My Little Friends

It seems like most of my close friends now have little kids, and I love it. There's something about having them around that makes everything more fun....at least, I'm having a lot of fun. I love being called "Rachel H," love silly, twirling girls in tutus, and love knock-knock jokes with made-up punchlines that all contain the word "apple." Yes, apple. I've also had a lot of fun lately focusing some of my pent-up creative energy on little kid stuff. Here's a birthday cake I made a couple of weeks ago for my little bud Charlie:





And here's a little sneak-peek of some Christmas projects I just finished for Charlies sisters...



I can't wait to show you everything else I'm working on! But for now I've got to get some sleep. I'm off to Vegas tomorrow for a fun birthday weekend!

Halloween

I'd like to tell you all about my Halloween. Yes, I know it was almost a week ago, but let's face it -- that's just how I roll.

I had a super-fun holiday: I made caramel apples, went to the ward trunk-or-treat, visited with friends, and went to bed at 10:30.

But before all that, I ran my first half-marathon! See, I told you I would...

I heard about the Halloween Half on Facebook a couple of months ago. I'd been preparing for a race in November, but thought this one looked like SO much fun. I mean, you all know how much I love Halloween. I couldn't resist the opportunity to do something awesome while looking completely ridiculous...I mean, more than I usually do when I run.

My friend Scott wanted to run with me, so we went as Peter Pan and Tinkerbell -- a far cry from my originally-intended biker chick costume, but who wants to run that far in leather chaps? Yikes!




The race was awesome. There were over 2500 runners, so it was super-packed, but almost everyone was dressed up. It was so much fun. It was all downhill, which in some ways made it easier, but for a couple of days following the race I walked like an 80-year-old woman. I'd never run that far before, so I was happy just to finish...but I know I can do it faster. And I'm going to prove it as soon as I can.

How did you spend your Halloween?

Hello Again!

Well, I’m back. Back to life, back to blogging, back to my normal self again….I think. The summer was crazy and full of changes – some of them awesome, and some I hope never to endure again – but I feel like I’m finally catching my breath. And now I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.

I’ll start with the kitchen chairs.

Remember those ugly brown things I showed you a few months ago? Well, I’ve been busy gluing, carving, drilling, sanding, and painting, and now they look beautiful and brand new! Oh, how I love my Dremel, my cordless drill, and my friend Mr. palm sander.

And oh, how I love my new old chairs.

My table, too, received a very fortunate makeover. This little guy was a hand-me-down from someone in my parents’ ward. It used to be oak-colored with a white laminate top. Not very cute. But now? Now I gaze adoringly at it, my eyes dewy, whenever I enter my kitchen. I love it.

Don’t you?

And as an extra treat, here are some cake stands my sister and I made for her upcoming wedding reception:

You like?

Pooped but Proud

I did something awesome today, guys -- something I've always wanted to do but wasn't sure I could.

I ran the Provo Riverwoods 10-miler. 10 MILES! I've never run that far before!

I feel like the queen of the world.

Half-marathon, anyone?

Perhaps the best part of this is that I did it with my cute friend Andrea B. I told her about a week ago that I was chickening out and wasn't going to run, but she talked me back into it.....then using my unrivaled powers of persuasion, I convinced her to join me. We were both massively intimidated by the prospect of completing a 10-mile race, but we make good cheerleaders for one another.

This morning I WAAAAYYY overslept and it was pouring rain when Andrea came to get me. That almost did us in.

But we're not sissies. So we went for it.



And look how happy we are.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go ice my knees and sleep for a week.

Progress

I've had a project haunting me for months. I'm not sure what compelled me to take it on in the first place -- I guess I'm not happy without at least a half-dozen things to work on -- but now it's time to get a move on. It's as though I've left four old friends stranded in the kitchen, desperate for attention since October. Today, we played for the entire afternoon.



I can't wait to show you when they're done!

Fabulous Friday

Today I....

....embroidered a whole bunch of bags for tomorrow's primary activity....




....then spent the rest of the day with this girl, who's going on a mission to Brazil!




Together, we went here.....



Where, after an agonizing two-and-a-half-month wait, I finally got this...


Then we watched a movie and ate a whole bunch of these:



Today was a great day.

This is really, really gross...

