'rado-ramble on

wednesday i went to see, the amazing, the timeless, the talented, robert plant play at the fillmore in denver with my uncle david. i can not tell you how amazing robert plant is!! a living legend, there's no doubt.

 check out more of rp's videos and goose bump inducing vocals here. and, because that certainly will leave you yearning for more check out my favorite video. and then, when that still doesn't fill you up...listen to nothin'...my absolute favorite.

i am officially done taking people seriously about music that don't have a firm appreciation for this man.

and we bid you goodnight
xoxo ashleycolean

things wendi taught me

i was always an eye makeup girl when i wanted to be 'fancy.' which is funny, because i don't think i look very good with eye makeup on.
when i started working for wendi she always looked put together-polished.


her secret: lipstick. it works. ruby woo and i look as fancy as the next girl.
lipstick can make even the most laid back outfit/hair look polished.
i'm telling you. most days i can roll out of bed. throw something on. spend 2 minutes on my makeup, then lipstick-it-up in the car on my way to work.

case in point....

you can literally see that i have only been awake 10 minutes with those swollen eye balls...



and voilà-lips. still not magnificent, but...it'll do.

va va voom.

xoxo ashleycolean

exactly might be a stretch...

...but yea, i guess you could say that. 

photo from we heart it

if i knew then what i know now...
xoxo ashleycolean

to the moon and back

today is sara's birthday. the love of my life, forever friend, and my little sister. she's 24 today. yea!

sara is everything i long to be. she is brilliant, determined, gorgeous and the most selfless person i have ever met. my amazement for 'all things sara' lent itself to some pretty nasty jealousy when we were kids. i was not the best 'big sister' then, and that makes me so terribly sad...that for even one moment i was not the very best person in the world to my sister. luckily, i grew up, grew out of jealousy, and grew into admiration.
it's funny to me how much two people can be so different and so alike simultaneously. we are two peas in a pod-just peas of different shades of green...


giving my new baby sister a 'sink bath' with great grandma jane in 1987


you've been my happiness for so many years sister...even before i was smart enough to realize it. nothing makes me happier than time with you-life is easy, and good when you're around. you teach me so much- sometimes i think it's silly you weren't the one born first.

happy birthday sister.  i hope this year brings to you all the happiness that you deserve. you are the most important person in my life-and i can't thank you enough for all the peace you bring to my life. i love you with all of my heart-to the moon and back.

birthdays rock!
xoxo 'sister' ashleycolean

give a man a cupcake

cruising around the boulder farmers market saturday with tara we stopped by an adorable cupcake stand. they were packaging their mini cupcakes in stamped egg cartons! being a sucker for good marketing, i stopped to chat about what they were up to.

turns out the boulder shelter started a program that teaches people to bake, then sells these gourmet cupcakes at the farmers market-sending all the proceeds back to the shelter.

i was in love. the idea was amazing. the people at the bfm were so excited to be a part of it and so proud of the work they had done. they call the cupcake business street fare, and they will also do custom orders for cakes, cupcakes...you name it, they'll bake it! plus, you can feel better about eating too many when the money is going toward a worthy cause.

sugar high anyone?
xoxo ashleycolean

because a little good karma never hurt anyone

a couple of years ago i waws given a gift certificate to kiva.org, a website that allows people to give small business loans to people all over the world. i spent an hour agonizing over who to give my money to. how to pick? when will they get all the money they need? what if they never do?
after some observation i decided on hamis omary-a store owner in tanzania who needed $975 dollars to buy inventory to keep his little shop running.

this is a picture of hamis, who paid me (and his other loaners) back in full within 11 months.

the really cool thing about kiva is that once your money is paid back you can reloan. over the past few years i have added another $50 of my own money to the 'ashleycolean pot.' between the inital $75 investment and reloaning money i've been able to help 9 people! NINE!!

all images from kiva.org

these are a few of the folks i have loaned to through kiva. men, women, groups, and from all over the world.

