"Happy feet! I've got those hap-hap-happy feet!"

So Nicole should be happy...
I painted my toenails in a color that is not in the beige family...
I believe it is called "plumb shine".
This is a much bigger deal than you are thinking it is.

I finished all but 2 of my senior photos today...
MAN! I am SO glad that I don't have to do anything like this ever again!
Well...at least not until I'm writing thank-you notes for wedding presents.

Um...so yeah.
I feel like such a lazy blogger as of late...

*30 second pause during which Rachelle tries to figure out something of interest to say*

Mm....nope.
I got nothing.

I'll try again tomorrow.

this is pretty much me right now...

...minus the whole part about being a white ninja and having a wife.

ceiling fan extravaganza

So...here's Nicole laughing hysterically at the result of an experiment involving beads and a ceiling fan. And, no, she is not faking that laugh. She really is this excited.

oh, how i would love a cup of tea

so i'm sitting here...completely exhausted from 5 days of cleaning out my room (yes, i said 5) and 2 days of family visiting from connecticut.

a few minutes ago my friend, dan, sent me a link to a tea website.
he told me to click on "Tea Finder" and i did.

my-oh-my.

they have 51 different teas from which to chose, and right now i would love love LOVE a cup of either blackcurrant, ginseng & vanilla or voyage-indian chai.

i've got to get meself some of this tea!

gardens

Did you know that the reason ants are always around and on peonies is because they help them to grow? Well, that is what I've been told at least.
I went to Dirt Doctor in search of the truth and this is what I found:
Do not try to get rid of the ants on your peonies. This is a natural and temporary activity. It is believed that peonies produce small amounts of nectar and other ant attractants to encourage ants to help in opening the dense double flower buds found in many peonies. The ants may be found covering certain varieties and avoiding others, this is totally normal. Once the buds have opened the ants will disappear -- also normal. Some people think ants are REQUIRED to open the flowers, but this does not appear to be true. It seems a debatable question whether ants are beneficial or harmful. Should you spray a pesticide to get rid of the ants? That is a definite no. Just enjoy the unique interaction of ants and peonies.

So whether or not ants really do help the peonies, it gives me some peace-of-mind that they may.
And, either way, I love how huge and beautiful the blossoms are.

I love gardens and their incredible symbolism. I wish I had the time and the energy to type out a bunch of different connections between gardens and real life, but I'll just leave you with this:

Everything important happened in a garden...

God created the garden for man and placed him in it.
Adam and Eve fell into sin in a garden.
Jesus taught in a garden.
Our Lord prayed in a garden.
He was betrayed in a garden.
And He arose in a garden.

this is always how it goes

"I have a dream"

Or, rather, had.

Last night I had a dream that I stepped in cat poo and it was stuck in the bottom of my flip-flop.

BOY was I not pleased.

Who knows how to pump gas?

"Not I" says Nicole.

So last night, after church, Nicole needed to fill up her gas tank (so many puns, so little time) but before we left PIWC we were approached by this crazy kid I've never seen before that asked us for a ride home.
Okay.
I lied.
I had seen him before and his name happened to be Alec. Or Alek. Whatever floats your boat, really.

Here......let me give a narrative of this event...

"Why is this not working.......?"

"Oh wait, maybe I didn't enter the card correctly..."

"WHY AREN'T YOU WORKING!"

"Well I feel like an idiot!"

**Rachelle takes a picture of the sky while Alec goes into the store and asks how in the world their gas pumps work. **

"Whoa! What is THAT!"

So...we finally were able to make the gas machine work.
If you only knew what we were doing wrong you would laugh from here until kingdom come.

Which is why I won't tell you.

Good times....good times.

Bangor Birthday Adventure!

On Monday my mother, grandmother, Nicole Ballard, Christy Zbylut and I took a trip down to Bangor to celebrate my 18th birthday. We brought Caitlin (Nicole's sister) down to Howland as well, so she was part of our entourage for a while too. :) These photos and their captions should document everything pretty well.

Amidst all the gift opening, laughing, movie watching, picture taking, Mom and Gram held on to their sanity and their good-humor!

Nicole and Christy in The Hotness (my van).

Me sporting my new hair clips (and ribbon) that are most definitely NOT meant to wear in public.

