Hi! I'm Ashton. Today I'm talking about being unemployed, how I gained 10 pounds in 10 days, and spending as little on as much as I could during quaran-shopping.
ASHTON K... THE GIRL
I'm Ashton K....the girl
"Ya, no, not Ashley... AshtON.. Like Kutcher. Ya I know it's unusual for a girl. Thanks 👦"
My mind is a weird place, which I thought MIGHT be relatable to a lot of you out there.
INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK are effed-up places where we Put on our best selves, Dress to impress, and Show the world that one PERFECT MOMENT (and angle) that happened for a split second., last Tuesday, but I couldn't decide if it was cheesy or not, or which of the 30 angles was better, so I stared at it for a week and tried out different filters until I FINALLY was going to post one around the same hour of the day as it was when the photo was taken 🌞 so the lighting would make it look in real-time, but I couldn't think of a good caption so just gave the whole thing up.
The World 🌎is a weird place and my life is in a weird place, so I am going to document my journey. I welcome anyone who wants to come along! I've now used to word weird at least 4 times, so I think you all understand the theme here.
ASHTON K... THE GIRL
I guess some important things to note if beginning along on this journey is that I'm 27 years old, living in Phoenix AZ, and UNEMPLOYED.
I never really thought I'd be here. I'm responsible. I'm educated. I have a strong work ethic.
Yet here I am, in my underwear drinking coffee at 11:42 a..m. with no intention of going anywhere except to walk the pup a couple times later. When it's time for that "outing", I'll grab a pair of dirty sweats off the floor, throw on a sweatshirt over my dirty t-shirt, and SOMETIMES take my hair out of the messy bun it's been in (since the last time i went out), brush my hair, and put it back up. It's been likes this for WEEKS now.
I Haven't always been this way. I was once gainfully employed believe it or not. I am an emergency department nurse... Or I was.
2020 was such a WEIRD year.
Starting it off, I'm a 26 year old young professional, working 3 nights a week in an ER with cool ass people. I have 4 days a week to do whatever I want, and I get to make my schedule. I have a serious boyfriend and a dog (Volly Van Wolffen) and NO mini-people to take care of. I binge Netflix, use YouTube to learn new hobbies, read, try new recipes, go on trips whenever I want, drink wine most nights of the week, do yoga, lay by the pool, spend time with friends and generally live a pretty plushy life (I think plushies might be a sex thing, but I don't mean that). I went to New Orleans with a friend for her bachelorette party for Mardi Gras at the end of February 2020, and when we came back, we started to hear about a deadly virus that was coming..... or that was already here.
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Lockdowns were always fun as kids when we had them at school or youth group, and this one was fun too! Covid was not wide spread yet, so while people were afraid to leave their homes, businesses were shut down, no one went out for "non-essential" jobs or services, we partied at the hospital.
Being a "HEALTHCARE HERO" had its perks. We had meals and treats delivered. We received discounts and free items from local businesses. We were HONORED by the public. And meanwhile, our hospital sat empty. Our "overflow" accommodations were put up in a Hurry and taken down slowly as they went unused. We made tik toks, ate food, went home early, got called off as often as we wanted (and I wanted very often), and utilized "tent shifts" to online shop and do personal work. (tent shift ↓)
When we weren't working, we gathered together with other healthcare staff to BBQ, have park happy hour picnics, hang out at the pool, go camping etc. We figured if we were working in close proximity to each other, we could party with each other. Social distancing didn't apply to us.
But that didn't last forever. The weeks turned into months. People needed to work, and see their families and resume their lives, but it came at a cost. Covid hit us pretty hard for a period during the summer, but seemed to get better for a stent. Then after Thanksgiving it got BAD in the hospital. We were getting our assess kicked every single day. We were all getting tired. Our summer of fun followed by a winter of death took its toll on us. The hospital wasn't fun anymore.
So I did what any rational, responsible, educated young woman would do while having a mid 20's crisis.
I QUIT to find greener pastures..
And that's where I'll leave you for now but this story does go on........
Come back next week to hear what's going on!!!
