sometimes I do other things when I should be writing a paper.

Haiku by Greg Stuart

Some just fall asleep
Leaves fall, dead, as the wind blows
While some fall in love

I LOVE Platforms Magazine. Such great stuff.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!! Can you believe it's almost 2009????

rachel's best friend.

I have been alive 26 years. Approximately every year I get a new best friend. So, if I have done my math correctly, that would leave me with a grand total of 26 best friends over the course of my life. Sure sometimes it's hard to always be meeting new people and getting close with someone and then having to uproot and start all over, but for me, that's life. I guess I am used to it.
However, lately my roommates and I have different schedules and I have been thinking about a new best friend. Yesterday I wondered why I never considered "man's best friend"
Maybe I should get a dog.
I'm serious.
Seriously breed shopping.
Ideas? Comments? Advice? Jealousy?

Olfaction Satisfaction

Today I was thinking that I am glad to have my sense of smell. Gratefully, it is very acute. I smell a lot and I thought I would share some of my likes and dislikes.

First: I LIKE to smell a small, not life-threatening waft of second hand smoke, popcorn, mint shampoo, the front seat of my sister-in-law's truck, GAIN (the laundry detergent) and pumpkin pie.
Second: I DO NOT LIKE to smell poopy diapers, humid exhaust from a bus, feet, spray adhesive, and mold.

voila! Olisfaction.

Listening Fever.

Today I have been in the mood to listen to some type of music. I am not sure what kind though. It has been bugging me all day. Maybe what I really am craving is silence. Sometimes a media fast is really beneficial.
Then today at Family Home Evening we were making Christmas cards for kids in Mexico and singing "Feliz Navidad" When I got home I felt that maybe I was needing Christmas music....and in particular this song. When it is actually Christmas season (after Thanksgiving) I always feel guilty listening to "That Was The Worst Christmas Ever" because I just like to be more positive than that. But right now, when I really want a break from school and work and alarm clocks, this is a good release. Indulge.

one more ukulele.

this seems a lot like the magnetic fields. and I am not opposed to more of them.

a day in the life....

Today I went to buy an outfit for my sister's wedding on Saturday. Before I went to the mall I bought a little bottle of orange juice from the grocery store and was so happy to be drinking juice. I quickly sipped some and stuck the bottle into my purse before I entered Banana Republic to see if they had any chocolate brown or baby blue articles of clothing. As I went into the dressing room I noticed something was dripping. To my dismay, I opened my purse to see that the whole bottle had drained out into the bottom of my purse. There floating in a small lake of orange juice was my wallet, some pens, a package of gum and some papers. I took out everything and poured all the orange juice back into the bottle from whence it came...then went to Nordstrom's bathroom to wash everything off. Luckily, there wasn't too much OJ damage. (make all the jokes you'd like here)
Driving off in my car this song came on. I remembered watching this video when I was in Spain and just felt, "Hey, life is pretty great. I still like orange juice."

summer to fall to winter to spring.

I really like summertime. The lido deck, the beach, lakes, rivers, swimming pools, the sun and heat waves.
I think I am capable of liking winter too. The scarves, gloves, jackets, snow, red noses and cheeks, ear muffs and hot chocolate.
But no matter how much I like it, it shouldn't snow before Halloween. That's one rule I think Mr. Winter needs to keep. Then I am sure I will like him more. And everyone likes to be liked. Bye Bye Snow by Bobby Baby.

How a shish-ke-dog changed my life...

Today in my "Art in Theory: Context" class I was enlightened. We are talking about Modernism and Minimalism. I always thought they were similar and kind of represented the same thing, but today I found out I was completely wrong. With that realization came just enough partial information about the theories behind both of the movements to be able to apprehend. This information has lead me to absolutely love Minimalism!! Mostly for all the theories behind it and its esoteric attitude. I never thought I would enjoy these movements, or this class. I think it goes back to lunch when I went with Meg to Hot Dog on a Stick and Emily made us a shish-ke-dog. That changed my life.

One more thing that I love, love, love.

Check it out.



The video was disabled. So here's the link.

finders keepers.

I just found a cd that I made 6 years ago. and remembered this song. Sweet Avenue by Jets To Brazil Remember these guys? I love it. I dedicate this to Def Leppard and A.

