Rachel

 

Bridget Brown’s Blog Dec. 2022

 

 

I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving and are looking forward to celebrating the winter holidays.  This is always a fun time of year but definitely cold.  Keep warm and safe!

 

I just finished my classes at UIC and it is good to take a break.

I start up in early January and I will be on the east and west side of campus so it might take me a little time to learn how to get around.

 

I am so excited to write to you about two great friends of mine. Ashley and Rachel. You are in for a treat to learn more about them because they are both incredible people. I have known these women for most of my life. Both of them are wonderful self-advocates and they are celebrating the 1-year anniversary of living together.

 

Rachel ~

I met Rachel when I was two weeks old and we have been friends ever since.

Rachel loves to have fun and plan activities with friends.

She has 3 great jobs. She has worked at Lou Malanites for 10 years. She recently started working at Gia Mia.

She also works at the same school she attended when she was younger. She helps the 2^nd-grade children and reads to them.
She love going to the awesome life academy when she is not working. Some of her superpowers are:

 

·       she remembers how to do jobs.  She starts out with a list of activities she needs to do but quickly just remembers the things she must do and doesn’t need the list.

·       She speaks up for herself. 

·       Rachel taught Ashley how to be patient and Ashley taught Rachel how to speak up. 

·       she uses her phone to learn how to spell something and to look things up.  She speaks into the phone and it writes a text for her.   

·       Rachel is a great party planner

·       and she is learning how to be self-advocate. 

 

Ashley ~

Ashley has two brothers who are married and a nephew and niece. One of her brothers lives in Colorado and has a pet pig niece named Velma. 

She is going to Colorado and plans to ski with her brother and sister-in-law on Christmas day!

 

Ashley is an actress and the movie she was in, Gem Seeker, was just at the Skokie movie theater.  She walked the red carpet, and it was fabulous.  A limo picked the actors up and took them to the theater.  Pretty fancy!!

 

She has been doing acting for many years with the Ups for Downs theater group.  She was the lion in The Wizard of Oz.

Ashley is a hard worker and has had many jobs. She worked at Jewel, and at the Kane County Cougar games. She loved working at a nursery school and the kids loved her. Now she works at Burlington Coat factory and really enjoys it but her feet get sore after a long day of work.

Ashley graduated from a two-year program called Career Skills Institute at Harper College.  

 

Ashley’s super powers are:

 

·       Ashley is successful because she is super organized. She has a calendar on her phone and computer. She is fantastic with technology

·       She is resourceful at finding answers she doesn't know

·       She is super quick at thinking things out 

·       Ashley has a good heart and gives things away 

·       She is incredibly helpful and very determined!

·       She has a strong faith life and is very grateful 

·       She is a strong self-advocate 

·       Ash loves to laugh and have fun with her friends.

·       And she is good at brainstorming and thinking of new ideas and problem solving. 

 

 

Ashley and Rachel are room mates 

they have been living together for one year now. 

They have a fabulous home. Some of the things they love to do together are: 

·       They watch full house together 

·       They cook together 

·       Both of them take care of their home 

·       They really like hanging out together 

·       They love to have people over to their place and have parties 

·       They like to have their own rooms and have community gathering space as well.

·       They really enjoy doing crafts, coloring, making lists and working on their healthy lifestyle by finding great recipes.

 

 

Ashley and Rachel 

have been working on a healthy living lifestyle and both have lost weight and are feeling healthy!

They cook together and look for recipes that are healthy. They do a lot of swapping out bad food for good food.

They even started a project called “Just A Dollop”  

They are working on a recipe book and a website. They have you tube video and are working on teaching other people how to cook health food and enjoy cooking. 

Their first mini-Recipe book should be done in the spring.

They have a logo and are thinking about making t-shirts. 

Ashely has a few opportunities to talk about her “Just A Dollop” project coming up in 2023. More to come on how to connect with Ashley and Rachel and learn more about Just a Dollop!

  

 

I am so excited about this and so happy to learn a lot from Rachel and Ashley.

I hope you enjoy this time of year!  Happy New Years.  2023 is heading here fast!

 

Have a great holiday!

Bridget Brown