Black Friday + Weekend Deals

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Hey all!

Just wanted to drop a quick note this weekend to alert you to some awesome Black Friday weekend deals (many of which are local Pittsburgh businesses!) Pretty Living PR has pulled together a bunch of deals for you to take advantage of this weekend! Check out the list of businesses here!


There's still time to get in on some of the big deals before the weekend is out! Go! Go! Go!

<3 Ashley

Happy Thanksgiving!!

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Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Can we talk about the fact that I am finally up early enough to catch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade?! Had it not been for the determination to do my own little "Turkey Trot" run I would probably just be getting up right now. I'm sorry that this is probably the only blog post you will be getting from me this week. The past few days have been filled up with last minute essay writing, packing for break and shopping for my pumpkin pie. Tomorrow I will be exhausted from Black Friday shopping (Anyone else going out at midnight?! See you there!) but I get to spend the day with one of my good friends that I don't get to see as much because of school so that should alleviate some of the fatigue. Saturday is our house decorating day before I leave on a bus back to Pittsburgh on Sunday. I'll give you a full update on Monday, I'm sure. Until then have a great holiday and relaxing weekend!

<3 Ashley

Happy Thanksgiving!

Four Beauty Favorites

Eyeliner || Perfume || Brush Set || Lipstick

I will admit, this week is not flying by the way I was hoping it was--possibly because I am hoping for it to speed by. But can you blame me? I just want to go home and not do any work! However, it is Wednesday! We're halfway there. Because it's Wednesday ATG is once again linking up with Let It Be Beautiful and Fancy Things for Four Favorites. This week we are discussing beauty:

- I love this gel eyeliner from Maybelline! I just can't deal with pencil; I always feel like I have to aggressively apply it because it's not coming out as dark as I would like. The gel is so much smoother and thicker and the applicator is more comfortable for me to use.

- The store I work at sells Kate Spade Twirl and I love it! Every time I am making my rounds through the beauty department, I stop to take a whiff of this perfume. The cute bottle is also a big point earner with me.

- When it comes to beauty, I will not pretend to be a specialist. If you want solid advice on what kinds of brushes to use and how often to replace them this is not the place to find out (I will just refer you to a beauty blogger!) The brushes I use and have no qualms with are the brush sets from Forever 21. Maybe I get them just because they are cute--I want the floral set next!

- Red lipstick. I am a full supporter of red lips all year round but I find that they especially pop against the dreary, cold and snowy weather than comes with late fall and winter. I can't say that I have worn that Tom Ford lipstick--my meager college budget probably would not allow for that--but I imagine it's quite nice. 

<3 Ashley

What are your beauty favorites? Join the Four Favorites link up by clicking on the button below!

A Little Holiday Spirit

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It's November 19 and I am officially in the holiday mood. Next week is Thanksgiving and I am so excited to go home and see all my friends and family. I'm pretty sure I've been booked everyday of the week! Usually I don't get too celebratory until Thanksgiving is actually upon us, but I think the excitement I am feeling this year about just going home has sparked an early enthusiasm in me. I mean...I'm listening the Pandora Christmas station as I type this. All I need is the week to move just a little bit faster so that I can get to the holiday festivities on the other side!

<3 Ashley

Are you excited for the holidays? Have you gotten in the spirit yet?

Break Me Off A Piece of Sanity

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I'm taking a break. No! Not from blogging! Why would I stop doing something that I consider so therapeutic for me? I mean from school (and people.) Thanksgiving break is in a week and I am anticipating it more than I think I ever will. Last year, I don't think I was too desperate to go home for break; this is probably due to the fact that I was getting acclimated to college life and living alone and actually enjoying it. This year is different. The semester has definitely been the most stressful and difficult academically that I have experienced so far. It has also been rather heavy in the social realm as well.

My roommate and I have been discussing this a lot lately...living in a co-ed dorm is certainly different. We've gotten close with these guys. We've seen ladies come and go over these past three months. We've had to listen to more problems and feelings than we though we'd ever hear from guys. We need a break from these people. Not that I don't appreciate how comfortable they are with me to come to me with their problems, but let me tell you...they make me feel a little masculine sometimes! There's also plenty of actual females that I need to take some time off from as well.

8 days and counting!

