old.

I've been thinking that I should try to start to get into the habit of blogging on a more semi-regular basis.

and apparently I felt that was important to say.

so. I have three valuable things to tell you. valuable is a term that may mean different things to different people. you may find not a single one of these things valuable, which is fine.... but I'd like to point out that you are here... reading away.

ya, still here, huh? mmmm.... there must be some value.

first item of value: last night we had out annual "mall hunt". last year, I

dressedup as a teenage boy. the ugliest one you've ever seen.

and this year I was a frightening old lady. elderly lady. I didn't mean to be scary.... it just happened.

and just in case you forgot... this how I sometimes normally look. I'd say those are pretty good disguises...

anyway. most of the kids found me.... how annoying.

and for the second point of interest! I'm beginning to feel pretty virtually famous. I'm on facebook. I have a blog. I have more than one e-mail. (too many more than one, if you ask me) I help make youth event videos.... and now... NOW you can download something with my voice on it off iTunes. just search Hillcrest Student Ministries. also, if you go to hillcrestsm.podbean.com you can hit some pretty.... lame... er.. uh.... nifty links! check out December 14th. and voila. fame. has. hit. me. square. in. the. face. but don't worry. I won't forget you all. also... I hope you have by now realized what a sarcastic person I am. perhaps too sarcastic for my own good. but while we're here.... in this "that Danielle sure is an odd one" place, I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that if you read my blog, you should be proud of it. maybe it's time to be a "follower"... and make lots of comments! or as they say in Australia... make heaps of comments! ;) Tiana. I mean you. (and even if your name isn't Tiana... I mean it for you too) and also.... I will someday figure out how to properly post links. I feel dumb for not having done so yet... I doubt it's very complicated....... if you have advice... feel free to advise. I will welcome it most lots-ly.

and my last thought I'd thunk was this: that day that seemed so far off is suddenly coming all too quickly. I kept thinking today how I leave in under three weeks for Australia. that is.... SO soon! and tonight I said a few goodbyes. that made things a tad more real. I know I won't be gone for all that long... but I'll miss these people!

why are there so many songs about saying goodbye...? it seems that each moment is so much more precious and I have to live so much more in the now moments for fear they'll slip through my grasp too quickly and I won't have the chance to savor each one to the fullness it deserves....

I am glad to go. don't misunderstand me. I'm so excited... and it does feel more real in a good way. and it'll be such a neat experience. I'm so glad to go.... but I feel I'll be glad to come home too. which isn't so bad.

for dinner.

I really enjoy baking... and cooking. but not for just myself. because that's just boring. plus, there's just something nice about eating together. it's makes you feel like family even if you're not. and also, if you are. a family that is. and I decided that I would just be plain selfish to keep the amazing recipes for the things I made today to myself. it was so yummy and I almost feel as though I shouldn't take credit for it, because I just found the recipe on the internet. I just love the internet. since I work at the Library, I often see good recipe books with fancy pictures... and sign them out. I can't even tell you how many recipe books I've signed out of the Library. just lots. and lots. but I hardly ever make the things that are in those books. I've discovered that it's so much better to want to make a certain sort of thing and then just google it. I think allrecipies.com is a wonderful place filled with wonderful things. everything I've made from it has been.... well.... just wonderful. SO... in order to be unselfish, I'm going to share with you what was on tonight's menu. and you can make it tomorrow night.

it wasn't all that fancy.... just super tasty. the main part was "delicious ham and potato soup" (copy and paste the following link into your web browser thingy) http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/delicious-ham-and-potato-soup/Detail.aspx

and then, to go with it, I looked up the recipe for these cheese biscuits I used to make from my mom's cookbook at home. they are actually called "best cheese biscuits" cause they are the best. and they were just as good as I remember them being. simply copy and paste the following blurb to your web exploration thingmabob.....

http://www.food.com/recipe/best-cheese-biscuits-54567

all in all.... a good meal.

and I also promise to not share every meal success with you, as that would transform my blog into a Julie and Julia sort of thing.... and as admirable as that is.... my name is Danielle. not Juli-anything.

rest.

sometimes we get so busy. with life. and all that comes with it. we fill our days with things. good things even. we run here and we dash there, trying to stay standing on top of this wildly spinning world. and then Christmas comes. and we take a deep breath and run a little harder, a little faster. trying to be superhuman.

it seems to me that it just isn't right. like this isn't how we were made to operate. sure... we can, but it just... it just doesn't seem.... right. it seems like we miss out. it seems like you can't stop to smell the flowers when you're running.

and I can't help but wonder if getting sick or getting stuck somewhere or a multitude of other things may be gentle and helpful reminders to slow down .... and it's maybe hard to define what "slowing down" needs to look like....

