we've moved

yep - out with the old - in the with new. follow our story at:

amandaandjasen.wordpress.com

see ya there!!

grandville, mi

so on sat we made our way into grand rapids, michigan for the isn't she beautiful conference put on by rob bell and the folks at mars hill. we headed first to thor and becky's place - had a great meal with them on sat and hung out most of the sunday.

the snow was coming down pretty good on sunday afternoon - so we hopped in the car and made our way back to grandville (where we are now) and check into the hotel and watched the bears seal a spot in the superbowl! so great!!

after the game we headed out the sunday night church with our great friend jason gore and his buddy shannon. it is so great to be hangin with gore this week. their plane was a little delayed - so we missed all of the singin but got to hear rob preach. oh yea.

now it is monday morning and we are off for some bfast and our first day of the conference. cant wait!!

NYC Trip: Day Three

it was our last day in the city, and first thing in the morning we headed for the empire state building. the line was about 2 hrs long - but WAY worth it. if you get the chance, you gotta get to the top. simply breath-taking. here are the pics:








after the empire state building it was time to head down to battery park and see lady liberty



after the battery park area we made our way back up to central park and walked around. it was a beautiful time.



so after two days of walking the town - this was looking really good! we checked out of the hotel and had our last meal at the dave and busters in times square then hopped the train back to nj. hope you enjoyed the pics. many thanks to matt for the pics!!

NYC Trip: Day Two

it was an early morning - but well worth it. we got to the hotel - Times Square Hilton (thanks dad!!) - around 10am after a simple train ride - left our bags and headed out for a full day of the town.

the train station in the morning


this was a store that i NEEDED to come back and check out - but did not have time - next time marlow you come and we will hang here!!

broadway st in soho
the infamous dean and deluca! we had a great time walking around soho first thing in the morning. then we headed up to NYU, through Washington Square Park and then up 5th ave to Union Square Park and passed the Flat Iron Building.

Marlow, this one's for you! ha!


washington square park

5th ave looking north towards the empire state building

we have become project runway fanatics - we had to see parsons!! but no tim gunn....

after a full day of walking around we headed back to the hotel for some rest and rejuvenation - it was time to head back out to times square and rockafeller center at night!

the view from our hotel window



times square


the crowd at rockafeller was unbelievable. so so many people. there was a 2 and half our wait just to buy tickets for the skating rink! craziness! but the tree was awesome. after we saw the tree we walked past st patricks cathedral and all the way up the the apple store. so sweet!!



needless to say we were ready for some food and rest. it was a long day of walking around town. we headed back to times square for some dinner at olive garden then we crashed hard. empire state building, ground zero, and liberty island on schedule for tomorrow.

NYC Trip: Day One

so we arrived into NJ around 5pm on Christmas Eve and had a blast catching up with mable, mariah, jay, matt and allie. then it was quick to bed - Santa was coming!!! here are the pics from Christmas morning - enjoy!








after a great time of hanging in our pj's all day - we packed our things and planned out our wonderful trip to NYC! we had another night of early to bed - we had to catch the train at 8.30am...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

yes, we survived our trip to NJ and NYC - it was incredible...pictures coming soon!

ps - if you got the message that we moved accounts - please ignore. we are here and we are here to stay!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

merry merry from NJ - we are having a great time with the fam here up north. much love to you all!

THE PICTURES!!

ok - here are the 'before' pictures. here comes the tour!!



so this is the front door and when you walk in you are in the living room. then keep walking straight and look right = the kitchen



there is a door on the left of the kitchen that takes you outside to the HUGE yard. come over and we will throw the football around - k?







when you walk back inside and look to the right (across from the kitchen) you are in the dinning room



the door on the left of the dinning room takes you out to the garage



if you walk back from the garage and into the living room and hang a left down our hallway the first room on the right is our 1st bedroom, which is also known and the office / studio (sorry about the mess - the other pic w/out the mess didnt come out to well)



here is the office closet



walk out of the office and down the hallway to the left is our 2nd bedroom - come and stay with us please!! you have a room now!!



and it's closet



when you walk out of the 2nd bedroom and go straight - the bathroom is on your left





and here is the bonus - you can see our bedroom furniture!! same thing with these 'before' pics - didnt come out that great - so here is our bedroom




hope you enjoyed the tour - we will hopefully have some 'after' pics at the end of the week - and if not that then after the new year!

