Where have you been???

Put an X by the states you have been to. The average is 8; how do you match up?
Should you chose to play, here's what you do: Paste the copy in the body of the note. Delete my Xs and add your own. Tag the same # of people as the # of states you've been to (I think you're limited to 30!).Just for fun, put an O beside the states where you have lived. Airports don't count!
Alabama -X
Alaska -X
Arizona -
Arkansas -X
California -
Colorado -X
Connecticut -
Delaware -
Florida -X
Georgia -X
Hawaii -X
Idaho -
Illinois -
Indiana -
Iowa -
Kansas -X
Kentucky -
Louisiana -X
Maine -
Maryland -
Massachusetts -
Michigan -
Minnesota -
Mississippi -X
Missouri -
Montana -
Nebraska -
Nevada -
New Hampshire -
New Jersey -
New Mexico -X
New York - X
North Carolina-X
North Dakota -
Ohio -
Oklahoma -X
Oregon -
Pennsylvania -
Rhode Island -
South Carolina -X
South Dakota -
Tennessee -X
Texas -O
Utah -
Vermont -
Virginia -
West Virginia -
Wisconsin -
Wyoming -
Washington -

I got 16. WOW I need to get out more! Please note the only reason I have been to 3 of the states is because of the RACK! Also, can I nominate myself to be official cheerleader/babysitter during the 50 states marathons? That way I can see all the states too! :)

This picture says it all...literally, it says it.

R.A.C.K. Love,
Carebear*

Best Italy Trip Ever!

Austin is amazing. I went to see the sunset off the lake at this restaurant, and the view is amazing! The important part of that is driving up there is winding roads and cliffs and whatnot. It looks exactly like Sardinia!
Which is of course the point of this blog.
The CRACK (The RACK plus Crystal) Sardinia trip was very interesting, but I think it basically sums up how we travelled around Europe that semester. It is quite ironic that it became my favorite trip we ever took together. It is ironic because the girls had to literally MAKE me go. I was hungover and really didn’t want to get out of my nice warm bed after an hour of sleep to go on a boat. Seriously didn’t sound fun at all, not even a little bit.
But, I did. And I am so glad that I did! For those of you who don’t remember or didn’t have the pleasure of being there here is a recap, I am however, fuzzy on some of the details, like how long did we wait for the boat, and how long did it take to drive up the island so a little help please.
First, we got on the train to go to the port to catch the boat to take us across to the island. Sounds easy right. Turns out when we got there the next boat was not scheduled to leave for several hours (you know, like12) and the next boat was going to Cagliari, not Olba which was our original destination. No biggie. We are nothing if not flexible.
We decide to lay out being as there was nothing else to do. This was not a so much of a problem except for Rachel and Kat and the fairest skin ever. And we had been out all night the night before, so we were all operating on little to no sleep and promptly feel asleep in the sun. With no sunscreen. It was painful.
Finally the boat came. It was a nice boat. Pretty big, amenities, etc. We were poor college students so we had to get the cheap seats. We were, to quote Crystal, “the first people who died on the Titanic.” We basically sat in the belly of the boat. It was set up kind of like a lounge/living room. Of course we also wanted pictures of ourselves on this amazing boat. We decided to ask a cute old man to take the picture. That conversation went like this.
Us: Hi, would you please take our picture?
Old Man: No. (walked briskly away)
WTH? Seriously, who does that?
Anyways, sunburn is starting to kick in, so we chill for a little bit, sleep some, drink with some Navy boys we met, play poker all night, you know the normal stuff one does on a long ass boat ride.
We FINALLY get to Cagliari, Sardinia. YAH!!
Our master plan is to rent a car and drive up the island to Olba, which is where we initially wanted to go. It’s a small island, how long could it really take??
Turns out, much longer than anticipated.
We went to rent a car and got a tiny Ford Focus, in Italy, we drove a Ford. What is that? The guy at the rental place was like, you should take the main highway it will only take a few hours. But why would we do that, when there is this awesome looking road that goes along the coast? It is way more scenic. It also takes significantly longer, which we failed to ask before embarking on this little adventure.
The road trip was great though! We hooked some Walkman speakers up in the backset, and rocked out. Along the way we also managed to have some fun. There was the running of the pigs, where we got chased, or we chased, some wild pigs. Why were we out of the car you might ask, well there was an inviting sprinkler that just looked too much like a shower to pass up. We had the brilliant idea to shower in the sprinkler. Yes, we were wearing our street clothes, and yes the sprinklers were about 500 yards away from the road. Bummer though we were on our way when the sprinklers turned off.
It was a beautiful and scenic drive, and we took some great pictures, climbed a tree, and danced in the street.
We finally arrive in Olba pretty late at night, I at least remember it was dark. We needed to find a place to stay for the night and we were low on funds. So we just drove around until we found a hotel that looked good, and checked it. The thing with that is we really wanted to save some money, so we just got one room with a king sized bed. There are only 5 girls, SURELY we can all fit. So 2 girls checked in and the other 3 snuk around back and went in. No biggie, people do that all the time, right?
Yeah we got busted.
The next morning, after the most glorious shower ever (It had been about 2 and half days at this point), and sleeping in a bed for the first time in several days, we attempted to sneak the 3 girls out the back. It didn’t really work. Something about needing to register with passports....
It is now Easter Sunday! What better way to spend Easter than on the beach….topless.
My sunburn was so ridiculous and hurt so badly, I just had it with a bra and shirt. I couldn’t do it. Moreover, the sun and sand hurt my legs very badly. The obvious answer to that delimma was flannel pj pants, no shirt, and juice box wine. It was very comfy on the sunburn. Thus the RACK’s RACK was born. Pictures to document the toplessness were necessary.
Sadly, we had to leave that evening. Taxis of course cost money, we didn’t have any of that so we needed a ride to the port. Why not ask the nice boys on the beach. It was weird they totally were stoked to take us. I wonder if it had anything to do with the toplessness……hmmm…..
Things get a little fuzzy for me here, I was delirious with pain from the sunburn (and maybe juice box wine had something to do with it). The boat back was super sketchy. There were airplane seats, and it was about five degrees below zero in there.
But, we thankfully made it back safely to Roma. Oh Roma……..
(I wanted to put some pictures on here too, but I don’t have any on the computer and I am too tired tonight to scan some. They will come later, and if you have any please attach!)

