AshleyMarlenis

An Afternoon at the Greenway: Little Sister Portrait Session at Clarksville Greenway

July 30, 2018 Leave a Comment

Hey Guys,

So I have exciting news pertaining my blog: I have recently started a Photography Business on the side to generate income and have some sessions to write about in order to build my portfolio for paying clients. You may see a change on this site since I have decided to write about my sessions and have my photography website link back to this one. I am keeping my name in order to stick with branding, etc.

My first session was with my little sister, in order to test out my camera on Manual mode and our dad went with us for some moral support and we knew he could make her genuinely laugh. Which definitely happened on multiple occasions. I had a few locations in mind, all outside of course because I wanted to capture photos in natural lighting. I chose the Clarksville Greenway for a ton of reasons but one reason in particular was because I knew it wouldn’t be busy. We went mid-day and it was HOT; I have so many photos but will only be sharing a few since I still have her client album private for now and have the photos posted on to my website over at:http://ashleymarlenisphotography.com

Getting natural photos of her were so easy since we make each other laugh but it was so much fun bringing what I had in mind to life. We wanted natural, airy photographs and I think that happened in this session. I had so much fun and it was an awesome stepping stone into photographing people.

Senior Portrait in Clarksville, TN

Senior Portraits in Clarksville, TN

Adventures, NYC, United States

A Day in New York City | Walking Around Manhattan

July 16, 2018 Leave a Comment

This past month Marc and I went to NY to see both his nephew and see his best friends for about a week and some days. I’ve only been to the city once before and we didn’t get to see much which was a bummer so we made an effort to take a day and see the little things that I wanted to experience.

We flew in about 9-10AM into John F. Kennedy Airport and took and got an Uber to his sisters office in the city to drop our bags off; and off we went. I knew that I wanted to see Central Park and also wanted to fully walk around and take in the city. Which, bless Marc because he willingly walked 45 minutes from his sisters office to Central Park with me lol ( in the heat). On the way I got to see St. Patrick’s Cathedral and honestly pictures really don’t do it any justice and the architecture is so incredible. You can go inside for free but Marc and I didn’t stay long since it was packed.

On the way over to Central Park, I took a few photos along the way:

This one has to be my favorite since I have a few of these from when I went to Europe and C’mon it’s the Cartier building (brb, drooling).

I’ve noticed that I really enjoy taking photos with people in them, and love this one that I snapped when we finally reached Central Park.

We walked quite a bit to reach Bethesda Fountain and it was definitely worth it. I’ve only ever seen this part of the park in movies so it was pretty cool for me to see it in person. I also loved that you can canoe The Lake that is in Central Park, originally I wanted to try the Loeb Boathouse Restaurant but unfortunately it was booked out for the next two months. So if you want to try out this very popular restaurant when you go to the city I would suggest booking a reservation a month or two before you go!

The fountain area was so pretty and Marc snapped some photos of us and I absolutely love them!

Once we made our way from the fountain, we started walking aimlessly looking for the Belvedere Castle which sadly we couldn’t figure out where it was haha but we did stumble upon Cedar Hill which is a prime picnic spot in the park and makes for some awesome photos.

Another thing we ended up doing was going up Rockefeller Center at Top of the Rock which Marc had never done before and it was definitely a experience for us, being on top of the world and seeing the city from above was incredible. Another plus, about this spot:

You can purchase a time slot on your phone and walk around and head over to the building to avoid the line. it was so quick and easy to go up. Heads up, it is pricey I believe Marc and I spent 71$ on the both of us.

Walking around, we got to see little things of the city and most importantly: It’s FREE! we only spent money on coffee, food and doing Top of the Rock and souvenirs at Rockefeller Center.

beauty, Hair, Influenster

Pureology Clean Volume Shampoo & Conditioner Review | Influenster VoxBox

June 14, 2018 Leave a Comment

PUREOLOGY CLEAN VOLUME REVIEW | ASHLEYMARLENIS.COM

Alright y’all, I received another Influenster VoxBox in the mail and got hair care this time which is super exciting since I recently dyed my hair super blonde. I have incredibly fine and flat hair so Clean Volume is right up my alley. Immediately I went and looked at current reviews on Ulta and was a little weary since most were negative reviews.

