-Photo taken from Google Images

I am currently reading “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert. I saw the movie of course, and bought a copy of the book some time later, hoping that one day, I would have the determination to read it. Loved the movie, Julia can do no wrong in my mind, and the book is proving to be a delight.

I just finished reading about Liz’s pursuit of pleasure in Italy, in particular the part when she talked about the word for Rome. Then she continued to assign words to other places she has been or lived such as New York and Los Angeles. She even tossed around words to describe herself, which I won’t mention because every woman should add this book to her reading list. It got me to thinking about the city I currently live in, and other cities I lived in before and the words that could describe those places. I also started to think about my own personal word.

-Photo courtesy of travelersdigest.com

I’ll start with Orange County, California the place I grew up and lived until I was 18. I include all of Orange County because we moved a few times within the county itself. I recall so many things about growing up in the O.C., I think about all the trends that came and went, but I would hardly say it is TRENDY. I think about all the people that live within the borders some nice, some not so nice, but would hardly call it DIVERSE. I’m going to go out on a limb and call Orange County ORGANIC (according to the dictionary on my Mac organic means: denoting a relation between elements of something such that they fit together harmoniously as necessary parts of a whole; characterized by continuous or natural development). That is how I see O.C., as different, and necessary parts that all fit together to make it whole that continue to develop naturally.

-Photo courtesy of Veneretravel.com

I lived in Las Vegas, Nevada for two and a half years while working on my graduate degree. What a place! I took some bad memories away from that place, I think a lot of people crossed that vien too, but I wouldn’t call Vegas REGRET. I also had some good times in Vegas, some very, very good times, but still I wouldn’t call Vegas FUN. A lot of unexplainable things happen in Vegas, some good, some not so good, my word for Vegas is MYSTERY. For example, it is a mystery to me how people who know of all the stereotypes and the horror stories, still go to Vegas thinking to themselves, “that would never happen to me.” It’s a mystery how the phrase, “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” managed to make it into our every day vernacular.

-Photo by Issac Moreno.

Last, but certainly not least is Honolulu, Hawaii. This place I currently call home, is also a place I once called home from 2004-2008 when I did my undergraduate work. I didn’t mean to fall in love with Honolulu, but I did. I made lifelong friends here, friends I still call friends even to this day. I discovered who I was here, not only that, but who I wanted to be. I almost became this place for while, ok not literally, but figuratively. So many words flood to my mind, like the feeling you get when you hang upside down too long. ETHNIC. RELATIVE. STUCK. ALOHA. Ok so aloha is technically Hawaiian, I never said they were all English words. LOCAL. COMPRESSED. My mom said it best recently, when she came to visit from, the O.C., she said that Hawaii, Honolulu in particular, is a place that can’t let go of the past, but hasn’t quite embraced the future. I haven’t forgotten it, and it rings in my head loudly. I think the word for Honolulu, is COMPROMISE. A place that longs to stay in the past, but can’t, and place that wants to move forward, but won’t.

Now it’s my turn. What is MY word?! WRITER? WIFE? DAUGHTER? SISTER? TEACHER? I could think of more categories I fall into. I like my first name a lot, RACHEL. But that doesn’t go well for these purposes. I have a plaque that my friend Amber bought me that reads “I’m kinda a big deal,” I’d like to say that describes me, but that isn’t just a word to sum me up as a person. I believe so deeply in so many things, but I would not call myself a BELIEVER. I work so hard and have accomplished so much, but I can’t say that my word is ACHIEVED. But, I do, and always have been a DREAMER. That is my word. Some might disagree, with all the words I’ve given tonight in fact, but like Liz Gilbert, I have to describe the word of me that reaches far throughout my extremities, the word that fills up every part of me. DREAMER, that is my word.

What’s yours??!!

We are hot, and we know it. Lama for life! At Makana's bridal shower.

I submitted a story about the night manta ray dive Bryce and I did for our one-year anniversary. Please visit the page and read about our adventure, and please read Bucket List Publications.

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by Rachel Aubrey

Unique experiences lead to unforgettable memories. That is the best way to describe the trip to the Big Island of Hawaii that my husband and I took for our one-year wedding anniversary. As a result of that trip, we were able to cross something off our bucket list: scuba diving in open water with manta rays. Full post

Please stay tuned, as I try to uncover the Sunrise Project!

Visit any one of the following blogs that I author for updates on work, teaching at HPU, and news from Black Sunglasses Media.

The Aubrey Tribune

Black Sunglasses Media

Rachel Toyer

For an assignment in my Electronic Journalism class, the students are going to update their own personal blogs starting this weekend. I look forward to following their blog posts and checking on their work throughout the semester.

