Pieces Of Ashley

It's New Year's Eve everyone! This year is one to remember and one some can't wait to leave behind. So many things have happened this year and it's a lot to take in. A lot of people have lost their lives young and old. So much sadness all in such a short period of time. Losing someone is never easy, it doesn't matter what time of the year. But for the holidays it can be especially hard. Not having someone who you love and care about in your life anymore, because they passed is so hard. The holidays are supposed to be a joyful time, but how can it be when there are people missing. I know in a lot of posts I write about how life is too short and it shouldn't be taken for granted. To be honest I will continue to say this, because it's true. The people in your lives are gems and should be cherished.    Now I'm not one to give "advice", but I like to call it sharing words of wisdom with you. With that being said, you should surround yourself...

I  can't believe the year is coming to a close. I've grown and learned so much this year. In my previous post I wrote how I'm not making any resolutions this for the next year, but that doesn't mean I can't have goals. I'm grateful for the lessons and experiences I've learned this year. When you turn a certain age, you have a new outlook on life and the things you want to accomplish. Most importantly how you want to live your life.  Get a new blog design Be more organized and scheduling tweets and posts Blog consistently throughout the year Stop procrastinating  Appreciate How far I've come with blogging.  Stepping up my picture game  Have fun blogging Collaborating with bloggers  Be consistent on social media  Meet new people  Living Life and enjoying it Living healthier  Get back to drawing/ sketching Work on the twitter page I created What are you...

Every year I hear or see people making resolutions for the New Year and there's nothing wrong with that either. I also hear people saying "New Year, New Me". Hey that's great for you. But for me I stopped making resolutions a long time ago. It's easy to say what you going to do or what your not, but to actually follow through proves to be challenging. I just want to be the best version of myself, that I can be. I want peace, love and happiness for everybody. There were so many years where I promised that I was going to complete this or change that. Nut in the end, I just ended up disappointing myself and I gave up. For me when I turned 25 my whole perspective on life changed and I guess I'm preparing myself for the New Year! I believe when you have a positive mindset, nothing can stop you. Although I don't have a resolution, I do have goals I want to accomplish. It's good having goals, whether it's: daily, weekly or monthly! I'm not going t...

This year has definitely been an eye opener for me. So many things have happened in this world and I've learned so much about myself. I'm sure we can all agree that this year had a lot of ups and downs. I know for sure we had a big surprise, most wasn't expecting. But with that being said I can't believe it's almost a new year. I'm not a philosopher but I do like to share positivity to people. During negative times, it's important to have hope and positivity. I've learned a lot this year. When I graduated from high school, I thought I knew what I wanted in life. When I turned 21 I thought I knew myself, not realizing that I was just starting my journey of self discovery. Although I don't completely have it all together, I do however know what I want to do. When I would see someone who already knew what they wanted in life, I thought something was wrong with me. Why didn't I know, but I realized that I wasn't ready or prepared. But now I a...

T he day of the holidays can be just as stressful as preparing for it. Well for some people at least. Me I'm still on a Christmas high, if that makes any sense. I know a lot of people start taking down their decorations and the Christmas tree, right after. My family and I do it one to two days before the New Year. But then there's a lot of people who don't take anything down till after. So just like Thanksgiving, you spend a lot of time preparing and then when it's all over, I'm like well that went by fast. I'm curious to know if anyone else feel the same way as I do. Anyways I had a great Christmas with my family and I hope all of you did too. Being your family is always a blessing and a special time. With the holidays going by so fast, I realized how life is so precious and shouldn't be taken for granted. But again I can't believe Christmas is over already, that was just too quick. Like I said before, you spend so much time preparing and stressful ...

  Merry Christmas everyone! If you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope your having a great day. I can't believe it's here already, but I'm excited. Every year I feel like a little kid again. But before I continue I always want to take a moment to say how thankful I am and how grateful I am. Not everyone is able to say that. I couldn't go to sleep really the night before, I was pretty excited. So on Christmas Day when 12:00am hit, wished my mom and sister a Merry Christmas! I stayed up until 4:00am. I know that's pretty late, but again I couldn't help it. So I ended up sleeping till 6:00am, I was still a little tired but I was too happy to go back to sleep. I had a nice Christmas with my mom and sister, we laughed and  watched movies. I was on instagram and facebook throughout the day. I don't know about you but I love seeing others post pictures of their Christmas trees and the food! Is that weird? Speaking of Christmas trees, there has been a mixture...

