Dreams

Throughout my entire life I have always experienced the most intense, insane dreams. Not necessarily nightmares, but the situations can range from crazy happy to just so bizarre it feels like a nightmare. The oddest part about my dreams is that my mind convinces itself that it is in fact reality, so when I wake up, sometimes I lay in bed for a few minutes believing those things to be real. It's hard to explain, but recently I had a horrible dream that I killed someone close to me, and that I was in jail because of this crime. I woke up feeling like I was waking up in a jail cell and I was surprised when I found myself in my own bed. How strange is that? It's almost too weird to write about, and I know it makes me sound crazy, but for some reason most dreams I have feel this way to me. I am going to try and avoid talking about my dream from last night in too much detail, because I know most of the time people's dreams are only interesting to the dreamer. But last night the dream entailed me having a horrible surgery. It had something to do with my brain, and most of the people I am close to in life were all around me at this table while I was discussing it with them. That part of the dream was horrible. I felt confused and sad, and I can't really recall why. Once that part of the dream ended I was running through a parking lot of some music festival, then through a skatepark, and then finally up and down these insane alleys, and apparently the alleys were part of some concentration camp I was in. Very scary. But the oddest part was that I was wearing a bathing suit and UGG boots, holding a Star Wars type of machine gun, shooting people. What the heck, seriously. I have some ideas of where all of the random pieces came from, but the way my mind puts stuff together is insane. I woke up with dejavu from my dream, feeling like I had actually been in that place before, or it was a reoccuring dream, even though I don't believe I have had that dream before. I do have reoccuring themes though, and one of the biggest commonalities running through my dreams is the Holocaust. Very strange. I always wonder if others experience frequent, insane dreams and remember them (I wake up remembering one almost every morning) and if other people's dreams ever feel that real, to the point of convincing yourself that they are, in fact, reality.

Amber's blogging!

Amber, originally uploaded by daniellehampton.

Hi friends, I wanted to recommend that you follow Amber's blog, she just started her very first one! I love her and I'm sure you will too. :)

Click to go to her blog! <3

Waking up at 10pm

Yes, you read the title right...I just woke up, which is not good at all. I have to be up at 4:45am tomorrow for the gym so falling asleep after getting home from school stuff wasn't the best idea I'm sure. I figure I'll write a quick entry, read a chapter in my book (The Time Traveler's Wife) and try and get back to sleep! Today was a good day- I got so much accomplished in my classroom and I am almost ready for the first day of school, which is Monday. The main thing I hope to get up and running is a teacher website. They don't give us anything but an address and a server, but I don't want anything super fancy. I can do HTML and that will be more than enough to get it going until Hank gets home and can make it fancy with Flash or CSS or whatever he does. It's funny to me I've never had a website for my classroom before, because I spend so much time using it for photos and blog, so I think it will be a fun and easy way for me to keep in touch with parents and let them know what is going on.

I'm looking forward to this weekend and getting some major school clothes shopping done. I've kind of put it off all summer and now I am in need of a million things. School clothes for me consist of the same items everyday because I cover my tattoos. My usual outfits are either a) high waisted skirt, blouse/cute tee and cardigan, b) dress and cardigan, or c) skinny jeans, blouse/cute tee and cardigan. So it's pretty easy to shop because I'm looking for the same pieces, and I just try and go for unique, cute things I can mix and match. I wear flats almost everyday, although this year I've been thinking about wearing heels to work so I am taller than more of my students! haha. Flats are just so comfy though and I'm on my feet all day long.

Tomorrow is Friday and it's going to be an awesome day...except tomorrow is the last day I'll get to see Amber before she moves away. I'm very sad. We are hopefully going to do lunch together so we can say goodbye and being the sap I am, I'll try not to cry and will more than likely fail. I know Santa Barbara is not far and I can visit her cute new home whenever I want, but this summer was so fun and I'm going to miss her! One bright spot is that she will hopefully be getting a job at one of my favorite places in the whole wide world to shop, which means discount discount discount! Ahhh!

Oh, and speaking of missing, Hank is officially on tour today and playing a show in Fresno tonight. I already miss him, of course, but I'm excited for the postcards to start coming in- that's one of the best parts. Nightly emails, postcards, and cute voicemails...love it.

So, tomorrow will be a long last day of work and my last day in the classroom before Monday and goodbyes to Miss Amber Joy. Bittersweet. As for now, I'm off to try and fall back asleep...goodnight, goodnight!

oh and p.s. here's a photo of this cute sticker Hank put on my planner. It's one of his favorite toys- Mummyboy from Super7. He has a lot of them in his collection and will even be releasing a collaboration with the toy company (Super7) with their next album- a limited number of a special HOTW run Mummyboy will be available for purchase with the record if I remember correctly. Awesome. Isn't he such a cute little guy?

Juliano Christiam, JC Tattoo - Curitiba

Olá pessoal, meu nome é Juliano Christiam e moro em Curitiba, tenho 30 anos.

Desde criança sempre gostei de tatuagens, e minha mãe fazia em meu braço aquelas tatuagens que se transferem com água, eu ficava todo feliz, hoje com trinta anos e quinze depois de fazer a primeira tattoo, estou completando 2 anos de tatuagen
e estou construindo uma pequena sala em minha casa para atender meus clientes. Minha esposa sempre me apoiou e também foi tatuada por mim, quero muito agradecer a ela e aos meus amigos tatuadores, ao pessoal do Tiago tattoo de Curitiba por venderem os materiais e explicar como usá-los com segurança.

Estou enviando algumas tattoos que eu fiz, abraços a todos e boas tattoos!

First day back at work

Today was an awesome day! I got to see all my teacher gal pals I've missed over the summer and start getting my room and plans ready for Monday. I really enjoy my job and feel very fulfilled with the work I do- it's a good feeling. I'm actually excited for the new year to officially begin; I have tons of new ideas and great books to read with the kids. I'm such a nerd. If any of you have any favorite poems, short stories, quotes, or anything literature related feel free to pass them my way! This year I'm really focusing on getting out of the textbook and into "real life," exposing them to tons of new stuff that maybe wouldn't always see in an English classroom. I usually have this mentality, but now that it's my 4th year I am finally pretty on my game and understanding what I am doing so I can change some things up and feel comfortable. Of course I still love all of the classics but I think with this generation's mindset it's best to really mix it up with lots of new and old together. The kids love it.

So today was awesome. Hank came by towards the end of my day with an iced green tea which was so sweet. I ran some errands after work- Barnes and Noble to pick up a book I had on hold and Manzanita for a new Camelbak bottle. I got home and made some (delicious) homemade hummus, and was all ready to make tabouli...and realized we were out of lemons and I had used all the fresh mint. Bummer. I hate when I do that. I settled for cereal. Double bummer. The rest of the night was a little hectic- HOTW is having van issues, but I won't even go into that. I just hope it all works out. Amber came by around 9:30 and we spent an hour or so "speedwalking" around downtown. I swear, we look like little old ladies, but its a fun way to get moderate exercise and girl talk in at the same time. Plus, tomorrow morning is early gym time so getting some outdoor time was good.

Tomorrow is a full day in my classroom, and I'll use most of the day for planning and getting prepared. Hank will hopefully be on tour by then (I say hopefully only because I hope the van deal gets sorted out).

For now, off to bed! Goodnight :)

my classroom - I have some work to do in here...and please note those dirty smudges on the white part of the wall. That is where the kids lean back. GROSS!



stoked on Hank's gift of green tea!<3

our feature in this month's Arizona Weddings magazine

our feature in this month's Arizona Wedding magazine, originally uploaded by daniellehampton.

Here's our feature in this month's Arizona Weddings magazine! I'll scan in HQ photos later, but they basically covered all the details of our wedding on the first two pages of their Style Spotlight. A couple other magazines will be featuring our wedding in months to come so I'll be sure to share those as well! I think it's about time I started that wedding planning business... ;)

What a weekend!

I am so exhausted today, but luckily my first day back to school isn't until tomorrow. Hank and I have been staying up way too late lately, last night we went to bed at 3:30am! I hate doing that but I guess we are both trying to drag out this summer as much as possible. This weekend was great though. On Friday night one of my dear friends Erin came up to Prescott for a short visit and some girl talk with Amber and me, so we spent the evening walking around downtown and eventually made our way over to the skate shop to watch Hour of the Wolf play a set. Afterward we all went over to get late night pizza and I ended up trying a new combo- pineapple and jalapeno...so good! It was a really fun night though, and it was the first time I had gone to a show at the the new venue...it was an awesome space and tons of room. It's part of the local skate shop so it's right in the heart of downtown with lots of parking and no residential areas in the immediate area, and right across from our vegan-friendly pizza place that's open 'til 3am. Awesome. So it's super exciting for us to have a solid all ages venue now, run by friends. Very cool. I didn't take many photos this weekend, but here is one I took of Amber that I absolutely love, I think it's my favorite picture of her of all time. I love the lighting.



Here's me Friday night as well.


Saturday I slept in way too late- almost embarrassingly late and woke up in the late afternoon, having wasted my entire day. I felt totally rested though, which was nice...but I hate doing that. I worked on the house while Hank finished up work, then got a good workout in and came home to Hugo's waiting for me. I know I talk about Hugo's all the time, and it's by far my favorite restaurant in Prescott. It's great because their ingredients are all really fresh, they use vegan beans and tortillas, and their guacamole is to die for. I could eat there everyday and be happy, seriously. It's a local, family-run little hole in the wall place that Hank's been going there since he was little and when he first took me there back in 2004 it quickly became my fave place too. So anyway, I came home to a wonderful meal and I ended up just watching movies while Hank and Matt hung out all night.

Yesterday we woke up late again and enjoyed our usual lazy Sunday. I watched "Gigantic," a movie starring Zooey Deschanel and I enjoyed it. It was very similar role she played in 500 Days of Summer, but the story was a lot different. It was a strange movie, but overall I thought it was worth seeing. It's currently on Netflix Instant Watch so I suggest giving it a go if you have time. After that Hank and I went over to his Mom's for a BBQ which was a lot of fun. Afterward we strolled around downtown and then went to see "Funny People." I loved the movie, although at times I thought it could have been edited better. It was quite long and I felt that some parts were a little unecessary, but I absolutely loved the storyline. I have such a nerd crush on Seth Rogan though, so two and a half hours watching him is always time well spent. The movie raised some interesting thoughts on life and death though, and I left feeling inspired and happy.

This morning...you guessed it...we woke up late yet again. This is my last morning of doing this, because like I mentioned earlier, I go back to work tomorrow. I have a few errands to do today between going back to work and Hank leaving on tour. Laundry, a short to-do and to-buy list, and organizing our bathroom closet. FUN I know.

So it was a great "last" weekend, capping off one of the most amazing summers I've had in a long time! Now let the busy-ness begins! Let me break down even how busy Hank is, it's seriously INSANE. Currently he's is trying to finish up his solo EP so he can release it within the next two months. I am not just saying this because I have to, but it is truly amazing. Very heavy, kind of ISIS-esque. He played every instrument on the recording and will be recording his vocals within the next few weeks. He's still putting together the actual live band, and so far Pat is playing drums. It's going to be really awesome, and I'm stoked that something he has been doing forever is finally coming into fruition. He's also more than likely going to be playing bass in Hot Skin, continuing to be in HOTW of course, and continuing to play drums in the new band from California. That last band is definitely an interesting mix of dudes, so I'm interested to see how the recording from last month ends up sounding like- it's more of a pop punk type of project. It's on hold now while one of the guys in on a huge tour with his band so that will be a bit longer in the works. He's also doing 18 credits of undergrad business classes and working at the funeral home and the salon when he's not on tour. He's leaving for tour in two days and then again in October for a full US tour. AHHH absolute craziness. I didn't even realize how crazy it was until I typed it all out and now I feel a little stressed!

And as for me...haha, I don't have much going on besides my usual teaching stuff, but I will be traveling a lot this year which I am excited about. We are hoping to adopt another puppy (a Boston baby) sometime soon so that will definitely keep me busy also. I'm looking forward to getting back to a routine of working out. I have been keeping it up the whole summer, but not to my normal level and I can feel it/see it, so I'm happy I will be able to do my thing, which always keeps me the happiest. I feel really fortunate I work with some of my closest friends, so thinking about going back to work is exciting because I get to spend everyday with them again, laugh so much, and have a great time.

One thing I am bumming about though is Amber moving away in three short days. We've spent the summer having the best time, and it's going to be a total bummer when my partner in crime is alllll the way in Santa Barbara. She has been in San Francisco for the past few years too, but we got totally spoiled this summer with her living at home, so now it's going to be a little transition after being so used to hanging out whenever we want. I am so excited for her though, and so excited to visit her in her college world!

So...here's to positivity and here's to a new school year! Let the fun begin! ;)