MARCH 2019: AN EPIC MONTH IN REVIEW

OVERVIEW: Published one book, went on an epic Everglades mini-road trip, went on a “slough slog” in the Everglades, walked two famous Everglades trails, tried alligator meat for the first time, released three songs, published one short film, got my art displayed in a public place for the first time, released an unofficial commercial for Bugles, went to the Florida Strawberry Festival for the first time ever, tried world-famous strawberry shortcake, went on my first roller coaster ever, rode on a Dumbo ride for the first time, saw 8 bands in concert, tried shaved ice for the first time, read 11 books, paid off a credit card, bought my first marionette puppet ever, & MUCH MORE.

CREATIVITY & BUSINESS

  • BOOKS: Published Charlie the Churro. TOTAL: 1. // Began writing several more books.
  • SHORT FILMS: Released “The Power of Music & Food”, a short film featuring Shorty, my new giraffe marionette!
  • INTERVIEWS: Did a podcast interview with magician & life coach Jason Gardner!
  • MUSIC: Released three songs (I Know it Takes a Lot; The Daylight Savings Song; I Tried in the Night).
  • ART: Released several new designs on SHOP Ashlee Craft, including “Neverland Rebel”, “Lucky Clovers”, “My Happy Place – Mrs. Tiggywinkle”, “Norwegian Lundehunds are Special & Magical”, “You Have What it Takes” dancing sloth, “I Love Myself” Sloth, Horned Owl Scientific Name design, & “I Hope Something Really Wonderful Happens for You Seen”.
  • My art is displayed in a public place for the first time!!! This has been a huge goal of mine for a long time! My mom & I have our art displayed in a case at the New River Library in Wesley Chapel, FL! It features 3 of my books (Five Senses: The Nature Box Book, Sally the Kiwi, & Owls), two macrame pieces from Amy Craft Studio (my Mom’s Etsy shop!), plush owls & bees (including all the plush bees from my plush bees course, now with more than 550 students on Udemy!), a mini owl canvas, an original painting, a copy of my I BELIEVE poster, a macaron print, Life is My Playground pins, & a customized cupcake denim jacket! You can see a photo of it here.
  • Published a cute vintage-style unofficial “commercial” I filmed about Bugles snacks!
  • Wrote 15 poems.
  • Inspired by Austin Kleon’s Steal Like an Artist, I began this awesome “Swipe File” on Pinterest! I’ll be posting images of things that inspire me & that I keep in mind when creating my own art projects.
  • Put out a video finally detailing my experience with doing my first book signing & vending my first event ever!
  • Applied for some more acting jobs!
  • Began some new marketing campaigns.
  • FUN FACT: As of March 14th, I have published a total of 91 BOOKS!
  • Played around with some new marketing things, including more advertising.
  • Went through my script for my first official music video & did pre-production work on it for the first time!

CONCERTS

Total: 8

  • Saw Willie Nelson & Family in concert at the Wish Farms Soundstage in Plant City, FL at the Strawberry Festival!
  • The Drifters at the Wish Farms Soundstage in Plant City, FL at the Florida Strawberry Festival!
  • The Coasters at the Wish Farms Soundstage in Plant City, FL at the Florida Strawberry Festival!
  • The Platters at the Wish Farms Soundstage in Plant City, FL at the Florida Strawberry Festival!
  • Steve Miller Band at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, FL!
  • Bobby Lee Rodgers at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, FL!
  • Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL!
  • Sunny Sweeney at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL!

