it's raining

Cards & packages went in the mail yesterday, so look for them...



I got up early this morning to pack for L.A. Went to work. I had switched shifts with Kevin because we wanted to leave earlier than 5. So I've been ready to go since 2:15 and it's now 4 and I'm still sitting in the lobby of my building waiting for my ride to show up. I'm a little stressed out.


And I packed too many shoes...! ;)

happy holidays

Dear friends,

I have been so busy that my cards haven't gotten in the mail yet. Well, that's not entirely true. I mailed 7, and they were the first 7 of the alphabet. I'm supposed to be home working on them this morning, but I am at Starbucks. So, the cards are coming, they just might not make it before Christmas. I'll see what I can do. :)

I trust that your holidays - whatever you celebrate - are a time of happiness and peace with your loved ones.

(And those of you going to L.A., I can't wait to see you!!!)

Love, Rachel xoxo

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

the 4 r's

Rachel was trying to print a paper. The printer was in the animation lab. (Yes, it was a little frightening.) Josh was in class. HOT! Ryan was in there working on a project. He followed Rachel out the door, where they proceeded to chat for a while before parting ways. Only to reconnect 5 minutes later. So they walked downstairs together. After picking up Rachel's stuff, they ran into Rachael who was doing homework in the hall. It happened to be outside Ryan's office, and before long, he, too, had joined Ryan, Rachel & Rachael in the hall. Rachel knew all Ryan, Rachael & Ryan. Ryan knew Rachel & Rachael. Ryan knew Rachel. Rachael knew Ryan & Rachel. So introductions were made and conversation proceeded to be all over the place. Then Rachael had to take a test, Ryan had to catch a bus, Ryan wanted Subway, and Rachel wanted to go home. Rachel was going to make brownies, but she didn't have enough flour or sugar, so she went to Starbucks to blog. And now that it is raining, she doesn't want to leave, but her battery is almost dead, so she has to go home and get ready for class tonight. And that's all there is of the 4 Rs for today. There is a good possibility that this is the beginning of an interesting group of people....

so in love...

Check it out!


Cheesecake truffles, need I say more?!

sleepless in seattle

I have managed to get a few hours of sleep and I worked this morning and I have laundry in upstairs and I should actually be doing homework. But I am waiting for an email back from a boy. Or a text from a different boy. And I think I am going to make cookies for the Christmas party tonight. We'll see. I REALLY need to finish my book. And figure out what I am going to do my final cultural theory project on. Yikes! So much to do in the next 6 days!








And what is up with boys named Ryan???!!!!!!!

elevators

Monday. In class from 7:30 - 11:30 a.m. Work 12:30 - 8:30 p.m. Back to school to try to get some work done. note: i felt horrid - and probably looked it too. :( So I go to the library and don't even know where to start looking for what I needed, so figured I'd hit the computer lab downstairs. I walk past the culinary classrooms (Becky, you would LOVE this!) and get on the elevator with one of the culinary guys. The door starts to close and we hear a yell, so I hit the door open button, and this guy sticks his foot in the closing door so he doesn't have to wait for the next one. Can't say that I blame him. We were on the big elevator and the smaller one is scary. HOWEVER... The door stopped closing, but it didn't open either. It just stayed open 8 inches or so. And we didn't go anywhere. Freaky! The other guys from culinary tried to open it to no avail. Security came up and tried to open it. We hit the emergency call button and some guy talked to us, but we have no idea what he said. Seattle police stopped by. People kept walking by and asking if we were stuck. duh. The guy with me in the elevator was Kasey and he was kinda cute. I told him it was better than being stuck with an animator. He laughed at that. We talked about where we had lived in the past, etc. FINALLY the elevator tech guy came. He had to turn off the power. Which apparently did the trick because the doors closed and then they opened and we were FREE!!!!! Kasey told Jeff - the guy who put his foot in the door that he was going to kill him. I told him I probably would, but that I didn't know him, so I couldn't do anything, but that I really didn't like him. (or something like that!) He was like "What can I do to make it up to you?" So I looked him straight in the eye and said, "take me out and feed me steak." And he goes, "I can do that." To make a long story short, he gave me his number and said to call anytime. I told him it wouldn't be until the end of the quarter, and then I would totally take him up on it. So that was my Monday and now I am getting kicked out of the computer lab at school because it is 11:30 P.M. PST. Love to you all. xoxo :)

girls' night

Yesterday, one of the girls at work said "we were going to invite you to girls' night, but we haven't been having it, so we didn't invite you."

