21? Who, me? Really?

I turned 21 two weeks ago. I think there are few people as surprised about this development as I am. I have always been towards the younger side of everything: youngest daughter, last birthday in the YW of my age, youngest girl cousin in my close family, towards the young side of my branch people, etc. So the fact that I am not "the baby" anymore comes as a surprise to me fairly regularly. You would think I would adjust, but it hasn't happened yet.

Anyways, I celebrated with not one, but TWO parties. One was a dinner party with close friends on the actual day (a Sunday) and the other was a combined 007 theme party with a good friend whose birthday is less than a week before mine. They were both good times.

I have to say that I don't think anyone has ever had a more delightful and wonderful 21st birthday weekend. Over the course of three days, I participated in: a costume dance with lots of cool people and creative costumes (I went as Chiquita Banana in a really rockin' Hawaiian dress and fruit hat), decorating and attending the reception of two wonderful and beloved friends, and a dinner party with friends and family. My sweet boyfriend cleared his schedule so that we were able to spend the entire weekend together, and helped me with everything I had going on. My family and friends made a fuss over me with cards, in-person birthday wishes, Facebook, and phone calls, which is always a fun thing. And you know what I find best about the who thing? I remember it ALL! There are no memories of hangover, moments of blankness, or worries about the stupid things that I might have done but can't remember. I love that the standards of the gospel of Jesus Christ keep me safe and out of trouble.

Epiphany!

I heard someone say “I haven’t talked to anyone in the last decade who is not firmly convinced that they are the busiest person on the planet.” Even as I chuckled, I was struck by how true it is. Everyone I know is “crazy busy!” and “stressed” and “running around like a chicken with its head cut off!” I’m no exception.
But sometimes, something happens to remind me to slow down. Yesterday, I tried to entertain two toddlers while feeding a 5 week old baby and doing speech homework. I was trying not to be frustrated because the baby woke up every time I set her down. I had the realization that I should be happy she loves to be held and be part of my life. Shortly after this epiphany, Baby Bean looked unto my eyes and grinned at me! My heart melted and I remembered to pause and say thank you for my blessings. As a celebration of this, Dancrgirl, Froby and I danced like crazy people and cracked ourselves up. They aren’t this age for very long, so enjoy them while they are!

Something besides weddings

Hey, peepsicles! It has occurred to me that most of my posts involve weddings. Contrary to appearances, I do other things in my life than plan, decorate, and strawboss weddings. Like…write papers. And prepare for finals. Oh wait, I’ve written about that before, too! Dang. Hmm. Are there any original topics for me to cover? How about…good times with friends. I have LOTS of those. (Oftentimes at weddings or after finals.)

This weekend I was able to spend some really lovely quality time with my boyfriend. I was babysitting my adorable nieces (Smartipants, Dancrgirl, and Fro-baby) and he came down and made lunch for us all because I couldn’t figure out anything to cook. Yay for dating a man who loves to cook! We also went to the park and the library, cuddled on the couch, and watched the super cute movie “Julie & Julia” together. It was nothing crazy or earthshaking, just a chance to be together on a perfect early autumn day.

On other topics, this week I have two shindigs to attend. One is a pizza party for Labor Day with my branchy peeps, and the other is the Greek festival with more of the same awesome people. I am super stoked for Greek food (gyros, flaming cheese, and pastries so good they make you weak in the knees!) and also for the good times that will no doubt be happening. Life is good.

Perspective

Happiness is in the eye of the beholder. Pardon the artistic liberties to an old saying, but it really is. There are so many ways to look at life and see the beauty, not just the stress. For example, my family is currently well below the income/poverty line. However, if you know us, it doesn’t seem like it. Heavenly Father has taken care of us not just for the major necessities, but also lots of absolute luxuries. (We have food, but we also have a washing machine and dryer). Would it be great if b-i-l A’s business got funding today and he started making six digits a year? Absolutely. Does the fact that that has not happened prevent me from having fun with the girls or loving where I am right now? Not in the slightest. Another example is that my boyfriend lives an hour away, and sometimes we don’t see each other for weeks at a time. That can be really hard, but it makes every time we see each other a special occasion. And we get to talk at least once a day, thanks to modern technology and a decent phone plan. Sure, life has it’s rough spots right now, but mostly it is wonderful. I prefer to see the negative, but focus on the positive.

