My friend Kirsten's birthday was today!!!
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Monday, September 28, 2015
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Thursday, September 24, 2015
100 Happy Days
So, I recently saw on Facebook this post about something called the "100 Happy Days Challenge". Its something that you do via a more mainstream social media website (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.). I am choosing to do it here (and maybe on Facebook as well) because I want to post more on this blog! Here is the link for more info on the challenge: http://100happydays.com/
Basically this challenge is to take a picture every day for 100 days of something in your day that made you happy. The idea is to slow down and take time to realize the happy moments in your day. The website says that 71% of people who start the challenge don't finish because they said they didn't have enough time. I am going to do my best! I don't have a picture for today just yet, but I will post one later. Here goes!!!
Basically this challenge is to take a picture every day for 100 days of something in your day that made you happy. The idea is to slow down and take time to realize the happy moments in your day. The website says that 71% of people who start the challenge don't finish because they said they didn't have enough time. I am going to do my best! I don't have a picture for today just yet, but I will post one later. Here goes!!!
Sunday, July 5, 2015
Chicago, Races, and the 4th!
Hey, Everybody! Wow, I am really bad at updating with new posts. Oops.
Anywho, Happy belated 4th of July! I had a pretty fun one - I went to a carnival with my parents, aunt, uncle, and cousins and watched fireworks afterward. It was really entertaining to watch my cousin ride all of the rides and go on the carousel with him - I enjoyed that part a lot. I miss carousels.
And my half-marathon was a few weeks ago! Both my roommate and I succeeded in running the entire time. She did a full marathon, though, so it was more of a challenge for her; I ran the last 1.5 miles with her - she needed the moral support. The race itself was very fun; I want to run another one. I just don't want to train for one again.
And on the 26th of June, my internship ended. I had been working with 5th-7th graders at a summer program. I got to go to Nickelodeon Universe (for free!) and to the Ramsey County Court House among other places through this internship. My favorite part of it this time around, however, was working with the afternoon musical theatre class. I still have all of the songs they sang stuck in my head and can recite over half of the script that they memorized. I absolutely loved working with the teacher of the class (She is SO awesome) and with the girls in the class - they were hilarious and fabulous!!!
Another thing that is new is that I went to Chicago for the first time ever this past June. It was a lot of fun. I traveled with the Social Justice Theatre Troupe at Hamline to attend the Theatre of the Oppressed Conference. It was really engaging - I had a lot of fun learning about different forms of oppression that I had no idea existed, completely fulfilling my role as a tourist, and eating tons of food from Dunkin' Donuts!
I also want to mention that as of today I have created my own personal "Humans Of..." page via Blogger (this website). The "Humans Of..." movement was started by Brandon Stanton, a photographer in NY who started a website called Humans of New York after his previous job. My page is called Humans of Saint Paul and currently contains only one picture, but I plan on adding to it this week when I have more time. Here is the link: http://rmebitty.blogspot.com/
Please take a look! I love photography and really admire Brandon Stanton's work; I like the personal touch that his photos have. Here is his website if you're interested: http://www.humansofnewyork.com/
Have a great day, everyone! I will post again soon!
Anywho, Happy belated 4th of July! I had a pretty fun one - I went to a carnival with my parents, aunt, uncle, and cousins and watched fireworks afterward. It was really entertaining to watch my cousin ride all of the rides and go on the carousel with him - I enjoyed that part a lot. I miss carousels.
And my half-marathon was a few weeks ago! Both my roommate and I succeeded in running the entire time. She did a full marathon, though, so it was more of a challenge for her; I ran the last 1.5 miles with her - she needed the moral support. The race itself was very fun; I want to run another one. I just don't want to train for one again.
And on the 26th of June, my internship ended. I had been working with 5th-7th graders at a summer program. I got to go to Nickelodeon Universe (for free!) and to the Ramsey County Court House among other places through this internship. My favorite part of it this time around, however, was working with the afternoon musical theatre class. I still have all of the songs they sang stuck in my head and can recite over half of the script that they memorized. I absolutely loved working with the teacher of the class (She is SO awesome) and with the girls in the class - they were hilarious and fabulous!!!
