Family....they're ridiculously hilarious!

I always thought Danny had a great family. They always joke around and we are all cracking up about something or other whenever we meet. But last Friday night I discovered these people are downright hilarious! We all went to dinner at Brio Tuscan Grille then ended up heading off to the Blue Martini and the Pub. Sounds simple enough, right? WRONG! I'll start from the beginning...
This is brutally honest but, hey, that's what blogs are for! Danny and I were both a little hesitant about going out that night because we knew the places would be packed and we were hoping that the conversation wouldn't turn stale after sitting at dinner for an hour or so. Thankfully, I can report that it didn't turn out that way at all. In fact, just the opposite occurred!

just arrived!

We arrived for dinner at about 7pm (it took half an hour to find a parking spot!) and we had to wait until about 8pm before we were seated because the restaurant is so popular and we all forgot to call ahead for reservations! By the way, if you ever get a chance to go to Brio, GO! The food is a tad bit expensive but is definitely worth it. So we ended up having a great time chatting away, taking way too many pictures and making the waiter take pics for us as well (don't judge, you know you do the same)!

group picture while we waited

they had a great menu!

danny's sister & brother-in-law

still waiting...can you tell we were getting tired?

the food was worth the wait! {As you can see by the huge grins on our faces!}

By the time we left the restaurant it was about 10pm but we were having such a great time that we decided to see what was happening at the Blue Martini since we all have never been there but always wanted to. Sadly, we still haven't been inside the place. The line was wrapped all the way around the side of the building! But we did take pictures in front. Does that somewhat count? Ha!

the girls in front of Blue Martini! The guys thought we were crazy LOL

Since Blue let us down big time, we walked over to the Pub and had a blast anyway! The servers there all wear kilts which adds to the British/Scottish theme they are going for. We were telling so many jokes and I'm sure some of the stories we heard probably shouldn't have been admitted but it just added to the bonding experience of it all. By the time we looked at our watches/phones again it was already midnight! It was probably the best night I have ever had with Danny's family so now we are making it into a tradition :)
May not be the same places but it will definitely be the same people!

at the pub

it was seriously right across from the restaurant!

This is also the last week my dad will be here before he returns to his home in Oregon. Here is a picture of him and my mom when we went to dinner on Sunday :)


I hope you all have a terrific Tuesday!
love always,

Follow @AshasAspects

A Series of Phone Calls...

This morning started off with 3 of the best phone calls I could have had and I just know my day is going to be so much brighter now because of them!
Phone call #1: The first call was from my mom, who is always hilarious so I expected to be entertained. She is such a joker and was saying that she was sorry for what happened yesterday and has to limit her pranks to "daytime only". In order to understand what made this call so great let me rewind to 9:50pm last night....
I called my mom on my way home from school around 9:30pm and got the shock of my life from the other end of the phone! I could hear the excitement in her voice from the moment she answered and immediately after saying hello she told me that she got engaged! MY MOM...ENGAGED! Oh heck noooo!! I can't even tell you how many times I asked her over and over if it was true but she kept insisting that her longtime missionary friend, who is overseas at the moment, sent her the ring in the mail. She then told me that he always said he would propose that way and she is most definitely going to say "yes".
So of course I abruptly hung up and speed dialed my hubster so he could calm me down and bring me back to reality. 2 minutes later, at 9:50pm, I'm meeting her at the end of her street so she can show me her bling. I am one of the most curious people I know so there was no way I would be waiting til the next day to see her diamond! She even told me she forgot the letter at home but would show it to me the next day. So there I am, comparing her "diamond" to mine to see if it is legit and I actually believed her! Then she lets me hold the ring, which is as light as a feather, and starts laughing...HARD! Apparently she found the ring on the side of the road when walking the dogs and decided to pull one of the greatest pranks ever on me at almost 10pm when I have not been home all day. Nice, mom, very nice. But I love her and am grateful that she goes out of the way to keep me on my toes. Thankfully, she promised to limit this to daytime only so I am very pleased now :)

me and my prankster mom

Phone Call # 2: This short and sweet phone call was a surprise from my dad, who is on vacation touring South America right now! I cannot begin to express how happy I was to hear his voice, especially since my mom told me that he was not feeling that well when he first arrived. I'm happy to now know that he is doing great and having the time of his life. His birthday was on October 7th so he waited to open the cards from my mom and I on that day. He got to read them while at Machu Picchu in Peru! How amazing is that?!

me and my world-traveling dad

Phone Call # 3: I had my usual, but still very delightful, random morning call with the hubster today! It was about our first time eating chicken parmesan and went a little something like this:
Asha: "so someone is going to see their mommy this weekend!"
Daniel: "yea, I'm gonna spend time with my dad and grandma too"
A: "remember when your grandma used to always make you those steak things?"
D: "yea, breaded steak. It was so good and then I discovered chicken parmesan!"
A: "I remember when I had it for the 1st time! I was 13 at Olive Garden"
D: "Wow you were missing out! That stuff is like from heaven!...Oh nevermind, it can't be. That many calories can only be from hell!"

