my one year mark

It's been about a year since I graduated from college, I just did my own taxes for the first time ever (ok, yeah my dad was on the phone for moral support), tomorrow I will have officially been at my "big girl job" for 6 months, and honestly I am still the most clueless human on the planet. I'm pretty sure I've been in at the very least a mild panic ever since about 3 weeks before I graduated, so if you have your cap and gown ready to go and you haven't turned into a future terrified creature who just wants to crawl in a hole and hide from all responsibility, congratulations, I am honestly so very proud of you.

To celebrate that I've been an "adult" for a year now, I did what all responsible adults do and dyed my hair green (but, just the ends of it cause I'm too scared to bleach all my hair). My boss never commented on it so he never noticed, he doesn't care, or he didn't have the heart to tell me that it isn't totally appropriate to show up at your big girl job with green hair. I'm just gunna roll with it and not worry.

I've been gearing myself up for a lot of changes recently and adding a little green to my hair wasn't even part of that. Let's be honest, I am not one of those girls that feels dramatic and changes up her hair. I've basically had the same haircut (aside from a brief adventure into fringe land) for almost my whole life now. But I am *fingers crossed that I can actually find a place* moving to Salt Lake at the end of the month and that has got me feeling all kinds of adult and nervous. If you know of an open place for me to live in Salt Lake please let me know, or if you live in Salt Lake, please prepare to be my friend because I am not going to have any.

(hi this is the best I could do at a image slideshow. please help me if you know how to make this more beautiful?)

Here's to making the rest of my time in Provo worth it, and to drinking all of the dc lav limes (diet coke with lavender and lime from Sodalicious, obviously), and to actually finding housing so that I don't tell everyone I'm leaving and end up just staying here at Bromont in good ole' P-Town for forever!!!!

my magical trip with Mama C

What better way is there to celebrate finishing college than by hitting all of the Orlando theme parks with your incredible mama? There is not one. There just is not.

I texted my mom a couple months ago and said: We should go to Disney World. Her response: Ok when?
So what followed was a perfect week of theme parks, laughing, happiness, diet coke, selfies, good food, magic, and just me and my mama having the best time.

Day 1 and 2 were spent theme park hopping at Disney World doing stuff like...

 hanging out with Chip and Dale...

taking selfies with Cinderella's castle...

 doing two of my favorite things in life: eating ice cream and riding carousels...

 getting caught in the rain (every single day we were in Florida)...

and of course riding ALL the rides.

I think that the absolute best part of Disney was our second night there. We were riding Thunder Mountain while the firework show was going off. I am obsessed with fireworks and watching them while zipping around on the little roller coaster was so so perfect (it almost made me actually enjoy riding a roller coaster. a rare rare thing for me.)

Day 3 was spent hanging out with my boy HP (Harry Potter for those of you who might not be quite as well acquainted with him) and running all around the rest of Universal Studios.

 You know we figured since we were in the neighborhood we might as well see how Harry, Hermione, and and Ron were doing.

There seemed to be this fun pattern of my mom and me getting stuck on rides during our trip. We hung out on the Harry Potter ride for a good five minutes. Five minutes feels significantly longer when you are harnessed in, you are facing the ceiling, and you are in the middle of trying to save Hogwarts.

Guess who just got accepted to the graduate program at Hogwarts University? Looks like I'll be taking the express train to school from now on.

You may have seen my instagram or facebook post about butter beer. It was not a great experience. Last time I went to Harry Potter world I didn't try it because it just didn't really look appealing to me. I got a lot of flack for this and was told that I HAD TO TRY IT. I tried it, and my mom caught my lovely reaction to this monstrous drink all on camera. It's pretty much butterscotch flavored cream soda. I mean if that's your thing? Cool. But, I'm gunna stick with my muggle diet coke from now on.