death cab for cutie

last thurs night amanda and i headed out to see our favorite band of all time, Death Cab For Cutie. it was definitely the biggest venue we have seen them in - and a crazy weird mix of people. ok go opened - they were not as fun as i thought they were going to be - but had a sweet visual experience with the show. the best part of ok go was the last song - they put all the instruments away and danced like champs! ha!

after ok go it was time for our boys...and it was an amazing show once again. here are some pics of our evening:




here is a pic of 'title and registration' (amanda's fav song):



typically (or at least the 3 times i have seen them) for the last song before the encore they do 'we looked like giants' and they bring out a little kit and ben plays drums at the end. so amazing! here are some pics from that song:




for the encore they did:

i will follow you into the dark



marching bands of manhattan
transatlantacism

yes. it was a great time. go see these guys if you can - ken, we are jealous - you get to see them on the last day of the tour...

thanksgiving update, part 2

so yes - we did have to wait like 40 min at the causeway cafe on Friday morning - but it was amazing!!! amanda had oreo and peanut butter pancakes. yum!! and i had an omelet with a sausage biscuit. man i am getting hungry just thinking about it. after the cafe we headed for the coast. i could not have been any more beautiful. here are some pics for ya:








matt's emo picture:



after the amazing day at wilmington - we picked up my sister at work then headed back to raleigh. when we got home - mom had the amazing mexican feast ready for us and we ate like champs!! then it was back to helios one last time. oh the caramella is so good:





after helios we headed back to my house to hang - talk about music and chill for our last night together. another highlight was that my dogg from back in middle school days, Pat - was able to stop by as well. great, great times had by all. here are some of the 'goodbye' pics. enjoy:





it was a blessing to be with you all in NC!!

apartment for rent

so most of you know we are moving soon. we REALLY need to rent our apt. if you are in the houston area or know someone who is and needs a place to live, PLEASE CONTACT US! here is a link to our apt info:

5454 Newcastle Dr

also, you can email me at : onajourney@gmail.com or leave a comment here and i will get in touch with you. thanks!

thanksgiving update

so this morning we are at the hilton in downtown wilmington. we drove down here yesterday because carolyn has to work today - so she didnt have to drive down by herself, we came to hang and see the ocean and the amazing downtown wilmington! it has been a great time so far - matt and allie surprised us at the airport when we arrived:

sweet. wed we went crazy out at a southpoint mall and amanda and i got our christmas presents early...check out amanda's blog for that fun adventure.

on wed night we went over to Visio Dei - got to see jason and diana and the new building. man it was amazing! we are so stoked for these guys - the church they got and how the renovated it in an amazing 3 days is so cool. their community is amazing - if you live in nc and need to find a church - please go check out visio dei. great community and great people.

after that you know we headed out to HELIOS!!!.

oh man. i love that place. number one coffee shop i miss in nc. carmella. my oh my. and you know we are headed back there tonight. it was great to see jason and diana. looking forward to hanging with them again as well.

on thurs we all just chilled out and watched the macy's thanksgiving day parade. yes! and then it was lunch time. here are some shots of the table:


the food was sooo good! thanks mom for all the hard work. after dinner it was photo time for us:

and bentley:



after photos it was football time - then we hit the road and headed to the beach! now we are all showered up and off to causeway cafe for some amazing breakfast - then to the beach. see ya on the flip flop...

our new home! (almost)

well...we will be in before you know it! please offer your prayers in our BIG life change.

isn't it cute?

we're buying a house!

yes the rumors are true - we are buying a house! the story goes like this - last weekend i called my buddy radkey and asked him what he was up to. he said he was cleaning out his garage because they were going to sell their house. and i asked what he was selling it for and after he told me i said - dont put it on the market, we want to buy it!! it is in our price range and an incredible house.

the house is 3 bedroom /1 bath - huge yard - hardwood floors throught. the bathroom was renovated this summer (amanda and i helped, ha!) and new granite counter tops in the kitchen and the roof is only 4 years old. so yeah - so so great!! so the biggest prayer requests we have now is our apartment. we had to break our lease and give 60 days notice. the catch is we NEED someone to rent our apt...bad. it will save us so much money!! so if you are in the houston area and need an apt - we got ya! put the word out everyone, k?