(Gee, thanks!)


However, last night was girls' night at Stacey's. We had soup & bread & fruit & ice cream & hot chocolate. Stacey, Beth, Anna, Eleanor & I. We chatted during main course and ate dessert while watching The Family Stone. It was really good. Then Anna & Eleanor left, then I left, and I have no idea how late Stacey & Beth stayed up watching Pride & Prejudice. I was home in bed by 10:30!

Lunch today at the Thai place by Stacey's. Mmm. Now I'm home, well, I'm actually at Starbucks "working on homework" .....!

xo me :)

snow, etc.

So this week it snowed in Seattle. And effectively shut down the city. This was amusing to me as there was no snow to speak of - at least in the city. Apparently there were up to 6 inches outside of the city. The freeways were closed. People were stranded. It snowed for the first time ever! at a Seahawks game. And everyone saw it 'cuz it was Monday Night Football. Friends from Tacoma were at the game and it took them 6 hours to get home. (Yes, it is only 35 miles from Seattle to Tacoma...) School was cancelled on Tuesday. I was like, whatever. So I stayed in and got a bit of homework done. Not nearly enough based on what we got on Thursday, but I digress. I finally had to get out, so went to the post office and Old Navy. It felt like a warm day in January in upstate NY. 28 degrees or something. Seattle had never been so cold, supposedly. But this was flukey weather and it finally rained on Wednesday night and it's been sunny & brisk the last couple of days - today especially. It was neat - the Olympics were out this morning and I took pictures of them on my lunch break. No, they are not uploaded yet, but thanks for asking.

School. I think I've mentioned how that my typography professor thinks we work in the industry. Well, we have this huge book project due basically next week, 'tho that is just the "before you go to the printer" step and is for final art direction. Anyways, she goes "you're all 3 quarter, right?" Of course we all start laughing and inform her that we are either 1st or 2nd quarter. I think she went into shock. Perhaps this is why we have no idea?! Oh well, I just know that it gives me A LOT of work for next week. (Supposed to be working on that right now...)

Speaking of Thursday... Had another Subway "date" with the tall boy. We just talk & talk. About everything. It's neat, but kinda wierd, y'know? Then he walks me home and goes on his way.

And speaking of boys, Mike is here now. I'm excited to have him here, but I have no idea when/if we will hang out. I am SO incredibly busy with school right now and he's just starting. We did have dinner on Wednesday night and it was really fun to catch up.

I got lots of Christmas shopping done - just a couple of things left to pick up. Yay! for being that close to finished. Now for the cards...

Work is a little better. Thankfully.

I feel like I had so much to say and this is all I have been able to come up with. Sorry. :(

xo me :)

local

So apparently I am a local now. I got stopped twice today and asked for directions. Fortunately, I could answer the questions. But silly me told the cuties from Vancouver (6 of them!) to go in the opposite direction of me. DUH! Then, a block from home, I got asked where Patagonia was. I had just walked past it so was able to point the nice family in the right direction.

But what I really need to tell you is that my bathroom is sparkly-clean thanks to lots of elbow grease. Then I started in on the stove, but it was quite resistant to my efforts. I honestly don't think it had ever been cleaned - yikes! The top of the stove lifts up, so the very top and the underneath top are both clean. The catchers (?) under the coils are what doesn't want to be clean. I used dish detergent & then Comet and nothing worked. Well... they are a little cleaner I guess... but they are still pretty icky!

Aw.. Josh just texted me to say he had met my sister. That was so sweet! :)

Broke out the Christmas music today - love it!

Tonight I get to see my very first Thunderbirds game - yay! So I should really get some more research done for my typography book & my designer papers before I go home and get ready for the evening.

Ta ta for now!
me :)

mass consumerism

Happy day-after-Thanksgiving! Hope you all enjoyed your turkey - or chicken, or lamb... - are now home after a long day of sales.

The only shopping I've done is to go into Bed Bath & Beyond to get a vacuum cleaner because I really need to vacuum. That's my project for tomorrow.

