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David Tutera and The Famous Ashley Grant

The last several days have been a complete blur since returning from BlogHer 14. I got home at 11 something Sunday night, in bed by after midnight and woke up Monday morning exhausted and still on California time demanding three more hours of sleep because seriously it was still just 3 a.m. there! Note to self- next year take an extra day to recuperate!

I made lots of connections and have not yet had a chance to follow up with a single one of them. Sigh… The day job until I’m famous had to come first. The good news is it’s Friday and other than a photography gig and a movie I’m seeing I’ve planned to devote this weekend to going through my massive pile of business cards looking for the people I swore I’d email and then I will spend the next week doing just that!

I still have lots of photos to post, reviews to write and shout-outs to give and I will keep my word that this year I will not abandon the cards and the people behind them for several months. I will not give anyone the chance to forget about me! So, if I met you at BlogHer and said I’d write you – I will 🙂 If you said you would write me, I understand why you haven’t yet. Let’s continue to get caught up and we will connect real soon.

Xoxo-
Famous Ashley Grant

How did you celebrate America’s 238th birthday? As for me, my husband came up with a romantically sweet idea. Warning! I’m about to get all gushy about how sweet my husband can be.

I had suggested going to a park near one of the many places in Tampa Bay that would be having fireworks. He upped the ante by suggesting we stay home drinking wine, eating cheese and watch fireworks from our balcony (lots of folks light fireworks around the lakes of our apartment complex). To take this romantic gesture even further he took me to Publix where we tried a bunch of cheeses to find four we liked the most for a yummy cheese plate. Then it was off to the wine aisle to grab a couple of bottles of wine and on the way to the check out we grabbed some crackers.

Here’s the final cheese plate with the crackers:

During the fireworks my hubby asked me to stand up and he and I hummed our first dance song from our wedding as we danced on the balcony. I felt like the only woman in the world on that balcony as the fireworks lit up the sky and we danced to our song. He definitely scored high on the romantic scale. After a while the fireworks faded but he had a plan for that too!

He grabbed a couple of RedBox flicks for us to finish out the night with.- Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit and 47 Ronin. We started with Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit and although I confess I fell asleep during 47 Ronin, overall I have to say this Fourth of July was the most fun I’ve had with my husband.

How did you celebrate your Fourth of July?

Have a drink you want me to try or a product you want me to review? 

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Rather than answer today’s NaBloPoMo, I decided to answer a question posed in an email to me from BlogHer: Where Were You 10 Years Ago?

10 years ago I was 19 about to turn 20. I had been dating my husband for a year and was about to enter my third year of college. I think this might have also been about the time I was debating about whether or not I wanted to be a teacher and was contemplating a different path.

This was also about the time I was working as a substitute teacher and moving out of my parents house. I knew I wanted to live at least one year on my own before marrying my husband just to prove to myself I could take care of myself without a man.

It’s kind of wild sitting here thinking about the fact that I was on a completely different path back then. I was on track to be a social studies high school teacher with a steady job and summers off but a gut feeling that I wouldn’t be happy in that life.

In the past 10 years I’ve changed my major twice, gotten married, finally graduated college, had two internships, several writing gigs, published two books, written hundreds of blog posts, traveled to a few more states, finally got out of the United States and grown and changed more than I ever thought possible.

In the next 10 years I want to visit between 10 and 20 countries, publish 10 books or more, get to my goal weight, earn enough income to retire whenever I want and continue growing and learning. I don’t know what else the next 10 years will hold for me, but I’m very excited about the path I’m on now as a writer and photographer 🙂

#selfiebration #blogher14

Yesterday I received an email from BlogHer that posed the question: What Does Blogging Mean to You? It got me to thinking about what my answer to this question would be. So, rather than do today’s NaBloPoMo since I don’t have a good response for it anyway, here is what blogging means to me:

Blogging means the opportunity to write how I feel and what I think. I have written restaurant reviews, bar reviews, movie reviews, product reviews and more. Blogging has allowed me to share my thoughts on all of these things with the world. Sure, the world may not be reading what I’m writing right now, but the fact that blogging means the world potentially could read what I have written excites me in a way that is hard to explain. Being able to share my stories with others is an exciting part of blogging. It also allows me to grow my audience via social media and discovering the different ways that I can do so. When I began a friend of mine told me about social media services similar to SocialFollow, which could help to get instagram followers it was something he spoke highly of, and while I looked into the service, I wasn’t ready to look social media at the time and wanted to get my blog off the ground first. I’ve accepted now that using social media and gaining followers comes with the territory when looking at blogging as a source of income as it helps to grow your brand.

