DIY: Bridal Shower Cake

"Eat, Pink & Be Married"

Tonight was my best-friend's bridal shower, all pink & girly.

I wanted to do something different than the usual Victoria's Secret gift bag or wrapped gift & bow, and so with some baby shower diaper cake + Pinterest + my OWN creativity

I made a "Bridal Shower" cake/gift:

It was very easy to do and probably could've taken me less than an hour if my daughter didn't keep ripping things apart, or that I'm a perfectionist. 

1. I cut a cereal box into two different sizes & length to make the outer & inner towel circles. There isn't a specific length and size. It depends on your preference and size of your hand towels.

2. I then rounded them into circles and taped them together. 

Other tutorials like {CLICK HERE} hot glued them to a cake plate. I didn't have one, but it became sturdy after I wrapped the hand towels around each circle.

I just worked with what I had.

3. I laid everything out

Cheap = hitting up your local Ross.

$4 bucks- Set of hand towels

$3 bucks- Huge net of kitchen ware spatulas

$5 bucks- Photo clips

I'm a makeup hoarder/addict (ask my husband), so I added in the "unused" MAC lipglasses and Victoria's Secret Spray because I love my friend that much!

I also had an unopened set of heart shaped cookie cutters from a past wedding favor. 

Ribbons from my Mom. The large ribbon is actually from a Victoria's Secret shopping bag handle.

BRIDE letters from Mom's Cricket machine. 

Lastly, I had a pie crust platter that I never used.

BACK VIEW

*Yup, I stuffed "Honeymoon Essentials" within

Only for the Bride's eyes

There you go! It was a hit at the Bridal Shower, so go ahead and impress EVERYONE!

Simple, practical & something to be proud of.

To warm your heart

"It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman in his 80′s arrived at the hospital to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am. The nurse took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would be able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound. On exam, it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound. While taking care of his wound, I asked him if he had another doctor’s appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer’s Disease. As we talked, I asked if she would be upset if he
 was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now. I was surprised, and asked him, ‘And you still go every morning, even though she doesn’t know who you are?’ He smiled as he patted my hand and said, ‘She doesn’t know me, but I still know who she is.’"

"Hunger Games Hangover" Book Challenge

This summer I'm taking the "Hunger Games Hangover" book challenge.

*FYI I have, am and will always be a book worm...and I read the Hunger Games wayyyyy before the bandwagon came rolling into town (but who cares if you jump on it right?), you can even ask James when I said, "It would be cool if they did a movie on this". However, I'm still half & half about books turned into movies. Most of the time movies end up killing it for the movie goer who didn't even read the book prior to watching. ANYWAYS....a friend of mine mentioned the list above, and since the end of May, I've finished two and am almost ending a third. 

I loooooove reading. Anything & everything. 

Sometimes I read a book just to form my own opinion about it. And even if I'm bored halfway, I'll still finish it, just to finish it, but then I'll appreciate the storyline anyways. It's hard to explain. I'm book weird.

If you ever go to the Kahuku Public Library, there's a "Classics" shelf in the Young Adult section. You know, the books your English teachers pick and force you to read at every grade level, like The Great Gatsby and The Good Earth. Anyways, I challenged myself to read that entire classics shelf one of my years in high school. I enjoyed it so much (Yes I did! Loved Les Miserables! And excited about the upcoming movie remake) that I would check out almost four novels at one time and take turns reading them every other night. hahaha. And so when the books were assigned to us to read in English, I was already one step ahead of my class & was able to procrastinate a lot of my hw/ or even turn hw in early because of already reading the book.

Aside from classics, high school was where I was introduced to 'dystopian literature' when an English teacher of mine suggested I read, The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood. A really BIG must read. It'll get your mind thinking, and is probably why I fell in love with the Hunger Games series and now the Divergent/Insurgent series (thx Leise).

I also came across another suggested dystopian book list, with some series also mentioned in the first picture above. However, this blogger actually read all the books she suggests and reviews them. I'm actually a little more interested in her list and other suggestions on her blog. CLICK HERE!

That'll be what I'm doing this summer, well actually in that direction but I'm always looking for good reads at Barnes & Nobles since I've become an official member! lol. And Mahie too in the children's book club. Let me know what other reads you've found. I also finally finished "Little Bee" by Chris Cleave, suggested by my sister-in-law Rose.

Time to get reading & fall asleep for work tomorrow!

wanting for the sun

summer is almost here.....a few fun things :)


cute layered roxy tankini

love the floral print

BRIGHT summer nails

the smell of "tahiti, sweetie" my favorite bath & body works lotion

a friend of mine surfed on the billabong girl's team & was sponsored by shiseido. i love this sunscreen!

& my NEW vz's

ASH-LYN!!!

I don't think my name is hard or any way difficult to pronounce. There's just "ash" and then there's "lyn". Unless you're like an innocent two or three year old, then maybe you'd call me "adin" with a lisp....but if you're an adult, there's no excuse. NO EXCUSE. I think this vent post was triggered by a certain tutu in the building I work at, who has been introduced to me, has heard me introduce myself to her/remind her what my name was, and sees my BOLD name printed on my employee tag pinned onto my chest many times....and yet still calls me ASHLEY. Hello! You're not THAT old!

I've encountered this Ashlyn/Ashley situation throughout my life. When I was younger, I'd think to myself, "Am I not pronouncing my name clearly?" I  mean I'd greet someone, tell them my name, and yet they'd still refer to me as Ashley. But as I grew older I categorized these annoying name-messer-upper people as either 1. Deaf, 2. Lazy, 3. Dumb. I know it may sound harsh, but hear me out....or just get off my blog.

