Two Chicks and...a Mouse!~ADRs, a wedding, and Property Virgins? 9.25.09 [Archive] - Page 2 - The DIS Discussion Forums

jewels1916

03-31-2009, 05:46 PM

OMG thats awesome Courtney!!!! You will HAVE to take tons of pictures to share with us!!!!!!! :banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:

Oh, I definitely will! We are still struggling to find flights, but right now it's a go!

OMG that is SO cool!! I would love to go to Spain!:banana::dance3::cool1:

That cruise sounds just amazing.:goodvibes What awesome news!!

I am soooo excited!

What a wonderful summer vacation!!! Just seeing Cannes would be a dream come true, but then all those other places!!! You must do a mini-TR within your PTR on it all! You are going to have such a great time!

There will definitely be a mini-TR within this PTR about it. Maybe I will see a celebrity in Cannes?!

Wow Courtney!!! SOOOO much good news!!!

Yay that your stuff made it to Texas! Yay that it appears to have survived the movers! Always a stressful proposition.

Congrats to your sis on the dance team competition. That is wonderful news. I totally relate to how exciting that is. I was the captain of the tall flag team (think marching band drill team). We always went to competition, but we never placed. The year I was captain, we placed third, and so we were beyond excited by that! To actually WIN! though, very cool.:cool1:

AND WOW!!! How fun to go on the Mediterranean cruise!!:woohoo: I have been fortunate enough to go on one cruise. I went with my parents. It was so much fun. There is so much to do on those boats, not to mention the ports and the exursions. I hope that all your plans come together. So exciting!!

I have never been overseas myself. You definitely have to post about your vacation!

Thanks, Rabbit! I was so very proud of Kelsey! And this cruise is going to be awesome. We've done a few in the Carribbean, but this is going to be a first for us!

Hey, Courtney!

Glad to hear your stuff arrived safe and sound back in Texas! And yay that none of it was broken! :cool1:

Tell Kelsey congrats on her big win! That is so awesome! :goodvibes

And OMG, a cruise to the Meditteranean! I am SO jealous. That's what I had decided to do for when I graduate college! I've never been on a cruise or overseas, and I want to see Spain, France, Italy, and Greece SOOOOOO badly. You simply MUST do a TR for that trip in this PTR so that we can see and hear all about it, you lucky girl! ;)

Hey Em, glad to see you made it back!! I will definitely tell Kelsey congrats! You will be well prepared for your Mediterranean cruise, cause I am going to take tons of pics!

AHHHHH!!! Courtney, that's SOOOO exciting! :yay::woohoo::dance3:

I am so happy for you! I've never been over there. How amazing! YAYAYAYAYAYY!!!! :cheer2:

I know!! I am so excited too! I will share all my info and pics! :)

OMG that rocks! I am soooo jealous! I will one day go to Italy. :goodvibes I think cruises are really one of the best ways to vacation! That is gonna be so awesome! :cutie:

I love cruising too. It's a great way to see several places, cause you don't have to switch hotels! :)

I'm glad to hear your move went well! I'm always so nervous that something is going to get broken!!

And, glad to have another DFW girl, too! Let me know when you get settled in; I am all about doing a meet!

I'm so jealous of your trip! Think you can pack me in your luggage? I won't take up much space, and I'll be quiet!

Hey Heather! Very, very soon we are going to have a Dismeet. And I am sure I can fit you in my luggage for the cruise! :laughing:

Still no flights booked for the Spain trip, but in Disney news, Kelly and I found a fabulous flight to Orlando for our dates. The price is soooo great, it's like, $215 a person. When we originally started talking about these dates we weren't finding anything less than $300. So, I think this is a great deal. The flight leaves DFW at 9:15 am and arrives in Orlando at 12:40pm. The return leaves MCO at 6:20pm, and we would be back in DFW at 8:30pm. I haven't booked them yet, because once we book the flights we are officially locked into these dates, regardless of what Disney discounts come out later in the days around our trip. And...I haven't told my parents that I am planning on going on this trip. Eh...I already know what issues they will take, and it is just one battle I am not looking forward to. Once the flights are booked though, I really have no excuse not to clue them in.....
Anyway, the tickets are on a 24 hour hold, so Kelly and I can make sure we are 100% sure that this is the way we want to go! :)

Hope you are all having a magical day!

Courtney

HeatherBelle614

03-31-2009, 05:48 PM

You ladies are flying out of DFW, correct? I'm on a mailing list where I get the best deals in my email every day. For the past week, I've actually seen DFW to Orlando for $118.00; we would've booked them if we hadn't decided to drive already.

If you PM me your email address, I'll FWD you the email I get tomorrow if it has the same price. It's a first come/first serve buy, but it's been through Delta and American. You may have to play around with the dates a little, but I put it in several times with our dates and always get the choices that I'd want (if we were flying.)

jewels1916

03-31-2009, 06:04 PM

jewels1916

04-05-2009, 12:54 AM

Ok, so I found something that I had to share with everyone. It's pretty funny, I think. Proves that I love trip reports. Although...doesn't show that I am good at finishing them. I was cleaning out my closet the other day and I found this notebook with Winnie the Pooh on the cover. So I open it up, and it was a handwritten trip report from the trip to Disney World my family took ten years ago. I was 14 years old, a freshman in high school, Ryan was 9 (whatever grade that is) and Kelsey was 7 - this was her first trip. We went in October. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to post one "day" for the next few days. Now, remember, I was 14 years old. I really ought to take a picture of one of the pages and post it on here so you can see how atrocious my handwriting was. Anyway, here is the first entry. *I used all the original grammer and spelling. Promise.

10/6/99

Our first day in Florida! Our plane landed about 5:30 (Florida time). Then we checked into our hotel, the All-Star Movies resort. Then we went to Epcot. The first thing we rode was Spaceship Earth. Then we saw "Honey I shrunk the audience." everyone said it was good, but I didn't think It was that great. Then we did "Journey into your imagination". They completely redid it, & took Figment out of it. That made me mad, because he was like, the best part of the ride. Then we saw "Illuminations", the fireworks show. It was awesome! The fireworks were incredible. After that, we all came back to the hotel, & ate in the cafeteria thing. The we went to our rooms & went to sleep.

Wow. Words fail me. Apparently, I had recently discovered the "&" symbol at this time in my life. I was really very....descriptive, wasn't I? Heh. :lmao: I promise this trip report will be much more indepth.

On another note, we booked our flights to Spain! We ended up finding a really good deal, with only one stop in Philly both ways! It's official! I am very excited! We decided to spend two extra days in Barcelona before the cruise, and two extra days after the cruise. We'll be leaving on July 23rd, and coming back on August 4th! I can hardly believe it!

Hope you are all having a great weekend! We had beautiful weather today, temp in the 80s! I spent like 5 hours in the pool. It was great. Enjoy your Sundays! :)

TxRabbit

04-05-2009, 01:26 AM

Charleston Princess

04-05-2009, 06:53 AM

:lmao: Figment was "like the best part of the ride." :rotfl: I also love that you called the food court that "cafeteria thing." Great stuff! Can't wait to hear about the rest! Awesome idea!

jewels1916

04-06-2009, 12:15 AM

Oh wow! I LOVE it when I find those random thoughts/recordings from earlier versions of me! That TR is priceless!

So exciting that you have flights! Flights always make the vacation official. At least I feel that way. What a wonderful trip you are going to have! I'm excited to hear about it.

How's the job search going? We were excited recently. DH, SIL and my other SIL's DF all work for the same company. A while back, the other SIL applied for a job but the company had put on a hiring freeze. I guess the freeze was lifted because they called her this week for an interview on Monday. So hopefully this bodes well for all job seekers in Texas!

Wahoo! Yes, having our flights have definitely made it official, and very exciting! The job search is going slowly, although I have taken a job working with my father. He owns a financial consulting firm, and has contracted me to do some marketing and a few administrative tasks for him.

:lmao: Figment was "like the best part of the ride." :rotfl: I also love that you called the food court that "cafeteria thing." Great stuff! Can't wait to hear about the rest! Awesome idea!

Ha ha, thanks! I definitely "talked teenager." It only gets better, I promise. :)

Charleston Princess

04-06-2009, 12:18 AM

Ha ha, thanks! I definitely "talked teenager." It only gets better, I promise. :)

Oh, I am so looking forward to it -- I get such a kick out of how we all talked when we were younger.

redlight

04-06-2009, 12:24 AM

10/6/99

Our first day in Florida! Our plane landed about 5:30 (Florida time). Then we checked into our hotel, the All-Star Movies resort. Then we went to Epcot. The first thing we rode was Spaceship Earth. Then we saw "Honey I shrunk the audience." everyone said it was good, but I didn't think It was that great. Then we did "Journey into your imagination". They completely redid it, & took Figment out of it. That made me mad, because he was like, the best part of the ride. Then we saw "Illuminations", the fireworks show. It was awesome! The fireworks were incredible. After that, we all came back to the hotel, & ate in the cafeteria thing. The we went to our rooms & went to sleep.

It's interesting to look back at your past. Your '99 TR wasn't bad - you only wrote "like" once!

Good luck with the job search!

How's your diet going? I need to start getting serious about mine.

jewels1916

04-06-2009, 12:39 AM

Entry number 2 from the October 1999 Disney Trip!

Oh, but first, some pics!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01508.jpg
This is the notebook where my antique trip report was discovered.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01509.jpg
Cute handwriting :rotfl:....it's improved in the past ten years, although my handwriting is still fat and loopy.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01510.jpg
And this was one of the other treasures I found! I think I bought it as WDW on our 2006 trip. But I haven't written a thing in it, so I am going to use it to document the December trip, so I don't forget things. This is important, and you'll see why....

