Rocky

I told you a long time ago that I would take pictures of my house and show you my humble abode but I haven't done so yet because I wanted to have everything in place beforehand. But if I wait till then, you will never see my place. So here you go. The work-in-progress home of Rachelle and Frances. Our apartment is a junior apartment which is a cross between a studio and one room. So we have a "room" that has half walls and no door that open our room into the living room. But it works for us. So in my pictures I am not going to focus on our designated sleeping "room". Living Room: Taken a while ago. Taken just about 5 minutes ago.  We had plans of putting the books on a bookshelf but haven't gotten anything yet and in order to unpack my books finally from the boxes that were sitting next to the couch for forever I put them on the built-in ledge thing. We want to put like three large pillows next to the couch for extra seating. We like that the w...

I love stories, I love listening, reading, watching and telling them. I love true stories and fanciful ones. I love the art of verbally conveying a tale using hand motions and facial expressions. I love telling stories through photography and painting and allowing the audience to come to their own conclusions. I love singing songs that share relatable story-lines so that the song becomes your own anthem. My mother and grandfather were amazing story tellers. They knew how to navigate their listeners through winding tales captivating them the entire time and always delivering the punchline at the correct climactic moment that would leave the audience in awe or bewilderment. I would overhear my mother telling a familiar story to a friend on the phone and I would find myself sitting next to her excitedly waiting to hear the response of the person on the other line. Just like any art, the response of the recipient is almost just as valuable as the work itself. I once read a biography of L...

As much as I love guest posts, I never know how to follow them because they are always so fun, creative and other-than-me. I enjoy seeing what they come up with and seeing their insight and I am always so humbled that they would take the time to write something for my blog. So thank you Jori and all my other guest posters, I am so privileged to have you in my life. Speaking about blogs, one of my guilty pleasures is going to Postsecret.com every Sunday and seeing their new posts. Before you run off and check out their blog let me warn/tell you about it. A man named Frank decided to create a project where he welcomed people to send in their anonymous secrets on custom made cards. Frank will then select a number of these mini works of art and will post them on his blog. Some of the secrets are funny, relatable, shameful, creepy, off-putting, offensive, touching, and/or freeing.  A few weeks ago I came across a secret that I really loved and I have decided to include it in my ...

(A note from Rachelle: I have known Jori since 2000 where we bonded over our lack of athletic skill in gym class. Little did we know that was the start of an awesome friendship. My bestie from the midwestie, is a fantastic story-teller and like my previous guest-bloggers, her post brings my blog's coolness up a thousand levels.) This is a story of an old taped up Pringles can that has been residing for at least 14 years in an even older, brittle red paper box. We called the can the Tine Catsul, because time capsule would be too obvious. My brother had one, too, but he was less militant about the whole ordeal, and he never even waited a whole year to open his. Charlatan. Anyway. On New Year's Eve for several years, I'd hurry up to put together a stack of papers of my writing and drawings, roll them into a tight scroll that would fit in the can, and then seal it up, along with the very last air of the year, until the next New Year's Eve. And we did this as teenagers. W...

I have Christmas pictures to share with you. I have to share with you all the fun loot I made out with this year. I want to tell you about being at the OneThing conference last night where I worshipped alongside 17,000 others and listened to Francis Chan speak. I want to discuss with you New Years Goals, and things I learned this past year. I want to share with you a list of books I read this past year or perhaps since 2007, I haven't decided yet. But as it stands, I am sick and don't feel well at all. I have a headache, my throat is scratchy, my neck is achey, I am all stopped up and I am colder than I should be (so I am assuming a fever is at play). I have felt these symptoms arising for a couple days now. I felt ok for most of the morning, until returning from a quick stop at the store with my mom. I have been eating oranges, cuties, vegetables, drinking herbal teas with honey and lemon and water by the liter, though I have not been able to defeat the sickness that has tak...

I was so excited on this visit with my family to see that Remy's vocabulary has grown exponentially and that she loves popular songs on the radio. I had tried to record her singing a couple different songs, though she was too shy anytime I took my camera out. So Jeff convinced her to sing a little bit. Too cute. I hope your day was as wonderful as mine was. I'm back to working and getting things designed and sent out so I have to go, but I at least wanted to share this video with you.  xoxo r

Earlier today after temperatures plummeted in the suburbs of Kansas a young woman, Rachelle Hamilton was found frozen in her home. Witnesses say that she had been complaining of feeling chilly but everyone believed that it was just her readjusting to the Midwest temps. Little did they know that she was freezing solid starting with her toes, feet and hands and rapidly moving towards her vital organs. "I thought she was just taking a nap like normal, though when I noticed she hadn't moved for hours, I thought I'd better check in on her,"reported the victims younger sister, who was the first to find Hamilton. "I never knew it was possible, I mean we use the phrase, 'I'm freezing to death' but I didn't know people actually died this way. I won't take that phrase so lightly in the future," Hamilton's mother told reporters, clearly shaken from the day's events. On the left, Hamilton in 2011 On the right, photo taken earlier tod...