1. Deaf
So the deaf ones, obviously just didn't hear me the first time (I guess). They paid attention to me introducing myself, but somehow they'll make an honest mistake which usually happens once. I'm forgiving to these types of people because they really didn't mean to mess up my name and truly apologize or make you feel that they WANT to learn your correct name, lol. It's no biggy, we're all deaf at times. (Sometimes I'm purposefully deaf, haha)

2. Lazy
Lazy, is more like stubborn because they actually hear you say ash-LYN, but yet keep referencing back to it sounding like ash-LEY, and "Oops sorry, it's because I know an Ashley". Has no one heard my name before? Because it was pretty common in elementary. In 1st, 4th and 5th grade I was referred to as 'AshlynK' or 'Ashlyn1' in classes with other Ashlyn's. These people are super annoying, and yet they always seem to think it's funny that they call me the wrong name.

3. Dumb
And the Dumb, make no courteous effort to notice that they consistently call me the wrong name. They see it on my name tag, the emails I send them, they hear it when I constantly correct them or hear other  coworkers call me ASHLYN. They are always small in number, so I know for sure that they just have a personal problem, lol. So guess what "Dummies"? Two can play that game! (And mind you this is only when I'm pretty ticked off) ......when I keep walking out of the room, it's because my name is not ash-LEY.....it's ASHLYN. Get it right, or I'm not turning around! I mean, it's not like I make up a name to call you!

In the words of Jillian Michael's Ripped in 30 DVD, "let's bring things back to center & cool down." lol. You may think I'm crazy, but I'm just stating a point. It's my name and I love my name. In fact I'm very proud of name. My Dad named me after his mother, my Grandma Ashlyn Ululani Ka'onohi Ka'ahanui, who passed away when he was a little boy from a severe case of asthma. My Dad loved his Mom, and it was through the childhood stories he told that caused me to love her just as much. She was a remarkable woman and had a beautiful history. She was born to a wealthy Hawaiian family with a huge house up in Alewa Heights. Her Father (my Great-Grandfather) was Alexander Kaonohi, one of the first 'official' Hawaiian doctors, having come from a long line of kahuna la'au lapa'au, or natural Hawaiian healing. He classified more than 240 herbs and plants to be documented as ways to heal, paving the way for modern medicine in Hawaii. He truly served the Hawaiian community, usually never taking any payment but was always left fruit, sugarcane as a thank you from patients.

Her 1950 graduation from St. Andrew's Priory

Great-Grandfather Doctor Ka'onohi, that's a pure Hawaiian right there!

Grandma Ashlyn, Grandpa B, my uncles and the smallest with the red hat is my Dad "Kent" Kaahanui.

My Grandma Ashlyn attended St. Andrew's Priory (reason why I wish one day I can afford to send Mahie there), was well educated, musically talented on the ukulele, had a strong testimony of the gospel and was a wonderful mother to five young children. So maybe I am making a big deal about my name, but I have good reason to.

Lastly, it has caused me to always, yes always, listen carefully to what another person's name is. I am very sensitive to making sure I pronounce a name correctly. Plus, it's embarrassing if you're calling the other person the WRONG name. We should all make the effort!

So Hi Guys, my name is Ashlyn Aspinall.

One episode after the other!

I had the entire Saturday to myself & Mahie. Parts of our home have been separated into toss, sell, pack. It doesn't help that when you make piles, your little 10month baby crawls over and starts to make her own pile...or decides to take a nap in the middle of everything. Anyways, I always clean better with Pandora or a movie playing in the background. I went with an online tv show suggestion by my friend Marissa called "Dance Moms"....I'm addicted. After 2 minutes into Season 1, Episode 1, I realized I couldn't leave my laptop, so I barricaded the living room to keep Mahie from roaming the apartment and decided to plant myself next to all the laundry needed to be separated and folded. I ended up watching more episodes than folding laundry (which wasn't a lot at all, lol). I think us women love our online movie shows....one episode after another really makes the time fly. James came back from work, looked around and said, "What did you do with your life today?"...I told him to order pizza for dinner. lol.

The Coach is pretty intense, but I don't know why the moms complain because at the end of the day, their daughters are very talented and win every competition. Although I do agree that the Coach can be over the top at times, like for one performance she dressed the girls (6-10yrs) in sequined bras and booty shorts, and taught them some pretty inappropriate moves. The judges didn't even place them.

I've also been reading up on a lot of "Mommy Blogs". Don't you think that a lot of them on blogspot seem repetitive or have a cookie cutter presentation. As in they all share the same characteristics: skilled in photography, skilled in baking, shop-a-holics, eating-healthy-aholics, lol, exercise-aholics....not hating, ANYways...I came across Kourtney Kardashian's blog videos too. I wonder if she really does DO ("does DO" does that make sense?) everything for her son or if she has a nanny on hand. But then again, I too have nanny help when I'm at work, lol...TWO on-call infact. Nanny #1: My sister Hillary (she's #1 because she's more available and doesn't get stressed like), Nanny #2: My Mom.....who after 5 kids and a million years later I guess forgot how demanding crawling/teething infants can be. (love you mom).

If you got a favorite tv show or mommy blog, hook a sistah up!

Still Alive!

I've neglected my ONCE TOTALLY OBSESSED personal blog. It'll make a reappearance soon. Ok? To all my 11 fans, haha, and random passerby's.....I guess the only thing that's been on my mind lately is work, graduation in April, and out with the move to my Parent's temporarily and then off to the Land Down Under! James first, then me & Mahie. It's like one in the morning and my neighbors are belching karaoke! errrr! House is messy, but I'm just flipping the light off on it all. Good night, Sleep Tight....I'll soon be sewing a dress for my baby girl, hopefully the final project LOOKS like a dress!