And now is the antique TR. :)
10/7/99

We woke up at 5:30 this morning, which felt like 4:30 because I am still on Dallas time. We headed out the door at about ten 'til 7:00, and got on a bus for Magic Kingdom. We got there at about 7:20, and waited for ten minutes for them to open the park. The Mom, Ryan, & Kelsey went to ride Dumbo & Snow White, while Dad, Nanny & I, went to get breakfast. Then we rode Peter Pan. When we got of that, it was sprinkling, so we ran to '"It's a small world." It started raining harder, so we all put on ponchos & went to ride "Winnie the Pooh." That was the cutest ride! Then we went to Space Mountain, which was the longest line we stood in (35 min). Then we did the Buzz Lightyear ride, and the spaceship things. Then we saw the Timekeeper show. It was kind of funny because Robin Williams did the voice of the timekeeper. Then we rode "Pirates of the Caribbean." At 12:40, we had a character lunch at Crystal Palace. The characters were the ones from "Winnie the Pooh," so I got Pooh kisses & Piglet kisses, & Eeyore kisses, & Tigger kisses. That was really cute. Then we shopped in MK for a little while, and went to Epcot. At Epcot we did Body Wars, Cranium Commando & World Showcase. It was cool. We did other stuff, but I can't remember what. We finally left at like 8:30. Then we went to eat dinner. Now I am gonna go to sleep, because we have to get up early tomorrow.

Ok, I have several bits of commentary on this one!

1) It was Dallas time, not central time, clearly.
2) I had a fascination with time. I don't remember wearing a watch, so I have no clue how I knew exactly what time we got to the park.
3) Snow White was one of my favorite Fantasyland rides, don't know why I skipped it.
4) I forgot that my grandmother went on this trip until I re-read this. I am a bad granddaughter!!
5) "the spaceship things" - ? Perhaps this was AstroOrbiter or something? I have no memory of ever riding that!!
6) I actually liked Body Wars. I don't know why, I think my parents thought that I was going to go to med school for a while, because of my interest in that ride.
7) I also have no memory of Cranium Commando. :confused3

It cracks me up that some of what I wrote needs explaining. Ah well. :)
Well...in other news, I have accepted a job working with my father (I have an issue saying "for my father.") He owns a financial consulting firm in the area, and he has asked me to come on board as his marketing manager. I am going to be designing a new marketing strategy around a new offering of his firm. I am also doing some new brochures, and website designs. I will probably also take on some administrative responsibilities (if I have time). I am still going to be looking for something else, but he was just so excited when I just in passing conversation gave him a few tips about efficiency, that he asked me to come on board. It is going to keep me solvent, which makes me happy. It helps me not feel so guilty about the Disney trip. And, oh wait, the Spain trip.

That's my news for the night! :) Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and that the week treats you well! :cutie:

TxRabbit

04-06-2009, 07:01 AM

You and I have had some very similar life experiences! After moving back home, I worked for my mom, helping her get her home-based/web-based mortgage company going. I studied marketing (so did my mom). I wrote the copy and did the design work for brochures, mailing campaigns, web site, etc.

I totally understand about the saying "for my father" which is why I recommend that you don't!:laughing: Get used to saying the name of your father's company. The fact is that work is work. Even if this isn't a long term thing, this is building your portfolio, giving you good experience, and if you are working with other people at the firm, giving you an opportunity to develop other professional references.:thumbsup2

So it's all good, and from having been there, done that, I urge you to not depreciate your work with your father thinking that is somehow less real because it's for a parent. It's generally thought that connections and relationships can get you a job, but keeping it is all your own effort. The fact is that your father wouldn't be able to keep you around doing work for his company if you did poor work. It would set a bad example to his other employees in many different ways. Many in business understand this concept, so actually, you would benefit from having this work be a nice chunk of time on your resume.

I love that your younger you actually wrote everything out! I tried so many times to journal things, but I got so bogged down in the details, I couldnt' ever finish! Funny how the report brings forgotten memories to life. And how you think to yourself, WHY did I do that?:laughing:

tinkerbell87512

04-06-2009, 08:13 AM

That's so awesome you got your flights to Spain! That's so exciting!

Good luck finding the flights to Orlando. Hopefully you can get a good deal. It just boggles my mind sometimes to think how much flights cost. It's crazy!

Sounds like you had a good weekend. Please send some of that 80 degree weather over here. :lmao: Keep us updated on the flight situation!

Ohhhhh and Congratulations on the job!!!!!!! :banana:

Charleston Princess

04-06-2009, 09:22 AM

The Sleeping Beauty journal is great -- I love her sparkling dress!

Dallas Time...:lmao:

My favorite part: where you wrote about getting Pooh kisses and Eeyore kisses and Piglet kisses and Tigger kisses.

I think working for your dad for a little bit will be great -- sounds like he is really excited to have you onboard!

stacikristine

04-06-2009, 11:09 AM

jewels1916

04-07-2009, 12:21 AM

Ahh! I LOVE your antique TR! :) So, so cute. Isn't it crazy what ended up in journals back in the day? I started journaling when I was in 7th grade, and I have a whole shelf full of used journals now. It's so funny going back and reading them! Secondly, YAY for your new job! And at least you know your boss is good! :thumbsup2 It sounds like a great job!

Thanks! It is certainly a trip back in time! Yes, yay for the job! Yay for the paycheck! :) It's not as uncomfortable as I thought it would be. See you for dinner tomorrow!!!

The Sleeping Beauty journal is great -- I love her sparkling dress!

Dallas Time...:lmao:

My favorite part: where you wrote about getting Pooh kisses and Eeyore kisses and Piglet kisses and Tigger kisses.

I think working for your dad for a little bit will be great -- sounds like he is really excited to have you onboard!

Her dress has beads on it! Isn't that great! It's not glitter that gets all over you, it's sparkly beads!

I had to list them out! Otherwise, I might forget! :)

I think he's excited to have me around. He has someone to talk to work stuff about at dinner now, at least. ;)

That's so awesome you got your flights to Spain! That's so exciting!

Good luck finding the flights to Orlando. Hopefully you can get a good deal. It just boggles my mind sometimes to think how much flights cost. It's crazy!

Sounds like you had a good weekend. Please send some of that 80 degree weather over here. :lmao: Keep us updated on the flight situation!

Ohhhhh and Congratulations on the job!!!!!!! :banana:

Thanks! Wahoo!! Yeah, we've seen a few flights to Orlando, but we are still just waiting a bit. Lots of things going on, you know, and who knows what discounts may come out! I will be wishing warm weather to you!

You and I have had some very similar life experiences! After moving back home, I worked for my mom, helping her get her home-based/web-based mortgage company going. I studied marketing (so did my mom). I wrote the copy and did the design work for brochures, mailing campaigns, web site, etc.

I totally understand about the saying "for my father" which is why I recommend that you don't!:laughing: Get used to saying the name of your father's company. The fact is that work is work. Even if this isn't a long term thing, this is building your portfolio, giving you good experience, and if you are working with other people at the firm, giving you an opportunity to develop other professional references.:thumbsup2

So it's all good, and from having been there, done that, I urge you to not depreciate your work with your father thinking that is somehow less real because it's for a parent. It's generally thought that connections and relationships can get you a job, but keeping it is all your own effort. The fact is that your father wouldn't be able to keep you around doing work for his company if you did poor work. It would set a bad example to his other employees in many different ways. Many in business understand this concept, so actually, you would benefit from having this work be a nice chunk of time on your resume.

I love that your younger you actually wrote everything out! I tried so many times to journal things, but I got so bogged down in the details, I couldnt' ever finish! Funny how the report brings forgotten memories to life. And how you think to yourself, WHY did I do that?:laughing:

So what happens next in our life?? ;) It's not as, well...I hate to say bad, cause I didn't think it would be bad, but, I guess it is better, more interesting than I thought it would be. I am getting good experience, and making contacts. Plus, I actually think my Dad likes having me around. Of course....it's only been a few days. We'll see.....

I know! I am still questioning why I didn't ride Snow White...weird. :)

jewels1916

04-07-2009, 12:24 AM

It's interesting to look back at your past. Your '99 TR wasn't bad - you only wrote "like" once!

Good luck with the job search!

How's your diet going? I need to start getting serious about mine.

I missed your response, somehow! Eek, sorry! Don't worry, "like" definitely appears a few more times. Thanks on the well wishes on my job search! My diet has stalled. It got really difficult to keep it up in the move, but now that I am settled for now, I am slowly getting back to it. I have to say, it was easier when it was just me worrying about what I was eating. Now that I am eating with my family, it seems like we eat a lot more. But I am getting back to it! Good luck with yours! It's hard!

jewels1916

04-07-2009, 12:40 AM

Entry number 3 from my antique TR!

10/8/99

Today we got up early and went to Epcot. We rode Test Track twice in the span of 15 minutes. That is an awesome ride!!!! Then we went shopping because the other rides weren't open. Then at nine, they opened the rest of the park, and we did the Living Seas & the Land. Then we left, because we had lunch reservations at Sci-Fi dine-in. That was a cool place to eat. We sat in convertables and watched "bad" sci-fi movies while we ate. Then we went to Muppetvision 3D. That's a cute show. Then we rode the Great Movie Ride. That's a cool ride. Then we did the backlot tour. We also saw the Hunchback of Notre Dame show. That was awesome. Everyone did a really good job. After that, we ate dinner at Mama Melrose's, an italian restaurant. Then we saw the Little Mermaid Show. I love that show! It is my favorite show, and has been since the last time I came. Then we went to see Fantasmic. That show was incredible. All the fireworks, and lights. And they had this big water thing that they showed us the picture on. It had been raining all day, and they had to delay the show, but the show was worth the sit in rain. Then we came back to the hotel, & I talked to Joey, and now I am going to sleep.

Again, my way with words is just stunning. Pulitzer, here I come!

And, 24 (almost) year old commentary time!
1) The multiple exclamation marks have finally made an appearance! (!!!)
2) The Land..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
3) The Little Mermaid is still one of my all-time favorite attractions at WDW. My Dad suggested we skip it last time, and I looked at him as if he had suddenly sprouted a tail. I *might* have secretly wanted to be The Little Mermaid when I grew up when I was little. And I *might* still want to, a little.
4) the big water thing in Fantasmic....how else do you describe that? This very phrase might make a comeback in the December TR!
5) Joey is my best friend of almost 13 years, and she (her name is JoElaine) is a bigger Disney fan than I am. I have not been able to persuade her to join Disboards, but someday, I will. It's my goal.

