So, since Christmas is all about tradition, I figured I would share a little bit of my families Christmas traditions and some memories that I have from past Christmases!

Every Christmas Eve we go to my dad’s side of the family for Christmas and it is always fun…. And interesting. Haha. However, we all have a great time. We eat way too much food, and then its time for some presents! We have created a new tradition over the past ten years, and we have a White Elephant Christmas exchange. It’s always super fun….but gets pretty intense!

After the Christmas with my dad’s side, we always come home and bake cookies (I’m a sugar cookie kinda girl… Haley is a chocolate chip lover… so we make both!) Haley and I both open one present that’s under the tree, most of the time it’s from each other! She always gets me pretty great gifts… we shall see this year! Haha.

Come Christmas morning, we go into the living room and see was Mr. Santa brought us… (Yes, we still get Santa Clause… Hehe J )  My grandparents would always come over and see what we got and then have breakfast with us! My mama always cooks an amazing breakfast so we look forward to that every year!

After breakfast, we open up the rest of our presents from under the tree, then take a NAP!

On Christmas Day, we go to my mom’s side of the family Christmas! We always have way too much food, too many laughs, and just lots of fun!

As for my favorite Christmas, I think it would have to be when I got my first car! It was the Christmas that I had just turned 16 and I wanted a Toyota 4-Runner SOOO bad, but didn’t really think I’d get one! That year, my parents tricked us by telling us they were giving us a trip to New York! We were actually pretty excited but then noticed they were kinda being sketchy! Well, that year my sister wanted a dog, and my parents surprised us both and  brought down our little Sophie, our Toy Yorkie from up stairs (in a santa hat… she was so little!) While we were up stairs looking at all of Sophie’s things, I got a picture message from my dad of my new car! I was so excited! Came to find out, he had been hiding it beside the house! The New York trip was fake…. I guess to just make us think we weren’t getting what we wanted! How clever of them… I know.  But, needless to say, that was a great Christmas for me!

I have had many, many more… but it’d be years for me to share them all!

Do you guys have any Christmas memories?!?! Post them on this page if you want to, I’d love to hear them!!!

I hope that each and every one of you has a wonderful Christmas! Even though the presents and hoopla of Christmas is so exciting, I hope that you remember the reason for the season… Jesus Christ’s birthday! I am so thankful that he was born on this day!

It’s really hard to believe that it’s this time of year again and we’re about to embark on a new year! Crazy! However, this has been a great year and I am so thankful for each and every one of you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I love you ALL!!!

Xoxo,

LA

As I’m sitting here writing this, I can’t help but realize how much I have to be thankful for this year. Over the past year, my life has changed dramatically and I have been given so many blessings from God. SO, this girl is SERIOUSLY THANKFUL this year!

I wanted to take some time to THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH for all of your love and support you have given me throughout my music journey. You have been there to make my shows unbelievable, to support me by buying my CD, to be THE reason I was named Georgia Country Female Artist of the Year, and to simply just be a fan and give me so much support and confidence! I really cannot thank you enough for everything! My fans have changed my life and I promise to continue to work hard and bring some VERY EXCITING things to the table in 2012!

As you all know, the holiday season of Thanksgiving and Christmas is all about spending time with loved ones and celebrating the reason for the season! With that said, I also realize that there are MANY people that will not have the opportunity of spending time with their loved ones, and eating (TONS) of great food with their friends and family…etc. Therefore, I encourage each and every one of you to reach out and maybe go a little out of your comfort zone, to help these people! Simply by just volunteering at a homeless shelter, feeding the hungry… Maybe sponsoring a child, being a “Secret Santa” for a child or number of children in your local area. There are so many ways to help others in need around us and I realize we cannot do it ALL, but just the smallest thing may make some ones day and potentially change there life. And after all, that is what this time of year is all about. GIVING and spreading blessings to those who are in need.

We take so many things in this life for granted, so I encourage you all to count your blessings this Thanksgiving and give thanks to God who has given you these blessings.

THANK YOU AGAIN for all of your love and support! It means the world to me! Hope you and your families have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Enjoy your day….. and heck, eat too much. We can work out tomorrow! ;P

XOXO,

LA

I cannot thank you guys enough for making that happen! Your neverending support means the absolute world to me and I am so grateful to be able to do what I love for you guys and for you to love and support me through it!!

Congratulations are also in store for some other winners at the GC Awards!

Favorite Regional Act: Jared Ashley

Overall Artist of the Year: Ty Bates

Male Artist of the Year: Ricky Gunn

Band of the Year: Allatoona

Teen Artist of the Year: Megan Kearns.

Check out all of their music! They are truly talented people!

Again, thank you guys SO much for all of the help with voting, telling people to vote, etc!

I am working on some REALLY awesome things in Nashville right now, so me and the band have taken a little time off, but we will be going at it again soon!