<3 Ashley

What do you need a break from?

TGIF Pins

How long has it been since you saw a TGIF Pins post pop up in your blog feed? Far too long is what I think! This semester has been so much busier than I ever anticipated--can we talk about the fact that I seem to have developed a social life? Groundbreaking... But things are winding down since Thanksgiving break is approaching. Yesterday was my last exam before the break and the only big thing I have left before then is a paper which isn't due until the day we leave. This weekend is also the last Pitt home game that I will be attending. The scheduling masterminds did schedule a game over the Thanksgiving break against Miami, but who's really going to go to that?! Hopefully this weekend we can come through like we did last weekend against Notre Dame (excitement that I am STILL trying to come down from!)

But you probably don't want to hear about football. After weeks on hiatus, TGIF Pins is back! Here are my favorite pins from the past week!

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"It's Like...Shoe Art!"

 Quick, everyone! What movie is title quote from?! ...P.S. I Love You! If you got it correct, I'm sorry but I have nothing to offer you except a virtual pat on the back and my approval. If there's one thing I love in this world (beside that movie, of course!) it's shoes. If you were to ask anyone who has seen the inside of my closet they would probably tell you that I have way too many; I, however, would say that I can always use more shoes! But that's just me...

ShoeDIVA Boutique recently launched here in Pittsburgh and I already have the website in my bookmarks. From what I have seen, one thing you can expect from this brand is one-of-a-kind designs. If I plan to make a statement, I typically do so with accessories and these shoes will definitely help to make a statement. ShoeDIVA was founded by Janelle Cutler who has stated that her own shoe fetish and sense of style makes her qualified to offer quality and one-of-a-kind shoes to the divas in this world; who can argue with that logic?! In the future, she hopes to take ShoeDIVA from an online shopping experience to storefront.

For those of you in the Pittsburgh area, on Sunday November 24 there will be a launch party hosted at Windy's Boutique in the SouthSide area (one of my favorites in Pittsburgh!) from 2-6pm. You can go ahead and browse the website for shoes and other small accessories here.

<3 Ashley

What are your favorite kinds of shoes to wear? See anything on the site that you like?

November Favorites

1 || 2 || 3 || 4

Not to start off on a crappy note, but boy does my back hurt!! I was woken up at 3 AM by an awful pain in the area of my left shoulder blade and was only able to to muster as mere 4 hours of sleep last night. I don't know what I did to mess up my shoulder. So in the chance you were run into me today, don't mind my less than friendly behavior...it's not you, it's definitely me.

Anyway, it's Wednesday which means it's time for my favorite link up with Ashlynn at Let It Be Beautiful and Kristen at Fancy Things. This weeks theme for Four Favorites is November Favorites! There's a lot to love when it comes to November and the season in general:

1. M.A.C. lipstick in Rebel! If the month was a color it would be this one. I love how deep the color is and how it pretty much would go with everything I wear during the fall.

2. Those flats up there are an obsession of mine and I must track them down! You know how I feel about leopard and leather: I am a full supporter!!

3. Hats in November and fall are a must as well! I love the hat above as well as beanies and cloches. 

4. All sugary and caffeinated beverages! I am pretty sure that during this month I am paying Starbucks' electric bill. Also, yesterday I ventured into Peet's and tried their Cinnamon Gingerbread Latte...yum! I will probably be frequenting that establishment as well.

<3 Ashley

What are your November favorites? Click the button below to join the linkup! 

Book Club: The Receptionist

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Happy Monday!

Before I really get into this post, can I just comment on how fast this semester has flown by?! In just 2 weeks I will be heading back home for Thanksgiving and then 2 weeks later I will be taking finals. This is nuts! I really need this break too. I need to go back to my own people and sleep in my own bed (quoting one of the guys on my floor)

Anyway, after I finished reading two novels for my cultural anthropology class I was able to get back into recreational reading. I went back and took a look at this book list on laurenconrad.com and got The Receptionist by Janet Groth out of the library on my Kindle. I had thought that the book would be more of a narrative story, rather it is about the author's time spent at The New Yorker through the '60s. Actually, it seemed to me it was more about the romantic relationships that the author developed during her time as a receptionist at the magazine. While the book is a little heavy on the relationships, I did appreciate the author's explanation of the lessons learned from each. I did really like the ending (not trying to get smart!) it was, in my opinion, the best written and most poignant part of the novel.

