a beautiful day

my amazing friend tara, has done it again. check these beautiful photos of my mom, sister and me and hop on over to tara's blog to see more.

love you t, thanks for this.
xoxo ashleycolean

great news

{me:mom:sis}

my mom and sister are coming to boulder to spend the weekend with me! they get here this afternoon.
we have no plans and few commitments...which is pretty much amazing!

pool days, farmers markets, movies, shopping, and showing them around...i can't wait!

happy weekend!
xoxo ashleycolean

in a weekend

some weekends are so great you wish they'd never end. last weekend was one of those.

{trampolining: woodchuck under the trees: snuggle w the pup
bbq: lovebug: bcf brunch @jill's
jam sesh: homebrew: donuthut}

i wish i could stay in a slightly tipsy, sunny, friend and family filled three day weekend forever.

hope yours was a blast, too.
xoxo ashleycolean

weekends at gran's

{teaching me how to make green chili on my last trip down}

weekends with gran are good for the soul. this lady has nothing but love for me, even if it comes out of her mouth in a shockingly harsh way, she is such a love. :)

i try and make it the three hours to gran's house every couple of months. we cook, chat, watch hours of crime drama reruns and i explain the 'confusing parts.' it's just a restorative thing, to spend time with your grandparents.

i learn something new about my gran each time i go. this time i learned that she raised her SIX children on less than $30k year!! the idea that i have any sort of financial anxiety is almost laughable when i hear her talk about how hard she worked to put food on the table for her family. i know times are different, etc, but still. no complaining allowed!!

i keep thinking i should take my friend tara down with me sometime to 'document' my gran in all her sweetness, especially after seeing her latest beautiful blog post.

a warm home cooked (carb loaded) meal, a comfy couch and a sweet gran is always good for the soul.
and it's harder to leave each trip. gran waving to me from the front step is always a tear jerker.

love and miss you, gran.
xoxo ashleycolean

happy mothers day

happy mothers day, mom. i sure love you.

xoxo ashleycolean

a boost

{cred}

i got such a great surprise in the mail this morning. a check!! from my mom, to help with my student loan! seriously exciting!

thanks for the boost mama. i can hear the roars from the crowd at the finish line to this damn race!

even closer...thanks a million mom!
xoxo ashleycolean

i'm off

{cred}

i'm outta here for the holiday. heading back home to kansas city for 5 days to drink coffee, do the flying squirrel with my sister onto my parents bed, sleep in a cozy bed, wrap (and OPEN) gifts, see my best friends for a brunch or two, and relax. i could not be more excited.

i'll hook you up with a december recap when i get back!
hopefully i will get some cash to put down on those loans! :)

happiest of holidays to you and yours,
xoxo ashleycolean

to be thankful

{cred}

thanksgiving is just around the corner-and i always like to do a little life evaluation this time of year. take a second, and think about all the wonderful things i have in my life. look at the past year-the chaos we've endured-and find the happy again. remind yourself of all the good.
it's a little cheesy-the whole 'what are you thankful for,' but it is so important-not just on thanksgiving, but all the time to take a second and acknowledge all that's good. i don't do it enough. it always fills my heart to the top when i think about it-so maybe i should do it every morning when i wake up...that would be a killer way to start the day!

just a few things i am thankful for this year...
~my family. easy, obvious, but so true. i am not sure everyone has a supportive, amazing, loving, kind family, and i am so incredibly happy to have the people i know will always be there.

~my sisters health. after too long of a struggle and too much pain, my sister is on the mend and i can't tell you how happy that make me. everyday.
~my beautiful, kind and loving cousin. she is the best friend a girl could have and its an added bonus that we are related. her baby, j and man, t aren't bad either! so nice to have someone that knows everything about me and can shed some light on things from an outside perspective. her advise, and encouragement is worth more than i could ever tell her. it's common when i am around jb that i have an overwhelming sense of happiness and peace. what a wonderful ability to be able to give that feeling to the people around you. truly, a light in my life.
~bbe, wendi and her awesome hubby D. they are quite possibly the best family away from family a girl could ask for and i feel blessed daily to have them! to feel so cared for by her is such an added bonus to my days. i only hope one day i can pay them back for all they've done for me.

~new friends. when i moved to colorado i was a loaner-and now sometimes i look around me, surrounded with love, laughter and a packed planner- and think back about those times i didn't have anyone around-now, surrounded by amazing people...it makes for a happy heart.

~moving! getting into a little quieter space with a little less homelessness, a lot less commute and a new amazing roommate is pretty fantastic.

~my dedication to paying off my debt. i am so proud of myself, and feel so happy to see my hard work paying off in diminishing outstanding loan statements. whoohoo!

~growing up and getting on with it. i have let a lot go this year. lightening my emotional load...it feels great. we are all moving through endless waves of transformation...and i feel like my transformation over the past year has been almost completely a positive one. i'm growing up, chilling out and spending more time in the present.