You would think it was summer by the amount of people in the market today. We were busy from 9ish on. Yikes. It was a little crazy, but we were getting thru. I even got to make some drinks during the busy time! Oh, happy black Friday, 7656! I missed you all today!

Dinner yesterday with Beth & her parents, her sister & brother-in-law & their 2 boys. A 21-pound turkey was WAY too much for the 8 of us - especially on top of mashed potatoes, dressing, rolls, yams, etc. Oh and a choice of pumpkin or berry for the pies. Can you say stuffed??! We ate at 1ish and were so stuffed we didn't eat supper. Needless to say, I was pretty close to ravenous this morning when I woke up for work.

So I worked and went to BB&B and now I am sitting in Starbucks pretending I'm actually doing work online. Which I sort of am. In a different window. I have 2 projects due for Typography within the next 3 weeks (when everything else is due!) and I really need to get working on them. We have lots of comps & roughs due on Thursday. Definitely makes me dread Thursday...!

Wow - this is taking me so long to write. I really am looking up stuff for those projects. And ordering the Zambonis Greatest Hits at amazon.ca since .com isn't carrying it. grrr...

Ok, I so need to remember why it was so important for me to blog. Oh yeah.... RHB & I wandered the market together on both Tuesday & Wednesday. So need to stay away from him! ;)

I'm going to leave you on that. Have a fun holiday weekend and know that I am missing you in NJ!

xo :)

blog-worthy?

So far behind on my blogging - appologies to all.

I'm picking up more hours at work and more homework from school. Does this sound like a problem to anyone else???!!!!!

Midterm grades were better than I had expected: A, B+, and 3 Bs. I am still struggling with not being sure that I "fit in." All these people that I hang out with carry their sketch books and are always drawing and stuff. And they are the people who are getting all the As. And they are always like, Oh I have been carrying this for years. Yeah, HI. I haven't been doing that. This is all new to me. So I guess I'm thankful that I'm doing as well as I am. (Maggie says "the world is run by B students" and encourages me to not worry.) Although, I have decided that I will not be sleeping for the rest of the quarter. I have an incredible amount of work to do in the next 5 weeks. ACK!!!!!

I am working on my networking skills however. Working at the original Starbucks allows me to meet lots of people from headquarters. Fletch & I were on register and met this guy from the design department. He encouraged us to come and visit. So we have to figure that out. That was neat. Then it got shoved to the back of my mind as the line of customers got longer and longer and out the door and down the sidewalk..... All because it was Veteran's Day? I guess, but it was also not raining?

Let's see. What else have I done?

Beth & I went out to the Falls yesterday afternoon. We thought there was A LOT of water, but according to Tad, it was nothing compared to Tuesday when it crested. But whatever. It was really neat and I took a whole bunch of pictures. (That I can't share with you because I'm at school and not on my laptop. Maybe I different day???)

Saturday night, Beth & I went to Stacey's for pizza (& salad & pop & ice cream & cookies) and a movie. We agreed on "love actually." It was better than I had expected and am now thinking about buying it.

Friday night was a birthday/going-away work party - West Seattle is a little sketchy - I had no idea. I went by myself, hung out with Kevin & Christopher. Heather is from Rochester, NY, so we talked for a bit. But I left early with the guys and they were so incredibly sweet and took my home. I ended up playing Apples to Apples in 213 for a while, then cleaned my desk and went to bed.

Thursday night was where today's title came from. Walking home from class, carrying Kristen's stuff cuz she walked off with mine. Got out of class early - nice! Walking home with Jared & Ryan talking about eating at Subway. I was starving and said, well, if you don't mind, I'll stop by my place and drop this stuff off and join you. Turns out Jared was going on home, so Ryan stopped home with me and then we went to Subway. Discussed what sub to get and what to put on it and whether or not we were together when it was time to pay. Then we sat and talked about the order in which to eat chips/subs. And EVERYTHING else! It was really neat to have such a long interesting conversation with someone I had just met. (Did I mention that he's 6'3", really cute and only 19???????) Such is my life.

Well, I have to work on my photoshop exercises - since I am in class and all...

Missing everyone back east...

xoxo

its raining...

I swear I saw the sun this morning when I woke up. But then I went back to sleep and when I woke up again, it was raining. And it's still raining. And it looks like it will keep raining. And it's windy and peoples' umbrellas are blowing inside-out.