Blogging means new avenues of income. In order to be a successful blogger, I quickly realized the need to use an excellent web hosting service. Luckily, a friend who was already blogging told me about hostiserver.com. When I began my career as a writer I knew I didn’t want to be the beat journalist writing the same thing every day. With blogging I get to write for a travel agent one day, a wedding planner the next day, a website all about Tampa the following day and I could do something completely different the rest of the week. This is my favourite part about being a blogger. No day is the same and that’s always exciting. When it came to writing, I felt more productive once I had my very own home office and added in modern office furniture. I was able to work in the best way I felt comfortable and that’s what makes this job even easier.

Blogging means I get to do what I want. Through blogging I’ve had some pretty spectacular experiences and for the most part have been able to write and get paid from any place that has an internet connection. As it stands right now I am working a full time day job, but I like to think that blogging will get me to my ultimate goal of making money writing and taking pictures from anywhere in the world.

In a nutshell- to me blogging means freedom! What does blogging mean to you?

I’m having one of those days where I want to sell and give away almost everything of mine that isn’t nailed down. Do you ever look around your living space and feel like that? I want to keep my cameras and my laptop but I am seriously just looking at everything else in my apartment wishing I could just put it all up for sale on Craigslist or something like that and start over with my clothes, my dishes, furniture, etc…

I know that everything I have wouldn’t get much money but for some reason this morning instead of wanting to clean anything, I just want to get rid of it all. Tell me I’m not alone in this feeling.

I’ve talked about this before, but I have a desire to live more of a minimalistic lifestyle. I have watched the movie Jack Reacher a few times and one of my favorite things about the character Jack Reacher is he has no belongings. There is a scene in the beginning of the film where he walks into a thrift store, buys clothes to change into and then donates the ones he was wearing when he walked in on his way out of the store.

Now, I would never put on clothes from a thrift store before washing them, but the idea of having no possessions and being able to do whatever you want, whenever you want excites me.

I think this feeling is one of the reasons I’ve recently become addicted to reading about Natalie Sisson a.k.a. The Suitcase Entrepreneur. When she built her business she made it so that she could work from anywhere in the world that had an internet connection. She lived and worked out of her suitcase! Talk about freedom!!! Her clients never know if they are getting an email from her while she is sitting on a beach or doing a webinar minutes from the Eiffel Tower! How cool is that?

More and more lately I’ve just wanted to sell and give away my possessions and just hit the road with my husband making money by writing and taking pictures.

I’ve started to wonder what is holding me back. I’ve got debt but so what? Who says I can’t make enough money to pay my bills from the road?!? I’m not getting any younger and I fear that if I don’t just take off and hit the road soon I may never do it.

So, this post began as one about me not really wanting to clean my apartment, but I guess the real heart of the matter is I want to run away from home. LOL!

This morning was a serious wake up call. I woke up feeling so sick that I couldn’t go into my day job. I have seriously got to make some adjustments to the way I organize my time, my
business, my life. If I keep burning the candle at both ends there won’t be any light left for me or anyone else to enjoy. 

Folks chasing your dreams while trying to pay the bills- how do you organize your time to have it all?

I posted this originally on facebook this morning and Domestic Goddess Kristen behind the amazing blog The Road to Domestication had the best answer for me. Check out what she wrote:


I literally SCHEDULE IN down time. Sounded so dumb to me at first…but everything else in life takes up time, so why not schedule in some time to rest, too?!

I have also had to remind myself that I CANNOT DO IT ALL, and I can’t HAVE it all…and that is
okay. I prioritize the day – the things I HAVE to do, like go to my full-time job, because if I don’t do that, then I’m in trouble as far as budgetary needs, ha!

