Bringing on The Big Apple

Hello all!

The reason we started this blog was to document the struggles and changes of a cross country move for a young family. After waiting several restless months full of prayer, joy, anger, confusion, and about every other emotion you could think of we are finally able to say WE ARE MOVING TO NEW YORK CITY.

Back in January I applied to New York University to complete my undergrad in finance. One question we have been asked several times is "why?'. For me, the motivation was to learn and work with the best. NYU is one of the top schools in the country. They also have one of the best finance schools in the country and one of the best law schools. This was a no brainer for me. The educational opportunities and the professional reputation that comes with NYU is not accessible to everyone. In fact, only to about 28% of the people who apply. This is a huge accomplishment for myself, Ashley, and Cayden.

Knowing we had a big decision to make we had to analyze all aspects of this move for the three of us. While NYC is the finance and business capital of the nation it is also the fashion capital of the nation. With that being said, we are very excited to announce that trouser.etsy.com will soon become just one line of the new Ashley Nicole Brand. The new brand will consist of all things children and baby, maternity, and women. What better place to enhance a new brand than NYC?

Most importantly, how will this affect the most important part of our family? Cayden. If both of his parents are able to succeed that can only enhance his life. In one city you have so many cultures and opportunities for people of all ages. We have a very positive outlook on everything this move can offer our son.

This move has left some people confused, mad, sad, happy, and all of the above. The most important thing to remember is we are adults, passionate adults with dreams to succeed as individuals, a couple, and as a family. To us, there is no ceiling for what we can accomplish and we cannot wait to live out our convictions and pass them to our children.

So to sum up this post, we are moving to the big city this Fall and we could not be more excited. Big things are happening for our family and we hope you all share in our excitement.

I will leave you the famous line from Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" and some pictures from around the web of our soon-to-be home.

"If I can make it there, I am gonna make it anywhere.." - Frank Sinatra

Cheers,

Brandon

Preparing for take-off

The big trip to New York City is finally upon us. I still cannot wrap my head around the thought of being away from my baby boy for a week. He has only stayed away over night twice so this is going to be super hard. I know he will be just fine because we are blessed to have such amazing family to care for him. But momma cannot help but be worried.:)
I am driving myself insane trying to make sure I have everything done before we leave! I never realized how hard it would be to take a vacation when you own your own business. I am having anxiety thinking about not sewing for a whole week. Brandon will not let me take my sewing machine (yes I asked)
If I can remember we have a blog, I will be posting lots of fun NYC pictures! We have some fun stuff planed but yet we don't. We are kinda going for the lets do whatever plan :) except we get to see our Rangers play the Yankees in the Bronx. Very excited about this, except for the fact I will be next to the guy dressed head to toe in rangers gear...I will wear a Yankee's shirt to avoid a beat down.
Just kidding :)
Of course Mood Fabrics is 2 blocks away. I think I will be living in there. For those of you who do not know what Mood is, it's an amazing apparel fabric store and is the go to shop for contestants on Project Runway. 
Maybe I will start packing now, or maybe I should go back to sleep since I am some crazy person who blogs at 6 in the morning.

XOXO
Ashley.

I will leave you with a picture of our hotel roof top :)

Never ending toddler room

When Cayden turned one I decided I wanted to ditch the old nursery decor because I could not stand to look at Blue and Brown any longer! Well this project that should have started in July 2010 and Finished in July 2010 has yet to be complete. I have made some good strides but when I insist on making everything in the room I tend to get a little over ambitious with my time. Sure I can run a business full time sewing things for other people, take care of my energy ball of a son, try to keep up with a blog? re-do an entire room top to bottom? and keep the house clean while cooking every meal? Notice the question marks... seems I am lacking in some areas.
So I have a new goal, finish the room before hes 2. Yay I have a few more months :) I would like to think I am 1/3 the way there? I have some sheets, pillow cases, a huge poof that cayden loves to climb all over. Somewhat of a comforter but cayden insist on sleeping with this minky swirl blanket, which I don't blame him the blanket looks like a giant bright blue stuffed animal threw up. The soft kind of stuffed animal, not the ones with yucky hard furry hair ;)

Once I get more completed, I will give you bigger pictures of the room as a whole. Right now the other side of the walls are full of every riding or push toy imaginable... Its a toddlers garage.

This is the fabric I made him a blanket with and he insist on sleeping and carrying this around everywhere.