  Christmas Eve is the official countdown till Christmas! Usually it's very hectic for people during this time. You know, last minute shopping and wrapping gifts. Some people have parties. My mom hosted a Christmas party yesterday! It was good to spend time with family I don't get to see everyday. Usually Christmas Eve is just spent with my mom and sister. We like to watch movies and laugh, just having a good time. Tonight at 8:00 pm started the 24 hour marathon of "A Christmas Story"! I mentioned this movie in "My Favorite Christmas Movies" post. I also watched Elf and Home Alone, which are some of my other favorites. You know, I always wonder what other people are doing on Christmas Eve. That's the cool part about social media, seeing everyone having a good time with family! Again I can't believe it's literally almost Christmas time, I remember it was just the first of December. Participating in my first Blogmas this year was pretty cool! ...

  Can you believe Christmas is in three days, where has the time gone. During Christmas time and even hosting holiday parties do you ever play games? Do you guys do secret Santa? I mean everyone loves participating in this, right? Well if you've waited to the last minute, don't worry I have some simple gift ideas for you. These items are affordable, convenient and can be used everyday. I know a lot of people enjoy it because you can be really creative. Plus you will get to see how well you know the person, or when you open the gift you can see if they know you well too! So here's my simple gifts for your secret Santa. Also a lot of people have a set budget, so you can't go over. I know this also happens with a grab bag. I think that's great because money can be low during the holidays.    Gift Cards   Who doesn't love a gift card and the good part about this gift idea, is that there a card for almost everything. iTunes, Restaurants, Google Play, Macy...

  Not too long ago I mentioned hair products that I've been using for the winter/ colder days. I know technically winter just started, but I always associate the first of December as the start of winter I know that's weird. So I decided to share with you my hair routine. If you want to check out my old routine from a couple of years ago click here... But to be honest not a lot has changed, it's just an updated version for you! Before you keep reading, I wash my hair one to two times a week. Not all the time. Usually it just once.   Preparation: So lately I've been prepping my hair for my wash day. I either prep the night before or an hour the day of. So first I detangle my hair using the swissco detangling brush. Most of the time I detangle the night before because it's easier. This is actually one of the longest process for my hair. Because my hair is a thick coarse texture it takes a while. Before I detangle I make sure to oil my hair because I don'...

  I've been blogging for 4 years now and to be honest I wasn't really enjoying it. I guess it's my fault because I wasn't writing a lot of the things I wanted to talk about. I was putting myself in a category thinking that's where I should be and then I become stuck. It wasn't until a few months ago when I told myself that enough was enough. I know this has nothing to do with a Christmas theme or a winter theme, but it's something that I want to share. Maybe it will help a new blogger or a someone who has been blogging a while like me. Blogging consistently last month and this month helped me realize that I can do this. You know self doubt is one of the most hardest obstacles. It's like the confidence is not there and you can't find it anywhere. Doing these past couple of months I've been writing everyday and it's made me realize that I have a lot to say. My hopes for the new year as a blogger, is to enjoy it. Blogging is something that ...

    With the holidays here, I'm sure everyone is celebrating all month long. You know with holiday parties, decorating and baking! Everyone has their own way of getting into the holiday spirit. Some dress up and others wear makeup. As I have said before I am not really a lipstick person nor do I regularly use lip products. Unless it's one that I really love. A couple of years ago I talked about the Kate Moss Rimmel London Lipstick. If you want to check out my first review on this click here Rimmel London: Kate Moss Lipstick . Trying this lipstick for the second time was a much better experience for me. Although I really liked it the first time, applying it was difficult for me. If you're laughing at me I get it, it's pretty funny. I was clueless when it came to applying lipstick. Compared to the first time this color does not intimidate me as much. It's still bold but it's more subtle than I thought it was. This lipstick is very pigmented and it applies...

  When you're a kid you can't wait for Christmas time, because of the presents! You're excited about helping mom or dad make cookies with a glass of milk for Santa Claus. There are so many exciting things about the holidays! But when you get older, it becomes more than that. Well at least for me it is. I think Christmas becomes more important as everyone gets older, because we understand the meaning of it. Like spending time with love ones and laughing at old times and most importantly creating new memories. Whenever the holiday season comes along, it brings me back to when I was a kid. All of the Christmas movies and the Christmas traditions I've experienced as a child are so important to me. This year I have really gotten into the holiday spirit, especially with blogging. This is my first year doing blogmas and it wasn't to bad. Hopefully next year it will be better, but with Christmas right around the corner I haven't had the motivation. But overall I am...

  There has been so much negativity in this world and it has increased in just the past month. But with the holidays coming it makes this so much worse. I know I won't ever get a clear answer on why, this is happening but I just had to ask. This world is filled with so much toxic because of all this hate and people being petty, when there is so much going on already. People are dying in this world everyday, the last thing on someone's mind shouldn't be how someone looks or about the clothes they wear. Life is too short, I didn't understand this saying when I was younger but I do now. All I want for the holidays is for everyone to have peace, love and happiness. I know it probably won't happen, but it's nice to have hope. You would think that during the holidays people will grow up and stop acting immature. Clearly immaturity happens at any age. Same problems different day, I guess.   Christmas is getting closer, it's only a week away and I can't...