Left-right: Nicole Ballard's feet, Christy Zbylut's feet, Rachelle Salavarria's feet.

I love this shot. I believe at this moment we were calling around, trying to figure out what happened to Nicole Bull (who had recieved a flat tire, and her cell phone was dead so she couldn't get in contact with us).

Still waiting...

We went to Burlington Coat Factory....and we tried on some lovely hats.
Nicole actually has better pictures than I do.

Nicole trying on clothing at Kohl's.

Nicole and me in the dressing room of Kohl's.

Nicole ended up buying these shoes...

We went a little overboard with the eye-makeup...

Nicole and Christy at the Texas Road House!
**Feel free to ask me what the restaurant does when they find out it's your birthday. It is one of the most outrageous traditions of which I have ever heard! My mom sneakily talked to our waiter and he warned my mother that they would humiliate me very badly and he suggested not doing it. My mother decided not to let them do it. (PRAISE GOD!) The waiter wished me a happy birthday though. :) **

A picture my mom snapped at the restaurant.

This place was SO awesome! They have these buckets of freshly roasted peanuts that you smash open on the table.......

....and then you sweep onto the floor!

What a lovely shot of mom and gram. ;)

This bread was FANTABULASTIC! It reminded us of doughboys when we applied the cinnamon butter... Oh man. SO good.

There was one roll left over...and Nicole had at it with her knife.
"I always wanted to do that to something", she said......

I had ribs with a side caesar salad and some applesauce.
The ribs were THE best ribs I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.

*GASP* Thieves! Robbers! Help! Help!!!

The terrified cowboy. (HA!)

La tres amigas outside of Old Navy.

Nicole always stood on this little table so she could get a full view of her outfit.
The shoes she's wearing she also bought on this trip...

Christy smiling pretty for the camera!

Once again I had the most amazing cake EVER.
I've had this cake 3 years and running...and it never ceases to amaze me.

We played Dutch Blitz until about 3 in the morning...
At this moment in time we are watching Emeril make some yummy treats.

"You have caterer? No? I know! How 'bout I do! I do!!!"
(quote from Freaky Friday that Nicole is reenacting...)

"Okay...well...THIS makes me feel like a bottle-nosed dolphin!"
That's what I said when I first tried on these shoes.
But then they kinda grew on me...
I wish that I had bought them.

Left-right: Rachelle's foot, Nicole's foot, Christy's foot.
Shortly after this picture was taken I was approached by a sales lady tearing me up and down about taking pictures in the store. Which I guess happens to be illegal. I did NOT know that...
When I told Christy and Nicole as soon as we left the store (which happened quite quickly) they just laughed.


It was an amazing birthday, and I thank all of those who made it, tried to make it, and couldn't make it.
I love you all.

humidity=stupidity

It was 90 degrees here today...and the humidity was out of this world.

My family played tennis for 2 hours and I got a sunburn on my forehead, shoulders, arms, and legs.
Then we went over to Easton for Father's Day festivities at the Nichols' residence.
Paige and I got in the pool for approx. 3. minutes...

Bangor tomorrow.
I'm getting up at 6:00.............
Two words:
Not fun.
BUT! the whole waking-up early thing will be totally worth the awesome couple of days I'll have.

Okay. It's time for Noxzema and my fan.
Have a great couple of days, everyone!

you simply must read this

June 17 - Open Their Eyes to the Light

"If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
(2 Corinthians 4:3-4)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Rachelle,

Since God doesn't save anyone against their will, does it really do any good to pray for people who consciously refuse to receive Jesus as Lord?

Yes. Yes! YES! IT DOES!

You see, in spite of the fact that most all unbelievers who have purposely refused to receive Jesus as Lord think they've made that decision of their own free will, the truth is, they haven't. The Word of God says they've been blinded by Satan. He's blocking their perception of the truth. So their decision hasn't been freely made at all.

That's important for you to grasp. Because through the prayer of intercession, you can interfere with the satanic forces and help take those blinders off! You can also change circumstances with your prayers and help create situations that will bring them in contact with the Lord. You're well within your spiritual rights when you do that.

