Aprons and Taquitos

Hi everyone! HAPPY MONDAY! I had an incredible weekend - hope you all did too.

You know how I promised you forever ago to tell you about my experience cooking with the gals from Our Best Bites? I finally put it in words...

Kate Jones and Sara Wells from Our Best Bites, with a little bit of AE Jones stuck in the middle.

Photo of the day

I found this photo on The Pioneer Woman. It kind of broke my heart… in a good way. I love Ree's photo contests – she’ll state the theme, then people contribute photos on that topic. This topic was love… for February. Look at the little girl’s tear… I hope my little girls love their daddy that much. So sweet.

Answer for the email question

If you didn't read the preface to this post, read it here.

Alright - my grand total of emails sent yesterday (including work, personal and Facebook) is: 89. Right up until 11:27 pm... clicking away on my Blackberry. *click click click*

But the grand prize for email addiction goes to Laura! 154 and counting! WOO!

Making a Picasso out of Meatloaf

Curious to know what I told a bunch of 12-18-year-olds about dining etiquette?

Read my post... then take the quiz to see how you do!

Question for the day...

Question for the day: how many emails do you think you send/ answer a day?

I'm going to keep a tally today - you try it too. I'm super curious. I feel like I'm constantly on my phone checking my personal and work email... then when I get home, I'm on my laptop checking my email. Is this healthy? I don't think so.

Whoever wins gets a shoutout for being the most addicted to their email!

The Ballet

Last Monday night (Valentine's Day), for a little "love" celebration, I went to the ballet with a very good friend of mine. We saw Sleeping Beauty at Capitol Theatre - Ballet West was the performing company. Wow. I was incredibly impressed.

Did you realize that the music in the cartoon is actually relatively close to the actual score written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky? He also wrote the music for Swan Lake and The Nutcracker. I had no idea.

However, I think my favorite part of the whole night was waiting in the foyer and watching all of the darling little girls in their tutus, walking around with huge, excited eyes. Absolutely darling. Most of them were carrying little bumper seats to sit on because they were just barely tall enough to clear the seat in front of them! They make the ballet that much better and more magical!

I definitely plan on taking my little girls to the ballet one day. Tutus and all.

#25 on the job

Thing I never expected I would do at my job #25:

Travel to another city with a team of four to pick out clothing for an adult.

Got something for you...

You all know how much I love to read... it's kind of my job. With that said, I get to read a lot of books. And with that said, I have a book you need to read:

It's called Snow Rising, by Matt Baldwin. Now, be aware, it isn't your "Hunger Games" style book. This is a thinker and requires a bit of brain from the reader. But, is it worth it? I wouldn't be recommending it on my blog if I didn't think it was worth it.

Watch this short video to get a feel for the experiences people are having with the book:



The book is available on Amazon.com, at Barnes and Noble and at Deseret Book.

Flirting with winter

Vintch's post from Tuesday ran through my head this morning as I was walking into work... in my boots. I haven't worn my boots in a couple of weeks because the weather has been so beautiful. But then last night, it snowed. A lot. Blech. Warmth and sun in February are like non-commital guys. They flirt a lot, but then run away. Boooo. But then again, I'd rather have a committed person (season) than flirtation. Are you following me?

Spring is coming, lovelies, it has to.

PS- like the new header? It was time to change because V-day is behind us.

Blogging outside of Blogger...

Guess what everyone? I'm blogging for an online magazine! The company (LDS Living) publishes a hard-copy magazine every two months, but it also posts quite a bit of the content, as well as new content online. I contributed my first post (a book review) and it ran on Friday... read HERE. I'll be contributing content on food, fashion, arts and entertainment, etc. I'm so incredibly excited to be writing for something outside of my blog!

P.S. blog highlight for the week: Tough Cookie. Check her out. Darling blog.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I made this as one of my gifts... cute, huh?! There are a few little empty pockets... in those places I took a needle and red yarn and sewed little hearts in. I forgot to take a picture of the final product, but it turned out pretty cute. And just a hint: read the red lettering.

