i'm in love.

so i put this little "fortune telling fish" on my hand, and it has told me that i was in love. thinking that it was mistaken, i tried again.... so it told me that i was passionate. therefore, i am passionately in love. and, thinking about it now, i would tend to agree. i will tell you all of the things that i love on christmas:

people who i feel especially affectionate about this christmas:
i love my daddy, my mommy, my noodle (nick, my brother). i love yuko, the hamelinks, and david and summer, ellis and william vunga. (especially william, who is the most adorable baby in the world and ... well i might actually be in love with him.). i love the whole jones family, who are really my second family.
i love the people who couldn't be here, like my granny cukoo (who died this year) and my beloved sister, kerry, in germany, who was kinda with us via skype for most of the day... [sidenote: i look SO much better when i'm in an overexposed skype camera. i've decided that if i ever make a wish on a genie lamp, i will wish that i will eternally look overexposed. hahah.]

things that i have enjoyed:
i love giving presents, even if they were cheap or kinda lame. i love being completely surprised by the things that i got. i love my new black and white rain boots. i love my new fur-collared sweater. i love me new grey loafers and my socks and scarf and stamps and cards and my tremendous twenties hat. i love the christmas crackers with corney jokes and silly gifts.

i loved watching summer unwrap her present from david, her husband, because she was so completely surprised and excited and bashful at the cute little things he got her.

food that was delish:
i love making sweet potatoes. and eating them. mmmm.
i love the duck, stuffing, gravy, and...yes, mom, even the green beans.
i can't wait to eat the apple crisp sitting in the oven.

now, the men are reclining by the fire and talking about man things or sleeping, or drinking beer, or somehow managing to do all three, the women-folk are gathered at our extended dining room table drinking tea and talking about women things like babies and relatives and people's last names....
nick is upstairs sleeping after a strenuous day of cooking,
yuko is in the basement sleeping because she has a headache,
ellis (20months) is crying about going to bed,
william(3months) is being as close to an angel as is humanly possible,
and i decided to check my email for the first time in two days and got distracted with this silly thing.

oh i love christmas, yes i do.

they are calling that it's dessert time. mmmm.

so that, ladies and gents, is my christmas. it's a fairly typical christmas, too. and perfectly lovely.

best diet ever

me: hey mom, i think i should lose a couple pounds, what do you think?

mom: here, sweetie, have the stomach flu! you'll lose six pounds in one day!

me: yes!

[fictional dialogue]


i think we get sick as a reminder of how blessed we are when we're healthy.
i think that the worse you feel, the more you appreciate.

let's just say i appreciated a lot today.

oh happy day(s)

so. today and yesterday were so happy.

yesterday: i found out that my wonderful friend/art teacher/mentor, connie jimenez got engaged to chris zammett. annnnd i am out of my mind happy for her. oh my gosh. she is just one of the best and greatest and most wonderful people to be around. i can remember being in AP art and talking to kelly about how "miss jimenez" needed to get married and would make such a wonderful wife! i have known her since i was... what? 8?... and she used to come over to my house when i was a kid and then taught me logic in 8th grade and AP art in 12th. oh i love her. man, but when i read the text that she sent to kate, i was with a bunch of friends at someone's house and i freaked out and screamed for a super long time and everyone was looking at each other thinking, "what is up with her freaking out at a text message?"...... hm. i look forward to getting to know chris. he must be great, if connie will have him! :)

today: i picked up my phone and found a text from elise mays saying that she was officially engaged to garrett!! now, i LOVE elise and garbear. elise is just... aaah there are no words! she's my pocket-sized elisey, whom i love to hug and talk with. and garrett is like a weird kind of brother that i don't really see very much but when i do it makes me SO happy. and so, to see two people that you love SO much get engaged to EACH OTHER--- it is almost too much. i freaked out again and was busy screaming and jumping up and down in the hall when the concerned pastor's college kid from korea came up the stairs and said something about their family being worried that that someone was getting hurt.... hahaha :)

happy happy sigh.
literally, it just came out.


oh, and shivers. happy shivers.

i love you all and i'm so happy for you all.

i grew?!

so, after not seeing summer vunga (who is the wonderful PC wife that lived with us last year) since june, when she saw me she said "i think you've grown taller!"

i didn't believe her. well, i've been the same hight since august '07. so i figured i stopped growing.

BUT, to prove summer wrong, mommy measured me against the wall and..... i have grown about a quarter (and a little bit) of an inch!

that. is.loco.

now i am officially 5'7''. sweet.