And then we had to get off the phone. I love that guy so much! Even after almost 5 years together we are still learning new things about each other :)

I'm also linking up for "It's OK Thursdays"!





It's Ok...

... to get motivation to run every time I see the top shelf of the closet that is filled with jeans that no longer fit
... to go to the mall on a friday night with the hubs to "relive" our high school days
... to feel like the year is flying by so quick that everything feels out of my control
... to eat PB & J for breakfast EVERY morning no matter how many other yummy things there are in the house
... to get impatient because I want so much more from life than where I am right now
... to lay out in the backyard and be just as amazed by the stars as when I was a kid
... to be in disbelief of how random I am after looking at this list I created :)

Happy Thursday!
love always,

Follow @AshasAspects

Wanna Be My Buddy?

On Saturday Danny and I joined his family for an event held here in Tampa Bay every year called Buddy Walk. It is a very FUN fundraiser for Down Syndrome and we went to support his cousin, Alejandra, who is the most precious little 2-year-old! Each group has their own name and we were "The A Team". We were the only ones to have red T-shirts for our group so we completely stood out and by the end of the day I was so sunburned that my face was matching the shirt :( It's all good now, though, because I have a hottt tan (at least on my face!) ha!
It was our first year going but I know I will definitely be back again next year. The hosts were amazing and there were tons of bouncy houses for the kids as well as other games, dancing, prizes and even food catered by Carrabba's!

Here are some pics to give you a glimpse of all the fun we had!

Me, Danny & Alejandra

the crew

I was the line-leader

how cute is this?! they are inseparable!

they had a petting zoo for the kids, so of course Danny and I went

this is what was waiting for us after the walk :)

Carrabba's catered all the food for FREE!

they could get DOWN! We danced the cha-cha slide, cupid's shuffle and a LOT more!

Danny & his aunt in a dance-off!

They made the hugest train I'd even seen!

Allie was exhausted by the end of it!

I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!
love always,

Follow @AshasAspects

Randomness to start the weekend

Happy Friday, everyone!

I have been having a beautiful day and it is such a great start the my Birthday weekend, which I'm sure you all are tired of hearing about by now! Even though there is a tropical storm passing by and there will be thunderstorms galore, I'm still excited! Nothing will dampen my spirits, not even lightning, thunder (although it does still scare me!) and tons of rain.Stay tuned next week for pics of my weekend and pray for the rain to stay away!

So on a totally different topic, I just came across some pics of my trip to Oregon and Northern Cali last spring and I thought I would share a few of them with you :) Enjoy!

I put my engagement ring inside a rose

Have a great weekend!!
love always,

Follow @AshasAspects

I. AM. SO. BAD!

Dear blog friends:

  I am so sorry for being such a horrible blogger! I have been so busy in my "real life" that my blog life is totally suffering.  And I'm not-so-sorry to say that I would rather have it that way than the reverse ;)

 So how is life, you ask? Well it's just plain amazing! In the last couple weeks I have made milestones, though they were very small, in my life! Here are some of the "accomplishments" that took place:

1. I am terrified of public speaking, which makes no sense since I'm majoring in communication, but somehow managed to give a 3 hour presentation! I may or may not have presented it with three other people but it's still a big achievement, okay?!

2. I am getting so much better at sewing! It took a lot of practice but I think I can finally say I am somewhat a seamstress! FYI: my definition of a great seamstress is someone who can reattach a button that is hanging off a sweater or mend a very tiny tear. Anything beyond that is just plain phenomenal :)

3. I went to my first reunion for Danny’s family and it was very interesting, to say the least!

in the car (it wasnt the same day but i thought it was a good pic lol)

the clubhouse

king and queen of the ball lol

dancing with mom-in-law :)

sis-in-law, me, & mom-in-law

niece, nephew and their friends

4. Danny and I sang our first duet together! It was a complete train wreck and was more hilarious than anything else but at least we can say that we did it. We also did the "jump on it" dance at the end. Yes, it was embarrassing and no, I'm not proud of it! Lesson learned....karaoke is NOT for us!

i had to hide my face from embarassment!

We really did have a great couple of weeks and it feels so good to be back on here blogging about the ups, downs and in-betweens of married life! 


Hope you all have an extraordinary weekend!
love always,

Follow @AshasAspects