travels - CHA {set up day}

CHA Day 1

we survived day 1 of the CHA Summer show.
12 hours on my feet in heels.
lots of visiting.
eating chocolate & soda.
having too much fun with my AC family.
catching up with old friends.

Good day CHA

#instadump

Been a tad busy the past little bit.
cabin trip, voting, friends, partying, IG'ing, sleeping, working...life is busy!

Does anyone have IG?! I love to have new friends...
Let's be friends @allthingsashley

textual anxiety

do you have this condition?
this thing called textual anxiety.
I believe I may have this.

on this lovely day, I went to work all happy and crap.
I knew it was going to be a great day.
Then, bam! I got pegged in the leg by the desk...err, I think I ran into the desk.
Again, I tried crafting at work and bam! The sewing machine I was using stopped working on me...err, I didn't thread the bobbin correctly the second time and it jammed on me.
Today was also the day my worst fear came true. I found myself stuck in the elevator. Just me, my shipping cart, and my to do list. No cell phone. The lights were flickering. This was the elevator from The Shining {seriously}

Fortunately, the company has elevator insurance. Hallelujah. I was set free by the nice elevator man. Thank you air.

Finally, I realized that it was 12:00 in the afternoon and I had only received three text messages. I started to freak out. Then I freaked out some more because I realized I'm addicted to technology.

Anyone have a therapist who can help me? Oh, forget it. I'm beyond help. And I'm ok with that.

On a brighter note, I bought the "The Oh, Hello's" cd today....go listen.

giveaway winner

hello lovely followers.


the winner of the "mustache banner" giveaway:


Christi Lynn

Congrats pretty lady!
please email me with your mailing address and i'll get this sent out to you ASAP!

mustache you to win.

do you like mustaches on men?
do you hate them?
i think i like them...not on men.


are you a fan of the mustache craze?
 hobblecreek designs donated this banner for a giveaway on the blog.

pretty cute, huh?

would you like to win this banner?

to enter:

1 - be a follower of All Things Ashley (mandatory)

2 - go 'favorite' Hobblecreek Designs on Etsy

3 - leave me some love (comment)

4 - blog/facebook about this giveaway and send me a link

5 - comment on your favorite item from the Hobblecreek shoppe on Etsy

there ya go - 5 ways to enter!

get to it!

(giveaway open from June 28 - July 6)

Winner will be announced on July 9th

shiz people {say}

I'll be honest...kind of upset #hashtag didn't make it on here...
enjoy!

changes

I need to get my thoughts down before I forget them...
over the last few weeks my life has change significantly.

i have had many eye opening experiences and am so thankful for each one.
some call these experiences trials.
i prefer to call them learning experiences.
the only way i feel like i can learn, is when i am struggling and really having to rely on God.
i obviously need to learn a lot, because i feel like i have been struggling the past few weeks.

struggling isn't necessarily a bad thing either, in my opinion.
my eyes have been opened up, yet again, to the things i need to see.
listening to a certain friends advice, hearing a song on the radio that makes me cry,
meeting new people, having wonderful and new experiences.

i just know that life is good.
i know that i am blessed beyond what i deserve.
i am the happiest i have been in my entire life.

i owe it all to God.
God is good - therefore, life is good.

photo dump

I've been a lazy blogger...I'm on a computer all day at work and literally the last thing I wanna do when I go home is get on my computer and blog...so forgive me!

Did everyone have a good weekend? Did you do anything fun?!

what do Mormons believe?

I feel like Mormons have been in the media a lot the past little while.
A lot of people I know, are Mormon, but the majority of the world does not know or has not been informed about the Mormon religion.

I'd like to share an article with you that my father wrote for a column in Mexico - in response to an article in The Economist.

I hope this helps shed some light on the Mormons and our beliefs.

