you're my tiny ball of light

I watched the Oscars with my roommates and sister last night. Mainly for the fashion and to see who won best actor/actress and best picture... but this gem of a video was a definite added bonus.

In fact, it was the best part of the entire show (especially because, even though he is super attractive, James Franco stumbled a lot and didn't do a great job announcing... Anne Hathaway was great though).

Watch it.
Enjoy it.

today is the day

Today is the day. The Love Out Loud Show is tonight!! I should actually be on campus helping to set up - however I needed a little cyber space support. 

If you are unable to make it to the show, I feel bad for you. Just kidding.. but really keep us in your thoughts. It really will be amazing.

 

Wish me luck!

funky photos :)

Today and tomorrow the Love Out Loud Campaign girls are hosting a photo booth on campus for a few hours a day. We have funky hats, mustaches, magic wands, signs, etc. for people to play and take pictures with. We then edit the pictures and send the pictures to the e-mail addresses the people gave us - they are then supposed to set the entire image as their Facebook picture as a way of showing their support for the cause.

It sounds nerdy - and maybe it is - but it is seriously fun. We had over 50 people stop by and take pictures! They are all posted on Facebook :)

I didn't have class until 1 today so I was at our booth for a while. The following pictures are the photos I am in from today. It was a blast.

 the Love Out Loud team (minus sam)

Me and Hannah - my friend from freshman year in the dorms

Me and Stephanie - one of my roommates

Me and Aubrea - a girl I studied with in Spain and am working on Love Out Loud with

It was so much fun. If you are in the SLO area tomorrow, you should check it out.

xox-Rachel

excitement

So there is officially one week until the Love Out Loud Show. There is so much stuff that still needs to get done, however I keep telling myself that it will all get done. Or, as my mom said to me the other day, "It will all get done because it has to." There is no backing out now.

In other news, even though I am kind of stressed about Love Out Loud (okay, "kind of" is basically the understatement of the 21st century) there is also so much more that I'm looking forward to.

Once the excitement (and stress/anxiety) of Love Out Loud has worn off and I have finished writing my paper, there are still a lot of really awesome things that will happen!

First - my roommate Christine and I are going to Munich and Prague over Spring Break. (Less than a month - yay!)

Second - Christine, Stephanie, Kayla, Kaitlin, Kelsey, and I are going to Las Vegas the first weekend in April - which is also the first weekend after I get back from Europe.

Third - the weekend after Vegas is WineFest - the group of girls I just listed and I have already purchased our VIP tickets which means that we will be having a wonderful (hopefully sun filled day) trying all different types of wonderful California wine

Needless to day, it looks like those three events are great ways to begin our last quarter in college.

xox - Rachel

a dream fulfilled

A few weeks ago I tried to call my little sister but she couldn't take my call... why? Because she was watching a flash mob. One of the things I have been wanting to experience forever.

Well, lucky for me, yesterday, as I was sitting in our University Union plaza, I got the opportunity to experience my very own flash mob!! A group of students put it together and it started promptly at 11:18 a.m.

Take a look:

Unfortunately, as you can tell by looking at the people lining the perimeter of the plaza, a lot of people knew that it was going to be happening. Some day I will experience one that is not anticipated and completely shocking to bystanders - like this one in Antwerp. Still, pretty cool. 

Not to mention that it fulfills number 18 on my 101 in 1001 list.

Yay!

average couch penguin

My friend Hannah sent me this video today and I thought it was just too cute not to share.

Penguins? cute.
Penguins as pets? jealous.
Penguins wearing backpacks? adorable.
Penguins wearing backpacks and going fish shopping all by themselves? best. thing. ever.



Thanks to Hannah for sending me this wonderful video and for adding to my "outrageous animals that I will one day love to pieces and have as pets" list.

silly love songs

Okay, here's the deal, and you can fight me on it all you want. But to be honest... I'm kind of weird and kin of love Valentine's day and I normally make valentines, wear red/pink, and walk around with a smile all day. (I know - if you're single, you're supposed to hate this stupid day.)

