twirp.

a few weeks ago was twirp (the woman is required to pay) week at cbu. it's basically a whole week of sadie hawkins things to do. girls get pretty creative when asking the guys out to the different events.

jillian and i decided to twirp our friends sam and andrew. we made a whole picture puzzle scavenger hunt for them and with the help of our roommates and a lot of hours being creative together we pulled it off.

we took the guys to knotts scary farm. and scary it was. none of us had been before so we weren't quite sure what we were getting ourselves into.

at first i was terrified. and i just didn't want to be there. but by the end of the night it was kinda the same thing over and over again. so the monsters popping out of the fog and chasing us down the streets didn't phase me anymore.

things i want.

let me just be materialistic for a while. 

things i want:

an awesome blossom/bloomin onion

hot and sour soup

horseback riding

new episodes of degrassi

longer eyelashes

this delish watermelon lemonade that i invented once

a phone that i can talk on that doesn't sound like everything is distant

to get a really bad sunburn and then have it turn into a tan and have a little bit of my skin peel off

a swim with a beluga whale

dreadlocks

love

a clean room

understanding

live music

friendship

sour patch kids

the south

kumquats

the 6th harry potter book... figures thats the only one i cant find

my fave salad to come back to panera

cbu friends to come back to riverside

pixar's up

life to be a musical

people 

people who watch the dumb shows i am into so i can talk about them (skins/the best years)

100 summer dresses

more time with family

more game nights

thats all for now.

sorry for this potentially annoying blog.

i love southern california.

i love so cal. 

where else could you plan to go to the beach. then on the way there change your mind and head into hollywood.

and then drive around bel aire and see michael jackson's house, and the jonas brothers house. 

then go back to hollywood blvd and see a taping of the jimmy kimmel show.

and then end the night with a trip to the santa monica pier with a ride on the ferris wheel. 

now, make a fist. slowly ease it up underneath your chin.

when i was in jr high the cool thing to do was to go to the mall with your bff find matching shirts, buy them and then go to photmakers to get pictures taken. 

you could get 50 wallets each for 20 bucks or something.

then the next day you go to school and pass them out to 50 of your closest friends and write something sentimental on the back like "hey gurlie, i am sooo glad we r friends. stay sweet. don't ever change. love rachel."

found this photo while cleaning my room. i think that this is me in 7th grade with my friend eleanor. well i mean i know it's me and eleanor, but im not sure what year. 

you got to pick the background and the color. if you were a ba you would get flames, but we simply chose the cosmic blue background. sometimes they would put random pillars in the background. and the fist under the chin was a must.

sippy cup.

i really enjoy the spontaneous things that happen in my life. 

today after the male choral concert and dinner we had nothing to do. until we decided to walk to cvs and grab some goodies.

it was andrew's birthday so we bought some birthday candles because earlier at dinner he had forgotten to make a wish when he blew out his candle so we had to give him another shot. but we didn't have a cake, so we just all held a candle. 


we also bout sippy cups and decorated them with sequins and googly eyes and glitter glue.

because what 20 year old wouldn't love to drink out of a cup with a built in straw?

im voting we take our cups to the caf and use them.

what shape is cheese?

i really don't know what made me think of this question, but tonight at dinner i asked cindy and holly "what shape is cheese?"

holly said "triangle"

and cindy said "brick"

what shape do you think cheese is?

i would agree with holly and say triangle.

her reasoning was that if you are playing pictionary and getting someone to guess cheese you would draw a triangle one. 

you would probably also make it swiss cheese with holes and everything. 

what shape do you think cheese is?

overwhelmed.

i had a great spring break. 

really, it was a good one. 

i got to hang out with some friends i rarely see, relax, watch lots of tv, sleep in my bed at home, play with my dog, you know, good stuff.

and then i got to go camping with this great group of people (plus paul, who is taking the picture):
we went camping at silverwood lake from thursday till sunday. and honestly i was a little worried. i just felt like four days was a little much. 

but it was not. i had so much fun. we just hang out by the lake, played games, napped, hiked around, made movies, and other fun things. 

i got sun burnt, but i also got some new friends and a million inside jokes. 

but my week has been so busy. 

i have been spending so much time in the gdm lab just working on different projects and stuff. im actually here right now. just taking a break from class and squeezing in a quick blog.

im peeling and my lips hurt because they are super chapped. 

arizona road trip.

jillian and i got the chance to go out to arizona this weekend to visit abby.

abby lives in minnesota but she was in az visiting her parents.
it was awesome to get to see ehr (after a year) and catch up.