Needless to say I have been using it for the last couple of weeks so I could write a proper review and really see if I liked and if it was worth twenty six dollars for each bottle. A lot of people were saying that the formula was watery, did not lather and left hair completely dry and stringy. I on the other hand; did not have ANY of these issues at all. In fact, my formula was thick and lathered quite well which was soo nice. It left my hair so soft and clean and NOT itchy at all, which bothers me the most. Being able to go three days without washing is the best feeling ever; especially for us oily hair girls and guys.

The fragrance of this shampoo is so clean and honestly reminds of how your hair smells once you leave a salon. IT’S TO DIE FOR. I swear. I am all for this set and genuinely think it is worth it if you want a super clean wash and non of the chemicals. If you are someone who likes to splurge on hair care; especially if you dye your hair then I would recommend this honestly. Although I will be buying a purple shampoo for my blonde balayage that is recommended by my hair stylists.

Pureology is 100% Vegan and is Silicone & Sulfate free which is fantastic, according to Pureology the key benefits of this line are:

100% vegan
Volumizing shampoo
Nourishes, boosts volume, and adds body
Does not weigh down hair or leave behind a residue
Includes AntiFade Complex for color protection

I would definitely say that if you are used to splurging on your hair these two products should definitely be on your list! If you purchase from the link below, I receive a tiny comission for using ShopStyle. I would greatly appreciate it <3

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Lifestyle, love, personal life, relationship

How I Knew I Loved you : About My Relationship

June 7, 2018 Leave a Comment

I never thought that 3 years ago I would have found “the one” or my soulmate, but here we are three years later and I am just as smitten as I was when we went out on our first date. Now, don’t get me wrong; our relationship is no where near perfect but it is the most healthy relationship I’ve ever been in. My heart is so full being with Marc, and being in this relationship has made me grow as an individual.

Before Marc and I met, I had started feeling comfortable with myself and genuinely in an all over good place with my health. I met Marc at a show that I wasn’t even planning on going to that night since I had worked all day; but had a friend who insisted that we go and just relax after work. Needless to say I am eternally grateful that I went because we met that night, in line after chatting a little bit and after he made me laugh I was hooked. as corny as that is haha, he was super easy to talk to. We’ve been inseparable ever since.

Our First date was so nice and I remember being so nervous since he was driving an hour to come get me; and we ultimately just stayed in the town I lived in at the time (he thought it would make better use of our time instead of spending most of our time in a car driving). We went out to eat and ended up talking like we had known each other way longer than we actually did, we talked about our families and were already making plans to see each other again. Needless to say he’s kept his promises to this day.

Marc is the epitome of selfless and is constantly supportive of me in anything that I set my mind on, and he is constantly a rock when I am dealing with my anxiety. He is my best friend who I can laugh with, act goofy with and be serious with in planning our future. We are constantly looking towards our future; and are currently working towards buying our first home. Being with Marc makes me giddy and excited and I love talking about our potential for the future.

Our relationship isn’t perfect and my anxiety definitely doesn’t make it easy that’s for sure but it definitely has made us a stronger couple; because I know I can constantly lean on him for support and he will always be there to prop me up. In the three years that we have been together, we’ve continuously grown together and are always pushing each other to be the best version of ourselves. It is so incredibly awesome to see the change in each other.

I knew I loved Marc the moment he followed through with the promises he made, every time he held me when I would have a panic attack and anytime he would tell me “Our time is coming” when we would talk about our future and getting married (which makes me giddy just thinking about it). I knew I loved him the moment I was able to lean on him for support and fall in love with him more and more every time I get a kiss in the morning when he leaves for work. I never thought it’d be possible to be so in love with someone, but being with M has proven that it definitely is.

When we had these photos taken by the amazing Madi at Cedar & Sage Photography last year it was close to our two year anniversary and they captured our love genuinely and for that I am forever grateful. He makes me giggle and makes me feel safe and comfortable and these photos are a little glimpse into our relationship. We were super lucky to have these taken for free, while Madi wanted to fill her portfolio and I obviously loved them so much that I had her do my graduation photos ( which turned out gorgeous as well!).

I look forward to our future and I really wanted to convey that in a blog post and show off this love of mine. Since it gives you all an insight to my personal life especially since I haven’t posted in quite a bit. I really hope you all love my sappy love post; and enjoy reading it just as much as I did writing it.

