Five Things...

I'm a compulsive survey-taker.  On all things, when the survey pops up and asks you to participate, my instant reaction is, "Meee??  You want to know what I think? You want to know about me? SURE!!" and then I make up a name and birthday and usually say that I'm from Paris, Texas--a city about the same size as Cookevegas.
But I digress.


Five things I was doing 10 years ago: (April/May 2001 — still in 7th grade, age 12)
1. Wearing these god-awful black boots I was obsessed with.  No, seriously. With everything I could possibly get away with.
2. Singing Kryptonite at the top of my lungs in the shower.  (Wait, does it count if I still do that?)
3. Thinking a lot about whether the age difference would be a problem if I were to marry Russell Crowe. (He's 24 years older than I am...and Gladiator was my favorite. film. ever.) 
4. Reading National Geographic on a daily basis, studying the photos and knowing that one day those would be MY photos in their place.
5. Watching That Thing You Do over and over and over and over...

Five things on my "to do list" today:
1. Go outside. (Check. It's finally warm enough to pack up the parkas!!) 
2. Organize jewelry. (I bought one of those cool hangers with the pouches so you can store it all in your closet!)
3. Write German final paper. (Because if I don't do it now, I'm sure not going to do it any other time this weekend.) 
4. Clean my chair area. (I basically live out of my huge, oversized chair in the living room.  It has it's own ottoman upon which are my various piles of Stuff. Don't judge--it's my one splurge of messyness and I love it.)
5. Check to if International Marketing final grades are posted. (Pleeeeease let me have an A...)


Five things I would do if I were a millionaire: 
1. Invest at least half of it and live off the interest. 
2. Give away/donate to some causes I've really wanted to help lately.
3. Buy those smokin'-hot heels I've been eyeing at the shoe store... 
4. Travel. And fly all my family and friends out to do it with me. 
5. Buy Ryan all the spare parts he could ever need for his beloved, dying Isuzu Rodeo and get it in tip-top shape. (I.e. Working doors, workingheat and a/c, a radio, working speakers, a functional tape/cd deck, real locks, brakes, oh--and an ENGINE.  One that RUNS.) 


Five things I will never wear again:
1. Those black boots.  (Mum stole them while I was asleep so she could "donate" them to Goodwill...)
2. Scrunchies. 
3. Bangs. (After reviewing the evidence--a.k.a. every photo from birth to age 14--I've determined that they are NOT a good look for me.)
4. Anything with a drop-waist. (Yikes.  Ditto the above comment...)
5. Any jewelry item that has a green alien head on it. (...OK, I might wear that again...)

My favorite toys:
1. The Interwebs!!!!/laptop.
2. Cell phone. (Hi. My name is Rachael, and I'm addicted to my Droid X.) 
3. iPod. (I'm obsessed with finding the ultimate free apps...)
4. Planner. (I'm an obsessive organizer.  I LOVE lists...) 
5. Books.


Okay, so that wasn't as much fun as I had anticipated.  But it was better than no survey at all.
How have you spent your Saturday?

I'm gettin my MRS.

That's right, folks.  I got the rock.
You are looking at talking to reading the blog of the future Mrs. Hoffman.  (Man, that's gonna take some getting used to...)  On Thursday of last week, Ryan finally gave me the rock.  Not that it was a shock or anything since I had picked out the stone and the setting...but I hadn't seen them together.  So it was kind of a shock.  A good one.  One I told him he could feel free to repeat on any random day of the week he wanted.  We've been discussing getting married for quite some time now.  I can't even remember exactly when it was that we began talking about it because it's seriously been that long in coming to fruition. (Love that word!!)   So Anyway, he surprised me with a million white balloons and pulled out this little black box and said..."So...do you want the ring now?"
Seriously.
*crickets*
And apparently my brain short-circuited for instead of saying, "Excuse me??" I simply went with, "YESPLEASEOFCOURSEIDO!!"
And that was that.
So...er...romantic.

 Please excuse my wrinkly fingers...

This light doesn't do it justice...

So yeah.

I'm gonna get married.  :)  To my best friend.  How unbelievably cool is that?!

Everyone keeps asking if we're going to have a huge wedding or where we're  going on our honeymoon...but all I can think of is: we can have a routine together.  We can get in a habit of doing our laundry and washing our dishes and cooking meals together.  We can set alarms for the same time every day.  We can set the coffee maker to brew automatically all week long.  We can paint walls in the house.  We can walk the dog in the evening.  And one of us won't have to leave and drive 2 hours to his/her life.

I can see him everyday!!!!!!

For now, that's my joy.  Just enjoying knowing that God has a plan for us--that we will face the future together, and that we really will be able to do all things through Him.  I believe that we are strong, logical, independent people who could make it through anything together.  And so we will.  :)  

[/cheesy gushing.]

I'm off to go smile at everyone and everything now.

~r.

Photos

Tonight is a night of emotion.
Tomorrow, Ryan and I are having our photos taken.  Which petrifies me.  (Seriously.  I freeze up, my arms splayed out like a tree...)
I usually hate having my photo taken.  You know that girl who always looks slightly...off, shall we say, in photos?  The one always talking, or holding herself awkwardly or making a weird face?  That's me.  I scour and de-tag facebook photos at an alarming rate.  I rarely take photos of myself to show off a new hairstyle because it never fails that I have to take 4,618,329 to get one that I like.  However, these photos tomorrow were arranged with my full permission.
See, I have a friend named Kate who is a fantastic photographer.  (She works for Becca Yager Photography: http://www.beccayagerphotography.com/#)  As it's wedding season, she wants to expand her horizons and show off her mad skills.  She called me up and asked to do a session for Ryan and me for free if we would let her use the shots in her portfolio to show future clients.  Did you hear the key words?  "FOR FREE."  So obviously the answer is a resounding YES!!  The practical frugal cheap inner me has completely overruled the photophobic inner me up until about......... 4.7 seconds ago.
Also making the experience a joy is Ryan.  He's less than thrilled at the idea of such cutesy photos.  I'm confident that Kate (and her mad skills!) can overcome stereotypical "couple-y" shots.  I mean, seriously.  Surely we can have fun with this, right?  It's a chance to experiment, get a little creative, and joke around....but he fails to see that.  He wants me to tell him what to wear, how to get his hair cut, what shoes to wear, if he should shave, etc. etc. etc.  And it's a nightmare.  It's one of the few times I've gotten truly frustrated with him.  (Can you seriously not pick out your clothes by yourself?  Pick something green for Pete's sake!  It's not that hard!!)
And this is not to mention that I haven't even started considering what to wear myself.
Oh yeah, and that I'm breaking out like I'm thirteen.
And my fresh nail polish keeps chipping every time I fix it.

Joy.

Prayers would be appreciated--even for such a little thing like this.

~r.