Po-Po Pet Peeve

So, there's a chance that me being preggers and 6 weeks away from my due date that I am a bit "hormonal". (I think Kirk would add the adjective "raging" to that description.) Hey, I can't help it! I'm carrying estrogen for two over here. It's like being on your period times two, 24/7!! I'm usually pretty calm and even-tempered; however, as my weeks have progressed I have succumbed to bawling while watching birthing videos at the library, raging on any car that even dares to think about cutting me off in traffic, and not giving Kirk any slack (poor guy can't do anything right). What's worse is I recognize that I am moody and there's nothing I can do about it!! Trust me, I've tried to shut it off. There's no stopping this barrage of emotions ... the floodgates have opened, the levies have broken and we are on our way to a FEMA disaster. What do I have to say for myself? 

"Boh?" 

(For those not familiar with the Italian slang, it basically means "eh? forget about it!" One must shrug their shoulders and plaster a confused look on her face to get the real meaning across.)

I digress. So back to my pet peeve. On three separate occasions in the past month I have had the experience of a cop pulling out behind me in traffic, riding my arse for a few miles and then speeding around me while giving me a dirty look that is equivalent to flipping me the bird. What the heck? Just because they have the "power of the law" and carry a gun doesn't give them a right to bully me because I am obeying the law and going the speed limit (well, by the time they found me I was going the speed limit :) Just because they have pretty lights on top of their car doesn't make them immune to the target of my raging hormones. No friends, they are no exception. How dare they stare me down as if my obeying the law is getting in their way. If they are in such a hurry, turn on your lights!! Otherwise, I'm not getting out of your way ... in fact, I'll slow down just to be a nuisance. 

I swear, if one more cop even tries to ride my butt or cuts me off in a fit of rage, CITIZEN'S ARREST!! I ain't scared, people ...

NYC RR NUMBERO DUE

First, I would like to apologize to Rachelle for encouraging another cold Northeast in winter RR, however this was just too too good to pass up.

NYC, here we come! Sara, Anne's awesome sister, was incredible enough to pull off getting Anne, me and Andrew into the much lusted after NYC marathon in November!

Perfect timing because Carrie will be back in the city that never sleeps (except for the last RR where we did a lot of sleeping...not this time girls!).

Rachelle promised to come! No quitsies!

This will be complete awesomeness for many reasons. I will list them below.

1. RACK reunion!!!!

2. Meeting Evie!!!!!

3. NYC MARATHON!!!!

4. Anne gets to finally meet RyANNE!!!

5. RACK reunion!!!

6. Andrew's first full marathon!!!!

7. NYC is the best!!!!

8. Anne and Kat get to dress up in freakishly weird outfits and run a marathon in front of hundreds of thousands of adoring fans!!!!

9. RACK REUNION!!!!

10. Halloween spent with the RACK, I do believe this will be a first. What do we dress up as?? Decisions decisions.... I've already decided that the Griffster will be the Naked Cowboy. I'm going to start figuring out that costume now :)

I'm so excited girls! Bring it on!!!

Non-C

I met a boy! His name is Skie, and he is so amazing! We technically met in October at a friend’s house, and we hit if off then. (Actually we made out, he asked me on a date, and I cancelled the day before.) He was invited by a friend to our cookout get together over Memorial Day weekend. We started talking, flirting etc. Then I invited him to a baseball game the next day. He came, we talked more, and I really started to like him. We had our first date last Friday. It was fun, we get along really well and have lots of things to talk about. He is such an interesting person! He was born and lived in Venezuela until he was 3. He speaks fluent Spanish (it’s even on his business card). He loves to travel. He just got back from a week in Florida, and he went to Belize recently. I asked him if he ever wanted to leave Austin/Texas (he has been here most of his life) and he said, yes probably to North or South Carolina because it is so beautiful there. (weird, only place the RAK has agreed to thus far)
He is a vice president and manager of a bank. Read: responsible and good with money.
He is so NICE, and considerate! Last Saturday I invited him out with my friends to see this band. Most of them work at this place that has a branch in Hungry, and there was a guy there visiting from Hungry. So the night goes on, and Skie notices the Hungarian guy sitting by himself, he goes over and starts talking to him and got several of my friends to talk to him too. When I asked him about it later, he was like well, I was talking to some people and I saw him sitting alone. I think if I was ever sitting along like that, especially in a foreign country I would like someone to talk to me. He invited the guy to hang out after the bar, and to brunch on Sunday. He was so grateful to Skie. It was just so sweet!
Then, we were driving and both were admiring this really pretty flowering tree. We pulled up next to it, and I was like pick a flower off it. He goes, No because I wouldn’t want to take the beauty away from someone else. Other people should get to see the beauty too. How cute!
One more, though I could go on forever! We were talking one day, just casually and he asked me about my best friend. I told him about the RACK. So we just chatted whatever didn’t really say much but that you guys are awesome, live far away, etc.
About three days later, he asked about each one of you by name. And, something he remembered about you. He was like oh how’s Carrie, and Ryan doing. How is Anne and the baby, How is Kat and her little guy. Really! Who does that! I only briefly talked about you once. He has since asked about each of you again, remembers husbands/ -boyfriends, kids, funny stories, everything. This is made more amazing by the fact that Billy could not remember who was who and married to who and lived where in 2 years. Seriously, WTF?
So yeah its true he is a pretty cool guy. Drawbacks: he dated a friend of mine 8 years ago for a year, he is 34, and his name does not have a C in it. That is all I can think of.
And my roommate just told me, she also thinks he is awesome, and is a keeper. J
P.S. As I am writing this I can’t help but think, “I wonder what I will think of this when we break up…….”
(Pessimist much?)

