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.

Never Enough Time

Life never stops, and I feel like I'm forever playing Catch-Up.
(Especially with laundry.)

Some Berlin pics:

Rachel and I at the Brandenburg Gate!

Just SOME of the goodies available at KaDeWe!!

The Wall with guard tower.

This is Stefano, our lecturer with whom Rachel, Lindsey, and I stayed.

At a recreation of the Berlin Wall

The "new" Wall.

The famous World Clock at Alexanderplatz

Die Rach(a)els  :))

Die Neue Palais

Lindsey's hair is pretty epic.

Park von Sanssouci

Ryan is following me, hot stang and all.

Curry sauce is the shizz...

After a week back in the States, I think I'm finally adjusting to the time change.  I no longer wake up at 5:15 am, starving for lunch or fall into a coma at 7:30 pm because my body is convinced it's actually 7 hours later.  Also, I am confident that I will never again travel internationally on a weekend that coincides with Daylight Savings Time.  (Who of you likes to jump forward an hour?  Anyone??  Right then.)  I am almost content with my souvenirs--granted most of them are food items.  I only wish that I had bought more.  I managed to pack in a near metric ton of chocolate, pasta, and tiny, bear-shaped chips as well as a scarf, a few earrings, a handful of German books--Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen, Biss zur Mittagstunde, and Der Zauberer von Oz (Recognize any of those??)-- and my favorite eyeshadow.  Oh!  And Coca-Cola Light!  Dear heavens, Coca-Cola Light...

You know that secret, sick obsession of yours with with the most mundane thing?  Well, mine is foreign versions of things I am used to at home--how they vary and so forth.  Well, while America has Diet Coke, Europe and Asia have Coca-Cola Light--which off course is the same concept, but made with different ingredients.  And it's AMAZING.  Believe me when I say this because I usually abhor "diet" anything, but this?  Think of a bottle of Coke, sitting on your refrigerator shelf, the perfect temperature--cold--icy, even.  Now think of opening it, taking a sip, and finding it....light.  No weird aftertastes, no thick, heavy syrupy flavor--just...light!  Thus, I go through it like I do air.  No, seriously.  So I shoved a few bottles in my suitcase at the airport.  Ta-da!!

Now that your lives have been enriched about my idiosyncrasies, tell me one of yours.

Happy St. Patty's Day!  To celebrate, I'm going to go to bed early.  That's pretty big in my world.  :)
I might even wear green pj's.


~r.

Hallo!

Greetings from Deutschland! It's been one crazy week so far and we've only been here three days. It's right about 30 degrees out most of the time--40 when the sun is out for a bit and then 15 or so when it's late in the evening. Rachel and I are rooming with another girl Lindsey with a German man and his lovely Polish wife. (He is the teacher of the school we are attending...and she is a kindergarten teacher who is pregnant with twins. Twins. After trying for seven years, they're finally pregant--with twins!)

Berlin is not at all what I expected. Because it was mostly destroyed in WWII, lots of it was rebuilt while under communist control. That means, lots and lots and lots and lots of ugly, dirty, they-all-look-the-damn-same apartment monstrosities. It's awful. However, there's still so much history here, and loads of good European shopping.

And eating. Lots of good eating.
I'll post more soon--with pictures.

Wish you were here!!!!!

Xoxoxxo
Rachael

Oh, the Places You'll Go

Austria
Germany
France
Spain
Italy
Hungary
Slovakia
Slovenia
Croatia
The Netherlands
Czech Republic
England (& Wales)
Scotland
Ireland
Denmark
Sweden
Turkey
Mexico

