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I am insanely excited to announce my first course HAS LAUNCHED! I’ve been talking about creating this course for nearly two years now. It started as a discussion with several writers I know that kept asking me about how I’m making full time income from writing. Yes, I get paid to write in my pajamas! Instead of staying on the 9 to 5 path, I took a chance nine years ago and decided to become a freelance writer. Then, the economy tanked and the freelancers were the first to go at every publication I was writing for.

Fast forward to 2014 and an opportunity landed in my lap to start ghostwriting for a small business. A light bulb went off! I realized I wouldn’t get the credit, but I was ready to take the cash! So, I started ghostwriting for this small business owner’s blogs and slowly, but surely, began getting offers to write for other people’s blogs. In the midst of building my business I had to take on another 9 to 5 to make ends meet, but just six months later I was able to quit for good. I haven’t looked back since!

Now, I want to help YOU! If you are a writer already and want to know how to break into a ghost blogging business, this is the course for you. I’m going to give you all the tools and ideas you need to start your ghostblogging business in a weekend. Yep, 48 hours is all you need if you have the hustle and drive it takes to launch your work from anywhere with WiFi ghostblogging business!

Click the Buy Now button below, and let’s get you registered! Then, you will receive all the details you need to make your ghostblogging business dream a reality.

Imagine starting your own business! Imagine having complete control over your hourly rate, not to mention the hours you will work. Picture being able to work anywhere with WiFi! Buy the course today, and I’ll teach you exactly how I did it. If I can do it, you can too!

Who is this course for? Learn more here!

Today’s drink is a spin on the traditional sidecar. It was created by an awesome bartender at the now closed Tampa Palm Restaurant a couple of years ago.  Learn how to make this drink below.

Ingredients

– 1 tablespoon quick dissolve sugar
– 2 oz Apricot Brandy
– 1 oz Grand Marnier
– 1 tablespoon brown sugar
– orange slice and crystallized ginger for garnish
– 1 tablespoon regular sugar and a pinch of nutmeg blended together

Contact me HERE! I’m PR friendly ?

To Prepare:
1. Rim a martini glass with the nutmeg sugar blend
2. Pour everything but the garnish into a cocktail shaker filled with ice
3. Shake and strain into the martini glass
4. Garnish with the orange slice and crystallized ginger
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 – The Harvest Moon Martini!

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Welcome to day four of my Thanksgiving Cocktails series. Today’s yummy drink is called the Harvest Moon Martini. It’s served cold, but it sure does go down warm. Learn how to make it below!

Not only does this Thanksgiving cocktail bubble, it smokes! The drink is a delicious blend of bourbon and vodka and citrus – oh my!

Ingredients:
– 2 oz. Bulleit Bourbon
– 2 oz. Vanilla Vodka
– 1 oz of Monin Pumpkin Spice Syrup
– squeeze of half a lemon
– squeeze of an orange
– orange peel and cinnamon stick for garnish
– a small cube of dry ice for the smoke effect (optional – the drink is still yummy without it!)

To Prepare:
1. Place a small cube of dry ice into a martini glass
2. Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice
3. Shake and strain into the martini glass
4. Garnish with the orange peel and cinnamon stick
Makes approximately 1 drink!

Also check out how to make yesterday’s Thanksgiving Cocktail – This one’s CALLED Thanksgiving!!!!

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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)

Contact me HERE! I’m PR friendly ?

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!)

Today, for the first time, I took an aqua fit class. I joined a gym this week with the full intention of getting healthier and taking better care of my body. After three attempts at Zumba in one week, however, it hit me that I might have been trying to over do things. So, I decided to try what I was told would be an intense workout that wouldn’t hurt my joints as much – Aqua Fit.

The idea of the class seemed simple enough. Get into a pool, workout for 50 minutes, have less impact, but get a full body workout and never be able to feel whether or not I was sweating.

I arrived about 15 minutes early and there were already people in the pool. One of the gals in the pool, Diane, is an avid fan of Aqua Fit, but she was there early to complete her workout before the class would begin because she had to be somewhere. Still, Diane took a few minutes to school me in what to expect from the class. She ran me through the exercises that the instructor would be calling out. Thank goodness she did because it helped me know how to do each of the moves in advance without looking so much like a bumbling newbie. Don’t get me wrong, it was still VERY clear I was a newbie, but it wasn’t “as clear” as it would have been.

The class began just a few minutes after 9 a.m. The instructor got everyone’s attention and we began. Simple movements at first for about 20 minutes. We ran through jumping jacks, scissor kicks, frog leaps, etc… Then, the part that got my attention – water weights. Now, out of water these things barely weigh a pound together, but under water they felt like 5-10 pound dumbbells, and the faster we moved them, the heavier they felt. Nonetheless, I was bound and determined to get through the entire 50 minute class.

The thing that shocked me the most is how warm I was getting in the frigid water. I was moving my body more than I anticipated and doing my best to keep up with these Aqua Fit Class regulars. Ultimately, I made it the entire 50 minutes, but when as I stepped out of the water I was shocked out how heavy I felt. I’ve been in pools before, but somehow working out in one made me feel more weightless than just swimming and splashing around. Stepping out made me fully aware of my body’s mass.

I walked into the locker room, changed into my clothes for the day and headed home with the full intention of getting some serious writing work done. My adrenaline was pumping. I felt high energy. I grabbed breakfast for my husband and me and then drove the 10 minutes home to eat and start my day. Suddenly after eating though, the exhaustion came over me. This was another result I hadn’t expected. How hard I had worked without even realizing it in the pool hit me hard. Before I knew it I could feel it was nap time. I barely made it to the bed and promptly passed the hell out.

Planning to only sleep two hours and then get to work proved troublesome. Amazingly, when my alarm went off I simply did NOT want to move. Yep, my whole body could feel all the work I had put it through. I managed to get out of bed and fix lunch and now I’m sitting at my computer writing this. My arms and legs are sore. I’m still pretty tired. But, I feel good. I am happy knowing that I made it through the 50 minutes and honestly can’t wait to try this workout again.

Perhaps after a few more of these classes I can start doing Zumba again. But, for now I can at least rest assured that in the water, though I’m not hurting my joints that have been in pain, I’m getting a thorough and intense workout.

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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):