A Genuinely Happy Feeling

So most of you know that I recently went back to work, which is a HUGE deal for me. I enjoyed being a "kept woman" to the fullest extent possible, but was very happy to get back into the work force. Right now I am working as a front desk admin for a small, family-owned CPA firm. I know the owner through choir, as well as her being the grandmother of my brother's best friend. Working for someone that you are on friendly terms with is FANTASTIC because the desire to do a good job for them is so much more amplified. Being back at work in the general field that I was in before Jeff and I married (you will remember that before I became "Jeff'd" I was the assistant to the comptroller at a small consulting firm) has put behind her. She asked to talk to the owner. I explained that ththat fire back underneath me to get back in school and finish my education. I feel a deep sense of passion when I watch the 4 women I work most closely with do their thing. I have so much admiration for their knowledge, and I want that for myself. But that's not what today's blog post is about. Today's blog post is about a lovely thing that I experienced today at work. I was sitting at the front desk, my head buried in my algebra book (I'm attempting to teach myself math) when the door opened, and a tiny little old lady ambled in rolling a cart. She asked to speak to the owner, and I explained that she was away from the office. Well, this woman was so deaf that I had to *YELL* for her to hear me. And those of you who have a personal relationship with me know that I am one LOUD LADY! After a lot of me yelling and her saying "huh?" I finally got her to explain that she had missed her DART bus. (DART is Everett Transit's transportation system for people who need assistance getting around) and that she couldn't walk the one mile to the senior center in the rain. Well, this woman was so frail I wasn't sure that she could walk the one mile in nice weather, let alone in the pouring rain that was going on! So I checked with my co-worker, and then offered her a ride. We ambled out to my car, me pulling her cart and holding her hand, as she kept telling me "what a sweetheart" I was, and how grateful she was. I assured her that it was my pleasure to help. She offered me $20. I politely refused. The senior center was only one mile away, and even if I had been terribly desperate for money, I still wouldn't have taken it from her. She told me that she'd like me to come to her house sometime and pick out some of her jewelry to keep. I mentioned that "that was a very nice offer" but left it at that. I drove her the one mile to the senior center, helped her out of the car, got her cart out of the back seat, and escorted her into the building. She wanted to know my name. After yelling into her face 5 times that my name was Rachel, I finally settled on letting her call me Rebecca. It was a lovely way to spend 10 minutes, and I hope that she had a wonderful time at the senior center. I'm very grateful that she felt comfortable coming into the office and asking for a ride, and I am even more grateful that I was able to help her. I want to believe that people are generally good, but I can only imagine the kind of people out there who may have wished to do her harm. I'm glad that there are senior centers out there, providing our grandparents and great-grandparents entertainment during the day while their family has to be at work.

