Dr. Von D Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park.

Posted on January 14, 2019 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

travel

Hey!

Andy and I decided to find another park in our area that we haven’t been to and check it out. We used to do this a lot, but haven’t in awhile. We want to go to as many places as we can in this area before we move, so we decided to start checking out parks again. Dr. Von D Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park (damn that name is a mouth full, LOL) is pretty much just a few minutes down the street from us and I can’t believe we haven’t known about this place, because it was so nice; especially the the beach area! Part of the park is ocean and the other part is woodsy.

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These are all the pictures that I took in the beach/ocean part of the park. It was really pretty there and I was obsessed with the view, especially the very first picture that I shared. I think this is more of the fishing area, because a lot of people had fishing poles and they were fishing off the rocks as you can see in the first set of pictures. The last four pictures is more of a sandy area where a lot of people were swimming and laying out. It’s a lot more secluded in this area of the beach than the typical touristy part, which is pretty neat. Nice to keep in mind if I want to ever go to the beach. Even the bathrooms looked nicer than the typical busy touristy beach.

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These are the few pictures that I took in the woodsy area of the park. I didn’t take too many, because I was freaking out because of all the mosquitoes LOL! We made it through though and this was the view when we came out of the woodsy area. IT’S SO PRETTY! Heart eyes for days! We ended up on a bridge and when you cross over the bridge then you’re at the beach (the more sandy part)!

Below are just some random pictures that I took over the last week. I haven’t taken very many, so I figured I would include them in this post as well.

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It wouldn’t be a proper post if I didn’t include pictures of the sky. You all probably know by now that I am obsessed with the sky, so I take a lot of pictures of it. These are my first 2019 pictures of the sky LOL with probably a million more to come. 😛

It also wouldn’t be typical Ashley post without pictures of my furbabies. So the left picture of my kitties, this is the first time I almost got the perfect picture of them all three together. BUT of course the littlest one (Leaf – white calico at the top) ruined it. She was in the middle of smacking October (black calico), so I called her name and she looked up but October was still like “WTF” at Leaf and didn’t look up when I called. You can see little Leaf’s paw being held up slightly, lol. UGHHH. I just want one good picture of them all looking at the camera at the same time, is that too much to ask for? 😛 And then my pup Dax on the right.

That’s all for this post. I can’t wait to figure out which park we want to check out next. I have a few bookmarked and there’s a couple museums that I want to go to as well. So we’ll see what happens!

In case you missed it;
4 Star Reads of 2018.
5 Star Reads of 2018.
Thoughts|| The Wicked King.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblack

Posted on January 10, 2019 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

“your journey is vastly different to anyone else’s.” ♡🌼

Christmas 2018.

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

pictureupdate

Hey!

For Christmas this year were were able to go visit Andy’s parents. It had been a very long time since we’ve been able to have a Christmas with them. They live about 2-2.5 hours away from us. We left on Saturday morning and stayed until the afternoon of Christmas Day. We both had to work the next day, so we had to come home on Christmas.

On Saturday we went downtown to look at some Christmas decorations. Above are a couple of pictures that I took on the way to downtown. You have to drive over a bridge and the sun was starting to set, which was nice.

There are two houses downtown that put up a ton of Christmas decorations. Top two pictures are of one of the houses. For $5 you can go inside and see them all. I didn’t take a ton of pictures inside, because there was so just so much to see and I was pretty much living for everything. I did get a few though.

There were Christmas trees in every single room, it was pretty crazy and totally awesome! These above are some of the Christmas tree pictures that I was able to take and a few of my favorites.

These above are just some other random pictures that I took inside and out side of the houses. After we looked at the Christmas decorations, we went to get some food at 3 Pepper. It’s a Mexican restaurant. It was pretty good. No pictures though. I was starving and dived into my food right away.

After seeing the Christmas decorations and eating, we went back to the house and watched TV for awhile. I think I went to sleep pretty early every night we were there. I had a list of Christmas movies that I like to watch every Christmas, so we worked our way through my list of Christmas movies all weekend/Christmas. On Christmas Eve we had dinner and then Christmas Day we opened presents, had breakfast, and then ate Christmas “dinner” for lunch since we had to leave shortly after that. It was so a lot of fun and I’m glad we were able to spend Christmas with Andy’s family. Dax had a lot of fun being able to hangout with their pup Digby too.

Below are just a bunch of miscellaneous pictures that I took throughout the time we were there.

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We (Andy, his mom, and I) took the dogs on a walk around the neighborhood and the park that’s down the street from their house. These are all the pictures that I took on that walk. It was a really nice day out.

I seen a squirrel in the tree in Andy’s parents backyard and got pretty excited about that, because it was the perfect opportunity to try out my new zoom lens that Andy got me for Christmas. The squirrel was pretty vocal and basically screaming at my dog. HAHA. I think the pictures came out pretty great.

Andy’s parents have an orange tree in their back yard, which is always cool. We were able to pick some oranges to bring home with us. I had fun taking pictures of the tree. Left the orange picking to Andy, haha.

First picture is of Andy and I after we ate dinner of Christmas Eve. Second picture is just a random selfie of myself.

