Ready for this to be done!!!

Barak on the Unicorn was a highlight for me!!
http://www.peteyandpetunia.com/VoteHere/VoteHere.htm

Lessons from Mr Darcy

Every time I come home my cat runs in front of my path and whines, he then steps in front of every step I take as I walk to the front door. Then as I unlock the door he continues to walk in front of me and in between my legs and whine. I never let him in the front door and I never feed him on the front porch. I always leave him out there crying as I walk to the back door open it and feed him. I have to shake the food and call him to alert him to the fact that I am doing this. It is a routine I find annoying everyday.

But, today it had me thinking. Do I do this? I am constantly whining at God to bless me, change me, move me….he does but my faith in his ability to do so doesn’t seem to grow. I come everyday to him questioning, not trusting in Him who feeds me daily. Wow I am annoying.

Goodbye 20!!!!

In a few minutes I am leaving one decade for another; it seems like just yesterday the 20s began. I can say that the last 10 years were the best so far. (There is very little to compete with seeing as thought the 1st are fuzzy and the 2nd decade is dominated by high school; but best is best) I thought I should make a short list of the highlights.

1. First I should start with the fact that God finally (I am quite stubborn) conquered my heart in my 20th year....I can't think of a better way to start a decade!
2. Attended & graduated from the best university in the world - Texas A&M
3. Opened my own business with my amazing family.
4. Made some wonderful friends....lost touch with some -I do believe I should fix that.
5. Traveled some....NYC, California, Florida, Vegas, and Tenn. - really should work on this in the 30s!
6. Restored an old house...cute little Church St.!
7. Finally decided to dye my hair...what was I waiting for?

Tonight my church began a new chapter in its story -new sanctuary, new pastor, etc - it was a great day. I love that the night coincided with my new chapter...here’s hoping the next 10 years will allow both of us to reach our potential....

Oprah

I have always had the theory that Oprah and Steadman are actually married with children. She simply keeps them out of the spotlight so they can have a normal life. Not that this is terribly interesting, but I needed to write it down, just in case I am right!

Homer Simpson, Bill Clinton, & Me!!!

I am not sure that this is very accurate...I like being alone and I don't always have to be the center of attention.....but maybe I do? My favorite part are the other ESFPs...quite a ridiculous bunch.

ESFPs are cooperative, "here and now" people-persons that enjoy excitement and love new adventures. Because of their highly social nature, they are especially lively when they are the center of attention and hate being alone. ESFPs have a practical side that allows them to finish work efficiently and are often good problem solvers.


"For the ESFP, the entire world is a stage. They love to be the center of attention and perform for people. They're constantly putting on a show for others to entertain them and make them happy. They enjoy stimulating other people's senses, and are extremely good at it. They would love nothing more than for life to be a continual party, in which they play the role of the fun-loving host."
- Portrait of an ESFP (The Pesonality Page)"They love the excitement of playing to an audience, and they try to generate a sense of "showtime" wherever they are. Performers are not comfortable being alone most of the time..."
- The Portrait of the Performer Artisan (Keirsey)"outgoing, social, group oriented, dislikes science fiction, does not like to be alone"
- Jung Type Descriptions (ESFP) (similarminds.com)
"ESFP like action and excitement, and are able to link together people and resources. Because they accept and deal with people as they are, they are able to understand what is necessary in order to motivate them to get jobs done. They prefer a work setting that is lively, action oriented, and harmonious."
- ESFP - The Joker (Lifexplore)"The dominant function of ESFPs (Extraverted Sensing) is concerned with the reality that is perceived through the senses. This type's prime directive is to examine the tangible through taste, touch, sight, feeling and hearing. ESFPs' need for new experiences surely results from this function."
- ESFP Profile (TypeLogic)
Famous ESFPsReal ESFP People
Arsenio Hall - comedian
Bill Clinton - American President, politician
Bob Hope - actor
Cindy Gliebe - American vegan chef
Earvin "Magic" Johnson - basketball player
Elizabeth Taylor - actress
Elvis Presley - singer/musician, actor
Eva Gabor - actress
Gracie Allen - comedian
John Goodman - actor
Kathy Lee Gifford - actress, singer
Kyle Petty - NASCAR driver
Marilyn Monroe - actor, singer, model
Mary Lou Retton - gymnast
Pablo Picasso - Spanish painter, sculptor
Peter Kay - writer, actor, comedian
Ronald Reagan - American President, actor
Saint Mark - apostle, evangelist
Willard Scott - media personalityFictional ESFPs (Characters)
Clementine Kruczynski - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Cody - Step by Step
Frado - Godfather
Homer Simpson - The Simpsons
Kelly Bundy - Married with Children
Mrs. Pumphrey - All Creatures Great and Small
Peggy Bundy - Married with Children
Peter Griffin - Family Guy
Tim Taylor - Home Improvement
ESFP Career MatchesESFPs are often happy with the following jobs which tend to match well with the Entertainer/Creator personality.
Actor
Administrative Assistant
Artist
Child Care
Church Worker
Coach
Comedian
Computer Programmer
Computer Specialist
Consultant
Engineer
Entrepreneur
Fashion Designer
Human Resources
Interior Decorator
Lawyer/Attorney
Marketer
Military
Musician
Painter
Photographer
Psychologist/Counselor
Receptionist
Recreation Worker
Sales Represenative
Scientist
Social Worker
Supervisor
Systems Analyst
Technical Specialist
Trainer

