Flashback Tuesday

Today you will be sparred for the boring history lesson because there are about 400 pictures that go along with this post... ok ok maybe not 400 but well you will see...

Now Lets flashback to the time France and more specifically Paris (the place not a person) tried to kill me.

It all started when this beautiful group of people worked our butts off fundraising in all form to raise a couple grand each for a European pilgrimage.  

The lovely lady to my left is awesome, and the lovely lady to my right was referred to as my twin and by the end of the trip we just told people we were sister.  And Em some things never change hu?

We ate and were merry till the lovely Werner and Meizis families took us to the airport.  Where we waiting and stared a lot at this excitedly

And entertainded each other with stories and food and what not

We arrived in grand Paris and Lindsay, Laura and I sang this song over and over again...

However Paris did in fact not hold the key to my heart by the end of the week.  But first we had awesome events like....

Seeing this thing

And then getting caught in the rain under it...

And then it raining some more on a boat tour

And eating the best lamb I have ever had

Also an awesome bakery right next to where we were staying.  However it would be Paris baked good that would later try to take me out....

Fast forward a few days to when we were on our way to Lourdes.  The trip itself was delayed because the train workers were on strike, so we spent the night on a nonmoving train and then the next day waited to run to the train in order to board it and make our way to Lourdes.  That morning some Canadians who were Catholic and clung to our group a little bit offered us some of the yummy backed goods above.  Now when they got to me I asked, "is that chocolate or Nutella?"  They assured me it was chocolate and being a trusting human I took a piece.  Instantly upon eating I turned to Lindsay and said, "That was not chocolate, it was Nutella."  She responded with a "How do you know?"  And I calmly as day said, "Because my throat is closing up."  Now it was not that she did not believe me, but I had said it so calmly and was still so calm that it was not until I downed 8 yes 8 Benadryl and told Laura that people started to panic.  While my throat was closing I had just taking enough Benadryl to knock out a large Dog and stop it.  We also has a nurse with us and my vitals were fine and if I used my EpiPen it meant that we had 30 min to get me to the hospital where we had no idea where it was, and then attempt to get to Lourdes while there was still a strike going on.  So we waiting.  

I looked like this

Highly red and drugged.. but relief came in a comedic form when a pigeon missing several toes flew in and slid in Tom Cruise Risky Business style

So Lindsay and I gave him the very approperate name of Tom Cruise 

And because Tom Cruise the pigeon was such a comic relief I vowed to be nice to them for the rest of the trip....

Anyway about 20 minutes after popping the Benadryl we got the green light to run toward the trains and our group did... with Laura pushing me from behind yelling for me to go and go faster... we successfully made it aboard and I passed out, to wake up when we were arriving here...

Which was quite nice, but due to my severe allergic reaction I had the joy of going to the doctor twice, once for the first reaction and than again for a secondary reaction, and was quite medically high for the rest of the trip, and to this day I swear European Predizone has some more hard core stuff in it than the American kind.  

However that did not stop an awesome trip...

And some good "high" quotes from me such as "Laura can do that because she is a soccer player" when she was just waking, and quite a few assisted touring walks from Laura, Linsday and Luke because I could not walk straight.  Luke also came to to rescue several times during Mass when I would go to stand and then almost fall over.  (See what I mean about the drugs being more hard core?)  Alas it was still an amazing trip and would make it again with those amazing peps again but this time no food from strangers.  Fast forward a week and I was on the mend under my good old docs care, and finally decided to try out the chew and dispose toothbrush with Lindsay that we got on the trip.  

It was quite nasty.

Sunday Funnies

We are going to call this little gem the animal edition, not just because animals are funny but because I have started to hoard collect so many wonderful pictures... 

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Another prime example of the evil that is in all cats....

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This sassy backseat driver

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Fabio in lion form 

You know he gets all the ladies with a flick of his luscious locks. 

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This dog who is staying a step ahead of his minion master

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The real reason why Dinosaurs chased humans in Jurassic Park

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And lastly one of the many reason I am looking forward to fall

Is there something you little heart desires to see in Sunday funnies?  Just comment to let me know!

Flashback Tuesday

First, let's start out like we did last week by me telling you that on this day in history American Bombers dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.  The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure and other heath issues. Three days later,  a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Truman our president at the time has gone on record saying that he "never regrets" dropping the bombs.  This is not to make Truman out to be a bad man.  For him he was seeing the lesser of two evil, and the fact that Japan killed thousands of our men in the Pearl Harbor attacks on December 7th 1941.  

Had the Japanese not surrendered after the drop, Operation Downfall,  would have happened.  This would have been where an organized invasion of the Japanese mainland.   Joined with Operation Ketsugo, the Japanese defensive plan, devastation would have struck both sides. In a study done by the Joint Chief of Staff during the planning it was estimated that American casualties were an estimated 1.2 million, with 267,000 fatalities. Japanese civilian casualties were to be an estimated 5 million, as opposed to the 90,000–166,000 killed in Hiroshima and the 60,000–80,000 killed in Nagasaki. While the use of nuclear warfare proved to be devastating and continued to kill after the war was over, some say the cost has never outweighed the benefit, when one considers the lives saved on both sides due to President Truman’s decisive actions.  ( Source 1 and Source 2)

For me personally it is something that I pray never has to happen again.

And now if you are still with me after that long and sad history lesson I would like the Flash Back to the time I become a Godmother.

