Top 10 Posts of 2013

I launched this blog last June (2013) and have had an awesome time putting up posts, meeting other bloggers, and over all have just been having fun with it. I have officially reached over 100 posts! I've put up so many different stories about so many different things. I love the diversity of content I've created with this blog and hope you all have enjoyed it too! Thank you for reading, and check out my favorite posts from 2013!



Top Ten Posts of 2013
1. Elyse




I head back to work FULL TIME in January, which is an amazing blessing for Nick and me. I hope to keep up the same amount of posts and still be able to check in on my favorite blogs.

Love and prayers for 2014!

Ashley



Monday Madness: Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a amazing holiday! Check out my posts – DIY NYE Hair and DIY NYE Nails that you might have missed while enjoying your Christmas.


This is the last week I'll be working part time for a least the next month. On January 6 I'll start working in the mornings in a different department at my company. If do a great job I'll be permanent full time starting in February! This such a blessing. Nick and I can get back on track with our financial goals. Can't wait to see what other blessings are in store for us in 2014!

Nick and I hosted our first Christmas and we were joined by his mom and dad, his brother, Ben and Ben's wife Meghan. We had a great time opening presents together in the late morning and early afternoon. Nick's parents gifted us with some Williams and Sonoma pots and pans and they gave me one of Nick's grandmother handkerchiefs (she passed about when my father in law was about 15). I felt very honored. Ben was my secret Santa and he bought me a new purple fashion scarf and a new purple sweater. I wore both in the following days to work. He did a great job picking out my gifts! Meghan and I have special relationship so we each got each other something small. She gifted me with a journal and a beautiful pencil set made in Nepal! Nick got me tennis lessons (!!!!!!) along with books, DVDs, and gift cards. Everyone contributed to the dinner, but I made my first turkey!











My SIL making homemade butter out of cream from raw milk.
We put it in a penguin mold and made penguin shaped butter!





Nick and his brother, Ben.


 
Scout and his Gramma and Papa.
Have a safe and super fun NYE! xo, Ashley



DIY NYE Nails





























DIY NYE Hair







































Our Christmas Letter


Merry Christmas!

2013 has been a year filled with blessings for Nick and I. We’ve enjoyed our first full year in our first home and are working on small changes to suit our tastes. Scout loves all the space and fenced in back yard!

We celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary on March 1, 2013. We both agree that we have no idea where the time has gone! Nick surprised me with a dinner at Charley’s Crab with a table overlooking the Grand River in downtown Grand Rapids. He even had the restaurant personalize the menu for us!

Nick and I both started new jobs in 2013. I started working as a Human Resources Assistant in April and Nick took his packaging skills to a new company in November. We both enjoy our roles at competing office furniture manufacturers. On top of my HR role, I have started blogging at A Cute Angle. You can read my blog by going to http://acutelifestyle.blogspot.com.

To celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary, Nick and I traveled to Europe in May! We visited Munich and Nuremberg, Germany, Prague, Czech Republic, Salzburg and Vienna, Austria, and Budapest, Hungary. We had a blast navigating the cities together, tasting the local fare, and taking in all the amazing architecture and history. We met so many amazing people from all over the world in our tour group! We learned that we both love wiener schnitzel! I was excited to visit the Czech Republic to see where my ancestors came from, and really enjoyed The Sound of Music Tour we went on while in Salzburg. Nick appreciated how friendly the people were in Germany and said he would go back! Other highlights included a nighttime dinner cruise down the Danube in Budapest, the Hofsburg section of Vienna, and the abundance of gelato! While in Europe, Scout stayed with some friends of ours and made a new friend himself – a little dog named Lily!

My dad and sister visited in July. Nick took my dad, his dad, and his great uncle to an auto race in Ohio while my sister and I enjoyed some girl time. I was excited to have my dad and sister see our house for the first time! Also in July, we welcomed our newest niece, Demi Grace.

Nick and his cousins went on a five day four wheeling trip in the “U.P.” (Upper Peninsula) in September. Nick took his new toy out every chance he got during good weather. He often visited Atlanta, Michigan and Silver Lake.
We spent Thanksgiving with my family in Pennsylvania this year. It was the first holiday we’ve gone home for in two years! We enjoyed time with the whole family (especially the time we got with my nieces and nephew Emma, Halie, and Graham), visited with friends, and I went to New York City with my sister, Courtney, and sister-in-law, Amber.

