want to see them daily though! Some of these pictures will be taken with my Nikon. There will also be some taken with my iPhone X.

Days 9-12 of January.

9BEDCE4B-D2D5-4032-B336-2CC7EF143571

Day 9: Everyday Moments.
Instagram Caption: leaf; she’s forever pretty. ♡
Camera: iPhone.

If little Leaf could stop growing, that would be great! I am obsessed with her and she has this completely opposite personality than my other two cats. She loves water (playing in it, taking showers with us (LOL)), she loves attention and cuddling, she loves people and always wants to be in your face, she’s crazy fun, and she loves to play with toys.

77D6BB73-3AEB-4FC9-9266-84F7F27682FC

Day 10: I like this!
Instagram Caption: october is forever in her own world. everyone thinks she’s not friendly or the “evil one”, but she’s just hella shy, likes to do her own thing, and likes attention only when she wants it. she doesn’t tolerate it otherwise. shes the loner of the pack, but she’s actually really sweet if you’re alone with her. i love her to death and wouldn’t have her any other way. 🎃
Camera: iPhone.

My other girl, October and exactly what my caption says. Although this past week, she has been a little more opened to hanging out with the rest of us. As you can see, she’s completely opposite of Leaf. And then there’s my boy ColbyJack (picture below). He thinks he’s king of the house and the other furbabies, but really he’s just a huge drama queen. LOL. I also have my pup Dax, he’s super chill, almost always happy, and loves people and all animals (big or small).

BA2E0F04-7EBA-4644-8095-42E766405FCC

FEF84B18-B8F7-4D8D-A2FB-55147ECF206B

Day 11: Me.
Instagram Caption: “i’m starting to be where i need to be.” ♫
Camera: iPhone.

CDB1F5B0-70B6-456C-9C90-F0C5DC1BB6D1

Day 12: Sweet.
Instagram Caption: much needed after this week. 🍺
Camera: iPhone.

Last week was kind of a crazy week, so Friday the hubby and I went out to get food and drinks. Much needed grapefruit beer.

In case you missed it;
Thoughts|| The Cruel Prince.
Photo A Day|| January 5-8.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblack

Travel|| Lakeland…again.

Posted on January 8, 2018 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

lakeland

Hey!

So I did a trip to Lakeland once again (told you that I love this city!), but this time with my younger sister, mom, and aunt. We only went for a couple days, but it was still pretty fun. We went the weekend of New Year’s.

7D0186E8-09BA-4901-ADBD-7610CE39915F

View from the window in our hotel room. The hotel was pretty nice and we were right in the middle of Lakeside Village, which was nice. Lakeside Village has a lot of shops and restaurants in it. It’s like a little shopping center type place, but outdoors. My younger sister and I spent most of the time there.

The first night we went to dinner at Glory Days. We were meeting up with my mom’s and aunt’s cousin. That was pretty fun. I didn’t take any pictures of that. After we ate dinner, we went to a bar for a little bit. We didn’t stay out long though. We were all pretty tired since we went to Lakeland straight after work. The next day we went to breakfast and then back to the hotel. My mom had to work during the day, but once the shops opened in Lakeside Village, my younger sister (Stephanie) and I went down there to walk around.

Fountain in the middle of Lakeside Village. I really wanted to go to Rocket Fizz, so I could get Andy some soda and to get myself salt water taffy. He loves all the different flavored sodas they sell and we don’t have a Rocket Fizz near us. We always make sure to stop there every time we go to Lakeland. My sister ended up getting some sodas too.

172E6B5D-1E63-4A2B-BDAE-058570A26506

Does anyone remember Whistle Pops?! Rocket Fizz had Whistle Pops, so my sister got some. We used to get these ALL THE TIME when we were kids. I love that Rocket Fizz has a bunch of older candies from back then. It’s hard not to buy everything, haha.

My sister and I went to Books-A-Million and I managed to leave the store without buying a single book! Left is a picture of us in some masks they had there. She’s the dinosaur and I’m the cat (of course). 😛 There was also a frozen yogurt shop inside Books-A-Million, so we got some. I haven’t had froyo in so long, because the place by my house closed down.

On the way to Lakeland, we drive through this little town called Lake Wales (which I love that town too, haha) and they had this bar we seen called “Y’all Come Back Saloon”, so we decided to check it out after hanging out in Lakeside Village. My mom and aunt went with. It was such a fun bar. It was defintely a dive bar (which we love) and super country (which we love) and cheap beer (which we love), haha. It was perfect for us and it was a lot of fun. My sister and I played pool for a little while. I suck at pool and I also think it’s kind of boring, lol. Back home my mom, aunt, and older sister play. They are all on pool teams too, but I don’t like it. LOL.

B73A54F3-20EF-47E4-8CA7-1F5CE93060F6

My mom and aunt drank quite a bit, so they went back to the hotel once we got back to Lakeland. My sister and I decided to go back to Lakeside Village and go to Brass Tap. We both got flights and pizza. I loved all the beer that I got. My sister liked three of the four that she picked up out. I love craft beer and of course pizza!

After we drank and ate pizza we walked around and ended up at Smallcakes. They were on Cupcake Wars on Food Network! I ended up buying cupcakes and we ate them for breakfast on Sunday. THEY WERE SO GOOD!

We were originally supposed to stay in Lakeland until Monday (January 1st), but ended up coming back a day early. These are some pictures I took on the way back home from the car.

Even though we came home a day early, it was still pretty fun. Especially getting to hangout with my younger sister. She’s a truck driver with her boyfriend, so I don’t get to see her that often. I am always down for a trip to Lakeland and Lake Wales. I think there will be another one in the next month or two.

I think I am going to do a few blog posts with the books I read last year with their ratings. Example: a blog post with all of my five star reads in 2017, four star reads, etc. I actually had quite a bit of five star reads, so it’ll be cool showing them all in one post. That may be coming at some point this week or early next week.

In case you missed it;
Phot A Day|| January 1-4
2018 Reading Goals.
New Year, New Blog.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblack