Life is Good

Danielle | 26 | Runner | Law Student PNW

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Morning // Evening

Officially on spring “break”!!!

Studying for the MPRE, running long (longest since October due to IT band issues) with friends, reading for fun!!!

:)

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What is UP homies

Somehow find myself here every few months. It’s been a sec. Updates!

-have finally found myself (dare I say it?) enjoying law school again for the first time since…the beginning (lolz)

-my class is graduating in may but alas I will be done in december since I took time off but absoLUTELY no regrets on that

-AND instead of spending my summer studying for the bar I will be spending six weeks in europe 😍😍😍 10 days of a lil trip with jared’s fam and then doing a law study abroad program in italy for a month 😍😍😍😍😍😍

-have been a FIEND for SJM books since mid december. Read all of ACOTAR. All of CC. And now halfway through TOG. Incredible!!!!!

-theo is perfect as per usual (duh)

-have been to berkeley, colorado, and seattle in the past two months. lots of moving around.

-last weekend when I was in seattle it was just a friend trip not a jared trip and ugh it’s so fun to travel with your pals sometimes??? So many laughs. And my first concert since like…pre covid?? Im not even sure who the heck knows anymore. What is time

Feeling kinda…good??? What the fuck lol

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adult life is truly just thinking “I NEED TO CLEAN” while dealing with the 17 other things that have a hard deadline

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Danielle! You are so gorgeous inside and out, and I am thrilled to hear that you and Jared are engaged! Been following your journey on here for a while and literally so proud of all that you’ve accomplished in terms of life + mental growth 💓💓

I love you!!!! thank you !!! 💘 this means a lot :,)

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Thanksgiving our way ✨

First year in the past five thanksgivings that we weren’t in Charlotte with Jared’s fam. A bummer but the cost of flights was INSANE (as usual) and being that we are both on the west coast now it just made more sense to visit eachother.

We went hiking on a normally very busy very popular trail that jared had yet to experience. Very empty on a holiday! Would recommend!

After a day in the woods we stopped by my professor/friend’s house to take her dog for a walk, etc. (we were on dog duty for the night/morning) which was fun lol

Ordered Indian food in lieu of cooking (last year we ordered Indian food on thanksgiving because J’s parents were remodeling their kitchen) and ate it in bed watching modern family. Kinda ideal???

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Lil weekend recap, it’s been a sec!!

Friday I had my final trial for my trial practice class aka 1/5 classes done for the term! It was on zoom so we could have anyone we wanted play a witness so Jared got to join as a witness which was fun

After that I got the Explosion of Energy™️ that comes every time I finish an exam, etc. I deep cleaned the kitchen (desperately needed) and put up the xmas decorations and then took a lil walk to pick up pizza

Saturday my law school bestie and I met early for a run/walk. I’ve been having IT band issues since early October (advice welcome), been doing the PT exercises and I THOUGHT things were improving but Saturday was def a major setback :(

But still super nice to start the day outside with a friend, then we picked up coffees and parted ways

Spent the day GRINDING on a paper for my international sports law class (goal is to finish today and have another class wrapped up!). Honestly feeling so stoked about this paper. Last fall I had my Mental Breakdown while trying to write a 20 page paper and honestly writing has stressed me tf out ever since (and I’ve always loved writing, never had a mental block with it), so it feels SOOOOOO good to have crossed that mental barrier. And I’m stoked on the topic

Had a lil facetime with Jared + his parents to discuss plans to visit them over winter break and fun travel plans for next summer 👀

Sunday morning I volunteered with the same friend to hand out medals at a local race. It was a gorgeous morning but very very cold (for eugene). It was awesome to see so many familiar faces cross the finish line and seeing the winners of each race. Super cool.

Spent the rest of the day grinding yet again. Finals season fast approaches 😅

Monday I had classes and did a toooon of work and ran errands and TRIED to get my latest booster but when I showed up to my appointment (appointment! specifically for the booster!) they were like lolz yeah we dont have anymore and I was like neat neat good thing you did not let me know in advance!

