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#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

I find it amusing that the decision to post today’s Thirsty Thursday post coincides with a lawsuit against the vodka I had already planned to write about. According to the lawsuit mentioned in a story on Paste Magazine just yesterday, “A California real estate broker has filed a civil lawsuit against Texas-based Tito’s Handmade Vodka, claiming the distillery can’t claim the vodka is ‘handmade’ because of the sheer volume of bottles sold each
year.”

I tried Tito’s Vodka on Friday, September 5, 2014. A co-worker brought it and a bottle of Welch’s Passion Fruit juice in for our weekly happy hour. I had never tried the vodka or the juice but thought- what the hell! You never know until you try whether you will like something or not right?

First, I poured a shot of the Tito’s. The vodka was smooth and the lighter fluid after taste many vodkas present was nowhere to be found. Second, I splashed a little bit of the passion fruit juice into a cup to try it by itself. I’ve had drinks with passion fruit mixed in them in the past, but this was the first time I tried it alone. The juice was tart but not too tart and no overtly sweet either. Lastly, I grabbed a Red Solo Cup and decided it was time to put the two together. Unintentionally I mixed equal parts of the Tito’s and the Welch’s Passion Fruit juice with ice in the cup.

Verdict? The half and half drink was really good! It was kind of funny that every time I took a sip I commented on how good the drink was to the point that my coworker said, “You don’t have to keep saying it’s good.” I couldn’t help myself though. It really tasted yummy and I honestly couldn’t prevent myself from uttering that every time I took a sip! LOL! I would definitely make this drink again and would highly recommend it if you are looking for an easy drink to mix for a party but don’t want that annoying alcohol after taste.

So, lawsuit or no- Tito’s gets thumbs up from me- regardless of it’s handmade claims it tastes damn good!

#ThirstyThursdays #DrinkRecipes #RumDranx

What’s a Pirate’s favorite letter? RRRRRRRRRR!   
What’s a Pirate’s favorite drink? RUM
Ahoy Mateys! In honor of International Talk Like a Pirate Day which is tomorrow 9/19/14 today’s Thirsty Thursday post celebrates RUM! Here are a few of my favorite rum dranx:

Rum Runner 

Ingredients:
– 4 oz spiced rum
– 1 oz blackberry liqueur
– 1 oz  crème de banana liqueur
– 8 oz orange juice

Prep:
Add rum, blackberry liqueur, crème de banana liqueur, orange juice and grenadine to a martini shaker filled with ice. Shake and strain into a tall glass filled with ice. Drink up and enjoy!

Mai Tai

Ingredients:
– 1.5 spiced rum
– 1.5 coconut-flavored rum
– 1 teaspoon grenadine syrup
– 3 fluid ounces pineapple juice
– 2 fluid ounces orange juice
– 1 cup ice cubes

Prep:
In a martini shaker full of ice, combine the spiced rum, coconut rum, grenadine, pineapple juice and orange juice. Shake vigorously and strain into glass full of ice.

Yellow Rose

Ingredients:
– 2 oz triple sec
– 2 oz pineapple juice
– 2 oz Captain Morgan White Rum

Prep:
In a martini shaker
full of ice, combine the white rum, pineapple
juice and triple sec. Shake vigorously and strain into glass full of
ice.

The Yellow Rose was a recent discovery at the new Green Gators bar on Anderson Road. I had never had Captain Morgan White Rum before my visit to Green Gators but this drink is yummy!

What’s your favorite rum drink? Tell me in the comments below!

Ready to get your Pirate on? Learn the basics of Pirate speak HERE!

Check out the first Thirsty Thursday post The Return of Thirsty Thursdays! Fireball Whisky

Recently, Fireball Whisky sent me a bottle of their delicious liquor to review. I decided once they complied I would share some crafty cocktails with ya’ll. Why? Because, honestly, who doesn’t love a good cocktail recipe?!?

Straight up Fireball Whisky tastes like the Atomic Fireball candies we all remember from grade school. Seeking new adventure, after receiving the bottle I went to their website and looked at a bunch of the recipes they recommend. Below are the ones my husband and I tried and what we thought about them:

Christmas in Your Mouth

3/4 oz Fireball Whisky

1/4 oz vanilla vodka

Top with cranberry juice, mix and shoot

– This shot hurt BAD, but it tasted so good. It went down hard but was quite yummy. My husband hated the after taste of this shot. I couldn’t really tell it had one because I was too focused on the burn

C-4

Fireball Whisky

Coffee liquer

I guess equal parts? (The website wasn’t clear so that’s what I did)

Mix together for a shot or pour over ice

– I chose this drink simply because of it’s name. When it was mixed it actually looked like the color of C-4- or what I’ve seen of C-4 in shows like Burn Notice. LOL! While Fiona couldn’t make more than a molotov cocktail with this drink like she does in season 1, I think she would approve of this drink’s consistency and flavor. My husband Jeremy and I did this drink as a shot and it was pretty good. Just don’t spill it like we did because it is sooooooooooooo sticky when it’s all over everything.

Cinnamon Toast

1 part Fireball Whisky

2 parts Chila ‘orchata (We used Rumchata)

Mix, chill and serve as a shot

– This was our favorite drink of the night! We definitely could have had more than one of these a piece but we only bought enough Rumchata to make one drink a piece). So frikkin yummy! No burn, really smooth and just a great shot!