Oh How Does Your Garden Grow?

So being the pseudo-hippie that I am (well, I'm more of a faux hippie because I shower and shave my arm pits) I got the idea that it would be fun to plant a garden. Just a small, simple introduction to the world of horticulture (not counting the one online horticulture class that my roommate Crystal and I took in college ... I mean, really, who takes a horticulture class online?? Yep, my plants died.) 

So I approached my husband about the idea and he was totally game. So we set out to plan our little garden experiment. Well, somehow our small garden idea went from a plot in the backyard to a greenhouse. What the heck? I've never planted a plant in my life and we're planning a year round greenhouse? Well, we finally scaled our plans down from the greenhouse to a small pasture of a garden. Thankfully Kirk's family already had a 50 X 50 foot fenced in plot that they had used for a garden about 5 years ago. So we set about cleaning it up and getting it ready. Now picture it ... all ready for planting. From here we made a few mistakes:

1) Do we practice  a bit of self-control and only buy enough plants to feed our family?  Nope, we decide to fill the garden. We bought over a 130 plants. Squash, cucumbers, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers ... you name it ... we got it. When we were leaving the nursery the woman who had been helping us said, with a slightly sarcastic tone, "have fun with all that!" Thanks, lady. 

2) We plant the garden at Kirk's parents 2nd house that is 45 minutes away from where we live. So we make it up once a week to care for the garden. 

3) We decide that for the first month we don't really need to weed? Why? Almost every weekend it was raining. Now, don't get me wrong, the rain is good and much needed (makes our job easier). However, raining combined with no weeding for a month means problems. Even I, the inexperienced gardener than I am, know that.

So we get up to the house this past weekend and pull up to the garden fulling expecting all of the plants to be dead. We pulled up and there was GREEN everywhere! I was so thrilled! We hadn't killed the plants!! However, upon closer inspection, I suddenly came to the stark realization that over half of the plants that were growing there were not planted by us and did NOT belong there. Whoops.

So we spent over 10 hours this weekend getting our hoe on (not getting on our ho ... you dirty minds), watering, fertilizing, and raking. I was working as hard as my 8 month pregnant body would let me ... riding the 4-wheeler while carrying buckets of fertilizer, shoveling and basically dominating the mega weeds that had taken over the garden that were trying to choke our plants. When it was all said and done, we have a VERY respectable garden. We even have a few squash that are already coming in! Now if we can only figure out what we're going to do with all these vegetables ......

My dad, the inappropriate jokester ...

So all might remember my dad, the MC, at our rehearsal dinner. Who can forget his impromptu karaoke and bad jokes? You've just gotta love my dorky dad for his total obliviousness toward any social etiquette. So, with my brother's wedding next weekend, one can expect a performance from my dad. He has promised that he has no singing up his sleeve but he came to me in confidence and shared THE JOKE that he's going to give at the rehearsal dinner. No one else knows about it (most importantly, my mom) but I'm sharing it to get a preliminary reaction. (Hopefully no one but the RACK is reading this and I'm giving away his secret :)

McDonough was flat broke the night of the big contest at the local Pub. So, with a practical spirit he tapped his wife's cookie jar for all it was worth and headed out to meet his buddies.

After hours of drinking, the contest began.. a contest to see who could make the finest toast in the town.

The end of it was near and the time had finally come for McDonough, who struck a mighty pose and with great emotion proclaimed: "May I forever be, for the rest of my life, between the legs, of my lovely wife."

The pub exploded in laughter and soon declared McDonough the winner.

Returning home victorious, 100 quid in hand, McDonough sneaks through his front door and to the kitchen where he finds his wife in a burgled mood with her skillet raised high.

Lifting his 100 quid in tribute he whispers proudly: "I won the toast, Mary. I won you 100 quid!"

A stunned Mary slowly takes the burden from his hand and says "Aye, my darling husband, so I see you did. And what was this grand toast that made these winnings."

McDonough strikes another dramatic pose and grandly says: "May I forever be, for the rest of my life, sittin' in church, with my lovely wife."

A smiling Mary replied "Aye McDonough, that IS a fine toast, a mighty fine toast indeed."

The next morning finds Mary's returning from the store and at the corner light she runs into Brady, her husband's very best friend.

"Hello there Mary" said Brady, in a testy sort of way. "Your husband won the contest last night with a mighty grand toast... about Yoooooo!"

"Aye, and so he told me" said Mary "and you know, Brady, that's just the strangest of things. He's only been there twice in the last 4 years. One time he fell asleep and the other time I had to pull him by the ears just to get him to come!"

RACK Hurts

We are a medieval torture device. Check it out:
http://history.howstuffworks.com/middle-ages/10-medieval-torture-devices3.htm

Passporto Retardo

Just thought that was a fun title. The story of Rachel's passport......
Seeing as I somehow lost my passport in the literall y 7 moves I have made since 2003 when I used it last, I set out to apply for a new one. Now, this seems like quite the easy task. Well friend you are mistaken.
First, I must buy an original birth certificate and have it mailed to me. CHECK- 3 weeks later.
Second, fill out the lost passport form, and the application, which is only like 5 pages and took about 2 hours, and two phone calls to the parents- CHECK
Third, take pictures- CHECK
Fourth- Go to the post office and turn it all in……..This one is a doozy! Still working on that.
I called to make an appointment after finding out from a friend it took him a month. I made an appointment, but then I had a work conflict and couldn’t make it. I called to cancel and reschedule like anyone else. That was a fun conversation:
Passport Lady (PL): Hello (Imagine the most hick, country accent ever!)
Rachel: Yeah I am not going to be able to make my appointment tomorrow something has come up.
PL: Well, now miss, are you sure? Because you can’t just do that.
R: Really, because I thought I just did. (a little sarcastic and confused)
(don’t forget the ridiculous sounding super hick accent) PL: No you can’t just “cancel” with the post office, that is not ok. And, I don’t think you sound ready to reschedule another appointment, I mean, are you sure you can handle this. I don’t think you are responsible enough. I don’t want to make another appointment for you.
In my head: Are you kidding me? Can she do that. Hung up the phone.
WTF?
So, I called right back, she of course answered the phone. I just calmly said I need to make an appointment, just like I had never talked to her before. She didn't say anything, which was hilarious in and of itself.

It doesn't sound as funny written as it did that day. My co-worker and I laughed about that for a few days!

The Saga...

The Saga Of Bry

In the beginning, (July 2008) Bry and I started dating, and we both agreed we were not boyfriend/girlfriend, we were just dating and could see other people, if we informed the other person and no sex with anyone else.
This was the agreement. Time went on, we broke up, got back together etc. December 2008, have the DTR (define the relationship) again, same as before. Great. Thus far, Rachel went on a few dates, always letting him know beforehand. Bry, never said anything, Rachel didn’t ask.
February 2009- Rachel attempts to start another DTR, Bry says he isn’t sure, doesn’t want to talk about it right now, wants to think about it and he will bring it another time. (Brought this up because I was thinking I really was into him and wanted to be more serious) Bry does mention he often refers to Rachel as his girlfriend when talking about her to other people.
March 2009- Bry has still not brought anything up. Rachel and Bry are spending way more time together than ever before, Holding hands in public, going to things for the other person (i.e. Rachel’s roommate’s weird concert thing, taking a dorky Segway tour together, looking at motorcycles, etc.) and generally acting more bf/gf-ish. (Yes that is a word)
March 17- Rachel had a super PMS moment, and started a big fight. There was yelling, crying, etc. Days later, apologies from both parties, Friday night hung out, everything seemed fine by both parties (I mention this because I think it was a contributing factor)
March 26, 2009- Rachel goes to Atlanta, on the long 10-hour drive to Memphis had a lot of time to think. Basically, kind of realized I had not been kind of mean to Bry, by pushing him away and breaking up with him and finding reasons not to really fully be with him. thought about wanting to be with him more, how that would be, etc. etc.
March 30- get home from Atlanta, have a horrible cold, super tired. Been home about 10 minutes, talking to Leslie and she breaks the news. All our friends were at a party Saturday night, Bry and another girl would oddly disappear sometimes, they were together all night, someone told Leslie they saw him making out with her in the car.
Tuesday night, I was sick so he came over to make me dinner. I started talking about what I thought about and learned on my long drive, really liking him and wanting more etc. He was silent the whole time, just nodding etc. then I was like, what do you think? He said nothing, so I was like is there anything you want to tell me, he said NOPE. Nothing. I told him what I knew. He said oh that, no big deal whatever. I questioned him, he said he wasn’t sure if he was interested or not, might be, hasn’t talked to her since. So we are eating and talking blah, blah. Basically, he says he doesn’t care about me anymore than he did back in July. Said it was just dating, nothing more, and he didn’t think we were good together, didn’t mesh etc. In the middle of the conversation he left. That’s it, just left.
So, I saw him Saturday night with her at the bar with everyone, it was SUPER awkward and weird. I talked to him for like 2 seconds at the bar. Then, he texted me when I left “Are you ok” I didn’t text him back.
Then, he texted me Tuesday and Wednesday nights just like Yeah I miss you, are you ok, blah blah. I didn’t respond.
So, the next Sunday, I was all weird and being lonely, whatever. So I called him. Stupid I know. We just talked about what happened, I told him how hurt I was. He Finally acknowledged what he did was wrong. He said I knew I should have ended it a few weeks before (i.e. my freak out I think), but I didn’t and then I didn’t know how to. So, basically I heard I cheated on you and humiliated you in front of everyone because I am chicken shit and didn’t have the balls to break up with you. Oh how lame. And that’s it I haven’t talked to him or seen him since.
There ya go. The abbreviated version of what happened with Bry. Sorry it took me so long, I just didn’t know what to say and there was so much emotion around it. I can finally sit down and do this without crying or being super angry J

