my life for the next days 18 months.

last monday i had orientation for my new school, new program, and new career path.

i am attending International Business College. they work with the Vet Tech Institute which is where i will be for the next 18 months. it is an accelerated and very time consuming program. so if you thought i was busy before you can forget about seeing me now. i have breaks every season for about a week and holidays of course. but all the instructors have told us what little life we had before is over, at least for the next 18 months.

i'm in school 5 days a week. classes change every 8 weeks, but for the first 8 weeks i have class starting at 7:50 monday through friday. i get out at different times each day. but i have to get up at 5:30AM which if you know me, then you know that i am NOT a morning person and this is a serious adjustment. oh yah and as part of the program we have kennel duty where we take care of the animals at the school. on tuesday mornings i have to be up at 4AM in order to be at kennel on time. -i am going to die- if anyone is awake that early, give me a wake up call!

but to give you kind of an idea about how things go, i started classes on tuesday, had a quiz on friday, will have 3 tests on monday and another one on tuesday. i have homework and readings every night and i'm still working at the dog bakery. so goodbye social life. say a prayer for my sanity and the sleep that i will be missing.

apart from the changes of getting up early and being even busier, i am very excited about this program and my new school. i get to wear scrubs everyday, learn about animals and have hands on experience with small animals, large animals, and exotic animals. sounds good to me!

i'm sure i will have lots to share as the weeks go by, the problem will be finding the time to write about it.

engagement pictures

Wesley and I received our engagement pictures this week and I'm so excited about them. They are fantastic! One of Wes' friends shot them, she did a great job.

Here are just a few of our favorites!

There are more on my facebook page.

:)

bridesmaids!

let me introduce to you my bridesmaids,

Natalie - sister, maid of honor

Kelly - sister

Emily - best friend

Bonnie - future sister n law

so yesterday was an exciting day, for the first time ever ALL five of us, including me, hung out. we met at davids bridal. did some dress shopping and found the dress for everyone! it was pretty quick and definitely easy. they got along, we laughed. it was fun. after discussing alterations, especially for miss kelly anne, we took care of ordering and all those fun details. then we went to dinner at mcalisters. yum. and had some more laughs and the girls got to know each other.

and here are my lovely ladies rocking a stunning watermelon pink.

please note this is NOT my color.

i have the best group of girls!

so happy they will be there with me on wesley and I's special day.

who goes to court at 21?

oh me!

three years ago this december i was in a four car pile up on fall creek heading to a final at IUPUI. i got sued for it last november right before the two year deadline. so its been pushed back three or four times and FINALLY this morning i made my appearance in small claims court.

let me just say it was quite the experience. and i'd like to stay out of that place. forever.

it's over. well almost. the judge will make his decision soon enough. all I know is that i'm beyond over it. and once this december rolls around the accident will fall off my record.

but seriously who get sued at 20 and goes to court when they are 21.

absurd people in this world.

wedding details.

it has been exciting, overwhelming and very stressful trying to get all these wedding details in line. but TODAY i booked the reception venue and the church! phew. that was the big stressor for sure. do you know how important those details are. ohmygoodness.

So what have I accomplished completely.

Wedding Date - check!

Bridal Party - check!

Guest List - check!

Find my wedding dress - check!

Church - check!

Reception Venue - check!

Now, it's time to finalize the catering. do engagement photos. send out save the dates. make invitations. do flower details. decide on music. plan the honeymoon. find the cake! and oh a bunch of other things.

one step at a time, planning a wedding is a crazy business.

ohmygoshhhh!

May 31, 2011.

WESLEY AND I GOT ENGAGED!!!!!

it was p.e.r.f.e.c.t!

He could not have made it any more special or wonderful!

I am so blessed to have him.

And absolutely cannot wait to be married to him.

I'm excited for our future together and all the things we have to look forward to.

I thank God that we found each other.

June 22, 2011.

I FOUND MY DRESS!!!!

Already, i know. it's crazzzyy.

But its beautiful and perfect. And my kind of dress.

I would love to show you a picture, BUT absolutely cannot let Wesley see.

I want him to be to utterly stunned and maybe fall over when he seems me at the end of the aisle ;)

ohmygosh. I love it tho.

