Please Don't Toss Your Old Pill Bottles

Hello, friends! Whether this is your first or fiftieth time on my blog, welcome! To those returning, it's been a minute, hasn't it? I completely forgot I made that post last June, but before then it has been a while since I posted on here consistently. To those new, welcome to another corner of the internet! This was is my blog that I simply haven't touched in a while. I forget about it a lot. I consider it a lot....but honestly that's a deep hole of my theology of LIFE that I'm still processing.

Anyway, on to that post title....

One thing I've become very passionate about in the last year has been plastic-free living. It began with an event at a Patagonia store in Chicago last spring and this spring has led me to buy rice, oats, and ground flaxmeal package free from Sprouts a few weeks ago. Still lost? I'M TRYING TO REDUCE MY PLASTIC USAGE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!! I'm working on not being judgmental about those who do not feel the same (ahem, little sister...) BUT also want to provide resources for those that do, even a little bit. 

All that to say, when I was recently prescribed a medication by my dermatologist I felt guilt over being responsible for the production of another piece of plastic. When I finished the dose, however, I headed over to Pinterest and looked up how to reuse pill bottles but ended up finding something much better! Matthew 25: Ministries. Their front page has a powerful quote on it: "Caring For A Needy World With The Things We Throw Away"!!!!!  I love it. They accept many donations but the one that I care about most right now is pill bottles, for "inclusion in shipments of medical supplies and for shredding and recycling". 

Now that I know there is a good reuse for pill bottles I want to collect however many may be tossed soon and send them in! I know I will be collecting the ones in my family (as my parents have been very supportive in this new endeavor of mine) but would also love to collect any of those of you who live close by! 

If you live in or around The Colony, TX and would like to contribute to this let me know! I highly doubt I'll be sending them off anytime soon so there is plenty of time to wait for them to collect. If you wouldn't mind setting them aside until you have a few then I would be more than happy to stop by your home and send them all together. While you are more than welcome to send them on your own, it is better for the environment to reduce shipping and therefore do it so in bulk. If you would like me to send you reminders about this then I would be more than happy to do so! I plan on posting reminders as well. You could also try a sticky note or some other physical reminder near where you keep your pills to remind yourself to not toss them. If you don't live near me but also see the need in this then I would encourage you to reach out to your community of people and offer this service as well! My mom even suggested that I reach out to local nursing homes about bottles that may have and see what they do with them. There are so many options! It just takes a little effort to reduce the improper disposal of plastic.

much, much love,

rachel alexis

Life Lately

These are just two of the very few pictures I have taken the last few weeks.

Tomorrow marks three weeks since I graduated from college. Boy has a lot of time passed since this post over five years ago. Now I'm all graduated and these first few weeks out has been a decent amount of reading (for FUN!) and spending the days with the animals. I started back at work after being home for a week, but it's not nearly as much as I'm used to, so I'm beginning to slowly make my way through a mega to-do list, which includes things like organizing the pictures on my hard drive, cleaning up my Spotify playlists, and unsubscribing from emails that want me to buy from their sale. Needless to say, I'm having a blast, all while watching ER on the side (so.good!!).

So why this blog post? To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. I think in some ways I wanted to update loved ones on what I'm doing because I forget that people don't know.

It's just over 70 days now until I move into my apartment in Florida to participate in the Disney College Program. I will be there until January working custodial in one of the parks or resorts. I found out in February and it still doesn't feel real! I've been getting more excited as I see other people moving in and also as I've gotten to know the four other Christian women that I will hopefully be roommates with! Until then, though, another thing on my list is to make my bucket list for my time there, which will certainly include riding as many rides as I can!

Now, if you'll excuse me, this post has taken way longer than expected because I've got ER on and it's about time I move on with today's to-do list!

- rl

Introducing Joanie English

October 28

Today! They grow so fast!

Joanie's view of the city from our window.

It's hard for me to believe that I haven't posted about Joanie yet! It has now been two months since I went on an impromptu trip to Mariano's and came home with a Gerbera Daisy. There's a whole album of pictures on my phone dedicated to the many pictures I've taken of her progression. It has been such a delight to have her.

Why Joanie English? Well, that same night my roommate and I watched Johnny English (#classic) so naming her after that hilarity only seemed right.

When I first got her she had three blooms. A few weeks later those all shriveled up and died, a time which made me die a little inside. No joke. I was so afraid that there would be no more blooms. She had tiny blooms (is that what they're called?) from the start, but none of them had grown while those other three were alive so I knew there were no real guarantees. However, a few weeks after that, we noticed one of them actually start to grow more, and here we are today, one bloom standing so tall. And she has so many leaves!! The only ones we've lost were because of the window being open, the door opening, and gravity taking over...which results in broken leaves and dirt to be vacuumed.

Who knew I could dedicate a whole blog post to a plant? Actually, if you dig far enough in my archives you can find my monthly updates for my first plant. What a sad journey that was. My first post about Sam depicted a lovely plant. Fast forward six months, however, and my last post about him is comical. I murdered that poor plant. So I guess I'm so excited about Joanie because she is doing very well!

Can you tell I'm procrastinating homework just a little bit? Rambling on and on about my past and present relationships with my plants..oh boy.

- rl

A (Surprise!) Weekend at Home!

Last weekend, for the first time ever, I went home during the fall semester! 

It all started this summer when the conversation began about what we should do to celebrate my mom's 50th birthday. We all knew she wanted a surprise party (who doesn't want one??) but we weren't sure how to pull it off or how I could be there. Looking back now, over a week since both those things happened, I'm not sure any of us could tell you. I'm going to attempt to explain it all now, though, for the sake of documentation for us and also to share with those who couldn't be there. AKA, this is a long post. 

First of all, props to my dad and little sister for being able to keep it a secret while living with her! Rumor has it that sometime before that weekend my mom asked my little sister (Brianna) if we were planning anything. Brianna's response? "I don't know. It's not like they would tell me." Hilarious! She definitely knew, but it was an accurate youngest sibling remark nonetheless. The second big thanks goes to my older sister, Jenna, who did most (basically all?!) of the planning for the party, quite a feat! As for me, I just prayed about how I would be able to get there, which ended up being provided by someone whom I love and loves me. Such a gift, to both my mom and I, that we will never forget! 

We all went back and forth on when this would happen before settling on the actual weekend of my mom's birthday. While it would have been fun to surprise her a month beforehand, it was wonderful to be able to spend time with her on the actual day of! As I headed to the airport that Friday afternoon, just a few blocks over from my safe seat on the train was the celebration parade for the Cubs World Series win! In order to throw my mom off, I had a friend of mine, who was standing along the parade route, send me a few pictures of her view. I then sent those to my whole family telling them that I decided to cut class to attend the parade. I quickly texted everyone but my mom that I was a liar who was on her way to the airport. I won't lie, I thought it was a pretty genius way to throw her off. In addition to that, I had made up an event that I told her was happening the next day and even made tentative plans to call and talk with her at some point on her birthday. I also turned off my location on my phone so that she would not be able to see where I was. We used this trick several times throughout the weekend. 

Upon landing, Jenna picked me up from the airport and we headed to the football game! While we regret not planning it out better to where we could have gotten a video of my mom seeing me walk up the bleachers, I won't ever forget the yelling of our names from her, which was a rare sign of excitement (lack of enthusiasm and expressiveness being a quality I got from her). Y'all, she was so pleased. One can never doubt how much a mother loves to see her children after a long time apart. It was so surreal for me to be back in my old high school stadium. I hadn't attended a game since my senior year! (Fun fact: I lettered in football because I was on the varsity team..as a filmer ;)) I finally got to see Brianna in her band uniform. They didn't actually march their show, but you gotta take what you can get!

The next day, which was my mom's actual birthday, was when the real fun began! Long story short, we had a girl's day! We went to a junk show, had lunch, did a little shopping, and finally wine tasting. The day was so beautiful that I can't help but share pictures I took throughout it!:

All of us after the first and most important stop: Starbucks!

Brianna, the official goof. Scarves at Charming Charlies, because who knew a single image could bring me such peace and give me so much inspiration? And bread, the only thing I consumed at the wine tasting! #Moodyproblems #nodrinkinguntilaftergraduation

A mother and all her daughters! What a valuable picture!

