Money money money money ... MONEY

Wow. So it's been a really long time since I've blogged hm. Sorry about that ... during the Thanksgiving holidays I had to write two papers ... and then it just seemed to not stop!

But, I'm in the middle of a study break ... so I'll pass some time with a little bloggity blog blog blog.

During the Thanksgiving holidays I asked people to answer a few questions about what they would do for 2 million dollars.

The results were just as I expected ... a lot of people gave the Sunday School answers.

What triggered these questions was a segment on KRBE 104.1 that talked about how the average amount of money that a person would leave their spouse/significant other for was 2 million dollars. AND that WOMEN were more likely to take the money than men were.

I was shocked by this ... not only that the price to leave the person that you love was so low, but that women would be more apt to take the money than men. So I wanted to see what my friends thought about the whole thing.

No one opted to take the 2 million when it came to leaving your significant other ... mainly because it wouldn't be any fun having that much money if you didn't have that other person to enjoy it with.

Which is good and all ... but what IS the price that you would be willing to leave your significant other for?

Married and living apart ...

Because I have a really long drive to school and back, I am basically in L<3ve with 104.1 KRBE. Every morning that have some kind of interesting topic that always keeps me amused. This morning, unfortunately when the radio started going out, they began talking about people that are married and yet live in separate houses.

According to the 2006 United States Census, 3.2 MILLION people are married and yet live in separate houses. That is a LOT of people! So, Ryan ... who seems to have the same views as I do about a lot of things, started saying how he just couldn't imagine not living in the same house with his wife and his daughter. That the though of something like that makes it hard for him to breathe. While Roula and Producer Eric were more interested in Why this was going on as opposed to "Why would you NOT live together."

They had a few people call in, but I was only able to listen to three of them.

Caller 1: Lives in Houston with her children, while her husband lives in San Antonio. They originally lived in Dallas when they first got married (and they've been married for only three years), but when he got his new job, she didn't want to move to San Antonio with him ... she wanted to move back home to Houston. He comes home maybe every other weekend ... and she says that he when he does come home it's usually pretty nice. She says that it keeps the spark in their marriage. Ryan immediately jumps all over it asking why she didn't want to move with him or why didn't they talk about it more and have him not take that job. She was like "Well, who am I to say what job he can take or not ... or who is he to tell me where I should move." Ryan mentioned the fact that "they are in a marriage and that involves compromise, that's 'who you are, his wife'."

He then took off the stipulations of not being able to live together for a job.Like if he had to provide for his family and he HAD to move all over the place and he wanted his family to continue to have a steady home life and not have his kids move around a lot then he would do the same. However, I personally think that those people were just being selfish. He was right in the first place ... a marriage is a compromise. If Aaron were to get a job somewhere else ... even if I had a job here ... I would move with him and I know that he would do the same for me. I couldn't live with out having him come home to me every night. Even if I did get to see him every other weekend. We mine as well just be dating!

Caller 2: She lives in the Woodlands and her husband lives in Washington D.C. He IS in the military and that is why he is over there ... how ever she does not want to move out there. I didn't catch how long they had been married but I don't think that it was very long. He comes home when he can ... and he will definitely be home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. She also said that this was really good for their relationship, and that it keeps the spark in their marriage. However, why get married to the guy if you don't want to move up there and be with him. I mean ... if I were marrying someone in the military I would want to be with them as much as possible, especially if there was a possibility that he were to be going off to war. I guess that maybe she is trying to distance herself from him in case something like that happens ... but once again ... this just does not feel like a marriage!

Ryan again decided that he "supposed" people that were in military relationships didn't have to live with each other either ... but he still couldn't understand the novelty of being married and not living with each other.

Caller 3: A girl called in whose mother and step father live in separate houses, but in the same sub-division! When asked why they did that ... she said that they just fought all of the time and that they couldn't stand being together. But now, they have little dinner dates on the weekend and it just seems to be so much better for their relationship. Meanwhile, the wife is cleaning two houses, paying all of the bills, washing all of the clothes, etc. So it seems to ME that the guy has a cleaning lady that he gets to bang on the weekends whenever he wants too. THIS IS NOT A MARRIAGE! The woman has already been divorced once ... I wonder what her reasons were for not doing it again? I wonder why she got divorced with her first husband ... and what makes this guy that much better that they'll pay two mortgages??

So, what are your views on the issue? Would you ever live in separate houses from your husband? Do you even consider this a marriage? Do you think that this is possibly the cure for the rising divorce rate??

Finally some Wedding Updates!

Hey guys! I know that everyone has missed the blogs of your dear ol friend Rachel ... so I'm back with a brand new addition!

Thursday, August 9, 2007: Aaron worked all night on Wednesday night, so as soon as he got home Thursday morning (at around 6:55) we loaded up the car, drove to Loren's house to pick her and Reese up, and headed back to Orange/Nederland.

We went by my grandpa's house so that we could pick up the M.D. Anderson cards and my veil and the programs before heading over to Aaron's parent's house. Once we got there, Aaron went to sleep and Loren and I went to tan, get our rings cleaned, to Walmart to pick up some things for the Bridal Brunch the next morning, and finally out to Beaumont to pick up my wedding dress!!!!

Once we got back to the house, Audrey (Aaron's younger sister) had made it to the house and we all hung out while we tied ribbons on programs and folded some of the M.D. Anderson cards. We went to drop some things off at the rehearsal dinner site so that the ladies would decorate it for Friday and it was there that I got my first slice of bad news. Christy, one of my beautiful bridesmaids, hadn't been feeling to well all week. She had some kind of sickness that caused these really bad sores and ulcers on the inside of her mouth along with fever. She had seemed to be feeling better, but by Thursday she had started running a horrible temperature (104) and the doctor said that she was going to be sick for a while ... and that she was extremely contagious. Therefore, she was not going to be able to drive from Austin to Orange for the wedding. I was not upset about not having a bridesmaid because I know how bad she was feeling. The only thing that I was upset about was not having one of my best friends there to see the wedding. There were a lot of tears on the phone that day! ((Update: Christy is much better now ... back to her own awesome self!))

So, we went back over to the house to finish all the program tying and all of that and I tried to figure out a few different scenarios to play out for the wedding. Aaron went to pick up his tuxes and all of the tuxes were too big/small or weird. So they had to be altered that night and picked up sometime on Friday. Little things like that were frustrating ... especially when it came to Aaron's tux because we have had Aaron measured numerous times for just these instances!

I couldn't sleep at all that night. Aaron got a bed because I knew that he was still exhausted from staying up for so long. Loren went to bed with Reese and I had Audrey's dog Libby with me as well, so that wasn't working out because they kept wanting to play while Loren and I were trying to sleep in a double bed. So, I ended up getting up and getting online for a bit ... then falling asleep for an hour on the couch in the computer room. When I woke up around 2am, I felt gross! I apparently had chewed on the side of my tongue in my sleep, and my knee was hurting from having it in an odd position. I got back up and read a bit and then went to sleep on the couch in the living room because it was slightly bigger than the other around 4am. Well, then people started getting up around 6 am ... so I went back into Audrey's room after Loren got out of bed and went to sleep for a couple of hours before we had to wake up and go down to the church to set things up for the reception!

Friday, August 10, 2007: We only had three hours to set up, so I asked as many people that could help to come. We had a good turn out and actually got finished EXACTLY at noon! But not without a few problems ...

We ordered some chair covers and the place that we rented them from wasn't going to be open until 10 am that morning. We needed them for 9am so that we could start getting things together and putting the chair covers on as soon as possible because that would take the longest time. So my grandpa went to pick them up Thursday after 4:30 so that we would have them ready to go. Well, we started taking them out of the boxes and some of them REEKED of mildew. It ended up being about 30 of the 200 that we requested. I was very upset because this was a serious problem, people couldn't even walk by these tables without catching a whiff of that smell and being grossed out. So, I called the lady ... at first she tried to tell me that it was impossible because all of those chair covers were NEW and that they've never been used. Finally, I was like "Oh really, because a couple of them still have chocolate stains on them ...." Then she's like "OHHHH Those chair covers!!" -Collective Eye Roll Everyone- So after talking with a few different people we arranged for my grandpa to bring those back ... then they would wash them and iron them and dry them that night and bring them back to us the next morning and put them on. So it all ended up working out ... but for a while I thought that they weren't going to put them on for us the next day and I was about to get a little Bridezilla on them!

