All roads lead to Nationals

I just got back from three days of cheer camp and for the first time in my entire life... I didn't hate it. Actually, I loved it. Aside from getting up every morning at 6, I had a great time. I roomed with a freshman girl on our squad named Jaye, she is ridiculous. It was really funny being in a room with her for 3 days. She definitely offered to take a shower with me every night. (Part of my wonders if it was really a joke). I can't blame her though. But alas, it never happened. Sorry for all of you out there who got excited about the idea. Anyway, our squad won every award at camp. I know this doesn't sound like a big deal to all of you non-cheerleaders, but it is! It was amazing! The entire squad was on a high for the rest of the day. Nothing brings a squad closer together like squashing the competition. haha. (yes, I am slightly competitive... and kinda evil). The most important thing that happened at camp??? I learned how to do a full basket!!!! I am so freakin excited! Let me fill you in if you don't know what this is... or my background with this particular trick. A basket is when 3-4 guys throw me as high as they can in the air, I do some kind of trick while I am up there, and then they catch me at the bottom (most of the time). I tried to learn how to do a full basket my freshman year and apparently was taught wrong. The guy that taught me made it impossible for me to help catch myself, so I was dropped from 25 feet up to my neck (twice). After that experience I never thought I would attempt a full basket again. I mean, this is how people kill themselves, or paralyze themselves. Baskets are the leading cause of intense injury/death in cheer leading. But anyway, I went to camp and found an instructor there by the name of Steve who really knew his stuff. I was terrified to try in again, but I knew I really had no choice. It only took about 3 tries with Steve's coaching to get it perfect. It was so much easier when he taught it to me. And the best part about it all is that I am the only person on the squad right now who can do a full basket. What does that mean??? That means that I have (most likely) secured my place on the national competition team for the third year in a row! Go me! I can't wait to do baskets again. I have bruises all over the place from them, but hey, that just makes me look like a badass!

Busy busy busy

Nothing like taking a College Algebra final a week early to stress someone out. Especially someone who is math retarded (read: me... math stupid). I have to take the final early so that I can go to cheer camp with the squad. I can't decide if I am looking forward to it or not. I really hate the extremes my body goes through for those couple of days, and of course it is incredibly stressful. For those couple of days I will be cheering (not like "yeah go team" but stunting, tumbling, competing) from 8am to 11pm every day. Yuck. You have no idea how sore your body can get until you decide to do something like this. After I get back from camp I usually just want to lay on the couch until the pain subsides... like three days later. I just found out that Dustin isn't going to camp. Lucky guy. On the up side I will most likely lose a couple of pounds by the constant exercise. I am rooming with 3 other girls at camp. That shouldn't be too bad, aside from the fact that one of the girls is the most hyper, retarded, cheerleader-Esq girl I have ever met in my entire life. She gets really annoying really quickly. I am going to have a real heart to heart with her. If she keeps me up all night long with her incredibly high-pitched laugh I will have to smother her with my pillow.

Spoiled, thy name is Ashley

It's true. I am. I am spoiled rotten. I am not really sure where all of this started, but it is so very obvious to me today. My mother spoils me rotten. She always has. I am her only daughter after all. Even to this day she still buys me things for no reason at all. I don't even live in the same town as her and I still get a phone call every day with her on the other line saying "I bought you a new movie/book/cooking pan/pair of shoes/all of the above. The funny thing is, not only does my family spoil me, so does my boyfriend. I think my family simply ruined me for any normal person. I have always had boyfriends who spoil me, but not like Dustin. The other day I found him standing on my porch with a huge bouquet of flowers. When I asked him what the occasion was he said "It is Tuesday". Are you serious?!?! Today we went to the Buckle (Dustin just got paid and the money was burning a hole in his pocket). I was helping him decide what clothes looked best on him, which truth be told pretty much everything looks good on him. After he had finished spending enough money to pay my rent for the month he looked at me and said "go get something". I insisted that he should spend his money on himself. I lost the argument. He ended up buying me a pair of jeans. I know... now you are thinking.... okay so he bought you a pair of jeans, big deal.... The jeans carried a $150 price tag. I just want to say right now that I have never, in my entire life bought one piece of clothing that cost $150!!! That is insane. The jeans look great on me though. They make my ass look amazing! I guess they were worth the money, but more importantly I am glad that I have a boyfriend who loves me enough to spoil me. Oh I am ruined for normal men everywhere.....

Real Men Don't Hit

I am part of an organization at Pitt called SAVE (Students Against Violence through Education). In this group I hold a position on the executive board known as Special Events Coordinator. What does this mean? This means whenever we have huge things to plan, like Sexual Assault Awareness Week, I am in charge. This sounds all good and great (it is always nice to have a little authority) but there is a ridiculous amount of work to be done. I just found out today that I have to organize Domestic Violence Awareness month. That means that I have to organize a major project once a week to induce awareness in those who pass by. As it happens, Crawford County (the County I now inhabit) has the highest rate of domestic violence in Kansas. It is really important to raise awareness in hope of lowering the rate. Basically I am going to be crazy stressed out in October! Hopefully I don't have too many things like this put on my plate at once. At least all of my energy will be going to something that helps other people. Maybe it will save someones life...

