All About Ashley

Ashley faces My name is Ashley Leonard. Pronounced len-erd not lee-oh-nard, silly. If you call me Sugar Ray, I will stab you in the face. I am sometimes referred to affectionately as "ASSley". In the past, I was called things like "Lenny", "Sharky" (I look like a shark?) or Justin's cute "asheylove".

I am 21 years old and my birthday is December 6th, making me a Sagittarius. I was born in the city of Newport News, Virginia and was raised (since age 3) in eastern Pennsylvania, along the Delaware River. I grew about an hour away from two major American cities: Philadelphia and New York, and enjoyed exposure to new ideas, art and music at a young age.

I have brown/auburn hair and dark brown eyes. I have 4 piercings - lip, Medusa (philtrum), and both of my ears are stretched to 3/4 inch (2 cm). My father's side of the family has a French/Native American background. My mother's side is of Austrian/English descent. Many of my relatives & ancestors were Jewish, but through marriage my family has come to adopt Catholicism, which is how I was raised. I have identified myself as an Agnostic for about 6 years now, but in my earlier teens I was a firm (slightly bitter) Atheist.

I think one of the better ways to describe one's personality is to analyze their high school yearbook. I have always enjoyed my own company, but was much more social as a teenager, usually playing the part of the sarcastic girl who hung out with the guys and earned too many detentions. I floated somewhere below "popular" status: everyone knew who I was and I could sit at any table I wanted to because people liked me and thought my shenanigans were funny, but I didn't have money and I didn't get invited to cheerleaders' sleepovers or date the cool guys in school. I may have been a less pathetic and less funny "class clown", if you will.

I would say that I'm more introverted as an adult. I don't care for very large groups and find it hard to assimilate, so my first priority is always being myself. I am a very nostalgic person. I save everything from my childhood and teen years, and obsess over things I loved in the 90s. I reminisce all the time, so much that I have been told by my own boyfriend to "let it go". I believe that growing up as a "foster kid" forced me to form attachments to things many people find trivial. In the foster care system, I moved around constantly. I never kept a best friend for more than 2 years. That lack of stability has probably shaped who I am today. I formed attachments to pop culture and music, instead of people and places, because it was the only thing that was constant for me.

I currently live in Buffalo, New York with my boyfriend, Justin. We met on an AIM chat room in August 2004, and the relationship evolved from there, eventually leading to us vacationing in Spain together and then getting our own apartment back in the States. Is that romantic or just crazy? You decide! Justin loves to write and is extremely creative - I think we're an incredibly awesome couple. We're fucking cute, too. Anything else? I choose not to drink, smoke or take drugs: I am drug free. I'm also vegetarian (since 1999) and I adore all types of hardcore & indie music. Fuck yes!