Wednesday 29 February 2012

Monday 27 February 2012

On Being a Dork


Anyone who has spent more than five minutes with me knows that I am without a doubt a complete and utter dork. How, you ask? 

I am highly talented at tripping over flat ground. 
I speak fluently in 'Friends' quotes.
I simply cannot be 'smooth' or 'cool' in any situation.
I much prefer skipping to walking. 
I laugh at really bad jokes. 


See? Dork. 

People often make the mistake of assuming that since I made it to university to study nursing that I must be at least a little bit intelligent. My dear friends, that is simply not the case. I have had the nickname 'Blondie' among friends and family for as long as I can remember because of my famous 'Blonde Moments'. 


"I wonder do dentists get bitten often..."

"Imagine being a cow..."

"Oh my God, why is there a giraffe on the side of the road? Oh... That's a car."

"Aww look, those people are all reading the same book, it must be a book club, that's so cool! I've always wanted to join a book club. Oh... Wait.. They're reading a menu." 


To name a few. And my best talent is switching sentences up in my head so much that they come out completely incoherent. 

Apple crumble = Crapple Umble
Pineapple Swissroll = Swineapple Pissroll
We should so do that! = We sud show do that! 

It's a skill that not many people have. My Daddy says that the reason I am so blonde is not because I am stupid- it is because I am sooo smart that I have way too many incredibly intelligent thoughts rushing around in my head that sometimes they just get tangled up in each other and they come out the wrong way, that's all. 


Nope, I'm just a dork. :) 

Sunday 26 February 2012

This Week


This week was endless cups of sweet tea and lovely chats with wonderful friends.


This week was being dorky in public. Practicing our British accents, playing in shopping trolleys, skipping and being pirates. Why ever not? 


This week we had flowers on the table. Red carnations. A little pop of energy and fun, one of the simplest of pleasures. 


This week was celebrating birthdays. Shout-outs to Mam, David, Eva, Emilia, Niamh and Jane. I hope your birthdays were positively wonderful! 



This week was trying very hard to promote my blog and Youtube account, and being over the moon with every new comment, subscription and view! You are wonderful for reading this, and when I see your one extra view in my stats I will instantly want to hug you. :) 

Love always,
Orla.x

Saturday 25 February 2012

Happy Birthday, Mammy!


It's a big day today- it's my Mam's birthday! :)



Love you lots and lots! 


And I don't think Sampson would be quite so disciplined... Let's keep him away from cake! 


Happy Birthday! :) 

Love, Orla. x

Sunday 19 February 2012

Hap'pi.ness n.

[1} It is 
what she feels 
when inspiration ignites
her mind,
when the mud on her shoes,
the memory 
of her adventure refuses to be forgotten.




[2} Is the fulfillment 
of designing,
the smile of another
human,
every crease and shine.




[3} Snow becomes
water, and 
the magic is lost
or so it
appears. 
Until she thinks 
of what she really 
needs,


[4} Emotion. Intense, 
emotion. 
Contagious, infectious, 
wonderful 
disease. 
Can be contracted from most anything, 




[5} Happiness. noun. 



This week, try to embrace happiness. Live it, enjoy it, and spread it wherever you go. 

Love as always, 
Orla :)

Saturday 18 February 2012

Tagged? Who, me?

Hello there. :) So I have been tagged by this lovely girly to do a post called "11 Odds, 11 Questions, 11Answers". How sweet is that? I'm pretty chuffed, I have to say. It has made me this excited...

And this happy :)

So, what do I have to do? Here are the rules... 

1) Post these rules
2) Post 11 random things about yourself
3) Answer the questions the tagger set for you
4) Create 11 new questions
5) Tag new people

Randomness?
~I dunk every kind of biscuit in tea, and I am the master biscuit-dunker, I never drop any of it into the tea.
~I hate photos of me with my hair up, I think I look like a man. 
~I can't watch TV without having something else to occupy myself, I am too fidgety. I normally have my laptop (right now I'm watching Ellen). 
~Sometimes when I'm stressed or I have too much pent up energy, I like to dance around my kitchen screaming silly songs in a British accent. 
~My fingers are double jointed, and constantly look like they are broken. 
~I worry that people think I have split personalities because I can either be very mature, sensible and sentimental, or very silly, dorky and weird...
~I can cross my eyes and roll my tongue, but all I really want to do is wiggle my ears.
~I live off praise from others. One nice comment can leave me feeling elated for days. :)
~I have an unexplained obsession with names. For no reason. I just love them.
~I cannot dance. I look like a meerkat mixed with a piglet, both of which are lovely animals, but let's face the fact that they cannot dance. 
~I secretly wish that I lived in America, in the South at the time of Gone With The Wind, when boyfriends were called 'beaus' and corsets were all the rage. 


11 Questions

One. My favourite celebrity... Well, at the moment I am caught between 2. Taylor Swift and Kina Grannis. 



Two. Favourite Android/iPhone app? I don't have either. I think I saw someone with a bubble-popping game, that looked fun! But then maybe that's not an app... I am so bad with technology.

Three. My full name- Orla Bríd Patricia Harrington. Very Irish. Bríd is pronounced 'breed'.

Four. My favourite thing to do. This is going to sound incredibly cheesy and fake, but I am being 100% honest. My absolute favourite thing to do in the entire world is to help people, to be loving and caring. That's why I chose nursing as my career. In a way, you could say it's selfish. I do it for the buzz I get from it, I love having people depend on me, and I love the feeling of people appreciating what I do. Well that's my silly answer, I'm kind of embarrassed now. 

Five. Savoury or sweet? Sweet, most definitely. 


Six. Favourite scent. I love, love, love the smell of vanilla. I love everything vanilla! Hence the blog title Escape to Vanilla. 

Seven. What makes me feel beautiful and sexy... When guys actually respect me. I love when I meet guys at clubs that talk to me, get to know me, and don't instantly try to put their hands in places they shouldn't be. When a guy respects me, it makes me feel classy, elegant and sexy. 

Eight. Favourite Starbucks drink. I'm a student, I can't afford Starbucks! But... I love mochas. 


Nine. AT&T or Verizon? I had to google.. I saw technology, and I clicked 'x' to save my head from hurting, so I have no idea which I would choose.

Ten. What gives me that feeling? What feeling, Hannah? I'm going to go with a feeling of... overwhelming happiness. The feeling that makes your heart flutter, that makes your tummy do flips and you are so happy that you almost can't stand it. How about that for a feeling? I get this feeling when I see babies and children. Thinking about someday having my own children makes me so happy that it hurts. I long for the day when I will be able to love my own babies. :) Yes, I am a weird teenager. You didn't know that? 



Eleven. Favourite word. Serendipity. Finding something positively lovely while searching for something else. Doesn't it make you happy? :) 


Who to tag, who to tag... Well Hannah already tagged a few I would have tagged, so I will choose different people. :) 

And the newest follower of my little blog, Jess Leigh

Here are your questions. 
{1} Describe yourself in 5 words.
{2} Favourite colour combination?
{3} What would be your favourite part of having a relationship?
{4} Do you walk around home in your bare feet?
{5} Biggest pet peeve?
{6} Is there a phase you went through in your younger teen years that you now regret? (Eg. Saying a word too much, txtin lyk dis, wearing neon colours)
{7} What would you name a boy? And a girl?
{8} What is your worst habit? 
{9} Soup or salad?
{10} Where are you right now while answering these questions? Describe your surroundings. 
{11} What was the nicest thing anyone has ever said to you/ done for you?

I do apologize if that was boring to read... Maybe I can make it up to you with this? 


No? Maybe next time... 

:)

Monday 13 February 2012

You'll never guess what...

(A post requested by the lovely Aoibheann!)
**Photo heavy

It always happens that everything will be super calm and slightly boring for weeks on end, and then all of a sudden everything happens at once. Am I the only one? Well, not to worry, because I have just had the most exciting 2 weeks!

On the 1st February, I met one of my biggest musical inspirations ever. 

You don't know who she is? What? Oh my goodness. Here! 





You can of course skip these videos, and pretend I never posted them. You would be very silly to do that, and you would be missing out on hearing a musical genius at work. Just saying. :)

So yes, that's what happened on 1st February 2012. Kate and I traveled all the way across the {tiny} country  to watch Kina Grannis play live and to meet her afterwards. We were exhausted, and Kate ate a very questionable burger before the show which meant while I had butterflies listening to Kina sing, Kate had food poisoning. BUT- it was all worth it! Sorry Kate, I know I said I wouldn't mention that... 

And what else happened in the last 2 weeks? 


Well, I may have mentioned before that I have the best friends in the entire world. Better than the best! And I may have mentioned a couple times that I'm turning 18 this week? Well.... My fantastic, amazing, incredible, wonderful, perfect, super duper friends brought me to Paris for my birthday!!! 


Yes, they really really did! I told you- Best. Friends. Ever. Wanna see pictures? No? Keep scrollin'...


My new boyfriend. 

This is Laura's zebra. He will travel the world with us, and we will take pictures of him everywhere!






Kate is an absolute genius, I love her! She got us all the way around Paris and safely back to our hotel, and we didn't get lost once! Everyone, please clap for Kate. 










We bought teddy bears at Disney Land! Thumper is mine, Nala is Kate's, and Eeyore was bought for Kate's beautiful niece and God-daughter Anna Jane, who is 3 months old on Thursday. :)




Sorry for the photo overload there- I had to narrow it down from 703 pictures, I thought I did well! So that was my amazing birthday present from the best friends in the world. :) And I will leave you with this video....




Have a happy Monday. :) 

Love Orla.x