My Friend Ashlee

In addition to Amber, I recently also sucked my friend Ashlee (with the help of her sister) into the blogosphere. Ha, ha!

So Ashlee and I have been friends for coming up on ten years. I forget exactly how long, but I do know I met her during my very first "real" job as a hostess for Bennett's Barbeque. It was a crappy job, but I was so excited to start at $8/hour, and I soon met a few people like Ashlee, all of whom were perfect friends for me because we are all completely crazy. Ashlee soon became the only one that really stuck, though. She is still the only person from there I've stayed in touch with.

Ashlee and I had a lot of fun at Bennett's, and usually left behind a trail of bewildered co-workers. I distinctly remember making a "server sandwich" during one pre-shift meeting. The General Manager was introducing the new folks to their trainers, and I don't think he was really thrilled about the fact that we were stacked three laps high in one chair. I think he was equally displeased with our totally sober bar dance at the company Christmas party, but we had lots of fun in both instances.

My favorite times with Ashlee when we still worked at Bennett's were when, no matter who was doing the late-night cash balancing, we would both be there. We would wait until both of us were finished working and hop (or skip, depending on our mood, quite possibly through rain puddles) across the parking lot to the Village Inn. We would get milkshakes and leave an obscenely huge tip for the poor guy who almost always seemed to end up waiting on us in all our obnoxiousness. We sprayed milkshake out our noses on Ashlee's friend's date one night and never saw him again after that. We made a bet that Ashlee couldn't drink the most awful concoction Alan and I, as well as her 'date', could come up with. She surely did it, I think because she has an older brother. I'm not sure I could list all the ingredients, but there was strawberry milkshake, pancake, syrup, mustard, ranch dressing, and probably at least six other things. It was so gross that I gagged right along with her. I hope it was worth the one gold dollar and assortment of change adding up to no more than $2.45. I think that was the same night we went 'booth climbing'. Don't ask, it only ended in minor injury.

Ashlee and I have stuck together through stalkers and jerky boyfriends (one of her exes STILL better be hoping he doesn't ever meet me in a dark alley), and have both ended up with a couple of great guys. Ashlee's husband has become our very good friend in his own right. We took a vacation with them last summer that was so much fun. We went wine tasting in Sonoma County, CA. Thanks to Brian and Ashlee in combination with Alan, I'm learning how to golf as a result of that trip.

Ashlee is an all-star basketball player, teacher, and coach. She has hinted (not very delicately) about getting Mason into basketball instead of hockey. If anyone could do it, it would be Ashlee. She has serious enthusiasm for that sport. Ashlee is also a major competitor at Trivial Pursuit of any kind. She's the kind of friend who can either cheer you up or make you forget serious problems for a while. She's the kind of friend I have always needed in my life, and I'm so grateful for her.