TBB Asks: Holiday Edition.

Posted on December 18, 2018 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Hey!

I’ve been so busy with all my last minute Christmas stuff and life in general, so I haven’t been around the blog much the last week or two. Hopefully that changes soon. I need to catch up with you guys ASAP, promise! 😀 A lot of things happening right now, so my mind is preoccupied. Today though, I figured it would be fun to post this holiday themed blog post since Christmas is coming up soon and I’m not sure when I’ll get another chance to post. I seen Brandie (Running on Words and Wine) post this on her blog, so I figured I would too. I love Christmas. 😛

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Candy Canes? Yes or No?
I don’t mind candy canes. I don’t usually eat them by themselves very much anymore, unless it’s a mini one. When I was a kid I used to love eating them right off the Christmas tree though. I do love candy cane flavored things though! Especially chocolate, like peppermint bark. I LIVE FOR PEPPERMINT BARK!

Christmas morning early riser or sleep in?
Honestly, I’m an early riser period these days. So I guess I am an early riser on Christmas morning; as a kid I was too. As an adult, I’m more of an early riser because I get way too excited about giving everyone their gifts. LOL. I don’t even care about gifts myself, but giving gifts is my thing and so I get way too stoked about everyone seeing their gifts, haha.

Did you shop on Black Friday?
This year I went to a couple places to see what kind of deals they had going on, but I don’t think I bought anything besides one DVD for myself. Normally, I don’t usually do Black Friday shopping. I don’t like big crowds and being around a lot of people at one time, so I usually stay home.

Christmas tree up in November?
Yes, I love putting my Christmas tree up in November. I’m very guilty of this and I don’t even care. Judge all you want, but I love being able to enjoy my Christmas for as long as possible.

Do you get holiday ideas from Pinterest?
I love pinning holiday ideas in my Pinterest boards, but I don’t always do them. I guess I just collect pins. But if I was looking for an idea, I would definitely go to Pinterest.

Christmas Glam or Ugly Sweater?
Ugly sweater, for sure. I’m not the “glam” type of person. I don’t really dress up and I definitely do not wear any makeup at all. I’m all about jeans, converse shoes, and ugly sweaters.

Stocking Stuffers: Wrapped or unwrapped?
As much as I love wrapping gifts, I don’t usually wrap stocking stuffers. Depending on the size of the gift, I will though; but very rarely.

Traditional or Modern Christmas songs?
Traditional Christmas songs. I don’t really listen to new Christmas music (or Christmas music in general), so I don’t know what all modern Christmas songs are out there or that come out. So I know and am used to the old traditional Christmas songs/versions of the old songs. I do love the Hanson Christmas album though, haha.

Fruitcake?
Never had it. I don’t even think I’ve ever seen one, but I hear they’re gross so I probably would never try it.

Is your Christmas shopping finished?
Yes! All prezzies are bought and wrapped. My Christmas shopping is officially done as far as buying gifts goes. I do have to stop by the bank before Christmas to get some money for my niece and nephew as their gifts, but it’s done.

Is there snow in December where you live?
Sadly, no. I live in Florida and there’s no snow here. On the rare occasion it’ll snow in northern Florida, but hardly ever, especially not in South Florida where I currently live. When I used to live in Illinois as a kid, it snowed and that was fun.

Classic Show: A Charlie Brown Christmas or Rudolph?
A Charlie Brown Christmas, always. I love Charlie Brown anything, so I always make it a point to watch the Christmas show every year. As I do with all the holidays where there is a Charlie Brown special.

This weekend we’re going to Andy’s parents house for Christmas, so I will be pretty busy with that. I’m excited though since we haven’t had Christmas with them in such a long time. What are you holiday plans?

In case you missed it;
Random|| Picture Update.
December TBR.
Wrap Up|| November.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleychristmas

Random|| Reading & Life Update.

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

Hey!

It’s been a week since my last update, I guess I just haven’t really had anything to write about. My last post was my November TBR, which I will link at the end of this post. Surprisingly, I’ve been really sticking to that TBR and was able to read three books from it and now on my fourth book. I believe there was seven books on my list, so I think I might actually be able to read them all this month! I flew three books in one weekend. I’ll start with my reading update first and move on to some pictures.

What did I read?