Greek Yogurt

Many of you don't know this, but I recently lost 20 pounds. I try not to bring it up because I am afraid that I don't look like I've lost any weight, and I don't want to be one of those people who say "can you tell I've lost weight?" I hate it when people ask me that. Because often times the true answer is "NO!" But I always try to come up with something politely evasive, such as "You look great!" Anyway, this diet that I did completely reset my taste buds. Foods that I used to love (Wendy's baconators, french fries, coffee) are now so vile to me that you couldn't pay me to eat it. And then there's the unexpected sweet tooth! I will eat nothing but celery all day if it means that I can eat ice cream every night! I was never much of a sweet person before the diet, now I can't get enough. Foods that I used to despise so much that you couldn't pay me to eat them, are now my favorites. For example, I now love squash and tofu and GREEK YOGURT! OH MY GOODNESS DO I LOVE GREEK YOGURT! I eat at least 2 every day now! So in celebration of that, I am here to review the Greek yogurts that I have tried. Chobani fruit on the bottom. I have tried Blueberry, Pineapple, and Strawberry. Texture-wise they are lovely and thick. They do have a bit of "clumpiness" to them that is easily stirred out. The flavor is great. Fruity with a slight tang. The ingredient list is "milk, fruit, sugar." I appreciate simple foods like that. At 120 calories per package, no fat, only 20 grams of carb, and 14 grams of protein, it is a win! I give it a 4 out of 5. Stonyfield Farm Oikos Organic Yogurt with honey on the bottom. This was my least favorite by far. The texture was good enough but the honey being on the bottom gave it a strange taste. I am going to give it another try just in case the first one was a fluke. So far it gets a 2 out of 5. Dannon Oikos Greek Yogurt, or as I like to call it "John Stamos Yogurt." The flavor was lovely. Creamy and sweet. The nutrition information is comparable to Chobani. However, the ingredient list has some stuff that I can't pronounce, and I am not a fan of that. I don't want to eat chemicals. If it's the only thing available I will have it, but that's about it. I give it a 3 out of 5. Fage Total Greek Yogurt with Honey. OHMYMYMYMYMYMYMY!!!!!!!!!!! I picked this one up because I was contemplating picking up a bulk pack of their nonfat fruit on the side yogurt from Costco, but wanted to be sure that I liked it before I spent the money on it. Now, this was one of their full-fat yogurts. 210 calories, 6 grams of fat, 29 grams of carbs, 11 grams of protein. The honey comes on the side so you have to mix it in yourself. IT IS AMAZING. I HAVE FOUND MY REPLACEMENT FOR ICE CREAM FOR DESSERT!!!!!!!!! For sure it is too decadent to eat as a breakfast or snack, but oh my goodness I want to eat this for dessert every night for the rest of my life! I give it a 5 out of 5 but like I said, devour in moderation! I hope everyone is enjoying the summer. I know I am. Things are going to be getting crazy soon. I am going to be treasurer as well as Alto section leader for the Everett Chorale. I am looking forward to singing again and hope that the other stuff will not take away from my enjoyment of singing. Anyway, I'm off to enjoy a lovely Sunday with a girlfriend. Everyone have a great day! Hugs and kisses, Racheloni

What I've been up to...

Hi Everyone!

So, I noticed it's been nearly a year since I updated my blog! It feels like there is so much to tell, and yet there's hardly anything to tell! If I was to sum up 2011 to this point, I could say "Jeff and I purchased a house, got a dog, and I turned 30."

Yes, that is how boring my life has become. And yet, it's wonderful to be boring. It's such a nice change from working 60+ hours per week.

Last September Jeff and I bought a magnificent house in a suburb north of Seattle. Here's a gorgeous picture for your enjoyment. :)



Last February, Jeff and I "adopted" an Australian Shepherd puppy. He was 8 weeks old the day we brought him home. I never thought that I could become attached to an animal the way I have, but I can honestly say that he may as well be my baby. I love him so much. His name is Duncan Dougal. He is now almost a year old and so dang smart! Too smart for my own good! He's very high energy which keeps me on my toes! For your enjoyment, here is a plethora of pictures of Duncan from the first year of his life. :)

The day we brought him home:



The first few days after that:




The first few months of his adorable little life:





And now that he's getting a little older:




So there's a few cute pictures of my little fluffy man. I hope you like them as much as I do!

Let's see here...what else have I been up to? Ooh! I've become a gourmand! I was seriously considering culinary school for a while, and haven't yet given up entirely on the dream. However, I'm having a hard time justifying spending $50k on school and not doing something with it. I literally want to go simply to have that extra skill.

I had taken up the hobby of crocheting when I saw most of you last...I am now pretty darn good at knitting! I've knitted many sweaters for myself and the people I love, and they always turn out pretty good! Here's a picture of me wearing the first sweater I ever knitted...



I've also been to Disneyland again twice since I last talked to all of you. Yeah...you're jealous, right? Don't lie, I know you are!! Jeff surprised me with a trip a couple weeks ago to The Magical Kingdom to see it all beautified for Christmas. It was McGorgeous!! If the Kardashian's were there, they would have given it a GORGEOUS AWARD!

I've been singing in The Everett Chorale under the direction of Lee Matthews. It's been such a treat to be musical again. This year I am the section leader of the Alto group. It's so much fun, and it helps me to feel super important. December is a crazy month for the Chorale. We have so many sing-outs and concerts planned! If you have any interest in coming to hear us sing, we'd be delighted to have you! You can find out more information at www.everettchorale.org

Jeff and I will be traveling to Austria with The Everett Chorale. I am excited. I'm going to have the opportunity to see where my favorite composer (Mozart) lived his life. Get to see the piano where he played his music...all sorts of awesome stuff. I get chills just thinking about it. In addition, we'll be doing "The Sound of Music" tour. I can't wait to dance in the gazebo with Jeff singing "I am 31 going on 32!" Heh.

