the first week of november

Happy November!

As promised, I have more pictures of the Lakeside Baptist fall fest:

:)

Today the fundraiser Aunt Becky has been planning for what seems like forever finally happened!

Hannah wanted to build a soccer field for kids in Burundi, Africa, and her mama made her wish come true!

We met our goal, and then some.

I painted my face.

Have a lovely weekend!

:)

xoxo,

Danielle

fall fest weekend

Happy Halloween!

My Hannah is so indecisive.

I can't relate to that at all.

(kidding)

;)

Joey, enjoying the ride.

Cotton candy!

I like to describe it as "magical clouds of sugar that melt in your mouth".

Elizabeth, with her scarecrow face paint.

(and me, with my dancing candy corn.)

This was one of the best days for a hammock.

The weekend was so fun. :)

The weather was great (if a little windy) for Fall fest... both times!

The Holy Family festival was very well done, with a ferris wheel and everything.
They really went the whole nine yards.
I can't wait to go again next year!

Hopefully I'll be able to get more pictures of Lakeside Baptist's fall festival.
It was also very well done, and included Trunk or Treat.
(people decorate the trunks of their cars as stations for handing out candy. It's like Trick or Treating, but more organized... and with cars.)

The weekend was also filled with my dear friend, Elizabeth.

I will miss her sorely when she moves back to Alabama.

<3

On another note, I am quite proud of myself for mailing both a package and a letter today.

I write letters and thank you notes quite often, but consistently forget to send them.

Mornings are not my thing.

Speaking of mornings, I found the perfect recipe for breakfast this week!

(assuming I can find time to make it, that is.)

How delicious does Oatmeal Banana Chocolate Chip Cake sound?

And even better....

it's vegan.

The great thing is that supposedly you can't even tell how good it is for you!

I can't wait to try it.

Have a fantastic Halloween!
I'll post pictures of my costume later on.
:)

xoxo,
Danielle

thoughts, Tristan, and toddlers

Hey :)

It's been a crazy week! 

This is my thought process:

Yesterday was fun!

I got 5 hours of community service hours through decorating (not a bad way to earn hours), and then picked up Tristan to hang out all day. 

There's no limit to the things you can do in a Super Target with lots of time to kill.

My sister and I stayed at Tristan's house for his great uncle's birthday party...

we didn't know his name until we sang Happy Birthday.

Also, apparently it's awesomely normal to sing Happy Birthday both in English and in Spanish when you belong to a family of Puerto Ricans.

It was cool.

:)

Earlier this week, I went to the Myraun's house to watch the kids for a bit.

They're so flippin' cute.

I'm pretty sure that the only time Hannah puts her feet on the table is when I'm there.

I don't technically encourage it, but it is pretty funny.

We ate pizza.

Phase 1...

... and Phase 2.

This is how Joey likes to blow on/lick his pizza.

Like I said:

 so flippin' cute.

I get to go back to their house today! :)

The weekend should be fantastic.

(Friday just so happens to be my birthday.)

However, since today is Wednesday (and not Friday), I'd better do my laundry.

Actually, Wednesday has nothing to do with it.

Mostly it's the issue of not having any clothes clean. 

xoxo,

Danielle

Camp 2012

Hi :)

I got back from camp today!

It was absolutely incredible.

Louie Giglio is such a fantastic pastor.

God gave him all the right words to say.

Worship was amazing, too.

Chris Tomlin played during the evening sessions, and the mosh pit was always crowded.

The bus rides were actually pretty funny.

On the first one, I fell asleep and have a picture to prove that I am not a pretty sleeper.

I'm fairly certain that I showed it to everyone that wasn't on my bus.

Obviously, the beach was awesome.

I personally didn't go surfing at sunrise, but others did.

(I stole these pictures from the 'others' Facebook pages)

Isn't it gorgeous? :)

Well, I'm off to Dreamland to hopefully catch up on sleep.

Rest is not a common resource at a camp as crazy as ours.

(crazy good, that is.)

xoxo,

Danielle

Happy Forth of July! (oh, and I may have hiked yesterday)

Happy 4th!

