Two Posts In One Day! I'm Patting Myself on the Back...

I realized that I completely forgot to post about a major milestone in the lives of my family members! My big sister (and childhood idol..okay, I still think she's pretty darn cool...) got married in the end of September! I won't go into detail, but suffice it to say she was the most beautiful bride in the world. Sucks to be all of us ladies who have to follow that someday ;) the reception was gorgeous, and I am so grateful to see how happy she and Colby are to be together forever. Yay for weddings! One of my guilty pleasures is stalking wedding photographers' blogs and looking at wedding ideas on Pinterest. But don't worry, I still plan on waiting a good three or four years before I even think of settling down. Well anyway, a picture is worth a thousand words, so enjoy some visual documentation of Dani's big day!

Why yes, Internet, the picture below is of my parents..go ahead, try to tell me they're not awesome.

Okay, that was more than a few..I apologize. I just love them all too much!

Put Me on a Soapbox, Here Goes the Speech

I won't even try to apologize about the lack of posts to the two (or fewer) people who read this..this blog is more for me than anything else, and school has been taking over my life. Tonight is the first time I've had some time to myself in a long, long time. But I do want to remember this amazing experience that I'm having! Unfortunately, I don't keep up with this nearly as much as I should, so the details of most of my memories will probably fade. However, I'll post whenever I can find the time.

So let's see here..it's a week until Thanksgiving! For the first time in my life, I won't be celebrating my second favorite holiday at home this year. New York is just too far to fly twice in less than a month. So I am left counting down the days until December 16th, when I fly into my favorite city on earth. I've been fantasizing about Christmas in New York until it ended about 340 days ago. And it's almost here! I am not ashamed to admit it, I've been listening to Christmas music since before Halloween! But that's for another time, right now it's the season of thankfulness, and boy, do I have plenty to be grateful for!

First, family. Even though my family never takes the initiative to call me, and I'm slightly bitter that they're living my ideal life in my favorite city right now (AND they're visiting my OTHER favorite city without me in February [that would be London]), I love them more than I can ever express. And my gratitude for them is infinite. For all my quirks they've looked past, for all my tantrums that they've ignored, and for all of the amazing memories they've provided me with, I am truly (and eternally) thankful. I just wish I could spend this holiday with them!

Second, friends. I have the most amazing friends! And when you're in college, your friends are your family. So here's to the most adventurous/awkward/fun/understanding/loyal/amazing/unforgettable/GENUINE friends I've ever had. I am forever indebted to all of you.

Third, the little things. You know, those small objects, moments, words, sounds, places, and sights that just make you inexplicably happy. Those things that elate you to heights you cannot describe for reasons you do not know (am I the only one who has those?). For me, it's miniature things. It's a Harry Potter book. It's the discovery of a great song. It's a fantastic meal. It's a hug from a friend. It's the sound of leaves crunching, or a horse's hooves on cobblestone, or pouring rain on the tin roof of my house, or the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack. It's singing. It's that feeling of your stomach dropping on a roller coaster. It's traveling to a new place. It's dressing up. It's dressing down. It's laughing until I cry. It's a fantastic thunderstorm. It's the first snowfall. It's hot chocolate on a cold day. It's picnics in the summertime. It's photography. It's telling pointless stories. It's making weird noises. It's a kiss on the forehead. It's those moments that just happen to turn into spontaneous adventures. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are so many of them! All you have to do is pay attention to those little things..they may not seem to carry much weight, but in reality, they mean the difference between a happy life and a miserable one.

So this holiday season, I'm resolving to be more grateful, and I'm convinced I'll find even more happiness than I already have. As for this post's song, check out "Kiss Me Slowly" by Parachute. What a fantastic song...I can't get it out of my head!

Ahhh, the memories..I'm so incredibly grateful....

I'm Already Bad At Keeping Up With This..

Hello world. Well, I've been charged with the task of posting again by miss Ashley-Brooke Summerhays, so here goes. What a crazy week this is! Three tests, two papers, a wedding, two games, a rehearsal dinner, family in town, and a secret love for procrastination just do not mix. But so far I'm surviving! Of course it makes sense that I should sit here and write this instead of lightening my load a little..I've always been a very rational person ;)All my roomies have been getting sick lately, and I can just feel the germs eyeing me, waiting for the right opportunity to start attacking my poor little immune system. All I ask is that they wait a few more days until they attack so that I can sing for my sister's rehearsal dinner! Nicole and I have been planning our song for months...but if it's not too much ask, I'd love to not get sick at all!

