send me a postcard, drop me a line

April 26, 2010
I just had to tell my dear sweet Pearl (a.k.a. Monica) thanks for her well wishes! I love cards, and I am so sentimental. I keep every one I get, and everyone she gives is a treasure.

Here is a picture of the Good Luck card she gave Zach and I at the beginning of the month for his thesis defense and my comprehensive exams . . . and this is the Congratulations card she sent me for passing comps and my thesis defense. Notes like this are rare, and make me especially happy.

Monica, thank you for always being so supportive and encouraging and knowing that your friends can reach their dreams and achieve success despite the odds. I hope you know that I believe in you, too. Always. I love you and admire you so much.

[Between Monica and her pal Stacy and me, we could start what my aunt Lura calls a card ministry!! That would be awesome. ;]

Master Ashley : )

As of April 23, 2010, I am officially a Master of Literature!! I passed comps AND my thesis defense!

I really cannot believe it. It took so much to get here. I am in shock that I passed everything, especially that last essay on comps, and that my thesis turned out so well. It was an emotionally-draining project.

Last night we went out to celebrate! We never really got to celebrate Zach's defense or even taking comps, so we wanted to have a really good time. We had a nice dinner and drinks (had multiple mojitos because of the great week I had and I'm really into mojitos now!), popped into Target for a bit (because we LOVE Target), and went to see Date Night. (We had a buy 1 ticket, get one free coupon. ;)

All in all, a wonderful celebration!

Welcome to The Pharr Side...

In honor of his thesis defense & completion of my Master's comprehensive exams, Zach and I got dressed up for dinner at Marketplace Grill.

I started a blog when Zach and I got engaged and started planning our wedding. [I'm Ashley, by the way. ;] We wanted an unconventional wedding, and, as we planned it fast--two months exactly--we knew it would be nice to document each step. Initially I also planned to explore wedding traditions along the way, exploring their origins and whether or not they fit into our wedding/marriage. Unfortunately planning a wedding, starting our second year of grad school, and beginning our life together got in the way. :)

I have kept a diary or journal on and off since third grade. I did XANGA for a bit, blogging on MySpace, and notes on facebook. After my wedding blog failed, I started a photo album on facebook in which I posted a picture everyday: an outing or activity, something I cooked, a movie we watched, a point of interest, what I wore, the weather, a picture of a friend and I for her birthday, Christmas decorations. It was received well, and I have kept it up since November 30. ;)

Lately I have started reading a lot of blogs, and so I thought I should branch out by starting a new one.

Today Zach and I have been married for 200 days, so I thought I would honor this milestone by starting a similar photo-a-day blog of our life together. Some days I will write very long captions while others will only have one sentence, but there will always be a photo (or two)!