Today was good :)

We travelled to Uncle Mike's house for a cookout/pool party.

I went vegetarian, but I heard that the chicken was very good.

We swam, too!

(second cousin Chris and his wife Allison with their son, Jack)

Later on, Uncle Mike took us to his nice neighbor's pond.

Actually it was more of an expansive garden.

Basically the neighbor planted flowers and trees around a natural spring that had created a very long stream, which eventually leads to a pond.

(or something like that)

We even walked in the stream!

I didn't fall once, and it was awesome. :D

By the way, yesterday I wasn't even on Facebook until about 11:30 at night.

That is the majority of the reason why I did not blog.

Dad and I went back to Lach Raven, but this time we hiked a bit. :)

(we ate raspberries right off the bush)

Yeah, we stick our heads out from behind trees.

It's only because we're cool.

Maybe we'll start a trend.

Anyway, tomorrow is our last day in Maryland and although it's gorgeous up here and visiting family is nice, I am very ready to go home.

Next week is camp, so I'll have about a day (Sunday) to do laundry.

{We'll probably spend the night in NC again on our way back, which puts us at Saturday as a return date}

Fingers crossed that tomorrow goes well, and that packing will be a breeze!

Since I may or may not have time to blog tomorrow or Friday...

... Have a lovely weekend. :)

xoxo,

Danielle

Friday faves

Happy Friday :)

Here are my favorites from this week.

Descriptions will be short and sweet!

(all pics found on Pinterest)

1.) It's a baby llama! As I've said before, I have no idea why I like llamas. I was first introduced to the idea of keeping them as pets when I watched Napoleon Dynamite.

2.) The print is quite small, but it says 'So many books to read'. It's quite true. There never seems to be enough time in the world. It does help though that sequels are rarely as good as the first book. With that in mind, I don't always feel the need to continue a series. 

3.) How cute is this?? If a kid went trick-or-treating in this outfit and happened upon my doorstep, I would give him my whole bag of candy. 

4.) These dresses are so gorgeous. :) Lately I've been attracted to sparkly and/or glittery things more than usual.

5.) Again, sparkles are very obsession-worthy these days.

6.) Guys, it's a polka dot house. Need I say more?

7.) Pancakes are my all time favorite food. I like the chocolate chip ones that my mom makes, but plain ones are even more delicious. It's kind of backwards, but it's true.

8.) I hardly ever say 'hello'. Normally I use 'hey' and 'hi' and 'aloha'. Sometimes I say 'bonjour', but that's very rare. 

9.) This looks just like my grandma's cat! She's the total opposite of my cat, who is all white and never presses her paws against the window like a cutie.

10.) PB&J. :) It was kind of a small part of The Office, but do you remember when Kevin said that Jim and Pam would be good together, like PB&J? Pam Beesley and Jim? Yeah, I now think of that every time I see the sandwich. 

And that, my friends, is how you end Friday Faves. (with The Office references)

In other news...

I volunteered at Vacation Bible School this week! 

I thought for sure it would be boring, but it was actually really fun. 

I got to see my friend Rachel and my aunt every day :)

Plus, I got tons of community service hours.

Also, I got to see Kaitlyn S. the other day!

We hung out in Downtown Winter Garden (my favorite town ever), and ate at the cutest French cafè. 

It was a good day.

Other than that though, I haven't really done much.

(except watch The Office)

....which I'm actually going to do right now.

Until Monday.

Have a fantastic weekend :)

xoxo,

Danielle

Long weekends and Audrey Hepburn

Happy Tuesday!

I feel like I should say that on good days.

Especially on Sundays (Happy Sunday) because they're my favorite day of the week.

Anyway :)

My weekend was fantastic!

On Saturday I went to Angel's grad party.

It was absolutely lovely!

Here's a photo that I stole from Facebook ;)

(Dorina, Angel, and I)

The company was far from lacking, and the food was delicious!

Needless to say, I had a wonderful time.

Sunday was good (as Sundays often are), although some would consider it rather uneventful (myself included).

Mostly I read.

There's a Frank Peretti book I have to finish by the end of June for school, and I am not looking forward to it.

