A silly find.

My friend Casey found this somewhere.  Pretty cute!

A+E=Ashley + Erich

(I know, oh brother...)

Vacation in Top Sail, North Carolina

   Last Monday night we made the trek down to Top Sail, North Carolina to spend the rest of the week with family at their lovely house on the beach. We cooked, we bathed, we biked, we ate to our hearts desire, and I had probably a few too many G&Ts (gin and tonics for you who don't abbreviate on the daily). It was just what I needed after the past few crazy months!  There is nothing like falling asleep to the sound of waves crashing on the beach!  Here are some instagram picts I took throughout the week.  I wish I could have snapped more but isn't that always the case?  Best just to live in the moment!

Looking out to the beach from Erich's house.

   Erich hanging by the grill and smoker. 

  This family is serious about smoking food!  They are always talking about what they can smoke next.  On this trip his dad made smoked burgers stuffed with pimento cheese that his mom prepared.  Erich smoked fresh coconut for one of our pizzas on Wednesday night, and there was talk of smoking crabs, but we decided it was too inhumane for the little guys.   

Dinner!

A trio of mousses in one scoop!

 Aug dog came to the beach! Love this guy!

 Sunrise view from our room the day we left. Beautiful!

Gah going to work tomorrow is not going to be easy.  Talk about a serious case of the Mondays!

Pinterest

   Okay, so I know I am late to the game, but I joined pinterest!  I decided to join after seeing Oh Joy's "splendid summer," competition.  The prizes were too insane to pass up.

   This is one of the photos I uploaded to my pinterest board.  I took it before I started out my hike through the towns of cinque terre in Italy.  Aahhhh to be eating apricot filled croissants and drinking a cappuccino cliff side!

To see my splendid summer click here!

Hello!

   I have been quite the busy bee this summer. There has been too much to do and little time to do it.  Luckily, things have slowed down for the time being and I am finally enjoying the final days of summer!

  Starting at the end of May I took on a freelance project in which I designed a series of prints for a brooklyn based studio's fall/winter collection to display at Premiere Vision.  It was a great opportunity to really delve into creating a body of work with little directions and a lot of creative freedom.  I felt like I was in school again!  It was amazing!

Unfortunately, I was more than a little stressed out.  I had just moved back home (that's right I'm living with the parentals...haha) and therefor I was attempting to organize my life while also trying to create work with packed up supplies.  I was commuting 45 minutes to and from work, and then coming home and doing a few hours of work after work if I could muster up the energy.  All that and then traveling to New York a few weekends to see the lovely boyfriend.  Oh and my computer died (see how I am waiting on photoshop to save something?)! Gah!

The picture above captures my mood for the past two months pretty accurately.

After all has been said and done, I would do it again for the simple fact that it beefed up my portfolio with work that I am proud of and that speaks to who I am as a designer.  I wish I could share the work I created but I am not permitted to do so.  Fingers crossed some famous designer snatches up some of my pieces for their fall/winter 2013 collection.  How cool would that be?!