Feel the Burn

Well, it seems the diet thing is actually working for me. I can't believe it. I have always been horrible at dieting.... mostly because I am a chocolate fend, but this time I am sticking to it. It has been a couple of weeks now and I have lost 6 pounds! Six pounds.... can you believe it? That is like 5% of my entire body weight! So, I started this whole venture at 118 pounds, now I am down to 112. I have 16.1% body fat... I still need to reduce that by at least a percent. I am supposed to be at 15% or less. My weight goal is 110 I think. That is my healthy weight. I have to admit that taking Hydroxicut has been helping me a lot. I got the stuff from some of the guys on the cheer squad. Apparently they take it to cut fat when they are working out, so I figured I would give it a shot. It is a hunger suppressant, which is the main reason it is helping me I think. I have a bad habit of snacking, even when I am not hungry. But this pill makes me feel relatively full most of the time, so snacking doesn't happen as much. I have been counting my calories the past couple of days and I have managed to stay well under 900 per day. That is pretty good. Hydroxicut also raises my body temperature when I work out so that I can burn fat quicker. I can tell it is working, because every time I work out now I sweat A LOT more than I used to. Between dieting, working out, and eating less I am seeing results which is awesome! I feel a lot better walking around in a sports bra now, but I am not done yet. I want to be ripped when I go to camp. That would be bad ass! Maybe I can get my 6-pack back by then. Right now I am kind of stuck at 5... damn stubborn belly fat!!! Melt away why don't you?!?!? Anyway, it is back to the gym tomorrow for running and lifting. There is just nothing as exciting as a treadmill.

Top 10 Biggest Turn Offs

That's right... here is the list in no particular order.

10) Smothering me. Example: "Do you miss me? I missed you way more than you missed me!" (Yes, one of my ex boyfriends was like this). I can't even breath just thinking about it.

9) Not being treated as an equal. I don't need a big protector/provider. I need a man that I can build a life with. Together.

8) LIARS

7) Bad Breath. I am really into good smells for some reason. If I guy smells good I can't help but to bury my head in his chest and breath in. Bad breath has the opposite effect. Yuck.

6) Lack of drive. I need a guy that is driven. I don't care what they are driven to do, as long as it is productive.

5) Lack of intelligence. This is a HUGE one. I once dated a guy strictly based on his intelligence. Intelligence is sexy. Needless to say, by itself it does not hold relationships together.

4) Talking too much. I can't stand guys who feel the need to detail their every little sexual escapade to their buddies over a game of drunken poker. If you are going to do that you might as well invite them to join in. Who cares about your girlfriends feelings?

3) Lack of spontaneity. I am really predictable, so I need a man who isn't. It keeps things interesting.

2) Someone who is so traditional they refuse to experiment AT ALL. Sex is supposed to be fun.

1) Lack of Responsibility.... This is by far the biggest one. I don't want to be with someone who isn't responsible. What kind of a father would that person make if...heaven forbid... an accident happened?!?

So there ya go. My list of CRAZY important turn offs. I am sure there are more...but I don't want to put much more thought into this.

Snuffles

This is a picture of my boyfriend Dustin and I. We just passed our one year anniversary not too long ago. I got really lucky with this one. He is the best boyfriend I have ever had. I met him through cheer leading actually. He is a phenomenal tumbler and that is what first attracted me to him. Weird, I know. He has so many of the qualities that I look for in men. He is kind and funny. We rarely fight, but if we do, it doesn't last more than an hour or so. He is also involved in the community service work I do. It is really important to me that my partner shares my strong beliefs when dealing with sexual assault and rape. He makes me feel like I am the most beautiful woman in the world. A man who can do that is priceless. He also does his best to take care of me. I don't really need to be taken care of, but it is nice to know that he wants to anyway. So, one year after getting together with this amazing man I am happier than ever.

Not exactly left high and dry

So, apparently the higher powers that be decided it would be really fun to flood the planet. I missed the memo when I went to work this Saturday that I would need an Ark to leave. After getting out of work I had to get a motel room because the streets of Pittsburg were all flooded and the cops were stopping people from driving on them. It was a complete rip off. I had to pay $70 to sleep in a motel for like 6 hours. If other things had occurred in the room, it may have been more worth it... but dreaming doesn't count. I feel cheated. Apparently, that feeling is going around. Maybe if I had a stripper with a spectacular booty entertaining me last night. Oh well. I ended up traveling well enough in the morning to make it to practice, so it worked out. Thank you rain God for letting up long enough for me to arrive in cheer leading hell. I appreciate it. Much better alternative to letting me sleep in my own bed. Anyway, I am hoping the rain slows down, Pittsburg wasn't exactly engineered to support flooding. Hey, maybe I will get evacuated to some place cool like Texas... or Florida....whatever.