we did touristy things in scottsdale.
like shop in stores that sell small cacti and cow boy boot necklaces.
we also went to the hippy gypsy store.
and we saw a man on his horse playing the guitar.

we did some other random things like going to the sugar bowl ice cream shop twice in the same day. and going out to dinner with her family. and hanging out with her sister who is basically abby's twin.

but the best part really was getting to see abby.
i miss her.
and i don't have any pictures with her. those are all on jillian's new camera.

updated.

so i finally added a bunch of links to other blogging friends on my side bar.


if you don't see yourself over there let me know.

there are somethings i know i could really get into.

so i stay away.
kinda like there are lots of tv shows that i know i could get addicted to.
so i don't watch them.

online shopping is one of my pastimes.
i really don't buy that much stuff. so i guess its more of online window shopping.
i just add lots of purses and bags and accessories and clothes to my shopping bag and i never buy the stuff. i have also been really into looking at makeup online lately. there are some great sites out there with super good deals. but of course i don't know what the products are actually like because i never buy anything.


but tonight i bid on a bag on ebay. and i won it for $2.50 plus $4 for shipping and handling.
so im excited to get that in the mail.


it was a good weekend. with a slight period of emo today.
field trip, disneyland twice, oak glen, brother's show, good food, great friends.
now its back to school

oh the memories.

i love these girls.
and i felt like posting goofy pictures of both of them.
but today i got to go out to lunch with alisha and jane, and we laughed a lot, cried a little, and basically i miss spending all of my time living life with them.

nor cal weekend.

friday morning, 4am we left.
our first stop was at julia's uncle's vineyard.

we labeled some bottles for him and then we were back on the rode.
we got to redding and went tout to red robin for heather's 21st birthday.
heather is a generous person and proved this point by sharing her free sunday with julia.
the next day we slept in. then we went to target. i walked away with a pack of gum, and im pretty sure that deserves an award. its so hard to resist.
when we got back to the simpson campus we were attacked by geese. ok not really, but we did go watch a soccer game.
for dinner we went out for sushi. and jackie, who hates sishi, had rice.after sushi we got to go over to trav and annette's house. we had brownies, and friendship and played games. and i didnt take any pictures. :[ but payton did, so maybe someday we will make guest appearances on their blogs.
there are alot of riverside people currently residing in redding. melissa, who is heather's ra (they affectionately call her boss), elizabeth(fern), heather's suitemate. and the lances.
sunday we went to the sundial bridge and took abbout 200 photos.


we also took a million jumping pictures. julia is a retired cheerleader, and i am channeling my inner ninja.
we got to make a stop at my cousin greg's house where i met my new cousin (once removed? seccond cousin?) kingston. my brother chun was also in nor cal, so that was cool and random. and then my computer ran out of space, so there are no more pictures to show.

if anyone has an external hardrive laying around i could use one.

cro magnum

"friendships in college are sort of like like cro magnum men:
they either evolve or they become extinct.
their success depends on how much energy you put into adapting" (greek).

i am afraid of change. i have a hard time translating friendships from one stage of life into another. i categorize people: high school friends, mission trip friends, church friends, etc.
when those situations are taken away from me its hard to retain the relationships.

have i invested my time into too many surface level friendships? should i just limit myself to a few really good friends? i have a bunch of really great people in my life. and i feel so blessed to know them. so i don't want this post to sound all emo and whiny. i don't even know what im getting at here.

i guess i just want to say that i feel like through the grace of god i have really grown a lot this summer. and i am excited to go back to school in a month. i know i screw up friendships. i know im stubborn. i know i am terrible at keeping in touch. a lot of times i think giving up is easier than working it out. as much as i want to see all sides of a situation, it is hard. i am sorry. i am not even close to perfect.

i have high expectations. i want perfect friendships. but how can that happen when you take two imperfect people and put them together?

and on the topic of evolution, i just found out one of my friends is the new grounds keeper at the giant dinosaur museum things in cabazon. and i think thats awesome. (operating from a creationist standpoint)

like a forward.

my aunt ginny tagged me.


What are 5 things on your to-do list for today?
1. wake up at a decent hour.
2. cath up with kimie who i haven't seen in a long time on account of me being in louisiana and her mission trip to the czech republic.
3. look into selling my textbooks online.
4. laundry.
5. call about my camera.

What are 5 snacks you enjoy?
1. chocolate covered things (raisins, pretzels, strawberries, other fruit...)
2. water
3. carrots
4. sour candy
5. good soft bread

What are 5 things you would do if you were a billionaire?
1. start an art academy overseas somewhere.
2. build an awesome orphanage. like not one where the kids start singing "its a hard knock life for us." but an awesome one with lots of cool kid things. and games and parties.
3. start a sno ball business.
4. technology splurge.
5. swim with beluga whales.

