Time to Save

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like a good sale, so ladies (& gents?) I’ve decided to share some of my fave websites that have new great deals every single day! Not only is it fun to get a great deal on something that you “need,” but it’s fun to see what’s going to be on sale every morning J Let’s start saving!

Groupon

This is a website that is for lots of major cities (Houston being one!) You can pick the city you want to receive coupons for, & the rest is easy! Every day an email will be sent to you with a deal. It’s all fun stuff like discounts at snazzy restaurants in town, spa treatments, fitness classes, art galleries, activities, etc. And a lot of the discounts are as good as 80% off!! This is such a neat way to learn about new things that you would not have thought of trying & then getting to do it for cheap! Bravo!

Clothes, Clothes, Clothes

All these websites (ideeli, gilt, rue lala, beyond the rack) have great deals that change daily. Each day there are items available from different designers that are way cheaper than you can find anywhere else! The sales last about 2 days or until what you want is sold out! Shop early to be sure your size is available.  There are all kinds of great designers big & small – for example, some of the featured designers this week are: Custco Barcelona, Nicole Miller, Burberry, Badgley Mischka, Donna Karan, Tadashi, Marc Jacobs, & many many more! There are also accessories (mostly belts, jewelry, & handbags), shoes, & items for your home. Fabulous!

Playing dress-up

 

These are the types of websites (WTGT, RTW) that have been featured in many magazines, TV shows, etc, so I’m not pretending that I found this one myself. In fact, I haven’t even tried it yet! I love looking around & have plans to make a purchase, I just haven't had the occasion come up. But the concept is so cool, I thought I would share just in case some of you readers haven’t heard about it yet! The concept is this (for WTGT): the website has gorgeous clothes that none of us (at least not myself!) can afford to actually buy but would love to wear! So they help us out by letting us borrow the clothes for 10% of the original price. We get to have the item for a week plus a cleaning fee when we return it. Basically you can get a Herve Leger dress that's originally $800 for $90 ($80 to rent plus the $10 cleaning fee). RTW works pretty much the same way. They have such fabulous designers & dresses that are very now - just perfect for wedding season coming up! So when you show up to all the hundreds of weddings this spring/summer/fall with a different fabulous dress for each occasion, no one has to know that they’re not yours – I won’t tell if you won’t!

Happy Shopping!

Travelin' Thursday - Split, Croatia

Another stop on my three month tour-o-Europe was to Croatia. Short summary – you need to go here before it’s too late! Croatia is just starting to get the buzz from tourists, so go now before it loses that untouched luster J Of course it’s not completely untouched, but it’s close! We first stopped in Zagreb (the capital) where we caught a bus down to Split.

As you can see from the map, the bus ride from Zagreb to Split was BRUTAL & long, but so worth it! They still allow smoking on busses though, which I was very much against. I had my face in my scarf for most of the ride. 

This is right outside the train station in Zagreb

And this is their main square. Zagreb is really open, but there wasn't really a whole lot there.

Our first day in Split, we were so excited to go lay on the beach! We were staying at a home (The lady did our laundry! Talk about service!) that was right on the water, so we just walked across the road & down a little hill where we laid out our towels & tried to get comfortable, which we found out in a hot minute was impossible! As we looked around we noticed everyone else had mats about 2 inches thick to keep their backs nice and rock free. Lesson learned!

This is the view from our house

And here’s the rocky beach

This the “market” where we did our shopping! It was just a little fruit stand & a store but it was right by our house. The people were very nice! We were able to use the house at the kitchen - a must for students on a budget!

We only spent a few days here, but one of those days we took a ferry over to the island of Brac to visit the most famous/nicest beach in Croatia – Zlatni Rat. Ew I know. The name is not appealing, but the beach is beautiful!! I didn’t take the pictures below (duh), but I wanted to be sure you got the full effect!

And here’s us at the tip!

Another of our day trips from Split was to a town called Omis (pronounced Amish). We did a lot of souvenir shopping here, & it was nice to do something other than be lazy & read on the beach – although I wasn’t complaining J 

Here we are waiting at the bus stop! 

Pretty view of the outskirts of Omis

Some of the shops!

Later on we went to Dubrovnik too, but that will have to wait until another day! Happy travels!

The Reading Room

For those of you that like to read, I thought I would do a segment every now & again about my favorite books. For the first installment, I had to do the one, the only: Harry Potter Series. 

I know, I know – they are children’s books, blah blah blah! NO! Don’t knock it until you try it!!! I first started reading these books in high school & just fell in love. I have always loved to be creative, so I really appreciate J.K. Rowling’s creativity in making up a whole different world. If you haven’t read the books, I’m sure you know what they’re about. If you’ve only seen the movies, you are MISSING OUT. The books are so much better than the movies (which is usually the case with books that are made into movies).