I read The Poet X, And the Ocean Was Our Sky, and Speak: The Graphic Novel. It was actually pretty easy to fly through these in one weekend since one is written in verse (The Poet X), one is only about 150 pages and has illustrations (And the Ocean Was Our Sky) and one was a graphic novel (Speak). Overall, I enjoyed all three of these books.

What am I currently reading?

I am currently reading People Kill People and The Perfect Friend. I’m about halfway through People Kill People and it’s okay. I’m not really that blown away with it and sometimes it’s a bit boring. I hope it picks up. It’s half told in verse. I am also reading The Perfect Friend, which I should be finished with it today. I don’t have very much left of it. It’s pretty interesting, but it’s also probably going to end up being three stars. I like it, but it’s also kind of boring at times too.

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Now onto some pictures that I’ve taken recently and a little about whatever is going on in my life. Some of these haven’t been posted to Instagram yet, but will eventually make there way there. 😛 Feel free to follow me on Instagram (Instagram: heyyitsashley)!

A random selfie from Halloween. I wore my Harry Potter style glasses that day to work and also my Hogwarts/Harry Potter Halloween shirt. On Halloween I mentioned how I was taking my niece and nephew trick-or-treating with my sister. I sadly didn’t get any pictures of them in their costumes, but I took a few videos. They both had light up masks, which I felt would come off better in video than picture haha. They had fun and got a lot of candy. They didn’t want to stay out long, but I was fine with that because I didn’t really want to be out, to be honest. We walked by one house and they had this big lighthouse in their backyard and it lit up! I told Andy (he was with us) that when we get a house I want one in my yard, haha. I love lighthouses and this was so neat!

There was another night (the weekend before Halloween) where our city was having a little Halloween block party type event, so we all went walking around there too. I got a few nice pictures. It was really crowded and I don’t like crowded events anymore (not with all of these random shootings happening so often now). So I was glad we didn’t have to stay too long. My niece didn’t really feel like being there that long. We probably stayed like an hour. Anyway, here are the pictures that I took.

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First picture is a picture of the cat ears my sister was wearing. I thought it would be a cool picture with all the tall buildings behind her. The second picture is of the sun setting in the car. My mom was driving and my sister in the passenger seat. I think it came out really cool. Third picture is the sunset once we got out of the car. Fourth picture is a building and I like the reflection on the building since they are glass/mirrored windows. Fifth picture is stringed lights they had up at the event. Sixth picture is of some candy apples I seen in the window of the bakery we walked by. They look so good!

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I went to Five Below over the weekend and they had some Christmas decor out, so I picked up this throw blanket and pillow for $5 each. I was so stoked when I seen them! I really need to go through all our packed boxes and see if I can find the rest of my Christmas decorations. I don’t care that it’s only November and it hasn’t been Thanksgiving yet. I like to decorate for Christmas early, judge all you want. 😛

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I also got a mini Christmas tree for my dining room table and some little ornaments to go with it at Five Below. I haven’t put the ornaments on yet and not sure when I will. I don’t see this tree lasting long with three cats, lol. ColbyJack is already curious about it, so just wait until those ornaments go up. And speaking of cats…

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The weather actually got a little cooler during the morning last weekend, so we opened up our windows. The cats loved it and spent most of the time sitting on the windowsill in my bedroom. I love these three so much. Left is October, middle is Leaf, and right is ColbyJack.

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And a few other pictures of the furbabies. First picture is Dax. He was super stoked about playing with this Christmas toy, lol. I think he’s ready for Christmas too? He needs a haircut, haha. Middle is October and I love that she was with the Halloween decorations. The picture gives up hella spooky vibes with her coloring. She fits in perfectly. This was before she decided to knock over all of my decorations. UGH. And the last picture is of Leaf. I’ve been working at home on Fridays and sometimes she jumps up on my desk and decides it’s fun to take a nap when I’m trying to work, lol. It’s not always easy to work around her. Last week she decided she would use my mouse as a pillow.

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Another sunset picture from the other day. I take a lot of pictures of the sky. It’s one of my favorite things. It is always changing, which I love. Every day it can be something different, which is really cool.