I make sure there is time to do something for MYSELF. As selfish as I thought that was at first, I realized that, if I crash and burn, I can’t do anything for anyone! And if I am rested, and happy, and not feeling stressed, I really can do everything else BETTER. Now, that doesn’t mean that I’m out getting a pedicure every week or anything. Sometimes doing something for myself is just going for a walk in peace and quiet…or going to bed early! LOL

New for me in 2014 is blocking. I have literally blocked out several months of the year so I don’t have anything else happening except photography, Or except insurance. Or except family time. Or anything else. Not only can you get more accomplished when you’re focused, but you don’t feel so scattered from having to fight 10 fires at once.

I don’t even know if any of that book I just wrote makes sense…but YOU asked! LOL….

We are the ones who have a hard time listening to our bodies But we only have one! Hard to remember, but true!

To me every single part of what Kristen wrote makes perfect sense. I think it’s exactly what I needed to read right now. I realize I can’t keep giving myself to everyone because that’s what caused me to wake up this morning and literally have nothing left. I could barely form a sentence when I called in sick. I had the most massive migraine and just took some Advil and went back to bed.

I normally get up at 6:30/7 at the latest and I slept in til 11 a.m. and felt so unaccomplished because of it. I just have been trying so hard to do so many things that my body slapped me silly this morning and then threw me back in bed.

Now I want YOU to chime in. How do YOU find a balance when trying to chase your dreams and maintain a day job?


Source for image above

So, I thought I’d give ya’ll a quick Memorial Weekend 2014 Camping Glamping Recap in the form of 10 lessons I learned:

1. Thou shalt not forget to bring the air mattress pump. Omg! We forgot the pump and therefore slept on the floor for three nights. Not awesome.
2. Thou shall bring a ceiling fan when glamping. Dude, if it had not been for the ceiling fan we brought for our tent, I’m not sure we would have made it through the weekend.
3. Thou shall re-apply sunscreen every 80 minutes. The directions on the sunscreen are serious bro! We were awesomely lucky to make it three days in the sun with no sunburn. Alas, I’m out of all of the four bottles of sunscreen I brought with.
4. Thou shalt not step on a root barefoot. I have been having massive amounts of trouble with my right heel lately. I’ve been walking a lot in hopes of losing some weight to ease the pressure and pain on my heel. Then, I stepped on a tree root while barefoot and lost all hope of doing much walking for the weekend. The pain got so bad I had to be pushed around in a wheelchair much of one evening.
5. Thou shalt not go to Wet N’ Wild Memorial Day weekend. Okay, I am a fan of water parks but prefer them when they aren’t as busy. We were camping near Wet N’ Wild so the collective group decided we should spend a day there. Unfortunately this particular weekend drew such a crowd that every single ride had an hour long wait or longer. The wave pool was overflowing and there was NOTHING lazy about the lazy river. Note to self- on Memorial weekend just go to the free campground pool because we barely spent any time that day in the water…
6. Thou shall bring extra towels and wash cloths- Yep- we didn’t have enough towels and wash cloths and had to re-use some towels thereby defeating the purpose of showering imho…
7. Thou shall bring a bigger cooler. Our cooler wasn’t big enough to hold enough drinks between ice stops…
8. Thou shalt not wear water shoes too long- big ugly blisters- that is all!
9. Thou shalt not go to bed until re-applying bug spray- I got some wicked bites while sleeping.
10. Thou shalt not call it glamping unless in an RV or cabin- The weekend made me long for one of the two.

@ChickfilA #AsianSalad #ChickfilA #ProductReview #BloggerReview

I have a new obsession- the Chick-Fil-A Asian Salad. In the span of about 9 days I had three. Add to the fact that I literally had to walk a mile each day that I wanted one- you know this obsession is serious. I probably would get more if they weren’t close to $8!