It all stated with this girl:

Liking this guy:

So they tied the knot:

And later had their first son:

Who later became a big brother:

To this guy:

Who I am the proud godmother of: 

But all that was not made officially until this awesome moment: 

Now even back before I knew Sean and Jeanly I knew I wanted to be a godmother.  It was on my life goal list and when I was asked I was delighted.   Meeting Sean and Jeanly had/ is such a huge blessing on my life in every way and I was overjoyed when they asked me.  I prayed everyday for him and his mom, started to write him letters that I will one day give him and was overall extremely  excited. Now that he is here I can say that he and his family are one the the best thinks that have entered my life.  Elijah is a constant source of joy.  He is most often my phone background because just seeing his face makes my day better.  I have even told other friends that I cannot imagine what a mother feels for their children because of how much I love that little guy and his brother.  I look forward to the joy I will one day feel when he learn to say "Rachel" like his older brother did, but I also look forward to watching him grow up with the guide of his amazing parents.  Watching him and helping him learn about his faith, spoiling him and above all making sure that he always knows how awesome he is, how is was chosen for this world even before I dreamed of being a godmother, that he is God's favorite and above all that he will always have a place in my heart and nothing he can ever do will take that away. 

Especially when you make a face like this:

Sunday Funnies

Fist off this  cat, because even cat owners can admit that cats can be are evil.

And now let's take a look at this young chap who understands 100% how I feel about morning people.

Then onto this video, that is funny in all the wrong way.

To be fallowed by this example of awesome parenting.

And to round third with a picture that gets me to laugh every single time I see it.

And onto home with this:

I hope you all had an awesome weekend and an even better week to come.

7 Quick Takes

1.  I have been struggling for the past month and a half to find a book I can get into.  I tried new/ old popular books, past books I loved, and even books recommended by friends.  Nothing was catching my attention and as an avid reader and lover of book I was becoming frustrated.  Then Amazon emailed my saying several books on my wish list were on sale so I bought.... 

Ender's Game is one of those books on the read before it becomes a movie list, and about 10 chapters in it has yet to disappointed.

2.  Movie gift card it toll I ventured to the movie theatre last week to see the Wolverine 3.  It had just come out and had decent rating and to top it off I'm a huge Marvel fan.  I did not have the high hopes however because some of the past Wolverine movies were not that good and it had ninjas.  Not bashing Ninjas but I have never been a huge fan of that genera of movies.  Wolverine however was AWESOME.  Decent story line, awesome action, a ripped Hugh Jackman, and a kick ass strong female character.  I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good fun action movie.  

Oh and I highly encourage one to stay till the middle of the credits, you will not be disappointed and may geek out like I did...

3.  Walking Dead fans mark your calendars!  The awesome show returns October 13th.  The trailer for season 4 was released earlier this month and I have watch it many of times since then.  It is going to be an awesome season, where Rick and the gang continue to "Fight the dead, fear the living."  

*fair warning the trailer does have big spoilers if you have not finished the 3rd season*

p.s. 72 days to go....

4.  Summer around Macomb with almost everyone gone is lonely.  I am highly thankful for those that are in town butI am looking forward to many of these wonderful people in this picture coming back.  

5. Youtube has educational stuff??  Why yes, yes it does thanks to Hank Green brother of John Green who is a well know author.  Hank is into all things science and has the SciShow on Youtube which I highly enjoy.  A branch of of SciShow is SciShow Talk  where you learn about animals and have a guest of the animal type visit.  This is my favorite video (because of the space creature  animal) but I highly recommed watching all of them because all of the animals on the show are really really cool. 

6.  The fact that I finally learned how to do this: (not the dance)

Post I read adding animation to blogger said two things. 1.  It was not possible or  2.  In order to add a GIF you needed to write your own code.  Both of which are not true and adding one is super easy... 

7.  The Show Gator Boys kicked off last week (finally).  It is one of the few show I watch on TV and I love it.  It is educational but has just the right amount of it humor in it.  Also I feel it sets itself apart for other Gator show because they DO NOT kill the animals.  They relocate them mostly by taken them to their park.  Gator Boy is on Animal Planet on Sundays at 9pm.

Five Favorite

1. Aussie 3 Minute Miracle

I was super hesitant to try this stuff because I cannot stand the smell of Aussie products.  However when I got my hairs cut last month the sassy gay hair dresser went on and on about how thick curly hair needs a deep conditioner and that my dry scalp issues were because I was not using one.  He recommend this stuff and promised it did not have that "terrible" Aussie smell.  He was right in so many way. 

2. Izze Sparkling Pomegranate juice.

I have not had this stuff since I visited my bro in The Big Apple years ago and I now know why.  It is super addicting!  It has the right amount of sweet and tangy along with a bit of fizz to make you think you are drinking something like pop.  A single can is 90 calories and has 70% real fruit juice.  Izze also partners with Global Education Fund to help provide the much needed education for children around the world.  Downside is that 4 can cost almost 5 dollars, so it is a drink that I savor down to the last drop.

3. If you have not seen Pitched Perfect I insist you do, and do so soon.  After listening to the songs on youtube nonstop I decided to buy the album via iTunes.  Best decision of the week, and I still cannot stop listing to the album and this song in particular:

4. NonStick Pans/ Pots.  All my previous pan were given to me when a friend moved, so I originally did not have to buy any pot or pans.  Going on four years later and well, they were falling apart.  They would cause the burners to smoke and once I started finding bits of black pot specks in my food I knew it was time to buy new ones.  I went with the cheaper Walmart pot and pan set and boy is there a huge difference when cooking with nonstick.  They even caused me to exclaim earlier this week, "Sweet Jesus so this is what this luxury is like!" 

5.  Central Air.  I grew up with it, and even in the dorm I had it so I did not know what I had till it was gone.  The past three years at my old apartment made summer feel like I was near the boarder of hell with the little box air conditioner that was LOUD and only cooled down the living room, leaving the bedroom a hot sticky mess.  When I moved I made it a requirement for my new place to A. have a bathtub and B. Have central air.  I struck gold with both and got the extra bonus of having a super nice place, nice quiet neighbors, and excellent landlords.  Blessing accepted.