FOODS

  • TOP 3 FOODS: Orange juice over ice, chocolate in general, & SPARKLING WATER.
  • TRIED ALLIGATOR MEAT FOR THE FIRST TIME! While I was on my Everglades day trip this month, I stopped by the Everglades Alligator Restaurant in Homestead, FL, & tried some! It tastes kind of like chicken but a little more like a seared sea scallop, & the restaurant was so cute! I sat by the big adorable alligator sculpture out front to eat mine.
  • TRIED SHAVED ICE FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!!! I have been wanting to try shaved ice for such a long time & I’d never had any before because things just never worked out so I was able to get any, any time shaved ice was available somewhere I was. I finally got some when I went to the Strawberry Festival in Plant City, FL! I GOT BIRTHDAY CAKE FLAVORED SHAVED ICE & IT WAS YELLOW & IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!
  • Tried some of the “World-Famous” Strawberry Shortcake at the Strawberry Festival & it was LITERALLY THE BEST.
  • Drank a McDonalds Frappe for the first time ever! Also got fries. The Frappe was awesome & I had a really great & positive experience with the service there, which I wrote about here.
  • Put Reese’s Peanut Butter Spread on top of some squares of a dark chocolate bar & IT WAS EPIC.
  • Ate Hormel canned beef tamales for the first time!
  • Ate a Sumo Citrus for the first time!
  • Ate a “Sweet Griller Pepper” for the first time!
  • Particularly good lunch: roast chicken lunch meat roll ups on soft tacos with pepper mayonnaise with chocolate cookies for dessert.
  • Tried the Lindor Orange Dark Chocolate truffles for the first time!
  • My mom made grits & they were so good that it was the only time I’ve ever actually enjoyed eating grits. Congratulations, Mom! (Also I put crushed Lays chips on them).
  • My dad made a really awesome apple crisp & I loved it!
  • The best thing my dad made though were chicken breasts that he grilled with just olive oil & salt. SERIOUSLY AMAZING CHICKEN!
  • Ate Haribo Fruit Salad gummy candy for the first time!
  • Bought a honey mango that was shaped like a Peep.
  • Tried Chauo Bacon chocolate for the first time & it is SERIOUSLY some of the best chocolate! Been waiting to try this one for a VERY LONG TIME.
  • Tried Wensleydale cheese for the first time!
  • Tried Jarritos Cane Sugar Soda for the first time!
  • Tried birch beer for the first time & it was really good!
  • Went to Chili’s for the first time ever! Tried a queso burger & it was really good!
  • Ate really good smoked cheese & smoked pork that kind of formed a salt crust along with turtle pie & some smoked grilled peppers!
  • Tried Talenti Caramel Crunch gelato for the first time!
  • Drank Gatorade G2 Raspberry Lemonade for the first time!
  • Tried Yasso PB & Yay Frozen Yogurt for the first time!
  • Drank La Croix’s kiwi watermelon sparkling water out of fancy glassware.
  • Ate a Boston Cream Custard iced doughnut with SO MANY SPRINKLES at Target, which is the first Target doughnut I’ve eaten & it was really good! & did I mention I LOVE SPRINKLES?
  • Tried Tastycake Scoop Shop Cookies & Cream mini doughnuts for the first time!
  • Great lunch: baked sweet potato with steak sauce, grilled chicken with steak sauce, chipotle gouda cheese slices, & chocolate from a Christmas countdown (Despicable Me minion-shaped chocolate, no less!)

MEDIA

  • STARTED READING: (* means a re-read; everything else is new to me) Manifest Your Destiny (Wayne Dyer), The 5 Love Languages (Gary Chapman), Feel the Fear…And Do it Anyways (Susan Jeffers), The Power of Now (Eckhart Tolle), #AskGaryVee: One Entrepreneur’s Take on Leadership, Social Media, & Self-Awareness (Gary Vaynerchuk), What If? (Randall Monroe), The Millionaire Next Door (Thomas J. Stanley), Mindfulness (Ellen J. Langer), Meatball Sundae (Seth Godin), Born Standing Up (Steve Martin), Your Best Year Ever (Michael Hyatt)
  • FINISHED READING: (* means a re-read; everything else is new to me): The 1% Rule: How to Fall in Love with the Process & Achieve Your Wildest Dreams (Tommy Baker), An Audience of One (Srinivas Rao with Robin Dellabough), The Lessons of History (Will & Ariel Durant), The Total Money Makeover (Dave Ramsey), Manifest Your Destiny (Wayne Dyer), The 5 Love Languages (Gary Chapman), The Power of Now (Eckhart Tolle), #AskGaryVee: One Entrepreneur’s Take on Leadership, Social Media, & Self-Awareness (Gary Vaynerchuk), The Millionaire Next Door (Thomas J. Stanley), Mindfulness (Ellen J. Langer), Meatball Sundae (Seth Godin) Total: 11 (Up from 11 in February)
  • WATCHED: (episodes in parenthesis for shows; all others are films. * means re-watches; all others are things I’ve never seen). The Umbrella Academy (Run Boy Run, Extra Ordinary, Man on the Moon, Number Five, The Day That Wasn’t, The Day That Was, I Heard a Rumor, Changes, The White Violin), Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy (Phone Cake), Extraordinary Interiors (S1:E1), Arrested Development (Family Leave, Self Deportation, Everyone Gets Atrophy), The Office (Dunder Mifflin Infinity, Launch Party) Total: 16 (Up from 11 in March)
  • ALBUMS I LISTENED TO: (*First time listening to this album!): How Strange, Innocence (Explosions in the Sky), Don’t Forget (Demi Lovato), You Never Walk Alone (BTS)*, Destroyer (KISS)*, Enema of the State (Blink-182)*, Musas (Natalia Laforcade)*, Healing (Todd Rundgren)*, Bitches Brew (Miles Davis)*, A Wizard/A True Star (Todd Rundgren), Let it Bleed (The Rolling Stones)*, Dream Wife (Dream Wife), Let Go (Avril Lavigne)* Total: 12 (Down from 14 in February)
  • Favorite songs this month: Feel it Still by Portugal. The Man, I Want Your Wonderwall, The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking Theme Song, I Can Fly by Rainey, I Think We’re Alone Now by Tiffany, & Paper Birds by Parachutes.

