Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!! Today was exciting and full of happiness and family.

I woke up this morning and ran to the living room to find all kinds of presents under the tree.

My stocking was hanging nearby. I always open my stocking first, because I'm normally awake before Skye, and I'm not allowed to start opening my presents under the tree before she's there to watch.

A chocolate truffle and bunny keychain were sticking out of the top!

I turned my stocking upside down and out fell lots of chocolates and a new pair of crafting scissors!

Once Skye was finally awake, coffee in hand, I was allowed to start opening my gifts. I chose this little one with the cute bears on it first!

I tore open the paper and...

...it was a pretty purple shirt! Purple is one of my favorite colors.

My next two gifts were these books--A Tolkien Treasury and a book called Happiness full of Hello Kitty pictures! You can never have too many books.

After that, I opened these ADORABLE pajama pants!! 

Look how cute the little kitties are! My brother thought they were rabbits, but I think they look more like cats. What do you think?

I grabbed the big bag and pulled out the tissue paper.

It was perfume! Recently, I've been really into sniffing the perfume samples in fashion magazines. I think they're so neat! Now I have my very own bottle I can sniff all I want. Look at how elegant the bottle is! 

My last gift was a perfect square. I tore off the paper and saw...

...it was a box from Liberty Jane! One of my all-time favorite places to get clothes and patterns!

I gently opened the box and pulled out this gorgeous pair of purple floral Janes! I can't wait to wear them around! They'll match my new purple shirt perfectly.

This Christmas was really fun. I hope everyone had a peaceful, joy-filled day. I'm so grateful for all my family, friends, and followers! Thank you to all that read my posts and enjoy them. How was your day? Did you get any cool gifts? 

This has been Dani, dabbling in Christmas. Over and out!

Feature Friday--Laughing Spirit!

Hey everyone! Another Feature Friday, coming your way! This week, my friend Laughing Spirit!

She is a Penobscot Native American, and is from the 1600s!

Her hair is so long and silky! I wish I could have braids that long (and perfect!)

The detail on her dress is so pretty!

 I love this picture of her!

Laughing Spirit is quiet, but very kind. She is also super good at identifying animal tracks, and can outrun me in a race easily (She doesn't like to brag, though!) She has a little sister who is really nice, too! I love having so many friends.

This has been Dani, dabbling once again in featuring friends. Over and out!

Feature Friday--Lilly!

Hello everyone! Sorry these posts are always so late; technically, it's Saturday! Anywho, in an attempt to continue the tradition, I'll be featuring my friend Lilly this Friday (or Saturday, if you prefer.)

Lilly is a time-traveler, so she has been to a lot of different time periods and played different characters. 

I'm so jealous of her freckles!! I've always thought they were super cute. :) She's really good at a lot of different accents, and knows multiple languages, too! 

She has even perfected countless different personalities in order to play a convincing role in the time she's in!

The Lilly I know is so smart, well-educated, and considerate of others.

I think it's remarkable that I get to know such a cool person!

Lilly is really fun to just sit down and have a conversation with. She has so many different stories from all the situations she's been in, and I love to learn about history and culture through her first hand experiences. Do you have any friends that have lots of good stories? 

This has been Dani, dabbling in time-travel and introducing good friends. Over and out!

Feature Friday--Addy!

Greetings, internet pals! This week, I'll be featuring my friend Addy! She arrived at the Midcoast MTTB in the summer of 2013, and we've been good friends ever since!

Her Christmas dress is so pretty--I have to see if I can convince her to let me wear it next year! ;)

Addy is so nice. She's so kind and always willing to help or give me advice! 

Her hair also braids so nicely. I wish my hair was that thick!

And on top of all that, she escaped slavery during the Civil War! How brave is that? I really admire her courage and optimism. 

Addy is amazing, and I'm so glad I got to feature her this Friday! I'm lucky to get to know people from other times and backgrounds. Who'd have thought I'd have a friend who lived through the Civil War? :D

This has been Dani, dabbling in cool friends. Over and out!

Feature Friday--Khadija!

Hey everyone! So, I did a little brainstorming, and thought it would be kinda rad to do a Feature Friday every week with some pictures of my friends! We'll kick off the tradition with Khadija, my pal from Morocco!

