october 26

The other day I tried to post my "Soudtrack to October 26" that I made and I couldn't figure out how to post a whole play list. I only managed to post one song. However, I just discovered "iMix" which is a way to publish your own play lists and share them online.

Here is the play list I made the other day. Enjoy :)

What do you got?

Yesterday I was listening to the radio and a new song came on the radio. I rarely change my radio from the three country stations in the area, but there was nothing good on those stations so I expanded my radio listening experience and I was pleasantly surprised.

The song is called "What Do You Got" by Bon Jovi. Yeah, that's right, Bon Jovi. Who, by the way, have pretty good songs.

Here's the chorus:
What do you got, if you ain't got love
Whatever you got, it just ain't enough
You're walkin' the road, but you're goin' nowhere
You're tryin' to find your way home, but there's no one there
Who do you hold, in the dark of night
You wanna give up, but it's worth the fight
You have all the things, that you've been dreamin' of


I tried to link to the song, but I don't know how to do it very well and it wasn't on the website I used for my last post. Anybody know a good site I can use to embed a song into a post?

a year ago today

A year ago today my world almost fell apart. My family almost collapsed and with it my entire world would have fallen apart and my life would have been changed forever. Today brings back those memories. We have all been dealing with the whole "situation" (for lack of a better word - and believe me, we have definitely talked about what to call "it" over and over, the subject has been talked to death - no pun intended) for the past year. Honestly, I don't think I have ever really talked about it. I don't think I've ever really cried about it or freaked out about it or dealt with it because I don't really know how to do any of that. I don't know how to bring up the subject, I don't know what to say or who to say it to.

All I can say right now is that today was tough. It was stressful and exhausting and I couldn't even think about anything that I wanted to think about (well actually didn't want to think about but had to think about for my own sanity and emotional strengthening). Actually, I didn't think about any of it until a Facebook status pulled in my attention and I got in my car to go for a drive and then a song came on the radio and the tears started falling. The song that came on was "Shape I'm In" by Joe Nichols. At that point my heart hurt so bad and I realized that I just can't do it alone anymore. I stopped at Michael's house and got a huge, much needed hug.

By the time I got home my face was tear streaked so Stephanie and I just sat around for a while and listened to music. Sad, depressing music. Happy, uplifting music. Hercules music. The Sound of Music music. And I made a "Soundtrack to October 26" play list so that I can listen to it and cry... or I can listen to it and feel happy that my life DIDN'T fall apart a year ago today and that we are all healing... together.

In addition, I have found a campaign to work on for my Senior Project for next quarter. I will write more on it later but it is relevant to this post because it is a campaign that will help me heal. It will be a creative and productive outlet for me to use as a means of healing and moving forward. Hopefully I can help others as well, and maybe save a few lives in the process. (Like I said, I will explain all this in a later post).

As for right now, I will include a little play list with a few of my songs from my "Soundtrack to October 26" playlist.



And a text from Aubrea because she always knows what to say to make me feel better:
Me: I'm trying not to cry and I don't wanna call my parents because I know I'd break down if I did, but having your support is amazing. You're the best.
Aubrea: They are good tears rachel! Go ahead and let yourself feel it - how amazing and beautiful it is that she is here today! these are time where we can look back and be thankful for renewal and hope in the world :)

giants...

THE GIANTS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!
I'm so excited,
My dad is trying to get tickets to one of the games in San Francisco,
I spent my next paycheck on a Buster Posey Jersey,
And this photo makes me happy:

So excited for the games to start on Wednesday.

Now on to a Sunday full of papers, power points, and hopefully relaxing.

Have a wonderful lazy Sunday :)

foodie

I'm a closet foodie.
Okay, that's a lie.
I'm a wannabe closet foodie.
Yeah, that's a better description for it... wannabe closet foodie.

About 75% of the blogs I follow are either food blogs or decorating blogs. Some are combo food and decorating blogs. Maybe it's that I attempt to absorb some of the talent from the people who write the blogs, or maybe it's just me dreaming that I had the time and money to spend on projects like most of the ones I see on the blogs, but no matter what it is, I love those blogs.

I have taken some inspiration from them and have started a little tradition over the past few weeks... a cooking tradition.
On Thursdays I only have one hour of class from 2-3, not a bad time for one hour of class if you ask me. After I get home from that class (Beekeeping lecture) I go on Epicurious or Chow and find a recipe that looks good for that night. Then I walk (or drive) down to the local grocery store and buy all the things I need for that recipe and I start cooking!

Of course, I have had about a 60% success rate for the meals that I've made thus far. It's not that I am a bad cook, it's more that I don't have very good pots and pans (hence the fried rice disaster of this past Thursday) or our oven stops working (like the Thursday before this past one).

Thus far I have made stuffed peppers (which turned out very nicely if I do say so myself), Dino Nuggets (okay, just kidding, that doesn't count as a Thursday night cooking experiment), lemon-garlic chicken, and fried rice.

Plus, this morning (or afternoon) Hannah and Caroline came over for a brunchy-lunch of eggs, sausage, pancakes, hash browns, and cinnamon rolls. It was delicious! And now we are sitting on the couch watching Pretty Woman - one of the best movies ever!

This is a nice relaxing Saturday... I love it. I'm looking forward to the rest of the weekend... hopefully it will be just as relaxing as today has been thus far.

Fried Rice fixings:

Brunchy Lunch:

beautifully comfortable

The past few days I've been pretty tired. I've been trying to catch up on sleep, but it's really hard when I'm worried about things like Spanish essays, job fairs, and beestings.

In honor of my level of exhaustion, here are some fun pictures that I've found this past week. A lot of them look like pretty nice places to go to relax, or take a little (or long) nap. Enjoy... and happy Wednesday :)

P.S. I got a lot of the photos off of this site... it's really fun to flip through. Check it out!

dear blank

Once again I have found a new site to be addicted to. It is called "Dear Blank Please Blank" and it is hilarious. It is similar to Texts From Last Night or F My Life.

Here are a couple of my favorite entries.

Dear Mark Zuckerberg,

No wonder you got into a great college, Facebook hadn't been invented yet.

Sincerely, a Failing Student.

Dear CONgress,

No wonder we don't get along.

Sincerely, PROgress.

Dear Doors,

Thank you for giving me the ability to walk through walls.

Sincerely, Everyone.

Dear Hogwarts,

Please resend my letter. The owl seems to have gotten lost.

Sincerely, Not-Really-A-Muggle.

inspiration by moonlight

Inspired by this post: Playing With The Moon (which is a photo shoot I'd LOVE to do some day...)

Don't you just love the moon? It is so magical! Well, actually, I've always been a big star person, I absolutely love going somewhere far away from the city lights and laying out for the entire night and gazing up at the stars. I used to do it with Heidi and Maryn and the rest of my friends at Camp Caz, but I haven't been in a really long time.

Maybe I'll have to make a trip up there soon.

Anyway, enjoy these beautiful night sky pictures.

Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you'll still land among the stars. -Brian Littrell