Say cheese...

Just a handful of things that Song Min does that make me smile:

1) 9 out of 10 times, the first thing out of Song Min's mouth when he wakes up is "I'm hungry!"

2) Every once in a while, Song Min will skip shaving for a few days. When this happens, he thinks it's fun to tickle the back of my neck with his chin. It tickles and I end up crying from laughing so hard. This also reminds me of my dad and grandpa Daniels who also used to do this to me growing up.

3) Song Min loves to dance...AND dances really well. He's so entertaining to watch when he's groovin' to Bobby Brown or other 80's and 90's tunes. I, on the other hand, look stiff and awkward (often times with a somewhat worried look on my face) when I dance. Song Min has a couple of videos on his cell phone of me dancing...yes, it's that bad!











4) When Song Min comes busting to the door when I get home from work. It's like he has been waiting all day for me to get home.

5) The look of surprise on his face when I suddenly spazz out for no real reason.

6) When Song Min plays along with my silly question game..."what would you do?" Example: What would you do if your son came home from school and said "Dad, I want to play piccolo in the band"? What would you do if whenever I sang, I did so an octave higher than I should in a falsetto-esque way? What would you do if I could only walk if I tap danced? What would you do if I had a pig foot for a hand?

7) When he tries to do magic tricks that flop, but he totally expects will work. He gets this look on his face like the voice in his head is yelling "ta-daaa"...as a quarter comes flying out of his sleeve and drops to the floor.

8) The look on Song Min's face when I threaten violence to any girls who may try to steal him away from me. Luckily, this hasn't happened yet. Song Min has told me that he would pay money just to see this sort of thing happen. I'm crossing my fingers that it doesn't. Yikes...I think my bark is DEFINITELY worse than my bite!

My, oh my, how a year flies by!

Song Min and just celebrated our first year of marriage on June 23rd. He took me to my favorite restaurant, Cafe Lurcat. We had a delicious meal - Kobe beef with hot grapeseed oil; a combination raw plate (which will completely disgust my mom); buckwheat crepes with brie, smoked ham, and figs; sea bass marinated with miso, my entree; hanger steak, which was Song Min's entree; and brussel sprouts (because my mom says that every meal should have a green vegetable!). The restaurant has a very open feel. The kitchen is open to the dining room. The windows are nice and large with a beautiful view of Loring Park. All linens are crisp white and the atmosphere is clean and classic. It was an excellent place to celebrate our anniversary!



We decided that this year...and I stress THIS year only, we have decided to forgo buying presents for one another. We, instead, plan to take a vacation in Cape Cod this fall. One of my good customers offered us the opportunity to use his family's vacation house (all rooms have views of the water) on the Cape for a long weekend. To put it lightly, we are excited!




As we round our first year of marriage, I think how much has changed in one year. Song Min closed his business, went back to school (for pharmacy), and is now working nights as a supervisor at Target. Though I'm still in sales at the same company, my territory has been expanded by four states. I've had several medical issues, which introduced me to a cardiologist, an acupuncturist, an internist, and a surgeon. I've lost my gall bladder and gained four new scars on my abdomen. I've lost closet space, but gained a new car. I have not only gained a wonderful husband, but also a new best friend. It's just amazing all of the things that can happen in one year. It leaves me wondering...what in the world will the second year bring?!



Buckle up folks, we're in for a ride!

An add on to my last post...I know, I have problems!

So, as I read over my list of weird things that I'm addicted to, I found that I missed one. This one is really bizzare, but something that my sister pointed out to me a while ago. When Jessica and I were kids, our mom would insist that when we went to the grocery store, we held onto the cart. It was my mom's safety mechanism for keeping us safe from strangers...and probably away from causing trouble. Another one of her methods was having us watch this movie about a little boy who was kidnapped by a stranger. I can't remember the name, but Jessica and I were pretty nervous about being taken by a stranger from that day forward.

Anyhow, to this day, when I am grocery shopping with Song Min, I find that I always have one hand grabbing onto the side of the grocery cart. My sister also finds herself doing this. I wonder if our kids will end up being grocery cart grabbers as adults too?!

Ths positive is that I am happy to announce that Jessica and I grew up safe from harm and weren't ever taken by strangers at the grocery store. The negative is that she should have also made us watch "The Hitchhiker" as children. The two little Keck girls made a few appearances along Blake Road trying to thumb a ride! Mom, I guess you just can't win them all!

Hi, I'm Rachel, and I'm an addict. Hi Rachel.

12 Things that I am totally addicted to:

1) Jon and Kate Plus 8...I seriously can't get enough of this show. It's on TLC and it follows Jon and Kate and their set of twins and sextuplets. Their life is crazy and funny and I love it! There are times that I'll be watching an episode and Song Min walks in and says "haven't we seen this one more than once?"

2) Call me completely and horribly materialistic but I can't get enough of my engagement ring. It's a simple platinum band with a 1.03 carat sparkling diamond...and I LOVE IT! I love when recessed (that's the best) light hits my diamond and sends out cosmic rays of color and light...it's like having a fairy on my finger!



3) Pulling white hairs. I know...you pull one and two more pop out. If I see one and haul off and pull out the tweezers, I will search through my whole head of hair in the mirror for hours. I'm like a gorilla searching for bugs. I can't stop. I literally have to tell myself "you may pull out two more and then you've got to stop our you'll end up with bald spots!"