These last set of pictures are from a couple of weekends ago when we went to Lakeland to visit my friend. I figured I would include them as well.

Random view from her guest bedroom window on that Sunday morning. I’m a sucker for a pretty view, haha.

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We seen a house that had SO MANY Christmas lights and decorations, so I had to snap a picture. We also drove down another street and every single house on the street went ALL OUT with their decorations. I didn’t get any pictures, but I wish I had.

And these are just a couple pictures of her cat Bruce. He’s so cute, but he’s still unsure about me. HAHA. Once we are living in Lakeland, I am determined to make him love me. 😛 Although we did make some progress after I gave him some treats. Treats = friend?

Anyway, that’s my picture update for today. I had a great Christmas and we got so many wonderful presents (including an Instant Pot and an iPad Mini) from both our families. I ate a TON of food and candy, which was good and bad (because I totally over did it) haha. How was your holiday or weekend? I have five other blog posts that I am working on that will slowly be making there way onto the blog. Wrap up and book haul coming soon. I’ll have a 2019 reading goals post and a reading challenge I am hoping to tackle in 2019 coming as well. I still need to work on my end of the year book survey too. Be on the look out for a bunch of posts soon. 😀

In case you missed it;
TBB Asks: Holiday Edition.
Random|| Picture Update.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleychristmas

Random|| Picture Update.

Posted on December 11, 2018 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

pictureupdate

Hey!

I haven’t done one of these updates in quite awhile, so I have a TON of pictures to share with you guys. It’s almost 50 pictures, so be prepared. 😛 I’m just going to jump right into it!

My sister (Stephanie), Andy, and I went to this Renaissance festival called Camelot Days that we have here two weekends in November. It was an okay time. I felt like other years were a lot better than this year was. I didn’t take a ton of pictures while I was there, but these above are the ones that I did take.

My mom making homemade noodles for Thanksgiving! 😀 She made SO MUCH food! Thanksgiving was really great. Lots of food and some family friends came to our Thanksgiving too.

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My younger sister Stephanie and I made Christmas cookies for Thanksgiving too. We started off really good with them, but then we were just over it from spending so long making them that you can tell with the cookies when it started to go downhill for us HAH. They all tasted good though. 😛

A bunch of us sitting on my mom’s sofa waiting for all the food to be done. We were watching the dog show that they have on every Thanksgiving. We were also switching between that and the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade. Right picture is DINNER! That was only one of my plates. There was so much food and I couldn’t fit everything on one plate, haha.

Speaking of Christmas, I got some pretty awesome wrapping paper from Target this year. SHARKS! SKULLS! YETIS! FLAMINGOS! SANTA BEARDS! 😛 I also go Home Alone 2 (my favorite one) for only $9 at Target on Black Friday. I can’t wait to watch that this week.

I’m not having a full size Christmas tree this year, but this is my mini Christmas tree that I have on my dining table. The cats already messed it up though, lol. But it was good for about a couple days.

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Stockings hung! I moved my desk to the living room, so it was right under this wall, so it was kind of hard to reach over my computer to get to the wall (LOL), so they all kind of went crooked and downhill. My sister is moving back here and going to be living with us, so I didn’t want to forget her and got her stocking up too. She’s the top. My stocking is Santa, Andy’s is the reindeer, and then of course the other stockings are for our furbabies (three cats & a dog).

Speaking of cats, here they are! Leaf (left picture), October (top right), ColbyJack (bottom right).

I can’t forget my boy, Dax! We took him to the groomer a couple weeks ago to get his haircut. His hair was getting out of control.

A couple weeks ago my sister Stephanie, my nephew, and I went to the park to go Pokemon hunting. I took my camera with and got a few pictures. Middle two are pictures of my nephew. The bottom left is a picture of my sister.

A couple different sunset pictures from the nights I went to the gym. You guys already know how obsessed I am with taking pictures of the sky. It’s the first thing I do whenever I step outside. See if the sky is picture worthy, it usually always is. 😛

Some random pictures I took at the park over the weekend. It was Andy’s work holiday party (HOLY ANXIETY) and I went with him. It was kind of awkward, because well..I’m socially awkward and I don’t do good with small talk or social gatherings, lol. It was okay though. It wasn’t a horrible time and the food was good. There was also a ton of cookies and I love cookies. First picture is when we first got there. That’s Andy walking in the first picture. Second picture is when we were leaving the party and the sun was starting to set.

Some random pictures. Left one is of little Leaf laying on me. She was totally hugging me and it was the cutest. Right picture is just a random picture I took because I really loved my cacti shirt, lol.

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Another random sky picture that I am obsessed with.

So Andy and I kind of sucked with Christmas this year by deciding to give each other our big presents (the expensive ones) that we got each other, lol. He got me a new zoom lens for my Nikon D3400, which I was so stoked about. Check out the size difference! The zoom lens is on my camera and the lens that is next to it is the original lens that it comes with.

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I’m so used to my original lens being able to auto-focus, but this zoom lens that I got doesn’t auto-focus, so it’s going to take me some time to get used to focusing the shots myself. It’ll be fun though. I haven’t had the chance to use it very much yet, but I did take this picture that I thought came out really nice.