The rest of the day was spent romping the rest of the park. My mom made me ride Jurrasic Park twice. Maybe because I cried the first time. Oh shoot, did I really just admit that? It's ok, it wasn't as bad as I had remembered, and my mom bought me a new tank as a post ride prize.

Day 4. After Universal I thought that the fun was over. LITTLE DID I KNOW! My mom had planned a surprise day for me?!?! I have long been promised by my parents that I would get to swim with dolphins after a failed attempt on a previous trip. Well, Mama C came through, and the experience did not disappoint. We spent our last day doing the Trainer for a Day program at Discovery Cove and making best friends with dolphins, sharks, sting rays, and sloths, and it could not have been more amazing.

 You guys. I'm on the sloth train now. This little lady (the sloth not the trainer...but uhh she was nice too I guess) was adorable. 

 But I mean, this one time, me and a dolphin fell in love with each other.

 No seriously, look at all that happy.

 SO MUCH HAPPY!

 So satisfying to check things off of the life list.

 Should you ever have the opportunity to be propelled through the water by dolphins, do not pass it up. I repeat: do not pass it up.

So pretty much the takeaway message here is that I love my Mama and I could not be more grateful for this trip she took me on. And I know even though he wasn't there, Papa C was a big part of this trip too, and I am grateful for him also.

Happy Mother's day to this amazing woman and Happy 30th Anniversary to the most amazing parents in the world. I am not just lucky, I am blessed.

peace. love. and magic.

my graduation

So...I realize graduation was a couple weeks ago, and you are probably so so sick of hearing about it...but, I'm going to talk about it anyways. Sorry everyone, but I haven't had my computer for the past week, so we are going to have to catch up now.

To chat about it, here are more pictures of me than you have ever had any desire to see...

Here I am all diploma-ed up. Ok not really, that's just a diploma cover, but we can all pretend. A lot of people seemed kind of annoyed by the whole graduation thing, and I even had quite a few people tell me they weren't going to walk. Here's the thing, if I spent thousands of hours in classes to graduated, you betcha I'm sitting through a 2 hour long ceremony to walk across that stage.

 My sister Diane, her baby James, and my mom and dad all came out for graduation, but unfortunately since my sister Rochelle lives so far away in Germany, she wasn't able to come. Diane and I took this picture to pretend like she was there with us.

 These two amazing humans, my mama and my papa (in the picture below), have been the most amazing support through my college years, and well...every year of my life. I could not be more grateful for all of their help in getting through school (and yeah..life).

 #actiontasselshot

 Seriously, my whole family is amazing (plus Rochelle, Matt, Jed, and Daniel who couldn't make it out).

Every time I tried to put my hat on this little future cougar, he just put it back on me. Guess we'll have to wait a million years till his graduation day to see him wearing a weird flat-topped and tassled hat. (No, seriously. Who invented graduation robes and hats and more importantly why?!)

 Rather than take all my pics just outside of the Marriot Center where my graduation was held, I wanted to take some pictures at my absolute favorite spot on campus, the fourth floor deck of the JFSB. If you have not wandered up there on a sunny day to study (or really any day because it's always so nice), you're not using your time on BYUs perfect campus correctly.

My family all taking pictures of me and looking directly at me, and no one could say Hey Danielle, your hat is really lopsided and off center. Thanks guys.

Well, I guess this is it for me and BYU. I am so grateful for the four years that I have spent here, for the friends I have made, the professors who have taught me, the things I have learned, and the memories I have made. I still remember getting my acceptance to BYU and crying with joy, and I'm going to be honest with you right now, I'm crying just a little while I type this knowing that it's all over. Even with the number of times I pulled all nighters, had meltdowns because I thought there was no way I was going to get everything done, and questioned what I was doing, I still think I might do it all over again given the chance (wait...I guess that's what grad school is. Ok yeah, give me some time to think about that one).  I'm looking forward to bigger things, but I also can't stop looking back on a beautiful four years.

peace. love. and go cougars!

my last day

Well. Today was it. My last day of classes at Brigham Young University. No, don't worry I can't believe it either. I'm almost positive I started yesterday, but at the same time there is a good chance I have been here my whole life.

