#ccprompt2 – Shift Your Perspective

Prompt #2- Take a photo of where you are RIGHT this second. Except, shift your perspective, what do you see? Write your revelation in one sentence.

#ccprompt1 – Write your personal manfiesto

A dear friend of mine, Katie, brought the You, Me, & Charlie May Challenge to my attention. And though I’m definitely not skilled in things like art or music (I do play a mean clarinet, though) or singing, I do enjoy writing and snapping the occasional photograph with my camera. If nothing else, this will serve to challenge me to write a little bit on a daily basis. As I was once told, while taking part in another challenge: “It doesn’t have to be good. It just has to exist.” And if I can continue writing something every day, who is to say it has to be stellar? Aren’t I just writing for myself? As a documentation for my experiences? If someone stumbles upon it, who is to say they’ll judge me for my writing quality, when all this is supposed to be is a collection of memories and feelings. Writing here, it’s a place of freedom. A place to just let go and write and babble on about whatever it is I find joy in or that consumes me in that moment. Somewhere along the line I lost that. I began worrying about what people might think of what I have to say and then I frighten myself into not writing anything. But that’s just silly, isn’t it? To cower in fear or to write anonymously, just for fear that people – people you don’t know, have never met – might judge you for your words? My words? They’re all I have. Why live in fear of sharing them?

And so, that brings me to the first day of May’s challenge (that I am posting a day behind because I discovered it a bit too late):

Prompt #1- Write your personal manifesto. This could be an essay, a sentence, a word… the beginning of your novel. Get creative. What are you about?

I am a writer. I will no longer let myself shy away from my words for fear of what others might think or say. I will write, every day. A word, a short story, a drabble. I will write because writing is what I have been blessed with. My words are all I have to offer and I will no longer shy away from that. I will take pride in being able to move someone with them. I am a writer and I will proudly acknowledge it.

It’s not technically ‘Wordless Wednesday’ anymore, but I found this in my Photos and wanted to remember it:

namedotcomsfifteenthousandthtwitterfollower.com!

Are you looking for a domain registrar? May I interest you in taking a peek at Name.com?

When I purchased my first domain nearly a year and a half ago, I chose Name.com because I thought they had great customer service. Before I purchased anything, I spent a lot of time on their blog, reading about the people behind the scenes and what kind of company they were. I also thought they had great promotions and deals (something I’m sure everyone cares about when buying their domains) and so, after scouting out a few other registrars, I went with my first choice: Name.com.

Over the course of this year and a half, I’ve come to see how much Name.com genuinely cares about it’s customers. There’s the way they fought for David Walsh, the way they’re always providing tips to make your site better, and best of all, they’re not afraid to say, “Hey, we’re not perfect ALL the time.”.

A few minutes ago, I happened to notice that Name.com was only one follower short of 15,000 on Twitter. Of course I followed (because I’m not sure why I wasn’t already!) and a few minutes later, the following transpired:

Do you see what I mean about great customer service? Not just the fact that they thought it’d be cool to buy a domain and direct it to my site (although seriously, how cool is that?), but the fact that they took the time to even respond to me! Took the time to say, “Hey, we’re just as excited about this as you!” Do you know how rare that is with major companies? I’d like to see that other (somewhat sexist) registrar do that. (I’m looking at you registrar who parades Danica Patrick around!)

I currently have two domains with Name.com and I have a feeling there’s going to be a few more coming in the very near future! Thanks again, Name.com! For a year and a half of great service and for the tens of people who will inevitably be disappointed by how not exciting this blog is!

App of the Week: Viggle

I’m not signed up to do sponsored posts at the moment, so I wanted to preface this by saying that what I’m about to say comes from the heart and I’m not being paid to write it.

That being said, I want to tell you all about an app I recently discovered: Viggle.

Viggle is an app which, much like GetGlue, allows you to check into any show or movie (on tv) that you’re watching. For each minute you watch, you earn two points. So if you’re checked into Grey’s Anatomy? At the end of the show, you’ll have earned 120 points. Watching Parks and Recreation? You’ll earn 60! Some shows are sponsored and you’ll earn a better amount of points if you check into them while they air live, such as The Big Bang Theory, The Soup, etc. They also have short commercials and movie trailers you can watch ranging from fifteen seconds to two minutes. These are a great way to rack up points very quickly! There’s trivia also, based on the show you’re checking out, such as ‘Reality Show Trivia’ and ‘Pop Culture Trivia’. They’re fifteen points for each time you get a correct answer and I usually see them in groups of at least ten! That’s 150 points just for knowing pop culture! It’s like every tv junkie’s dream, right?

