History Major

I've just been thinking about life, graduating college created a lot of changes for me, and I feel so much older than I did when I graduated. It's only been a year and a half, but life has taught me so many lessons. I suppose I didn't have to learn those lessons until after college, but I'm such a hard-headed person, I'm the kind of girl who learns from experience.

At first I felt like my education meant a lot less than it should. I never landed that wonderful college graduate job, I still don't have a dream career. I wasn't married when I graduated from college, I graduated in a major that really can't launch someone into a career.

Life is not easy, you have to make ends meet. When you graduate from college you have bills to pay, and you can't rely on student loans any more to pay them. I was lucky enough to have a job when I graduated, it was not my career, and it was nowhere near a dream job. It did not require an education, but it did have a lot of challenges and problem-solving. Most importantly: it paid the bills. It was a really, really good job, and I was so lucky to have it, but it did nothing for me (meaning I did not find it interesting). I felt so dissatisfied with my life, because I felt entitled to a career that would do something for me, but no one was hiring. What did I expect? I majored in history, what kind of careers come from that? I had reaped what I had sown, or so I thought.

Since graduating I have come to realize something very important: you do reap what you sow. I majored in history, so I had few career options in history...unless I made one for myself. Sometimes there aren't jobs, but you still have to eat, you still need a place to live, and so, you have to find another way to make things happen.

That's what I'm writing about, making things happen. That's one of the wonderful things I have learned from my incredible husband...you don't just sit around and dream. Big things don't come to us through simply wishing we could have big things, you have to take them. The better it is, the harder it will be to get, but boy will it be worth it.

Up until recently I felt like my degree was a multi-thousand dollar piece of paper, a waste of four years. Then we started to dream a little bigger. My husband and I learned that we want things, we are passionate people. We want to collect art, we want to see the world, but how do we do that? I majored in history and my sweetheart is not finished with school, how will we fulfill our dreams? Well, crappy jobs and that multi-thousand dollar piece of paper are coming out, and we will use them to get what we need. Sometimes you have to take the job from the person that will hire you, because you are a responsible person, and debts must be paid. That expensive little slip of paper has actually become quite handy since then, not because I have it, but because of what I did to get it. Those are the skills that mean I will not be stuck in that job from the one person willing to hire me, they are my escape into a life where I can live on my terms.

I majored in History, what a useless degree unless you're going to teach or go to grad school, right? Maybe, but maybe not. How did I get it? I went to the library. I lived at the library! I looked at book after book, academic journals, newspapers, even microfilms of old, old records. I am not a historian, like I had planned, but boy, I am a GREAT researcher. I know where to look, because while I was earning that slip of paper that was supposed to earn me respect and money, I acquired the skills it takes to succeed. My good grades did me no good in finding a respectable career , but the effort it took to get those grades have created a teacher, a writer, and a finder. Those are important skills in every field.

I feel like I'm being fairly unclear, but my main point is that my life is nothing like I pictured it would be while I was in college. I was really disappointed by that at first, but now I feel like I'm finally on the path toward achieving goals and dreams I never knew that I had. That education I resented for a year (it's rough feeling like your career will never move forward!), has stuck, and I have the skill, and more importantly, the time management skills to achieve whatever I want to.

I suppose what I'm saying would be more convincing if I was already there, but I just wanted to write it all down while it's on my mind. I'm grateful for my degree, I'm grateful for the things I learned to get it. I'm glad I did it because it was fun, but I'm also glad I did it because my "useless" degree taught me how to be a responsible and forward-thinking adult. After graduation I wasn't handed a future like other majors, I have to make something of myself, and I'm thankful to have the opportunity to do it.

Lucky

So I recently discovered that I've gained enough weight that I won't fit into my favorite skirt. After that, I made a commitment (with Joey) to take better care of my body, so I can fit into that skirt.

The age of 26 has faced me with those teenage issues I didn't have to deal with back in the day....gaining weight and acne. I know I'm not fat fat, I'm just skinny fat (my sister Amber showed me a picture, looks like me right now), but I want to be healthy. I've gotten the acne under control with a pretty intense face wash and routine, and now it's time to tackle the weight gain (which, will mostly likely also help with the acne).