Fast Food Shame

I did it. I ate fast food. Burger King hash browns. This morning my tummy has not been feeling well which may or may not be due to the red wine consumed last night at an art opening and dinner afterward. (Note: Art openings are wonderful places to get free wine and beer and feel as though you may be cultured or the slightest bit intellectual...but more on that in another blog.) It hurt and I was thinking about how if the ache was due to a hangover, and I'm not saying that it is, perhaps I should have some greasy food to nip it in the bud (butt?). And I thought of the fast food hash browns. Ryan was very encouraging as he is not feeling so hot either...coincidence? So I did it...I gave in. I have not once stepped foot in a Burger King or McDonald's in Singapore. I don't think I've even had anything from one of those places since conos in bell'Italia. Which, for some reason did not count. I'm lying, I nabbed a few of Ryan's fries in Melaka. As I left the office to go downstairs to the Burger King I began to feel overwhelmingly guilty. Maybe my stomach doesn't hurt. I think I felt better, but I had alread made my decision. I felt so ashamed and embarassed walking into BK. All these people around that don't know me and are not paying any attention will know that I went to BK, they will see me! I ordered and felt even more shameful as I walked back to my office w/ BK bag in hand. I gave Ryan his order and sat at my desk to dig in. The worst part is that they were just okay! Fast food is not as good as I remember it. So was it all worth it? Well, I would say no, but even as I till have this odd oily and not natural taste that seems to have lubricated my mouth and won't go away, my stomach doesn't hurt anymore. And that's pretty cool.

Toilet Paper

As I was using the restroom at work today I noticed a pile of toilet paper in the corner. I think the combination of sleepiness/the need to purchase toilet paper for the house/my past spurred the overwhelming urge to stuff as many rolls of toilet paper as I could into my lab coat and make a run for it.

Weird, right? This has never happened before and no, I did not succumb to this freakish act.

As I was washing my hands, I remembered why my brain would jump to that thought with the mere sight of cheap institution style toilet paper.

This is why. When the RACK was living in Italy, we thought our money should be spent in one of two places. Food or travel. Is toilet paper food? No. Travel? Absolutely not. We were a little um what's the word....clefto while we lived in Italy. We not only stole toilet paper from every hotel/hostel/restaurant we went to. Well, not every, but a lot. But I actually still use a huge towel that we all stole from our first place of residence in Florence. Maybe I shouldn't be putting this on the internet. The Italian policia are going to come find me and drag me back there! Uh oh...come and get me!

Also on our list of stolen goods: tiny espresso cups, a DVD from blockbuster (that was an accident..) and artificial sweetener...it's probably illegal in the US and we are going to get some freakish disease because of it. Karma. I don't know what got into us over there. We are usually upstanding citizens... :)

Anyway, just thought I would share that although I have been thief-free for a good 6 years, I still have the urge when confronted with massive amounts of toilet paper.

Valentine's Day...RACK style!

February is around the month that the RACK was created I think...my memory stinks though so who knows. I do know that we took a trip to Switzerland the Feb. that we were in Italy. This was not your average..get train ticket, get on train, go to Switzerland, have fun, go home kind of trip.

Oh no, the RACK had to make it interesting. We got on our train and settled into a little cabin all to ourselves. I remember going to the grocery store in Termini in Rome and loading up on out 1.5 Liter Diet Sodas (that probably have sweeteners in them that are illegal in the US but we drank the heck out of them) we would carry the 1.5 liters around and suck them down while wandering the city..they were like 1 Euro...you'd do the same thing. I think we also bough canned green beans to eat cold...on the train...like animals.

I went to the bathroom to drain said can of green beans and almost got molested by a drunk Italian guy. I ran up and down the train screaming for Carrie because me with my terrible sense of direction, couldn't find the RAC to save my life...literally. I found them and remain molestation free to this day thank goodness.

So, we are riding along and somehow realize we should have switched trains at some point. Instead of Switzerland, we end up in Verona at 3 AM on Valentine's Day. It seemed appropriate...Romeo and Juliet...lalala. However, it was frigidly cold and we all had to pee really bad. The problem with this was that the bathrooms were locked. The only thing I will complain about in Europe is the lack of public bathrooms that A. are open and B. are free of charge.

Years later, '08, I went to Europe with my hubby while pregnant and probably spent more money on bathrooms than food while there. Note to self...don't go to Europe pregnant. On the other hand, if I have the opportunity to go to Europe, I don't care if I'm seconds from giving birth...I'm gettin on that plane.

Off track! So, Verona...we hang there for several hours until we can get on an actual train to take us to the actual Switzerland. We had a blast and went snowshoeing which was incredible! Then headed home.

We spent more time in transit than in the country of Svizzera.....is that how those Italians spell it?

The hostel was great with the exception of the world's grossest showers. And I vaguely remember somebody almost getting killed for trying to wake up Rachel with a pillow...mistake!

Girls...any other fond memories of this trip??