Have a wonderful Tuesday, everyone! :)

And now I am going to sleep. ;)

redlight

04-07-2009, 12:52 AM

I missed your response, somehow! Eek, sorry! Don't worry, "like" definitely appears a few more times. Thanks on the well wishes on my job search! My diet has stalled. It got really difficult to keep it up in the move, but now that I am settled for now, I am slowly getting back to it. I have to say, it was easier when it was just me worrying about what I was eating. Now that I am eating with my family, it seems like we eat a lot more. But I am getting back to it! Good luck with yours! It's hard!

Don't worry about skipping over me. :)

I understand about family and eating. It's not so much my immediate family, but my extended family who love to eat. Not so surprising considering that we're Italian and Greek. At my college graduation (when I had dieted down to a size 6), they went on and on about how I was wasting away and needed to eat. :rotfl:

Good luck working with your father, and please keep the 1999 TR coming!

TxRabbit

04-07-2009, 07:29 AM

So what happens next in our life?? ;)

Well...your college steady proposes!:lmao:

This is my fav thing of your last post...

Entry number 3 from my antique TR!

10/8/99
...
and now I am going to sleep.

And, 24 (almost) year old commentary time!
...
And now I am going to sleep. ;)

Funny how we are still the same and yet so different!!:laughing::rotfl:

Loving this! Keep 'em comin!popcorn::

Charleston Princess

04-07-2009, 09:01 AM

I am still using multiple exclamation points! :rotfl2:

HoneyLSU

04-07-2009, 04:39 PM

Hi! I'm back and I've missed quite alot!

Congratulations on the new job! I think it would be fun to work with my dad. Plus right now, it's just good to have a job! I'd be terrified if I didn't have one or lost mine.

I'm so jealous of your European vacation! That's crazy that it is cheaper to go to Europe than Hawaii! You're going to have so much fun and I can't wait to hear about it.

I love your Antique TR! It's so funny! I get embarrassed when I read old stuff I've written like that. It's too cute!

redlight

04-07-2009, 06:46 PM

I am still using multiple exclamation points! :rotfl2:

Me too!!!

autumnpalm

04-08-2009, 04:53 PM

Me too!!!

Me three!:rotfl2:

I am loving your "antique TR". I wish I had more journals from when I was younger. I have one from grade 2 and it is HILARIOUS.:rotfl: Looking forward to your next entry!:goodvibes

stacikristine

04-09-2009, 10:28 AM

Love the third TR from way back in the day!! And as you can see, I still use multiple exclamation marks too :) So sad you couldn't meet us--we'll have to get together next time! And I hope the new job is going great!

jewels1916

04-20-2009, 12:12 PM

Hey everyone! Sorry I have been gone for a bit. Life has been a bit hectic. Work has been pretty busy, plus I am trying to get ready for this wedding and bachelorette party (this weekend), and a shower that I am hosting (along with a few others) in just a few weeks. And on top of all of that, my great Aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer just a few weeks ago, and she had surgery last week. We've spent a lot of time in the hospital, and making sure she and my Uncle have everything they need. The surgery was successful, but now they think that she might have lymphoma as well. It's been a rough and scary ride, and it isn't over yet.

Needless to say it hasn't left much Dis time. :( Oh, and there is one other thing coming up....hm.....oh, yes. Tomorrow (4/21) is my birthday. The big 2-4. It has taken a backseat to everything because...well. I am not sure why, but I haven't even thought about that fact that it is my birthday until yesterday. No plans at all for it, cause all of my time is devoted to getting prepared for all the other things that are coming up so soon.

But there is good news! Kelly and I have finally gotton to hang out some since I've been home, albeit mostly just trying to prepare for Lacy's wedding and bachelorette party. But it's been so much fun. I missed my friend! Last night we spent an hour working on a ribbon bouquet for Lacy for the wedding rehearsal. I know typically you have one made from your ribbons from your bridal showers, but Lacy didn't have one because all of her friends are either in Oklahoma or Dallas, and she just couldn't afford to fly here for one. So, Kelly and I made one for her. It looks great. I plan on posting a pic on here shortly. We are leaving Thursday morning to drive to Stillwater, OK (where we all went to college) for the Bachelorette Party which is that night. Then Friday we have to drive to Tulsa for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, and Saturday is the wedding. There will be lots of pics. PG ones. I promise. :)

With all that being said, who would like to read another entry from my antique TR? I know it's been a while, but I will finish it! Here we go!

10/9/99

This morning we got up and went to Animal Kingdom. We saw "It's Tough to Be a Bug." Then we got a fastpass for Kilimanjaro Safari. We ate breakfast and did the Safari. Then we went to see Tarzan Rocks! That was a show that was like a rock concert. The singers were awesome, and the dancers were even better. Then we saw "Festival of the Lion King." That was the best show I've ever seen. Everything was just incredible. The costumes were very cool. After that, Mom, Nanny, Kelsey and I came back to the hotel while Ryan and Dad saw some bird show. Then, at about 4:00 we went to Magic Kingdom. We road Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and then the Skyway to Tomorrowland. Then we met the Benfields at the carousal. We ate dinner with them at a little restaurant. After dinner, we rode the Haunted Mansion with them. That is a cute ride, and Kelsey and Rebecca screamed the whole time, just for the heck of it. Then we split up, and we rode the Jungle Cruise. Then we met back up and watched the parade. There we about 10 million lights in that parade. It was really cool. Then we shopped a little and left. We get to sleep a little later tomorrow morning. Yea!

And on to more commentary:
1) I was really involved in theatre around this time, which is possibly why I editorialize more about the shows than the rides and restaurants.
2) "some bird show" - ha ha. I have no clue what that is. Thoughts?
3) The Benfields are a family that we've known for....a very long time. Their oldest child is my sister's age, and Kelsey and Rebecca have been friends since they were two years old. They now live 3 houses down from my parents. Kelsey and Rebecca aren't as close now as they used to be, but they do still run in the same circles.
4) "We get to sleep a little later..." - Nowadays when we go to Disney, I am the one who gets everyone up. I don't like to sleep in while at DW unless I am there for more than 5 days. Cause I want to do everything. Multiple times. :) <--Hear that, Kells?

Hope you are all having a wonderful week, and I am going to be better about updating - at least this week. ;)

Court

stacikristine

04-20-2009, 12:20 PM

TxRabbit

04-20-2009, 12:37 PM

Good to hear from you. You HAVE been busy, and will continue to be busy it sounds like!

:hug: for your aunt. I hope she doesn't have lymphoma.

Happy early birthday!

tinkerbell87512

04-20-2009, 01:16 PM

Happy early birthday Courtney!!! I know you said you didn't have any plans but hopefully you will get to celebrate and go out!

I'm so sorry to hear about your great aunt. :hug: I hope she and your uncle are doing well!

Loving the 99 TR! :rotfl: I wish I had done a notebook of some of my past trips. It sure would be funny looking back on them now.

Hope you have a great week and B-day tomorrow!!!! :banana::banana::banana:

Charleston Princess

04-20-2009, 07:11 PM

Thoughts and prayers for your aunt, Courtney! :hug:

Happy Birthday tomorrow!!! Have a wonderful day!!! princess:

He he! Still lovin' the vintage TR -- some bird show must have been Flights of Wonder. Do you remember where you ate with the Benfields?

jewels1916

04-21-2009, 11:03 AM

Wow! You've got a lot going on. I'm so sorry about your great aunt :hug: My family went through that whole ride with my great aunt. I'll pray things go well for her. And it sounds like you're having a lot of fun helping/planning for the wedding stuff for your friend! YAY!! I can't wait to see pictures.

HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY!!! :woohoo::yay::dance3: (in case I can't get on here tomorrow for some reason)

And once again, thanks for the antique TR! I think the bird show was probably Flights of Wonder if they had it then. I've never seen it, but I've read about it. Fun, fun!

Have a non-stressful, fun week!!! :thumbsup2

Thanks, Staci! Sorry I missed you when you were in town! I have been super busy. Hope you guys had fun!!

Good to hear from you. You HAVE been busy, and will continue to be busy it sounds like!

:hug: for your aunt. I hope she doesn't have lymphoma.

Happy early birthday!

Thanks, Rabbit! I think life will slow down a bit....around July.... :)

Happy early birthday Courtney!!! I know you said you didn't have any plans but hopefully you will get to celebrate and go out!

I'm so sorry to hear about your great aunt. :hug: I hope she and your uncle are doing well!

Loving the 99 TR! :rotfl: I wish I had done a notebook of some of my past trips. It sure would be funny looking back on them now.

Hope you have a great week and B-day tomorrow!!!! :banana::banana::banana:

Hey Cheryl! Thanks! My Aunt and Uncle are hanging in there, we are doing our best to keep them upbeat and to stay positive. It is funny to go back and read what was important to me and what wasn't ten years ago. :)

Thoughts and prayers for your aunt, Courtney! :hug:

Happy Birthday tomorrow!!! Have a wonderful day!!! princess:

He he! Still lovin' the vintage TR -- some bird show must have been Flights of Wonder. Do you remember where you ate with the Benfields?

Thanks, Jackie! I have no recollection of where we ate that day, I am going to go back through some old photos and see if I can figure it out, but for some reason I am thinking we may have eaten at Tony's.

Here is a photo of the ribbon bouquet that Kelly and I made this weekend. The photo isn't particularly good, as I took it this morning as I was running out the door to work, but you can at least see how big it is. If you haven't ever made one, the ribbons are attached to a paper plate, and our goal was to make it so big that you couldn't see the plate at all. I think we were successful. :)

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01523.jpg

There will be another update tonight, likely of the birthday festivities. :)

Court

tinkerbell87512

04-21-2009, 08:33 PM

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! :wizard:

Charleston Princess

04-21-2009, 08:36 PM

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, COURTNEY! Hope you have had a wonderful day!

The ribbon bouquet is beautiful!

