my home for the holidays

To start off with MERRY CHRISTMAS YOU FILTHY ANIMALS!!!

I love love love this holiday and I am so so happy to be home celebrating, but it was quite the trek to make it back here thanks to a snow storm that came into Utah the day that everyone was trying to fly home for the holidays.

Luckily my friend driving me to the airport was clever enough to check the weather and see that it was going to be a little rough getting there. So my day started with getting up at 6:30 (actually the earliest I had woken up all semester...) and heading out at 7:00. Everything seemed like it was going great since I made it to the airport and made it on the plane and the plane was even almost empty so I had a whole row to myself! 

And then they kicked us off the plane and said the airport was shutting down....so I had to go sit around and wait for a couple hours. But, I mostly just hung out and watched Netflix so I mean I guess I survived. Eventually they let me back on the plane. YAY! and I still had a whole row to myself. more YAY! And then they told me that it was going to be another few hours before we actually took off. No more yay.

I had to take selfies of my disappointment to pass the time...

because my window looked like this and I couldn't even see outside.

But, eventually it cleared off and they started de-icing the plane. I really thought that this was going to be a quick process and I was kind of excited to see how it worked, and then I realized that this was going to take two hours and I decided to just sleep. Thank goodness I am a champ at sleeping on airplanes. I should probably put it under skills on my resume. 

And even though I got home six hours after I was supposed to and least I made it home. And since we got so delayed I got to land at night, which is one of my absolute favorite things. I'm obsessed with the lyrics in Lorde's song Tennis Court "Pretty soon I'll be getting on my first plane/ I'll see the veins of my city like they do in space." Because seriously this view mesmerizes me. 

But really it's all worth it now because I have spent the last several days just hanging out with the family, decorating the tree, and eating sweets more than I have been eating real food (woops). 

Plus now I get to hang out with this cute face all day.

I'm bummed that my sister Rochelle won't be here for the holidays as she and her hub and kiddo just moved to Germany, but I'm glad that I am home and happy and ready to celebrate with my fam. Christmas is so great. 

Merry Christmas darlings!!

peace. love. and home for the holidays

my holiday away

I can't believe that for a second I thought about not going home for Thanksgiving! (I know, I know. But I'm starting to feel weird about graduating and leaving Provo, so it makes me think about making weird decisions sometimes.)

If you ever thought that vacation was for sitting around and relaxing, you have not vacationed with my family. My sense of adventure had to of come from somewhere right? But, it was so fun to be able to spend my Thanksgiving holiday with all of the people that I am the most grateful for. And, I guess all the pie was pretty great too...

For one of our adventures, we thought that the kiddies might enjoy checking out all the fish at the Georgia Aquarium. It was such a treat to see my little guppies getting so excited about the fishes.

Danny and Dani. Can't believe Rochelle is moving to Germany and of course taking this little guy with her. But hey, he'll probably look even cuter in lederhosen. 

Those babies!!! I'm not gunna lie, I don't always get the most excited about other peoples babies, but I just swoon when I see these cute nephews of mine. I can't even imagine how obsessed I'm going to be with my own kids one day. 

On my last day of my visit back east, I got to celebrate one whole year of being an auntie with this guy as he turned the big one year.

The great importance of birthdays must be taught at a young age!! Happy birthday sweet baby James. So proud to be your Auntie Dani and can't wait to celebrate more birthdays with ya kid.

Even my cute puppy got in on the celebrating. I was actually so worried he wasn't going to remember me since Eddie was such a little puppy when I left to go back to Utah. We joked that he probably thought I was dead and would think I was a ghost. But ghost or not, he was still thrilled to have me back so that we could catch up on our snuggles. 

Although Provo has been my home for almost four years now, it always feels great to go back to Atlanta and see my family. Hope you had a perfect Thanksgiving too, and I hope you also took advantage of the opportunity to eat pie for breakfast everyday like I did (it's good for you, trust me). 

peace. love. and pie. 

my Atlanta weekend

Goodbye Winter semester, we are done. Thank goodness. But, of course I am starting Spring classes on Tuesday so the mental break has been short. So that I could properly enjoy my break, I have spent the weekend at home in GA. Unfortunately it's rained quite a bit of the time, but jokes on you Atlanta, I love your rainstorms.

Even though my trip home has been very short I have been able to fit in some of my favorite things about coming back south.

First of all, I came home to a letter from the little boy at Rising Star that I sponsor. His name is M. Vishva. I call him Little M. He calls me Dani the Dragon. He is one of the coolest, funniest kids around, and I am honored to be a part of moving his education forward. I was beaming when I read this letter. (look into sponsoring a Rising Star or getting involved in other ways at www.risingstaroutreach.org)

Of course, I spent my afternoons hanging out with mom, going shopping, and getting lunch at some of my favorite places. We made sure that Diane and Rochelle felt involved by sending them updates in our family group text.

You would think that after my Shakespeare class where I read and watched seven plays in three months, did some pretty ridiculous assignments, and wrote a research paper, that I would be so over Shakespeare. Nope, didn't stop me from making sure that Dad, Mom, and I went to the Atlanta Shakespeare Tavern. I've been going here since I was eight, and I'm sure that my early love for Shakespeare has at least a little bit to do with why I am an English major today.

 

It was so great to be home this weekend, but I am also so excited for Spring semester. A little nervous, not gunna lie. There is a small part of me that is terrified that I will be the one person who stays in Utah for the summer, and hates it, and makes no friends, but that is just me being overly self-conscious and a little crazy (how unusual of me...) So, if you will be in Utah this Spring, hit me up, I'm ready for adventures. 

peace. love. and breaks.