25 Random Pregnancy Things

Okay, so in keeping with the whole FB craze of writing 25 random things about yourself ... I have a compiled a list of 15 random things that have begun in the past 17 weeks of being pregnant:

1. Cliche, I know, but I crave icecream. My day is not complete without an icecream cone from Chick-fil-A. I feel like this is a safe vice because 1) they only cost $1.06 with tax 2) they only have 162 calories. Look at me justifying ...

2. I listen to really random music. Example: right now I am listening to Michael Jackson's greatest hits. I have also been known to jam to Daft Punk and Michael Bubble in the same sitting.

3. It is hard for me to get motivated to run. WHAT?! I have never experienced this before ...

4. My memory is GONE. This is not good when it comes to school. I can study for hours and then forget all of the info in a matter of minutes.

5. I take naps .. NAPS .. like a little baby. Even if I get 10 hours of sleep, I can still crash anywhere, anytime. I fall asleep on the couches at school like you wouldn't believe.

6. I can't stop sneezing!! My left nostril is the culprit every single time. Supposedly, the left nostril corresponds to the parasympathic nervous system ... and perhaps since this is constantly aggrivated and clogged, I have problems calming down. Boh?!

7. Hummus is my new best friend. Yes, I eat it for breakfast.

8. I am 17 weeks along and have no baby bump to show for it. I have a mostrous butt bump and two ginormous boob bumps, but no baby bump.

9. I am so coffee deprived that I can get a caffeine high off the smell of Starbucks. I am sitting in one right now taking in the smells ....

10. I have pregnancy-induced ADHD. I can't sit still and pay attention to save my life ...

11. I strained some ligaments in my foot from stepping wrong. STEPPING WRONG. Are you kidding me? I have been running 50+miles/week (and falling on these runs pretty consistently) for the past 6 years and have not even had a stress fracture to show for it.

12. I crave fizzy drinks. I can't drink real water anymore. It's only S. Pellegrino for me.

13. I have become chatty. I always made fun of my mom for how chatty she was and how long our conversations would last. I now call her and she's the one getting off the phone with me!

14. McDonald's smells good. The smell of fast food used to make me want to vomit. I now follow bags of it just to get a whif. Of course there's nothing at those places good and friendly for a veggie like me ... so I'm pretty safe from it's olfactory temptations.

15. My husband is wondering who this new girl is that has taken the place of his wife. This new girl cries a lot and he doesn't know how to handle this. Hint: petting does not help, telling me to calm down does not help, ignoring me does not help.

BONUS #16: The sex drive is in overdrive. Hint to the Husband: enjoy it while it lasts.

Pasta Non Basta!

As part of a RACK Moments Remembered series I am going to initiate....let's begin at the night of the Pasta Non Basta annihilation circa 2003.

There is a restaurant in Rome. At this restaurant a table is given a big plate of pasta. Once this plate has been consumed, another plate of a different type of pasta is given...this continues until the patrons are so stuffed they no longer remember where they are or how they go there.

The RACK can eat. We have gotten a little wussy in our old age (or our metabolism has slowed down rendering us unable to consume the massive quantities of food that we ate while in Rome...think entire pizzas (1 per RACK member) for dinner chased with some gelato...not kidding).

We were challenged by a group we will call the Siena Kids to a pasta eat-off. What better place than Italy to accept this type of challenge. If you want to call it a challenge...because it wasn't.

We smoked them. The four of us out-ate a table of guys without even a burp. (I take that back..I probably burped at some point).

They pasta was flying at us left and right! We ate it and we liked it. We even had the challenge of having a vegetarian on our team.

Whenever a plate would come out that had any type of animal product, the 3 non-veggies would eat even more. When it was a veg plate, the C would eat more to make up for it. Such team work brings a tear to my eye.

I think we ate....8...was it 8? Plates of pasta. Then, after a celebratory "in yo' face" moment, we realized what we had done. It was painful. Pain. Full.

Totally worth it though. However, the Siena Kids had the nerve to challenge our victory. They still haven't given up their weak argument that we somehow were not victorious.

In all actuality, they probably have all forgotten about this event and moved on with their lives. The RACK however, brings it up whenever we get together. We get mad. We start explaining to anyone in earshot that we are indeed the victors and nobody will take that away from us! I also don't think we would say no to a rematch...mmm...pasta...

Example: 6 years after this competition, we are all hanging out at Carrie's parents' house in NY. Somehow pasta non basta (that means pasta non-stop in Italian) comes up. Pretty soon our voices are raised and we are pacing around explaining to nobody in particular the logistics of how we won and why it makes us so awesome.

Then we realize that nobody else cares.

Just another look into the life of a RACK.

Hypothetical Story

I am going to tell a story. This is not about me and my husband. Somebody told this to me anonymously...I promise.

So. About 5 months after this girl gave birth, she was about to get it on with her husband. This girl stopped taking the mini pill because quite frankly she was sick of anything hormonal and Walgreens was always out of it anyway.

Leading up to the big moment, this girl asked her husband to use a condom. The silly guy had the audacity to say that using a condom would be "uncomfortable" for him.

Uncomfortable.

Let me define uncomfortable: 10 weeks of feeling exhausted and puking on a daily basis, gaining 29 pounders over the course of 6 months, back pain, pelvic pain, hormonal headaches, eczema on the legs (weird, I know), boobie pain, swollen limbs, clothes not fitting, labor, delivery, night sweats, traumatic nipples, need I go on?

So, in lieu of you feeling uncomfortable for a portion of one night, you would rather me feel uncomfortable for about a year?

