Day 22 of 22!!!!!🤗 I've been doing 22 push-ups a day for 22 days to raise awareness for veteran suicide. #22pushupchallenge. An estimate of 22 vets a day are committing suicide. These brave men and women have sacrificed for our country and deserve all the physical and mental healthcare they need. It's time to remove the stigma around mental healthcare. If you know of someone who is in need of help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-237-8255. For my final day, I nominate my dear friend @kaylibean , one of the most kindhearted and sincere people I've had the pleasure to know. 😘💕 (Happy Birthday!) The rules are simple: * Once you are nominated, your 22 days will commence the following day * Every day you will report on your completion of 22 push-ups. Try your very best to reach 22. If that means doing assisted (from your knees) push-ups or that you have to stop and take a break that's fine but try to get them all done in one video * Every day nominate a different person, try to choose people you think will want to do this and/or have the ability to do it *And finally, have fun with this. This is a simple and fun way to get the word out about a matter that more people need to be aware of.

10 Year Anniversary!

HAPPY 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY TO ME!!!! Oh, and NEW YORK!!! Yes, I have lived in this great city for TEN years now! Anniversaries are always special but 10, being the first double digit and metric base is meant to be particularly special. I don't know that it is the completion of ten years so much as the timing of life events that makes me feel like I have especially grown this year, but however the timing worked out, I do feel like something in me is "complete".

 This week I have been watching the freshmen move into their dorms as I am preparing to finish the last semester of my Master's degree and I can't help but reflect (as I do often) on my own journey and transformation since I first moved to New York. We have the blessing to write our own stories with our lives. I suppose I try to write my life hoping it's not a book I'd put down after a few chapters or a movie I'd walk out of before the credits roll. It may never be a blockbuster or hold anyone else's attention, but as long as I don't lose interest in my own story, I'll consider it a success. 

 The best stories are about characters who evolve or tragically devolve. Mine, I hope, is a steady evolution. I am not the girl I was when I got here, for sure. I don't have all the same habits, desires or ideologies that I had when I arrived. I can only imagine what my life would have been if I hadn't moved here - some kind of alternate universe or Back to the Future scenario wherein Ashley of 2006 marries a right-wing conservative and works 9-5 at an engineering firm. The thought makes me cringe a little now. Not that those things are bad, it’s just not what I want anymore. It's perhaps not the kind of dystopia a Biff Tannen reign might bring about (and I think we all know who Biff Tannen is right now) but I can still imagine ten years down that timeline I would have felt something was missing or there was something I wanted to do and didn't. I could not be happier with the woman I've become and for the hope I have of the woman I am yet to become. In other words, I feel solid, ya'll! So with that I give you TEN lessons NY taught me to live by or at least consider 😊 

1. Seek Wisdom - There are many valuable attributes one can have but wisdom is the most valuable. There ARE such things as mistakes and not all of them are necessary. 

 2. Don't allow your heart to harden - I would say "choose love," which really is always #1, but a hardened heart has a very skewed understanding of love and a heart can only give away as much love as it can hold. Hard hearts don't absorb, they break. 

 3. Forgive quickly and frequently - ok, truthfully, I'm still working on this one. I know it is true, but there is balance of forgiving and trusting I've not yet mastered. Little stuff, sure! No problem, forget about it! But the big heart stuff... You can forgive someone without trusting them, yes, but if you don't trust them then you don't really want them around, right? Which then begs the question, "have you actually forgiven them?" I dunno, I'm only 31 and open to suggestions. It's a hard one. 

 4. Be quick to admit when you are wrong and ask for forgiveness - This one is easier unless you have a PPP, personal pride problem. The most difficult people to love are the ones who never admit to their own faults. Nobody is perfect. The sweet spot is finding those who love you despite your ImPurFekShens. So just own up to it. 

 5. Learn from everyone and everything - Everyone you meet knows something you don't. Every person you meet is an opportunity to learn. Every situation you encounter is an opportunity to learn. Never go through a difficult situation without taking away a lesson, otherwise you're missing the point and wasting your time. 

6. Seek knowledge - lesser than wisdom in my book but still up there in priorities. In this day and age, there is really no excuse for staying ignorant. We are all ignorant of something, but staying that way when presented with new information is something else altogether. Anyone with Internet access and even the smallest facility for filtering reliable sources has no excuse to STAY ignorant.  

7. Know you are beautiful (handsome) and worthwhile without the excess - because when you take away the nails, the makeup, the weave, the designer clothes, the chiseled abs, all the products and fancy gadgets, what are you, really? You better know. And don't wait for someone else to tell you. 

8. Rid yourself of foolish friends. Dumb and foolish are different. Dummies can still learn if they are willing. Fools are those who know what is wrong and do it anyway. They don't recognize the consequences or just don't care, but either way their bad decisions will end up hurting the people around them too, so don't let that be you! 

9. Try to see things from someone else's perspective - an oldie but a goodie. It is the key to compassion. It is the key to resolving any issue and it is the best reminder that the world is bigger than any one of us. 

10. Trust God/Keep Faith/Stay Hopeful - I have to fit these all in one because I said ten. I could keep going but attention spans being what they are, I'll wrap it up. Even if you don't believe in Him, He has a way of working things out. Faith without works is dead. I didn't make that up, I promise. I may have plagiarized it from the Bible... or maybe I didn't. But you are reading this, so you have Internet access, and if my writing doesn't sound like gibberish, you have the mental capacity to find out where that phrase came from. I'm sure 😉 Do as much as you can, step out in faith and God will fill the gap between what you can do on your own and the part where you need help. He might fill the gap with that wisdom you've been asking for, or some people who have what you need or know the things you need to know, but he will fill it. And even if you have failed, He never does! 

