Happy New Years EVE!!!!!

Happy New Years Eve and a belated Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Kwanza! 

I know I've been MIA for a couple weeks but family commitments, work, and the holidays got in the way a bit. Trust me when I say there were times that I wished I was blogging! :)

I have some great ideas for "Making My Fairy Tale" and one of my New Years resolutions is to blog much more often! I always feel great when I blog and writing was always a thing that I loved doing since I was in elementary school. I can be me without worrying about others judging me and I find it so much fun to share interests, trips, tips, and other fun things with people who are like minded.

Since we are saying a fond farewell to 2011, I thought it would be nice to end the year with a post recapping the things that happened to me this year that will forever remind me that amazing things do happen and every day is a new adventure that shape who we are as people.

- I joined twitter in 2011 and met some amazing people! The highlight was being able to meet some of those people in Walt Disney World this past fall. Adam and I also made friends with a couple on our cruise who were just like us... only from the midwest! We laughed and had so much fun with them! In only a weeks time I felt like we had made life long friends! We booked out next cruise together and I can't wait to see them in September 2012.

- I found a love for all things cooking. In my life I spent a good amount of time bouncing around and never got to explore my love for cooking in my own kitchen. This year however i was able to find new recipes, techniques, and a passion for cooking. I came from a home where, as a child, my dad would cook all the time and he taught me a lot. There is nothing I love more than working in the kitchen to create a delicious, healthy meal and seeing the family and friends eating it with pure bliss on their faces!

- I went out of the country!!! Up until 2011 I had only visited places along the east coast. (Disney mostly of course) But this year not only did we do our first cruise aboard the Disney Magic, but I left the country. Everything about it, from getting our passports to going through customs, was an adventure. We now have a new love of cruising and visiting new places!

- This year me and my best friend from cross the pond decided that its time to get the pond out of the way and meet in person. Stacey and I started planning our highly anticipated meet up for 2012. This makes me uber excited! Stacey and I have been friends for years, we skype, email, tweet, and FB each other almost every day and the chance to meet her in person is totally epic!

- I got a new job! For the longest time I felt terrible about myself regarding my employment status. My late high school/early college years were very hard for me for personal reasons. After two years of college the right thing to do was to get a job and move into my own place and figure out who I was as a person. I became a secretary and was one from 2006 to 2011. I always felt that I was not living up to my full potential. I was very depressed about it. Whenever people would ask me what I did for a living I would hate answering "I'm just a secretary..." I knew if someone would just give me a chance I could prove that I was more than that! I am happy to report that someone did give me that chance and I am now an Accounts Manager for a dental office! I was so thrilled about it personally that I think I may have scared some of my co workers with my enthusiasm but I can't tell you what a relief it is to me to have more responsibility and feel like I have a job with a purpose.

These are just a few of the many highlights from 2011. I am looking forward to 2012 and tomorrow I'll have a new post about all the things I'm looking forward to, resolutions, and I promise to update my trip report! :)

Have a fantastic New Years Eve everyone! Be healthy, happy, and safe tonight!

xoxo

More Warm and fuzzies!

Hey guys!

I've done tons of online shopping and experimenting with different cookie recipes! The holiday warm and fuzzies are in full swing! Last week we talked about how sending out Christmas cards gave me the warm and fuzzies. Tonight we're going to talk about O' Christmas tree!

Normally Adam and I have always gotten real trees. Last year we got a lovely tree, it was one of our biggest yet and I was totally in love with it. However my loving puppies kept drinking the water from the tree stand and whenever they bumped into it TONS of the needles would fall off. I tried to convince Adam to get a real tree again this year but he was pretty adamant that he didn't want to deal with the hassle again. I looked online at some department store websites and all of the fake trees were so expensive! I brought this to Adam's attention and I suggested that maybe get one last real tree and then right after Christmas when all of the fake trees go on sale we'll get one for Christmas 2012. Which he agreed too.

On black Friday we decided we would go get out Christmas tree. On the way out the door Adam asked if we could stop at Home Depot so that he could buy a new drill set that was at an awesome price. FINE! ugh men! We get to Home Depot and right at the entrance is a beautiful fake tree that was originally $150 for only $49.99 on black Friday only! There were only 5 left and we decided we would snatch it.

We got it home, turned on the Christmas Pandora station and got out the decorations. Every year since Adam and I have been together, we've LOVED decorating the tree together. Something about working together to make the tree as beautiful and festive as possible gives me.... the Warm and Fuzzies!!

Without further ado... here is our tree!

I love how the tree has some fake holly on it... Really adds a special touch!

Got to have some sparkley ornaments!!

What would out Christmas tree be without some Disney??

And here is the whole tree both with and without flash! 

How do you decorate your tree?? 

WILDRZ!!

Are you a tech fan? Do you have kids that love being active, playing in the dirt, and enjoy learning? Do your kids love animals? Well then you’re in luck! I’ve recently come to know an amazing person who has created an iPad App geared to kids ages 7-12. The app is called WILDRZ (www.wildrz.com). Below is a description about the app and about the creator. 

WILDRZ: Turtle Trouble iPad app for kids ages 7-12

Taking a step forward in multimedia storytelling, "WILDRZ: Turtle Trouble" is a Graphic Novel+ app in development for the iPad.  Aimed at children ages 7 to 12, "WILDRZ: Turtle Trouble" (www.wildrz.com) weaves comics of three fictional siblings with a real-life biologist to protect a turtle breeding ground that also happens to be a suburban soccer field.