But the good news was that I spontaneously got a little xmas shopping done and bought teeny tiny stocking for the cats to match mine and Jared’s. And I bought three books (I miss reading for fun much during school) and it turned out they were buy two get one so that was a score

Today is another big work day but tonight Jared and Allie (cat) fly in for a week!!!

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And the fall!

I don’t know how to say this without sounding like…so fucking dramatic but it literally feels like day by day I’ve come slowly back to life.

Last week I had this stunning realization that I was okay. For literally three years I feel like I’ve been hanging on by a thread. And it’s still really hard, don’t get me wrong. But I am starting to feel more like me. I wrote this in the notes app of my phone just before walking out the door to class on wednesday—

The week I decided to come back to life

I wore a dress to school / even though / it was 26 / degrees outside

I made iced coffee / in a mason jar / even though / I didn't have time

I started taking pictures / finally feeling like / I wanted / to remember

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lol remember seven months ago when I said I should start posting again…

I don’t know what compelled me to come on the fr*cken website tonight but here we are! I’m already annoyed because it took me twenty minutes to get all these photos to even load on one post and I bet something is gonna get f’ed up when I hit post!!

Anyway — I went to share some highlights of the past few months but they didn’t all fit on one post (aww) so here’s the summer.

Most of you who are real world homies follow me elsewhere and already know these things, but for anyone else!

-most importantly, jared and I got engaged!!!! he proposed at the end of a super random half marathon I ran, in the evening, in virginia, in june…aka after he proposed I spent the rest of the night puking from dehydration lmaoooooooo it’s quite a story that’s just the surface

-started off the summer with jared’s sister’s wedding in NYC in may! i got to meet a ton of extended family that I hadn’t before which was neat

-spent the summer in charlottesville doing enviro law work. my coworkers were awesome, the mountain views from the office were stellar, my supervisor was amazing and we went on a run together :,)

-because we were on the east coast we got to (in person) ask our bestie if he wanted to be the one to marry us and I got to ask my bestie to be my MOH

-lots of hiking, waterfalls, mountain streams, sweaty sweaty sweaty runs, early mornings, bug bites, mellow mushroom pizza (iykyk), unexpected torrential downpours, family time.

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April -- Currently

In Michigan! J and I will be together until the fall which is super nice. In about a month we will head to VA for the summer

But the first weekend we actually headed down to Charlotte for the weekend. I had bought us tix to see John Mulaney (i know, i know) for his christmas present. We stayed with his parents and they got tix to go too. Also when we walked in at like 11pm after driving all day his mom had just finished frosting a carrot cake for us?? I love her. She makes me one every year for my birthday. This past year she literally made cupcakes in the toaster oven or something like that since their kitchen was under construction.

We also got to watch the UNC/D*ke game with them which was arguably the best game in UNC history??? What a fricken win. Forget the actual championships.

The following weekend we went back to traverse city for a night for an important mission 👀 while there we also checked out a brewery and grabbed pizza to bring back to our hotel room which had an aweeesome view of the lake. We ate pizza in bed and watched ted lasso.

This past weekend we went to an easter party at a friend's house which featured an egg hunt that ya girl went HARD on

On Sunday I was complaining about not feeling like getting out the door to run and Jared offered to drive us to a park so I could run somewhere new while he hungout and that is love! Also I unintentionally wore a very pastel bright outfit which felt right

Monday we watched Boston (ofc)

And then, then, then! On Monday night I was like hmmm I've been sneezing a lot today. And my nose is really runny. I checked my temp and had a low fever. Lymph nodes feeling like grapes...

So we whipped out the ol' at home covid test and whatdoyaknow! It finally got me

I have been extremely careful, especially pre-vaccine because I had a feeling if I got covid it would fuck me up (spoiler: I was right!), so after two years the time has finally come!

I am vaxxed and boosted, etc. so I'm not ~worried~ but I definitely feel like shit. 0/10 would not recommend. Lots of fever. Lots of shaking and sweating and sleeping and snot. On day 3 now and not a fan! Even if you are vaccinated it can fuck you up! Let's not mess around!