Which makes me wonder why I woke up this morning, kinda forgot that it was V-day, and ended up going to campus in all black - I swear it was an accident. Oops.

I call this one "Heart Chocolate" - I'm a nerd.

It was cold and gloomy today. And it rained. And yet, I still had the song lyrics from the Elephant Love Medley in Moulin Rouge running through my head all day.

You'd think that people would have had enough of silly love songs

I look around me and I see it isn't so

Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs

Well what's wrong with that, I'd like to know...

Happy Valentine's Day lovely blog readers!

I hope you got to spend it with someone special.

lovely video

Aubrea, the girl who works on web design and new media for the Love Out Loud Campaign put together this amazing video. There are wonderful people who volunteered to be in the video and it turned out so great.



Gosh, the girls I work with are so freaking talented!!! Don't you think?

Oh yeah, and I'm going to Munich and Prague for Spring Break. 

No big deal.

<3

balloon romance

Today really sucked.

At least I'm being semi productive tonight.

And I am in love with this picture. Like, in love with it.

(Photo via: We Heart It)

day 8

Day 1 - Something you hate about yourself

Day 2 - Something you love about yourself

Day 3 - Something you have to forgive yourself for

Day 4 - Something you have to forgive someone for

Day 5 - Something you hope to do in your life

Day 6 - Something you hope you never have to do

Day 7 - Someone who has made your life worth living for

Day 8 - Someone who made your life hell, or treated you like shit

Day 9 - Someone you didn't want to let go, but just drifted

Day 10 - Someone you need to let go, or wish you didn't know

Day 11 - Something people seem to compliment you the most on

Day 12 - Something you never get compliments on

Day 13 - A band or artist that has gotten you through some tough ass days. (write a letter.)

Day 14 - A hero that has let you down. (write a letter).

Day 15 - Something or someone you couldn't live without, because you've tried living without it.

Day 16 - Someone or something you definitely could live without.

Day 17 - A book you've read that changed your views on something.

Day 18 - Your views on gay marriage.

Day 19 - What do you think of religion? Or what do you think of politics?

Day 20 - Your views on drugs and alcohol.

Day 21 - (scenario) Your best friend is in a car accident and you two got into a fight an hour before. What do you do?

Day 22 - Something you wish you hadn't done in your life.

Day 23 - Something you wish you had done in your life.

Day 24 - Make a playlist to someone, and explain why you chose all the songs. (Just post the titles and artists and letter)

Day 25 - The reason you believe you're still alive today.

Day 26 - Have you ever thought about giving up on life? If so, when and why?

Day 27 - What's the best thing going for your right now?

Day 28 - What if you were pregnant or got someone pregnant, what would you do?

Day 29 - Something you  hope to change about yourself and why.

Day 30 - A letter to yourself, tell yourself EVERYTHING you love about yourself.

As one of my moves to improve myself, I am trying to move on from things in the past and not hold on to grudges and ways that people have hurt me in the previous years. That being said, high school sucked for me and I still haven't gotten over it.

Now, lots of people say that they hated high school as well and that everybody's high school years sucked - and I'm sure that's (at least partially) true. But seriously, my high school experience sucked, mainly due to the group who I used to call my best friends. I won't name names, because I think (and hope) that a lot of those people have grown up in the past five or six years since then and I don't think they need the whole story floating around the internet (although some of the mean things they did to me did made it to cyber space).

I won't get into all the details, because that would just bore you, but basically I was dating one of my good guy friends, rumors started, and then all of my best friends stopped talking to me and literally started making my life a living hell. There were days when I was literally scared to leave my house because I was scared about what they would do or say if they saw me. It was really sad - and scary.

At lunch, I ate alone up in my step-mom's class room (she is a high school science teacher), and on weekends I sat at home alone. I even went as far as to find friends at our rival high school and almost switched schools because I was so miserable and scared and hurt every single moment I was at my own school. There were a few friends who stuck by my side, but it is hard to support somebody when the rest of your friends hate that person. Everybody just wants to fit in when they are in high school - most people haven't reached the mentality of not needing to follow the "popular kids" or fit in to a large group of friends because that's what's cool. (Then again, a lot of people never adopt that mentality, but that's another issue.)

