Dimonds are Forever

I know, I know...you're thinking that I flubbed and misspelled the word diamond. Contraire mon friar, this little lady is a spelling loving freak! The Dimonds that I am referring to are my good friends Jamie and Trisha Dimond. I thought that I would introduce them, as they will most certainly be part of several of my entries as time goes on.

Trisha and I were roommates, oh...about four years ago, along with two other gals we called Borah and Mir. My fondest memories of being roommates with Trisha were Saturday mornings. Every Saturday, we would both lay in our beds and listen to a symphony of noise, as our roommates rumbled around the house before they left for work. Borah was a stomper, while Mir was a shower nose-blower. Nose blowing here and there...crescendos and diminuendos of stomping on the hardwood floors. Doors and cabinets slammed like first beats of measures - SLAM, stomp, stomp, nose blow...SLAM, stomp, stomp, nose blow. All this would conclude with the squeaky swing of the back door and the great and final slam shut. Phew! Trisha would then open her bedroom door which was always my cue that it was safe to get up. Trish would stand in the hall in her pj's and robe, her hair all crazy from an apparently wild night of sleep; while I stood in pj's and a sweatshirt, hair looking like a child's scribbling. The crackly morning voice in an unnaturally deep tone would then welcome the beginning of our Saturday "well, good morning Rachel"..."well, good morning Trish". Those were the days!


Jamie is Trisha's sister. She is truly a delight to be around. My favorite thing about Jamie is her laughter. Trisha and I will get together and work off of one another's jokes about this and that. Jamie, being the absolute best audience, laughs like we are Vegas headliners. She is the push that keeps the train of jokes a-chuggin'.


So, those are my friends, the Dimonds. Like the jewel, the Dimond sisters make any person feel fabulous. They catch light in dark situations and their friendship is solid. They are complete gems!

10 Reasons Why I Love My Husband

A-hem...I thought that it would be nice, given this is my seven month anniversary, to list reasons why I love my husband, Song Min. My reasons are, (but are not limited to):

1) He makes me feel like I'm on vacation. I can have the worst days...automotive lines down at Chrysler, defective parts being hand counted by workers in China, and a string of irate Boston buyers calling to verbally assault me. When I come home at the end of the day and I see Song Min bustin' to the door like he's been holding his breath for me to arrive, I almost forget that I even worked that day. It's amazing.

2) The man is like a male Julia Childs (somehow, I don't think that he's going to appreciate that reference, but it's meant well). Song Min can take whatever we have on hand and make a culinary masterpiece of it.

3) We make each other laugh every day. This is the best. I enjoy making Song Min laugh. But, being the selfish person that I am...I truly love that he can make me laugh until I cry.

4) Song Min remembers the little things about me that no one else remembers. He blocks the television from my view when scary things come on tv. He offers to take the raw onions off my plate when I get a salad. He lets me have half of his fortune cookie.

5) It is one thing that Song Min loves his family. But, I have to love him for loving mine also. He thinks my dad is a saint. He is so patient with my grandma. He thinks my mom is nice and gets a good laugh when she cracks a joke. He's good friends with my brother. He enjoys an evening with my sister and her husband. And he thinks my niece is completely adorable. He even saves ribs to give to the dog!

6) Give the man a medal, because he deserves something for his bravery for continuing to climb into bed next to me every night. I not only talk in my sleep, but he has awaken to me grabbing a fist full of his hair, been startled by what he calls "my pointy little fingers" digging into his chest like in "Temple of Doom", and found me stroking his arm...while I dreamt that I was petting a hairless cat. Yikes!

7) Song Min has strong values. Some may call it hard headed. I call it strong minded. Song Min's feet are deeply planted. He knows what he believes and he stands up for it.

8) He is my Superman. My brother says that Song Min has "big guns" and I have to admit...he really does. I never worry about safety when on the arm of my husband. He's my personal bodyguard.

9) Song Min plays with my hair...every night. When I say that he does it every night, I mean, EVERY single night. Granted, there are some nights that it is only for a couple of minutes. However, for the most part, I am just pleased to death that he is willing to sit and comb through my hair at all.

10) He's sweet. He speaks to me with kindness. He looks at me with awe. He treats me like his world revolves around me.

Rock 'n Roll! Rock 'n Roll!

So, our favorite thing to do lately, is play the game Rock Band on our X-Box 360. The game comes with an electronic drum kit set, a guitar, and a microphone. If that's not a package of pure musical delight, I don't know what is! The game gives you the option of playing...make that "touring" solo, or with a band. Both are fun, but my preference is definitely playin' with the band. We went with the simple name Lee for our band (which, I admit, is a pretty weak rock band name). Song Min likes to lay down the notes on the bass, while I prefer the hard hittin' world of the drums (I always fancied myself a drummer as a kid).

