the door...

There is an escapee cricket stuck in this closet.

He is quite noisy.

Yesterday

"Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away. Now it looks as though they're here to stay. Oh, I believe in yesterday."
                                                                            -The Beatles





Yesterday was SERIOUSLY super AWESOME fun!  here's the run down

-- woke right up out of bed with enough time to eat breakfast, do a short Bible study, do my hair and make-up and ride my bike to work! --

-- Got to work with just enough time to change clothes and watch the sun rise over the mountains --

-- Chase and I rode our bikes home together and the weather was PERFECT, I mean PERRRRRRRRFECT! So so so beautiful and sunny and warm but not TOO warm, ya know? --

-- We stopped at sonic along the way and ate a delicious dinner outside, the clean up of which consisted of throwing everything in the garbage (gotta love it!) --

-- After we finished the ride home we got ready to leave again (in the car this time) to go pick up my pretty new hair accessories! --

-- I dropped Chase off at a friends house and went to read my book in quiet in a nice neighborhood (might have freaked the neighbors out) --

-- Later we went home and watched Law & Order: Criminal Intent and played with Crumb --

Perfect day.

Know your St. Patricks Day history?

Here is some history on St. Patty's day.  Copyright history.com...or whatever...I didn't write this out and I'm not trying to claim it as my own. That's what I'm trying to say. :)








St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17, his religious feast day and the anniversary of his death in the fifth century. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over a thousand years. On St. Patrick's Day, which falls during the Christian season of Lent, Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. Lenten prohibitions against the consumption of meat were waived and people would dance, drink and feast—on the traditional meal of Irish bacon and cabbage.






The First Parade


The first St. Patrick's Day parade took place not in Ireland but in the United States. Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City on March 17, 1762. Along with their music, the parade helped the soldiers reconnect with their Irish roots, as well as fellow Irishmen serving in the English army.


Over the next 35 years, Irish patriotism among American immigrants flourished, prompting the rise of so-called "Irish Aid" societies like the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick and the Hibernian Society. Each group would hold annual parades featuring bagpipes (which actually first became popular in the Scottish and British armies) and drums.


In 1848, several New York Irish Aid societies decided to unite their parades to form one New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade. Today, that parade is the world 's oldest civilian parade and the largest in the United States, with over 150,000 participants.


Each year, nearly three million people line the 1.5-mile parade route to watch the procession, which takes more than five hours. Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and Savannah also celebrate the day with parades involving between 10,000 and 20,000 participants.






No Irish Need Apply


Up until the mid-19th century, most Irish immigrants in America were members of the Protestant middle class. When the Great Potato Famine hit Ireland in 1845, close to a million poor and uneducated Irish Catholics began pouring into America to escape starvation. Despised for their religious beliefs and funny accents by the American Protestant majority, the immigrants had trouble finding even menial jobs. When Irish Americans in the country's cities took to the streets on St. Patrick's Day to celebrate their heritage, newspapers portrayed them in cartoons as drunk, violent monkeys.


However, the Irish soon began to realize that their great numbers endowed them with a political power that had yet to be exploited. They started to organize, and their voting block, known as the "green machine," became an important swing vote for political hopefuls. Suddenly, annual St. Patrick's Day parades became a show of strength for Irish Americans, as well as a must-attend event for a slew of political candidates. In 1948, President Truman attended New York City 's St. Patrick's Day parade, a proud moment for the many Irish whose ancestors had to fight stereotypes and racial prejudice to find acceptance in America.






Wearing of the Green Goes Global


Today, St. Patrick's Day is celebrated by people of all backgrounds in the United States, Canada and Australia. Although North America is home to the largest productions, St. Patrick's Day has been celebrated in other locations far from Ireland, including Japan, Singapore and Russia.

In modern-day Ireland, St. Patrick's Day has traditionally been a religious occasion. In fact, up until the 1970s, Irish laws mandated that pubs be closed on March 17. Beginning in 1995, however, the Irish government began a national campaign to use St. Patrick's Day as an opportunity to drive tourism and showcase Ireland to the rest of the world. Last year, close to one million people took part in Ireland 's St. Patrick's Festival in Dublin, a multi-day celebration featuring parades, concerts, outdoor theater productions and fireworks shows.