I am so lucky that I am in this situation. That sounds crazy, doesn't it? Let me explain my thoughts on that: I have gained weight because I've been eating too much of the delicious food out here in California combined with having a job that involves sitting on the phone for hours at a time. I'm so lucky I live in a place where I can gain weight, and it can be a problem-issue for me. The food that it took to get me here was fantastic, and as far as the job....well I'm just lucky to have an income. I don't have to scrape around for food, it is so plentiful that if I'm not careful I end up buying too much and some of it goes bad in my refrigerator, or else it lines my tummy and thighs.

I am lucky that my body has reacted to my unhealthy lifestyle in such a normal way. I'm lucky that I'm still perfectly healthy, just not the size I was for literally thirteen years. I'm so lucky my body is forcing me to take a real, good look, and start taking care of it (finally). I remember when I was 20, my old roommate, Maren, took a look at what I ate and said "There are so many reason's why you should be a big fat girl, but you just aren't!" I always remembered that, because it rang true to me. I was lucky then, not to gain weight and have more image issues than I already did. I am lucky now to have gained weight and be forced to get healthy again.

And now I'm thinking to myself, I am lucky that I can see my problem in such an optimistic way. It is such a little problem, a tiny thing, my appearance, but I'd like that to be nice. I'd like to wear my favorite skirt. And I can, with a lot of self-control. This is going to be good for me. I will more carefully eat different, delicious food. And I'll exercise more, which will give me energy.

I think my point here is something I've been thinking about for the last little while. We need an outlook change out here in the first world. Some of our problems are actually results of blessings, maybe recognizing that will lessen the sting of the problem. I'm so excited to take this journey to become a better, healthier person. I hope that will help me take this outlook into the other aspects of my life.

What happens when we're wired in

So I was thinking a lot about the election of a new pope, and, watching the news all day,  I really want to know who it will be! But why? I'm not Catholic, and I don't know who any of the candidates are. I don't know them personally or even from a distance.

What's more, is I really care about knowing how gun control is going to affect the country. This, again, has very little effect on me. I don't own a gun, I've only been shooting a couple of times, and if guns were banned my life would not be terribly different.

When people were stuck on a cruise ship, I wanted to know when they were going home and when they were going to be safe. I wanted to know if their living situation improved, etc.

Our technological age causes us to care so much about what's going on in the world. I cared that Hugo Chavez died, even though I'm not Venezuelan.

I did not care about Lance Armstrong and his steroids, but I knew about it. I do not care about celebrities or their divorces or their lives, but I know about them.

So all of this knowing and caring and blah blah blah got me thinking about my own life, the people I know, and the attention I give them. I care about my family, and my friends, but I don't necessarily know what's going on in their lives. This technological age lets me catch their updates on blogs and facebook, spending little time on the telephone with them. Occasionally there is a text, but generally we all are comfortable living our own lives, and touch base with each other, doing little to change or influence one another.

How can it be that I'm so wired in that I know that black smoke means a new pope hasn't been elected, but I don't know what my little sisters favorite subject in school is? I'm so wired in that I know about Lance Armstrong and other celebrities that I honestly could care less about, but I don't have a clue to get my family for Christmas when the time comes.

I love technology, through it I can talk to Joey every day, and I even get to see his face. It makes the long-distance relationship all the more painful, but at the same time much more bearable. He knows I'm thinking about him and I know he's thinking about me, but it's still missing something.

I guess what I'm trying to say is we can know everything about everyone through technology, but sometimes lose track of the people who really matter. There is something irreplaceable about daily interactions with our friends and family here on the earth.

Anyway, when I started that felt deeper than it does now, but I'm glad that I've started wondering if I'm too wired in (or wirelessly wired in).

A Tribute to the Idaho Drivers

Today while driving to work I made a discovery: the drivers of Idaho like to hold each other accountable to the speed limit, often against their wills. Daily I drive a modest 65-70, occasionally passing other drivers who drive a rediculous 55-60 MPH. Often, while I am on cruise control a driver will start to pass me and then slow down to either just a little bit slower than myself or the same speed. I have come to the conclusion that this is their attempt to enforce the speed laws in Idaho to protect everyone else from tickets.