LOVE you guys so much! And thanks again!

LA

Just wanted to tell you guys about my wonderful happenings over the last couple of weeks!

Mid-September came along and I heard about a songwriting competition based in Nashville, that was in the efforts to support Narcolepsy. The competition was called, “Wake Up Nashville and Dream Big”. The song writing competition was judged by the head of Savannah Music Group in Nashville, and they would chose a top 10 , with one of those top ten songs being the winner of the competition. So,  I really didn’t think anything about the contest whatsoever, but I figured I’d try it out anyway! I entered “Cold November” and “Drive” , from my self-titled EP, and just hoped one of them would place in the top ten. WELLLL, I got an email a few days later, informing me that “Cold November” had won the ENTIRE contest, and that “Drive” was also in the top ten! I was floured! Really?! My songs?! Whaaat?! I definitely wasn’t complaining though!

So, on Sept. 29, me and two of my wonderful band mates, took off to Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame, to perform at the Wake Up Nashville Benefit Gala. I had never been to the Hall of Fame EVER…. so I figured it was pretty dang cool that I got to PERFORM at the Hall of Fame the first time I had ever been there.

It was such a fun night! There were tons of people there (lots of them from Music Row… singers, songwriters, execs from different record labels) and it was so fun to be able to network with all of these people! I loved it! Each artist that was in the top ten performed their winning song, along with other legendary songwriters.

After a great night at the event, my family ( Parents, sis, aunts, uncle, cousin…. LOVED that they all came to support me) took the party downtown and had SO much fun! I may or may not have even made a surprise appearance at Tootsies!

After the Hall of Fame, it was time to get ready for the LUKE BRYAN FARM TOUR!!!!!!!!!!! Owww owwwww!!!!! I cannot express how excited I was when I was asked to open for Luke at his Claxton stop of the Farm Tour. I have loved seeing Luke perform for so long… and have seen him just as long, but I never thought I would ever share a stage with him. However, that was changed on Oct. 5, 2011! Me and the gang left town at about 10:00 on Wednesday morning and headed to Claxton for a sound check at 3:30. When it was time for sound check, I looked over to my right and saw none other than Luke Bryan working out…. without a shirt on, might I add. WOOOO!! (hehe)  When he finally got finished with his sweet little workout, he came out in front of the stage and thanked us for being there, and introduced himself…. As if we didn’t already know! Anywhoooo, after sound check we all got on the bus and chilled out for a while, until it was glam timmeee!!! At around 7:30, it was time to hit the stage! I will never forget how it felt to walk up the steps on the side of the stage and walk on to the stage to find THOUSANDS of people screaming and standing in front of me! It literally took my breath away! Such an awesome feeling! We had a thirty minute set, and rocked the house! After the show, we watched Rhett Akins and Dallas Davidson perform, then LUKE!!!! It was so cool to experience the show from back stage! After Luke was finished, we hung with him and his band… and Rhett and Dallas and it was SO fun! I will never forget that night!

Changing the subject a little, voting for the  Georgia-Country Female Artist of the Year awards is finally over and I just want to thank you guys SO MUCH for voting for me and supporting me! It means the world to me and I appreciate each and every one of you! We will find out who the winner is at the Georgia-Country Awards Banquet on November 5 at Cowboys in Milledgeville.

One more thing, my song, “This Wasn’t My Fairy Tale” will be featured THIS SATURDAY on 94.9 The Bull’s Backyard Country from 9-10 pm. If you are in the ATL area, I would love it for you to tune in to listen to the song…. and also to VOTE for the song so that we can make it multiple weeks on the BYC Line-Up!!!

Here is the link to vote!!!! : http://www.949thebull.com/pages/byc_voting.html

Love you all SO much!!!

Until next time,

xoxo LA

SO, we have a lot to catch up on! The past few weeks have literally been CRAZY!!!

As some of you may know, I went in to the studio about two weeks ago and recorded my new single, “Waste of a Good Man”  and it is AWESOME! Probably my favorite song I have written and recorded.. so I am REALLY excited for you to hear it! It should be available on iTunes and CDBaby.com on Sept. 26! Hope you guys will go get it!  To listen to a preview of the song, go here: http://soundcloud.com/laurenashleymusic/waste-of-a-good-man-preview

Also, when a new single comes about, as does a PHOTO SHOOT! Woohoo!! I had an amazing photo shoot with Brian Hall of Brian Hall Photography and cannot wait to post the photos on here as soon as I get them back! To watch a sneak peak at the photo shoot, go to : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjgPoMP1FYc

After a long week of recording and picture taking, it was time for me and my awesome band to head to our weekend shows! On Friday, Sept. 9 we trucked it down to Statesboro, GA. to play at RumRunners! It was nothing less than we expected and we all had a BLAST!! After that show was over….. at about, ehh… 2:00, we changed clothes…. then drove to Macon, GA. to be on the 13 WMAZ Morning show. We had to be there at 6:00 am. Might I add, we had NO sleep! It was a struggle but we ended up having a blast and laughing more than I think I have in my whole life…. we could have very well been delirious, but hey…. it’s okay! After we made it through the morning show, we headed to our hotel and went in to hibernation!!!! Come evening time though, it was back to playing and we ROCKED OUT Wild Wing Cafe in Macon. It was an awesome show… despite my voice almost being completely gone.. but somehow I got myself through it and we put on a great show!

Well, since then, I headed back to Nashville and have been networking with some people up here…. Gonna play a song at a venue here called, “Fiddle and Steel” on Wednesday and I am so excited about that!

After this coming week, I will head back home to GA and play some more with my band! Pumped!

ONE MORE THING, I am in the FINALS of Georgia-Country Female Artist of the Year Awards and the voting will end Oct. 6!! I am neck in neck for FIRST PLACE, so if you haven’t voted already, PLEASE do so!! It would mean the world to me!

*GO HERE TO VOTE!!!! : www.georgia-country.com/awards.php *

P.S.: I have uploaded lots of videos to my Youtube channel, so I hope you guys will check it out!    http://www.youtube.com/user/LaurenAshleyMusicLA

Thanks so much to all of you for making my music journey so amazing. I am truly humble and thankful for you all!

Until next time!!!

XOXO,

LA

It is SO good (and exciting) to be here and, after five days, all settled in! My sister, Haley, and I finally made the big move to Nashville this past Wednesday (Aug. 10) and we are LOVING it already!

The moving process, as all moving processes go, was totally NOT fun! However, our apartment is on the third floor so in order to get everything moved in, we had to climb 40 flights of stairs… (Yes, we counted. 40. ) Needless to say, I can still barely walk due to my legs being so sore. No fun. Especially when you have two sofas, two beds, two HUGE dressers, kitchen table… the list goes on. Thank goodness we had some help from the male department!

Our place came together very nicely after a ton of hard work and now we are finally all settled in! Thank the good Lord!

There are so many things that we love about this place… everywhere you go, the people are SO friendly, there are soooo many things to do and places to go (aka: SHOPPING. There is a nice mall… not good for me! *shopaholic*) and the best part… the weather is AMAZING. It’s still definitely warm, but NOT as hot as Georgia and definitely doesn’t have the suffocating humidity. Good for the hair!!!

Now that we’re all moved in, it’s time for me to get on the road (haha… ironic) and get things crankin’ again with my band! I am so excited to get started back up and to play some awesome shows!

Also, just a little reminder! Voting for the Georgia-Country Female Artist of the Year Award is still going on and I am currently in third! I would love it if the folks who haven’t already voted, would go to the website below and vote for me!!!! It would awesome to be in first place, but still great to make 2nd! Thanks to everyone who has already voted and gotten me this far! I love you all so much!

Here is the link: www.georgia-country.com/awards.php

Thanks for all of the love, ya’ll!

xoxo,

LA

P.S. : Here are some pics of the new hizzie!

THANKFULLY, my family and I made it home safely from Jamaica and had an AMAZING time!!! While I was there, I got the news that “Drive” had made it a second week on 94.9 The Bull’s Backyard Country line-up and that was such a great surprise! I cannot say it enough, but THANK YOU to all of you who took a little time out of your day to vote for the single! I owe all of the gratitude in the world to you! Let’s try to make it ANOTHER week this week!!! So, VOTE VOTE VOTE!!!

http://www.949thebull.com/pages/byc_voting.html

Also, Georgia-Country’s Female Artist of the Year semi-final voting starts TOMORROW (August 1) and ends AUGUST 30!!! It would mean the world to me if you guys would vote for me for this award! On August 30 they will take the top 6 in each Artist of the Year category and these 6 will go to a banquet/party thingy-ma-jig at Wild Bills! It would be SO cool if I made the top 6 and got to take part in all of the fun! Thanks in advance!

http://georgia-country.com/awards.php

Well, that’s all I have for now good people! Hope you all have a lovely week ahead!

p.s.: Here is a pic from Jamaica like I promised! Is this not the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?!?!?

                                  XOXO,

                                          LA

Things have been crazy this way for a good while so I haven’t had a chance to get on here and share things with you guys, BUT… I have lots to tell!

In case you didn’t already know, on July 3 me and my gang had the amazing priviledge to open for the LEGENDARY, Ronnie Milsap, at Rock Springs Church’s annual 4th of July Celebration. I cannot explain the feeling of being up on that stage looking out to the thousands… yes, THOUSANDS of people in the audience (I was later told there was an estimated 10,000 or more there that day! WHOA!) It’s kind of something that I really can’t explain, but I can say that it was a great feeling! It was an even better feeling knowing that I had the opportunity to share the stage with Ronnie Milsap. I even got to snap a few pictures with him and that was pretty cool, I must say! A HUGE thanks to everyone who put on the show and to the wonderful people who came out to support and have some fun while celebrating this fine country that we all live in and love so much!