Perhaps it is a good day for comfort food, 'tho I should be eating salad...!

Comforting Scrambled Eggs
A small frying pan will work if you are alone.
Saute some garlic and chopped onion in olive oil.
Crack 2 eggs - or 3 depending on how hungry you are - into a mixing bowl. Scramble with a fork and add some milk and seasongins - your favorites. I usually use seasoned pepper. Pour into the frying pan. As the eggs start to cook, use the fork to scramble them to fluffy. Enjoy with buttered toast and your favorite juice. i.e. whatever is in the fridge.

If that doesn't do it for you, head to your closest Starbucks and curl up in a comfy chair with a new holiday beverage - Eggnog Latte, Peppermint Mocha, or Gingerbread Latte.

Be warm & dry, whichever option you choose.


xo :)

weekend musings...or something...

Went out after work on Friday night. That was fun. Shana & Beth & I sat and chatted with the bartender. And he made us stuff. :)

Saturday, I rented a car - thanks Josh! - and went over to West Seattle then up to Wallingford, shopped at University Village and also South Center Mall. I loved the freedom that comes with having a car and being able to go anywhere without trying to figure out the bus schedule. Some people just don't understand (Spencer). Found an awesome store on California Street called Moxie. It's a papergoods and gifts store - LOVE IT! :) In Wallingford, I ate lunch at Dick's then hung out with Chris. SO good to see him! Shopping was fun - I had no idea Crate & Barrel had real stores. Yay! There were plates in Domino this month from Anthropologie and they were ON SALE this weekend. But I was good and I didn't buy any, even tho they were an extra 40% off! Very fun shopping experience. Although it cracked me up that there were 2 stand-alone Starbucks and one in the Barnes & Noble..... I was going to experience other coffee shops, but ended up only going to Starbucks. So much for diversity..... :(

Saturday night was the "Ugly Sweater Party" at Krista's. It was actually Jacob & Melissa's birthday(s) party. It was a lot of people from work and a lot of other friends. Most of the guys were REALLY cute, but I couldn't figure out if they were gay or not. Ethan was the hottest. ;) Instead of adding juice - or whatever - to the jungle juice, they just kept adding vodka. So I kept adding water, unti that was all I was drinking straight water. I ended up leaving about 10:45. And walking home. From half-way up Queen Anne Hill. In short sleeves. And it was cold. But I was mad. At myself for wanting Ethan to pay attention to me instead of Whitney, the gorgeous redhead in the cheerleader skirt. I think what made me madder was that she was a total sweetheart and I couldn't be mad at either of them. Ack! So I went home.

Yesterday was a quiet afternoon in Kirkland, with an excursion to Redmond for albums at Ben Franklin, a 3-ring binder at Staples and coffee at Soul Food Books. Finally - not Starbucks! lol The power was out at the meeting room, so we had a hymnsing in the dark, then I returned my car downtown and Dallas & Lisa gave me a ride home. Hung out with Maggie & Corey for a while, then off to bed. And it's class again today.

xo :)

wicked homesick

I had no idea I would get homesick. But it's wierd, because I wasn't like I want to go home. It was more the whole not wanting to be where I couldn't make friends. Tuesday was rough. The gray cloud that had been following me turned VERY BLACK and I cried a bunch. That night, I listened to The Zambonis' Happy When We're Winning from Chippy Sessions and I went to bed with a smile on my face. Dreamed about a friend from home giving me a HUGE hug - it made me sad in my dream and again when I woke up. I want a hug like that out here. It would at least make me feel warm & fuzzy.

Thursdays are the worst! Typography is like working in the industry for 4 hours. She expects perfection, so that's a little difficult when you're not sure what she's asking. And no, it's not getting easier. We also have an over-achiever in our class. (It was amusing to us that she did her first comp the wrong size!) I got a "C" on the crafting of my first comp. But we can resubmit next week, so... Yes, I have piles of homework for that class, but I'm taking the weekend off. I did my first presentation in Cultural Theory last night. It was a group project and we managed to pull it off. 'Tho Melissa made the powerpoint go way too fast. Whatever. It's over now.

