Countdown...

Inspired by a friend I have a list of countdowns

2 days left and it's the GWAA Christmas Party!!
3 days left and it's my company's Christmas Party!!!
10 days left and I leave for DISNEY!
16 days left I get back from Disney :(
17 days left and I host a bachlorette party!!
18 days left and it's Teia's bday!!
19 days left and Teia stops in Houston (she's stationed in England)
20 days left and it's Matt's Birthday
21 days and it's Christmas Eve
22 days it is my first Christmas with my husband
23 days left and it's Dennis's Birthday
24 days left and it's Prinya and Kaele's Birthdays
27 days left and it's my 1 year anniversary when Ryan proposed in Vegas
29 days left and it's 2009 and Angelique's Birthday!!
31 days left and it's L&S Wedding Funness!!!!!

56 hours....

....and I will be getting married to my best friend!


So in honor of us getting married on the 26th here's 26 random things that have happened in the past 7 months or about us
1. We got engaged on Dec. 30, 2007. Excatly 8 months after we started dating.
2. Our first date was at the Post Oak Grill, where we got the same thing to eat.
3. Our second date was Spiderman III and Nit Noi.
4. We have traveled together and we are great traveling partners.
5. Buddy became my dog too :)
6. We have made 3 ER Trips
7. I had my gallbladder out
8. We both met the other's parents before we had even dated 2 months
9. We both like blue
10. Ryan always pulls off surprises
11. I love to cook for Ryan
12. We make it work
13. I love Ryan's hugs
14. We are planning on going to Disney
15. We are contemplating moving out of the loop in the coming years.
16. Buddy hates it when we are apart
17. I am amazed at how we have both grown in the past few months.
18. We are super silly crazy about each other.
19. I know we will grow old together, walkers, canes and rocking chairs
20. We are excited about kids!
21. We always try to make the other and ourselves happy
22. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
23. Our families are awesome
24. Our families first met Wednesday November 21, 2007. At Cavatore's!
25. We have the same color gorgeous green eyes!!!
26. I can't wait to be the new Mrs. Rachel Benke Harrell

10 days to go..

I realize today that in 10 days and a few hours that I will be the new Mrs. Ryan Harrell.... Wow... I think back to last year and I knew I was going to marry Ryan. I think back to 16 months and we were just starting to commnicate... I was working the Rodeo and moving.... 17 months ago I was hanging out with Prinya and wondering what I was going to do with my life... 20 months ago.. I was debating on even moving back to Houston... Glad I did.. I met the love of my life!!!!!!!!! I am so excited about you reading all of this.. It's been hard not telling you!!! I love you... I can't say it enough.. so here are 112 days I would if I could :)