Now I’m sure by now you’re asking yourself, “Ashley, what can I earn with these points?”

That’s the best part! You can earn gift certificates to places like iTunes ($10/14,000), Starbucks ($5/7,500), and other food places. Plus businesses such as Hulu Plus (1 month subscription/14,000), Sephora ($10/14,000), or Amazon ($25/35,000). And even real life products such as an iPod Shuffle (100,000 points) and an Amazon Kindle (175,000 points)!

Doesn’t that sound too good to be true? It’s not. I’ve already cashed in some of my points for a month’s worth of Hulu+ and I think I’m going to work on grabbing that Amazon gift card next! You simply cash in your points and Viggle e-mails you a code, which you use just as you would a gift certificate! I had absolutely no trouble cashing in for the month of Hulu and I’ve heard great reviews from others who use this app!

If Viggle sounds like something you’d enjoy (and you watch a lot of tv like I do), I’d love it if you’d drop off your e-mail in a comment (or feel free to e-mail it to me here) and I’d be more than happy to send you an invite, which would give me 200 points for inviting you. Even if you don’t, I’d still highly recommend you downloading the app and start racking up points. Viggle is a great app, filled with great rewards for simply doing something you’re doing already! You might as well earn real life rewards for it, right?

Weekly Schedule

I am highly considering forming some sort of weekly meme here. I probably wouldn’t do every single one, every single day, but it would be nice to have something to talk about if I just felt like blogging! I wrote these up at the end of last year, after being inspired by my friend Kim’s new blog: onefivezero.com

Letter Writing Sunday – In which I will write an anonymous letter to anyone from my past, present, or future.
Movie+Music Monday – Here’s where I’ll review one of the two weekly movies that I’m watching as part of my 100 Movies goal or I’ll share a song I’m currently digging/listening to on repeat!
Thankful Tuesday – I’ll list five things I’m incredibly thankful/blessed with that week. Gratitude is important and something I need to be more aware.
Wordless Wednesday – I’ll post a photograph I’ve taken that week with no other explanation, except maybe some lyrics for a subject line that make me think of the photograph.
TV Thursday – To be honest, Thursday night television is my favorite night of the week. I don’t think there’s a night of television I look forward to more than that! So on Thursday’s, I’ll take a minute to spaz over the week’s worth of television I watched and ask for new recommendations to check out!
Foodie Friday – I have a slight problem with taking pictures of food. My mom always teases me about it, because she knows whenever I really love a dish, I’m going to want to remember. Foodie Friday celebrates that! I’ll be posting photographs of great dishes I’ve tried, recipes for things I’ve made, maybe even reviewing something I’ve tried as part of my Gluten-Free/Endo eating!
Spontaneous Saturday – If you’re a fan of The Big Bang Theory, you’ve probably heard of ‘Anything Can Happen Thursday’. Well, in similar fashion, this is ‘Spontaneous Saturday’! I’ll answer questions, post a video, do a meme, maybe just blog about my life and catch you up! Anything goes on Saturday!

2012 Goals!

I hate calling them ‘resolutions’, it sounds so trite and so easily breakable. Goals sounds positive, something to motivate me. I’m surprised at how much NaNoWriMo has changed me. I feel like if I work hard at anything, I can make it happen. It’s new for me, to realize my own strength. I guess I found a little bit of self-worth through the process of noveling and I want to continue with it, to keep pushing myself to try things I never have before (which was the original plot of my novel, ironically enough!).

I started a bunch of fun goals for 2012, things I always say I’ll do but never continue. There’s my goal of ’100 Movies in a Year’ which I’m already behind on, haha! And the ’1000 New TV Episodes in a Year’ that a bunch of my friends and I are doing, since we’re all tv junkies. And my personal favorite, one photograph a day for a year. I’ve started it before but I think as long as I keep my iPod handy, I’ll be able to snap at least one good photo every day. Besides that, it’ll be great to look back at the end of the year and see my life spread out like that! I’ve also started a one year Bible reading plan which I’m regretfully behind on already, boo. I need to spend some serious time tomorrow in quiet time, catching up. Oh! And I’m definitely going to blog once a week. At least to check in, maybe post a photo or some lyrics that touch me. Or even just a rambly post like this! I want to spend one day a week writing at least two thing I’m grateful for. That’ll be 100 things at the end of the year and if that’s not enough to constantly remind me of how blessed I am when I start feeling sad, I don’t know what would be!