Suit + Flips = Cute

I think a boy in a casual suit and flip flops is about the best idea ever!

BTW: I don't know the boy in this pic but, I gratuated with him! It was the only pic I could find of a boy rockin' the look besides Zac Efron and well....that is not cute!

Tonight was fun!

It is Thursday and I had my community group; which is great. Everyone is so fun, we make a quirky combination of people but it some how works together. Tonight in particular was silly, we had two new girls, yummy spaghetti, good discussion, and amazing mint pie! After they left Caitlin and I chatted on facebook about Mexico and I am going to try and go! She is so funny, we discussed all sorts of inapporpiateness that ended up with our telanovela that we fell into after we were stolen in Mexico! Good times! I am going to bed now!

My new shoes!!!!

FAB-YOU-LOUS!!!!

things that are annoying/great about being single

ANNOYING
1. taking out the trash
2. carrying in groceries
3. watching sports on tv solo
4. car maintinance
5. No one to pray with

GREAT
1. coming home and putting on the "ugly" clothes
2. hotdogs for dinner 5 days in a row with no one to complain
3. not having to watch sports
4. getting free stuff at the oil change place because I am a single girl
5. Being alone with the God of the universe!!!!

this is just a starter list....I think I will add later

A note to pastors/teachers

Just so you know the "Gospel of Mathew" video is awful!!! I think it is time to step away from strange church bubble. My out of control laughter during church is not even my fault!!!!
The 2 highlights of this morning were Jesus coming out of the water like a schiltterbaun girl and the inappropriate way John the Baptist Baptizes!!!

I am such a heathen...but at least I took Allison down with me!

I am supposed to be cleaning!!!

I love my house and my stuff but I really want a maid!!!

Vera Bradley

We order the new patterns today!!! I am totally excited!!!

Grumpy Pants!

I am so sorry Cherie...I was captain grumpy pants. So sorry Wednesday I promise to be more fun!

Mothers Day!

Let me 1st say that I am a fan of fake/hallmark holidays. As an owner of a girly gift store I would be crazy not to be. We had an event that went really well despite the 100 degree weather. Our customers are the best and always come out to shop and have a good time!

Then there was Sunday - ie actual Mothers day. It should be a day of joy for me because I have the best Mom ever. She is funny, thoughtful and kind. So how did I find a way to whine...well I had other people to entertain. And by entertain I mean serve...I know that the Christian life is about service but this day was supossed to be about me and my mom. Oh well I guess you can't get everything you want....having my great mom is more than most can say!

unrequited

I think I am bored with the idea of blogging. I love to read others but often I find that writing my own is quite dull. Maybe much like my current crush; my blogs are unrequited, unanswered, unnoticed. Just a thought...I think I will just go check out baby Lily's blog. Maybe she is less wordy now that she is almost at the 2week mark.

I want to respond like this - love like this!

This is what I think the church should look like!

Victory!!