PETS

  • Began using some new hot spot healing gel on Sparky to see if it helps his chronic skin problems.
  • For Sparky, I switched him over to the PureBalance Salmon & Pea Dog Food, & he likes it! I like that it’s a good value dog food, & from what I researched, also very good quality.
  • Switched Frogecoin, my Pac-Man Frog, over to a staple diet of nightcrawlers & my frog LOVES them! Set up a worm bin for nightcrawlers before eventually getting nightcrawlers that must be kept in my fridge for temperature reasons.

PERSONAL

  • SAW AN ARMADILLO IN MY YARD & IT WAS AWESOME!
  • Planned my travel for this year!
  • Had a really bad flare up of my seasonal allergies this year, complete with having a fever for almost a week & coughing for about two weeks. I took it easy, I rested a lot, the allergies calmed down outside, & I feel back to normal now!
  • Went to a brand new Hobby Lobby store & got some great new t-shirts & cute sculptures!
  • Researched a lot of logistics for making a lot of my big goals happen & pitched some people for big ideas.
  • Planted watermelon seeds from a little kit I got!
  • Implemented a new system for organizing my inbox that I think will really make organizing it more efficient! Article about this will come eventually after I’ve tested it more.
  • Put on a glitter temporary tattoo of a cute French Fry & it was a lot of fun! I got these at the dollar store.
  • Put new wind shield wiper blades on my car for the first time ever! (First time my car has had new wipers since I got it, & also my first time putting any wiper blades on any car).
  • Set up another bookshelf in my garage, this one for storing & organizing some extra books that I want to keep & be able to look at, but don’t have room for in my house! (I have a TON of books, BTW, & I probably get at least a few new ones each month – I read & re-read them all!). Unpacked one box of books onto this new shelf & organized them.
  • Got some samples & supplies at the hardware store for some projects I am working on.
  • Cleaned up & organized a lot more items in my home, especially in my art area. Shredded & recycled a lot of stuff I don’t need.
  • Set up a set of plastic storage drawers in my bedroom for organizing my jewelry! Put hair accessories/suspenders/necklaces in one drawer, earrings in the next, & bracelets in the last!
  • Paid off one of my credit cards!
  • Did a lot of lying on my dog’s trampoline with him on the back porch, snuggling with him & looking up at the trees & the sun.
  • Realized I wasn’t shy as a child, it was just a mask I put on over time.
  • While cleaning off my desk, I found both a black & a yellow ink cartridge for my printer, both of which I needed, & both of which I dreaded having to buy. Thank you, Universe!
  • Sold stock for the first time & profited some by doing so!
  • Used iron-on patches to fix clothes for the first time!

THINGS I PURCHASED

  • Bought two new cacti! A Prism cacti & an Aalto cacti!
  • Bought a croton plant!
  • Bought a red triceratops Hot Wheels, which is one I don’t have yet for my collection!
  • FOUND AN ALLIGATOR HOT WHEELS CAR for the first time ever, the day after I got back from my Everglades trip, of all times. IT IS SO CUTE.
  • Bought a cute card with rabbits on it that I will use as a wall decoration for Easter!
  • Discovered the glorious feeling of purchasing used paperbacks on Amazon, which are often cheaper even than the Kindle versions of many books!
  • BOUGHT A BROWN + GLITTERY TY BEANIE BABY PLATYPUS & IT IS THE CUTEST. It makes me so happy!
  • Bought some amazing plastic magnets from a booth at the Strawberry Festival! I got an orange sting ray, a colorful lollipop, & a flamingo! It was raining the day I went & the booth hadn’t had many customers, so the guy running the booth was really grateful that I had come to buy some stuff.
  • Bought my first marionette EVER, named Shorty the Giraffe, from the MOST MAGICAL little booth ever (Omar Industries Puppets’ Marionette booth at the Strawberry Festival – see below under “Travel & Experiences” for more details!).
  • Bought some new lemon-print shorts!
  • Got a new paint brushes (which is always a nice feeling!)
  • Bought two new plastic storage tubs for organizing my holiday decorations in my garage!
  • Bought yellow & pink fuzzy Easter chicks at the craft store!
  • Bought an awesome colorful set of hair bows, including a silver sparkly one, one with little rainbows, & more!
  • Bought yellow & pink Lego’s, novelty socks that say “smooth snailing” & have a picture of a snail wearing a captain’s hat, novelty socks with flamingos wearing necklaces & high heels, novelty socks with fuzzy sloths, novelty socks with four-leafed clovers on them, a paint-able plaster snail, & sea green Crayola bath paint (which I then used for the first time, that night to paint an owl & a dinosaur in the shower) at Target!
  • Bought a tiny plush sloth & a tiny purple plush alpaca at Target also!
  • Bought a mini red ceramic dish, neon yellow & pink sequins, fruit-shaped rubber stamps, a cacti-shaped rubber stamp, & adorable fabric featuring owls, one featuring flamingos, & one featuring pineapples!

TRAVEL & EXPERIENCES

  • WENT ON A DAY TRIP TO THE EVERGLADES TO DO A “WET WALK” or “SLOUGH SLOG”, which I’ve wanted to do for 2+ years, ever since I was preparing for my Epic Florida Road Trip. It was such a special & fun & educational experience. I drove the 5+ hours there & back in the same day. While I was in the Everglades, I also walked the Gumbo Limbo & Anhinga Trails, both of which are famous trails in the Everglades that I didn’t get to do the first time I visited. Oh, & I must note that I arrived at the place to do the wet walk tour just two minutes before the tour started, so I was really lucky on time! The whole trip though was fantastic. Tried alligator meat for the first time ever at the Everglades Alligator Restaurant in Homestead, FL! 
  • WENT TO THE FLORIDA STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!!!!! The fair is such a freaking magical place, kind of like a hyper-reality almost, because it’s this magical world that exists as part of the actual, “normal” world. Took so many photos of magical things. It looked so magical, especially when everything was lit up at night. Skipped across the grounds. Tried the World Famous Strawberry Shortcake. Saw strawberry plants & their little setup showing an example of a strawberry farm, including tiny baby green strawberries & huge tractors! Went into the animal barn & got to see a bunch of cute rabbits, chickens, & SHEEP WEARING SWEATERS!!!!! Got to see the strawberry mascots! Listened to Mint Royale’s Blue Song on the way home & it was perfect.
  • Saw the Pompeyo Family dog show at the Strawberry Festival! The dogs did some really cool tricks, & they were all so adorable & smart! So many poodles!
  • Saw a pig race from Robinson’s Racing Pigs for the first time at the Strawberry Festival! They raced four types of pigs, including some cute potbellied pigs that jumped into a pool & swam across, BABY PIGS, & totally adorable young wild boars (including a really cute spotted one!).
  • WENT ON MY FIRST ROLLER COASTER EVER! The biggest “roller coaster” I’ve been on previously was the dragon-shaped kids’ one that they usually have at fairs. I went on the biggest regular car roller coaster-style coaster that I’ve seen at the fair, at the Strawberry Festival. It was really fast & super fun!
  • At the Strawberry Festival, I went through a fun house that I think has to be my favorite ever – a Jurassic Park-themed one with dinosaurs painted all over the outside! I LOVE fun houses & this one was amazing. It had so many different things to walk through, rollers you walked over, platforms to jump across, ladders & stairs to climb, one of those spinning tunnels you have to jump through without falling, & a big slide at the end. It had so much stuff to it & I LOVED that it was dinosaur-themed.
  • Rode around in a gigantic spinning strawberry ride at the Strawberry Festival!
  • Rode in a tiny yellow helicopter (a ride, not a real helicopter) at the Strawberry Festival!
  • RODE ON A DUMBO RIDE FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!! Seriously, I was so excited about this. I’ve wanted to ride a Dumbo ride ever since I was like three, but I’ve never been to Disney (GASP! Say all the Floridians) & I had never been on one. I got to ride on a purple elephant & I made it fly as high as it could the whole time & it was so magical & so fun!!!!!
  • Discovered the most MAGICAL little booth ever at the Strawberry Festival: Omar Industries’ Puppets. Warm light spilled out into the darkness from a miniature room. On either side of the doorway, there were lit boxes with yarn marionettes magically dancing. I had seen the booth earlier, but didn’t want to buy anything until I was about to leave the fair. I knew before I even walked into the booth that I was going to buy a marionette. As I walked up, the guy in the booth showed me one of the multiple marionettes he was carrying around – a raccoon – & made it go over to a tiny food bowl, toilet, & more as he talked about “how to care for your marionette”, as though they were real animals. It was awesome. After looking around the booth & trying one of the marionettes, a giraffe one caught my eye. The guy at the booth really wanted me to remember what he had named the giraffe (Shorty, the star of my recent short film!) & in general seemed to be such an awesome person who really, really cares about marionettes. Super magical. I will totally get more marionettes from this business again! And I LOVE Shorty the Giraffe. It was just a super-magical experience.
  • Watched a 4-H animal show for the first time! Watched one age class of young sheep being judged & it was interesting! I had no idea what was happening, & I walked in in the middle of the show, so I pretended I knew what was happening.
  • Saw the biggest block of cheese I have ever seen!!! Walked up to the booth & said, “I just gotta know…how much does that cheese block weigh?” The guy said it weighed 40 pounds! (The kind of questions I have to ask…)
  • Went on a local “Tour of Homes” & toured some really nice houses (worth $500k – $1.5 million!), the type that it’s my goal to live in in the future!

My Favorite Things, May 20, 2016

Pink // Ashlee Craft

LISTEN

Dancing With Myself by Billy Idol. My new favorite energetic punk anthem, which makes me feel like a badass when I listen to it.

14th Street by Rufus Wainwright. I was especially obsessed with this song during this most recent January, and I still really love it now. It’s filled with deep evocative longing, & has a melody which is very memorable & makes you want to listen to it over & over again. Good song for break-ups, or other life transitions which involve breaking away from something or someone which has hurt you, while also expressing a resilience & continual moving-on from the situation, & towards something better.

Come On Eileen by Dexy’s Midnight Runners. I love that this song was recently featured in this list of happy songs to start your day with. The feel of it is a kind of optimistic, driving-dancing yearning, & it’s now one of my favorite songs. I always love when it comes on the radio.

We’re Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister. Another one of my punk/glam rock favorites, I feel like this is a very good song for when you’re fed up with something & wanting better for yourself. It’s also a great song for fist-pumping along with, or dancing to alone in your bedroom as you’re getting ready in the morning.

EAT

Noble Organics Honeybell Blueberry Juice is seriously one of my favorite organic drinks EVER. It has the perfect tangerine juice flavor, plus a hint of blueberry, & it’s organic (I LOVE my organic food). It always makes me feel revitalized after I drink it, & I have a lot of respect for this brand. P.S. – I’ve tried a lot of the other flavors they make, & I’ve loved all of them too.

★ Mamma Chia Chia Vitality Beverages are another one of my organic favorites. They have flavors like Blackberry Hibiscus (which I’m yet to try) & Cherry Lime (WHICH IS AWESOME), & Strawberry Lemonade. I love my lemonades, & I also love beverages with chia seeds suspended in them. Chia seeds are loaded with Omega-3 Fatty Acids, protein, fiber, lots of other great vitamins, & antioxidants.

No Chicken Noodle Soup from Amy’s Soups. I just tried this for the first time the other day, & I loved it. It’s a nice vegan take on chicken noodle soup, with all the flavor of real chicken noodle soup, but without any meat. Instead of meat, there are small pieces of tofu flavored like chicken, so you don’t feel like the soup is lacking anything.

READ

7 Secrets to Becoming a Fashion Blogger. I love that this article ultimately sums up their tips with telling you to really be yourself, & let your personality shine through in your fashion blogging photos. That’s something I need to work on a bit more when it comes to my own fashion photos.

Congratulate Yourself – A Comic from Rookie MagI always love Rookie’s comics from Corrinne James, & this is no exception. All her comics are filled with an awesome style of illustration & really lovely, inspiring ideas for living a really cool, happy life.

Something Very Important : 10 Things Every Teenage Girl Should Know. This is one of my all-time favorite articles, ever. It includes a ton of awesome advice, & includes one of my favorite quotes EVER :

“When in doubt, listen to David Bowie. In 1968, Bowie was a gay, ginger, bonk-eyed, snaffle toothed freak walking round South London in a dress, being shouted at by thugs. Four years later, he was still exactly that – but everyone else wanted to be like him too. If David Bowie can make being David Bowie cool, you can make being you cool. PLUS, unlike David Bowie, you get to listen to David Bowie for inspiration. So you’re one up on him, really. YOU’RE ALREADY ONE AHEAD OF DAVID BOWIE.”

Danielle LaPorte on Purification/Energy Cleansing. Purifying makes room for new good things to enter your life.

WATCH

Baby Sloths Learn to Climb. SOOOOOO CUTE.

WEAR

★ Pure Ice Lavan-Dare Nail PolishI just bought some of this the other day & I haven’t got to try it yet, but it is the prettiest shade of pale-lavender-tinted gray, & I’m excited about trying it on!

TO DO

★ Burn a taper candle in my bedroom while I write in my go-to diary each day, my very own creation, Document Your Life : A Journal.

NEW AWESOME THINGS

★ Tomorrow, May 21st, is the one year anniversary of this blog!!! (Inserts birthday-themed emojis). My very first post, Newness, was partially from the first issue of Ashlee Craft / Assemblage and partially a blog post ode to new beginnings. Also, I was just reminded that March marked one year of Ashlee Craft / Assemblage being a somewhat-monthly zine, so that’s also awesome!

If you haven’t seen it yet, some releases since the last time I made a Favorite Things post (sadly, it was more than five months ago, in December of 2015!) : A Beautiful Question of When & Where (a poetry book), Flowers, One (a photography zine), & Issues 9 & 10 of Assemblage!

I am working on becoming a graphic designer, & so I have created a Portfolio that you can check out here.

I have some great products available in my Etsy shop. As it is now, you can buy a set of 4 hand painted note cards with either pineapples or owls!

★ Also, earlier today I made a new banner for Freedom Meadow Media’s website! Check it out!

 

Lots of happiness,

Ashlee

My Favorite Things, December 4, 2015

Sunset Rose // My Favorite Things, December 4, 2015

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to products that I recommend. When you click on an affiliate link to a product on an external website, I will recieve compensation if you buy something. If I recommend something though, it is because I really do like it. Thank you for your support.

 

LISTEN

★ I Spy by Mikhael Paskalev. LET ME SAY HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS SONG. This is one of those songs that just gives you a music epiphany. That makes shivers run down your spine & makes your ears feel bliss. I can’t really even put its brilliance & ebullience & magic into words. I love how it starts out sounding kind of lo-fi like it’s playing on a record in a room in your house. I love how it suddenly gets powerful & passionate when all the other instruments come in. I love the part where everyone is singing the part about “lost at sea” & the reverb at this part. Pure, pure magic.

★ Bulletproof by La Roux. This is the song I am playing on repeat & have been ever since I first heard it. I was creeping on YouTube looking for new music & found this song via the recommended video section of a Marina & The Diamonds song. It’s my go-to feel good song right now. I love everything about it. The bouncing, active, futuristic synth feel of it, the fierce lyrics, don’t-bring-me-down message, & the overall feel of it.  Also, the music video is so awesome, & reminds me a little of David Bowie’s work.

★ Blue Moon by Beck. I heard this song on the radio & immediately wanted to know what song it was. It has a driving, dreamy sound to it that made me fall in love with it & all its bittersweet renditions of love.

★ Confident by Demi Lovato. A badass song. Confidence is the key, & if you’re not confident yet, then I am a firm believer in faking it ’till you make it. Great for practicing your confidence walk to, posing in front of the mirror, or dancing to.

Safe & Sound by Capitol Cities. “I know that we’ll be safe & sound.” I love the bouncing & warm & synthy sound of this song. I find it a feel-good, comforting song.

 

EAT

Odwalla Superfood Drink. It has apples, peaches, strawberries, bananas, mango, spirulina, & kale. What more can you ask for? KALE. It tastes good, & tastes more fruit-based than greens-based, but it still has that little bit of hearty earthiness that more greens-based drinks provide. Also, it comes in bulk, which saves money. I like veggie smoothies like this because they make it easy for me to get my daily servings of vegetables in even if I’m busy.

Better Than Bullion Organic Vegetable Base. A recent major-fave of mine. I make a package of plain ramen noodles & when they’re done, I dissolve some of this in hot water & pour it over the noodles. It tastes exactly like regular ramen noodles, if regular ramen noodles’ flavoring was both organic & vegetarian. I love this stuff.

CHEESY PRETZELS. Since I discovered these, they fit into the category of foods that I always want to keep around in my house. They have a great cheese flavor, the right amount of saltiness, & as an added bonus, you get a collection of cheese dust stuck to your fingers to lick off when you’re done eating the pretzels. I love these things.

 

READ

Am I Really Happy Every Single Day? A few great tips on how you can make your life into the awesomeness that it can be.

The Importance of PlayEven though you might be busy/stressed/bored/an adult/etc, play is still important.

 

WATCH

★ 13 Sandwiches From Around the World. These look SO GOOD & made me want to create a whole bunch of new, weird sandwiches, as well as try all the sandwiches in this video.

Baby Owls Blinking. That’s all you need to know. They are so fuzzy.

 

WEAR

★ Flannel Shirts. I own a pink flannel shirt & a red flannel shirt. They look rugged & wintery & woodsy, & I typically roll up the sleeves. Also, flannel shirts are cozy for the winter, as well as very comfortable.

★ Combat Boots. They look badass, & you can wear them with pretty much any outfit to make it look even more awesome. Jeans & a t-shirt? Badass. Rugged pants & flannel? Badass. Frilly pink dress & a hair ribbon? Badass. They go with everything, last a long time if you get good ones, & can be worn at all times of the year. Kind of like good ol’ Converse. Both are essentials, as well as versitle classics.

★ Photo Print Socks. I adore my photo print socks mostly because (a) they look cool, & (b) they look really cool inside my clear glitter jelly shoes. I only own a pair of strawberry-print ones currently, but I would like to own lots of pairs of them, especially ones with pizza, doughnuts, & probably ones with pineapples & animals too.

 

TO DO

Make Perfect Corners On a Bed Sheet. I did this last time I changed my sheets & it looked beautiful. I never used to use a flat sheet but now I do, so with that comes the necessary education of making it look really nice.

Unplug From the Internet with Help From Rookie Mag. I love these articles about doing Real Things in Real Life. The Internet is great, but you shouldn’t live there.

 

THINGS 

★ Nothing is worth it if you aren’t happy. Doesn’t matter what accolades or prestige it has, or whether it’s what you’re “supposed” to do. You gotta live life on your own terms, & as long as you aren’t hurting anybody, go full speed ahead towards the things that really make you happy, & shun & push away anything that doesn’t.

 

NEW AWESOME THINGS

Issue 7 of Ashlee Craft / Assemblage has been released!

I had a great Thanksgiving. I had the day off, so I sat around the house & worked on my upcoming poetry book & the novel I am currently working on. I ate turkey, vegetarian turkey cutlets, & lots of great side dishes, as well as pecan pie. Then, my family watched The Santa Clause, which is a holiday tradition of ours for us to watch it sometime during the holiday season. It was a fun & relaxing day.

My veggie tray meal as a snack on Thanksgiving afternoon.

(above) My veggie tray meal as a snack on Thanksgiving afternoon.

Thanksgiving dinner!

Thanksgiving dinner!

★ More Christmas posts will be coming soon! This means coloring pages like the Thanksgiving ones I made, & hopefully soon some lists of cool things to buy for people you know.

 

My Favorite Things : October 27, 2015

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to products that I recommend. When you click on an affiliate link to a product on an external website, I will receive compensation if you buy something. Thank you for your support.

LISTEN

★ Walk On – U2I love this song for so many reasons, but probably my favorite line in the song? “What you got, they can’t steal it. No they can’t even feel it.” They can’t take anything away from you. They cannot confine you. You can leave them behind. You are not trapped.

★ Sweet Thing – Van MorrisonA beautiful epiphany in a song. The multi-layered instrumentation is phenomenal & magical & perfect. Soaring flutes. The tender melody & lyrics. Ebullient guitar. One of my all time favorite songs.

★ You Still Believe In Me – The Beach BoysThe comforting knowledge that even after everything that has happened or will happen, that there is a constant person who has your back & will believe in you, no matter what.

★ Crowded House. I started listening to more Crowded House recently. The song that made me start loving their music was Archer’s Arrows (which is a phenomenal & fantastic song). Then I heard Don’t Dream It’s Over (see below), & fell in love with that too. I haven’t heard that many songs of theirs yet, but I’ve liked what I’ve heard so far. Their songs are very aesthetically pleasing, & very atmospheric. They’re the kind of songs I would like to work into a variety of playlists.

In A Sentimental Mood – John Coltrane & Duke EllingtonI like this song because it’s evocative in a somewhat melancholy way, & John Coltrane expresses this mood perfectly.

 

EAT

★ Vanilla Talenti Gelato. Seriously. Try this with rainbow sprinkles. It’s seriously THE BEST. Rainbow sprinkles make good things even better. Gelato somehow always manages to taste elegant & make you feel elegant while you’re eating it. I also love Talenti, because they keep their ingredients simple & to the point, & produce an awesome product. Fun fact : my father usually refers to my Gelato as “ice cream”, a term which I don’t think encompasses the awesomeness & quality of Gelato.

★ Ducktrap Smoked Salmon & Ducktrap Smoked Trout. I am a huge fan of smoked fish. A huge fan. Their smoked salmon with dill is AMAZING, & I am so in love right now with their smoked trout, which I just recently tried. The smoked trout tastes like a combination between fresh smoked herring fillets and smoked salmon. One thing I love about both the smoked trout & the smoked salmon is that the fillets of them are nice, thick, & wholesome, which is even better than the thin fillets more commonly found. Also, I want to put dill on everything now. I recently made homemade guacamole with dill in it, & it was great.

★ This awesome meal I made a while ago

 

READ

★ Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie PerkinsThis was a nice, heartwarming YA romance story. It made me feel all warm & fuzzy inside, & it’s just a sweet book in general.

★ 10 Really Easy Ways to Love Yourself More TodayAs always, Gala Darling has a lovely, illuminating, magical list. I especially like Point #8, about liking what you like & not liking things just because they’re popular.

This article about Street Dreams Magazine from The New York TimesI really, really like the idea of bringing the Internet into a more tangible, DIY form. Like a zine, of photographs.

 

WATCH

★ Jamming Baby Owls. BABY OWLS DANCING. Owls are the best thing ever.

★ John Owen-Jones Singing “Who Am I?” From Les Miserables. I love this song with a passion, & John Owen-Jones is the very best at singing it. He fills it with an emotion & evocative vulnerability that I haven’t heard in other renditions of the song. It is the most real, honest version, & because of this, a favorite.

 

WEAR

★ Colorful socks inside my awesome sparkly jelly shoes. Right now, I am especially loving my photo print strawberry socks, but since I bought the jelly shoes, I have bought a lot of cute, colorful novelty socks, just for wearing inside my jelly shoes.

My canvas medic bagI wear this bag in a lot of the fashion photos I take, & it’s my go-to bag for everyday usage. Ever since my Indiana Jones phase as a teen, I wanted a bag like this. I finally found one which appropriately matches the one in the films. I love it because it is sturdy, holds a lot of stuff, is comfortable & easy to wear, & just looks cool. Looking cool is the primary reason. It adds a ruggedness & uniqueness to any outfit I add it to.

★ Knee Socks with Jelly Shoes or Combat Boots. I will be posting photos of this combination soon, but it looks tough but feminine at the same time, & also allows me to include the edginess of combat boots while still showing off all my cool, patterned knee socks.

 

TO DO

★ Laying on the floor with my dog & playing fetch with him when I get home from work. He looks forward to this, & would seriously play for hours on end if I didn’t get tired of throwing his toys for him.

★ Learning how to drive. I didn’t learn when I was younger because I had no need to, but I’m learning now, & it’s going great!