What are 5 of your bad habits?
1. obsessively applying chapstick.
2. using the internet to stalk people.
3. over analyzing.
4. being nocturnal and not being able to wake up on my own.
5. avoiding

Where are 5 places you have lived?
1. i have lived in the same house my whole life. in riverside.
2. cbu dorms.
3. cbu cottages.
4. louisiana for six weeks.
5.

What are 5 jobs you've had?
1. water polo coach.
2. swim coach/lifeguard.
3. care taker.
4. im counting camp counselor.
5. i need a job!!!!!

What 5 people do you want to tag?
1. Jane
2. Corinne
3. Abby
4. hearther!
5. cindy

the thrill of a child.

i hate fireworks.
i think they are so overrated.
i think they are wasteful.
random explosions in the sky. totally unsynchronized. no overall scheme. just pure chaos.

and then last night i watched the disneyland fireworks for the first time ever. and it was magical. and i take everything back.

blaaah!

i might be freaking out right now.

maybe tonight my debit card was denied. and then it is possible that the online baking wasn't working. oh and then maybe i called the phone number and they said my account doesn't exist.

maybe i still have to pack.

today heather got in a car accident. she is in the hospital. she fractured three vertebrae. pray for her.

it was a weird day.
i leave in 7 hours.
i am so blessed and sometimes i forget that.

middle names.

i dont know if its a talent or a gift, but i am really good at remembering people's middle names.
in no particular order:

alyse, marie, anna, nichelle, neil, cecile, suzy, lynn, kristine, anne, ann, elyce, and amanda.

do you guys feel loved? because you are. and obviously spelling is not important. but i love you guys even if i cant spell your names.

and whats my middle name? it's danger. rachel danger weinstein.
well that was a lie. elaina. i think it gives me some spicy latina flair. especially if im in spanish class. raquel elaina. alright so im not latin, that was also a lie.

the tables have turned.

this picture was taken last year at the globe when i left for my isp trip. she got up at the butt crack of dawn to pray for me and wave goodbye while i rode off into the abyss.

janai and i really should not be friends. we have opposite tastes in everything!
she hates chick flicks and musicals! when actors have accents it annoys her. she never cries. she really likes the kind of rock that i hate, she enjoys some country music. she rarely cries.
she is a health science major and is dreading those three units of art you have to take for general ed, while i am putting off all my science classes. i have fallen asleep during several of her favorite movies. she makes her bed every morning. she hates mushrooms and loves olives. she is totally a carnivore and i could go a while without meat. she loves sports and spongebob.

its just funny to think about how different we are. but yet our friendship works. i think the important thing is we listen to each other. often times i feel like relationships are pretty one sided: i either spend the eniterty of a conversation talking about my self, or i walk away wihout saying a word. its hard to find that medium of talking and listening, but i think i have that with janai. our schedules were so diferent this spring semester we would go days without seeing each other, but it was totally naturally when we finally got to hang out again. janai is willing to try stuff. she watched phantom of the opera with me (chick flick, musical, accents). she understands how i work. i don't know. im my head this post had a nice cute ending, with lots of meaningful reasons why she is so awesome but instead i rambled on about our tastes in pop culture.
mish.

she has been staying at my house this past week and tonight she left for her isp trip to argentina. i am so excited for her. i am so proud of her. i am going to miss her.

now that i have completed my film class.

i can make movies!

presenting "when the banana crashed the dance."
character development- heather calfee
art direction- jackie gray
set design- rachel weinstein



i downloaded a trial version of istopmotion. it was really easy to use. until i tried to put some titles up in there. um and the song is sweet tangerine by the hush sound.
i think im going to redo the movie, becuase the quality is so bad. but i was so excited i decided to share it with the people of the internet today.

seriously?

i am stinking blessed to know some awesome people who are doing some awesome things for the glory of God this summer:
cindy-south asia
jillian- north africa
janai and micha- argintina
bryce and becca- south east asia
drew- central asia, utha, and some other random place for 2 years!?!?!
emily and hailey- gabon
kimie and kent (who need a blog)- czech republic
(im so sorry if i forgot anyone)

and then there are these three guys who are going to kayak the missippi river.
you should probably check out their blog.

and then there are these three other guys who are going to live on skid row for a week.
you should probably also check out their journey.

today in my youth ministry class i told the class that blogging was biblical.
(thanks holly for the wisdom) this is how i figure: journaling is biblical (psalms is essentially a journal) and a blog is simply a web journal.
:]
(i tagged this post as ballin, beacuse thats whats up)