and please be praying for us as we go through this process. it is our first house and we are crazy scared - but way pumped as well!! more info to come soon.

thanks for all your prayers.

a dream come true

so if you know us or went to the wedding you know how much we love rosie thomas. the bridesmaides walked down to a rosie song and there was a rosie song in our video as well. so the second we found out she was going to be in austin the same weekend nikki was here - WE HAD TO GET TIX! the show was amazing and to top it all off we got to talk with rosie and get this pic. whoo hoo! what a great time. here is the money shot:

happy fall!

so i have a feeling i have gone a little overboard with the leaves this year...but who cares? it's fall!

enjoy!

austin, tx

so this past weekend we headed out again - but this time a little closer...we headed to austin to see Sufjan Stevens and to hang with the marlows. what an incredible time! austin is a great city!! when we arrived we met chris, necole, bailey and mckenzie at WAHOO's!! it was good - but not cali good - still a little wahoo's loving is great. then we walked from wahoos to the paramount theater where we saw sufan.

what a show. he came out dressed in bird wings as the magic snowbird and his orchestra came out with butterfly wings and he dubbed them the chinese butterflies. hilarious! anyways - as you can imagine the show was spectacular and mindblowing. i think sufan is an amazing composer and a great songwriter. if you dont listen to him - you should. and to top it all of he had a huge screen behind him projecting images that corresponded to the songs. so great. another pick up from the weekend was the band that open for him - My Brightest Diamond. check her out as well. after the show we headed out to the marlow's place and chris and i enjoyed some yummy cognac and a great cigar. yum. it was rapidly approaching 1am - so we crashed for the evening.

our day began on sat with the wonderful marlow kids plaiyng with us in the living room and chris making some incredible french toast and some amazing coffee. what a great way to start a saturday!! the coffee was so amazing we had to stop at get some before we left austin - it was Ruta Maya Coffee. so so smooth. if you are in austin do yourself a favor and hang here and get some beans!!

we started the morning driving through the hill country back towards downtown. what an incredible view. who knew texas could be this pretty! ha! after winding to and fro we headed for some lunch down by zilker park. we ate at Shady Grove for lunch - great atmosphere and great food. there were tons of people downtown, esp in that area because this weekend was a huge festival called austin city limits. there was a great energy around the city. here are some photos from lunch:







now of course - before we left town there were 3 more stops:
1.BookPeople - sweet independent bookstore
2.Waterloo Records - the best CD store i have been in
3.Amy's Ice Cream - amanda's fav fo sho'

so yea - like i said above - waterloo records was incredible. all the artists we listen to at great great prices. we scored the new now it's overhead record there for $11. so so great. cant wait to go back. they had some sweet listening stations - hooked up via ipods. here is amanda enjoying the tasty tunes.



ah - what a refreshing trip.

our 1 year anniversary

yes - we cant believe it! ONE YEAR!! for our celebration i surprised amanda and took her to seattle. it was an amazing trip. and as a second surprise i jeff and stacey met us up there as well. whoo hoo!! what a great time. here are the pictures of our wonderful time in seattle!! enjoy:




















bye seattle...see ya soon...

11 months...

and counting - one more month to our secret get-away for our first anniversary!!! i love you babe...

9 months

yes - what an amazing journey it has been!! we were blessed this month to spend our special day with another wonderful couple, Andy and Becca Shogren:



they got married yesterday on June 10th in Salt Lake City!! it has been a great trip and i was honored to be a groomsman. we are still in SLC today and are flying to Chicago for the week. we are going to the Willow Creek Arts Conference 2006. should be great!!

being at their wedding this weekend totally took us back to our day up at pondo. we just wanted to say a big THANK YOU again to all who made our day special. we love all of you!!

sorry for the silence!

all is well with us! hopefully you are still checking us!

jasen and i have been very busy this 2006...

jasen just finished in the studio, which has consumed most of our time and energy. we have been so excited about the project. it holds a place in our heart because we were able to do a lot of it together! if you can believe that.

we are enjoying houston, and life has been treating is well. i just took a job at a school in january, and i am loving it!

hope all is well with everyone...thanks for checking in!

back home

we are home safe from our whirlwind travels, chicago was a great blessing and wonderful time, along with nashville...today is a day of rest and relaxation...and remembering where we live, ha!!

