Lo Romantico

?Lo Romantico?

Here is a juicy one for you.  Romance, that’s what I’m going to talk about in this post as a little prep of some things I’m going to write about here in the near future (as soon as I do some research).  However unlike my intention of my future posts, this one is entirely a woman’s bias.   Sorry men, I don’t much and haven’t quite frankly asked much about what you guys think on romance.  Actually I correct myself, this is more my personal bias. 

Romance examples:

1.      Elizabeth coincidently meets the rich man of her dreams at a social gathering of some sort and in the end they get married and everything is just a love boat of happiness.  Of course between meeting and then getting hitched, she goes from hating him and every dramatic thing happens from family problems to finding that he may be promised to another. But it all works out in the end.

2.      Sarah has known her soul mate since childhood but has hidden her feelings for him like a coward and decides not to act on her feelings until he is with another woman.  Through series of comical and embarrassing events, she finally ends up with her soul mate that leaves the other woman empty handed hoping she’ll fall for someone else immediately because of his impulsiveness. Anyways, everyone ends up happy.

3.        Juliet meets her Romeo with your classic love at first site.  Although they know nothing about each other besides the increasing curiosity and obvious attraction, they force each other to meet in secret and elope.  Their families hate each other and soon tragedy strikes.  Therefore the young naïve lovers miraculously die in each other’s arms to escape the consequences of their impetuous actions. 

So, which story if any of them are the most realistic?  Well, there are a lot of women who ask this same kind of question, including myself.  I’ve come to the conclusion that these made up stories had to have come from somewhere, so why can’t they be real?  Obviously maybe not Hollywood style, and not in the same ideal sequence; I personally would prefer not to be engaged and then find my long lost lover and create the complication of falling for him and leaving my fiancé for someone I re-met.  So this brings up another question.  Why do some women actually believe that these romantic stories they see in movies or read in books can and should happen in perfect sequence?  I could understand a fifteen year old girl having a dream that someone with super human like strength with a super FINE body, who perhaps turns into a werewolf or vampire(aka Taylor Lautner or Robert Patinson), may fall in love with them and expect a happily ever after.  In fact for a fifteen year old girl with a crush, that is about normal…. However if you’re at least graduated from high school, I’m sorry sweetie, but that’s not going to be the case (Quit dreaming, Just kidding).

I try to consider myself more of a practical person; therefore a lot of romantic ideas are not a priority to me.  Don’t get me wrong I may day dream of being kissed under mistletoe by an infatuation, random slow dancing in the rain, or a classic dip kiss at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s.  Are these possible? Yes. Unreasonable? No. Going to happen immediately with my dream guy?  Not likely.  But that’s okay.  What I find very disheartening is that there are women out there that expect the kiss (movie make out) in the country rain, a dark romance that will be immortal, love at first sight, or my favorite: The Perfect Man or Mr. Dream-Boat.  As a friend told me once, the perfect man died and was resurrected for our sins a long time ago because we are not and cannot be perfect on our own.  He wants us to find our eternal companion, but some of us need to realize that it’s not going to be all roses and butterflies.  Life happens, and even when you find your eternal companion, marriage is hard (I don’t know personally, it just appears that way and is what I’m told).  Happily ever after is earned in eternity.  The way I like to look at getting to my happy ever after is just finding who is right for you, because if there was a perfect guy out there he’d probably be translated to heaven, so you know, deal with what you got.  Then, working hard as a team to achieve the “happy” and eventually “ever after”. 

Women: As much as chic-flics make for a good girl’s night, comfort movie, or mood setter.  Don’t expect a Hollywood story.  No reason to be discouraged because of it, just understand that Prince Charming won’t be perfect, have a six pack, save world hunger, put you in a mansion with diamonds and jewels, or write you love songs every night; as nice as it may sound.

Men:  You don’t have to be smooth all the time, but taking advice on what girls find “cute”, is not a bad idea….. Ex: six pack (totally joking!), long hugs, compliments, romantic stuff… etc.

Grandparents Rock!