TxRabbit

04-21-2009, 08:52 PM

Happy Birthday to You!
Happy Birthday to YOU!
Here's ho-ping it's FA-BU-LOUUUUUUUUUUUUUS!!!
Happy birthday to you.
:rotfl:

redlight

04-21-2009, 09:12 PM

Happy Birthday Courtney!

autumnpalm

04-21-2009, 09:45 PM

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!:wizard:

I will say a prayer for your great aunt.:hug:

TeaForTulips

04-22-2009, 11:15 AM

Happy Belated Birthday! :cheer2: :dance3:

Prayers and Pixie Dust for your great aunt and your family. :wizard: :hug:

I am loving your antique TR. That is too great! :lovestruc I still have many journals saved from when I was younger and I enjoy looking through them now and again. How wonderful you still had that!

Hooray for your flights to Spain! Im glad you guys were able to get good flights! :goodvibes

I'm looking forward to your next update! :cutie:

stacikristine

04-22-2009, 12:38 PM

Happy late bday!!! I hope it was great :) The ribbon bouquet is very cute :thumbsup2 I can't wait to hear about the festivities! And no worries about not being able to make it--we'll just have to plan another Dallas DISmeet! ;)

jewels1916

04-23-2009, 12:59 AM

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you for the birthday wishes! It really was wonderful! I just have to share about it. :)

Well, I worked all day, but my Grandmother (my Dad's mom) called and invited me to lunch. So, we went to this antique store that has this little cafe in the back for lunch, and wandered around looking at the antiques. I found a Mickey plate from 1988. If it had been 1985, I would have bought it. :) Then back to work for me.

After work, I went to pick up my Grandmother (here on out known as Nanny), and we met my Mom and my best friend Joey at my other grandparents' house (Nana and Gran) to go to a restaurant called Babe's. Family style fried chicken, chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green beans and biscuits. YUM!!! And....I took pictures!!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01524.jpg
Biscuit with honey!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01525.jpg
My food! Fried chicken, corn, biscuit, mashed potatoes and gravy!

Then, Mom brought out the thing I look forward to on my birthday every year. Homemade strawberry cake! Oh-my-goodness, this cake is sooo good. There are fresh strawberries in the cake and in the icing.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01529.jpg
-I am not 42, it's just backwards. :)

And then...they made me dance around with a chicken on my head. It's a horrible picture, but really, who actually looks good with a chicken on their head? I included it for comic relief!

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01527.jpg

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01531.jpg
A pic of me and the GP's. Nanny, me, Nana and Gran.

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01532.jpg
A photo of me and my totally amazing parents.

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01533.jpg
And this is me and Joey. We've been best friends since 6th grade, we met when we were eleven years old, so it's almost 13 years now. :)

Present time!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01536.jpg
This is my present from Kelsey. She couldn't go to dinner because she had to be at the school for choir. But when she got home, she gave me her present. And you could play the bag!!!!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01535.jpg
It had the instructions for playing "Happy Birthday." That is what I was playing. Inside the bag was JAG Season 8 on dvd. I love JAG. I really do. :)

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01548.jpg
From Joey! So cute! I've never seen the movie either, so we are planning on watching it together.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01549.jpg
From Mom and Dad! I love this dress. I can totally see myself wandering around Spain in it!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01544.jpg
From Nana and Gran! Cute top!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01550.jpg
Gran picked these out himself. Won't they match the dress my parents got me perfectly?
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01541.jpg
New shoes from Nanny! I love shoes. :)

Ok, so after dinner we went home, and then Joey and I decided that we wanted to go see 17 Again. And, we invited my Mom, Joey's Mom (conveniently also called Mom), Joey's sister Jordan, and Kelsey. About 10 minutes into the movie, Joey's husband John (still weird to me, and it's been a year!) came in. We were the only people in the theatre save for two people sitting way in the back. We had so much fun! We were laughing so loud, it was great. I thought the movie was good, personally.

Anyway, that was my 24th Birthday! Not too shabby, if you ask me!
I am just about finished packing for the weekend. I am leaving tomorrow morning for Oklahoma. My former roommate from VA is getting married in OK this weekend. The bachelorette party is tomorrow night, rehearsal on Friday, and the wedding is Saturday. I will bring back lots of pictures on Sunday! Hope you all have a fantastic weekend, and I'll talk to you next week!

Court

tinkerbell87512

04-23-2009, 06:24 AM

Glad you had such a good b-day! Oh and btw I love that dress!!!!

stacikristine

04-23-2009, 10:18 AM

What a fun bday! :thumbsup2 Have fun in OKLAHOMA!!! We're having gorgeous weather right now...

TxRabbit

04-23-2009, 11:14 AM

What a great bday! I love the dress and the earrings!

Have fun in OK! Safe travels...

Charleston Princess

04-23-2009, 11:21 AM

What fun birthday celebrations!!! Dinner looks sooo good -- I am so hungry right now! Love all the gifts -- especially the dress from your mom and dad! Have a great time in Oklahoma!

redlight

04-23-2009, 08:05 PM

Happy Birthday again! You take such good pictures.

How was 17 again?

pipermae

04-23-2009, 08:24 PM

Happy Birthday!!! :banana:

In AK they used to have an area where they just did bird shows, like... I don't know how to explain it. You sai in a big cage, the birds fly around, you learn things about birds. Fun stuff.

autumnpalm

04-25-2009, 12:24 PM

Great birthday pictures!! OMG that food looks so good.:love: I want strawberry cake!

jewels1916

04-27-2009, 04:20 PM

Glad you had such a good b-day! Oh and btw I love that dress!!!!

Thank you! It's way cute...now I just need the rain to stop so I can wear it!

What a fun bday! :thumbsup2 Have fun in OKLAHOMA!!! We're having gorgeous weather right now...

We had a blast in Ok, and the weather was great. Got to wander my old campus, and visit the new alumni center, which is GORGEOUS! Pics to follow!

What a great bday! I love the dress and the earrings!

Have fun in OK! Safe travels...

Thanks, we did have fun! Isn't it cute that my Gran picked out the earrings all by himself?

What fun birthday celebrations!!! Dinner looks sooo good -- I am so hungry right now! Love all the gifts -- especially the dress from your mom and dad! Have a great time in Oklahoma!

Dinner was awesome! I made out like a bandit for my b-day. I am going to update about the OK trip soon!!

Happy Birthday again! You take such good pictures.

How was 17 again?

Thank you very much. I will attribute most of my picture taking skills to my camera, cause mostly I just point and click. :)
17 Again was fabulous. As we left the theatre, my sides were hurting from laughing so much. I actually felt like an old creeper because I thought that Zac Efron was sooo cute in it, and I always think he is way younger than me.

Happy Birthday!!! :banana:

In AK they used to have an area where they just did bird shows, like... I don't know how to explain it. You sai in a big cage, the birds fly around, you learn things about birds. Fun stuff.

Thanks! Birds kinda scare me, a lil' bit, so I probably never would do a show like that. But it sounds like fun. I bet that's what Ryan and my Dad did.

Great birthday pictures!! OMG that food looks so good.:love: I want strawberry cake!

I look forward to strawberry cake every year on my birthday. It's so yummy, and homemade! :)

Mini-pre-update!
Well, I've made it back from Oklahoma and we had a blast. I will be doing an update (or maybe two) about it either later this evening or tomorrow, but for now, I will leave you with a preview.

"I can't believe we forgot the giant *male anatomy*!"

"Wait, stop, it's caught on something!"
"That's what she said."

"Zach (groom) doesn't have your headband."
"Then the wedding is off!"

"It's really not that big."
"That's what she said."

"Forget Zach, I am going to go to Iowa and marry Kelly on Monday. Oh, wait, I have a non-refundable plane ticket to St. Lucia."

"Well, we've pretty much all felt Lacy up today between the petticoat, the garters, and the dress."
"So, pretty much a regular day."

"Why is that groomsman wearing a pinstripe suit and a checkered tie?"

"Where is the leftover booze, and can I have it?"

----Yeah, it was an interesting trip, to say the least. Stay tuned!

Charleston Princess

04-27-2009, 08:59 PM

:rotfl: Judging by the comments this should be a great mini-TR!

TxRabbit

04-27-2009, 11:26 PM

Ooooo fun! I love wedding stories! This sounds like a good one. I haven't know anyone getting married in so long. My SIL is, but she has 3 real sisters and I am not really a part of the festivities, not that there have been any festivities yet, and likely not at all, because she really isn't the type. So I can have some vicarious fun through your mini-TR! Do tell!:rotfl:

stacikristine

04-28-2009, 11:25 AM

Haha! I'm laughing already. I can't wait to hear. Michael and I have the most bizarre "that's what she said" tags! :rotfl: Sometimes I get really excited like Pam did that one time on The Office and shout "That's what she said! That's what she said! That's what she said!" when I come up with a good one! :rotfl2:

redlight

04-28-2009, 08:19 PM

I love wedding stories too. How's your great aunt doing?

jewels1916

04-29-2009, 11:20 AM

Ok, I meant to update last night, but my computer battery died, and I had left my cord at the office....so I am going to update now. :) (all the while listening to the music from FANTASMIC! on my headphones)

OK Trip 2009 - Also known as the "That's What She Said!" Weekend

The main players will be myself, Kelly, Cortney PM, Paula, Lacy (the bride), and Megan. These girls, save for Megan, were my best friends in college (and are still some of my closest friends!)

Thursday 4/24

My plan was to be on the road to OK by 9am Thursday morning. It was going to be nice, because I was going to sleep in until 7:30. Well, we all know, the best laid plans....
*ring, ring*
C: "Hello?" *groggy*
Dad: "Hey Doodle. What time were you planning on getting up?"
C: Looks at clock. 6:20am. "Not for like an hour."
Dad: "Well, I am teaching a class at *hotel not too far from home*, and I left the projector either at home or at the office. I am headed to the office to see if it is there, but if not, can you bring it to me?"
C: Looks at clock again. "Yeah, ok."

So, twenty minutes later I was on my way to the hotel, projector in hand, to deliver to my father. As I am pulling into the driveway back at my house, my alarm on my phone starts going off. It's 7:30, time to "get up."

At 8:30, Cortney arrives at my house (Cort is often known as Cort PM or Potts from here on out). Her husband dropped her off at my house, and the plan was from there to go pick up Kelly and hit the road for OK.