Those are all the countries I've visited.
And yet...sometimes I feel like I've hardly been anywhere.  I meet all these people who travel the world on what seems like a monthly basis.  Like a friend I work with--she and her husband went to Ireland last weekend.  (Last. Weekend.)  As in, just for the weekend.  Seriously.  Seriously??  
It must be nice to live a life where you can pick up and fly to a foreign land for a romantic weekend...
And then I look around my home.  I see all my things that I've collected on my travels--the framed postcards, keychains, posters, shot glasses, and don't even get me started on all the clothes...  I see gifts I've received from friends and family over the years--blankets, flower vases, jewelry, gently used furniture...  I see photos of fantastic memories--friends gathered for birthdays and holidays, awkward first dates that led to lifelong friendships, memories of good times hanging around the house or out making our own adventures.  I look at all these things and I think, How could I ever say I've never been anywhere?  
I'm thankful for being given the opportunities I've been given.  Really.  This week I'm going to work really hard on remembering that.


Oh.  Speaking of struggling to do things...


Yesterday's sermon at church was about Luke 6: loving your neighbors AND your enemies--the whole turning-the-other-cheek thing?  Yeah.  For me, that's really hard to wrap my head around.
I'm politically conservative.  Actually, according to politicalcompass.org/test, I'm dead center between right and libertarian.  Which, basically, I interpret it this way: you can do whatever you want to do as long as you don't force it on me or you don't (in any way) have your decisions affect my life or others' lives; and although my faith tells me that there is such thing as right and wrong--I firmly believe there is--I cannot make that decision for you; gov't should exist to make sure we don't kill each other and should interfere as little as possible.
I believe in personal responsibility.  [Hello.  My name is Rachael, and I'm a hardcore pragmatist.]  Although I'd love for us to all get along and agree, we don't.  And that's okay.  But as soon as you drag me into it--showing up on my doorstep flipping out on drugs, breaking into my home in the middle of the night, I will not hesitate to point a gun in your face.  I have the right to protect my own, and I will.
That sounds so overly dramatic, doesn't it?
Let me bring this full-circle back to Luke 6.  How can I possibly love my enemy?  How can I embrace and forgive those who do terrible, almost inconceivable things?  (Rodney Alcala or Charles Manson, anyone?)  If someone shoots my mother while holding up a gas station, I'm sorry, but I'm not going to be able to put a hand out on his shoulder and say, "Look.  This was wrong, but I forgive you.  Please think about where you're going with your life.  Can I help you get a job?"  It's just not going to happen.
So I struggle.
How can I reconcile my faith and my natural human instinct?
Lots of prayer.
And hoping nobody gets shot.

<3
r.

Love is in the air...

So Valentine's Day came and went.  Ryan and I didn't have time to celebrate this past weekend because Valentine's ALWAYS falls on the weekend of the Festival of Winds and Percussion at Tech, and he brought some of his high-schoolers and his brother down for some good music education.  And let's face it, you just can't be romantic around hormone-crazed 16 and 17-year-olds.  Thus, this coming weekend is going to be our Valentine's.

Do you celebrate V-Day?  If so, how?  Pro-candy and flowers?  Anti-flowers and cards?  Dinner?  Movie?  Or something more original?  Homemade?  Heartfelt?
I'm not going to turn any of it away, but I tend to be a fan of the homemade offerings of love.  In fact, I just got done making Ryan's card.  This is where I got the idea: http://x30.xanga.com/2cbf870635c32274714209/m218977930.jpg, except mine is waaaaaaay cuter.  (Just sayin'.)  I'm a nerd, and he's a nerd...and the elements just make the whole thing perfect.
I almost don't wanna give it to him...just wanna hang it on the wall and admire my handywork.

My diet and exercise program is going...not as well as I'd hoped.  Granted, I've lost 2.5 lbs, but...that's not enough.  It's off my "goal" line.  I need more.  [Now!!]  Which makes me sound like the perfect target client for those crazy weight-loss pills or crash diets, etc.  Anyone know anything healthy that helps?

Sorry--I'm just obsessing.

Obsessing and browsing real estate like a mad woman.  Planning my future: 5, 10, 15 years down the road because I can't stand thinking about everything going on in my life now.  :]