I really wish I would have kept a running log of my interaction with a website called citysearch! I know that my time with them is not done but tonight I am basking in quite a victory! For a not so short summary.....
I found that my store Bless Your Heart was listed on the website a few years ago I reviewed my store clearly saying it is fabulous only to find out that my name appears under the review. Lame I know but what can you do. In hopes of removing it I used a few other e-mails to review the store but, oh well if you every want to see what I think of my store you should go see what the citysearch member named racheldranselka thinks. Well as that may seem funny my interaction has turned sour!
We had a disgruntled customer and she left us a review. At first I thought it was no big deal because as hard as we try you can't please everyone so I put it out of my head. Well I returned to show my sister and 6 more nasty reviews showed up. I am not saying my sister and I are perfect but, really 6 in a matter of 3 days. Also with each review the person reviewing us only reviewed us. With each review it became more obvious that this person had never even been to our store, this I guess teaches us how to handle our policy at shows. They made statements and accusations that were clearly untrue; based on knowing how the store is run and on simple matters such as how they look. Well the final straw was this week when our "friend" the angry customer called us racist! This was too far we had already contacted citysearch to have us removed which they won't do, however they did say they would remove any comments that involved race, and true to their word they removed the comment!!!
I think that sites like these can be helpful, however San Antonio does not use this so for a majority of the sites if they had a review it was often less than positive. It is also too easy to become a reviewe (yes I made that word up). Each time I would stop by the site I would create a new persona with completely invalid email addresses! For example I am iamnotarealperson@hotmail.com and nopenotaperson@gmail.com; with these I was able to review my store and others. It seems that the site wants to hold other business accountable but as a business they have no accountability!
It can't go without saying how great our friends have responded to this. We have two lawyers completely willing to go after this for us. Also, my sisters' mother in law has a friend who is apparently a googleing genius and she has tracked down a person who if not the customer is a closely linked associate of our "customer." Too funny...although I must admit that I want to prank call her or tp her house. With the circumstances it only seems appropriate!
I guess I have rambled long enough, but for my time with citysearch I don't think I am done. We shall see....I think cityserchacceptsfakeemailaddress@sbcglobal.net needs to have her opinion count!

New Kids On The Block

New Kids On The Block
really?

I don't know why

I hope I am not the only one who does this.....But there are some movies no that I want to see no matter how many people tell me they are not just bad, awful! I will give you an example


I want to see this movie....I mean any movie that features Blowers Daughter can't be that bad right?

I

The challenge of joy!

Last Saturday I threw (along with 5 other fabulous hostesses) a fabulous baby shower for my sister. It is the 2nd shower I have given her. The first was for her wedding. Once the baby arrives I will have been to 10 showers for her. Also, on Saturday I received 2 more baby shower invitations. Wow, I love the girls who the showers are for; I will love the babies they have after these gifting opportunities; however there is still a struggle for me. The struggle is joy verses the easier option - bitterness. I love all my friends and the families they are creating but, after all the parties and time you spend celebrating their decisions there is always the side of me that says "what about me?" Oh well, I guess that is enough feeling sorry for myself. I must be thankful that I am not half as desperate as those girls on the Bachelor tonight! - Good TV! Also, I am going to try to be better at including pictures - Enjoy!

The food...my spinach artichoke dip was quite a hit!

Man that is a lot of Pink!!

We hung baby Lily's underwear as a shout out to Katy's Batchlorette Party where we hung hers!

My cousin Susan had a St. Louis Cardinal Jersy Mongramed for Lily Belle!

Girl Music!

I am currently listening to the Weepies - great music. It says what I think, better than I can same with many whiny girl groups/artists. Alanis, Jewel (old Jewel - not weird sexy Jewel), Tori Amos, I could go on but I think my point is made. I don't think there is a boy equivalent, because even when Boys go all emo I still can connect and relate. It isn't something they get to own very unlike the ridiculousness that I relate to with my girls.

Good Dinner

It is so fun how you have people in your life for a short time but they have a great impact. That is my friend Laurie. She is fun and bubbly and on a facebook quiz we ended up as twins. So of course that means we are the same. Tonight we had dinner at La Hacienda de los Barios - We both had the guacamole puffy tacos and fruity margaritas!!! Yummy. But beyond the food it was so fun to talk to her, find out what she been up to. She has an entrepreneurial spirit (she wants to have a cupcake business) she loves to laugh and she can make me laugh, and we are equally goofy around boys (she has more skill in getting to the ring stage than me but whatever!). I thought it was worth recording - goodnight.

Fancy

Yep, that is the aunt name I picked for myself! Lets see if Lily goes for it!

good music!!!

Again I bought a full cd so it is of note! Gomez 2006 album How we operate. So good, kind of like a peppy David Gray.

really rachel?

I really like spider solitare...lame.

Prayer Schedule

Like many things in my life, my pray time lacks discipline. I just wrote out a schedule.
SUN - Youth Group
MON - Family
TUES - Friends
WED - America
THURS - Community Group/Church
FRI - The World
SAT - Store
It seems such a small place to start from since we are to pray without ceasing. But, I will see if it helps. Another thing I will point out is that I am giving the huge world with all of its problems a day and my little store a day. I know it seems crazy but all ministries that I am to do, start where I am, or a least that is how I see it.

Happy Valentines Day!

