Tea party :)

Hello :)

So it's taken me a while to get them onto my laptop, but I have photos from my birthday! :)

My aunt let me use her house as the setting for my tea party. 

Everything was perfect.

(we mixed and matched tea sets to put a little bit of quirk into it. Also: yes, we had fig newtons. I'm weirdly obsessed with them.)

(Melanie and her lovely crayon art -- doesn't she look gorgeous?)

(Stephanie and I! She's so awesome.) :)

The tea party was absolutely wonderful, and I couldn't have asked for a more fabulous 17th.

~ in other news...~

School has fit right back into my routine as though it never left. 

Pre-Calculus is probably my hardest subject.

But then, math was never my strongpoint.

English, however, shouldn't be difficult to pass.

We're reading The Great Gatsby next semester. 

:D

I read it as a Freshman, but didn't really pay attention.

This time I'm super excited to read it, and will probably ace all of the quizzes. 

(fingers crossed!)

I seem to be very easily distracted lately. 

For example, I decided to take pictures yesterday for no apparent reason.

As you can see: totally random and without point.

But as they say: c'est la vie. 

I hope your weekend (and Monday) was fantastic.

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

FFF: Friday Faves... (finally)

Hey :)

Okay, so although I said that I think I'm back on track with blogging, I haven't quite gotten back to Friday Faves. 

Basically, I won't be able to go on and on about every single picture.

I may be awesome (hence the below picture), but I'm not perfect. 

Anyway....

I did make a collage!

That llama is my phone's wallpaper. :)

For some reason, I really want a station wagon. 

(with fake wood paneling and everything. no one understands.)

Also, I really love photo booths.

Oh, and it's true: reading makes you five times more attractive. 

Unfortunately, that's all the time I have today to devote to blogging.

(The Office is on Netflix, and that beats a lot of things in a list of my priorities.)

I have a fun weekend planned, and I hope yours is fantastic.

xoxo,

Danielle

Baking with the Myrauns :)

Yesterday I went to Aunt Becky's house!

Oh, how I love it there. :)

No matter how crazy the kids get, I remain convinced that their family is near perfection.

This time around, my aunt and I baked cookies while the children napped.

It was fun!

I learned that zesting a lemon is not as easy as scraping the skin off of a lemon with a cheese grater.

Also, you don't need to pile powdered sugar onto every individual cookie, no matter how much you want to.

It will irritate the person you're baking with.

Said person may or may not have the sudden urge to hurl cookie dough at your face.

The only thing stopping them is the fact that they would have to clean up the mess.

(Sorry for the blurriness. Although iPhones have the best phone cameras around, they're not Nikons.)

These look like shrimp cookies.

In reality, they're pink lemonade cookies, and they are quite good.

However, they were not as good as we thought they would be.

That could be allotted to the fact that someone took an amazing picture of the finished product and somehow made the food look more yummy than it is.

I still think they look a little like shrimp.

Opinions aside, the recipe was a good one and deserves to be linked.

I believe I'm back on track with blogging, but we'll see.

My Summer has been filled, ironically, with school-related items.

Of course, there are the relaxed days that scream "summer", but not everyone can live stress-free lives.

Who would micro-manage?

;)

I hope your weekend was fantastic.

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

Oh, Monday

Nothing particularly exciting has happened thus far, but I thought I'd blog anyway. 

There are so many people at the hotel right now!

The storm has left people without power since Friday, so most of the White Marsh population seems to have migrated to the hotel.

I've spent my day wearing stripes and listening to my playlist of songs that I can't get enough of.

Oh, and I made this collage.

I, for one, find it quite lovely. :)

Well, I'm off to drink tea and hopefully read Jane Austen.

I hope your weekend was fantastic!

xoxo,

Danielle

Sunny Sunday

Hi :)

I just realized that Friday has passed and I still have not done my faves!

Unfortunately, I have neither the time nor the energy to form them at this time.

When I get back to Florida, I'll be sure to get back on track. :)

What I can do is give you pictures from today's adventure!

We made the hour and a half trip to Gettysburg, PA to visit my grandmother.

(and a few others)

After eating lunch, we also explored the woods behind my grandma's house a little.

Despite the crazy heat, it was a pleasant afternoon. 

Here's hoping that the next several days are just as enjoyable.

xoxo,

Danielle

A visitation

Today was a good day!

We met up with relatives and ate lunch, then stopped by my great grandpa's apartment.

You'd think an old person's living space would be strange and awkward to be in.

Fortunately though, it was quite charming.

In fact, I loved it.

I am not afraid to grow old.

 A pair of doves took turns watching over a couple of eggs in the hanging pot outside. 

Just one of the many perks of living on the ground floor.

This is my favorite picture.

After that we visited the Loch Raven Reservoir.

All in all, it was a full but relaxed day.

This is turning out to be a pretty nice trip!

(fingers crossed) ;)

Until tomorrow.

xoxo,

Danielle

North Carolina

Hey :)

Yesterday my family and I stopped in North Carolina on our way to Maryland.

We met up with my great aunt and uncle... on their farm!

It was actually really neat.

^ Aunt Jody, Dad, and Uncle Bob

Today we arrived safely at our hotel in Maryland and are setting up nicely for the next 10 days.

Until tomorrow, my friends.

xoxo,

Danielle