Food!!!!
with the lack of a job or any sort of purpose, my eating & exercising habits over the last month have gone way off track. I typically am pretty strict about what I eat, but in a couple weeks I let it ALL GO. In 1 week, I had an entire bag of safeway chocolate chip cookies, 1/2 loaf of trader joe's pancake bread 🤤, half of box of TJ's gingersnap cookies, and that's just a start. I, in 10 days, went from 127lb to 140lb, and not from muscle I'm currently hella bloated. I had been maintaining 127 +/- a few for about 3 months., before that I lingered around 132 for a while. This is the biggest I've been in a year. It's been 1 week since I cut all the junk again and I'm back down to 137. This might be TMI, but I've been struggling a lot with my fitness and my body as I have for a long time. I believe most women can relate to this in some capacity. It doesn't feel good to watch all my progress and discipline slip away in literally a couple weeks. But I'm back on track and will whoop my ass back in shape
I've been controlling my diet pretty well since December 2019. In November 2019 I weight 156lb. I'm no dietician, I literally don't know what I'm talking about and everything I did might be terrible. Please understand this is my personal experience and not any sort of advise.
I mimick a keto / low carb diet, but don't follow it as strictly as keto. I cut out simple sugars, most carbs, breads, proccessed foods, pasta etc. I NEVER CUT OUT ANY FRUIT. I eat fruit for days! I know there's a lot of sugar, but it's natural and what humans were literally designed to eat. So that's what I tell myself. I eat lots of cheese, veggies, proteins, and have been experimenting with low carb baking. When I'm down to my target weight and maintaining, I'll start to slowly add in GF crackers that are low enough in carbs.
For me the key is making sure I have a lot of things to snack on..
when I grocery shop, I make sure to buy healthy and delicious things that will be easy to grab or prepare in times of hunger. Relying on boring, bland diet food will lead to failure, so I make sure I have yummy things to eat.
*I almost forgot to take a photo before I ate all of this!
This is a low carb caramel dip that tastes similar to a dulce de leche. It's been curing my sweet tooth.
I've been loving it on apple slices. Or on Bryer's CarbSmart Vanilla Ice Cream
https://www.gnom-gnom.com/sugar-free-keto-caramel-sauce/#wprm-recipe-container-9582
I didn't have heavy cream so I used whole milk and it turned out well.
The Clearance Queen
Quarantine has been the season of online shopping. AM I RIGHT?? I've always been the type of girl who could typically found wearing the same pair of jeans with a pair of sandals, a t shirt and possibly a flannel around my waist. I've never spent a lot of money on clothes, or been super trendy. I was raised with a strong sense of the value of money and it never seemed like I had enough to indulge in whatever was fashionable.
When I began nursing and had only myself to support on these adult wages, things became different. I blame my coworkers for doing it in front of me. When I would see how much other's were spending on their online shopping, it became more and more normal to spend those amounts of money. "Every once in a while" shopping sprees turned into "treat yo'self Tuesday" or honestly whatever day of the weak. and I was indulging more than not. Online shopping has ravaged my bank account, So I at least get to share some of the looks that I pulled together for hella good deals.
I do a lot of my shopping at abercrombie, nordstrom rack, and american eagle. I check their clearance section every few weeks. You can get really good deals especially if you shop out of season and check often. In the present, I'm not shopping as much due to my current unemployment status, but I have plenty in my closet still with tags from quaran-shopping.
Top: American Eagle
AE Tube Top Red (S)
I paid $7.97
Bottoms: Abercrombie & Fitch
Ripped High Rise Super Skinny Ankle Jean (27) I paid $44
Dress: Abercrombie & Fitch
Strapless Knit Midi Dress
I paid $33.09
Paprika Red (Sm)
Thanks for coming to my blog Ashton K.... the girl . I post new content every (idk yet, this is wishful thinking lol). On my page you can expect to find things about: me and my life, mediocre clearance fashion that I think I did a good job picking out, photos of my dog. Thoughts that pop into my head, pictures that make me feel fire, recipes that I try, progress with my workouts, diets, and really just whatever.
Remember what I was saying about 30 photos with 30 slightly different angles? This swimsuit is from Charlotte Russe. They were having a sale where everything in the store was $10 or less. Each bikini piece was $5.
Top XS Bottoms Sm
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