February and March Visitors

Doesn't this new design feel like Spring? I love it. 

I have told my husband that I couldn't get up from the couch until I finish this blog post so I figure I'd better stick to it. I have had "Blog" on my to-do list for longer than I would like to admit.

 I have four lovely visitors to report on from February and March and then maybe by May I will catch you up to everything since then.

Dave and Teresa came for a long weekend the week of Valentines Day. I have said and I will say for the rest of my life that I have 4 of the greatest people I know as my parents. They are all so fun!
Anyways, having Dave and Teresa around is always delightful and entertaining.

We picked them up Wednesday afternoon and I cooked a home so we could watch the premier of (Matt Elrod's) Survivor together. On Thursday, we ate at Snooze (surprise, surprise) during Ryan's break for class. My friend Lindsay was able to come and join us so she could meet two of the people I talk about all the time.

This is the wonderful Lindsay if you were wondering.

During the weekend, Ryan got some skiing in while the parents and I walked around Vail. David was really just wanting to find himself somewhere to read his book.

I know this picture is sideways. The formatting gods hate me and I tried to fix it several times and then got over it. It is a funny picture anyways so it makes sense for it to be sideways.

Teresa and I got to run around to some stores on Saturday that she actually found  on a previous trip and introduced me to. They were so cute and fun and I actually took Caroline to them a couple weeks later (see below). It was a beautiful sunny day and we really enjoyed getting out and walking around.

It was so fun and comforting to have our wonderful Simmons parents in Denver spending time in our everyday space. It was a very blessed visit!

 

Now for Caroline and Baker...
This was such a beautiful fluke that this trip even happened so it was that much more special to pick these two up at the airport.
The 3 of us drove straight to Ryan's school to pick him up for lunch at Cherry Cricket. It had been rumored to have the best burger in town and I can see why. It was very delicious and we finally got to eat there after 2 or 3 failed attempts. After Cherry Cricket we headed straight over to Bonnie Brae. Hello, Mocha Oreo, you might be my new favorite. Yum. In my eyes, Bonnie Brae ice cream can do no wrong. It is so stinking good. Ryan got the Orange Creamsicle kind the other day and I was skeptical until I tried it...incredible. Ok, enough of my ice cream talk...for now.

This is one of the best ones we got of the boys. Not quite cooperative.

This cobbler brought us much joy.

Myself and my lovely assistant Caroline cooked a meal of Mexican Chicken, grilled asparagus, caramelized butternut squash, and mac-n-cheese (via Carol's request). Oh, and if you haven't heard, we topped it off with a blackberry cobbler. Yum. I love having a lot of color on my plate so I tend to take pictures of colorful meals. This wasn't one of my healther meals, but I did love how it looked on my plate.


Friday morning we headed out to Vail with Cinnamon Streusel muffins in hand (also so delicious). The boys were ready to ski and Caroline and I were ready to be our own version of "ski bunnies". When we got through the traffic to Vail, the boys set out to ski and Caroline and I wandered around for a little bit, grabbed a snack and then found a giant fireplace and couches in a lobby. We lounged on the couch by the fire and people watched and talked about life and the book Bittersweet by Shauna Niequist and almost fell asleep several times. It was pretty wonderful, I must say!
Then tragedy struck...

I got a text from Ryan saying that we needed to go get Baker's shoes from the car and meet them at the Emergency Center. Baker had "hurt" his ankle was all I knew at that point, but it ended up being a little more than just hurt. Once we got to the Emergency Center and got the word, we were under the impression that it was a broken fibula (tibia and fibula - words we had trouble with...).  We took Baker home in a boot, but after lots of icing, his ankle still looked like this...eek.
This picture acutally does it very little justice.
He was a champ about everything though. He kept his head up and tried to stay positive about it all. I can't imagine it would be easy to be out of town when something like that happens, especially when your hosts happen to live on the 3rd floor of an handicap unfriendly building.
We made the best of it starting with a delicious and fun dinner at the Arapahoe Cafe before heading back to Denver.
On Saturday, Caroline and I set out to work out in the workout room of our complex. Working out is exponentially more fun with Caroline (really everything is) and I wish I had her with me all the time to make me work out! All of his working out was just a segeway to our trip to Chick-fil-a for lunch and a banana milkshake. Unbelievable. I have made a U-turn to go back for one already since then. It's that good. We visited the outlets briefly then took the boys home. Carol and I were able to sneak out while the boys were watching sports to visit some of the same fun boutiques. I feel like I could walk in these fun stores everyday and see new things! They are so fun. We also got to share our first Sweet Action experience. I have walked by it several times when it wasn't opened so it was very fun to finally get to try it. They had so many interesting ice cream flavors like biscuits and jam for example. They had like 6 different oreo mix flavors, but we settled on cinnamon oreo and it was pretty amazing.  
And what is a Denver visit without going to Snooze?!