~all of the happiness i see my friends having. this has been a big year...jb having that baby, chelli with her amazing daughter, birdie, lara moving here and making her own space in a new place, jamie falling in love with a great guy and moving in, byrd and ang finding loves in far away places and making moves to make that happen, tara finding the courage to make her dreams come true, e marrying the love of her life, and stephen asking sarah to be his wife. my cup runneth over! so many good things for so many good people..and i couldn't be happier to be a witness, and a part of it all.

with so many wonderful things to be thankful for, how could you spend even one minute dwelling on the ugly stuff. life's too much fun.

happy thanksgiving to you and yours,
xoxo ashleycolean

all the love you need

i've got a pretty rad dad. i'm not just saying that. everyone that knows my dad, loves him.

he is one of the hardest working, family oriented men i have ever known. lucky for me, he's my dad. i had a pretty fantastic example of what a husband and father should be. you could say i've been spoiled in that department.

with dad at a bar in kc

new years 2009-denver

tailgating in 2008

i'm a lot like my dad. we like all the same things, we have similar views on a lot of things (mainly i think everything that annoys my dad-annoys me). sports, music, and a good micro brew-i don't think there will ever be a day my dad and i won't enjoy something together.

being daughter number one, i took on 'daddy's girl' pretty easily.

my dad taught me a lot about teamwork, priorities, accountability, hard work, and being appreciative for what you have. i fell in love with colorado largely because of my dad, and always had so much support to move out here and do my own thing.

2006

my dad taught me to respect people, that good work ethic would always beat lazy, to respect my name and where i came from. i learned that good music is the best medicine. that the national anthem should never be sang as a joke. that sometimes, just walking away is the only thing that makes sense. to be proud of myself-and always do things to hang on to that pride. i learned an appreciation for the outdoors. how to make a mean hamburger. that the kind of person someone is will always show itself-no matter how hard they might try to cover it up. i learned that i was never going to get anything for free. to think long and hard about inviting people into my life that don't deserve it. never to be a fair weather fan. and, that passion and conviction outweighs most things-and a strong sense of self will always lead you where you need to go.

making your parents proud is, i think, on of the most fulfilling feelings in the world. and to know that my dad is so proud of me for moving out here, getting through the tough times, making a life for myself, and doing it my way, is the greatest gift. thanks daddy, for making such a wonderful life for me, filled with support and love. i treasure our relationship more than i could ever say.

happy father's day.
xoxo ashleycolean

3 things

i'm taking a little inspiration from cupcakes and cashmere and starting to throw 3 things together each week that have made me one happy camper. probably free, or cheap things. even better. maybe scattered with things i would like to have-just in case someone wants to send me somethin' special...hint.hint.
i had a bit of a painful week this week. no reason. just a week showered with blah. i attribute it to the nasty overcast weather we've had the past two weeks. colorado forgot to be the most gorgeous place on the planet this week. and it's making us denverites a bit, edgy.

i tackled some serious to do listing this week, and that always feels so lovely.

um yea. him. blog world, meet jett. jett, blog world. this is the best nugget ever and i love him with all my heart. of course he's amazing...he's the product of two of the most rad folks i know. seriously-look at him. his sweet smile made my week.

ta da! i finally figured out how to curl my hair with a flat iron. i was so proud. correction: am so proud. the days of $30 blow outs just for this kind of curl action are a thing of the past.

happy weekend kidlets.

xoxo ashleycolean

goodbyes

a weekend at home is always so nice. i miss my mom, dad, and little sister so badly sometimes i think about packing it up and heading back home. at breakfast the other day with my gf tara she was talking about how hard it is to come back from being home, and then she said 'but, ya know, then we head west and get close enough to see the mountains and it's all okay, because this is home now.' she's right. this is home now. but that doesn't mean i don't tear up every time i wait in the line at the airport counter, and wish for just a couple of extra days.


photo from we heart it

 i could always use a few more hellos.
alas, the visits are always too short and i still cry in the terminal.
maybe one day we'll all be back together again-
boohoo.
xoxo ashleycolean

like the stars hold the moon

everyone thinks they have the best mom. and i'm not trying to brag, but if mine isn't the very best, she's damn close to the front of the pack.

toni, my mama, had that sister and i both before she was 26, and somehow knew what she was doing. she's pretty much self taught at everything, so of course, motherhood wouldn't be any different. a mom, business owner (way to go t), and great wife to boot...this lady's got it handled, and is great at everything she does. i feel like she knows how to tackle any problem, and even though i would have cringed to ask for help when i was a bratty teenager...now, i feel blessed beyond belief to have a mom that is always there, always helpful, and always thinking of me.

with my dad-the two made a life for sister and me. when things were tough, we didn't know it. when things were great, we absolutely knew it. and we were raised in a home where love was never hard to find.

i was just saying to amanda when i was in dc, that being a parent is such a crap shoot. how do you know your children will grow up to be kind, good, thoughtful, decent people? and how (the hell) did my parents pull it off? young, first timers, with a hope for a happy, healthy family...and somehow-it worked out.

mama had an awful lot to do with it. she was tough, but we always knew how much she loved her 'doll,' and her 'bug.'

she wasn't big on the 'be your kids friend' philosophy...but somehow, it ended up that way, anyway :)

happy mothers day, mom.

i can't wait to try and be the mom to my kids that you are to me...the very best.

now let's get our family brunch on.
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

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

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