Ashley Claire Simpson

Copywriter and corporate communications professional by day. Award-winning writer seeking more opportunities 24/7. Charleston, South Carolina transplant by way of Atlanta and the DC-metro area.

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Prince William Living •

Service at the Core of McCall’s Business and Gallery

Professional artist Denise McCall has spent more than 31 years creating art out of a full spectrum of mediums, both traditional and digital. Her work has been displayed in galleries and museums across the United States and in Rome. She’s also passed her expertise on to students, teaching visual communications courses as an adjunct professor at Northern Virginia Community College. Early on in her lucrative art career, though, personal success simply wasn’t enough for McCall.
Prince William Living •

Family Matters: Diverse Families Thrive in Prince William

They make your heart swell bigger – and your blood boil faster – than anyone else in the world. They push the boundaries of forgiveness and elicit a love inside you that defies any kind of logic. They are your family members. Familial relationships are often complex, steeped in emotion. And although it would seem daunting for many of us to find the words to describe our own family dynamics, the United States Census Bureau had to do it for statistical purposes. The bureau’s definition of family...
Prince William Living •

Progression Since the Great Recession

September 2008 rocked America… twice. The first blow came when the global financial firm, Lehman Brothers, filed the largest bankruptcy claim that the world had ever seen. That same month the U.S. stock market took the biggest plunge in history—a plunge so steep that it wouldn’t be rivaled until 2018. The Great Recession was in full swing, and even the illustrious, industrious Northern Virginia was brought to its knees. Things didn’t start looking up until June 2009, when...
Prince William Living •

STEP Program Provides Training for Parents

How are you supposed to confront your child about the dangers of experimenting with drugs or alcohol? Or, is there a way to warn your kids about potential predators without paralyzing them with fear? Although no one has all the answers, the Prince William County office of Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) provides a parenting program that offers effective resources and solutions for some common dilemmas. “We are in this season of the omnipresent parent, who is always around, oftentimes hover
Southern Maryland Woman •

Happily Burning the Candle at Both Ends

Being in good health goes beyond having swift blood circulation and sturdy bones. Human health, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Being in tip top shape means being at your best in mind, body and spirit. Angela Akinpelu, PA-C, a holistic-minded Physician Assistant in Accokeek, Maryland, takes this multifaceted definition of health to heart.
Prince William Living •

Join the Club

As the summer of 2010 came to a close, Woodbridge native Destiny Malloy faced more than just her first year of middle school. Her dad, an active service member in the United States military, had just been deployed to the Middle East. Meanwhile, her hardworking mom held a demanding, full-time job. Malloy had outgrown the day care she had attended through elementary school, but she and her sister still needed a place to go every day after school.
Prince William Living •

League of Women Voters of the Prince William Area: Helping New Voters

It wasn’t until 1920 that women in the United States finally gained the right to vote. As exciting as it was to be an American woman at this time, the fact remains that women didn’t have this basic right until more than 130 years after the country deemed itself the land of the free, home of the brave. Some of the bravest, actually, were the tirelessly determined, self-sacrificing suffragists of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Brides & Wedding •

Wedding Cakes by Simply Desserts

The first wedding cake that Kimberly McDonald ever made was for her very own nephew — just a few months after launching Simply Desserts, her Gainesville-based full-service bakery. She was of course known for making delicious cakes that looked more like works of art than baked goods, but, she hadn’t yet stepped into the world of weddings. And, though it has often been said that it is a risk to mix family and business, McDonald’s first venture into wedding desserts went simply swimmingly.
Brides & Weddings •

Morven Park: Putting Your Hometown on Display

At the dawn of the 1900s, Westmoreland Davis – a then-future Virginia governor – set his sights on Morven Park, a grand mansion with surrounding land that would be used for farming and fox hunting. Upon making this Leesburg property their own, Davis and his wife, Marguerite, cared for and dressed it up so nicely that the now 22-room mansion, set on sprawling 1,000 acres of beautiful land in horse country, has become a popular Virginia wedding venue.
Prince William Living •

Five Professional Tips for Job Hunters

Looking for a new job can be as turbulent as the emotional journey of dating and relationships. It’s easy to get your heart set on a new position and then feel utterly devastated when it doesn’t come to fruition. It makes sense that people feel this way. With all the time and energy we pour into earning our paychecks, it’s important for our work lives to be satisfying. The economic downturn of 2007-2008 changed the job search process for everyone...
Prince William Living •

How Chalk Artistry Became a Full-Time Job

Artists today use more mediums to showcase their talent. There are more ways to create works of art than there were just a decade ago. And, while some forms of art are created with digital technology, many still do require the human hand. Enter: chalk art—typically, illustrations on a chalkboard or similar surface using either actual chalk or chalk pens. Local artist Alex McDonald, who started his journey with traditional pen and paper, has recently expanded his artistic vision to include chalk...
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