Shout-outs Part 2

Ashlei is over at Just One Bite. She is my friend Kourtni's sister. Yes, their mom was very creative with the spelling of their names! :) I first met Ashlei a long time ago while I was dating my now husband. She was around 10 or 11 years old. Raymond's whole family was really close friends with Ashlei's family and they'd all get together frequently. She was a cute girl with long blond hair and she was like a little sister to Raymond.

I could only find one picture that we have of her from around that time. I hope she doesn't kill me for posting it!

I've seen Ashlei grow from the little girl who took ballet to a beautiful young woman who has incredibly good taste in clothes and general style as you can see on her fashion blog at My Dirty Closet. She has this unique writing style that is hard for me to describe. It's very descriptive and it pulls me in. It's enchanting. That's the best way to explain it.

Ashlei knows who she is and isn't afraid to speak her mind. She's very creative and I only wish I could have her do a fashion intervention for me because I have zero style. Well, what I do have is boring. ;) I think she could be really successful as a personal shopper or interior designer if she felt so inclined. She is currently working as a cosmetologist and I hear she is a fabulous eyebrow waxer/girl whatever you call them (I have no clue, sorry I'm so lame!). I've only had my eyebrows done once, for my wedding. I really should have her do mine but I am too embarrassed to be seen in public with bright pink flaming skin that screams "I just had my brows done!" that I had the one time I did it.

Ashlei makes me want to re-do my teenage years. I was such a dork!

Kourtni has a blog at Not Quite June Cleaver. Now, because Kourtni knows I love her, I can be completely honest. When I first met her almost ten years ago, I thought she was a snob. :S Here I was, this girl who'd come from Maryland every few months to visit her boyfriend in California and I felt so out of place with these people who were Raymond's very close friends. I was a very sheltered homeschooler with few friends at home and I didn't feel very cool around girls like Kourtni. She was pretty, popular, and trendy, everything an insecure geeky girl like me wasn't. I don't think Kourtni really liked me at first either. And worst of all, Raymond's sister, Angela, really wanted Kourtni to marry Raymond.

Raymond and Kourtni had been paired up by friends and family almost since birth. The two of them did not like it, and felt more like brother and sister than a potential couple. I heard about the attempted matchmaking over and over by various people at their church when I came to visit. I felt threatened. Hello, I'm the girlfriend! And frankly, I really don't think many people thought Raymond and I would last. Raymond would tell me that people referred to me as "That Girl In Maryland". They'd ask him, "Are you still with that girl in Maryland?" "How's that girl in Maryland?" I didn't have a name, I was just that girl. It hurt.

July 2000
Kourtni, Angela and me

Kourtni eventually got married to Andy, Angela warmed up to me and the idea of someone other than her best friend marrying her brother, and I became Raymond's wife. I moved to California after my wedding and shortly after that, Kourtni and her husband invited Raymond and I over for dinner. And the four of us had fun. She had an adorable little baby boy that I loved holding and playing with. And then through her reaching out to me, somehow we clicked. We developed a long lasting friendship and realized we had a lot in common, something I never could have imagined before that. Our husbands became fast friends and our children are best friends.

Kourtni and I at Talia's wedding. I had just found out I was pregnant with Jonah.

OK, so the matchmaking has already started with our children but I promised myself I wouldn't get carried away and hurt some poor potential daughter-in-law's feelings!

Jonah and Juliet. She grabbed his finger on her own and we couldn't NOT take a picture!
Juliet, Logan and Jonah.
Our boys have been brainwashed by their fathers since birth to be video gamers.
Now Kourtni is one of my closest friends, the one you call just to chat with, meet for coffee, laugh hysterically with, and arrange playdates for the kids as an excuse to get together. It's awesome because our husbands are really good friends and always want us all to hang out together and have each other over for dinner.

I know this is getting really long, but Kourtni is also just like her sister in that she has amazing taste and style. Kourtni is very close to having baby #3 and her new baby girl is going to be sleeping in this funky pink and black and white zebra print room as seen here. We found the perfect invitations for the baby shower she had last week that were in those exact colors. It's very Kourtni and I love it. She and her sister take after their mom who is also fabulous in decorating her home. Kourtni is a great wife and mommy and a wonderful friend to have.

Erica is over at Reflections. She's a former co-worker of mine. I met her when I was 18 and I started working at a sign language interpreting agency in Maryland. She was a fellow interpreter. She's the kind of person that just about anyone would like, she's fun and makes you laugh. Erica has this gorgeous long brown hair that is naturally curly and the smoothest complexion I think I've ever seen.

I was so shy and didn't really know anyone well at the first Christmas work dinner I attended. I had only been working a few months and had a regular assignment at a middle school so I didn't really see the other interpreters very often. I brought one of my sisters with me to the dinner and Erica and her husband tried to get me out of my shell. I think I ended up mostly embarrassed, haha! It had something to do with dancing...

When we did start working together on occasion, we'd have fun and help each other improve on our interpreting skills. We ended up being some of the top interpreters of our little agency. She knew all about my long distant relationship and would talk to me about it, asking how things were going. Eventually she started working in the office as the scheduler, which was the best thing ever because the agency had had its fair share of unqualified people in that position. Since Erica was making the schedule, I would try to weasel my way out of certain assignments. LOL! She is an awesome interpreter and has all of the certifications that I never even attempted to get. She even interpreted for my parents when they were closing escrow on their townhouse!

She came to my wedding 6 years ago while being 9 months pregnant. It was the last time I saw her. She still works as an interpreter, making her own schedule and working when she wants to. She can be a stay-at-home mom to her two adorable kids and still make some extra money when she would like to. She has gotten to travel to a few places for work. She and I kept in touch through the years via email and then Myspace, and now she has a blog. She keeps me connected to my old life, the working career world, interpreting, deaf people, and the DC area. I don't know when I'll ever be back in Maryland for a visit since my parents and sisters have since moved to the Chicago area, but if I ever do, I'll have to go and see her!