We all decorated the tree outside of the house a few nights ago. Totally looks a mess, haha. 😛 Very Charlie Brown-ish. It’s still cute in it’s own way. First picture is the three. Top right is one of the ornaments on the tree, and the bottom right is just an out of focus picture of the lights (bokeh). I like taking out of focus pictures of Christmas lights.

That’s all the pictures that I have. Feel free to follow me on Instagram (heyyitsashley) if you want to. Some of these have been posted there already in the last month or two. Others haven’t made it there yet. The next couple of weeks I’ll be pretty busy, so not sure how active I will be on here. Seems to always happen around the holidays though.

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

Photo A Day|| October 11-17.

Posted on October 19, 2018 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

photoaday1

Hey!

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 3-6 per blog post that I do throughout the month. That way I am not spamming my blog with a photo a day post every single day. 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 cameras (CoolPix & D3400). There will also be some taken with my iPhone X.

October 11th-17th

There’s only five pictures, because I actually skipped a couple days this week. I skipped “baby blue” and “chocolate”. I didn’t have any old pictures that fit the category and I didn’t have any inspiration or things to take pictures of that fit them either for new pictures.

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Instagram Caption: i am obsessed with the way the grass is growing through the cracks of the cement.🖤 || photo a day • black.
Camera: iPhone X

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Instagram Caption: “appreciate this moment. stop and look around you. be thankful for all you have and where you are because this time next year, nothing will be the same.” ♡ || photo a day • fave colour.
Camera: Nikon D3400

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Instagram Caption: 🍄🍄🍄 || photo a day • natural.
Camera: Nikon D3400

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Instagram Caption: throwback from when i was in lake placid in july. i was obsessed with how pretty these were. 🌾💕 || photo a day • baby pink.
Camera: Nikon D3400

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Instagram Caption: “don’t leave my light on, you’ll burn out the bulb and then i’ll have to buy another; it’s not like we can’t talk to each other.” 🎵🖤 || photo a day • light.
Camera: iPhone X

In case you missed it;
Random|| Picture Update.
Photo A Day|| October 6-10.
Blog Tour/Thoughts|| The No-Good Nine.

I hope you have a great day and weekend!

ashleyhalloween

Photo A Day|| October 6-10.

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

photoaday1

Hey!

October 6th-10th

Instagram Caption: best buds ♡ || photo a day • purple.
Camera: iPhone

We went to visit Andy’s parents over the weekend and we took our pup Dax with us. His favorite thing was looking out the window. He’s in the back of the picture looking out the window and Digby (his parents’ dog) is in front looking out the window too.

Instagram Caption: b u t t e r f l y 🦋🧡 || photo a day • orange.
Camera: Nikon CoolPix

Instagram Caption: whatever forever ♡ || photo a day • aqua.
Camera: Nikon D3400

I love this bracelet so much. I am happy that I had it made. “whatever forever” is from one of my favorite songs. It’s from a song called Rock Bottom by Modern Baseball, which I am obsessed with. “I’ve got so much to do, but it’s okay cause whatever, forever.” I live my life by this a lot, lol.

Instagram Caption: ⛵️🏢🌊🖤 || photo a day • grey.
Camera: Nikon D3400

Instagram Caption: 👻💀 || photo a day • white.
Camera: Nikon D3400

In case you missed it;
Blog Tour/Thoughts|| The No-Good Nine.
WWW Wednesday #55.
Thoughts|| I Will Find You.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyhalloween

Photo A Day|| October 1-5.

Posted on October 5, 2018 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

photoaday1

Hey!

I haven’t done this post in awhile, because I took a break from the photo challenges on Instagram for a few months. I decided to attempt the October challenge, because the topics are mostly colors. In case you forgot what my photo a day challenge posts are; 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 3-6 per blog post that I do throughout the month. That way I am not spamming my blog with a photo a day post every single day. 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 cameras (CoolPix & D3400). There will also be some taken with my iPhone X.

October 1st-5th

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Instagram Caption: 💛🖤 || photo a day • yellow.
Camera: Nikon D3400

Instagram Caption: 🍍💕 || photo a day • pink.
Camera: iPhone X

Instagram Caption: 💙💙 || photo a day • blue.
Camera: Nikon D3400

Instagram Caption: 🌵🌵💚 || photo a day • green.
Camera: Nikon D3400

Instagram Caption: ❤️❤️ || photo a day • red.
Camera: Nikon D3400

It’s also been awhile since I’ve done a regular picture/life update post, so I will be doing one of those at some point next week (hopefully), so be on the look out for that. I also hope to have a couple reviews coming next week as well. The hubby and I are off to visit his parents for the weekend after work, so that should be fun. Since they live about 2.5-3 hours away, it’ll hopefully give me a little bit of time to catch up on reading. I am currently in the middle of four books….UGHH, I hate doing this. My main focus is on two of them though, The No-Good Nine and Baby Teeth. The other two I will finish after these two.

In case you missed it;
Book Haul|| September.
Unofficial Halloweenie TBR.
Wrap Up || September.

I hope you have a great day and weekend!

ashleyhalloween

Photo A Day|| June 1-5.

Posted on June 7, 2018 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Hey!

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 3-6 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.

June 1st-5th.