Well, I think that's it for now. I hope that everyone's having as happy of a time as I am!

Love to all ya'll,

Racheloni

Oh wait..I almost forgot...I went back to being a redhead...



And now for your enjoyment, here is my favorite picture of Jeff Bridges:

I've Been Watching Too Much Food Network

We recently got cable again, and I have been enjoying watching Food Network. I was also thrilled to have the cable up in running in time for the season 2 premiere of my favorite telly show V. Well, we all have learned by now that what I watch and read seems to effect what I dream about. So, without further adieu, my most recent wacky dreams.

The other day my mum had her tooth pulled, and I (being the good daughter I am) decided to keep her company. I introduced my mother to my favorite telly show, V. I brought over my blu-ray of the first season so that she could better understand what was happening in season 2. I fell asleep on her couch while we were watching it. The entire time, I dreamt that I was with Alton Brown, and he was cooking aliens. Like, chopping them up, tossing them in a food processor, pureeing, sauteing, boiling, baking, deep-frying, aliens! And unlike what he normally does, which is to explain what he is doing while he does it, and the science behind is actions, he just kept screaming AAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another dream that I had the other night is also related to watching too much Food Network. I really enjoy the shows Chopped, and Worst Cooks in America. I believe this lead to me having a very wacky dream in which I was a contestant on a show that was a cross between those two shows. We needed to cook up a meal using a certain set of ingredients, with no formal training in the art of cuisine. One of the ingredients called for was jalapenos. However, the jalapenos had not been provided the way the rest of the ingredients were. Well, the show luckily was being filmed at Pike Place Market, so I offered to run out to one of the fruit stands and get the jalapenos if the judges were willing to stop the timer. They all agreed on this, and I ran out to get some lovely jalapenos. (The fruit stand, in case you were wondering, was run by chef Robert Irvine. It was a fruit stand/fine leather handbag stand, also in case you were wondering.) I got the jalapenos, and even had Robert chop them up for me for good measure, and headed back to the kitchen studio. Upon my arrival, the kitchen studio was in utter chaos. But not food chaos. No. All of the chefs/judges/contestants had become ninjas. Killing each other with spatulas and wooden spoons and Kitchen Aid Mixer attachments. I tried to run to safety behind a wall. Also hiding behind the wall was Gordon Ramsay, and favorite of both me and my husband. I stood their star struck as Gordon skewered other kitchen ninjas with a pair of BBQ tongs. He then turned to me and said "come with me if you want to live." I said "ok Gordon, but I should probably let you know that I'm married." That's when I woke up.

I should probably stop watching late night Food Network.

I Dream of Lady Gaga

Last night I had another crazy dream. I dreamt that I was best friends with Stefani Germanotta, aka Lady Gaga. We had a great friendship. We borrowed each other's clothes (I know, ha-di-ha, I'm easily 2-3 times the size of Lady Gaga), did each other's hair and makeup, and had a great time being gal-pals. I taught her how to knit, and she taught me how to dress like a freak. I taught her how to crochet, and she taught me how to dance. But then she had the audacity to be unkind to my husband. And so I had to call her the "c" word. (Which, by the way, I would never actually say in real life. I am, if nothing else, a lady.) After I gave her the ultimate insult, she proceeded to attempt to beat me up. But, as I stated a moment before, I am easily 2-3 times her size. So I quickly over-took her and flattened her nose and knocked out a couple of teeth. And she had to take the stage for her show that evening looking like Ellie Mae Clampett.

I'd like to say in closing, I would never insult or hurt miss Gaga. I do think she's quite fabulous.

The end!

Dear J.J. Abrams...

Dear J.J. Abrams and the other writers of the hit television series Lost...

REALLY?!?! I mean REALLY?!?! For the past 6 years I have sat in front of my television set for an hour once per week watching you create mystery after mystery, willing to put up with it because you promised you would explain it all to me.