This is what driving is like in Idaho. You're either one of these cars, or behind them. There isn't much choice.


Let me further my argument: when I am not in a hurry I like to go 65 MPH because it saves on gas (yes! I am that cheap!). As I mentoned before I will occasionally pass the slower driver who is going 55-60 MPH. This is a trap for the other drivers, as well. When I come up next to that driver (again, on cruise control, so we know my speed isn't changing), they speed up, either matching my speed or passing  me a little bit. They are again trying to protect other drivers from speeding tickets, using me against my will to trap everyone behind us.

Now this is all fine and dandy, but there are also times when I am one of those erring drivers these vigalante citizens are trying to protect. I was driving down the highway, feeling a little rebellious, driving 67 MPH, and two of the same found each other. It was the latter of the two situations, a driver is going 60 MPH, another driver goes to pass them, and they match speeds. This leaves me driving at 63 MPH. I do not want to drive 63 MPH, I want to be a rebel. I want to drive 67 MPH. I appreciate the other drivers' concern for my wallet (and keeping points off of my license), but I do wish they would stay out of my business and allow me the poor choice of driving 2+ MPH over the speed limit.

No Poo - One of my Experiments

So I was exploring pinterest because I was bored. I saw a recipe for no poo here and I decided to give it a try it. Basically what "No poo" is, is washing your hair without shampoo. She talks about how shampoo is too strong and it forces your hair to overcompensate by producing too many natural oils (the one it was missing) after you wash it. So what I've started doing (as recommended) is mixing 1 TB baking soda with 1 C water and massaging it into my head, then following it up with 1 TB apple cider vinegar and 1 C water, leaving them both in for one minute afterward. I mixed them both over the same bowl, and when I saw the reaction between the baking soda and vinegar in the bowl when I started measuring the vinegar, I thought - WOW! What am I doing?!? (OK I also thought that when I read the word vinegar, smell much?)

So on Sunday I finally did it. You only need to do that once a week, so I'm saving like a billion dollars on shampoo and conditioner, and even on baking soda and vinegar (I bought the big containers and now I'm kind of rethinking that). It's Wednesday, three days after my first no poo and my hair doesn't seem greasy, so I'm pretty content. I have also begun doing the Insanity workout (oh my goodness it's crazy!), so I took a shower on Monday and got my hair wet. When I did that I smelled the vinegar, but the smell went away when my hair dried. I don't know if that means anything. I sit there and sniff my hair practically all day, but I really honestly don't smell the vinegar. The blog I read says something about vinegar only being active when wet so I'm not too worried. I'm just wondering that if I get a good workout and my head gets sweaty, will I smell like vinegar then? I'll probably have to no poo after that, because that's gross to not wash, but yeah, just wondering. All in all, only three days in, I'm happy with no poo and  I'm glad I found it right as I ran out of shampoo.

Ramblings of Life

It's been a pretty long and fairly frustrating week. So I had some, but not as much as I'd like, time to look for a new job in California. The people I've called back on (multiple times) have not called me back. I haven't even gotten so far as to talk on the phone about potentially having an interview. That market is brutal!

So I got about 17 referrals from our interns of people to call. So my schedule has exploded with things to do. And one of my boss's new years resolutions was to delve deeper into the investment side of his business, which makes my life consist of form after form after form. So between calling and schedule interviews, conducting them, and doing assistant work for my boss my work life has gotten extremely busy. I like it better than I liked before, but I also miss the days when I could go online and look for a way into something I'll actually love.

So I went to the mall yesterday, looking for something for work, but I also ended up browsing a bit. I'm so glad I didn't go in the middle of Victoria's Secret's semi-annual sale: the secret to saving money is to go at the very end. That's when they mark things down like crazy. I got a $70 item for about $17 (STEAL!) and a $100 item for about $20 (rockin it!). I love love love their semi-annual sale! I don't know how they make any money other times of the year (ok I do, they have really high quality stuff that is just worth buying, and all bridal showers and bachelorette parties probably aren't in July or January). I went home and collapsed, made a quesadilla and talked to Joey on the telephone. It was nice and he made the day a lot better. I fell asleep almost instantly at I'm not sure what time, it was either nine or ten. I really needed it and I felt pretty good when I woke up this morning.

