The many faces of Rachel

Mom HATES this picture:

I love it because that is my mom. She doesn't like the face she is making. Someone at the table more then likely made a face at Mom and my Mom responded forgetting we had a professional photographer taking pictures. Again, I LOVE it...she HATES it.

For the longest time I have been my fathers daughter. That has been great but you also want to know that you are your mother's daughter as well. For myself, the signs that I do have my mother's genes have only come into light recently. Still very much my fathers daughter but you can see signs of my mother starting to poke through.

Like the following pictures.....I can only get these faces from my mom and her side of the family.

Relatively tame talking to Mac

Yes, that is the face one makes dancing the First Dance with your new husband

"Al ran over the mailbox??" lol!

No, I am not screaming at my great nephew

This is the exact face you should make when giving your officiant a thank you gift

This would also be a good option....

Probably the best face you can make

Not yelling at the single men table either

Perfect face to make when talking a friend..

Also another good face to use while talking to your Aunts

So there you have it. If my mom didn't show her personality in facial expressions it would be one less tie to her wonderful daughter who has inherited that trait :). Don't worry mom, I have a lot more photo's where I am making funny faces and I am sure your future grandchildren will share the same quality.

I think I found my hair stylist :)

After only about 4 years of looking I think I found a hair stylist I actually like. The good news is that she does wedding hair and make up so I can use her for my bridesmaids as well :)

It started to pour right after my hair cut  and then there was a major accident on the way home so it doesn't look as great as it did when I got up from my chair. It is also straight ironed which I don't do so we will really see what it looks like tomorrow but I like it! I got my hair cut today so that my hair would have a chance of looking decent for our engagement pictures next Sunday.

What do you think?

The question you should never ask a woman....

Today I got asked one of the questions you just do not ask a woman.

"How far along are you?"

The guest had recognized my outfit while we were in the bathroom. She had seen someone in a very similar outfit that is very pregnant (8 months or so) so when we she came out of the stall she just asked "how far along are you". She apologized, explained and I laughed it off. When I told the story to my co-workers they laughed at the ridiculousness of the question.

My mom had a really cute response: "Why would someone even ask that if they aren't married". I had to remind her that babies out of wedlock really aren't hidden down here like they are up North and often those pregnancy's are planned to be out of wedlock. This is a huge cultural difference for us. It is crazy how many pregnant teenagers I see and hear about down here! People are shocked with my parents ages because in their eyes..they could/should be grandparents by now. (I still often get asked what I am waiting for and in reality I am only 26). My parents did not have their children late. They were, sometimes, even one of the youngest parents in my group of classmates. They had their children at the time that it was..socially acceptable to have kids...not young or late..on time with the Northern ideas. Down here....the timing is completely different. People seem to think that the proper process is you get married at 22/23, have kids 24/25 and go from there. When you have kids at age 26 and up, you are having kids late. It is really interesting to me but it is honestly making not being married or having kids that much harder for me. I am right on "track" with my northern friends but way "behind" with my southern :-\. There are definitely differences between the North and South. Not necessarily good or bad but there are differences.

Anyway, my mom wanted to know what I was wearing. I was wearing this. What do you think? Should this outfit go into the trash because it does make me look pregnant or was the lady nuts?

Front view

From the side

Trying to tighten the shirt as it is a bit big and billowy

Maybe putting my hand on my belly like pregnant Moms do will make it clear...

It has been decided....

That I definitely look better with makeup....even when I put on makeup myself. Now if I just wasn't so lazy (I can't tell you it takes a while as it takes maybe 10 minutes at most)

Want proof?

Before:

Forgive the hair and yes Brian is bald in the background

After:

Again, forgive the hair and the flash in the glasses