Here's the Northwest chapter of the Friends of Randi Society.
Rebecca
Rebecca has been my best friend since the 9th grade. She is the Jonathan to my David. The Frodo to my Samwise Gamgee. The Kool to my Gang. She lives in Oregon with her husband, Evan, and their three super-cute kids (soon to be four: Baby Anne will be born in October).
(L to R) Heather, Cameron, and Ewan
This last picture illustrates one of Rebecca's most loveable neuroses. She is obsessed with coordination. On Sunday morning, she picks out everyone's outfit for church, which must all be in the same color palette. If she is wearing earth tones, then everybody is wearing earth tones. And thank goodness Heather didn't want to be a fairy or a witch for Halloween, because that would have messed up the Star Wars theme. The kids' names are all Scottish (Anne isn't necessarily Scottish, but it has been in her Scottish family for generations). It probably drives Bec crazy that her own name is Hebrew, and therefore uncoordinated with the rest of the family.
Rebecca studied music at BYU Hawaii, and has the most beautiful voice you've ever heard...or not heard, as the case may be. She loves chocolate, So You Think You Can Dance, scrapbooking, reading, Stephen Sondheim, and talking for hours about both the trivial and the profound. She hates asparagus, scary movies, and Oprah.
CNash
CNash (The C stands for Cari) never lets me take her picture, so I have to resort to shots such as this, taken during a white trash-themed party we had last year. CNash has a degree in cosmetology, which I'm sure comes as no surprise after seeing her artistry in the above photo. Our families have been friends since the 60s, when my family moved to Kent. My siblings were friends with her siblings, and we are doing our part to keep the tradition alive.
My BYU friends will remember her: she came to visit for a week when we lived in B-31 (was it 31? I can't remember.)
Anyway, CNash is a total freak. For example, we went to a hamburger joint for lunch one day, and she ordered a cheeseburger, hold the onions, with an order of onion rings on the side. What the...? She hates raspberries, but loves raspberry jam. She loves bacon, but doesn't like bacon on burgers or sandwiches. She's a freak, right?
She also loves Kenny Chesney, The Rock, Motown music, and Friday Night Lights. CNash and I are also an UNBEATABLE team in Pictionary. We aren't allowed to be partners anymore, ever since the time she and I made it all the way around the board and won the game before anyone else even moved past the starting square. That's a true story.
She really is a beautiful girl. I'll try to scrounge up a nice picture of her...
Carrie
This is the picture that shows up on my phone when Carrie calls. Carrie and I have a relationship that makes a lot of people uncomfortable. We thoroughly enjoy thinking up cruel and horrible things to say to one another. Nothing is off limits. For example, tonight Carrie's sister Jen was talking about the bridal shower she is planning for her, and how great it is going to be.
Jen: "...and we're going to have gourmet dessert..."
Carrie: "Nuh-uh! Red's making it!"
However, our favorite thing to argue about is who sucks more at games (answer: not me). This is a picture of the birthday cake I made for her a couple of years ago:
Carrie teaches college prep-type classes to high school students who will be the first in their families to attend college. Her students worship her, and she is totally devoted to them. She puts in hours and hours of extra work that she never gets paid for. And there is nothing she wouldn't do for her friends. Ugh! It is killing me to write nice things about her and not say something sarcastic. Moving on...
Carrie likes playing, and apparently losing, all manner of board games, watching crappy TV shows like Prison Break, going to Red Robin and always ordering Clucks and Fries, and pretending like she knows anything about anything. She also likes Pepsi, Jay-Z, socialism, and as you all know by now, Celine Dion.
Ok, one more compliment: She plays a pretty mean air guitar. (Don't know why this video is sideways. Sorry.)
But she still sucks at games.
Shanon
Shanon, the poor fool, is Carrie's fiancee. He is probably the nicest guy you'll ever meet, which is so sad considering the harpy he's marrying.
Whatever Shanon loves, he loves passionately. He is obsessed with the Red Sox. He probably sends naked pictures of himself to Jacoby Ellsbury on a daily basis. His dream is to one day open a Red Sox bar in Seattle. He's trying to think of a good name, so if you have any ideas please send them his way. In direct proportion to his love for the Red Sox is his hatred of Derek Jeter, as you can see here:
Shanon also displays some serial killer tendencies. He is one methodical dude. You should see his handwriting. He should have his own font, it's so neat. And check out that tidy little stack of chicken wing bones on the plate in front of him, stripped clean and stacked up like he's playing Jenga or something.
Shanon is also the proud owner of a National Parks Passport, and is obsessed with getting a stamp from every National Park in the country. He has to do a few tester stamps to get the feel of the stamp and how it handles before stamping his actual passport. If the ink were to be unevenly distributed, his day would be shot to hell.
Anal retention aside, Shanon is an absolute winner. The following conversation between Carrie and one of Shanon's co-workers says it best:
Co-worker: (to Carrie) Can I help you with something?
Carrie: No, thanks. I'm just waiting for Shanon.