2006

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

amanda and i are off to nashville for the passion 06 conference...it has been a great holiday season of travels so far and we are looking forward to this next week in nashville. peace be with you all!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

hope everyone is having a wonderful christmas - we are heading to the airport right now for chicago...we miss you all!

our first christmas morning

it was amazing!! we had a wonderful day - opening gifts and having some santa pancakes - then packing for chicago. here are some photos from the morning:









yes i have an amazing wife...she got me a keyboard!! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

our christmas house

enjoy some photos of our christmas decor, merry christmas!!!

advent at First Pres

jasen and i were asked to light the third candle in the advent series...

joy.

the morning turned to be a little stressful...but successful. the light went out before i lighted the candle...but we graciously recovered. jasen was in a tie and suit coat to blend with the traditional 9:45 presbyterian crowd.

isn't he handsome?

by the way...i just got my hair cut the saturday before...the bangs are too short for my liking. oh well...it is just hair.

o christmas tree, o christmas tree

here are the famous fotos of our FIRST christmas tree!! woo hoo!

pictures from our thanksgiving journey!!

hope all of you had a wonderful thanksgiving holiday and rest!! amanda and i traveled up to Washington Township, NJ for a week and had a great time. a BIG thank you to mable, jay and mariah for our stay - we had a wonderful time and cant wait to see you soon!!

here comes the picture summary --->

so there was bad weather coming in on monday evening and it stayed over until tuesday. it was cold and rainy. but ya know - it was a nice break from the houston 80s so we were able to have fires every day and enjoy being inside with our new friends, lily and jack (see below).


lily


jack



fall was just ending - so we were bummed we were there a month ago, but we still go to see some sweet fall colors!!





here are amanda and lily having a little pre-turkey fun!!




mariah is one crazy kid!!




so after two days of relaxing next to the fire....


we were ready for some turkey day lovin'!! here are pics from the day:





















HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

are you ready for some FOOTBALL!!

so here are some photos of what goes on in the ashdown houshold during the wonderful month of october:







GO BUCS!!

pictures of our beautiful apartment

so here it is.....we have finally completed our decorations of our new place - here comes the tour!!!







































































the end! hope ya enjoyed your stay!!

we can't forget we are thankful

i hope you all do not think we have forgotten about you!

we have so many thank yous and so many thoughts we are so excited to share with all. and we will. promise.

jasen and i just bought the envelopes for our thank you cards. we will be working this weekend to make sure we can get them out by next week.

(fingers crossed)

driving across country...hurricane scares...moving trucks...moving in...new jobs and birthdays have all passed...so we are ready to get it done!

so i hope you all know how thankful we are...and how we could not have had the day of our dreams...without you.

so be checking those mailboxes soon!

our newest addition to the family

GILBERT!!! or as i like to call him.... G Money!







what a pimp...

more fun with IKEA

so here is my absolutely stunning and amazingly beautiful wife having a ball with antique stain from our fav place....IKEA! enjoy the pics...once we finish staining these i think the transformation will be complete and we will take ya through a photo tour of our place!! woo hoo!!

let the transformation begin!

so a couple of weekends ago we withstood rita with no probs at our place and took that chance of a couple free days off to begin the process of making our apt our home! here are some pics from that process...also the moving van FINALLY came from CA a week ago today and here we sit with everything put away and our fall decorations on point! (pics of that to follow as well!)

for now, enjoy the photos of us painting the kitchen and dining room and setting up good ol ikea furniture!!

our first dinner in our new apt!

here are the pics from our first dinner (chicken and spinach raviloli in a five cheese alfredo sause) as mr and mrs ashdown in our apt!
enjoy!

pics of our apt!!

so since we have nothing else to do today....we figured we'd finally get ya pics of the apt!! check it out!!

the quiet after the storm

we are safe!! all is well, we headed to our friends house last night and hung out there. the storm headed east of us so we didnt get the worst of it. we hardly got any of it. just about 2 inches of rain and 50 mph winds. this morning we headed back to our apt and we didnt loose power here! so as we wait as the city starts back up - we went for a 2 mile run this afternoon! yeah!!

