feeling that southern breeze.

oooo baby its happening. utah is kicking in and starting to toss his weight on my shoulder. school is ending soon, it can't come any slower and im inching closer and closer to the day that i jet out of here and back to my home state of georgia! this year is a special year because im bring the zoo, and he has yet to step foot in the deep deep south. i hope he can handle it. he better be prepared to soak in the heat, move up a few pant sizes and make a lot of new friends. i really can't wait to show him the place that i chat a little too much about. but i can't help it, im in love with where im from and that's how it should be. ya hear?

the ship of dreams

it's happening. just give the world two more weeks and finally, the ship of dreams shall set sail once again! la-te-da! guess who already bought boarding tickets for the PREMIER!? ME! yeah, a day before the whole world gets to view it in 3D. and im dragging the zoo with me. I hope he doesn't mind, and I hope he still digs me after he sees me in this sort of state of mind. he's only heard be babbling on and on about my childhood obsession of the titanic and leo, but he's never really experienced the emotional stage of it. well, he's in for one and I cannot wait. i am beside myself. anyone dare to join me, i'd love the comapny! photo above is me enjoying a day by myself in barnes & noble reading all of the titanic novels and what not. nothing could have been better.

happy birthday mama!

yesterday, i was lucky enough to celebrate my moms birthday with her IN TOWN! wow, that never happens but it did this year, that's because its lucky number 2012! look at her go in the picture above. can you not admit that this is beyond the coolest woman roaming the earth? she's outstanding and knocks me off my feet with all that she's accomplished, the talents she's been given, the great example of a mother she is, how much her beauty glows and how great of a friend she is. she rocks and rolls. hanging out with her is never a dull moment. she's a hoot and a holler and one mighty fine baller. she just keeps getting better and better with age. i dont know how she does it, but i hope to figure it out soon and follow in her footsteps. i love my mom. she's the greatest in the world. and she's never looked better. watch out. happy birthday mom, i love you to the moon and back.

fingers crossed.

eeek, hope i have a good hand of cards in this giveaway! that's right, i just entered a giveaway. I never do this kind of thing, which is funny, because im pretty superstitious but when it comes to giveaways, i always mock the odds of me having a chance of winning. i guess im still mocking it because deep down i know im the odd ball out of the game, but i thought why not take my chances! $400.00 to shop on beso, i'll take it. thanks to rockstar diaries i entered my collection above. now i'll let fate take its course. yaba-doo!

on a funny note : this past weekend zekey zoo & i took a trip to salt lake and i scored myself a looooong shopping trip in anthropologie. normally, my amount of time given in order to keep the "zoo" sane is about 30 minutes. so i suggested to him, that he take his usual seat on the couch and make himself at home. realizing i was in the dressing room for more than 30 and receiving no annoyed texts or calls... something was up. yeah, the zoo was clearly passed out on the couch! that's what was up! i was dying when i walked up to him. yahoo: time limit has evaporated and i strolled along to the beat of my own drum in my mother ship chuckling the whole time at this photo. he cracks me up.

cruise control : circa 2006

c

my mind set is just screaming "cruise cruise cruise cruise" over and over again and im going nuts. looking forward to such fun things is so exciting yet so exhausting at the same time! i can't take it anymore, i must get to the mexican riviera, FAST. all i have been doing is dreaming of what to pack and walking down memory lane the last time i went on my first cruise with my parents and my friend amanda back in high school of 2006. i had the time of my life. we took the disney cruise ship to the caribbean and acted like pirates the entire time. i love the caribbean. it's so lush, tropical and you feel as though your riding the pirates of the caribbean ride over and over again, and that is nothing to be complaining about. the water is warm oh warm, green and blue straight through and through. the deck of the ship was party central with pirates aboard singing "argggg" the islands looked like neverland and for real, i was in a dream. such great times the caribbean granted me, with such great company. i love vacationing with my parents, they really do promise a great time. and amanda is just the life of the party, never a dull moment with that gal.

over all, im taking a different turn, and heading to the mexican riviera, a place i've never visited that im pretty curious about. a different boat, a different crowd and i am just as excited and pleased. im wondering if the mexican riviera can steal my heart as much as the caribbean though. caribbean is a gold strike. only 2 and a half more months till i set sail. i can make it.

KONY 2012.

please, oh please, just spare a moment and watch. be moved, and change. 

even if the littlest change you can make is by posting this video onto your blog as well.

KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

very much so ahead of the times.

strangely enough, im totally itching for my birthday this year!

ah, you know, normally my mentality of a birthday is, 'get on with it.' to me, it's always so over rated. more people than you should have planed show up and instead of you enjoying your time, your frantically worried if others are enjoying themselves. at least, that's my ordeal. or, it's just another dance party, which sadly those days are long gone for me. don't get me wrong... dancing is my life, going wild and crazy, but i plan to set those wild nights aside for the dance floor on my wedding night and random spirtz of dancing in my home. im not looking for a dance party on center street anymore. so... ive come to the sad and pathetic way of celebrating, but im really quite content and excited about it. 

when is my birthday you ask? oh not until the first week of may. like i said, i know, im a little ahead of the times. it's just that, my life right now is in the planning stage for really fun and exciting things to come. currently, im in the rut of school and drawing naked men and women 6 hours a week and all i want to do is cry. but, things are looking far brighter than the past two months. one note, it's march 1st! HOORAY! we are moving forward! a month and a half left of this semester and i'll be a free soul. 

so with this rut, my brain naturally escapes the education by day dreaming, designing, planning, taking photo snap shots in my brain of my future vacations. oh and i just can't contain myself. so one of the events, its wa-la my birthday. im excited this year because 2012 is a great year, i can feel the excitement running up and down my sleeves. therefore, my birthday will be great, and small and intimate in numbers. no more big shebangs or hoorahs. i want it simple and pretty and tasty. 

may is a great month to have a birthday. i have always loved the month of may. april showers bring may flowers so to me it was always the month of full bloom and floral gardens. it was a pretty month. especially growing up in georgia, it always promised the most beautiful heat and sunshine with the magnolia trees and lush greens everywhere. aside from the yellow pollen that covered everything in site, it screamed spring. unfortunately, with utah, you just never know what weather is going to be handed to you... luckily, this winter has been very very mild. the most mild i have seen and experienced since my 5 year residency in this place and for that i am grateful. im telling you, 2012, it's a promising year. therefore, im hoping that spring will shoot up from the earth early in april so i can have a warm night to celebrate my 23rd in may. why? because i want to celebrate outside, on a long wooden picnic table, embellished with candle light, fruity glass bottled fizz and OF COURSE a simple game of monopoly with my close friends. see? how easy is that? that's all i want, a good long run of monopoly in a beautiful atmosphere with DIY floral decorations hanging and blowing in the springs evening breeze with great company. my friends might dread this event because i always feel like the child tugging on the bottom on their shirts begging and pleading for just one round of monopoly. i mean, it's like pulling teeth. you guys, we all know it's a classic here! but it's fine, they have no say because it's my birthday. and they shall put up with it and when the game is all said and done, and i have won my millions they'll sit back, smile and say, now that was a great game. i just know this. 

before we get going on the game of the century, i wanna gather together with my friends at a wing shack. i dont care which one, i just want them hot and dirty. i want to eat an overload of wings and chow down. messy faces and all. i dont eat wings too often and at times i forget how much i do love them. this was my guilty pleasure in middle school. every friday night, i'd order wings with whoever was spending the night and man, would we pig out and wash it down with some chilled IBC rootbeers. so im bringing the wings back to life. also, i'd like to walk around with a gold '2' and '3' party balloons like my friend nicoles, daughter presley here. (you can find nicoles blog at me oh my mama) ive never really carried around personal balloons, so i figured why not start now right? traditions everyone... im creating traditions. 

with that said, this year is the start of rachels traditional birthday cake! fashion designer, stella mccartney, had a spring line last year with shift dresses, blouses, maxi skirts, you name it of a symmetrical citrus print of grapfruits, lemons, blood oranges and limes, sliced for the sake of beauty. and i drooled. i always cried over the price tags. i knew it was something that i could never ever wear, but that doesn't stop me from EATING IT! a genius i found through pinterest had the bright idea of creating the most beautiful citrus cake in recognition of stellas citrus fruit line. it is the most beautiful cake i've ever seen, and i call shots on calling it mine oh mine. i found the recipe online and im going to take it to the test. you know, most people go out of their way to buy the birthday girls cake or make it on their own. step aside my kind and thoughtful friends, i'll take this project into my own hands. and my hands will bake this citrus cake until my 100th birthday. let the traditions begin. and i dont even care who doesn't enjoy the taste of it. oh they'll eat it, and they'll like it.

you see? so much to look forward to. i've never really planned my own birthday party, so this should be fun because i love this stuff but never really take into action with it. so lay back my close friends, this night is on me... in 2 months.