Well, thank you, New York! You've grown me up and taught me a lot in a decade. Some might say I'm a little more jaded. I say, I'm just not surprised anymore. This relationship thing of ours has been tough at times, but you didn't crush me. You might have held on really tight at times, but you always loosened your grip right before I felt like I was going to crack. As for my part, well, I didn't give up on you. I thought about it sometimes, a cozy place in the suburbs, a house and a yard for a dog and kids I don't have yet because you're taking your dear sweet time... But hey, I can't just walk out on you... I ❤️ NY

Spending time with my sister and sweet niece! Fun on the #zipline! It turns out we share a few common hobbies 😋 #climbing 💪🏾 and she even gave me a #manicure 💅🏾 Who needs to stay within the lines? PishPosh! I thought it was perfect! #YouScreamIScreamWeAllScreamForIcecream😜 (at Stockholm, Sweden)

Meeting my nephews for the first time! 😍Yes, this is me gloating at beating a five-year-old at #GuessWho #VemDär 😝 In fairness, he beat me at marbles twice earlier in the day and he was less than a gracious winner 😏 This is a #MildGloat. #Superheroes #IcecreamWithMyBrother @ #Liseberg #FamilyTime (at Göteborg Sweden)

Ok, last stop on the #ERC #HistoricalTour at #WightmanLumber in #Oneonta , NY. #ErgonomicsEverywhere. We got to see how the sawmill ⚙ and lumberyard operates and the #ergonomic, #health and #safety hazards and controls in place for the workers. (That's my lumberjack pose. 💪🏾I fit in.😋) Then we went on a nature 🌿 walk to see the forestry side and how the trees 🌳 are repopulated and discussed #sustainability planning and environmental controls. Another amazing experience! I am #grateful for this entire week and all the new interdisciplinary #EHS friends I've made! 😁 We've got #OccupationalPhysicians, #IndustrialHygienists, #EnvironmentalScientists and of course #Ergonomists and #Biomechanists! Thank you #NIOSH!!!

I'm in Barre, #Vermont today visiting the #RockOfAges 💍#granite #quarry learning about the ergonomic hazards of quarrying and sculpting. It's so much more beautiful here than I even expected. #ErgonomicsEverywhere #FunFact The #turquoise color of the water is caused by the dust particles that fall in it during excavation #LightRefraction ☀️#PhysicsEverywhere Another #FunFact - Constructors once hoped #bowling alleys 🎳would be made of granite instead of maple 🇨🇦 but the bowling balls cracked near the finger holes because granite doesn't give the way wood can. Also, these #bowling balls are lightweight rubber, and I never claimed to be a good bowler 😜 #NoJudgey

I'm in #Maine today learning about occupational health and safety for the fishing 🐠 and boating ⚓️ industries #ErgonomicsEverywhere Thank you to the #USCoastGuard 🇺🇸for having us out and the #PortlandFishTrade 🐟for showing us how the trade works. An informative and fun day! I especially loved floating around in the immersion suit! More importantly it saves lives. Guess what I'm having for dinner tonight... well...LOBSTER of course!!!🍽 #WhenInMaine #ERC #HistoricalTour

I made a breakfast friend in #TheHamptons at #Breadzilla.🍞I'm not sure how he's planning on getting that mug to his mouth with those arms, but if I help, maybe he'll share. ☕️#TRexsArms Keep the muffin, Muffin 😋

Ladies trip to #Montauk today, near the 💡🏠I don't know what this thing is, but I wanted to take a picture on it. I am so happy to be with ladies who don't judge me for climbing down the rocks in a dress👗 for this moment! #NoJudgey #Adulting #MyWay #Hamptons #MemorialDayWeekend

Hello, old friend! I've missed you ☺️ #bouldering #climbing #movefree

Two engineers, a kinesiologist and a doctor walk into a bar... Because this semester is OVEEERRRR!!!! 😂#Amen #ImFree!!! One more semester of #GradSchool #Ergonomics and #Biomechanics 🤓and then... 😏One step at a time #Summer!!!☀️

#HappyMothersDay to my beautiful momma who taught me so much! I love you always 💕 And happy Mother's Day to all moms everywhere. Nobody would be here without you!😊

It's officially finals week! This is my set up for the next ten days...try not to be jealous😋I can see the light at the end of this tunnel... #FREEDOM is near!!! I assure you, it's more interesting than it looks. 3 #ResearchPapers and 3 #Exams and a final #Presentation #GradSchool #NYU #FinalsWeek #WishMeLuck

#IVoted today! I got #educated, watched the #debates and at the end of it all was led by my #heart ❤️ It tends to win and leans toward #equality and #kindness. #Vote

Being misunderstood or wrongly labeled is a hurtful thing, but it is not your fault when someone mislabels you. Their lens of truth is blurred by their own reality and experience and their understanding of you is limited to their understanding of themselves. I hope for everyone to learn love. Yes! It can be learned! Don't let anyone steal your joy☺️#KeepSmiling #KeepLoving #BeTheBestYOU

Happy #InternationalWomensDay! 🌸These are just a few of the #PhenomenalWomen who inspire me daily. #MichelleObama #OprahWhinfrey #EllenDeGeneres #MyGrandma #MyMamaKatie #MayimBialik #MayaAngelou #MalalaYousafzai #PhenomenalWoman #ThatsMe

Listening to some amazing artists tonight #SweetHoneyInTheRock and having my soul refreshed! #BlackHistoryMonth #LoveMonth #ItsEasierToLove #ItTakesTooMuchEnergyToHate (at Carnegie Hall)