Do you guys make resolutions? Or ‘goals’ at the beginning of the year? I’d love to hear them! Also, how everyone’s Christmas went! Did Santa bring you everything you hoped for?

NaNoWriMo!

A quick note to apologize for being so busy and not getting around to reply to comments/e-mails. I’m in the final few days of NaNoWriMo and I’m trying to force myself to finish a winner. I’m about 16,000 words from the finish line which equals out to about 5,000 words a day until midnight on the 1st. Here’s hoping I can finish on time!

Vegas and Family and Birthdays, Oh My!

It’s been so long since I’ve written and so much has happened. We ended up going to Las Vegas and, though I didn’t get what I had expected to out of the trip, I know I can take away other things that are just as important. I spent a week with my mother and grandmother and I know from that I’ll take memories that I can hold with me years from now when I can no longer spend time with my nanna. We saw so much of the beautiful country, along what I’m guessing was the old Route 66. We were barely on any ‘super highways’, but mostly old highways with beautiful scenery. I took so many photos and I think I need to post them online sometime soon because they’re something I’m proud of (and I’m not often proud of things!). The trip was a good bonding time for our little family and for that I’m grateful. Las Vegas was another world in itself and I don’t think I’ll ever forget seeing the lights spread out below me from our hotel room window. We had a view of the whole strip and it was just breathtaking. I can also say I left Vegas a winner! We played about $3 in slots and I ended up leaving with $6.25, hee! The Mandalay Bay was just beautiful and so much nicer than anything I had ever stayed in in my entire life!

My birthday was Tuesday and, to be perfectly honest, I wasn’t making a big deal out of it. I think unless you’d been my friend for more than four years or are friends with me on Facebook (who very politely reminds you of a friend’s birthday), you wouldn’t have known. I’ve always thought of birthdays like a child does. In my mind, it’s a time for balloons and cake and singing happy birthday. It’s party hats and eating way too much and celebrating. Truth be told, I haven’t had a real party since my sweet sixteen, I think. That was, well. Ten years ago now! I usually don’t even have a cake. No presents, no singing. We do go out to eat and it’s nice to be recognized on my birthday, but it’s not something I imagine. Does that make sense?

Anyway, this year, my birthday fell on a Tuesday. We hadn’t done anything special over the weekend and I was just a little bummed, thinking we wouldn’t be doing anything for my birthday. But on Tuesday, around 10am, I received a bouquet of daisies (they’re my favorite!) and a big balloon that proudly proclaimed ‘Happy Birthday’ on it with a card from my mom telling me to be ready at 11 for ‘a surprise’. As it turned out, the whole family (my mother, my grandmother, and myself) all spent the day in Dayton together. We ate too much food (at the Spaghetti Warehouse and the Cheesecake Factory!) and spent some time in a beautiful little village square on the outskirts of town. It was my first time eating at The Cheesecake Factory and I have to say, I think I’ve found my new favorite restaurant! I knew the cheesecake would be delicious (obviously!) but the food itself was AMAZING! I ordered a cheeseburger and while I’m not a huge burger kind of girl (I normally have one cheeseburger every two or three months) this one was probably the second best of my life (second only to the Irish pub in the Mandalay Bay). I’m rambling about cheeseburgers, aren’t I? Hee! Anyway, everyone was extremely friendly, from the boy who seated us to our waitress (who I swear could pass as Kendra Wilkinson’s twin sister). And when my mom told her it was my birthday, my cheesecake (turtle caramel pecan something or other that was out of this WORLD!) was delivered on a plate with sprinkle confetti, complete with the words ‘Happy Birthday to You’ written on it.

