We're moving!

Wondering what we have been up to since 2009?! Well - we have been making a baby! (No it doesn't usually take that long but our guy was making us wait him out...) To keep our family and friends better updated we have started a little "Ashley Family Website". If you want the link then feel free to email us and we can pass it along!

Kooza!

We went and saw Kooza, the newest Cirque du Soleil show to come to New York. They set up a big tent on Randall's Island and the shows are fantastic with great clowning and amazing acts. We have been able to see a bunch of Cirque shows, and this was one of our new favorites.

Top Five Cirque du Soleil shows we have seen:

Mystere - Las Vegas
(Treasure Island)
O - Las Vegas (Bellagio)
Kooza - New York
La Nouba - Orlando (Disney)
Alegria - New York

Adventures in Ireland

We spent 9 days in Ireland with Renee and Steve over Rebecca's Spring Break. It was an amazing trip, and we were fortunate enough to have beautiful weather almost the whole time.

We flew in and out of Shannon, and stayed on the western coast for the most part.

3 days in and around Cashel where we experienced a local St. Patrick's Day Parade and our first sighting of newborn lambs.

2 days in Killarney where we traveled through Killarney National Park and the Dingle Peninsula.

3 days around Galway experiencing the Cliffs of Moher, Aran Islands and Galway city.

We had a great time, saw a ton of the Irish country, ate a lot of great Irish food, and listened to Eddie Izzard in the car - not a bad trip!

Take a look at the slideshow below for some more pictures, and if that isn't enough you can go to this album for even more pictures!

Ice Skating

We went ice skating this week at Wollman Rink which is one of two ice rinks in Central Park. The skating night was a Sacred Heart event, and we had a great time with all of Rebecca's students, co-workers and parents.

A Letter On Inauguration Day

To our dearest loved ones:

Alexandra, Mikaela, Andy, Eliana, Zachary, Ana, Patrick, Charlotte and Madeleine (and Nikki and Logan),

First of all, we love you so much, and marvel every day at how you have grown, how much you have learned, and at how you continue to become the wonderful young ladies and gentlemen that you are destined to be. While we don’t get the pleasure of seeing you every day, we feel blessed to have such kind, smart and talented young family members to invest our hopes in. Your parents are generous and full of good spirit and humor, and knowing they are raising you gives us great assurance for the future of our country. You have the potential to change the world if you want to. So why are we writing you today, January 20th, 2009? Well, Uncle Paul and I have had quite a day. No, we didn’t see anyone famous—not in person anyway. We are simply reveling in the idea that just a few hours ago, our country swore in the first African-American president, Barack Obama—a man who represents the voices of those who have not been spoken for—a man who works for those who need our help the most. No matter who you wanted to win the election, no one can deny the good that President Obama hopes to do for people of our nation and the world—for those who simply need someone to care about them. We, our nation and the world, have had quite a day indeed.

This day was important for a lot of reasons. Early this morning I thought of the decision I got to make on the day of the primary election. Among the choices were two potential firsts: the first woman president, and the first African-American president. My eyes filled with tears in the voting booth at the thought—I had the chance to make such a historic choice! 89 years ago, I would not have been allowed to vote because I am a woman. In his acceptance speech today, President Obama said that 60 years ago, his father may not have been served in a restaurant because of the color of his skin. And this year, I, a woman, chose between a woman and a black man on the ballot. Today, Barack Obama became our 44^th President. Our country has come very far, even in the few years since you were born. Change can happen fast, and the power of just a few voices can make quite a difference.

And so, of all the important things that come out of today, the point we hope to make to you is very simple. It’s a message that our new president has been making since his early days on the campaign trail. You can make the world a better place by helping others. That’s it. The people who worked so hard for so long to help women and African-Americans to have equal rights did so to make this world—this country, their towns—a better place to live. So whatever it is that you do with your life, I hope that you consider every day whether or not you are making a difference in the life of one creature on this earth.

