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

New Camera.

Posted on May 14, 2018 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

pictureupdate

Hi!

I did a thing and bought a new camera. I probably could have held out for a while longer, but I couldn’t resist any longer. SORRY, CREDIT CARD… I got the Nikon D3400. It’s my first DSLR camera and I am kind of nervous about it, because I have no idea how to use the thing (well the manual mode)! The other one I have is just a Nikon CoolPix and it’s just a basic point-and-shoot camera, so there really isn’t a whole lot to that one.

I was pinning a ton of beginner guides and tips for DSLR cameras days before getting it. I watched YouTube videos all weekend and I’m still like “WHAT?!”. This is going to be a challenge, that’s for sure! I’m up for it though and I am determined to master manual mode. A lot of places on the internet and reviews of the camera itself say that the Nikon D3400 is perfect for beginners, so that’s good.

I like that with the Nikon D3400 I can buy different types of lenses for it. You can’t change lenses with the point-and-shoot one. I definitely need a macro lens and a zoom lens. I live for taking pictures of flowers, so I want a good macro lens. I also live for taking pictures of the moon, so I want a good zoom lens. The standard lens it comes with doesn’t zoom very good. Lenses are not cheap (one of the ones I want is $130!), so it’ll probably be quite awhile before I can get any others. I’m fine with that though, because I should probably just master the DSLR manual mode with the standard lens first before introducing different lenses, haha.

Here are a couple pictures I took with the camera. The flowers were just in the macro mode setting (which is like my CoolPix) and the ones of my kitten Leaf I tried to play around with the partial manual mode a little bit.

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I got this an e-book from my library this weekend about how to use a DSLR camera and read it. It was pretty good and beneficial. Lots of good information. I’m still a little lost as far as everything goes though, lol! It’s just SO MUCH TO REMEMBER AND KNOW! I am so stoked to have this camera though and I can’t wait to really play around with it and start learning. The weather was pretty crappy all weekend (cloudy and rainy) and it’s supposed to be all week too, ugh. Hopefully I’ll get some good opportunities to try it out ASAP! Luckily I have a ton of school work I’ve been neglecting, so that’ll keep me busy all week until I can really dive into playing with my new camera once the weather gets nicer again. Ugh, rain. Ugh, Florida.

I need to post my photo a day pictures soon. I haven’t posted since days 1-6 and it’s already been eight more days of pictures. I need to catch up with that post!

In case you missed it;
Top Ten Tuesday|| Favorite Color Book Covers.
Photo A Day|| May 1-6.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblack

Photo A Day|| May 1-6.

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

photoaday1

Hey!

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|| January 22-31 & GIVEAWAY WINNER!

Posted on February 1, 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.

I skipped quite a few days. I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to take pictures of, didn’t have older backup pictures, or I just completely forgot about them. Here are the rest of the pictures for the challenge though. This post will also contain more pictures than the usual four. I want to get all of them up since it’s now February.

Days 22-31 of January

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Day 22: Scenic.
Instagram Caption: thalassophile 🌊
Camera: Nikon.

Thalassophile: A lover of the sea, someone who loves the sea/ocean. I am kind of obsessed with this ocean shot. I got a couple more really awesome ones too, but I’ll share them another day.

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Day 25: My morning view.
Instagram Caption: ♡♡♡♡
Camera: iPhone.

Random view outside of my house. I was walking my dog Dax before work and decided to snap a picture of the sky, because it looked really pretty that day.

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Day 26: Thank you for…
Instagram Caption: i have been waiting YEARS for this day. words cannot even express how happy i was when the dangerous summer said they were back! i am so stoked for their new album that’s finally here! 🖤🎵
Camera: Nikon.