Well being single today is not my favorite day; that being said it was not the worst day. I was in Las Vegas with my family and my mom and sister always make an effort to remind me how loved I am. Also, I was hit on by the man next to me in the plane. (Awkward!) But, I do think I will share my most recent "single" story. I makes me smile and being Valentines we all need to smile.
We went out to lunch after church with the gang (William, his friend My Phillip, Trevor, Todd - his 3 kids Hailey 6, Jacob 3, & Becca 2, Chris, & his friends Perry & Amy). It ended up that I sat at the kid’s end which is silly all on its own because as Trevor pointed out "I hate children." (jk. another story for another time). The oldest child Hailey and I were talking when the waitress asked who went on whose tab and I said I was by myself. She then turned to me and said "You don't need to be by yourself anymore. You should have someone to bring to lunch." Amen sister Hailey!

Are you ready for some football!!!

I just got home from the Harrisons (love them) where they hosted a fabulous Super Bowl party! It was with the refuge group (The juniors from Oak Hills Church) that I hang with every Sunday night. It is always shocking how God can use things like a super bowl party to build relationships. Tonight was one of the best nights with my girls. They were so open with me, some of it broke my heart; but it was such a great place to start this semester. We had tossed around the idea of a sex study and well let’s just say we will start one ASAP!! All that said the part of the game I watched was actually entertaining. I don't really care about professional sports, but watching the boys get so worked up made it more fun! Hope everyone else enjoyed the 2nd biggest football day of the year (1st clearly being the aTm/tu game!).

Project Runway!

I think I have figured out what the problem with this season is. Styling -HELLO! The designers have no clue how to do the hair and accessories to highlight their clothes. Even still I am super excited about tonight. They are to design based on the models hair. We shall see.

My Love Life!!

Yeah from the title juiciness seems promised but that is exactly the opposite. I watched the wedding date the other night. If you haven't seen it I will summarize. An attractive but jaded workaholic woman hires an escort (yes that is a nice word for whore) to escort her to a wedding. As predicted they fall in love after many trials and miscommunications. It is a cute movie, and definitely worth watching. The point of my rambling is a quote from the movie. "Every woman has the exact love life she wants."
At first I scoffed at the notion that the love life I want is one of few dates (especially in the last couple of years) and never having a true love at 29. Yes, this a sad but accurate summary of my dating life. Well, I somewhat see that at the heart of the matter, I am too guarded to fall, to even see the ledge. What is one to do - E-harmony (bleh-throw up sound), date below me just to date, no. I think it is to believe that someone is out there designed to deal with my flaws and to have me love theirs. It is this hope that I can't let go of, but also I am seeing that with out action to improve myself my love live summary will continue to be painfully accurate! Oh well, I am sure I will delete this post soon. I am not one for vulnerability, but for now here it is. You never know this may the beginning of honesty.

Ladies and Gentlemen Mr Jason Mraz

Sleeping to dream - Live..... a-maze -ing

I am really good at something!

Other than accessorizing which I am unashamedly proud of I think the other area that I excel in is drum roll please......Selfishness. Ugh, I say I want to be used by the Lord and then when he shows me a practical way to serve him I grumble. I see the activity as the world sees it, when the eyes he has given me should face the world through the grace and forgiveness. That is how he see me - Thank goodness.

Diet Season

If you ever want recommendations on a diet all you have to do is ask an overweight person. This may sound counterintuative but, I don't think there is a diet out there that I haven't done or could give you a general overview of. As it is the New Year; it is time for the world to be looking to diets to make their resolutions happen. I am ever the optimist and in the category of a dieter. I think I will do Weight Watchers, it is by far the most realistic of any of the plans. One diet that I won't do is Alli! It is so gross - on their website they recommend wearing dark pants. (I provided the link - it is about half way down the page) How gross, they want you to do so because your butt might leak!! NASTY!!!

2 good choices!

I just purchased to amazing songs
1. Willie Nelson's - Rainbow Connection
2. Brett Dennon - Blessed

Project Runway week 6

This week the designers were challenged to create outfits from items in the Hershey store in times square. I was super excited to see what Chris would do on this challenge. His livelihood is made by making outrageous outfits so I thought he would make something amazing. Well, it is not that I was wrong; it was just that he made a pretty dress - boring!

The winner was Rami, which his dress was amazing!

He was the one who should of won, Lynn thought that Alicia should of won because she used food. I disagree, while this increases the challenge level, I think the end result should be all that is judged. Her top was stiff and didn't move well, her skirt was perfect.

I think this is currently the best show on TV, and I thought I would share my thoughts on the week!! Next week prom dresses - I am so excited!!!

Say!

I just downloaded the John Mayer song "Say". Talking Point #1 - It is great. Talking Point #2 - I need to say more brave things.

Highlights

1. Good Group
Trevor, William (he was under the weather), Chris, Talia, Taylor, Amanda H, Terisa & Baby Kaylee, Mario, Shelly, Libby, Chris' 2 friends.
2. Trevor Read his 2 best Blog posts
3. Game Time
4. Laughing!