Basically, at the beginning of 2014 I had three of the calendar cards and for the month of May I could get a salad with the card. My husband only like Caesar salads and I work very close to a Chick-Fil-A so it only made sense to cash in these salads for myself. The first day I went into get one I had not yet learned of the fact that they are no longer serving the spicy chicken salad. I almost cried when it wasn’t on the menu. After mulling it over I opted for the Asian salad figuring, eh- why not? If I don’t like it no big deal because I’ve “made my money back” on the cards already. I chose grilled chicken and was delighted when it came with a honey sesame dressing, wontons and dried bell peppers.

I ate that salad faster than any salad I think I have ever consumed. I don’t know if I was just starving from the fact I had to walk half a mile there and a half a mile back to work before I could eat it OR if it was just that good. So, two days later I felt it was only reasonable to try it again. I made the walk there and back only this time I was given honey sesame dressing, wontons and sliced almonds in place of the dried bell peppers. It was just as good the second time if not better!

I had other lunch plans for a few days but I am not kidding when I tell you that third free salad was burning a whole in my purse. First chance I got I made one more walk and got one more salad again with the almonds instead of the peppers.

I’m in love with the Chick-Fil-A Asian salad! I’m going to have to come up with a way to replicate it on my own at home!

This salad features freshly prepared with hot chicken, two cups of hand-chopped veggies and mandarin oranges and is served with honey sesame dressing. The optional toppings are wontons, dried bell peppers and sliced almonds. I’m sure I can get all these ingredients at my grocery store but I wonder if it will taste the same? hmmmmmmmm….


Photo source

#ProductReview #ReviewBlogger #Tequila

At the Tampa Bay Metro “Summer with Style Party” on May 1, 2014 I had the opportunity to sample  Casamigos Tequila. Here is the description from their website: George Clooney, Rande Gerber and Mike Meldman bring you Casamigos, a
small batch, ultra premium tequila made from the finest, hand-selected
100% Blue Weber agaves, grown in the rich red clay soil and cool climate
of the Highlands of Jalisco Mexico.

I sampled the Blanco. This tequila is better than most tequilas I have sampled in the past. I came to this conclusion before learning that George Clooney is one of the folks behind the bottle by the way 😉

It was smooth as a shot and also tasted really good in the mixed drink that was being offered at the party. With most tequilas I need salt and lime to be able to handle a shot, but this tequila didn’t really need the fluff. It was good on its own.

The Blanco Casamigos Tequila is aged for two months. Their “agave piñas are roasted in traditional brick ovens for 72 hours” and their “Master Distiller uses a special yeast blend to ensure refined flavor, unlike the commercial yeasts others use.”

This tequila is gluten-free and has no unnecessary additives. It is fermented slowly over 80 hours compared to the average 48.

Now that I have tried the Tequila I want to buy a bottle of it but sadly…I can’t seem to find a distributor or store that carries it in my area. The only zip code I found that yielded a result was Manhattan, New York. UGH- Come to Florida George!!! People drink Tequila here too!!!

If it’s sold near you, I would definitely recommend the Blanco Casamigos Tequila. It’s smooth, delicious and I want more…

***Update- I just found out you can buy it online HERE!  It’s $44.99 and can be shipped to most states. The states they cannot ship to are: Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and Massachusetts. Currently they don’t ship internationally.

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One of the vendors at BlogHer 2013 was Eggland’s Best. These folks gave me a coupon to try Eggland’s Best at home for free for the purposes of review. Though the eggs were free, this has not impacted my review. All opinions below are my own.

“You’ll definitely be able to tell the difference because the eggs will taste better,” said the gal at the booth.

I’m not sure if it was how I prepared them, but I honestly could not tell the difference. They didn’t taste any better to me than the eggs I normally buy at the grocery store. The only difference I did notice is that the Eggland’s Best brand was nearly double to cost for a dozen.

Do you like Eggland’s Best? Am I crazy here? Do you REALLY notice a difference?

I know that Eggland’s Best brand is better for me in the sense that they say they never use hormones, steroids, or antibiotics of any kind. They also promise a superior, better quality, fresher egg….and that’s all good, but for the taste- I just didn’t notice a difference.

If I do make the decision to permanently switch from the brand I normally buy, it won’t be because of taste.

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