She's very fashion-forward--I love her sense of style!

I'm excited to start something new! I hope I'll be able to keep it up, at least for a few weeks. You know how irregular my blogging can be! ;) Should I include more information about my friends? Or should I make a separate post later with a little bit about their story? A "What's the Scoop" Saturday? And who should I feature next week? I'm thinking Either Addy or Lilly, but I'm not entirely sure yet. Please do leave a comment with your input!

This has been Dani, showing off a fashionable friend. Over and out!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm thankful for my family, and for all my friends! I'm thankful that I get to know so many different people from different times and places, and I'm thankful for all of you guys! Thank you so much for reading and commenting what I post--it means so much to me.

On Thanksgiving, we always dress up and take family photos for our Christmas cards.

I think this is my favorite holiday outfit so far! Plaid feels very festive.

I also really like the bows in my hair. I think I should wear it like that more often! 

I can't believe it's already Thanksgiving! December is only a few days away...where has 2015 gone?!? I'll definitely try to blog more next month! I know I've been kind of AWOL in November. Anyway, happy Thanksgiving! What're you thankful for? Are you excited for pie? I think that's the best part. 

This has been Dani, dabbling in festivities. Over and out!

Happy Halloween!

The big day is finally here!! Happy Halloween everyone!

Here I am in my Raggedy Ann costume! It was super easy--I just borrowed an outfit from Lilly. Having time traveling friends is so convenient sometimes!

All I really had left to do was make my wig! It was super easy and fun--I can post a tutorial sometime. Do you want to know how to make yarn wigs? :)

Molly joined me right before I left! After all, trick-or-treating is loads more fun with friends. 

Molly is a princess! She borrowed a dress from Lilly, too. She loves poofy frilly outfits! I think she looks just like a real princess.

We headed out just as the sun began to set. Look how pretty it is! 

Hand in hand, Molly and I started down the road, ready to claim our bounty of sweets.

How was your Halloween? Did you dress up? Did you go trick or treating, or stay at home and hand out candy? Let me know in the comments!
This has been Dani, dabbling in festivities on my favorite day of the year! Over and out!

Pumpkin Carving!

Hey guys! Next weekend is Halloween! I'm so excited. This weekend I thought it was high time I carve a pumpkin of my own. It's important to time the carving of your pumpkin just right--you want to have enough time to enjoy it, but you don't want it to get icky before Halloween night.

First things first, I had to slice off the top. 

This is one of my favorite steps in the carving process. It's exciting to see what the inside of the pumpkin looks like!

After the top is all the way off, I slice off the guts that are attached. I don't want them dangling down into the candle when I put the top back on.

This is also one of my favorite parts! I love sticking my hands into a pumpkin full of guts and seeds. 

I clasped my fingers around a big chunk and tried to wrench it out. Pumpkin guts are so slippery, though, it was hard to get a good grip. 

After some futile attempts with my fingers, I decided to resort to using the big spoon to scoop out the insides.

Finally, every seed and piece of squishy mush was out! And boy, was I glad--after a while, pumpkin makes my hands kind of itchy. I couldn't wait to rinse them off!

I rolled the pumpkin onto its side and prepared to sketch my design. I put the top back on so I could gauge the best place to draw the face.

I uncapped the Sharpie and held the pumpkin steady while I drew my design.

This is how it ended up! I messed up a little on the teeth (I didn't mean to color them in!) but I just made extra-sure to be careful and to cut around them instead of through them.

Carefully, I poked my knife through and began cutting the triangle.

One down, one to go!

Here's my completed pumpkin! I was able to rub off most of the Sharpie I accidentally put on the teeth.

I love to carve pumpkins. I always wish I had more than one! Some years I have, but I always forget how much work it is to do just one. I can't wait for Halloween! I'm a little panicked, though--I still can't decide what I want to be! Right now I'm thinking bag of jelly beans, tiger, or Raggedy Ann. I think I'm leaning towards Raggedy Ann, though! What do you think? Do you have any suggestions? What's your favorite part about Halloween? I'd love to know!

This has been Dani, dabbling in gutting pumpkins. Over and out!