and now for something completely different

I'm starting a new chapter in the book of Ashley; after three and a half years I'm leaving Google to do my own thing. I know! I can hardly believe it myself, but I've heard the call of the wild, and I can no longer ignore it; the time has come for me to move on. This was an incredibly difficult decision to make; I am extremely lucky (and humbled) to have worked with such amazingly talented and smart people. I mean, seriously big brains on these folks! And they're incredibly nice and fun to boot! Some of them have become my very closest friends. What a challenging and rewarding journey this time has been.

What's next? you might ask...

• First, I'm taking some time off. I'm going to spend some lazy days rubbing Winston's belly in the backyard and making some headway on the stack of books (and guilty indulgence mags) by my bed that I've been meaning to get to.
• I'll be recharging my (neglected) creative side. You might not know it, and sometimes even I forget, but I'm a pretty damn good potter, so I'll be picking that up where I left off.
• I'll be getting it on again with my camera - we had a hot and heavy affair there for a while, and I've missed it, so keep an eye on my flickr.
• In the process of planning the wedding, I've discovered I'm all kinds of crafty, so I have a new love there to explore as well; we're working on having a mostly handmade wedding, and April 24, 2010 is coming up sooner than you might think!
• I'll be doing some traveling; it's become really important to me to spend some extended time with the families in Texas, including seeing my grandparents, my adorably pregnant future-sis-in-law and sucking the Forsythe & Veselka ladies into my craft circle (of darkness). Mwahahaha! :)
• I'm going to learn how to cook if it kills me. It's absurd that I'm thirty-six and I still don't have a clue what I'm doing, because I love to cook! I'm just not good at it. So I'll be taking some cooking classes - if you're in SF and want to join me, let me know.

After that, I'm just going to see what the universe has in store. Like I've told some of you, I'm just going to be open to the possibilities and let the next step present itself to me. (Shut up!)

If this blog is just not enough Ashley for you, follow me on:
twitter.com/ashleyv
facebook: Ashley Veselka
flickr/photos/ashleyv

For the gazillion other ways to lovingly stalk me, you can find them here:
http://www.google.com/profiles/ashleyv

umbrellas from the future

nubrella

I don't care if it makes me a dork; I think this is cool. It's a huge clear helmet umbrella with shoulder straps. How many times have you wished you could keep both hands warm in your pockets but had to have one freezing off to hold the umbrella against the driving rain? Plus, it won't turn inside out or poke anyone in the eye.

The nubrella is billed as "The Ultimate Weather Protector". Unfortunately, engadget is probably right - no one will use them because they look kinda dorky. If only society wasn't so cruel! We could all be bobbing along in our sweet hands-free umbrella helmets... Next thing you know we're all rolling along in our Ultimate Ultimate Weather Protection Bubbles, with jeans that aren't soaking wet up to the knee and backpacks that haven't reached their saturation point.