Happily Ever After - Ashley Ladd Romance Writer: Mardis Gras

Showing posts with label Mardis Gras. Show all posts

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Things to do and see before you kick the bucket

I was just reading Ken's blog on MySpace at: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=253101892 He asked what we have done and seen that we think others should also experience and see before they kick the bucket. So here's my list. I hope you'll share yours with me after you read mine. The cool things I have seen and experienced that I think everyone else should see and do in their lives include: March in the New Orleans and Biloxi Mardis Gras parades. Yep, I really did march in both. I was in the Air Force Drum & Bugle Corps and I twirled flags in their flag corps. It was awesome. I'll never forget it and I am so happy that I have these memories. Serve in the US Air Force. I actually worked in SAC headquarters underground in the command post. Think the movie "War Games" with Matthew Broderick. The command post looks just like that. I also twirled flags and marched in their Drum & Bugle corps. Twirl flags and march in a band. I did so both in my high school marching band and in the US Air Force. Those were two of the best times in my life. I get all warm and giddy thinking of them. Write books. I've written and had published, many books. All are romances. Work for a charity to help the poor. What is life if we don't help others? Sure we all have our own problems, too, but why dwell on them? I'm blessed to have a full time day job working at a charity that helps the destitute poor. I wouldn't have it any other way. I've traveled to the poorest slums in the Third World (Haiti and Jamaica) in our hemisphere and whereas I wouldn't suggest doing this for fun, it is an eye-opener and helps us to realize how blessed we are and how much we can help others. Have children. I have five and although I wouldn't suggest to everyone to have this many unless you really want to, children are a blessing. They are full of love and joy and great fun. They are the future. Be married. It's not always a bed of roses, but there are many blessings to be had. See San Francisco. I love that city! I loved Fisherman's Wharf and China Town in particular. We honeymooned there and visited again several years later. This is a must-see city. Ride horses. I can't imagine never riding a horse. Althouogh I haven't had the chance to do so lately, it's awesome. Eat sushi. I turned up my nose at sushi for years. My kids thought it was awesome and they were on my back to try it and I thought there was no way that stuff would pass my lips. Finally, after many years, I tried it. Now I'm hooked. It's good to try new things and expand our universe. Thus this is an analogy to try new things. There are still many things I'd love to do and many places I'd love to see. I've not been much of a world traveler although I'd love to see the world. That's one of the reasons I joined the Air Force. But the Air Force sent me first to Biloxi, Mississippi (which I wouldn't have missed for anything) and then to Omaha, Nebraska. They sent my husband to those two places plus Northern California, Central Illinois, and Okinawa (Japan). So he saw a bit more than me, not much. I visited him in both Illinois and California so I saw all that except for Japan. I'd love to be a figure skater ice skater. I think it's so beautiful. I can do a bit, and I do mean a tiny bit, on roller skates. I took lessons as a teen for figure skating roller skating. I can do figure eights! But I didn't stick with it long enough to learn how to jump and twirl and do really fancy things. To my defence, my parents divorced about that time and life got topsy turvy. Oh well... I'd love to see my books turn into movies and also get on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. I'm working on these! *** In case you've noticed that I've not visited your blogs and that my blog posts are sporadic this past week it's because I'm having Internet problems. Actually, my computer is, not the entire house. However, it's hard to get anyone to lend me their computer. I'm on DD#1's computer today for a bit. DH let me use his but it broke and now he thinks I'm the Bermuda Triangle of computers so he's mad and doesn't want to let me on his again. I swear, I didn't do anything! Anyway, I'm going to schedule some posts ahead of time this week in case it takes awhile for me to get back online full time. I have DS#1 on the problem but he thinks my memory is full and has memory on order from ebay so it could be a week or two until it arrives and he finds time to work on it. So please don't give up on me. I'll be back to visiting everyone's blogs as soon as I can. Send your good vibes for a speedy recovery.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Thirteener Thursday - 2nd post for today

Thirteen Things about Ashley Ladd 1. I was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. 2. I had at least five surgeries before I was five years old. 3. I broke my nose when I was 6 in a bicycle accident. I ran into a 3-pronged tree face first. (ouch!) 4. I served in the US Air Force as a Computer Maintenance Repair Technician. I worked at SAC Headquarters in the command post. (Ever see the command post in the movie "War Games"? It looks like that.) 5. I LOVE Clark Kent/Superman. 6. I used to ride horses - English style. I once half fell, half jumped off my horse in the middle of my first riding competition and the judges asked me why I jumped off. (I figured it was better to land on my feet than on my ass). 7. I have about 40 romance books written and published. 8. I wrote an inspirational romance under a psuedonym - it's now out of print. 9. I won at least 20 bowling trophies as a kid but I haven't bowled on a league in at least 4 years. 10. My bloodline is pure German even though my family's been in the US since the 1850's. 11. The only time I've been out of the United States is to have lunch in Canada, and to visit the worst slums in Haiti and Jamaica (with my day job). 12. I marched in the New Orleans Mardis Gras parade with the Keesler AFB Drum & Bugle Corps. I twirled flags in the Flag Corps division. 13. My BSBA is in Accounting but the only time I actually held an accounting job was while I was in college still earning my degree.

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Wednesday, February 06, 2008

I've been tagged

I've been tagged by Alexis Fleming at: http://alexisfleming.net/blog/

So, here are my 7 random facts about myself.

1) I marched in the 1979 New Orleans Mardis Gras parade as part of the Air Force Drum and Bugle Corps.

2) I used to shoot trap and Jr. Olympic archery.

3) I once fell off a horse in the middle of a riding competition. I felt myself falling and knew I couldn't stay on, so rather than fall on my butt, I jumped off. The judges, of course, asked me why I jumped off. Oy! And the cutest boy in the world was watching. (I guess he noticed me as we ended up necking later.)

4) I have an MBA from Nova Southeastern University.

5) I've only been out of the US three times to visit: Jamaica (for work), Haiti (for work), and Canada (for lunch and one afternoon).

6) I love to play scrabulous and waste too much time playing it.

7) I'm a Trekkie. I also love Star Wars.

Here are my victims:

http://liladupres.blogspot.com/ kimcox.blogspot.com Sher Hames Torres at http://www.theyarnspinners.blogspot.com/ CJ Parker at http://fuguemacabre.livejournal.com/ Billie Williams at http://printedwords.blogspot.com/

Now it's your turns to tell us 7 random things about you.