an introduction, to me...mr. DT.

folks, i'm gonna be honest. i have only posted on this blog what has seemed to be the most appropriate expression of my personality. humor. emotion. eloquence. best summarized in one word: "ROAAAAAARRRRR!"
having previously roared my little taylor heart out, on Saturday, June 30, 2007, today i will begin an intermittent appearance in this blog...finally putting the 'danny' in 'haileyanddanny'.

to begin...
so i just finished my first 4 hour shift at my new job, the urban barn. i survived the day and rewarded myself with a tall americano misto immediately. i deserved it. we all deserve it. anyways, just a few interesting tidbits about my day.

1: i work under a manager, a pretty 20-something girl named "hollis". yes, hollis. last name, "terr". haha. jokes. hollis terr. i know what you're thinking - she should be selling hoodies and tshirts and tank tops, not furniture! in high school i once worked for a guy named abe. i was told to call him "mr. ricombe".
2: apparently boss hollis doesn't like being summoned with "holla hollis!!", nor does she like to be called "boss hollis".
3: i have an assistant manager named "sam", who is also like just pushing 20 and seems really quiet and nice and kind, except for the RAGING dragon/flower/something-i-can't-quite-figure-out tattoo the size of a bowling pin in her back. but she is nice.
4: i also worked with the following: bonnie, liane, leona (props to mrs. sharman), and another girl who i can't remember a name for. it is a female affair. except for this MAN. the rooster has entered the hen house. for the record, nameless girl was literally crying with laughter in the tiny stock room when i went to get my jacket when i finished my shift. she had her cellphone to her ear, but wasn't saying anything. just laughing. lets call her "crazy", until i find out her real name.
5: i get a whopping __% off discount at the store!! can you guess? you'll win a prize!!!
6: it is remarkable to me how much urban barn items polka-dot my house. i didn't realize i'm living so urban and so barn.
7: i am exceptional at the BS of furniture sales. i was told to walk around the store for an hour or so to familiarize myself with the product. in that time i somehow helped three customers - a lady looking for an end table made entirely of mirrors, another lady and her mother looking at couches, and a nice young girl wanting a present for her friend. i am hoping, that on the weekend these ladies come and buy all of their items and i get the commission. and hopefully they bring their friends and family as well. i need all the sales i can get. but seriously, i'm already "helping" customers? i have NO idea what i'm doing.
8: i am now the "light guy". leona has assigned me the task of pointing and positioning the lamps in the store. there are like literally a bazillion lamps in the store. i am excited. i will softly sing worship songs as i do the work, primarily songs with a metaphor of "light". "come light the fire again" "this little light of mine" etc.
9: parking is ridiculous. i put my new tiny toyota to the test ( t t t t t ) in a parallel park that involved me getting out of the car at least 6 times to check for space. but i made it fit. oh yes. anything for free unlimited parking. huzzah.
10: i think i'll like this job. i hope i like it. it will probably take a few weeks...months...to get up to speed. i hope it pays well enough. we'll see!

just thought i'd give ya'll an update of my work. you can pray it continues to go well. thanks!

[oh! and for the record, hailey, my wife, and the other half of 'haileyanddanny' is a drop dead gorgeous bombshell knockout one-of-a-kind woman. she is pretty times a bazillion. just for the record.]


heart.
dt

Face Lift

Well I figure its about time I changed our pictures on this thing.  I guess I just got in a rut that way... for about an ENTIRE year.  A facelift is nice now and then, if its free.  And if it doesn't make you look ugly... or like you have fake lips or cheekbones.

So here's the latest.  We are NEARLY settled.  Nearly.  Let me count... okay... 11 boxes left to unpack, relatively small, but probably all filled with stuff we don't really need.  If we've lived this long without it...who's to say there is actually something important inside those 11 boxes?  It's tempting to think maybe we should just throw them out, without checking what's inside.  hmmm.  I'll ponder that.