it is such a wonderful thing....and i figure, who can't use a little extra good karma. :) cut a happy hour out of your budget and help someone.

i dare you.
xoxo ashleycolean

things wendi taught me

i have, quite possibly, the best boss in the history of bosses. i can't even take time going in to all the ways she is so completely fantastic.

today, on several occasions, something came up that reminded me of something i learned from wendi. i had just the thing to say, or advice to give because of some little tidbit she's provided over the past couple of years. so, i decided that i would post little things that she 'let's me in on.' most of them are common sense, but, i didn't know them, so you might not either.

today's thing wendi taught me: no boots after easter.

i had no clue. apparently it's southern...and because she is from nola, homegirl is in the know.
man o man...first no white pants labor to memorial day and now no boots after easter?!?

what's a girl to do.
xoxo ashleycolean

rant and rave, 420 smokeout

it's days like today that make me supremely irritated with boulder. working here is great, sans the sometimes wildly long commute, but on days like 420, boulder is most easily described as one big, hot, mess.
kids are strewn everywhere, high as they can possibly get and still be mobile-and because boulder is so ped friendly there are crosswalks everywhere. in one block alone there are 3 additional crosswalks that have nothing to do with traffic lights. all it takes is the push of a button and (on days like today) dozens of people walk across the street.

420 didn't bother me when i was in school...it was just another day that people decided to glorify a bad habit, but now...it makes me just shy of homicidal, and boulder seems to take it to the next level.

this is a little idea of what happens on the hill in boulder today

last year the commute took me 95 minutes thanks to all the stoners. so, to all you participating in what my loser ex-boyfriend actually considered a holiday-remember that some of us have jobs, have been at work all day, have a 30 mile commute back home and couldn't care less about how you're 'keepin' it realll mannn.' just sober up and get out of the god damn way.

sheesh.
xoxo ashleycolean

3 women and a book, the almost moon

my brilliant sister decided a couple of months ago to start a 'book club.' this club is quite exclusive as it's only members are my sister, my mom and me. sara thought it would be a fun way for us to 'do something together' when she was away at school and with me living out here in the mountains. the initial idea was we could skype our book club meetings, but that fell apart because i refuse to buy internet in my apartment...and the sketchy connection i do get from (the bar) across the street isn't conducive to maintaining a good connection.

the first book was sara's pick-the almost moon by alice sebold, and it was bizarre to say the least. the first sentence of the book 'when all is said and done, killing my mother came easily' leads you through the next 3 or 4 days of the narrators life-flashing back to her childhood. at first i struggled to connect with this woman who obviously had pervading mental illness in her family, but as i read deeper into what made her who, and how she was-i found myself feeling terribly sorry for her.

ultimately, the book is well written, and interesting, but takes a little 'getting used to.'
i would give it a 6.
 our next read-my pick-the happiness project by gretchen rubin. it's promising so far, and yes, just might create more happiness!

reading is so in.
xoxo ashleycolean

beautimous, free people

i had a momentary lapse of good judgment this weekend and binged on some free people items. in my defense-one of the items is a total replica of the dress my mom wore in her 1980 senior pictures, so i am planning something totally fantastic with that!

this identical dress my mom wore is amazing and timeless

the other two items were just because they are adorable and i happened upon them. i guess this is what happens when you shop from bed on a saturday after too many cocktails on friday night.



this skirt was on crazy sale-$30 bucks?!




and these booties are simply amazing


lesson learned. i promise. don't i?

my gf tara got some great things too! i was in total cart envy when she sent me her list. she has such a great sense of style...i envy her look for sure. check out my faves of her stuff.
 

i mean, these suckers are just awesome

 

LOVE this top!

and this bad boy

hope you all had an amazing, beautimous weekend~

viva la maxi.
xoxo ashleycolean



lyle and maryjane

today is my great grandparents seventy-first wedding anniversary. seventy-one! and even though my grandpa passed away last year-only a couple of months after the seventy year mark-i feel like a love like theirs should be remembered.

