4 weeks

In the next 4 weeks, here is a list of things that will happen.

We will re-pack our entire apartment and get ready to move.
We will move everything to storage in our new building for the week we are in KY because our apartment is not available until we get back. 
Chuck will finish the summer session of school.
We will finish planning our wedding.
We will fly to Louisville and spend a week there.
We will get married.
We will come back to Boston and Chuck will immediately start the fall semester.
We will move everything into our new apartment and unpack. 

I had to buy a mouth guard last week to keep me from grinding my teeth while I sleep. Chuck said it was so loud sometimes when he was up late doing homework, he could hear me from the other room. Oh and did I mention that the week we have to move our stuff out of Eastgate is the same week Chuck has finals?

If everyone could say a little prayer for our sanity over the next month, it would be greatly appreciated.

The History of "Rackie"

You know how Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are "Brangelina"? And Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck are "Bennifer"? Well I think Chuck and I started the trend to call couples by one mixed name. You see, when we were 15 and had just started dating, Chuck liked to tell me about episodes of a show he was fond of called Dragon Ball Z. And on that show, characters would "fuse" and ultimately become one person, combining all of their strengths and powers. So one day that led us to a conversation about what our name would be if we "fused" and combined our powers, and thus, from Rachel and Chuckie,  "Rackie" was born.

Chuck and I recently had a conversation where I told him I'm totally ready and excited to be married to him, but I just don't feel OLD enough to be getting married. I think a lot of people feel that way. How often do you hear people say things like "Where has the time gone?" or "Wow that doesn't seem like it was THAT long ago!" My grandma (who is turning 90 this week! Happy birthday, Grandma!) always says "Time sure does go by fast, and the older you get the faster it goes!" And I think she's right. But I especially think I feel that way about getting married because Chuck and I started dating when we were 15. And sometimes I still feel (and act) like I'm 15. When I stop and think about the fact that Chuck and I have been "Rackie" for almost 10 years, my next immediate thought is about how fast those 10 years seem to have gone by.

We started "officially" dating on August 24, 2002 but we had been friends for a couple of years even before that. Here are some things you may not know about Rackie's history.

- We met when we were 12 years old in the 7th grade.
- My dad met Chuck before I did- he was Chuck's principal in 5th grade. That was my dad's first year as a principal, and you can bet he never knew that one of the kids in his first group of 5th graders that year would grow up and marry one of his daughters.
- Chuck and I both played trumpet in middle and high school and were huge band nerds. This is probably why we got along so well. Mutual nerdiness = love.
- Our high school used to do these love matchmaking surveys for Valentine's Day as a fundraiser. A few weeks before Valentine's Day, you could answer a set of questions about your personality and likes and dislikes, turn it in, and a computer would generate your top 10 matches. Then on Valentine's Day you could pay $5 or $10 to see the results. In 9th grade (before we were dating) Chuck was at the top of my list as my most compatible match out of around 500 freshmen. See? It was meant to be. (Because I'm a hoarder, I still have my results if anyone doesn't believe me and wants to see it in print.)
- My parents were at first, not very fond of Chuck. All they knew about him was that he rode a skateboard, and at one point had an earring and spikey hair. Of course, once they got to know him they really liked him. And now sometimes I think they may even like him more than me!
- My little sister was 9 when Chuck and I started dating. She has now know him for more than half the time she's been alive.
- We went to prom together twice. And Chuck may or may not have been Prom King twice. (Give him a break, he was Class President and his name was "Chuckie". Who WOULDN'T vote for that guy?)
- We were given a superlative in the yearbook our Senior year. "Most Likely to be the Next Cory and Topanga."

A lot of you who have known us a long time probably knew a lot of those things already, but I guess I'm just feeling extra sentimental this week seeing as we're less than a month away from our wedding. (!!!!!)  I've been thinking a lot about our relationship and how our dating era is coming to an end exactly ten years after it started. It's crazy. But I am SO excited to welcome the married era in a few weeks on August 24, 2012, even if I do feel like I should maybe be walking WITH the flower girls down the aisle instead of BEHIND them.

