goodbye 2008

I cannot believe this year is over already. It's flown by. With 2009 approaching I thought I would highlight some of the greatest moments of my year...

January 25-27: Weekend at Eastern and Saosin Show

January 28th: Cobra Starship show at Subterranean. Sisky Biz, Mike Carden and Bill Beckett are there. I freak out.

February 14th: Myspace Secret Shows Presents Chiodos at Subterranean. I make some new friends.

I saw Envy on the Coast quite a few times this year. I wanna say 4 times?

April 17-18: My Chemical Romance at the Congress....TWICE! Life is pretty sweet.

May 15th: Cinematic Sunrise does their first ever tour. I meet Craig Owens and we have a moment. I die a little inside with happy. We make new friends named Alex and Andrew www.myspace.com/foreverinadaymi

July 8th: The Soundtrack of Your Summer Tour stops at the Congress Theater. We meet Martin Johnson, John O, and Trace Cyrus. Christina and I were filmed for Read Between The Lines. We didn't make the cut apparently.

July 10-13: CALIFORNIAAAAAAA!

July 19th: I am reminded of why American Idol blows. David Cook is a tool.

August 1-3: I have a Lollapalooza/Warped Tour/Lollapalooza sandwich.

August 16th: Christina and I venture to a new venue named Chubby Rain House of Tunes in Poplar Grove, IL to see Chiodos. We reunite with Alex and Andrew. Make plans for next time they're in town.

August 24th: Yes. I saw the Jonas Brothers. They're shorter in person, but then again I was about 1000 feet away from the stage.

I turned 20 years old this year on September 14th.

September 18-21: I visit the good old EIU. We saw New Found Glory at Pop's.

October 11th: Christina and I drive all the way to Milwaukee to see Chiodos only to get kicked out for using our cameras. I almost died from a massive migrane. (total exaggeration)

October 15th: The Sassy Back Tour with Cobra Starship and Forever the Sickest Kids hits the House of Blues. I meet J. Cook and try the same pick up line on him that he used on Christina. He hit me back with a different one. It's love.

October 19th: The return of Alex and Andrew (now named A(squared)). We meet the rest of the band and they all stayed over with me, Christina and Jill at Jill's house. Party in your PJs.

October 29-November 2: Another visit to Eastern!

October 30th: BILL AND TRAV'S BOGUS JOURNEY ROUND 1! Make new friends for the day. Hung outside Pop's ALLLL DAYYY! Make some enemies (40 year old woman from Boulder) Gave TAI choc. covered strawberries and pretzels. Saw Mike Carden eat one. Almost died again with happy. I got a MGC guitar pick (Michael Guy Chislet for the NOOBS) Christina embarresses us in front of Travis from We The Kings. "AIRBORNEEEE!"

October 31st: I celebrate Halloween for the first time since I was in 5th grade so like what? 10 years? Needless to say we get trashed.

November 1st: We celebrate Halloween again but this time we dressed as "groupies." Met some twins anddd ya knowwww.

November 6th: 3OH!3 made us Holler Till We Passed Out!

November 7th: BILL AND TRAV'S BOGUS JOURNEY TOUR ROUND 2! We make it into the meet and greet. Run into Boulder girl again. She called me a skanky hoe behind my back. Butcher drew me a tree. Mike Carden gave us hugs and promised us he'd try for Mayonaise. They played Almost Here and Christina and I were complete.

December 2nd: Fall Out Boy come home to the Chicago theater and I fall in love with them all over again. GO BUY FOLIE A DEUX!

The remainder of the year was amazing as always with the holidays. I lost some good friends at work over crazy things. But the rest of our department grew closer and I have a second family.

Looking back at this past year I've had my share of bad days. But the number of good outway the bad by a landslide. I'm sad to see the year go but life goes on and I cannot wait to see what 2009 brings me. I'm turning 21 this year! OH SHIT!

don't stop get it, get it, we the kings all up in it.

I can't stop listening to We The Kings Secret Valentine EP. I remember when we saw them on Bill and Trav's Bogus Journey they did a cover of Gorillaz Feel Good Inc. and I would say to Christina they need to record that and release it on itunes. And sure enough they did. They didn't just release that one song. They released a whole EP. And it's so good. So I suggest you buy it. Okay? I finished my finals. FINALLY! haha I think I did pretty solid. I'm a little nervous about my math grade. Math sucks for real. Now that I'm done with school for the semester I've had a lot more time on my hands and I've been able to get things done that I've been meaning to do since October. For example, I haven't dusted my room since it was re-decorated. my old room had posters all over it so I took my favorites and decorated the inside of my closet with them. it's mostly concert memorbila (set lists, tour posters, flyers, etc.) but I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I finally framed my butcher artwork. it happily watches over me from atop my desk. lol christmas is in like 3 days. I can't believe how fast time is moving. it feels just like yesterday i was preparing to start school in August. crazy how that all works out. i'm really looking forward to 2009. I've got a few things planned. The AP Tour, The Secret Valentine Tour, THE RETURN OF MS. BRITNEY SPEARS! haha I'm also really going to try and stick to my new year's resolutions. I'm giving up smoking and meat for good. Wish me luck. But I also want to eat less and stop eating everyday after 7pm. My mom finally bought us Breaking Dawn (fourth book in the Twilight series) and I started reading it the other day. I'm only on chapter three but it's soooo good so far. speaking of Twilight did anyone else see Robert Pattinson's new hair cut. Holy shit it's soooo gorgeous! Lookin' sharp. haha anyway that's enough for now. Time for chores to prepare the house to transform into holiday central. Merry Christmas all!

so how many days till summer?