Instagram Caption: the target balls are mickey mouse today! 🎯 || photo a day • circle.
Camera: iPhone X.

I went to Target on Friday and noticed that the balls they have outside of the store were dressed like Mickey Mouse. I was pretty stoked about it, so I had to get a picture. I remember when Pokemon Go first came out, Target painted them to look like Pokeballs. I was curious why about the Mickey Mouse ears, but when I went inside I noticed they had a new section of the store dedicated to all things Mickey Mouse.

Instagram Caption: found a bunch of these guys munching on leaves at the beach today. 🐛🌿 || photo a day • snack.
Camera: Nikon D3400.

I went walking around the beach with my mom and aunt for a little bit and snapped some pictures. It finally stopped raining, so I was able to take my camera out. I seen a bunch of these caterpillars eating leaves. They look so fuzzy and a little creepy. 😛

Instagram Caption: beach day with @lingytm 🌊☀️✌🏼 || photo a day • i sat here.
Camera: iPhone X.

On Sunday, my cousin Michelle came to hangout and we went to the beach and then wen to grab some tacos from a taco place on the beach. It was just her and I, so that was cool. The sun wasn’t too bad when we first got there (we went really early around 9am). We ate lunch around 11am and then went back to my house. I got in the pool to get a lot of the sand off me and because the sun really came out while we ate lunch and it was pretty brutal having to walk so much back to the car in the sun and heat. Our beach has a lot of restaurants and bars on a little strip, so we walked a pretty far amount to the taco place. It was a lot farther than we both actually thought it was. Still a fun time!

Instagram Caption: “that dope ass beat in your heart, vibe to it.” || photo a day • this is so me! • i don’t know why, but i’m forever taking pictures of my shoes.
Camera: Nikon D3400.

Just a random picture. I don’t really have any explanation for it, lol. I tend to take a lot of pictures of my shoes for some reason. I’m not entirely sure why, but I guess it’s my thing. It was also perfect for the topic of “this is so me”, since it’s just something I always do.

Instagram Caption: forever heart eyes for this apartment building every time i see it at the beach. it’s so huge and so pretty. || photo a day • favourite.
Camera: Nikon D3400.

This is a huge apartment building on the beach. This picture isn’t even half of it. It’s also so pretty. It’s probably one of my favorite buildings along the beach, lol. I actually really love how this picture turned out too.

It’s been awhile since I’ve done a regular picture/life update, so I may do that soon or at least at some point this month. I’ve taken a lot more pictures over the last couple months that are not a part of the photo a day challenge, so I want to post those on my blog as well. I have a few reviews that I need to do, so those may be coming next week.

In case you missed it;
June TBR {Maybe}.
Photo A Day|| May 25-31.
Wrap Up|| May.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblack

Photo A Day|| 15-24.

Posted on May 25, 2018 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

photoaday1

Hey!

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 3-6 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.

Days 15-24 of May.

I did end up skipping of the days, but not sure which one since I don’t number the days on my IG account. I’ll have one more post maybe first of June with the last of the pictures of the month if I do them.

Instagram Caption: free donuts at work today 🍩🙌🏼 || photo a day • kind.
Camera: iPhone X.

I can never pass up free donuts, especially chocolate frosted and sprinkle donuts! 😀 Donuts are always a good thing.

Instagram Caption: photo a day • doors & windows…. well, just a window for my picture.
Camera: iPhone X.

I had no idea what to post for this, because I haven’t been anywhere. I remembered I had this gem in my “favorites” folder on my phone that I hadn’t posted yet, so I chose to use this minus the door. 😛 I took this in Lakeland.

Instagram Caption: another california throwback; forever heart eyes. ♡ || photo a day • breathtaking.
Camera: I took this with a Sony digital camera I had (but I don’t remember what exactly since it was two years ago and I don’t think I still even have it).

I want to go back to California, ahhh. I know I said that last post too when I used one of my Cali pictures for that week. It’s so pretty. This is another picture from Monterey Bay, CA.

Instagram Caption: i am about 20% into circe and i’m totally here for it; i love all things mythology. || photo a day • a good read.
Camera: iPhone X.

Still currently reading Circe and I am now about 35% into it and it’s so good! I am really hoping to have this finished before the end of the month, so I can include it in my wrap up post. Since it’s going to rain all weekend (again), I’ll use that time to read read read!

Instagram Caption: 🌻💛 || photo a day • creative.
Camera: iPhone X.

I seen some more random street art in Downtown Hollywood. Kind of a funny story, but there is this parking garage that is completely painted with purples and pinks. My mom had to go to the bank next door to that parking garage and I looked into the parking garage and seen that the inside had different pictures painted inside. I seen a sunflower and needed a picture of it. I love sunflowers. So while my mom was at the ATM, I got out of the car, ran over to the parking garage, hopped over a little “wall” type thing, and snapped this picture. 😀

Instagram Caption: 🐱🍂🖤 || photo a day • pet.
Camera: Nikon D3400.

I couldn’t decide which picture of Leaf I loved more, so I ended up posting both for this day. I really love how they came out and she’s of course the cutest.

Instagram Caption: throwback to that one day when it didn’t rain and now it’s been raining for two weeks straight. 😒 || photo a day • a really great day.
Camera: Nikon D3400.