The Chicago River


Chicago is famous for a somewhat peculiar annual event: dyeing the Chicago River green. The tradition started in 1962, when city pollution-control workers used dyes to trace illegal sewage discharges and realized that the green dye might provide a unique way to celebrate the holiday. That year, they released 100 pounds of green vegetable dye into the river—enough to keep it green for a week!


Today, in order to minimize environmental damage, only 40 pounds of dye are used, making the river green for only several hours. Although Chicago historians claim their city's idea for a river of green was original, some Savannah natives believe the idea originated in their town. They point out that, in 1961, Savannah mayor Tom Woolley had plans for a green river. Due to rough waters on March 17, the experiment failed, and Savannah never attempted to dye its river again.

Monday was Funday

Beginning AFTER 5:00pm

-- drove to small group with Laurie & Keith--
--watched some cute babies--
--ate some delicious dutch oven dinner--
--was reminded of God's amazing power--
--went to Nathan & Breana's--
--watched Chase find a hidden birthday gift--
--ate a delicious cookie--
--watched Avatar: The Last Airbender--

Chase, looking for his birthday present
from Nathan and Breana that was hidden.

one awesome Sunday

--Went to church--

--played sunday school lesson by ear, which I like because then I focus more on spending time with the kids as opposed to thinking ahead to set up the next activity--

--went out to lunch to Chilli's with old and new friends--

--Got crickets for Crumb--

--napped--

--short bike ride--

--cleaned cleaned cleaned--

--had funny conversation with Chase that went a little something like this:

Me: why do you have claw marks on your shoulder?

Chase: the chicks are always clawing at me

Me: must be because of your Axe body wash

Chase (impatiently): it's because they're zombies! I fight them at night?!

:D --

--relaxing and preparing for tomorrow--

*sigh* good day. productive but not TOO productive. ;)

Three picture Thursday

I made my book marks! I realized three things while making these:
1) I can't cut straight, even on a PAPER CUTTER
2) I am really impatient
3) Crissy is INCREDIBLY crafty...she has craftiness coming outta her bottom, you could say

Thanks to Crissy's amazing bookmark making tutorial!!








One of my greatest joys in life is Chases bed head.


















my photography assignment this week was a self-portrait. I like this one...it's "below the plane"

my favorite things about yesterday

These are my favorite things about yesterday, since today hasn't been going on all that long yet...and yesterday was a super fun day!

Linking up to Crissy!

1. Hanging out with Laurie and Keith.  We went to taco time (the food was not good but the company was) and we watched some HILARIOUS AFV videos on youtube :D

2. Reading with Chase in bed

It was a good night.

Get to know me

1. Are you more of a talker or a listener? I think I'm kinda both...depending on who I'm with.  If It's with people I'm comfortable with then I'm a talker for sure. If it's new people I don't know that well, then I'm definitely more of a listener.



2. Bra. Under wire or wireless? both


3. I wish I was.....? just starting my weekend instead of just ending it *sigh*


4. The Academy Awards are on tonight..will you watch? if I happened to just come across it then I would. I wouldn't seek it out and watch it from beginning to end.


5. Do you put your deodorant on before or after you get dressed? After
6. Would you rather do the dishes or clean toilets? Dishes!!!


7. How much did you weigh at birth? 8lbs 110z I think
8. If you could only buy one thing for the Spring/Summer season..what would it be? A PRETTY SPRING DRESS!!

learning stuff kinda

so I'm not enjoying my photography class but I think I got off to a bad start. ANYway, here are some of my portraitures (that was our assignment this last week.) I don't really feel like I'm being very creative...I feel like my creativity has been sucked out of my heart by these stinkin' assignments.  We just get like tips for each assignment. With the portraitures, the teacher gave us tips off of a website such as: play with the light, play with eye direction, play with the composition and rule of thirds and planes and such.  I tried to do some of that...it didn't seem to make much of a difference...I guess it takes time and practice.

Q&A

So I got these fun questions from crissy's awesome blog and I wanted to answer them  (I guess because it's fun to talk about myself...I mean, it's the one thing I'm an expert on) but I also wanted to get some other point of views so I had some of my favorite ladies answer them!


First, me, Rachel Elise Gregory Norton: blog creator, obsessive picture taker, phone call answerer, dancing fool

1. Would you rather bungee jump or sky dive?   NEITHER! I have no desire to jump off of anything high up in the sky.  I think I am allergic to adrenaline.