We discovered recently that we have some (most unwelcome) visitors in our apartment -- termites. Yuck! And, what first seemed to be a minor problem now threatens to be quite the ordeal; we've got at least 3 dozen holes in our bathroom wall, and multiple others in the bedroom, office, and living room (thanks in part to Colby, who spent a little too much time obsessively picking at the paint where it was caving in). Some of the holes are huge and you can see the little track marks through the sheet rock. I am so grossed out. If our rent wasn't so cheap I'd probably want to move. Or torch the place. Or both. The Orkin man's coming back on Tuesday to send those little buggers to their poison-y termite graves. Then my heebie-jeebies will go away, and I won't have to drink so much to keep myself calm.

Looking Up

Despite my best efforts (or so I thought), I've been kind of a downer lately. I don't think I realized it until last night when my sister, via Facebook chat, said, "Rachel, has anything good happened lately?"

Oh, how embarrassing.

Let me apologize, then, to anyone who's seen me in my figurative sackcloth-and-ashes. Life's crazy and complicated, but it's not that bad. Actually, there are lots of good things going on:

• The sun is out again.
• I'm going to Boise this weekend.
• I found two great pairs of pants at the mall on Saturday...and got them for $15 each.
• Someone left a plate of warm cookies on our doorstep last night.
• I got a perfect score on my "secret shop" at work last week, and now I get $100 (hello, new running shoes!).
• I paid off a loan last week.
• Last night I played my piano for over an hour.
• Tonight is Zumba night!

There, that feels better; I'll try not to let my personal raincloud get out of control anymore.

What good things have happened to you lately?

Kids, don't try this at home...

....that is to say, NEVER wash all of your dirty clothes when you have no intentions of folding them right then. Otherwise, they become a massive and daunting pile upon your bed, which haunts you while you are awake and drowns you while you sleep.



Take it from me.

Someday I'll be on top of things.

On a completely different note, THANK YOU to the anonymous benefactor who so kindly paid off our credit card. It was completely unexpected but so appreciated -- you've lifted a huge burden. And since I've no idea who you are, I'm throwing this out to the universe, hoping it gets back to you that we are super-grateful!

Coupons

Do any of you hate grocery shopping? I do, in the worst way. The mere mention of, "We're out of bread," transforms me into a grumpy giant -- a condition reversible only by a pint of Ben & Jerry's and an hour-long back massage. But alas, an empty fridge will never fill itself, so off to the store I go.

You know, this is a chore I've never loved, but it seems my anxiety over the task has grown over the past few months after I began "couponing." Each week I spend waaaay too much time clipping and sorting coupons from three copies of the Sunday paper. Then I get on my computer and spend what feels like an entire morning making my grocery list on this website. Then, of course, by the time I'm actually able to go shopping, I can't find half of the things I want because the other five thousand coupon-clippers in Utah County got to them first. Consequently, Smith's is always the worst with this -- they have great sales on lots of different products but you have to buy them in increments of ten. Of course I can't get everything on my list so my cart never fills up that evenly; I then wander the aisles dejectedly, searching for something that I have a coupon for and might use, just so I can get the super-sale price on everything else.

I currently have a year's supply of barbecue sauce, aluminum foil, and chili con carne.

I've only been at this a couple of months but the other night I decided I should quit. This isn't worth the time, right? I should just burn all my coupons and tell Smith's where to stick their "10-for" sales--what a liberating thought!

I was ready to do it.

But then I got to the register and something magical happened: I spent $60 on $100 worth of groceries. That reminded me of the time I spent $40 on $100 worth of groceries. And the fact that I've cut our grocery budget way down while building a pretty impressive food storage.

I think I'll give it a little longer.

Am I mental?

Some new faves

I've lost the cable that connects my camera to my computer, and now I've little desire to blog. I had so many things to show you: Rachelpologies at Christmas. The Dashboard Confessional Concert. The ugly old chairs I'm fixing up for my kitchen. The fantastic bruise on my right knee from slipping on the ice last weekend.

You'll just have to picture this all in your head for now.

While you're doing that, here are some amazing discoveries I made this week:

1. Ruche [shopruche.com]. It's like a smaller, more affordable Anthropologie. They have lots of cute stuff, and their shipping is really cheap. I'm in love.

2. I bought a new shower curtain liner at Wal-Mart on Thursday. When I put it up I realized it has little tabs on the edges with suction cups so it sticks to my shower walls. Amazing. No more stepping out onto a splooshy bath mat. Whoever came up with this is my new hero.

3. These bad boys:

No waistband=no rolling, no strange lines, no muffin top. No kidding. These nylons are so comfy I'm tempted to wear them to bed. They have changed my life.

What discoveries have you made lately? Please share!