But the cats have kept me company and jared is so far feeling fine and politely responding to all my calls of "MORE WATER PLEASE"

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March

Jared came out for a few days during his spring break. We had ~law prom~ and his birthday! Nice to see a lot of school people again. We tried out a new to us restaurant for his bday where they cook some things in the center of the room and we were seated right there which was neat

Did a lot of reading. Have been trying to get back into reading for pleasure. Not much of that has happened since school started. Tore through the silent patient and verity in ~a day each. Similar vibes. Both v good.

Bought theo themed mice for St. Patrick's Day. This is basically how I celebrate every holiday now.

Did a fun run around town with the local running shop for the holiday as well. It was chaotic and scavenger hunt-esque and ended with free beer!

Bend for a night with some friends during their spring break. Celebrated birthdays and wandered town and managed to get out for an early run along the river. Forever my favorite way to explore a place.

Moved ouuuuut of eug until the fall. My friend was a life saver and helped me clean and pack and move everything. Theo also clearly helped.

Headed to Michigan! Theo was a little angel on the plane and very popular at the airport. Proud of my travel girl.

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February

Split my time between OR and MI. Aka I went out to michigan to see Jared for the second half of the month

The weather in Eug was SO nice that month? See pic at top from hike with @everythinginstride + nathan. They know how to spice up a hike let me tell ya. Summit coffee and stroop waffels 👌🏻

In Michigan we stopped to get Detroit style pizza the night I flew in as per usual. Jared's bestie who I had yet to meet irl came which was awesome. And I got a cocktail with gummy bears which was extra awesome.

Lots of snow! So fricken cold! So much running and snow and stressing about slipping! But I also finally got to meet up with @neu-run and run irl (so fking windy and cold omg) which was very nice (and made up for the wind and cold)

Took a day trip to Grand Rapids! Went climbing and ate tacos. Ideal.

Took a weekend trip to Traverse City. Amazing.

We stayed at this awesome airbnb and it was on a farm and we got to chill with the goats and cows and feed them and they were so fun and friendly.

Explored Sleeping Bear + went to wineries + went to a distillery that had yurts you could hang out in and play board games + drove up the peninsula. Definitely has me thinking about the Bayshore Marathon some day 👀

Went to a birthday party for one of J's friends and it was so much fun and very college-party-esque. Plus I got to meet most of his friends for the first time (shoutout covid!)

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January

Decided we are just going with nature pics for this month because looking back it seemed to feature a lot of outdoors time

Jared came out for most of the month! He brought Allie too which was a whole thing. Theo very much wants to play and Allie very much wants to be left alone. Alas,

We went to the coast for a weekend with N + B. The first morning we woke up to a tsunami watch! (or warning? I forget). Everything was fine but if you remember this was when a volcano exploded in the pacific and the west coast of the US was like "watch out!" The tide was def waaay higher but still keeping to the beach

Lots of hiking and card games and breweries and good food and watching alone (has anyone watched??)

We also took a few days trips out and about to check out waterfalls and new and old to us trails

And Jared decided that his new favorite hobby was mushroom foraging lol. We went on a guided foraging thing in NorCal in 2020 right before the world shut down. He had bought a book when we were in Colorado re: mushrooms, so he was on the hunt. We did successfully find 1 (!) edible one. But we still cooked it and split it between us juuuust to be safe.

And we got to spend a lot of time with my friends which was exciting since all my closest friends in OR live with their partners so I know them, but nobody knew Jared very much so I was hyped

Oh also, I was taking (am taking) the spring semester off so that relieved a loooot of pressure

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December // January -- Winter Break

A little bit of everywhere! Truly

I was supposed to fly into Detroit but 40 mins before my flight in Seattle, it was cancelled which resulted in me flying to Chicago instead and also losing my bag for 4 days yeehaw!

BUT my college bff and her bf happened to be in Chicago for the same less than 24 hour span that we were and we were able to meet up with them which was great

Michigan for a few days then we scooted off to visit my fam in PA and NJ who I had not seen since moving out to OR aka like 1.5 years so that was also great

Covid tests, lots of outdoor gatherings, masks, you know the drill

We stayed with various family members who Jared hadn't met before and it was so fun and I love them so much!!

