Thursday Dance Party - Sponsored by...

I like to think I'm cool. I know this is totally false. But, I like to dance very badly most of the time. I woke up yesterday in a weirdly good mood. And had a dance party in my bathroom with my iPod. I thought I would share what puts me in a great mood, and I know it would put you in a good mood too.

1. Crossfit Knoxville - Crossfit seems to be the biggest new workout trend. And for a perfectly good reason, it's awesome. I am not the workout little bird (currently listening to Little Bird by Ed Sheeran) but I actually enjoy going to Crossfit. It's a do-able workout for everyone. And I mean everyone. It's scalable, you can measure your success and it's a team/community atmosphere. Boxes are bare banes, your coaches yell at you and your fellow Crossfitters stand around and cheer you on. No one is left behind. You're officially invited to come to class with me so let me know and we'll go together. You won't go back to your old boring gym ever again.  

2. Wearing jean shorts to work - Yesterday was our 5th anniversary/partnership announcement party at Renewal by Andersen of Knoxville. And, since I am the party planner extraordinaire I spent the entire day running errands and setting up. I wasn't about to try to be productive in a dress or pants, so I threw on my favorite blue jean shorts and loved every minute of it. Shorts are my favorite piece of clothing and I'm super excited it's finally shorts weather. 

3. Grace Potter and Maroon 5 - I recently attended concerts for both of these amazingly, spectacular artists. When I get ready in the morning I like to steal my Mom's little bluetooth speaker and jam out in my bathroom. And yesterday Mr. Levine's voice singing Wasted Years just got me in the mood for an awesome day. I mean, it's probably my favorite song right now. If I was still teaching dance my team/class would most definitely have a dance to it. I can't put into words how awesome I think it is. 

And, Grace Potter is the cutest, best dancing singer around IMHO. I mainly love her dance moves because they look like the ones I do in my robe at my  morning dance parties. She has a multitude of wonderful songs but Paris is one of my faves. Want to be in a good mood? Then listen to herrrrrrr!

Oh, I also listened to the Cruise Remix by Nelly, and Florida Georgia Line. I mean, pure awesomeness. 

Its rare that one wakes up in a truly, pure good mood. I was very excited I had one of those yesterday. Today I woke up with an abscessed tooth. This should be a fun couple of days. [Back story - when I was in the 4th grade I was playing Frogger with some friends, I yelled jump which ended up with a dead frog. Being silly, a remote control was thrown and accidentally hit my front tooth. It knocked half of it off and apparently it can take years for teeth to catch up with trauma. I knew this was going to happen eventually but it hurts and I'm an unhappy camper, on pain pills. So if you see me and I'm acting silly I blame that.]

What tips do you have to put me in a good mood all 7 mornings of the week? I will try almost anything. 

Balancing Being a Brand and Being Yourself

Friday I had the opportunity/chance/pleasure of attending Social Slam 2013. It was an all day conference about social media. And I've always thought of myself as 'social media savvy' but boy, oh boy was I wrong. Yes I can tweet, update a Facebook page and blog like there is no tomorrow but apparently I've been doing it all wrong.

All day I listened to these AMAZING speakers teach me how to be better. And it was awesome. But the biggest take away I got was that I need to be branding myself. Well, I have a few problems with this. I hate following someone on Twitter who constantly just tweets about their lastest blog/article/achievements. I personally use Twitter to connect, and that just doesn't do it for me.

I also learned that blogging, in particular, has to start with some sort of passion. And has to have meaningful content. Starting today I am going to start focusing on building myself as a brand, especially in the blogging sphere, but promise to continue being myself. I'm going to try to RT things on Twitter that pertain to my life, but would be useful for other as well. I promise to continue with daily life updates as well. And same with my blog. Maybe I'll work on some sort of continuity in posts, but not forgetting that this is a personal blog and I want to share about my life as well.

To leave you today, here are 10 these were really hard to pick things I learned at #SoSlam this year. They might seem simple and you might already  know them, but sometimes a gentle reminder is nice.

1. You have to start.
2. You're never going to be perfect.
3. Mirror online engagement with face-to-face engagement.
4. Don't be 'normal.' Be yourself.
5. Don't be locked into a brand, your brand can always be evolving.
6. You will not build an audience without being focused.
7. Twitter supports your growth.
8. Looks count.
9. Expect that mistakes are going to happen.
10. Be patient.

Now that I'm looking at this blogging venture through completely new lenses, do you have any tips for me? What about things that just any new blogger should know. Let me hear it!!

This just isn't my thing.

I give up. I'm not cut out for blogging. But, hey I tried.

Okay so I'm not really giving up I'm just going to say it so that when I do blog it will be like "OH MY GOSH, ASHLEY POSTED A BLOG." It's pretty much why everyone at works thinks I'm awesome any way. Our VP of Sales has taught me, "set the bar low so you always impress." Okay, not really but it's fun to think that way some times. 

Any ways, I quit my second job. It's a big deal. I've worked at Pandora the jewelry store, not the radio for 17 months now it's probably the longest I've had a job actually. And while I loved working there in college, the last 6 months with two jobs has just been, well tough. I didn't get a lot of hang out time after work and lots of my weekends were taken up. This will be the first week where I haven't had an evening shift.... and it pretty much rocks. I've been cooking, working out and walking the dog. It's an awesome life I live.

But, now that I've given up Pandora it seems like my planner is still full of stuff to do. And I love that. I cannot wait to spend the summer on the lake. The weather is finally starting to look like it will stay nice. And the first of the spring/summer weddings start next week. I promise to blog about all of them. Every. Single. One.

It's Wednesday and that's about all I can say about today.

If anyone has any good ways besides taking medicine to get rid of this headache I've had since yesterday morning, I promise to take your advice.