A Bar in the Office?

I work in an industry and business where the sky is the limit.  Crazy ideas are brought to life all the time, which is why today I am considering bringing a bar into my office.

We have two "community" coffee makers in our office, but I refuse to drink from them.  Instead, I have my own coffee maker in my office.  I stock at least a couple of types of coffee beans and grind them fresh for each pot.  I also make my coffee with bottled water instead of tap water.  It's not that I'm snooty or high maintenance (though there are a few who I'm sure would beg to differ). I simply enjoy my coffee and I get a certain pleasure and satisfaction from the love I put into making it.

In addition to coffee, I'm a huge water drinker.  So much so that I make trips to the water cooler every 30-60 minutes for a refill.  I also love my protein shakes and smoothies too!  Tea (hot or cold) is sometimes in the repertoire as well.  I guess you could say beverages are my "thing."

Oh!  And let's not forget the cups, mugs, bottles and such that I drink from.  There is nothing better than a nice promo piece that I can drink from.  If your company gives away anything like this, please send me one.  I LOVE this stuff and use it every day!

My little cabinet that holds all my drinking stuff along with my phone, business cards and files is becoming over crowded.  Since I love to drink so much and put a lot of love into the drinks I make, it only makes sense to move in a bar for my office, right?  

Homemade Thrill Ride

One day, in my early teen years my friends got a couple of snow mobiles.  The first time we got enough snow to try out the new toys my immediate thought was, "we could do some high-speed sledding if we tie some ski rope to these things."  So I went home and grabbed a ski rope and a tube sled and then directed one of the girls to get on the tube while I took the driver's seat.  

We went to an open lot on the other side of the neighborhood and I wish I had a picture of this lot for you.  It was probably less than an acre and there were a couple of obstacles.  On one side there was a little creek with banks that dropped probably 5'-6' down to the water.  On the other side there were one or two small trees.  Other than that, just a nice little space for us to ride around in circles. 

It didn't take long for me to figure out how to really get on the gas and maintain a higher speed as I made the loop.  Of course, as I gained speed I had to make wider loops.  Before long my friend was no longer on the tube and found her as I came back around on the next loop.  Poor girl, I had smacked her straight into the tree.  

After determining she probably didn't have any broken bones, it was decided that what was most important was to keep her awake in case she had a concussion.  So we got the snowmobiles back home and bribed her not to tell the parents by buying her lunch at Taco Bell.  Then we pumped her full of Mountain Dew  to make sure she wouldn't fall asleep and we were free and clear of trouble!  

Good times.

So let's advance to 2013... Yesterday at half past noon, my phone rang and it was a friend of mine asking me if I thought we could tow a sled behind his four wheeler.  

Heeheeheehee

Boy I'm telling you I hopped out of that bed so quick and found some winter gear to go play in the snow.  

I got over there and he didn't have ski rope, but he had a really long rope and some carabiners.  We made it work.  

Unbeknownst to me, he has a racing quad, not a four wheel drive quad (I didn't know there was such a thing as a quad that wasn't four wheel drive).  Whenever he tried to get the thing to go, the back tires would send snow and then mud flying high in the air trying desperately to get enough grip to move forward.  

Once we got it moving I grabbed hold of the rope, hopped on the tube and we started flying across the field.  There was so much snow in my face I couldn't see a thing, but I was having a blast.  Next thing I knew, I felt a bump followed by the feeling of flying through the air and finally hitting the ground.  I immediately felt water soaking through my Carhartts and looked down to find myself sitting in a giant mud hole.  I couldn't think of anything else to do except laugh hysterically and hop back on.

The tube started loosing air after that so we tried another type of sled that really didn't work out.  I was flipping off of it as soon as we started to move each time.  I finally figured out that if I hung on to the rope after I flipped off, I could just let the quad drag me on my belly across the ground.  Of course that also ended up a muddy mess when the downward force of me hanging on so low behind it caused the back end of the quad to sink again.

It was a good day.

He Believes In Me

Grampa

I went down to the lake late in the day and visited with Grampa and Grama.  Grampa was in an exceptionally cheery mood today.  He "had his talkers on" as Grama would say.  It seems every time I visit he has seen something or someone really out of the ordinary and tells me, he thinks I could or should do the same thing.  Today's story was about a man on a horse that was "pulled over" by a police officer outside of the restaurant they were eating at earlier in the week.  Apparently this guy was travelling to Missouri on horseback.  He was clean and friendly and had a sleeping bag with him.  That was just the way he was travelling.  When Grampa finished telling me about it, he said, "I told your grandma, if Ashley had a horse she'd be doing that too."  He went on to tell me how I could make it work and find places to sleep.

I realized something after listening to yet another crazy story of something he believes I could or would do.  He is the reason I am the way I am.  He is the reason I dream so big and dare to be adventurous   The first time I remember him flat out telling me to do something crazy was in 2004.  After an extremely harsh breakup with the man I was engaged to at the time, Grampa told me I should go get on my motorcycle and just take a trip by myself.  Just get away for a while.

I didn't end up taking the motorcycle, but I did get in the car and just start driving.  I remember trying to decide if I should head north, south, east or west.  Anyone who knows me wouldn't be surprised to find out that I decided to head south.  About 4 hours into my trip my cell phone rang. It was my mom wanting to know if I wanted to get some lunch.  I told her I couldn't because I was in Terre Haute, Indiana (I lived in the northwest suburbs of Chicago at the time).  She flipped out (of course) and I told her she should talk to Grampa and ask him what I was up to.  :-)

I was on the road for around 5 or 6 days.  I went all sorts of places in 6 different states, including Graceland in Memphis, TN.  It was the first time in my life I'd really done something all on my own.  I remember the day I was supposed to get married.  Instead, I was sitting out on the steps of the run down motel I was staying at in Memphis and smoking a cigarette (yes, I used to be a smoker) and I met two middle aged women and had a great conversation with them that really helped change my perspective.  I don't really remember what they told me, but I remember them and how powerful the experience was of meeting them.