This is actually us checking each others teeth for the following picture.

We had so much fun with our February and March visitors. We feel so blessed to have so many visitors since we have been here. Thank you for bearing with my long post!

Falling is not an option

Two weekends ago, we had some wonderful friends come to Denver to visit and ski. John Williams, Loren Sanders, Sarah Adams, and Martha Johnson flew in on Thursday night and we left early Friday morning for the mountains. We spent Friday skiing in Breckenridge.



Take note of me in the green and the person on the ground in front of me...I was scraping about an inch of ice off Sarah's ski boots while she laid in the snow on her back. Bonding moment.

 This was John's first skiing adventure, and that it was. He had a couple of minor set-backs like skiing into the trees and losing a ski while getting on the lift (don't worry, a girl brought it up for him). At one point, after trying to convince him that his ski poles were not to be used as brakes, I took them from him and told him that "falling is not an option". I think that actually really helped. By the end of the day, he had picked it up very nicely and I was glad to say I was his teacher.

The next day we went to Keystone and spent several hours skiing. Our weather couldn't have been better both days. It was sunny and the perfect temperature. 

Love these Fern Birds.

View at Keystone

The Whole Group

At the end of the day on Saturday, we were told they were going to shoot fireworks off at the top of the mountain. Naturally, we were excited and stayed up there until 6:00 to see them. It turned out to be more like a backyard firework show, but hey, how often do you get to watch fireworks on top of a snowy mountain? I was happy with it.

When we got back to our condo, John convinced us that there was a game that we would love. Little did we know, we would be in pain from laughter soon after. This game is called Irish Uno.  It is like regular Uno except there is a new rule each game. For instance, our first game rule was that you could not say any numbers when certain cards were laid or you would have to draw a card.
These ridiculous rules kept building such as, you can only speak in a British accent while the color is blue, you cannot say "I" after a 7 is played until another 7 is played, and you have to stick your tongue out while the color is yellow, etc. The rules went on for several rounds and caused lots of card drawing. I was literally in pain from laughing so hard. It was such a fun night.

Isn't this crazy cute?

On Sunday, we woke up and drove back to Denver and got back in time to eat lunch at Snooze. I've talked about it in a previous blog post, and I still say it is our favorite breakfast spot in Denver. Martha and I split a breakfast burrito and three pancakes of her choice which were sweet potato, Elvis pancake (pb and banana), and a sugar cookie pancake. Needless to say, they were all delicious. 

After lunch and a little resting at the apartment, we went downtown and walked around the flagship REI and the 16th street mall. We ate at Noodles and Co. for dinner (which is rumored to be coming to Nashville soon). Very delicious.

After dinner we got ice cream at Bonnie Brae. Here is Martha with who we can only assume is THE Bonnie Brae.

I will spare Martha the story about a mispronunciation during catch phrase (but if you really want to hear the story let me know, it's classic Martha - love her). 

Thank you for such a fun weekend!

Next up on the visiting list - The Captain and Mother Teresa arriving on Wednesday!

Catch-Up

And we're back...
I am way behind on blogging, so I am going to go through a brief catch-up.


Back in November, we had a delightful visit with our dear little Angi Mason. Ang is one of our dearest friends, so as you can imagine, I was beside myself waiting for her to get here. It was such a perfect trip of relaxation, sight-seeing, and quality time. On sunday, we took Angi up to the Rocky Mountain National Park. We saw several elk and then we saw this....