Put your big girl panties on

A very dear sassy friend introduced me to a phrase that I have taken to heart: “Put your big girl panties on and deal with it!” There is a certain amount of “The world may be going crazy, but you need to step up to the plate” in it that I appreciate. Today is one of those days. I woke up this morning in a mood that translates into a strong lack of desire for responsibilities. Alas for me, I cannot shirk. Daddy A and Mommy A have both left for their respective important places. I still have three small children that will need to be fed and entertained, a house to take care of, and a psychology paper to write. Here I go, putting on my big girl panties on and going to deal with it. Kudos to people who do it without having to blog about it first!

Quick update

Just a quick FYI: Finals are over (and there was much rejoicing!), and the wedding was perfection incarnate. I have never been to/part of a smoother production. It was wonderful, especially because it was also the biggest one I have ever been to, with 250 people. The wedding cake (4 teirs=264 servings, close to 80 pounds of confection), had only about 30 servings left, which is a miracle in and of itself. The first two layers (10 inch and 12 inch, respectively) were cut, served and demolished in a record 15 minutes because cake provider E, boyfirend M, and myself became cake serving demons. I was very grateful for the entire crew, the DJ, and how much Heavenly Father blesses us with what we earnestly pray for. It was a great party, and a fantastic weekend.

Hi-diddly-weddings-ho

Hi ho hi ho weddings away! In a recent tally of existence, it seems that my life has been taken over by two things: preparations for finals, and weddings. LOTS of weddings. After helping out with a wedding in March and one in May, I have graduated to full blown strawboss-hood. In just under two weeks, I get to take on a big wedding reception as the main person in charge. I am really excited about this! It’s the kind of situation where I figuratively crack my knuckles and say “Bring it ON!” The main stress about this is that it is directly after finals week. I have finals M-Th, and then wedding stuff on Friday and Saturday. It’s going to be a crazy busy week, but I look forward to being able to help a couple that I love very much.
That is one part of the wedding-y-ness in my life. Another couple that I love dearly is getting married in July. I have been aquanted with the bride for two years, and very close friends with the groom for a year. He and I saw each other through some of the nastiest, bottom-of-the-barrel, romance mill emotion that has come into our respective lives. That he is marrying an incredible woman who treats him like the amazing man he is, makes me extremely happy. I love happy endings! Life will not be easy for them to begin with, but I have seen what they are capable of dealing with, and they will be guided through it. I count it a high honor that I have been asked to help as these people that I care for deeply begin their lives together.

Hippie-dom!

It has been driven home to me recently that I am such a hippie! And I love it! Case in point: At age 20, I am attending massage therapy school to learn both something I am gifted at and also a marketable skill so I can afford to learn about my some other passions. Things like home birth/breastfeeding/midwifery and related topics, acupuncture, herbalism, self-sufficiency, gardening, food storage, pottery, spa treatments, biology, relaxation, meditation, health by choice not chance, nutrition, communication, people, geology, and taking care of what God has given me. Just to name a few.
I would love to learn how to knit/crochet more than the scarves and beanie hats I know right now. I want to experiment with making my own bread out of more than just wheat flour. There are lots of different types of flour (oat, corn, bean, nut, and buckwheat all spring to mind) that could make all sorts of interesting types of bread.
There are so many things to learn about! Right now, I am reading a book about the facts of modern obstetrics (Pushed, by Jennifer Block). On my reading to-do list is “The Widow Cliquot,” which is about the woman who wrested control of her late husband’s champagne company in the early 19th century and became such a pivitol figure that she is known as “La Veuve” or “The Widow” in France today. Also on the list are “Saying no to vaccines” and “Fashion since 1900.”There is also one about the uses for human cadavers that I want to find. Eclectic? Without a doubt. Bizarre? Possibly, depending on how conventional your personal opinions are. Fascinating? Absolutely. I love learning about all sorts of crazy stuff. That is why I am here!
More importantly, I want to help people understand how much potential they have and how to use it. I want to be the kind of person people automatically trust. To borrow a quote by someone I can’t remember, I want to “live in such a way that people who do not know God come to know Him because they know me.”

It's not about ME!

