A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Christmas didn't feel like Christmas this year. I mean, I really enjoyed getting some quality time in with my family. Katie woke up pretty early, much to all of our dismay. But, we did the whole opening presents thing, family breakfast and then honestly just relaxed the rest of the day. My mom, Katie and I went to my Grandma's for a little while and then later we all went to my aunt's house for dinner.
Being older, Christmas loses some of it's charm, speaking in the secular meanings of it. You are less excited about the whole gift scene and just come to appreciate the family gathering time. I was honestly the most excited to give my mom a cd that I burned for her. Now, I am terrible at giving gifts. I love doing it, but most of the time I just am at a complete loss of what to get for people. I know that burning a cd isn't creative or even hard, and it doesn't make a great gift or anything, but just the fact that I know she appreciated that so much made me really happy. Very cliche, but cliches are said for a reason sometimes.
Other than Christmas, home has been excellent as well. I've gotten quite a bit of down time and time with friends and family before I head off to San Francisco here in a few weeks.

The thing I can't believe is how fast this year has gone! I feel like we just entered 2010! 2010 wasn't a big year for me, but it wasn't a small year either. No year is. However, I think I could have done a lot to make this year better. I'm not saying that it was a bad year by any means, just not very memorable; I just didn't love it. I also honestly believe that 2011 will be filled with much more for me. Well, I am starting it off by going to San Francisco. I'm anxious and excited for all that I will learn in the coming year.
Here are some things i'll owe to 2010 though:
-declaring my major!: officially an English major...what I will do with it, I have no idea, but I'm okay with that for now.
-gaining a better understating of who and I am and who I want to be: I know that I have grown in a number of ways and definitely become more liberal and open minded (I'm still very grounded, so don't worry)
-finding different things that I love: I have developed (even more than before) an appreciation and mild obsession for old things-antiques, things I find at my grandma's house, 20's music, American literature, 80's music and clothing.
-gaining more self confidence: I feel as if I have become more confident in many areas-socially, academically, artistically.

I'm sure there is more, but that is all I can think of for now. Here's to 2010 and may 2011 bring you much peace and happiness.
See you on the other side. :)

Home to the 15th annuel DeLong Christmas Party

So, yesterday I moved out of my dorm room. I had my last final (Art History) and then packed up the car and headed home. I don't think its really set in yet that I'm not going to be back at Westmont for school for another eight months.
The drive home was pretty relaxing. My mom and I got a lot of time to talk, when we weren't being called by our various family members. Gary called a few times, Kaite talked to us, Betsy called once and then Justin. All to find out the same thing too: when we were going to be back. Justin had one of the best conversations though. He called my mom and then after chatting with her, requested to talk to me. He was on his way home from work, sitting in traffic, so I think he was bored. I chatted with him for a second about hanging out when I got home and then I start trying to say goodbye and get off the phone. I go "Okay, well, I'll see you soon Justin."
"Wait, Danielle."
"Yes?"
"I just wanted to tell you that I've decided my fourth, no third female child will be named after you. It's a pretty name and it would be really special and mean a lot."
My response was "Have you been drinking?" haha
He pretended to be offended and denied it, so I go "Okay, Justin. That's really nice to know."
"Yeah, and I know that you'll name one of your kids after me too."
"Um, okay..."
He is such a dork...funny though.

