Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Disney World...FINALLY!!

I am 26 years old. Yes, I just told my age, but I have a reason for doing that.

Many years ago when the Disney Channel first started and they had original programming like the "new" Mickey Mouse Club, Kids Inc., and various other programs, I was GLUED to that channel. My favorite part was when they would show old documentaries hosted by Walt Disney himself talking about the behind the scenes stuff that was really cool. There were shows about Disney World and Disneyland being built; the process behind "Sleeping Beauty"; behind the scenes about The Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and It's a Small World rides, and much much more.

During that time, my family started a change jar that we would drop our loose change into that would be our savings to take a family trip to Disney World. As the years went by, the amount of change in the jar grew and grew, but so did we. I graduated high school, went off to college, got married, etc. My sisters are now both grown, with my middle sister, Ashley, getting married in the Spring. Bethany, the youngest, is going to England this coming summer/fall to study abroad. And yet...no family trip to Disney World every transpired. Mom and Dad had been before they had kids (smart idea, actually). Ashley got to go with a friend who lives in Orlando. Bethany has been to Downtown Disney, but not the Magic Kingdom. And the closest I ever got was the Tampa or Jacksonville, FL, airport.

That is...until last Wednesday, January 23, 2008....a day that will live in infamy.

First Alliance Church in Port Charlotte, FL, brought me down to be the guest worship leader for their Celebrate Recovery program as well as their 3 AM worship services. On our way there, our plane landed in Orlando to let people off before taking off again to deliver us to our final destination. I jokingly told the guy that picked us up at the airport that the Orlando airport was the closest I had been to Disney World. The next day, he insisted that we go on our day off.

Well...we went. :) And I am soooooooooo glad that we did. What an AMAZING experience. I mean, I know it's a theme park and all, but it is DISNEY WORLD! MICKEY MOUSE LIVES THERE!! This had been something I had been looking forward to doing ever since I can remember, and now...now the time had finally come. I honestly had no idea what to do with myself when we got there. I just stood there for a few minutes taking it all in. It was all so very surreal. And to be perfectly honest? I cried....several times. I cried as we pulled into the parking lot. I cried as we boarded the monorail. I cried as we entered the gates onto Main Street USA. I cried after we met Minnie Mouse. And I cried as we watched the fireworks over Cinderella's castle at the end of the day.

It was so cool, and I cannot wait to go back. Here are some pictures from our time there:




And the change jar? It is still sitting on daddy's dresser. :)

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Wee Mee

I love this icon I recently created:




"It's me, it's me, it's absolutely me." - from HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Latest obesessions...or maybe not

One of the (many) Christmas gifts my husband and I received was the "Shake & Shimy" special edition of "Hairspray". Currently, we are OBSESSED with this movie! The music is great, the dancing is spectacular, and John Travolta as Edna Turnblad cannot be missed!

I've always been a huge fan of musicals. In high school, I had a chance to go to NYC and see a few Broadway shows. I had the chance to see Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," which was so cool. I think I saw it right before John Stamos (Uncle Jesse from "Full House") took over the role of J. Peirpont. I also saw "The Phantom of the Opera," "Miss Saigon," and "The King and I" with Lou Diamond Phillips.

I honestly don't remember too much from the plays themselves b/c the trips went by so fast. You know how those high school trips go...you get shuffled around from place to place like a herd of cattle. Our choral director, Mrs. Riggs, wore a bright pink raincoat so we could always spot her at the head of the herd.

We also went to Chicago at one point to compete in some choral festival. We had the chance to also sing the National Anthem at a Chicago White Sox game. Honestly, singing the National Anthem was the most exciting part of the game. I was ready to fall asleep at one point. I think after that we went to some Renaissance restaurant. Kinda like a Dixie Stampede but ...OH...Medieval Times. That's what it was. Yeah, not terribly entertaining either. I think I was just drained of any energy at that point. I do remember, however, going to visit the fountain that is at the beginning of "Married With Children". That was a gorgeous work of art, and the squirrels around the fountain didn't hesitate a bit to come up to you wanting food.

Ah...high school trips. And we sold cheesecakes to get there. Cheesecakes. Wow. I'm surprised I like to eat cheesecake now. HA! I believe the most popular were the Black Forest and Marble Swirl cheesecakes. (Okay, folks, I'm really going deep into the past here. I haven't thought about some of this in a looooooooooooong while.)

Onto other obsessions...

Basically, right now, Kyle (my husband) and I are relegated to only watching movies or Fox or PBS (who else loves Antiques Roadshow?!). Our lovely cable company decided to cut off our cable/internet one day w/o having the courtesy to call us. Why did they cut if off you ask? Well...apparently the tuner on our TV is broken, which is causing the analog and digital signals to cross thus disrupting the signals of other cable customers in our building. For example, you know that whole "ghosting effect" when you have a pic on your TV and it's doubled? Well, apparently, that's our fault. :-p So someone else in our building was having "issues" with their cable, called the cable company, the tech traced the "problem" back to our line, and then just cut us off. Yup...that's right. CUT US OFF. No note, no courtesy call...nothing...nada...zilch. So, for THREE days we were without cable or internet until one of the lovely techs could come by and tell us what was wrong. He comes in after looking at the box outside and says, "You were cut off." And I'm like, "Excuse me?" "You were cut off." "So, was someone going to call and tell us this? Did this other tech not know how to knock or leave a note?" "Well, ma'am, I'm sure he tried to knock on the door and you just weren't home." (At this point, I'm ready to throw him out the window, but I kept my cool because it wasn't his fault.)

So, basically, the tech told us that we either need to get the TV tuner fixed or buy a new TV. Okay...like we have $400-$500 to just drop on a new TV just to have cable. Are you kidding me? So right now we have two channels that come in on our antenna: FOX and PBS. I'm so thankful we get FOX b/c I could NOT do w/o American Idol.

So that's life...or something like it.