Now is a funny part. While at lunch, my dad called my mom and told her that, while at work that afternoon, he was on the bus and went up behind another coworker and jokingly hit the back of their knee, causing them to fall off the bus and get a concussion. It was so hard not to laugh at this because I knew it was a lie covering up my dad's involvement in opening up Wendy's house for the surprise party. She took it in stride, however, and we continued our day, planning on waiting back at the house once we were done to wait on our dad before going out to dinner at one of her favorite places. Once we left the wine tasting, however, Wendy told my mom that we first needed to stop at her house so that she could get my mom's present. 

How cute was her response to a room full of people from all over her life?? This picture makes me want to cry. I viewed the goal of the weekend as to make my mom feel loved and I think this picture shows that this goal was accomplished! The night contained a photobooth with hilarious results, (too briefly!) catching up with both people we have known for years and for shorter periods of time, and finally with sitting around the patio and just chatting after most everyone had left. The only flaw in the party was that we showed up about half an hour after we had planned for, so thank you to everyone who stuck around during that time!!

I swear this girl ended up in half the photobooth pictures!! (;

The next day, Sunday, was spent with family and the dogs. One of my aunts and cousin came up for the party so we went out to lunch and showed them around our area and the many things that are being built. After they left we just hung around the house. We played Mexican Train that night, which is just "our thing". Ah, family. 

            

Compiling pictures for this post brought on one of those moments where I thought to myself, "Wow! How did I take so many pictures of these dogs in such a short amount of time?!" My family got these dogs on the day I left to come back to school this semester, before my flight had even landed! This was my first time to meet them and, while they are quite energetic, a contrast to Mr. Bojangles, I loved them!

Then, bright and early (except not bright..because the night before was "fall back"), Monday morning I hoped on a plane back to Chicago! I got to the airport at 5:15, got through the insane security line by 5:45, and was boarded (with my breakfast compilation from Whataburger, Chick-fil-A, and Starbucks!) by 6:15. I got back to campus and immediately showered and unpacked, energetic to tackle my Monday! The fact that all that energy left and I felt physically weak (mainly just hungry!) by my 11am class reminded me that I am human. 

It was an amazing weekend. We could not have asked for a better one. Once again, thank you to everyone who was involved, from the small ones to the big ones! Mom and dad, I will see you again, and for a longer amount of time (!!) in just a few more weeks! 

- rl

My World Series Experience

Pictured above is my experience of the Chicago Cubs World Series!

The first two pictures, which were taken at Wrigley Field, are from last Friday, the night of the third game of the series. A small group of us had gone out to celebrate a birthday (insert confetti and salsa dancing emojis here) and, while passing the stadium on the way back, decided to stop off and walk around! Thankfully, we went in the middle of the game (around the sixth inning, as you can see) so it was pretty tame. There were a lot of police officers, so we felt very safe. The streets were pretty empty, most people crowded around the windows of bars, trying to get a glimpse of the screens with the game on. We wanted to go back either Saturday or Sunday night (the other two nights the games were played here in Chicago), but it just didn't work out with homework, etc.

Then, last night, the night that they won (!) I watched the game with just a few others on campus. Once that final out happened and we knew the Cubs had won campus went wild. The last picture is one I took from the stairwell of how many people were out in the plaza. Students were out there - the plaza and the streets beyond! - for several hours. I ended up staying in, observing some of the honking and hollering on the streets from the top bunk with my knitting while listening to an artist I discovered on Spotify (Sons of Korah - they put psalms to music!) which is about the most Rachel thing I could ever do. (;

These games brought up several interesting thoughts with friends, ranging from how cool it is to be here when they (finally!) won again, to the pointlessness of all this and the ridiculous amount of money that went into it. I can see both sides of the spectrum, but lean towards the latter. Every time I think of how "cool" it was to be here - to experience the hours of noise following the end of the game and the unity of the city - I immediately think of how prideful and insignificant it really is. Don't get me wrong, I would love a shirt that says something along the lines of "I Was in Chicago When the Cubs Won the World Series", but I could only wear it with the knowledge that I bought it just to show off how cool I am. That's my conviction about it all. It is a cool experience and something to talk about, but it's also just a silly game in which we pay people way too much money to entertain us. (:

- rl