What A Week

This week was crazy in so many different ways. It was our last full week before our fall break week (PTL!) and I was pushing to get through. But, after school was finally over, I got to walk in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in downtown Lexington yesterday. Walking across the finish line hand in hand with my mom was something I had never imagined possible until yesterday. It was a perfect symbol of her almost 1 year anniversary. She embodies everything that I hope I can one day be to my family, and she doesn't get nearly enough credit for all the things she puts up with on a daily basis from us. There were quite a few times during the race that I couldn't keep the tears back; times when I looked around at the hundreds of people who all have their own stories surrounding breast cancer, when I looked at my mom and dad who are now more in love than ever because of it, when I walked across the finish line holding my 3 year old cousin's hand. It was the most perfect reminder of how thankful I am for my mom and how badly I want to live in a world without breast cancer.

I finished up my week in the best possible way: with Good Shepherd. Father Cole spoke perfectly about our mustard seed sized faith and why it is so important that we set out on the path laid before us now, instead of when we believe we have accumulated enough faith to set out on our journey. Our mustard seed sized faith can uproot trees and move mountains; it is enough.

Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.

Matthew 17:20.

All my love, Ash. 

Thoughts Along The Day

Today was such a perfect day for multiple reasons. 
1. I had a good day at school today. It was one of those days where you're just happy and content without anything earth-shattering happening. A pleasant happy. A good happy. 
2. I got to enjoy dinner with a few of my favorite girls: Sarah, Gretchen & Embry at one of my favorite places to eat, Ramsey's. They constantly remind me of how thankful I should be to have girls like them; I have no idea where I'd be without em!

 3. Sundy Best DROPPED DOOR WITHOUT A SCREEN TODAY. This topped off my day & made it perfect. They're kinfolk-y/country and I love it; they're from Lexington too, which makes me love them that much more! Local celebs, they're pretty cool. 

4. I finally feel like I'm getting a handle on this whole junior year, tons of school work, APs, extracurricular stuff, social life thing & it's so nice! Verrry time consuming but I'm convinced it'll all pay off in the end. No worries.

I hope y'all are having a wonderful Tuesday and guess what?! TOMORROW IS HUMP DAY Y'ALL. Have a wonderful rest of the week! Xoxo, Ash

Home Sweet Home

      Shew, today has been all but quiet, that's for sure! The Wallace fam bid farewell to Sanibel Island & headed back home to the Bluegrass state today (at 5AM I might add) and I couldn't have been happier! It was such a blessing to be gone for so long (2 weeks total for me, camp right next to family vacay) but there's nothing sweeter than coming home to Kentucky & a clean room :) 
      I've been frantically trying to prepare myself, outwardly & inwardly, for school in 2 days (wait.. WHAT?) & I've been all but productive in my eyes. I've got a mile long to-do list to finish in two short days & lots of friends I want to see before the summer comes to a close. My schedule isn't looking too clear around this time of year, and I don't mind it one bit :) I'm looking forward to the regularity and schedule of the school year but not quite as excited to take on my insane courses this year.. They always tell you junior year will be tough but I'm holding out hope that maybe it'll take it easy on me! 
     Just wanted to stop by to sort out my mess of a brain & keep myself occupied. Xoxo. Ash.

Summertime

     Well, I'm officially a blogger - weird/strange/out of character/mildly stupid, I know. I just got to thinking about Junior Year (what?) and how absolutely insane it is going to be, and how badly I want to remember it all. So, here I am, sitting in front of my laptop on the back porch of our beach house on Sanibel Island. 
     As I was getting everything re-packed and ready to go for our flight tomorrow, I got to thinking about this summer and how absolutely AMAZING it really was. As it's coming to a close I realized how incredibly fast it went! I've been gone for 5 entire weeks this summer, hands down the longest ever but I was more than thrilled to do it. I spent one week away at camp as a true camper - best week of my summer - and the next 3 and a half counseling kiddos from 1st grade all the way through 5th. I had been a counselor before but for some reason I walked away with a lot more than I had in summer's past. It was so rewarding to get to become such good friends with such great girls. Girl talk was always the best with them - they've got the greatest personalities :) It was nice to have the weeks broken up a bit, to get some relaxation by the pool & my laundry done! 
     In between my weeks at the Domain, I had to (regretfully) say "see ya later" to one of my sweetest & greatest friends, Mary Thompson. It was so sweet to spend an awesome year with her while she was still living in Danville but I'm so thankful for the new start she gets to have in Memphis! It was definitely one of the hardest things I've had to do, but it made me realize how lucky I was to have her in my life to anchor me down when I started to get a little outta hand.. Which is pretty often :) It reminded me of that sweet Winnie the Pooh quote, "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard." The goodbye was tough but I'm so happy she's become such a big part of my life and who I've become in the last year.
     I've spent the past 9 days (long days, I might add) laying on the beach and by the pool on Sanibel Island with my family. It's been nice to have some alone time (actually lots of alone time) reading my summer reading books and catchin' up on my tan that I've lost from being at camp so much. I've also come to the realization that this is probably our last full family vacation for a while. With Ben (my oldest brother) scheduled to graduate in December and Clay (my middle brother) starting his sophomore year in college, we will be hard pressed to get all five of the Wallaces together for more than 5 minutes once school starts. 
     It's hard to believe that summer is wrapping itself up and school starts in 4 days - I might wanna finish up all this summer reading I've got left to do.. But it can wait :) I can't wait to see all the cool things I get to do this year with The Cathedral Domain and Henry Clay. It's about that time to start taking the ACT again & work on some GSP applications for the summer of 2014 (okay, maybe I'm a little ahead of myself there..)! 
Here's to a wonderful Junior Year.

{Attached are a few pictures to show off the highlights of my summer} 

The Cathedral on the property {credit: Mary Thompson}

These were from Senior Conference, when I was a camper. Loved every second of it.

 Hated saying goodbye to this sweet girl, but I loved getting to meet all her sweet Dtown friends. 

 While we were on the island, my mom's parents and her sister + cousin + my newest cousin, Lillian Lynn came to visit us!