oh hey, surpise utah, i've missed you.

My visit to utah was a surprise for my family and this past month since I booked my ticket has been the longest of my life. I was giddy all month waiting for this reaction.

Short version. I hid in the basement, skyped my family, grabbed my niece hadley, held her up to the camera and waited for a reaction.

Surprising people has got to be up there on my "all time greatest things in life" list.



Untitled from danica rugg on Vimeo.


 (excuse the no make up. i went to bed at 130 and got up at 330 to go to the airport so that plus no sleep on the plane due to the child sitting behind me that was kicking the back of my chair the whole time i think is excuse enough for the way i look in these pictures )

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for the time being

alright chitlins here's the deal.
the past two weeks have been the craziest since moving to NY/ my entire existence.
and somewhere between shannon moving to colorado, me starting a new job, and deadlines for some edits I blinked and suddenly found myself in utah writing this from my kitchen table. whaaa?
i have a crack load of things to catch up on here.

but for this instant I will enjoy a blissful week and a half with my family and dance around to this with my nieces while updating along the way.







i am happy to be back with this girl.
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two zero





Blew out my candle and ate cake for breakfast like tradition
and got a hug from the cutest baby girl, all via skype.
Work work work.
Went to dinner at Moomba in brooklyn with my lovelies.
Pizookies with some friends on the upper west side.
And back to chelsea to dog sit and cuddle with my favortie pupps eva.

Shamelessly the only reason I want to keep my facebook is just so one day a year, you get more messages on your wall then you did in the past year combined all about how much people love you. You know you love it.
So thank you for all of the birthday wishes. It felt as if all of home home was giving me one big giant warm hug all at once that just enveloped me and made everything stressful just poof go away
Like this, Poof! Gone.
It was a wonderful feeling.
And a wonderful 20th birthday. 

I am now in my twenties.. Does that freak anyone else out?
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a birth story

It was my 16th birthday. I was so excited to go and get my license, finally I was old enough to drive. You are required to bring you're Birth Certificate with you to the DMV so I sat on my parents floor going through all of the important documents trying to find my own. And that's where it happened. That spot on the floor next to my mom's side of the bed is where my whole world would change.

You see, my birthday is on the nineteenth of may. For my whole life it always had been. I think it gives kids a sense of stability in their lives having one birthday on the same day, once every year.

Boom. Kaput. There it all went out the window staring at that piece of paper.

Name: Madison Paige Waters
Mother: Kathryn Jill Waters

Born at the Orem Community Hospital 

on,

MAY 18th 1991

This just turned my hypothesis of me being adopted into an actual theory. I had my suspicions being ten times taller than anyone in my family but it's now a proven fact. My parents "whaaa you're not adopted" answers and awkward glances after being questioned don't fool me anymore!

So really what I am trying to say is thanks mom and dad. Thanks for at least waiting until I was the mature age of 16 to drop that bomb on me. Therapy hasn't been too bad and my insurance covers most of it. And besides having to remember to write the 18th as my birthday on every legal document in fear of the government thinking I stole some dead woman's identity, its turned out to be a really great thing. I get to party non stop for two days instead of just one like all you sad suckas and i get to use the "its my birthday i do and buy what i want" for a whole 24 more hours.

And I would have to say that based on what i ate tonight, it has been a very very happy legal birthday.
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You make me feel like dancing.



I had an interview today. 
I had and interview today to take over shannon's job when she leaves. 
And i got it. And I can't decide wether to be happy or sad right now.
But for a moment I was happy and danced around to this song. 
Hence the words in this picture.


..okay, back to mixed feelings.



I am now going to keep editing and watching adorable chuck and her sexy boyfriend in the happiest show you will ever watch, pushing daisies.



Many thanks to Brett and his musical finding abilities

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"Things work out, it isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out, don't worry. I say that to myself every morning. It will all work out. If you do your best, it will all work out. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. If we will put our trust in him, if we will pray to him, if we will live worthy of his blessings, he will hear our prayers."
 
— Gordon B. Hinckley
 
via 
Life is good.  
I may have to step back, take a breather, and tell myself it will all work out sometimes. But through everything and in the end I realize I am so blessed. Life has a way of always working out so that we are becoming better people and grow, more than we ever thought possible.



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Take me out




If you haven't heard yet, my roommate and best friend who started this adventure out here with me will be leaving me in one week from today. She found out a few nights ago that she got a shnazzy job at a news station in colorado and will be starting a new chapter in her life there.

My feelings on the whole thing? I feel like my comfort blanket (aka shanny) is being pulled out from under me. Sad in the aspect that I don't get to be with my best friend everyday anymore. Scary thinking about being out here without any piece of home surrounding me. But wonderful that I am being given another chance to force myself into new surroundings where i can grow even more.

In the next month or two I will hopefully moving out of brooklyn and into the city. I have loved living in Brooklyn and would gladly stay if it weren't for the fact that every single soul I know out here lives in the city and it takes me at least an hour to get to any of them. Isolated and Shannon-less is not what i want to be.

It's amazing how fast life changes eh?

Any-who on to the pictures.

Can you say Yankees game anyone?
Ward activity=Free tickets and loving life.

This was my first major league baseball game and I can now say baseball is my favorite sport to watch. I like basketball games but start to get bored after so many times back and forth across the court. And BYU football games with my dad are pretty high up there in my "Loving sports" category. But this baseball game brought out of me a whole new love that I didn't know was even there.

And one of the best parts is at the end of the game they play Frank Sinatra New York, New York and everyone dances around (okay maybe just me) and you have one of those surreal moments of saying to yourself "Do I really live in NY? Is this real life??"

and now I will leave you with the oh so wonderful Frank Sinatra so you can love your life for a bit.

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moon river

Okay I have been a horrible blogger lately.
And just posting music doesn't cut it. don't hate.
I will pick up the pace soon enough but until then put this song on repeat and just picture me walking past Tiffanys here on 5th Ave trying to achieve audrey hepburn status.



Can I have her hair?
Specifically her bangs please.
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Ground Zero- May 1st

I can honestly say this was one of the best experiences i've had since living out here. I had chills the whole time and cried while listening to the stories of the lost loved ones. It was a very humbling experience learning of osama's death being at ground zero where it all took place and fully taking in what happened that day.

I understand that this man was responsible for killing thousands of innocent people and it was necessary for this to happen. But tell me, did anyone else feel weird about celebrating a death?

*update*
I just read found this article on CNN this morning. I knew I wasn't crazy.

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