This past Sunday, you disappointed me. In fact, you flat out lied. YOU LIED! YOU DIDN'T EXPLAIN ANYTHING!!! Why did women who got pregnant on the island die? Why were Hurley and Libby in a mental institution together? What's with Kate and the horse? What's with Walt? Answer me!

I don't think the world has felt this betrayed since Saint Elsewhere.

I think this is just something J.J. Abrams likes to pull. Take the recent installment of Star Trek. Yes, it ended up being phenomenal, but a lot of Trekkies were disappointed because he took years and years of Gene Roddenberry's writings and did away with them by simply saying "oh, this was an alternate reality."

Was that your excuse for Lost, J.J? "Oh, everyone in fact died when the plane crashed on the island the first time. The entire series took place in the few moments before Jack passed away.

You know what I think, J.J? I think you dug yourself in too deep and ran out of time! Or got tired, or lazy. Either way, I will not be watching anything you ever put out again. Not even the Star Trek sequel when it finally comes around.

Insincerely,

Rachel

My New Hobby!

Well, in honor of "national delete your Facebook day" (which I haven't done yet, but plan on doing so at my next earliest convenience) I decided to start my new Facebook-free life doing something I haven't done in months...blog! I do love my blog and am very grateful to my husband for purchasing a URL for me and everything, so maybe I ought to use it, eh?
I have a new hobby. Well, I have many new hobbies, including crochet and going to the gym. (Ok ok ok, I'll wait for you guys to all come back because I know you all nearly wet yourselves laughing when I said that going to the gym was a hobby for me. I, in fact, had water come out my nose from laughing after writing it. Because it's not a hobby, it's something I do because I feel that my life is so good that I need a small amount of suffering in it. So I torture myself by going to the gym.) Anyway, I started a new hobby today and am quite keen to share it with all my friends. I like to call it Cruiseshipspotting. Cruiseshipspotting is quite similar to trainspotting, or camelspotting (if you're a fan of the Python chaps you'll get the reference.) Cruiseship spotting is when you spot cruise ships.
The first cruise ship I spotted was last night when Jeff and I were taking a walk. We were walking the Seattle waterfront and had come to the aquarium when I started jumping up and down. This nearly caused my husband to have a cardiac arrest because he wasn't aware that I was jumping in excitement, he thought maybe I had hurt myself. After assuring him that I was fine and apologizing profusely for the near-death-experience that I gave him, we walked to get a closer look.
The cruise ship was the Sapphire Princess, from Seattle's own Princess Cruise Lines. Sapphire Princess whisks the lucky passengers away on a 7 night cruise through Alaska. The itinerary is Ketchikan, Tracy Arm Fjord, Juneau, Skagaway, and Victoria British Columbia. The ship itself was a beautiful sight to behold, lit up against the Seattle night sky. Here is a picture for your enjoyment. (Taken from the ship's website, http://www.princess.com)



And a picture taken last night with Jeff's camera phone.




Well, seeing this beautiful ship put me in the mood to see more. So after my trip to the gym (feel free to laugh hysterically yet again) I took a quick drive down the waterfront. There were no ships in port at pier 66, but looking across the water I could see 2 lovely looking ships at pier 91, so I went to investigate! Now, the bugger with pier 91 is that you can't get close to the ships the way you can at pier 66. So these pictures will have to suffice until I remember where I put my Olympus camera (which, incidentally, was purchased on a cruise ship! The Carnival Paradise which Jeff and I enjoyed during our honeymoon.)

The ship I was able to get the most clear look at was the Holland America Zaandam. Now, the cool thing about this ship is that it's smaller, and designed to handle fewer guests. This has the possibility of making for a much more enjoyable cruise. This cruise ship is musically themed. The decorations range from things like Bill Clinton's saxaphone, to guitars signed by Queen, Iggy Pop, Eric Clapton, and the Rolling Stones. This ship (like every other cruise ship that embarks from Seattle) goes to Alaska. Here is the picture I was able to take.


The final ship that I was able to spot was Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Sea's. This ship was quite lovely. It features lots of glass walls, and a retractable awning. Here is the picture I was able to take of it.



Well, that's all the cruise ships I was able to spot. Until next time, please enjoy this lovely video about a related hobby called Camel Spotting, which is very aptly explained by Mr. Eric Idle.



Cheers!