I am cleaning out my keyboard. There’s a whole burrito in there somewhere…
I only have one test left and for some reason it is scaring me to death. Perhaps it is because I blew off a paper in that class… or that I got a very disappointing score on the last test… or that I just found out that it was cumulative. Either way, heaven help me.
I am getting married in two weeks. This does not scare me! I am more ready to be married than I am to take my marriage prep final. I like it that way. People gasp in horror upon finding out my engagement is six months long. “That is soooooo long! Are you going crazy yet?!?!?!” Believe me, I know. And, yes. Yes, I am. Gotta love the unsolicited commentary. Not to mention all the advice! People are a riot. It’s ok, I’m on planet love with my man… I can’t hear you anyways!
Yesterday I bought a garter for the garter toss. It made me feel spicy.
The 29th better hurry, and everyone better pray for sun!
[RACHEL]
ps. life is rad
The plummer comes and I’m in my pajamas. At 4pm on a Monday.
I’m getting over the (s)whine flu… give me a break 
Speaking of illness, holy smokes. A hurricane has blown straight through me and I am alive to tell the tale… though a little worn out from the ride. I’m a statistic now. I wonder if this pandemic disease will make the history books… if it does, I bet it’s over the widespread freakout… though I can’t laugh as much about that paranoia anymore. Been there, done that, it’s rough.
I’d never had any type of flu before in my life until last week. I never knew that getting out of bed could be so hard. On the other hand, it’s worth noting that everyone is really nice to you when you get sick. Especially if it’s a virus that everyone and their cat is afraid of getting. I’m not sure how that all adds up, but it is indeed truth.
Today’s milestones:
- I made it to school without passing out
- I went to almost all of my classes before my energy failed me
- I made the official count- 56 days until I marry the love of my life, my Handsome Man!
Homecoming!!
This is photographic proof of our hottness. And that we went to homecoming. And that we are in love.
[RACHEL]
So, it’s been a little while… but, I realized that I needed to finish documenting the happiness.
OK. So my love life had been progressing in a most lovely way, lovely enough that I had reason to believe that I would soon be engaged to my Handsome Man, and that it would happen in good old New Hampshire. I’d try to imagine how and when, over and over in my mind… but I was always wrong. So, Thursday June 25th came around, and I had just finished convincing and unconvincing myself that it would happen that day.
The day started out lazy and a little late, with breakfast on the porch in the sunshine. Egg on toast. Then, we got in the car and drove for a good while, in search of the Kancamangus Highway… which I have come to decide is in competition with the Pacific Coast Highway for the most beautiful stretch of road in the nation. The car took us even more into the middle of nowhere, and there were even more trees and rivers and beautiful things. I was thoroughly enjoying it. Windows down, singing along to the radio, and snuggling up to the shoulder of the one I love. We were in search of the perfect picnic and waterfall spot.. in my opinion a perfect proposal location.
We started to go up the mountain and the scenery got even more beautiful. We stopped at a place with a nice view and began our picnic. It didn’t matter that we were fending off gigantic ants, we were in love. The rain started coming down hard, but it didn’t matter either. We were in love. We ran for cover and finished up lunch, then after some sweet conversation, made a mad dash for the car and set off for the beach and dinner reservation. No proposal. No big deal… I told myself that it was for the weekend, and let my mind focus on the wonderful company and scenery.
After a quick stop at home, we got back into the car and headed for the coast. I don’t care what other people say… East Coast beaches are not cold. They are lovely. We played in the water a while and then laid in the sun. We almost missed our dinner reservations, so there was no time to change properly into our dinner clothes. We wore them over our swim suits. With beach hair, sandy toes, and wet butts, we walked into the Ashworth by the Sea where we were served by our waitress friend. I was told we were there to surprise her… she didn’t look surprised but I shrugged that off. I ordered salmon and my Handsome Man ordered halibut, and over delicious sea food, we had sweet conversation in the candle light.
Once we’d finished eating, our friend came out and happily announced that because we were all pals, we could get free dessert! I liked the way that sounded. She took away our plates and returned some time later with goodies– cheesecake. She gave my Man his first, lowering it slowly onto the table. Then, it was my turn… only it took like 89903452 million years for my plate to hit the table. When it finally arrived, she booked it. I looked down and my eyes became dangerously close to falling out and landing on the table because……….. perfectly placed among strawberries and cake was the most beautiful and loving surprise of my life. It was time. The ring was there, shining in its diamond glory. I gasped, looked up, and met the most loving gaze I’d ever seen. Then, around he came, with a single rose (that came from out of nowhere… and might I add, there is nothing sexier than a man with a single rose…), got down on one knee, and with gentle conviction asked, “Will you marry me?”
