The Pilot

Here we go--

Welcome to my first attempt at blogging! Let me begin by introducing myself and my current life situation. My name is Ashley and I’m a recent graduate from Stanford University with a degree in Communication. I was a member of the Varsity Softball team for 4 years and was (that past tense still sounds weird to me) a competitive athlete for 8 years before that. I’ve competed on some of the biggest stages in softball, and my love for fitness and athletics is far from over despite my retirement from the field.

The fam bam with me at graduation 

Proud days competing for the Cardinal!

I have an immense love for traveling. I think traveling to unfamiliar territory is one of the best ways for an individual to discover, grow, and learn from every possible outlet! The world, other people, and themselves. I could go on, but I'll refrain. I’ve been very fortunate in my life to experience so many cultures, both for business and pleasure. In my brief 22 years, I’ve been to Asia twice and Europe six times, spending ample time in a multitude of locations, absorbing the lifestyles of everywhere from rural China to Monte Carlo.

A couple of my favorites...

 The indescribably beautiful Swiss Alps

Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italia

So like many others, I’m currently unemployed. After two months of wild job hunting and only a handful of interviews, I began to find myself in a mental rut. You know those days (or weeks?) when you're in an unexplainable funk? It was a couple days too many for me. There's a quote by Steve Jobs that I love: "...I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been 'No' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something." With this in mind, I decided I needed to get myself busy again. I decided to take this time off as a beautiful opportunity to do things I’ve always wanted to do, teach myself a few things to improve me from a personal and professional standpoint. 

There are so many things I would have loved to dedicate my time to in the last 22 years but was never able to. Cooking. Reading for pleasure. Expanding my style. Honing my foreign language skills...the list goes on! The possibilites (and time for the time being) are endless!

Off top, these are the things I'll be working on: 

• Completing an insane at-home workout regimen
• Creating fun, easy, tasty, and healthy recipes
• Improving and evolving my Italian
• Teaching myself Management Science (why am I doing this to myself?)
• Reading Ana Karenina (hello 600+ pages)
• Ah yes, finding a job

Now, this is no promise that I’ll complete every task, but the options and FREEDOM make it fun. And so the journey of no obligation begins!