spring break 09

a college student's spring break....every kid dreams about the wild and crazy adventures they will encounter on these trips. but me. do i get to experience wild and crazy adventures? nope. i'm stuck at home. and just when i think this year will be different and i will actually have a great time, plans change.

so the original plan was to go camping at the beach with a group of friends. then we looked at the weather....in the 40s all week during the day, so i can't even imagine how cold it's gonna be at night...so that was a no go. as nick put it, "i don't want to be fighting off hypothermia on my spring break." and i'm in full agreement there. so we move on to new plans. let's go to the mountains and go skiing and stay at the lodge. well the lodge was too expensive...i mean we're broke college kids, come on! so that was a no go.

but then i thought, what if we rent a cabin. so i do some reasearch. i find this goregous cabin, i call and haggle the price until the guy agrees on $450 for a 12 person cabin for 5 days/4 nights. and the cabin was gorgeous!! it had a hot tub, pool table, great space so we don't kill each other. and we finally got a group of people to go. all we needed now was a credit card to make the reservation. well while waiting for the person with the credit card to call me so i can make the reservation, two people back out and decide they don't want to go anymore.

"it's too expensive."
"what are we gonna do for 5 days up in the middle of no where"
"we have to spend extra money on food and alcohol"
"we're gonna kill eachother after a few days from being all together"

and these were only some of the excuses given. so now it's too expensive for the rest of us to go, and to be completely honest, the group dynamics changed so it would be a lot less fun without these two. so we're not going. and now i'm stuck here in raleigh on my spring break. doing absolutely nothing. how fantastic. it's every college kids dream! NOT...

happy birthday ryan!

today is my little brother's birthday! even though he's taller than me now, he will always be my little brother :) i can't believe it. he's not so little anymore lol he is turning 17! ohhh lord. where has the time gone?! i still remember the days we would flip the couch over in the play room and make it into a fort. we would play dog family...he would be the brother dog and i would be the sister dog and we would go on searches for our mother dog. lol and we had nicknames for eachother...he would call me sizzler and i would call him butter. lol what great memories.

happy 17th birthday little brother!
i love you!!

drama, drama everywhere

i hate drama. most people do, of course. but some people thrive on drama. and drama follows some people. but i'm just sick of it. last night was soo drama filled, i wanted to punch something. i thought once i went to college, drama would disappear. boy was i wrong, now it's just different drama. ughhh. please no more drama. especially this weekend. i want to enjoy my weekend. wish me luck.

can't help but wonder

so valentine's day is saturday. and i know it's so clique but it makes me think of romance and how i'm not in a relationship. now, i'm not complaining. to be honest, i'm enjoying the single life at the moment. and i'm living it up. so saturday i will be celebrating singles awareness day lol but i can't help thinking about love and romance. and don't get me wrong, if i find the right guy sometime soon, i would be willing to give up my single status for him.

when i was in middle school and first started liking boys, i remember putting a list together of all the things i expected from my future boyfriend and potential husband. of course that list has changed over the years (drastically, might i add lol). i've gone through enough relationships (good, bad and even very very bad) in my short life to figure out things i like and definitely don't like in a guy. and things to look for in a guy, and things to stay far far away from. i use to think i had one specific type (looks-wise) i was interested in but over the years, i've also realized that seems to change as well.

some things on my list include:

• protective, but not controlling
• makes me laugh, and enjoys laughing with me
• knows when to be serious
• cuddling, with no other intention but just that
• can be comfortable talking to me about anything and everything
• is driven and his life is going in a positive direction
• doesn't need constant reassurance that i want to be with him
• being optimistic
• willingness to show his affection for me in public without going overboard
• respects my choice of friends (added bonus: become friends with them!)
• loves my family and can get along with them
• and a brand new addition to my list: love and adore kobie as much as i do :)

now this is only a very limited list but i just thought i would give you a quick overview.

i can't wait to have that love of my life and have that feeling. i've been hurt in the past but that doesn't deter me from wanting to be in love again. it's like the saying goes, "if you were in love once and it hurt this bad, imagine how amazing it will feel when you actually find The One." i look at my mom and dad's relationship and i can just see the love radiating around them. or i look at my friend v and her hubby and how in love they are. i can't wait to have that. i know, i know, i'm rushing my life away. but i still can't help but look forward to it.

