I Wish Heaven Had Visiting Hours

One of my girlfriends came around for afternoon tea today and I made scones. I've been making scones for work also and each time I make them I get a huge ping of happiness and sadness whilst I mix the ingredients together. I get a strong, overbearing wave of nostalgia, In my head I'm a tiny four year old Rachel standing on a stool at the bench next to grandpa peeping up onto the counter whilst he made us scones, I remember how he would use a glass to cut the dough into perfect circles and place them on the tray ready to get all delicious and fluffy. 

My grandpa passed away around 10 years ago now. It was a horrible pain I can not and will not forget. Grandpa was one of the kindest men ive ever had the pleasure of meeting. I learnt so much from him. I can remember him waking up every morning before nan had woken up and bringing her in a nice hot cup of tea and a couple of cookies on a side plate. They would then lay there and read verses from the bible together. I started drinking tea because of this morning habit, he would make me one too if I was there and awake. I drink tea every day now and every time I take my first sip I smile inside because I think of the man who introduced me too it.

It's sad to think ill never see one of my favourite people in the world again. I'll never get to help him make scones, feed the chooks, collect the eggs or watch the news with him. It's even sadder to think that we all will just end one day, turn off, like a switch. A broken appliance never to turn on again.

I have always had a fear of death. 

I hope I will be around long enough to make a lasting impact in another's life like grandpa did in mine, I also pray I meet a man as loyal and loving as him. A man that will bring me tea in the morning and make me scones. That's all I ask for. 

Stay fabulous 💋 

Rachel 

Signing My Life Away

So. After what feels like 20 years (it's been 1.5) I have finally come to a decision on what to pursue as a career path *queue fire works*. 

My passion as many of you already may know is food. I LOVE it. I love eating it, cooking it, reading about it and thinking about it. This strong pull towards food has lead me to apply for a career in the culinary arts. So as of today. The 7th of the 7th 2016 I Rachel Maree am an apprentice chef; and I could not be more thrilled!!!!!! I have now worked front of house in hospitality for six years and have always been more interested in what is happening in the kitchen as appose to front of house. This has made me experiment more with my cooking at home and order the more interesting items on menus when I eat out. Now it's my turn to learn, discover, experiment and thrive. Who knows, I could be the next Heston..... (I think the skinny pigeon could be strong competition)

This little step forward has also elevated my mood so much I haven't even got angry at today's silly moments, which include but not limited too: 

* forgetting to put my handbrake on and my car ending up on a tree, luckily with no scratches or dents *phew* 

* trying to get my new table upstairs alone and falling 

And 

* withdrawing $100 from an atm but forgetting to actually take the money...... With that being said I hope the soulless creature in Belmont who took it buys themselves some morals with it. 

Anyway that's enough from me. I'm off to yoga to find my zen so I don't find and murder the said money stealer with my new chef knives.

Until next time, 

Stay fabulous 💋 

Rachel 

My Sweet Addiction.

I'm sorry I haven't made an entry in a while, it's just... Well....

I've been simply too busy eating my weight in sweets. 

They say the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. So here goes; I Rachel Maree Elliott have a dessert addiction. 

Ive tried to suppress it but it's just, i think about dessert 90% of the day and if it's put in front of me I devour the sugary substance in five seconds flat. I've thought about cutting out other meals all together and just eating sweets (I swiftly decided against that).   

My favourite desserts include lemon meringue, pavlova and golden syrup dumplings. However whilst travelling America I came across an unusual dessert which really tingled my tastebuds; deep fried ice cream. I ordered it with my friend Madison waringly but it was AMAZEBALLS. It was in a light tempura batter and the vanilla cheesecake inside was warm and full of flavour. So that has been thrown in as a temporary wild card in my list until I one day stop thinking about it and drooling.

I realised I had a problem when after work one day I bought two cakes to take home. A caramel slice and a lemon meringue (as mentioned about in my favourites list *licks lips*). I was going to eat one for afternoon tea and one the next day......

I accidently ate both. I also felt not an ounce of guilt. 

I admit I have a problem but I am not ashamed. I'll continue to eat my desserts but I will also continue too exercise and try my best to balance my meals because this haircut won't work on a size 24. 

Stay fabulous 

Rachel 💋

Happiest Place On Earth

Disney.

A word that means a different thing to every seperate person. To some it brews nostalgia surrounding childhood, to some it creates excitement in their stomach, to some it means endless possibilities and to some it means nothing. *sad face*.

To me Disney is magic, to me Disney is the most pure form of naive happiness and bliss.