FB stands for "Too Much Information"

I took this picture in Spain at a costume contest parade. I really want to be the solar system for Halloween. We will have a sun in the middle and all the other planets will circle around him/her. Then Pluto will be this nerd outcast who keeps trying to join our awesome solar group, but we don't let him/her. funny.
I think my favorite topic of conversation these days is Halloween costume ideas. It reminds me of one year where Rob and Gian talked for probably 3 hours straight on this theme. Andrea and I just sat and laughed and laughed. They came up with the funniest things ever. That year Stefan (Hi, Stefan) was a French bumblebee. Amber and I were Siamese twin ghosts. Every year I love dressing up, more and more. Maybe I just like to make costumes. That part is fun.
I am trying to ween myself off of FB (facebook). Mostly, I just don't like how you can see soooooo much of everyone's life. Tonight I went to this "painting party". Everyone was talking FB this and FB that. I guess that's just the way undergraduates work these days. Grad students usually just use the phone. ha. We think real-reality kicks virtual-reality's bum. TOE UP!!!
So there you go, besides all that, I am trying to get into some craft/art shows to be able to sell stuff. Hopefully the world/Provo likes my art. I have been in the studio everyday for the past two weeks all day long. I love love love ceramics, if anyone was wondering. And right now I love love love going to sleep.

more like RAD school.

I am back here at BYU, going to grad school.
First of all, I live with Em. That couldn't be better.
Second of all, I sit across from Gian in the studio. He is inspiring.
Third of all, my brother and sister live sooooo close. I love them.
Forth of all, I have my new bike. I have a crush on it.
and fifth of all, I eat grill cheese sandwiches for lunch. Oh. I missed those.
Cheers to Rad School....

PS----paraque sepas....

On Friday night at 1:30am (so really Saturday morning) I took a bus to Madrid. It is a 5 hour long trip so I arrived at the bus station at about 6:30am, switched to a city bus and headed to the airport. I slept on my luggage for 4 hours in the airport while I waited for the luggage check-in desk to open up. Then at 1:05pm (Central European Summer Time) the plane took me from Madrid to Philadelphia.
We landed in the heart of Hurricane Hannah. It was pouring rain. The river was flooded and the rain just kept falling and falling and falling. Although the landing took us and extra 40 minutes, I boarded another plane to Las Vegas and headed home, arriving right on time at 8:26pm (Pacific Standard Time).
My luggage, however, didn't arrive.
They had to deliver it to me the next day, which they did at 9am. I guess it didn't make it to my flight and took the next one over to Vegas.
So, now you know. I am back in the USA. There are many reasons for me heading home a few weeks early, but mostly I wanted to be able to take more classes, so tomorrow I head up to BYU to start grad school, just one week late.
I am still a little jet lagged....getting really tired in the middle of the afternoon, because really it is the middle of the night and waking up in the middle of the night feeling all energized because really it is the middle of the day.
Time zone hopping is not for the weak of mind/body.
I can't wait to see everyone. It has been a long summer.

Raindrops on roses....

Well I am back in Spain. I have one month left here. Wow! I can't believe how "vonderful" my vacations were. I really loved Germany! Here are my 3 favorite things:
1. German Yogurt. It is more delicious then any other yogurt I have ever eaten. Plus they use it as a filling for chocolates and pastries. yummy.
2. Everything was soooooo green and beautiful. My cousins live by a river that has a bike path along it that goes all the way to France if you wanted to go that far. I guess you get what you pay for because it rains all the time there. But still, so beautiful.
3. The Autobahn!!!! My absolute favorite thing is the Autobahn. There are sections on all the freeways that are speed free. You can go as fast as you want. Soooooooo awesome! Here is a picture on the autobahn. We are going so fast that everything is a blur...

Guten Tag!!

My vacations are sent from heaven. I have been having such a good time that I forgot completely about blogging. Adrian came and went. We had a wonderful time cruising around Basque country in a car we rented and then spent the weekend in Madrid before she flew out. Everyday was filled with adventures...and I gave her my camera card, so I will have to post pictures later.
Then, on Monday morning our flights coincided. She flew to the US at 1pm and I flew at 12:55pm to Germany. My cousins live near Frankfurt. They always are inviting us to visit, but I have never been living only 2 hours away. So finally I took them up on the offer...and boy oh boy, I am sooooo glad. Germany is amazing. They live in this 200 year old farmhouse in a little German country village. There are bike paths up along this river right by there house that lead to the train stations in all the little towns and eventually go to France. It is so beautiful and I feel like Disneyland has come to life.
They have been telling me about all these civilian jobs with the military that I could get and I am seriously considering moving to Germany and learning this language too. I absolutely love German. Who would've known??
So, does anyone want to move to Germany with me? Bitte??

my two worlds collide in less than 24 hours.