Some may think the following for Harry Potter is a little ridiculous, & I’d have to completely DISAGREE. Seriously y’all – please just read one. If you are just starting out, I would obviously suggest the first one first. However, if you’ve seen the movies & just want to see whether you would like the books or not, I would start with the third book – it’s my favorite!

Now when I say I’m a Harry Potter fan, I feel like I need to go into a little more detail. When the books come out, I’m there on the first day to get it. And I don’t mean I wonder in that day to see if there’s still a copy. No sir. I mean I reserve my copy the first day that they will take a reservation, & then the day before it comes out, my friends & I dress up like our favorite character & wait in line with the other fanatics playing games, going through trivia, & sharing our predictions until midnight when they let us in the bookstore. After getting our coveted copies, we go home & read until we just can’t read anymore. Oh how I love it! The same for the movies – reserve our tickets weeks in advance & wait in line at least four hours before midnight for the very first showing dressed as our favorite Hogwarts witch or wizard.

Here I am getting my book at the last book opening - the cashier doesn't seem as excited as I am!

The characters are all so funny & quirky, but my favorite is Hermione. Not only is her name awesome, but she reminds me a lot of me when I was little. She loves school, she’s kind of bossy, & she loves always being right! Here I am as Hermione with a friend dressed as Harry Potter at the last book opening. I even won a look-alike contest at a movie one time – cool?? Umm yeah!

*Please note that my little brother & I even took a crocheting class so we could learn to make that scarf that I'm wearing. When I say we go above & beyond I mean it!

So usually my “Reading Room” blogs won’t be this long, but I got a little carried away because it was Harry Potter. So please read one. You will be taken away to another place & fall in love with the characters J Happy Reading!!

Houston Rockets Power Dancer

Last Spring I had a revelation – the kind of “You Only Live Once” type of thing. I was very inspired to try things that I had always wanted to try but had been too afraid to do. I had a few friends from high school that were professional dancers for sports teams. I only danced for 2 years in high school (which was about 6 years ago!), but I thought this is the only time in my life when I can do this! I might as well try out so I don’t have any regrets. I found out that tryouts for the Rockets were in July, so I went to a few of the classes they offered & decided it was something I wanted to do. The night before tryouts I was gluing rhinestones on my top & bottoms to stand out – like a good pageant girl should J After learning the first dance, I thought I would make it past the first round of cuts, so I wasn’t too surprised when they called my number. However, after “learning” the second dance – I use “learning” loosely here b/c I was SO lost it was embarrassing! – I thought for sure I was out. When I went out to perform the dance, I smiled as big as I could & hit the moves that I knew were right & kind of faked the rest. I was SHOCKED when my number was called this time – I even went to double check with the lady to make sure she meant to say it. After about a week of training camp, which consisted of an interview (nailed it!) & learning another dance, I thought surely there were better dancers than me, & I was quite comfortable with the “it was a good experience” feeling. My brother & his girlfriend came to watch the finals at the House of Blues here in Houston, so I was really glad to have family there when I found at that I MADE THE TEAM!! It’s been such a fun time & a wonderful learning experience. Not only have I improved as a dancer, but I love the feeling of being part of a team again & all the girls are really fabulous J Check out my interview as RPD (Rockets Power Dancer) of the week:

http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/originals/

I can't get the link to my specific video to work (sad!), so just click on the above link, then click on most watched, & mine should be on the 3rd or 4th page!

And here we got to shake our poms on KPRC to promote the Blacktop Battle:

http://www.click2houston.com/video/22830646/index.html

My favorite RPD moment thus far (besides performing) happened at one of my first appearances. We were asked to pass out flyers promoting one of the games, & the flyer had my picture on it! I wasn't aware of this until I picked it up to pass it out - it was such a neat experience! 

If you're in the area, come on out to a game!! See you on the court :)

Travel Thursday - Paris, Bien Sure!

I absolutely LOVE traveling – everything about it. I love dreaming about where I want to go, planning every detail, packing, meeting new people, staying in new places, seeing new things, being exposed to different ways of doing things, missing home, & appreciating everything I have even more when I get back! I have been fortunate to travel all around the east coast & California, but my favorite place to go is Europe. And I had to start with Paris, of course!

I’ve always been obsessed with everything French - so go figure that I'm in love with a Frenchman! I began learning the language in 8^th grade, and after my freshman year of high school I got to go to Paris for the first time! Since then, I’ve been 3 more times, & I just can’t get enough! My mom & I went together for a girly adventure, I went for a wedding, & then I went back to study comparative law & criminal law in the civil system.

During my most recent visit (to study), I stayed for an entire month! I wanted to share some pictures in case you have never been or in case you want to remember when you were there!!