And now I give you what I know you've all been waiting for: Rackie- The Early Years.

One of many pictures of us at a band competition. It was evidently pretty cold that day, judging by our long johns! Oh and I was drum major that year, that's why I'm in a dress.

Sixteen years old, in New York City on a trip with... band. (Told you.... huge band nerds.)

This was us on our 1 year dating anniversary! We had to have one of our mom's drop us off at a restaurant for dinner because we couldn't drive yet. :)

There's us with our Best Man, Branden. I think if the three of us were asked to take a picture together right now, there's a good chance this would still be the pose that would happen naturally. Yep, some things never change....

 Chuck has always been a great boyfriend. You'd have to be a pretty awesome guy to sit through your girlfriend's 3 hour long dance recital to see her dance in only 2-3 songs.

There we are with my little sis, Sami. This was our Senior Night, so she was probably 11 when this picture was taken. She had already known Chuck for 2 years at this point. :)

Junior prom. Please excuse the ugly background and my terrrrrible hairstyle. Ew.

Senior prom. (Had my hair done professionally that time, if you couldn't tell.)

My all-time favorite picture of us. 15 years old. Me, Chuck, and his other true love- the bass guitar.

Train etiquette

I've been riding the T a lot here in Boston. I follow all of the common sense etiquette rules that are true to most public places. Let people off the T before getting on, if the train is pretty empty, don't sit right next to someone- respect their personal space, don't sneeze on people, etc etc. But there is one bit of etiquette I've learned here in Boston that is very different from how things work in Louisville.

NO MATTER WHAT- DO NOT MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH ANYONE. This is something I struggled with a lot at first because in Louisville, often times when I was walking around downtown I would make eye contact with a stranger and they would smile and say "How ya doin'?" Cause southerners are just nice like that.

But on the train in Boston? Totally different story. Making eye contact with people makes them uncomfortable, sometimes angry, and gives you away as a non-native. Instead of looking around, you should either read a book, stare at your phone even though there's no service underground, or just stare at the ground or the ceiling.

There is ONE and ONLY one exception to this no eye contact rule. And that is- you are allowed to make eye contact if the person you are staring at is holding a baby. In that case, you can make eye contact, smile, and even in some cases TALK to them about the baby and how cute he/she is. This puzzled me for awhile because it contradicted everything I thought I knew, but I guess it makes sense. Because no matter who you are, everyone likes a cute baby.

I'm not sure why no one likes to make eye contact. I do know though, that the people here aren't mean, and I have evidence. One day on the train, I sneezed and a stranger across from me said "Bless you." Three different times, I've seen people start to fall when the train moves and they're standing and not holding onto a pole- and people all around them jump to catch the person and keep them from falling down. See? They're secretly nice. It's all an act to live up to the stereotype that northerners are rude or mean. But I'm on to them. Can't fool me, you secretly nice northerners!

Whirlwind Trip Home

This past weekend I made a (very) quick trip to Louisville to take care of wedding things. Among a lot of little tasks, my two biggest tasks while home were to have a dress fitting and get my hair trial done for the big day. I did a lot of things while home but here are some of the highlights.

I flew in to Cincinnati on Friday night where my parents picked me up. We stopped at a Tumbleweed somewhere on the way back to Louisville where, when the host seating us asked us "Smoking or non-smoking?" I had to ask my dad if we just went back in time. I seriously didn't realize there were still places in the country where restaurants have smoking sections.

Saturday morning I had my wedding hair trial. While there, a lady came in to get her hair done for her wedding because it was actually her wedding day! She was freaking out a little bit though because she was having an outdoor wedding (with no backup plan) and it was, at that moment, raining cats and dogs. I felt really bad for her but also felt really happy that we are not having an outdoor wedding and won't have to worry about weather on August 24th. The good news is, her wedding was at 6 and around 5:30, the clouds went away and the sun came out!

