I’m talking jewelry today. Good quality jewelry is always something I am willing to save for. When I’m picking out pieces, I always think about the ones that will be left behind as a legacy to my kids someday. I’m so thankful that Paul invested in items that I can pass on to Poppy. Each piece that I have holds so many beautiful memories I can’t wait to tell poppy about. Engraved jewelry especially leaves behind a powerful talisman. There is such strength in words, and when you wear names of loved ones or an empowering statement, the energy becomes woven into the fabric of your day to day life. I think about the stories that are attached to the jewelry that Paul gifted me. Those stories will be such treasures to Poppy one day. And he can live on through the oral traditions of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Partnering with J Brooks jewelers and Marco Bicego has been so exciting for me because his jewelry is not only stunning but his process of handcrafting each piece makes it that much more special. Head to my Instagram to enter this giveaway!

Lately, I have seen so much criticism in this crazy social media world. What happens when we look at social media is we instantly disconnect from reality and enter into a distorted, curated, perfected idea of what everyone else lives look like. That’s when the comparison is born. The insecurity, the judgment, the stories we tell ourselves about those we follow. It’s natural to do this but I don’t think it has to be this way, I think if we can just be a little more conscious of what we are thinking while browsing we can realize that there is an actual person with feelings behind that picture, and…. would I say to their face what I’m thinking in my head? When I have an overloaded schedule I just ask an essay writer for help to free up my time and devote it to learning about myself in general and the world around me. till you have walked in someone else’s shoes and know exactly what they are going through it’s not your place to shed judgment. If I have learned anything through my life… it’s that. We are all fighting our own battles, big or small. There’s just not room for the judgment. Let’s try to find the compassion in all situations because you NEVER know how you would actually react in a situation till you are handed those cards.

I have realized that I have been unhappy for too long. I am ready to live my best life and just do what feels right in the moment. As I am still picking up the pieces of my life, I’m trying to infuse each piece with love and happiness. I cant say that I am perfect at this. Of course, I have my moments of utter chaos, sadness, and heartache. but I think the most important part is to remember I’m doing my best…. you are doing your best, we are living and trying and taking each day one at a time. That’s all we have to do and that’s good enough.

I have been getting rid of so many of my old clothes, and I was so excited to find Evereve as I am rebuilding and refreshing my closet. I went to their City Creek location was amazed at how the whole store is geared for all mommas alike. They have snacks and a play area for your kids. They help you put outfits together and they sell all my favorite brands.

Just like I am refreshing my closet I am also trying to refresh my mind as I am on social media. Remembering to be happy for the people I follow, instead of being jealous or passing judgment. We are all in this together trying to survive and live our best lives. Let not forget that. So much love to you all!

In one day my life as I knew it would never be the same, and in a really big way. My husband, the father to my baby, This life we had created together, worked so hard for cried tears and fought for… just gone. No warning, just gone.

I know so many people in the world are experiencing this right now. Their entire life has just been swept away…. Having to create something new, when your grieving something so big. Grieving a life you weren’t ready to be done with. It’s such a lonely and sad process. It’s a shitty place to be. It’s the darkest coldest hole in the ground.

I think we all go through hard times.. times of sadness, loneliness, deep pain and grief. I think it’s important to remember you are not alone. Sometimes it feels like your alone because it’s your personal experience, it’s your life.

Your life is the one that came with 24,000 jigsaw pieces and that puzzle you fought for, cried for and worked so hard to keep together came crashing down right before your very eyes. Stripping that dream you thought you had away from your very fingers. The pieces of your intricate puzzle went everywhere and you’re now left to find them and figure out where they belong. They will wait patiently for a warm hand to pick them up again. Those pieces won’t ever be quite the same as they once were, but piece by piece they will start to form something beautiful.

I’m just starting to pick up a few of my pieces and it’s hard. They are heavy and I have to mourn each piece for what it was and how it used to serve me. I will eventually find a new place for each piece. As I enter into this process and truly experience it for what it is I honor each and every piece I pick up. I send love and thank you’s to every single one for giving me what I had and hope that it will serve me in a new way.

In this dark lonely scary place I am so grateful for such an amazing family to be there for me to make my burdens a little lighter and to help me through every step of the way! I don’t know where I would be right now without my people. It’s the only way I am surviving.