OOOO... I met a straight guy. He works at Starbucks with me! AND... He plays hockey!!!!!!! I informed him that he's my new best friend. Believe it or not, his g/f is named Rachel. I met her Tuesday night as well. Anyways, I came to this conclusion - as I walked home and with the help of Rachael & Maggie - that: Straight + Hockey Player does not = HOT I'm hoping he might have friends..... ;)

And I met a RHB who is also cute. And he flirts. And we're having a very wierd email conversation on myspace. Anyways, he lives on my floor and we have a class together. And Rachael & Maggie told me to stay away from him. Kinda reminded me of when you, KMC, told me to stay away from the army boy. Hmmm.... What would I do without my girls?! BTW, I had a 1-line email from the army boy.........

I bought 2 cds this week. Yes, I know I didn't need them, but... I was shopping at Bed Bath & Beyond on Monday night. I got a curtain for a door in my apartment. (Oh, right, I'm supposed to be posting pictures. Wait... I haven't taken any -oops!) Stopped by the cd display and discovered "Totally 80s" and just had to buy it! Then on Tuesday, Live from the Mountain Music Lounge Volume 12 released in all Western Washington Starbucks and I bought that. Because they've been promoting it non-stop on 103.7 The Mountain. WOW! It is so good. But I can't tell you what's on it, because I can't remember. One Man Wrecking Machine (Guster) and Easy (BNL) are both on there, but other than that...

Y'know, I wrote a list of things I wanted to put in this blog in my journal. My journal is upstairs and I didn't look at it before I came down here. So this is all for now.

Missing you! xoxoxo

random

I made friends today with 2 of the guys who the guys who throw fish in the market. That was fun. The cute one with red hair is married. Figures!

I spent $9.85 on vegetables and fruit in the market today. Yet Starbucks is cheaper out here than it was at home. Odd...

I was assigned to a group on Thursday night in class. Guess what our group has to do? Present a project on culture - next Thursday. Yeah, I know! We talked in class and said we'd email, but we really have NO IDEA what we are doing except that we might be talking about the disposable society in which we live. (Comments could be helpful here...)

Well, off to research. Sitting in Starbucks - like always - with no clue where I should even start looking or what I should be looking up.

And my friend Sam just invited me to go clubbing tonight. It's somewhat tempting as I haven't danced in years....;)

one more why

Why do I totally suck at walking? You would think that after being here for 3 weeks, I would realize the sidewalks have cracks in them and perhaps, you would think, I would remember to watch where I am going. Whatever. I wear a lot of coffee on my hands from all the tripping [over cracks in the sidewalk] that I do.

I haven't been anywhere but Belltown and Kirkland in a week & a half. Wait. I think it's been 2 weeks. It's sad really. I'd like to go shopping, but don't even make it up to Westlake Center. shrugs. Guess you know that means I've been staying in doing my homework.

I'm tired of doing homework. However, Illustrator is starting to make a little bit of sense.....

P.S. Email to PH as well, if I ever get around to writing it. ;) I really need to go home now and get ready for work.



love you! xoxo :)

why?

Why is White Zinfandal PINK?

Why do I have classes at 7:30 in the morning?

Why is it so hard to make friends in a new city?

These are just a few of the burning questions I ask myself on any given day. I do know that said White Zin is yummy. I have Introduction to Computer Graphics at 7:30 AM because I am a first-quarter student. The friends thing is still an unknown.

Last night, I was at Starbucks with Andrew & El & Beth. I was describing my dilema to them and they were most surprised that I hadn't made any friends. They said they thought I would make friends easily. I thought I would have made friends more easily than this. But the friendly Seattle that I had discovered on my previous visits doesn't seem to exist. I'm not sure why that is.

But it's not just the city where I'm not making friends. It's also really difficult to make friends at school. I have a friend that lives in my building - no classes together, but we connected on Surviving Seattle day and swapped phone numbers and stuff. My other friend is one I met on myspace - yes, I know..... - she goes to my school & also works at Starbucks so a mutual friend thought we should be friends. Turns out we have 2 classes together. And she is a very neat person! :) But other than that, I don't have any friends in the city.

Yes, I talk to people in class, but I don't hang out with them outside of class. It's very strange. Even my apartment building is like that. Everyone who lives in the building (for the most part) goes to the Art Institute. But this is nothing like college. Back in college, everyone had their doors open all the time and people were back & forth all the time. And there was a communal bathroom where you never knew who you were going to see in there. But now, we are all apartment dwellers - and totally un-connected. It's pretty sad that I meet new people on my floor on a very regular basis. In the elevator and then we go our separate ways and into our little apartments and don't talk until the next elevator trip - should there happen to be one!

