FamousAshleyGrant

I was first introduced to today’s cocktail at Council Oak’s Bar inside Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tampa. When I say this drink TASTES like Thanksgiving, it’s only fitting that it’s even CALLED Thanksgiving! Here’s how to make it:

Ingredients:
– 2 oz. Dry Gin
– 2 oz. Apricot Brandy
– 2 oz. Dry Vermouth
– 6 drops of Lemon Juice (or less depending on your preference of taste)

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To Prepare:
1. Rim a martini glass with a cinnamon sugar blend
2. Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice
3. Shake and strain into the martini glass, and garnish with a cherry.
Makes approximately 1 drink!

This post may contain a link to an affiliate. See my disclosure policy for more information.

Also check out how to make yesterday’s Thanksgiving Cocktail – Snooki’s Thanksgiving Martini!

A few years ago, I met a bartender who had a lot of similar features and personality quirks that put me in the mind of Snooki from Jersey Shore. That night, I was looking for a Thanksgiving cocktail to get my holiday spirits up and she made one up on the spot. She aptly named it Snooki’s Thanksgiving Martini. Seemed fitting and it was pretty tasty! Albiet it quite cinnamon flavored and not a drink you could chug. This one’s a sipper! Here’s how to make it!

Ingredients:
– 2 oz Goldschlager
– 1 oz brown sugar syrup 
– 4 oz pineapple juice
– Brown sugar to rim the glass

Contact me HERE! I’m PR friendly ?

To Prepare:
1. Rim a martini glass with brown sugar
2. Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice
3. Shake and strain into the martini glass.
Makes approximately 1 cinnamon flavored drink!

This post may contain a link to an affiliate. See my disclosure policy for more information.

Also check out how to make yesterday’s Thanksgiving Cocktail – The Apple Cider Martini!

Looking for some yummy Thanksgiving drinks? If so, you’re in luck because over the next several days I’m going  to be sharing some of my favorite Thanksgiving Cocktails! First up? The Apple Cider Martini!

Ingredients:
– 1 oz of  Captain Morgan Spiced Rum
– 1/2 oz of triple sec
– 1 oz of brandy
– 6 oz of apple cider
– splash of lemon juice
– Slice of apple to garnish

To Prepare:
1. Rim a martini glass with sugar
2. Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice
3. Shake and strain into a martini glass.
4. Garnish with a slice of apple

Makes approximately 1 really tasty drink!

When people ask me why it costs so much for me to write an article for them, I think I should start sending them this parable I found:

The Graybeard engineer retired and a few weeks later the Big Machine broke down, which was essential to the company’s revenue.  The Manager couldn’t get the machine to work again so the company called in Graybeard as an independent consultant.

Graybeard agrees. He walks into the factory, takes a look at the Big Machine, grabs a sledge hammer, and whacks the machine once whereupon the machine starts right up. Graybeard leaves and the company is making money again.

The next day Manager receives a bill from Graybeard for $5,000. Manager is furious at the price and refuses to pay. Graybeard assures him that it’s a fair price. Manager retorts that if it’s a fair price Graybeard won’t mind itemizing the bill. Graybeard agrees that this is a fair request and complies.

The new, itemized bill reads….

Hammer:  $5

Knowing where to hit the machine with hammer: $4995

yea…it’s kind of like that only my itemized bill would read something more like this…

Article delivery…. $5

Time, energy, sweat, blood, ugly crying, research, so much brain power (including thinking about your article while I’m watching Blue Bloods and cooking dinner), not being able to sleep because I’m thinking of a better way to write paragraph two, finally typing it up then scrapping it because it could’ve been better, rewriting and then finally submitting since it’s deadline and I have no more time and must simply give you this masterpiece I could have poured my heart and soul over longer…… $245 (or some other number depending on the project you hired me for, but you get the idea LOL!)

A note on paying attention to the signs in your life regarding your online businesses. Are you paying attention to the signs from the Universe and what they are telling you?

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but when a potential client asked me for advice this morning I was pretty excited at how confident I was in offering my responses. The funny thing is my advice would be somewhat self-serving in that it would translate to a WHOLE bunch of work for me, but that wasn’t even in my thought process as I was uttering my thoughts to her.

I was just giving REAL advice that she could actually use to be successful and then it dawned on me just how much I LOVE helping people in my business. My goal in #ghostwriting for my clients has always been to make them look amazing to their audiences. I want them to sound so good delivering their messages and sell the crap out of their products and services. It’s been heavy on my heart lately about how much I just want all of my clients to have everything they ever dreamed of!!!! I get all warm and fuzzy every time they have a big win because I feel like I was part of it.

Towards the middle of last year I was honestly doubting whether or not I wanted to continue on the ghost writing path and was letting my vanity get the better of me that I should release more things under my byline. I even considered abandoning my business nearly completely to develop a course and focus 90% on building and selling things with my name, but since releasing that thought into the universe I’ve been amazed at how EVERY. SINGLE. SIGN has been pointing me right back to what I’m already doing.

