A Lady Goes West

He’s 9! 🎉 Brady Oliver Pitt, or Brady Boo as I often call him, is the most delightful little human I’ve ever encountered. He laughs, he tells jokes, he cares about people, he remembers everything, he sings and dances at all times of day, he’s a morning person and he’s a night person too. In honor of his 9th birthday, here are 9 of my favorite things about Brady:

1. He’s a momma’s boy. Crossing my fingers he stays that way forever.
2. He practices soccer from the second he wakes up until he goes to bed and is constantly asking “are you open?” for a possible pass.
3. He loves to go to new places and do new things and is down for anything.
4. He’s my mini me in many ways, while also having a whole lot of Dave in him.
5. His first question when we get into the car is always “can I pick a song and surprise you?” More often than not, it’s a song by Pitbull.
6. He knows the words to so many songs, and he has corresponding dances that fit the beat and theme of the song.
7. When given a choice on what to do at any time, his first answer is always “go to the park and play soccer with Daddy.”
8. He has the best vocabulary. Although he doesn’t always use his big words properly, I’m always impressed he has the confidence to try.
9. He’s a know-it-all. Sometimes we have to laugh at the silly statements he says with a straight face while believing they are true.

In conclusion, motherhood didn’t come easy to me, and it came only once, and let me tell you — I appreciate and am grateful for every second of it. All my love to our little guy! Here’s to his last year in the single digits! ❤️🎉⚽️🥰

Everything doesn’t have to be perfect, for everything to be perfectly right for you right now. You know? I consciously fill my time with group fitness, family, quality people and activities that make me happy or make me healthy. And I’m incredibly grateful for those things and those people too!

From a super-fun partner MAT PILATES event where I laughed far too much on the mic, to a hot family getaway in Raleigh for Brady’s soccer games, to finishing a good fiction book and even an amazing gym girls outing where we didn’t wear activewear for once, and all the everyday moments in between.

Here’s to taking a look at your life, selecting the best things for you right now and putting your focus there - never trying to “have it all” - simply doing your best with what you have and knowing that’s always enough. 🩷

Did I miss anything? But for real, thank you for being here with me. I’m often very busy living my life offline, but when I do show up here, I appreciate your eyes and your connection. Here’s to keeping it positive, keeping it real and taking a lot of group fitness classes too. ❤️
-xoxo, Ashley

When the weekend trip to Ohio is so good, you push your flight back to stay an extra night! It had been far too long since we’d been with our besties who are like family, and it was truly an incredible time together! ❤️

During our 3 nights in Dublin, Ohio, we:
-Celebrated a milestone birthday for Grant with multiple events and to-dos
-Played some hot family pickleball, which was a blast
-Took a family trip to Costco to prepare for a house party and filled the car with so much stuff, we had ice and desserts on our laps on the way home
-Tried a new-to-me class at Life Time with Bre in a special reformer studio
-Soaked up some sun at the pool and chilled in the cabana (and Brady slayed the diving board)
-Made delicious pasta from scratch, and then ate it for dinner (it’s nothing but flour and eggs - who knew)
-Pushed our flight back by a day, right before we were originally supposed to leave for the airport (so worth it)
-And laughed way too hard from early morning until late, late night

There’s something so grounding and special about spending time with your long-time true friends!

We made it back to Charlotte just in time for my class this morning, totally exhausted, but so grateful for the memories made!