Tuesday, May 31, 2011

SOUTH AMERICA

To those of you who are new to to this little page, hello!
For the sake of my family (mostly my mother and grandmother)
and a few friends who want to know what I'm doing
while gallivanting across South America,
I'll spend the next 5 weeks writing about what I'm up to.

For those of you wondering what I'm talking about, 
I'll be spending the whole month of June in Chile, Brazil, and Peru 
with 28 other students and a few professors from the
Huntsman School of Business at USU. 
We will be visiting companies, sight-seeing, helping out at an eye-glass clinic, 
and working on a micro-finance project with the SEED program.
And I'll be getting 9 credits.
So, in other words, it's going to be great.

I leave for Santiago tomorrow at 5:00 a.m.



Sunday, May 29, 2011

Random Pre-trip Stuff...

 I leave for South America in 3 days! 
So glad it's (almost) finally here. 
I had a major minor freakout session last night
right before leaving Logan to come home.
I couldn't find my passport. Anywhere.
After THREE hours of searching and re-searching
every inch of my luggage, car, and bedroom...
we found it stuck behind one of my desk drawers.
Halle-freakin-lujah.

Anyway, after that minor heart attack I had the pleasure
of driving 2 hours home in a BLIZZARD. (May 28th what?)
I swear I'm moving to Arizona. 

BUT, I got to see my friends for a few hours
which is always great and usually leads to sore abs from laughing so hard.

When we were saying goodbye, Micall says to me:

"K be safe and have fun! Don't get caught in a hurricane
or an earthquake or some other natural disaster,
cuz if Sarah and I have to hop on a plane and come
dig you out of the rubble, I'm gonna be pissed."

And that, is why I love my friends.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Engagement Ring

Dear Future Husband,

If you really love me you will buy me a 20.5 carat engagement ring.

(via)

If Kim Kardashian can have one, why can't I?

XOXO,
Danielle

P.S. Whoever you are, if you really love me you'll know that I'm completely kidding.

*FYI: according to NY Daily News, wearing a ring this big is would be like strapping a deck of cards to your finger. Nooooooooo thank you!*

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Lovely

"When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life."
- John Lennon

Two very classy ladies, in my opinion.
(via)

And the Queen, what a cute little lady!
(via)

(via)

“it is never something huge that changes everything but instead the tiniest of details, irrevocably tweaking the balance of the universe while you’re busy focusing on the big picture.”
- sarah dessen

 (via)

“i don’t know how long i can do this, he said. i think the universe has different plans for me & we sat there in silence & i thought to myself that this is the thing we all come to & this is the thing we all fight & if we are lucky enough to lose, our lives become beautiful with mystery again & i sat there silent because that is not something that can be said.”
-brian andreas

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Ughhh.



You know that time you were sitting in some obscure math class and your professor said,
"YOU WILL USE THIS SOMEDAY!"?
And you thought to yourself, yeah right you're crazy!

Well they were right.

I hate it when they're right.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Can't a girl dream?

Ahhh, school is killing me!
(I'm halfway done though!)
Luckily it's been raining almost everyday so there are no sunny distractions...
When I got home tonight I couldn't study a second longer, 
so I watched My Fair Lady with my best friend Sarah.
I had never seen it before and to be honest I lost interest at about 2 hours into it...
I was however, fascinated by the library in the movie.
So, naturally I spent the last hour of the movie looking up pictures of libraries.
(It's such a LONG movie!)

You know those girls who just want to get married?
Or just love babies and absolutely can't wait to have them?
Well, that isn't me.
Don't get me wrong, I want those things too. 
But I don't think about them all that often...
I just want a house.
With a library.
Any of these will do:




(All four photos via)

 (via)

(via)

(via)

Okay, okay...I'll stop now.
But just so you know, I will have one of these someday. :)

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Please

(via)

 and...

(via)

Thank you :)

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

A Little Update/Some thoughts

Well, there hasn't been much time for blogging lately. 
Last week happened to be finals week, 
move-out-of-my-apartment week, 
and busiest week of the year at work with the local university's graduation and Mother's Day.
(I have the lovely job of being a server at a steak and seafood restaurant.)

Just when I thought I might drop dead from exhaustion, I started school again Monday. 
Ahhh, gotta love it...
On the bright side, I love my new classes,
they're only 3 weeks long,
and when they're over I'll be jetting off to South America!

I'll be writing a lot more about that soon.
But for now, I wanted to write about a post that I read this morning that I've been thinking about all day.

This post by Laura at A Diary of Little Things and Curiosities.
I'm telling you, that girl has a way with words. 
These two paragraphs really struck me because
I went through all of this not all that long ago (about a year and a half ago)
and I bet almost everyone has felt exactly the same way 
at some moment of his or her life:

"Yes. I, too, have been brokenhearted. And, well, truth is, I sometimes miss who I was then. No, I don't miss the desperation. I don't miss being the girl who moved through days as a shell of a person, a shadow of her former self. I don't miss the dull ache, the feeling of walking in a haze, the sensation of being in pieces--in fragile, sharp-edged pieces I didn't recognize.

What I miss is the fearlessness that emerged from the ruins. That feeling of having nothing, nothing at all, to lose. When you're heart is broken, you find and embrace an intimacy with yourself, a closeness to your own spirit, a kind and compassionate self-love that you can later forget to nourish. And in those most gut-wrenching hours of my own heartache, I remember turning inward, and to music, and to literature--toward any place where I knew I'd feel understood. Where I could find, if not the answers, then at least the most important and most compelling questions."
 
I remember searching and searching for anything that
helped me feel understood and helped me know that things would get better.
Because, I was certain at times that I would never feel better.
It's funny how dramatic it seems now...
I'm normally not a very dramatic person,
but I can honestly say that heartbreak makes you feel like you've gone crazy.
And maybe for awhile you do.
 
So for any of you going through this right now, 
I know it's hard, but it gets better.
One day you'll be like Laura and me and millions of others
who have experienced the same things
and look back and say, 
"I wouldn't want to go through that again, but now I know I can make it through anything."
 
And you'll realize that you're stronger, and more compassionate, 
and slowly you'll understand why you went through all those "gut-wrenching hours".
Because you learned so much and are a better person because of it.

"This is a good sign, having a broken heart. It means we have tried for something."
-Liz Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love)


Monday, May 9, 2011

Happy (late) Mother's Day


I know this is a day late, but I didn't have internet access yesterday!

This beautiful lady is the most amazing woman I know!
She puts up with me calling her 3,089 times a week...
She is an amazing example of selflessness...
We suffer from the same shopping addiction and have a blast spending all our money together...
Not to mention she flew thousands of miles to take a roadtrip through Europe with me. 
Yeah, I'd say I'm pretty lucky!

Happy Mother's Day to the best Mom I've ever had! :) 

Thursday, May 5, 2011

The way I see it : Number 2


Everyone needs a friend. I think it's safe to say that at least 90% of the time someone treats you badly, it's because they are going through a hard time or are insecure about something. If only you stop to listen, you might really be able to help someone.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

A bomb went off...


Okay, so maybe it wasn't a bomb...I'm just packing.
Gotta love the college life of moving every 9 months!