1, 2, 3, 4, I don't like you.

Wow it's been way too long since I've actually written in here. I might actually feel productive if I used it every once in a while, not that anyone really gives two shits about my life's details.

So a few weeks ago I decided to get my ass into really good shape and I started running. It used to be the bane of my existence, there really wasn't anything I think I hated more than running. But for some reason once I did it a couple times it really started to grow on me. Now I run at least every other day, sometimes more often than that, and I usually alternate 3 miles and then like 4.5 miles the next time. I love the sense of accomplishment when I finish and my lungs are screaming and my legs are on fire and I can really tell that I pushed myself. I'm really setting myself up to be in good condition because I want to take some serious boxing classes, old-school boxing. I want to operate like a well-oiled machine.

I've been a crazy woman in the kitchen lately too. I started planning out all of our meals for the week and cooking dinners at home and it's been amazing. Not only have we really been saving a good bit of money but the food is better, healthier, and it's very therapeutic for me being in the kitchen. Stan is great too because he will clean up as I cook and then he usually always finishes cleaning up the kitchen when we get done eating. It's a pretty fair trade off I'd say! I hate the cleaning part anyway.
Today I made this winter minestrone soup with bacon in it...so amazing. Lots of garlic and onion in it of course, which is in pretty much every dish I cook, and you put a parmesan rind in it while it's cooking to flavor it and help thicken it, it really adds the most amazing flavor. Well all this talk has me hungry so I'm going to go eat another bowl...

My Super Sweet Sixteen

That show seriously depicts the downfall of humanity as we know it. A bunch of retarded spoiled brats whose parents instead of teaching them responsibility and morals, just throw a bunch of cash at them. The bitch on the episode that I saw today (and wasted five minutes of my precious time) was given a SIX-DOOR Hummer worth $250,000...now this gift was totally separate from her disgustingly extravagant party which probably cost at least double that amount. I don't even think my parents' house is 250 grand! Granted all those kids are the worst of the worst, but it's definitely a widespread symptom with the new generation...a bunch of lazy spoiled teens with no work ethic whatsoever.
If your mommy and daddy pay for all your schooling, and support you WHILE you're in school so you can party hard hang out with all your cool friends, don't pretend you live some hard-knock life. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against rich people, if you're loaded good for you. You just can't by your way into being cool.
There's honestly nothing more annoying than some eighteen year old kid fresh out of high school getting tattooed every freaking weekend and thinking you're super cool tough guy cause you know some dudes in hardcore bands. NEWSFLASH!! In the real world no one gives a shit if you are IN a hardcore band, let alone KNOW someone in a hardcore band. I thought hardcore was supposed to be about community and friendship, and a love of something that we all have in common. Boy, have I been wrong! I'm learning that it's all about the hierarchy and if you're friends with the "in" crowd.
End Rant.

So in less than a week now me and Casey leave for our Orlando trip to spend many days napping on the beach. This little vacay could not have come at a better time, I'm so ready to chill and have some low-key quality girl time. I plan on eating a ton of seafood and hopefully hitting up either the Vans outlet or the Vans store in the mall, either way it's a win for me!

Also, two thumbs up for Bootylicious Buns work-out videos.

Love & X's,
Rachel

I am the Master Griller.

Yesterday me, Stan, and Ruby all cooked out at our place. We got three strip steaks which I must admit I cooked to near perfection. We also had potato salad (with bacon), regular salad, along with all sorts of other delicious snacks.
I couldn't be happier that it's summertime!
I get to go to Florida and the beach TWICE in May and I'm stoked.
As Mer would say, our trip to Sarasota will be "epic".
She flies down at the end of May and stays for about 10 days, I'm so excited!

Been doing lots of Pilates and other various exercise videos on Demand from Comcast, and I'm actually pretty into it. I feel like it's still lazy enough to suit my taste since I can do it in my underwear and not have to leave my house.

We've been going on so many road trips and doing so much out of town with United Blood, and then Breast Fest that I'm looking forward to a few chill weeks of just staying around here.

I finally caved in and got a facebook, even after all of my shit-talking about it. I realized everyone was leaving me behind so I finally joined the ranks of all my friends. It really is quite convenient for keeping in touch with friends out of town. Or just for posting ridiculous shit that I see or hear....
Like girls who pass out from getting tattooed and then shit their pants.

Love & X's,
Rachel

I'm feeling like a melodramatic post...

This is a lesson in letting your guard down.
Sometimes open arms are an invitation for disaster.
So next time, I'll trust my fucking instincts.
Next time you come around,
All you will get are cold stares, cold shoulders.
I'll be crouching with my fists clenched in the corner.

I can only hang on tight for so long.
I'm letting you go.
I will be just fine on my own.
You can't come in.
I'm leaving you out in the cold,
Because there's no room,
Left in my heart for fakes like you.

R.I.P. Modern Life Is War.

Love & X's,
Rachel

Which brand of coffee to make?

Thank goodness my husband is finally back in town. Two weeks out in L.A. is too long. He always ends up coming home with a larger wardrobe than he left with; I can't complain though because he also came back with two pairs of Vans size 7 for a special lady : )
Me, Narine, and Casey went to the Farmers Market the same day he left and I discovered two things...
1. That pummelos (in the citrus family) are the same size as my head.


2. That the white chocolate mousse tart in the pistachio shell is my new favorite pastry.


Narine and I went to Sweet Lime Sushi Wednesday and it was delicious! I haven't been there in years and we got a coupon and were pleasantly surprised. I mean pretty much any sushi blows Ru Sans out of the water. I hate that place with a burning passion.

I also spent a lot of time with Mr. Ruby Michaelstein last week which involved a secret rope swing, lots of coffee, a very strange radio station party that the Coathangers played, and lunch at Alon's.

Been listening to The Shins today; I forget how awesome they are. Good spring and summer music.
Only two and a half weeks until United Blood...I can't wait.

Love & X's,
Rachel

I hate TJ Maxx.

Every time I walk into that store I get sucked into the TJ Maxx trap of buying crap from every different department. I had to take Stan to the airport this morning because he's heading back to L.A. for a week, so I thought I'd go to TJ Maxx to look for a pair of black pumps.
No black pumps, but I did leave with Lolita Lempicka perfume, a throw pillow, new washcloths, and shampoo and conditioner...the red sale stickers always end up speaking to me.

I was pretty stoked to pick up this Ben Sherman yesterday, thanks for finding it Stan!





I'm soooo looking forward to United Blood this year, can't wait to see and hang out with all my friends. The line-up is awesome.

Today Casey and Narine are coming over and we're going to the Dekalb Farmer's Market, my favorite place in the whole wide world. Hoping to stock up on some pistachio baklava...and maybe some chia seed muffins???

Love & X's,
Rachel

I'm pretty much a Starbucks junkie.

Yes, that's me, I'm the woman ordering the "triple grande breve latte with four raw sugars, please". It's delicious, what can I say? If I had a San Francisco coffee shop closer to me I would be ordering from there and supporting the local business instead of feeding the already obese Starbucks chain...oh well, I do what I can.

So I've started looking into going to Barber school sometime this year now that Stan and I are a little bit more financially settled. I've always loved doing hair, I mean I cut and colored all of my friends hair AND my own hair all through high school and college. But the fact is I have no interest in doing womens' hair. I would much rather perfect the art of sharp mens' haircuts, not to mention we could save a fortune on the money-pit that is my husband's head!! Me and Stan talked about opening our own barber shop at some point in the future; super retro 50's with mostly women dressed in full pin-up girl attire. Cool concept, right? We'll see though, I'm definitely interested in getting my barbering license at least.

Stan leaves this Sunday morning to go back to Los Angeles for work, and he won't be back until next Friday night : ( I'm contemplating whether or not I should try to find somebody to ride up with me to Richmond Wednesday to see Skarhead. I've never seen them live before and I really want to! I don't know when I'll have a chance to see them again. That's a lot of gas money for one show though, not to mention we're driving back up there in just a couple weeks for United Blood.

I'm sooo ready for spring! I need some change of weather to get my out of my bad moods...

Love & X's,
Rachel

Ready for summer.

So lately there has been much going on in the lives of Rachel and Stan.
1. Stan received a promotion and a raise (Hooray!), and had to fly out to L.A. last week for training, and has to go back out for another week this coming Sunday.
2. I finally met my brother Tyrone, my dad's son, who's sister found my dad on the internet after 38 years.
3. Me and my mom went to Florida last week for a mini vacation and stayed with my Aunt Mary and Uncle David...AND we went to Epcot Saturday!!

Yesterday was me and Stan's 2-year anniversary. Pretty crazy. It just seems like we've always been married most of the time, but then I can remember our wedding like it was yesterday. It's an amazing thing to be able to say that I happily married to the greatest guy ever. I'm definitely a handful, and I know I can be the biggest pain in the ass, but he loves me despite all of that and he knows how much I love and appreciate him. I did score some awesome anniversary presents. He got me this really simple black leather watch, an X mug from Anthropologie, and this siqqqqq purse from the Vans store out in L.A.


I met my brother Tyrone a few weekends ago, he's in prison down in Sneads, Florida right across the Georgia border. When my dad was 17 he got married to this woman and they had a son right before my dad got drafted into the army...I guess this would've been around 1968. While my dad was gone the woman divorced him and left the state with his son and one of my dad's friends. Never found Tyrone again. So a few months ago Tyrone's sister found my dad on the internet only to tell him that he's in prison for prescription drug fraud, and a bunch of other bogus charges the police and attorneys trumped up against him. My dad immediately got in contact with the prison down there, and as soon as he was approved, he went down to the prison to see Tyrone.
Me and Tyrone started writing each other letters all the time, so it was pretty much like we already knew each other before we met in person. He's the most upbeat and positive person I think I've ever met especially considering his circumstances.
So I guess it's time for Ty's back-story...His step-dad abused him for his entire childhood, beat the crap out of him, locked him in closets, and so on. His wonderful mother stood by and watched all of this take place never lifting a finger in Tyrone's defense. Tyrone now has to take seizure medication daily because of the head trauma that shithead caused from repeatedly hitting him in the head.
His whole childhood his mother and his grandparents told him that the "reason his dad LEFT HIM was because he was a drunk and irresponsible". Now, my dad will be the first to tell you that he experimented with all sorts of drugs when he was younger, but the irony? He never drank!!! And he still doesn't. Fast-forward to today, and Tyrone can't even call his mother from the prison after 7 p.m. because she's wasted out of her mind and belligerent.
Tyrone grew up to be a phenomenal guitar player (just like my dad) and played with all sorts of huge metal bands and did studio work and such. He developed a bad addiction to heavy-duty pain killers which is what landed him in most of the trouble he got into. It all stemmed from a bad motocross accident and he also ended up with a plate and screws in his left wrist (he's also left-handed).
So, obviously he made some bad choices, but the thing that landed him in prison was writing fake prescriptions for pain killers. Now here's the clincher, he ran from the cops so instead of charges for evading police officers they added all this assault on a police officer bullshit among other things. Now, when it came time for his sentencing the ATTORNEY, in cahoots with the police I guess pulled all sort of illegal b.s. and threatened him with thirty years in prison and scaring him into a plea for 15 years. Can you believe that crap? Rapists get out in less than 10! Now not only is that illegal, but he was also medicated when he entered into his plea, which is also illegal! Tyrone has already served 6 years in prison because of it, but for the past couple years he started educating himself by reading books at the Law Library and realized pretty quickly that he had gotten screwed. He has a hearing in March for his appeal and everyone is pretty confident that even if they don't give him an immediate release, that he should be out pretty soon.
He doesn't make any excuses for anything either. He'll be the first one to tell you that he deserved time for his choices, and that he's not sure if he would have ever gotten off the drugs on his own...but 15 years? Now THAT is the true crime. It's amazing how all of the pieces fell into place for us to all become a family, and he is so incredibly happy to have all of us. He talks about how he's never really felt like he had a family until now. He's one of the most humble people I've ever met. Meanwhile his mother tells him over and over and over that he deserves to be where he is and she takes no responsibility whatsoever for his childhood or any of his other problems. What kind of family stands by and watches a person that they love abuse themselves that way? How could you not step in? When he first got sent to prison his mom didn't even speak to him for three years, THREE YEARS. She only got in touch with him after she found out that he was diagnosed with leukemia. He got really sick and had to go through the chemo and everything behind bars. Now he's waiting for a transfer to this other prison in Zephyr Hills, Florida where they have a waste water treatment program, so that he can get the training to work and make a living when he's finally released.
It really puts things into perspective, doesn't it? All of my petty problems seem to be pretty insignificant in this light.
On a lighter note, I did make some delicious blueberry muffins this morning. Why don't I bake and cook more often? I love doing it I just have to start making the time.
This weather blows and it's way too cold...I wish I could go back to Florida and just bring Stan with me!!

Love and X's,
Rachel

Burning bridges.

So first of all, I would like to note that I got my Biohazard beanie in the mail yesterday and I am way stoked about it, pretty sure I'll be wearing it pretty much all the time for the next couple of weeks.

I feel like I'm constantly questioning my "friendships". I mean, what really makes someone your friend? Loyalty in my book has always been at the top of the list. I mean, sure sometimes I can be a bitch, I may speak my mind too much, be too opinionated...etc, etc. But I pretty much stick to my guns all the time, and I'm not wishy-washy. Everything's black and white for me, and I feel like I'm always waiting for people to let me down. No way to go through life, I know, just trust issues.

So here is my full collection of Foundation shirts so far...and counting...

I think it's safe to say that I have the largest female collection of Foundation shirts, eat your hearts our bitches.

I'm off now to make a delicious artichoke pasta salad for me and my hubby for dinner.

Love & X's,

Rachel

Bored out of my skull.

It's been a rather interesting past couple of weeks; never a dull moment in married life.

So a little over two weeks ago there was a bit of an incident at the Bracewar show. After all was said and done, Stan ended up with his hand sliced open from a broken beer bottle.
Rushed him to the E.R. only to spend EIGHT hours there before we finally got to go home.

They had to call a plastic surgeon in who discovered that one of his tendons and some of his nerves had been severed by the broken glass leading to his index finger being totally immobile and without feeling...of course, right?
They had to get a hand transplant surgeon to perform the surgery so they stitched him up with 32 stitches and sent us on our way to wait to schedule his surgery.






Edgeday was the following weekend so in the midst of all of this we had already bought our plane tickets up to Boston to hang out for a long weekend and go to the big Edgeday show.
Honestly, it was nice to get away from everything for a little while. We stayed with Dave and Caitlin who just recently moved into their new place in Salem. It was cool as hell, especially since it's so close to Halloween. Our buddies Meredith and Chris Morgado from New York were also in town for the week and stayed at the house with us. So much fun. The town was so beautiful. Right across the street from their house was this little gem...



Once we got home from Boston it was back to real life and a countdown to Stan's hand surgery last Friday. The surgeon isn't sure if he'll ever have any feeling back in his hand, but with the tendon repair and the physical therapy he should have full use of it again.
Luckily my mom offered to take off work and come sit with me at Emory for his surgery, and I don't know what I would have down without her there. We were there for a grand total of 12 hours! His actual surgery was over in four hours including prepping him and everything, but they held him for an additional eight hours for hell knows what reason.



Another downside is that he's going to be in this hard splint for anywhere between two to three months.
It's a lot to deal with but I think we're both coping pretty well.
We'd rather move forward and deal with the situation than sit around and feel sorry for ourselves.
Stan had to fly out Sunday to LA for a few days for work so I'm here trying to pass the time.
So far I have rearranged all of our bedroom furniture, scrubbed all three bathrooms, vacuumed the entire upstairs, dusted, done laundry...I'm running out of things to clean and organize.

I have also polished off the last of my mom's spaghetti and meatballs : (