Guess who won that little discussion?

He is a great man though and didn't mean a darn thing by his cute little comment. Also, despite all the complaints about pregnancy, this girl would totally do it a million times for her little munchkin-I'm assuming. I wouldn't know because I'm not her...

Singlehood

Singlehood. It is an interesting state of being. I have a love-hate relationship with it most of the time. This week, mostly hate. It gets harder the older I get.
For one thing, I often think about independence. I have always wanted independence, always fought fiercely for it, and resented those who tried to take it away. Hence my unique postion today; I am living in Austin, going to graduate school, and working at a job I love. All should be great, right? Well, funny it does not always work out that way. I struggle to feel attached. Attached to something here, right now in my life. I think of it like a tetherball. The ball is always attached to the pole, which is firmly in the ground. The ball can fly all over the place, but not too far, and always comes back to its pole. Most people are the ball, and their families the pole. Makes total sense. You go out into the world, explore a bit, but then return if not geographically at least emotionally.
I feel a little different. I think my string broke about 4 years ago. I also think I was the one to cut the cord. I did not realize I was doing it at the time, but I remember when it happened. Now I feel like a ball floating out in space subject to the tides around it. It is a strange feeling that if I disappeared tomorrow, and moved somewhere that none of the people here I associate with in 6 months would notice. I mean I have lived here for 4 years, and have no human connections to show for it. Actually, less probably.
That is part of the challenge of being single right now. I feel, even though cognitively I know it is warped, that if I am in an intimate relationship, that person is close to me. We have an extra special kind of bond that cannot come from a friendship. So, it is like at least temporarily I am not floating around all alone, I have tied to someone else floating around and thus we float together. It makes it a bit easier to tolerate the tides going this way and that. Being single, I have no such companionship. Now I know this is warped because I am independent right?? I mean being independent means you do things on your own. It is not as fun as I once thought it would be. It is not the characteristic of someone independent to want that connection so much. But the other side of that argument, my heart says, it is perfectly normal for humans to want other, intimate, human connection. Then my head corners, you should also be ok being on your own. It is an argument I have not won or lost yet. Some days I feel totally cool, comfortable, and confident in my singlehood, and others I just feel lost.
Now, in the words of one of my favorite clients: “God gives you what you need, not what you want, or think you need.” There is a big difference between needs and wants, and sometimes it is easy to confuse the two. But given my limited perspective, and God’s big picture point of view, I can trust that when I am ready, really ready, not just wanting it, whatever is supposed to happen to me will happen, no matter what choices or bad decisions I make, or maybe in spite of them.

Broccoli Defense

So first I want to recount a funny conversation I had with my friend Jennifer. She IM'ed me the other day and it went something like this:
Jenn: So, you went to New York how was it? And what is the RACK?
Me: Oh yeah New York was awesome! And the RACK, well it's a long story, but it is a group of girls I have been friends with for a long time.
Jenn: Oh! I thought it was some cool new New York thing I didn't know about.
Me: Thinking: haha, we are a cool new New York thing...if only she really understood the RACK.....) Said: Yeah we had a great time though!


OK back on topic though. I really wanted to write a little note further explaining the broccoli comment (please reference the A's article "Quotetastic"). First of all I have always been the more "voluptuous" member of the RACK, and I am ok with that. Anne was totally right that the word broccoli didn't mean much to me until about August 2007. You see what happened was, I went to the doctor for an annual check up and she's like, hey let's check your cholesterol. And I'm all ok. Flash forward 2 weeks, I get the fatal phone call with my results. Turns out even at age 24 you can still have "very high" cholesterol. Not high, oh no friends, I surpassed the high category and went straight for the good stuff. There might have been a small freak out, including tears at work (ask my colleague/friend Lisa). Because of my mom and her history of weight related health issues, I took this super seriously.

Then, I started graduate school. Extra stress added to my life made changing my eating very difficult. Then 2 weeks after that, my mom had what we euphemistically call "an episode." Basically, she lost it, lost touch with reality. It was basically every child's nightmare. I live 3 hours away, what the crap am I supposed to do to help? I spent many many many hours on the phone with various family members at all hours of the day and night for over a week. It was rough to say the least. Eating better kind of got lost in the shuffle.

Then about a month later I flew to see the RAK in Memphis. Next to those girls wow I looked like a porker! So freaked a little more, and proceeded to ask many many questions about dieting, eating right, etc. I had this great plan, when I get home I will go to the grocery store, and that will be it. No red meat, lots of fish, lots of veggies, no French fries, etc. I was ready to go! Totally on the new healthy eating bandwagon!

However, life had other plans. When I got home, back to the routine, graduate school, live-in boyfriend, dealing with the aftermath of mom's stuff, it was just too much! Something had to give, so because of a pair of underwear left on the bathroom floor for a week it was decided the boyfriend had to go. I didn't really consciously make this decision, I just kind of freaked because of the underwear, and decided I didn't really want to be with him. Really, not because of the underwear, we weren't really great together anyways. But alas, we broke up. And we had 8 more months on our lease. Fun times! I got a bed, and we rearranged our 2 bedroom apartment to 2 real bedrooms with each having our own space. Sounds crazy right, living with an ex-boyfriend for 8 whole months! Well, it wasn't really that bad. We made it. Less fighting than when we were together, and a little more peaceful.