My heart goes out to and aches so deep for the millions of people who have lost their worlds in an instant. We all have to bind together in this trying time. There is no time for small drama, the world is going through something so major and it’s important for us to stand strong. I have seen so many amazing people helping and doing everything they can to help strangers, especially in my own life. Nothing makes me happier then to see this kind of beauty and love happening.

The horizon offers promise of a new day. As the sun dips, Every morning it rises again. Thank you all for the love you have shared to me, and across the world. There is hope, happiness love and beauty and you are not alone.

I have had a lot of questions about my hair and what products I use so I thought I would answer some your questions here. I’ll start with what products I have had the most success with up keeping my bright blonde hair. My hair is fine and really straight, these products have worked for me but they might not work for you. This is just my process, I recommend asking your stylist for professional advice on what you should be using for your hair type. I have gotten most if not all my products from my stylist. Be weary of purchasing on amazon or other websites that are not the actual product website. I have had a lot of people tell me they purchased from an off hand website and the product was counterfiet.

1. I have been using this shampoo and conditioner for awhile now and I love it! My hair is really light so up keeping the ashy color can be hard, when you have blonde hair it can turn brassy after awhile so using purple shampoo tones the hair to keep the color you want. This shampoo and conditioner maintain the ashyness I like. I would say this is a good combination of an every day shampoo and purple shampoo.

2. I also use No Yellow purple shampoo maybe every other week. It’s a lot more intense then the color proof and tones it pretty quick, since my hair is so light I only leave it on for a minute or so!

3. I have loved using this olaplex hair perfector. I use it about once a week to keep my hair feeling healthy. This one does a really great job with bleached hair. I found this great article explaining how to use it. Olaplex can be used for all colored hair and non colored hair.

4. & 6. I let my hair towel try the majority of the time. When it’s still damp I will trade off between my unite leave in contitioner and its a 10 leave in. These products help protect my hair between washes.

5. When my hair is still damp from the shower I put this U oil on my ends, I also use it on my dry hair between washes to protect from heat and styling. This oil is so great sometimes I even use it on my dry skin.

A few other things- I get my hair done every 6 to 8 weeks. I don’t do hair and I don’t know the exact process or products my stylist uses. What I do know is that my hair is pretty light so it lifts easier then dark hair would. She also razor cuts my hair which is my favorite thing EVER. The razor cut makes my hair feel thicker and gives it that not so perfect end. I will do a separate post about how I style my hair and what products I use for styling. In the meantime I did a post awhile back about how I curl my hair HERE

Thanks for following along and let me know if you have any further questions. XO -Ash

Sometimes in life, you look around and everything is so good… like soooo good. I’ve been there and thought.. “wait life is amazing right now.. whats going on?’ appreciate these moments for all they are worth because the next second you could be living your worst nightmare. Give your babies a little longer kisses and snuggle your loved one’s a little tighter. Remember every single good feeling you feel in these moments… the smell, the feeling, the energy.. take it all in. I find myself reliving my moments all the time.

Life is funny… When you’re in elementary, high school, college, you have this idea of how you think your life will go. mine went something like this..

Go to college, meet the man of my dreams.. marriage, babies life etc. pretty typical I guess. I never really gave any thought to the trials i would have to face in my life. If you would have told my young 19-year-old self I would be a widow with an 8-month-old at 26.. I would have laughed in your face and then told you how mean you were.

I guess what I’m getting at is that life is just…life. It’s the most beautiful sunset on a tropical island holding your lovers hand and it’s also the ugliest most terrifying hurricane on the face of the planet.

I’ll tell you… time has slowed waaayy down for me. It’s now been a month since the funeral and I can say nothing in my life is the same since the day Paul went missing on July 27th. Through this process, I’ve been forced to really look at myself. The ugliest parts I didn’t know existed and the most beautiful parts that I also didn’t know existed. They come to the table one by one and I feed them one by one.

I know I have to find my new “normal” (I kinda hate that word) but I have to now create a new life for Poppy and I . That doesn’t necessarily have to be sad, its just new…and different. I know the old life will always be there and I will do everything in my power to make sure Poppy knows how beautiful our life was and who her father was. But this is a new chapter, a new beginning.