1. English - I love you
2. Latin - Te amo
3. Pig Latin - I-yea Ove-lea Ou-yea
4. Hindi - Main tumse muhabbat karta hoon
5. Punjabi - Main tainu pyar karna
6. Bengali - Aami tomaake bhaalo baashi
7. Gujarati - Tane Prem Karoo Choo
8. Tamil - Naan Unnai Kadhalikiren
9. Telugu - Nenu Ninnu Premisthunnanu
10. Sri Lankan - Mama oyata arderyi
11. Kapangpangan - Kaluguran daka
12. Farsi - Tora dost daram
13. Arabic - Ana ahebik
14. Turkish - Seni seviyorum
15. Kurdish - Ez te hezdikhem
16. Lebanese - Bahibak
17. Japanese - Kimi o ai shiteru
18. Chinese - Ngo oi ney
19. Mandarin - Wo ai ni
20. Taiwanese - Gwa ai lee
21. Korean - Dangsinul saranghee yo
22. Cambodian - Kh'nhaum soro'lahn nhee'ah
23. Hmong - Kuv Hlub Koj
24. Laon - Khoi hak jao
25. Filipino - Mahal ka ta
26. Malay - Saya cinta pada mu
27. Thai - Chan raak ther
28. Indonesian - Saya cinta padamu
29. Javanese - Aku terno kowe
30. Burmese - Chit pa te
31. Bisaya - Nahigugma ko nimo
32. French - Je t'aime
33. German - Ich liebe dich
34. Bavarian - I mog di narrisch gern
35. Swiss-German - Ch'ha di ga"rn
36. Spanish - Te adoro
37. Madrid lingo - Me molas, tronca
38. Basque - Nere maitea
39. Catalan - T'estim
40. Esperanto - Mi amas vin
41. Creole - Mi aime jou
42. Lojban - mi do prami
43. Portuguese - Eu amo te
44. Italian - Ti amo
45. Greek - S'ayapo
46. Macedonian - Te ljubam
47. Albanian - Te dua
48. Dutch - Ik hou van je
49. Flemish - Ik zie oe geerne
50. Vlaams - Ik hou van jou
51. Friesian - Ik bin fereale op dy
52. Luxembourgish - Ech hun dech ga 'r
53. Gaelic - Tha gaol agam ort
54. Welsh - Rwy'n dy garu di
55. Irish - Taim i' ngra leat
56. Maltese - Inhobbok
57. Icelandic - Eg elska thig
58. Greenlandic - Asavakit
59. Danish - Jeg elsker dig
60. Norwegian - Jeg elsker deg
61. Swedish - Jag a lskar dig
62. Finnish - rakastan sinua
63. Polish - Kocham cie
64. Hungarian - Szeretlek
65. Bulgarian - Obicham te
66. Romanian - Te iubesc
67. Yugoslavian - Ja te volim
68. Czech - Miluji te
69. Slovak - Lubim ta
70. Bosnian - Volim te
71. Croatian - Volim te
72. Serbian - Volim te
73. Russian - Ya tyebya lyublyu
74. Ukrainian - Ya tebe kokhayu
75. Estonian - Mina armastan sind
76. Latvian - Es tevi milu
77. Lithuanian - Tave myliu
78. Armenian - Yes kez si'rumem
79. Assyr - Az tha hijthmekem
80. Kazakh - Men seny jaksy kuremyn
81. Yiddish - Ikh hob dikh lib
82. Bicol - Namumutan ta ka
83. Berber - Lakh tirikh
84. Amharic - Afekrishalehou
85. Moroccan - Kanbhik
86. Tunisian - Ha eh bak
87. Somali - Waan ku gealahay
88. Kenyan - Aheri
89. Lingala - Nalingi yo
90. Ugandan - Nkwagala Nyo
91. Zulu - Mena tanda wena
92. Ndebele - Niyakutanda
93. Hausa - Ina sonki
94. Shona - Ndinokuda
95. Swahili - Nakupenda
96. Afrikaans - Ek is lief vir jou
97. Vulcan - Wani ra yana ro aisha
98. Tahitian - Ua here au ia oe
99. Hawaiian - Aloha wau ia oi
100. Samoan - Ou te alofa outou
101. Brazilian - Eu te amo
102. Bolivian - Qanta munani
103. Hokkien - Wa ai lu
104. Apache - Sheth she 'n zho 'n
105. Cheyenne - Ne mohotatse
106. Chickasaw - Chiholloli
107. Hopi - Nu' umi unangw'ta
108. Mohawk - Konoronhkwa
109. Navajo - Ayor anosh'ni
110. Sioux - Techihhila
111. Zuni - Tom ho' ichema
112. Eskimo - Nagligivaget

12 Days to go..

Hmmm... There are only 12 days and hours left until I am the new MRS. Rachel Harrell. I am super excited. I am not nervous about Marrying Ryan only about getting all of the details taken care of. I have known for a good long while I was going to Marry Ryan.. I don't know how I knew it's the cliche I just knew... but I believe it was more God placing a calming feeling in my and him laying his hands on me saying "Rachel, this is the man that I made for you, to marry, to grow old with, to support and that will support you. The man that is to be the love of your life forever and always." It has just been known in me that I was going to marry him sooner than laters. It has been an amazing feeling, one I never questioned. And I can't believe that people start showing up in 10 days (well 9 with his parents) to witness our wonderful wedding ceremony!!!!!!

I am trying to experience these last few days as just fiances to the fullest... and I know that our lives together as husband and wife will be spectacular!!! The new chapter will hold wonderful and amazing things. I know there will be hard times and I know that we might get aggravated but in the end we will grow old together fully in love and supportive of each other.
I Love you Honey!