FYI-Black Sunglasses Media is looking for writers! If you are interested, please visit us at Facebook, (facebook.com/blacksunglassesmedia) Twitter (@audreyfan) or email us at Rachelleeaubrey@gmail.com

There are those that  don’t believe, we’ll call them “non-believers,” that I get to live my dreams because I am a married woman. The non-believers say, that I could never be an independent woman, because I have to answer to “the man.” What they don’t realize is I am more independent than I’ve ever been. These same non-believers say that they don’t need “a man,” they are perfectly fine on their own, yet these non-believers try, and fail, to fall in love with the wrong men. They don’t know what love is. Their dreams, the things they dream about, are what give them wings to fly, to soar even, past all those who would dare to stand in their way. I dare not judge the non-believers, for I know that I was once in their shoes, and felt  then what they feel now. The thing about dreams is that they come and go, they grow and expand, and when the dreams are achieved and realized, new ones take their place. I’ve dreamed big dreams, yet my dreams have always involved the only person who could make all of my dreams come true:

He is my dream, the day I said yes.

The dream I dreamt about all life long.

The dreamers say, I couldn’t dream, with that one who should come along.

What are the dreams dreamers dream about?

He is my dream, the day I said yes.

As we walk side by side, my dreams come alive.

The dreamers say, those dreams are a waste of time.

What are the dreams dreamers dream about?

Now my dream has come true.

The dreams dreamers dream are my reality they see,

and better than the dreams they dreamt before.

For those who haven’t heard, I started teaching last week at Hawaii Pacific University. I teach an introduction course to communication and a journalism course. I’m on campus more now than I was as a student and I am still trying to grasp the idea that I get to do something I’ve always considered doing as a profession. My mom actually made an observation that I’ve technically been going to “school” since I was 3 and I’m not sick of it yet, and I’m not. I still consider myself a student even though I’m the one standing up in the front of the class now because I am always willing to learn.

My passion for education didn’t erupt until about a year and a half ago but even when I was little teaching is something I always thought I could do. After a semester of student teaching at UNLV I knew I could do it and be happy. If you would’ve told me seven years ago when I was a freshman at HPU that I would one day be lecturing about communication at HPU, I would’ve probably suggested you had a fever and to take Tylenol. Truth be told I didn’t know until a little after Bryce and I got married that I could, meaning I had the skills and confidence, to teach at HPU. I would like to thank John Windrow for the extra help in seeing to it that I got hired and for believing in me then and continuing to believe in me now.

How many people can say that are at their dream job? How many people talked about “growing up to be….” and actually became that thing? I’m extremely fortunate because I can say this now and be proud that what I’m doing is hopefully going to make a difference to someone, somehow, somewhere.

This is my dream, to do something that matters. We see education constantly trying to overcome hurtles that make it impossible for kids to learn and develop and it is sad. Education is a commodity and students are the consumers and they are the only consumers that want less for their money (a concept borrowed from Dr. Kearns of HPU).

“Education is the key to proficiency,” said Gordon B. Hinckley and you know something, he is right. To me this life is about knowledge and choices and I hope that I can give some student the knowledge to make the best choices for his or her self. I hope that those who want to learn will have nothing in the way to stop them and that like me, they can grow up to have their “dream job.”

I’m optimistic and enthusiastic, but this is only the second week of the first semester in a long lasting career of education and even though it may be challenging, I am professor Aubrey and class is most definitely in session.

As we were flying I would listen to the controllers in the background, and I felt very proud, because I knew that my husband’s job was truly cool and it is truly a respected profession. The perspective Bryce got from our pilot Yuki during that brief flying lesson will hopefully help him up his game, not that it needs to be up’d, and make him a more cognizant controller.

I know pride has its faults, but I can’t help but feel so when I see a plane take off and soar above Ala Moana and continue on such and such heading past Waikiki as it flies to the mainland, or some other part of the world. I think to myself, my husband sent that plane off, even if he didn’t. Although training this past year and a half has been stressful at times, it will all pay-off at the end of the year when he is fully and utterly a certified air traffic controller.

Jana and I spent a lot of time together being crazy, I even got her to drink a Coke before she left, shhh! I think we saw each other everyday of the week prior to them leaving.

We really miss having them as part of our island posse, but we wish them well on their next adventures and hope we see them again soon.

The gang at a evening bbq in Hawaii Kai.

Stephen's concentrating real hard on his ice cream birthday cake.

Jana, Beth and Rachel underwater

We were running with rocks underwater at Waimea

It’s August already and as I look forward to beginning my  teaching career at HPU, Bryce is training on another radar position at work. Last month he “certified” on a position which means he gets to continue progressing in his training to becoming fully certified as an air traffic controller. I tease Bryce all the time because he can remember every single airplane that takes off but when I ask him something he manages to forget. We’re both thrilled that he loves his job and that we are able to live here on Oahu and enjoy the weather and the water. Our latest preoccupation is watching old episodes of Lost, the TV that was hugely popular  a few years back.  We didn’t pay attention while it was on air but now we watch it on Netflix and love the fact that the commercials are non existant. I think we were both skeptical at first but it has become very intriguing and so now we are kind of hooked. Not only are we hooked on Lost, but also on The Cosby Show!

I can’t believe it’s August already!