Not enough time...

Hello all of my faithful fans! Okay, let's be real, hello family! :) Sooo I have a favor to ask. My time is very limited with all this volleyball and working out and doing physical therapy. There's not much more time left after figuring in eating and sleeping! My athletic trainer, Julie, plays the guitar and has some pretty nice recording equipment so we are going to make a CD. :) If you all could help me out with choosing some songs to sing, that would be great. If everyone gives me at least three suggestions then I will probably have plenty of songs to do. Try to keep in mind my voice and abilities. Also, it is probably best to steer clear of hip hop-ish types of songs because she plays the guitar. Thanks everyone! Have a great weekend! Love, Rachel

Fox discovers the "paint" program

This was fun. I showed Fox how to use paint and he really liked it. Here are his creations. This first one (top left) is just something I like to do... it was the inverse of this picture below. Cool huh?

More Cali pics...

This is probably my favorite picture ever (top left) I'm a hatching penguin! haha... the next couple of pictures are us girls at a Mexican restaurant with Lyss' parents (not pictured).




























I also enjoyed reading a lot on my trip. It feels like I haven't read for pleasure hardly at all in my life, but it seems like its been a few years at least! The Kite Runner is a really great book and I would highly recommend it.

This last shot is just classic pool pose with Martha Washington hair... at least that was the goal... mine was already falling down.

Cali Pics

This first picture is at the beach in Monterey Bay at "lovers point" :)
Then we were at the Aquarium in Monterey Bay. My personal favorite is being happy little penguins!

In need of some updates...

So, I guess I have not really kept up on this. Now's probably not the best time to start... yes, mom, I'm avoiding my paper yet again. That is something I think I will never be able to change about myself. Procrastinator til the end!! Anyway, let's see... life has been moving along since my "new job woot woot" post. School finally ended for the summer, yet not for me because I took an incomplete in one of my classes because I didn't have time to finish my final paper as moving took WAY longer than expected! And I'm pretty certain I was very soon to a complete breakdown or panic attack. So I moved into a new house (well, new to me) about a mile and half away from the old one and from campus. It's really big and I love it! I'm living with some of my favorite people (outside of my awesome family, of course) so I'm pretty excited about the upcoming year and how great it will be. There are five of us girls: Angie, Chelsey, Nikki, Torii, and me. All of us are on the volleyball team together except Chelsey, who did play with us for two years but graduated in '06 with me. :)
Let's see, so I moved and sort of finished school and then went on vacation to California with Alyssa and Angie. So fun. Cannot express that enough! (pictures to come) Then I was off to Reno to visit Shane, Whitney, and the Kollster. ;) That was also SO much fun! We did a lot packed into just a few days, it was really great! Plus, mom visited them and overlapped with me a day, so it was nice to spend time with her there too. Then it was off to Utah. I stayed with Dena and Steve and visited with them and Troy. I was there a little over a week. Utah was a ton of fun too and I got to see people that I haven't seen for a long time and had some really great visits.
Then I came back home and moved my stuff from the basement to my room. I worked on my room a lot and to do this day I'm so close to completion, I can smell it! I spent a lot of time at mom and dad's that first week of July as Troy and his friend Josh came up to visit.
Okay, so enough of the dull play by play. I'll be sharing some pictures with you from the trip... but mostly from Cali because Angie and Lyss took pictures. My camera hasn't been working for like 4 or 5 months and I haven't made enough money to really take the plunge and buy a new one yet.
In recent news, I haven't really been working because I'd been visiting with Troy and doing my room and then I hurt my back last week. To take out all the details, I got an injection today in my lower back to try to shrink a bulge I have in one of the disks that was causing me a lot of pain and discomfort. It was really easy and didn't hurt (unlike the warnings mom and others gave me...). I didn't throw up or have any other weird stuff happen so that's nice. Hopefully this makes me better! If not, they try up to three injections with about a week in between each one. Volleyball starts on the 6th, so I'm hoping this injection worked and I'll be fine and ready to play. Worst case scenario would be if none of the injections took and then I couldn't play volleyball this year because I would have to have back surgery. Hopefully that's the last time I have to mention that because I'm on the road to recovery! :)
Mom and I are off to Clarkston, WA to visit with Tod, Ann, Fox, and Axel (my new nephew!!). We will be there a week. I'm so excited!
Well, I think that's all I have for now. I will post some pictures soon!
Love, Rachel

Sex Offenders Where I live...

I thought this was very interesting. There's the key on the left. I have a rapist living 4 blocks away from me. Watch Dog is a pretty cool site. Just put your address in and you get a map like the one I got for where I live.

New Job - woot woot!

So I got offered a job at Seattle Prep today and accepted it. I will be an Administrative Assistant starting September 3. I'm very excited for this opportunity and experience (not to mention making a lot more money than I ever have before!!).

[It is full time but it is unknown how long the position will last (as far as the duration in months goes... at least through February). This is because I'm filling in while the woman who usually works there goes through treatment for breast cancer.]

Broken Pinky

For those of you who weren't aware, I just noticed I had taken some pictures of my broken finger a few days after I broke it, so I figured, why not post these to the world? Yes, I have a very exciting life... I broke my finger playing kickball! :) haha. It was quite painful, but it was really cool. I dislocated it. The middle of the finger was totally out of the joint socket and I could see the bone and everything. It was pretty swollen the first few days and bruised even worse. But the bruising is nearly gone and it's only a little swollen now. It's been two weeks... so in two weeks from today I can start playing volleyball full out. I've been able to hit and serve, but nothing else and definitely not in any type of real game-like situations. Oh well, life goes on. Sadly, kickball was so fun... so worth it! ;)

Miss University 2007

This is old news... but I just got this picture from a friend, so that's why I waited. On April 30, I was in the Miss University Pageant for the three University Wards in the Seattle North Stake (for church). We wore our "evening wear" (see picture), performed a talent (I sang, video to come, hopefully), and had a personality section (you answered a question). It was so much fun!! Anyway, I don't have any pictures of me in my sash and crown for some reason, but I just thought I'd inform all of my fans that I won. ;) It was so much fun, I had such a blast. PS... my PJ's rock huh! hahaha! ALSO, sorry about the weird effects on the picture... who knows.

