me, rachel

So remember when a week and a half ago I promised you a story “tomorrow?” Well…yes. I realize it is not the 16th today, and I am sorry. However, it is yesterdays tomorrow…just in case that means anything to anyone. But I digress.


In case you hadn’t guessed, that gorgeous ring symbolizes something quite exciting. It means that I am now engaged (!!!!!). I have a rock on a very important finger, and in the not-too-distant future will be walking down the aisle wearing a white dress. I’m getting married!!!!


So, I promised you a story. Before I begin, I feel that a disclaimer is necessary: while I find this story to be amazing, the most romantic of my life thus far actually, I realize that to those of you who are only just meeting me, it may not mean a thing. So many of the things that happened that night were so special for us, I don’t expect you all to understand all of it. But I think you may enjoy the story anyway.


Dave and I have been dating for 2 and a half years. We had been talking about getting married for a while, but I had no idea when he was going to pop the question. I was thinking it might be this summer, maybe in May when we get home from school for holiday. In any case, when we went home for Easter break early, a proposal was the last thing I was expecting.


A few weeks earlier, I had planned a shopping trip with Emily, since I needed a semi-formal dress for an event coming up at school. We were going to spend all day Friday out on the town, tracking down the perfect dress at the perfect price (meaning as close to free as possible…I am a poor college student!). So, Friday morning, I got out of bed and got dressed for a shopping day. She had brought a friend, Amy, home from school, so she went with us, as did Emily’s sister April and my sister Sarah. Before we left, Emily had me grab a “springy” outfit, because she wanted to do one of her signature photo shoots when we got back.


That girl is camera happy.


So, we go out, spend 2 hours in Plato’s, and then hit the mall. I preferred the idea of going to Goodwill or something, because something from the 80’s is bound to cost less than something from Macys. But, whatever. I don’t look that good in 80’s anyway. So, we go in and scout Deb, in the process getting thoroughly glittered. We tore through the Disney store (there was a great blue one…but unfortunately it only came in size 3T…oh to be a kid again…). By this time, we had worked up an appetite so we hit the food court for some sustenance—aka ice cream. Fantastic way to fit into obscenely tiny dresses.


After a small vanilla cone, I lead the fast-fading troupe of girls to JC Pennys, to check out their hot pre-Easter sales. We tore through their racks, everyone grabbed something to try on for fun…I grabbed 20 to try on for serious. I was getting sick of shopping. After misgauging my size (darn those dresses run small…), I found this great ivory colored one for only $20! Woo! That’s speaking my language! So, we bought it and took off.

When we arrived back at Emily’s, I was waaay to tired to be a model, and I told her so. So, we all went upstairs and crashed.


Then, we decided we wanted to see “our boys” so we took off again for Carl’s house.

Once there, we discovered (with much glee) that we got to watch a chick flick for once! So, we put in Failure to Launch, which was really quite hilarious, and ate dinner. Grilled cheese sandwiches, I think. Unfortunately, Carl had a meeting at church at 9:30, so we all got kicked out around 9:20. Ok, not kicked out. Carl left, so we all sat around staring at each other for about 30 seconds before Emily decided to take Amy home, so Dave and I took off, too.


It was a gorgeous, cloudless night, and still so early, so we decided it was a shame to go home already. So, since we were up there anyway, Dave suggested we go stargazing at Five Pines, something we had been talking about for a long time.


Unfortunately, in the 3.8 minutes it took to drive over there from Carl’s, I started thinking about how Five Pines might not want us stargazing on their property uninvited. And of course I voiced my concern. And of course Dave told me not to worry about it. So, of course we went stargazing.


We lay down on one of the big tables in the nature circle and took in the breathtaking view. Then, I started thinking again about stargazing at Five Pines without permission, so we got up to leave. We got in the car, and drove out past the Activity Center. This is when we noticed that one of the lights was on.


Since Dave and I had both worked here in the past, we knew how to get in if we needed to, so Dave suggested we go in and shut the light off. I let him, and I stayed in the car. Silly me.


So, Dave goes in and shuts off the light, then comes back out and says, “Rachel, come on in! I think there’s something here you should see.” So, I’m mildly curious and majorly suspicious. I mean, how cool would it be to propose at Five Pines, where we met and fell in love??


So, I go inside and voila! A gorgeous candlelit setting for two, a fire in the fireplace, flowers everywhere, and when I turn around, Dave on one knee! (!!!!!)


So, neither one of us can really remember what he said next…just that he ended with “Will you marry me?” I, brilliantly, asked “Is this for real??” before squealing a very excited “YES!!” When he got up, he sat me down and poured two cups of tea, then went to cut the cheesecake. Unfortunately, he forgot a knife so he cut it with his fork, silly boy. Once we each had our tea and cheesecake, he sat down and started telling me how all this had come about.


I was too excited to eat. Imagine, me, too excited to eat cheesecake. Yeah, it was weird.

So he told me that everyone (meaning all my best friends) were totally in on in and waiting for me to call them so they could come swarm us. And that Mike (our small group leader when we attended Five Pines) was “on call” with a wicked awesome camera to take pictures for us.


So, this is when this epic dilemma comes into my life: I was not dressed for a proposal, but it had happened anyway! I was wearing my comfy sweater, nothing gorgeous or glamorous...then I remembered (ok so Dave reminded me) of my clothes from the never-quite-happened photo shoot and my new dress out in the car. So i went and got them. And decided against them. Even though I didn't look glamorous. So there, fashion. I felt beautiful even though I wasn't wearing anything glamorous. Ha ha ha.