Combining 60 pages of comics, 10 mini-games, 20 minutes of video featuring a turtle biologist, access to the biologist's blog, and additional content, WILDRZ (pronounced "Wild-ers") brings children into the action, including 230 speech balloons in the comics that readers can record using their own voices.

WILDRZ takes advantage of multimedia technology available on the iPad -- telling a fun, rich, interactive and compelling story about real-life animals in jeopardy and the three fictional siblings who help save those animals. My team and I are developing an app that kids will enjoy playing and parents will feel good purchasing because the WILDRZ Graphic Novel+ app lets kids experience the adventure of saving wildlife from the safety of their iPads.

I am a former producer for Hasbro Interactive's Tonka line of computer and console game software, an app developer and award-winning photographer, using Kickstarter (www.wildrz.com), a funding platform for artists, designers, and filmmakers, to raise the $100,000 needed to finish development of the WILDRZ app.

Additionally, by supporting WILDRZ on Kickstarter at various levels, backers can purchase great holiday gifts like:

• The "WILDRZ: Turtle Trouble" app.
• WILDRZ "skinz": a vinyl wrap that goes on the front and back of your iPad, sporting the "Turtle Trouble" cover artwork.
• "Adopt a Momma Turtle," in which backers donate a specialized Radio unit that biologist Mark Grgurovic will use to improve his ability to track and find the female turtles' nests and improve the survival rate of baby turtles. Backers can name the turtle, receive a photo and get periodic updates on her from the field.
• Get transported into the WILDRZ universe with your likeliness or that of a loved one drawn as a character into the WILDRZ story line.
• An eco-adventure weekend for four to help biologist Mark Grgurovic on the very turtle study that inspired the WILDRZ app.

The Kickstarter initiative ends Dec. 25th.

Ok so why am I helping promote this? Other than the fact that Paul is a great guy and I would love to see this project take off, I see a lot of this as being EXTREMELY Disney-esque. Walt Disney was all about education through entertainment, and using the most modern technology to do it. At EPCOT’s Innoventions all of the exhibits and games are very technological and promote learning through fun! The WILDRZ app would fit nicely in EPCOT don’t you agree? 

As it stands now, WILDRZ still needs to reach that goal of $100,000.00 in order for it to continue to be developed. I would love to see this App really take off, not only because of all the work Paul has put into it, but also because there are so many mindless things on TV and on the internet. This is something I’m sure kids would love (Heck I love it!) and they would learn something too. I think it would make a wonderful holiday gift! Thinking down the road it would give your kiddo something to do on the plane ride to Disney ;)

If you’d like to help the WILDRZ hit that goal and continue to make more episodes please tweet, facebook, or word of mouth it, to anyone you think might be interested in it. Paul has many more episodes lined up that I’m sure the children in your life would love! 

We're on a BOAT!... Really, we are!

Hey guys! Hope you're all getting into the holiday spirit! It's almost time for the weekend! woohoo! Now let's get back to our fantastic voyage trip report. 

After our little bus ride we pulled into Port Canaveral. Our first glimpse of the Disney Magic was simply breath taking! I couldn’t stop bouncing up and down in my seat. I couldn’t wait for the bus to park so I could trample... Uhh.... I mean get off the bus in an orderly fashion.

Going through security was a breeze! We got up to the check in desk and the CM helped us fly through check it. He gave us our room keys and said that it was open boarding so all we had to do was go through the mickey ears and up the gangway.

I couldn’t believe this was actually happening. You have to remember that I booked this cruise in February of 2009 as Adam’s wedding gift so I had been waiting over two years for this cruise. It seemed almost surreal to me walking up to the ship.

When we entered the amazing atrium we were greeted by a CM who was wearing a white naval looking suit. She asked who we were and what stateroom we were in. I told her and she pointed us in the direction we needed to go... as we started walking we hear over the loud speaker... “DISNEY CRUISE LINE, LET’S GIVE A BIG WELCOME TO THE ‘Z’ FAMILY!!!”.... Oh Em Geeeee!!! I could’ve died I was so excited! Adam and I were laughing and thought it was so cool! 

I’m going to now share with you a tip... I’m sure there are people out there who think this is a good idea but looking back on it I think I could’ve spent the money on something else but either way here are my two cents...As we were walking down the hall to try and find out stateroom a CM asked us if we would like to purchase a case of bottled waters and a DCL beer mug. Had I not been in a state of over stimulation I probably would NOT have bought the case of water. The DCL glass beer mug did come in handy for Adam but the more I think about it now the whole case of water thing was a dumb purchase on our part... i mean all non-alcoholic beverages on the boat are free. Why were we paying for water? We did take two of them with us to key west because it was really really hot that day but honestly that was it. Towards the end of our cruise we actually were TRYING to drink them because we didn’t want to leave full bottles behind. But that is just my opinion of it...

Ok so after our water purchase we found the nearest elevators and took it to deck 6. Our stateroom # was 6635. We were told that they were currently delivering all of the luggage and that ours should be there by now. We got off of the elevator and looked at the signs posted on the walls. We found the one that had our stateroom # on it and started our adventure down the hall. It was utter CHAOS! There were people walking up and down the tiny hall trying to find their rooms, CM’s putting luggage in front of the stateroom doors, families with too much luggage cause traffic jams in the halls... holy moly I was feeling VERY claustrophobic! We finally found our stateroom and we couldn’t get in it fast enough!

