tagged.

Jord tagged me. :)

You can only answer with one word.

Where is your cell phone? - Pocket.
Your significant other? - Single!
Your hair? - Curly.
Your mother? - Perfect.
Your father? - Hero.
Your favorite thing? - Sunshine.
Your dream last night? - WEIRD.
The room you're in? - batcave.
Your fear? - alone.
Where do you want to be in 6 years? - happy.
Where were you last night? - periodicals.
What you're not? - confident.
Muffins? - bagels.
One of your wish list items? - 50.
Where did you grow up? - idaho.
The last thing you did? - work.
What are you wearing? - sweater.
Your TV? - off.
Your pet(s)? - farm!
Your computer? - Mac.

Also, there has been this tag going around facebook forever that I have been avoiding but boredom and a feeling like I need to just type made me do it. Here it is just to share.


Rachel in 25 Random things.

1. I don't have a gallbladder anymore. At the beginning of my freshman year here at BYU I got deathly sick and I had surgery to remove it. They did it laparoscopically so I have 4 tiny cuts that you can hardly see anymore. I had to be careful about fat at the beginning but I don't even know the difference anymore. However, I have never felt so scared and alone in my life.

2. Which leads me to my greatest fear. That is to be alone. I don't just mean a little bit alone, I love driving around during the day by myself or walking to school alone and as long as someone is coming home I don't care at all. But I hate the feeling of being alone. Of not knowing where people are. Of being lonely. Of feeling like no one cares and no one loves me. That scares me more than anything in the world.

3. I love observing people. I watch everything. No matter where I am or what I am doing I am watching people. I love paying attention to the little details of what people do, where they go, what they say, who they talk to, what they eat, how they act. And then I love analyzing it. I probably know more about what people do at parties or on campus than they do. I just love paying attention to it.

4. I don't really know how to explain this quirk about myself. I am very trusting of people. I always see the best in people first and then they have to do something to lose trust rather than gradually earn it. And I am very good at listening. I don't know why but people can talk to me very easily. But even with both of those... I am not particularly open about myself. If something is bothering me I won't bring it up (at least not right away). I'll usually just deal with things rather than talk about them. Whether it is a conflict with someone or something just about myself.

5. However, when asked for my advice, or comments, or even sometimes when I'm not asked, I will always give my 100% truthful opinion. I am very honest in my communication. If I think you are being dumb I will tell you. If I say something sounds great, it is because I really think it sounds great and if I say I don't care, it's because I really don't care. I hate it when people say one thing and mean another so I try to be completely open.

6. I will never offer something if I don't mean it. I am not someone to say "Do you want some of my dessert? or Can I give you a ride?" while secretly hoping that they will say no. I mean what I say. And if I say I will do something I will do it or if I say I will be somewhere I will be there. If I say I'll come do something with you on Saturday I will be there.

7. People are my priority in life. Over sleep, over food, over homework, over to-do list items. I will always always take people first. Whether it is a friend with a stinky day or someone wanting to play or someone to talk to I will always choose that over other things.

8. I can't say no to my roommates, especially Heather. If they ask me to do something or go somewhere I will not say no, no matter how much I don't want to go. I'm not really sure why because I actually don't really love people who just do things for other people but for some reason if they say please I will absolutely be there.

9. I love love love love music. It brings me so much happiness. My favorite would definitely be country, followed closely by a random mix of whateverness (I love a little bit of every kind (minus rap- not a fan). Secretly, I love disney channel music. I listen to Miley Cyrus and Jonas Brothers and High School Musical a lot. It is happy to me.

10. Cooking and Baking are bliss to me. The kitchen is my comfort zone. I can do anything there. Whatever I want, I can create. Life is simple in the kitchen; just add the ingredients you want and perfecto you have an amazing creation. Sometimes I wish that life could be that simple - just put in the ingredients and out would come whatever I wanted.

11. Messes are stressful to me. Like really really really really stressful. Actually my house right now is stressful to me... we ran out of dish soap and none of us have had time to even breathe so the apartment is a disaster. I love having things clean and perfectly in place. I can't wait to have my own house so that everything can have its place.

12. I am passionate and opinionated. I am very stubborn. Honestly, I think I am right a lot. Those are some flaws I see in myself. Heather and I are pretty good though because we are at a point where we actually both can understand that other person has a good and valid point but that doesn't make ours any less valid and so we actually both just explain ourselves and then help each other along the way. It is stressful to me when people actually argue. Like when they stand repeating themselves, neither one listening, not really caring what the other person is saying, not realizing that maybe they are BOTH right.

13. I'm not a fan of the idea of a one and only "best" friend. Growing up I have had lots of really good friends and several best friends but I never had a one best friend that I was always with. That I did everything with, that I had all my inside jokes with. I just never did, I had a tight group of friends that I would call all of my best friends but never just one. I guess I don't like the idea because it often means that people get excluded because of it. It hurts when you are on the outside of two best friends, especially when you started as a a group of friends and they narrowed down.

