Jacket: Ann Taylor LOFT
Tank Top: Express
Jeans: Gap
Shoes: Dillards
Fall Fashion
Jacket: J. Crew
Shirt: Ann Taylor LOFT
Skirt: J. Crew
Tights: J. Crew
Shoes: Cole Haan
Necklace: Tiffany's
Headband: Target
Fall Fashion
Dress: Chadwicks
Tank Top: Envy (Columbia, MO)
Tights: Dillards
Shoes: BCBG
Necklace: Kohls
Fall Fashion
Necklace: Kohl's
Sweater: Ann Taylor LOFT
Tank Top: Envy (Columbia, MO)
Pants: Express
Shoes: Sperry Topsider
Fall Fashion
Cardigan: Kohl's
T-shirt: Express
Tank Top: Envy (Columbia, MO)
Jeans: Gap
Shoes: Cole Haan
Fall Fashion
Cardigan: J. Crew
Tank Top: Express
Necklace: J. Crew
Skirt: J. Crew
Tights: J. Crew
Boots: BCBG
Eric's Miscellany
Greetings, readers. This is Ashley’s husband Eric writing. You’re reading the first post of a new series within A Hasty Life. The title (borrowed from Schott’s book series) summarizes my objective well. I will discuss anything that piques my interest and is worthy of dissemination. I find interest in many things, so the challenge will be filtering unworthy topics. Hopefully you will find a combination of entertaining, useful, and thought provoking material within each post. Some subjects may be absurdly trivial, while others may be quite serious.
We’ll start with something absurdly trivial. Ice. Our refrigerator features an automatic ice maker. It works fine – except the ice is made from municipal water, which comes with shocking amounts of unwelcome debris. Another source of ice was needed.
My first solution was to use ice trays to freeze filtered water. Trays start to crack after a few uses. Ice sticks to them, so you have to get creative about extracting it from the tray. There is a significant amount of work involved with filling, freezing, emptying, and refilling them. I found it incredibly annoying – the trays were out.
My current, and favorite, solution:
The bag of ice. Allow me to enumerate the benefits.
- Conveniently located at your local grocery store.
- Typically priced between $1.00-$1.50.
- With average use by two people, an eight pound bag lasts for at least three weeks.
- Ice is crystal clear, unlike foggy ice made from municipal swill.
- When the ice freezes together, as it always does, simply pull the bag out of the freezer and drop it on the floor. Try doing that with the tray from the ice maker.
- Nifty cylindrical ice shapes.
- Trays of frozen filtered ice can be kept on reserve as a contingency.
At $1.50 per bag, total annual expense would be about $26 per year. I submit $26 is a small price for ice that is clear, readily available, and easy to break apart. Until we have a freezer that filters, I’m buying my ice by the pound.
My Man's Clothes
This picture was taken in California on our honeymoon. We were touring the red wood forest and it was a bit chillier than I had expected. My husband, Eric, offered his J. Crew sweater. We had such a wonderful time on this vacation, you can tell how much fun we are having by this picture. We were so wrapped up in ourselves, being silly, and completely consumed by love. That is what honeymoons are for, right?
Sometimes I like to wear my husband's clothes. I love that they are a little over-sized, they are so comfortable to wear and lounge around in. I love that they smell like him, perfect for curling up in, especially when he is away. I like to sleep in his t-shirts. I like to curl up by the fireplace in his sweaters. I like to knock around in his baseball hats. I like to warm my feet with his thick wool socks. Wearing his clothes is like getting a long hug from him.
I especially love this sweater. It is super soft. I think we purchased it on our honeymoon from J. Crew. We hadn't come to California prepared for such cool weather, so we purchased a few outerwear pieces while we were there. It also fits Eric perfectly, I think he looks really handsome when he wears it. Of course, I'm still trying to teach him the difference between sweaters and sweatshirts. He still refers to both as sweatshirts. I try to explain that the husband of a PhD in Textiles and Apparel needs to know the difference. ;) I also love the way it fits me. Slightly over-sized and super comfortable. Perfect with leggings and wool socks. Just give me a hot chocolate and a good book and start up the fire.
A Little Taste of Kansas City
We stayed one night in Kansas City while attending a wedding nearby. We thought we'd enjoy a bit of the city, making a weekend out of it. We started the trip off with some errand-running and a bit of shopping on the Country Club Plaza. When we couldn't shop anymore, we stopped by Cupcake a la Mode for a little treat.
We got a Stuffed French Toast cupcake and a Raspberry Lemonade cupcake. Don't they look amazing? The French Toast one sounds odd, but it was cinnamon and delicious! And the little lemon sugar topping on the Raspberry Lemonade cupcake was the perfect touch!
After Cupcake a la Mode, we checking into our hotel to freshen up before the wedding. We had some time to kill so Eric watched sports and I took a nap. We stayed at the Hotel Phillips in Downtown Kansas City. It was pretty nice, an older sort of boutique hotel similar to our favorite go-to hotel, The Raphael. We liked the Hotel Phillips, but it hadn't been renovated as recently as The Raphael so we'll probably keep that as our go-to hotel. Too bad they were booked up that weekend!
The next morning, we ate at Blue Bird Bistro which was voted Best Brunch according to my handy dandy iPhone app, Local Eats. It did not do us wrong, they had fantastic food!
Eric ordered the Biscuits and Gravy (organic cream gravy with mushrooms and local herbs over house made white wheat biscuits, two Campo Lindo Farm eggs and roasted local potatoes add crumbled bison sausage) and I had the Pork and Polenta Benedict (pork sausage, harvarti cheese and Campo Lindo Farm poached eggs on organic baked polenta with hollandaise made from Menno Brennerman Farm butter and local herb pesto.) Holy wonderful, right?
It was another wonderful weekend away with my husband!
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| Cupcake a la Mode Specials Menu |
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| Yummy yummy cupcakes! |
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| My husband and I at Cupcake a la Mode |
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| Outside of Cupcake a la Mode |
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| View from our hotel room |
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| View from Hotel Phillips |
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| My husband getting ready to enjoy the uber comfy hotel bed |
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| A night view from our hotel room |
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| The Blue Bird Bistro Menu |
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| The Blue Bird Bistro interior |
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| My husband's reflection and the Blue Bird Bistro sign |
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| An outside view of the Blue Bird Bistro |
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