OH. MY. GOSH.

you have to LOOK

a happy friday!!

my big brother is coming to visit me today! hooray! he gets in late - at 11pm - so i am going to have all evening to walk around my house picking up invisible lint & nervously straightening pictures! i am terribly impatient at the best of times....

i want to give out a big shoutout to annie (the friend formerly known as "joey") who spent her morning with me yesterday doing the kind of cleaning i usually avoid... thanks so much! even the corner behind the dining room door is dust-bunny free! i couldn't (wouldn't?) have done it without her! :)

i will see some of you guys tomorrow night .... you know who you are .... come ready to par-tay! nd here, for your amusement, are some examples of "lost in translation"! happy friday!

i swear i am not making this up

these are actual advertisements from 'back in the day' ... look at what we've had to overcome, girls!

odds & sods

much to my great amusement, according to my most recent 'allure' magazine, a couple of "scientists" have noted that shopping may, in fact, increase your lifespan. i haven't read the article yet, but i'm highly anticipating it! :)

i am feeling older today. 32 is an old, old age! it's a responsible, grown up, mature age. eek! i am totally not ready for this. grey hair & eye cream, "...kids these days..." and "...when i was your age..." *sigh* at some point, am i going to have to surrender my sparkly eye shadow & my hoodies? sneakers & cutoff jeans? will i wake up one day and think to myself, "mmmm - prunes sound so good to me right now!" OH NO!

and finally, here is something i really want for christmas that i will never get. :)

go get it, people!

i gifted myself with the reliant k christmas album - let it snow, baby/let it reindeer - and it is one of the most fun, creative and enjoyable christmas albums i've heard in a long time! acutally enjoyable musically, not just for sentimental mushiness. it makes me want to buy one of their "regular" discs...

the most wonderful day of the year

happy birthday to me!

birthday eve

well, it is my birthday eve.

most of the celebrations have passed - my new cell phone, "thanksmas" @ mom's, a gift from my in-laws - but i am content. i made myself a chocolate cake to have for breakfast with my coffee, will have lunch with a friend tomorrow, and this weekend we're having a big party (for someone else, but a party full of people i love, so that's alright with me).

i am 32 years old. i have a rich life - full of family & friends, a home i love in a place i love, freedom & opportunity, God who loves me - gift upon gift upon gift upon gift. things go wrong, and life goes sideways, but the deep truth is, "the boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places". it's more than i deserve...and i'm grateful.

thanks, God.

the voices inside my head

it's a little nerve wracking trying to see your life through someone else's eyes...especially someone who "counts", whose opinion will matter to you in the long run. imagine, for instance, the first time you have your mother-in-law over for dinner to your apartment. the insecurities are endless! is it well dusted? vacuumed? the place is so small! are you wearing too much eyeliner? is your outfit ok? what if she doesn't like that you painted your nails? what if she thinks your food is bland and overcooked? what if you spill something? when it's just you in your head, your little place is cute and well loved, and you look great in those jeans...but when someone else is in your head it can be a whole different story!

my life is going to be seen through someone else's eyes this week, someone who "counts"... and i am nervous! more nervous than i thought i'd be! i hung a new mirror, decluttered my countertops (tried, anyways), put out a few christmas decorations, and have extensive guestroom cleaning plans. but will it be enough? suddenly all these new questions pop up! what does my home say about me? what if The Girls rooms are a mess? (which inevitably they will be) what if ... what if ... what if ... jeepers!

i suppose "que sera sera"... but it's hard!

all good things must come to an end

and so today, we head home from thanksmas...(hopefully we will arrive there. our truck seems perilously close to death. but that's not the point of this post.) as i begin to gather & pack up our stuff for the drive, i notice that we are leaving with considerably more than we arrived with, and it strikes me that this is not unusual when we leave mom & dad's place. here, for your amusement, is The List:

• mom's kitchen aid blender - curtis enjoyed making a banana milkshake with it, saying it kicks our target brand blender's ass. it does. and now it is his.
• my birthday shoes
• a new dress (and accompanying shrug, belt & necklace. in my defense, i did pay for the dress, belt & shrug myself.)
• a new denim skirt
• 5 bottles of beaujolais nouveau for a big party i'm having next weekend
• adorably tacky elvis salt & pepper shakes
• candles
• new rude t-shirt for curtis
• 2 small christmas trees, set up & decorated, one for each of The Girls rooms
• a fun & silly christmas purse
• 2 sets of new flannel sheets, one for each of The Girls beds
• coloring books, reading books & small toys for The Girls
• high school musical pj's - one for each of The Girls
• for christmas, my mom paid to upgrade my cellphone plan for a year - so i have an envelope full of 12 checks for the appropriate amount

hmmm. i don't think i missed anything...if i did, i'll let you know. but i think i've made my point, regardless! :)

then there are the things i won't need to pack:

• sleeping in every morning
• naps
• happiness
• hours of feisty game playing
• food i didn't have to cook
• laughing
• the warm fuzzy feeling of being home
• a slower pace
• happy, if spoiled, girls
• comfort & encouragment
• secret sharing
• peace

things i am thankful for

in the grand thanksgiving tradition....

1. My husband, Curtis. He is my fortress in a storm.
2. The Girls. There are just not enough words for what they mean to me.
3. Mark. My big brother. Enough said.
4. Jordan. The most open hearted, non-judgemental person in my life. I truly believe that I could murder someone in cold blood and he would just ask me how he could help dispose of the body.
5. My friends - you know who you are - who support me unflinchingly, laugh with me (& at me!), encourage me, walk/lunch/coffee with me, and without whom my life would be a lonely wasteland.
6. My body. Sure, it's not flawless, but it's healthy & strong.
7. The internet. This thing (that I don't really understand) has put me in touch with old friends, keeps me in touch with new ones, and makes talking to my peeps easy peasy!
8. My birthday phone. It's just too fun!

What are you thankful for?

uh oh

huh. so you know how if you go go go go for a long time, always running from thing to thing, person to person, it's hard to stop? it's hard to know how to relate in a normal, unhurried way? hard to just relax and laugh and let life in? well, turns out laying on the couch eating soup is harder than i thought.

on the plus side, my mom bought me great birthday boots!

sometimes a kid just needs her mom

have you ever gotten tired of carrying your life? you know the feeling ... there's just so much going on and it feels like you just want to lie down on the couch and have someone bring you soup? well, that's how i've felt for the last couple of weeks, and now, ahhhhh..... we drove all day yesterday, arriving in kentucky at my parents house for thanksgiving - for a whole week. i had warned mom that i needed some TLC, and i'm pretty sure she's up for it. so if you'll excuse me, i'm just going to lay here on the couch and have some soup....

THIS is where the husband brownie points come in....

oh, my dear husband. not only did he pay attention to my festive wishes, he acted upon them! and in time, not for christmas, but for my birthday!

i am the deliriously happy owner one cherry chocolate phone! it does so many things that i don't even know how to do them all! i received my first ever text message last night - and replied! without even reading the book! i set my voicemail to say, "you've reached rachel's phone of birthday joy! please leave a message & i'll call you back!" it has voice recognition so i can just say, 'call curtis' and off it goes! i can listen to music on it.... without headphones! and it takes pictures, and has all sorts of internet capabilities... and it's so, so, so pretty! it makes my heart happy.

there are all sorts of husband brownie points & cosmic gold stars being awarded. this birthmonth is getting better and better...and it's not even over yet! hooray!

thursday

the new alicia keys cd is out - as i am - and i hope i get it for my birthday! if i don't, i'll give it to myself! yay!

we woke up to a beautiful dark & rainy day...very soothing, actually. peaceful. there's something about a rainy day that takes the pressure off somehow...like the world expects a bit of a slower pace and a gentler disposition from us when it's gray, because it understands that we'd rather be home with a mug of something warm and a good book.

diggin' davy crowder

i will be the first to admit, me and dave crowder were not love at first listen. some of his band's CD's have too much odd & experimental stuff between the music - it can be like listening to a CD with commercials. but, oh, the music.... it kept me coming back. but his new cd, remedy, is pure music, nothing weird, and i love it. then for my birthday i got tickets to go his "remedy" tour - the show was last night. ahhhh, davy crowder. your music makes my heart fat & happy. it makes me sing and jump and raise my hands high over my head ... it reminds me who i am meant to be. today i am hoarse & my butt hurts from hopping - clearly it was a great night!