A couple months before high school graduation, one of the boys texted me and asked me if he could speak to me at our brunch break for a few minutes. I nearly had an anxiety attack. He was one of the worst ones; I had no idea what he was going to say to me. Surprisingly, he apologized. He said the exact words "I am so sorry for making your life a living hell for the past year or so. It wasn't right, I know you are hurting, and I'm sorry." I told him I couldn't forgive him, but that I appreciated his apology. I didn't know what else to do - there was no way I was ready to forgive him or the rest of them (I'm not sure I ever will be).

As for the rest of them - probably about 5 or 6 in total (plus whoever else just followed along with it) - I never heard them say they were sorry. I still see them sometimes when I go home for breaks - or around the college campus - and we generally act as though everything is at least okay, but I would never consider them my friends again. 

I could write about this for hours, but I won't bore you with that. There are a lot of things from those high school years that shaped me into who I am today, like I still don't trust people the way I did before those years. However I would say that, looking back on all of it, I am a better and stronger person for it. Of course I wish none of that had happened, and despite all of it I still sometimes miss that group of friends, but I'm better off without them. Like I said, I'm a better person than I was before and I can honestly say that the strength I developed through that whole experience has helped make me into the person I am today.

a campus photo shoot

This past weekend - although I didn't get anything productive done - was a great weekend! I got to go out with friends, drink champagne, spend time in the sun, and go on a photo shoot with some of my favorite girls from my major.

We couldn't think of a cool location for our photo shoots - we are spoiled and the beach is overdone, plus it is too early in the year for the fields of flowers - so we stayed on our college campus*. Luckily, our school is partially agricultural which means that we have some pretty cool scenery. The main purpose was to get some professional looking photos, but we also took a few fun ones.

The following are just a few of my favorites - don't judge me on the editing, I just used the iPhoto basic editing tools.

Meet my beautiful models:

Erica, Krista, and Stephanie

Stephanie - my roommate and model from a year ago

Erica - friend from journalism and soon to be law school student

Krista - friend from journalism and one of the busiest, most accomplished women I know

And just some photos that I liked - Krista shot a lot of Erica, I shot a lot of Stephanie. We switched it up sometimes, but that's how it was split up for the most part...

Steph with my Diana camera (I'm getting those photos developed as we speak - we will see how they turn out, it was the first time I used it)

Messing around with manual focus

 

Cherry blossoms by the San Luis Obispo mission - so pretty

And a photo of me - taken by Stephanie

(I prefer to be behind the camera, not in front of it...)

*All photos in this post were taken on our college campus,

with the exception of the cherry blossom one

a huge round of a-paws!!

Who watched the Super Bowl today? yeah yeah... the Packers won (and all of my friends in Wisconsin won't let me forget it)

More importantly... who watched the PUPPY BOWL?!?! That's right, it was Puppy Bowl VII today.

The best part (aside from the super cute puppies) were the Hamster Pilots. Now, in a household where a common topic of conversation is our future hamster pets, Charlie, Charlie, and Raul, this was very exciting.

Take a look:


Yes, I know I'm weird.

On that paws-itive note (he he he), have a wonderful night. I'm about to go work through my champagne hangover and write an essay for one of my journalism classes.

xox

magazine blanks

Welp, here is my second "Fill In The Blank Friday" post. Enjoy!


1.   If I could only read one magazine publication for the rest of eternity, I would choose Glamour. Hands down.

2.  If I were to run my own magazine it would be lots of cool photo shoots, home décor and design, and craft ideas… plus cool articles with awesome people

3.  I buy my magazines (at the grocery check stand or via subscription) I only have one magazine subscription and it’s to… yup, you guessed it, Glamour. In my last “fill in the blank” I said that I don’t buy magazines off the rack, which isn’t entirely true – it has been known to happen occasionally. However, I generally subscribe to the magazine if I think it is worth reading.