Another thing that is new is that I went to Chicago for the first time ever this past June. It was a lot of fun. I traveled with the Social Justice Theatre Troupe at Hamline to attend the Theatre of the Oppressed Conference. It was really engaging - I had a lot of fun learning about different forms of oppression that I had no idea existed, completely fulfilling my role as a tourist, and eating tons of food from Dunkin' Donuts!
I also want to mention that as of today I have created my own personal "Humans Of..." page via Blogger (this website). The "Humans Of..." movement was started by Brandon Stanton, a photographer in NY who started a website called Humans of New York after his previous job. My page is called Humans of Saint Paul and currently contains only one picture, but I plan on adding to it this week when I have more time. Here is the link: http://rmebitty.blogspot.com/
Please take a look! I love photography and really admire Brandon Stanton's work; I like the personal touch that his photos have. Here is his website if you're interested: http://www.humansofnewyork.com/
Have a great day, everyone! I will post again soon!
Saturday, April 18, 2015
April 18th, 2015
Hello!
I have not posted in a while; sorry about that. Here is an update!
Firstly, I am in the process of applying for a study abroad program to Italy! Specifically, Venice, Florence, Rome, Pisa, and Bologna! There are quite a few parts, but I am almost finished.
Secondly, today (April 18th, 2015) was a particularly spectacular day. Here's how it went: I woke up. I ran to my house with my roommate. While running there, I got a phone call from my dad that my aunt was having her baby (!!!). I got to my house and drank a glass of water that my parents left out for me and my roommate (Thanks Mom and Dad; it was SUPER helpful!!!). My roommate and I decided to change our route and head back to campus. We ran a total of 6.2 miles (!!!). We came back and had lunch after getting cleaned up. I got a phone call from my mom during lunch that the baby was now a member of the human race. (!!!) I then called my dad to talk about when we should go meet the baby. After that, I did homework for two hours, bought my dinner, and went to work. Within half an hour of being at work, I had a $395 sale (!!!) and helped a customer who was Deaf by using ASL (!!!). On my break, I found out that my roommate had purchased me a pint of the flavor of ice cream I had wanted (!!!). So now I am sitting in my dorm's lounge, eating ice cream, feeling proud of being such a great salesperson and being able to communicate with people who cannot hear/talk, showing every single person I can think of pictures of my new cousin, and, most of all, waiting in agonizing anticipation to be able to meet said new cousin. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
So, yes. It has been a pretty darn amazing day.
More soon!
Rachel
I have not posted in a while; sorry about that. Here is an update!
Firstly, I am in the process of applying for a study abroad program to Italy! Specifically, Venice, Florence, Rome, Pisa, and Bologna! There are quite a few parts, but I am almost finished.
Secondly, today (April 18th, 2015) was a particularly spectacular day. Here's how it went: I woke up. I ran to my house with my roommate. While running there, I got a phone call from my dad that my aunt was having her baby (!!!). I got to my house and drank a glass of water that my parents left out for me and my roommate (Thanks Mom and Dad; it was SUPER helpful!!!). My roommate and I decided to change our route and head back to campus. We ran a total of 6.2 miles (!!!). We came back and had lunch after getting cleaned up. I got a phone call from my mom during lunch that the baby was now a member of the human race. (!!!) I then called my dad to talk about when we should go meet the baby. After that, I did homework for two hours, bought my dinner, and went to work. Within half an hour of being at work, I had a $395 sale (!!!) and helped a customer who was Deaf by using ASL (!!!). On my break, I found out that my roommate had purchased me a pint of the flavor of ice cream I had wanted (!!!). So now I am sitting in my dorm's lounge, eating ice cream, feeling proud of being such a great salesperson and being able to communicate with people who cannot hear/talk, showing every single person I can think of pictures of my new cousin, and, most of all, waiting in agonizing anticipation to be able to meet said new cousin. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
So, yes. It has been a pretty darn amazing day.
More soon!