"...all the love in the world

is right here among us

and hatred too

so we must choose

what these hands will do..."

the season for giving....in

it's happened. i never thought it would, but here i sit, christmas wishing over a cellphone. i am probably the only grown up in the whole world without a cellphone, and i'm starting to feel left out! and i hate feeling left out! so i was cruising the world wide web tonight, and i think i like the cherry chocolate - i mean, come on! what a great name for a phone! plus, my friend nicki has one, and she loves it! i want to take tiny, useless but spontaneous pictures with it! and not wonder if someone is late or forgot me! and travel with peace of mind, not to mention travel while feeling connected.

so i emailed the link to my husband - i wonder if he'll get the festive hint?

and to top it all off..

a ONE MILLION USD grant from the italians for my own personal research! wow - what shall i research for my own personal growth? it's a whole new wordl!

the brits, they love me!

i must literally be the luckiest girl alive!! today alone, according to the very reputable emails i have received, i have won a total of 6,483,556 british pounds (that is 13,671,874 USD) and a honda CRV & toyota prius! this is particularly astonishing due to the fact that i did not actully enter any of the lotteries i won, nor do know "lady rita mosely" who has left me her entire estate! wow! and all just in time for christmas....

important countdowns....

i keep a chalkboard on my kitchen wall, and it gets used for various amusements...these days we are counting down so many exciting things! christmas, my birthday, thanksgiving at gramma's house... and even some things that there was no room for in the inn, if you will.

4 sleeps til the david crowder "remedy" concert, which i got tickets to months ago as a birthday gift....

21 sleeps til my brother, Mark, comes to visit & we have a "part, eh" in his honor....

33 sleeps til my big trip to portland....

so much going on! so much to look forward to! and let me remind you.... only 47 sleeps til christmas!! have you started your shopping yet?!??!

the wonderful world of science!

"First, researchers grew enough fungus to give dandruff to 10 million people. Next, they sequenced its genes. Then they found out that not only does an icky fungus live on your head and cause dandruff-- but it could be having sex. On your head. Right now."

no, this paragraph is not from some crazy blogger ... it is from Reuters, acutal news people, reporting actual news.

if you ask me, reporting is looking up!

"onslaught"

watch this - as a woman & a mom of girls, it's an eye opener. it reminds me of an article i read recently by a woman who wondered when we turned being a woman into a disease - pointing to many of the medical "advances" designed to supress or drastically change many of the natural rhythms of a woman's body & life. just food for thought.

speaking of my girls, upon learning that each taste bud can basically taste one of 5 things - salty, sweet, savory, sour & bitter - Meg said, "What if water does have a taste, but we just don't have the taste bud for it?" now THAT'S thinking outside the box!

bits & pieces

i had a very successful night last night doing something that i really didn't feel i had the energy to do - a sure sign that worthwhile things aren't always easy.

there is so much going on right now, but very little to blog about - how wierd is that? if i think of anything interesting, i'll let you know! :)

thought for the day:

"the answer to how is usually why."

meg says the darndest things

"when i grow up, i am going to be the first woman president." thoughtful pause. "i am going to do a lot of bowling."

The Girls & i spent an hour this afternoon doing one of our favorite things - shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child! nothing beats overstuffing boxes full of toys, toothbrushes, socks & candy knowing that it will be given to a child somewhere in the world who would go without this christmas...except for maybe seeing understanding dawn in the eyes of my girls as they realize that they are so, so rich - and that giving is really a delight. there are so many bigger issues than christmas presents in the developing world, i know - clean water, access to healthcare & education, safety - and i give my resources to those, too. but as a mom, this is one way i can begin educating my girls about the broader world, helping them learn that we are responsible for one another as human beings. and i know how a kid lights up when they get a gift that's just for them...i think the feeling that someone, somewhere, just might care could be life changing. i think our shoeboxes carry more than stickers. i think they carry hope & love. this week is collection week! if you've not done it, fill a shoebox and drop it off at a collection site!

gifts

at first glance, the gift looks like a bottle of organic syrah wine.

upon closer inspection, it's acutally the friend who noticed, cared & acted on it.

thanks.

as promised

and look at this gorgeous laptop...