Side note:  My love for Elvis movies was born in that hotel.  Channel 3 had Elvis movies 24 hours a day.  I discovered it very late at night and "Frankie and Johnny" had just started.  I was exhausted, but couldn't turn it off.  I stayed up almost all night watching one movie after another.  

Also on that trip, I remember getting caught very near to a tornado.  I met a family in a restaurant parking lot where I pulled over.  It was the only thing for many miles.  I'm not sure how far it would have been to a town.  The restaurant was in a modular building, so it would provide no safe haven from the storm.  The family was in a pickup truck and was pulling a trailer with a bunch of quads on it.  There were three younger boys riding in the trailer between the quads because there was no room in the cab of the truck.  They were getting pelted with the hail, rain and wind.  I've never again seen a sky like I did that day.  I have some great pictures of it somewhere.  Anyway, I got out of my car and went up to the parents to offer their boys shelter in my car.  I think they thought I was crazy, but they let them get in.  We knew, of course, if the tornado dropped near us we'd have to make a run for the ditch, but at least the boys got out of the storm.  Those boys were soaked, but so thankful to come in out of the storm.  I had beach towels in the car too so they got to dry off a bit.

That whole trip was like a mission to conquer the world for me.  To find my inner strength.  To prove to myself that I could survive just fine on my own.  Grampa believed I could do it.  That was all I needed to believe it too.  This all took place before Grampa and I were as extremely close as we are now.  That was where it all began.

There is a great quote by Zig Ziglar that really hits home for me:

"A lot of people have gone further than they thought they could because someone else thought they could." 

Grampa was that "someone" for me.  And now I believe I can accomplish anything I can dream up... because I know he would believe I can.

A Little Bit Loco

This is my buddy, Elton.

I'm really a pretty unique woman.  I got to thinking about that a few weeks ago after my boss asked me to do this little trick where I suck the cherry off the top of my milkshake through the plastic dome lid.  Long story.  Anyway, I obliged and pulled my little trick and he said, "Ashley, you are a weird one, but that's what we like about you!"

I'd have to agree.  I am very much... well... me!  It's not the first time I've been accused of being a little weird, unique, different, etc.  I'm really rather happy about that fact.  The little things that make me who I am are things that make me happy.  I think we all have lots of those little quirks, but many people chose not to show them to the world.  In my case, I put them out there with pride.  In the way I talk, act, the things I do, what I post to social media... and the list goes on.

Highlights of the craziness that is Ashley:

• I take off my shoes when I'm a passenger in the car.  And I forget to put them on until the car is parked and it's time to get out.  I'm always the last one out of the car.
• I crank up the music in my house and put on mini concerts when no one is around.  I'll use any object that's handy as a pretend microphone.
• I've got as dirty & sexual a mind as any man!
• I cry out of love or happiness very easily.
• I sleep with stuffed animals.  One of them even travels with me.  They all have names.  
• I get emotionally attached to inanimate things and sometimes pretend I can hurt their feelings or make them happy.  I know it's silly, but it's true.
• I think old people are the cutest things.  Especially the little old men.  I want to pack them up and take them home when I see them out and about.
• I let my house get to be such a mess I can barely walk through certain rooms and it really doesn't phase me.  Then one day I'll get the itch to clean it up and I will work my butt off to get it spic and span again.
• I'll talk to just about anyone.  Wrong numbers, random people in public, anyone who's willing to talk to me basically.  I've had some great, in-depth conversations with total strangers on countless occasions.  Put me in a busy campground on a nice summer day and I will walk from trailer to trailer just meeting everyone!
• I take the furniture out of my living room at Christmas time to make room for 13 Christmas trees that make up a forest.
• I wiggle my butt when I get excited.  Kind of like a dog wags its tail.

Just call me crazy!

You Asked For It

Charlie's Bunion in the Smoky Mountains.  A short side hike off the Appalachian Trail.

One day, while listening to my grampa talk about his life and share some of his incredible wisdom with me, he began to speak about dreams.  It was a lesson that will stick with me for the rest of my life.  In short, he told me stories of many of the great things that happened in his life and all the accomplishments he'd had.  Each one related back to a dream.  He would get an idea, an inspiration, a little thought that would become a driving force toward a new adventure.  Something he calls a dream.  I find myself relating to the spirit of a dreamer each and every day.  I have dreams.  Some are big, some small, most a little crazy, and some of them I'm living out right now, but all share one common thread - I have a relentless drive to embark on the adventures to make those dreams come true.

Let's take a step back and look at why you're reading this now...

It's not uncommon for someone to tell me they are amused by my posts to social media.  More than a few people have told me they usually scroll through their news feeds without reading too much, but if they see I've posted they will always stop and read what I have to say.  Others have said they wish there was a reality TV show of my life or at least a blog to elaborate on the events they find amusing.

Today, at the completion of a networking event, I was chatting with a friend who reiterated what many others have said for a long time... I should have a blog.  So in order to indulge the interest of my friends and followers the "Adventures of a Relentless Dreamer" blog has been born.

I don't know if my life is really that interesting or if I'm just more willing to be open about the craziness that exists on a day to day basis, but I'm glad you've decided to join  me on this journey.  I don't make any promises about how interesting or inspirational it will be,  but I hope you will find some amusement in it.