In My Girl's World

Hi everyone, and welcome to our new blogging segment... Not Just a Mom. I will be co-hosting this link up with some other blogger Moms on the second Monday of every month. Shout out to the other Moms, Adrienne, Dara, Sarita and Lauren! Please visit their blogs as well by clicking on their images below! Thank you so much for this great new link-up Adrienne. I look forward to linking with these ladies once a month!



Lauren



We collectively decided on the topics for each month, and we're SO excited to be hosting this link up! Please join us by grabbing our graphic, and CLICK HERE to join the link party.




We decided an introductory post would be appropriate for our very first Not Just a Mom link up. I decided instead of a traditional introductory post, to do a general walk through of my life this far. Here we go...

  

My name is Ashley and I am a 28 year old dental hygienist, 'wife' and mother to my beautiful, precious Ella Marie. Here is a little background on my life...

 I was born and raised in the great state of Maine, alongside my older sister Samantha (30) and my little brother Bryan. (26) Growing up with two siblings makes me fairly confident now that I will likely stop at 1 or 2 children, hahaha. But really. I think I am good.

Here we are from a couple years ago... Even though we no longer live in the same state, we are extremely close.

After high school, I attended The University of New England where I obtained my degree, then obtained my license to practice dental hygiene. The picture above is me and my roommate Chelsea at graduation. We had actually gone to high school together but really grew close in college. 

(Our first picture together-- his long hair and my thin eyebrows, yikes)

It was also at UNE that I met the love of my life, Michael. He is from Southern California but was in dental school at Boston University. Long story short, he was sent to my hygiene school for an externship, where we met and discovered 'true love.' So cheesy, but really true... I knew immediately that he was the one for me. We both graduated in 2012 and shortly after, he decided to move to Maine, so we could be together (and because I was unwilling to move to California at that time.)

Our time in Maine was so precious! We did lots of local traveling when he was there, to try and soak up all the New England charm. We aren't big international travelers, but we love local weekend trips! 

We visited many Maine beaches and state parks... The Portland Head light being one of our favorites. It was only a few minutes away from where we lived.


Martha's Vineyard

Martha's Vineyard is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been! This was at Gayhead Lighthouse, and it was just amazing.


Nantucket 

Nantucket is easily my favorite place to date. I have very few pictures of us there because I was truly just soaking up how cute and charming the island is. If you have never been, you HAVE to go.

We got engaged in 2015... and as you can see, still aren't married! 

The reason we aren't married is purely laziness on our part. We never planned a wedding, nor do either of us want to, so I think we'll just go to the court house one of these days. We feel married already and view ourselves as a family unit already, we just need to make it official! It's a non-traditional view, but that's just how we are.

In 2016, after a few years in Maine together, we made the decision to move to Michael's home of Southern California and see how it worked for us. We did have fun in Maine, but it wasn't a place he saw himself living permanently. Despite not being optimistic about the move across the country, we did it.



We decided on Seal Beach, a beach community in North Orange County. We moved into a small apartment within walking distance to the beach, and we are still here! I absolutely fell in love with this city and never want to leave!!!

I have had so many fun life experiences since moving to Southern California. Things I would have never been able to do if I lived in Maine. One of the highlights being...





Going to see Ellen! I have been to the show 4 times and it never gets old!!!  I love her so much. It's so fun being a part of the filming experience. And one of my visits there was a Bonus Giveaway Day around Christmas time. It was AMAZING! Thank you Michael for making me move to California so I could go to Ellen! :D And spend my life with you... (but more importantly ELLEN!)



In 2017 that we started talking about growing our family. I have always wanted to be a Mom, and Michael sort of had a 'what happens happens' attitude about it.  In 2018 we decided to just see what fate had in store, and wouldn't you know after trying ONCE we got pregnant. Many people assume because we aren't married yet that Ella was an 'oops' but she is far from that. She was planned and the greatest gift we have ever been given.

Since moving here, I have also been very fortunate to find my way in the dental community (which out here is MASSIVE and competitive.) I work at two great dental offices and am very blessed to actually enjoy going to work. I work Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and every other Friday + 1 Saturday per month. This gives me plenty of one on one time with Ella! I feel very blessed that I have the option to stay home part time, and I am even MORE blessed to have Michael's Mom, who watches Ella and helps us in so many ways.


I started Adventures with Ella Marie last year for a couple of reasons... My family is so far away, and they want to keep tabs on what we're up to. Another reason is that, I have always wanted one! I love reading Mom blogs and knew when I had my first baby I would want to document our days together. So here I am :) I am not a writer and will make many spelling errors/grammatical mistakes. My blog focus is simply documenting my life with my daughter. Michael supports my blog, but he is very private person and will only make small appearances here and there.
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Thank you so much for reading a little bit about me and my life journey so far. I can't wait to keep documenting our lives and adventures to share with you. We've made some blogging friends so far, and we hope to make lots more! 

Please follow us on Instagram! I'm not great about posting on that page yet, I mostly post on my personal Instagram, but I am trying. More followers would be great motivation!


***Don't forget to link up with us every 2nd Monday of the month. 
February's topic is "how we do date night!" We'd love to have you link up with us. ***