Now for more wedding planning :) Advice is welcome.

life as of now.

i guess i just haven't felt like sharing much this year. it's already May and this is only my second blog for 2011. woo! so what's new in my life?

well....... not a whole lot. and thats okay. for the most part i'm happy with my life and the way things are going. i may not know what i'm doing or what's going to happen tomorrow but God does. so maybe a better question is what's been going on in my life?

i'm working at the three dog bakery and it has been going great. i really enjoy my "littermates" there. it's been a good fit for me. i still watch the stump boys every Wednesday. have to get my fix each week! love them. they are getting so big i can't stand it.

<--- my boys. Paul, Hank and Peter :)

my parents found a house in harrison, OH. it is very cute and i love it. mom is still going back and forth between the house and my apartment. dad is permanently in ohio and i don't see him much.. and it's sad, that part i don't like. i also miss oreo a lot :(

kelly started school at Aveda and seems to be enjoying her time there, for the most part anyways. its been an adjustment for her, but in my opinion a very good one. i'm going to be one of her color models once she is training on the floor. yikes ;) no but really its pretty cool to see her excited about school.

wesley and i are doing wonderful. we celebrated our one year anniversary in March. we went to chicago and it was a lot of fun. i am so blessed to be with him. he makes me so happy :)

<--- picture of us at the "BEAN" also known as the cloud gate.

and now for me and my schooling... at this point anything could happen. this spring i chose to pursue a new career, new major, new school entirely from nursing. i think i'd enjoy working in pediatrics, but nursing at IUPUI is just not going to happen. so i've been looking into a vet technician. it's something i wanted to do out of high school but didn't want to go to purdue, IUPUI was cheap and close so i went there and chose nursing instead. well here i am looking into it three years later. weird how things turn out. so nothing official yet. mom dad and i are still figuring out money and if its an option. i hope it works out, but again who knows.

cleo is still a stinker. still eating my plants and knocking things over and trying to rip up my carpet but i love her. she's now nine months old and weighs about nine pounds. she's got a little belly on her, but it's cute.

<--- here she is in one of her favorite spots. the sink. waiting for someone to turn it on and let her have a drink.

anything else?

my apartment has been a fun project to decorate. i've had a good time bargain hunting. tjmaxx is the way to go. it's coming together quite nicely.

my sleep schedule is totally weird. i always close at work so i stay up too late, sleep in too late and i have tried to fix it, but somehow i fall back into the same routine. it sucks.

i can't wait til the weather stays warm and stops with the raining and tornado warnings. my head cannot take it anymore.

i just finished this semester at school, working almost full time and am still the busiest person ever. even if i have a day off it somehow slips away from me. i find mini projects for myself. i need to learn how to just do nothing.

i finally quit american eagle :/ and i kinda miss it. the discount was unbelievable. but i was just getting too busy for it and scheduling was getting more and more difficult. not to mention wesley did not like our saturday date night getting cut short so i could go fold clothes at a floorset :P so its sad, but better this way.

okayyy thats enough.. now i'm just rambling.

have a good week :) thanks for reading.

ice storm

February 2011 - ice storm madness.

round one- cars covered in ice. I had to chip away the ice to break the seal and get into my car. let it warm then proceed to scrap more ice away. it took almost two hours.

round two - we put sheets over the windshield to help keep the second round of ice and snow off. The sheet took three people to get off.. and it was so very hard. thick ice chunks everywhere else... AND my tires were stuck. They would not move... some guy from the apartment complex pulled my car out with his truck. ha!

wow. this was amazing.

how I feel about snow

Dear snow.

I do not like you, no I don't!

I do not like you on my car.

I do not like you on the roads.

I do not like you in my way.

I wish that you would not stay.

I do not like you in my hair.

I do not like you anywhere!

So if you please just go away.

I do not like you any day.

Sincerely,

Rachel

what to do.

I've recently hit a bad luck streak. It seems to be slowing now, but there for awhile it was almost out of control. In the midst of my bad luck I received my letter from the nursing school letting me know I was not being admitted to the IU school of Nursing :( After being declined twice I'm beginning to wonder if I am meant to do this. I have looked into a few different majors to pursue instead of nursing.. nothing has really sparked my interest too much. But here are a few options... Dental Hygiene, Medical Imaging and anything else that I can use my previous prerequisites for. I'm leaning towards dental hygiene. I'm just waiting to see which classes I can get into for next semester.

I have ONE week of this semester left. Two finals to go. I will officially be on winter break after 5:30 PM on Friday and I cannot wait.

I'm feeling terribly burnt out on school and could use some encouraging words..