Co-worker: Yeah, aren't we all...
Sara and Kiki
Sara and Carrie have been best friends since they were little kids. In fact, she, Carrie, and CNash all grew up in the same neighborhood. Thirty years later, they're still whining about who got a bigger scoop of ice cream. Sara, Carrie, and Shanon moved to Boston at roughly the same time I did. After Boston, they moved to Phoenix, where Sara met Kiki. A couple of years later, everybody moved back to Seattle and we've been kickin' it ever since.
Sara is a lawyer, and teaches us all about how to work the system. Kiki is a GM for Old Navy, and always has the greatest stories about how truly horrible the general public can be. I love hanging out with these girls. Sara is so high-brow and proper, yet a total freak at the same time. Kiki pretends to be all tough and street, but is actually a big softy. You never know what to expect. It's awesome.
I also hang out with another lovely lady named Kellie. Unfortunately, the only picture I have of her shows just her forehead and maybe one eyeball. She is a great girl. She has way more energy than a mother of two should have. She is all about going, doing, and seeing. She does her best to drag my sorry tail away from the Catan table, and I'm grateful to her for that. I'm also grateful that a few years ago she forced me to sit down and watch the first episodes of LOST. Thank you, Kellie!
Ok, I've been working on this post for a week now. I'm just going to skip the proofreading and post this sucker. Peace out.
9 comments:
Just FYI Rad. I have no problem what so ever with my name. It is Hebrew, but "Rebecca" is the Galic (Scotish) spelling of the name...
Oh no you di'nt just post that picture of me! I almost choked on my water when that popped up on my screen. I may be a freak (that's undeniable) but raw onions are nasty! Unless of course in salsa or on a taco... but batter them up and deep fry them and you can't go wrong.
Randi, this is SUCH a cool post. I am so glad to get in on your world and your great friends out there. Now, do a throw-back to your Boston friends and I can provide some REALLY great pictures of us all (I'm pretty sure I took the first ever pictures of Becky and Tim when they were thisclose to becoming a couple. They were actually wrestling with each other, I kid you not.) I also have some great ones of our Catan playing, you behind the stove as usual, etc. I should send them to you anyway. Seriously, loved this post, and I hope to get out there one day to visit and meet all these folks.
WHAT THE CRAP IS WRONG WITH YOU? Of course it was B31!!! You must be getting old--are you sure you're not picking up some senility from Eunice (who looked so adorable in your 4th of July post, by the way)? OK, I will admit that your question made me pause for a minute, too. But it WAS B31. I remember. And even if I forget the address, I will never forget the color of that hideous green carpet--or the way the paint stripped off the bathroom walls when we tried to scrub the mildew off of them that one long night before cleaning inspections.
Just thinking about the long distant days when I got to spend lots of quality time with you makes me jealous of all your friends in the Seattle area--even if you always did bite off the best parts of my Great Harvest bread. Now that my brother has moved to Everett I may convince Greg that we need to scoot up there for a visit more often.
On a side note, "Rebecca" is technically the Greek spelling, but it is the one that shows up in Gallic languages due to the expansion of the Roman Empire...anyway...Rad--were you in that religion class with me where the professor said he'd never seen the name Rebekah spelled like mine before, and I asked him if he had ever read the Old Testament? I've never seen a man in his 50s look so sheepish.
Oh, don't you worry, BYU and Boston friends. Your turn will come. I will lay bare your eccentricities with great relish!
CNash, you are the only one to blame for that picture. Maybe you will hold still the next time I aim a camera at you. Besides, you should be proud of that makeup job.
Jeni, I need those pictures! I think you, more than anyone, would enjoy my circle o' friends out here. I think you and Rebecca would especially hit it off. Maybe you can be blog pals (the new pen pal?).
Bek, which religion class was it? I KNOW it wasn't Terry Ball. I think the only religion class we took together was Flake, right? Or what was that dude's name...Parrish? Did we take his class together?
Just you wait...you'll be losing your mind soon enough. But that's cool...we can be roommates again in the nursing home.
Must have been Flake. Of course it wasn't Terry Ball--how could it have been? I heard him speak at Women's Conference last year--still as awesome as ever. When you post about BYU, will you promise to use only pictures from that era--when I was young and cute and thin? That would do wonders for my current pregnancy induced body-image issues.
I promise to be your nursing home roomie only if you will sing songs like "Don't Fence Me In" and "Chattanooga Choo-choo" to entertain me. That's the only compromise I can see between my OCD and your being "organizationally impaired".
This was so cool to read. I've always heard you talk about these people. I've met a couple of them, but it was good to feel like I really know them now. Thanks for letting us into your friendship circle. Hilarious pictures and even better stories. Loved it. I especially love that you have such great friends who adore and love you - everywhere.
I think your peeps are very cool!
Dude. I totally recognized CNash even before I read that I really did meet her.
Did I say dude and totally in the same post? Sorry, I'm on cold meds.
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