This is baby Danielle on her first day of kindergarten. I was just a teeny tiny little thing, I had pretty much 0 cares beyond what did my mom pack me for lunch? and I hope I get on the right bus to go home, and I was so excited to start school. I had no idea what I had ahead of me and all the incredible people I would meet and things I would learn through my years in school.

I remember one time in kindergarten I actually lied to my parents and told them I had homework because I was jealous of all the work that my sisters were doing. Trust me that was the first and last time I ever did that. Following that incident, I have spent most of my time pretending like I didn't have homework even if I did. (You can't get mad at me mom, I'm graduating.)

Seventeen years of school (plus some preschool) and here I am, getting ready to graduate. I've been in school for so long that it feels insane to think that this is it. (There's always a chance of grad school, but I have no plans for it at the moment.) Really though, this is what I've been doing for over half my life.

WHAT DO I DO NOW?! Oh yeah...I get a job. Still not much progress there, but I am excited willing to get serious about the hunt once finals are over (and once I take a trip to Disney World with my mom...).

What's most shocking to me about graduating is that I'm not really where I thought I was going to be at this point. When I was that precious 5 year old up there and I saw people who had graduated from college, I thought that they were so grow-up and mature. Most of the time, I still feel like that kindergartner.
When I started at BYU, I was also so positive that I was going to graduate having my life figured out, married (this idea was planted in me by the fact that my mother and sisters both were at this point), and that I would have a job. None of these things have happened. I have deviated very far from my plan, but I am happy with where I am, and I am excited to see where post graduate life will take me.

So here I am. Last day of class. Ready to tackle the world....after finals that is.

See you at graduation. I'll be the one in the cap and gown.

peace. love. and class.

my final month

I don't really have anything to say this week, so I've been putting off blogging in hopes that maybe I would come up with something to say. So yeah, I haven't.

My brain is 100% consumed by attempting to make it through this last month of school. And let me tell you, it's HARD. For real. I graduate exactly a month from yesterday. Like graduate. Like I've been in school since I was about 4, and now I'm going to be done forever. What??

So since I'm strugs on strugs trying to get all my papers/projects/presentations done, you can instead gaze upon this darling picture of my friends and I last night when we got together for some birthday love and Thai food (obviously this combination called for a break from school work).

Wish me luck this next month. I need it. I really really need it.

peace. love. and stressed out.

my last semester

I was going to clean up my room to avoid doing homework, and then I thought hey why not avoid that too. So, now I'm blogging. Oh hey. Anyways, I have just finished the very last week of my very last semester at BYU, which is quite possibly my very last week of school forever. Really this is the most insane thing ever to me. I fluctuate between: Don't make me leave; where will I go? to Can I graduate right now please?

Since I do a run through of my classes every semester, I might as well keep the tradition alive while I still can. I am taking a few classes this semester that feature literature that I have not really loved in the past, and I am doing this on purpose. It's possible that it was a foolish idea, but I actually feel very confident in my decision. I really wanted to explore some areas of literature that would be foreign to me and to develop an appreciation for them. Hopefully even if I don't necessarily love all the reading, I think I will be able to develop a respect for some literature that I have previously avoided. Why not finish off boldly? So, here are the classes that I am taking this semester.

1. Eighteenth-Century Poetry in the Age of Macroanalysis
Woof. Quite the title eh? But, it actually seems like a pretty cool class. We are studying 18th century poetry (ok, I guess that part is pretty clear from the title) but with an emphasis on using digital methods to analyze literary history.

2. Literature of the New Negro Era
This is my senior course. For the first half of the semester we read a ton, and for the second half of the semester we write a ton. Should be interesting. We are focusing on African American literature. Once again, should be interesting...