A while ago I posted a Facebook status about a conversation I had with my grandma Anita.  Well the basis of the conversation was somewhere along the lines of this:

Grandma: Hi Ashley, I was just calling to check up on you.  How are you? Everything going okay?

Me: (in a somber tone) yeah, things are alright.

Grandma: boyfriend yet?

Me: nope, not yet.  Dating is hard.

Grandma: It shouldn’t be too bad.

Me: Well, I’m not too worried about it. Sometimes it’s discouraging though.

Grandma: Why is that?

Me: Well, too many of my friends are getting married.

Grandma: Well, too many of my friends are dying.  So don’t get yourself down.

Me: (silence)

Grandma: (laughter) it’s okay, one of your cousin’s is going through “all my friends are having babies” and some of your parents’ are “too many of my friends are getting divorced”.  

Me: true……

Grandma: Well I got to run; I’m on my way to visit my friend in the hospital who just had a stroke.  Love you!

Me: Love you too. Bye.

So just like that.  There I was complaining about how my romantic life is slow in comparison to some of my friends who were getting engaged and married so quickly and Grandma comes along with her sensible fact that her friends are beginning to kick the bucket. Like parents and good friends, sometimes grandparents are there to put you back in your place.  From personal experience, I believe I need a lot of that in my life sometimes. 

But that isn’t the only reason why grandparents rock.  Of course you have the love and caring that many of us are well familiar with.  This particular grandma as mentioned above, is one of the most loving people I know, she has practically adopted a few of my friends as her own grandchildren. Every time she comes to visit she brings along a bag full of treats for me to share with her adopted grandchildren.

 A group of us decided to go down to St. George to visit Zions National Park and a hang out in the beautiful community down south.  My Grandma and my grandpa showed great amounts of hospitality to my friends which was further enforced by a mountain high pile of chocolate chip cookies lying on the counter one night after a long day of fun.  Before we arrived back home from this very fun trip, there was the whole towel incident, where my grandma almost became offended because some of my friends brought their own bath towels so that my grandma wouldn’t have to do as much laundry, when she had plenty for everyone to use.

On my dad’s other side there is my papa Ed. He is pretty awesome.  I remember when he came down for my high school graduation a couple weeks early, he offered to “pop” one of my school counselors for making my missing graduation requirement difficult for me to take care of.  I know he was kidding, but at the time, I really appreciated the thought/comment.  Every now and then he calls to check up on me too; each time it means a lot to know he is all the way in Oklahoma and is still thinking about my brothers and I. 

Now my mom’s and my step dad’s side is a little bit of a different story.  Yes, they are still loving and caring, but in a slightly different way.  My Abuelita Ysmari from Mexico always brings me little pieces of gold jewelry that I get to keep forever.   I remember back when I was able to have a “quinceanera” for my fifteenth birthday.  As a gift my grandma brought me a gold chain bracelet that had “ash” and the number “15” engraved on it.  I’m pretty sure I didn’t take that chain off for at least a year and a half.  Little things like that and an occasional phone call where I get to practice my Spanish (and she tells me another story about a superstition she has), reminds me of her love although I don’t get to see her often.

Now on my step dad’s side, my grandma Carol and grandad Tony, they are good people.  Grandma Carol gives me wise advice on how to marry rich, and what is going to create security in my future.  She still encourages me to date rich and men in the medical field.  I can tell she is looking after me.  Both she and Tony have also been known to help tip me off on how to convince my step dad of certain privileges.  The last time and probably the luckiest time I’ve taken their advice, was when I was about sixteen and I got to go stay with them in Hawaii.  There in Hawaii they made amazing meals for me and one of my friends Emi, and took us to see some pretty cool stuff.  Since my mom married their son, they have been so good at making me feel like part of their family. It’s great. 

I could argue I have the best family ever, but I have to remind myself that I am certainly at an unfair advantage to have almost double the grandparents.  It pretty much rocks; I’m not going to lie.  I continue to get life advice and special privileges that I don’t often get at home as much with my parents.   Don’t get me wrong, my parents are pretty awesome people too, and are some of my heroes, but there is nothing like grandparents…. Nothing!

