overcoming limits

this video is seriously up there with christian the lion and dick hoyt. prepare to be inspired!

a head scratching question

why does every important application end up with spaghetti sauce on it? for the record, i don't eat a lot of spaghetti. i can't even find the source of the spaghetti sauce in the kitchen. where did it come from? how did it get on my application? why does this happen every time? wait...where did that crease/crinkle/rip come from? do i have to re-do it? good grief....they know! they know i'm not organized and am in the somehow-spills-spaghetti-sauce-on-important-documents-even-when-there's-none-around camp.

while we're on the subject....another head scratcher is what happened to my fish who one night, was in the tank and the next morning....was not? i didn't have a cat then to eat her. she wasn't on the floor, in the vents, anywhere. where did she go? i'll never know.

there must be mind-blowing answers to these on the other side because, seriously, where does the spaghetti sauce ever come from?

little princes

i am in love with this book.

this is little princes by conor grennan.

this is conor grennan.

dang.

conor....is one cool dude. cool as in you get a little pang in the heart because you realize you'll never be that awesome. why is it such a good story?

components of a good book:

1. hot author.

2. hot author who's also a major do-gooder and whose story revolves around him saving trafficked kids in nepal.

3. hot author whose story contains dangerous bad guys, getting lost and almost dying in the himalayas just for the children, and meeting and falling in love with his future do-gooder wife.

4. hot author who also happens to be hi-lar-ious.

what the heck...is he making this up? like i said, you realize how uncool you are. bummer.

i'm pretty sure my life won't be complete until i move to nepal to work in an orphanage. (just kidding...kind of.)

well, gotta go. i have a date with aforementioned hot, funny, altruistic author.

lame, uncool rachael out.

enough about you. let's talk about me and david.

(pre-script: i realize the bad timing of this post, seeing as i spent a good amount of the last post defending myself against teeny-boppers, but inspiration comes on it's own schedule, dang it.)

i won't skirt around the issue here: i love david archuleta. i have loved him from the beginning (but who doesn't? if you don't, you probably kill kittens for fun.) he is adorable. he is quirky. he is endearing. and i love him.

our unhealthy relationship is full of loyalty, support, and doe-eyed adoration, and can only be construed as unhealthy because david.....doesn't know me.

i imagine, though, there is a void in his life. he doesn't know where it came from or what can fill it. is it fame? is it money? is it having the affection of every teenage girl? no, it's rachael. he can learn the easy way, by reading this post (are you taking note, david?), finding me, and sweeping me off my feet. but he'll probably learn the hard way by dating lots of girls who will only intensify the void in his life that i will instantly repair the second our eyes meet in his favorite restaurant that i happen to be at- which i still have to learn of somehow. (making someone fall in love with you is no piece of cake, i assure you.)

i wonder if our kids will think it's weird that i saw him in concert three times before we met. that i have a sweatshirt that says "david archuleta for president." that i have his (pre-signed) authentic autographed picture that my best friend nabbed at a charity event for me. by then, it won't matter. i will have made him a man in love.

i was smitten the first time i saw his picture in a magazine showcasing the american idol 2008 contestants. "mom, he's from salt lake and he's my age!" i gushed. and so began our journey together. i became obsessed. every tuesday night was a david archuleta party. i youtubed him creepily often. my friends and i had long arguments with our a.p. u.s. history teacher about archuleta vs. cook. it doesn't matter that he didn't win because he won't be bound to american idol for eternity (have you heard about the winner's contract??) and can spend more time with me.

i almost cried when my mom pointed out that rachael archuleta is, like, the worst name ever. but love knows no bounds. you know that designer on "trading spaces" named paige davis? she married a man with the last name page. as far as i know, they're still going strong.

now comes the part where i share with you my most intimate moment with david. it was beautiful, romantic, and the moment i knew i. was. in. love. i went to his hometown visit with my friends when he was in the top three of american idol. it was fantastic. it was everything i dreamed of and more. (except for those other pesky fangirls. if i could just get rid of them...) when it was over and everyone was leaving, i happened to walk by the stage at the same time as about 20 other girls. and then.....right there, in the middle of the murray high football field, david archuleta turned and waved. to me. i was, as thumper describes in bambi, twitterpated. just like that, i knew i was in love.

(for the record, if those 20 other girls claim that he waved at them...don't listen. they may be so delusional to think that it was meant for them, but that's all it is. delusion.)

i'm not delusional. i get it. and what i get....is that david and i have a love that will last....or at least we will once i find that blasted restaurant.

i can go from anti-belieber to belieber in no time

ohmigosh.

i think i like justin bieber.

what? did i just say that? i tried to resist him! it just kind of...happened. i have been one of the bieber eye-rollers from the beginning. "can you BELIEVE this arrogant little 12 year old? he think he is so cool!" well guess what? now, i not only beieve....i belieb.

a few weeks ago, i was driving in the car with some little girls i babysit and one of his songs came on. i asked who was singing and they gushed in unison, "JUSTIN BIEBER!" the better part of me thought "hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha, how silly of me, this is a ridiculous song" but a small part of me thought "oh. it's kind of......good." ever since then, i have been in the middle of a vicious battle between what i think i like and what i actually like. logic and pleasure. logic sits in my lap and asks me, "how old are you, rachael? 14? no. that's the age of girls who listen to justin on their ipods while they get their braces tightened. plus, you don't like most pop music." pleasure perches on my shoulder and whispers in my ear, "you have to admit....he has a really good voice and his music is catchy. you like it. you do. i heard you looking up his songs on itunes." then my brother, an avid anti-belieber, accused me of liking him when i became suddenly less enthusiastic during our frequent justin-bieber-looks-like-a-girl rants.

i don't like it....and i say it grudgingly, but ohmigosh.

i think i like justin bieber.