We met one year ago.... (3 days shy)

We had our 1 year anniversary celebration this weekend... and it was AWESOME! Ryan really knows how to treat and surprise me!!! He is the best! First I came home to FLOWERS.. I love flowers :)


Next he took me to Mark's... A really nice restaurant here in Houston. We had a really lovely dinner and then creme brulee for dessert!! I loved it!!! Then when it was time to leave we had to walk back down the stairs... and I BIT IT about halfway down. LUCKILY I managed to save myself from stumbling all the way down but I came down on my knee about two stairs further down. My DAMN RIGHT KNEE gave out again... and man is it bruised, so is my shin and the top of my foot. Needless to say the WHOLE restaurant went silent.... "cricket cricket"



Next we headed to Sambuca to listen to some Jazz music and have a drink. Then it was onto the Aquarium to catch a carriage ride around Houston. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL and ROMANTIC. My Honey is the best!




Overall It was a fantastic evening...

Saturday some of my girl friends (Cara, Ryan, Ashley and Shannon) came over to help me stuff my invitations. Mom showed up to finish addressing (she has great handwriting) and we finished almost all of them!!! I am so excited to have that over with!!! Just a few more addresses and we are done!! WOOOO HOOOO

1 year...

WOW.. I can't believe Ryan and I are days away from our 1 year mark!!! If you asked me in the weeks before I met Ryan I would have said... I love life, I am fine with being single, guys are mostly stupid, taken or not straight. I was having fun with life though. I remember telling Cindy Mclaughlin that I was done with guys and that I was just going to enjoy life until I met the man of my dreams... but that I hoped that when I met him it would be "easy" for me and I would just know... not some drawn out 2-3 years of dating or on again off again type of thing... I really just wanted to know and be at peace about it... and then it happened... I got an email from eharmony saying I was "matched" to this guy named Ryan, 36, Houston, and some job title that I had no idea what it meant.. HA HA HA HA HA

I remember "communicating" with him and him taking FOREVER to respond... I was so frustrated and I kept telling Cindy.. Why does this bug me so much?? I don't even know this guy... Wow I don't know what I would have done with out Cindy!!! Luckily she and her hubby (David) helped me out with what to wear.. and on April 30, 2007.. I met my future husband.. I remember a lot about that day.. it's weird.. they always tell you that you'll just know and you'll remember a ton from that day.. and I always thought they were crazy.. but it's true.. Cinderella stories do come TRUE!!!

Food I Miss... 94 Days to go :)

1) Good bread: Fake butter isn't the same without you.

2) Chocolate: oh how I miss you dark chocolate

3) Ice cream: I'm onto Skinny Cow

4) Pastry's

5) Gravy/Alfredo Sauce/Other fattening Condiments

The Weekend... and a move..

Our weekend went by really quickly. Friday I went over to my "old" apartment to start/finish packing everything up. We (mom, dad and I) had moved all of the boxes already. We mainly had the kitchen and odds and ends to clean up/off! So we did that, took what needed to be taken to Ryan's and grabbed some dinner at Dry Creek. I promptly fell asleep as soon as we finished.

Saturday morning Ryan and I grabbed breakfast and met up with my dad, Steve and Russell at the apartment to take the rest of the big items to a trail and on to the parents house. During all of the commotion my mom managed to find a dog to pet... HA HA HA if you don't know my mom that is a moment that happens quiet often, she seeks them out.. they seek her out... she loves dogs... NEWAYS the funny thing this time is that the ower of this dog was Meredith H. We went from Elementary school through High school together. We were apart of the same group of friends back in Elementary and intermediate school. We caught up just a little bit and then I had to get back to (un)packing. We got everything moved to my parents house and I got the joy of hooking up the computer. James, Ashley, Abigail (daughter) and Kristen came over to see the craziness that insued :) We then proceeded to try and grab dinner in Old Town Spring but forgot about the Crawfish Boil... so Mexican it was :) Then Ryan and I ran errands and he managed to get us some tickets to Wanda Sykes


SHE WAS HILARIOUS!!! RYAN AND I ARE STILL LAUGHING AT SOME OF THE THINGS SHE SAID!!! HA HA HA HA HA


Sunday we managed to get a lot done around the house, unpacking and throwing away stuff.... we unpacked 10ish boxes... and rearranged.... It's a lot to do. Last night I went over to try and do some more unpacking and managed to empty another 5-6 boxes and rearrange some more. There is a lot more to do before the family starts showing up in a few weeks!!!!!!!!!!

99 days...

