I'll teach you how to jump on the wind's back, and then away we go.

It's 2something in the morning and I'm watching Peter Pan for the second time this week. I get into this pa(n)ttern every few months where I watch Peter Pan, in one form or another, at least once a week. I'm usually partial to the live one they put out around 2005, or Hook....tonight it's the Disney version. When I was a little lass, I wanted to be Pan's trusty sidekick, Tink. I wanted to be the girl he went on adventures with, who fought by his side. Now that I'm an old wretched semi-adult, I'm kinda partial to the Wendy-lady. As much as Peter loves Tinkerbell, she's not the one who got the acorn. I want the acorn. If only there was a way to be both. Did that make sense?? I babble when I'm sleepy.

Anyway, Saturday I went on a roadtrip with Uncle Hitt & Co. We hopped in his little Sentra and drove up to see Four Year Strong at The Palladium in Worcester. It was nuts. Kids in the pit were going crazy and there were at least 50 people watching from the stage. As an added bonus, I got to see my favorite Boston Bitches. Horrah!




Today, Vipes & I went to the Guggenheim. It was so inspiring. To be this close from the brush strokes in a Van Gogh or Renoir is super trippy. I just kinda stared at most of the paintings in awe. Seeing every little line and imagining what the painter was thinking about when he created a specific piece, and then where it is today, makes all the little wheels in my brain spin in my brain like The Scrambler.

Here's to 2009.
Happy Hogmanay
<3

I want to start paying it forward

She is a silly heart!

I'm watching that documentary on Shiloh Pepin, the mermaid girl, again. I don't know why i love it so much. She reminds me of a nicer, smaller, funnier version of Roseanne. My favorite quote of hers tonight is "I've always wanted a boyfriend of my very own. I've met lots of guys. So in the future, i might be a dating person." I hear ya girlfriend. If you get a chance, you need to watch this. Next up on TLC: "A Life Half Full". It's about people that are born with out lower extremities and the title alone sounds promising. SCORE!

Tonight I met up with Amy for some reunion tea, because that's what we do when she comes back home. We order coffee & tea, set up shop in Dunkin' Donuts and talk for hours & hours, because that flame broiled Burger King smell is so hard to get out of your clothes. Amy's my best friend from high school. We've known each other since we were in middle school, but back then, my only friends were beanie babies and my cat because i was innocent little girl who collected colored pens. That was until she corrupted me. I remember asking Amy why she didn't participate in gym one sunny day when we were in 7th grade. She bluntly told me she was on the rag and my jaw almost fell off my face. When i was younger, i didn't talk about sluffing or use curse words and i boycotted American Pie. After that answer, Amy & I didn't talk for a while. I was scared of her. She was headed down a path with the "cool" kids that smoked after school and copied each others homework. I wanted no part of that life! I was pure and enjoyed the TGIF lineup! Then, in 9th grade, after most of the kids had left our middle school (we had the option to stay for 9th or go to the high school), and i ditched all my Winnie The Pooh clothing, me & Amy found ourselves hanging out more and more. Sure there were times when she was rotten...like that time she was supposed to come over after school but wouldn't get off the bus with me. Or the time she blamed me for the breakup between her & her boyfriend because i "made" her go see Moulin Rouge! But, we came to be best friends. Amy taught me how to come out of my shell and is partly responsible for my potty mouth and sense of humor. She's the only one i've ever spent an hour laughing about the word "supervisor" with. Sober.

I was looking at pictures i took & developed when i was in college the other day. I miss developing my own film so much. Being in the darkroom and seeing my pictures pop up out of nowhere was really, as lame as it sounds, special. I took this first picture of Russ, junior year for a natural light portrait project. He's so handsome, black eye & all!

Since i don't have a darkroom, I've been trying to use my Polaroid Land Camera more often. It's not exactly the same, but there's still that element of anticipation to see if your picture's going to turn out. I especially love the series 3 pictures down. I went to the Planting Fields with parents today and got some shots in. Sorry if this isn't the most exciting post...but this stuff makes me happy.
Hope you all had an awesome Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa.
<3


Tuna - In reference to your cross country drive idea...can i come too?? imagine the muxtape!

Is this the airport, Clark?