All photos were taken by Cedar & Sage Photography who is amazing!

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beauty, Fenty Beauty

Everyday Makeup Routine

May 23, 2018 Leave a Comment

Hello guys and gals!

I recently uploaded a video onto Youtube video of my Everyday Makeup routine which I really enjoyed filming! I pretty much use the same face products whenever I do wear makeup and honestly the only thing that I change up and experiment is with eye makeup and colors.

I have about 10 Foundations that I own and 3 that I rotate between anytime I wear makeup. One of which being my Too Faced Born This Way Foundation in Warm Beige. The other two are: 1) Fenty Beauty Pro Filtr Foundation & 2) Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation!

Disclaimer: I absolutely love makeup and if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have made a blog dedicated to it haha but as much as I love it I really enjoy not wearing it either. My skin has finally calmed down; and I only have scarring left so I try and let my skin breathe and that has been its best remedy for my acne prone skin.

Face products that I use on an “everyday” basis are as follows in no particular order are:

Too Faced Born This Way Foundation in Warm Beige

MakeupRevolution Conceal & Define in shade C7

It Cosmetics Brow Power in Shade Dark Brown (I believe)

For Mascara I use Maybelline Total Temptation & I use the MakeupRevolution Pro Fix spray for setting my makeup.

For Lips I used:

Once again, I wear makeup maybe twice a week if that, just to let my skin breathe but these are the same products I use every time I apply makeup. So, I would definitely say that these are my favorites!

I rotate between my highlighters and if you check out my blog post of my favorites you can see the ones that I switch between!

The highlighter that I used in this look is the Fenty Beauty Killawatt Highlighter in Hu$tla Baby which I have to say is just to die for and so worth the money.

Hopefully you all love the little insight of how I do my makeup and the products I mainly use!

Lucerne, Switzerland, travel

Switzerland Photo Diary | Lucerne, Engelberg & Swiss Alps

May 4, 2018 Leave a Comment

Hello again! I’m back again with another photo diary but this time when I was adventuring in Switzerland; which by the way- was my absolute favorite country I went to. If you’ve never been, honestly GO! what are you waiting for?!

The weather was so refreshing and when I mean fresh air— the air was quite literally the freshest air I’ve ever breathed. While the weather was amazing, Switzerland was the one country I spent the most money in and honestly it was so worth it.

On my trip, we ended up going up into the mountains as a detour because the main way getting to Engleberg had bad stop & go traffic. The photos below were absolutely breathtaking; as we stopped at the tippy top in Uri and ended up looking onto valleys. Even looking at these photos give me goosebumps and make me long for the Swiss Alps.

After venturing into the mountains, Our group made our way into Engleberg which was the littlest town with the coziest hostel. The Ski Lodge was probably the best one we stayed at for the entirety of our trip and had the best food & bar located on the premises.

The village was located near the mountains Titlis & Brunni and we went up a mountain called PILATUS on our way into Lucerne which was the best thing I have ever done! I am terrified of heights and conquered them on this trip; because there was no way I was gonna miss out on being up in the clouds.

I mean how amazing did these photos turn out?! I took so many but only put up my favorite ones for the purpose of this photo diary. The view makes you feel so small and made me appreciate the world a little more. The cable cars we went up in were terrifying and you had to jump in them to hop on and it was definitely interesting to say the least. To get a visual for where we went and what was located at the very top you can click the site link: here . When we came down from being at the very top, my group and I took a ferry into the city of Lucerne; which was so breathtaking.

The picture above; is one of my top five of me from the trip and this section of my tour through Europe; isn’t it pretty?!!

Once we entered the city of Lucerne, a friend and I decided to venture the city alone and take in the sights without tagging along with the group. Honestly, I am so glad I did this- I would’ve even walked around alone because I felt so safe in this city & country.

Fun fact: I ordered a burger in every country I traveled in and this was probably the best burger honestly!

While we were in Lucerne, there was a festival in town called the Blue Balls festival – which made me giggle every time I saw a banner. Also, I became obsessed with Aperol Spritz while I was on my trip and it was the only thing that I drank.

I had so many photos that it was so hard to choose these few, but these were all my favorites of this part of my trip and I hope you enjoyed the photos and a glimpse of my adventures in Switzerland!

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