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 figure it out Fridays

I don't have classes on Fridays which must be one of the best things that ever happened to me. Finally the English department has gotten their junk together and decided to start moving towards having no classes on Fridays. Since I have this whole extra wonderful day to get things done, I have just this past week deemed Friday, Figure It Out Friday. Since really trying to figure my life out is on my mind pretty much constantly, I thought that maybe if I dedicated a whole day to it, it would make me feel a little less mind explodingly stressed out.

So, what kind of activities happen on Figure It Out Friday?

go to the temple (my personal favorite part)

look up jobs/internships

apply for jobs/internships (my personal least favorite part)

work on making my resume perfect

work on making my portfolio perfect

email people about jobs

run errands

work on school assignments

go for drives (because I get stressed by Figure It Out Fridays and some

times I just need to relax)

and sometimes I get myself lunch (because figuring out life is hard

and I deserve it, ok?!)

and just oh so much more

Even with this whole day that I am dedicating to getting stuff figured out, it is still tough!!! Seriously what do people do with their lives when they leave college? Would someone like to employ me?? Please??? I would really like that. But, for real. If your company or a company that you know of is looking for editors or writers, I am very qualified. Since I don't edit my blog super thoroughly maybe that doesn't seem true, but in real life I'm a great editor. Trust me!

Remember that show from the 90s on Nickelodeon, Figure It Out? Don't you wish figuring your life out was like that? They just put up some blanks on a giant head, gave you clues, and then if you guessed the right words than you won really cool prizes like new roller blades? In other words why is my life not a 90s Nickelodeon game show? Instead I must dedicate an entire day, and in reality all of my brain all day everyday, to trying to "figure it out." But, let's be honest, I'm pretty sure there is almost no one who has it all figured it out. Even if you think you do, I'm sorry, but you don't (but actually if you do, tell me your secrets please).

Now, excuse me, I am going to go and try really hard to stop stressing out and try to save it for Figure It Out Friday. I'm doing my absolute best to trust that everything is going to work itself out for the best and some days that is easier than others. Woof. No matter how stressed out I get though...

this is my life and I'm happy to be living it.

peace. love. and Friday.

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 course load

Maybe this interests you, maybe it doesn't, but I thought it could be fun to give you a run down of my course load for this semester.


Textbook Editing-- Whoa whoa, try not to get too excited about this one, I know it sounds thrilling. No, but really I think it will be a good class. The teacher seems great, and also seems very willing to link textbook editing to other realms of editing. I just really can't see myself editing textbooks, because I think experience has shown that I tend to get really sleepy and/or find myself on doing anything besides reading my textbook when I am supposed to be doing that.

Digital Culture--So excited about this class. This is literally a class where we blog. Stop it. Did they make this class for me? It's a bit of a secret dream of mine to be blog famous one day, so maybe this class will give me some useful skills to getting me a little closer. But, pretty much this class is exploring the digital age and what this does to/for the humanities. We exploring this through a mixture of reading Moby Dick, blogging, google+, and various other resources. (The group blog I am posting on is www.teamqueequeg.blogspot.com in case you are interested in hearing about my thoughts on Moby Dick and digital culture.)

American Literature from 1885-1914--Hi Mark Twain how's it going? This class will explore literature from the end of the Civil War to the beginning of WWI. This is the era of short stories and I love a good short story (plus it will be nice to have at least one class where I can focus on shorter pieces rather than novels so I hopefully don't get too reading overwhelmed).

Post Modern American Literature (1960-Present)--I have studied so many classics in classroom settings that I think it will be really interesting to study some modern works. We have a lot of novels to work out way through this semester, but ultimately I think it will be very rewarding.

Psychology 111--My very last GE! There are a lot of freshmen in that class, so I've kind of decided that it's probably most safe that I talk to no one in there in fear of accidentally getting asked out by a freshmen. Plus, if my Uncle Ken taught me anything when I came out to BYU, it was never meet a boy in a 100 level class. But, it will be a nice break to have this one class that is a departure from all my English and editing.


Well there it is. I for sure have a full load, but it's my senior year, I should be an expert at this college thing by now, right? RIGHT??? (goodness I hope so)


peace. love. and school work.