This leads to my next piece of advise. (I have many from this trip) If you’ve never been on a cruise ship and you have no idea what is going on when you first get on board... ITS OK! DO NOT PANIC! I’m saying this because Adam and I were freaked out enough just trying to find the room, never mind what we discovered when we entered the room. They are TINY! Adam and I started to get nervous that maybe we had made a mistake and should’ve stayed at WDW. So, if you are new to cruising or to tiny spaces in general mentally prepare yourself for this experience. 

After some deep breathing we decided it would probably be better to go to one of the top decks to get some fresh air. We explored the top decks of the ship until it was time to leave Port Canaveral. I think we both felt much better learning where things were on the ship and getting to know our surroundings. I would’ve taken more pictures but there were too many people out and about and in my way!

Before we knew it the announcement came over the loud speaker that it was time for the sail away party. I LOVED the sail away party. I got my little streamer and danced around waving it around. This is a quick video of the building at port canaveral and deck 10 at the very beginning of the party... you can see some streamers and hear the music. 

Sadly Adam wasn’t into it as much as I was. Looking at him I knew he wasn’t feeling well. After the sail away paty we went back to the stateroom and relaxed until it was time for dinner. 

This was probably the best decision we made that day. Adam climbed into bed and took a nap while I figured out how to utilize the space in the room. Another tip for first time cruisers... Take the time to empty your clothes and belongings out of the suitcases and organize them! Use the closet, shelves, ect. I felt much better after everything was organized. The room seemed bigger when everything was in its place. 

This is where I’m going to end... I hope all the pics and the video redeem my last trip report post. Now lets recap...

Katie’s 3 tips for first time cruisers:

1.) Unless you know you’ll need it I wouldn’t spend the money to buy the case of water. All non-alcoholic beverages are free on the boat. If anything bring your own water bottle from home and use that.

2.) Do NOT panic and mentally prepare yourself to be a bit overwhelmed when first getting on board and seeing how tiny your stateroom is.

3.) Take the time to empty your luggage out and utilize all the storage space in the stateroom. It’ll make the room feel bigger!

Until next time! :)

Happy Birthday Walt!

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them...

Today is Walt Disney's birthday. He was an amazing man, innovator, entrepreneur, and human being. He was so full of life, love, and dreams! From his vision came some of the most amazing theme parks, movies, cartoons, inventions, ect. There isn't enough I can say about him so I'm not even going to try!

It is because of him that I am the way I am... A big kid, day dreamer, and always trying to make my own life as much as a fairy tale as it can possibly be. (Notice the title of my blog) And to be honest I wouldn't want to be any other way! He is one of my favorite people and I admire all he accomplished.


That being said HAPPY BIRTHDAY WALT DISNEY!

We're on a BOAT!!...Almost

Good Morning and Happy Sunday everyone! I know I've taken a couple posts to write about other things but its time to get back to the trip report.

This was our first Disney Cruise, which means this is the first trip report I've ever done for a cruise. Writing trip reports about Disney World is always so easy and interesting because we're always out in the parks doing something. With the cruise we were vacationing at a much slower pace. That's not to say that we didn't do tons of stuff... it was just tons of stuff with lots of relaxation in between. The other thing (which I will get into shortly) is that my poor Adam got sick. Not seasick but he got a nasty cold that left him a bit cranky, and he didn't want to do a whole lot the first couple days onboard. The reason I'm saying all this is so that I can prepare you.. I don't know how good this is going to be! hahaha!

October 1st, as I'm sure you know, was the 40th anniversary of the Magic Kingdom. I woke up that morning knowing that we would be heading to the boat in a few hours. We got a letter from the Magical Express Department telling us that a cast member would be coming to our room by 8am to pick up our luggage and they would be transporting it to the ship. I, of course, was up at 6am and I worked tirelessly to get everything together. A pile of stuff we needed to board the ship, and a pile that could go with the cast member. While I was doing that I was constantly checking my twitter feed reading about all the cool things that were going to be happening at Magic Kingdom today. It was very cool that even though I was not at the park I was still able to feel like I was participating. I finished packing and put the bags by the door. I tested the waters and tried to wake Adam. He wasn't moving! He also was sniffling and coughing... uh oh. I tried not to read too much into it and jumped in the shower to get ready.

When I was all ready I waited around until the cast member came to pick up our luggage. When he left I tried one more time to wake sleeping beauty. That failed so I left him a note telling him I was going for a walk and off I went. I really do love these walks alone that I have when I'm in WDW. This becomes true also on the ship... you'll find out later that since Adam was not up to doing many things on the ship due to being sick, I did a lot solo and I really enjoyed it!... But more on that later.

When I got to the lobby of the Wilderness Lodge Villas I noticed a big group of cast members setting something up. I walked over and asked what they were doing. They told me that since Walt loved trains they were setting up a toy train station in honor of the 40th. HOW COOL!!! They even put up a big banner saying "Happy 40th Birthday!" I looked in my purse to see if I had my camera but I didn't I left it in the room. In hind sight I wished I'd gone back to get it but at the time I didn't want to bother Adam. If anyone knows anything more about this or has a picture of it completed I would love to see it. I had literally gotten there as they were just starting to set up so I didn't see the finished product.

I left the cast members alone to finish their work and went outside. It was a beautiful day! Not too hot and there was a lovely breeze. I went over to the beach area and sat in a lounge chair to watch the boats go by bringing guests to Magic Kingdom. It was so peaceful and relaxing. There is no where I'd rather be than on that beach hearing the boat horns, and in the distance the Magic Kingdom train whistle. There is also no where more relaxing for me! I don't know about you but I always feel like nothing bad can touch me when I'm in disney.. its just too magical! hahaha

After sitting there for a while my phone rang. It was Adam and he sounded TERRIBLE! NOOOO!!!! He said he didn't feel good at all and he wanted to grab some breakfast and orange juice to see it that would help make him feel better. I told him to jump in a nice hot shower to get some steam to help with the congestion and that I'd be back in the room shortly and we'd go get breakfast.