I prayed with a friend of mine once who'd been praying for his lost brother for years. Jesus said in Matthew 12:29 to first bind the strong man and then enter his house and spoil his goods. So we said, "You spirit blinding the eyes of ______________, you stop what you are doing to keep him out of the kingdom of God. In Jesus' Name, you stop NOW!"

Jesus also said in Matthew 9:38, "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." So we prayed, "Lord, send someone to ____________ with the Word of God. You know who he will listen to. We claim _____________ for the kingdom of God. We believe we receive his salvation and deliverance. In faith we praise You for it."

In almost no time at all his brother called him. "What have you been doing up there?" he asked. "In the past few days, everybody I've come across has started preaching to me!"

Our prayers had interfered with the forces Satan had been using to blind this man to Jesus and created the circumstances to bring him into the kingdom. Sure enough, within a few days, he was born again.

Use this same prayer for your loved ones and believe when you pray and you'll see the same results.

Don't sit by and let the devil take your friends and loved ones without a fight. Pray. Pray! PRAY! Come against the "god of this world." Take off the blinders and open their eyes to the glorious gospel of God.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scripture Study: 2 Corinthians 4:1-7

I am NOT going to panic.

So yesterday my mother and we 4 off-spring were heading to PI to pick my dad up at his work. So we're cruisin' on the Parsons Road, right? When all of a sudden I see something make its way through the open window and I feel a *THWACK* on my head.
So, like any normal person, I begin to panic. "Mom......I think a bee just hit me in the head!" She is like "Okay, chill out, and let me check." So she doesn't even pull over...she keeps driving, and all the kids are like looking on the floor and everywhere and they don't see anything. But Nicole sees a little white thing in my hair and "we" figure out that that's what that was. (Yeah, right.) Not 3 minutes later I freeze when I hear my brother, Daniel, say "Oh my gosh, Rachelle. DON'T MOVE. There's a bee in the van!" So I start whimpering because I don't want to get stung, and a bee that has had a brutal entry into our van is likely to be angry. (FYI- I am normally okay with bees. I do not have any problem with them. I just wish not to anger them...) So mom pulls over to the side of the road and opens my window all the way and lets it out. I am finally able to breathe and become "UNFETAL!".

So that's my story.
A bee hit me in the head yesterday and I remained unscathed.

P.S. We went to Casa de Nada last night for supper. And as we were approaching it, my parents and I were talking about what it might mean. I said "Well, 'de nada' is supposed to mean 'you're welcome' in Spanish, so it's probably 'House of Welcome'." My father, however, had another possible name for the place...... "House of Nothing" he decided. So we get in there and the guy gives us our menus and our drinks and dad is like "So what does the name of this place mean...? 'House of Nothing' ?" And the guy kind of smiles and says, "No, it's 'House of Welcome'..." and then walks away.

I simply smile and say "Score!" as I get glares from the opposite end of the table.
Heh-heh-heh.
:-P

gasp!

I have an interview at Cook Florist tomorrow (Friday) at 9am!

I'm kind of nervous...so...please pray for me.

If I want a car I need a job.

And I both want and need a car.

So therefore I want this job.

:)

*shocked into silence*

click this

I just love the way the first guy approaches this...

So calmly and casually...

forks in the ceiling

In no way, shape, or form did Nicole nor I have anything to do with this.
Mm-mm.
No way.

just to prove that i've ALWAYS been this way...

4:02 am, Saturday, June 11 1988...

...I was born.

PIHS 2006 graduation

Before the sorrow, tears, and endless phone calls, there was a night of rejoicing.

Some of my dearest friends graduated highschool last night, and nothing will take away the joy that I had watching them march out, diplomas in hand, with the biggest smiles on their faces that I have ever seen.

Well done, my friends, well done.

Laura Doiron and Daniel Jackson

l-r: Dustin Ward, Laura Doiron, Daniel Jackson

l-r: Monique Pelletier, ? , Alex Buob, ?

Monique Pelletier and her marching buddy

Ashley Corriveau and her marching buddy

Susan and her baton!

Monique Pelletier singing

Dustin Ward giving his speech

Susan telling the graduates to rise
(this is after they have received their diplomas)

Dan and me!

Alex and me!

Susan and me!


I am so incredibly proud of my friends.

One graduation down, two to go.

18 hours until my 18th birthday.