Love Story

I was sitting in Relief society listening to a lesson we were having on Family genealogy when I heard someone make a comment on how it’s not only the research on names you do it is also learning about the lives of your ancestors.  This comment made me reflect on why I wanted to pursue a degree in History.  Sure you study the dates of important events and what caused them and how those events lead to others later, but in the long run, it is just one enormously long story.  The story part is what I find the most intriguing.  Being able to find these links of relatable events that connect you to the past through stories being told, recorded, and passed on.  Stories are what gain my attention to family history.  I’ll tell you one of my favorites.

I was sitting in the car one day with my dad, and we began to talk about relationships which led to stories of how people got together. Like my grandmother meeting my grandpa Wayne who she later converted into the LDS church, or how my dad met my mom on his mission to Guadalajara MX, and then how he met my former step mom Wendy through his divorce lawyer (not a good plan, by the way).  As he continued he began to tell me that most love stories don’t happen like they do in movies, but occasionally you will get a remarkable one like the one with my great grandparents from the Freeze side of the family.  Given my dad and I had this conversation a long time ago, so I hope I remember the right details.

My great grandpa had a rough childhood.  His mother after finding out she was pregnant out of wedlock, ran away from somewhere in Virginia all the way to Oklahoma.  The father was told to be a man by the name of Tom Freeze.  Sometime later she married another man who wasn’t too fond of my great grandpa.  After being abused and mistreated my great grandpa decided to run away.  Being homeless he was taken refuge by another older man who practically lived in a shed outside a very wealthy man’s farm.  My great grandpa eventually found work with this very wealthy man, who had gained this large amount of land during one of the Homestead Acts around the 1860s.  Through working for this wealthy man he happened his daughter on occasion and in time they fell in love.  With the obvious dilemma of my great grandpa being a very poor runaway, with no land, or means of any wealth, he decided to work extra hard to gain the approval of his love’s father.  Within time and through his hard work he did gain approval and was able to marry the rich man’s daughter (my great grandma).  He was given a portion of land and he and his wife became farmers and from what I know, lived a happy life. 

I know I didn’t give the story too much flattery and justice; I rather just summed it up short, simple and to the point.  It reminds me of the bible story of Jacob and Rachel, just without the part with Leah.  I like to think of how cool it would be to have a story like that, however it’s really not that possible since I am neither from a wealthy family by any means or have never been abused or a runaway.  But I guess the idea is cool, at least to a lot of my female peers. 

My point is, family history is great, and it comes along with a lot of great stories that you may or may not relate to.  Either way there is almost always something to learn.  My new goal for the upcoming year= family history research. 

Vanilla Coke

There is a general routine when I go to my Grandparent’s house in St. George.  We arrive, talk a bunch, go to bed, sleep extremely well, and then wake up.  After we wake up, Grandma is usually making or setting stuff out for breakfast and waiting for everyone else to get up and around.  While most of the guests go straight for the food, you may happen to notice a taller lanky man with thin white/grey hair going in every direction, heading for the garage.  When Grandpa returns from the garage, you can hear a pop and a light sigh sound that my Grandma calls on cue every time to let us all know that Grandpa is now up.  He’s got his Diet Coke. 

 Everyone in my family it seems has their drink.  My dad and brothers = Dr. Pepper, my Mom= Pepsi or Pepsi Max, Dani (s.sis) = water, water and Arizona Tea, roommate= probably milk, Grandpa = Diet Coke, and the list can go on.  I never thought I had a particular drink, but obviously guessing from the Title, I technically do.  I first noticed this when one day my Mom called and asked if I wanted a drink from the gas station on her way home, when I said yes she hung up and didn’t give me a chance to tell her what I wanted.  When she came home though, she had exactly what I wanted, a vanilla coke. 

So I guess I have a drink.  I find it interesting sometimes how a lot of us have a particular drink we need on a varying daily basis, instead of switching up the various choices between beverages.  I’ve concluded that it certainly it is a matter of preference and practicality.  Why would you spend money on something you may or may not like?  Why would you go outside of your comfort zone to get an Orange Fanta when you’re craving your daily or routinely Dr. Pepper? 

