brewmaster

my new favorite place on earth, or at least in my little earth, is avery brewing company. it's glorious! and with $1 4oz tasters it fits nicely into this gals budget!

it's easy to pop in there for 5 or 6 tasters and walk out, $10.00 later, with a little buzz and a good time had by all!

i had a little birthday get together there last weekend with some great friends. it was so fun!

my amazing friend tara took a few photos...

{barrels at the brewery}

{with ben}

{enjoying a little coffee brew}

{laren and tara <3}

it's a great place, with tasty beer, and on any given sunday, an amazing crew of my dearest! :)

we'll see you there
xoxo ashleycolean

bar method

{cred}

at the start of the good ol' new year, i decided to start a new fitness routine. hoping to get hooked. it's a bit too early to tell, but i think i'm on the road to fitness addiction! bar method is a fancy new(ish) fitness class that is pretty great. the motto you hear all the time in class is 'good shaking' and they are not kidding. your muscles are outta control shaking.

i did the new member special at the boulder location and have been 8 times in a week and a half. normally being surrounded by people that are better than me at something makes me never want to go again, but not this. it's a challenge to go back, get better and get stronger! you can get 30 days of unlimited classes at the denver/boulder locations for $59, which is cheaper than most trainers!

my bcf, jb told me about it! she is lookin rockin from going for two months, so i thought i would give it a go. thanks for the heads up jb.
your body will thank you, even if you want to murder your alarm clock.
xoxo ashleycolean

the big day

{cred}

it's here! the day i've been waiting for! it's moving day.

today, after everything was all packed up in the truck-thanks to the strapping lads i hired-i went back up to my first apartment. i always have a hard time leaving places i've lived. not to say i'm not over the moon excited about the move, being in boulder, my new amazing roommate, cutting my commute from 65 minutes to 6 minutes-because trust me I AM THRILLED. but, moving, for good, always seems so sad to me.

i sat down in the middle of my (now bare) living room and took it in. i thought about all the things that happened in this apartment, and all the things that happened in life during the past 21 months here. i had mostly good times in my little city apartment, some sad but mostly just happy.

i made new friends, and spent time with old ones.i ran my first marathon while i lived here, i started my financial lockdown, and let go of a heart heavying relationship here.  i made plans here-some i followed through on and some i didn't. i had a good talk with my mom about happiness here. i got the phone call that i'd lost my grandpa while i lived in this place. i had one of the most fun weekends with my sister in this apartment-come to think of it i picked out this little place with my sister and that memory is so happy for me. i reconnected with an old friend who now i can't imagine life without, my best friend told me she was having a baby and my niece was born while i lived here. i celebrated engagements, babies, weddings, anniversaries and accomplishments with the people i love. my best cousin had a beautiful baby boy and moved up to her lovely cabin in the woods. my parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary. my sister got hurt and then got better. i threw parties, i walked to coffee shops, and i went to concerts. i made mistakes. i surprised myself. i dated, i laughed, i cried, i danced, and ran, and traveled, and really got to know a city i always dreamed i would find myself. i grew up here, in my little city apartment.

the funny thing is, until i sat down cross legged on the hardwood floor today and really thought about it, i felt like i was never here. i felt like the past (almost) two years flew by, and nothing had really happened while i was here. so, you see, when you sit quietly in a place, you realize how much life can happen to you in a short time.
it was a good reminder to be an active participant in my life.

be present.

live.

what a great takeaway to start the next chapter.

goodbye leetonia-it's been fun.
all the best to you and yours.
xoxo ashleycolean

on the move

for the past 6 weeks or so i have been slowly packing. packing up all my stuff makes me want to become a minimalist.
all of the cute sitarounds i just HAD TO HAVE are suddenly the things plaguing my life!

i wish half of my stuff would just disappear to make life easier.

i've been craigslisting the hell out of my stuff-trying to remove the 'clutter.' so far i've sold my bed ($40), my bookshelf ($15), my mirror ($40), and my weeds dvds ($20). i still have a dresser, tv, and skis up for sale. so, i've made a little bit of money. not much, but a little. and yes, i have been without a bed almost a month now...so all the money i have made should probably go to the magic hands of a massage specialist.