This year we will be hosting our first Christmas! The Fleurys will be over to share in some holiday cheer, and I will be making my first turkey!

Sending love and prayers for 2014,

               Ashley

Nick says, “GO GREEN!”

Monday Madness: Merry Christmas!


Talk about a crazy weekend! It included lots of laundry, baking, and cleaning. The grocery store was a mad house on Saturday. I still have to wrap Nick's presents, but I feel pretty comfortable with where I am for Christmas!

Nick enlisted the help of his mom this weekend to help me paint the kitchen and dining room. Why not rip apart the kitchen and dining room the weekend before Christmas?! My mother-in-law is a master painter and super helpful so we got it done in no time. The new color really makes the house feel a lot more cheerful and homey!
Fall on your knees.
Hear the angel voices.

~The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.”
- Luke 2:10 ~

Merry Christmas,
Ashley

The Final Countdown

It's the last weekend before Christmas and I have so much left on my to do list! This weekend I'll be wrapping gifts, grocery shopping, baking, readying the house for guests, etc. etc. etc. What will you be doing on the last weekend before Christmas?


BEST. CHRISTMAS CARD. EVER. #purple #glitter
Thanks, sis!
Congratulations, Amanda H! Your Christmas goodies are on the way!

Dress Like Kate: Installment #2


Kate Middleton is one of today's hugest fashion icons, I love the timeless quality and modesty of Kate's wardrobe choices. Unfortunately, most of us don't have a princess budget so I went on a mission to find affordable, Kate inspired pieces. Enjoy!

(Click the image to make it larger.)




Kate wore this green Emilia Wickstead coat to the same event two years in a row! The Underpinnings of Style Dress matches the Wickstead coat in hem length, color, and sleeve length. The bow gives the look of the broaches Kate wore for the Irish Guards' Parade. Add a belt and your favorite cold weather accessories, such as black dress boots and tights, and a cute hat and it will be the perfect RepliKate!



Kate loves her wrap and geometric print dresses. The Vivid in the Moment dress is a prefect marriage between the two. It features the same cap sleeves and color palette as Kate's Issa and Zara dresses. The wrap style and flowing fabric makes this dress perfect for woman of all shapes. Hey, we can't all have Kate's bod, but we can certainly have her clothes!

I love, love, love this Erdem dress! The KTXL dress was designed at a true KopyKate. Basically, once Kate wore the Cecile dress KTXL did it best to copy it. It's budget friendly at $25! Add a nude shoe and nude clutch and you're set!



Look for Dress Like Kate: Installment #3 coming soon!








Literary Junkies Link Up



It's time for my all time favorite link up! After reading through this make sure you hop over and enter my Christmas giveaway!


If you could write a book,
what would it be about?
Maybe about first love or “The One Who Got Away.” I love girly books!
If you had to read one book or trilogy for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Maybe Little Women. It's a pretty long book so it would take some time and the story is timeless.
Who is your current favorite book character and why?
Liesl from The Book Thief. She's brave, resilient, and smart.
Is there a book you read every year during the holiday season? If so, what is it and why?
I don't have a book I read every year, and it's probably because I don't have children. If I did have kids I would read them The Polar Express and The Night Before Christmas.

Do you have any books on your Christmas list? Name a few.
Of course!
War Brides by Helen Bryan
The Runaway Princess by Hester Browne
Kate: The Future Queen by Katie Nicholl
Safe with Me and The Language of Sisters by Amy Hatvany
Kate: A Biography by Maria Moody
What is a book you read and loved that you didn't expect to?
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. I didn't expect it to live up to the hype.
I can't wait to see which books are under my tree on Christmas morning!

Christmas Tree Adventure



We finally got our Christmas tree! Our house is now filled with Christmas spirit. Don't forget to enter my December giveaway. I don't have that many followers so you actually have a shot. Great items – including mason drinking jars – this month!



 
We went to a tree farm that is less than 5 minutes from our house. There was a foot of snow on the ground and it was still coming down!










We decided to go with a smaller tree this year and put it in our entry way right off the living room. Most of the ornaments we have on our tree has sentimental value. This is my first Christmas without my Grandmommie and it was nice to see that she was all over our tree with the many ornaments she gifted us with over the years. Nick hates the silver tinsel, but I love it. I realize it's super tacky and makes it look like Christmas threw up on the tree, but it's an Angle tradition! I love our little tree!




Have an awesome week! xo, Ashley