It's actually quite late now, and I should be in bed, but a thought just dawned on me that I thought was important to share.
I was watching a vlog earlier this evening about the royal wedding...and the vlogger was pointing out how she doesn't really much care about the royal couple, but she found herself sucked into the broadcasting of the wedding. And that she ended up really enjoying it.
She also got some clips of Kate walking down the isle and other shots as well, and in the background is Pippa, Kate's sister, holding her train. Now, I don't know about where you live, but on TLC, one of our TV channels, I remember seeing a commercial for a special that will be all about Pippa. I don't really know what the big whoop is about Pippa, but I think that must be nice for her, to have some of the media notice her as well, and not just her sister.
And that's where the thought process came along. I'm just one of those people that likes to place herself in other people's shoes, and I just wondered now, what would it be like to be Pippa, the sister of the Duchess of Cambridge, a.k.a, England's New Face In Royalty? I mean, we were just in London about at month ago and I know for a fact, that everywhere you walk, especially in the touristic parts, there's a gift shop with about 25 different souvenirs with the royal couples faces plastered everywhere. And their wedding, an event that happens a thousand times every day, everywhere in the world, was on live television, in not just England, but internationally too. They're, in plain words, huge. Yes, I agree that, in all simplicity, it was just another wedding for just another royal couple and there will be many more to follow. But the fact is, that a royal wedding, whether you care about it or not, is a big deal. They're rare and international and end up on millions of T.V. screens. Kate's face ended up on I Love Britain mugs. Her FACE became a PRODUCT, an advertisement for an entire nation!!! That's pretty much a big deal.
So what it must be like, for a sister of this icon. Well, the first thing I thought, was if I was Pippa Middleton, I would be pretty darn jealous. Happy for my sister, but jealous. I mean, while royalty holds no interest for ME personally, who knows how Pippa feels about it? And even if she wasn't interested, jealousy is a strange thing. It doesn't really matter if we WANT it. It kind of matters as to who GETS it. And it being your sister, well, probably makes it 100x better and worse.
Now I realize that if her sister hadn't fell in love with a Duke, we wouldn't even be TALKING about her right now. But I'm sure there are times when Pippa must feel like, "You know what? This being the Royal Sister kinda sucks right now yo", or maybe she says that in a more British way, but you know what I mean. She probably thinks sometimes, I wish I could have been the one to meet a Duke and gotten that royal title. Heck, I would.
So folks, here comes the point. I'm not Pippa. I'm not Kate. I'm sure as heck not the queen of England. I don't know what it's like to be them, or to have a royal wedding or be apart of one. But if I was Pippa...
I would be wishing I had a brother.
And if there ever is a Prince or Duke or even a Senator in my future, I'll be thanking my lucky stars that my brother will pose no threat.
'Cause it would really suck to be known as, "The Sister of the Representative of Virginia".
Shesh. And Pippa thinks she's got it bad.
Love,
Danielle
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Thursday, August 4, 2011
My Summer In A Nutshell
June 17, Marina and the Diamonds Concert, drove to D.C., got stuck in mocking traffic, arrived at ominous crappy building that said 'Atlantic Plumbing Supply', overlooking a wonderful neighborhood with smashed windows and possible gangsters. Walked in, blasted with air condition and loud, loud music. Best. Concert. Ever. I got most of it on illegal video. (ok, maybe its not against the law, but saying illegal makes me feel like a rebel, so shut up ok??)
Moving on. June 18th, we packed all day. Due to school and a certain concert and laziness, no one packed a thing before that morning. Surprisingly, we were finished and ready to go by the time our Super Shuttle arrived, and took us to Dulles Airport. Our flight was relatively late, and we arrived relatively early, not to mention there was a delay of some sort. We spent the evening arguing where we should eat, arguing against buying a book from the Airport Borders, and finally, arguing as to who was more tired and cranky (The answer, would be all of us.)
We boarded our flight, with yet more arguing. (Maybe packing all day wasn't such a great idea) Our seats were all screwed up and according to our tickets, Nick and I were supposed to sit on the opposite side of the plane from our parents. More confusion and arguing pursued. As a result, I somehow ended up sitting with my mom on the left side, with my brothers earbuds and neck pillow, and my dad and brother on the right side, with virtually nothing. Thank God for free headsets supplied by British Airways, that's all I gotta say.
Flight was long, but painless. Other than the fact that a moody, introverted British dude had the isle seat, and I had to pee really, really bad, things went rather smoothly. Oh, and he drank like 5 mini bottles of wine. And we could barely communicate with my dad and brother. And all my 'stuff for the plane' was on THAT side of the luggage compartments. Er.
Finally, landed in London Heathrow Airport. Took a bus to our Airport hotel, whilst rubbing our eyes and wishing we would die. It was early, London time. And most of us (meaning me) got no sleep whatsoever. Airport hotel was actually nice, considering it was, well, an airport hotel. We ate at the restaurant inside the hotel (My brother wasn't tired or jet lagged enough to NOT have a burger) and then crashed for a while in the hotel room. A little later, we were visited by my mother's godchild and ex-babysitter, Vanessa, accompanied with her boyfriend, Mike. We talked and caught up with them in the airport hotel, half living zombie, half social lites, and of course living the dream. We ate and slept the night away.
Oops, maybe too much sleep. Our flight the next morning was early, and required early wake-ups. But with a failed computer alarm (THANKS A LOT MICROSOFT OUTLOOK) and no clock in the hotel room, we woke up LATE. Luckily, we all jumped out of bed like 5 year olds filled with caffeine and sugar, and were out of the room in 5 minutes. (It might have helped that we practically fell asleep in our clothes) As luck would have it, there was a bus going to our airport terminal waiting RIGHT outside the hotel just as we checked out. If that were not the case, we would have missed our flight. (THANKS AGAIN, OUTLOOK)
With the help of some English security, we made it on our flight in time, with none to spare. We flew for 3 or something hours to the Athens airport. My aunt Venetia was awaiting, and so was all our luggage (God is merciful)
In separate cars (Nick, me and my aunt in her mini van, and my parents in the rented car) we drove to my aunts house in Dionysos. It was strange, to see all the roads and run down buildings that were so familiar, but in that, I-think-I-might-have-dreamed-about-this-once sort of way.
We crashed at my aunt's house. What can I say.
After hanging out and talking with my cousin Katatrina for a bit, I left for my friend Marina's house, which is where I would be staying for the next week. Reunion and lots of hugs happened. It was a happy, pretty much sleepless night. I couldn't have possibly talked more in my life.
7 a.m, June 21st, I went to school with Marina. My old school, actually. Crazy and happy and a little bit confusing, going to school with all my old classmates was fun. I enjoyed myself more than is probably considered normal. We were driven back to Marina's house courtesy of my other friend Sophia's mom. (With Sophia, of course)
At Marina's house, we ate and threw ice cubes at each other (Well, I watched them throw ice cubes at each other anyway) Being Sophia's mom's birthday, Mrs. Ioanna, Marina's mom, made THE BEST CAKE EVER, which was like, coconut fluffy cream with drippy chocolate topping....I ate more than necessary.
Another late night ensued, but not as late as the night before, but only because I made Marina go to bed since she still had school the next morning, and I didn't.
June 22nd, Evia day. While Marina was at school, my family picked me up and we went to Evia, a drive-to island (With a boat, if that makes sense) We spent pretty much the entire day trying to find a good beach and eating at tavernas, and finally settling on an okay one. I got no tan.
June 23rd, Marina stayed home from school and so did one of her friends, Hanna, and we all spent the day at the beach together. Tanned for 3 hours under the hot, wonderful Greek sun, and swam in the beautiful Mediterranean sea and DID get a tan, and Marina burned like crazy. I laughed. Spent the evening back at Marina's pool, talking our mouths off and eating pizza and little dough balls that were SO good with Hanna. Marina complained all night about her burns all over everywhere. I laughed more.
