Life of a Pup.

Today, I offered to help my friend Ashley Joy babysit and entertain her grandmother. Turns out, she did most of the entertaining, or her dog did. Today I decided that I was going to follow her dog, Max, around and see life from the view of a dog.

Here are a list of things I learned:

1. Playing all the time make you very tried.

2. Pooping in the grass is gross.

3. You have to wait to go potty until someone takes you.

4. My knees hurt.

5. Dogs don't get to brush their teeth, and smelly breath is gross.

Needless to say, I am happy that I am human.

Rachel.

Late night adventures.

Lately, I have learned that I do mostly nothing but sleep and be bored during the day. Until about 9 or 10pm. Thats when the adventures start. Some day, I go to the park and swing, and some times I go to perkins for a midnight snack.

Last night was of the more adventureous tonight. Around nine, Ashley Joy and I left to go to the movies in Sanford. First we had to stop for gas, and Swedish Fish. But then, Ashley Joy decided that she wanted a slushi, so we stopped at another gas station. We got there, and drove around like idiots because we couldn't find the movies.

When I see "idiots" I mean, we pretty much looked like idiots. Driving around the parking lot of the dead malls. Driving down one way streets, and jumping over curbs instead of turning around. After some reckless driving, we finally found the movies.

We saw. Braidmaids.. which had to be one of the worst movies I ever saw. Luckily, we were the only people in the movies, and so we weren't bothering anyone with our laughing during the "sad" and "meaningful" parts. Not to mention, we talked most of the time. Actually, we had some good conversations. Mostly about cops and their sexy cars.

Overall, it was a good night.

A simple space.

When I moved away to college, my brother decided that he was going to turn my old bedroom into his "man cave". After moving all of his clothes, "toys", and tv over to my room, it went from "girly beach room" to "manly dark room" in a matter of seconds.

While I was at college, this didn't really matter all that much to me, because I wasn't home to see it happening. Coming home for breaks was a little odd, because it didn't quite feel like "my space" anymore. While planning my stay for the summer, we realized that I wasn't going to be sharing a room with my brother and his stuff. Everything he owned was pretty much in my room, except his bed. He used his old room as a sleeping space. So it was decided that we would switch the furniture around, and I would have his old room while he had my old room.

His room is smaller then my old room, and so everything doesn't seem to fit the same way. The walls are also white, while in my old room I had painted the walls blue and sandy white to match my decor. After a few hard days of moving stuff around, I think I final settled into my new room.

Its the same though. I realized while I was moving my stuff out of the old room, how much I had moved into such a small room over three years. Everything was organized, but yet I still found stuff in place I would of never thought to look in years. For example: the back of my closet!

For three months, my new room will work fine. But there is still apart of me, that thinks every time I walk by my old room, "thats my room". And I think it always will be. The wall color is mine. The stains on the floor are mine. The curtain rod was picked out my me. The flower light switch plates are mine. It was my space, and I am just living in a temporary space that isn't mine. Almost like its being, rented to me. Free of charge of course.

It's just a thought. A house is just a bunch of wood and nails. And a room is just a blank space that we fill. What we fill it with is what makes it our own. But, for some reason, we still consider those wood, nails, and space to be apart of who we are. Which they are, in many ways. But in the large outlook of life... a room is just that.. a space.

Rachel.

Write Me!

Since I started, I learned that most of my friends live on all different sides of the country. The mid-west really does bring people together! I have friends who live in Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Texas... the list could go on and on. Thanks to the lovely world of Facebook and Skype it isn't very hard to contact and keep in touch with most of my friends. But, as you get older, you learn that talking to someone the internet isn't the same.

Over the past few weeks, I have been mailing and receiving letters from school friends from all over the place, through this system some would call "snail mail". Not only is getting a letter in the mail exciting, it also carries a special meaning to it. Not only can one say to themselves "hey! this person likes me enough to spend a full 40 cents on me" ... but they also decided to take the time to get out paper, find a pen, sit down, and write you a letter. When in reality, they could of emailed you in about five times less time.

Plus, it is kind of cool to open a letter, and think about where the letter came from. My friend actually touched this paper, folded it up, put it in the envelop, and then some random mail man took this letter from the other side of the country, and put it in my mail box. Pretty neat stuff.

The idea of writing (using your own handwriting instead of a key board) also adds a lot of personally touch. It makes everything seem so much more real and personal.

Clearly, I love getting letters. And I love writing them, because I know they will make my friends feel special and know that I am thinking about them. Today, technology has defiantly changed the way we think about communication. We take it for gradated every day. I think that the true challenge, is to ask ourselves "does this person mean enough to me, for me to sit down and take those extra ten minutes and do something different and special?"

And that is my challenge to you for today. Sit down and write a friend a letter. Even if they live down the street, or you see them every day. Because I can promise you, no matter how far they live, getting a letter (instead of a bill) in the mail will brighten their day. And if you don't have anyone to write to, you are always more then welcome to write to me.

Rachel.

My bad.

Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. What have I done? Always getting myself into a mess and waiting way to long to clean it back up. Oppies.

In case you haven't noticed, I've been gone for a few weeks. I hate to say that May was pretty much a fail. I realized once I got home, and summer started it was going to be harder to keep my blog up and running. At first, I thought it would be easier because I would have a lot more time to write and such. But of course, as soon as I got home, any kind of writing was the last thing that I wanted to do. Except, writing letters to friends. (which I hope will be tomorrows topic).'

Anyways. I am at home and summer as started. I am all moved into my new room (another topic for the future). After about two weeks, of staying at home and doing nothing I realized a few things...

1. I am so ready to work, its not even funny. I would rather would for 12 hours a day and make money.. then sit around doing nothing, because right now.. I am not getting anywhere in life.

2. I miss my friends from Concordia. I realize that I don't have many friends at all at home, because I choose to go to a college so far away, and only came home twice all year. At school, I am almost never alone... but now, I am alone all the time. I also learned that I have changed A LOT over the past year. There is such a fine line between college and high school it is incredible. I don't care about my high school friend's silly drama... and I guess, its just a different world.

3. I miss Nebraska. I never thought I would say this. But I miss the life style. I actually miss being surrounded by nothing. I miss the dirt roads and the fields of grass and corn. The snow. The wind. Oh My Golly Gosh, I miss the wind. Most importantly, I miss having to travel to get somewhere you want to go. Everything here is to close, that it makes the simple things (like going to Target) less special and exciting.

Oh dear! What is happening to me.

Rachel.

There's a difference between forgetting and being lazy.

Oppies.

In case you haven't noticed, I haven't blogged for a few a days.

The past few days, have been very busy and stressful.

I finally made it home to Florida. Ashley Joy and I drove the entire 27 hours, over a course of two days! It was a long drive, but it was more then fun!

I'll have pictures up soon!

Rachel.

Summer.

Summer is official here! My favorite time of year! And not just because school is out, but because I love the warm weather, long days on the beach, and the happy mood that fills everyones day for the next few months!

This summer, I don't have as many exciting plans, as I have in the past. Other then, driving home from Nebraska, with the fabulous Ashley Joy, I don't have any exciting plans this summer. Which is depressing, because the past few summers have been packed full of traveling excitement!

This summer, I'll be working at home and doing the normal Florida thing. Of course, I will be spending the majority of my free time at the beach! After all, what is super without the beach? Fact: I have never spent an entire summer away from the beach! I don't ever plan to either!

Nebraska isn't as hot as Florida or New Jersey, so I'm having a harder time getting into the "summer mood". I also feel awkward, not being near a beach! It isn't the same. So I am more then excited to go home! Well, home to Florida anyways. During the summertime, my home and heart will always and forever be at the Jersey shore! (And NOT the TV show!)

Rachel.

Philosophy isn't really my thing.

If living life is about learning, when do we learn to live life?

Before I begin to answer this question, I would like to state that I am in no way shape or form any kind of philosopher or life genius. I am just an average girl, writing in a stupid silly kind of blog because I clearly don't have much of a real life. So if you feel the need to give me grief, go read a book or something more interesting.

Life is very much about learning. As a “hopes to be one day teacher”, I believe that learning is one of the most important elements in being successful in life. We learn, so that we can grow and become the people that we want to be. We learn to live. We learn to succeed.

To answer this silly question more directly, I am just going to say, that we are always learning about life and how to live. As we grew, we are learning how to live life. We learn about life through our every day mistakes and experiences. After all, isn’t that what growing and living is? Learning.

Frankly, I think that the entire point of life is to learn and grow. Life is kind of like a game. Sadly, everyone kind of loses. Unless you want to get religious, and then everyone wins. Which is kind of nice to think about. Personally, I believe that everyone will eventually win in heaven. But that is another topic completely.

We play the game of “life” for years and years. We play by constantly growing and learning. Even when, you become the person that you want to be, you are still trying to learn and continue to grow. I can't tell you how many times, I thought I knew who I wanted to be...only to find out that I was wrong once again. Which makes it feel like we can never be satisfied. Naturally, we always want to do more. But, after all, isn’t that life’s purpose? To succeed in the game of life.

Yeah, I just went all-philosophical on you. It’s my blog, isn’t it?

Rachel.

"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass,

It's about dancing in the rain."

Hitting the books!

Finals week is finally here! Which means, that it is almost summer! It also means, however, that I have to study like crazy! And I am not a study-kind-of-person. So today, I have been locked in the library with nothing but books and notes!

Apart from studying, something pretty big in history happened last night. If your reading this future, you already know, and if your reading it in the more present time, then you probably already know. But for those of you, who are not in the communication circle of the world, then I guess I'll tell you.

Lastly night, at about 10:00 PM, the tv and facebook were taken over with the news of Osama bin Laden's death. According to facebook and the rest of the world, the world's most wanted terrorist was shot in the head or found dead or something. He's dead. That's all that really matters.

Judging by the endless news cast and facebook post, I believe that this is going to be the next "Where were you when..." topic in a few weeks. So this is my story. I was sitting boredly at a hall meeting (NE TOP), because Concordia decided that they needed to have a campus wide hall meeting party. After the hall meeting, I walked back to my room to play Apples to Apples with Sydney, Jade, and Bethany. But as soon as I walked into my room, Sydney was sitting in her chair, holding my computer. She looked up and asked me, "did you hear" ... I responded with "old people are going to stay in our dorm next summer" ... "yes, but no. Osama bin Laden is died" .... My thoughts: its about time, and then I went on to ask where the hell they found him.

A little while later, Bethany pointed out that people in Lincoln were sending off fireworks in celebration. About five minutes later, we could hear fireworks being shot off from behind the dorm. Because, I like in Seward Nebraska, and in case you didn't know... its the fourth of july city... and so, people have random fire works laying around their house. Pretty fancy stuff.

I would however like to congratulate Osama, for being part of the worlds best game of hide and seek.

What does all this mean for our future? I don't really know. Maybe, you kids in the future can tell me. Personally, I hope it means that we can finish up and end this war. But, who knows. I'm not a politician. I'm just an average college girl, trying to get through finals week alive.

On the 1st day of May.

As you can see, we are all moved out and packed to move home. For the first time all year, our dorm room actually looks like a dorm room! I have some great friends to help me move all my "stuff" out and over to a storage unit. Did I ever mention, that I hate moving?

Last night, I went with Sydney to York to deliver a cake that we made for a fourteen year old's birthday party. The cake was princess themed and super cute. The fourteen year olds, however, were not so cute. If I remember correctly, I was thinking about who was going to be my first kiss when I was fourteen, not who was sleeping with who. Seriously! I couldn't believe it. They didn't seem to bad girls or anything... they were good Lutheran girls. But the content and their interest in things that I didn't even think about to high school, was incredible!

I don't understand the rush to grow up. Why do girls in middle school, feel the need to be like high school students now a days. While high school students, feel the need to pretend they are in college! Life is about having fun and enjoying it while you can. Why would anyone want to rush that? Maybe, I'm insane and crazy. But, personally, I just don't think it makes any sense.

Rachel