About

At L'Express on Park Avenue

At L’Express on Park Avenue

Hey, y’all! I’m Ashley and I write Baddest Mother Ever.

Mind you, I’m not the worst mother ever (I didn’t even make the Top Ten!), just one bad mutha among many.

I’ve been collecting stories since I was old enough to sit still and listen and I’ve lived through some pretty good ones myself. This blog is a grab bag of stories from across my life. Most revolve around the theme of getting to know myself and being grateful for whatever comes my way.  If I had to boil down 14 years of therapy into a simple message, it would be “It’s not about you; let it go.”  

I drink, I cuss, I cry, I giggle.  I work, I rest, I worry, I listen.

We can swap stories about parenting, grief, divorce, cancer, travel, cooking, family…you name it.  Thanks for stopping by!

Some random things about me:

  1. I’ve had some fine adventures, like that time I jumped out of a plane from 16,000 feet. 
  2. And I’ve had some hard times– divorced AND widowed by the time I was 36.  Now I have a Brasilian Baby Daddy. 
  3. I’ve never been arrested, but I would love to have a good excuse to wear a huge black hat like that one Audrey Hepburn wears to visit Sal E. Tomato in prison.
  4. I became a mother at 38 and at 42 with no medical machinations.
  5. Proud graduate of a women’s college! I get sentimental every time I smell tea olive blossoms because they remind me of the Wesleyan College campus.
  6. I raise money for Leukemia/Lymphoma Society in memory of my late husband. I spent too much time on the cancer ward at Johns Hopkins.
  7. Love to travel! I have celebrated New Year’s Eve in The Netherlands, Bermuda, Germany and France.  And still, NYE is my least favorite holiday.  
  8. It makes me crazy when sofa cushions are all sloppy and out of whack, like when the bottom cushion scoots out too far and the top one slides down behind it. Jesus, I get short of breath just thinking about.
  9. If I had to pick a favorite country, I’d go with Greece for the weather, history, food, beaches, and people.  I’ve traveled to Canada, Puerto Rico, England, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Bermuda, Brasil, Czech Republic, Austria and Greece.  So many places left to see!  An African safari is high on my list, right behind seeing the Northern Lights.
  10. My favorite movie of all time is “Out of Africa.” I have to watch it with a dishtowel around my shoulders because I cry so much during Denys’ funeral scene.
  11. Gratitude is my daily practice. I have a journal by my bed and every night I write down all the things for which I was grateful that day. I’ve been doing this for over a decade and it is incredibly powerful. I can look back on bad days and see how many good things there are in my life. It’s transformative when you shift life from being about what you don’t have to being about what you do have.
  12. Love to read and often review books on here. I can’t read trashy books or sit through lame movies, but I can watch a 12-hour marathon of crappy TV shows like “Swamp People” or “Real Housewives of Orange County.”  And I went to college with Phaedra from RHOA–I was her R.A.!
  13. I don’t watch scary movies because they freak me out for weeks. I still have to check in unused closets and look under the bed now and then. I think the last one I watched was “Blair Witch Project.”
  14. I still love watching Sesame Street and sometimes I am late for work just so we can see Elmo.  Remember when Snuffleupagus was invisible?  I do!
  15. I don’t drink coffee. But Diet Coke is my best fran.
  16. I never had a speeding ticket until I was 36, and then I got 3 tickets in 3 months.
  17. I got busted by the little beagle at the airport for unwittingly smuggling in a banana from Berlin.
  18. I always keep two coins in the left pocket of my coat so that I can “worry them” as I walk along. I try to make it a 20ct Euro coin and a 2ct Euro coin.  That way, I have “my two cents” if anyone ever should ask for it!
  19. I hate lists. I find them trite. 
  20. I love nice round numbers. 

36 thoughts on “About”

  1. Chris

    Later on, you’ll be glad they’re around and as for the hair color, remember that part of your readership is old, oh, so old.

    Reply ↓
  2. CultFit

    I can’t begin to thank you enough for stopping over and following my humble blog-o-thing! I wish you the very best, be inspired and please take care.

    Reply ↓
  3. Annabel

    My mom still farts around me and my sisters. We’re basically grown. Don’t worry, we turned out okay. Though, I do think it influenced my lack of inhibition when it comes to farting…

    Did I just put that on the internet?!?

    Lord, help me!

    Reply ↓
      1. bdh63

        And I’m always buying these fancy, bound books with tons of blank pages and then not using them. I have to start today! Now where are they…

  5. isaacehimen

    I think I like the journal idea, maybe I should start it. But with all these gadgets, how does my handwriting look like now??

    Reply ↓
  6. gargoylebruce

    Oh my. We have things in common. Specifically point 21, although with me it was a tiny tub of UHT milk that had incidentally travelled from Japan, through Germany, to England, back through Germany, to Singapore before being detected in Australia by Sergeant Sniff (as I like to think of him), and causing an untimely delay in my progress through customs.

    Reply ↓
      1. gargoylebruce

        No I didn’t! I shall express my dissatisfaction to our customs department immediately!

  7. Joni Long Cotton

    I’ve enjoyed reading your blog now for a few months! Very interesting, thought provoking and funny! Keep it up! You’ve always been so talented! Still at TSYS 24 years, holy cow! But lots of good times still.Joni Long Cotton

    Reply ↓

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  10. mariner2mother

    I, too became a mother at 38, and I hate scary movies. I have been around the globe a few times, and have gotten to visit countries on every continent except Antarctica, if only for a few hours.

    I had French class from 7th through 11th grade and 2 semesters in college, and I’ve barely gotten to use it. But I surprised my son last summer when we were sharing a table at a hotel’s free breakfast area that was beyond crowded, with a couple from Quebec. When I realized they spoke next to no English, I drudged up what French I could remember. We had a great time stumbling along in both English and French as we could.

    Reply ↓

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  12. Chris B.

    Wow! I think I’m going to enjoy this blog! You’re a writer who has lived. An interesting life by the sound of it.

    Reply ↓

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  17. Jennifer Stone

    Never in my life have I experienced peer pressure to drink, or smoke; but when it comes to coffee, “You just haven’t tried the right kind. Have a mocha. You’ll like it”. It’s like all my friends are pushers, and Juan Valdez is their druglord.

    Reply ↓

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  20. Jane Prater

    No wonder my daughter adores you. I have seen those Northern Lights and would do the safari with you gratefully. Your joy in life is inspiring.

    Reply ↓
  22. Chris

    There’s a book of poetry you should read. It’s mine – More Sun than Shadow. You will understand some that others won’t. I’m going back to my blog when I finish the book of Short Stories. It should be out next week. The Losey Street Bus. Are you going to wait until you’re 85 to publish your novel? Don’t. My legs hurt from sitting so long and my derriere is numb. Cross that out. My ass is numb.

    Reply ↓

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