Happy Valentine's Day, loves!

Hello, Love

Are you ready for Monday?

Love,

AE Jones

JCrew Hair Tutorial

Thanks to A Cup of Jo for her fabulous hair tutorials... I love this one.

I need your opinions on a matter...

I'm designing a logo for a fitness and nutrition website. I sent the client the logos I put together, but she (and I) are having a hard time deciding on one. She narrowed it down to these three. Which one do you like best? I told her my readers have great taste and that they'd make our decision for us. Right? He he.

OR

OR

Note:With #5, the client is worried about giving the wrong idea about being "trim and toned." It doesn't mean you're "stick-thin." She's right, and I don't want to portray that. What do you think? 

I'll let you know when her site is up and running - it should be in the next couple of days. She has some great stuff!

Thanks for your input!

The sun

Just a reminder to all of you that the sun does in fact exist. [And more so, a reminder to myself that my legs did, at one point in time, have color.] No one one would have guessed it now.

Someone wise once said:
"The sun'll come out, tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, there'll be sun!"

Annie, I swear if you're lying to me... I don't know what I'll do.

Hi.

Hi.

How were your weekends?

I was really busy this weekend. However, mingled in that business, was a lot of quality time with good friends. Good food; good conversation; good results. I went to bed last night with my head spinning, but woke up this morning with one word on my mind: hopeful. I normally wake up on Monday mornings feeling one word: stressed. The idea of a new week and everything I need to get done at work, home, my little side projects, usually has me stressing. But today, it was different. Happily.

Happy Monday everyone!

Sneak peek and a movie premiere

Happy Friday!

I have to give you a little sneak peek of a post you'll see next week: I spent two days with Sara Wells and Kate Jones, authors of Our Best Bites! We chatted, ate lunch together, they came to my house and cooked, we even got a couple pictures together... and we did a lot of publicity work. They are so ridiculously darling - loved every minute with them. More next week... so stay tuned.

In the mean time, I have a bone to pick with movie-goers. I worked at the movie premiere of "Midway to Heaven"... the movie where Michelle Money [from the Bachelor] stars as Carol Holly. (And yes, I did briefly talk to Michelle Money. She is really quite great.) I helped at the will-call table a bit, and ran back and forth to the director's suite with special guests and cast members for the first little while.

My thoughts:
1. Um, if you're getting free tickets to something, why do you demand better seats? Or demand to sit with your friends? Gratitude is a virtue.
2. I don't care if your friend is the main actor, everyone else is a special guest just like you, so you can wait in line with them.
3. If I ask you for your last name, don't mumble and turn your head... you're just going to have to say it again.
4. Please don't hit on me while I'm trying to get people their tickets - I don't have time for this.
5.Please breath all of your cigarette smoke out before you come and talk to me - I don't appreciate you blowing it in my face. *cough*
6. Thank you for saying thank you.
7. If you're telling me to hurry because you're missing the previews, I'm going to go at the same speed. You're the one who drove like a grandma to get here.
8. I really am pleasant to work with... I smile a lot and try to get people to smile back. So, I'm smiling at you right now. *Smile*

Have a great weekend!

Here's a smile

A little smile for your Thursday afternoon...

His name is Christian...

My car and I were waiting at a stop light [we often do that together] and this caught my eye. I grabbed my camera to snap a quick picture of it - all too appropriate.

I'm not sure who Christian is, but I know my name is Ashley [gasp... it isn't AE Jones?] and I wouldn't mind if this sign were for me...

"Hey Christian, my favorite flowers are white tulips. FYI."

"Reel" Life Love

In honor of the upcoming holiday, Valentine's Day, [Yes, it's coming, FYI,] a friend of mine created this video to celebrate the pure and simple beauty of love.

He created the video for a contest and is hoping for as many votes as he can get.

You can watch the video through YouTube, but in order to vote for it, follow this link and click "like."

Enjoy... and happy true love!