Happy Easter! :)

I hope you all have a great Easter! I thought this picture was too cute not to share! :)

Love you all! 

Dare <3

Liebster Award! :)

So I was nominated for the Liebster award!!! This is super exciting because when I first started blogging I never in a million years though anyone would read my blog. I'd like to thank Dany, from Bluebells and Owls, for nominating me! You guys should go check out her blog cause she's awesome! :)

Now for the rules:
1. You must share 11 things about yourself.
2. Answer the 11 questions your tagger has given you.
3. Choose 11 fellow blogs to nominate. (Nominees must have under 200 Google Friend Connect Followers and be told in a comment on their blog.
4. Next you need to think of 11 new questions to ask the bloggers you have nominated.
5. Finally, thanks the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.

11 things about myself:
1. I am a Sagittarius.
2. I have arachnophobia and emetophobia.
3. My favourite food is ice cream.
4. I can read a book a day.
5. My first pet was a boy cat I insisted on naming Emily.
6. My favourite Disney Princess is Mulan.
7. Dare is short for Daria.
8. I was a cheerleader up until this year.
9. I cried 7 times while reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
10. I am obsessed with Phineas and Ferb.
11. I am 95% certain I'm psychic.

11 questions from Dani:

1. If you could go back in time, would you choose a specific era in history? If so, which one and why? 
This is actually a tricky question for me because there are so many different eras I'd like to go visit! I think my top choice would have to be the end of the Progressive Era of the Unites States, specifically the 1920s. I love woman's fashion in the 20s and I could so picture myself as a flapper! My other choices would be the Victorian era (in Europe) because I've always wanted to wear a hoop skirt, and the Ancient periods of Greece and/or Rome because I'd love to experience that culture. The only thing I'm a little bit skeptical about is the whole plumbing situation, or rather, the lack of one.

2. What would you like to do on a Sunday evening?
Relax with a hot cup of tea and a good book. (This rarely ever happens, though, because Sunday is when I usually do all the homework I neglected to do during the week!)

3. If you could have a superpower, what would it be?
I'd really like to be able to pause time so that everything around me would be froze, but I'd still be able to move around and do things. Or I'd like to be able to turn invisible.

4. What do you like the most about blogging?
My favourite part about blogging is 'meeting' new people!

5. Name two of your life goals.
To be a published author, and to find happiness.

6. Do you speak any other languages?
Um... do gibberish and pig-latin count?

7. One person, one question. Who and what would it be?
Meg Cabot and probably 'will you be my best-friend?' though if I ever actually met Meg Cabot, I'd most likely be speechless.

8. What is/was your favourite subject at school?
Writer's Craft class (a.k.a. Creative Writing).

9. Is there any movie or book that has changed your life in a significant way?
Meg Cabot's 'Code Name Cassandra' from the 1-800-Where-R-You series (or the Vanished series). This was the first Meg Cabot book I ever read, and it inspired me to want to become a writer.

10. What is your favourite holiday?
Christmas!

11. Do you have a quote that you live by?
There are quite a few but here is my all time favourite:
"Of course it's happening inside your head, Harry, but why on Earth should that mean it is not real?" (From Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows)

Who I nominate:
1. Marian from Accio Wonderland
2. Treskie from Occasional Randomness
3. Helena from In a Few Nutshells
4. Gorogoron
5. Carolina Eliza from Carolina Eliza Fashion and Beauty
6.  Jessica from Written Paintings
7. The Dramatis Persona
8. Shameta from Honest Mistakes
9. Olivia from Paper Clips and Potato Chips
10. RinskiiJoy from Mismatched Socks
11. Sabrina from Of Distant Dreams

Questions for my nominees:
1. Where are your top three places to travel?
2. Who is your favourite Disney princess (or character)?
3. Do you believe in anything supernatural?
4. Who is your favourite author?
5. If you could choose one junk food to be magically turned healthy, what would it be?
6. If you could live in a world from a book, which would you choose?
7. What are your pet peeves?
8. What is your dream job?
9. What is your favourite accent?
10. Sweet, salty, or savoury?
11. Why did you start blogging?

Have fun! :)

Trivia Time!

What is the single most asked question in school?

No, it's not 1+1=2, nor is it "What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?" (24 mph btw... LBD!)

The answer is "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

That's right. From kindergarden to grade twelve, even especially university, people are always asking you what you want to be when you grow up. Of course in kindergarden, the answers are mostly generic things like a fire fighter, a teacher, a cow boy, a mom. When I was in kindergarden, I wanted to be a princess... or a spy. Or better yet a top secret princess-spy! Heck, if someone offered me that job today, I'd take it in a heart beat!

As you grow older, it's expected that your answer to this question will become more refined. I remember when I was fourteen being handed a bunch of papers and being told I had one week to figure my life out. One week! Okay, so maybe not my entire life (it was after all, just deciding what classes I wanted to take next year), but it felt like a HUGE deal at the time. I was only fourteen! What does a fourteen year-old know about the future?

Four years later and I still don't have my life figured out. Who would have thought? I've certainly tried many things, and failed at many things. I may not know what I want to do, but I certainly know what I don't want to do.

Actually, I have a pretty good idea of the jobs I'd like to have. Top of the list, for instance, would be if someone paid me to read books. I also would not mind being a professional blogger, or a taste-tester for a bakery. You know, jobs that don't require me to wake up before 9:30.

Here's another stupid question I got asked a lot: "Where do you picture yourself in 10 years?" ... um, anywhere but here. That would have been my answer throughout high school, but I don't think that's exactly what they were looking for.

Now, I think I have a pretty good idea of what I where I want to be, and while "anywhere but here" is still included, my answer is a bit more refined. Here is what I hope my life will look like in the future.

1. I am hopefully a published author. Because this is the most realistic of my dream jobs. I just actually have to finish something I write...

2. I have a house/apartment/condo. I honestly only care that it's nice and that it's mine. I so badly want a place of my own. With a kitchen.

3. The house/apartment/condo is located somewhere where the words "snow" and "winter" aren't part of the vocabulary. (I will however, visit my parents for Christmas. Because it just isn't Christmas without snow.)

4. I want to cook and bake and photographically document everything I eat (healthy of course) and possibly blog about everyone of those things! Which is why the above kitchen is necessary. (I told you guys about my food-blog obsession, right? Well did you know I follow around 40 food-blogs?)

5. I am married. Please dear God, let there be someone out their who can put up with all my nonsense and ramblings and all over weirdness!

6. Me and my imaginary dream guy eloped, by the way. I can't deal with weddings... or more specifically weddings + my mother. After our top-secret elopement in some far away, tropical land, we will come back and do the whole reception thing just so no one in our families hates me... and so I can wear a nice dress.

7. How far in the future are we talking here? Because at some point I want to have a kid (just one) but I'm not sure how soon. Haven't quite worked out all details... except for the name! Maybe I'll even adopt.

There are still plenty of loose ends. Obviously!

And I kind of have to suffer through school first. I hear getting a degree is kind of important.

Awkward Dare Makes an Appearance

Do you ever have those moments where all you can think is, "Idiot! Why am I so stupid?!"

I get those a lot. But today's ... today's "why am I so stupid" is ten times worse than the "I left my huge, 25% of my final grade bio paper till the last minute - why am I so stupid" or the "I just inhaled half a jar of peanut butter - why am I so stupid" and doesn't even compare to the "I just read three books when I should have been studying for finals - why am I so stupid".

(... on second thought, that last one wasn't so bad. Books always take priority in my life. And, hey, I still passed!)

I guess you're wondering right about now what exactly I did that was so stupid. Well, dear internet companions, I made the biggest fool of myself ever.

To tell you this story (I promise I'll try and keep it short. Stick to the details) I'll have to go back to the beginning of the school year.

So I kind of had this friend, and yes, he was a guy. Yes, he was pretty good looking, and maybe I fantasized a little about this friendship turning into something ... more. Things were going great too... er, sort of. If you can base a friendship off of texting every single day but rarely seeing each other in person. But considering I talked to him more than I ever talked to my ex-boyfriend when we were still dating, I thought it was pretty good. I mean, he even texted me first sometimes! That's never happened to me before!

So here we are and things are fine, but the BAM! Radio silence. I don't know what happened (actually, this was partially my fault but it's a really long story and I'd I probably bore your ears off).

Then he only started texting me when he was drunk. Not okay (this now justifies my part of the sudden silent treatment - again, long story). For a bit, I texted him back when he would drunk-text me. But then I gave up when at 2 am one morning I get a message that read "Ur hot." I don't know if he sent it or if one of his friend's sent it, but I had had enough.

And we haven't spoken since.

I see him around all the time (we have some of the same classed together), he just never see's me (the classes are really big... okay so maybe I'm looking for him. But is that so wrong? Part of me always hopes he is looking for me to. )

Cut to this afternoon when an unsuspecting Dare is trudging up the many staircases of the gym and guess who is walking down them. Guess who she nearly ran smack-dab into because she wasn't watching where she was going? Guess who, when she finally looked up, could only stare, slack jawed at. That's right: the boy she once had a huge crush on.

I swear it was the longest two seconds of my life. My brain was literally screaming "Say 'Hi'. You can't just stand there. Say SOMETHING!"

But I just couldn't form words. And then he walked on my, without saying anything. To make matters worse, I turned around once the shock had worn off. I wanted to amend this awkward encounter, but he was already gone, and he didn't look back.

I was still am mortified. This is what I do, though. I am a ruiner. I take perfectly good things and I ruin them.

The only good thing I could think of to say to myself during my run afterwards, as if it was any consolation, was at least I had run into him pre-work out, so my face wasn't all red and sweaty. Show him what he's missing...

Yeah, probably not.

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Oh. Em. Gee.

I have no words.

Ok, I kind of have words but they sound a little something like this:

ASDFGHHKJLLIEHILFLKAHFKJHFHKSJJFJJKSASDHGFJHKLAJKGDSKJHJEOUKNZCMNALKHDKSJHFKDHGKHFKAJFJSHLKJFSAGAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!

That was my reaction to episode 98. Followed by repeatedly raping the replay button. I'm sorry but ... OMG, the FEELS!

Have you seen the Lizzie Bennet Diaries? No!? OMG* you absolutely have to watch it! Go! Right now! I'll even post the the link to the first episode right .... here! They are a vlog-style, modern retelling and hilarious adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Not convinced yet? Oh, just go watch them!

... Are you in love yet? I know I am! Because what's not to love when there's a little bit of this:

Some of this:

A lot of this:

Oh, and this. Yeah, we can't forget about this:

OMG! These are so amazing, funny, and super addicting! I watched all the episodes straight in a row! Not kidding.

But now I'm all caught up, and it's telling me I have to wait until Monday to see the next episode! Like, WHAT? This is so not fair. I need to know what happens NOW! Replaying episode 98 will not keep me satisfied for much longer!

These make me want to read Pride and Prejudice so so so badly! And I've tried the classics thing before, A Tale of Two Cities, Jane Eyre... much too wordy for me. But I absolutely must get my hands on a Jane Austen book right this instant! I'm sure my mom has a copy lying around somewhere...

*I would like to apologize for the amount of time I said "OMG" and typed in caps in this post. Those are just unfortunate side affects of fangirl-ing.

Dare Vs. The $300 Boots

Do you ever have one of those days that makes you think "Why does the world hate me?", and all you want to do is curl up in a cozy little ball, watch Amanda Bynes movies and inhale a jar of peanut butter (not that I've ever done that, of course...)

Today is one of those days for me. Well, only half-a-jar-of-peanut-butter day, but it was still pretty crappy. (Don't judge me. It was dark chocolate peanut butter! Who can resist dark chocolate peanut butter?)

I'm just exhausted and swamped with school work. So swamped in fact, that I barely have time to eat properly during the day (for example, the peanut butter incident). But what better (and calorie-free) way to cheer me up than to go shoe shopping! Yes, I get to go shoe shopping tomorrow and I am pumped! 

The thought of shoe shopping has me so excited that I was reminded of a shoe related story I thought I would share with you.

So each Christmas it's kind of become tradition that my little brother and I are allowed to ask for one (semi) splurge item from our parents. We get small gifts and stocking stuffers on the side, but it's all about that one thing you are praying just know you're find under the tree in the morning.

So this past Christmas, I asked for new boots. But not just any boots, oh no. These were $300, quality leather, riding-style boots from Roots that scream authenticity, candadien-ness, and all around gorgeousness.

There was one slight problem. Oh, it wasn't that I didn't get them. My mom even loved them so much, she accidentally ordered two pairs and they just happened to be exactly her size. So yeah, we're twinsies now. Or, at least we would have been, if I could wear mine!

You see, these boots had one slight, itsy-bitsy problem: they are almost knee length and don't have a zipper. Yup. You're just supposed to pull them on or something. The next part is technically my problem (or genetics) but apparently my right foot is a little bit bigger than the left, which makes it extremely difficult to pull my almost-knee-length-three-hundred-dollar-drop-dead-gorgeous boots on. It literally took me a full 5 minutes to put my boots on each morning!

Then, the unthinkable happened: the boots gave me blisters! Painful blisters that hurt so bad each step, that I couldn't even wear them for a while. But, I am nothing if not stubborn and I would not let these boots win! (Especially considering how expensive they were). I stuck cotton pads and band-aids on the backs of my ankles in hopes that this would solve the problem. But alas, it was not so. Each time I had to pull the boots on, they pushed the band-aids off the blisters!

So for quite some period of time I could not wear the boots. Until I came up with the most briliant-est, simplest problem solver ever! The shoe horn! (A.K.A. The most genus invention in the world). Now I can slide my foot right into the boots (even my right one) and the band-aids don't get pushed off. Sheer genius. Plus, it now only takes me 56.1 seconds to put my boots on (yup, I timed myself).

So, moral of the story is. Roots should put a warning label on their boots. Caution: Shoe Horn Necessary.

First I'd like to warn you that today's post will be shorter and a little more somber than usual. And that's because last night I got some very upsetting news.

My Granddad past away yesterday. He had cancer and had recently gotten extremely sick. Of course it's sad, and I'm going to miss him very much, but it's nice to know he is in a better place now. Seventeen years ago, the doctors gave him only five years to live. Twelve years ago I would have too young to even remember him very well and my little brother wouldn't even have been born yet. And so I am extremely thankful that he had the chance to see me grow up, and to know my brother and his four other beautiful grandchildren. Rest in peace, Granddad. You will be missed <3

In case your wondering why I'm telling strangers I only know through the internet this very personal information, well, it's because I needed to get it off my chest. I haven't even told my friends yet. I'm just not good with ... confrontation. And I guess it's way easier for me to type things onto a computer screen than to actually tell people face to face. I will get there... eventually.

What is your take on the belief that everything happens for a reason? Personally, I strongly believe this. Yes, it is a very optimistic view on life, but I like having faith that everything will work out in the end. Now I know some people oppose this view by saying that this belief represses free choice. However, I don't feel that thinking everything happens for a reason means you don't have to make choices. It's a very debatable topic. Post your thoughts below because I'd love to hear them!

-Dare