Tagged by Carly---

Carly "tagged" me to tell everyone 7 strange/random things about myself. It took some time to come up with anything, but here goes---

1) I'm a morning person. I used to love sleeping in, but over the years, I have gradually become fairly alert in the morning. I enjoy heading to the gym before work, I don't mind getting up early to sit and drink coffee, and I've been known to annoy Ken with my perkiness. Staying up past 10 p.m. makes me want to tear my eyeballs out.

2) I have a bizarro crush on Anthony Bourdain. Possible cocaine addict? Check. Skinny jeans? Check. Sarcasm and cynicism? Check. All the makings of true love.

3) My all-time favorite song is "Yellow" by Coldplay. It reminds me of England, it's Chris Martin at his best, and hearing it live is amazing.

4) I have my PADI scuba diving certification, yet I have never actually gone on a dive. Ken bought me my lessons for Christmas one year and little did he know, I find the whole thing absolutely terrifying. It induces terror through clausterphobia and the fact that I could get tangled up and die. I can handle snorkeling, though.

5)My perfect Sunday afternoon (something I live for) is a cup of tea (with milk and sugar), some little cookies in a cute dish, the Chicago Tribune Saturday crossword, and a marathon of America's Next Top Model. Nothing in the world is better.

6) I sweat more than anyone I know. More than almost all men. It's gross, but at least my sweat doesn't stink. And I honestly think I'm healthier for it since I release so many toxins.

7)I love oatmeal. Love it. I eat it every day. I could eat it for every meal. If we went to IHOP, I would probably still eat oatmeal. My cholesterol must be record-breakingly low.

And that's me. I hope everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving!

Oh --- and I tag Juhi, Brooke, Ken, and Laura.

November, November, November

Thanks to my office computer, I can finally throw up a little bit of an update. (And resisting urge to check how many new messages are in my inbox. It's the weekend!)

The last few weeks - months! - have been madness as far as how busy work has been and how busy our weekends have become. Last week, my friend from Okinawa, Amy, made the long voyage to South Bend. I know that she immediately fell in love with Michiana for the lovely weather we've been having lately. (Rain and wind = unhappy Rachel) We drove to Chicago on Saturday and made our first stop at the Museum of Science and Industry. I hadn't been there in quite sometime and it was enjoyable. The best part were the baby chicks in the hatchery. With some astronaut ice cream for a souvenir, we headed downtown towards Michigan Avenue. It was November 8 and it was already positively crazy! Luckily for us, we found some sushi to enjoy and shared some laughs over some Okinawa memories. The rest of the weekend was spent visiting some restaurants/cafes in South Bend and watching Ken yell at the TV for Sunday football.

Work has been incredibly busy as I keep working with the students who will be traveling to Oz in February. Basically, I take them from applying to picking courses to applying for their visas to working on their housing to setting up spring break trips to setting up cell phone plans and everything in between. Meanwhile, emails roll in and parents start calling with really long lists of questions. Each day goes quickly and I'm really enjoying the job. And, like I posted earlier, they finally officially approached me about going to Australia in February, meaning I will be meeting these kiddos I talk to every day!

Ken and I celebrated our five year anniversary and are going to be heading to see Neil Young in December. I'm also getting together with the Valpo girls again for some Christmas shopping. Aaaand, Amy and I are going to Vegas in December for a long weekend. There are no signs of slowing!

Hopefully, I will someday get around to getting my computer fixed.

Guess where I'm going in December!

Love it, love it!

Guess where I'm going in February...