A WOLF! If you have had this conversation with Ang, which I'm sure you have if you know her at all, you already know this. If not, I will tell you that we were driving and having a conversation about Ang thinking she saw a wolf last year in CO and no one believing her, and then we saw this guy. He was just walking along on this hill. I think there is a chance than Ang is a wolf whisperer.

 


Ang, we are ready to have you back just as soon as you want to come! You were such a fun visitor!


Ryan and I had such a great time being home for the holidays and seeing all of our lovely friends and family. We got to stay for a while for both Thanksgiving and Christmas and it was so much fun. It seems to always be jam-packed with events when we are home, but the time was full of our favorite people.  This was my first white Christmas ever and I couldn't have loved it more!

I am still subbing in Cherry Creek and loving it. It has its' difficult days, but I enjoy seeing so many different classrooms and I am constantly impressed with the district. It has been a wonderful learning experience. I started a 2-week long sub position today in 2nd grade for a teacher who is had surgery today. The class is precious and the classroom teacher has gone above and beyond to make my time there easy and organized. She is wonderful. I have a feeling we are going to end up being friends.


Things I am excited about:
A ski trip with friends this weekend (I am about to head to the airport to pick them up right now!)
My 2-week sub position in 2nd Grade for a teacher who is recovering from knee surgery
A visit from Dave and Teresa in February
Planning a visit for Bill and Jill
Watching Kristin Thomas become Kristin Meeks on April 23, 2011*


*Now, I have to give a little background for this last little statement. Kristin and I have been best friends since 7th grade. We mostly consider each other sisters, maybe because we fought like we were sisters in middle school, but it also has a lot to do with the fact that we have seen each other through a lot of life. We have had a beautiful journey together learning about life and love. I can honestly say Kristin knows me better than most people because of how many life phases we have made it through together.
The man she is marrying, Wes Meeks, is above and beyond the man I knew to ask God to bring her. I need to stop now because I am getting teary here. They have such a beautiful love story and I am so blessed and honored to be a part of their day.


This is one of my favorites of their engagement pictures. They look pretty awesome.

Courtesy of the lovely and talented Betsy Limbaugh.


Coming soon, a post about a seriously fun ski trip with friends...
Just giving you something to look forward to.

Here Goes Nothing...

Well, this is a moment I have been anticipating/dreading...

I love to paint and I have done a decent amount for friends and family, but I have yet to really put myself out there and see if anyone wants to buy it.  

In my last post, I showed some of my most recent paintings and shared that I wanted to open an Etsy Shop. Here is one of my all-time favorites again: 

I would love to sell my paintings and hopefully some other items as time goes on.  I went ahead and opened a shop and collected pictures from people I have painted for and added the pictures I showed you. I realize there is still a lot of work to be done here, but here is my brand new etsy shop: 

AshleighSimmonsArt

Obviously you can use the link above to get there, but if you needed to find me on etsy.com you can use the tab on the left side of the search bar and scroll down to sellers and type in Ashleigh Simmons Art. 

Many of the pieces I have posted are paintings that I have already made for friends or family, but they are custom, so anyone can buy one and change the name, colors, or size. 

Nashville Friends, if you are interested in buying something, please let me know and I can try to whip something up and bring it in a suitcase either at Thanksgiving or Christmas and save you the shipping. You can thank Southwest for letting bags fly free. 

I am working on some Christmas ornaments that may or may not make an etsy shop/blog appearance. I wanted to feature them here, but they are taking longer than I expected to dry and be presentable. I will keep you posted on that. 

Some other updates: 

-Ryan and I went to the Lady Antebellum concert last Wednesday night and they were incredible, as expected. 

-David Simmons, my current hero, has secured tickets for all 8 of us to go and sit together at a Garth Brooks concert on December 21st. Don't ask me how he did it. I have no idea. Magic maybe? Probably the magic from it being his birthday weekend. 