I have been pondering about things like opinions, youth, optimism, idealism, passion for life, and acceptance. For instance, one could say that I am an innocent, stupid-in-love 20 year young idealist and I have no idea what life is about or how hard it can be. That is a fair point. I am all of those things. As my return argument, I would say: Why is that a bad thing? Isn’t the beauty of youth our optimism? I firmly believe that if we knew at 20 what we know at 80, no one would want to live that long. Or go through all of that. Being young is all about not knowing that you can’t do the impossible.
On a related token, yes, I am an idealist. I have no desire to settle for “whatever floats down the river of life.” Eww, yuck! I think often about having a strong, loving marriage in the future. I imagine laughter, lots of learning, self sufficiency, commitment, and yes, happiness. I think about continuing my education to become an herbalist, a midwife, a homeopathic/naturopathic doctor, and lots of other things. I see myself going back to Italy, and everywhere else. I do not think it is a silly thing to know what you want in life. If you don’t know, how will you work towards it? Heavenly Father put us on Earth to gain experience. And also, “…Men are that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25) Yes, life can be hard. Yes, there will be times when we wonder if it is really worth it. I confidently believe that it IS worth going through all the bad to get to the good.
The two things we get to take with us when we die are knowledge and relationships. If that is not incentive to work on those things, I do not know what is! I have my mental weak spots (mathematics and physics, anyone?) but I am also pulling a 3.9 GPA in my college courses at the moment. I know I am intelligent and I learn fairly easily. The more knowledge I gain in mortality, the better off I will be in the eternities. Relationships (family, friends, spouse or significant other, etc) can be the most joyful, rewarding experiences that we have, or the cause of the most pain and anguish. I am a gung-ho advocate for good communication, frequent loving words and actions, selfLESSness, and forgiveness. It is possible to have functional, loving relationships if we are just willing to work for them. My motto has become “It’s not about ME! It’s about you.”

Still more rambling

This is going to be a bit of a ramble-y post, detailing some of the things that have been happening and going through my head recently.
For starters, I am beginning to realize that stalking is much more of a commonality in the media than I had previously thought. For example: Twilight, The Phantom of the Opera, and this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_ILDFp5DGA are all prime examples of that. *insert disturbed noises and shuddering right here* Much as I may love the first two, the fact remains: STALKERS!
Next topic of randomosity: My kiniseology (the study of muscles and movement) class is AMAZING! And it is really challenging, too. In the course of the next 8 weeks, I will learn 500+ muscles, as well as their function, origins, and insertions. But it’s fantastically interesting, and I look forward to it every week. However, Clinical Massage is my heart-baby. I LOVE massage therapy. And the more I learn about it, the more I love it. Each time we learn new techniques or routines, I think about how to customize it for the various people I know. For instance, someone who is 5”2’ and built like a toothpick is probably going to want lighter pressure and different strokes than a 6”5’ construction worker. I love how each massage is as unique as the people involved in giving and receiving it. I love the inherant trust that as a massage therapist, people give to me. I try to live my entire life, not just the time that I am in class, as a person who deserves that trust. The more I learn, the more I want to continue learning and the more I want to be a better person so I can contribute to society as a whole.
Lastly, it has been brought home to me that life is meant to be lived IN the moment, and regardless of what the future holds, enjoy what you have when you have it! As of a year ago, I would have been crushed and bewildered had I known where I am today. I don’t know where I will be in a year, but that is ok. I will enjoy where I am right now, and deal with tomorrow when it happens.

Rachael's Recipes and More!

Hot diggety dog, peeps! I wasn’t going to make another recipe post this soon, but fun things have happened. One is blackberry lemonade, one is Mistborn, and one is Caro Emerald. What are these wonders, you ask? All in good time, my friends.

Blackberry lemonade
Make a simple syrup out of equal parts sugar and lemon juice (for example, ½ C. sugar to ½ C. juice)
Add an equal (another ½ C.) amount of berry juice (I buy bags of mixed berries from Aldi for about $2.50, thaw in the microwave, and strain the pulp until I get enough juice for whatever I need)
I also added the juice of one orange, but you don’t have to. To serve, chill the syrup and dilute to taste. It’s very cool if you add two or three frozen berries to garnish, and it tastes oh so yummy!

Next awesome thing: Mistborn. This is the first book of a trilogy by Brandon Sanderson, professor of creative writing at Brigham Young University. I read Mistborn, and was promptly sucked into a very absorbing world with human, believable characters and many and varied plot twists. If you like books that make you gasp, put your hands over your eyes, and stay up way too late reading, FIND THESE BOOKS! They are worth the effort to follow all the intricacies. I have started the second one (The Well of Ascension) and can hardly put it down.

And then last but certainly not least: Caro Emerald. First and foremost, know this: I do not like 99.9% of jazz. But I LOVE this singer! I was introduced to her awesomeness yesterday morning, and have listened to most of her songs that Youtube has up. Multiple times. Every day. She is SO GOOD! Just so you don’t have to take the time to look her up, here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74LXx0wSqMI&playnext_from=TL&videos=SRGxTkknNZQ I would not suggest watching the video if immodesty bothers you (shots in a swimming pool and the like), but the song is fabbity fab fab on many different levels. I love finding random things that bring me joy. I owe the last two to my favoritest Robzilla, so here is credit to the maestro of randomness.

