birthday rachel looks like THIS!

ooooh this weekend feels good. feels SO good. my sister is home from the college place, and its my 27.5 birthday! Oh yeah. Half birthdays should always be celebrated. we’s going out tonight. I made all my students sing songs to me all day. And I kept singing this “cheers to the freaking weekend” rihanna song that should be on my life soundtrack. That girl is so rad. I want to look like her when I grow up. I could live in her music videos. or maybe i just want my own music video. get a crew to follow me around living a fabulously enchanted life, with multiple costume and hair changes. and i look amazing in high-waisted shorts. and not ridiculous with a huge bow-bow on me head. hanging out with adorable black babies and old men, doing karaoke to my own songs. word.

As a teacher, getting to the weekend without having caused a major ruckus in the classroom with a student, or an email ruckus with a parent, is my only goal every week. There are some moments when I very seriously have to say to myself, “Rachel, don’t pinch him….don’t pinch him…he’s only 12 he can’t help how he acts sometimes….” because sometimes the children drive you crazy. Or I start talking and I can’t control the flow of words that come out of my mouth and say something inappropriate that I’m sure will come back to haunt me. Or the parent emails that make teachers want to climb walls. Or the eight million forms I have to fill out every week, weeping for each tree that was cut down simply so that I could sign my life away on whatever new health insurance we’re implementing.

This was a tougher week than normal…for whatever reason, I have been under this cloud of depression and funk that I could not shake. Everything was the worst. I couldn’t put words to the problem, it was just everything. I’ve been feeling bummed out for a while, but it was at an all-time low this week.

my homegirl heidi knows about the ugly cry…

But I had my life group with people from church (which is really cool because we’re kind of a secret, and we have awesome times of prayer and worship and discussion!!! and i love it!!!) and we were going around asking for prayer and I fell apart. Looooost it. That kind of embarrassing cry when you’re snuffling and hiccuping and can’t catch your breath and you’re sure you sound like an idiot. But everyone was so nice, and they prayed for me immediately, and I can honestly say that since that night, I’ve felt like my head is poking above the clouds again. Some of my ray-chels of sunshine are making a comeback. I feel hopeful. Prayer works, man.

KELLY CLARKSON!

in other news….i got my armpits waxed and homegirl BURNED THEM. burned them. she had just gotten in a fight with her boss, and wasn’t paying attention, and i got to be her stupid move of the day. they ache.

also, when coming out of the little waxing cubicle, i ran into a student. that’s a first. what a fun moment. and I know we were both thinking…. “what’s SHE getting waxed here?”

i don’t wanna know.

k. off to the races. ciao bella. ciao ciao.