★ Earning my GED & passing all the subjects the first time around. I got honors on Reasoning Through Language Arts and in Social Studies, & was one point away from honors in Science. This was something I’d wanted to do for a long time, & I’m so proud of myself for accomplishing this goal.

 

THINGS 

★ “When nothing is sure, everything is possible.” ― Margaret Drabble. Embrace the confusion. Now that you have nothing to lose & maybe nothing to prove, you can do anything. Now that you’re confused & uncertain & scared of the changes going on around you, you can turn this into anything. You have a blank canvas from which you can paint & create & shape into whatever feels best for you.

 

NEW AWESOME THINGS

★ My new album, Confusion is Over. 

New Book – Document Your Life : A Journal.

★ New Book – Panorama Novelty

★ New Book – Ashlee Craft / Assemblage Issue 5

 

My Favorite Things : September 3, 2015

Awesome things from September 2015.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to products that I recommend. When you click on an affiliate link to a product on an external website, I will recieve compensation if you buy something. Thank you for your support.

Owl Necklace by Ashlee Craft

LISTEN

You And I – Queen. I’ve always loved this song & recently rediscovered it. The feel of this song is really great, & it’s one of the most underrated Queen songs. I remember walking around my house a few years back, listening to this song loudly through earbuds.

End Of The Line – Traveling Wilburys. It’s alright. It’s all alright. Whatever you want to do, it’s alright.

Just What I Needed – The Cars. Perfect song feel + great harmonies + evocative lyrics + reminds me of good times. For when you find what you’ve been looking for all along, for when you finally know you’re in the right place.

EAT

Lays Dill Pickle potato chips. They are probably my favorite flavor of chip right now. My dad thinks they taste weird but I personally find them good & interesting. Now thinking about it, next time I buy some, I’d love to dip them in ranch.

Emerald Dill Pickle cashews. Are you seeing a theme of my current obsession with pickle flavored snacks? Good, because there is. That, along with my love of putting mayonnaise & hot sauce on a variety of foods, & anything chili lime flavored. Back to the dill pickle cashews, they have enough pickle flavor but not to the point that you can’t taste the cashews, or that it’s overpowering. I definitely want to try more flavors of Emerald nuts.

Granny Smith apples. A lot of kinds of apples taste similar to me, & while I enjoy them, Granny Smiths have a super-great flavor & don’t cost too much per pound. When I buy apples, I always buy apples individually as opposed to in a bag, because I find the apples to be fresher & less bruised, & generally taste better. Apples are great because they’re so easy to wash off & throw in a sandwich bag for a nice addition to lunch at work.

READ

★ Popular Mechanics MagazineI just subscribed to this because I wanted a good magazine about cars & technology & fixing stuff, etc, & when I saw it on Amazon for a $5 one year subscription, I was thrilled. I got the first issue the other day & haven’t really got a chance to read much of it, but from what I’ve read so far, IT IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR. I am only a few pages into it & I’ve already learned so much. It seems to have information on so many interesting topics.

To be honest, I’ve probably read less books this year than any other year of my life. This  is a fact that I’m ashamed of, & really am going to change in the near future. I used to always have my library card maxed out with books on pretty much every topic, & would read several books (depending on length) per week, or at the very least, there was always something I was reading. Unfortunately, as my schedule got busier, I spent less & less time reading. But the thing is, I really really love reading, & love learning / hearing interesting ideas + stories even more. So, my goal? Get back into reading (at least) one book a week, EVERY SINGLE WEEK. I want to get back into that habit, because it feels good to read a lot.

WATCH

This video of BABY SLOTHS IN A BUCKET. I REALLY REALLY WANT A BUCKET OF BABY SLOTHS TO HUG NOW.

WEAR

Clear heeled sparkly jelly shoes. I bought these on Amazon. They are very comfortable, I can actually run in them pretty well (!), & they were a great price. I love them & they’re versatile & make any outfit a little more sparkly. The size I bought was what I expected it to be, maybe a tiny bit on the loose side, but still fit well. The first day I wore them I did a lot of shopping & the shoes didn’t rub my feet at all. Also, they’re sparkly.

Dip-dyed red hair. I love how this looks on me, & I love the boldness of red hair. You can read about how I did it here.

Pearl earrings, because they’re probably the most versatile design of earring. They can look elegant & bold or simple & understated, depending on what you wear along with them. Because I have double piercings in each ear lobe, I like wearing two different sizes of pearl earrings at the same time, or wearing pearl earrings in one piercing & something more colorful & bold in the second.

TO DO

★ Making a goal list at the beginning of each week & highlighting each thing when I accomplish it. I will write an article detailing my process soon, but making a weekly goal list & putting whatever I don’t accomplish one week onto next week’s list until I accomplish it has been helpful for me!

THINGS 

★ “You are not stuck where you are unless you decide to be.” – Wayne Dyer. Comfort. No matter how deep the trench you fell into or dug yourself into or thought was where you wanted to be might seem, it is up to you how free you are. Only up to you, all up to you. You are not stuck anywhere.