**Before I went back to the room I went to the gift shop and bought an awesome Disney sweatshirt and tank top that matched it. It was on clearance! I knew if I went in the store with Adam he'd talk me out of it... It was my only chance! hahahaha**.......Anyway.....

Adam and I gathered all of our things after he was ready and we left the room to check out. We had to be in the lobby for the cruise at 11:00... by now it was almost 9:30. I called the front desk and told them we would be out of the room. They checked us out automatically and they told us to have a great time on our cruise. We walked over to the roaring fork to grab a quick service breakfast.

While making our way to the Roaring Fork I was tweeting (because I'm always tweeting lol) and I started talking with another awesome twitter friend of mine, Kelly. She told me that she was at the Wilderness Lodge boat launch and she would be heading over to Magic Kingdom for the 40th. I didn't want to slow down her plans knowing that with Adam being sick I didn't want to rush him around. I told her the situation and to have a good time. We got in line at the roaring fork and who comes running in? Kelly! She said the boat was on its way but she wanted to quickly say hello! I gave her a big hug and we chatted quickly. She told me to have an awesome time on the cruise and I told her to enjoy the 40th! I wish I had gotten a picture with her but it happened so fast that I wasn't even thinking! It was so cool that in two days of being at WDW I got to see three Disney friends that I talked to via twitter or Facebook and was actually able to meet them in person!

After we ate we decided to walk through the Lobby and enjoy the scenery. We sat in a couple of rocking chairs and people watched. Adam's eyes were all glossy and he was sneezing and coughing like crazy. I bought him a bottle of water and made him an airborne to drink. I felt so bad that he was so excited for this cruise and now he was miserably sick. I couldn't think of anything worse.

Before too long we saw a women come into the lobby wearing a blue jacket that said Disney Cruise Line on it and carrying a DCL clipboard. WOOHOO! Adam and I grabbed our carry-ons and went right up to her. She checked our passports and information and told us to hang out in the lobby for about 15mins while we waited for other guests and for the bus to arrive.

::FAST FORWARD 15MINS::

It was time to line up single file (I felt like a kid lining up for recess) and make our way to the Magical Express Bus. Leaving WDW was kind of hard. There were attractions I missed and I kind of wanted the opportunity to meet more friends that I knew were in the world. Dare I say that I almost felt like I was cheating on WDW but doing the Disney Cruise. Driving through the WDW main gate and saying goodbye was kind of a bummer but the bus TV's turned on and we watched a movie all about DCL and what we can do on board! This got me so excited! Definitely made the guilt of leaving melt away...

WOW... I didn't realize that I had such a busy morning lol. This post is really long and I have much more to write about. I'm going to stop here. I have pictures galore for the cruise so I promise there won't be too many more posts of all words and no picture fun.

Enjoy your Sunday! :)

December 1st = Warm and fuzzy time!!!

Holy Moly it's December first!!! I can't believe how quickly this year has gone by... It seems like only yesterday the year 2011 got started. But time flies when you're having fun!

With the holidays approaching extremely fast I like to try and do something that gives me the warm and fuzzies as often as I can. The week after Thanksgiving is when I start sending out my Christmas cards. Before we were married I just bought Disney Christmas themed cards in bulk at a drug store, signed them, and sent them out. But the past two years, since we're married, I've been sending out cards with our pictures on them.

This is last years....

It was our first Christmas since the wedding so we thought it was appropriate to use the wedding pictures. I loved our cards that year. They looked very vintage and classy :)

This is this years... (P.s. I'm sorry for spoiling the surprise to anyone who knows they are getting a card from me but it hasn't arrived yet... I promise it's better in person )

I thought doing a fun, informal Christmas card this year would be a good change from last years. I love the font that the "happy Holidays" are written in and we used pictures from our last WDW and DCL trip. 

Sending out Christmas Cards always gives me that warm fuzzies :) I know it is easy to just send a FB or Twitter shout out but something about getting mail is so romantic to me. I know I love giving and getting Christmas cards in the mail. I've already started calling Adam every day after work and asking him if we got any in the mail yet. (He gets home from work before me) 

What do you do to get that warm and fuzzy feeling in the weeks that are leading up to the Holidays??

Food, Wine, and De-vine??? (Part 2)

After we arrived at the Wilderness Lodge we were so hot from Animal Kingdom that we decided to take a dip in the pool. We stopped in at the roaring fork and bought a pizza to snack on and a couple of beers. The main pool was pretty packed so we walked over to the villas pool. (don't worry we were villas guests, I wasn't stealing the villas pool) It was much quieter and other than one other family we were the only other people in the pool.

After the dip in the pool and a quick shower we were off to EPCOT for the food and wine festival. I must say... A dip in the pool followed by a mid-afternoon shower and costume change really helped reenergize us.  The first attraction we always do when we get to EPCOT is spaceship earth. It is so nostalgic and it always gets me in that EPCOT mood. :)

After Spaceship earth I got a Direct message on twitter from the always sweet Nicole. I met Nicole through the Disney Driven Life and her blog NjoyLife is one of my favorites. I met up with her at Test track and it was like seeing an old friend! She was totally sweet and walking around world showcase with her was so fun. It was a brief meeting but an awesome one.