Rachel
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Update
Hello! Wow. It's been almost two months since I last made a post here! I am not very good at posting regularly... Oh well. I made my last post in January when I had my J-term class, Jewish Ethical Thought. It was a very interesting class, but I was relieved when it was over; four days a week of a 3 hour class is tiring and a tiny bit monotonous.
However, my Spring Semester schedule isn't that much better. I have three classes that occur once a week for 3 hours, and two of those are night classes. It's rough. Just yesterday I had a paper due in my History class, but the computers in the building I was in weren't connected to the printers, so I had to go to the student center to print my paper, which made me late to class. And this professor HATES it when you are late. He'd rather you just not show up. But I had to, because the paper was due!!! It sucked. and I received a score on an assignment in another class that was much worse than I'd thought it'd be. However, I did get 78.5 points out of 90 for the test in the same class, so that makes me feel a bit better. But I really need to work a bit harder to stay on top of all of these assignments, because I need a B+ in the class to move on to the next one.
In other news, eight days ago I got a scary phone call from my mom that my cat had inhaled some of her food and that it was stuck in her lungs. I will spare all of you reading this the gory details, but I basically spent my Tuesday from 11am-4pm (the time in which I really needed to do homework) sporadically crying and hoping that my cat would be OK. I honestly didn't know if it would be dramatically harmful to her, so I was really scared. Needless to say, my homework didn't get done, which made my life hard on Wednesday, but at 4pm my cat was able to come back to my parents' house and was doing a lot better.
That is about it for now. I am extremely busy at the moment, but spring break is coming up in about two weeks, so hopefully I will be able to post again then!
However, my Spring Semester schedule isn't that much better. I have three classes that occur once a week for 3 hours, and two of those are night classes. It's rough. Just yesterday I had a paper due in my History class, but the computers in the building I was in weren't connected to the printers, so I had to go to the student center to print my paper, which made me late to class. And this professor HATES it when you are late. He'd rather you just not show up. But I had to, because the paper was due!!! It sucked. and I received a score on an assignment in another class that was much worse than I'd thought it'd be. However, I did get 78.5 points out of 90 for the test in the same class, so that makes me feel a bit better. But I really need to work a bit harder to stay on top of all of these assignments, because I need a B+ in the class to move on to the next one.
In other news, eight days ago I got a scary phone call from my mom that my cat had inhaled some of her food and that it was stuck in her lungs. I will spare all of you reading this the gory details, but I basically spent my Tuesday from 11am-4pm (the time in which I really needed to do homework) sporadically crying and hoping that my cat would be OK. I honestly didn't know if it would be dramatically harmful to her, so I was really scared. Needless to say, my homework didn't get done, which made my life hard on Wednesday, but at 4pm my cat was able to come back to my parents' house and was doing a lot better.
That is about it for now. I am extremely busy at the moment, but spring break is coming up in about two weeks, so hopefully I will be able to post again then!
Friday, January 16, 2015
MLK Day of Service
8:30 am:
Good Morning!
I woke up this morning not as tired as I usually am, which was surprising. I didn't expect to be; getting up at 8 am on the first day of my 'weekend' is not something I enjoy most of the time. I guess I am more excited about the events of today than I thought.
First things first: Yesterday. I spent the afternoon and onward with my best friend, who goes to college in NY. She wanted to get her nose pierced; it looked so cool! I couldn't watch the whole procedure, but the outcome was really cool! Her piercing is a little shiny green stud on one side of her nose. After that we goofed around at Sephora, where I may have developed an addiction to lipstick, and then ordered Chinese food, bought cookie dough, and watched a few Disney movies. It was quite fun, but I ate ALL of my Chinese food. They pack a TON in those little takeout boxes! It's really deceiving.
But today, as you may have guessed from the title, I am going to participate in some service work in honor of MLK. I am quite excited. I didn't realize just how much I miss doing service work. I won't even be doing much; I got assigned to do work at the Minnesota Literacy Council, where I will be sorting and labeling book donations that they have received. the books will be donating the book to schools, libraries, and community centers. I should probably head to the check-in place now. This blog post isn't quite finished; I will be back later to share what the service work was like (though it probably won't be much different from what I just described). Stay tuned!
