Ashley from The Tale of Two Taylors

Good morning beautiful ladies!

I have the wonderful pleasure of introducing one of my favorite new blogs, narrated by the beautiful mother/wife Ashley Taylor from her blog The Tale of Two Taylors! I absolutely love this girl. She is happy, real, and so down to earth. Hop on over to her neck of the woods and check her out [after reading her awesome introduction of course!]

PS - if you'd like to be apart of my Monday features please click here

Alright, on to the first guest blog! :)

1. Please introduce yourself:

Hi, I'm Ashley from The Tale of Two Taylors and Their Tot!  I'm a 22 year old Mom of one little boy who makes my heart swoon.  His name is Joel and he is 7 months.  I've been married to my husband, Josh, for 2.5 years and he definitely brings out all the best parts of me!  We live in Oklahoma - where the wind comes sweeping down the plains - no really, Oklahoma is the windiest state of all.  I'm a stay-at-home Mom to our son, but I prefer the term "Homemaker" because my days are filled with making our home beautiful, making my son happy, and creating and cultivating happy memories our family can look back on.  I love music - mostly Indie rock or acoustic and I love movies!  I'm pretty much an average 22 year old... except I'm married and a Mom, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

2. What do readers expect coming to your blog?

You should definitely expect a healthy dose of adorable!  I try to post a heap of Joel pictures 3 times a week and did I mention he's just the cutest?  I may be biased, but I suspect if you are feeling blue and stop by just to look at his face, you will instantly feel better.  ...At least that's how it is for me!  My blog would probably be best classified as a "Mom blog" or a "family blog."  The blog was born in the winter of 2008 to chronicle the many adventures, mishaps, and funny things that were happening in my new marriage.  When I got pregnant, I began chronicling that journey and now I chronicle Joel, our life as parents, how marriage is affected by parenthood, how we make our house into a home, and I throw in some recipes, so music recommendations, some book reviews... it's basically a hodge podge blog of life.  ...And I hope you like it!

3. Your top three favorite blogs.

Making the Mundane Magical - Jamie is actually a real life friend as well as a blog friend.  We met in Church during middle school and reconnected as adults.  She is one of the easiest people to talk to and when we get together boy can we talk!  She's such a sincere, genuine, nice person who really loves people and I think everyone should know her.

[Photo by Jamie]

Mabel's House - I love Liz.  She has amazing design since, she's hilarious, and she's about to be a first time Mom to a sweet baby girl!  I wish I could be Liz's real life friend because I feel like she'd give the best home design advice and she'd be a hoot to hang out with... not sure what I'd bring to the table, but she'd be a blast!

Enjoying the Small Things - Kelle has really become popular in the last year, but I still love to read her.  She has two beautiful daughters and the youngest has Down Syndrome.  She started chronicling her new life as a parent of a child with more needs than others and it's been amazing to read about and watch her inner transformation.  I was pregnant with Joel when she birthed her daughter and was surprised by the news and her coping gave me strength to know that if anything was wrong with Joel, I could handle it.  She's very motivating.

4. What year in your life have you been most happy and why?

I feel like every year you could ask me this question and I'd say, "This year!"  But it's true.  This year has been incredible.  Birthing my son was an amazing experience, bringing him home was incredibly hard, exhausting, and wonderful, and watching him grow from a sleepy, hungry little one into a mobile ready to be a toddler has been so much fun.  It's been a hard year to be sure, but it's been a blast and I can say being a Mom is the most fun I've ever had (and the hardest job I've ever had, but let's focus on the positives ;)

5. Who is someone you admire and why?

Gotta love Joel's facial expressions...Since becoming a Mom, I've really come to admire my Mom even more than I already did.  She was so focused on making our lives magical when we were little by constantly providing us with fun crafts, road trips to new places, adventures around our city, bike rides to a pizza buffet for lunch, baking activities... she was a really, really involved Mom and my childhood memories are wonderful because of it.  I'm a clean freak (like I love to clean which is freakish) and sometimes I have to remind myself that a clean house isn't worth it if it comes at the expense of making memories with my family.  I owe my Mom many thanks for that lesson and a slew of others!

6. What is one way you can make someones day today?

Today is the kind of day in Oklahoma where you stay inside so as to keep the baby warm, dry, and healthy, but I have big plans of cooking my husband his favorite dinner, writing a letter to my Grandma-in-law (I love to write letters), and giving my Mom a phone call just to talk.  When you're home alone with you and a baby it's hard to think of ways to be kind to others and put them first, but it is possible!

[Thanks again Ashley!]