What my caption says! THE DANGEROUS SUMMER HAS A NEW ALBUM OUT NOW!! Their last album was in 2013, because they broke up. When I heard they were getting back together, I was beyond so stoked! THEN their album was finally released and it was EVERYTHING I ever hoped it would be and more. I’ve listened to it at least 20+ times on repeat and I listened to it at least once all the way through every day since it came out. IT’S SO DAMN GOOD! AND ALL THE FEELS, HOLY CRAP!! GO LISTEN TO THIS ALBUM or at least listen to Color and Luna; those two are my absolute favorite. But I swear, every single song is on point and amazing. You will feel things.

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Day 28: Text.
Instagram Caption: i am pretty stoked to read this. 📖🖤
Camera: iPhone.

I seen this book floating around a little bit and honestly, it’s perfect for me. I am really stoked to read it. Hopefully I get around to it really soon. Currently have a ton of books on my immediate TBR though, because my library decided it would be cool to check out all my e-book holds to me at one time. I would recheck them out later, but a lot of them were holds that I’ve been waiting on for a long time.

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Day 29: Magic.
Instagram Caption: throwback to disney. ♡
Camera: iPhone.

DISNEY WORLD. I NEED TO GO BACK! I used an older picture for this day, because I honestly had no idea what to take a picture of for “magic” and HELLOOOO….DISNEY IS FULL OF MAGIC!

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Day 30: Secret.
Instagram Caption: adventure. 🌲
Camera: Nikon.

This is also an older picture I don’t think I ever posted anywhere. The hubby and I went to this really cool nature trail park last year. I want to go back, because I don’t think we were able to walk all the trails. There were several different ones.

Starting a new monthly challenge today for February! Hopefully I can actually complete an entire month without skipping. 😛

Now for the person that won my giveaway! I actually decided to pick TWO winners.

Kristi from Confessions of a YA Reader
&
Kelly from Another Book in the Wall

Email me at sociallyawkwardbookworm@outlook.com

I will have more giveaways in the near future, so don’t worry if you didn’t win this time! It was fun to do this giveaway and I am stoked to do another one soon. 😀

In case you missed it;
Wrap Up|| January.
Book Haul|| January.
5 star reads of 2017.
Photo A Day|| January 17-21.

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

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

Random|| Christmas & Other Things.

Posted on December 28, 2017 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Hey!

Today I am going to do a one of my random picture updates and it is going to pretty image heavy, because it’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these. It’ll most likely be my last one of these posts before the end of the year. There is almost 50 pictures in this post, so be prepared. 😛 I think I’ll start with Christmas pictures since Christmas just happened.

There was a couple of days where it got pretty cold in Florida, which I was stoked about, because I was able to wear my Christmas sweaters and drink hot chocolate all the time to warm me up. I’ve had my Real Friends Christmas sweater (left) for a few years, but I’ve only worn it a handful of times LOL.

In the middle of December we went to this little event (Fantasy of Lights) where you drive through and see all these different Christmas lights and decorations. That was pretty neat and there were a ton of different cool lights. It was hard to take pictures in the car though, especially when you had a line of cars behind you LOL. I go ta few though.

My three kitties (there will be more cat pictures 😛 ). Left: Leaf. Middle: October. Right: ColbyJack. Here are a few Christmas ones with them near or under the Christmas tree. Sometimes they were good to it and other times they attacked the tree, climbed the tree, and broke branches. UGHH.

OH HEY!!! It’s Santa Dax. He’s pretty stoked about the Santa hat this year. Last year he wasn’t thrilled that I put it on him. He’s too cute, I can hardly stand it. Haha.

Christmas lights. I was bored, so I took some Christmas light pictures. No way was Dax and October taking part in this though, lol. ColbyJack was whatever about it, but you can tell he hated it. Leaf was fascinated by the lights. I had to stop though, because she was trying to eat them.

Hot chocolate and Christmas cookies. On Christmas Eve Eve ( 😛 ) we made it a family night. We decorated cookies, drank hot chocolate, and played board games and trivia games. It was pretty fun. We also let my niece and nephew open one of their gifts. On Christmas Eve we had our Christmas dinner and played more board games. It was pretty fun. I’ve been battling a cold for like almost two weeks now though, so that kind of sucked. I still tried to have fun though. Sorry to any of my family members that end up sick because of me though!