  Today I turned 25 years old! That's a quarter of a century, wow. This is one of the most important milestones I will ever face. I can't tell you guys how grateful and blessed I feel. A lot of people don't get this chance, so I'm not taking this for granted at all. I've learned so many things and it has made me a better person and more wiser! This isn't really a post, although it is because of the platform. But this is me talking to all of you. If I have grammar errors, I'm leaving it as is. I may realize it's there or not. The point I'm trying to get across, is that people make mistakes that's life. What's important is that we learn from them and move on. Basically not repeating and making the same mistakes. As I got older I stopped caring, not about grammar mistakes but what someone thinks about me. There are times where I find myself self conscious about certain things, but that's because I'm my own worst critic. As far as ot...

  A s soon as December gets here, I start playing my favorite Christmas songs! I listen to most of them everyday, whether I'm doing my hair, in the car, on a cold day with the candle lit. That sounded a little weird, but I'm sure you get the point. Of course this year the Christmas songs started on the last day of November, that's when we decorated the tree. Any way I'm sharing with you all my favorite songs to listen to during the holidays. These songs may sound familiar to you, if not I definitely recommend checking them out! I will have the videos to the songs down below.  All I Want For Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey Let It Snow -  Boyz II Men   This Christmas - Original (Donny Hathaway) Remake (Chris Brown)   Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee   Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer - Gene Autry   Give Love On Christmas Day- Original (The Jackson 5) Remake (The Temptations & New Edition)   Santa Clau...

Not to long ago I talked about my favorite Christmas movies! If you want to check that post out click here My Favorite Christmas Movies!  Believe it or not I was just getting started. I'm a sucker when it comes to Holiday movies and TV specials. I can watch them over and over again. These movies never get old with me and it definitely gets me into the holiday spirit! Some of these movies can be found on Netflix, so I will let you know which ones.    Christmas TV Specials!   Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer I know what you're thinking, but please don't judge me! This 2000 cartoon special has become a favorite of mine, since I was a kid. Again please don't judge. Basically, the grandma got run over by Santa's sleigh/ Reindeer. Because she disappeared out of the blue and everyone thought she was gone, cousin Mel took advantage of the situation. She wanted to sell the grandma's store by sabotaging her popular fruit cake, hoping no one would come to t...

  I can't believe it's almost time for Christmas. There's only twelve days left, time is going by too fast. Anyway, I'm the biggest kid when it comes to Christmas! I love pretty much everything about it, except for the shopping part. That's my least favorite it's always crowded and everyone goes into fighting mode. But this isn't about the things I don't like, it's about what I do like.    Christmas Movies: I love watching Holiday movies, whether I'm alone or with my family. It's like I turn into a kid and that's what I enjoy! If you're curious to know what my favorite movies are, check it out here: My Favorite Christmas Movies!   Holiday Baking/Food: I love the smell of Christmas cookies and the best part is the decorating. Although I do like eating Christmas cookies and it is a tradition, there's a lot more desserts to take advantage of this season. Like brownies, white chocolate blondies, chocolate cake and I...

  During the month of December I always enjoy, watching Vloggers participate in vlogmas. If you're not sure what that is, I'll explain. It's when YouTubers upload videos daily for the month of December. Well this year it's been brought to my attention that there's a blogmas for bloggers. I never knew that, but I'm glad I do now. I love reading how others are preparing for the holidays and learning about the things they enjoy doing around this time! So I'm going share my favorite posts from "Blogmas" so far.    Victoria at Retro Snow Flakes! Not your traditional Christmas Dinner   Kayleigh at Very Berry Cosmo! Obsessive ''C' Disorder   Hannah at Floraful!  Spiked Peppermint Hot Cocoa   Alice-Tilly at Alice Tilly! Ultimate Christmas Playlist   Mia at Mia Southertonx!  Christmas Party Look 1   Holly at Holzie Loves! Christmas Nails And A Thank You   Skylar at Candidly Darling!  Festiv...

Some of my favorite gifts are the ones that come from the Christmas Stockings! It's like little surprises and most of them are ones that I find to be a necessity in life. Well maybe that's just me. I know that for me, I love buying stocking stuffers for people during Christmas time. I put a lot of thought in the items that I buy. Basically my process is getting things that can be very useful for everyday life.  These items are very lightweight and can easily fit inside your purse or bag when you go out. With the holidays here everyone is scattering in the malls/stores for Christmas gifts. No one has the time or money to think about presents for the stockings.  It's also getting very cold outside and winter is right around the corner. So it makes perfect sense for me  to share with you, my favorite stocking stuffers to buy for the winter all under $8! This way you giving the ones you love things they need and you're staying within your budget.  Gloves ...