So now that you know how many boxes are left to unpack, let me get on with some more important news.  Well....I started school- Travel and Tourism Business Management.  And so far so good.  Small class of girls, FIVE of us to be exact.  For the business side of things that is.  The travel portion of our learning starts in April, where more students will be joining us, so until then I am literally learning about motherboards and RAM, and microprocessing chips, and the insides of the computer.  All extremely interesting, might I add (sarcasm noted).  However, I am really enjoying myself nonetheless.  I also started a new job at a local Travel Bookstore in my area and I love that too.  Who wouldn't want to talk about travel all day long with other people?  The only problem is that it is difficult for me in the sense that the most exciting place I will be traveling to this year is EDMONTON.  That's right.  I heard it is -41 degrees CELSIUS there right now.  For all you Americans, just have a cat nap in your freezer, and you'll have an idea of how cold that really is.  So needless to say, as much as I enjoy talking about the Hawaiian islands with some customers... I am also secretly slapping them across the face in my head.  (kidding, slightly...)  Danny just got a job at a store we both love called the Urban Barn.  (a modern home furniture store) We're quite excited as this month has proven to be difficult on the job search front for Danny.  Looking for a job outside of ministry and liking it, AND getting paid decently is not as easy as it looks.  I am proud of him for giving this a go, and I think he'll do great at it!

Vancouver in general... great city.  We are happy here.  Nothing awful has happened since the last kicking of our car incident or the thieving of our laptop.  We have since had our computer replaced, and also, have bought a new used car too. 2007 Toyota Corolla.  We will probably keep this car for a total of 5 months.  Oh the things I let my husband do.  How many cars have we owned since we've been married now?  Oh right, FOUR.  It's his thing... not mine.  As long as he's happy that's all that matters.  BUT... as much as we like our new car, we are walking more here, and spending more time outside.  I even started shopping at little independent markets for our fruits and vegetables a couple blocks away.  True story!  The weather is quite pleasant too.  We went for a walk around the harbor and for lunch and coffee yesterday!  Wouldn't be doing that in Edmonton.  Let me see... what else?  We have found a church with great teaching and a younger crowd, so we are probably going to join a small group there.  We are still deciding on that though.  But its nice to have found a place that we MAY be able to call our church home.  Anyways, as you can tell, the novelty of living here, still hasn't worn off... but I do count my blessings every day.  I feel like we are supposed to be here right now, and its just really affirming to feel that way.  Things are relatively good.  So we are happy!

I will post more pics soon! Hope everyone's January is going delightful.

Thanks a MILLION

Thanks to you all for your patience. As you all know we have been in the process of MOVING over the last 2 weeks and I have not had internet access really at all, so that is why I haven't written. We are getting internet tomorrow hopefully, so things will get better soon. Here is a point form version for you to fill you in on what has been going down in our lives.

1. Christmas was super fun and hard all at the same time. We were juggling families, trying to fit in all our goodbye's with friends, and preparing for our move, all in one breath. Merry Belated Christmas to you all!!!!! I hope everyone had such a good one!
2. We spent the night in Kelowna on Boxing Day, at Danny's Grandma's along with his parents and our sister Darla. They helped us move out to Vancouver, so that was AWESOME and SUCH a big help. We eventually made it out here where we proceeded to move in all our boxes, and do some painting too! I will post photos soon!
3. Our cousins from California were up for new Year's so we took them to Stanley Park (a giant beautiful park near the ocean), and while we were out on a 20 minute walk our car was broken into and they stole our laptop and some of our cousins things. It was a sad sad day. There was no sign of breaking and entering, so they got in some secret way...Thankfully insurance kicks in and we give them $500 for the deductible and then we get a new laptop. AND we have all our photos on backup (Praise God), so we are safe in that respect. But still super bummed.
4. I had school orientation the other day and met my small class of girls! All girls! It was good though. So crazy to walk into the school and its all about travel. I start tomorrow and I am lookin forward to it!
5. We went to church today and there are tons of ppl that are from Edmonton that go there...so strange! It was good though...awesome teaching, and really young crowd. Its in a movie theater. So we are going to go again next week. Its really close to our house, and on a really cool street. We'll give it a shot, and make a decision in the future if we want to make it home.
6. The job search is slowly coming along. I am hoping to get a job at this place where they sell travel literature and it is just jam packed full of cool books on literary travel... I love it! And its only blocks from our place! Danny is hunkering down this week to look for something for him now that we are more settled.
7. Someone kicked our car the other day. Long story short, the other day we were stuck in traffic by a train and we didnt move our car up 2 feet as this man rudely honked at us to do so, so once he eventually got passed us, his friend got out of the car with fuming rage and proceeded to yell at us, punch our window, and then he kicked our car. He was psycho.
8. I am eating a delicious chocolate banana loaf right now.

So that is all for now folks. I promise when life becomes more normal I will write more!

Baby It's Cold Outside

I only have a few moments here, but I thought I should write, seeing as I haven't had much time lately to do so. I'm sorry! Today I just have really been thinking how happy I am this winter. And how much I truly love Christmas. So, in light of this, I would like to write about my favorite things this time of year. In case you all care. Here we go...

1. Christmassy Movies: So far this year I have watched Serendipity, Family Stone, Elf, and a little bit of The Grinch That Stole Christmas. I have plans to watch The Holiday-which is ADORABLE, and Love Actually. Parts are inappropriate, so I just fastforward. haha
   
2. Christmas Songs: Anything old school and jazzy I LOVE. And well, pretty much any Christmas song. But my favorites are "Let it Snow", "Cool Yule" by Louis Armstrong and "Baby It's Cold Outside". When I hear Christmas songs in my car it makes me so happy...I feel like everyone should be singing together, as one giant choir.
3. The sound the snow makes when I am walking on it late at night, and its completely silent...except for the crunchin beneath my feet.
4. Shopping. I honestly hate shopping for myself, but love shopping for other people. I wish I could spend thousands!
5. Baking. I love to bake goodies. But I also like to eat them too. I actually told my smarties box the other day that I loved it. Because at the time, I did. I love chocolate.
6. Christmas Lights at night. During the day they're pretty ugly. But I love white Christmas Lights. They should have them everywhere. I will write the mayor.
7. Being with family and friends. This is the one time of year where there is ALWAYS an excuse to have a party or get together. And eat. I love it.
8. And last but most important. Jesus' birthday. I really am so grateful that we can celebrate that still, so many years later. There is this Relient K song and the lyrics say "The first time that you opened your eyes did you realize that you would be my Savior? And the first breath that left your lips did you know that it would change this world forever?" And it just gets me every time. It's crazy to think of Jesus as a baby...and he really did change the world forever. I feel blessed to know him.
   

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know... but not really everything...about ME!

So a little Miss Jen has tagged me, and I am supposed to write 7 random/weird facts about myself. Hmmm. Okay, let's think here.

1. I hate bananas. I think they are disgusting. Alone. But I love them in absolutely EVERYTHING and ANYTHING. Anything banana flavored I love too. Banana Creme Pie is my favorite!
2. I love scrapbooking. I scrapbooked my entire New Zealand trip (6 months of school and travel), and it took me an entire year to do. I absolutely love shopping for stickers and paper, and getting pictures developed.
3. I haven't gained or lost a pound in almost 2 1/2 years. Before our wedding I worked out 3-4 times a week for about 3 months and didn't lose a single pound. Things just re-arranged themselves...haha I have stayed the EXACT SAME!
   
4. My absolute favorite tv show is Gilmore Girls. I can't even tell you how much I like it. It's embarrassing.
   
5. I honestly don't think I cooked anything more than macaroni or grilled cheese before I was married. And now, I LOVE cooking. I secretly want to take cooking classes, and become a gourmet chef! I get excited when I look at a cooking magazine, or book that has beautiful photography of food.
   
6. It makes me really uncomfortable if I see people I know make wrong decisions. I will cry or internally grieve to the point where it physically affects me if I can see someone doing something that is bad for them. Sometimes it sucks.
7. I don't like scary movies. AT ALL. I would rather sit at home alone and miss out on hanging out with people than watch a scary movie. I think they are bad for you.

I guess I am supposed to tag people now. I will tag whomever comes to mind!

1. Erin V
2. Ian Sheh
3. Nini Lettner
4. Darla
5. Robbie
6. Danny- haha I will force him to post!
7. Nathaniel
   

SANTORINI BLISS

So... the last thing I wrote about was London. I know its been a long time since I wrote, but hopefully I will still be able to remember what we did. And if I can't I'll just make up a cool story. heh heh

TALLY HO! From London we flew to Santorini, Greece. OH LA LA. It was glorious! Santorini is all that remains from an enormous volcanic explosion that happened a long time ago. So it feels pretty crazy to be on it. This island is called the "Honeymoon Capital" of Greece...so its very lagoonish and beautiful. But the one surprising thing was that there weren't really very many trees. Everything seemed quite dry. Nonetheless this was our favorite island...and we still thought it was stunning. I think its just the feel of being surrounded by beeeeautiful water, combined with the fact that the people were generally friendly there, and as I mentioned a while ago, the FOOD was AMAZING. I cannot emphasize that enough. You will notice that I loved the food from how much I talk about it.

FYI...Santorini is the island with the white stone washed houses. The other islands had them too, but this one had the most.

We stayed in Fira (Thira is the Greek name). It's the capital city of the island. We stayed at a hotel called Artemis Village, where we hung out with Artemis and his wife Anna. They were awesome! They own the hotel and run it almost all by themselves. Super cute Greek couple. They drove us around everywhere and made us coffees and frappes in the mornings too! We felt right at home. This is the view from the hotel. The hotel I think had 13 rooms. It was charming and quaint.

At any time of day the view from the part of the island that we were staying on was beautiful. Everything is built on the mountainside, so it all lit up as the sun set.





I read this book on our journey. It was hilarious and very thought provoking, but parts of it made me uncomfortable! Ask me more about it if you want. I will share. But I don't feel like writing about it right now.
One day we rented a 4x4 and cruised the entire island. It was honestly the greatest time ever. We ended up at this one place called Amoudi Village, which was probably the coolest little fishing town I have been to in my entire life. And the most gorgeous at that too. There were donkeys that looked so hot and thirsty that truck people up and down the mountain side in the hot sun. We opted to drive down and walk. Look at these poor things... who could really justify sitting on one?! Anyways, it's a shame we didn't have anything to eat at this village though. We just have to learn to LIKE fish, so we will eat it, and enjoy eating it too. It all looked good on people's plate's though as we walked through the restaurant's. It's any seafood lover's dream.



We ended up in the city of Oia...where we walked around and looked at houses and patios. And ate mini ice cream bars from this Mom and Pop shop!

Okay, I'm sorry but this was the best gyro I had in my entire like. I actually bought a container of their tzatziki 'to go' because it was so dang good. I am happy I documented this moment.

We went to this amazing restaurant with a water view, where I enjoyed the BEST Mexican hot-chocolate in my entire life. I am actually still longing for one more sip. It was the creamiest most delicious thing I have ever had. I don't even want to talk about it.
Our morning brew. On our patio!!!!!!! Thanks to Artemis and Anna.

This is by the poolside. Danny snapped like 20 photos of me enjoying my apple juice. What can I say.... I love apple juice.


Now....I also have to mention how this was the best gelato that I had our entire trip. Okay? Watermelon flavor. It was pretty much like eating a watermelon on a cone. It was THAT real.Artemis drove us to our ferry along the WINDY mountainside roads. I felt like we for sure were going to tip, as road rules don't exactly exist there. Our next destination was Ios. The party island. It was hard leaving Santorini because you always find yourself asking if you will enjoy it as much as the place you're at now. I will tell you more about it soon...and then you will see if we liked it or not!
Santorini I highly recommend for all your relaxed romantics out there.

POSTS TO COME in the near future...

So I owe my fan base (basically 2 people) an apology
for not writing lately. We have been travelling and unsettled up until
now...and my photos are all saved under random things that are unknown
to me because Mr.Computer Whiz (aka Danny) put them on some external
hard-drive somethingruther , and I can't find them. So that is my
excuse...lame and pathetic...but nonetheless,an excuse! It's a shame
because I have a lot to say too! But now I have to go to bed because I
have to work tomorrow...Saturday (BOOOOOOO!), so I need to get to sleep! I will post fun things soon, I promise!

We are doing good though. House sitting and dog sitting at the Taylor's
while they travel Israel...and we're slowly preparing for our big move!
Anyways, the other random fact that I would like to share with you
while I have a moment is... Get this. Yesterday I was on my lunch break
at work, and I timed it, and it actually took me 10 minutes to eat an
"apple pear" or "Chinese Pear"...whatever you want to call it. TEN
MINUTES. That is howhonkin big those things are. And by this message I am sure you have a great idea of how much fun I have on my breaks at work. I know. True fun.

GOODNIGHT!