Hopefully I can get myself in motion and finish this room for good, I think by the time I finish it he will want a big boy bed and the whole project will start all over.

XOXO

ASHLEY

Balancing family, work, school, and....blog?

We realized it has been a bit since our last post, but seeing how we have not really spent too much time on it yet, we get a free pass.

Since the last time we posted, Ashley has become a full-time work at home mom. Her business, which you probably already know about has been doing great and continues to grow everyday. She is very modest, so she won't brag about it, but it is doing great and she is doing great. I am very proud!

I have started softball season again which I am now adding to my already jam packed weekly schedule. It is real good outlet for me to relax and not focus on life for an hour. School and work has been taking a toll on me physically and mentally, however, it pays off in the end, right? Right.

Finally, the apple of our eye, sir Cayden. This guy continues to amaze us everyday. You never really understand life until you have a child. Witnessing a product of you learning something new everyday is still to this day hard for me to wrap my head around.

Ashley and I have our NYC trip coming up and I have to admit, I am pretty excited for this. Although anyone who knows me knows I have a terrible fear of flying. We have a week in a new city with new experiences and some pretty potentially life-altering events happening that week. We'll see what God has in store for us.

And lastly, Ashley said we need to actually post pictures on our blog so people are not just reading the whole time, but she'll probably hate me for this one. This is probably one of the hottest pictures ever:

Until next time and hopefully a more interesting post.

-BLH

Be Quiet

I find it fitting that this morning will be my first ever blog post, and plus it has been a few days since we have posted anything. When we had the idea of starting a blog, I was not sure on the content or formatting of a blog. As Ashley mentioned, I am a one blog follower (http://www.bowensheart.com/) - which I would strongly suggest reading from time to time. It is an amazing story of a baby boy who was born with a heart defect and was said he would probably not live. I find it amazing how strong this family is and how great he is doing now.

This morning a massive earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, one of the biggest in 111 years and made it's way over to the West Coast. In major natural disasters like this you see families ripped apart and lives changed forever. The first question when things like this happen in this world is "why?". When going back and forth on what I wanted to write about one of my favorite songs came on - From the Inside Out from Hillsong United. I was taken by the lyrics of the song and felt compelled to open up God's word and came across this scripture:

     "The LORD your God in your midst,
      The Mighty One, will save;
      He will rejoice over you with gladness,
      He will quiet you with His love,
      He will rejoice over you with singing.”
                               - Zephaniah 3:17

So often when disaster or problems come up we're quick to get angry, ask questions, blame, and shut down or turn away from what we know is truth. It is mornings like this and times of struggle and depression where we should sit back and be quiet and reflect on the truth. What we know, God knows and what we don't know, God knows.

This morning lives have been forever changed, however, I will be quiet with His love.

One a lighter note, if you're wondering. I was very distraught over the ousting of Chuck Greenberg from the position of Rangers CEO/Managing Partner.

BLH

Mommy Brain Overload

I never believed the whole "mommy brain" theory, until I had cayden. but lately my mommy brain has been on overload. For those of you who have not experienced mommy brain or do not even know what it is, you are lucky. Mommy brain (or mb for short) happens when you become pregnant and is "suppose" to go away not long after you give birth, with mb you tend to forget everything.... well my mb has lingered for 20 months after birth! I am constantly losing my keys, forgetting the important things I'm suppose to do that day, I'm the worst person to call or text people back because well I just forgot they called. its horrible!
Thank goodness brandon is at school right now because I can feel stupid alone :) even though I am now admitting my stupidity. I am very surprised in myself that I have not burnt down the house down with the countless times I leave the oven on after cooking. brandon is always so kind to remind me to turn it off, except for tonight. I think I have broken a record for myself tonight, by leaving the oven on 1 hour and 45 minutes after I used it.

Note to self: TURN THE OVEN OFF!


XOXO,
Ashley.

Blogging...for begginers

When Brandon and I decided to start a blog, we defenitly didn't think "Hey, we get to write...for fun." But how hard can writing about ourselves be? Right? I follow a lot of blogs but my blog following mainly consist of crafting blogs. To my knowledge Brandon reads one blog, and thats it! So of course when we started this I had to show him around all the crafty goodness that I read! :)
I will try to keep the talk of  Mid Term Craming, midnight sewing sessions, nocturnal toddler fits to a minmum. I can only share the frustration of my bobbin running out so many times :)

XOXO,
Ashley.