Overall, I think I would recommend this book. At least you won't be going into it thinking it's something else when it's really a collection of stories outlining the relationships she had during her time at The New Yorker.

<3 Ashley

Are you going to try reading The Receptionist? Have you read it already; what did you think?

Where Did Life Go?!

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So prior to yesterday, the question in the title never really crossed my mind; not after graduating high school, not after moving into my first college dorm, never. Yesterday and today two of my closest friends celebrated their 20th birthdays. Cue the late night barely-a-quarter-life crises. It finally hit me after realizing that everyone I know is entering their twenties...we're freaking adults, man! Now I still have quite a bit of time left to go before I cross into the next decade of my life but I still can't help but be a little bit taken by surprise at how quickly time seems to have passed.

I remember being in elementary and middle school with one of these girls and seeing each other everyday and going through all these really juvenile problems together. Last night, we were in our own dorms, on different college campuses, four hours away from each other still talking about our problems but with computer screens between us. We talked for hours about financial aid problems, crazy emotional guy problems, and other things that all of a sudden felt very grown up and very strange to us. I have now become very aware of life's little gray area where we are currently located.

In cultural anthropology we learned the term liminality. Liminality typically occurs in a cultural right of passage ritual; it is that step between the subjects starting social status and their new place in society. College is liminal. We aren’t the young guns who were a little sheltered, but we are also not completely cut loose and left alone to provide for ourselves and others yet. There are different rules that apply to us as we are learning how to be adults  in our specific society.

So I have nine months until I leave my teenage years and childhood behind me and really enter the age of adulthood. Luckily I have all these friends I can live through who are testing the waters for me, right? I plan on spending these last months making an effort--toward everything that’s coming at me in my in the rest of my nineteenth year as I enter into the twentieth year: applying for more scholarships to alleviate those financial aid problems, getting to know myself before concerning myself with others to maybe lessen some of those guy problems, and of course having fun to cure myself of my stress problem. After this post, I am still asking myself that question up there…where did life go? But there’s less panic now. Now it is peaceful realization and welcome toward the coming years.

<3 Ashley

Anyone else a little surprised at how fast time truly flies?

Four Favorites + A Beautiful Day

Print || Door Hanger || Umbrella || Nail Polish

Happy Hump Day everybody! The weather in Pittsburgh today is the stuff of legend--seriously it is GORGEOUS outside. Honestly I think the sun and warmth are responsible for my good attitude; I have an exam today...I should not be this peppy! Anyway, we're halfway through the week which means it's time to link up with Let It Be Beautiful and Fancy Things for Four Favorites! This week is random favorites. Here are a few of the things that have caught my eye in the past few weeks. 

- I don't think there is anyone who doesn't love Stephanie Sterjovski's prints. I love this one from her holiday collection. Also just made available are prints done with Glitter Guide which I already love as well!

- The door hanger says it all. This applies to my entire semester: if I could be in Paris rather than in class that would be ideal.

- This Burberry umbrella is definitely out of my budget, but that doesn't mean I can't stare at it online for hours. Burberry + leopard = wonderful!

- Fall is here which means my nails are going deep: blues, reds and greens. Bordeaux is my favorite nail color to wear in the fall!

I hope you all have a lovely day!

<3 Ashley

What are you loving this week? Join the link up by click on the button below!

Weekend Wrap-Up: Halloweekend

Dressed up for bingo night!

Halloween has come and gone and now it's November! Can we talk about the fact that we are already winding down 2013?! Time seems to be flying lately and I would love nothing more than have it slow down a bit. This week I'm already picking my classes for next semester (one of which I'm already waitlisted for...I won't express my frustration over this!)

Anyway this was a very fun Halloweekend--though I know some people who had more "eventful" ones haha! If you've been reading awhile you'll know that I'm not much of a party girl so I did not partake in those festivities. I did, however, make it to Haunted Holland this year where they were successful in scaring me. Saturday night I was working a Halloween event; bingo and a costume contest where I was able to don my own costume! This year I went as Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch. It was definitely a great weekend to be had!

<3 Ashley

What did you do for Halloween? Costumes?