2. When using a public restroom to you squat over the seat or sit?   I sit right on the toilet normally.  If there is stuff on the seat, ya know...stuff, then I will hold it. 

3. Favorite flower?   Hm...it used to be daisies...now it might be lilly's or ochids.  Flowers, in general, are wonderful though!

4. Pedicure or manicure? 
I would rather people see the work I paid for, which would happen more with a manicure....but I like to have my feet rubbed and stuff....but I could get Chase to do that anytime so...MANICURE.5. How many siblings do you have?  
I have 2 older brothers: Jacob and Elijah.


6. Do you pee in the shower? (gasp!)  
I have.


7. Bikini, tankini, or one piece?  
tankini is ideal


8. Where do you hate to shop at, but go there anyway?  
Any store that is busy and crowded I guess...






Introducing, my sister-in-law Breana Ashby Norton: Mother to my favorite baby, spanish speaker, book reader, knitter extaoridinaire!

1. Would you rather bungee jump or sky dive?

I would rather bungee jump. If I'm going to be free falling through the air, I would rather have a safety line tied to me securing me to the "ground".


2. When using a public restroom to you squat over the seat or sit?
I sit right on the toilet, its not like I eat with my butt or anything. Why do I need to keep that sanitized. Of course, there are exceptions - like when there is pee and other "stuff" dribbled all over the toilet seat - then I hover.


3. Favorite flower?
hmmm ... I'm not sure. I like daisies, and dandelions (yes the weed), and daffodils, and orchids, and ... lets face it I love all flowers, because flowers mean spring, and spring means the end of winter. I'm not too fond of winter.


4. Pedicure or manicure?
Well, seeing that I have never had either one I would have to guess manicure. My feet are very ticklish and I don't think I could get a pedicure without laughing all the way through it.


5. How many siblings do you have?
I have 5 siblings, 3 older brothers and 2 little red-headed sisters. I also have 9 adorable nieces and nephews :D


6. Do you pee in the shower? (gasp!)
I will admit that I pee in the shower.


7. Bikini, tankini, or one piece?
A one piece while working out (there is nothing more annoying than having your bottoms attempt to come off with every flip turn), and a tankini for other recreational swimming.


8. Where do you hate to shop at, but go there anyway?
Walmart! and it isn't even because it is walmart, its because it is always busy. It doesn't matter what walmart you go to, they are always full of people and the check-out lines are forever long.





Now, my sister in all ways except biologically, Laurie Janae Barton Gunnerson: best hair haver, witty stuff sayer, favorite coworker, smarty party pants! 

1. Would you rather bungee jump or sky dive?
Bungee I guess…. I would like to sky dive more so that I don’t get whipped around… but I don’t have the guts

2. When using a public restroom to you squat over the seat or sit?
Sit, preferably with a seat cover
3. Favorite flower?
Iris or lily


4. Pedicure or manicure?
Pedicure? Just because I have never had one


5. How many siblings do you have?
1

6. Do you pee in the shower? (gasp!)
not regularly no…


7. Bikini, tankini, or one piece?
One piece or grandma two piece “Gidget” style


8. Where do you hate to shop at, but go there anyway?
The grocery store? Or DI or Savers but I don’t go there much





Finally, my mother, Patricia Sue Oswalt Gregory: director of plays and lives, thesbian for all time, God lover, best friend, stylish beyond compare

1. Would you rather bungee jump or sky dive?
Sky dive! And someday I WILL!




2. When using a public restroom to you squat over the seat or sit?
Sit…after wiping seat off, of course


3. Favorite flower?
Hmmm….whatever smells good! Lilies or lilacs come immediately to mind


4. Pedicure or manicure?
Have had only 1 of each in my life…I’m thinking…pedicure! That leg massage was wonderful!


5. How many siblings do you have?
1 brother in heaven, 1 sister on earth


6. Do you pee in the shower? (gasp!)
now why would I ever answer that?


7. Bikini, tankini, or one piece?
Well, when I was young and thin, bikini…but now I’m old and not so thin so…one piece


8. Where do you hate to shop at, but go there anyway?
Hate to shop?! I don’t think I understand that concept….


(there are some other ladies I've questioned but they haven't answered yet...possibly out of fear of being put on my blog...grandma...I'll post their answers when I get them :)