I’m supposed to be ghostwriting for now. This is my current purpose and mission. I’m here to give my clients the voice they don’t even realize they already have. I have been sent more clients in the past six months than I ever thought possible and it just has become abundantly clear to me that before I try to push too much on releasing things with my name I’ve got a lot more to do for others. I’ve also to do  a lot more growing, a lot more writing, a lot more learning.

I still want to release a course of my own some day, I want to write a bunch of books under my own name and do some fun stuff with Youtube, but for now I’m going to pay attention to the signs from the Universe. They have not steered me wrong yet, and when I really hone in on them I’m paid back in great success.

So, now that you have read all this I want you to seriously think about what signs are in your life. What is the Universe telling you about your business? Are you on the right path? Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Big love to all of you, my fellow webpreneurs. I hope that each of you have crazy, sexy, insane successes and more wins than you know what do with. Sending out all the feels and positive vibes to every single one of you. xoxo

Dear Universe,

I’m sorry I was letting my vanity getting the better of me and not paying attention to the signs you were sending me abouthow to be more successful. I’m listening now.

I’m ready to make more money and be happier than ever before.

I welcome abundance and success into my life. It’s my time and I’m ready for the next step. ‪#‎BringIt‬!

Love always,
Famous Ashley Grant

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On Sunday November 8, 2015 my family of two became a family of four! My husband J and I, after years of wanting furbabies got not one, but TWO puppies. This came after visiting a friend who had adopted their havanese puppies, they were so cute and I loved seeing them. My husband and I decided right there to take the leap and start looking into getting our own furbabies, and not long after we found them! They are Chihuahua/ Pomeranian mixes, they are both boys and their names are Baileys (the tan one) and Kahlua (the white and brown one). We were initially going to just get one, but when we saw these little guys our hearts just melted. Getting two was the best thing for us too because they play together and keep each other entertained for hours while we work, do chores and do other things.

Baileys is rambunctious, exploratory, an instigator and the more troublesome of the two. LoL! And yet, when he sticks his little tongue out and smiles I just fall in love with him all over again. He initially was having the most trouble with potty training, but he is becoming the faster learner of the two. We’re training with puppy pads and each day he is having less and less misses and non-puppy pad eliminations as some puppy sites have called it.

Kahlua is the more affectionate one and definitely craves attention like no dog I’ve ever met. He started out as the one that caught on to the potty training quickly, but now we’re having more trouble with him than Baileys. Getting the training done for puppies can sometimes be so hard, especially with two! Still, they both are pretty smart and are enjoying toys, playing and running a lot.

Speaking of toys… I didn’t like that toys at Petsmart cost like $10 a piece so I made the boys this:

Best part? This one was FREE! I received a couple of free t-shirts at events and they didn’t fit me. So, I cut them into strips and macrame’d them together and the boys love playing tug of war with it and each other. You can grab the free instructions for how to do this simple knot here. They used string in the post, but I used strips of t-shirts to make it doggie appropriate 🙂 I’m thinking I’m going to make more of these for Christmas presents for the dog lovers in my life because I get a lot of free t-shirts from various events! Perhaps next time I’ll film how to make it and post it on this page!

I also made them ornaments with their pawprints, but they aren’t done yet. I still need to paint them! Needless to say, I’m loving my furbabies!!! I’ll post more about them as time goes on I’m sure, but for now I’ll leave you with this adorable pic I snapped of them with bandannas (they ripped them off not 30 seconds after this pic was taken):

Wow, looking at the calendar I just realized that it’s officially been more than a year since I left the nine to five life for good! Last year about this time I was hustling hard and getting ready for my first vacation in almost five years because I not only made enough money to quit my nine to five for good in less than nine months, I made enough money to travel to Thailand for a much needed two week getaway!

Today, more than a year later my freelance writing business is busier than I ever could have imagined. In business as a freelance writer since 2007, blogging since 2009, brief stints at random nine to fives all the while, but then 2014 presented me with the most profitable opportunity I’ve had to date – ghost blogging! Because of it, this is the longest I’ve been without a nine to five and I don’t EVER want to go back! The best part? Thanks to the business redesign I’ve set up and the referral systems I have in place, I won’t ever have to!!!

I’ve still got a lot to learn, I’m still growing my client base and I’ve got a lot more work to do, but it’s awesome to know that how much I make each year, heck each day, is determined by my hustle instead of what some HR person determines I’m worth per hour.

Soon, I’ll be launching a course to teach how I went from begging for more work to having more clients than I sometimes know what to do with. I can’t wait to share everything I’ve learned and am still learning! More details coming!!! Stay tuned 🙂

I’ve been fooling around on the internet for quite some time now and slowly but surely I’m learning a thing or two. Slowly, but surely, I’m still working to move all of my projects here so that people can see what I’m up to and follow along on my “get internet famous” experiment. My goal? To be a financially independent writer and photographer on my terms. How will this goal play out? Time will tell…stay tuned as I add all the awesomeness I possibly can fit on this website!