I like to be busy. but it needs to be a right kind of busy and I think that the world around me has a different opinion than me of what busy should look like. I guess it's simply a matter of right prioritizing. I mean, I like to work. it keeps me busy (insert smile here)... and I get to make money... and I get to do things I really enjoy even. it feels like I'm cheating the system. so... work is good.

but, I need to not feel guilty for not working much more than I need to. I don't prove that I'm a better person by working 60 hour weeks (and I'm not doing that right now... don't worry). it's alright to have a day off and just do things that I enjoy doing. crazy, I know.

and it's not just work. it's all the other little things. and before you know it, you don't have time for laundry or crafting or writing or shopping... let alone a quiet time.

I'm not burnt out. not this time. but I am sick. and I don't have to work tomorrow. so. I may not. I might just take it easy. do those little errands and chores I've been neglecting. but also, do those things I enjoy. and miss. take some time to think. and smell the flowers....

... and not even feel guilty about it.

too short and too long.

it's been too long since I've posted. I've missed it.

life is full. in a thanksgiving dinner sort of way.

it's late, and I'm going to go to bed very soon, so this won't be long. even if it should be.

I'm leaving soon. and suddenly, my time here seems far too short. drat.

I'm afraid I'll have to expand on this thought at a later time. when brain cells are present.

I guess I just wanted to remind myself how to do this whole "blog" thing.

goodnight. sweetest of dreams to you!

a Christmas Halloween.

I would have to say that Halloween is really not one of my favorite holidays. at all. I do love to dress up, and I love the cute kids, and there's always plenty of candy and chocolate bars to be had. I love carving pumpkins and I like the smell of autumn in the crisp night air. I think that carmel and apples make a lovely couple. so I must say that I do like Halloween. it's just really not my favorite. I like what it could be..... but I very strongly dislike the obsession that is clearly evident with all things... icky. why must people take a perfectly good chance to have fun and make it so.... un-good.

ugh.

anyway. I just wanted to say that I had an especially wonderful Halloween this year... I did the whole dress up thing last night and went to a friend's Halloween party. it was splendid. we carved pumpkins and got TWISTERS (ohmanohmanohman. SO good. we have a local convenience store here in town that sells these little gems. you may have heard about them... or even had something similar.. and enjoyed it!.... but I can tell you right now.... what I have experienced is even better. better than anything you can imagine. soft ice cream+lime slush=joyful delight.) and ate carmel apples and such. it was a good time.

BUT TONIGHT... tonight was also very grand. maybe the same level of grand, only with more depth to it. I went with a few friends and got Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes and took them with us as we went shopping! after buying heaps of fun things, we came back to my place and listened to some chill music and pieced everything together. it all fit so perfectly and was such a fun way to spend the evening. tonight, we made five children's Christmases better. they maybe just don't know it quite yet. I just feel so blessed and I want to make sure not to take that for granted and I also know that we are blessed to be a blessing.

or maybe I'm just selfish and I liked doing it cause it gave me warm fuzzies.

whatever the motivation..... it was a good night, and a most excellent way to spend this, two-thousand-ten's, hallows eve.

http://www.samaritanspurse.ca/occ/

elect.

today, I worked the election. it was a pretty long day, but a good one. and I've even got a couple of highlights that I thought just might be worth sharing.

it was "just" a civic election. no biggie. BUT they have these crazy new big machines that you feed the ballots into and it reads your ballot and swallows it and then... at the end of the night, it spits out a sort of tally sheet. and BOOM, just like that, we know who got voted for and how many times..... well, at our own station anyway. the machine is pretty sweet. but it has an uncanny resemblance to our city's new garbage cans. hm.

so I apparently developed habit, as the day wore on.... it went like this: I would put people's ballots in the bin and then wait for it to "go through" the system... and then I would say, "alright! you're good to go!" or "perfect! all set" or something chipper and final to let them know that they could now carry on their merry way. only, as the day wore on even more.... I grew mildly tired... or foggy-brained.... or ..something. and this one gent comes up and we chat and I go through the whole simple and short process with him, and instead of saying one of the options mentioned above, my mouth decides to say, "okay! you're perfect!"

sigh.

it did happen more than once, BUT most people were gracious enough to pretend that it hadn't. not this fellow. as soon as the words departed from my lips, I knew. he chuckled and said, "well, I'm a lot of things. but perfect isn't one of them."

*smile* "a.. haha... aha." sigh.

ok. new story. this very old.er man comes up and has one of those things that makes your voice sound sort of like a robot. and he was so smiley. I liked him. then... he made me like him even more. I pop his ballot into the box (which I only just now realized that I did not even name through the entire course of the day. oh, that is sad. how fun would it be to insert Ballot Box's name into my story right here?!) and it all works just slick as can be. then he says to me, "did you hear the story about the two peanuts?" I like these sort of jokes. the ones that make your sense of humor groan. so I smile and say, "why no. I haven't. what about the two peanuts?" He says, "they were walking down the road... and one of them got assaulted." (get it? a-salt-ed) and my response is something like... "oooh! ba-doom-chhhh" then, right after I appreciate his joke, he burns me! ya! I know right?! I'm a super great sport and so he says.... "well, for a blonde your pretty.... " and snaps his fingers! like he's surprised at my quick understanding of his joke.

honestly.

nothing exciting.

I tried to think of something exciting that happened to me today, that I could share with you. but.... I didn't really come up with a whole lot. it wasn't a terribly bad day... just not that exciting. well, not exciting for you.

but, I've managed to scrounge up a couple tidbits that may be of a mild sort of interest to you.... and a photo..... cause photos are fun. also, if you are a millionaire, I would not be opposed to accepting a gift or two from you. a gift that came in the form of a new and fancy camera. (the kind that is so fancy, I would still discover new things about it months from now... that fancy. like a rubix cube in a toddler's hand. and a rubix cube is so fancy I can't even spell it.) and you could also feel free to throw in a lens or two or three. and could one of them please be a fisheye? thank-you. also, if you wanted to do this... I would make you a homemade thank-you card. honest.

anyway.

the air is feeling chillier and more brisk these days. but I've noticed that that only makes the sunshine feel that much warmer and sweeter. I like that.

today. I had juice poured in my hair. but only a little. I found out it only takes a little and I feel a lot mad. mad is a strong word. it fits. but I drove and brushed it out and everything was right with the world once again. tonight we played taboo in tim hortons. it was a good choice. a girl who was playing was trying to describe the word "agony".... and she talked about cancer... until she had her team on a throughly wrong track. then, she said..... "it rhymes with a-pony". go ahead. try it.

now, I'm going to share only a few too many pictures with you. and explain them. how exciting. oh drat. now I should change the title of this blog. should, but won't.

I like collecting things. but I really, mostly like collecting sand. (also, buttons and marbles, but

only because those look nifty)I collect sand from every ocean-side beach I've been to, and I put it

in a jar. it's becoming a very fun collection. I moved almost two months ago, and this was the beginning of one of my boxes. I just liked this picture.

and next up, we have.... horseback riding day. as you can see, it was a perfectly swell day for that adventure. if you're considering going riding... I highly suggest you wait until the weather is

exactly as depicted in these two photos(I know, two is not enough.. I am sorry. sorrier than you could know. you see, in all my on-the-drive-out-there photo taking, I ran my battery all the way to empty.)

then, I went to San Diego. that was pretty great. and once a year, when I am in Old Navy, with a few friends, we have to take one of these..... this is sort of like Where's Waldo... only it's called... spot the real people. can you tell who is real and who is plastic?

whilst in San Diego, we got

to see "the star of India". she is a very, very old boat. ship. sea faring vessel. whatever the kids are calling it nowadays. and I think she's maybe even the oldest one that still goes out. feel free to try to read the lil info

sign.

I'm afraid to say that that is all I'll be giving you for tonight... as I am getting a wee bit fed up with trying to make my photos go into the places I want them to. any helpful hints?

oh wait. I would also like to leave you with this quote I heard today:

"Dying for something is easy because it is associated with glory.

Living for something extends beyond fashion, glory, or recognition.

We live for what we believe."

-Donald Miller