-Angi Mason arrives for a Denver visit on Thursday night! I am absolutely giddy about having her here! 


More Later! 

Just In Case You Were Wondering....

I have promised a couple of people (for you Whitta) that I would post pictures of our apartment up as well as some of the paintings and decorating projects I have taken on. Since the job search lasted a little longer than I would have ever thought or preferred, I have spent time finding inexpensive (or free) ways to decorate our apartment. Ryan so graciously let me keep my craft supplies somewhere accessible (he wanted them in the storage closet...but we compromised). Now they are in these cute and nice-looking canvas drawers in our living room...tucked away where only I know what is in them. There is still a lot of decorating I would like to do in our apartment, but I think we have gotten a good start and we can add items as we find lasting pieces that we will want to use in our home someday.

The leaves on the mantle are fabric sewn onto a piece of twine to make a fall leaf garland. It was something I saw in a magazine a long time ago and vowed to do it one day in my own home.

I bought the giant S to use for our wedding and there didn't end up really being anything to use it for and we gave ourselves enough projects as it was. There was nothing over the tv so the decorated S did well to fill the space. The frame came later. It was a mismatched frame at Joann's that someone must have designed and then it wasn't right for them. It was the perfect size for what we needed so I sloppily painted it black (to get a more worn look). It has become one of my favorite pieces in our apartment.

The painting above the door was a last minute fall decoration that I ended up being more pleased with than I expected so that's always nice. I'd love to end up selling it in my future etsy shop, although I realize it will be out of season soon.

Our back porch has kind of become a haven for me here. It is always cool on the porch and the view of the Rockies is something I will always enjoy and thank God for (and my husband for picking the 3rd floor). This is our porch and some of the views from our porch. I think you will see why I love it so much. 

Here is our kitchen and the area around it. It looks very cluttered in pictures, mostly because of the million pictures on the fridge, but its not nearly that bad in real life. Up on top of our cabinets I have all of my beautiful wedding dishes/bowls etc. displayed 1. because we don't have anywhere else to put them 2. they are so pretty so they make for a nice filler to that space. 

 

This is the "Simmons" painting I made for our kitchen. I don't do a lot of red, but it goes well with a lot of our dishes and kitchen colors. I love the way the painting brings everything together. Sorry I can't take pictures that are not crooked. I am working on it.






This is our dining room area (really it is all just one big room but it is hard to show that in a picture) that is right by the door to the porch

 

It is hard to take pictures of our bedroom from any good angle but I will give you my best.  I am still deciding on what I want on the walls in here so it is still a work in progress.

I would show you our bathroom, but lets be honest, unless I had it decorated in a really spectacular way, you don't care about seeing it. What I will show you is a glimpse at what my studying husband typically looks like. Isn't he adorable? 

Now, onto some other paintings I have been working on.....These are some I would like to put in my etsy shop (in the works, i'll add the link here when it is actually presentable) if I can ever sit down and figure out how to format the pictures correctly. That is my current stumbling block, but I will overcome it. Until then, let me know if you would be interested in either the Thanksgiving or Christmas painting for yourself or a friend or family member. I might even give you a discount if I am feeling generous...

This Thanksgiving painting is still very much a work in progress. It was an idea I had in my head and tried it out here for my mom. Many touch ups and a couple more coats here and there and I will be done with it, but I wanted to show what I had so far. Jilly can't wait to put it up at the house this year.    

Below is a Christmas painting I did for us to use in our apartment. This idea started as a gift for (Mother) Teresa about 2 years ago. She is very creative with her Christmas colors, so this idea of the colored lights works perfectly with her color schemes. I have done a handful for others since then to give as gifts or for their own homes. I really enjoy this one and can't wait to put it up in our apartment as soon as we get back from Thanksgiving! 

After all that, I couldn't forget to give you a small glimpse into our lovely but all to short "fall break" in Destin. We flew in Thursday morning and met our Simmons family at the beach for some relaxation, wonderful company, and delicious food. This is one of the few pictures we took of the weekend at the restaurant that is very near and dear to our hearts (where Ryan and I had our very first date), Dewey Destin.