This being said it astounds me how some people can go to a Disney theme park and show aggression, sadness and annoyance. (Not okay, ruins my vibes, dims my light). I was at Disney world in Orlando, Florida at the beginning of this week and it was incredible, I felt emotions that have unfortunately not been evident in my person for a very long time. The two short days I spent at the parks where incredible. Watching children so ridiculously absorbed in the world of fairy tales was a great experience for me. My inner child even came through, lining up to get photographs with Princesses, watching the parades, singing and dancing along to my favourite songs and even shedding multiple tears throughout the days events. These include but are not limited too; meeting my main girl Tinkerbell, watching the castle light show and being gifted a bookmark from Princess Belle herself. It was too much. I couldn't feel anything but joy. Which is funny cause as i previously touched on some people are in right moods EVEN AT DISNEY WORLD. WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE. (Ill stop shouting now, I apologise for raising my voice). How is it even possible to be mad at Disney? i honestly can not fathom it, how can you pay so much money and make so much effort for a vacation with your loved ones to then stand around moping, sooking, arguing, pouting, demanding and simply not smiling. You aren't just ruining your day, you're ruining everyone else's day too, or at least trying too. Theres a long line? of course their is, take some snacks, play eye spy or sing a song from frozen. Make the not so fun stuff fun.

So this is a message to anyone thinking of getting upset for no good reason at Disney. DO NOT!!!!!! YOU'RE RUINING THE MAGIC. (sorry for yelling again). If you hate your husband, go home and hate him. Its called the happiest place on earth for a reason.... BE HAPPY (last time I swear).

Actually this goes for everything, if you go on vacation please just enjoy it, soak it in, cause soon enough you'll be back to reality and i promise you'll regret wasting that holiday arguing over a forgotten reservation, a poor decision, or taking too long to get ready.

Breathe deeply and "Let It Go" *Cue snow flurry*

Stay Shining

Rachel 💋

Come fly with me

I woke myself up at 5am on the 9th May. I had given myself enough time to run around gathering everything I had forgotten to pack and organise (more than you'd think). First point of call was to organise transport to get me to the airport bus.. But silly me accidentally ordered both an uber and a taxi, the race was on, who would arrive first. 6:33 the uber won. I get to the bus, hop on and I no joke knocked out completely in 2 minutes flat, which, for a 75 minute bus ride is a pretty decent nap. 

Arriving at the airport was a mix of emotions, I get myself a cup of tea and smashed Avo and salmon for breakfast at one of the airport cafe and then after being refueles, I proceed to check in. At this point I was pretty proud of myself, doing so well so far but low and behold I hit a bump in the road; my check in gets rejected due to esta visa issues. "Sorry Miss, your passport doesn't match the one on the visa and we don't have facilities at the airport to do it here", stupid me forgot to update the application after my new passport arrived. Lucky I reapplied for the visa in enough time to just check in (literally 5 minutes before cut off) and after calming myself down I get through customs a breeze and I order myself a coffee and waited patiently for my flight. 

The first flight was breezy, mainly due to the epic movie selection and free alcohol, thank you air New Zealand! Pulp fiction and gin and apple juice are a great combination. It was smooth sailing after that UNTIL boarding my flight from Auckland to Los Angeles. Half way through boarding the vessel there was announced a "small technical issue on the plane" which "would be solved in around thirty minutes". No problem I thought. THEN thirty minutes turned into an hour and thats where I lost my chill and I started to panic. My connecting flight was too close to be having hefty delays. I go to the counter and ask about the delay and was told there was nothing they could do as I didn't book my itinerary through them for my connecting flight. I started tearing up and I start walking back to my chair, but I no joke broke down historically crying in front of the other passengers waiting in the lounge too, so I vouched for a quite corner to sook in. This was an opportune time to take a nap (I obviously needed one). 

I woke up to another announcement apologising as the delay was now 3 hours. Yes. Excellent. I began trying to make arrangements for a flight change from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Helpful hint; don't try and call the international number for Virgin America, the one that's on their website, it doesn't work. Also, don't try and call Virgin Australia to help, cause they won't transfer you through and when you ask for the manager they will put you on hold for 30 minutes before disconnecting you completely. FINALLY I just bit the bullet and called the American line and just prayed the fee wouldn't cost me my left kidney. The lady on the other line was very helpful and my flight got changed for only $25. Hallelujah. 

At 12:00am, 3 hours and 10 minutes after orginal boarding time we were allowed to board the aircraft. I sat at my allocated seat (which was wrong, apparently I can't read, so I had to move) and the journey began. I actually sat with some really cool people (which never happens) and the air hostess was very accomodating with supplying me with wines and gins. Like no joke this legend suggested a mimosa with breakfast, like yes of course you beautiful soul, make it 5! Why not, let's make it a party. 

