Bryan and Ren

   Those are the mashed names I just came up with for Ryan and Ben. Michael and I will always just go by Shnooks. ;) Thinking about (or trying not to think about) Mia moving to Denver, Colorado with Jay next month, made me reflect on my time with Ryan. And how even though it's sad only seeing them once a year, we have kept in touch and have both survived the distance. It's always easier traveling with our significant others; our rocks to hold us strong in our flood of emotions. 

   I didn't even blog about December 2014 when we went to Universal together, or last December when I took Ryan to lunch at Black Bean Deli. We went to Artegon for Christmas shopping and to meet Santa at Bass Pro shop!! Then we looped back to the Ringling train to pick up Ben and had dinner at Cowfish in City Walk. Thank goodness for Instagram!! ;) Although it doesn't sound like we will get to see them this year. *le sigh*

   I haven't known Ryan since middle school like I have with Miaskee, but we became best friends super fast during Full Sail, and it was sad to see her move away the year after we graduated. I mailed her one of my hand-crafted Halloween cards this morning, then remembered while we were texting yesterday that October 24th is their sixth wedding anniversary!! I'm not really updating my Full Sail blog like I wanted, and even though I say those were the best 2 years of my life, obviously we're still living in super fantastic times because I've had so much more happen that has been worth writing about on this blog since then!

                                                                                              ^^ Charlotte and Dawson

 

With her sister, Lauren

 With the pastor (I forget his name) and her dad. ^^

   ^^ The two people on the left are her step-dad, Mark, and mom, Marcie.  The girl in the stripped shirt and the guy turned away are Brittany and Austin, who were the group church leaders at Full Sail. He played guitar when we all sang some songs before the group chat.

   I don't remember too much about their special day, but a couple weeks before the wedding, Ryan asked me to do her make up (I guess Michael didn't want to do it), but I think she did it herself on the wedding day. I met her at a hotel where her family was staying. Chris Schaffer from our Film class took her professional photos. Of course I took a lot of my own pictures on my pink Fujifilm camera. It was a quaint ceremony in a gazebo at Baldwin Park. I was not officially her bridesmaid, but I know in my heart that secretly I was. When she had to put down her bouquet to hold Ben's hands for the vows I quickly ran up up to take the flowers from her, as the bridesmaid would. I like to think that I helped create the ceremony just a little bit since Ryan and Ben met the pastor that married them after I invited them to the church group that Dawson and I had been attending through Full Sail. That's how we met Charlotte who was in a different bachelor's degree program. 

   After the ceremony Michael and I drove to the restaurant where the reception was in the rich part of Winter Park, along a cobblestone road. (Neither of us remember the name of the restaurant although I'm leaning towards Pomadora?) Ryan's parents paid for our meals since we were Ryan's best friend. Woohoo!! And the cake that Ben's mom made was super delicious. That's all I remember. :)  Of course there were pictures of Ryan and I taken by Chris at the park, but I don't see any on Facebook from all that time ago.

Ryan and Benjamin

I had to suffer through a long year and a half without seeing one of my best friends, Ryan Blythe, since she and her husband, Ben, "joined the circus" at the end of January last year! Now, out of all the cities they were able to choose, they have been able to spend their week vacation (July 8-15) in Los Angeles, while the rest of their co-workers are setting up and performing at the Staples Center. Our weeks got mixed up and Ryan thought they would arrive one week after they did, so it was a surprise when she texted me this past Tuesday, saying she would be able to meet with us later that day. (They attended a filming of "The Price is Right" that afternoon and during the breaks due to technical issues, Ben shared some conversations with host, Drew Carey!) I hurried to clean the house, but ended up having a good five hours to get everything done, including a small painting and creating a new Christian mix CD! Although skimming the baseboards with a Clorox wipe is quite a nasty chore, I was very proud of all the work I accomplished that day.

Around 6:30pm, we met with Ryan and Ben at the Ringling Bro's train and they gave us a quick tour of their "car", all with claustrophobic hallways and small 8' by 8' rooms! We had dinner at Outback and laughed a lot, remembering "the good ol' days". I really missed Ryan's laugh and forgot how contagious it was. We've been having a great time! They slept over using the air mattress my parents got us in March and when we all got out of bed the next morning around 11am, we had breakfast at Denny's. I am very sure actor, David Morse, who I only know from Disturbia, was sitting at the table behind us since we walked towards him as we were seated, but they all said it wasn't him. Riiiight! ;) We stopped by Fry's then Ryan and Ben filled out the paperwork for their car rental.

Denny's that day might not have been the best idea since I did end up getting sick that night. Oh nos! But when we got back at 3pm, Ben stayed home, waiting for the car company to drop off their rental, while Michael and I gave Ryan the "three hour tour" (a round trip hike) from the Griffith Park Observatory to up behind the Hollywood sign. It was a great adventure, due to the company, but it seems like the more we hike, the more out of shape we feel. How does that happen?

Michael did a kind job, taking all the pictures I asked him to and carrying my camera in his cargo pockets. We have had a couple more adventures since Tuesday, but I'll update again when this fun full week has completed its lovely course.

**Also, an important note ~ My good friend, Lindsey, had her baby, Luke, at 3:56am on Thursday, July 11th. I have mentioned several times that I would like to take a trip up there (about 4 & 1/2 hours North) in a couple months when she is more in the groove of her new life!

More with Ryan & Ben!

On July 11th, Ryan and Ben spent the day at Venice Beach while Michael and I slept in and ran errands. When they got back around 7:30pm, we all had dinner together at Chevy's before I left for work. On the 12th, they saw a movie with circus friends and for dinner we all went to Pitfire Pizza.

The 13th and 14th were the nights when Ryan and Ben stayed in a hotel, which is completely understandable for them to want alone time! I know I go crazy without my time alone, although I do feel that I have required little less as I have gotten older. But they also did the WB Studio tour and spent a day sleeping and "doing nothing". On the 15th they did the main touristy stuff along Hollywood Boulevard, then went to Fatburger (Michael and I have not eaten there). When they got back with their food, they were in a minor disagreement over wand ownership, ha! So what better way to solve it than by watching Harry Potter 7, part 2, which explains a wand's allegiance.

Yesterday, thanks to the free tickets Ben was able to get for us, Michael and I went to the circus!! We left at 9am with Ryan to meet Ben at the car rental place where he had been signing the release papers. Then the four of us drove to L.A. Live (or "Lah Live" as the GPS called it) where the circus had been performing all week at the Staples Center. The parking garage was a flat rate of $15, which was better than I expected.

We dropped them off by the tiger cages and I fake cried as I gave Ryan a goodbye hug, but then she made my day even better, by saying they had 4 hours between the two circus shows, so we could get lunch together after. Yippee!! They headed inside with the Ringling crew while Michael and I went to find breakfast- I'll put that in the next post. After the circus was over, as promised, we all met back by the car in the parking garage. Michael scrolled through Yelp on his iPhone, before we agreed on Hooters for lunch, since it was the closest, least expensive eating place near by. We walked the 5 to 10 minutes there and enjoyed one last double date with our hyper waitress, Amber.

Until next time, best friend..!

New Years Eve

   For New Years Eve weekend this year, my BFF/ Full Sail roommate Ryan was in town again with the Ringling Circus. She had some extra Christmas days off and then went back to work today, with the show performing two weeks later. We didn't get to see her husband Ben because he already switched to the Ice Show and was touring in Providence, Rhode Island. Ryan and I joked that she lived with us for two years since she stayed with us the last day of 2016 and the first day of 2017! On Saturday I picked her up at 11am and showed her the house that was our second choice (on W Illiana St). We decided it would have been a cooler place to live if we just finished Full Sail and weren't having kids for a while. But since we already waited 5 years to "be ready", the house we bought seemed better suited for a family. We still mention often to each other that we really like our house! 

   I brought Ryan back to our house and Brian (the other teacher Michael works with at VAMP) came over to help him with the deck. They just got it finished tonight!! Ryan and I went to Target so I could look for maternity jeans and I got Chip some little plush toys for 90 cents each- they were actually considered Christmas ornaments, 70% off. 4 of the 5 I got were animals (fox, lion, giraffe, wooly mammoth) so those can definitely be played with year-round. So can the pink Santa gnome. 

   Later we went to the store to get Michael and Brian some alcohol as requested, and picked up two pizzas. Ryan let me "force her" to watch the first four episodes of Season 4 of Glee, since she hadn't seen any of the episodes after all the main characters graduated from high school. Then Michael and Brian watched Rat Race with us, and then we just talked the last 45 minutes of the year. I was surprised that I was able to stay up until midnight since 9pm has been my average bedtime for the past two months. At 11:45 I found the New York channel where they sing and do the countdown, so we streamed that on my phone (we don't have cable) being able to watch it on the television screen using Apple TV. The countdown was uneventful as I feel like all of the holidays have been forced upon as lately and we're all going along with one big prank and it's really still just the end September. 

   But it beats 2014 when Michael and I watched "Guardians of the Galaxy" and both went to sleep at 10:30. Last year we celebrated with our friend Amber (and Brian again). Michael played a Star Wars video game as Boba Fett then we watched "Fanboys", and threw pretty smoke bombs in the road that were all different colors. Here's an Instagram picture from that night at her house: 

   The other night Michael gave me a few good kisses at midnight then we went outside to watch the fireworks that people were setting off around in neighboring areas. Yesterday Ryan and I saw the movie "Passengers" at the AMC. We both liked it and I was interested by the twist at the beginning! We ate leftover pizza and hung out at the Artegon mall for a while until I had to take her back. 

I hope everyone else had a great holiday and are enjoying 2017 so far!!

LA Live

Michael and I had an hour to spare between the time we got to LA Live and when we were able to enter the Staples Center for the Ringling pre-show at 11am, so we walked around to find some breakfast. I was excited when I saw that a red carpet was being set up and took some pictures through the chain link fence, holding us back. Turns out it was not for a movie premiere, just the ESPYS Experience, which is being held tonight at the Nokia Theatre. I think that's the ESPN Awards? They were also setting up a basketball area on the sidewalk. Anyway, Michael decided Starbucks was a good choice and I was thrilled when I saw they had bagels! Michael likes their banana nut bread.

We sat outside around the plants and watched the little birds around us. I threw tiny pieces of bagel at them and one got close enough and let his feed him. He was eating the little bread pieces right out of our hands! (My camera doesn't like close ups.) I thought of how my dad would have liked to work security in that area since all the guards were riding around on 3-wheeled segways! Haha.

At 10:45, we walked back towards the Staples Center (home of the LA Lakers). Ben later gracefully mentioned, "I hate sports." It made me laugh. I forgot how much Ben and I have in common. I realized that a lot back in Full Sail when Ryan would tell me about a situation they had been in, similar to something Michael and I had gone through. But Ryan and Michael would have the same thoughts or views and opinion on things, while Ben and I would have reacted the same in the two situations. So I'm sure my relationship advice never did any good for her, ha.

Check out those great complimentary seats ~Row 6, baby! (I believe this post is already getting a little lengthy and barely related to the circus and I'd rather have extra medium sized posts than one very long post where you have to scroll and scroll and scroll.. and scroll!) But I will say, it was cool seeing Ryan walking around the floor before the show- Michael was great at pointing her out when the lights were dim-, moving carts around and putting stands away at the end. I texted her where our seats were and she waved at me from behind the curtain. When all the lights came up again, so everyone could see their way out as they left, Ryan came over to talk to us. We didn't see Ben working behind the scenes, but I never asked where he would be.

Nostalgia at it's best.

Four years ago from tonight, I made what was possibly the most important decision of my life.
Before moving to Orlando in July 2009, I told myself that my time at Full Sail would be about school. Those 21 months would be focused on learning about the film industry and getting to know myself better; not worrying about getting a boyfriend. I was confident that summer, that I could survive on my own.

I was excited that my roommate and I got along so well during our hour-long phone conversation. I still remember the last line of her "I need a roommate" email. It was signed, "Ryan Walker. PS, I'm a girl." I called her up and not long after, we agreed to be roommates. It was a very exciting time. My parents were great (they always have been) and helped me move and took me to Target and bought me things I didn't already have- a lamp, a desk, laundry detergent, etc. After they left I was surprised that I did not feel homesick or nervous, like I imagined that I would. I had Ryan. She instantly became by best friend in Orlando and I was so glad that she was around all the time. She walked to school with me and let me give her hugs. We sat next to each other in class and lab, laughing about the same things and enjoying each others sarcasm and dry sense of humor.

We started classes on Thursday, July 9th and I think it was the 10th when I met "Nick". He was sitting next to me in Behavioral Science and Leah Sadallah was asking him about the tattoos on his neck. I quickly mentioned that "I have a tattoo", showing off the star outline on my right wrist, before going back to typing a Facebook message to Alana. The guy's name was Michael Gore, but his voice and gestures reminded me of Nicholas Cage and he didn't mind me calling him Nick. I was sure he was older than me, being so tall and sporting trimmed facial hair.

Shawn McGee was his main friend at the time and they came with Ryan and I to an extra credit lecture. Inside, Nick complimented me on my nice handwriting. We exchanged phone numbers after the lecture and he came over to our apartment that night with a handful of other people to watch the movie "Crash". We had homework to write a paper on it later. I didn't tell Nick at the time, but I was disappointed that he sat in the back corner of Shelby's room for the movie, while I sat up front, close to the TV. I tell him all the time now. =)

 On our walk home a few days later, I told Ryan that I thought Nick liked me. She agreed and asked if I returned the feelings. I told her that he was nice and I liked the attention, but I wasn't trying to get a boyfriend at this point in my life. Ryan agreed, stating the same for herself. (Spoiler alert: She met Ben Spencer in August 2009 and they got married 15 months later.)