I think it's Tuesday? This is what happens when i don't have to wake up for work....i lose all concept of date & time.
Take a look at what my day looked like:
12:30 - Wake up
12:32 - Check my phone
12:42 - Go downstairs and pour myself a bowl of Cap'n Crunch
12:43 - Sit on the couch, open the paper and watch a documentary on Christian Hosoi with Dad
2:30 - Go upstairs and decide i should get a start on my day. Instead, i listen to Bing Crosby's Mele Kalikimaka 8 times in a row, download some Elvis Christmas songs, talk to Trae & Shana and procrastinate
3:15 - Change out of my pjs & ask Dad to pull my car out of the driveway bc i was so unsuccessful yesterday. Can't wait to bring little Leo Hamburger to the shop tomorrow!
3:27 - Try & go to CVS but the parking lot's too full
3:35 - Get to Staples
3:55 - Arrive home & finish all my gift wrapping
4:42 - Go downstairs and watch 4 hours of documentaries on different photographers. I think the piece on Timothy Greenfield-Sanders was my fave
6:00 - Decide I want to go to the Islander game
6:15 - Pout bc no one will go. It's fine - they lost anyway
7:54 - Feel inspired and go take these pictures





10:00 - Flip between The Office, Cash Cab & Vh1's 100 greatest songs of the 90's while hanging with Mom & Shannon
12:00 - Come upstairs to charge my laptop, edit pics & pop in Christmas Vacation
1:16 AM - Post blog

Merry Christmas Eve!

For The Love Of God, Will Someone PLEASE Bring Me Some Cold Medicine?

About Me:

• i feel less stuffy w/tissues in my nose
• i'm more likely to accidentally step in puddles when i'm wearing my sneakers
• i do not make my bed and enjoy sheets meant for an 8 year old
  
• i sometimes pick my clothes out the night before
  

Not included in pictures:

• i will ruin my manicure within an hour of getting it
• i stay up way past my bedtime & when i finally turn off the lights can't fall asleep
• i bruise like a piece of fruit
  
• i'm thirsty
  

Dear ConEd, It's late & I want to go to bed, you should too

So, please pack up your shit from outside my window and leave so i can catch some ZzZzZ's.
Thanks!
Forever your girl,
Ashley Cook

Ugh! i have the sickness. oh wa ah ah ah. I am not enjoying it. This is the second year in a row i'll be sick on the last day of work. If this messes up my plans to hang w/Big Tuna or go paintballing, i will be p.o'd to the nth degree.

this is all you're getting tonight.
on the left: a picture i took in 1992 with some fancy shmancy party film i'm guessing i got on christmas morning. Pictured from L - R are Uncle Stew, Mom, Shannon, Nana & Robert.
Was this the year i got magic nursery babies (I wanted twins so baddd)? Or twas it the year i got Baby Alive?

on the right: a picture i took in 2008. no cool film has been received as of yet.

in both: the same curtains.

I Don't Want A Lot For Christmas, I Won't Even Wish For Snow

Today around 3:30 the whole entire office took a field trip to Washington Square Park. FOB was set to do a mini guerrilla style performance. More & more kids started to show up & the air began to get thick with anticipation. While we waited for FOB, miss erica dagley & madam perry helped me figure out why dudes shirts have buttons on the wrong side. It's something that has perplexed me for years. Now I know the answer. Anyway, the fall out kids finally showed, but unfortunately, plans were cut short thanks to the fine men in blue who keep this city safe from rogue performers.
As we headed back to the office, I got to be the keeper of the megaphone that we had purchased for today's event. Because it wasn't used in the park, we decided to pop its cherry & bother as many people as we could on our return trip to the factory.

Ant started screaming "its not that warm out" to people with out jackets and I let people know where they could find christmas trees. I felt giddy & drunk with power. That's when Lullo, who was walking ahead of us & carrying a guitar, smacked a beagle in its poor little face. Cue me laughing so hard I almost pee me pants (similar to the situation last night when I got body checked in a cross walk, after a lil kid screamed "OOOOPS! I farted!"). I have poor bladder control. In fact, I've actually been banned from Denny's in Oneonta bc of an "incident". Reason #27 why I don't have a boyfriend.

But back to the megaphone. I will become super annoying & overuse said megaphone if it stays in my possession. Pleasedon'ttakeitaway.

When I returned to my desk, I found a glorious ziplock bag filled with delicious Hugs. Sean R. (Is that your middle initial?) Gould did the sweetest thing ever. You see, last week him & I had a long conversation about Hugs Vs. Kisses, (Hershey Style) and I told him that I preferred the Hugs (ain't that the truth). This lead to a whole other conversation about how white chocolate isn't really chocolate at all. I still don't know whether to believe this or not. Regardless, Hugs are scrumptious & that was one of the nicest things anybody has ever done for me!

This is what i did when i got home tonight. We put on some Christmas tunes and started decorating the tree. I feel i've captured my father pretty well here: concentrating super hard & placing tinsel, strand by strand, on select branches. Another one of my favorite ornaments: I got this in Disney World, on the first vacation i ever took with out my family. I will never forget the plane ride home when we got in trouble for being too loud & i was pissed i missed the episode of The O.C where Luke's dad came out of the closet. This was way before JetBlue let you watch tv, DVRs & some fancy shmancy machine called TiVo were invented, and it'd been too long for people to remember how to tape directly to VHS. I've still yet to see this episode and, not gonna lie, i'm still a bit upset.