So, I called Emily, who had no service on her phone. So I called Holly, who ran out of Aaron and Sarah’s so fast she nearly forgot her shoes. And Holly called Emily and got through. And somehow Carl got grabbed and dragged along.


And they came and attacked me. Us. Tackled. It was quite exciting.


And I called home to tell them the good news ASAP, and Dad told Mom that I was thinking about it. And I laughed. Hard.


And Mike took pictures, and everyone but me ate cheesecake, and I couldn’t stop smiling, or being distracted by the bling—er—ring on my finger, and I still can’t stop being distracted by it. It’s very exciting.


Oh, since I never said, it was Friday April 10th…it was a very Good Friday ;-)

me, rachel

Story tomorrow :)
me, rachel
So, earlier today I thought I would tell you all about what a lovely spring day it is today. I was going to show you this picture of this beautiful flowering tree. Seriously, it was 69 degrees today…and the flowers smell amazing! I love spring!


But then I was leaving the radio station on my way to my history class, and I casually commented that I really wanted a cookie, which was sad times for me as I had no way of obtaining said desired cookie. But when I walked into class, the secretary in that building walked up and handed me this plate of cookies. She told me that our class (6 girls) had to eat all the cookies before we could leave. I had 3. It was amazing.

Then history got out early, so I went back to my dorm and Stasia and Olivia were there. We started talking about ideas for Elliv, and in the process somehow got on the topic of Amy Winehouse hair. Not Amy Winehouse herself, but just her hair. So, we YouTubed how to do Amy Winehouse hair…and then decided to try it on Olivia. Here is her first attempt, using a stick of deodorant:



This one turned out much better.



We used a pair of my fuzzy purple sleep socks, rolled up in a ball, and pinned to her head. Then we covered them with her hair. Haha it was awesome! She’s decided that regardless of what theme we eventually decide on for Elliv, she’s going to do her hair like that!

Then I went to dinner, where nothing terribly eventful happened. After dinner, Dave and I went to Mom + Dad’s (a cute little place across the street that sells every food imaginable, and I’m not even kidding) for ice cream. We got two large soft serve cones, one peach and one mocha (I’ll let you guess which one was mine!). For starters, I have never finished a large cone in my life. That is still true. For another thing, I didn’t know soft serve ice cream came in any flavor but vanilla, chocolate, or swirl. This was an exciting concept for me. We took our over-sized cones, and started walking back across someone’s yard and into the high school parking lot. We kept going, past the playground, the baseball diamond, and the football field. We tried to take a path around the football field, but ran into a cornfield, and decided against cutting through that as I was wearing flip-flops. So, we turned around and ended up on a picnic table behind Mom + Dad’s, just talking.

We walked around the lake, which at Cedarville usually means you’re engaged, but that’s not us quite yet. Then, a thunderstorm started rolling in, so Dave took me back to my room and he went home.

Back at the unit, Stasia, Olivia and I decided to go on another adventure. This time we wanted to rearrange our unit lounge. It’s been the same since August, and with only one month left of school it is high time for a change! So, we grabbed my camera, and went door to door of all the different units in Maddox to see how they arranged their furniture. We looked like creepy stalkers taking pictures through windows. But we weren’t, I swear.

Then, armed with a mop, a broom, and creative genius, we attacked the lounge. There were no survivors. All the dust bunnies bit the…well…dust. Now, not only is our lounge homier, it is clean! Yay!

I also found out today that a friend of mine from back home is coming to visit campus tomorrow! I’m so excited!! So I’ll tell you all about her visit, tomorrow.

I should probably study for the Spiffo test I have tomorrow…failing is not something I want to tell you all about! Anybody have any good study tips?
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me, rachel


















So, today is April first, also known as April Fool’s Day. I am glad to report that I have yet to be silly-stringed, short-sheeted, or TP’d. I am sad to report that I did not have Jello in my cup instead of juice, or dirt for desert. Aww I miss being a little kid! Mom used to do those for dinner on April Fool’s Day…along with mini hamburgers made of vanilla wafers and colored frosting, and shoestring potato chips. Best dinner of the year!!! Woo!


Nevertheless, (has anyone else ever noticed that nevertheless is the single coolest word in the English language? It’s like three words all sandwiched together!!) today is still April Fool’s Day. Normally, I live in unit 30. Today, when I pulled out my key to enter my unit, the door said 10! Then, upon opening the door I reached for a chocolate covered strawberry (ooo I know, we have a swanky unit!) but they were rather closer to the floor than I remembered. Apparently, Becca and Olivia took the time today to switch the 1, 2, and 3 on units 10, 20, and 30. Then, they flipped all the furniture in our lounge upside down, and even went to all the trouble of taking the table cloth off the table containing the chocolate covered strawberries, laying it out on the underside of the table, and neatly arranging the plates etc. on top again!


Also, my crazy-awesome-liberal-roommate Kim and I rarely keep our door locked (shh…don’t tell the RD), but there was a note on it today that read: “Rachel: Trust no one. Keep the door locked!” So I obliged. Except right now its unlocked because I’m in the room…and I feel it would be rather difficult to pull the sort of prank the girls in unit 30 are famous for with me in the room. Just a thought.


Keep enjoying the spring weather, and watch out for Vaseline on the toilet seat and Icy Hot on your deodorant. Or Vaseline on your deodorant and Icy Hot on the toilet seat. Or X-Lax in your sandwich. Yeah, watch out for that.