I had to use this picture for this day, because honestly…the days here haven’t been the greatest (see below). I also haven’t really been doing much lately. So I used a picture I hadn’t used yet when the weather was actually nice. It hasn’t been nice since. 😦

Random: It’s been raining and cloudy for over two weeks now and I am seriously so over it. I have been dying to take my new camera out (STILL) and this weather is continuing to make it so difficult! SO MUCH RAIN…SEE….flooded park near my house.

I may have a review for Emergency Contact coming up and then next week I’ll have my May wrap and my book haul. I may also be doing a June TBR, because I think I am pretty set on what I would like to read next month. We’ll see!

In case you missed it;
Photo A Day|| May 7-14.
Thoughts|| Before I Let Go.

I hope you have a great day and weekend!

ashleyblack

Photo A Day|| May 7-14.

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

photoaday1

Hey!

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 3-6 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.

Days 7-14 of May.

I did end up skipping of the days, but not sure which one since I don’t number the days on my IG account.

Instagram Caption: 🐞🌿❤️ || photo a day • small.
Camera: Nikon CoolPix.

I took these when I was visiting my dad a couple months ago. Ladybugs are so cute. My dad had a bunch in his garden.

Instagram Caption: ravenclaw; values intelligence, knowledge, and wit. 📖💙 i’ve had my ravenclaw pop socket for like a month now and i finally started to use it. i’m stoked and obsessed. || photo a day • i enjoy.
Camera: iPhone.

I’ve been seeing the Ravenclaw pop socket so many times at Target and I’ve been wanting to get it, but I didn’t want to pay $14.99 for it. It finally went on sale and I got it for $9.99. I had it for a month and never got around to using it, even though I wanted it so badly. 😛 I finally put it on though. So that’s the one I am currently using at the moment.

Instagram Caption: my dude. ♡ || photo a day • looking down.
Camera: iPhone.

Taking my pup Dax for a walk. I can’t believe he turned eight years old this year. He’s becoming an old man. 😦 He still acts like a puppy the majority of the time though.

Instagram Caption: hey, seal! 👋🏼⛵️🌊 || two years ago; monterey bay, california. || photo a day • throwback.
Camera: I took this with a Sony digital camera I had (but I don’t remember what exactly since it was two years ago and I don’t think I still even have it).

CALIFORNIA! I need to go back to Cali, ASAP! I had such a fun time and there were so many things I wanted to do in San Fran (and Monterey Bay) that I didn’t get to do. I definitely need to plan another trip back there. We were walking around Monterey Bay and I spotted this seal just chillin on a rock. There were tons of seals around, which was neat.

Instagram Caption: 🌴🌿⚪️ || photo a day • shape.
Camera: iPhone.

One of my favorite lens ball pictures. This was taken with my 80mm lens ball. I used another lens ball picture below for a different day too.

Instagram Caption: HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! 💐 we went fishing yesterday for a little bit until it rained. played around with my 60mm lensball and took this picture with my iphone. i didn’t notice my older sister, our mom, and aunt in the lensball until after; but i like it and it’s perfect for mother’s day. 🌊🐟🎣 || photo a day • family.
Camera: iPhone.

This is my 60mm lens ball. It’s easier to carry around my smaller one. As my caption said, we went fishing. The weather was crappy though so we didn’t stay out long. I was hoping to try out my new camera with my lens ball, but since it rained I didn’t even take it out. I didn’t want to risk it getting wet or damaged. I really like how this one came out even with my iPhone.

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Instagram Caption: ♡♡♡ || picture from saturday. || photo a day • late.
Camera: Nikon D3400.

You may have seen this orchid picture in my “new camera” post, but I ended up using it for my picture for this photo a day as well. I LOVE the quality of this picture. I’ve been trying to get pictures of my mom’s orchid’s for awhile now with my iPhone and my Nikon CoolPix, but the pictures always came out really bad no matter how many times I’ve tried. I finally got a great shot with my new Nikon D3400!

I still haven’t really been able to take my camera out, because the weather has still be really crappy here. It’s been raining/storming every single day since last Friday and I don’t now if it will ever let up. UGH. According to my weather app it’s supposed to continue to rain every day all the way until next Saturday, WTF!

Random: I’ve been listening to a lot of true crime podcasts (main one being Generation Why) and I am now obsessed with them. I love true crime stuff. I watch the Investigation Discovery channel religiously. I don’t read enough true crime books though, so that may need to change. I am living for these podcasts though.

In case you missed it;
Thoughts|| Before I Let Go.
WWW Wednesday #50.
Thoughts|| Airports, Exes, and Other Things I’m Over.

I hope you have a great day and weekend!

ashleyblack

Photo A Day|| May 1-6.

Posted on May 7, 2018 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

photoaday1

Hey!

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 3-6 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.

Days 1-6 of May.

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Instagram Caption: i can’t believe she’s going to be one next month. where did the time go? 🍂🐱💕 || photo a day • something good.
Camera: iPhone.

My little Leaf is not so little anymore. She’s already going to be one years old and that’s CRAZY! I feel like we just got her. She’s still the sweetest kitty ever.