it's amazing to me how much moving costs! somehow i've managed to only spend $36.00 so far on tape, boxes and packing paper. bbe has been bringing me in boxes each day from her christmas online shopping which has been a big help. my momentary lapse of good judgement in my own online shopping adventures on anthropologie.com have also provided me some decent boxes. i hired movers-against my desire to save-because the last time i moved myself i cried the whole time. this time, three men will come and handle all the lifting in three hours for $222.00. worth-every-penny.

still to go-kitchen (ugh), and all my clothes. funny how hours of clothes packing is the result of 'never having anything to wear.'

with moving day quickly approaching, i couldn't be happier to be done with this place and on to the next. hopefully my deposit will come back to me in full so i can throw that $785 down in one chunky lump on the good ol' student loan.

december 29th baby.
xoxo ashleycolean

big moves for a type A girl

i am a type A person. i love lists, plans, schedules, spreadsheets...you get the idea.
i don't think i have ever NOT had a plan...winged it. i wish i could. i envy people that can. the laid back, no worries, go with the flow people. truth is i would love to put caution to the wind, lose all control and just be...

i would.

i am always on the lookout for people that i think would help me be more like that.

so, big news is i am making a giant leap (for me) to the unplanned life. yesterday i gave notice for my denver apartment!!! this means that as of december 1 i am sort of homeless. a couch hopper. a real life person without a plan! exciting right!

i'm moving to boulder!!

{cred}

i met a great girl to be a roommate in boulder-and she needs a job. so, while she looks i will put all my stuff in a storage locker and live couch to couch, aunt to grandpa, etc etc for the month of december.
crazy right!

for me, it's crazy. this just may be the most 'wild' thing i have ever done.

here's to kissing the type A goodbye, at least for 31 days!
xoxo ashleycolean

awkward

{cred}

they say that growth starts when you remove yourself from your comfort zone. well, i did that the other day. of course, like all awkward things, it was by total accident.

i have been trying to get to the gym on a much more regular basis lately. it's funny how the idea of going to the gym after work (or in the morning-which i have also been doing lately {thank you very much}) makes me want to die-but not going makes me miserable.

here's the thing: for a fairly confident, competent person the gym totally intimidates me. i feel like every single human there (except for the woman who wears jean spandex and puts her shih tzu in a baby carrier to ride the recumbent bike) knows way more about what they are doing than i do.
not true. but, it's all about getting out of my own head.

so last week i talked my cousin, jb, into coming with me to my first ever hot yoga class. i mentally prepared all day to be in a room of mirrors around dozens of people who truly are a million times better than me. i was pumped up. i was ready.

we got there early to guarantee a spot in the back. we set up our mats, got all situated, we were ready.

until people continued to filter in. i suddenly looked up and saw that all the really yogaish folks in their tiny spandex shorts and sports bras were surrounding us. a light bulb went off....this was not the back row. oh no, this was the front row. here we were, two newbies front and center.

i wanted to die. but i didn't. i pushed through the miserable level of discomfort and self consciousness and finished the 75 minute class.

moral of the story-push past your boundaries. you'll be happy you did.

and if you need me from now on you can find me in the back of the room, doin' my thing.
xoxo ashleycolean

twenty under $25-six

i know i owe ya'll a bachelorette post. i think it was pretty impressive. everyone had a blast and i did my best to keep it affordable for everyone-no matter their budget!

one thing we did was a great (but tough) hike in boulder. royal arch is my go to hike. it is tough, and ends with an absolutely beautiful view and a great sense of accomplishment!

i like to finish up a morning hike with the farmers market!

what i spent:
parking $0.00 -parking at chautauqua is free
hike $0.00 -and brought my own water in my camelbak
farmers market $5.25 -for lunch at, quite possibly, the best tamale stand EVER. tamale, pintos, quinoa and green chili...yum!!

total: $5.25

labor of love

{cred}

the weekend is coming! the weekend is coming!!

i am so excited to have a nice long weekend.

this weekend has been a while in the making. like, 6 months to be exact.  i planned a (hopefully) fantastic weekend for one of my best friends for her bachelorette/birthday weekend. we are shacking up at one of my favorite spots-the st julien hotel and spa for a celebration of erin, fun in the sun, a spa treatment or two, and a cocktail or three as well!

i hope everything goes well. i'm sure it will. great city, great weather, great people. what more could you ask for?!

oohlala.
xoxo ashleycolean

3 things

my three things this week are simple pleasures, good company, and a great online find~

a picnic lunch with my great friend annie

the sun finally showed it's beautiful face again over boulder

my new glasses from warby parker

happy weekend comrades.

xoxo 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

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