must-see movie

Have you seen this movie? I am rarely one to see movies in the real theater and instead usually wait until they hit the dollar theater or video store, so I didn't see this movie until recently. It really was so touching. I cried through a lot of it. Dakota Fanning does such a fabulous job. It's not just a girly movie - I think guys might like it too. (Admittedly, I haven't read the book, so I don't have that to compare it to, but on its own it was excellent.) Go see it at your local dollar theater or rent it when it hits the video stores. You'll be glad that you did.

[a winner and some inspiration]

I have a winner to announce...
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Hi Ashley,
I'm mostly inspired by music and quotes I find but I really enjoy reading blogs by photographers and talented scrappers like yourself :)
Jody
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Congrats Jody! I used a random number generator, which picked the number 8 and that's you. Email me your address at ashleylschultz[at]gmail[dot]com. Thanks to everyone for telling me what inspires you. I thought it would be fun to list eight things that inspire me (since the winning number was eight).

1. Photography Looking at amazing photography inspires me to take better pictures. Some of my favorite photographers are Tara Whitney, Karen Russell (who I am taking an online photography class from this summer and I couldn't be more excited), Ali McLaughlin, Candice Stringham, and Allison Tyler Jones. Flickr also has a plethora of pictures that keep me visually inspired, such as these. I especially love pictures with bright colors.

2. Music Music inspires me to be creative and makes me happy. Some music also inspires and uplifts me spiritually. Some of my favorite songs for inspiration come from Regina Spektor. She is so creative and talented. I love this song and this song, and this song (and I think it's cute how these girls lip sync to it). I am also inspired by this song every time I hear it. It makes me reflect on my life and how blessed I am. I also love the soundtrack to this movie. As far as spiritual inspiration, Kenneth Cope's music has always inspired me. Many of the hymns also inspire me to be better.

3. People who advocate for change such as Jane Addams, Martin Luther King Jr., Crystal Lee (Jordan) Sutton, Alice Paul, and many others. I admire that these people stood up for what they believed in and did everything they could to instigate change and secure social justice.

4. Movies














Inspiring movies I've seen lately include Stardust (because I thought it was very creative), The Bucket List (because it was very touching), and Norma Rae (a movie from the 70s - I had to watch it for a class and I just loved it. I was so inspired by the conviction of the main character and her efforts to bring about change). Movies that have inspired me that I saw quite a while ago are Across the Universe, Big Fish, Elizabethtown, and Stranger than Fiction because they are creative and different movies.

5. Blogs. There are too many inspiring blogs to list all of them that I love, but I will list a few of my favorites. Karen Russell, Kelly McCaleb, Karla Dudley, Ali Edwards, Keisha Campbell, Ali McLaughlin, Pioneer Woman, Danielle Thompson (who I already mentioned in another post but I have to list her here to because she really inspires me a lot) Cathy Zielske (I adore her clean and simple scrapbooking style), Elsie Flanningan...so many more.

6. Pretty stores like this one in Seattle:

And this one in Arizona:


And this one in Texas:





And of course I love this store (I never shop there because it's too expensive...but a girl can wish. For example, I think this mirror is pretty dang cute but is it worth $700? I don't think so). And I have to add a few etsy shops to my list that are inspiring me as of late.
I love how simple the things are in this shop.




And Kelly's shop always has the cutest handmade things in it. I love these things especially:





People who can sew really inspire me.
I think the tags are really fun in this store:


And this store:

And the tags in this store are pretty darn cute too.


Okay, enough window shopping for now.

7. People who have faith and live their lives according to their beliefs like my mom and sister and my husband and many of my friends also really inspire me.

8. Wendel. He is so supportive of me finishing school. He really believes in me, which inspires me to reach my goals and my potential.

Wow, this is a marathon post! I could go on and on...so many things inspire me, but I need to get off the computer and spend some time with W.

Have a good night!

crazy weather

The weather has been crazy lately. It was snowing and hailing yesterday and today it is sunny and nice. I'm not sure if this is normal for Spring in Washington...it wasn't like this last year. Anyone?

So I started my last quarter as an undergrad yesterday. After this I have my practicum an then I'm done! I'm pretty excited about that. Pretty dang excited.

I am listening to Weezer, putting off doing laundry. Any other Weezer fans out there? I know they are old school but I really like them.

We saw Dan in Real Life the other night and we liked it. I have been trying to see that movie forever. It was clean and funny. I recommend it.

Okay, not much else to share. Guess I should get back to my to-do list...

new favorite movie

We just got done watching this movie. We both loved it. The writing was good, I laughed and cried...it was so refreshing from the same old. Adrienne Shelly did an excellent job writing, directing, and acting in this movie. We were actually sad when it was over and even went back and watched some parts again. We're definitely going to buy this one.

I had such a busy week but I'm starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. I am done with the longest, most difficult papers and have the shorter ones left to finish up by Monday. I am so looking forward to Lindsey's wedding and a nice, relaxing break.

i love thrift stores

I don't have too much to write about but I do want to share a picture of this little treasure I found at the thrift store the other day. It's perfect for displaying my acrylic paints.

We watched Amazing Grace last night. It was a really inspiring movie. I especially loved it because I learned a lot of what the movie was about in my Social Welfare History class last quarter and social work is all about advocacy and making a difference, which is also the theme of this movie. Rent it if you want to feel inspired.

Happy Thursday!

a few things

Just a quick post tonight. School is keeping me really busy, which is good (it's nice to be busy) but it doesn't leave much time for anything else.

Today was nice - we went to church, then choir practice (we joined the choir as of today), and then had my brother over for dinner. We watched two more episodes of 24 (we're on the first season and only watch it when my brother is here since we're all watching it together...and he isn't able to come over too often so it's a slow process. We're really liking it so far though).

Yesterday we took senior pictures for a girl we know. I haven't even looked at all of them yet but I will share a few when I'm done editing. I have another senior picture session on Thursday. Good practice!

Friday night we had a fun little date night. After I got out of class and Dub got done with work, I picked up some pizza and we met in the parking lot of the dollar theater. We ate quickly and then saw Hairspray, which I had seen but Dub hadn't. He liked it more than he thought he would, and I enjoyed watching it again. Then we got some ice-cream and came back at 9:30 to watch Transformers (which Dub had seen but wanted to see again), and I ended up liking it more than I thought I would as well. It was a pretty fun night. Nice to relax after a busy week.


I will leave you with this picture of some buttons that I have in my scrapbook room. They make me happy (even when I don't have time to scrapbook). Have a great week!

tuesday night happiness

We used to go to the dollar theater from time to time when we lived in Arizona and we loved it. We were sad to leave it and had yet to find a replacement here - that is until a couple of weeks ago. Dub came across it on his way home from work one day and called to tell me the happy news. Even better, Tuesdays nights are $1 nights (as opposed to all other nights which are $2). How awesome is that? That is cheaper than renting a movie! So Tuesday night we saw Shrek the Third. So funny (especially for $1). We liked it so much, we might go back next Tuesday night and see it again. We have decided to make the dollar theater a regular part of our lives again. It's good to have it back.