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Instagram Caption: salvador dali & frida kahlo • downtown hollywood, fl • there’s actually another artist (jean-michel basquiat) painted on the other side of frida, but i was in the car driving past so i couldn’t get the other side. i definitely have to walk past it next time, so i can get the full mural. || photo a day • colour.
Camera: iPhone.

Another mural painted on one of the buildings in Downtown Hollywood. There are still plenty more I need to get around to seeing. I also really want a full shot of this one next time.

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Instagram Caption: 📖💙 • photo a day || on my plate.
Camera: iPhone.

White Cheddar Cheez-It are my favorite! I was currently reading Airport, Exes, and Other Things I’m Over at the time of this picture. It was pretty fun and plan to have my review posted next week for the release day week.

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Instagram Caption: hello weekend ✌🏼 i don’t plan to leave my bed the rest of the day/night. me & season four of wentworth tonight. || photo a day • what i see.
Camera: iPhone.

I ended up not watching the entire season four of Wentworth this day. It was so freaking intense that I had to stop for awhile. OMG, this show. I love it so much, but damn all the feels and all the crazy. If you ask the hubby, he’ll tell you that you can hear me all night yelling at the tv and yelling that I can’t take the show anymore and that I can’t handle it. LOL.

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Instagram Caption: “i no longer force things. what flows, flows. what crashes, crashes. i only have space and energy for the things that are meant for me.” 🌊 || photo a day • earth.
Camera: iPhone.

Hollywood Beach, FL. 😀 The waves were pretty decent sized that day. The ocean is always so pretty and I can take a million pictures of it and never get bored with it. I love the quote that I decided to caption my picture with. I think it fits for the ocean picture and fits me.

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Instagram Caption: 🌼💛🌊 || photo a day • something yellow.
Camera: Nikon.

These flowers are so pretty and I love that they were in front of the ocean too, because it made for a really awesome picture. This is probably one of my favorites that I’ve taken.

In case you missed it;
Wrap Up|| April.
Top Ten Tuesday|| Books I’d Slay a Lion to Get Early.
Book Haul|| April.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblack

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.

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I really loved this robot one so much.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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See! Friends again! 😀

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

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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.

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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

Photo A Day|| April 1-4.

Posted on April 4, 2018 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

photoaday1

Hey!

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 3-5 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.

Days 1-4 of April.

This month the topics are the alphabet and the first week or so being numbers. Coming up with a picture idea for numbers hasn’t been that easy. By the way, my caption game has not been on point so far this month. Emojis for everything. 😛

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Instagram Caption: happy easter! 🐣🐰 || photo a day • one.
Camera: iPhone.

Took this one on Easter. I knew I wanted to use an Easter egg, because I wanted to post a “Happy Easter” picture. I love how this one came out. There were actually two pictures I took and I could not decide which one to use for my photo a day picture on Instagram. I chose this one and ended up posting the other one to Facebook. I’ll share the other one in another post when I do photo update post that I usually do. I think it’s been awhile since I’ve done one, actually.

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Instagram Caption: ❤️🧡💛 || photo a day • two.
Camera: Nikon.

You may have seen this picture if you checked out my Butterfly World post (here). I decided to use it for this day, because I really wasn’t sure what to post for “two” and remembered these two guys and I hadn’t shared it to Instagram yet.

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Instagram Caption: 💜💜💜 || photo a day • three.
Camera: iPhone.

I actually skipped this day until this morning when I was randomly taking pictures of some flowers. When I was looking at my pictures after I took it I seen there were three purple flowers that stood out, so I decided to post it a day late.

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Instagram Caption: 💙☁️🌳☀️ || photo a day • four.
Camera: iPhone.

I was trying to come up with ideas all morning for this one and then I seen the number “four” on my building at work. Took the easy way out and took a picture of it. It actually turned out really cool though, because you can see the reflection of the sky and trees on the number plate.

In case you missed it;
Wrap Up|| March.
Thoughts|| Love and Other Carnivorous Plants.
Book Haul|| March.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblack

Photo A Day|| January 17-21.

Posted on January 25, 2018 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

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 17-21 of January.

I accidentally skipped day 20 (which would have been “reflection”).

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Day 17: Thoughtful.
Instagram Caption: i love this guy and all the things he does for me. i can be a pain in the butt a lot of the time, but he loves me anyway. 🖤🌊
Camera: iPhone.

Went out to eat one night on a taco place at the beach with the hubby. The tacos were amazing (pictures in a later post) and the beach is always nice.

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Day 18: Cool.
Instagram Caption: “Even paradise could become a prison if one had enough time to take notice of the walls.” 📖
Camera: Nikon.

Quote used is from Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes. I can’t wait for the final book to come out in February. I am dying to get my hands on it, so I can read it. Hands down one of my favorite series ever.

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Day 19: Paper.
Instagram Caption: i made a new TBR jar of some of my unread books that i really want to try to read this year. my final list ended up being 124 books (i actually own about 500 unread books 😳). i would love to read all 124, but realistically i probably won’t. it’ll be fun randomly choosing which ones to read next though.
Camera: iPhone.