Over the following week, Nick and I took several long walks around the Azure apartment complex. Although I kept telling him no, he told me that he would wait for me, until I was ready to be his girlfriend. He let me know that he would never give up and he seemed very honest about it. I often went for long bike rides during this time, praying out loud for guidance.

Friday the 24th I drove up to Gainesville with plans for the weekend. I was going to hang out with my ex-boyfriend and also celebrate Mia's 22nd birthday. The first couple of hours were fine, but once I got to Sam's Club with my parents and brother, Zach, I already wanted to leave. I needed to leave. I frantically texted Nick and Ryan, explaining my detrimental situation. I couldn't take it. Right then I hated being in Gainesville. It made the past couple of weeks at Full Sail seem like a completely wonderful dream and now I was awake and depressed.

Zach watched me as my body shook behind the passenger's seat, my eyelids failing to hold back tears. Finally Zach quietly said, "Mommy, Rachel's crying." I stopped trying to be quiet about it and let out a few low wails. I had to go back. When we got back to the house, I quickly threw everything back in my car. My mom didn't want me to leave, but I absolutely had to. I don't remember if I cried on the way "home" (my new home with my two new best friends) or what music I had playing, but I remember that as I drove back into Orlando, the dry heat caused lightning to flash. There may have been a light rain, but mostly lightning that flashed a few times causing the whole sky to light up, seeming like it was daytime for just a few seconds. I've always liked that type of lightning.

I changed my Facebook status to "in a relationship" when I got back to my apartment. It was only two and a half weeks into the school year, and I broke that "no boyfriend" promise. Thank goodness!

** Please note, aside from those few hours mentioned, I have enjoyed every other visit to Gainesville. =)

Full Sail Fun, 10 Years Later, Part I

   I think the main reason why I get disappointed that I haven't blogged about something, or have not blogged a specific photo is when I go back and specifically look for it. Right now I am doing a 10-day Photo Challenge on Facebook with my top favorite moments and since I purge my phone every six months or so, obviously I'm not going to have any Full Sail photos on my phone. And for having July 2009- June 2011 being the best big chunk of my life, I have a surprisingly low amount of photos from it. Having Emma at home for the past 2 years has been super great as well, but also more stressful than Full Sail was.

Here are the few previous Full Sail photo posts that I have, along with the Wordpress blog that I started and have that written as if I was blogging it during Full Sail, which I did not, but I don't like that website as much as Blogger. It could be that I was not resizing the photos, so that blog takes so long to load.

Skinny Pictures of Myself >> from 2009-2013 (weight loss post)

Wedding Craze >> Engagement/ Wedding/ Honeymoon, Sept 2010- May 2011

Marry You Every Day >> pictures of my relationship with Michael, July 2009- May 2011

Haunting's Past >> all previous Halloweens, 2009- 2015

Christmas/ Birmingham >> December 2009

Ryan and Ben's Wedding >> October 2010

Christmas at Full Sail >> December 2010

What a Fun Life >> the main Full Sail recap, July 2009- Summer 2010

Our Wedding >> after Full Sail/ May 2011, but part of the "Favorite Two Years" time frame

Behind the Mask >> June 2011, the main Blood Widow post with four links to reference the previous posts that were written before I was allowed to share a lot (since this blog has so many readers) about the film! Did I mention it stayed in the Philippine theaters longer than Guardians of the Galaxy did!?

   -------------------------------
   Apparently I mention Full Sail a lot on this blog, even when the posts don't have anything to do with being at the school. I have also had the same laptop since Full Sail- the Apple Macbook Pro (not sure if it's a 2008 or 2009 version?) and it is slowly falling apart internally. It currently will no longer load my email account, which was the second most important website I use on here. Michael has the same laptop as well, but also got a new desktop computer at the beginning of 2020. Mainly I'm saying I need to upload as many memories onto this blog as I can before my laptop and it's lack of updates over the past 9 years can no longer sync with Blogger either and I don't have a convenient way to blog. I also do not want to have to (spend money) to buy a new laptop. Okay, now for a second Full Sail recap of my favorite photos, using pictures that I don't believe I have already used in those links above:

~ Ten minutes later ~ I'm already feeling like I don't want to do this. I don't want to have to look through all these pictures and edit them. It's going to take too long... Maybe I'll just post all my favorite Full Sail skinny pictures that I haven't posted yet, and ones from when we were working on actual bigger projects... ~ 20 minutes later ~ I am definitely going to need to break this up into about 7 posts. My desire to keep working on this is dwindling, but I am getting a few good laughs, yet some pictures I don't remember happening.

   Okay, these first pictures only go between July and December 2009, and are specifically Full Sail class and lab related:

^^ a collage I made for my Behavioral Science project

^^ doing his make up and then mine for our "Zombies In Love" photo shoot after class

^^ we probably didn't go more than 1/2 mile but I was saying prayers the whole time!! 

^^ doing my make up to take portraits for our Photography class

^^ Cocoa Beach w/ Daniel Sparkman, Tomas, John Henry, Angel & Angel

Thomas ^^ the guy Ryan liked before she met Ben, Kristina on the right

^^ Jenna Johnson in the middle

^^ we were the models for Ryan's Photography class portrait photos

^^ Sept 2009/ a side project with Ryan, Dawson, and George Dykeman that we never ended up making

^^ my bedroom in the Azure apartment I shared with Ryan and Shelby for the first year, this second
photo gives me hives with everything on the floor & all the stuff on top of the dresser!! 

^^ Michael getting more make up FX practice in

^^ October/ Lighting labs, I believe our shift was from 5-9am!? Michael says I was cranky these months and even called my mom about it to ask why and she said it was because my sleep schedule was so messed up.

Possibly my first time ever going to Bahama Breeze: 10/23/09

^^ Dawson and Carly Spell

^^ also with Lindsay Sterling and Daniel Sparkman

   I don't even remember these happening (below), but apparently a bunch of us went to play Putt Putt. From another photo that I'm not adding, it shows that George Dykeman and Daniel Sparkman also joined us. I look so good and thin in this first photo, but know that the reason why I often wore white V-neck T-shirts under my other shirts was to cover up the "fatty parts" of my upper arms. These pics are from 11/09/09, so I had lost a good amount of weight by then because of walking and/or riding my bike to school almost every day, running around with Sasha, and eating less/ more healthy foods once I realized I was losing weight from all the exercise my body was not use to getting before Full Sail. I believe that I was about 112 pounds here.

^^ I don't remember who that guy is, but he was in several of these mini golf photos..
maybe a friend of Ben's from the Show Production program?

^^ Random guy who volunteered to have his picture taken for our lighting class,
I remember telling him that he kind of looks like Rupert Grint.

^^ HAHA! A lot of times when Ryan would take pictures in the Lighting labs, the room was mostly dark so she wouldn't see the faces I was making until the flash went off and she saw the photo on the screen.
They always made her laugh a lot, so I think I did it often enough. There is another one below!

^^ I loved making her laugh. We made each other laugh a lot. That's why were for sure BFFs!
Definitely the best choice in roommates I could have ever gotten. 

^^ Using the green bulb, or the green square gel sheet to go in front of the light? I had to get this photo of myself because in the book, the Emerald City is so bright that everyone has to wear special sunglasses.

^^ This is what makes me think our Lighting Lab was at 5am, because the "next day"'s class was at 9am.
My presentation (can't remember what class) was about how they created the cyclone affect in
the Wizard of Oz and we got extra credit if we dressed up like one of the characters.

^^ Michael dressed up like a black man (hands included) who he named Edward Waters and pretended to be a homeless on the Full Sail campus when we knew Dawson was going to be by the library at school. This was a prank we played on him as he did not know the man was Michael when he was getting chased down for money.
Michael also thought about playing the same prank on his mom, but didn't want to get pulled over
on the drive up to Birmingham and not match his ID photo!!

^^ Recording sound effects for our Foley class. (I love all the scrapbook pages taped to the kitchen cabinets!)

   In the next photos, Michael had been able to meet and work with a known Orlando makeup FX artist, Rick Gonzalez, who lived just down the road from Full Sail. I pass his street every day on the way home from work now. Michael said someone at school told him about Rick and they were able to get together for Michael's first official teaching. (12/13/09) Everything else up to this point had been self taught. I am not posting the final clown photo because it is creepy, plus I don't have it in the main folder.

BAM!! Made it to 105 pounds!! 12/20/09 ~ My lowest weight since the beginning of high school probably. I don't remember weighing myself back then. & I just noticed that my fingernails are 

still green in this picture from the Wicked Witch dress up and video Michael did and recorded 

for me a few days earlier, which you can see in this post! ---> Wiiicckeddd! ♫♪

     -----------------------
   I also have a lot of pictures from trips to Gainesville and bunch of photo shoots with Alana, but will post the ones from those times in the next post! Maybe later today, but no promises. However, it is a time consuming activity in which I am not spending time eating, which helps distract me while on the newest weight loss challenge that Alex (my best friend at work) and I started on Sunday.