Monthly Archives: November 2012

Old blog habits die hard (just an other way of saying I’m a lazy bum)

by Ashley Posted on November 19, 2012

First of all: thank you so much for all the good bookreferences! And second: sorry for being such a lousy blogger. See, when I started this thing again, I promised myself that I would never let this blog become a burden, also known as that annonying little voice in the back of my mind, reminding me I should update. That’s why I decided to break maybe the two most important rules in blogland: to not update daily or use this thing like some sort of diary. The not updating daily thing worked out (he-he, Annemerel, I hear you nodding your head in disapproval, probably along with the rest of blogland), but that annoying little bugger… well, it’s there, let me tell you! Only it’s not so little anymore. In my head it sort of sounds like Gandalf screaming to the dragon, “YOU! MUST! UPDATE!” (and OH MY GOD they made it into a song, there are people even more crazy than I am). Anyway, not fun! But it’s my own fault. I sort of turned this into a little diary after all.

SO, here it finally is. An update. A crazy “this is what I’ve done in this two week absence of mine and therefore doesn’t make any sense”-post. Which is mostly a way of stopping that annoying voice in my head. And ok, maybe also a little bit of fun.

For the first time ~ever~ I held a dinner party (well, sort of). Doing grocery shopping, setting the table and spending hours in the kitchen; I felt so grown up! It was fun though. I can’t speak for my guests, but I think we had a very nice evening (I wanted to say lovely, but I was able to refrain myself). The little notebook you see next to it feels pretty accurate right now. What am I doing anyway?! I got it from Annemerel on one of our regular coffeedates! :-)


I wear a lot of black lately (even my work-uniform is black), not because I’m feeling sad, but because it is SO easy. The other picture, well, you know who that is of course!

I paid a visit to my hometown, lovely as ever.

When visiting my hometown we enjoyed the good weather and went for a walk along the sea. We ended the day with a cup of hot chocolate to warm our hands.

& this saturday I photographed these two cuties!

What else? Well, I work about 3-4 days a week now, so that takes up a lot of my time (I’m working on a post about how I would talk back to rude costumers (hypothetically speaking of course) and I’m secretly loving it ;-)). I try to read a lot (right now I’m reading M. Albright’s autobiography, I can really recommend it!), I saw The Perks of Being a Wallflower and LOVED IT, I listen to this song WAY too often, I had a dinner-date with the blog ladies (and I even though I was probably very bad dinner-company because I was so tired, I really had fun), I reconnected with some old friends (real friends are treasures) and I went to the graduation ceremony of my boyfriend. Oh, and tonight we have a date-night and I will finally have the chance to see Skyfall, yay!

Have a great week everyone! :)

Posted in daily musings | 13 Comments

Please Book Lovers United, don’t be mad at me for putting them on the ground

by Ashley Posted on November 8, 2012
(A not so random selection from our bookshelf. Yes, I was totally judging these books by it’s covers – all for a pretty picture, right?)

A long long time ago, I used to read A LOT. And when I say A LOT, I really do mean a lot. It was my way of escaping from my boring everyday highschool life and creating my own exciting world. Curling up with a Harry Potter book and imagining I was right there, going to Hogwarts with Harry and Ron (most of the time I ignored Hermoine and replaced her with myself); I LOVED it. I guess we’ve all been there, right? No? (Am I crazy?)

But then I grew up and university started and life happened and suddenly I did not read as much as I was used to do. Sure, I plowed through all the boring university stuff and read a lot of interesting non-fiction, but just losing myself in a book only happened on very rare occasions. The last REAL book I read (a few weeks ago) was Norwegian Wood, which was so good and really made me realise how much I had missed it. (Reading, I mean. Not that particular Beatles song.)

Now that I have more time on my hands, one of my “sabbatical-year resolutions” is trying to read more. So, I went to the bookstore. Which almost backfired, because somehow I ended up with a few non-fiction books again (I’m a sucker for international affairs!). Luckily I did manage to buy something that will help me with my resolution as well. I just have one problem: I read really fast. Currently The Casual Vacancy by queen J.K. Rowling is laying on my bedside table, but I need to replace it soon. And because somehow I don’t think that just following Oprah’s list is the best way to go, I really wanted to ask you guys for some book-titles. So, let me know! What is your favorite book and why?