This weekend I think the whole family is going to go see the new Grinch movie. My mom really wants to go and the previews look good. If my younger sister comes down to visit again this weekend, I might see if she wants to go to the Renaissance festival (Camelot Days). They have it two weekends in November every year, so it’s this weekend and next. I want to go, but also I’m so paranoid about events with big crowds now, UGHH. I guess we’ll see what happens.

What are you currently reading? What have you recently finished reading? Do you have any plans for the weekend?

In case you missed it;
Unofficial November TBR.
Wrap Up|| October.
Book Haul|| October.

I hope you have a great day and weekend!

ashleyblack

Random|| Life Update.

Posted on August 27, 2018 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

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Hey!

I think it’s been like ten or so days since my last update. I’m been so MIA this last week and a half on the blogosphere, but I am ready to get back into it in September and catch up with you guys this week. August has been such a weird month for me with things not working out and other things happening. Here is just a quick little update and a few pictures.

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It was my mom’s birthday on August 17th and we had a birthday party for her on August 18th (a Saturday). We decided to do a beach themed party and we created a little “beach” in the backyard. It came out really great too! We used a beach/ocean backdrop and added a bunch of sand. We also included seashells, beach balls, beach toys, and other beachy things. We wanted to create it for picture to take pictures there. Like a little photo booth area and of course you could hangout there if you wanted. It was also a pool party too, so we all played pool volleyball and had a lot of fun.

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The hubby got a new job! It’s a job he really wanted and I am so stoked for him. He worked really hard in school for a year for this, so it’s really awesome. So we were supposed to be moving, but it didn’t happen like we thought it would which is what I’ve been so down about. BUUUUT, with this new job he got, it changes everything. They actually want him to move there to work in their office in Orlando so it should definitely happen for us this time around. He just has to train here where we currently live for 8-10 months and then they was him to transfer to Orlando. I am really hoping this works out this time. We are taking a different approach and route as well this time around, so hopefully so. Over the weekend I put together a little party for him to congratulate him on his new job. I got a cake and we grilled out. We decorated with some decorations and balloons.

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I finally read To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and I really enjoyed it. I kept seeing spoilerish things with the movie having just released on Netflix, so I decided to finally read it. I finished it on Sunday and watched the movie on Sunday too. First of all, I really liked the book so much. The movie though….I really didn’t care for it that much. It was just okay. I think having read it and then watched the movie right after kind of ruined it for me it. It was so different and things happened that didn’t happen in the book…BUT THEN I decided to start the book sequel after the movie and I was annoyed AF! The movie pretty much spoiled the beginning of the sequel. A big event that happens too, not something minor. So I’m like “WTF” and now I feel like maybe I would have liked the movie a little better had I read the entire series first. The movie had some things in it that didn’t happen until the sequel. I read 70 pages of PS I Still Love You and events that happened in those pages happened in the movie. That annoyed the heck out of me! So yeah, not a fan of the movie. The hubby really liked it though, but he also never read the book so there’s that.

Just some random pictures. Halloween candy is starting to make an appearance and I am super stoked. I had to get a few things, like my favorite little pumpkin candy corn type thing. I’m not entire sure what to call them, haha. But I love those things and I buy so many every year at this time. And the other is just a random picture of my shoes. I don’t know. I just thought the grass was really green and I liked it.

So next weekend (September 6-10) I am going to Illinois! One of my cousin’s is getting married, so my mom and I are going to go. We’re going to ride with my other cousin and his family. They are going to rent a van. We’re all going to pitch in $100 each for gas & renting the van. It’s a 18-20 hour car ride (ahhh), so we’ll literally only be there for the wedding which kind of sucks. We wont’ really have any time to do anything else, but it’ll still be nice to see family and hangout for a day or two.

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And here are a few pictures of the furbabies. It wouldn’t be an update without a picture of them. 😛 Top Left (Dax). Top Right (October & Leaf). Bottom (ColbyJack). That’s all for this little update. I plan to catch up with all of your posts and comments this week when I get some free time.

I’ll have my August wrap up post coming soon. I am hoping to finish the two books I’m currently reading in the next four days. I don’t know if this will actually happen, but I am hoping. I will also have my August book haul soon too. I probably won’t have my own pictures, because I’m still waiting on the books to actually arrive. Dang Book Depository taking forever!

In case you missed it;
Book Tag|| Anonymous Bookaholics.
Thoughts|| #MurderTrending.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblack