fire burning.

 

(do you like this artsy fartsy photo?  I bet Rach does)

So speaking of my brother's wedding...my brother's wedding was the summer after my freshman year of college (actually, both of my brothers got married that summer, but right now I'm talking about Matthew's wedding).  Anyway, that was the summer that I lived at home.  It was great and all, but I really missed my roommates, totes especially Rach.  That summer her and I skyped for 1 or 2 hours about once a week and it was kind of the highlight of my week, not a joke.  (Seriously, I had like two friends at home and they both worked more/at different times than me, so...).

So when we came back for the wedding, I was super jazzed when I found out that I could stay at Rach's house one night a few days before the wedding.  I remember my grandparents were going to drop me off at her work and then I would go with her to her house.  I remember getting out of the van, walking into the store (Ross! Dress for less!) and seeing Rachel there. See, there's this thing about me and Rach and that is that we don't hug.  I have absolutely no idea why, but we just don't ever hug.  So I remember when I saw her, I knew we should probs hug, but idk, it was weird.  In fact, I don't think we really even knew that we had never really hugged until right then when were like, well this is weird because I don't think we've ever done this before. Ha, it was funny.

The rest of the evening was pretty awesome because we made this music video, but mostly because we were together again.  Being at Rachel's house that night was just the best and it was just like we were living together again.  We were dumb and loud and crazy and obnoxious and I felt bad for her parents because of how dumb and loud and crazy and obnoxious we were.  But seriously, such a good day and such a good music video, right?

A few days later, she came up for my brother's wedding and spent the whole day with me (except for the luncheon, when I think she went and read a book in a parking lot? haha, such a good friend).  We went and had sno cones after with my family and I remember sitting on the curb with her thinking, man it's good to be together again. Then after that, she spent the entire reception hanging out with me.  I remember we were trying to find the place where the reception was being held and we were stuh-ruggling with directions, but it was okay because we were listening to "Fire Burning" by Sean Kingston and having a dance party in the car. Which, by the way, it's always a dance party in Rachel's car, not a joke.  Rach is the world's best dancing-while-driving person that I've ever met.  Girl can work it.

And then at the reception we mostly manned the gift table and ate cheesecake and restarted the music CD whenever it stopped and spent like an hour taking pictures of ourselves (talk about typical teenagers, sheesh).  We would try to take pictures of us laughing, which usually meant we would take pictures of us fake laughing until we were actual laughing from how dumb the fake laughing was and then we were able to capture some pictures of us real laughing.  It's an impressive strategy that we've worked out and it works like a charm.

That was probably one of the best weeks of the summer for me.  Most of it was because of my brother's wedding, but a good part of it was because I got to see Rachel. Rachel is one of THE greatest people in the whole world (mostly because she laughs really hard at all my jokes) and I can't even count the number of times I've thought about how lucky I was to end up being roommates with her.  Because, not a joke guys, we're perfect for each other.  Not very many people move into their freshman apartment and randomly end up sharing a room with their best friend.

But I did.
And it was perfect.

P.S. some bonus feature gems starring Rachel.

shamwow!!!

In light of the fact that we recently had the Grammys or the Oscars or something like that (I can never remember), I figured it was a perfect time to share the following story:

During my freshman year of college, my ward (church congregation) did this thing where smaller groups each made a video and then we had the VMA's (Video Music Awards) where each video was presented. At this point, I feel it is appropriate to mention that the picture shown above is of me, Keech, and Rach at said VMA's.  And yes, that's right. Keisha is wearing the largest leopard print thing I've ever seen.  But more importantly, Rachel wore tie-dye overall shorts to the event and yes, I encouraged it.  So judge me. But mostly judge her.

Our group decided to do this thing where we basically just pretended like we were all fighting over the t.v. remote and so the t.v. that we were supposedly watching kept changing channels and on each channel was a different show or commercial that we made.  The video was supposed to be all those different shows or commercials.  I remember we did a clip about the Bachelorette, Power Rangers, 24, the "Single Ladies" dance and a bunch of other weird stuff.  But I had a favorite clip.  It was a commercial featuring the one and only Rachel "Manning the Harpoon" Alford.  In this clip, she advertises the highly sought after SHAMWOW.  That's right. A SHAMWOW.  Feast your eyes on this, foolzz:

Seriously, I kid you not when I say this goes down in my top five favorite things featuring Rachel ever caught on film...other items on the list include:

1. Rach dancing with a wall
2. Rach and I both grabbing a towel at the same time and knocking everything off of our desk and then her ending up in the closet...sounds suspicious...
3. kicking cones in a parking lot
4. pouring water on Rach in the shower
5. Rach dancing with a hairbrush and a can of holiday popcorn to the song "Get Silly"
6. our "You Belong with Me" music video
7. her saying "Freshman Yeeeeeear" in a video
8. Rach and Karie pregnant smashing me
9. Rach and I both filming each other in our bedroom trying to "give the viewer multiple perspectives of the event"
10. Rach lint rolling me
11. our "Love Me Tender" music vid
12. our Pimple Juice video
13. Rach's jump roping/hula-hooping dress rehearsal routine
14. Rach dancing to "Party in the U.S.A." in the hospital parking lot
15. Rach and I in a documentary of REAL LIFE a.k.a the drive to Ogden, Utah and back
16. Rach and I making banana chocolate chip muffins (which was actually filmed when we were kind of annoyed with each other and so there is zero laughing in it which actually just makes it funnier to me)
17. Rach singing 'Sexy Can I' in the bathroom
18. Rach's superior acting as a guardian angel in a movie where she was persuading me not to go on a date with a math nerd
19. our educational and entirely factual Thanksgiving video
20. Rach and I in the random tandem experience
21. anything involving Rachel modeling which is like a million vids
22. Rachel dancing to Stephen playing the violin
23. Rach and I in "Thug Story"
24. Rach doing interpretive dancing to a variety of Miley Cyrus songs. 

So it looks like my top five consists of more than five...just go with it.

But seriously, this one is for reals in my top five.  Favorite line? "Better than any towel or...pAper towel."  Ahhahaha, the way her voice goes up on the first syllable of 'paper' and the fact that she said "towel" and THEN said "paper towel".  I mean, seriously.  The only thing stronger than a towel would be a paper towel, didn't you know?  Also, my other favorite part is pretty much any time she says Shamwow.  Gosh, it kills me. Girl was a natural born actress, not a joke.

Just another reason why Rachel "Manning the Harpoon" Alford is one of the number one best things that has ever happened to me.  Totes not joking even a little bit.

bay bay!

Last weekend, we had a baby shower for my main girl Rachy Rach.  Girl is seven months pregnant and I can't even believe it.  Anyway, we had said shower here at my house because, let's be real.  I have a pretty big living room.  Rachel's sister planned all the games and decorations and such and I was simply in charge of food.  Which was good because it turns out even that stressed me out.  Okay, not really, but let me just tell you that if I did not have the help of Allison and Danielle that baby shower would have had saltine crackers only.

Anyway, I was actually really excited to put this together and I think it all turned out rather well.  I even got all kinds of cray and made one of those triangle banner things.  And when I say I made that, I mean it was entirely made by Allison.  I just thought of it.  Man, I'm the worst.

Apparently Rachel is really popular because I'd say there were at least 20 people that came.  It was really fun and we played some fun games (all planned by Tracey).  Of course, I did embarrassing things, but what else is new?  Rachel got some ADORABLE gifts including the CUTEST little sweater from H&M.  Srsly, I am doing all my baby shopping there from now on, NOT A JOKE.

Also, my number one favorite thing about baby showers and bridal showers and all other showers (except the normal style one that I take every day--or every other day???) is the fact that I get to see so many of my beautiful, wonderful, fabulous friends/old roommates.  Gosh dang it, I'm obsessed with those girls. We had five of the six Penrose girls and it was just magical.  I'm so glad that these girls are still such good friends to me.  I mean, really.  I lucked out big time in the roommate department.  It's unreal.

And of course, I suppose this is an appropriate time to mention that Rachel is still my number one favorite girl.  I have a lot of besties (that word is just gross looking and gross sounding, but let's just roll with it), but that Rachel.  Girl just kills me.  Also, did you know she's amazing?  Like seriously.  One million amazing.  SUCH a good person, SUCH a hard worker, SUCH a good student (although seniorits can be a doozie, haha), SUCH a hilarious person, SUCH an awesome example to me, and SUCH everything I every could have asked for in a roommate and best friend.  Oh, and she's going to be SUCH a good mom.  Love you, kid.

And now, the part of the show where I show you a few pictures from the blessed event, courtesy of instagram.

This girl. THE best. (P.S. Twin boots!)

Penrose, baby.  Too good.

Oh, and this picture happened.  So strange, yet so one million hilarious to me.

Though we struggled to get the cake out of the pan, with a little frosting love from Danielle and a mini banner by me, I think this three-layered cake turned out alright after all.

Success!

love fern.