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01554.jpg
Courtney and Potts, ready to hit the road.

We drove to Kelly's, and then were on the road by about 9:30. The drive to Stillwater is about 4.5/5 hours, give or take. Thursday was the night of the Bachelorette Party, so needless to say we were pretty excited, and definitely silly. Kelly told us a story about a giant blow-up *male anatomy* that her brother's friends had left in his room one night as a joke. She had said she was going to bring it, but we forgot to grab it. So as we are driving down the road acting incredibly silly, this guy, about our age, drives past and decides to wave at us. No, we did not know him. So Cortney says, "Wouldn't it be funny if we had the giant *male anatomy!?" and Kelly follows it with "I can't believe we forgot the giant *male anatomy!"

I wish I had other stories from the car, but I just don't. Not G rated ones, anyway. We were headed to a bachelorette party, so our jokes got a little...raunchy.

Fast Forward:
It was great driving into Stillwater again. Everyone prepared me for it being so different than last time I was there (3 years ago). I didn't think it was that different, though, except for University BLVD being all torn up. I had booked us a room at the on-campus hotel, because it was within walking distance of anywhere we would want to be going. We checked in and started setting things up.
This is something that Cort PM bought for Lacy to wear when we went out that night:
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01555.jpg
It's a shot glass that says something like, "Buy Me A Shot Before I Tie The Knot" or something close to that. Notice how it reads "Ages 3+" in the bottom corner? What 3 year olds are taking shots, or getting married? :rotfl:

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01556.jpg
The Bachelorette!

First things first, we must eat. So, we went to one of the most popular restaurants in Stilly, Eskimo Joe's. Burgers and cheese fries, yum!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01558.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01559.jpg
The girls at Eskimo Joe's.
After Joe's, it was back to the hotel for gifties! A few pics, but none of the lingiere. I thought that would be weird.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01563.jpg
A cute martini glass
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01564.jpg
Basket full o' booze (from her wedding coordinator)
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01566.jpg
Gag gift from Kelly and I! The story behind this is that Lacy and Zach met at a Young Democrats function, and they are both big demos. So, while we were buying stuff for the party, we saw this "Democrat Disguise" and we thought it was hilarious.

After presents, we went out to our favorite bar in Stillwater, a place called JR Murphy's.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01568.jpg
This is the reason we go to Murphy's. Jello shots in big plastic syringes. :)
L-R this is Paula, Lacy, me, and Kelly, with Cortney being weird in the background. :)
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01580.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01584.jpg
One am.....Someone is sleepy.....

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01586.jpg
Shot time. I think Lacy did 7 or 8 shots....I'm amazed she lived.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01587.jpg
the other girls are Jamie Ray (her wedding coordinator) and Shelby (the redhead). They are both Lacy's sorority sisters.

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01591.jpg
Me and Paula

At 2am, we decided it was time to leave. One of our favorite places to eat is a place called Pita Pit. Well, Pita Pit is right across the street from Murphy's and they are open to 4am. So.....we made a Pit stop (HA HA HA). My favorite pita is the chicken caesar pita with bacon on it. Soooo good. I didn't think to take pictures of the food this time. :confused3

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01600.jpg
Hawt.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01601.jpg
With our yummy pitas.
We went back to the hotel and ate, then I think we turned on a movie, but pretty much all fell asleep within about 20 minutes.

And that concludes the first day of the trip. I have a lot more pics, but I only put the best ones up. There are about 20 of Potts just by herself, because whenever she is left alone with a camera, she just starts snapping away. This was a recurring theme over the trip.

More to come later! :)

pipermae

04-29-2009, 04:20 PM

You gals sure look like you all had fun! I'm super jealous... I never have any fun!

Charleston Princess

04-29-2009, 08:42 PM

Fun night!!! :thumbsup2

redlight

04-29-2009, 09:15 PM

:cool1: Thanks for the update. Fun, fun night!

tinkerbell87512

04-29-2009, 10:48 PM

I'm wicked jealous too! Looks like such a good time!!!! Can't wait to hear more!

jewels1916

04-30-2009, 12:13 PM

We really did have a wonderful time! I should post the second part of our trip, but instead for now I am just going to share with all of you the little bit of Disney Magic that I received yesterday! I was wicked excited and wanted to post yesterday, but was unable.

So here goes. Yesterday, I decided to call and see how much it would cost to upgrade from our standard room at AKL to a Savanna view room. Because, lets face it, even though I am totally happy with our choice of resorts, I still have to research changes to potentially make. So she gives me the figure and I hem and haw about it, I don't know, do it, don't do it...and on a whim, I ask her to check and see if there are any pin codes attached to my name. I never get emails from Disney, or regular mail for that matter, so I do check every once in a while. AND LOW AND BEHOLD...THERE IS A PIN CODE, FOR OUR TRAVEL DATES, FOR 30% OFF OUR TRIP! I WAS ABLE TO UPGRADE TO A SAVANNA VIEW ROOM AND STILL SAVE US $400! I was giddy when I got off the phone with Kya, my CM. :)

Ah, life is good. :)
So quick recap on our trip. I feel like we haven't talked about it in a while, and there have been various and assorted changes since we initially started the PTR.

We started with a 5 day trip, December 3-8th, staying at Port Orleans French Quarter.

Today, our trip is scheduled for December 5-12th, (8 days!!!) staying in a Savanna View room at Animal Kingdom Lodge, with the DDP.

I really don't envision making anymore changes, which means I am going to have to come up with other excuses to call WDW...at least until I can make my ADRs, which is September 5th! (Yay for being a Saturday!)

In other news, I have no update on my Great Aunt. She was having some more tests run this week, but I have not heard the results yet. Thanks for asking, redlight!!

Hope you all have a great day! :grouphug:

tinkgurl

04-30-2009, 12:20 PM

amandaluvsgoofy

04-30-2009, 03:56 PM

Hey! I just read your entire PTR (most of it while I should have been working :rolleyes1), but everything sounds wonderful! And welcome back to Texas!! My cousin just had her shower and bachelorette party! I posted a few pics from that night. And the wedding is just around the corner! So fun!
I hope you have a wonderful time in Europe (so jealous!)! Be sure to post lots of great pics! And I'm glad to hear about AKL! That was one of our top choices, but we decided on Boardwalk Villas for location (it's my hubby's first time at Disney). But next time!!! :laughing:

stacikristine

04-30-2009, 04:20 PM

It looks like you had a blast in OK! I love Eskimo Joe's! I was so shocked when I went to school in TX and everyone didn't have Eskimo Joe's shirts! :laughing:

And YAYAYAYAYAYY for the pin code being attached to your name! :cheer2::dance3: So exciting! :yay:

tinkerbell87512

04-30-2009, 06:21 PM

Yay for the magic of Disney! How exciting! :banana::banana::banana::banana:

I hope your great aunt and uncle continue to keep their spirits up! I hope all her tests come out good! :hug:

jewels1916

05-01-2009, 10:46 AM

Wow, I can't believe I forgot to comment after reading about the Bachelorette Party! Looks like you had a fun/crazy/wild/memorable time! :)

Savanna View room at Animal Kingdom Lodge with the DDP? How freakin' awesome is that?! :woohoo: You HAVE to take tons of pics at AKL. I haven't stayed there before.

We did have a pretty crazy time! And I will take tons of pics at AKL. I came home with like, 150 pics just from the WEEKEND in Oklahoma. Can you imagine how it's going to be when I am at Disney for 8 days?

Hey! I just read your entire PTR (most of it while I should have been working :rolleyes1), but everything sounds wonderful! And welcome back to Texas!! My cousin just had her shower and bachelorette party! I posted a few pics from that night. And the wedding is just around the corner! So fun!
I hope you have a wonderful time in Europe (so jealous!)! Be sure to post lots of great pics! And I'm glad to hear about AKL! That was one of our top choices, but we decided on Boardwalk Villas for location (it's my hubby's first time at Disney). But next time!!! :laughing:

Hey Amanda! :welcome: Thanks for the welcome back to Texas! I missed it while I was gone! I will definitely be doing a mini-TR in my PTR when I get back from my Europe trip. Knowing how long it takes me to finish things...it might last right up until the time it is time to go to Disney! Well...whatever it takes to keep everyone interested, right? I am so excited about AKL. I have never stayed there, and it was on my list. I want to try them all at some point. All my spare pennies go towards Disney trips! :) I'll take plenty of pics for you!

It looks like you had a blast in OK! I love Eskimo Joe's! I was so shocked when I went to school in TX and everyone didn't have Eskimo Joe's shirts! :laughing:

And YAYAYAYAYAYY for the pin code being attached to your name! :cheer2::dance3: So exciting! :yay:

We really did! I :love: Joe's too! I got a new t-shirt while I was there! I've heard, don't know if it's true or not, but I've heard that after Hard Rock Cafe, the Eskimo Joe's shirts are the second most recognizable restaurant paraphanelia. I've seen them in a few movies, but I can't remember which ones right now. :)

Yay for the magic of Disney! How exciting! :banana::banana::banana::banana:

I hope your great aunt and uncle continue to keep their spirits up! I hope all her tests come out good! :hug:

Thanks, Cheryl! We are all trying to keep their spirits up. They are both being amazingly strong and upbeat. They are just two awesome people.

jewels1916

05-01-2009, 06:15 PM

::Auto Reply::

Dear Friends,

Courtney's bedroom has reached a level five national distaster proportion of messy. She must clean it before the HAZMAT team arrives. Once she has recovered her missing bedroom carpet, she shall return to update on the goings-on of the Oklahoma trip. Thank you, and good night.

For emergency assistance, please contact Mik E. Mouse at 555.555.5555

::End Auto Reply::

;)

tinkgurl

05-01-2009, 06:44 PM

jewels1916

05-03-2009, 11:42 AM

Ok, my room is clean, it did not eat me, no worries. It didn't actually take all weekend, but I've been pretty busy!

Oklahoma Weekend part 2!

When last we left off, it was Thursday night and we were all going to bed after a long night of Bacheloretting it up.