Rachael's Recipes

You know how I talk about food all the time? Thanks to my executive decision, I will now start posting some of my favorite foods under the tagline “Rachael’s Recipes” (catchy, isn’t it?) Without further ado, I give you “Crack Cookies” (disclaimer: no illegal ingredients are used in these cookies; you just think there are, because you CAN’T STOP EATING THEM!)

¾ C. butter or margarine
2 TBS to ½ C peanut butter (according to preference)
1 ¾ C flour
1 C packed brown sugar
½ C white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
Cloves and cinnamon to taste (optional)
2 C rolled oats
½ package each: butterscotch ships, chocolate chips, M&Ms

Cream butter. Add sugar, half of flour, and mix. Add all ingredients except for chips and oatmeal. Beat together, add remaining ingredients. Bake at 375 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!

Unexpected

I have been thinking about two things a great deal lately: Life is wildly unexpected, and God looks out for us ALWAYS. Even when we are doing our best to make it on our own, a loving Heavenly Father is ready at any moment to catch us when we look up and say “Please? I have no idea what to do!”
If you had told me four months ago (the first week after V broke up with me) that I would not only be completely healed from that experience, but also just starting a relationship with someone I barely even knew at that point, I would have scowled at you and said that nothing was going to happen between myself and guys until after my mission (3 years in the future). Yet here I am, in that position. After moving through the stages of grief (some of them multiple times) and then throughout the phases of healing, I realized that I am whole again. The power of the Atonement took away a heartache I thought would take me many months to recover from.
This new relationship is very different from the last one I had. They are both good men, and I am incredibly grateful that I have had them both in my life. I have learned SO much! My first relationship (with V) was exactly what I needed at that point in my life. I grew immensely because of it, and I found out more of what I do and do not want as I look for an eternal companion. Heavenly Father watched over me through that experience, the breakup, recovery, and now my blossoming relationship with M.
M has been completely unexpected. We met a week before my breakup, got to know each other a little bit in January and February, and by the first week in March had full-blown hardcore crushes on each other. I FREAKED OUT. I like things to move slowly, and this certainly didn’t. I tried to put the brakes on, and that didn’t work. I got an answer to prayer, essentially in the form of “Calm down. This is a good experience you need to have. M is a good, worthy man. Enjoy it!” So I have. And I fell hard and fast for him. We mesh on some of the craziest, most bizarre levels. Like both being born at home and homeschooled all the way through to college. Or not wanting a TV when we find our respective own places. The list really goes on and on, but I won’t. We also mesh on the more basic, essential levels, like religion, goals, and respect. Basically, we make each other happy. It’s a wonderful thing. Life may go FOOMP in the near future (it usually does!), but that is no reason not to enjoy the moment. Life is unexpected, but God always has our best interests at heart.

Weddings!

My weekend can pretty much be summed up with the word “weddings.” LOTS of weddings. I was a backstage person, guest, planner, and strawboss in the course of 36 hours. I was able to help set up and decorate for H&B’s reception on Saturday morning. Then I was a guest at L&B’s reception. Then a guest/punch bowl attendant/tear down person at H&B’s. Sunday afternoon, I helped plan a wedding reception for M&J, where I was promoted to strawboss (wedding speak for the person in charge behind the scenes, so the bride is not all stressed out about centerpieces and other unimportant details). It will be the second wedding I have been “in charge” of, and the seventh or eighth I have helped with. Weddings run big in my family, with more than 25 years of accumulated knowledge and experience. You need wedding know-how? I gots connections.

Musings on food

Food is incredibly important to me. Not just to keep me alive, but to make it more worthwhile. I love being a good cook (there is a time for modesty in talent, and now is not it) because it makes other people happy. It is fun to cook for yourself, and find out what sorts of tastes and textures you prefer, but it is more fun to make someone else’s favorite dish and watch their eyes light up. I have fond memories of making chocolate chip cookies with a dear friend and watching him eat half the dough while we talked with a batch in the oven. Happiness and people are synonymous with food in my life. No celebration is complete without comestibles! Birthday cakes of various types of awesome (including, but not limited to: beach party scenes, castle sieges, sea monsters, and one particularly memorable pangolin), Dad’s mashed potatoes, apple pie for breakfast the day after Thanksgiving, and the first tomatoes out of the summer garden. Different, but all carrying some kind of wonderful memory.