Oh my gosh.  So I'm just sitting here, eating my dinner (after 10 pm, duh!) with my computer on my lap.  Since I'm busy contemplating the meaning of life and not actually using my computer, my screensaver came on after a few minutes (my screensaver is the type that just goes through all the pictures on my computer).  Anyway, I'm just sitting here eating some rice, when the following picture came up:

And then I DIED laughing.  I mean, srsly.  What the dang HECK is up with those faces?!  They k-k-k-kill me.  I mean, mostly Rachel's face, but mine also.  Oh my gosh, I don't even know what is going on or what possessed us to take a picture that looks like this, but it is totes hilar.  I cannot get over it.  Oh, and talk about excellent positioning.  Way to lean just perfectly on that table with the bread and love fern in just the right spots.  Work it.

So then obviously I wanted to share this truly embarrassing picture with the general public, so I had to go find it on my computer.  OBviously, that led to me finding about a million other G-E-M gems in the archives, but this could easily get out of hand, so I decided to just share one other pic that was taken about a week after the one above.

So at this point, I'm sure you are realizing a few things.  First of all, I am a FABULOUS photographer.  I mean, seriously.  The angle, the poses, and most of all, the editing!  I went through a phase where apparently not only did I want every photo to be absurdly bright, but I also wanted my accentuate my tan, or lack thereof.  Go team.

Second of all, that face.  I ask myself this every day, but why am I not a model?  Girlfriend knows how to work a model face.  I mean, come on.  Those perfectly pursed lips alone should seal the deal on a million dollar modeling contract, I'm sure of it.

And lastly, Rachel.  Channeling her inner Samara and it kills me every time.

That's all, guys.  Except that I can't believe these pictures were taken almost three years ago.  We were cray cray all the time and these were the results.  Such treasures, not a joke.

"my weekend"

A short story by Stacy LeCheminant, in which I tell the story of a weekend that ended almost four days ago while being sure to include a variety of pictures that were most likely not edited unless they had already been edited when I put them on instagram, so basically I'm lazy.

But also classy.

1-4.  On Friday, I went to the Bees game with Ethan, the boyfriend of Katie (my old roommate who is on a mission in South Korea).  Real conversation with my mother when talking about the weekend:
   Stacy: I went to the Bees game with Ethan.
   Mom: Who is Ethan?
   Stacy: Katie's boyfriend.
   Mom: Oh, come on!  Get your own boyfriend!
Haha, anyway, it was a fab game and Ethan is a hilarious person to watch any sporting even with ("Protect the Hive!"  "Go my favorite sports team, go!").  Plus, it was a really good game and the Bees won in the bottom of the ninth ("Hank the Hound dog brings in the winning run!").  I love baseball.

5 and 6.  On the way home from the game, Cassie (a girl that was with us) informed us that not only was it free doughnut day at Krispy Kreme (that was all she needed to say to win me over), it was also free orange chicken at Panda Express day!  I mean, how neat is that?!  So on the way home, we stopped by Panda Express right as it was closing.  I always feel bad doing that, but I mean, free food!  You can't keep me away even if it may not be the most tactful thing in the world.  Then after that we drove straight on over to Krispy Kreme to get a free doughnut.  Seriously, what an awesome day.

7-10.  On Saturday, my homegirl Rachy Rach and I went to Seven Peaks!  I got to use my suuuuuuper expensive (a grand total of $5.50) Pass of all Passes (or "POAP" as the back of the card says) for the very first time!  Plus, it was such a good day to go because it was supes hot out thurrr.  After a couple hours there, we obviously had to hit up my second home for a sno cone!  Also, I was so in love with the peach/guava/red raspberry combo that I got it again!  Seriously, the whole time we were there, we just keep saying how happy we were.  I swear, you'd think I was five years old with the way I get so excited about those dang sno cones.

Side story:  Saturday night was the night I realized something horrible.  I was sitting in the living room working on a lesson I had to give the next day when I realized that it was supes warm in my apartment.  I went to check the thermostat and saw that it was up to 85 degrees and the air conditioner was totes not blowing cold air.  I watched the thermostat climb to a toasty 89 degrees by the time I went to bed.  So awesome.  So, we've been living in a toasty apartment, going to bed when it's a comfortable temperature of about 87 degrees and mostly I just wish I could sleep on the balcony or somewhere with a breeze.  But fear not, the a/c fix-it guy FINALLY comes tomorrow.  And fortunately, the past two days have been a little cooler, for which I am one MILLION grateful.