One of my absolute favorites is A Single Man. I loved the film (by Tom Ford) and when I read the book I was amazed at how an at first sight simple and short story can turn out to be such a beautiful and meaningful read. I definitely recommend it!

(Now, before you all go and suggest I’d try reading Fifty Shades of Grey: after reading this tumblr I think it will be absolutely impossible for me to read that book without snickering at every paragraph. To each it’s own of course, but it’s just not for me. I would love some other suggestions though! Please leave them in the comments!)

Posted in books, daily musings | 33 Comments

a lot of 90′s hair, desperate women & cute british men: a list of cheesy movies

by Ashley Posted on November 2, 2012

Being outside in autumn weather is only fun when there actually is a clear-blue sky and when everything is being kissed by that particular autumn sunlight (I sounded a bit cliché there, but hey, you now probably know exactly what I meant, right?). Unfortunately we can’t always be that lucky. Yesterday I went outside for five minutes and it was raining so hard, I gave up and decided to go back in. Blegh, rain, me no gusta! When it’s raining and cold and windy, all I want to do is curl up on the couch, light some candles, drink some tea (or maybe a pumpkin spice latte?) and read a book or watch tv. Yesterday I thought about how I would really like to have a list of fun movies I could watch. Don’t you? ……..

(I’m awful at building suspense)

Ta-da! Consider this a present from me, to you. A list with all of my favorite cheesy movies (all fabricated in the last twenty-five years) in which stereotypes are constantly emphasised and reinstated and Julia Roberts has awsome hair (can you believe that Pretty Woman is already 22 years old?!). On this list are not only movies from the time when J.Lo still had an “acting career”, but it also has some dances movies on it, funny movies and, ok, maybe a few movies for children (I’m sorry but I love The Parent Trap and I STAND BY MY CHOICE). When you’re bored and are in search for a simple but fun to watch movie, this is your list! It’s also perfect for spotting patterns. Apparantly a lot of actresses have succeeded in branding themselves as the “hey I’m fun, cast me in an other stereotypical movie about a very succesful but unhappy in the love-department” woman. (Katherine Heigl, Kate Hudson, Cameron Diaz… anyone?)

Anyway, here is a list of 35 fun and easy to watch movies (in no particular order), all accompanied with a synopsis written by yours truly.


1. Save the Last Dance
Julia Stiles goes to a new school after her mother dies, feels the odd one out, cries a lot, wears some freaky hairstyles and (of course) dances. This movie also has some cool R&B music and a happy ending.

2. Mean Girls
Lindsay Lohan moves back from Africa to the US and tries to fit in with the american high school life. Miserably fails (at first), then succeeds (well, sort of) and wears a lot of skimpy dresses in the process. This movie is also good for a lot of one-liners which will come in handy in your everyday life. Written by Tina Fey (do I need to say more?).

3. 10 Things I hate about you
Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles battle it out in this Shakespeare inspired movie. Heath is a cutie in this and well, Julia can look really mean, brr.

4. She’s all that
Oh you know, just an other ugly duckling story about a nerdy girl (already drop dead beautiful, no matter how bad they dress her up, because let’s be honest, how ugly can Rachael Leigh Cook really look?), a pretty boy, a bet about prom-night, suddenly some real feelings (uh-oh!) and of course the obligatory dramatic moment that follows. And in the end… well… you know how it ends.

5. How to lose a guy in 10 days
I LOVE Kate Hudson. She’s awsome and fun! Anyway, in this movie she’s asked to write about how you can lose a guy in 10 days. She thinks it’s going to be a piece of cake, but of course she rans into the wrong guy. Matthew McConaughey isn’t going to give up that easily!

(more…)

Posted in 90's child, cinema, daily musings, girl stuff | 34 Comments