i can't help but wonder who my "person" is.... do i know him now? have i met him yet in passing and we'll meet again? or when will i meet him? so many questions. i guess i should stop asking and just let fate run it's course.

happy valentine's day everyone!
(or singles awareness day, whichever you decide to celebrate lol)

oh and ps: this does not in any way say that i want to get married soon or am even close to being ready to get married lol just thought i would throw that out there....just in case anyone got freaked out *cough* mom *cough*

wishing for the weekend

this week seems to be crawling compared to this weekend. but then again, i had a jam packed, fun filled, exciting weekend. so i'm sure that doesn't help. and this week seems to be a little bit stressful because i've had to do a lot more school work for this week compared to the rest of the semester. but it's only tuesday and i'm already wishing it to be the weekend.

i guess i should start off by telling you about my weekend. my grandparents were in town (mom's side) so friday, i went to lunch with them. that night, nikki came over and we got all dressed up. then we went to a party that my neighbor's across the hall were having. my neighbor scott turned 21 so it was a pretty big deal. it was a night filled with mango margaritas (a whole bowl of them to be exact), dominating beer pong (go us!!), dancing, and a lot of laughing lol oh and how could i forget about our interesting adventure to cookout. wow it was a great night.

saturday morning, i was woken up by a phone call from my house at 10am (not pleasant after an entire night of drinking). i didn't answer but then listened to the message. "hey rachel, it's dad. just wanted to let you know mom, granny, and poppy are on their way over to your apartment so hopefully you wake up soon. love you." GOOD MORNING! i was up in a flash and poor nikki had to help me stuff everything in my closet to make it look somewhat neat and presentable lol so much for sleeping in. so then my grandparents came to visit the apartment and then i went back to my house so i could spend some time with them. i had to take a nap in the afternoon so i could actually function for the rest of the day and survive another crazy night. after my nap, my grandparents took my family to the chop house in cary, a nice steakhouse. the food was really good and it was a lot of fun. after dinner, i drove back to my apartment where nikki and i got ready and headed over to a friend's place. we spent the rest of the evening much like the previous one (except i was DD so no drinking for me, which was perfectly fine)....a loooot of dancing lol and laughing. and another adventure to cookout.

sunday, i actually got to sleep in...a little. but it was such a pretty day out. so instead of writing my paper (that was due sunday night), i went to the park with nikki, dave, and nick. it was around 70 degrees so it was perfect for a nice hike. except nikki said we were going to the park to "throw around a frisbee and enjoy the weather" so i wore flip flops. yeah we went for a hike. so i hiked in flip flops. and i survived!!! even after all the jokes everyone made. oh well. but it was still a lot of fun. the rest of sunday was spent working vigorasly on my paper and some other homework. and i found out elizabeth was back, so i talked to her for a while. but anyway, it was a busy but fun weekend.

now it's tuesday. i had a test today. i have a paper (that was due sunday which i got an extension on lol) due at some point, i have an interview at 8am on thursday morning, music hw, sociology homework, catch up on sociology reading, and i'm sure there is more. but needless to say, i'm sooo ready for this weekend. it's gonna be another fun one :) and it's valentine's day! i don't have a date (for the first time in a few years actually) but i'm perfectly fine with that. nikki is throwing a party, so i'm pretty excited! i'm just ready to get all this homework stuff over with.

enjoy the rest of your week...i'm sure i'll be up here before then though!!