Since the July 3 show, the band and I have taken the rest of July off so that my family and I could get a lot of things together. As some of you may know, I am trucking it up to Music City : Nashville, TN. to live with my sister in August; therefore, we had to get all of our things moved out of our house in Statesboro, GA. , where we both attended college, ALL while trying to find a place to live in Nashville. Thankfully, we got both of these tasks accomplished (honestly, solely by the grace of God! haha) and now we are headed on a MUCH needed vacation to Jamaica! Woohoo! On behalf of the band AND myself, I just want to say thank you to everyone for being patient with us as we took this time off and we are looking so forward to kicking everything back up in August and September!!

On another note, I just want to give a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone for voting me in to the semi-finals of Georgia-Country’s Female Artist of the Year Award! I could not have made it that far without you guys and I am so thankful for each and every one of you who took the time to vote! The semi-final voting will begin on August 1 and will end on August 30. I would GREATLY appreciate you all voting for this award again so that I can hopefully make it into the top 6! I will post the link closer to the voting day when I get it!

AND one last thing! My first single, “Drive” will be airing on 94.9 The Bull’s Back Yard Country TONIGHT! The BYC line-up will go from 9-10! If you are in the metro-Atlanta area and can listen to 94.9 on your radio, I’d love for you to tune in! If not, you can also listen online @ http://www.949thebull.com/pages/backyard_country.html.

In order for “Drive” to stay on the BYC line-up, you guys have to VOTE VOTE VOTE!!!!! You can vote as many times as you like! Here is the link to VOTE: http://www.949thebull.com/pages/byc_voting.html 

I would greatly appreciate your support by voting for my first single! This is an awesome way to get my music out there to others who may not know about it and hopefully, people will join the bandwagon!!

Well, that’s all I have for now folks! Stay tuned for more info coming in the near future! Maybe I’ll post a pretty little pic of Jamaica on here while I am there! Hehe!

LOVE YOU ALL!

LA

I just recently found out that I have been nominated for Georgia-Country’s Female Artist of the Year Award. I was stoked! It is a tremendous honor to be nominated for this awesome award!

Every year Georgia-Country does the Artist of the Year, which enables fans, managers, booking agents, etc. to nominate Georgia artists to be in the running for Artist of the Year in his/her specific category. There is a male category, female category, and teen category. One winner will eventually be chosen from each category and will be name Artist of the Year. The winners will then go on to do a fun show at Wild Bills in celebration of winning the sweet title!!

The voting for Female Artist of the Year begins May 30and will end June 19! Every one gets one vote per computer and cell phone device!

I would greatly appreciate your votes for this award. It would be such a cool thing to win Female Artist of the Year and to represent my home state of Georgia.

GO HERE TO VOTE!!!!!!!: http://www.Georgia-Country.com/awards.php

Thanks so much for all of the love and support!

XOXO,

LA <3

It has been a crazy past month and a half for me with SO much going on, so I haven’t gotten on here to write as much as I would have liked to. However, a lot of really exciting things have been happening! We are booking shows for the summer and fall that are sure to be so much fun!

As you all may know, many different cities in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee were devastated by the recent tornados that went through various towns in these states. I have seen the devastation first hand in my home town, Griffin, and also have seen pictures from Alabama and Tennesee, and it truly just breaks my heart. So many great people were affected by this horrific storm .

It is so great knowing that there have been so many people come together to help out the victims of the tornado devastation and so I am thoroughly humbled at the fact that I have been asked to perform at Music Relief 2011 in Griffin on Saturday, May 21. It is an honor to be able to give back to such a good cause and to give back to my community in such a wonderful way!

The event will take place in the Truett’s/ Sherwin-Williams parking lot off of N. Expressway in Griffin, Ga. The event will start around 5 p.m. and go until 9 to 9:30 p.m. There will be various local bands and artists from Griffin that will be entertaining everyone, along with games and food for all!

Everyone is asked to bring an item for the families of Spalding County that were affected by the storms. First Assembly of God of Griffin will be distributing to local families.

1. Camping Supplies (as many of the victims are camping beside their houses)
2. Hygiene Supplies
3. Sugar, flour and coffee
4. New Clothing
5. Diapers
6. Manual Can Openers

Monetary donations will be accepted and directed to 1st United Methodist Church in Griffin, Ga for distribution in SPALDING COUNTY. Any and all help is appreciated as we try and help our community recover from this event that changed so many lives.

Hope to see you all there! It will be a great way to give back to your community and I am looking forward to it so much!

XOXO,

LA <3