After we said good bye to Nicole it was time to get our food and drink on! we headed back to the beginning of world showcase to Mexico. Now you'll have to forgive me... I didn't write down everything we ate and drank.. Even if I did I think that the amount of drink we consumed would've led to us forgetting to write it down anyway. Just know that we started in mexico, and ended with Greece. We went all the way around!

After world showcase kicked out butts it was time to hit up a couple future world rides. One thing i can't stand about going to WDW in the fall is the short park hours! I completely forgot that future world closes at 7pm. Luckily we made it to the last showing of Captain EO that night... we literally ran in as the women was closing the doors! No matter how old this is I still Love it! As a huge michael fan and someone who grew up in the 80s I thoroughly enjoy this attraction. 

After EO we moonwalked our way over to the Seas with Nemo. Normally we spend a long time in the aquarium area after exiting the clam mobiles. However Adam was not feeling all that well so I did a quick walk through and then we were out of there. We had one more must do and that was test track. The stand by queue was only a 20min wait so we jumped in line. Half way through the line i felt myself fading and Adam was looking alittle pale. Test track was awesome as usual, but once we got out of the building we were headed right to the buses. I was really sad that we didn't stay until Illuminations but knowing we were leaving for the cruise the next day I didn't want to risk either of us being off of our game. 

Good night EPCOT... until next time!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey guys! I will be back to writing my trip report soon I promise! I hope you've all had a great thanksgiving weekend.

This weekend Adam and I had some nice quality time together. We had a few bumps in the road with some family members but all in all it was a very nice holiday! There was good food to be had, and some much needed laughs. We've learned that the good times and the good people are all that matter when it comes to the holidays.

Adam and I went to go see "The Muppets". It was awesome! We laughed and laughed and some happy tears were shed by me. So many people wrote positive reviews about the movie and I agree with most of them, so instead of writing a review that would be redundant of others I will tell you what I learned from The Muppets. The plot is about how the muppets need to reunite in order to save their studios from an evil oil tycoon. They all went their separate ways and there is a significant strain between Kermit and Piggy. There is a scene where Kermit is talking to Piggy and their relationship... He says "Maybe getting everyone to love you isn't what matters. Maybe just getting one person to love you is enough" (or something along those lines) This spoke volumes to me. This is why I totally loved the muppets as a kid and now as an adult. They just did what they loved regardless of what other people thought. Let's face it Fozzi's jokes aren't always the best but we love them anyway! Who cares if not everyone gets their humor or their talent... the fans they have LOVE it! On a personal level this quote (which I hope I got right) got me thinking about my own hang ups with people. Instead of focusing on the people that you don't click with or that you don't have the best relationship with, I need to focus on the people that I know care about me and love me without me having to ask for it. There were many life lessons in "The Muppets" that I think kids and adults could learn from.  I really hope that this movie spawns more Muppet productions in the world. Who knows.. maybe if it makes enough money this weekend we'll see a revival of "The Muppet Show"..... hey I can dream right?

I'm going to start writing up my next trip report blog post and hopefully have it up by Wednesday. This week is going to be busy for me at work but I'm hoping i'll have enough time to get it posted :) In the meantime tell me... how was your thanksgiving??

Day 3 - Food, Wine, and De-vine??? (part 1)

Day 3 (September 29th) started with what else?... FOOD! Adam and I are BIG fans of BOMA Flavors Africa restaurant at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. We've had dinner there twice so far and love it! When planning this trip Adam found out that BOMA did a breakfast and he really wanted to try it. Our reservation that morning was for 8:30am. We were up and ready to go early and caught the first bus over to Animal Kingdom, and then to the lodge.

Since we arrived slightly early we thought it would be sweet to get some pictures on the bridge over the lobby. This is where Adam and I first saw each other the day of our wedding. It was very surreal to be back there a year later.

(October 2nd 2010)

(September 29th 2011)

yea we don't look completely exhausted! After pictures we checked in at BOMA and were seated pretty quickly. We had a very nice waiter who was from Casablanca... seriously! Don't ask me what his name was but I remember where he was from because how cool!? Breakfast was absolutely delicious. They had this scrambled egg dish that had goat cheese and chives in it... i went up for seconds of that! We tried a bit of everything and we loved most of it! Not going to lie there were a few things that were alittle too authentic but for the most part we stuffed ourselves silly. If you're a fan of BOMA's dinner menu I highly recommend you try their breakfast. Oh and did I mention that the famed Zebra Domes also make an appearance for breakfast?? Zebra Domes = <3

After breakfast and some walking around the Animal Kingdom Lodge lobby for some nostalgia it was back to the buses to head to Animal Kingdom park. I know everyone says this but seriously could that park be any hotter?! its like the second you walk through the turnstiles the temperature goes up 20 degrees! Any way... our standing tradition at Animal Kingdom is to go right to the Kilimanjaro Safari and get a fast pass, then head over to Expedition Everest. Like always this worked out great! We grabbed our safari fast pass and went right over to everest. The stand by line for everest was only 20mins but I never mind it. There is so much to see and read about in that queue that half the time I wish I was there longer!

Expedition Everest kicked butt as usual... although I wish they would fix the yeti!!! After Everest it was time to use our safari fast pass. I love how it is a totally different experience every time you ride it. On  this safari we got some really good pictures of rhinos and the elephants... especially the little baby elephant! :)

See the little baby!! So cute!!