To which I replied, “Yes. Yes, of course.” We kissed softly and took in the moment, both dazed and pleased at the arrival of such great happiness.
Surprise #3: the proposal.
[RACHEL]
OK. I’ll be frank…. where was the love? There was a little something missing from Friday’s Fictionist show. I found it lacking the usual electric atmosphere. There were moments where it shone through, but at the end I found myself wanting a little more. It might have been the fact that it was a showcase of new material that they haven’t quite broken in yet… or, maybe I haven’t been broken in. The songs were all good, I especially liked Blue-eyed Universe and Strangers in the Dark, though throughout the set I found myself waiting for the energy and life that had enchanted me previously.
In any case, I was pleased to note that the energy came back in full-force when they closed their set in a most epic fashion with Invisible Hand. The encore kept me faithful with Noisy Birds, and a mind-blowing cover of I Want You (She’s So Heavy).
I am also thrilled to note that I have finally regained my hearing after nearly going deaf from the enthusiastic decibel level Gypsy Cab decided to put out.
[RACHEL]
Filed under: life... | Tags: boston, chicago, east coast, love, summer, surprise, travel, trees
So, when June 22 came around, I packed my bags and jumped on a plane to Boston. Only, it wasn’t that easy…
The flight from San Diego to Chicago was no sweat, only I had a 30 minute layover (is that even allowed??) and the Chicago airport is not just big, it’s huge. And slightly confusing. I made it to the gate just in time to be pleasantly surprised by the fact that we’d been mysteriously upgraded to a gigantic airplane with too many seats, so seeing that I was seated near the front, I got bumped up into the extra leg-room zone (not that I need it or anything..). I also didn’t have to share my row with anyone. That is, until someone decided that friend #3 needed to sit closer to the rest of their rather annoying traveling crowd. Great. But, I can handle that. I’m a pro at airplane sleeping. ONLY… the time for takeoff had come and passed without us going anywhere. It was the Midwest, it was getting hotter in that stupid plane, and all I wanted to do was melt into the arms of the one I love. Apparently there were weather issues in Boston. They refused to deplane, so we sat. I called my man to let him know of the delay and he gave me some much needed company as we sat on the tarmac for THREE HOURS. By the time we took off, I should have already landed in Boston.
The plane ride was only 2 hours, but it felt like the longest flight of my life. I didn’t even sleep for a second. So, finally after engaging in holding patterns and some uncomfortable turbulence, we landed. I stepped into Boston… and, there in front of me was the guy of my dreams. I jumped into his arms, and the rest was fireworks. It was a beautiful moment, and just the beginning of many to come in the next week.
Off we went into the rainy night, picking up where we’d left off a couple months before, and it felt good.
In the morning the sun sort of came out and I saw what the night had hidden– trees. Everywhere. I was in a place that was charming and beautiful, that I’d only ever imagined after reading a book. Where the living was traditional, slow, and running to the store for whatever the heck you perceive to be so important isn’t so instantaneous. In that moment, a big chunk of my California heart was lost to the trees of the East. It took quite a journey to get there, but once I was at home, the adventures of travel were swept out of my mind and replaced with something infinitely better.
As the week went on, I found myself a spot with my new family. I fell more in love with the trees, and even more in love than I ever knew I could be with my Handsome Man.
Surprise #2: Even the California-est of them all can make room for the other coast.
[RACHEL]
Me!
I can count on one hand, the times I’ve won a prize…
1. The time I got peer pressured into using a canadian twenty-five cent piece to pay for a go on one of those stuffed animal grabber things at 1 AM in the wal-mart vestibule and I won G Love the reindeer.
2. The time I got peer pressured into filling out a BYU survey and I won a bookstore gift card.
(see a trend here?)
3. The time I singlehandedly decided to comment on a blog and won this:
as if the kitchen weren't already hot enough!!!!
Can you say spicy?
Aaaand…. the winning words:
My fiance and I love cooking together, and this cute apron will keep things spicy in the kitchen for sure!
Yeah, so I was commenting on a post in a wedding blog…
Thank you, Handsome Man, for making cooking quite the pleasure!