So like my Instagram caption says. I made a new TBR jar (that I probably won’t use, lol) of the 124 unread books out of 500 unread that I own that I want to try to read this year. I’m most likely not going to read all 124 books, but I mean I want to choose books from just that 124 on the list. Plus whatever books I check out from the library and new releases. I just added older books to that list and a few from 2017 that I really want to make a priority this year and probably next year.

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Day 21: Day off.
Instagram Caption: i should probably clean up the house, but will most likely lay in bed with leafy all day. 😴🐱
Camera: iPhone.

Leaf forever cuddles with me and I freaking love it! My other cats don’t give me enough attention, lol.

I am having a giveaway for my three year blogiversary on my blog that goes until the end of January! I linked the blog post below, so you can check it out!

In case you missed it;
Three Year Blogiversary & Giveaway!
Top Ten Tuesday|| Books I liked, but can’t remember.
Photo A Day|| January 13-16.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblack

Photo A Day|| January 13-16.

Posted on January 19, 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 13-16 of January.

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Day 13: Floral.
Instagram Caption: g o o d • v i b e s ✌🏼
Camera: iPhone.

I seen this shirt at Five Below and had to have it! It went perfect for my “floral” photo a day topic too. 😀

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Day 14: Faceless Portrait.
Instagram Caption: “my life is shaped by the urgent need to wander and observe, and my camera is my passport.” 📷✌🏼
Camera: Nikon.

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Day 15: New.
Instagram Caption: i am living for the january @puravidabracelets pack.
Camera: iPhone.

I am seriously ADDICTED to Pura Vida Bracelets. I’m scared to even count how many I have. The last count was around 30 and that was months ago. I even have a bunch of their ankle bracelets too. I subscribe to their monthly subscription where you get three bracelets (sometimes four) every single month and they are usually part of theme, which you don’t know until you get the bracelets. I am usually in love with every single one. The theme for January looks like it is an ocean/ship theme and it’s probably one of my favorites! And there were four bracelets this month! What I love about the subscription is that it’s only $15 and you get some of there pricier bracelets every single month! I tend to not buy their really expensive bracelets (like the seed bead and most charm bracelets), because I don’t want to spend $15-25 on just one bracelet. With the monthly club though, you get those as part of the package and you still only pay $15 a month. And they are exclusive to the monthly club first. Anyway, I’m rambling, LOL! I just love their bracelets.

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Day 16: Wall.
Instagram Caption: throwback to NYC in june 2017.
Camera: Nikon.

I took this picture back in June when I went to NYC as part of my honeymoon and never posted it, so I decided to use it for my photo a day topic for this day. I also didn’t go anywhere cool this day and my walls are plain at home LOL.

I am having a giveaway for my three year blogiversary on my blog that goes until the end of January! I linked the blog post below, so you can check it out!

In case you missed it;
Three Year Blogiversary & Giveaway!
Thoughts|| A Taxonomy of Love.
Photo A Day|| January 9-12.

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.

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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.

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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).

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

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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

Photo A Day|| January 5-8.

Posted on January 11, 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 5-8 of January.

*link to days 1-4 at the end of this post*

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Day 5: Stacked.
Instagram Caption: currently reading (the cruel prince) & book mail (busted). 📖
Camera: iPhone.

I knew I wanted to take a picture of my books for this topic, but I also didn’t want to go home and take books down from my shelf (lazy and just got off work). The hubby brought a package I got with him when he picked me up from work and it happened to be a book, so I actually took this picture in the car of my current read and the book that I got in the mail. LOL. So my stacked picture worked out. 😛

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Day 6: Happy Place.
Instagram Caption: the cruel prince is pretty good so far! now the struggle of deciding if i want the black or white finished copy. to be honest, if i five star this book then i’m buying both lol. 🤔🖤📖
Camera: iPhone.

I am about 200 pages into The Cruel Prince and it’s so freaking good! I didn’t even wait until I finished reading the book (at the time I was probably about 30 something percent into it) before going out and buying a copy. From the pictures below, I chose the black cover Barnes and Noble edition. As my caption says, if I five star this book then I will be ordering the white one too, lol.

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Day 7: Light.
Instagram Caption: ☀️🚗✌🏼
Camera: iPhone.

I had this sunset picture saved on my phone from Lakeland a couple weekends ago and never posted it, so I used it for my day 6 picture. I am kind of obsessed with it. We were driving back to Lakeland from Lake Wales and the sun was setting right in front of us. I was in the back seat and got this shot.

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Day 8: Splendid.
Instagram Caption: 🖤✨
Camera: iPhone.

And another sunset, because I am obsessed with them and taking pictures of them. I know I’ve probably said that so many times, lol. This one was taken at the end of my street.

In case you missed it;
Top Ten Tuesday|| Books I meant to read in 2017.
Travel|| Lakeland…again.
Phot A Day|| January 1-4.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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

Phot A Day|| January 1-4.

Posted on January 5, 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 1-4 of January.

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Day 1: I am here.
Instagram Caption: playing exploding kittens with the younger sister and mom. 🐱💥
Camera: iPhone.

The hubby and I were gifted Exploding Kittens from his family for Christmas and my mom and sisters have been playing it. It’s pretty fun. My mom probably loves it more than everyone else and gets angry if she loses, haha.