After the safari we started walking through the Maharaja (sp?) Jungle trek. I love walking through here too. All the up close and personal animal areas and the cast members on hand to answer any questions you have about the animals is great! We were in there for about an hour! 

It was so hot and we were still so tired from lack of sleep that we though it would be best to head to the exit and back to Wilderness lodge for a quick dip in the pool, and shower to perk ourselves up before EPCOT. On the way out we saw a group of people gathered looking at a tree...???.... NOPE it was De-vine!!! I was so excited! I grabbed my camera and start snapping away. I've heard about De-vine many times but every time we go to Animal Kingdom I never get to see her. This was such an awesome moment! She was simply breathtaking. Adam and I watched her for quite a while before she moved on through the trees.

Side view... see her profile?

Best picture ever!

Our journey back to the Wilderness lodge was uneventful and luckily there was a wilderness lodge bus pulling in as we got to the bus depot. The air conditioning felt soooo gooooood!

This turned into another long post! ha! I think i'm going to keep posting my days in two parts so that its not too over whelming for both me to type and you to read! ;) Hope you enjoyed Day 3 part 1!

xoxo

Day 2 - Ready Set Go (Part 2)

Ok... Where were we?? Ah yes... the journey back to Wilderness Lodge! One of the best things about staying at the Wilderness Lodge (in my opinion) are the boat launches that go right from Magic Kingdom. It is so relaxing after running around the park.

We walked over to the Wilderness Lodge Villas and found our room. We had an ok view... it wasn't of the woods or the pool area... it was facing more towards the main building. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't that great either. Luckily our luggage had already made its way into our room. I laid out our "dress up" clothes for our dinner reservation and jumped in the shower. It felt so good to finally clean up after all the travel and running around we'd been doing. I got out of the shower to find Adam completely passed out on the bed. Poor guy was exhausted. We had enough time before our dining reservation so I let him nap while I finished getting ready.

After a few attempts to wake Adam, he got ready and we were heading out to the Yacht Club Resort to have dinner at Yachtsman Steakhouse. Since we didn't rent a car we were at the mercy of the Disney World bus system. We waited a LONG time for a hollywood studios bus to show up but once it did we were on our way. When we arrived at the studios we saw how long the wait for the friendship boats were and decided we'd take a leisurely walk to the yacht club. Although my feet were killing me, I was hungry, exhausted, and hot I must say I do love that walk along the river. We saw a lot of the places we took pictures after our wedding last year, it brought back some good memories.

We finally arrived at the yacht club (beat the friendship boat i might add) and headed to the steakhouse. I don't know why I didn't take pictures here but I didn't and totally wished I did. The decor was so beautiful! After we checked in with the host we sat in the bar while we waited to be called. I ordered an Eco-Tini which i highly recommend, it was delicious AND it came with an awesome acai berry seed bracelet, which i still am wearing. The wait wasn't long and before we could finish our drinks we were lead to our table.

The service at the Yachtsman steak house is superb! The food was equally as amazing! I think I was so excited to be eating something other than a Dunkin Doughnuts bagel that I just inhaled my dinner before I got to take a picture of it. Adam and I both highly recommend that you try Yachtsman steakhouse. The food, service, and theming exude an air of class and sophistication that I think adults traveling to Disney World would really appreciate.

After dinner we headed to the lighthouse dock to catch the friendship boat back to hollywood studios. There was one thing and one thing only that I HAD to do this trip and that was the newly refurbished Star Tours. If you don't know i'm a HUGE star wars fan and i'd been watching the updates about the star tour refurb closely. I could hardly wait to get on the ride! Adam and I ran over and jumped right in line. The stand by wait time was only 15 mins so we totally lucked out. I love the new updates that were done to the queue! I found myself walking really slowly so I didn't miss anything. When we got up to the loading area Adam and I were put right in the front row of our star speeder.

I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't ridden it yet but the new star tours was totally incredible! I didn't stop smiling the entire time and even after it was over I was still totally amped up. Adam is not at all a Star Wars person (he actually never saw all of the films and has no desire to) but he even said the attraction was awesome. 

We browsed the star tour gift shop for a while before we headed back to the streets of hollywood studios. I wanted to do the backlot tour but since it was so late they stopped running it. The queue for toy story mainia was insanely long and there were no more fast passes left so we decided against that... we headed back over to the big blue sorcerer mickey hat and Mulch, Sweat, and Sheers were playing! We stopped and watched their whole performance. They were so good! We had such a blast singing along to the songs.

After their performance it was getting close to closing time for hollywood studios and we were getting pretty tired. Our stomaches were still too full to do Tower of Terror or Rock'n'roller coaster, so to close out the night we did one of my most favorite attractions, The Great Movie ride. As cheesy as it is, I really love all that The Great Movie ride represents and the classic movies that it pays homage to. I was glad this was the way we ended our first day at Walt Disney World.

Good night hollywood studios!

I don't remember the bus ride back to the Wilderness Lodge, or the walk to the room. But some how we made it and we passed out instantly. The next day was going to be equally as exhausting, but just as fun! 

I hope you're all enjoying my little trip report. If i'm going too fast, or too slow, or you want to know more about our dinner at yachtsman steakhouse, or the wilderness lodge please let me know! And feel free to comment and let you know you read Day 2!

xoxo

Day 2 - Ready, Set, GO! (Part 1)

Happy Sunday everyone! Day light savings is totally screwing up my internal clock. Even though its only 5:30 I feel like I should be getting ready for bed, not getting ready to cook dinner. I can't believe how dark out it is already! Anyway let's start with day 2 of our amazing trip!