[RACHEL]
Waiting for surgery turned out to be more ridiculous than I imagined it would be. After reporting abnormal symptoms, my podiatrist told me that I probably had something worse than the previous diagnosis. Three choices here- Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, or the diagnosis still holds and it just hurts WAY more than it’s supposed to. Only an MRI and blood work would tell. My other doctor refused to do the blood work, on the grounds that he thought the podiatrist was full of crap… I didn’t find that out until later, though. So, I waited for an MRI as the previously scheduled surgery date passed uneventfully. Unemployed and lonelyhearted, I was left to my imagination as I wondered for a few weeks what a life of high-risk pregnancies, or slowly becoming completely crippled would be like. Not cool. The calm voice of reason (my man) put some sense into my imaginative mind, assuring me that no matter what, it would be OK. I stopped freaking out, went to the MRI (finally), and it was made known that the podiatrist was indeed full of crap. All I needed was physical therapy.
And, with that, my summer started looking a lot better. I instantly booked a flight out east, kept a little more busy with physical therapy sessions, and planted a garden that gave me two zucchinis before it completely died (it’s not my fault, I swear).
Surprise #1: No surgery.
[RACHEL]
ps. I’m getting married in 140 days 
I know I had all sorts of plans for this summer… back in January I debated over what I should call the summer ahead of me. At the time, I decided to call it the Summer of Learning to Love you More… based off of a really awesome website I found one day. As you can tell from my postings, I have not done a single one since summer started… in fact, I decided not to do them all by myself, which should explain the lack thereof. LTLYM will be back into full swing upon reuniting with my handsome man Another reason this moniker is a dud is this– the whole logic behind my naming it so completely died out. But I’m not crying about that at all! I think being crippled and in bed all summer would have been completely boring and awful… but the surgery didn’t happen… so I didn’t need to keep myself busy with the activities. I was not far off when I joked about calling it the summer of love… but I think I found an even more fitting name, especially since it was so obviously the summer of love, and I want to be creative here. I’ll spice it up a little… I think I’ll just call this summer The Summer of Surprise.
To quote my favorite Norwegian singer, “baby, be prepared to be surprised.” That’s really all you can do! Life has this funny way of taking your plans and rattling them around a little, just to see if you’re still paying attention, just to get you out of your complacent, perfectly orchestrated perception of reality, just to keep things spicy. In a few words, that is my story. In a few more words, I’ll give you a fantastic reason or fifty why… and I’ll even throw in this: they’re all AMAZING surprises!
But, that’s all for now folks… It’s like this lesson I just learned here at my desk- if you eat too many cookies at once, you’ll probably start to feel unwell. So, one cookie at a time, I don’t want anyone puking here…
[RACHEL]
It’s easy to get grumpy when stupid things happen. duh. Such is the case with the blessed commitment that’s unexpectedly filled my summer, 8 hours a day, five days a week. I’m not here to complain, though. That would be really boring. Situations like this merit a good SHUT UP AND BE THANKFUL (happy is welcome, too). It’s been a while since I’ve posted one of these, but…
I am thankful for:
- Family. They’re awesome. awesome = yes. I will bake your wedding cake. awesome = yes. I will do your engagement shoot. awesome = I love you and I want to help you out, because you’re awesome too.
- The little brown dog that sticks her nose into the car as soon as I park in the garage and open the door to get out. I can’t help but smile!
- Verizon free mobile to mobile. I’ll let you guess why
- The moon. I forget about it all the time, but when I remember, I’m almost always blown away by how beautiful it is in the night sky.
- The word “us.” It’s taken on a new meaning these days.
- Sunshine. I don’t get out to enjoy it much lately, but I’m glad it shines through the windows!
- My best friend, my sous chef (he really is hot in the kitchen!), my handsome man, my love. He keeps my head on straight, despite the distance!
- Music. Car singer? guilty.
There… much better. I think I can breathe again.
[RACHEL]
Dear WordPress Blog,
I have a confession to make. I’ve been cheating on you with a charming old friend– JOURNAL. You don’t have to say it twice, it’s true– I’m a sucker for technology and connecting through media. However, I’ve neglected to let you know a minor detail in the two years that we have been acquainted… I’m also a sucker for nostalgia, and I love paper. There you have it. You can’t always know more than my archaic, dusty book. I figured I owed it to my future children… they really must know what momma was up to in the best days she has ever known.
Well, WordPress Blog, now that this matter is off my chest, I must confess yet another thing… JOURNAL is not the winner of my affection. JOURNAL can’t hold me close, melt me with his smile, wow me with the sparkle in his eyes, say the right thing at the right time to make everything OK again, or be my best friend and my true half. Nope, that’s my Handsome Man’s job… and he does it well!
One of these days, I’ll fill you in on the sweetness of summer ‘09, and decorate you with pictures and lovely thoughts. Until then, just know that life is rad…
[RACHEL]