After my hair trial, on my way to my dress fitting, I stopped at the jewelry store to pick up our wedding bands (!!!!) and everyone in the store thought it was my wedding day because of my hair. God help me if I am running errands like that at 2 o'clock on my actual wedding day.

Dress fitting: the dress still fits.

After other errands I had a gourmet meal at the Hagan Bed & Breakfast cooked by Bobby Flay (AKA my dad) and his assistants (AKA my mom, me, Laura and Sami). I also fed some of my food to the dog under the table to remind her why she loves me the most and to make up for not seeing her for the last 6 weeks. Sorry, mom and dad!

I got to see most of my Everyone Here Hates Twilight group at Jen and Matt's house for Field Day 2012. We played games such as Battleshots, a larger version of Battleship that somehow incorporated jello shots, Pictionary, and we competed in an obstacle course in the back yard that ended with us all having to slide down a slip n slide. ***This is where I would like to remind everyone that my family and friends are all very intelligent and successful people and are fully aware that slip n slides are made for children but we just don't care.*** 

Sunday I did more wedding errands and then went back to Cincy to catch my flight back to Boston. The flight got delayed for 2 hours but I wasn't mad. It was delayed due to bad weather, so it's hard to be mad about something out of anyone's control. Plus, I pretty much expect flight delays going to and/or from Boston after the horrible time we had back in 2010.

I had a great weekend at home even though it was super fast. The only bad part about it was that Chuck wasn't there. He had to stay in Boston and do homework so it was hard to have TOO much fun without him there. But now there's only one month standing between our flight home together to begin all the wedding week festivities! I can't believe it's that close! We are soooooo excited.

Wedding Diaries: DIY table numbers

Some people do a lot of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) projects for their weddings for many reasons. To save money, to add a personal touch, to copy something they saw on Pinterest... I was not planning on doing any (or at least not a lot) of DIY projects for our wedding, but that all changed when a few weeks ago I went in The Paper Source on a Saturday afternoon just for something to do while Chuck was at a group meeting. Everyone should visit this store (they have them all over the country) but be forewarned- you WILL buy something and you WILL become obsessed with the idea of taking on a project that isn't really necessary but totally seems like a good idea at the time.

My project? Table numbers and place cards. One of the employees at the store gave me some tips on what products would work best for what I was doing, and then I came up with the design and the rest is history. I tracked my progress with pictures so you could see what I started with and ended with.

Step 1: Buy the materials at the Paper Source. I decided to keep the cards mostly black and white with a touch of our wedding colors. So I purchased 4x6 black cards, 3.5 x 4.875 white cards, and 3 different color stamp pads. I pulled 3 colors that will be in our bouquets- the dark purple which is our main wedding color, and then a pretty bright pink and green. I bought two stamps- one large and one small of the same flower. I used the large one for the table numbers and I plan to use the small one on the place cards.

Step 2: Get to work. I started by picking out a few fonts I liked and then had Chuck make the final decision on which one to use. I adjusted Word to make the paper size that small 3.5x4.875 size and enlarged the numbers, printing them each one at a time. 

(I sat on the floor to do this because Chuck was sitting at the desk doing homework.)

Step 3: I planned to overlap the colors, so I started stamping with the lightest color first- the green.

Step 4: Once they are dry (with the kind of stamp pad I used, they were dry almost instantly) stamp the next color.

Step 4 was briefly interrupted by the amazing sky art happening outside my window. I (obviously) had to stop what I was doing and take a picture.

Step 5: Stamp the final and darkest color! 

I then took a break, mainly because this took awhile and I didn't have all the materials needed for the next part. Also- I don't know that we will have 25 tables but I made more than I thought we will need just so I don't have to do just 1 or 2 of these later on.

A couple of days later, after I had purchased double sided tape, I started on the next and final step. 

Step 6: Tape the white cards onto the black cards. I chose to go with tape rather than glue because I didn't want them to get crinkly and end up looking like a 6th grade art project. 