GA to the rescue (again)

We all get at least one good wish a year. Over the candles on our birthday. Some of us throw in more. On eyelashes, fountains, lucky stars, and every now and then, one of those wishes comes true. So what then? Is it as good as we'd hoped? Do we bask in the warm glow of our happiness? Or, do we just notice we've got a long list of other wishes waiting to be wished?
~Meredith, Grey's Anatomy

once again, Grey's Anatomy comes to the rescue for some thoughts that have been weighing on my mind. people take too many things in life for granted. one good thing happens. we're happy. we smile. we feel great. but it just doesn't seem to be good enough. because we move on and then want more good things.

but when bad things happen, we dwell. many times, we dwell on them for long periods of time. too long. for example, a fight with a friend. it may take a while to move on and get over it. or a break up. yes we're heartbroken, and that's understandable, but we dwell for too long. and that's never healthy.

but what about the good things? why don't we dwell on those as long as we dwell on the bad things? well today, i want to change that. i'm guilty of dwelling. i know i am, and i'll be the first to admit it. so i want to break out of that and start enjoying the happy things in life. the great things in life that i sometimes overlook or take for granted. when i wish for something to happen and it happens, i want to be happy with the outcome, not all of a sudden start thinking of something else to wish for.

i hope everyone else can start doing the same! enjoy life!! you only have one chance. make the most of it :)

"each day's a gift and not a given right" ~Nickelback

fantastic weekend.

minus the really upsetting news i received on monday, this past weekend was great :) i went away, which was much needed after all the drama that occurred last week. i stayed with my friend adam, which was a lot of fun. adam, thanks for having me!! and i got to visit with my friend liz, which was also really awesome. her boy was in town (he came in from NY for the weekend). he was a really great guy. i'm glad i finally got to meet him after all the good things i've heard about him. friday, we went "uptown" and ate dessert at ruth chris, then went to a club called Alley Cats. it was a blast. i had a great time since i can't help but dance everywhere i go lol

saturday was the nc state-unc basketball game. of course i sported my pink nc state shirt (pink in memory of kay yow) but adam's roommate, mike, is a huge unc fan. he wanted to watch it in his unc shrine but i refused lol so the 3 of us went to a sports bar and watched it. unfortunately, state lost :( but it was a good game. adam and mike went to a concert with some of their friends saturday night so i went to a party with liz and her boy. it was a lot of fun and i met some pretty cool people. adam came after the concert, so it was nice to see him in his own environment lol and for the first time, he got to experience me being tipsy haha i bet he got a good laugh. and i got to see liz tipsy for the first time ever lol

sunday was just a relaxing day. we didn't do too much, which was perfectly fine with me. i don't need every minute to be busy to have a good time. just relaxing and spending time with people makes me happy. that night we went to a superbowl party at adam's friends. what a great game!! go steelers :D lol and some of the commercials were pretty hysterical. that night, poor adam got to experience the full rath of kobie's craziness lol i'm use to it, but she kept attacking his feet and she even pounced on his head. i was embarrassed lol it was like having your child misbehave in front of someone. she finally settled down though, but not before i was thoroughly embarrassed lol. that's ok though, i still absolutely love her ♥ and couldn't ask for any other kitten. she's my perfect companion.

i left monday, but i definitely didn't want to. i'm already looking forward to going back. i had a really great time. adam makes me laugh so hard, which was much needed this weekend. i'm ready for him to come visit raleigh now. he's running for homecoming king, so i'm sure the visit won't happen until after he wins ;) but i wish it was sooner rather than later.

ps: good luck adam in your quest for homecoming king 2009!!

well, hope everyone else had a great weekend. what did you do? hope you had a fun superbowl sunday!! what was your favorite commerical?!

oh, and i cannot believe it is already february! this year is flying by already!! time, please slow down. i only have one college experience lol i want to make the best of it.

sad day

today i am completely speechless. i found out some shocking and very saddening news. yesterday, a friend lost one of the most important people in her life, her dad. the world has definitely lost a great person. he was a character and such a lovable person. he will be greatly missed. it was a tragic accident and i can tell just from the text messages we have sent back and forth today that she is completely devastated. i feel awful that i can't be there for her right now. she really needs support right now. i'm happy that her boyfriend was able to go with her though. he's there for mental, emotional, and moral support. i just wish i was able to be there for her as well.

i'm asking everyone to keep my friend and her family in their thoughts and prayers. this will be a rough time in their lives but i know that they are a close knit family and will be able to get through this. but i know it will still be hard. i can't even imagine what they are going through right now :( i love you elizabeth. both you and your entire family are in my prayers. ♥

Rest In Peace Dennis Boyle.
you will be greatly missed.