6:30 pm:
So for the MLK day of service event, there was a long commemoration service. It was not my favorite part. I am not a fan of listening to a lot of people talk over a long period of time. But I loved the sections of the service in which the Gospel Choir performed! They are quite good, but I expected to hear the students do lead vocals, instead of the director. Some students did have solos, but I figured that all of the students would have equal parts. I guess I maybe just don't know gospel music so well.
Anyway, I liked the service work. we separated the books based on whether or not they were chapter books, books for K-3 grades, or small cardboard books, and stuck MN Literacy Council stickers on them and put them into boxes by type. We couldn't include religious or holiday themed books, and bilingual/non-English books were kept out to be included in the MN Literacy Council's personal library of those types of books. I rather liked it; it was fun to organize all of those books. When we came back, there was a lunch/wrap-up session, but I had to leave early.
After the event, I worked out with my roommate and a friend. We ran four laps around the track in the gym, then did weights, then ran a mile (11 laps) while being timed.
But we had to run that last mile without stopping. No walking breaks.
AND I DID IT. I REALLY DID IT!
It took me 10 minutes and 35 seconds. I ran a mile. With no breaks.
I am super proud of myself. My roommate and I went to Olive Garden for dinner just for fun. It was so good. And that is about it! Until next time!
Good Morning!
I woke up this morning not as tired as I usually am, which was surprising. I didn't expect to be; getting up at 8 am on the first day of my 'weekend' is not something I enjoy most of the time. I guess I am more excited about the events of today than I thought.
First things first: Yesterday. I spent the afternoon and onward with my best friend, who goes to college in NY. She wanted to get her nose pierced; it looked so cool! I couldn't watch the whole procedure, but the outcome was really cool! Her piercing is a little shiny green stud on one side of her nose. After that we goofed around at Sephora, where I may have developed an addiction to lipstick, and then ordered Chinese food, bought cookie dough, and watched a few Disney movies. It was quite fun, but I ate ALL of my Chinese food. They pack a TON in those little takeout boxes! It's really deceiving.
But today, as you may have guessed from the title, I am going to participate in some service work in honor of MLK. I am quite excited. I didn't realize just how much I miss doing service work. I won't even be doing much; I got assigned to do work at the Minnesota Literacy Council, where I will be sorting and labeling book donations that they have received. the books will be donating the book to schools, libraries, and community centers. I should probably head to the check-in place now. This blog post isn't quite finished; I will be back later to share what the service work was like (though it probably won't be much different from what I just described). Stay tuned!
6:30 pm:
So for the MLK day of service event, there was a long commemoration service. It was not my favorite part. I am not a fan of listening to a lot of people talk over a long period of time. But I loved the sections of the service in which the Gospel Choir performed! They are quite good, but I expected to hear the students do lead vocals, instead of the director. Some students did have solos, but I figured that all of the students would have equal parts. I guess I maybe just don't know gospel music so well.
Anyway, I liked the service work. we separated the books based on whether or not they were chapter books, books for K-3 grades, or small cardboard books, and stuck MN Literacy Council stickers on them and put them into boxes by type. We couldn't include religious or holiday themed books, and bilingual/non-English books were kept out to be included in the MN Literacy Council's personal library of those types of books. I rather liked it; it was fun to organize all of those books. When we came back, there was a lunch/wrap-up session, but I had to leave early.
After the event, I worked out with my roommate and a friend. We ran four laps around the track in the gym, then did weights, then ran a mile (11 laps) while being timed.
But we had to run that last mile without stopping. No walking breaks.
AND I DID IT. I REALLY DID IT!
It took me 10 minutes and 35 seconds. I ran a mile. With no breaks.
I am super proud of myself. My roommate and I went to Olive Garden for dinner just for fun. It was so good. And that is about it! Until next time!
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Realizations 2
A thought just hit me. I can't believe I didn't think of it/comprehend it before.