June 24th, I went to school again with Marina. The kids there have a half day on the last day of school, so we were back 'home' before lunch. Actually, she went on the bus, and my parents took me to the grocery store. Some things never change, no matter what country your in.
Later that evening, we threw a surprise graduation party for Katarina outside on my aunt's patio thingy. I spent hours painting a sign that said "CONGRATS CLASS OF 2011". People bbq-ed souvlaki. We ate.
June 25th, my cousin Stephen and Katarina picked me up from Marina's house for the beach (again.) We spent a couple hours there, talking and catching up and swapping music 'cause we're cool. When I arrived at Marina's place later, I got dressed and fixed myself up for the get-together we were having with Marina's and my family. The night ended with lots of present sharing and picture taking and movie watching. We watched Glee for the first time with my brother on t.v. We laughed.
June 26th, sad day. We spent the morning saying goodbye to Marina's family. I ate more coconut cake. We loaded up the rented car (a.k.a stupid piece of junk Fiat) and drove to Katerini, where my grandparents live. We spent 5 days there, going to the beach and spending time with my grandparents and eating really good food and laying around slightly bored. Eh, such is life.
July 2nd, we all loaded up the stupid piece of junk Fiat again and drove to Thasos, an island near the north of Greece where my grandparents live. We took a boat to the island and drove to our resort, which was really nice. Thasos, is beautiful. We spent about 4 days there, beach hopping and sun bathing and eating a lottt. We really enjoyed our hotel's buffet dinner every night. Probably too much.
I became tanner.
July 6th, we drove back to Katerini, and spent the rest of the day preparing for our trip back to Athens, and then to London. Which means my mom packed up everything and everyone else sat on their butts.
July 7th, we said goodbye to my grandparents and other family. We drove back to Athens, so so sick of our stupid piece of junk Fiat, that we drove it right off a cliff and into the sea. We dragged its drowned, dead steel corpse onto the beach and built a big bonfire on top of it, and did an rain dance around the fire all night long.
Not really. Just checking to make sure you're really listening.
We arrived back at my aunt's house. My dad, nick and I went out to eat at the best Chinese place ever, Golden Phoenix. My dad cried over his hurting wallet. We went back to the house and spent some time with my cousins and aunt before driving my cousins to the train station to go to wherever the heck young adults go to. Those crazy kids.
July 8th, packed up our remaining things and got ready to leave for the airport once more. Mrs. Ioanna stopped by to say goodbye, but Marina had just woken up and didn't come. Instead, we talked for 2 hours on cell phones and said our goodbyes. We left my aunt's house behind in our s.p.o.j. Fiat whom we grew to love but not really, and my two hairbrushes that I forgot in my aunt's bedroom burst into tears. Sorry hairbrushes. You have now been replaced. *Sniff*
July 9th-11th, best London trip ever. We went everywhere in that city, and it helped that Big Ben was right in front of our hotel. It was so amazing. If I went into detail though, I'm afraid this 'nutshell' of a post will become an encyclopedia. We also met up with Vanessa and Mike on the 10th, and we had lots of fun with them too. We went to some places that we probably would never have gone to if we didn't meet up with them. Oh, and did I mention that we also went on a Harry Potter tour??? YEAH. That was only INSANELY AWESOME.
On the 12th, we left London and said goodbye for the last time. We boarded our flight in the afternoon and watched movies the entire way back to Virginia. A piece of advice: NEVER watch the Green Hornet. The word 'balls' appeared more often than any PLOT or SUBSTANCE did. I liked Diary of a Wimpy Kid better -_-
We took a shuttle back to our house, which must have been the longest drive of my life and crashed for the final time. Lets just say that our little friend jet lag was a bit more demanding this time round.
