Olives, Snow & Dutch Traditions

Why I love Thanksgiving:

- Everyone is home. :) Even though I am now "home" always, it isn't HOME home until everyone is here and we are (trying to) harmonize around the piano and guitar or fighting over what TV show on DVD we start on for our Thanksgiving Episode marathon... 

- Olives. Black or Green.

- Everyone is home. :) My best friends even. :) I don't know if it is moving back home or just growing up a little, but having a few close friends feels so much more appealing to me. Reconnecting with people that know you is probably in the top 5 of best feelings ever. Along with having a little kid play with your hair, which Cashmere more then accomplished. 

- Olives. And this year my mom wanted to save a few cents by getting a damaged Roundy's can... They tasted weird and my dad told us not to eat them. Disappointing.

- Snow. I don't always love snow, like in April. But it is one day from December and I LOVE SNOW! Outlook good for a snowy Christmas! This afternoon was practically straight out of a Norman Rockwell. After church, Grant and I decided to go to Maxims (the biggest bang for your buck! as Grant said. and always says. about Maxims)... We got a nice booth by the window and talked for a while and watched the snow! :) Big flakes. 

- Tree getting and house decorating! It feels a little "Good thanksgiving is over so now we can decorate for Christmas!"y but everything looks better at Christmas. AND the first eggnog of the year. This is turning into a Pre-Christmas list. 

- Back to Thanksgiving, I love the sweet potatoes! They are my favorite part.... aside from pumpkin pie and coffee. 

- Board games. Something I love about life, not just Thanksgiving. But its been awhile and I got my fix! And not just any board game, Cranium Turbo. 

- No school, Im used to it already. I am two weeks and 2 finals away from a month of freedom. 

- I was introduced to a Dutch tradition (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas). A twist on a gift exchange where you write little poems and wrap the gifts in a cute or tricky way, like Grant had the idea to make a little styrofoam karate board you had to chop to get the Sudoku book inside! I have never heard of anything like it, so I had alot of fun. Ana had me and I got a really cute scarf :) 

- A reminder of how freaking much I have to be Thankful for. Amazing Grace, Family, Friends, Health and so much stuff, that I can not even venture a guess at how many shirts I have or how much money I have spent on candy in my lifetime. This thanksgiving I thank God for the sense of direction and peace. This past year I have been unsettled and turned around and a bit broken up and I am Thankful for the peace that I know can only come from God.

What I don't like about Thanksgiving

-it marks the end of fall. So the end of the colorful leaves and crisp air and although I could still drink hot cider, i would definately feel like it should be hot chocolate now. 

So in comparing lists I see that I for sure like thanksgiving! :) I hoped I would!

Adventures with Ashton

There are moments that I find my life amusing and maybe even reality t.v. material. But this was the first time in my 19 years that I thought I was on a hidden camera show. It started as a normal shopping trip at the mall. My sister and I used our day- and food money from our parents- to our convenience. We hit up the usual stores- american eagle, gap... and then we move on to Wet Seal. I was not expecting to buy anything, but then a sales clerk greeted us and offered us a little fortune cookie and inside would give us 10%, 15% or 20% off. Cool right? It was not even a minute after we opened them (i got 15% off) that the clerk rushed over to us and demanded Julia opened her bag "YOU TOO!" she whispered to me. I was scared.... did she think we were stealing? She then began pouring alllll the fortune cookies into our bags. "I can't leave until i get rid of all these!" I had a bunch, Julia had a ton - filling up her entire purse! As we were dying of laughter in the corner of the store searching for our 20%s and watched her pour more and more containers of these fortune cookies into other people's shopping bags that were leaving. To top it off she comes over to me (we were still opening all the fortune cookies to find top savings!) and hands me a shirt: "can you hang this up? just right behind you." We couldnt find Julia a 20% off so we went back and got two more "helpings" of fortune cookies. the result can only be described in a picture.

on being lonely

One of my biggest problems in life is being alone. It might even be called a fear. I am not afraid to be "alone" in a crowd, in fact I am starting to believe I like that sometimes. I do not like being ALONE alone. If I was on some sort of program to deal with this, I am sure one of the beginning steps would be to thinking about why it is a problem for me. 