In a twisted way, we do this in life all the time.  Same things see the same routine, what is wrong with mixing it up a little.  I think today I’ll walk a different way to class, well I will actually walk.  Maybe instead of doing my homework on my floor at home, well I will for one actually do my homework but maybe this time in the library.  At work instead of nailing kids for being loud and running around I will encouraged it, even though that is aimed for disaster. In my leisure time instead of napping, reading, or checking facebook, I will go for a walk and stop and talk to a friend or stranger.  And when it comes time for me to make a pit stop at a gas station or open my fridge for a beverage, instead of my usual Vanilla Coke, I’ll take an Arizona Mucho Mango (my second favorite), nothing drastic. 

Appropriate times for Christmas Music

Inspired by Eric, thank you for the idea, this really hits home. 

So, for part of my work I get to go shopping.  Sounds great, huh ladies?  Well only sometimes.  I get this tax exemption credit card from USU and for some reason it is the most complicated transaction ever, beside the point.   I walked into Wal-Mart November 1st, just as I got my new budget for the month.  Here I am checking out the granola bars, contemplating whether the kids at work are sick and freaking tired of me buying granola bars all the time, and as I am having this mental battle in my head I begin to hear a faint melody going something like "oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful...." then I start to hum "but since we've no place to go, let it.....NO!" I stopped myself just as I felt that shock of the Christmas music rush.  Now tell me Wal-Mart, was playing Christmas music there in your store in Layton really necessary?

In all honesty I think it’s pushing it playing Christmas music on the radio the day after Thanksgiving.  Which brings up another question: Is it really that fair to Thanksgiving if there is Christmas music playing before the Thanksgiving holiday even arrives?  Where is the justice in that? They already start selling Christmas decorations before Halloween arrives, what more do people want?  Music?  I love Christmas, even Christmas music.  Sometimes in the middle of July to get my younger brothers or mother’s attention I’ll sing Christmas songs out of the blue.  However, as far as the public is concerned, we should take into consideration that the Christmas holiday celebration has a time and a place, DECEMBER.  Of course, I may not have too much room to talk; I confess that after I heard the music I went and bought hot chocolate and candy canes, and then my mom and I bought a Christmas tree for my apartment the day after. 

Kiera's version of Harry Potter

Late nights watching Harry Potter documentaries, and trying to figure out what patronous you would transfigure into can lead to a lot of 2am conversations and mischief.  Due to misunderstandings of what each other was saying I came up with my roomate's version/vision of Harry Potter which may or may not make any logical sense.  Then again is Harry Potter logical?
- Professor Mcgonagal rocks, and is somehow related to Sirius Black
- Beltrix Lestrange also rocks, is Tim Burton's wife, and is also somehow related to Sirius Black.
- Kiera is from the house of Griffendor, her patronous would most likely be (according to two different quizes) somewher along the lines of a stallion or eagle (lucky).  She would also be an expert in charms. 
- Ash(myself) is from the house of Ravenclaw, although Kiera argues I may be from Slytherin, and my patronous caused me an identity crisis since (according to 3 or so quizes) my patronous went from a spider, otter, frog, and a prairie wolf... no further comment on patronous'.  My best class according to Kiera would be Defense against the dark arts, or rather dark arts. 
-Ron looks like a funny old man when he gets old
- and that's all I can remember... see facebook if I remember more. 

Here it is cont....

Oh yeah, and I think I'll just post random adventures and things that amuse me.... just because.

Here it is.

Here is an attempt to do what a journal is supposed to do, except different.  Having no reason or desire to write every personal detail about myself, intricate keys to my mind, or personal life changing events leading me to a different life course, online, I’ll just approve of writing just under that.  Considering I’ve never done a “blog” by free will before (and quite frankly don’t know what to write)I may just post comments on my popular or less popular interests, my ideologies on life in general, my frequent observations of people, and some life events or emotions linked to them, etc.   Either way, whatever I write, its purpose is to remind myself a bit of who I am. I don’t expect anyone to read, although that is a given allowance, but keep in mind, an audience is not the intent. 

Intent: Personal reminders of Ash, avoidance of boredom, sleeping in class and Facebook, and an attempt for an alternative journal