I also watched "My Best Friends Wedding" while doing this step, because I like to watch that movie a) when I'm doing something and want background noise b) when I can't find anything on TV to watch and c) when I'm doing wedding related things.  Wait, who am I kidding? I watch this movie all the time for absolutely no reason at all. It's just my all time favorite movie ever.

I could literally act out this entire movie by myself and be every character. I know all of their lines. 

Step 7: Done!

Ta-da! I think they turned out great, if I do say so myself! (See that part of the movie on the screen right there? That's when they're at dinner and Kim suggests that Michael quit his job and work for her dad for a little while and he gets all mad 'cause he loves his terrible, low paying job and Jules is all like "well Michael I think you should listen to what she has to say" 'cause she's trying to turn him against Kim so they'll break up so she can marry him.)

So that's it for my DIYing until it comes time to make the place cards. And unfortunately I can't do that until we know who is coming to the wedding! 

To anyone reading this who is coming to my wedding- make sure when you're sitting at dinner and you see the table numbers, you say to someone else at the table, "Oh aren't those the most beautiful table numbers you've ever seen!? And when they agree you can be all like "I heard Rachel MADE them herself!" K? Thanks.

Eccentricities of Eastgate

First things first. Yes, "eccentricities" is a big word and yes I had to look it up to make sure I was spelling it correctly and yes I read the definition to make sure I was also using it correctly. Which I'm not 100% sure that I am but I like the alliteration.
For the summer we are living in on-campus family housing in a high rise building, Eastgate. I've talked about it before and shown some pictures of the outside, but I have yet to show the inside. Here are a couple of pictures for you.

To live here, you have to either be married, have children, or have a "partner."  Since Chuck and I are not married yet, we fall into the partner category. Funny side note- the only verification the office wanted from us to prove we are engaged was a wedding invitation. Don't they know someone could easily make that up and print it from their home computer!? And if we give them an invitation, are they going to think they're invited and show up at our wedding!!? We don't have room for them!!! I digress...

There are several good things about living at Eastgate. The convenience factor (to Chuck's classes, my job and the train station) is probably the best thing. Other perks are that we are a 2 minute walk to the river and beautiful scenery, the surrounding neighborhood is nice, the mall is a 12-15 minute walk, the building we're in is secure and safe, and it's a (relatively) cheap place to live in Boston/Cambridge.

Sadly, we lost the apartment lottery for the fall and spring, so we will be moving out in August, right before we go home to Kentucky to get married. Because of this, I like to think of Eastgate as our Engaged apartment and our new place as our Married apartment. When we come back, we will be immediately moving into Married apartment just one train stop away from MIT. (More details on that place later...) And while I love Engaged apartment, there are definitely a few things I won't mind leaving behind.

Exhibit A: The oven dials with no numbers or markers of any kind.

How the heck are you supposed to cook anything without knowing what temperature you're setting your oven to? Luckily we were given a sweet toaster oven at one of our wedding showers and I've been using that as my oven. Works just the same. I've even cooked a Stouffer's lasagna in it! And now that I've come this far,  I'm making it my mission to go the entire summer without using our numberless oven once.

Exhibit B: The louder-than-a-jackhammer-outside-your-bedroom-window AC unit.

Most apartments in Boston don't have central air (Married apartment does!) so you have to buy AC units. It does a fine job but MAN this thing is loud, especially when you're trying to watch TV and not disturb your super nice neighbors. Also, the unit was too small for the space so we had to cover the surrounding area with cardboard that occasionally starts to come off and requires re-taping.  Fun times.

Exhibit C: The time someone got mad and punched the poor, tiny bathroom door.

Please note, Chuck did not do this. He does not punch walls or doors. When we moved in, someone made a comment that someone must have been mad at their girlfriend/wife/partner. I quickly pointed out, "Be real. We're at MIT. Someone probably got a B on a test or something."

Exhibit D: The strange sound we hear several times a day but can't figure out for the life of us what it is or what it comes from.