11-12.  My little freshman friend Spencer asked me if we could make cookies together after church.  I told him no because a) it was one MILLION degrees in my apartment and b) I had no flour.  But homeboy would not give up.  He told me we could bake the cookies in his apartment and he even located someone that we could get some flour from (don't worry--we repaid him with cookies).  And so it happened that I made cookies with a nineteen-year-old boy as I avoided the heat of my apartment.  And it was nice.  We had a nice little heart to heart and that kid is funny.  We're going to miss him around here this summer.

So there you have it.  My weekend in a nutshell.  A very large nutshell.  My dang short story turned into a novel.  But I'm pretty sure I knew that was going to happen.

P.S. Danielle is back!  After two weeks of being away on a little cruisey dealio, she's back!  Yee!

say you're mother nature. i am mother teresa.

hey spanky face, we need to hang out or else I'll just keep posting really good pictures of you.

btdubs,  it looks like "someone came out to play" in this pic.  I can tell you're just trying to be like me.

S&R, Episode 1

 

Many moons ago, I promised Rach that if she hung out with me, I'd post some of our old facebook convos.  Holy cow, they are seriously the funniest thing to me.  I have to be honest to my faithful readers, you probably won't understand 99% of this, and I'm sorry, but not actually that sorry.  This convo is about the roommate tryouts we planned to have when one of us got married.

So hilarious.

Summer 2009

RACHEL:

yeah i know! i keep thinking about that too. dang stace, if you get married before me, and i have to get a new roommate, i will never talk to you again.

blah, well, i guess we could always hold tryouts for the one that doesn't get married first. for example, if you get married first, you would be responsible for organizing tryouts to be my new roommate. you would have to ask them questions like: "if i said i was 'starving' what would be your argument?", "when i make a twirly finger with my pointer finger, what does that mean?", "how far do you like your door to be open while you sleep?", "how do you place your clock/computer before going to bed?", "do you enjoy the smell of 'wet dog'?", "does anyone come in every single night and takes your sock off right when you fall asleep?", " do you spend more time watching people in the periodicals section than you do studying?", "do you enjoy eating tuna?", or "when you look at the clock at 11:27 or 12:27, what is your immediate response?".

STACY:
that was a really good wall post. i thoroughly enjoyed it. you get an A for it (you don't get an A+ because in order to get that, you would have needed to make it longer.) i was chuckling the whole time. gosh, you know me too well.

you might want to consider adding a few more things to that list of questions...things like

1. do you always keep track of your roommates belongings so as to be able to tell her where they are when she loses them? (although after next year, keys will no longer be an issue...we are going to be good and you're going to pick one spot to put them, and you're only allowed to put them in that one spot.)
2. how do you say the following words: especially, faults, chelsea, false.
3. when i ask you how i look, will you look at me before you give me an answer? and what would the answer be?
4. do you like chicken Caesar salad? do you know how to make it?
5. do you know how to figure out the context of a story without it being given?

‎6. do you own the perfect eyelash curler? (such the important question)

7. when is your birthday? (if it's not on the 27th, applicant must be removed from room without further questioning.)
8. did you pray about whether or not you should try out for the position of rachel's roommate?

this could (and should) get much more extensive. i must be present for the interviews and the entire process of selecting a roommate for you.

RACHEL:

hey now, that's not fair that i got only an A because i hit the max amount of characters, so i couldn't have made it longer. you suck as a teacher.

oh, but i loved your posts too. ha, that's funny. i really liked 3, 5, 6 (AND i am missing that terribly. i seriously don't even try. it's a waste of time. i just slap the mascara on instead), 7, and 8. 7 is waaaay funny and so true. no sympathy. i will not budge. if they aren't born the 27th, *sscccckkkkk* (that's my slicing of the throat noise). i have a few to add as well,

1. do you find yourself sporadically worrying about when the last time the door knobs were cleaned?
2. are you annoyed when people do not recycle?
3. when you brush your teeth, do you turn the water off when are doing the actual brushing?
4. have you ever had the urge to use someone else's shampoo, face wash, soap, razor, or washcloth?
5. how many cups of water to you need when you go to the cougareat?
6. on a scale of 1-10, how much to do you like the police beat?

‎7. if you saw a toothbrush plugged in and charging, what would you do?
8. do you leave all the lights on when you leave the house?
9. what temperature would you keep the apartment at in the winter?
10. do you make yummy treats?

STACY:

oh, gosh. 1, 2, 3. i knew they were coming. 5, haaaaha, my fav.

1. how do you feel about crachel?
2. what time to you go to bed aka are you willing to talk for approx 7 hours before even thinking about going to sleep?
3. do you like rachel's boyfriend ross?
4. do you like eggs?
5. are you willing to drive rachel to work when she has to work at the bowling alley?

 

So good, that best friend of mine.  So dang good.