We may have all went a little overboard with presents this year; there is presents for nine people under here though, lol. I got a ton of cool gifts from my family and the hubby’s family too. The hubby got me the other two Home Alone Funkos, which I was stoked about and a wireless charging pad for my iPhone X. He also got me the candy cane TOMS, which are awesome. They are glittery and sparkly.

Pictures do not do them justice AT ALL. They shine and sparkle in the light, which I am obsessed with haha. Probably my new favorite pair of TOMS. I have so many pairs. I think I only wear TOMS, sandals, and occasionally I’ll wear Converse.

The Santa Claus headband. I lived with this thing on my head the entire Christmas weekend, LOL. My sister got a snowman one and then we got our mom, her kids, and Andy Santa hats. They didn’t wear theirs, but I did until Christmas ended LOL.

YOU GUYS!! It was Leaf’s first Christmas. She totally took claim of all the prezzies, so her brothers and sister couldn’t have any. LOL! In the bottom right picture you can see where she took claim to the stocking and let ColbyJack have the dog toys HAHA. Eventually she backed off for a couple minutes and the others got to check out what Santa brought them.

October (top left) and Dax (bottom right) were pretty done with the presents though. They seen what they got and ran off. I think ColbyJack (bottom left) and Leaf (top right) were the only ones that stuck around and played with some of them.

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Last Christmas picture. My younger sister got me a Dobby bookend, which is totally freaking cool! I can’t wait to rearrange my Harry Potter bookshelf, so I can include it on there! He’s so cute.

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You should probably already know by now that I live for sunsets and taking pictures of them. I was able to catch some pretty cool ones in the month of December. The purple and pink one was amazing though. I took that on my way home from work right in front of Hard Rock. It’s not easy getting pictures of sunsets in this city, so many cars and buildings. And now all the furbaby pictures…

MY HEART IS MELTING. I love when they cuddle together. It’s one of my favorite things and Leaf definitely likes to cuddle. ColbyJack only really likes Dax (he tolerates October and Leaf). She’s growing so fast though! She was a little bigger than my hand when we got her and now she’s almost the size of October! She’s only like 6-7 months old. She can be a monster, but she’s also really cute and sweet…

SEE? She loves sleeping by us or on us. When we first got her, we always slept by her because we didn’t want her to be alone because she was so tiny and because we were bottle feeding her. So we would wake up in the middle of the night to feed her if she was crying, so I think maybe that’s why she’s so close to use. A lot closer than our other kitties. Also ColbyJack does lay with me sometimes, especially when I’m sick…

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And some other random pictures of my furbabies. These are the last ones, haha. Furbaby overload, but I love them so much and I can’t help it. 😛

They finally made a Sora Funko, so I got him in December. I was so stoked to get him and that he has a little keyblade. I need to get my hands on all the other Kingdom Hearts Funkos, ASAP! I’ve been having fun replaying all the games again and I can’t wait until the release of the new game at the end of 2018.

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Last but not least, I move things around and here is a picture of my bookshelves. They are a complete mess now though. This was before they became a wreck. I need to clean up and put a ton of things away and make them look nice again.

That’s all for this post. I have a ton of things to do today before my weekend trip to Lakeland (again, told you I love it there). This time I’m going with my sisters, mom, and aunt. It sucks that the hubby can’t come with. 😦 But hopefully it’ll still be a lot of fun. I’ll have my wrap up posted hopefully tomorrow.

In case you missed it;
Book Haul|| December.
Travel|| Lakeland.
Thoughts|| Being Fishkill.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblack

Travel|| Lakeland.

Posted on December 21, 2017 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

lakeland

The hubby and I went to Lakeland to visit my childhood best friend and her boyfriend in November. Last year we visited them and were able to go to Harry Potter world at Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. This time we chose the cheaper route and just hung out with them and did things around their town, which was still SO MUCH FUN! We are obsessed with Lakeland! It’s about 3-3.5 hour drive from us, so it was kind of like a mini road trip, which is always fun.