I have no picture for this one obviously, but this is something that's puzzled us since our first week here. Every once in awhile you will hear a sound that, as another LGO SO living in Eastgate noted, sounds like someone dropping a marble on the floor of the apartment above you. And yet that's not it. Because if the other SO is hearing it in their apartment on a different floor, it must happen in every apartment, and surely not everyone is walking around dropping marbles on their floor! The source of this sound will haunt me until I die.

Exhibit E: The Eastgate hallways and elevators.

When you're inside our apartment, you can forget that you are basically living in a dorm. But the hallways and elevators don't let you forget it. The elevators are the slowest elevators in the history of Earth. And sometimes the doors take a while to open and make you think you're about to be trapped forever. And the hallways? Let's just say I don't think these carpets see a vacuum very often. A couple weeks ago, someone down the hall from us moved out but left a nice memento for us all in the hallway. A dried up anchovy. Just one, dead, dried up little fish. It still had eyes. And it stayed in the hallway outside that door for at least 3-4 days. I have a lot of questions about how the anchovy got to be there in the first place and why, but unlike the mysterious marble sound, the dead fish is something I don't want to continue to think about.

I know it's starting to sound like I hate living here but I really don't.  I enjoy it a lot actually. And I embrace Eastgate's eccentricities. Probably mainly because I know it's only temporary.

Fourth of July recap

The 4th of July in Boston did not disappoint.

The night before the 4th, Chuck and I made our way over to the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade for the Boston Pops concert. They do the same concert 2 nights in a row- the only difference really is that the show on the 4th is nationally televised and ends with a big fireworks show. There were a ton of people there for the concert on the 3rd. I'd say the best way to describe it is "organized chaos." Once we found a place to sit (where we could hear perfectly but not really see too well) it was amazing. We heard the 1812 Overture and got to hear this year's special guest, Jennifer Hudson, who gave us chills and almost made me cry.

On the 4th, Chuck had homework to do before we could go celebrate, so we didn't make it over to the reading of the Declaration. That's ok though. We know what it says. We made our way to the MIT sailing pavilion around 2:30, where several LGOs had already claimed our space and set up food, chairs, drinks and a tent to shield us from the blistering sun. And y'all? Our spot was UH-MAZ-ING. I'm not even trying to talk it up to make it sound better than it really was. Seriously. I would be willing to state with 100 percent certainty that we had literally the best spot in all of Boston to see the fireworks. Right on the water, right in front of the barge, nothing blocking our view, and had the Boston skyline in the background underneath the fireworks. It was magical.

Soon after the Pops concert started, they had to stop because of severe weather. Apparently a big storm was headed towards us. This is when we learned that LGOs can assemble a tent in under 30 seconds when they think they might get rained on. But after about 30 minutes of lightning, wind and no rain, the concert started again and then the fireworks. And THAT'S when it rained. No joke- the second the fireworks started, so did the rain. And unfortunately the tent had already been disassembled so... we got soaked. But it was worth it. The finale was especially awesome. It was so loud and powerful, I think I could feel my insides shaking.

I don't care how young or how old you are. Fireworks are awesome. And you feel just as amazed and excited about them when you are 25 as you did when you were 5. During the fireworks, while I was getting soaked by the rain, I looked around at the thousands of people lining the river, all looking up at the sky and I just had this really happy moment. Here were all these people, all strangers, all leading very different lives, but at the exact same moment we were all looking up at the sky enjoying the very same thing. And that is why I love fireworks. They bring people together.  And also they're pretty.

And now... pictures.

Our view of the barge. See? I wasn't lying. Our spot was perfect.

We wore green on the 4th of July. I told Chuckie we were being anti-patriotic and he said no we weren't, because as Americans we have the freedom and the right to wear whatever color we want on whatever day we want. So by wearing green, we were actually being MORE patriotic.He's just full of good logic isn't he?

One of many sailboats on the river.

Some of our group hanging out. We took over that pavilion!

Almost time for the fireworks! And the rain....

Fireworks!!!!

Self portrait with the fireworks. Notice the wet hair...