4) I cannot make it through a work day morning without pressing the snooze button at least once. I used to hate it when my roommates in college would press snooze over and over. I'd think "JUST GET UP!" Now I find myself, almost daily, looking at my alarm and thinking "I can sleep another five minutes"...SNOOZE!

5) On the opposite end of the spectrum, I also can't seem to make it to bed before midnight. I know, I know, maybe if I went to bed earlier, I might be able to get out of bed when my alarm first rings. Nobody's perfect, people!

6) When I sit and eat a meal, I almost always taste everything and then eat what I like least first and leave what I like most to the last. Song Min noticed soon after we started dating that typically the final bite of whatever I'm eating, is my favorite thing on my plate. I try not to do it, but I can't help myself.

7) Daily, I ride the elevator to the third floor (which is seriously like the second floor and three steps up). I used to climb the stair every day. Pretty much everyone uses the stairs in the whole building. There are a select few (mostly in the Inside Sales group of the Thermal Materials Division...my group) who dodge the 25 steps and ride "The Vator".

8) You know, not too long ago, I had phone numbers memorized and used the computer mostly to write papers or play games. Now, I don't know any phone numbers and live on the computer. A day without my cell phone and email access would be SO difficult. TECHNOLOGY...YOU GOT ME....YOU GOT ME!

9) Kim - Roasted and salted seaweed. I know it sounds nasty, but it's like eating potato chips. I can open a pack of it and polish the whole thing off. The good thing is that it's low in calories and there's no fat. The bad thing is that it's pretty high in sodium and high in protein. It's not just for sushi...it's delicious on its own. My husband thinks it's absolutely hilarious watching me eat the stuff. Have you seen the Subway commercials where the Asian laundry lady takes a five dollar bill and stuffs it in her mouth all at once?? Then, you get the picture.

10) I'm not sure how my husband feels about this, but I'm not asking because I love doing it. Everyday, after work, I take off my pants and sing my made up song "I don't have any pants on", while I change into a pair of sweat pants. Yes, you heard correctly...sweat pants! They are just so dang comfortable. My poor brother always used to get grief from me about wearing sweat pants all of the time (not like he had any choice). But, now he's moved up to khakis and cargo pants...oh yeah, I've down graded to sweat pants. You may think I'm a loser, but I'm a comfortable L-O-S-E-R!

11) Every night before I go to bed, I walk around our place and make sure that all of the closet doors are shut. I have this crazy phobia that in the middle of the night, someone might be hiding in the closet and peeking out while I'm getting a drink or getting up to use the bathroom. How scary huh? I've watched too many freaky movies! The picture that I found...yeah, I had to copy and paste it while doing my best to avoid looking at it.

12) Making my husband smile his "good smile". Song Min has his normal smile, which is nice and cute and everything. Then, the man has his "good smile". The one that makes the sides of his eyes wrinkle and usually comes with this high pitched inhale laugh. It's my favorite and I try my very best to make him smile his "good smile" every day.

Argh...thar jumpin' ship

This past week, I found out that yet another non-essential organ was jumping ship. In my opinion, my appendix and my gall bladder, really should have stayed on board and gone down with the whole ship...like everyone else.

I had my gall bladder removed yesterday. I arrived at the hospital with Song Min around 6:20 in the morning. I was whisked away where I was given a fancy new outfit, complete with tie-on gown, robe, hat and slippers. Song Min gave me a hug and kiss, and off I went to surgery. I should preface this by saying that I always thought that when a person is taken into surgery, they are wheeled in on a gurney...I mean, that's what they ALWAYS do on Grey's Anatomy and E.R. Nope, they had me walk into the room and hop onto the bed myself, (which I hate to say, looked more like the sort of bed that they use for lethal injection).

Anyway, I reluctantly laid myself on the bed, arms strapped out. At one point, I had two people putting braces on each leg, one lady putting an I.V. in my hand, another lady putting electrodes onto my chest, and the anesthesiologist over my face telling me stuff that wasn't computing. Tears started as another nurse put the mask over my face, and at that point, my good friend...no my BEST friend at that moment (the anesthesiologist) gave me a sedative and I blacked out.

Next thing I know, I'm in recovery. My gall bladder...gone. My right hand pasted to my pained right side, my mouth so dry that my tongue almost became jerky, and absolutely no control over my emotions. Amazingly enough, I left the hospital by 10:30 and was delivered by my husband to my mother, who was waiting for me with a hug and a big huge bowl of red Jell-o (which is thought to have medicinal properties by my mother and grandmother).

I spent the rest of the afternoon with my mom and grandma. My mom pushed the fluids into me and kept me walking around the house raceway track (the living room, dining room, kitchen, and hallway...back to the living room). Turns out that "pushing the fluids" after surgery isn't a good move. Apparently, anesthesia slows down digestion so much that too much fluid too quickly turns into a scene from Yellowstone. Thar she blows! So started the "sipping of the fluids!" My grandma told me stories and kept me company until I fell asleep.

Grandma whipped up my favorite comfort food, mashed potatoes. MMMMmmm. Song Min came by for dinner and spent a couple of hours with me before he needed to head off to work. The rest of the night, I slept and watched t.v. with dear old mom and dad.

All in all, the whole surgical experience was a whirlwind, leaving me less an organ and plus four little scars. Thankfully, I have a loving husband who waited for me throughout the surgery. I have a very caring grandmother who is always willing to tell me stories and make me mashed potatoes (even when it's warm and humid). A very cool dad, who keeps me laughing and gives me his recliner (one of the few comfortable chairs in the house). And a dear kind mom, who knows just how to make recovering from surgery not so bad! Thanks family!