Ashworth Alcove

List ten people who have influenced you. 1. My daugher, Violet: imaginative - kind - caring I once read in a book about palmistry that a sudden break or bend in your life line indicates a great change in life. Game changer, Violet was. She's a line-breaker and heart-filler. There's life before Violet, and life after Violet. The before seems comparatively boring to the after. She is continuously making me a better person, and the best part is - she has no idea. She genuinely enjoys the company of others and is unusually caring for a three year old, a quality that makes me proud and inspires me deeply. 2. My sister, Leslie/Sissy: intelligent - independent - ambitious She is so special. She is so damn intelligent, and always has been. Since I was young, her sharpness and the ease at which succeeding came to her has inspired me. We're the same in many ways and I've always been able to turn to her for sound advice, typically backed by a heavy dose of logic ...

What are five passions you have? 1. Violet - My passion, my best buddy, my inspiration, my favorite person of all time, the coolest being in the history and future of the known and unknown. Everything good and right in my world. 2. Family - The most important thing I have in this life is the people who are in it. These people give me love, support, and great comfort. Living far away makes seeing them extra special and makes missing them very easy. 3. Nature - Gazing at Mt. Rainier towering over this land is humbling and makes me feel like a part of something larger. The changing of seasons stirs my soul, especially the transition into fall. Being in the woods activates some primitive intuition within me. Our ancestors worshiped nature, and yet humankind is now completely disconnected from all of it, from this planet we live on. The loss of being grounded is a true loss for humankind. 4. By-gones - Genealogy, antiques, old crafts and skills our great-grandfathers knew, old reci...

What is your dream job, and why? Short answer: Pumpkin patch owner/farmer/homesteader/botanical store owner. Long answer: To have a lot of land that I work hard on. I will have a pumpkin patch in the fall, complete with hay rides, bonfires, and a cafe for visitors. The rest of the year I will make handmade goods to sell locally. Soaps, breads, herbs, clothing, etc... I may even have a storefront with all kinds of weird natural things. Ben would call it a witchy store. Sally's botanical store from Practical Magic comes to mind, so maybe witchy is accurate.

If you could have three wishes, what would you wish for? 1. I would wish for the ability to teleport. It would solve a lot of my problems right now. I could live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, but still see my family any time I want. I'd be zapping around so much it would probably annoy everyone. Oh, you're in the good part of the movie? POW! There's Amanda. You're just falling asleep? BAM! Amanda. 2. I would wish for a never-ending supply of money. That's right. Not because I want lots of things, but because I want to give people what they deserve. I'd pay off my parents' and mother-in-law's houses and buy them all new cars. I would pay my best friends student loans (and mine). I would give money to every homeless person I saw. Then we would go on a huge family vacation. Ben and I would never have to work again. We can all travel the world (teleportation may not be free, ya know), buy land and I can start my self-sustaining farm and pumpkin pat...

What are five things that make you happy right now? 1. Violet Eliza - Her energy dissipates the stagnant air that most adults leave hanging around. She keeps me grounded and focused on the little things that I often neglect. She's a special source of joy. 3. Gardening - There's just something about digging in some dirt and getting dirty to make something beautiful. It feels elemental. It's a sensory experience that connects me to a primal state. It's guaranteed to put me in a good mood 3. Photography - I take photos because I have a desire to distill precious memories and because, quite honestly, I think photographs are important. They are our legacy. Most photographs outlive the people in them. I photograph what is important to me and it makes me happy to share the things that I find beautiful with others. 4. Music - I struggled to pick either reading or music for this one. Music prevails because I've been doing a lot of listening lately. Most of the time i...

List ten things you would tell your 16 year-old self, if you could. 1. Let no one damper your spirit. 2. I know you really like some of the quiet "weird" people at school. Talk to them more. A lot more. 3. Ditch a weekend with your friends to hang out with your grandmother. 4. Pay attention to your mother when she's cooking, so you'll know what the hell you're doing. 5. One day you will move away. You will come away from high school with few lasting friendships. Always remember to maintain those few friendships and never neglect them. 6. You're different and your beliefs won't always be popular. Recognize this and know that it is okay. Don't follow the crowd. You hate crowds. 7. It may not be easy to stand up and speak out for what's important to you, but you will be amazed how empowering, and important, it can be. 8. Listen to your parents. You've got some good ones. 9. You will have a tendency toward complacency. Resist thi...

Describe your relationship with your spouse. He is fun and likeable. He seems to know everyone and has many stories to tell. I watch him toss Violet around in the air with ease and her joy overflows. I always knew he would be a good dad.     When we were young and first met, we became our own little family quite fast. I fell head over heals in love with him only two weeks after we officially met. At the end of our first date we sat in the car and talked for hours. Literally, hours. It always felt right and good.   He gives me good laughs, even though sometimes his jokes really aren't as funny as he thinks. He's a lighter person than me (most of the time.) He likes to socialize and laugh, while I'm over building castles in the sky and lost in deep contemplation. We are good at reigning each other in. He is the constant, I am the variable. He is strong, practical, and reliable. I am strong, emotional, and fickle. Our relationship is often intense. Because both o...

Describe three legitimate fears you have and how they became fears. I'ma start off by saying my legitimate fears aren't something silly like spiders or some animal. Though, bats legitimately freak me out. When I think of legitimate fears, I think like life-ending, terrifying, heart-stopping fears. 1. Bad news - I have a strong fear of answering a call to hear terrible news come from the other end. Things like my family being in a car accident. This didn't become a fear until the last few years. I think general adulthood and cherishing my loved ones created this fear. Living far away from family worsens the fear. 2. Burglars - Someone breaking into my home, raping, and murdering me or my child. A part of me thinks that if this fear ever happens in real life I wouldn't be able to defend myself at all. Another part of me thinks of someone breaking in and coming after Violet and me turning into their complete and total nightmare. I mean, I can see myself doing some cr...

I'm going on a little journey of writing exercises. I found a list of 30 journal prompts for parents with the intent of someday showing your children another side of you. I can write about stuff on here until the cows come home, but I actually find some of these questions about myself to be really difficult to answer. For that reason, I'm turning this into a new personal project I hope to complete over the next few months. In each post I'll answer one prompt. Without further ado, prompt numero uno: List 20 fact about yourself. 1. I'm a Scorpio and I can almost always tell when I meet another Scorpio. 2. I have very little self control in regards to food. If I want the chocolate, I'm going to eat the chocolate. 3. So far, I've had zero broken bones. (My desk is wood and you best believe I'm knocking on it) 4. Speaking of knocking on wood, I'm a bit superstitious. I know a lot of really old and strange ones because I once wrote a book about the hi...