We have to drive through this little town called Lake Wales before getting to Lakeland. There is this place called “Spook Hill” in Lake Wales, so we decided to check it out.

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So we attempted to try this, but we didn’t do it right so it ended up being really lame LOL! I think one of us was supposed to get out of the car to be able to see this happening, but we both stayed in the car, so we obviously didn’t notice HAHAH! We’ll do it again next time we go up there.

A couple of other pictures from Lake Wales on the way to Spook Hill. That view is so pretty.

When we first got to my friend’s house, we just sat around and talked. Pretty much just caught up and then talked about when we were kids. Poor Andy (hubby) had to listen to all of our old stories and everything, lol. She did my nails and then wanted to do my hair. So we did that until her boyfriend came home. Once he came home we went out to eat at this Mexican restaurant called Abuelo’s, which was so good! We also drank a little bit.

On Saturday during the afternoon my friend (Yanery), Andy, and I went on these little bicycle/walking trails and that was pretty fun.

The trails were kind of nerve-wracking at times, because there were some pretty steep hills to climb up and down. I don’t know how bicyclists do it, I would be scared as hell about it; especially because you are surrounded by water. In that water are alligators! In the wild…so no fences or cages to stop them from getting you if you mess with them!

SEEEE?! They are just out in the open. I was seriously scared I was going to slip and fall into the water or on top of one hahah. I also didn’t wear the right kind of shoes at all. I had my converse on. Had I known the trails were going to be like they were, I probably would have brought different shoes. We obviously survived though!

Here are a few more pictures from hiking on the trails!

After that we went home, showered, changed clothes and then went to Rocket Fizz. If you haven’t heard of it, Rocket Fizz is a store that sells a bunch of candy and different flavored sodas. We always like going there. Andy likes to get the soda and I like to get the salt water taffy. After Rocket Fizz we went to the Brass Tap for pizza and beer. Also a picture of a really BIG and awesome Christmas tree outside the shopping plaza that Rocket Fizz and Brass Tap were. I’m obsessed with Christmas trees.

After we ate and drank a few beers there, we decided to go to Beer Hub to try some more beers and then went back to the house. I’m a beer person and we like to eat, beer and food was a must for this trip. LOL.

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Sunday was our last day, so in the morning we went to this little place called the Poor Porker for breakfast and then we headed home shortly after that. The Poor Porker was such a cool/cute little place. It’s a food truck that sells beignets. They call them “fluffy pillows of heaven” and they totally were.

There were a ton of succulents and cacti EVERYWHERE and there were so many different cool seating areas surrounding the food truck. It was such a neat place! I was taking pictures every thing! Here are a ton of pictures of The Poor Porker.

Suck a cool place, right? I’m pretty obsessed with it! They told us that they are going to start having live music there on Friday nights, so I can’t wait to get back to Lakeland and check it out one day. I bet the atmosphere at night will be just as cool as during the day. They sell beer and snacks at night in another indoor area, which is cool. Remember how I said I was obsessed with Christmas trees? Well of course I spot a HUGE Christmas tree across the street when we were leaving the Poor Porker. Can you guess where I ended up?

And that was our mini weekend vacation to Lakeland to visit my childhood best friend! It was so much fun hanging out, catching up, and seeing more of Lakeland. The last time we were busy in Orlando going to theme parks, so we didn’t get to see a whole lot. So this was really nice. We are both in LOVE with Lakeland and who knows what the future holds for that. 😛

I have a random picture post coming up soon. It’ll just be pictures I’ve taken over the last couple of months.

In case you missed it;
Thoughts|| Being Fishkill.
Friday Finds #71.
Travel|| Disney World.

I hope you have a great day! And if I’m not on here again before Christmas,

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! 😀

ashleychristmas

Twitter: whoa_itsashley
Instagram: heyyitsashley
Bookstagram: foreverbookish_

socially awkward bookworm.

Tag Archives: photos

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