After we finished up the reception hall ... we went back to the house and hung out. We wrapped all the presents for our bridal party and the Parent's etc. Then everyone started taking showers to get ready for the rehearsal.

The rehearsal flowed very well! We ended up having each of the girls walk half way down the aisle and have all the guys (except Cory who stayed next to Aaron the whole time) come and meet them half way and walk them to their spot. It worked out perfectly since we were missing dear Christy. I had my cousin stand in for me ... which was kind of weird because my Aunt kept saying that she wanted to see Aaron and Katy kiss. Afterwards Aaron was like, "I love how your Aunt kept trying to hook me up with your cousin." Haha. Then we went off to the rehearsal dinner! It was absolutely FANTASTIC! It was decorated Sooooo nice! We had a pasta bar and Salad and chocolate cake, plus we also had beer and wine! We ate and visited, I read Aaron the poem that I was going to read to him ... and he said an impromptu speech which was really really lovely! Through out the night different people did toasts for us, and it was all sooo sweet! All of his family kept saying that they knew the first time that they met me that Aaron was going to marry me! My aunt even got up and said how proud she was of me and how hard my life had been and how lucky I was to have such a great family to be marrying into. It was a really great time!!

Afterwards, I think a few of the bridesmaids (Mainly Jenifer) thought that we were going to be going home and going to bed ... but she doesn't know how the Allen's party!! We went back to the house and drank some more wine and beer, listened to music, danced around, laughed and joked, etc etc.
Finally, I had to go to bed at Midnight so that I wouldn't see Aaron anymore ... but I'm almost certain that he stayed up until around 5 am hanging out with his cousins! Lucky!!!

Saturday, August 11, 2007, Wedding Day!!: I woke up around 5 am, ended up throwing up some yucky phlegm type stuff (did I mention that I was pretty gross and coughy?) and took some sinus medicine before laying back down until around 7am. Then we woke up for good ... got ready and headed to the salon to get our "Hair did." Aaron's mom and Aunt Joanie brought some donuts and kolaches, plus some awesome fruit and dips and stuff so that we could eat that morning! I wasn't nervous at ALL! I had a really good time just hanging out and enjoying ourselves. Finally a little after 11 we headed over to the church. That was only a slight bother because I really like to be places on time and we didn't get to the church until 11. The girls were kind of running behind on people's hair and we were kind of running behind on makeup. Things like that happen though ... so it wasn't that big of a deal. Once we got there we kind of hung out for a bit waiting for all the girls to get there. I let them all read the notes that I wrote them in the programs and then we started getting ready! Once I got my dress on and all of that was when it really started to hit me and I kind of started crying a bit. Definitely happy tears ... but still! Also, seeing my PawPaw made me tear up a bit as well! We hurried up and finished getting ready and then went and took pictures with the bridesmaids and myself. Jessica (MoH) went to give Aaron his gift and then Colton (my brother) brought back my gift from him. I gave him a Swatch Watch which is very light weight and thin and he really likes it. He gave me 1/4 carat diamond earrings! I absolutely LOVE them because my ears are VERY sensitive and these don't hurt them at all! I don't even have to take them out when I go to sleep! I wish that I would have had "real" earrings all along ... then I would probably still have my second and third holes! Oh well though. Anyway ... then we took pictures with the Groomsmen and myself. After that I disappeared back into the prayer room and Aaron took pictures with his groomsmen and then the bridesmaids. Once all the pictures were taken it was only about 20 minutes before the wedding began!!

The music started playing ... and everyone left the room so that they could walk down the aisle and I had a little time by myself. I said a little prayer, Thanking God for everything that he had blessed me with ... and then hoped that my Mom and Grandma were watching. Finally, I stepped out (camera in hand) and got ready to walk down the aisle. Just as my music started to play ... I pulled the camera out from behind my bouquet and snapped a picture of My grandpa and I ((The picture that is on top of this entry)) and then I handed the camera off to Aaron's sister and we made our way down the aisle!

