Blown Away

Soooooooo. I've meet some really cool people. And they may or may not own guns.

I'm leaning more towards may.

Which is strange to me, but over here "everybody's doing it"

Seriously. Everyone owns guns. It's like majorly legal. And crazy. And I can't quite wrap my head around it. But apparently, it makes people feel safe. We just shoot cans. But other people. Well I guess they shoot each other. Frick. Anyway. I don't want one. I just like to hold them and take photos so I feel badass.

It's the little differences like this that make this country "special"

Other special differences include:

Malls open til 9pm every night.

Drive through Starbucks.

Movie screenings after 10pm.

Full House re-runs 4 times daily.

Alcohol in the supermarket.

Ranch on everything.

But the strangest difference I've stumbled upon? Showing ID when you use a key card. What the heck?

"Hi, I'd just like to chuck this lip gloss on my credit card, oh dang it, I forgot my passport. Shoot."

So odd.

But people are really nice here. After they spend 10 minutes checking your ID, they spend the rest of your shopping trip asking about kangaroos & Hugh Jackman. I assure them that neither have ever lived in my backyard. Shame. Speaking of guns...

But anyway. Having the bestest time. Learning lots. Unlearning a whole bunch of other shiznit.

Feeling like I may just be getting back to my old self. And very happy to be still standing. Thank God for fresh starts. Thank God for a lot of things...

"Days, I've missed so many days. In a world that has become an unfamiliar place... When revelation calls.." SHINY TOY GUNS

Falling Slowly

Snow.

26 years in, and I finally see me some snow. (No, we are not counting that brown icy stuff we found on top of some random Tasmanian mountain when I was 14)

Unfortunately, I took a lot of beautiful pictures on my camera without the memory card in it. Not cool. Luckily I had my camera in one hand & my iPhone in the other, snapping away like I'd just bumped into Jared Leto, otherwise I'd have nothing to show for it.

Now, it's only September, Fall has just begun, so there's gonna be much more snow to come! They're talking snow storms on the 4 o'clock news. What's with 4 o'clock news? I can wait. It's so darn cold and I love it. I'm a little scared about driving in the snow- cause if driving on the opposite side of the road, on the opposite side of the car, with deer & elk & squirrels running across the road randomly doesn't scare ya, the freakishly random snow storms will. (Oh yeh, and the other day on the way back from Monolith Festival, we pulled over to this car accident that was caused by an OWL swooping someones windscreen. Seriously. Wildlife. What the.)

Luckily for said wildlife, I still drive like a grandma.

It's pretty safe to say, enjoy your stinkin' hot summer holidays Australia, I'm havin' me a white Christmas!

SNOW ANGEL OUT.

"Falling Slowly, eyes that know me and I can't go back... You have suffered enough and warred with yourself, it's time that you won." GLEN HANSARD

Long Distance Call

Well, since we spoke last, I...

Hit Downtown Denver, Petrone shots + dancing to MJ & ACDC = good times!

Skyped a lot. Missing my Janelephant & fam a whole lot this week. Twas well wicked to have a date with my Janelle, and to be joined by her mingy minga besty- miss tanny chops herself- Soph. We read each other our countries latest Rolling Stone. We are actually that lame. AND. I got to see my babies, I think Lij is getting used to seeing me on a computer. OH I MISS THOSE KIDDIES.

Ventured out stag to Monolith Music Festival. Met some of the greatest people in the world.Yay team Colorado, you're so friendly. The "don't take rides & beers from strangers" rule does not apply here. I'm still trying to figure out what makes an organic hot dog organic, but who cares, when you're standing next to the drummer from The Dandy Warhols, don't question the hot dog.

Loved loved loved Passion Pit & Phoenix... And The Mars Volta were so damn entertaining.

Got really angry at Kanye for being a douche bag.

Stayed glued to the CW.

Kicked it with the ladies at The Hard Rock, cocktails & cherry cigars all round. Gosh I love my life.

And lastly, got really friggen sick. Apparently it is not wise to work all day & play all night. Pfft. Whatever. All I know is when you get sick in the ultimate land of sugar (I swear it's like living in a real life game of candyland here- I've got halloween oreos & chocolate chip cookie dough pop tarts coming out of my ears) you are rewarded with mini peanut butter cups. Now that's some good medicine.

"Far gone but your long distance call and your capital letters keep me asking for more. Long time no see. Long time no say." PHOENIX

A Dustland Fairytale

Welcome to the greatest night of my existence.

Big Call.

But seriously. The Killers, under the stars, at Red Rocks, the maddest amphitheatre in the entire world, Brandon Flowers running up, jumping onto a rock in front of my face, obtaining a SMILE LIKE YOU MEAN IT toothbrush...

Oh. My. Gah.

Insane.

I could go on. And I probably will. And I know I've seen them before, but seriously, Australia, your venues suck. Red Rocks may possibly be the greatest place I've ever been to. And that dang amphitheatre did those boys justice. The sound quality was absolute perfection. The stage was madness, fireworks and confetti just shooting out of who knows where, cause it certainly wasn't falling from the non existing ceiling. Masses of people just dancing, not a bad seat in the place- being short can't hurt me here!

And.

To add to what in my mind, was utter perfection, The Killers leave the stage, after encore, and as they walk out, Henry Mancini's Moon River strikes up. Moon River, under the stars, as Brandon Flowers walks away, leaving behind a trail of sparkles and a very happy Danielle.

"He looked just like you'd want him to, some kind of slick chrome American Prince, A blue jean serenade, moon river, what you do to me." THE KILLERS

Brand New Day

Today was interesting.

I went to church with my host family. It was so different to anything I'd ever been to. It was a Methodist church, so very traditional & super small. But. Despite me being out of my comfort zone (that seems to be happening quite a bit lately), I definately realised something...

See, I took the time to look around, to read people's expressions, to try & interpret their body language... And you know what? When you take the time to look around, you often SEE things. I saw people with hope & contentment. And that wasn't a result of some flashy service, a huge crowd, or even because it was "expected"

It was because they were free.

Freedom can look very different to different people. I think we so often get stuck in trying to be "free" in a place where we are really restricted. How can one be free when they are bound?

So in my ongoing journey of discovery, today I learnt this: No matter what you believe, and no matter how your faith is outworked- believe what you're saying, serve where you feel called, and never let anyone tell you what to believe or how to believe it.

You may sing 50 year old, boring as heck hymns, you may kick it in a modern church where you can dance around, but whatever way you express your beliefs, just make sure you actually believe what your life is saying. Cause really, at the end of the day, it's between you and one other person.

And everyone else can stick it!

"Make your past your past... It's a brand new day, for the first time in such a long time, I know I'll be ok. This cycle never ends, gotta fall in order to mend." JOSHUA RADIN

Free Fallin'

Well I'm getting there.


Crazy-ass week, which is not even remotely a bad thing. Looks like I may have to go cowboy hat shopping (or even just cowboy shopping), cause my host family is 99% sure that we're moving to Texas in the next month. Woah. Didn't see that one coming. Lucky I'm a big fan of change!


Really do kinda feel like I'm falling into some unknown, unplanned, big load of who knows what. So odd. And refreshingly scary. Cause if I've learnt one thing in my 26 insane years, it's to never allow yourself to trust the comfort of what you see as your reality. Who knows how real it is anyway? Right. So throw away trust. Throw away comfort. And just embrace whatever it is you find yourself in. Even if it's a big fat mess.


So me and Colorado are enjoying our fleeting romance. Met some classic people already. And with the revelation of my romance having an expiary date, we are killin it as much as possible. It's amazing how many margaritas & mani-pedis you can fit into a month.


The best part about falling on your ass? Getting back up again.


"She's a good girl, loves her Mama, loves Jesus, and America too... Gonna free fall out into nothing, gonna leave this world for awhile, and I'm free, free fallin'..." TOM PETTY