My alarm wasn't even necessary since I didn't really fall asleep that night. I was almost waiting for it to go off so that I could have an excuse to get up and Adam wouldn't be mad at me. When it did go off i jumped in the shower, got dressed, did my make up and had everything back in the luggage bags before Adam even started to get ready. I took a walk down the lobby to see what the weather was like and to check and see how busy the diner was. If Adam got ready fast enough maybe we could grab some breakfast there. When the elevator doors opened all I saw was the buckets of rain coming down outside. It looked like a monsoon! The diner didn't seem busy so I went back up to the room to check on Adams progress. He wasn't moving as quickly as I thought he would be (Try barely moving) and breakfast at the diner went out the window.

We gathered our things and went down to the lobby to check in for the shuttle service to the airport. We must've been the only people under fifty that were heading to the airport that day. I don't know if there is some sort of a senior discount in Vegas during the fall or what but everyone using the shuttle service that morning were eligible for medicare and had fanny packs on that said some sort of "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas..." slogan on it. Meanwhile i'm in my mickey t-shirt and Adam is looking at the food and wine festival information on his phone... We were definitely the minority.

After a quick trip to the airport we said headed to the nearest dunkin doughnuts for some much needed coffee and bagels. The flight was pretty uneventful... flash forward two and a half hours to landing! My first sight of palm trees always gets me insanely excited! We flew through security and down to Magical Express. We walked right up to the next Magical express attendant and I made a terrible discovery... I had packed up my magical express transfers! I almost had a heart attack! The nice man at the desk told me not to worry and looked me up in the system. He printed out a whole new voucher for me and told me to have a "magical day!" to which i replied "I most certainly will!"... God i love hearing "have a magical day!" Lesson learned... Do not panic at disney! They fix everything!

We boarded the bus headed to the Wilderness Lodge. I could hardly contain myself! The entire time I was tweeting and facebooking that I was on my way! We arrived at the Wilderness Lodge and went to the check in desk. I got a really nice cast member who chatted with me about Disney Cruise Line and told me all about the fun things that were going on around the world the few days i'd be there. Our room wasn't ready yet but we did the text thing that would let us know when it was ready and what room number we were in. It was so convenient. By this time Adam and I were pretty hungry. We went to the roaring fork and grabbed some chicken fingers and a pizza. I was so happy to be back in my happy place!

Excuse my finger in this one

After lunch we jumped on the next boat to Magic Kingdom. The first thing I wanted to do was ride the haunted mansion! I hadn't been on it since the new queue refurb. It was so much fun. I won't spoil it for those who haven't done it yet but just know that we loved it! After Haunted mansion we did Space Mountain. The whole time we were in line I was praying that we got the back... I LOVE the back of the train on space.. I feel like it goes faster and you get whipped around more. Guess what we got... the back! woohoo! I had my hands up and scream/laughed the whole time! Space is one of my most favorite rides! 

After space mountain I think the early morning, the flight, and running around got to us. It suddenly felt like we were moving in slow motion. We sat down in tomorrowland when I started tweeting with Scott from Collect the mouse and a Disney Driven Life. He and his wife Peggy were in the park that day and wanted to meet up with us! After some tweeting and a quick phone call we found each other and rode the TTA together. Scott and his wife are such nice people, it was like we'd known them for a long time.  It was so nice to just sit and relax on the TTA and have a nice chat with cool people! I wish I had gotten a picture with them but somewhere my brain totally blanked out and i forgot! :( 

After our TTA ride we said goodbye to Scott and Peggy. Next up was Pirates of the Caribbean, I can't go to Magic Kingdom and NOT do it! I still know all the words to the song and sing it in my head through the whole ride. Sadly this wasn't my favorite trip on pirates... there was some guy behind us who clearly didn't care about the "no flash photography" rule and kept blinding me! It was so bad that they stopped the ride twice and asked him to stop and he still didn't. At the end of the ride a cast member did pull him aside and said something to him but at that point the ride was over. I love a good photo but don't ruin someone's ride with a blinding flash! 

After that bad experience and our energy levels going down the tubes we thought we'd try one more ride... Splash Mountain. We got over to the queue area and the line was super long... we tried fast pass but the fast pass return wasn't until 5 o'clock and we had a dining reservation 5:30. Feeling defeated I heard the train whistle... it was sitting in the frontier land station. PERFECT! We ran up the stairs with every last bit of energy and were the last two people they let on. 

Adam and I started talking and as much as we wanted to keep going in Magic Kingdom we knew we were pushing it. We decided to go back to the Wilderness lodge for a quick nap, shower, and change before heading to the yacht club for dinner and Hollywood Studios that night. I checked my phone and sure enough we had a text telling us our room was ready. The train pulled out of the frontierland station and we were on our way to the main gate. We kept trying to peak behind the fences to see the fantasyland expansion construction but we couldn't see much. What we did see though looked super cool!  

We pulled into the main gate station and went down the ramp to leave...WAIT! I can't leave without a castle picture! I told Adam I need to get our picture in front of the castle and he reluctantly agreed, I think the poor guy was falling asleep on me. We got the nearest photopass photographer to snap this picture of us. 

Not our best photo but we're going to blame it on the crane in the background and not the fact that we look exhausted....hahaha

Wow this post is long... Ok i'm going to stop here. Don't want to loose you guys to too much in one post! Things to look forward to next include, Dinner at yachtsman Steak House...ummm omg yum!, Mulch Sweat and Tears, Star Tours meltdown, and Passing out!