4.  I prefer my magazines (in print or online) In print. No contest. I am a little disappointed that EVERYTHING is done online nowadays… I love curling up on a couch (or in bed) with a magazine – I wish it happened more often. However,  do like that online magazines have clickable links that I can use to get more information about something.

5.  The number of magazines I buy each month is once a month. Like I said, I only subscribe to one magazine and that is the only one I get/read. I don’t have time for other ones.

6. My favorite magazine genre is (lifestyle, gossip, home, etc...) design, gossip, and fashion magazines.

7.  The magazines I read regularly are Glamour and People. However I also love Better Home and Garden, any wedding magazine, Vogue, and any other magazine on the rack at the grocery store.

colors

I loved this idea from Chelsea over at Lovely Indeed so I decided I would adopt it. 

Design? Love it. Photos? Love them. Travel? Amazing. Fashion? Beautiful. All of them combined? Even better.

text commandments

I am one of those people who stands in front of the magazine section at the grocery store, reads People, and then walks away without buying it. I flip through wedding and fashion magazines, but never pay the $4.00 to take it home with me. Magazines are just too expensive.

However I do make one exception. I love Glamour. I love the articles, the photos, the celebrities, the interviews, I even love the advertisements. There is just something about that magazine that makes me happy. And it's not just the magazine! I also check out the Glamour website on a regular basis and read multiple blogs either written specially for Glamour, or by Glamour writers/editors.

One of my favorite Glamour blogs is Simitten. It is relationship, sex, and social advice all rolled into one. The writers are funny, honest, and get straight to the point. More times than not, I find myself contemplating what they are talking about and realize that they are basically speaking directly to me.

The most recent post on Smitten is "10 Commandments for Texting a Guy". They are all pretty funny, but here are my top 4 (just because they are oh so true):

1. If Thy Texts Fall Out Of Rhythm, Thou Shall Not Expect Dancing
Everyone has a texting rhythm. If you’re used to him replying within the hour, you can’t freakout when he doesn’t get back to you in 15 minutes. If you’re both used to responses within 10 minutes, he can’t whine if you don’t respond in 5. If you’re used to him replying right away, all the time, well, be prepared for some fights.

2. Thy Texts Shall Have A Point
“I am watching a show about Komodo dragons” is not useful information. It is a waste of precious binary code. And if the recipient doesn’t have some kind of unlimited plan, a waste of money, too. Unless, however, he happens to be really into Komodo dragons.

3. Thou Shalt Not Play (Word) Games

We’re not talking about wordplay, we’re talking about pretending you didn’t get the text or ignoring them, or letting people see them who you know should not; it’s immature and just plain mean.

4. Thou Shalt Not Get Into It

Text is not the forum for conveying serious, or nuanced information. Don’t get into a debate about the relationship over text. Don’t ask us to explain ourselves over text. Don’t ask us where we think this thing is going over text. Bad idea. Be real. Have those conversations in person.

The first two are “commandments: that I myself am guilty of... the second two are already rules that I have in place. I HATE when people pretend they didn't get your text or purposefully wait a super long time to text you back... I think it is annoying and dumb and it is definitely not just a girl thing to do. I also try my best not to get into fights over texts. I think that it is passive aggressive and annoying and I would much rather duke it out in person.

So there you have it, my four most important text commandments (at least the four most important out of the ten addressed on Smitten). If you want to see all ten, click here.

On that note, sweet dreams.

on a whim

I am not a big "do it on a whim" kind of person. I get really anxious when that happens (okay, fine, I get really anxious when just about anything happens - but that is beside the point) so I tend to plan everything and make sure that I know what is happening months in advance.

Well the past few days I have been doing the exact opposite of that. Yes, that's right, I, who never does anything without planning it to death first, did something on an impulse. No, it was not just any little decision like what color to paint my nails, or to get a new comforter (although I do need one). No, no, it was something big. By "big" I mean... relatively huge as far as decisions go.

Are you ready for it??

Are you sure?!

Okay, here it goes...

Nope, never mind, I just decided you aren't ready. Maybe I'll tell you tomorrow.. I will, however, tell you that it is very exciting, this thing I did.

Sweet dreams :)