Rambling about life

I realize that everyone is busy. The craziness in my life is no less or more important than anyone elses. It just happens to be what I am closest to. One of my common phrases is “My life just went Foomp!” This is what I use to describe those times when you have just gotten used to life as it is, and something new and crazy comes up. Case in point: I was called to be in my branch Relief Society presidency almost two months ago. This came one month after I started a new and crazy quarter at school, and two months after the breakup I was still healing from. I still have the “Foomp!” feeling. A lot of that has to do with my age; I feel like 20 means that I am still a little girl masquerading as a responsible adult. However, I know that I wouldn’t be here if that wasn’t where I needed to be right now. Isn’t that why we have experiences like this? To help us grow? Sometimes I feel like I could SEE myself growing and changing, like you can almost watch teenage boys grow out of their clothes overnight. When I think that it has been almost two years since I moved to Indy, I am amazed. In the last year alone, I have been through experiences ranging from incredible to stressful in the extreme. Life as normal, I suppose.

What's in a name?

This is a writing practice I did for my Com 1050 class last week. It is the only piece of writing I have ever gotten lost in.

“What’s in a name?” I remember very distinctly disliking my name when I was five years old. I asked my mother why my parents had named me Rachael, and if I could change my name to Amy Rose. My mother’s reply was that she and my dad thought my name was beautiful, and that I would be welcome to ask her about changing my name when I got older. I have no desire to change my name now, knowing as I do that she was right: I have a beautiful name. Names bring to mind images of many things. The name of a dear friend helps me see her face and memories that we have together. Names of places, foods, activities, all these make me think of times in my life and things I have done.
The name “Florence” takes me back to the spring of 2008, when I was traveling in Italy. It reminds me of the admiration I felt when I saw the David statue. I recall strolling over the Ponte Vecchio and admiring the jewelry with my older brother. Buying coconut gelato and listening to street musicians in the plaza as we ate it. Climbing a hill and seeing the entire city spread out beneath us in the misty twilight of an April night. Florence makes me think of roast boar and bread with no salt; of beautiful brown eyes and looking down on a tiny street from our third story room.
The season name “spring” always makes me smile. No matter where I am, I can close my eyes and see the patch of crocuses in my parent’s back yard, always the first herald of my favorite season. I hear the trickle of melting snow, smell the dirt as my father shovels up the garden beds in preparation for our summer garden. I feel the anticipation of my aunt’s annual trip out to see us; the laughter and conversation that follow her arrival. Most of all, spring brings to mind the immortal joy of reawakening from winter as the sun brings warmth and life back. What is in a name? All of life is contained in names."

Sociality, side effect of.

What odd things human dynamics are. In the last week, I have been pondering the effects of logic, emotion, hormones, and communication. This is mostly because I attend a young single adult branch, which is a lot like chess, the stock market, and NASCAR. I liken it to chess because each time you make a move in any direction, it affects the other players and you all have to rethink your strategies. The stock market gets a mention because everyone has “stocks” that go up and down in rapid succession. Finally, it’s like NASCAR in that it all moves VERY fast! One weekend away from the branch can put you very behind the times.
In the course of one 3 hour dance on Saturday, I experienced probably five different types of human dynamics: Friends (male and female getting their own categories), various stages of infatuation, disinterest, and mutual attraction/flirting. Brought into play were logic, emotion, hormones, and communication. It was fantastically interesting, exciting, and exhausting. There are times when I feel like I live in a Regency novel. Regardless, I have to say I LOVE MY LIFE!

There are days when I realize that being a people person is one of the best aspects of my life. This point was brought home to me after last weekend’s sleep deprived marathon of social activities. Starting off on Friday morning at 6:45 (a wakeup time that is almost unheard of in my world) and continuing through dinner with a friend on Sunday afternoon, I realized once again how much people enrich my life every day. My activities were many and varied, from offering service in the form of free chair massages at Go Red for Women to the spa “sleep” over (all four hours we got) to the Chicago temple trip and all of its awesomeness. I still have not recovered from this weekend. I am not sure I ever will, sleep wise. But it was worth every minute of lost sleep, and I will grin for a very long time over certain memories made.

Hello?

This blog is a pure moment of whimsy for me. It has no definite purpose, other than I wanted to. Will I continue to post? I have no idea. Regardless, here is me in a nutshell: Student, social butterfly, laughter, food, babies (not mine), warm, massage, making it better, music, cute guys, books, parties, dancing, family, and a little (or a lot) bit of craziness, just to make life interesting.