@TipsyBartender #ThirstyThursday #TipsyBartender #BubblegumVodka

Today’s Thirsty Thursday post was inspired by the amazing Youtube Channel: Tipsy Bartender. If you have not checked out that channel, read this post first (duh!) and then go check it out. Guys who like hot chicks mixin dranks while shaking their booties will probably like this channel and girls will enjoy making fun of said hot chicks because we are mean jealous beaches. hahaha

Anywho- the drank!

So, I wanted to try: 

Tipsy Bartender’s Bubblegum Vodka

watch his original video HERE!

To make the vodka you will need:

– 10 pieces of Bubblegum. I used Super Bubble because that stuff is delicious

–  6 oz (180 ml) Vodka

– Mason Jar or some other jar (I used a cleaned out spaghetti jar because recycling is how I roll)

How to:

1. Cut 10 pieces of gum and add them to a jar.

2. Pour in 6 oz. of plain vodka

3. Seal and let it sit for a couple of days

4. Strain the gum out and THERE YOU HAVE IT- Bubblegum Vodka 🙂

Now to make the cocktail that Tipsy Bartender made in the video you will need:

– The bubblegum Vodka

– Charms Blowpops (But I’m lame and totally forgot to buy these)

– Lemon Lime Soda such as 7-Up.

How to:

1. Fill glass with ice. I used an 8 oz. wine glass because I’m classy like that…

2. Pour in about 1.5 oz of the bubblegum vodka

3. Pour in about 2.5 oz 7-Up– to fill the glass my drink ended up being a little closer to 2 oz of vodka and 4 oz of 7-Up

4. Garnish with an unwrapped Charms Blowpops– But, again I’m lame and totally forgot to buy these so to improvised I took 3 pieces of bubble gum and put them on a skewer on top of the glass for the photo

5. Stir with the garnish and DRINK!

So, what did I think of the Bubblegum Vodka? It was REALLY Bubblegummy just like the chick in the video says. Then, when adding it to the 7-Up soda it still tasted just like drinking bubblegum!

Okay- so…now for a little bit more about the man behind the brand! Skyy John, the internationally famous host of the Internet’s top bartending show “Tipsy Bartender,” has spent the last ten years bartending at one of the hottest and trendiest spots in Los Angeles, as well as hopping around the globe mixing incredible cocktails….aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand he wrote a kick ass book! Check out “I’m having a girl over” by Skyy John today!

#IQuit #ScrewtheNinetoFive

Friday, September, 26, 2014, was my last day working at my 9 to 5 temp job. I worked there just under six months (179 days if you care to count). In a way- temping brought me back to life. I don’t talk about it much but in 2013 I was slumping into a bit of a depression. In 2014 I was starting to come out of that depression because I started a fun new gig and was forming plans for more new gigs, but my lack of income was still plaguing me.

In February I signed up with a local temp agency and in March I got a call that I would be a receptionist for a furniture dealer in Tampa. Interestingly enough as soon as I started working there I began getting call backs for my true passion- writing and photography. Then, about 3 months into working there I got lucky enough to fly to California for a blogging conference and make even more connections for more possible gigs. Before I knew it I was getting so many calls to write and take pictures that I found myself struggling to get up in the mornings because I was staying up late working on my real job. The final clue that it was time to leave my temp job came when I got offered a writing gig that would basically replace my temp job income…so of course- I took it! Now, I’m a little scared because I was starting to get used to a steady check but I’m hopeful that more good things are coming and that I won’t ever have to go back to a nine to five style job ever again.

Okay- so that is the back story and now, here are a few things I learned from almost six months of temping:

1. Change can be a good thing. Just the act of forcing myself out of the house brought so much more pep to my step. I may be able to work from home again- but I’m trying not to. Instead I’m working in coffee houses, the library, my husband’s office, anywhere with Wi-Fi honestly. I’ve learned that I just get too lazy and unproductive when I’m at home.

2. Sleep is crucial for me. My husband can sleep two to four hours and then work an eight hour day, but I NEED a full eight hours or things get weird. I get overly emotional, spacey, extra A.D.D., it’s just no beuno!

3. I need to be around people. I think one of the best things about the temp job was being around people. As cheesy as this is going to sound, it took me being around people for six months to realize just how lonely I’ve let myself get. I’ve only been out of the job for over a week and I’ve already had a lunch with a fellow writer, scheduled a dinner with another and reached out to a blogging group to see if we can organize a get together. I think my need for being around people is part of why I haven’t let myself stay home to work even though I can…

4. I do best with a schedule and a to-do list. I never realized just how A.D.D. I am until I was forced to set priorities and schedule my assignments. It’s amazing how much work I can get done in limited increments and now that I have nothing but time I’m trying to force myself to continue sticking to a schedule. Somehow making up fake deadlines and appointments is helping me complete stuff that I need to get done.

5. I can’t stand a nine to five job. LOL! Okay, this one probably came off meaner than I meant for it to, but I’m a soooooooooooooo not a nine to five chick. Yes, I learned I need structure and scheduling, but I also realized just how much I need the flexibility to move appointments and assignments around for whatever reason. I love the freedom of being able to set my own hours and do what I want when I want as long as deadlines are met.

Photo courtesy of Hubspot