One year ago Paul and I were in Hawaii on our babymoon. This was a very healing trip for us as a couple, We became closer then we had ever been. I couldn’t help but reminisce on some of these memories. We talked about what we thought poppy would look like and different parenting styles. We anxiously awaited this new chapter in our lives, we even talked about how Poppys arrival was actually volume two of our story and how amazing volume two was going to be. It’s looking a lot different then we thought but I know he is holding my hand as I continue volume two and raising our girl. I know he will be helping me all along the way. Wiping our tears and cheering us on. We miss you, we love you, we will never forget you Pauly.

We can’t predict our future, we can’t foretell our trials and successes. So what do we do? Live the hell out of each and every day. look at the gifts in each moment, in each circumstance. Appreciate the flowers and find shapes in the clouds. Soak up every sound wave of your babies laugh (the most healing sound on the planet). Find the beauty in the trial and soak up every single blessing for all its worth. This little life is too short to not LIVE.

HERE is a link to the babymoon video I made last year (I am no pro but I’m so glad I made this)

We originally thought we would name her Poppy Ann when I was pregnant.. I could never fully commit to it so when she was born paul said “what about Poppy Rae? Because she has been our little ray of sunshine” I instantly cried and she has been our Poppy Rae of sunshine ever since.

Why does time go so fast…whyyyyy my newborn love bug is nine months and I know.. I KNOW I say the exact same thing at every month mark, but I still don’t understand how we can’t pause time. Seriously someone figure that out already

This little chunk is trying so hard to walk and crawls everywhere. She picked up the most hilarious fake laugh, we call it her evil laugh and she will just throw it out there when its silent… in the car… and she is back there by herself… we die every. single. time. She also started doing this scrunchy nose breathing thing and it MELTS me, I have a picture of me doing the same thing at her age. She also started copying us so peekaboo, waving, clapping, sticking out her tongue and blowing bubbles are all in her little bag of tricks.

She is an absolute crack up and her sweet personality is starting to shine. I can’t help but see little signs of Paul and it makes me so happy. I know he is watching all these new things happening and he has the biggest smile on his face at every milestone. I love getting to see little things in her that remind me of him. We miss him every day but how lucky am I that I get to love on this little slice of heaven twenty-four seven?! She is everything right now and I’m soaking up every second of this age.

I have been pretty emotional about my home. Paul and I built it together, and inside those walls hold so many good memories. It’s where we brought Poppy home and I am going to have a really hard time saying goodbye. So I wanted to take all the beautiful flowers that have been blooming in my yard and do a nine-month shoot with Poppy. One last hurrah! I will cherish these photos forever and ever.

I have thought long and hard about what I want this space to be for me now and I can tell you what I don’t want it to be… fake. I want this to be a place for me to document this life I am experiencing. That is what I have always wanted this to be. Mainly because I know one day I will look back and be so happy I documented. This is my soft place to land, I want this to be a place of inspiration, love and light. I might bring up scary topics because thats kinda my life right now…. (hand in face emoji) but I promise I’ll always leave it good and happy.

I’m here to document for myself and my baby, I welcome all the positivity and love out there as I heal through my trials and try to create something new for myself. Here’s to remembering the past, and welcoming the future with open arms.

L o v e y o u r s e l f.

I have seen so much shaming on social media lately. Women shaming women, and men shaming women. It makes me sick. What it comes down to is this.. if you follow someone that makes you feel less than the truth of who you are, unfollow them. Don’t shame them. Doing so asks you to stoop to a lower level. None of us can rise if we are constantly shaming each other. Instagram has the good and the bad. It’s a marketing tool for brands, and allows people to earn income by advertising products. I’ve been able to earn a few extra dollars this way. What a blessing that has been, allowing me to stay at home and be with my baby. Sometimes you will find a good deal worth swiping for, and sometimes it might be ridiculously out of your reach. Ultimately when we all reach the lowest common denominator, we find one thing that we all share. To love and to be loved PERIOD.

The bottom line is family and connection. When my entire life came crumbling down, I wasn’t scanning for swipes or taps. I was rallying around my family and friends looking for love and support. We are all REAL people with REAL feelings. With so much craziness going on in this world, us women need to unite!

