Besties

(In the above picture, I don't know why Rachel is squinting so much - that's weird. And I'm not really that chubby - I was 8 months pregnant. But this is the most recent pic of us I had)

I met my bestie, Rachel, on the steps of the GC chapel on the first day of freshmen orientation. Her parents snapped one last picture from afar of their daughter's first day at college before they left to go home - and, unbeknownst (that's a fun word!) to them, they captured the moment that Rachel and I met. Crazy! Anyway, our bestie status was not solidified until later that Fall on a late night run (and when I say late night, I mean late night!) to Denny's. While eating our Grand Slams and vanilla milkshakes at 1am, we learned that we both grew up on farms, that our dad's drove the same Ford Ranger (and they are both named "Bob"), that we both used to suck our hair (I know, it's gross now, but it was awesome when we were little kids) and that we both listened to country music. What?? How is it possible that I have met my twin and that we grew up nearly 200 miles apart?

Well, truth be told, though we have many similarities, we also have many differences. Rachel is an early to bed, early to rise kind of girl. I am not. She loves to stay active - I love to watch TV. I make all sorts of excuses as to why it's totally ok for me to watch The Bachelorette - Rachel pretty much won't let that smut enter her living room. (Smut, shmut!)

But we're besties. I can talk to her about anything, she holds me accountable, she is wise beyond her years, and she is super funny when you keep her up late at night.

Anyway, the point of all of this is to blog about my birthday gift to her - this book:

(Don't "click to look inside", I stole this image from Amazon.com)

It is a book of pictures taken by two friends who live on opposite ends of the United States. They took pictures each morning and sent them to each other every day. What an awesome idea! So, for Rachel's birthday, I sent her this book along with my commitment to send her a picture each day - a picture of my comings and goings and everything in between. Along with this, I guilted her into sending me a picture every day as well - what are besties for?!?!

I know we don't live across the country from each other (although sometimes I feel like NH is almost that far away!), but our lives are crazy all the time and this gift has enabled me to take a snapshot of my life each day - to find something beautiful each day to share with my bestie. Nearly everyday, Rachel gets a picture of Brooke - because Brooke pretty much takes up the majority of every single one of my days. But not always. Sometimes, Rachel gets pictures like these:

(Strawberry picking)

(The messy bedroom that I refuse to clean every day)

(My farm)

(This was today's pic - hangin' out at the lake)

Rachel nearly always sends me amazing pictures like these:

(Her dinner preparations)

(A Cape Cod sunrise)

(A walk by the ocean)

(This was today's pic - picking her own sunflower bouquet for a friend's wedding)

Because we only see each other a handful of times throughout the year, I am so happy that we took this endeavor on. To be truthful, we don't send pictures everyday. Some days, there is just no time to upload pictures, let alone TAKE pictures! But the best part is getting a snapshot into her life and her thoughts each day. Plus it is so fun to look back on all of our pictures and see where we've been. I can't wait to look back on March 25, 2011 and see our year in bestie pictures.

I love my bestie!