my old world


Isn't it so weird when the new world you've embraced, for example the mission or a new city and a new life, come to know parts of the old world, like your family or someone from your past. It is always tricky to place the "old" person in the new environment. Sometimes it happens that you move to a new city and see someone out of context and feel, "I know this person, but they don't belong in this context. They belong in a different world that I used to know."
Well, that's the way I feel right now, but in a very excited way. I have made my planet here in Spain. I have a whole group of new friends and family that mean a lot to me and have posed as substitutes for the ones "back in the US(s)A" (Beatles reference for you). But in less than 24 hours, my sister is coming to spend some of my vacations with me. We are going to travel around the Basque Country and then go down to Madrid and check it out.
Think how interesting it will be to join the two worlds! Me, speaking Spanish, with my new Spanish friends, with my silly Spanish personality (which is different than my English personality) and then my sister, who thought she knew all about me since I was born, plopping right down in the middle of Spain...completely out of context.
Personally, I can't wait to share this amazing experience with my old world. I am glad someone will get to see what I am living, otherwise I might go home and feel that all of this was just a dream...

my new world

He will eat you up...

Today at the library in Gorliz I found a book called 3,000 Old Photos: For The History of Viscaya The book is filled with pictures and drawings dating back to the 16th century. It is so fascinating to see how Basque Country has changed...or not. I found a section on the "fiestas" in Bilbao and they are still very similar to the fiestas I just saw here.
In the parades they have "giants" and "big heads" made of paper mache that march around the streets. The giants dance and parade while the big-heads carry bladder-ballons which they use to scare the children...hitting anyone who comes near them. Here is an old picture, like those in the book, of the giants (standing behind) and the big-heads (standing in front) You can see the balloon-type bladders that some of them are holding.

They make the giants look so real that unless you see a normal person standing next to the giant you can't tell its not a real person, except for the floppy arms.

Here's some newer ones:


One of the most interesting giants that I am looking forward to seeing in Bilbao next week is "Gargantua" The French author François Rabelais wrote a series of books called "The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel" They tell the adventures of two giants, a father and a son. Here is the Basque Gargantua that parades in the streets during fiestas. Little children go in through the mouth and slide out the back.

These traditions are so interesting and strange (in a good way). I am having a great time experiencing these things first hand. While surfing around wikipedia I found an English translation of the introduction to the series "The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel" I include it now for your reading pleasure:

Readers, friends, if you turn these pages
Put your prejudice aside,
For, really, there's nothing here that's outrageous,
Nothing sick, or bad — or contagious.
Not that I sit here glowing with pride
For my book: all you'll find is laughter:
That's all the glory my heart is after,
Seeing how sorrow eats you, defeats you.
I'd rather write about laughing than crying,
For laughter makes men human, and courageous.

BE HAPPY!

Barrika.

Yesterday I took a little hike around Barrika. There are all these cliffs with paths that allow you to get really close to the edge...to the point where if your mom was there she would say, "Be careful, come back a little bit."
Later, I hiked over to where the two boys are sitting. See them?

So I hiked around and took a lot of pictures of myself (see below) Here I am, just me and the sea. I was on a top of the cliff with only the ocean in the background...for miles and miles and miles.


I perched myself on the precipice facing the sea and read my book. It was so relaxing with the ocean crashing below me and birds flying directly over my head and all around me

I always wish I could fly and I loved being able to be so close to those birds as they drifted around in the air. What a magnificent life birds have!! I felt like one of them, there on the cliff and as I looked around at all the bird poo, I just hoped they wouldn't think of me as a target.

Then as I hiked back leaving the birds I thought of this:



She says "wake up, it's no use pretending"
I'll keep stealing, breathing her.
Birds are leaving over autumn's ending
One of us will die inside these arms
Eyes wide open, naked as we came
One will spread our ashes 'round the yard

She says "If I leave before you, darling
Don't you waste me in the ground"
I lay smiling like our sleeping children
One of us will die inside these arms
Eyes wide open, naked as we came
One will spread our ashes round the yard

Compounded/'cause I no longer know where home is....

boats boats and more boats



One week ago, I sat on the river shore in Plentzia waiting for a procession of boats to sail past. The procession was for the patron saint of the town. It was that saint's day so he/she got a boat parade. It was pretty amazing as they all filed passed dressed in the colors of Euskadi. Red, green and white flag flew from the masts. I love the tradition and culture that Basque country possesses and remembers.
For some reason, at that very moment I started to think about compound words and how I like them. A compound word is double the word, so it has double the meaning, no? I thought about taking a compound word apart and substituting its two parts for its two equivalent antonyms or opposites...me explico?? I often play word games to keep my mind busy...so for example: "playground" would become "rest-air" and "haircut" would become "bald-mend" I thought a lot about "homesick" and couldn't decide on the opposite of home. What would it become?? and then I thought about this song and how this song makes me soooooo "homesick"....not "foreign-well" at all.
Homesick-by Kings Of Convenience


compounding on the beach