We all slept in until about 9:30 or 10, which (for me at least, is like a vacation!). Showered, cleaned up, and cleaned up the room, checking out around lunch time. After checking out, we went to the last restaurant that was on our list to go to before leaving Stillwater. Hideaway Pizza! No pics, but I had grilled chicken and cheddar pizza, it was just as good as I remembered.
After lunch, we wandered around Chris's Spirit Store for a while, and stocked up on some new OSU essentials. I got an OSU lisence plate frame that says OSU Alumni on it.
Oh, forgot to mention that at this point it was just Kelly, Cortney, Paula and I. Lacy had already headed back to Tulsa because she had some things to get done. Then after we left Chris's, Paula went to go pick up a few things, and Cortney, Kelly and I walked back over to campus. As we are passing the new Alumni Center, I realize that I have never seen it completed. So we decide to take a detour and go check it out. It was beautiful. OSU already has a beautiful campus, but this was just great. I am so proud to be an alumni.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01602.jpg
This was hanging up just outside the women's restroom. Pistol Pete is our mascot. And yes, I realize he is creepy, but I want to make a replica of this soooo bad.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01605.jpg
Go POKES!!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01606.jpg
This is what the main seating area looks like. So pretty!! While we were there, Kelly applied for her and Brad's joint alumni membership. She wasn't sure she could since they aren't married yet, but both of their dues were up, and the woman working there let her. I also renewed my membership, because I knew my dues were up.
After that, we bolt to the car, because we have like, an hour and a half before the rehearsal starts and Tulsa is an hour drive away!

Little did I realize that, yes, Tulsa is an hour drive away, but the chapel is further than that! We hop in the car and start driving along. Finally, somewhere between Tulsa and Stillwater we realize that there is no way we are going to make it in time to go to the hotel and change and then go to the chapel, so we figure that we will just change at the chapel. Actually, Paula starts changing in the back seat.

Oh, but wait, another slight problem...the gas light comes on. That's right, I had a quarter of a tank of gas, which should have been fine no problem, but with all the backdragging from the wind, I was out of gas. So Paula is fully changed, we need to be at the chapel in about 30 minutes, and we still aren't quite to Tulsa yet! We zip into this gas station, Kelly and I yank our clothes out of our suitcases in the back and run into the gas station to change in the bathroom while Cortney and Paula put gas in the car. Have you ever had to change clothes in a gas station bathroom? Not a cool thing...the floor was grody, and we are trying to stand on our shoes while putting on dresses....just not something I would recommend. Back at the car, finally changed, Paula offers to drive, cause she has been able to fix her make up and brush her hair and everything, and I graciously accept. She also knows her way around Tulsa better than the rest of us as the rest of us are from TX.
Then at 4:32, we bust into the chapel, tripping over ourselves and laughing at the craze that has been the past hour and a half. And we are only 2 minutes late. Much to my amazement, Lacy is totally calm.
"Hey you guys. I see you found it all right." Yup, sure did, Lace, thanks.

Come to find out, the officiant, the piano player, and one of the groomsmen is stuck in traffic. None of them are coming together, they are just all in traffic.

So I am sitting with Cortney talking to her about Lacy's concern about not filling the chapel.
C: "I don't know what she is worried about. It isn't really that big."
C PM: "That's what she said."
HAHA. Memorable quote from the weekend. The rehearsal gets under way, and I have a few pics, none of them good. Cort was taking the pictures. Not that I intend for those sentences to be misconstrued to mean that she takes bad photos.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01615.jpg
After the rehearsal we head to dinner at Famous Dave's. From here on out, I have no photos until we are at the chapel trying to get Lacy dressed.
That night was pretty calm. We watched a movie, and went to sleep around 11. The next morning (the day of the wedding!) we get up and head downstairs because the hotel has free breakfast. This was all very stealth, because we didn't want Lacy and Zach to see each other again until she was walking down the aisle, and we were staying on the same floor in the hotel. Go down, get breakfast and get back upstairs in a hurry. Then we watched RENT. Not a very wedding-y movie, but it was Lacy's choice. And watching a movie on the day of her wedding. We were trying to keep everything low-key and chill. When the movie was over, Lacy starts gathering up her things, because we are delivering her suitcase to Zach, who was going to take everything over to the hotel they were staying in that night. She was about to go get her hair done when she can't find her headband.
L: "I think I it is in with Zach's stuff. Will you call him and ask?"
C: "Sure." *calls Zach* "He doesn't have your headband."
L: "Then the wedding is off!" Total joke, but it was funny.
Fast forward about 5 hours (nothing exciting happens in these hours, save for my curling iron dying when I have 3/4 of my hair curled. Grrr....)
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01620.jpg
Putting Lacy in her dress.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01621.jpg
"Wait, stop, it's caught on something!"
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01625.jpg
Tying up the corset back. I am a pro at these. Kelly's dress is a corset back too. :)
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01631.jpg
Sitting and remaining calm. I think she looks like a cupcake.
Ok, so about this time I am in the middle of writing my toast (yes, I waited until the last minute) and trying to talk Lacy out of her jitters, Kelly hears from someone (maybe Brad?) "Why is this groomsman wearing a pinstripe suit and checkered tie?"
So she races off to save the day. Turns out Shane (the same groomsman who was so late the day before) had his tux messed up at the tux place, but being so last minute, he didn't get to fix it. So Kelly, being awesome as she is, finds Lacy's cousin who isn't quite the same size as Shane, but he will do. He is wearing a black suit, black tie, which is what the groomsmen's tuxes looked like. She has them swapping clothes like no body's business. Shane still had to wear the pinstrip pants, but at least he had the right tie and suit coat. The pinstripes were so small you could hardly see them. I think that was the major crisis of the wedding, and Kelly solved it without even bringing Lacy into it. I have like, three pics of the ceremony, because...it took longer for us to walk down the aisle than it did for them to get married. There wasn't time to take photos!
But reception photos, I have those!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01637.jpg
The cake!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01639.jpg
The groom's cake. You heard the story of how they met, right?
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01643.jpg
First dance as Mr. and Mrs.!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01645.jpg
BFFs!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01646.jpg
More BFFs!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01648.jpg
And still more BFFs.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01652.jpg
Cutting the cake.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01656.jpg
Throwing the bouquet...and here you can see the tables and chairs too.
I have to add another side story to this. Kelly and I have been getting irritated with Paula all weekend. She has decided to make this all about her instead of Lacy. So right after Lacy and Zach make their grand entrance (to Hail to the Chief!), Paula asks Kelly, "Do you think I can ask Lacy if I can go change? I am really uncomfortable." And Kelly reminds her that this is Lacy's day, not hers, and Lacy wants us in our dresses until they leave, and plus, it's not even appropriate to change clothes. Paula gets mad. Then she decides to leave. Leave the reception and go back to Stillwater. Before Lacy has even thrown the bouquet. I would say I am in disbelief, but I am really not. I warned Lacy about this back when she said she was going to ask Paula to be a b-maid, and I said..."You know how Paula is, I think you should ask Cortney." But she didn't, and she told us that she regretted that. She even told Cortney that.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01659.jpg
Garter toss!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01663.jpg
After the happy couple has left!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01664.jpg
The bmaids, and the honorary bmaid!

After Lacy and Zach left, most everyone else starts leaving too, so the girls and I start gathering up our things and packing it into the car. Kelly and I decide that we are going to go back to the hotel when it dawns on us, there is tons of left over champagne! So I run into Lacy's parents who are pretty well hammered at this point. "Where is the leftover booze, and can we have some?"
"Well, sure!" they say. I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't have denied us anything at that moment. Kelly and I get a bottle of champagne each, and we head back to the hotel. *It is important to note that I drove, and had had only one glass of champagne at this point, and that was for my toast*
Back at the hotel, we goofed off, drank champagne, and watched Sex and the City, the movie. And Brad was with us. Poor thing. It was a total girl-fest. He was a great sport.

That's pretty much it for the weekend. We had a blast. Kelly decided that she was going to fly home, to spend a little more time in Tulsa with her future in-laws, so it was just Cortney and I on the drive home. We had got matching shirts while we were in Stillwater, and we both wore them for the roadtrip. :)
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01667.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01668.jpg
We also stopped at this roadside fruit stand and bought jam and tomatoes. I love stopping at stands like that. :)

It was great fun! I have a ton of other things to update you all on, mostly Disney stuff, but since this has been a very long update, I am going to wait until later to do it! :)
Hope you've all had a great weekend!

tinkerbell87512

05-03-2009, 07:38 PM

redlight

05-03-2009, 09:14 PM

Courtney, I loved your story and the photos. You look like you had a whole bucket of fun at the wedding! You also look great in your BM's dress!

Charleston Princess

05-03-2009, 10:08 PM

Ahhh, everyone looks adorable in their wedding finery! Love the groom's cake!!!

I love stopping at roadside stands as well -- there is one on the way to Disney that I always make us stop at on our way home!

amandaluvsgoofy

05-04-2009, 09:53 AM

Sounds like y'all had a great time!! I'm so glad the wedding went off without too much drama! ;) My cousin's wedding is less than 2 weeks away :scared1: just hope no one makes a scene, hehe!
Can't wait to hear about the other updates!!

jewels1916

05-04-2009, 11:03 AM

Awww looks like a wonderful wedding!!! Lacy's dress is gorgeous and so are the b-maids dresses! You guys all look wonderful! I really love that black and pink combo. Thanks for sharing your OK weekend with us!

Thanks! I loved the dress too! The black and pink combo was pretty perfect for what she wanted!

Courtney, I loved your story and the photos. You look like you had a whole bucket of fun at the wedding! You also look great in your BM's dress!

We did have a lot of fun! And thanks!

Ahhh, everyone looks adorable in their wedding finery! Love the groom's cake!!!

I love stopping at roadside stands as well -- there is one on the way to Disney that I always make us stop at on our way home!

Don't things just taste better when they come from a roadside stand? Thanks! The groom's cake was very funny!

Sounds like y'all had a great time!! I'm so glad the wedding went off without too much drama! ;) My cousin's wedding is less than 2 weeks away :scared1: just hope no one makes a scene, hehe!
Can't wait to hear about the other updates!!