It's about 3 inches thick.

And the font is tiny. 

>.<

Besides that, I finished The Hunger Games trilogy and began a new series.

(the new series is good, but The Hunger Games is difficult to beat.)

On Monday I finally saw The Avengers!

It was Marvel-ous!

(Get it? Marvel? Like the comics? Okay, that was a bit lame.)

By the way, did you know that Stan Lee (the creator of a bunch of superheroes) was featured at the end of the film?

He makes a habit of appearing in superhero movies.

Today I went to BN and finally got the book I've wanted for months.

Audrey 100 is a must for those of you in love with old films and actors.

If you're as obsessed with Audrey Hepburn as I am, I highly recommend that you get the book.

And that, my dears, is what I plan on occupying myself with today. 

(that, and four Jane Austen novels, conveniently compiled into one book.)

Also, tea.

Yes, I'll be drinking lots of that today. 

I hope your long weekend was exceptionally pleasant.

:)

xoxo,

Danielle

Sick Days/ Friday Faves/ Science Center

Friday Faves!!

(I'm on schedule this week) :)

(1, 2, 3, 4, 5) :

1) This is very true. However, the philosophy is often questioned by many. For instance, today I wore a skirt and my dad asked why in the world I would wear something nice on an ordinary day. True, I wasn't wearing it in order to be 'polite', but there's no great reason why I shouldn't wear something on a Friday that I would wear on a Sunday. Or... maybe it's a teenage girl thing. Either way, I love being well dressed, and that's a perfectly good reason to be exactly that.

2) This print is so adorable! I love the French-ness of it. I would actually buy this print and frame it. I'm not sure where I would put it, but I'm certain it would go perfectly somewhere in my room.

3) I want a Vespa in mint. I doubt any other person I know is as obsessed with European modes of transportation as I am. (although I could probably bike more)

4) In about six years, this will be me. (hopefully I'm half as gorgeous as the majority of the woman in this picture). I will have successfully become an event planner, meaning that I will attend glamorous soirees that require evening gowns and a dashing date. (who, by the way, happens to be my Prince.)

{Oh, I haven't told you about my Prince? Well that's probably because I haven't met him yet. 

It's nearly impossible in high school.

There's a list of qualities that he has.

(these qualities have accumulated over the years.)

If I find time in my weekend, perhaps I'll describe him to you. :)}

5) This depicts my ideal day off. It also reminds me that I need to buy new books and teacups (which I will hand wash with care). I love that Florida summers are rainy in the afternoons. They make the objects in this picture essential, and they're really all you need on rainy days except perhaps cute rain boots. (Also, old books are just really charming.)

I will be the first to admit that I ought to blog much more than I do.

Unfortunately, sickness came at a most inconvenient time and I was unable to blog from Sunday to Wednesday. 

As Miranda from The Devil Wears Prada would say, I was 'an incubus of viral plague'.

(Basically I had a stomach bug, followed by a few days of horrible vertigo.)

Other than that, though...

my week was fairly good.

On Thursday, I went to the Orlando Science Center! 

Although it wasn't quite as exciting as it used to be,

(and we're talking elementary school)

it was still pretty cool.

I took pictures.

Obviously, I was a fan of the dinosaur exhibit. (always have been)

I probably looked like an idiot spinning this around to get the 'eye of the storm' effect.

I went into the anatomy exhibit.

I took a picture.

I walked right back out.

I am not destined to become a nurse.

Also, I am dreading Anatomy class.

My favorite part of the whole thing!! I'd use it as a giant, glamorous nightlight.

It's a perfect little world. :)

This reminded me too much of Alice in Wonderland to not take a picture. Seriously, this was too cool.

Yes, they had baby crocodiles!

We watched a documentary on dolphins in a really rare dome-like theater. It was pretty cool.

And this was the stage in the very empty theater at the back of the building. I'm not sure if I was even supposed to be there.

So there you have it! 

My whole week in one post. 

Hopefully I'll be able to post more often. 

I really do love blogging.

Until next time, my dears. 

xoxo,

Danielle