Customs wasnt a hassle once arriving in the states, and my bags where collected swiftly. But it's me, of course it couldn't have gone 100% smoothly, that would be too easy. So I was in the exit line with my bags waiting to leave the customs area and my nose started bleeding like a tap. It's not a great time to have a nose explosion, the security probably thought I was bringing in Ebola or some other diseases. Lucky the lady next to me (I think she was French) had tissues (which by the way where scented like angels). I clean myself up, check in to my domestic flight and boarded, finally arriving in Vegas at 8:22pm still on the 9th may (bloody time difference) to my host grandpa, mother and sister from my American exchange year in 2012 picking me up! 

29 hours travelling time in total and it's the most surreal feeling ever after being here again after being away 3 and a half years. 

Excited for the month ahead of me. I'll keep in touch. 

Stay fabulous, 

Rachel 💋

Leave Me Alone And Let Me Work

I'm not going to sit here and say that I've never thought a cashier, waiter or worker was cute at a restaurant that I've dined in BUT I can say that I have never intentionally made them feel uncomfortable or made an intentional inappropriate slur in their expense to their face. So forgive me if I am wrong in saying this but I expect the same amount of common courtesy in return. The amount of middle aged to old men that think it is okay to borderline harass me and the other girls I work with in the work place is ridiculous. It is not okay to suggest marriage, comment on my body or how nice my lips are regardless of how alpha you think you are. The main problem i have is when the comments are made I have no option but to ignore it, I'm at work and can not relatiate confidently without it potentially costing me my job. Whereas if this happened in the street or at a bar you could say how you really feel, throw a drink, hit them with your car or step on their foot; you know, harmless banter yeah?

Over the last few years whilst working in hospitality I have had to deal with people like this every day, the funny thing is it's never men my age (not that that would make it any better) but it's always the older crowd. Why? Probably boredom in their marriages or trying to pretend "they still got it", but who really knows. A few of the worst creepy comments Ive collected include (but are not limited too): 

• "Do you like children? Would you like to go halves in one?" 

• "My heart rate elevates when you enter the room" 

• *looks me up and down* "You have a sporty build, do you work out much?"

• "The only time I'd yell at you would be in the bedroom" 

I'm sorry but no one should have to deal with those unwanted comments at work, whether they be female or male. I hate to have to go on a sexual harassment rant but that's what it is. I'm trying to work, I'm trying to provide YOU a service and it's rather distracting when I'm having comments thrown at me about my physical appearance. 

CUT IT OUT IM OVER IT *SCREAMS*

Hope everyone else is having a good week, 

Stay safe and stand up for yourselves 

Rachel 💋

Silver linings

This week has been woeful. 

Everything that could go wrong did go wrong but instead of what I usually do (cry and eat) i have proudly become so insensitively numb to distasteful situations that I seem to just laugh at them and myself. I really am hopeless but what can you do?

This not throwing a tantrum thing though when things mess up... This is odd, and I think it may be called being an adult? I could be wrong though.

After reflecting on this new found skill I believe that ive learnt that instead of wasting time sulking Ived used that time productively to try and counteract or at least better a situation regardless of how bitter it may be (I accidentally get myself into some very bitter situations). For example on my way to get pizza last night I realised that I had no petrol so I decided I would stop to fill up on my way to the pizza store. Unfortunately around 750 metres from the service station my car completely stopped and I realised that I had run out of fuel completely and of course in typical Rachel fashion it was terrible timing, it was at a set of lights. Luckily I was on a hill and I could roll around the corner and park so I didn't hold up any traffic and cause an accident (silver lining). I just sat there in my car mortified at the sticky situation id got myself into and instead of throwing a hissyfit like I would have a year ago I sighed and picked up my phone and called my step mum who (bless her) brought me a jerrycan to fill up my poor car and I was back on the road and able to rescue my pizza from being thrown out after being left there for such a long time. 

When I got home after already having a bad day I found out whilst eating my rescued pizza  that I would have to move out of my place on unforeseen circumstances. Again, I could have gone and got ice cream out of the freezer and medicinally devoured it. Yet I spent the next few hours organising myself a new place instead (gold star Rachel). 

In short I seem to have learnt that no matter the situation there is no reason to work yourself into a state over it. Regardless of how tragic a day seems there are ALWAYS silver linings, some times you just have to dig deeper to find them. Everything happens for a reason and there is always a lesson to be learnt.

What did I learn yesterday? I learnt that no matter how much I hate filling up petrol it's inevitable and I need to stop being a sook and just man up and do it. 

Here I raise my tea cup to myself hoping next week is a better one. 

Stay fabulous. 

Rachel 💋