Shortly after the breakup however, I did get on track and started eating right. Lots of veggies, salmon, yogurt, etc. and NO red meat. (that’s hamburgers too)
And for my birthday I bought myself yoga classes! Let me tell you, I believe yoga got me through that still not so easy time. Yoga was 75 minutes away from the apartment 3 times a week, yoga was 75 minutes of no phone calls from family, yoga was my 75 minutes 3 times a week of pure, unadulterated Rachel time! It was fan-freaking-tastic!!!

Then before I knew it, I was ordering a bridesmaid dress 3 sizes smaller than I was 4 months earlier! And in August when I went for my annual check up, yes friends you guessed it, 30 pounds lighter! That might not seem like much, but let me tell you that I went slowly, and didn’t try to force anything and incorporated new things into my daily routine. Now, I am still doing it and it doesn’t seem like dieting, or I have to work out, or anything. It is just what I do. Like breathing. Yoga and no fast food and veggies are just a part of my life now. That’s new.
So, to make a short story long, that is why “I eat the shit out of broccoli!!"

6 years....not much has changed

That is kind of misleading. A lot has changed actually but all in good ways!

That being said, we will always be the RACK. RACKtastic. We do RACKreational activities. Some may call us RACKaholics.

Not really sure where I'm going here. Basically I just wanted to post a pic from our semester in Italy and one we took this past weekend. They make me smile! The main difference lies within the amount of wine consumed or lack thereof and the fact that in Italy we had just stolen exit signs. We were a little clefto in Italia...boh!

Quotastic!!

So anyone who might not intimately know the "A" of the RACK ... here's a free sneak preview for you ... I love quotes. Movie quotes happen to be a favorite ... but I also appreciate random, funny quotes friends and family unwittingly say. Another fact you might not know is that I just spend a fabulously wonderful long weekend in NYC with my best friends (and co-authors of this lovely blog). So as a tribute to them, quotes and funny random moments, I bring you my favs from this past weekend:

1) "I eat the sh*t out of that broccoli." -Rachelle referring to broccoli that comes in steam bags with olive oil and spices. Funny for two reasons: 1) Anyone who knows Rachelle, knows that 5 years ago broccoli wasn't even in her vocabulary. 2) Who says that in reference to broccoli?

2) "It's like Sex in the City ... without any sex." -Katacomb during our lunch at a totally hip, NYC restaurant ... great except this was a girls only weekend (minus the Griff-meister, of course) and thus by definition none of our boys were allowed.

3) Griffin's first experience with the RACK. Okay, so this one needs an explanation. Whenever the four of us get together, we ritualistically go berserk at the airport. We run to meet each other, jump up and down and hug each other ... first as a group, and then individually. Katacomb and Griffin just happened to be the last to arrive, so when the RAC_ spotted them, we took off running and starting jumping and hugging with no attention to the 4 month old baby being smothered by our antics. When we finally came up for air, we spotted the little guy and he was smiling and laughing right along with us. We knew right then that this was truly and genuinely a petite RACKer and not a love child switched a birth. It was love at first sight.

4) The Skype "interview" with Rybear. When Carebear first mentioned 2 1/2 years ago that she was considering moving to Singapore with a guy she had only been dating for a few months, the RA_K was selfishly skeptical (mostly because we didn't want to lose our C). But she made the move for her love and has been there now for over 2 years and been very happy. However, the distance has prevented us from officially meeting Ryan, the newest addition to our Boy RA_K (as you know from the previous blog, we are just waiting for the Boy C ... ah hem ... Rachelle :) So over our holiday weekend, Carebear instigated a Skype conversation with Ryan where we got to meet him and ask him questions. Funny for many reasons: 1) Ryan was introduced to the RACK Buffer, which consists of a special force that exists when all four of us our together that repels all other conversations and people who might try and join into our conversation. We become totally oblivous to the fact that we only talk and laugh amongst ourselves and anyone else in proximity ceases to exist (good thing Ryan is getting introduced to this early .. so it's not a surprise like it was for our two boy husbands ... the Boy A and the Boy K ... who only found out about it after getting engaged/married to us :) 2) Ryan was totally cute and played along with us by improving the astetics of his computer area with a Christmas tree, santa hat, and buddha statue.

There were many more funny moments of pregnancy farts (blame it on the baby in the belly!), Bananagrams, chips and salsa, movies ....... but I can't give away ALL of our secrets ;)

Origins of a RACK

Between The R.A.C.K. I bet you are wondering what that means. Well, I will just tell you.
See it all started in 2003. Four girls from Texas, Kansas, New York, and Tennessee decided to go live in Rome, to "study abroad" of course. These girls coming from different regions, did not have a name such as, "The California Boys", or "The Sienna Kids." This sparked a little jealousy. I mean we are an entity all our own. When three of us were walking down a lonely road in Fundi it was decided there should be a name. So, putting our heads together, we came up with the RACK. See, Rachel, Anne, Carrie, Kat. It makes so much sense! And thus the RACK was born!
Since that day, it has been discovered how much fun one can have with the word RACK. First, there was the RACK's RACK. That was the day we took a topless picture on a non-topless beach in Sardinia. Then we got creative with other friends, such as The CRACK (add Crystal or Charlotte). The G'RACK (adding Griffin). Now, there is almost a boy RACK. This is the husbands, also known as Ryan (well almost a husband), Andrew, and Kirk. The C boy is dependent me. No pressure or anything.
This is the much abbreviated story of the RACK.