Thanks for reading! And don't forget to leave a comment so I know you were here! 

xoxo

Let's start at the very beginning

Waiting for my chocolate chip cookies to finish baking seems like the perfect time for me to start my trip report.... YAY! ::Applause applause!:: Ok who guessed where I was in that last picture???.... If you said we were on the Magic Kingdom Railroad train then you are right! :)

I'm going to start at the very beginning (like the title says) on Wednesday September the 28th. Technically I didn't get to WDW until the 29th but I feel that I should include the 28th too.

I woke up that morning totally amped! The entire time I was getting ready for work I was humming Disney songs, imagining seeing the Disney Magic for the first time, EPCOT! ect. It wasn't until I grabbed my keys that I realized I had to actually work ALL DAY before we would be starting our journey. During my hour commute into work I tried giving myself a pep talk, if I didn't bring my excitement level down a notch I wouldn't be able to handle working and my day would seem so much longer. Unfortunately no matter what I did I couldn't stop day dreaming! My ten and a half hour, 6:30am - 5pm shift felt like an eternity! The dentists would ask me questions and half the time I found myself responding with Disney jibberish. Finally after watching every painstaking second of the day go by it was quitting time! I grabbed my things and sprinted to my car. I squealed like a little girl the whole way home!

At the house Adam and his brother were there waiting for me. We decided to get a pizza and go over any last minute details. We gave my brother in law the vet information, instructions on the dogs eating schedule, the cruise and hotel information, the number to the local police and fire department, and made sure to emphasize NO PARTIES! After we ate dinner we loaded up my truck with all the luggage. Then it was time to say good-bye to my babies. For those of you who don't know I'm some what neurotic, especially when it comes to my puppies... they are my children and I worry about them like crazy. After a tearful fifteen minute "so-long" it was time to hit the road.

After another good hour in the car we arrived at the Holiday Inn in Manchester New Hampshire. By this time it was 8:30 at night and i'd been up since 4:50 in the morning. I was totally exhausted. We checked in and made our way to our room. It was a nice enough room for just a night... and we really liked that there was a diner located right down stairs. Adam thought it would be a good idea to go down and grab alittle dessert before we went to bed. The diner was themed like an old airport pilot bar. The food on the menu looked really good and had I known that I would've suggested we ate there instead of grabbing the pizza at home. I got the strawberry short cake and Adam got this insanely sized grasshopper pie. We chit chatted about our schedule for the following day and about how excited we were to be going back to the place we love and where we got married. It was really nice having that time to relax before all the traveling we'd have to do in the morning.

After we finished our yummy desserts we headed back up to the room to hit the hay. Our flight was leaving at 6:50 in the morning so we had to be in the lobby for the airport shuttle at 5:15. I set the alarm on my phone and got into bed. Adam was asleep in SECONDS! I swear that man can fall asleep anywhere! I however was too excited to sleep. I turned on the TV and watched the news, then I picked up my book and read, nothing would get me to sleep. I even went as far as trying to count sheep! (lame!) The last time I looked at the clock it said 1:14am (don't ask me why I remember that but I do) I know I fell asleep sometime after that... needless to say I didn't get the proper amount of sleep one needs for an early morning.

So that is how this crazy trip started. I will say that I am VERY glad we stayed at the hotel near the airport the night before. It was extremely convenient and if we ever do an early morning flight I will be sure to stay close by again. I am also glad that I went to work... even though it seemed like it was the longest day ever, I think if i took the day off to prepare and pack I would've gone stir crazy! Being at work made me focus on something else other than flying, and disney, and worrying about travel.... well most of the time.

My next post will be more exciting and will have many more pictures! But until then i'll leave you with this one...

Guess who was extremely tired and on a plane!

bad blogger! Bad, bad, blogger!

I am such a slacking blogger. I can't believe my last blog post was August 4th... that makes me so sad! Let me explain whats been going on...

First the bad, In my last blog post we were putting our house on the market and then we were going to build our new house. As painful as it is for me to say, nothing worked out. I hate that I feel embarrassed about it. I guess I shouldn't start telling people things until I know for sure they are going to happen... lesson learned. As we stand now the house is off the market, we are slowly bringing all of our packed away things home from the storage unit, and putting the house back together so that it looks like we actually live here. It was kind of depressing and I was in a bit of a funk that our house got NO interest at all, but sadly this is the market we're in these days. We seem to have another game plan for the future but until I know its going to work i'm keeping my lips sealed!

Now the good! The other reason I haven't been blogging is because, well I wasn't here! We had the most amazing vacation to WDW and our first Disney Cruise. We were gone for nine days and had the the best time! It was exactly what we needed to get out of our terrible moods. Adam and I met some fabulous people both in WDW, and on the ship. We even booked our next cruise for 2012 with the other couple that we became friendly with. We now have cruising buddies! I've been emailing them and keeping in touch. Its like being a kid in elementary school when you had a pen pal.  I can't wait to share with you guys everything that we did and all that we are going to be doing next year. It has both Adam and I VERY excited!

My plan is that i'm going to be a better blogger. My goal is to post something at least 3 times a week. Even if it is just a small quick post. We're (mostly) settled in the house, we have power back on from that stupid snow storm we just had... seriously how does it snow in October?... and I have so much I want to share and so much Disney talk I need to let out. I find that I miss doing trip reports on message boards so I'm going to do one here! I hope you will all enjoy reading it. :)

Before I end this post i'll leave you with a teaser picture from the trip!

Can you guess where we are??