Now I know, they do this for everyone’s birthday that orders a piece of cheesecake. But to see a candle being lit and have a piece of cake on your birthday….it’s enough to make the day feel special. It’s enough to think, for just one day, that you’re special. That twenty six years ago, you came into the world thanks to the grace of God and to remind yourself that you were put here for a reason. That you are special. There’s only one of you and is it really so bad to want to celebrate that? No. It’s not. I need to remember that more often. As we were coming home, I hugged my mom and thanked her for everything. For giving birth to me (after all, it’s her day, too!) and for the surprise and for dinner. I thanked her for making me feel special. She made me promise I’d remember that for the whole year, haha. I’m going to try. I promise.

OH! I almost forgot! I’m doing NaNoWriMo (that’s National Novel Writing Month) this year! I’m so far behind, but I’m trying to remain optimistic. I’ve written 12,000+ words of a novel. That’s over ten thousand words I hadn’t before the month began! I have characters I truly like and a story I’m excited to tell! I’ve always wanted to call myself a writer and I feel like I can do that this month. Sure, it’ll never see the light of day because it has so many plot holes, but you know what? There’s time to fix it. This is about trying something new, going out of my comfort zone, and I refuse to let myself feel bad about any of it! Is anyone else participating? I’d love to hear how you’re doing/what your novel is about!

Jehovah-Jireh

When I was in high school, we had a traveling performance youth ministry team that visited churches around the county and sang and did various skits to spread God’s message. The first year I saw the team, my Sophmore year before I joined, they had been studying the names of God in the Bible. Things like Jehovah-Nissi, which means ‘The Lord, my Refuge’ (in Latin we learned it meant ‘The Lord is my Exaltation’) or Jehovah-Shammah which is ‘The Lord is there’. Jehova-Rapha is ‘The Lord who heals’, which is what I often pray for for my own family. But ever since the first time I heard the ministry team speak of this – the first time I’d ever heard God referred to as anything other than ‘God’ or ‘Lord’ since I became a Christian – ‘Jehovah-Jireh’ was my favorite. It means ‘The Lord Provides’. It’s something I take comfort in every single day.

For those of you who don’t know the story in the Bible, God commands Abraham to take his only son Isaac up to the mountain and sacrifice him. Abraham – though devastated – obeyed the Lord and took his son to the mountain. On their way, Isaac questions his father and asks where the offering is (as he doesn’t know yet that he is the offering). And: “Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”" (Genesis 22:8) Before Abraham could sacrifice his son, an angel of the Lord called down to him and told him to stop, that he now knew he feared the Lord. And God sent a ram down to be sacrificed instead. The Lord will provide.

One of the hardest things I struggle with in my own daily life is worry. I worry over money, especially. I’m terrible about it, I know. I can never seem to relax and have a good time without worrying about finances.

Throughout my life, I’ve seen the above verses to be true. The Lord has provided so much for myself and my family, especially in the hardest of times. We’ve had real life angels bless us in times of hardship and I know it had to be the work of the Lord because there’s just no other way to explain the kindness that others have shown us when we were at the bottom of the barrel.

And even so – even after being shown time and time again that if the Lord wants blessings for you, He’ll provide a way – tonight I’m having a crisis of faith. A few weeks ago, I entered a contest. It included a trip to Las Vegas, some tickets to a race and a banquet, a stay in a fancy hotel that we could never afford on our own in our life, and a drive in a car with my favorite racecar driver. I never thought I’d win or even get close to being chosen, as it had to do with writing a small essay on why you were this person’s biggest fan. But a few days ago, I was notified that I was a finalist.

I’m going to be honest. I prayed I wouldn’t win. Before the finalists were even announced, I prayed for a long time and asked the Lord to not let me be chosen. Because my wonderful family – my beautiful, kind family – would sacrifice anything to get us there. And, because we don’t fly and would have no use for the airline tickets – we’d have to make the 2,000 mile trip to Vegas on our own. In a car. With a whoooollllleee lotta gas. And though my family is doing okay now, we still struggle at times. And I know the amount of money this trip would cost us isn’t worth the weekend of fun we might have. How could I be selfish enough to let them sacrifice so we could go? How does that make me a good person?

And while I know the Lord will provide, it’s hard to have that faith right now, when all you can think about are the negatives. I wrote in my essay something Helio – the driver that I entered the contest for – spoke of in his book: “God has a plan”. And I know, no matter what, if it’s meant to be He’ll help us find a way. Right? I have to believe in that. I have my entire life, this is certainly no time to doubt it. If I prayed not to win and He still blesses me with it, it must be for a reason and I need to have enough faith to believe that He’ll also provide the means to make it happen.