Maybe you are able to comfort a friend in need.

Maybe you speak up for someone who can’t speak for themselves.

Maybe you organize an event where people can work together for a common goal.

You are much more creative than we are, and we know there are many other ways that you can work for change. If you answer yes—I can make a difference in someone’s life—then you will be working with thousands of others who hope to live the message that President Obama has been saying over and over, “Yes we can.” The historic nature of his presidency is not in the color of his skin alone. He has asked every American to get to work—to think about the person sitting next to you before you think of yourself. I know you have the hearts and minds to change the world if you want to. You can do it one step, one action, one person at a time. Yes you can.

We love you more than you can imagine, and look forward to all that you will accomplish.

With lots of love,

Aunt Rebecca and Uncle Paul

Happy New Year!

This holiday, rather than traveling to Colorado or St. Louis, we stayed at our home in NYC. Although we missed our family, it was great to spend the holidays at home with friends that were in town. We went out for Rebecca's (30th!!) birthday, had Brad, Sam, Kevin, Walt and Colleen over for Christmas dinner, took each other out for two NY days for our Christmas gifts to each other (including ice skating, White Christmas, Marley and Me, Train Show at the NY Botanical Garden...whew...) and also hosted a New Year's gathering. A relaxing holiday season full of good friends and more.

We hope everyone had a great holiday,
and we look forward to change in 2009!

Check out some pictures from our adventures this holiday!

A West Side Blunder

On December 13th, we did one of our most favorite activities - we drank and ate our way down the West Side of Manhattan! With Marvis in town, and it being especially chilly, we concentrated our feasting/drinking first in the west 80's and then ended up in Columbus Circle. A brief tour follows:

We begin at a great place, PINCH & S'MAC, which is pizza measured by the inch and a whole bunch of variations on the classic macaroni & cheese. We had a plain 6" pizza (nice tangy sauce and thin crust) and the Napoletana S'MAC, which was, in a word- awesome.

Next, we clearly needed a drink. The Dead Poet was the answer. On a cold day, whiskey was the drink of choice - Irish coffees for Rebecca and Marvis and Bushmills for Paul. We came in cold but felt warm when we left!



A delicious series of tapas followed at Luzia's, which is a Portuguese tapas bar. Crab cakes, jamon croquetas and sausages accompanied by the house red sangria. A perfect amount of food and drink to keep us going through the shopping we were about to embark on. (Columbus Circle Winter Arts Fair)

Last but certainly not least, we ended up at one of the
newest wine bars in Manhattan, Clo.
It has this great interactive menu of wines that is projected from the ceiling down onto the bar. You can select your wine of choice, find where it is in the bar, and take your Clo card over to fill up your glass. Quite a gimmick, but it was pretty cool.

All in all, a great day experiencing Manhattan with one of our
favorite people to stumble around with!

St. Louis Weekend

We had a great time visiting Rebecca's family in St. Louis 

last weekend. As always, we packed a bunch of events 

into a small amount of time, including the MHA Snow Ball 

where Steve was awarded the Silver Key Award. 

We had a great time eating, dancing, and dancing some more!

We also got to watch Z-Man's hockey 

practice, had a dinner with the siblings, 

nieces and nephews, and topped it off with a brunch at 

Rich & Marvis' with Grandmama and Ralph! Whew!

Check out the slideshow for more pictures from the weekend!

On The Town

This week we had the chance to see two of our friends in a great production of On The Town. This 1944 musical was written & created by 4 of the most brilliant people in music, theatre and dance - Leonard Bernstein, Adolph Green, Betty Comden and Jerome Robbins. (The movie starred Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly and Ann Miller...)

The production we saw was a staged reading and was music directed/ conducted by our friend Todd Ellison. Also appearing in the ensemble was our good friend from college, Autumn Hurlbert.

The music was great, the dancing superb, and we felt like we were transported to a different time and place. The magic of theatre!

See the NY Times review here.

Got Inspiration?