so once again, we are safe and doing great! no damage no nothing! thanks for all of your prayers for us, continue to keep our friends east of us in your prayers, sounds like it is bad over that way...

thanks again!

mr and mrs ashdown

we are safe!

so as some of you know we tried to leave yesterday, we left at 10.30am and at 6.30pm we had only gone 25 miles. yes, 8 hours and 25 miles. so because of all the unknowns with traffic, water, and gas - we decieded to turn around and come home. so as of this morning, the hurricane is still moving more east, taking us out of the most dangerous part of the storm. so in about an hour or so we are going to shelter with our friends radkey and christine. they are in the northwest part of houston and have stocked up on everything we will need.

so keep us and all of our wonderful houstonians and neighbors in your prayers! we love you guys and will keep ya posted as well as we can.

some of our memories...

so here are some photos from the wedding!! in a word....ahhhhhmazing!! thanks to nikki for these pics...you can check out all of her great photos of our day at The Past and Pending.

enjoy...

today's the day!

wedding photo shoot...

here are some of our favorite pics taken by the fabulously talented nikki...

3 more weeks!

so today marked 3 more weeks until the big day...

wow...

it seems like nothing is ready. but true to form...it will all come together.

jasen and i are apart again. it does make things difficult most times. but i know its for the best. because we have the rest of our lives together...soon enough.

but it doesn't make the weeks go by faster.

yesterday i was spoiled rotten at a shower i had thrown for me. it was so beautiful...and perfect. it was nice to see all the friendly faces in yorba linda again. those girls know how to party...

much thanks...

ode to sarah

.

here is a beautiful picture of a bridesmaid who will not be with us...

as you can see...she's has a previous commitment.

we will miss you!

5454 Newcastle Drive

well we have been approved for our first apartment together...

IN HOUSTON!

here is a sneaky peak of our new home...

Gables Pin Oak

we are working so very hard and diligently on our invitations...we should have them out by wednesday...(keep your fingers crossed) we can not wait for you all (not ya'll) to see them! we are very proud.

hopefully we will be able to keep you better updated on the new haps as time approaches so very quickly!

6 weeks and counting!

ONE YEAR

so our story began one year ago today!!! i fell for this wonderful woman named amanda christine shilling and we began dating...seems like just yesterday....cant wait for many more years to come!

3 month post back

life has been so busy for us...

between moving and relocating...but now we are some what settled at Pondo.

invitations are in the works and we are so excited to share them with you.

(no sneak peaks....we want it to be a surprise!)

a big shout out to our special friend who recommended us at bed bath and beyond...we appreciate the thoughtfulness!

our catering is booked...check out the yummy goodness here...

being creative...with 4 months to go!

it's getting so close!

so to save as much money as possible, we have enlisted the help of eBay. We have been able to purchase several important items at half the cost!

So a big thanks to online bidding!

that's incredible!

our day at disney...what a double date...

wedding rings and invitations...

it has been so nice to have an opportunity to actually plan things together...

this weekend had been a great chance to reconnect and enjoy being around each other...

on thursday we were able to decide on our wedding bands. we were able to have them put on hold with no money down...and until we are able to pay for them in full. we have been so blessed to have people such as this, who are out for the best interest for us, and who care so much for our relationship.

...and to those...we are eternally grateful.

holly and ryan have asked to help us develop a new flavor for our wedding invitations. it is a more difficult process than i realized. there is so much out there...and so much to choose from. we are so excited to see how they turn out...and even more excited to share them with all of you.

thank you for taking the time to show an interest our lives! we are excited to share it with all of you!

plans are (slowly) under way

let me just say...i love my wedding planner wanda...what a lovely gift she has been to me!

so we have almost booked our photographer. we are just waiting for them to open up shop on monday so we can place the deposit. we are so excited about the images to come...check it out here .Sun Dance Photography.

to check out our photographer...go to the left side...click on image gallery...then by photographer...the click on the picture which says "Tana". (sorry i couldn't directly link it)

my friend Rubie let me in on some "wedding secrets"...so now i am in the process of choosing my flowers...i think we will be arranging them ourselves...

the offical colors....cranberry and celeron.

still looking for those perfect tasty treats...bottom line...catering is expensive.

jasen will be in town monday for a long awaited visit...so hopefully we will be able to get a few more things under way...we will keep you updated.

thanks so much for stopping by!

didn't jasen do a fabulous job on the new site?