So last night was really neat. First of all, I got to drive Andrew's F150. Woo Hoo! I am so a pick-up girl! ;) Then he took the 3 of us girls out to Starbucks. We sat there and talked. And talked. And talked. It was such a warm feeling. I am so blessed by my friends in Kirkland. I just wish I saw them more often than Sundays & Wednesday nights.

Oh, and I'd like to point out that working in tourism is not all that it's cracked up to be. My store manager told me the first weekend I worked that it was the last weekend for cruise ships. But they've been docked every weekend since then. Apparently, this really was the last one. We'll see....... But not only that. There were 12,000 people in town for the National Parks & Rec conference. And those were just the attendees! I met presenters that were really cute. ;) Oops - sidetracked! lol

Saturday was a "slow" day - you could see space between the people in the lobby, but still weren't quite sure who was waiting to order and who was waiting for drinks. We kept trying to keep those waiting to order in one line, but the people who were waiting to order coffee didn't want to wait for the people who were buying out the store and vice versa. Sure, why not take home a whole case of tumblers to your friends? Spend $300 in the United States - woo hoo! :) Anyways, it's fun to work there, just a little frustrating at times.

Looks like I'll be doing homework for the rest of the day, so this is it for now.

I'm trying to catch up on my email, so watch your inboxes - especially people like KH, KK, KMC, LD, FS, & RE!!! ;)

who is nada surf?

It always rains in Seattle. But it's kinda nice today.

Today I am supposed to be doing homework, but I got to see Gasworks Park & The Fremont Troll. And now I'm blogging, but Starbucks closes in a half hour, so I can work after that. :)

On Tuesday of last week, I met Stacey outside my building and we walked up to Mama's Mexican Kitchen. It was a cozy little place and the food was yummy. We walked up to The Moore but the list wasn't down to the will call window yet, so we wandered on down 2nd and into Fancy - Pants. I bought a really cute button ring and we befriended the owner. Back to The Moore, the list was down and I was on it and I just had to show ID. THANK YOU DAVE & ADAM!!!!!!

Tristan Prettyman opened. She has an amazing voice and a cute drummer. ;) A short intermission was followed by Nada Surf taking the stage and ROCKING The Moore. I had never heard of them, but they do "The Teenage Handbook of Popularity". Stacey thought their drummer was hot. Another intermissiong and it was time for Guster. Yes, I am from the East Coast. No, I had never seen them in concert. Yes, I know that's sad. But I enjoyed every minute of it! And was totally exhausted by the time it was over. Oh, CDs were only $10, so I bought Nada Surf's newest and also Guster's newest. That was a very fun night. Oh, and Stacey & I agreed that Ryan Miller (Guster, not Sabres!) was very talented, but neither of us thought he was all that cute. ;)

Other than that, things are settling into a routine of sorts. I may even get to learn to knit tomorrow night, but we'll see how the day goes. I have piles of work to do......

really...i'm here...

GREETINGS Y'ALL!!!

I know I gave out this blog to everyone, but then I had to finish packing and then we were driving cross-country and then I had to move in and then I had to unpack and then I started settling and then I started working and today I started school.

(Do you like my run-on sentence?!)

Schedule looks like this:
Monday Morning - Introduction to Computer Graphics *
Tuesday Morning - Color Theory
Wednesday Afternoon - Drawing & Perspective
Thursday Afternoon - Typography **
Thursday Night - Cultural Theory ***

* Using a Mac or Illustrator prior to this class would have come in handy. Instead, I'm getting a crash course in both...
**I am so excited!!!
* & ** I have both of these with Kristen - my new bestest friend because she has a truck and she took me grocery shopping today! :)
*** I am a little concerned about walking home from this one.

I love living in downtown Seattle and working at Starbucks. It is definitely a new experience and one that I am enjoying. I finally have an internet connection, so hopefully I can update more regularly.

P.S. Tomorrow night, Guster is playing in my neighborhood and I HAVE TICKETS!!! (not that I'm excited or anything) :)



This is a Washington State Ferry and me being in the right place at the right time! :)