I got a brand new iPhone yesterday! Highlight of the week right there. I'm already addicted to it...Ashley got a kick out of watching me as I thought of a video I wanted to show her on YouTube later and then I realized I could look it up right on the spot thanks to my pretty new friend.

Other than these few little trivial things, life hasn't been too interesting lately. It's still amazing, but nothing too exciting has happened. Just lots and lots of ranting about boys between my ladies and I, but I'm sure that's to be expected :)

Today's the first day of fall! What a great season. I just love watching the trees slowly change! I hear the fall colors on the mountains here are gorgeous, so you can be sure I'll be taking my camera out in the next few weeks to capture the beauty. I sure will miss summer though! SO MUCH change and excitement came with Summer 2011..in fact, let's reflect:

Some of the highlights included graduating valedictorian from my high school, getting my brother back after 2 longggg years, my grandpa getting baptized, seeing tons of family, visiting Orlando (especially the Harry Potter Theme Park! if you haven't been, get on that), going to the BEST college in the entire world (even if our football team is a bit incompetent at times), making the most amazing friends anyone could ever ask for, my baby sister Nicole being accepted into LaGuardia School for Performing Arts (you guys, she's amazing.), and most importantly, having the chance to start completely fresh! With that came a completely new outlook on life and a realization of the things that truly matter (apparently that doesn't include homework), and I'm so grateful for such a change. I really don't think I've ever been happier in my life than I am now.

Well I'd say that's a good note to end on! The song of the week is gonna have to be "Remix to Ignition" by R. Kelly..it's my jam! A total classic that is the best when you just wanna have fun. Maybe not the most appropriate of songs, but I love it. I've been driving my roommates crazy with it the past few days. Enjoy! More later (I hope!) <3

My Very First Blog Post!

Hello to the probably 2 people who will read this! Well...I've decided to create a blog of my own because A) My amazing roommates are all getting blogs for various reasons and I love jumping on the bandwagon, and B) I've always been terrible at keeping a journal/keeping in touch with people, so I figured maybe this can be a bit of a substitute for all that.

SO anyway. If you're wondering what's with the title of my blog, it's named after an amazing song by Switchfoot (a group that I admire so much [and they're incredible live, just fyi]) and for some reason the phrase just seems to epitomize me. If you listen to the song you might understand the choice a little bit more. But then again, sometimes people don't really understand me at all. Maybe that's what this blog is for! So here you go, world! This is me doing my very best to give you a peek into my crazy mind.

And now we dive in! Today I have been filled with overwhelming gratitude. For everything! Incredible (and by that I mean INCREDIBLE, unbelievably amazing, magnificent, any word will do) friends/sisters/roommates, an equally incredible family, my church (ahhhh, I love it. As the illustrious Jenessa Nielsen always says, "Church is true."), attending the best college in the world (I may be a bit biased, but I really don't think it gets better than this), the list goes on and on. I have grown more as a person in the past two weeks just being at BYU than I think I did throughout my entire high school career...and I truly believe that the people currently in my life were sent to me by the man upstairs, because there's no way that this is all a coincidence.

For example, my roommates. I hate this saying, but I can't think of anything better right now, so I'll just say it..these girls are the cream of the crop (honestly though, as far as I know there is no "cream" to a crop, so what's with that saying?). They are quite literally a Godsend. They've been sent to me at a time in my life when I needed good, strong, independent, BEAUTIFUL, and mind-blowingly FUN people to look up to. I really will never be able to express how grateful I am. So I guess today's topic is gratitude! Always a good one, I think.

But alas, it's 1:30, so I should probably sign off. In the meantime, I'll leave behind a song of the day, because music is pretty much my life. So if you're bored, check out "Without You Now" by Jon McLaughlin. Seriously guys, this man in INSANELY TALENTED. Listening to his music makes me want to melt through the floor...this song is off is brand spankin' new album. Every song on that thing is to die for! Alright sorry, I'm a world-famous rambler. I really am signing off now. Goodnight to whoever reads this! More later :) <3