We visited the Whitney Museum of American Art today to see Alexander Calder: The Paris Years, 1926-1933.

Goldfish Bowl, 1929
(This has moving parts and if you turn the crank, the fish "swim" up and down with the waves!)

We did not know much if any of his work before today, but found his wire sculptures and mobiles (he was the first creator of one!) to be fantastic examples of what art can achieve:

- a sense of play
- movement
- engineering, using math & physics

Calder created a miniature circus (watch the video) that had working parts, and designed toys for some of his career. We especially thought of Mikaela, Alexandra and Andy as we wandered through the galleries. Calder started creating as an 8-year-old and some of his earliest work was on display. We hope you can look at some of his art online and get as inspired as we were today!

Circus Scene, 1929 Fernand Leger, 1930

Tight Rope Artists, 1926-31 Romulus and Remus, 1928

Obama!

We witnessed history on November 4, 2008.

Our work is not done, but rather it has just begun.

It begins on January 20, 2009 - 

and Rebecca and I plan to be there. 

Here's to change in America.

Election Night!

6:36pm EST

An exciting and historic night for sure. 

Right now, Rebecca and her best friend 

Sam are cooking a delicious lasagna for dinner. 

Sam's Aunt Pat, my mom and brother and I 

are watching MSNBC and pouring over any 

information we can gather as it comes in. 

Lucky is trying to get any food he can from us.

We are excited to be a part of history, and hoping to 

celebrate in the next couple of hours!

10:43pm EST - Update!

On MSNBC - Obama currently at 207 electoral votes. 

California, Hawaii, Oregon & Washington polls still not closed. 

Those polls would give Obama 284 EV  & close in 15 minutes. 

We may have a new president very soon...

11:09pm EST - Update!

Every network has projected Barack Obama 

as our next president!

YES WE CAN!!

4 Hours, 2 minutes, 39 seconds

We did it! My friend Gavin and I ran the 

NYC Marathon yesterday, 

and finished in just over 4 hours. 

We saw friends and family all along the route, 

and Rebecca had a bunch of people ready 

for us at our apartment at Mile 18.

This is the view from our balcony (fire escape!) on First Avenue. For 5 years we have watched the marathon run by our windows, and that is how I got the crazy idea to actually run in it. It was an amazing experience to travel through the 5 boroughs, see all the people that came out to support the runners, and feel what 26.2 miles of running is like.

Here we are running down 5th Avenue towards 90th Street

and the entrance to Central Park. (Mile 24)

Here are some more pictures of family & friends from race day. 

Thanks to everyone that was able to come out on the course. Enjoy!

Making A Difference

This weekend, a group of 6 (Rebecca, Paul, Brad, Michael, Sam & Lucky) from NYC went to stay with 3 of our friends (Mark, Becca & Chester) in Philly. We spent Saturday (10 days before the election...) knocking on more than 250 doors of independent and undecided voters in Bucks County, one of the most hotly contested counties in Pennsylvania. What a great feeling to get out and feel like you are making a difference in this historic election. We even met some locals at a diner in Bucks County, and they were all supporting Obama!

26.2 miles

NYC 2008 Marathon - Sunday, November 2

I am running my first (and most likely last!) marathon. For 5 years we have watched the marathon run by our apartment and this year I am running with my friend Gavin. (We climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro last year together. This has been much harder!)

As of right now, I have run a total of 394 miles (over 61 hours) preparing for the marathon. I'll be glad to get back to a more "normal" routine after Nov. 2...

There are a lot of ways to track me during the race, all of which can be found at the ING NYC Marathon website. We start in the 10:20am group, and are hoping to run the full course in right around 4 hours.

This is a really cool video of the entire marathon route. You can watch and see what I'll see on Sunday!

VOTE!

It is now 11 days until we elect a new president. 

We are supporting Barack Obama for many reasons.

Whoever you are supporting, and if you are old enough -

make sure you VOTE!