So, love yourself. Dig deep and figure out why you feel the way you feel. Talk about it. Seek Help. Do what makes you genuinely happy. Unfollow accounts that make you feel bad. If my posts don’t inspire you please unfollow me. Don’t let yourself be validated or invalidated by an Instagram post.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not here trying to proclaim that I’m the best at loving myself. Trust me, I have my moments.. but it’s something I really try to work at! I go to therapy, read self-help books, surround myself with boss babes and positive uplifting people.

Ultimately my whole point is this … LOVE YOURSELF!! don’t EVER let ANYONE depict your self-worth. We are all valuable and worthy and we each have something beautiful to offer to this world. No matter your shape, size, hair color, Income, failures or successes let’s stand together and work on becoming the best versions of ourselves.

There is some kind of magic in the air when you are with your loved ones watching fireworks in all your patriotic gear, laughing and making memories. We had the greatest week with family and friends and I don’t want to forget Poppy’s first 4th of July… even though she slept through all the fireworks.

Another random thought.. I watched THIS last night and I feel like everyone should watch it. Brenè Brown is so inspiring. She says what I’m thinking but can’t put into words. It’s all about shame and vulnerability. So much love friends hope you all had an awesome Independence Day!!

Monsters are real, and they live in the darkness and the trials of our life. They are in the pain and the sadness of not being able to get pregnant; they are in the gut wrench of a rocky marriage, they are in the lies and betrayal of your best friend and husband. They are the gossip you can’t escape and the rejection that no one wants to tell your alk to you about.

I know my name has been in your mouth and I know what you must be thinking, I’ve thought the same things before. Why would she stay? She must not know. But guess what? You don’t know what we have been through and you know what else? You think you know what you would do in a situation until those cards have been dealt to you.

You think you know, but you have no idea.

Ya know what’s also real about monsters is that they aren’t really real. They only exist if we give them power. And I’m taking back my power.

It’s ok to sit in the darkness; actually it’s a part of life. I’ve been there for quite awhile, and I know it pretty well. There will always be darkness, and we will always have to sit there, it’s part of the healing process. But the best part about the darkness is the light and joy that proceeds. It’s crutial that we find that light.

For some people the light means leaving, sometimes that’s the better choice for all parties. But for me, that hasn’t felt right. I chose a harder choice… staying. Staying takes extreme courage and vulnerability. It also takes work, a lot of work that has to come from both partners. I have watched Paul throughout this process and if you know him…. you know, he is an entirely different person …and for the better. And I can say our marriage is better than it’s ever been.. ever! (Not that it’s anyone’s business)

Life is freaking hard, and I’ve been dealt quite the hand. But every tear and every pain is eased when I look into my Poppy’s eyes. She is the light at the end of my tunnel and the gift in the darkness. I will never be able to explain the weight that was lifted and healed the day she was born.

We will teach her to rise strong, to speak her truth and never be afraid of the power that she holds. But to also be kind and loving and to spread her joy to everyone she meets. We will teach her about the darkness and that one day she will experience it, but that she will always come out stronger than she has ever been. Like my grandpa always said “be wise as a serpent and gentle as a dove.”

The darkness is how we grow as humans. What would we be if we never experienced trials? Stepford wives? …Not me. We all go through them whether or not we decide to share them. I have felt the strongest urge for a long time that I needed to share my experience, but not everyone needs to. Your darkness is your journey. How you choose to experience it and express it is a very personal choice.

We typically only share the happy moments of our lives on social media, it’s our highlight reel. But it’s not our real, reel and that’s ok. We don’t need to share every last detail, but we have to remember that everyone is going through something whether we know about it or not, and my hope through all of this is that we can be a little kinder with our words, a little more forgiving and a lot less judgemental. We are all in this life together, and it can be a lot easier if we are on the same side.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. You don’t have to sit in the darkness forever. And believe it or not there are people out there who have gone through a similar situation as you… you are not alone in this.

“We are the authors of our lives, and we write our own daring endings, we craft love from heartbreak, compassion from shame, Grace from disappointment, courage from failure. Showing up is our power, story is our way home, truth is our song, we are the brave and brokenhearted we are rising strong.” -Brene Brown And from my girl Beyoncé “Forgiveness is me giving up my right to hurt you for hurting me. Forgiveness is the final act of love”

My choice is love, love for myself, love for my baby, love for my husband and family. There is nothing weak about love.