July 15th, one of Nick's friends invited our family over to their house for a little party thingy. The boys spent most of the night insulting their fellow classmates and watching poop videos on Youtube. Welcome back to Virginia.
July 16th, Nick's friend, my dad and of course Nick and I went to go see the greatest movie of this century, HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 IN 3D. *cough* I wasn't excited. And I did NOT cry. Ok, well...
July 19th, I went to a friend's birthday party. YES I ACTUALLY DO HAVE A SOCIAL LIFE, THANKS.
July 21st, two of my friend's came over and we had a super mega awesome POTTER PARTY. We made homemade meringues and pumpkin juice and butterbeer. None were a success, except for the meringues. Then we attempted to watch all 7 Harry Potter movies back to back. (Which took 17 and a half hours) We watched 4 that night, and woke up the next morning to watch 2 more. We didn't get to watch the 6th one, not enough time. And that's because we went to the movie theatres to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. For me, again. And I did not cry for a second time. I didn't. (Yes) No.
You don't have to tell me I'm a nerd. Dream Team, remember? Already been established.
July 24th, my family went to go visit one of Nick's and my friends, whom we have been friends with for a while. We all chased each other in their basement with various wheeled vehicles, and played a game that I created which resembled musical chairs except without music and without chairs. Yes, I am 14.
And the rest of the summer...has been a blur. Of Boring. We went to Bethany beach last weekend. And that's pretty much it. I think we plan to sit on our tushes and eat for the rest of the summer, to be honest. But don't worry, my blogging days have returned and are here to stay! So you will know of every piece of food that enters my mouth and every seat I sat on. Your welcome.
Hope you enjoyed reading about my summer. Are yours going well?
Love,
Danielle
I would like to dedicate this post to a good friend I like to call, Borders. Borders will be greatly missed by me and all the other nerds in the world that knew this good fellow. Rest in peace good friend, *sniff*
 |
| This guy, was security. shyeah. We instantly became BFF's. |
We boarded our flight, with yet more arguing. (Maybe packing all day wasn't such a great idea) Our seats were all screwed up and according to our tickets, Nick and I were supposed to sit on the opposite side of the plane from our parents. More confusion and arguing pursued. As a result, I somehow ended up sitting with my mom on the left side, with my brothers earbuds and neck pillow, and my dad and brother on the right side, with virtually nothing. Thank God for free headsets supplied by British Airways, that's all I gotta say.
Flight was long, but painless. Other than the fact that a moody, introverted British dude had the isle seat, and I had to pee really, really bad, things went rather smoothly. Oh, and he drank like 5 mini bottles of wine. And we could barely communicate with my dad and brother. And all my 'stuff for the plane' was on THAT side of the luggage compartments. Er.
Finally, landed in London Heathrow Airport. Took a bus to our Airport hotel, whilst rubbing our eyes and wishing we would die. It was early, London time. And most of us (meaning me) got no sleep whatsoever. Airport hotel was actually nice, considering it was, well, an airport hotel. We ate at the restaurant inside the hotel (My brother wasn't tired or jet lagged enough to NOT have a burger) and then crashed for a while in the hotel room. A little later, we were visited by my mother's godchild and ex-babysitter, Vanessa, accompanied with her boyfriend, Mike. We talked and caught up with them in the airport hotel, half living zombie, half social lites, and of course living the dream. We ate and slept the night away.
Oops, maybe too much sleep. Our flight the next morning was early, and required early wake-ups. But with a failed computer alarm (THANKS A LOT MICROSOFT OUTLOOK) and no clock in the hotel room, we woke up LATE. Luckily, we all jumped out of bed like 5 year olds filled with caffeine and sugar, and were out of the room in 5 minutes. (It might have helped that we practically fell asleep in our clothes) As luck would have it, there was a bus going to our airport terminal waiting RIGHT outside the hotel just as we checked out. If that were not the case, we would have missed our flight. (THANKS AGAIN, OUTLOOK)
With the help of some English security, we made it on our flight in time, with none to spare. We flew for 3 or something hours to the Athens airport. My aunt Venetia was awaiting, and so was all our luggage (God is merciful)
In separate cars (Nick, me and my aunt in her mini van, and my parents in the rented car) we drove to my aunts house in Dionysos. It was strange, to see all the roads and run down buildings that were so familiar, but in that, I-think-I-might-have-dreamed-about-this-once sort of way.