(my)(next)(few)(days)

(study)(sleep)(test)(study)(sleep)(study)(sleep)(test)(DONE)
(joshie&tuffy)(mar'sbday)(sleep) (whateveriwant)(!)

pankayk brekfst

this morning, stacey made all of us pancakes, and we had a wonderful breakfast and laughed a lot.

and then kate scared stacey really badly in the bathroom. (more on this later)

and then stacey and i had a dance party to chris brown in my bedroom.

and then i left for school, smiling and thinking that i love my roomies.

just the two of us....

i have taken to dictating my future birthday cards to stacey, to avoid surprises.
they are as follows:

june 11, 2009
dear stacey,
happy 21st birthday! it's been great living with you this year!
love, rachel


june 11, 2015
dear stacey,
happy 27th birthday! it's been great living with you for the past 7 years! please get some milk.
love, rachel


june 11th, 2019
dear stacey,
happy 31st birthday! it's been wonderful living with you for the past 11 years... don't worry, you'll get a boyfriend soon!
love, rachel


june 11th, 2026
dear stacey,
happy 38th birthday! wow. it's been a long time here in this old house. um. i am really glad you have a boyfriend. don't worry- the age difference won't matter in the long run. 60 really isn't that old....
anyways, have a good one,
rachel


------
i also have taken to sneaking into her bedroom and starting to sing "just the two of us! we can make it if we try!", much to her disapproval.

poor stacey. i feel bad that she has to put up with me.
kinda.
:)

ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew.

i just saw our mouse!!!!! it was rustling in a bag in stacey's room. i think it's in her closet now.

aaaaaand mary was caught in the bathroom with it today!

this is getting serious.
it keeps on eating the peanut butter off the mousetraps.
ew ew ew.
we have a rodent.

at least mary says it's brown. and small. it sounds kinda cute, actually.
so. when madamouselle guillotine gets to it, we have communally decided that we'll call dan or some other man to get rid of it.

ew.

yesterday = funniest day ever

oh my. where do i begin?

so the night before, i went to chick fil a and spent the night, and didn't get a whole lot of sleep, but got a whole lot of laughs and a whole lot of coupons.
let's just say that sleeping in a tent with stacey.... and brett and robby and mike o'neal and matt woodrow and bryan aguirre and joey wilson was hilarious. i think we laughed for a good 45 minutes before we got to sleep.
def a start to a funny day.

so then i went home by myself.... i went too far on 95.. not so hilarious. but i kinda like getting lost in a weird way, because i don't really freak out like i used to... i just get un-lost and go home.

ok, so then i groggily got ready and went to school.

there's this girl in two of my classes on tuesdays and thursdays named debbie. i love her. we have so much fun together.... and, luckily, we're really good at whispering and passing notes in class, so it makes all of the classes go faster.
so anyway, when i got to school she told me some funny story... i don't know what it was... but that started me out laughing for the day. she also said "you know what i've noticed? you don't drop things." (two weeks ago i spilled the enire contents of my bag on the floor and people around me had to help me and stuff.... so i said "you know what i've noticed? you don't remember things!")

then i went to the stamp and slept on a couch for an hour and relished a chick-fil-a sandwich with an unusual (but justified) measure of satisfaction.

then, at the end of psych class (which was kinda funny, in itself), debbie and i were talking as people were leaving and i totally dropped my phone on the ground. "AAAAH!!!! I dropped my phone! I dropped my phone! I dropped my phone!!!!!!!!" i yelled, jumping up and down enthusiastically, proving that i DO drop things. Debbie just looked at me and burst out laughing.... i was standing there joyously yelling "i dropped my phone!" at the top or my lungs as the crowded class bustled past. everyone must have been thinking "whaaaat the heck is wrong with her?"

ok so i was already laughing when i left the class. as i made my way to the bus, i almost ran into this tubby, 40 year old man on the phone. the part of his conversation that i heard was: "mom! mom! what?! i'm halfway down the hill, mom! geez!"
so i burst out laughing at that. and texted debbie to tell her.

then, i was walking down my street with a huge smile on my face, laughing inside at all the funny things that had happened, when i saw a little chinese man squatting on his sidewalk, facing away from me and gardening.
"oh that's cute," i thought. everything was making me smile.
so then, right when i was walking past him and thought i would call out a "good afternoon!", this old chinese man just let one rip. it was SO LOUD and it lasted a good 15 seconds. so, for the entire time that i was walking past him, he was farting, loudly and with a very high and squeaky pitch, blissfully unaware of my presence. i almost died.
somehow i managed to hold my laughter in until i was past him, and then i burst out laughing and laughed literally the whole way home. i laughed and laughed and laughed. i laughed as i walked past the park, and climbed the hill, and stumbled up the stairs, and opened the door, and tripped in the door, and fell on the couch, and fell off the couch, and i laughed as stacey stood there asking me "what was so funny, what was so funny, rachel?".

and then laughed as i texted debbie.

oh that was a funny, funny day.

these loco days

last night i filled up my gas tank for 19 dollars.

19 dollars....
for an entire tank.

ay caramba.

three words:

we
have
mice



!

what not to eat...

i have learned that the combination of....

two-day-old suchi,
leftover ham,
green pepper jelly,
toast,
chocolate chip cake,
pumkin pie,
melon,
grapes,
carrots,
brocoli,
yellow peppers,
celery,
more carrots,
fruit-topped cheesecake,
mini sausage things,
chips,
cheesy beefy chip dip,
hot wings,
fries,
cole slaw,
ketchup,
6 reece's penut butter cups and
a strawberry shortcake ice cream popsicle

....does not agree with my stomach very much.


(i was sick all last night.)