5 months and counting!

here are the buttons! you will find them located on our save the date cards. (check below for examples!)

i hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

don't leave home without it!

take 2...

since the quality of work is so AMAZING...we couldn't decide on just one! Which one will you receive?

check your mailbox...

in a collaboration of efforts...here are the final proofs for our save the date card!

thanks wess, nikki and holly!

our registry!!!

so as you know, amanda was in town with me this week in wonderful NC! we had an amazing week-check my blog for details-in which we think we found a place to live and we finished our resgistry! you can head to the stores or go online to find us! we are registered at:

Pier 1 Imports

Pottery Barn

and

Bed Bath & Beyond


all went well at pier 1 and pottery barn, but when we headed to bed bath and beyond, we filled out all the paper work, were given the whole 'talk' and then given the best toy in the world, THE ZAPPER!! but only this time, our zapper sucked!! we didnt even get through the kitchen area before it started beeping and flassing 'low battery'. urgh. so back to the counter, they give us another one, and not 6 zaps later...'low battery'. urgh again. so back to the counter, zapper #3. we make it out of kitchenware and are heading toward frames, mirrors, pictures, etc. and guess what....'low freaking battery!!' at this time its late and we are beat from looking at apts all day and we just want to finish this....but because the all the zappers in the store are dead, we leave defeated by the low battery. but watch out zapper, we will return and run you out, big time!!

so on saturday we returned and finished at bed bath and beyond. all is well in registryland, happy hunting!

also, we received our 'save the date' material, so keep watch for a cool card coming from us!

our first wedding present...

a lovely student of mine gave this to me today...it had to be shared with all of you.

i hope you enjoy it as much as i do.

oh yeah...counting down...

so here we go...

6 more months from today!

mark it.

09.10.05

running springs, california

one month engagement...

if this were a leap year...we would be engaged one month today!

but since it isn't...i think it is safe to say we have been engaged a month and a day!


lets go to the bay...

what do you say...

hip hip horray.

(in continuance of the rhyme)

my new sister...(almost)

see...it's like family already...

a part of the party

holly, me, jase, and ry...

saying our "see ya laters" before jase heads off to north carolina...

oceanside...where i stopped liking jasen.

a couple of bridesmaids...

.

eventually the inital shock wore off...

now see how excited holly and nikki were when we asked them to join the party!

i felt their excitement needed to be shared with all.

bridesmaid's books

here is an example of my books...

enjoy...

why i said yes...

because i have waited four years for this moment...

when you hear "life stories". Picturesque relationships filled with love and laughter and unity...and you think to yourself...

"it will never happen to me".

but it does happen.

more extravagant then your mind can fathom.

i can't imagine what life was before jasen.

jasen gets me. he knows when i am upset...and guides me through my emotions. he helps me find words i don't know how to speak...and leads me to peace.

he challenges me to be better...to be stronger...to live life happy and healthy. all the while, ultimately marking our course...one which follows after the direction and leading of god's design for our lives.

he includes me.

he spoils me. (you think you have it good? let me tell you...you have nothing on jasen.)

he is compassionate and kind.

he is dead sexy. oh baby.

he loves me like no other has or ever will...

my life has transformed into a time like no other. i can not explain fully what he has done to make life better...

....so it was all i could do but simply say yes.

a question for you my love....

i love you so much. i am daily astounded by you and your love for me. your beauty takes my breath away, many times i find myself speechless when watching you, you make me want to be a better man. i want to spend my days with you, forever.

about 7 months ago we began this journey, and now i am asking you if you will come away with me on another journey....a journey that will be the most amazing time of our lives, but probably also the most trying times of our lives. but you know what, i believe in you and i believe in us. your love strenghtens me, revives me, and your deep love and honesty with God helps me along this journey.

i promise you that i'll love, what i loved when i leave....will you?

amanda christine shilling, will you be my bride, will you grow old with me, will you marry me?