I was sitting here, reading a book for a book club called Saffron Cross (I'll explain it in a bit) and eating my triscuits, searching for the religion that best includes my beliefs & values and shares my idea of God/what God is (I am still trying to figure that last part out), when I thought, "But I don't need a religion! Believing in God (however you picture/define what that is) does NOT require you to choose a denomination! You can just be spiritual." It's what my roommate has been saying in regards to her relationship with the divine all along! WHY HAS THIS NOT SUNK IN UNTIL NOW?!?! Answer: Because I didn't see it as the answer that applied until now. I thought that it was important to define oneself, to pick a label or box that suited you. But that shouldn't matter. Now, instead of the question being, "How do I see God and what religion views God in the same way?", it's "How do I see God?"
I don't have to pick a single religion to define myself by. Elements of many different ones, Eastern and Western, are intriguing to me, such as the idea that I came across in learning about some Eastern religions: All living things are holy. You are probably saying, 'Yes, but I'm pretty sure all religions think that.' And I think that, to an extent, you are right. But there are differing levels. For example, Christians are different from Jains because Christians do not wear masks over their nose and mouth to avoid breathing in tiny living things in the air, nor do they sweep the ground before they walk to avoid stepping on those tiny living things. But I went on a bit of a tangent there. Whoops. My point is that I don't need just one; I can take concepts and elements from many and just have a modge-podge of different ideas that I value and accept. It doesn't need to have a name.
Anyway, I wanted to share a excerpt that I really like from the book that I was reading when I had my realization. It is an element of the Hindu religion and way of life, at the very least; it may be an element in others as well. It is the idea that a person is not their body; a person is their soul. The soul is just within the body; the body is like a vehicle for the soul. I learned this in my last religions class at Hamline, but it really hit home when I read it in this book, Saffron Cross.
The full title of the book is Saffron Cross: The Unlikely Story of How a Christian Minister Married a Hindu Monk. It is very interesting. The author of the book keeps stating how both her and her husband's religions were strengthened by the other person's. Nothing in particular in it caused me to have this realization; I was just thinking about how I was trying to find a religion that I could fit into when I thought, "That's not necessary, though..."
That's about it. I just wanted to share that.
I was sitting here, reading a book for a book club called Saffron Cross (I'll explain it in a bit) and eating my triscuits, searching for the religion that best includes my beliefs & values and shares my idea of God/what God is (I am still trying to figure that last part out), when I thought, "But I don't need a religion! Believing in God (however you picture/define what that is) does NOT require you to choose a denomination! You can just be spiritual." It's what my roommate has been saying in regards to her relationship with the divine all along! WHY HAS THIS NOT SUNK IN UNTIL NOW?!?! Answer: Because I didn't see it as the answer that applied until now. I thought that it was important to define oneself, to pick a label or box that suited you. But that shouldn't matter. Now, instead of the question being, "How do I see God and what religion views God in the same way?", it's "How do I see God?"
I don't have to pick a single religion to define myself by. Elements of many different ones, Eastern and Western, are intriguing to me, such as the idea that I came across in learning about some Eastern religions: All living things are holy. You are probably saying, 'Yes, but I'm pretty sure all religions think that.' And I think that, to an extent, you are right. But there are differing levels. For example, Christians are different from Jains because Christians do not wear masks over their nose and mouth to avoid breathing in tiny living things in the air, nor do they sweep the ground before they walk to avoid stepping on those tiny living things. But I went on a bit of a tangent there. Whoops. My point is that I don't need just one; I can take concepts and elements from many and just have a modge-podge of different ideas that I value and accept. It doesn't need to have a name.
Anyway, I wanted to share a excerpt that I really like from the book that I was reading when I had my realization. It is an element of the Hindu religion and way of life, at the very least; it may be an element in others as well. It is the idea that a person is not their body; a person is their soul. The soul is just within the body; the body is like a vehicle for the soul. I learned this in my last religions class at Hamline, but it really hit home when I read it in this book, Saffron Cross.
The full title of the book is Saffron Cross: The Unlikely Story of How a Christian Minister Married a Hindu Monk. It is very interesting. The author of the book keeps stating how both her and her husband's religions were strengthened by the other person's. Nothing in particular in it caused me to have this realization; I was just thinking about how I was trying to find a religion that I could fit into when I thought, "That's not necessary, though..."
That's about it. I just wanted to share that.
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