I'm so sick of winter already. Christmas is in 10 days. I'm really excited. I haven't seen my whole family in forever. I took my sociology final online last night and I passed! I got a 74% and I'm pretty proud of that. I just might not fail after all. Pray for me. I have two more finals to go and I think I'll do good on both. They announced the routing for Warped Tour next summer and it's making me wish summer was freaking here already. Christina and I are planning on making at least three stops on the tour this summer. Hopefully they'll announce some good bands.

good lord.

Nastia Lukin is kind of a bitch. She had a real snooty attitude about her. I think she realizes her 15 minutes are almost up. I found out today that my store is open till midnight on Sunday. That is just un-holy! haha Whoever thought to keep the company open that late WILL go to hell. haha Christina comes home in a few days. I'm excited. We're going to get mani pedis asap. what color should i get? ughhh. I cant wait for christmas. i can't believe it's in 2 weeks already. where is time going?!

blah blah...

Soo I've been working my butt off these past few weeks. 38 hours this week and 38 next week. I'm so exhausted. Thank god next week is finals and I'm done for the semester. Work isn't even fun anymore. Half of my "family" was "fired" for one of the lamest excuses I've ever heard. It just doesn't seem right going into work anymore knowing these people who help make the next 8 hours tolerable are now gone. I have work today from 4:15 to midnight. I pretty much wanna die. haha We have an event today. Nastia Luikin (sp?) who participated in the summer olympics this year in gymnastics is going to be at our store promoting her new line for Vanilla Star jeans. I hope she's nice. So if you're in the Orland Park area stop in and maybe you can meet her! I don't know when I'm going to take my sociology final online. Anyone really good at sociology that wants to help me? I'd appreciate it greatly.

I demand an answer. I predict a riot.

So I just got a prank phone call. Haven't had one of those in a while. It amazes me what people will do when they're bored. Work has been on giant CLUSTERFUCK of stress. people are getting "suspended" left and right. I hate my manager. sneaky little bitch. I'm so glad the semesters almost over. I need to pick out classes though for next year still. i needa get on that shit.

my christmas playlist...

anything off of Hanson's Snowed In record.
Nsync - Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays
My Chemical Romance - All I Want For Christmas Is You (Mariah Who?)
John Lennon - Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
Fall Out Boy - Yule Shoot Your Eye Out
The Academy Is... - Winter Passing
The Jonas Brothers - Girl of My Dreams
Paul McCartney - Wonderful Christmastime
The Maine - Ho Ho Hopefully
Britney Spears - My Only Wish This Year

the list goes on.

It's snowing in the Chicago Burbs. Snow day? I hope so.

i love how i say i might use this but i've been updating a ridiulous amount. I just got home from the fall out boy show. soooooo good! haha when they came out Jill would NOT STOP HITTING ME! haha but it was all good. I loved every minute of it! they made some twilight jokes. covered a bit of Estelle's American Boy. Did they beat it cover. YULE SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT! AHH! haha Bill Beckett was there just like I predicted. it made my night to see him. don't make fun but I cried like a little teenie. haha I honestly don't know what came over me. I guess I was just happy. Yes. My name is Ashley and I'm a TAI-aholic. i wish they made a patch for this. HA! anywho. Basically it was AMAZING! Afterwards we went across the street and hung outside of ABC hahaha. got ourselves on TV. we're tv stars. haha I met this lady who actually teaches at my school. she's in the journalism department and she said if I emailed her she can hook me up with some connections. I hope that all works out. I'd love to report on music. now it's time for beddy bye. I have work in 8 hours. AWESOME! haha

Be Careful...

Reading Twilight might turn you into this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFG9lXc2upQ

I stay immune to the epidemic. While these books are pretty much amazing. I did not freak out over the movie. It was good. I can see why everyone's making such a fuss over Robert Pattinson. He's very attractive. But I knew that back in 06 when Harry Potter and The Goblet Of Fire came to theaters. (Yes, he was in that) I've been feeling so lazy lately. I never wanna do any of my homework. Thank god the semester's almost over. Fall Out Boy tonight. Keep your fingers crossed for a TAI cameo. And download Winter Passing! Sooo good. Also download Ace Enders and a Million Different People with their cover of Bittersweet Symphony. Craig Owens sings on it along with Mark Hoppus, Alex Gaskarth, and Bryce Avery. There's probably others but I just can't name them all.

The new Academy Is...

is amazing!
download Winter Passing on itunes.
It's worth every penny.

I'm dreaming of a white christmas.

I love the snow. don't get me wrong. i hate driving in it or walking in it for long periods of time. i love when the snow first falls and coveres the trees and all the trees just look so pretty. i wish it would only snow on christmas and go away by new years day haha. It's officially december 1st. i get the feeling that we always get the first snowfall of the seaon on the first. every year. i can't believe christmas is creepin on us so fast! i only have two more people to buy some serious presents for. i need to make cute little gifts for all my co-workers but I want them to be inexpensive. any suggestions?

I have work again today. 3-10. I'm not looking forward to these new holiday hours. booo. on the plus side. I'm seeing FALL OUT BOY tomorrow! I can't wait!