We did have a great time, and there was no more drama than I think it to be expected! Don't worry about you're cousin's wedding. I'm sure everything will be fine, and after it's all over, anything that might occur will just be a funny story that you tell later! :)

jewels1916

05-04-2009, 11:16 AM

Disney update! Kelly and I have booked our flights for our trip!! We were hanging out Thursday night, reliving our college Thursday nights which consisted of chinese food and watching Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy in our sweats (yeah, awesome!), and we decided to check out flights online again. Well, we found the absolute perfect flight, and at a really great price.
We will be leaving Dallas at 9:15 am and arriving in Orlando at 12:40pm, which means we have plenty of time for parks on the first day! Especially since, if this year is similar to last year, on a Saturday, MK should be open til midnight! :)

Then when we have to leave :( we will leave Orlando at 6:40pm, and arrive back in Dallas at 8:25pm. So plenty of time for parks that day too!!

It might sound silly, but having our flights booked, albeit still so far in advance, makes the trip just feel a little closer!:wizard:

tinkerbell87512

05-04-2009, 07:23 PM

Wooohoooo!!!!! How exciting you guys booked your flights!!!!!!! :woohoo::banana::cool1::dance3::yay:

Charleston Princess

05-04-2009, 09:48 PM

Yes, things always taste better from roadside stands!

I have to comment on the watching Grey's with Chinese food -- PERFECT! Of course that is my favorite show on the air right now!

Hurray for flights -- makes it seem that much more real, doesn't it?

stacikristine

05-05-2009, 10:06 AM

YAY for booking your flights! :cheer2::thumbsup2

And it looks like you had such a great time at the wedding! I just love weddings. But I think I might be wedding-ed out after these next few months. On the 16th starts 5 weddings in 6 weeks! :scared1: But it'll be good. I'm glad you had such a great time!!

TeaForTulips

05-05-2009, 02:51 PM

Lots of catching up! Your birthday looked tre fabu! You are a few months older than me. ;) Your OK weekend looked wonderful too. :cutie: Great pictures! What a beautiful wedding! :bride:

Congrats on the pin code and flights! That rocks! I can't believe you were able to upgrade and save! :woohoo: :wizard: I understand about the flights too... that's a great big thing to check off! Good job! :thumbsup2

jewels1916

05-05-2009, 06:37 PM

Wooohoooo!!!!! How exciting you guys booked your flights!!!!!!! :woohoo::banana::cool1::dance3::yay:

:banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::b anana: -> me

Yes, things always taste better from roadside stands!

I have to comment on the watching Grey's with Chinese food -- PERFECT! Of course that is my favorite show on the air right now!

Hurray for flights -- makes it seem that much more real, doesn't it?

I know! How could Grey's Anatomy and chinese food be better? Well. I guess Grey's Anatomy, chinese food from a room at AKL after a long day at Disney is probably better. ;)

YAY for booking your flights! :cheer2::thumbsup2

And it looks like you had such a great time at the wedding! I just love weddings. But I think I might be wedding-ed out after these next few months. On the 16th starts 5 weddings in 6 weeks! :scared1: But it'll be good. I'm glad you had such a great time!!

Wow, 5 in six weeks? You have me beat, girl! I thought I had the most weddings!

Lots of catching up! Your birthday looked tre fabu! You are a few months older than me. ;) Your OK weekend looked wonderful too. :cutie: Great pictures! What a beautiful wedding! :bride:

Congrats on the pin code and flights! That rocks! I can't believe you were able to upgrade and save! :woohoo: :wizard: I understand about the flights too... that's a great big thing to check off! Good job! :thumbsup2

Hey Tarah! I am glad you are back, and I am looking forward to reading your TR! Thanks, we had a blast at the wedding, and I am way excited about my pin code. I was :banana: when I found out!

jewels1916

05-07-2009, 09:42 PM

So, remember my vintage TR that I was writing? Yeah....I have one more installment, and I am FINALLY getting back to it. (I had other things to talk about!)

10/10/99

Today we got up and went to MGM. We watched the Indiana Jones Show. Then we ate breakfast at Hollywood and Vine. It was a character breakfast and the characters that were there were Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Pluto and Chip & Dale. Kelsey & Ryan had fun getting their autographs. Then we rode the Rock n' Roller Coaster. That is the coolest ride in the world. I loved it. Then we went to the Beauty and the Beast Show. We were a little late, so we missed some if it, but it was good. Then Ryan wanted to see Doug Live!, so we had to go to that. It was okay. Then we shopped for a little while, and rode Rock 'n' Roller Coaster 2 more times, with a fast pass. Then we did the tour of the Disney Animation Studio. Ryan wanted to go to Innoventions at Epcot after that, so Mom, Nanny, Kelsey and I came back to the hotel. We rested and ate some ice cream. Then we went to Miss Vera's condo and ate pizza-

-and that's where is stops, ladies and gentlemen. Yup, that's right. I definitely didn't finish it. Hm...I promise I will be better about this next one. :)
A few comments:
1) I've never been a big fan of the Indiana Jones show.
2) We ate at Hollywood & Vine when I was there in September this year, and it felt completely new to me. I didn't even remember eating there before.
3) I STILL think Rock n' Roller Coaster is "the coolest ride in the world."
4) Beauty and the Beast - love this one. This was around the same time that Christie Carlson Romano (from the Disney Channel's Even Stevens!) was playing Belle, but she wasn't there when we watched it. Yes, I still remember that.
5) Doug Live! ? Seriously? Ryan is going to be getting some major grief about that one AS SOON as he gets home for the semester. :)
6) I'm a true Southern girl, and despite being 24 years old and having consumed alcoholic beverages with Miss Vera, I still, and forever will, refer to her as Miss Vera.

Hope you all have a terrific night! Tomorrow is Friday! Wahoo!!!

redlight

05-07-2009, 10:32 PM

:thumbsup2 I like the classic TRs.

jewels1916

05-11-2009, 12:48 PM

Thanks, Redlight!

Happy Late Mother's Day to all the moms out there! I didn't have much time for Dis'ing this weekend, for reasons I am about to explain! So, this weekend (Sat. night) was Kelsey's choir banquet. Pretty much all the organizations at the high school have a end of the year formal, and choir is one of the biggest and fanciest. My Mom is the President of the Choir Booster Club, so she was very involved with the planning and everything. Well, Friday night, they were going to make the centerpieces, and she asked me to help, so I agreed. The theme was Masquerade, so we were making these masquerade masks to put on dowel rods as a part of the centerpiece. We were working from 7pm to 3am on them, and I think they turned out pretty good.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01673.jpg
Working on the masks.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01700.jpg
Here is what the full centerpiece looked like, except there was a little light in the vase that shined light up on the mask. They were very pretty, and we made them so tall so that they weren't in the kids' faces, and they could still talk across the table.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01701.jpg
This is one of the ones I made.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01708.jpg
And this one.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01713.jpg
Mom made this one.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01721.jpg
She also made this one.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01724.jpg
This is the one we made for the "administrator's table" - the directors, the vice principals...
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01731.jpg
This one Mom and I made specially for Kelsey's table.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01736-1.jpg
This is another one of the ones I made. We made 20 all together, but I didn't want to post all the photos...it was a lot of fun, and I am already trying to come up with something else I can have a masquerade themed party for!
Here is a pic of Kelsey with her mask. I made her mask for her to match her dress!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/Kelseybanquet.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/Kelseybanquet2.jpg
Being silly!
Kelsey and her date, David.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/KelseyandDavidbanquet.jpg
Kelsey and her friend Rachel.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/KelseyandRachelBanquet.jpg
From what I've heard, everyone had a great time and gushed over the centerpieces!

Sunday, we went to Mother's Day brunch with my mom's parents and my dad's mom. Then, Sunday night, Kelly, Joey and I went to see...RENT! With Adam Pascal (original cast, also from the movie as Roger) and Anthony Rapp (original cast, also from the movie as Mark). It was sooooooo good! We had great seats, especially for what we paid for them, and afterwards, we got to see the cast!! I have a few photos, but as I am short, we only got a few good ones (when I handed the camera to my taller friends!)
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01756.jpg
Adam Pascal (Roger Davis)
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01757.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01758.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01760.jpg
Anthony Rapp (Mark Cohen)
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01766.jpg
More Adam Pascal (I LOOOOVE the way this guy sings!)
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01769.jpg
More Anthony Rapp! He looks down to sign autographs, so it was hard to get a photo other than the top of his head!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01774.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01775.jpg
Both! Wish they would have looked over at me!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01744.jpg
Justin Johnston (Angel) Seriously, I have seen RENT on Broadway in NY, and this was way better. It just was. :)
Hope you all had a great weekend!!

autumnpalm

05-11-2009, 04:45 PM

Charleston Princess

05-11-2009, 05:40 PM

Beautiful centerpieces!!! I would love to think of some sort of party where I could do masks like that!

Rent sounds like a lot of fun! How cool to see the cast afterwards!

DWGal210

05-11-2009, 05:49 PM

Hi again!! I'll go back and read your TR but I like what I see so far! :goodvibes Talk to you later!

Katie

stacikristine

05-12-2009, 10:59 AM

OH MY GOODNESS! Those masks are incredible! :thumbsup2 I'm trying to figure out something I could make them for! So beautiful!! I'm glad you had fun at RENT too! :)

jewels1916

05-12-2009, 06:30 PM

Wow, those masks are awesome!! You guys did an amazing job on them. I love them!

Really cute pictures of your sister and her friends. Pretty dresses!princess:

That is too cool that you got to meet the actors from RENT. How on earth did you manage that?! Did you have backstage passes or something?:cool2:

Thanks! No backstage passes or anything, they actually came out front for a while and signed autographs and stuff. No posing for pics, or I would have gotton my pic taken with them!

Beautiful centerpieces!!! I would love to think of some sort of party where I could do masks like that!

Rent sounds like a lot of fun! How cool to see the cast afterwards!

Thanks! I am trying to convince my sister that we should have a masquerade theme for her graduation party next year, but she wasn't too excited.