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Day 2: Yellow.
Instagram Caption: 💛💛
Camera: Nikon.

Just a random picture of some little flowers. A lot of people consider these weeds, but I think they are cute.

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Day 3: On the floor.
Instagram Caption: “We all live day to day completely oblivious to the fact that we’re a part of a much larger and stranger reality than we can possibly imagine.” 📖
Camera: iPhone.

Can you guess the book I quoted in my caption? If not, it’s Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. I love that book so much and this is hands down one of my favorite quotes. I took the picture of my reflection on a door I walked past outside my work.

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Day 4: Plain.
Instagram Caption: 🐚💙 || i honestly had no idea what to take a picture of today for this topic, so here’s a pretty shell. 🤷🏻‍♀️
Camera: iPhone.

Like my caption said, I had no idea what to take a picture of for that topic. So I posted a picture of this shell that I took a months ago, but never posted.

BONUS PICTURES, because they are too cute not to share.

Clearly little Leaf didn’t make it to midnight. 😛

In case you missed it;
2018 Reading Goals.
New Year, New Blog.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblack

Photo A Day|| November 11-15.

Posted on November 16, 2017 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Hi!

I’ve been doing a photo a day challenge over on my Instagram account (heyyitsashley) this month (November) and I’ve been having a lot of fun with it. 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! Days 1-6 linked down below.

Some of these pictures were taken with my Nikon. I also just got an iPhone X and it takes AMAZING pictures, so some of these were taken with my iPhone as well. By the way, I tend to take a lot of nature type pictures. I’m kind of obsessed with taking pictures of flowers.

Days 11-15 of November.

*I skipped day 14, oops. topic would have been “silver”.*

Day 11: Grey
Instagram Caption: book mail. 😀 sooooo stoked to read long way down. i’ve heard so many good things about it. || photo a day • grey.
Camera: iPhone

Fun fact: it looks grey, but it’s kind of holographic so it shines blue. 😛 I seen a lot of good things about Long Way Down, so I had to buy a copy ASAP! I am going to Lakeland for the weekend to visit my childhood best friend and it’s a three hour car ride, so I think I will bring this book along with me and my Kindle since the next three books I want to read are on there.

Day 12: Brown
Instagram Caption: “you don’t like how you’re feeling, but you never rearrange what’s unappealing.” 🖤 || photo a day • brown.
Camera: iPhone

This was the first picture I took with my new iPhone X when I was testing out the camera, but never posted it until the topic for this day. We have a chain link fence, but the fence on the other side of our fence is brown. Perfect picture for this “brown”.

Day 13: Gold
Instagram Caption: i am so close to being finished with the sword of summer. it’s been so fun to read. i definitely plan to buy the other books in the series asap! || photo a day • gold.
Camera: iPhone

I was actually kind of stumped for “gold”, but then I realized toward the end of the day that my glasses had gold on them! Win for me and I really love this picture. I finished The Sword of Summer since this picture. It was everything I hoped it would be. I can’t wait to read the other books in the series.

Day 15: Neon
Instagram Caption: put the mini christmas tree up! 🎄🎅🏼 i’m not sure if we’ll have a regular sized tree this year. last year october🐱 destroyed it, so we had to toss it. leaf🐱 is already constantly bopping the ornaments off this mini tree and knocking it off the table. 🙄😒 || yesterday’s photo a day • neon.
Camera: iPhone

I was originally going to skip this topic, but did it today (day late, whatever 😛 ). I put up my mini Christmas tree and I forgot that the ornaments were kind of neon colored, so I decided to late post it on Instagram today. And what my caption says, Leaf is already destroying it. I am pretty sure I am going to go home after work and find it on the floor and all the ornaments missing.

In case you missed it;
WWW Wednesday #44.
Photo A Day|| November 7-10.
Photo A Day|| November 1-6.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblack

Photo A Day|| November 7-10.

Posted on November 10, 2017 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Hi!

Days 7-10 of November.

Day 7: Orange
Instagram Caption: 📖🧡 || photo a day • orange.
Camera: Nikon

I actually took this picture months ago, but never posted it anywhere so I decided to use it for my photo a day picture for this day. I’m pretty obsessed with with. It’s like the perfect bookish heart and my orange/yellow tapestry is pretty amazing.

Day 8: White
Instagram Caption: i’m kind of obsessed with the iphone x camera. 🐚 || photo a day • white.
Camera: iPhone

As my Instagram caption says, I am pretty obsessed with the iPhone X camera. It takes such great pictures. I was testing it out with my niece and had her hold out this shell and the shot came out pretty great!

Day 9: Black
Instagram Caption: 📸🖤 || photo a day • black.
Camera: iPhone

Another picture I had for awhile and ended up never posting it. I had no idea what to take a picture of for the theme “black”, so I decided to finally post this picture.

Day 10: Purple
Instagram Caption: 💜💜 || photo a day • purple.
Camera: iPhone

I don’t really come into contact or view of many purple things (so sad, it’s one of my favorite colors), but I had this purple flower laying around my house so I decided it would be perfect for my picture for today. Hands down one of my favorite pictures I’ve taken.

In case you missed it;
Photo A Day|| November 1-6.
Blog Changes.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblack