Welcome 2011!

Happy New Year everyone!!  Another year has came and went, and I can't wait to see what 2011 has in store for me!  I had a fabulous New Year's Eve.  Ace, Adam, Jessie, and I rang in 2011 here in Austin.  Somehow I failed big time and didn't take a single picture all night.  I'm not sure how that happened, but you'll just have to take my word that we had a great time.  We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and watching fooball.  I loved having a house of people, and I was sad to see them go this morning.  Now it's back to work tomorrow and time to get started on those new year resolutions.  :)  

You Make Me Smile

One of my favorite quotes is "If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans." I feel like this has applied to my life so many times.  I wanted to go to grad school in Champaign, and I ended up in Iowa.  I said I would never move further north, and I end up working in Minnesota.  I've had so many plans change, and 99% of the time they have worked out better than I ever could have planned for. 
Life has changed for me once again. I don't know who actually reads this random rambling blog of mine, but some of you already know this but to some it might come as a surprise.

A very nice boy from Nebraska has been coming around again.  Remember him? The one with the strange name who shares the strange love of meat judging?  Yep - Ace.  The story of how this all came to be is long and somewhat complicated and doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. What matters is that I'm super happy and he makes me smile everyday.  He is now living in South Dakota working on his PhD in meat science.  We're a little over 3 hours away from each other but we're making it work. 

He's been requesting to be back on the blog so this post is for him :)   If he starts making regular appearances now you won't be surprised.

Meaty Halloween

Happy Halloween!! 

I hope everyone has had a great weekend! I've had a blast!  Halloween is a big event in Austin. Mostly, because my friend Katie goes pretty overboard about it.  We've been having weekly "committee" meetings for about the past month.  Really these were just an excuse to get together.  Last week we carved pumpkins, and this week we decorated cookies and cupcakes for Katie's party last night. 

I wasn't sure what I was going to dress up as this year.  It was going to be hard to top the tacky tourist of last year.  Then Lady Gaga gave me the most perfect costume! If you didn't hear, Lady Gaga wore a meat dress at the MTV Video Awards this year.  It was made of actual dried meat, complete with meat shoes, a meat hat, and a meat purse.  She had some weird political reasoning behind the dress, but being the meat lover that I am, I loved it for the mere fact it was made of meat! So I set out to recreat the meat dress.  I actually found a do it yourself video on youtube.  Sadly, my costume was not made of actual meat.  We had talks at work about how I could use real meat, but I figured it would be too messy :)  So here is the finished product. It turned out awesome! I'm not sure the pictures do it justice. It looks much better in person. 

What do you think compared with the real deal??

Katie the Lady Bug, Joni the Donkey, Lady Gaga, and Holly as Pippi Longstocking

Katie's boyfriend Brad as a Gnome, if he turned his hat around he also doubled as a wizard

 KISS Army

 Kim Jong-Il

 Pumpkin Carving!!

 My cute front porch (there's an orange mum between the pumpkins

In other news, I caught a second mouse.  I'm really really hoping that's the end of the mice.  It's too stressful getting rid of them...

I'll also be home this weekend for Katie Steber's wedding.  I'll be home late Thursday/sometime on Friday for the rehearsal dinner then I'll have to go back on Sunday.  It will be a quick trip, but I'm excited to be home for a few days! Mom and Dad recently bought a hot tub and I'm excited to try it out! 

Mouse

I caught a mouse today.  It was a major triumphant, and my mother was not supportive.

I discovered this mouse on Sunday after being gone all weekend.  My loaf of bread had a large hole burrowed in it.  So Monday I went a little overboard and bought six mouse traps.  I decided I would only set four of the traps and keep the other two.  Tuesday went by with no mice sightings.  I came home today from being in Osceola for work overnight and found this.

He was stuck, but still alive.  The stuff in the middle is the large glob of peanut butter I smeared on the trap to lure him in.  I discarded of my house guest with minimal screaming/freaking out.  I've decided to leave the other traps out in case he has any friends.  Thanks again for being supportive, Mom.

In other news, it's cold.  Winter has caught up to me once again.  Ugh.

That's all I've got for now.....

It's a brand new car!!!

Like I said in an earlier post, I bought my first brand new car a few weeks ago!!  I must say the whole process wasn't as painful as I thought it would be.  It doesn't hurt that I somewhat fell in love with my salesman, Dave.  He was really straight with me, and didn't try to sell me something I didn't need.  I just got a letter from Dave thanking me and how much fun he had during the process. I know this is probably standard operating procedure at Rochester Toyota, but I like to think that I'm Dave's favorite customer of all time! I now have all the fun things that come along with a brand new car like the new car smell, it's shiny, everything in it is clean, it starts everytime (the Solara is starting to have an issue), and debt. Ok, so maybe the debt part is not so much fun, but now I suppose I'm like everyone else in the country! I also forgot how much work it is to keep a dark car clean.  I've had my gold car for long that I've been oblivious to just how dirty cars can get.  So far, I've had my new car for about 3 weeks, and I've taken it through the car wash 3 times already.  It doesn't help that they have my road completely tore up and the dust from the construction is horrible.  I've started driving completely out of my way just to avoid it! I'm becoming quite obsessive about keeping it clean.  I feel like this is going to be a problem once winter gets here and it's covered in salt all the time.  Ugh! However, at least the car is all wheel drive so hopefully I won't have to worry about being stuck in snow drifts this year!  Thanks Dave!

Happenings

I realize I’m behind the times again. Here is a quick list of new happenings in the world of Rachel:
1. I bought a new car. This is maybe the most exciting news. It’s a 2010 Toyota Venza and I love it. It’s black, with leather, and a sunroof. I also currently have a 2000 Toyota Solara for sale if you’re interested……

2. I ran a half marathon. Yes, I’m crazy. I ran 13.1 miles in 1 hour and 59 minutes. I was pretty excited, because I set my goal as 2 hours 10 minutes. I was extremely excited to come in (barely) under 2 hours!

3. Cody took me to see Wicked for my birthday in the cities and it was awesome! We also ate at this Ah-Mazing restaurant called Fogo De Chao. It’s a Brazilian steak house where they bring you all the meat you can eat to your table. I highly recommend it!

4. We also went to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival the weekend of my birthday. There were all these people dressed in costumes and a lot of food stands and shops. It was really unique and fun.

5. I traveled home for 5 glorious days over Labor Day weekend. I need to get on the ball and update with pictures.

6. I traveled to Iowa City, IA to visit Adam and Jessie and tailgate for the Iowa vs. Iowa State game. They recently moved into a house in the country and are finding out about the joys of country living and the critters that come with it…..More on this later.

7. Then, I traveled to Kansas for work for a week. I’m glad those tests are behind me. Working in a different plant for the first time is always nerve racking. I’m thankful when there are such helpful and nice people in plants that help tests run smoothly.

8. It’s fall which means that it’s almost winter. This makes me sad.

9. I may never learn to wear gloves when handling liquid smoke at work. My hands are going to become permanently orange colored if I’m not careful.

10. My legs are sore (see #2) and I’ve been walking around the office like an 80 year old lady.

I think that about does it. I will get pictures of the new car and such up soon!

By the time you read this....

....I will be on the better side of the Mississippi.  Where the sun shines a little brighter.  And the grass is just that much greener.  Yes, I'll be in Illinois tonight and will stay there for 5 glorious days!!  And that my friends makes me very, very, ridiculously happy.