Aaron was crying by the time we got down there because his dad had started crying. He gave my grandpa big hug before taking my hand and leading me up to the alter. Everything turned out BEAUTIFUL! I couldn't have asked for a better wedding! Things went smoothly and there was no problems! After the wedding, we took pictures in a quick manner and then headed over to the reception to start the party!!!

Reception: The bridal party entered to the song "Final Countdown" from Rocky ... and Aaron and I came down to 2001: A Space Odyssey! Everyone got a big kick out of that! Then we immediately went into our first dance, which Aaron's cousin Josh sang the song for us. It was BEAUTIFUL!! Then we opened up the food lines and Aaron and I got a plate and sat down at our private table. The line ended up snaking around us, so it was kind of hard to eat because people kept coming up to us saying congrats and asking where we were going for the honeymoon and all of that stuff. But it worked out because we wanted to make sure that we were able to talk to everyone ... and we did! After people ate, we cut the cake and then did the toasts. Cory's toast was very humorous and Jessica's toast was basically the best thing ever. I have a copy of it ... but it's at my grandpa's house ... so the next time I go by there, I'll get it and post it on here so that everyone can see how amazing it was! I was basically bawling my eyes out by the end of it. After that, we did the Father/Daughter and Mother/Son dances and then opened up the dance floor. We had a GREAT time! A lot of people were dancing ... we were getting pretty crazy!! There are TONS of pictures of me breaking it down ... so make sure you guys check out the site (I'll give the links at the bottom of this)

Around 6:30 ... the Limo arrived and we were pelted with flowers before getting in and making our getaway!! We went back to the hotel EXHAUSTED! But I was starving ... so we ended up having to run across the street to Pappadeaux's in our wedding attire. By this time the hook and eye on the back of my dress had come off and my zipper wasn't staying up anymore. It was pretty funny!!

I'll post later about how awesome the honeymoon was ... but this long ass post should hold you guys off for a while!

Also ... check out the wedding pictures!!!

Mandy Bonds
Click Clients
Weddings
Rachel & Aaron
The PW is August 11 (exactly like that)

ENJOY!!! (I'll also post some pictures that we have up above this post!!

Squabble, Fight, Bicker

After an amazing wedding shower where I was literally "showered" (I'm guessing that is what the whole term means ...) with gifts, not only did Aaron and I receive a lot of things for the kitchen, but we also received "Scene It Squabble." A game that I have literally been dying to play for a while now.
Battles of the Sexes are always fun ... especially since I am basically a guy or something. No really ... I knew more of the guy questions than the girl questions when we played tonight ... but that's besides the point. -Read below ... for "The Point"-

I was thoroughly disappointed in the "bicker" cards that Aaron and I used while we were playing tonight.
You see ... the game has these cards. Depending on what section that the dice lands on it is very possible that you will have to pull a bicker card. On these cards are instances that apparently occur in relationships (???) and then the outcome for the male or female player. One that we got tonight read this:

While in a fit of passion, your girlfriend calls out another guy's name

Female: Move back one space for making the mistake, and another for getting mad because your man didn't care.
Male: Move forward two spaces ... because who cares, you are still getting action.

Now, normally I'm not usually bothered by crude comments, etc etc. But this kind of pissed me off. I mean honestly ... if the guy isn't going to be upset about the girl calling out another person's name ... this must not be a very serious relationship. I can guarantee that Aaron would be pretty upset about it if I did it to him!!

Or how about this one:

Your man comes home with flowers and candy "just because"

Woman: Move back two spaces because you immediately think that it's because he did something stupid.
Men: Move back two spaces because the truth is ... you did.

Um. Seriously? First off: Women ... if your man comes home with flowers and candy just because ... be grateful that you have a man that is spontaneous and romantic. Why would you immediately think that there was something wrong? If that is what you think then you have some serious relationship/esteem issues that need to be worked out before you get into another committed relationship. Second: What the hell "Game" there are guys out there that DO do amazing things for their women ... including randomly bringing home flowers, sending them flowers at work, bringing home some candy or whatever.

Why is today's society ... and today's board games so cynical?

Now, don't get me wrong ... the game is fun and all ... but seriously some horrible people with rotten relationships must write the cards. It's kind of depressing.