I can't believe it is 99 days til the wedding. In 100 days I will be the new Mrs. Rachel Benke Harrell. I love it... I can't believe that I finally found my prince. I am so glad that my life took the path it did. Granted it was a little bumpy with a few twists and turns but in the end it was God's path for me to take and struggle through to get me to this point in my life. I am truly blessed to have Ryan in my life. In 13 days we will hit our 1 year mark. 343 days ago we met each other for the first time for a lunch date. I remember vividly frantically calling Cindy McLaughlin to ask her what to wear.. ha ha ha Her awesome husband David told me to wear jeans to appear more at ease. I can't believe it has been almost a year!!!!!!! Blessed are these days given to us by God!

The last 8-ish Months...

Today has been more calm than the last 8 days. Let's recap things:

Today has been more calm than the last 8 days. Let's recap things...Shall we?
Ryan and I met on Eharmony... We started talking (from what we can remember) about mid March. I remember it being a long time (well longer than I wanted) because I kept telling a friend Cindy that it was taking him forever to write me back. We had our first real date on Monday April 30th for lunch at the Post Oak Grill. It lasted a little longer than we were expecting but neither of us noticed. That Friday we went and saw Spider Man III and were practically inseparable since.
I went to visit The Bean's over Memorial Day weekend and as we were chitchatting via text messaging he asked me to go to Vegas with him to celebrate Laura's Birthday.. I said yes!

April 30th - First Date - Lunch at the Post Oak Grill

May 4th - Spiderman III - Opening Night
May - 16-20 - RA - Canyon Lake and Schlitterbahn
May 25th-28th - Memorial Day weekend in Denver

June 8-10 - Harrell Family Reunion
June 14 - Dinner with the Boyer's
June 16th - Dinner for Father's day
June 17th - 22nd - ESRI Conference - RA in San Diego
June 23rd - Danny Surprise Party
June 29-31 - Austin for Figer Wedding
July 4th - July 8th - Lake Conroe

Labor Day Weekend- Rustin, Clarissa and Mackenzie to Houston
September 8th - Waco for Baylor vs Rice game
September 14th - Ryan's Birthday
September 29th - Cyrus Wedding Shower

October 5th - Dinner with the Boyers and Blue Man Group
October 6th - Ryan cheered me on in the Susan B. Komen 5 K Run
October 13th - The Play with the Boyers
Oct 14th - 16th Ryan to Seattle
October 20th - Laura's Halloween Party
October 21-26th - Rachel to FTW
October 27th - Patti's Halloween Party then the Clear Lake Party
October 31st - Ryan - chest pains

November 3rd - Ryan helps dad with lights
November 9th - Dinner with My parents for my bday and Ryan helps with Christmas Lights
November 10th - Celebration time at Howl at the Moon!
November 14th My bday
November 15 - 19th - Puerto Vallarta - Cyrus's Wedding
November 19-20 - Ryan NY
November 20 - Rick and Nita to town
November 21st - Lucy Exhibit and Dinner with both parents
November 21st - Rustin, Clarissa and Mackenzie to Houston
November 22nd - Lunch with the Benke's/Dinner with the Harrell's
November 24th - Ryan to ER with chest pains again - Rustin/Clarissa/Mackenzie and My mom and next door neighbor to Nutcracker
November 25th - RY - Washington DC