Step 1: I believe I do not like being alone not because I am afraid of what might happen, but because I feel like I am missing out on things. I feel pathetic. I feel like I SHOULD be talking to someone or hanging out with someone or just knowing someone else is in the house with me. I like alone time in moderation, an hour or two. But tomorrow I am sure I will be skipping ahead a few steps in my mock program...

Step 5: test yourself. WHAT A JUMP! I will spend all afternoon and night here. all alone. Knowing me, I will not. I will go somewhere to study or shop in the afternoon. But I will be alone for the evening and night. To help cope I want to make a list of things I would theoretically like to do in the event of the house to myself:

- Cook and bake is first and my alone time go-to. Maybe.

- Bubble bath. Relaxing... but possibly depressing to me knowing I am home alone and just marinading in the bathtub....

- Play some guitar. I've been getting into my guitar but I my not want to. I need to be inspired.

- Read. I wouldn't, I'd watch T.v.

- Watch T.v. For some reason watching TV connects me to others in the world and doesn't make me feel as alone. I do feel lame though....

- Arts and crafts! Find a project, like maybe work on the frames I am hoping to make my parents for Christmas. The thing is... alone in the basement crafting... maybe I just need to get over the fact that whatever I do I'll be doing it "alone" and that will open up options. 

- Work out. One of the few things in life I love to do alone. Yes. I will work out. 

- Clean my room. Much needed. I hate doing it. Its so messy though. Maybe. 

- Homework. HAHHAHA. maybe though. seriously. 

I am refer to the list in times of need. I think I can do it. Step 5 WOW! just a few steps from victory. 

Wisconsin thing of the day: Wondering if I would survive the 20 minutes I stand outside and watch the boys play football. Alec got hit in the face so we left. It would have been 40 minutes so I was happy. Just kidding.... :)

Rachel in real life

I could not have guessed:

- that it would snow yesterday. I guess the snow was not exactly the problem.... more the icey roads that more than doubled road time. One second it was beautiful blue skies and the next i am scraping snow off my windshield. I go to pick up the boys from school and in the time that I get gather them up and head back to my car it is covered. It was not even showing when I parked. Wisconsin. I realized I do not have a scraper... I should really get on that so I don't find myself in the uwm parking lot using my fingernails and a coat sleeve. Monday is t.v. night for my friend Katie and I. We pick a place to get dinner and spend the rest of the evening in her basement watching crap t.v. It is actually not depressing like it may sound, I look forward to it every week. This week we had set backs with the snow and only got 1/2 way to Perkins before turning around in fear of missing Jon and Kate plus 8 (God forbid we miss them renew their vows in Hawaii!!) We eat in and dream of a good vacation in a place snow waits until after Thanksgiving...

- that I would be making a break-up mix for my best friend. Best friend even sounds too fleeting. I miss her so much. Even though it breaks my heart to know her pain, I am so relieved and hopeful for her future. I couldn't bare her being with someone that couldn't be her prince. She deserves the prince. 

-that it would be 1:45 in the afternoon and I am still, STILL in my pjs (Alec, "my" 5 year old hates it when I call them that). Procrastinating like always... because there is nothing urgent homework wise. I needed the sleep after the crazy weekend filled with driving (to Indiana back up to Green Bay and then home) and late nights. The Packer game was very Wisconsin. When the packers score a touchdown you high five and hug every(drunken)one you can. I think us four were the only sober people I could see. You pay 6 bucks for a bad cheeseburger and you don't care. Worth it. 

Wisconsin thing of the day: i'll choose one from yesterday since, as I said I don't believe my day has started yet. Yesterday was for sure watching cars trying to go up a small hill and getting stuck due to ice. Cars driving 10 miles an hour over black ice. 

Thanksgiving countdown: 9 days! 

Thanksgiving break countdown: 6 days! 

Intro

I've decided to start embracing my life as a Wisconsin Midwestener, born and raised. Although it may not always be this way, it will always be where I grew up. Where I learned how to do the normal kid stuff like riding a bike and how to make those little string bracelets. But I also learned how to make friends and how to treat others... the midwest way :). Now that I am college I am learning more and more how to multitask- blogging AND procrastinating homework. pretty much the last thing I need is another homework distraction...