3. Young Adult Literature
This just kind of sounded easy to me and maybe like a nice break from all the heavy books I read all the time for my other classes. But, we have to read 30 books for this class. AHH! 15 of them are assigned and 15 we get to pick ourselves. I know absolutely nothing about YA Lit, so if you have any YA books that you have read and loved please tell me about them so I can add them to my list!

4. Editing for Publication: Stowaway
For my editing minor capstone I am working on BYUs travel magazine Stowaway. I love to travel, I love to edit, I love to write. It should be an all around good time, but it is also known for taking an incredible amount of time, but I mean clearly I have tons of time with this very light schedule I have..... If you want to see some existing editions of the magazine, which are actually pretty cool, you can go to www.stowawaymag.com.

5. The English Novel
Only one presentation and one project and a couple of reading journals and other than that just reading really good books and chatting about them in a class of only 9 people. Woohoo! It is a ton of reading, but it seems like it is going to be a very rewarding class where we will read some truly fantastic literature, and where I can focus on reading and enjoying rather than analyzing to death (but with some theory thrown in. uhg). Classes like this though are sometimes the ones that make me most glad that I am an English major. Have fun with your textbooks while I read beautiful novels. (Of course, you can be the one to laugh when I am poor, dangit. haha.)


I really do love my major, and I wouldn't have picked anything else if I could go back and do it all again. It is more challenging than many realize, but also so much more rewarding than I could have ever realized. It is a heavy load with four English classes and my capstone, but with roomies like these ones below to help em through I am positive I will thrive...ok maybe at least survive?

peace. love. and English.

my year ahead

At the beginning of fall semester the morning of my first classes, I still hadn't decided which classes I was going to take so I took to my group text with my mom and sisters to see which class they thought I should go to. One of my sisters told me to just follow my feet. I really don't think that she intended for this to be advice that I would carry through the rest of the semester, but since I've been having a lot of trouble making decisions lately, I kind of just latched onto it. I've taken this to mean just do things, don't think too much about it, if it feels like something you should do, just do it. This has led me to make some great great decisions and some wait, yeah, that was really dumb decisions. But, really I don't regret any of them because I've been realizing that I am entering the real world really soon and if I'm going to do some dumb stuff, I might as well do it now. This probably isn't the greatest theory in life, but hey, I guess that's where I've been at.

So, I guess this leads me to where I am now, starting out another year. Hi 2014. I have high hopes for me liking this year more than last year, but I also don't feel like it is going to be too tough of one to beat. This is also pretty much the weirdest start to a year I have ever had, because usually I know exactly what I am going to be doing with my year, where I will be, and what plan-able major events are going to happen. This year...well I know that I am going to graduate in April....after that, who knows cause goodness gracious I certainly don't.

In 2012, I had this incredible Eat (Paris/backpacking), Pray (India), Love (finding balance back home) year and what have I done with that? Yes, it made me a better person in 2012, but I don't necessarily think I did a great job letting those lessons keep going, so instead I think I relearned them the hard way in 2013. So in 2014 I want to stop letting myself learn things the hard way and start pulling myself together. It's probably about time.

This uncertainty that I have about my year ahead makes it a little tricky for me to set specific goals (of course I will set some, but I have elected to not post them this go around) so instead, I just have a thought to get myself started on the new year. We went to the MLK museum in Atlanta on one of our Cronquist family field trips when I was home over winter break, and I was struck by one of his quotes that was carved into a placard outside. "Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of selfishness. This is the judgement. Life's most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?" This is just a thought for me (and maybe you too) to chew on as I adventure into 2014. As much as I am stressed/excited/nervous/happy about the chances in the new year, I must remember that it's not all about me.

Goodbye 2013. It's time to move onto a new year that will hopefully bring more joy than sadness and love in every lesson cause that's really all you can hope for in a year right? 2014 is a year of uncertainty, but in uncertainty there is great opportunity, so I'm feeling like this could be quite grand.


peace. love. and opportunity.