We crashed at my aunt's house. What can I say.
After hanging out and talking with my cousin Katatrina for a bit, I left for my friend Marina's house, which is where I would be staying for the next week. Reunion and lots of hugs happened. It was a happy, pretty much sleepless night. I couldn't have possibly talked more in my life.
7 a.m, June 21st, I went to school with Marina. My old school, actually. Crazy and happy and a little bit confusing, going to school with all my old classmates was fun. I enjoyed myself more than is probably considered normal. We were driven back to Marina's house courtesy of my other friend Sophia's mom. (With Sophia, of course)
At Marina's house, we ate and threw ice cubes at each other (Well, I watched them throw ice cubes at each other anyway) Being Sophia's mom's birthday, Mrs. Ioanna, Marina's mom, made THE BEST CAKE EVER, which was like, coconut fluffy cream with drippy chocolate topping....I ate more than necessary.
Another late night ensued, but not as late as the night before, but only because I made Marina go to bed since she still had school the next morning, and I didn't.
June 22nd, Evia day. While Marina was at school, my family picked me up and we went to Evia, a drive-to island (With a boat, if that makes sense) We spent pretty much the entire day trying to find a good beach and eating at tavernas, and finally settling on an okay one. I got no tan.
June 23rd, Marina stayed home from school and so did one of her friends, Hanna, and we all spent the day at the beach together. Tanned for 3 hours under the hot, wonderful Greek sun, and swam in the beautiful Mediterranean sea and DID get a tan, and Marina burned like crazy. I laughed. Spent the evening back at Marina's pool, talking our mouths off and eating pizza and little dough balls that were SO good with Hanna. Marina complained all night about her burns all over everywhere. I laughed more.
June 24th, I went to school again with Marina. The kids there have a half day on the last day of school, so we were back 'home' before lunch. Actually, she went on the bus, and my parents took me to the grocery store. Some things never change, no matter what country your in.
Later that evening, we threw a surprise graduation party for Katarina outside on my aunt's patio thingy. I spent hours painting a sign that said "CONGRATS CLASS OF 2011". People bbq-ed souvlaki. We ate.
June 25th, my cousin Stephen and Katarina picked me up from Marina's house for the beach (again.) We spent a couple hours there, talking and catching up and swapping music 'cause we're cool. When I arrived at Marina's place later, I got dressed and fixed myself up for the get-together we were having with Marina's and my family. The night ended with lots of present sharing and picture taking and movie watching. We watched Glee for the first time with my brother on t.v. We laughed.
June 26th, sad day. We spent the morning saying goodbye to Marina's family. I ate more coconut cake. We loaded up the rented car (a.k.a stupid piece of junk Fiat) and drove to Katerini, where my grandparents live. We spent 5 days there, going to the beach and spending time with my grandparents and eating really good food and laying around slightly bored. Eh, such is life.
July 2nd, we all loaded up the stupid piece of junk Fiat again and drove to Thasos, an island near the north of Greece where my grandparents live. We took a boat to the island and drove to our resort, which was really nice. Thasos, is beautiful. We spent about 4 days there, beach hopping and sun bathing and eating a lottt. We really enjoyed our hotel's buffet dinner every night. Probably too much.
I became tanner.
July 6th, we drove back to Katerini, and spent the rest of the day preparing for our trip back to Athens, and then to London. Which means my mom packed up everything and everyone else sat on their butts.
July 7th, we said goodbye to my grandparents and other family. We drove back to Athens, so so sick of our stupid piece of junk Fiat, that we drove it right off a cliff and into the sea. We dragged its drowned, dead steel corpse onto the beach and built a big bonfire on top of it, and did an rain dance around the fire all night long.
Not really. Just checking to make sure you're really listening.
We arrived back at my aunt's house. My dad, nick and I went out to eat at the best Chinese place ever, Golden Phoenix. My dad cried over his hurting wallet. We went back to the house and spent some time with my cousins and aunt before driving my cousins to the train station to go to wherever the heck young adults go to. Those crazy kids.
July 8th, packed up our remaining things and got ready to leave for the airport once more. Mrs. Ioanna stopped by to say goodbye, but Marina had just woken up and didn't come. Instead, we talked for 2 hours on cell phones and said our goodbyes. We left my aunt's house behind in our s.p.o.j. Fiat whom we grew to love but not really, and my two hairbrushes that I forgot in my aunt's bedroom burst into tears. Sorry hairbrushes. You have now been replaced. *Sniff*
July 9th-11th, best London trip ever. We went everywhere in that city, and it helped that Big Ben was right in front of our hotel. It was so amazing. If I went into detail though, I'm afraid this 'nutshell' of a post will become an encyclopedia. We also met up with Vanessa and Mike on the 10th, and we had lots of fun with them too. We went to some places that we probably would never have gone to if we didn't meet up with them. Oh, and did I mention that we also went on a Harry Potter tour??? YEAH. That was only INSANELY AWESOME.
On the 12th, we left London and said goodbye for the last time. We boarded our flight in the afternoon and watched movies the entire way back to Virginia. A piece of advice: NEVER watch the Green Hornet. The word 'balls' appeared more often than any PLOT or SUBSTANCE did. I liked Diary of a Wimpy Kid better -_-
We took a shuttle back to our house, which must have been the longest drive of my life and crashed for the final time. Lets just say that our little friend jet lag was a bit more demanding this time round.
July 15th, one of Nick's friends invited our family over to their house for a little party thingy. The boys spent most of the night insulting their fellow classmates and watching poop videos on Youtube. Welcome back to Virginia.
July 16th, Nick's friend, my dad and of course Nick and I went to go see the greatest movie of this century, HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 IN 3D. *cough* I wasn't excited. And I did NOT cry. Ok, well...
July 19th, I went to a friend's birthday party. YES I ACTUALLY DO HAVE A SOCIAL LIFE, THANKS.
July 21st, two of my friend's came over and we had a super mega awesome POTTER PARTY. We made homemade meringues and pumpkin juice and butterbeer. None were a success, except for the meringues. Then we attempted to watch all 7 Harry Potter movies back to back. (Which took 17 and a half hours) We watched 4 that night, and woke up the next morning to watch 2 more. We didn't get to watch the 6th one, not enough time. And that's because we went to the movie theatres to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. For me, again. And I did not cry for a second time. I didn't. (Yes) No.
You don't have to tell me I'm a nerd. Dream Team, remember? Already been established.
July 24th, my family went to go visit one of Nick's and my friends, whom we have been friends with for a while. We all chased each other in their basement with various wheeled vehicles, and played a game that I created which resembled musical chairs except without music and without chairs. Yes, I am 14.
And the rest of the summer...has been a blur. Of Boring. We went to Bethany beach last weekend. And that's pretty much it. I think we plan to sit on our tushes and eat for the rest of the summer, to be honest. But don't worry, my blogging days have returned and are here to stay! So you will know of every piece of food that enters my mouth and every seat I sat on. Your welcome.
Hope you enjoyed reading about my summer. Are yours going well?
Love,
Danielle
I would like to dedicate this post to a good friend I like to call, Borders. Borders will be greatly missed by me and all the other nerds in the world that knew this good fellow. Rest in peace good friend, *sniff*
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