Fire on the Mountain

1 oz Fireball Whisky

0.5 oz Mountain Dew

Mix together for a shot or pour over ice

– This was our least favorite drink. It just looked like a glass of dark pee and tasted really gross. Perhaps we were too sober to try it?

Hot Flash

3 Parts Fireball Whisky

2 Parts Amaretto

1 Part OJ

Shake over ice and strain into a shot glass

– This was our second to least favorite drink. I think the problem here is we tried to drink it as a cocktail rather than shoot it as a shot. By this point perhaps we weren’t sober enough because we tried to sip the damn thing. I’ll bet if we had just shot it that it would have been awesome!

Overall, I’m a fan of Fireball Whisky. If you can handle some heat I would definitely recommend it. If not, try the Cinnamon Toast recipe. It cools it down and is just fantastic! Two drunken thumbs up!

If you follow me on facebook you have likely heard me mention The Suitcase Entrepreneur at least once or thrice 😉 I LOVE this book so much I’m reading it for the third time. The idea of the book is to build a mobile business that can be run from anywhere in the world. This as many of my friends and family know has been a desire of mine for YEARS.

Over the past few months I’ve been getting closer and closer to being able to run my business from anywhere but like any dream I have had a few setbacks along the way. In the last month my desire to make this dream a reality has gotten stronger than ever and I’ve been coming up with plans and ideas to cut the cords and finally hit the road with nothing but my husband, my laptop, my camera and my suitcase.

I’m anxious to see where my next steps will take me. I’ll post updates on my goal as time goes on 🙂

Do you want to create a mobile business that you love with the freedom to work from anywhere in the world? I highly suggest you check out The Suitcase Entrepreneur today!

This post contains links to an affiliate. See my disclosure policy for more information.

For my 30th birthday I decided to give back. So, I chose 30 people, some at random to give gifts to in lieu of throwing a birthday party. I taped envelopes on snacks at gas stations with money inside to buy a snack, I gave a couple of people gift cards to a store I was shopping at, I gave some strangers I randomly walked past an envelope with a little cash to buy whatever they wanted and I gave every person in my office at my temp job a little gift. Why did I do this? I really want to give back more in my life. I’ve been really lucky to get some of the things I’ve gotten and it’s my party and I’ll give back if I want to! I still have seven more people on my list to give to and what I’m going to do is pick 7 random people on kickstarter to help fund their projects.

Each person that received a gift from me so far has also received the card you see at the top of this post. It says:

It’s my birthday but you get the gift! For my 30th birthday all I wanted to do was give back so I chose 30 people to give gifts to. All I ask is that you pay it forward and do something nice for someone else. Doing so would make one of my birthday wishes come true 🙂 Thanks for accepting this gift! I hope that your future will be filled with as much happiness and love as possible.

Love always-
The Famous Ashley Grant (The link on the card is now inactive as I dropped the word “the” from my name haha)

Have a great day everyone! If it’s your birthday- HAPPY BIRTHDAY! If it’s not I wish you a happy day anyway. I’d like to pass what I wrote in my birthday card on to YOU- I sincerely hope that each and every one of you will be blessed with more happiness and love than you ever dreamed possible.

30 is a big round number, and I was inspired to share 30 things I’ve learned in 30 years. Here’s what I’ve learned…do you have any ahas to share? Leave a comment below!

Also check out Celebrites I Share My Birthday With!!!

Where I found the picture at the top of this post

This post contains links to an affiliate. See my disclosure policy for more information.

I’ve been wanting to try a beignet ever since first hearing about them on the Girls Next Door (don’t judge me!). The girls were in New Orleans for Mardi Gras- Kendra and Bridget were sick and Holly bought them coffee and beignets in attempt to bring them both back to life. I hadn’t heard of beignets before that episode actually- I know. I need to get out more. Well, today I got my chance to try beignets because one of the gals I work with has a dad who apparently loves cooking and has a killer recipe for these powdered sugar covered fluffy concoctions. Above is a photo she took after her dad made a batch and this morning she brought some into the office.

The best way I can describe a beignet now that I’ve finally eaten one is an airy pastry coated in crack powdered sugar. Just don’t call it a doughnut!!!

These little bastards are good and I confess one wasn’t enough so I had a second. The second one was just as good as the first. I would definitely be willing to stuff my face with them again if given the chance. Apparently they are best when made fresh though. I went back for a third about a half an hour later and it wasn’t as good.

Too impatient to wait on a trip to New Orleans or for someone to bring you some to try? Here’s a recipe to make your own at home.

This post contains links to an affiliate. See my disclosure policy for more information.

Robin Williams 7/21/51 to 8/11/14

#RIPRobinWilliams 


Today, is a sad day not just for Hollywood, but for anyone who has ever been touched by the humor that came from Robin Williams. For those of you who don’t know he was found dead this morning in his home and according to news reports it was from an apparent suicide.

Robin Williams was an amazing actor and I loved watching him in everything I saw him in. He made me laugh, he made me cry, he made me forget about everything going on in my life for those brief periods of time I let myself get lost in watching his films.

What saddens me the most is not only hearing the news that this funny man we all looked to for laughs committed suicide but that his publicist said he has been suffering from depression for a long time. Please folks- if there is ANYONE you know suffering from depression encourage them to get help. Don’t suffer in silence.

Source for image above