We were supposed to go to NYC to see Jared's sis but that's when covid cases in NYC (and everywhere) were SKYROCKETING so that didn't happen. We decided to spend a night in Pittsburgh on our drive back to MI instead. We had so much fun we ended up staying two nights. I had never been before. Exploring museums and food and and and

We went back to Michigan for a hot sec and then flew out to Colorado to spend a few days with my mom and ed. We literally flew out the morning after the fires erupted and hours before a major blizzard hit. It was a lot.

Lots of hiking, snacks, snow, shenanigans, and exploring. My mom had homemade carrot cake waiting for me :'). We flew in on New Year's Eve!

While there we found out J would be online for the first three weeks of the spring semester so we made plans for him to fly out to OR a few days later (with Al!) so we could spend january together :)

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November // December

Whirlwind. Mental health was shiiiiit, but decided that deserves its own post

Going to Charlotte for thanksgiving with Jared's fam was a highlight. J and I ran a turkey trot. "Ran." I had been dealing with knee pain/IT band issues since my marathon (and would not start really running again until late january boo). It was also my first turkey trot! This year (2022) I think the rest of J's fam will join us and my goal is to win 😤

J's parents were getting their kitchen renovated so on actual thanksgiving we ordered indian food and ate around a fire outside. The next day when his sis + partner got home we used a neighbor's kitchen and had second thanksgiving

Turned 25!

Bought Theo and advent calendar because of course I did. Holiday spirit!

Celebrated wrapping up the fall semester with mimosas and breakfast tacos with my law school besties

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October -- Allie

As mentioned previously, Jared adopted our little alloo from my mom the same month that I adopted theo

He loves her so much, he's so good to her 😭

He bought her a HEATED BED because he was worried she was too cold during the michigan winter. At first she had no interest in it. Then she shit on it (I find this hilarious, what a cat move). Finally, he hid it underneath her blanket and now she is CONSTANTLY sleeping on it. So warm for our girl

We also discovered this spring that she loves basil. It's adorable.

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October -- THEO!!!!!! LOOK AT HER!!!! THE LOVE OF MY FRICKEN LIFE!

I had been thinking about maybe adopting a cat for awhile. I grew up with a lot of pets, and after pet sitting a few times this past summer + living alone during a pandemic, the idea of adopting an animal was sounding better and better

I mentioned this to a friend of mine who then shared that our other friend's cat had just had kittens in late august, and they would soon need homes

SO.....

But actually I thought about it for awhile and eventually went over to see them (which I knew would mean I was going to adopt one) and I'd I like to think the universe has my back and the timing just seemed so perfect

So I brought my little girlie home late October and Jared was in town that weekend too which was extra special

Wait also an aside on my friend's cat who is the mom -- so my friend did not REALIZE her cat was pregnant and all of a sudden she was giving birth and my friend was like oOh.

Anyway! After growing up with so many cats I was like pft this will be a breeze! But let me tell you kittens have enough energy to power the world (will work on this as a proposal for clean energy). She has SO MUCH ENERGY. She has finally started to chill out a little, but man what a little ball of excitement.

I love her! She makes me so happy! She is so funny! Every day she makes me laugh. She loves sleeping on my neck (as you can see) and we cuddle every night and AGH she's just the best.

P sure 99% of my camera roll since October is her, and she is so much bigger now, so stay tuned for more pics, but here are some from the first few months we had together :')

Also, an aside on Allie

This was also the month Jared adopted Allie!

Allie is my family's cat and she is ~17? We've had her since I was in elementary school. She was the last remaining cat and my mom was moving, so Jared was a hero and adopted her because he's the best.

Ok as I'm typing this I'm realizing I have so many cute Jared and Al pics and stories that they deserve their own post...

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Cannot express how happy it makes me too see you back!! I used to read your blog when I was going thru a pretty tough time in my life & would be inspired by how much beauty and hopefulness you brought into your own life. Now I'm in a much brighter place, it's so lovely getting to hear about your adventures again

Aw!! I'm so glad to hear you are in a better place. Thank you for sending this :)