i've never seen two people love each other so much.

i love you grandma and i hope you can remember the good times today. smile, and know that a love like yours is what girls like me hope to have one day.

happy anniversary mrs. lyle colean-and you grampa-we miss you-everyday.

ain't love grand.
xoxo ashleycolean

9 pound hammer or a woman like you

when i made the awesome, and scary, and wild move west after college i had a panic attack on the drive.

i had no friends.

zero.

what would i do?

no one would ever be able to talk to me like chelsey, or kill me with her wit like york. know me like my sister. i had some pretty rad friends, and now, here i was, cruising down i70 excited, nervous, and freaked out about making this new journey without anyone by my side.

the next few months were rough. no job. no one to sit with me for endless hours drinking on various patios around the city. i was a sad sack. a weeping mess that acted like everything was amazing if anyone would call. 

but then, something happened.

the friends came.

and now, i am so lucky.

these are just a few of the amazing women i now get to call friends.

angela at glbt gala, denver 2011

amy, katie and jenn in arizona for the half marathon that nearly killed me

 


marathon number one morning with amy



kendall fall 2010

my gracepotter partner in crime-emily

leah in ft collins at the tour de fat costume bike race

ft collins crew summer 2010

brooke at hapa with some handsome fellas



my first friend-stephanie. boulder st pattys day 2011





the gorgeous and talented tara of tarapolly.com



my cobf annie-feel like i have known her my whole life

i used to get a lot of sleep when i was moping around alone. now i'm pooped, over extended, my planner is a total disaster, and i'm so happy my heart could explode.

you all are a part of the life i made, the life i chose, the life i put together, and i am one lucky girl.

xoxo ashleycolean

rant and rave-crazy woman with the knuckles

last night i was sitting at the corner of 14th and curtis (construction hell right now). a cabby let a group of ped morons walk when they shouldn't have...hand means no walk....so i got stuck a bit out in the crosswalk-which i will admit.
however, what happened next blows my mind. this crazy ass woman-i'm guessing 60-balled up her fist, rushed up to my (BRAND NEW) car and pounded on the hood with her knuckles, repeatedly screaming 'you're in the crosswalk-you're in the crosswalk.'

under normal circumstances i would like to think i would have politely rolled down my window and explained what had happened in a calm, rational way. but the fact that i have been taking meticulous care of my new car-not allowing anyone food or drink inside the damn thing, parking miles from any entrance, and washing it weekly (at a minimum) it may be an understatement to say i flipped.

i think had it not been for my seat belt holding me in, or all of the other onlookers i would have gotten out of my car and potentially caused bodily harm to this 60 year old woman.

however, instead, i rolled my window down and let her know how absurd she was-of course i yelled, and may have used words i wouldn't generally use around 60 year olds...

but come on, really?!!?? you're knuckles?!?!


long live the car/ped battle of denver.
xoxo ashleycolean

beautimous, spring

i have a terrible shopping problem. i've gotten over it. come to terms with it. decided to embrace it.

viva la my fave spring items...

this jacket from anthro is just way to cute-over a maxi with a decent clog-i'm in. all in.

i'm not sure that i have ever ventured in to charlotte russe, but for these i would...did i mention they do buy 1 get 1 for $15...

so of course, my second pick...

these are bonkers cute.

my anthropologie obsession continues with these couple of must haves...

i mean, come on.

free people did an awful lot right this season also...

dresses like this little gem that have been sitting in my cart for a month now.

check these suckers...man o man. yes please.

and of course, the quintessential spring accessory-

a nice torty rayban. thank goodness for my discover card rewards to sunglass paradise.

i could go on and on...but i leave you with this.

just think. in only weeks we'll be hitting poolsides for cocktails and bronzing bods...so maybe i oughta grab a new pair of these while i'm at it.

xoxo ashleycolean