14. I would be lost without my cell phone. It is my favorite thing. Since I got my phone which was about a little over a year and a half ago I have spent 439 hours and 13 minutes talking on it. That is more than 18 DAYS of talking. And that doesn't include any time spent texting. I lost it for one day and I realized just how dependent I am on it.

15. I can't figure out whether or not I want to grow up. I love being at college and having responsibility but taking care of money is not fun. Making my car payment each month makes me feel old. Filling out my taxes is not something I want to do (I'm going to make my daddy help me!) and budgeting makes my head hurt. I am glad my parents raised me to be able to do it because it allows me the chance to do things like go to London (77 days!) but it is not fun.

16. I read very very fast. The first thing I read was Green Eggs and Ham with my Daddy and I haven't ever stopped. I read chapter books in a corner in Kindergarten while my classmates worked on other things. I tear through anything I pick up. Reading is one of my favorite things to do in the whole world. It has been a blessing in college because I can read my textbooks quickly. It has also helped me in taking exams because I can go quickly. I usually take about half the time of what is expected on exams.

17. I have a fantastic job. I work as a secretary in the Department of Statistics on campus. I work 4 hours a day, 20 hours a week. It is a lot but I budget my time so much better because of it. And I because of it I met one of the most amazing girls in the world, Jordan Ehlert. She makes work so much better. We share an office, which currently looks like a Batcave so we are Batman and Robin. :)

18. My nickname in high school soccer was chicken because when I would jump up to head the soccer I would put my arms close to my chest so I wouldn't hit anybody or touch the ball and it would look like I was a chicken flapping my wings when I jumped. :). I stopped playing because I pulled the ligaments in my knee playing spring ball sophomore year. I played the flute and piccolo in the band and definitely qualify as a geek. I love classical music. My nickname senior year of high school was Rachet (or scrachet) because one of our teachers wrote my name in cursive on the board and the boys thought it looked like it said Rachet instead of Rachel and so they called me that instead. Sometimes, I miss people from high school. Not high school itself. But the people.

19. My plan for life is to go to London this spring and then spend the summer being a bridesmaid and at home with my family. I'll have two more years of undergraduate work and random happy things. I'll graduate in April 2011 with a degree in Family Life with an emphasis in Human Development and a minor in Nutrition. From there specifics of my life are way open but it could include things such as a mission, graduate school to get a degree in Marriage and Family Therapy, getting married, beginning a family, and growing up. Actually forget the growing up part. I want to be a kid forever. My dad and grandpa have pulled it off.

20. If I get my way I will travel. But not just the big places. Yes I am going to London and I do want to see the world but things that are important to me are National Parks, mountains and lakes right here. My grandparents took me to so many amazing places right here in the West while I was growing up that I want so badly to keep seeing things and sharing those places with people. I love learning about things by being there.

21. But at heart I will always be a farm girl. I grew up on 65 acres of openness in Idaho. And that is bliss to me. No matter how far away I go I always want to be able to go back home to a little house with some land in a big wide open space. I get claustrophobic in cities. I love wide open nothingness. I love watching the fields turn green (Yes Eva, green!) and seeing for miles and miles. There is so much beauty in the simplicity of the country. I love it.

22. I have lost 45 pounds since I graduated from high school. I had started to lose when I came out to college as a freshman and then my gallbladder surgery kicked it up a notch whether I liked it or not. I have learned how to eat healthy and by doing just basic exercise (mostly walking) I have been able to work with my body. I'm not dieting by any means. I don't say no to anything. I just am doing my very best to be nutritious. I still have another 45 pounds to go to be at my goal but I am proud of the progress I am making. It has been frustrating along the way for a variety of reasons but also very happy too.

23. I am a total clutz. I have no balance at all. At all. I have fallen down basically every where on campus, I stopped counting a long time ago, some highlights were the RB stairs, the white loop to the Marriott and the sidewalk by the Creamery (almost slid into the road). Many of these were when it was slippery but for example last Saturday I was walking on a dry sidewalk and next thing I knew I was on the ground. I just fell off the sidewalk. :). I've just learned to laugh at myself.

24. My family and the Gospel are the two most important things in the world to me. My parents have taught me everything and love me unconditionally. My sister is my favorite person in the world. My brothers make me so happy. And I am the person I am because of my Savior Jesus Christ. I have a testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and of the Restoration of the the truth and the translation of the Book of Mormon through Joseph Smith. I know my Heavenly Father loves me. I know I will be with my family in eternity if I do my part.

25. Yellow is my favorite color and I love sunshine. I've learned that being happy is a choice and the world won't change just because I complain. I work to smile and share the happiness I feel with others. I take an optimistic approach to problems and have a positive outlook. I am a happy girl.

That was probably way more than anyone ever wanted to know about me but it was very therapeutic for me to just write.