The Mormon Way of Business

By Russ Warner, President & CEO of ContentWatch Inc., makers of Net Nanny

An interesting article appeared this month in The Economist entitled "The Mormon way of Business."  The article focused on reasons why Mormons are successful and commented on a few better-known Mormon business people, such as current U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

The Economist commented that Mormons are "clean-cut and neatly dressed and that they have a passion for business" but that in the U.S., less than 2% of Americans are Mormons.  So what makes Mormons excel in business? 

First, if you're not familiar with the term "Mormon," it's the name given to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The Church was founded by Joseph Smith in 1830 in New York. The term Mormon is derived from our belief in a book of scripture called The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Mormons believe in God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost.

I am a Mormon and my ancestors joined this church five generations ago in the 1840's. My wife and four children are faithful members of the church as well.

Some people feel that Mormons are peculiar.  We don't drink alcohol, smoke, or take illicit drugs. We typically have large families and life-long, faithful marriages. We keep a supply of food and water on hand in case of emergency.  We attend church every Sunday and usually on weekdays.  We support state, local, and federal government.  We teach our children to abstain from sexual relations until married.

Mormons look for opportunities to serve in our community and world. To that end, there are over 56,000 full-time Mormon missionaries around the globe. I was a full-time missionary in Chihuahua, Mexico in the early 1980s.  And in addition to managing a small software company, I also serve part-time (unpaid) as an ordained Bishop with a Mormon congregation.

 

Some influential Mormon businessmen include the following: 

• Mitt Romney, presidential candidate, and founder ofBain Capital, a highly successful private-equity firm.  
• Jon Huntsman Senior founded Huntsman Corporation, an $11 billion chemical giant. 
• David Neeleman founded two airlines: JetBlue in America and Azul in Brazil. 
• Ralph Atkin founded SkyWest Airlines. 
• Eric Varvel is the boss of Credit Suisse’s investment bank. 
• Harris Simmons is the Chairman of  Zions Bancorporation, a regional bank. 
• Allan O’Bryant runs the Japanese division of Reinsurance Group of America.  
• J.W. Marriott runs the Marriott hotel empire founded by his father. 
• Harvard University's Clayton Christensen is one of the world’s leading management consultants. 
• Stephen R. Covey, author of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” is a leading self-help guru.

Mormons believe in being honest and in working hard. We believe that we must faithfully support our family. We believe in treating others with respect.  We believe in getting as much education as possible and in life-long learning.  And because so many Mormons serve full-time missions around the world, many Mormons are bi-lingual.  These factors ultimately contribute to success in business. 

Mormons are successful due to clean living, hard work ethic, and a goal to be self-reliant. As such, young Mormons keep pouring into the business community. And Mormon university students are frequently recruited by large investment banks, accounting firms, and corporations due to their intelligence, reliability, and hard work ethic.

According to The Economist, "Modern Mormons have something in common with other industrious minorities, such as Parsees, who are prominent in corporate India, the overseas Chinese and Jews. But some of the answer may lie in the faith itself. Mormonism—the only global religion to have been invented in the past 200 years—is in some ways more business-friendly than its more ancient rivals."

Mormons revere order because we believe God is a God of order. We believe that men and women are capable of progressing after this life, and we work to become better people, at all times and in all places.

The Economist also said, "The [Mormon] church is probably the best-organized in the world and certainly the most cost-effective. The president and his 12 advisers sit at the top like the board of a multinational. Below them, the church depends on a throng of [un-paid] volunteers. Church members begin to perform in public at the age of three. They become “deacons” at 12 and are given more demanding [church] jobs as they grow older. The faithful are expected to give 10% of their pre-tax income to the church."

I also believe one of the most important preparatory rites of passage for Mormon men and women is serving as a volunteer missionary at the age of 19 (for men) or 21 (for women).  During that time, Mormons work ten hours a day, six days a week in proselytizing and teaching. Few other groups in the world experience anything as demanding at that young age. Perhaps one exception are the Israelis, "who spend years in the military, and who also have an outstanding record as entrepreneurs."

In summary, Mormons believe that all men and women should be hard-working, honest contributors, highly educated, and supporters of our families, our communities, and to  society in general.  Anyone with such beliefs will likely find success as well.