December 1 - PWC Christmas Party
December 8 - EOG Christmas Party
December 14th - 15 - Waco and then Stephenville then back to Waco
December 19th I get surprise that Ryan is coming back from NM with me for Christmas
December 20th - To: Artesia NM
December 22nd - Meet lots of people and have Christmas with Rustin/Clarissa/Mackenzie
December 24th fly home to Houston, Church at 5 then to the Milstead Christmas party
December 25th - Christmas Celebrations and Steve passes away :(
December 26th - Ryan and I go to "After Christmas Sales" shopping and Laura informs us she is backing out of the trip to VEGAS! At this point Ryan decides he has been given a golden opportunity to propose to me in Vegas so he goes to work in his brain on how to pull this off.
December 27th - mom and I go to the Trans Siberian Orchestra Concert that ended up running 3 hours. Ryan during this time was supposedly "working" and was dealing with a "huge" issue that had come up. IN REALITY he was on the phone with my father trying to set up a time that they could talk and visiting with his "jeweler". He had left his suitcase at my parents house and I was going to help him pack on the 28th b/c he had so much work to do.
December 28th - While I am asleep Dad is "taking" Ryan his suitcase so that Ryan can unpack and get things organized. IN REALITY they met for coffee off of 1960 and I-45 and talked for 1.5 hours... Then he eventually came home and we went to what-a-burger for food and then the parents were off to Halletsville for Steve's funeral and I went to pack and then to Ryan's house to pack him.. When I walked in he was on his computer and talking about how he was going to have to go to the office later to print some stuff out to get mailed.. and I fell for that hook, line and sinker.
December 29th - We left early in the morning for VEGAS. We checked in early at the hotel and then ate lunch at Claim Jumper and then went to Hoover Dam in our Silver H3. We had fun, we took the power plant tour and enjoyed the picture taking time. Then we finally got back to the hotel and relaxed and went to dinner at _______________.
December 30th - Ryan was being a goofball all day, but nothing out the ordinary. We went through several hotels including the Venetian, and we got to see the White tigers and dolphins and even a baby dolphin....____________________. We stopped at several stores and at one point he even asked me if I knew what kind of ring I wanted.. I told him if he didn't know by now oh well... He told me we had to be ready to walk out the door for dinner at 5. 5 was a little early as our show wasn't until 1030.. I just asked and he said he wanted to take me somewhere else fun.. So i said okay and went back to my non-work thoughts :) We got dressed in our stylish clothing ;) and went off to dinner.. I wasn't really paying attention to where we were going b/c I was with Ryan.. he always knows how to treat me and take care of me.. so I knew it would be a good surprise.. :) The fountains in front of the Bellagio came on so I was watching those and not really paying attention to where we were going.. We ended up at the Eiffel Tower. I was so excited about being there that it didn't even occur to me what he could have up his sleeve! (ironically I had made a comment months ago saying that he didn't have to sweep me off my feet and take me to Paris and the Eiffel tower just be sweet and romantic about the proposal.) As we were getting on the elevator Ryan got all nervous and fidgety, he said it was because of the heights... We got upstairs and he wouldn't let them take his jacket.. but I didn't question it really... They sat us down at the a little corner table and Ryan ordered a bottle of wine. We ordered an appetizer and started talking and I was watching the fountain show again at the Bellagio! He then proposed a toast and said something to the affect of "Here's to 2008 being a great year" then I said a corny funny Cheer b/c that is just me... then he said he had one more Christmas present for me.. AT THAT MOMENT I realized he has pushed his chair back and had his hand in his left pocket. I thought to my self.. THERE IS NO WAY.. Just no way... oh crap! He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him and before his knee even hit the ground I was bawling... I just couldn't' stop. I was so incredibly happy!!!!!!!!!!! Then we started calling everyone.

Jan 1st - Saw some more casion's and then gambled at Bill's for hours then went outside to the Strip and counted the new years down and saw all of the fireworks
Jan 2nd - went to a few more casino's and then played some Texas Hold'em at the Flamingo then went and saw KA that night for our other show.
Jan 3rd Our flight was at 640 in the MORNING - we got home from VEGAS and went to three reception sites.
Jan 4th We booked the church for July 26th, 2008 for our wedding day!!!!!!!!! That afternoon around 130 I got the wild hair to go look at bridesmaid dresses and ended up looking at bridal gowns. I had called mom to come see too.. so we started the process of looking at dresses... and ended up finding the perfect dress. I wanted to get someone elses opinion so I called to see if Amanda was on her way yet to Houston... she wasn't and so i started to call Cara and Kristen. Cara was sick and Kristen was getting off work.. and she was able to come to the place and look at them.. I ended up getting it :)
Jan 4th -6th Amanda/Chris/Dylan came to town for a wedding of their own :)
Jan 5th - Mom, Me, Kristen and Amanda went to the Bridal Extravaganza - IT WAS CRAZY THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That afternoon we were given the opprotunity to go see another reception site that was all set up for a wedding... Then we went to dinner (Ry, Me and My parents) to discuss matters of the reception sites
Jan 6th - I sorted through stuff and Ryan surprised me with going to the movies to see P.S. I love you.. It was a great bawl your eyes out movie... made me cherish my time with Ryan even more... if that is possible
Jan 7th - Booked the Marriott Waterway for our Reception :)
Jan 8th - TODAY - I am so hpapy to have 3 big pieces out of the way but I know I have so much more to do Photographer and DJ are the next big things... I am praying for patience and guidance as we go down this road of marriage. I really believe Ryan and I are meant for each other and I am shown that almost daily.