Subbing at Seattle Prep

I was an art teacher yesterday. I taught 3 blocks. I say "taught" in the loosest sense of the word, but still. Subbing is way fun. I surprise myself, sorta. I can be a little strict. (hehe) Things like, "Silence means no talking ladies" came out of my mouth. I've also noticed, by reactions from students, that I have a pretty mean glare/stare. If I shot them a look they were definitely reacting by not talking... wa ha ha. Anyway, I administered two tests which is why I needed to be strict but what's funny is that they were really good during the test but they were supposed to have "silent study hall" afterwards, which of course is something no one really likes except for those nerdy students who actually want to get homework from other classes done (the jewels in my crown they are. just like me). :) So anyway, nothing new to report except that I had a fabulous day. Also, riding the bus was fun of course. Now I'm actually pretty mad at myself for being an idiot and never riding it before. I should never be borrowing people's cars... that's what buses are for! The only thing is that they are time consuming. I had to leave at 6 and got to work by 7:15. But that's okay. It was an adventure. PLUS, I got lots of my reading done for school, so that's nice!

MAT Program

I'm in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here's the letter I got in my email yesterday at 3pm:

4/30/2007

Dear Rachel,

Congratulations! You have been approved for admission into the Master of Arts in Teaching program at Seattle Pacific University. The team and I were very impressed by your enthusiasm and passion for young people and believe you will make a fine educator.

Because we want to finalize our cohort, I need your written commitment of acceptance. Please email us using your full name by Friday, May 4, 2007, at gradadmissions@spu.edu to indicate your decision. If we do not hear from you, we will assume you are not coming and will give your place to another applicant. Very soon you will be receiving notification of your acceptance in the mail with other materials related to the MAT program including general graduate information and course descriptions.

On behalf of the faculty and staff, I wish you the very best of success as you embark on this exciting opportunity with us. We are excited to have you join our community of servant-learners.

Warm regards,

Richard Scheuerman, Ph.D.

Master of Arts in Teaching Program Chair

School of Education

Seattle Prep High School

I turned in all my paper work when I interviewed/just filled out paper work (haha) a week and half ago at Seattle Prep High School. I just got a call today a little before noon and I'm subbing tomorrow! Woo hoo! I'm really excited. I will let you all know how it went.

Also, I know this sounds extremely ridiculous being that I haven't had a car living in Seattle for the past two and a half years BUT I've never ridden the bus while living here. So, I've used the trip planner online and I will be riding the bus to get to work to substitute tomorrow and it will be my first bus commute!! :) I know, very exciting.

MAT Interview

The interview went GREAT! I was very charged and excited after Thursday's interview. There's no way I'm not gettin in people. I should be receiving an email by the end of this week and then you will know for sure what's going on and if I'm in. It was great though, I thought it went really well and I've decided it's really good I'm changing fields... I'm such a people person! ;)

MAT program update

Well, I received my congratulatory letter in the mail yesterday to inform me that I made it past the initial screening process for the Master's in Teaching program at SPU. I have a group interview on the 26th which will be the determining factor of my admittance to the program. It is 3 1/2 hours long! Yikes... good thing I'm a talker! ;) So about 2 weeks after the 26th I should be hearing about the decision. I will keep you informed.

Spring Quarter Update

So one of my classes was going to kick my butt, until I dropped it last night! :) Hehehe... I love being in control of that. So yay, now I'm just taking two classes and will able to enjoy Spring quarter, have fun, get some A's (hopefully...), play some vball, enjoy the sun that will hopefully start visiting more often, spend time with boys (you know I'm crazay about em), go camping with friends, take a visit to Canada, etc. These are just a few of my goals for Spring. I don't think I had the time available to do well in that class, it was just WAY to intense. I will take it next year when I have more time with no vball. So yeah, I also got a resume in to Seattle Prep High School. I'm going to write a cover letter today (hopefully) and send it in so maybe I can start substitute teaching! That is so exciting to think about! Anyway, I'll keep ya'll posted. ;)

Gold and Green Ball

These pics are from the Gold and Green Ball. It's like this region-wide church dance that is formal. Some people totally decked out like it was a high school dance, too. I look sick(my eyes look way tired) in the picture
with my date, so I figured I should post the pre-funk pics to redeem myself. Enjoy.

example of hair without any craziness...

It looks a little flat, but for those of you who were curious... this is most likely how I'd do my hair on a regular basis. :)

Roomie Outing

We got our picture taken at the troll under the Aurora Bridge, with the Fremont statues, and at Kerry Park. Oh so cute. What a fun roomie date. :)

Hair cut

I got my hair cut on Tuesday. It hasn't been this short for over a decade... There's the before and after shot... and since she styled my hair very disgusting, I've added two more of today. I will explore different styling options but am overall pleased.

Winter quarter

I'm so happy to report that winter quarter is over and spring quarter starts Wednesday! I did well, got a 3.9 (two a's and an a-), so I was pleased overall. I didn't get much of a lengthy break (got done late Thursday night and school starts six days later), but it was nice to go home and spend time with the parental units and mel and the little ones. I have three classes for Spring quarter as well. I'm really excited for one of them, it's called "human development and principles of learning"... should be just my ticket. ;)