I've learned to tune out the TV at work. I don'nt have to hear Hillary Clinton's obnoxious voice all day, even though it's always playing. I also could care less about the football star who got duped by an online faker. So now, I shall return home and make another quesadilla (or eat leftovers).

Reporting In

Life has been really crazy this past week. I miss Joey like crazy, of course. I spent the past week chasing down the Home Depot because I thought they'd hire me for a job in CA at a decent wage...it was truly an adventure. I spent hours on the phone with them and their stupid automated sysem simply trying to get my application to show up in the stores I wanted to apply to. Then they finally did, and it turns out it simply isn't enough hours or money for me to consider, anyway. So I'm still a secretary at Northwestern Mutua, making only semi-decent pay and dreaming of the moment when I can stop working outside my home forever...alas, that day is not today.
It's also been absolutely frigid here in Idaho. I mean sickeningly cold, I mean like every morning -15 let's hope my car starts! On Sunday it kept beeping at me and freaked the heck out of me. It ended up being okay, though, I think.I hate it, I want to go to California so so badly. I want to be with my sweetheart, I want to be in the warm weather, and I just want out.
So on the bright side, I got a raise for my awesome articles on the wedding blog I write for. That's been really fun, even though I feel like a hypocrite for writing cocktail recipes, especially for countries that really don't drink cocktails. It's great experience, and I love doing the research, though.

Forward Motion

OK So I love reading other people's blogs, I really do. I look on everyone's facebook profiles to see if they have a blog I can read, nerdy, yes? It's because I like to know what's going on in people's lives, and I love hearing it through reading. I'm a visual person and when I read what you have to say I can see it in my head. I enjoy hearing about your kids, your little adventures, and those things that make life great. The blogs I read are always so positive and they make me feel so positive and excited for life. So I figured I'd start writing in my blog, not just the professional blog, but about my life. I've attempted this several times, but honestly, I find myself boring so I haven't kept it up. And I'm a freaking awesome person, so you will find my blog interesting. OK maybe just me, but I want to be a professional writer, and what better way to experiment with writing than in your own blog?
So here's what's up with Rachel:
1. I love Joey! I AM that girl who is obsessed with her boyfriend and I have no apologies for it. If you knew Joey you'd love him just as much, too, but back off, he's mine!
2. I'm trying to start my freelance writing career. This is probably one of the absolute most difficult things I've ever tried to do.
3. I work at Northwestern Mutual and I'm a secretary. It's a great job don't get me wrong, but I find it incredibly boring. I don't like to be doing the same thing every day, I like variety and spice in life. You can't find that in filing, organizing, or even recruiting (which I do get to do, that part's really fun).
4. I'm getting ready to move to California. I'm way way way excited to do it. I'm going to go crazy and make the move whether I find a job there before I move or not. I'm going to live close to my sweetheart and end the winter off in the sunshine. Plus, this is where I'm getting married, I'll get to plan it there (hooray for wedding prep blog entries!).
5. I'm dirt poor and in being so I have learned some really creative (and fun!) ways to make money. It's becoming an obsessive hobby that I love.
6. I'm addicted to the TV show "Once Upon a Time," I fell in love the first season. It was the villain, I just love a villain I can hate! I was so mad this season when the writer made her more relateable, but then they brought in a more viscious, hateable villain so I am again satisfied.
7. I majored in history at BYU-Idaho and I LOVED it! Don't ask me if I'm going to teach, though, I tire of the judging eyes when I say instead of teaching I'm going to be a poor, starving freelance writer.
8. I'm passionate about traveling the world, and get more passionate with every passing day. By the end of this year I will leave this continent for the first time!
So now that you're up to date I'll try to write weekly and update you on my move to California and my passionate love affair (Mormon style :P) with the most wonderful man in the world (that's right world, he's mine!).