Here is where we stayed: Cite Universitaire

It was so neat, although the dorms were TRES petites (really small)!! We met some really nice people, & even bought some pots & pans from our neighbor who was from Greece :) 

Some of my favorite places in Paris:

Le Sacre Coeur (The Sacred Heart)

This is a church up on a hill in Northern Paris, & the view is absolutely beautiful! Also, the best hot chocolate I've EVER had was from a little cafe right behind this church - magnifique!

Le Moulin Rouge is a fantastic show!!

The costumes really are wonderful, the overall show production value is awesome, & even though the dancers are topless it is very classy. My favorite quotes about the show though are from two of my favorite boys:

Mom: "Their head dresses were really neat!"
Dad: "They had heads??"

and my boyfriend, Sebastien: "The costumes were my favorite part!" Always trying to be sweet :)

Le Catacombs

This is a cemetery of sorts that is located underground in Paris. The first few times I went to Paris I was scared to go down there, but it turns out it's really interesting, & they even try to dress it up a little bit; see here the skulls are arranged in a heart!

Shakespeare and Company

Since we were in Europe for 3 months, I wanted to get a big book that would keep me occupied & interested on all the long train rides, so we went to look for an English bookstore. This one was really cool, & I discovered a new (to me) author - Salman Rushdie. Also we heard later that day that Owen Wilson was there but I missed him! (I will have to explain my borderline-unhealthy love of celebrity sitings!)

Les Soldes!!!!!

During the summer, Paris has its annual sale, so of course Sebastien & I took part!
Here is the mall at La Defense & a picture of the craziness inside!

I actually didn't buy as much as I had been hoping, & even though Sebastien claimed that I MADE him come, those are ALL his shirts!

And last but not least, 2 places that everyone must go

Le Louvre (even though the Mona Lisa is a little disappointing in person)

et Haagen Dazs on Le Champs Elysees - yum!

A few pictures of why I was actually there...to learn about their legal system:

The first two are of one of their courthouses, and the third is of a court room. Everything in France is so elegant!

Sorry this was so long, but this was only a part of one of my trips to Paris. There is just too much to share!! Hope you enjoyed :) A Bientot!

My Platform: Breast Cancer Awareness

Finding a cure for breast cancer & spreading awareness about this disease & the effects is SO important to me! When I was nine, my mom & my dad’s mom were diagnosed with breast cancer just months apart. When my dad told me that my mom had breast cancer, I had so many questions – was she going to die? What did it mean that she was having plastic surgery? Was she going to be plastic? Would she still be able to play with me? And after her surgery, I didn’t know what to expect at all. I don’t know if I could even form my questions – I just wanted to know what was going on!

One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime, but the rate of survival is going up! I’m proud to say that my momma is a 15-year survivor. She has shown me that there are endless ways people can help. An obvious (and GREAT!) way to help is to donate money. However, I know that this isn’t an option for many people. Luckily, this is not the only way you can help! Here are some other options:

• Participate in a Race for the Cure
• Find events in your area through the website & come out to show your support
• Encourage friends to get annual mammograms
• Lend an ear to a friend who has been effected by this disease
• Offer your support by going to the follow-up visit if they have found a lump. This can be such a scary time & just having another person there can be very comforting.
• Share your experience with others & answer their questions openly & honestly
• The easiest (& cutest!) way to help – WEAR PINK! When someone compliments your awesome shirt, throw in a little bit about the cause.

These are just a few examples of ways to help out that don’t require your moola! I hope everyone will take the time to think about how you can help, & thank you in advance!

Feel free to share your experience here as well. If you would like to write a guest blog about your experience, please let me know!

Cheers!

Hello & Welcome!

Howdy y’all! I am so very excited to start this blog!! I love writing & keeping a journal, so I thought I’d share with you guys too. First a little bit about me & what I’ll be writing about: My name is Ashley Elizabeth, & I’m Miss Houston International 2010! (YEAH!) I will be competing for the title of Miss Texas International on March 26-28, & I’m very busy with preparations right now. The preparation part of pageants is so fun – shopping, typing up the applications, making appearances to promote my platform, & endless chatty emails & phone calls with my one and only Momma! My platform is Breast Cancer Awareness & the Susan G. Komen Foundation (www.komen.org) – more on this later! I’ll be writing about my pageant preparation & experiences, but I also want to give a little incite into who I am, so I will also write about things that I love – travelling, shopping, trying new restaurants & activities, & really anything else that pops into my mind!

A little side note: Yaya has been my nickname in my family for a very long time. When my little brother was first learning to talk, he wasn’t the best at it J When he tried to say Ashley, he said Yaya! (Actually, my name – Ashley Elizabeth Smith – turned into Yaya Bibif Mif…he was a genius!) So that’s where the name from my blog came from.

I hope you enjoy reading & feel free to leave comments/suggestions. With that, let’s begin!

Cheers!