The next day, was the day of our annual huge Christmas party. Yes, the picture below is the front of my house...the inside is decked out accordingly. It's ridiculous. My aunt Julie came in from Utah so that she could drive back with Justin the next day so he didn't have to make the drive alone, so that was fun to have them at the party so I didn't have to stand awkwardly talking to a million people I don't really know. It was raining pretty hard that night, so we had to put up tarps in the backyard and get some outdoor heaters going. It's really that many people that we can't fit them all in our house. Anyway, during the party, the tarp on the top of the lattice porch broke and a huge waterfall dumped a bunch of water in the middle of the party. So hilarious! Luckily no one was standing there at that moment. Another slightly entertaining thing was one of our neighbors came up and began chatting with me. I couldn't remember who she was for the life of me, or else I would have introduced Justin, who was standing next to me. Finally she asks "So, is this your significant other?" "No, this is my cousin Justin" It was really loud in there though, so I'm not sure she got that he was my cousin, which was great because when she said she lived down the street he told her that he was living at my house. Now I'm pretty sure she thinks my boyfriend is living with my family...great. haha
After she walked away, Justin turns to me and goes "We should just go with it sometime and tell people we are engaged, see if we get any gifts or money."
My mom then walks up and goes "Good idea! I'll totally play along and say things like 'I'm so happy for you guys'. These political people are bound to give you something."
Oh, man...gotta love my family.
The party was eventually over and then we got to clean up...but at least we all got to eat some good leftover desert. Oh, man...until next year then.

The Formality of Winter

Before finals were underway, we got to blow off some steam by dressing up and going to the dance. Barrett, Amy, Kathryn and I had quite the fun evening.

this picture...cracks me up!

as does this one haha!

aw, she does like me :)

so scary!

Barrett and I tried to replicate the drama masks...it didn't work out so well. ha! But, at least it resulted in a pretty funny picture.

When we returned from the dance, we ordered a pizza and watched a documentary about this guy who had the top score on the original 1980's Donkey Kong arcade game and another guy that challenged his score. This sounds really lame, but it was actually really cool. However, it was really late and Amy and I drifted off a few times. Apparently I said something in response to the movie, totally unaware. Amy was making a comment at the movie. Something like "just because that's what you would do"

I respond with "Who? Me?"

Barrett laughs and goes "Have you gotten to a Donkey Kong kill screen lately, Danielle?"

Oh, what a fun evening.

I sure go to a lot of farms...

...E I E I O! A couple of weeks after the event of the apple farm, my dorm section went to an Alpaca Farm located in the hills of Carpenteria. It was quite the day. It began with us getting lost, but somehow beating the rest of our people. After driving up into the hills on a road that resembled a place where a murder might take place in an old mystery novel, Ali, Barrett, Amy and I pulled up the alpaca farm, taking comfort in the fact we had found the alpacas. But, relief flooded us too soon. The gate to the pasture where all the rather creepy animals were staring at us, following our every movement, was opened and a herd of alpacas came charging out. All four of us sat there in the car yelling in a monotone pitch. We then realized that they were simply being corralled into the next pen and then all came out of the car, rather abashed. We met the lady who owned the farm and then walked around for a while, petting the animals and feeding them, even taking them on walks. Honestly it wasn't that enthralling.

They aren't very friendly...unless you have food. Although, Barrett seemed to connect with them well. Ali and her new friend, Chester. This picture cracks me up...it looks like she is killing it. I also got spit on...in the face, which was one of the most disgusting experiences I've even had. Seriously. After that, I wasn't too fond of the alpacas. On the way back, all four of us were starving and so we stopped at a sandwich place on State St. It was good and we even managed to have some interesting experiences there. First, Barrett had to tell the cashier all about her visit to the alpaca farm after he asked how her afternoon was going. She even lifted up her foot and showed him, her alpaca wool socks...oh dear.

Then, the make the experience even better, we all decided it would be a good idea to wash our hands before eating and proceeded down the hallway to do so. Barrett opened the door to the bathroom and I was standing on the outside. She sees me standing there waiting and then closes the door in my face just to mess with me. At that same moment some women begins walking down the hallway in our direction. Barrett, not knowing the woman was there, flings the bathroom door open and launches out at me, pinning me against the opposite wall. The lady jumped back and then looked pretty offended as she continued down the hallway. Pretty hysterical. On our way back to campus we saw some pretty interesting things...like this sign, which was comical. And then a sign for a plant sale. You think you know what you're getting yourself into when you go to a "plant sale" in Montecito, but alas, no. It was way more sketchy than you'd think and surprisingly worse than the alpaca farm murder mystery road. There was this old guy that appeared out of nowhere and he looked like he had been dipping into his stash a bit. He greeted us by saying something like "Oh, laugh while you're young. You all must be really great friends...like this." and he held up his first two fingers separated in a peace-sing like motion. Interesting end to an interesting day...

Another Thanksgiving adventure...

A good ol' apple farm! Amy (V), August, Grace and I all drove out to the Oak Glen Orchards, where we enjoyed a lovely (and slightly chilly) afternoon of getting in touch with the simpler days and picking our own delicious apples.

Stab Amy...just kidding. I was only offering her an apple from high above.

So attractive...

I get really excited about pumpkins.

I love these girls so much.

Human ladder! We couldn't reach, but we were good with coming up with some innovative ways to fix our problem.

Amy doing a great job of picking apples.

August looking like a loner...typical. :)

Grace the demented...also typical. Just kidding.

It was such a great day!

Briefly...Thanksgiving break

Oh, the adventures when packing to leave for Thanksgiving break... Amy staring Grace down...not sure why.

Yay break! haha

Barrett's excited too...I guess.

Oh dear...

I believe she was "kicking me" in the face.

Anyway, after this eventful packing experience, break was excellent. I arrived home friday night and got to be made fun of thoroughly in the car by Grace and my mom as we drove Grace home from the train station. When I got home, Justin and I decided to get some yogurtland. Letting him drive was not relaxing, but we made it and he made me dance to the new Eminem cd, which I'm sure you can imagine was ridiculous. When we got to the front of the line in Yogurtland, the lady working at the register asked us if we were paying together or separate. I was about to say "separate" when Justin goes "Danielle, I'll pay for yours because I have a confession to make. I used all your shampoo." (he is living in my room while I'm gone if I haven't mentioned that).

"My coconut smelling shampoo?"

"Yes, I like it quite a lot. And don't worry, you still have conditioner; I don't condition my hair that often."

The poor lady looked so confused and as if that wasn't enough for her to learn all about my cousin's hair care he then looks at her name tag that read "Danielle" and finds in necessary to say "Oh, would you look at that! Danielle and Danielle. Two Danielle's in one place. Oh my goodness." then just meandered out of the store. What a weirdo.

The rest of break was both relaxing and fun. I got to hang out with my family quite a bit and see some friends as well.

Thanksgiving day marked Katie's 5th birthday. I can't believe she is five...I'm sure I say that every year, but it's true; she is growing up so fast. Our family all came over and we had a nice dinner at our house, which was pretty fun. Good time spent.

Alice in A1derland to Harry Potter in the same night!

First, this is just a random photo I thought was fun. It was for a project Kelsey (my RA, who is in front) had to to.

This is seriously our section photo in the yearbook. Yep, pretty great. Somehow when deciding what each person should be, our section just turns to Amy and I and goes "obviously you two will be tweedle dee and tweedle dum." Um...not sure how I feel about that. Wait, yes I am...I was honestly kind of excited. :)

Maybe this is why they chose us...

Barrett was a singing flower...typical.

So, yeah we actually went to the Harry Potter premiere. And dressed up. Are we cool or what? Especially me with those glasses...

Barrett, Amy and I went with Misha and Ali. So fun! Barrett is supposed to be a golden snitch if you didn't get that.

Wow...I am such a dork. So, the best part of the midnight showing, apart from the crazy people that go to these things haha, was the fact that the movie theater started closing the curtains about 20 seconds too early. There was supposed to be this dramatic scene where Voldmort is stealing some important wand from Dumbledor's grave; lightning was flashing as he raises the wand into the dark sky and then all of the sudden there is this happy movie theater music playing and the curtains begin closing. Hilarious. You had to be there, but it was memorable.

Oh, college and the random adventures it brings.