Actually, let's get side tracked here for a moment. In fifth grade at the recently closed Katherine Curren Elementary School (R.I. P.), we were finally allowed to try out for the band. I felt like I was an easy choice for any instrument my little heart desired, as I had a few years of piano under my belt AND played the violin in the school orchestra. I was practically a walking prodigy for goodness sake!...right. Anyhow, my heart was set on playing one of the following instruments, in this order: drums, trumpet, saxophone. Oh I tried out, and they gave me the option of playing the lousy clarinet. I'm not dissing clarinet players or anything. But seriously, someone who is planning on "rockin' out" on the drums, trumpet, or sax...is not interested in clarinet. No thank you!


Soooo, after years of restraining the drummer within, I picked up my first pair of drum sticks and placed my foot on the pedal of the kick drum (the scene was reminiscent of Cinderella and the glass slipper). BLAMO - the rocker was born!...almost. Song Min and I had to work out a few kinks at first. Going from reading notes on the treble and bass clefs to reading colored blocks whizzing toward you, took a little work. We had a few mishaps resulting in the crowd so rudely booing us off stage. Though our tails were between our legs and our heads were hanging low, we braved the crowds over and over. "Lee Band" looked defeat in the eyes and said "HECK NO!!" (I don't swear). So now, we're touring all over the U.S., with European tour dates scheduled in the not so distant future. We both have stylin' wardrobes, and have a crazy cool tour bus. We aren't quitting our day jobs quite yet, because we are both reasonable people. I'm just telling you that if you hear that "Lee Band" is in your area, it would be a giant mistake if you didn't check us out!

Until the next time...ROCK ON!

So, this is us...

Hello, it's me...Rachel Lee. I feel like I should be walking through a heavy velvet curtain like a late night talk show host. After several of my friends and relatives jumped on the blogging bandwagon, I have decided to put my thoughts on the world and my life online also. It just seemed like the thing that a natural born follower would do! I can't promise daily or even weekly updates, (I don't do "on time"). So if you choose to catch the marathon version of my blog every three months, you'll likely only have to run through three entries.

As I write my first blog, a familiar jock jam is streaming through my head. If I manage to think of the name of the song, I'll be sure to insert it because it would be absolutely perfect for my big debut on the world wide web. Even better, imagine a video of me and Song Min bolting through a big white banner with "Rachel And Song Min Lee's Blog" written in enormous block letters with the unknown jock jam blaring in the background. Sounds exciting, eh? Sadly, Song Min would rather sit through another round of Estrogen-fest (a.k.a. my grandma's three and half hour hair appointment at Scot Lewis School of Cosmetology) than run through my beautiful blogging banner!

As this is just an introductory blog entry, I'm going to go ahead and write a little about me and Song Min. After 31 years, I finally found my Prince Charming in the form of Song Min Lee. Unlike how I previously believed, he wasn't riding a majestic white horse. His horse was a red, older model Honda Civic, with one of the side mirrors dangling from a few wires. And the "horse"...was actually given to his business partner soon before we married (June 23, 2007), so he pretty much didn't have a horse. Although my Mitsubishi Lancer was more of a pony than a horse, it still got us around for the first month or so of marriage without infringing upon either of our schedules. After it started becoming a problem, we purchased our stylin' 2006 white Mazda 6 with flashy rims (it came that way). So I've got the prince and the horse and pony (where's the castle?).

Song Min and I work opposite schedules. I leave the apartment at 6:40 every Monday through Friday (huge yawn). Song Min leaves for work at 8:40 three to four times a week in the evenings. So, on the two consecutive nights that he works during the week, we manage to see each other for about eight hours. You'd think that this was a horrible set up...you'd think. However, three to four nights a week, I get to stretch my 5 foot 2 inch self across the entire bed without hitting an arm or a leg. These are the nights that I get to watch cheesy chick flicks on the Fox Family Network. These are the nights I can paint my finger nails and not feel bad for making the entire apartment smell like a shopping mall nail salon. These are my "me" nights.

Aside from working, and sleeping, and eating, Song Min and I enjoy going out with friends to sing karaoke. This completely blows away my family, as I haven't sang anything in front of them since I wore my sweatshirt with little bears all over it doing calisthenics in sixth grade (what an awesome sweatshirt!).

Our favorite place to sing karaoke is King's Restaurant in friendly Fridley, MN. At a little after 9:00 every night, this well known Korean restaurant transforms. The lights are lowered, the music of the synthesizer raises to just below deafening, and the soft glow of the televisions emerge with images of anything from cows in the pasture, to people going down waterslides, to Polynesian men dancing...it's wonderful. There are two microphones, which echo like the Grand Canyon, and an assortment of colorful tambourines. It is pure magic. If you are ever up for some laughs and a hoarse throat from singing all night, please let us know.

Well, I think that is enough for now. I hope that my introductory portion of this blog has kept you interested enough to return. If not, it's good exercise for your eyes.

Until the next time...