Rent was a lot of fun, and it was made even better by the fact that we got to see the cast!

Hi again!! I'll go back and read your TR but I like what I see so far! :goodvibes Talk to you later!

Katie

Hi Katie! Thanks for joining! :)

OH MY GOODNESS! Those masks are incredible! :thumbsup2 I'm trying to figure out something I could make them for! So beautiful!! I'm glad you had fun at RENT too! :)

Thanks, Staci! I'm glad you like the masks. We had fun making them, with only minor hot glue gun incidents. I am still trying to come up with another party I can have with masquerade masks, incase Kelsey doesn't let me do that theme for her graduation party next year! We did have a blast at RENT. I love musicals!

TeaForTulips

05-12-2009, 06:33 PM

redlight

05-12-2009, 09:58 PM

So amazingly cool that the Rent actors actually came out to sign autographs and stuff! How thrilling! I haven't seen Rent, but it sounds like fun.

jewels1916

05-15-2009, 12:59 PM

Wow! Those masks are awesome! Projects like that usually leave me with hot glue gun burns. ;)

I am so jealous about your RENT encounter! I've seen the show live once but I was a little dispointed in the cast. RENT is one of my all time fave shows. That was friendly that they stayed for signings. That is seeming harder and harder to find these days! What a great night I bet! :cloud9:

It was a great night! RENT is one of my faves too. When I saw it in NY (right after I turned 21) it wasn't nearly as good as it was this time. This was my second time to see it live, and having the two original cast members in it just made all the difference. And, I am a little bit in love with Adam Pascal. It's his voice. I just can't help myself. :lovestruc

So amazingly cool that the Rent actors actually came out to sign autographs and stuff! How thrilling! I haven't seen Rent, but it sounds like fun.

RENT is a great show, I absolutely fell in love with it when I saw the movie, and then seeing it on stage is even better. And I was ridiculously giddy when they came out to sign autographs it just made my night. If you haven't seen the movie, you should check it out. Most of the cast in the movie is the original cast from when it first opened off-broadway in NY.

Leger13

05-15-2009, 02:21 PM

Megablocks

05-15-2009, 10:12 PM

Okay so I'm all caught up again :banana:

Doug Live! I totally remember that show. I suspect it might be on one of our old trip tapes. :)

I love the masquerade pictures! The centerpieces look awesome, and I adore Kelsey's dress.

As soon as I saw "masquerade and RENT" in the update, I was like :eek: Masquerade automatically makes me think Phantom of the Opera, and I'm going to see RENT with Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp when it comes to Boston in July, so I was super excited to see the pictures. I'm really hoping that we can catch them like you did.

jewels1916

05-18-2009, 10:24 AM

New reader here. My name is Carla....27 years old....live in GA. I feel like I know you already so I figured I'd introduce myself.

Anyways, I love your PTR. You and Kelly are going on your trip a couple weeks before I go on mine. We're going Nov 28th - Dec 5th. I'm treating my BFF to this trip for her 30th birthday but our trip has boys included. I can't go to Disney w/o mine. He won't let me :laughing:

Anyways, I'm almost caught up. I will admit I skimmed through the last couple pages because it's almost time for me to head home from work and start my weekend! :woohoo: But I wanted to make a few comments before I forget.

I love the antique TR. I have a Winnie the Pooh photo album that is the same style as your notebook. :cutie: I think your new hair cut is very nice. That sucks that the stylist didn't do it exactly how you wanted but the picture you posted of your hair all curly is very pretty. :thumbsup2 Congratulations on moving back to TX! That is just great! And congrats on the job with your Dad. I too work for my father. I'm his General Office Manager. Working for family for sure has it's advantages. I'm so jealous that you get to go to Europe in July! I can't wait to see pictures from that trip! Happy belated birthday! I absolutely love the dress your parents bought you! Oh yeah, congrats on the great and fantastic weight loss! I can't imagine how great it must feel to be able to wear your "little black dress" again :yay: And the pictures from your friend's wedding are georgous!! I just LOVE the pink and black color scheme! Very very cool!

Okay I think that is about it.

*side note: I have a PTR going on too....link in siggie :rolleyes:

Hi Carla! Welcome to our PTR! :) (although mostly mine, cause Kelly is a lil busy with wedding plans.) Thanks for all the congrats on everything. I love being back in Texas, its exactly where I need to be. Working for my Dad...eh....it has its moments. Its working out for now. :) There will be TONS of pics from the Europe trip, so just stay tuned! I am wicked excited about it. I am going to head over and check out your ptr right now! Bummer that we get there the day that you leave. Otherwise, we could have had a dismeet!

Okay so I'm all caught up again :banana:

Doug Live! I totally remember that show. I suspect it might be on one of our old trip tapes. :)

I love the masquerade pictures! The centerpieces look awesome, and I adore Kelsey's dress.

As soon as I saw "masquerade and RENT" in the update, I was like :eek: Masquerade automatically makes me think Phantom of the Opera, and I'm going to see RENT with Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp when it comes to Boston in July, so I was super excited to see the pictures. I'm really hoping that we can catch them like you did.

Hey! You are going to LOVE RENT! It was soooo great. Have you ever seen it live before? I had, but this one was way better. Just follow the crowd when everyone is leaving, and I am sure you will get to see the castmembers. I'm glad you thought the centerpieces looked nice for the banquet. Now there are masks all over my house and I don't know exactly what to do with them...
And Kelsey did look gorgeous in her dress. But of course, I might be a lil biased...;)

jewels1916

05-18-2009, 01:19 PM

*Sigh*
I never have time to Dis on the weekends anymore. Perhaps someday life will slow down, and I will be able to. Anyway, this weekend myself and 5 other women in my family hosted a bridal shower for my cousin Jared's fiance. Jared (one year younger than me) and his brother Josh (four years older than me) are both getting married this year. If you remember, I posted a photo a while back of my Josh proposing to Sarah at Christmas. Anyway, we had a shower for Megan this weekend at my Aunt Janet's house (not Jared's mom). The theme was Kentucky Derby Hats, so we all wore big hats that we had made. My cousin Misty, who really organized the whole thing made this video of Jared with her asking him questions. We played it, but stopped before he answered every question to see if Megan could guess what he was going to say. Kinda like the Newlywed Game. She did really well! I think she really only missed two,"What kind of animal would you and Megan be?" - this one she got what he said for her, but missed what he chose for himself. And "What superhero would you be?" It was really sweet. I have some photos from the shower to share....nothing life altering, but we had a good time. There was a contest for who had the best hat, and we all voted. My Aunt Sue (Jared's mom) won. Her hat was great. (I voted for it!) :)
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/soontobecousins.jpg
Megan and Sarah, soon to be Sisters-in-law, and soon to be cousins of mine!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/Thegirls.jpg
Kelsey, Mom and I in our hats
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/silly.jpg
Mom said to make a funny face, and then she didn't! (I was being embarassed)
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/AuntSueandSarah.jpg
Aunt Sue (mother of the groom) and Sarah
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/CourtandMom.jpg
Me and Mom. My hat has a music theme. If you can see the rolled up music n the front, it is actually the sheet music to "The Wedding March." I thought it was appropriate.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/KelseyandAmanda.jpg
Kelsey and Amanda being goofy. Kelsey's hat has a princess theme - tiara and all!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/CourtandCrys.jpg
Myself and my cousin Crystal!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/cousins.jpg
Some of the girls.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/Grandgirls.jpg
The grandgirls!
Left to right, it's Misty, Kelsey, Larissa, Crystal, Me, Amanda. Kelsey and I are sisters(duh). And the rest of the girls are all sisters. Misty and Amanda are sisters, Larissa and Crystal are sisters. L and C's Dad (my Dad's bro) married Misty and Amanda's Mom, now they are all sisters. And Tara (Larissa and Crystal's younger sis) was not present.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/GrandgirlswithNanny.jpg
Grandgirls, soon-to-be grandgirls, and Nanny!

It really was a nice shower, and we had a lot of great food, too.

Sunday night, Kelly and I went to the make-up Kenny Chesney concert at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco. The story behind this concert is that Kelly and Brad had tickets to this concert originally scheduled for May 2nd. The torrential downpour that we had that night caused the concert to be rained out after KC had played for about an hour. Also on the bill were Sugarland, Lady Antebellum, and Miranda Lambert. So, he (Kenny Chesney) rescheduled the concert for May 17th (last night) and invited all the other bands to come back with him. Well, because it was Sunday, and Brad works in San Antonio, he couldn't go, so Kelly invited me to go. It was an A-MAZ-ING concert. None of the other acts could be back in Dallas, so it was four hours of Kenny Chesney bliss. He was just singing whatever he felt like, including songs that he hasn't played on tour in 6 years! It was funny, because he was saying stuff like, "we're just up here having fun, this is the summer time party we always wanted!" and "oh, we think we might just play for 3 or 4 hours." It really was great. They even made special t-shirts for the evening with a photo of him in the torrential downpour (literally from May 2nd, because they played the clips) and it said "There's something sexy about the rain, lightning, and a Dallas, Texas makeup show!" They were very cute. I got a t-shirt, I'll try and take a pic and post it later. Sadly, I have no photos from last night because someone *ahem, me* forgot to recharge the camera. But I do have some videos from the torrential downpour concert! These are great!

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/th_KCIGoBackrainDallas.jpg (http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/?action=view&current=KCIGoBackrainDallas.flv)
Singing "I go Back" in the rain

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/th_KCSomethingSexyAbouttheRaininDallas.jpg (http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/?action=view&current=KCSomethingSexyAbouttheRaininDallas.flv)
Singing "Something Sexy About the Rain" in the rain!

*I do not claim credit for these videos...found 'em on youtube!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and I can't wait to get all caught up on what you've been doing!

stacikristine

05-18-2009, 02:38 PM

All of your hats are ADORABLE!! Such a cute idea. :thumbsup2 I'm so glad you had a great weekend!

Charleston Princess

05-18-2009, 07:47 PM

Your family has awesome ideas for theming things! Love the hats!!!

redlight

05-18-2009, 08:42 PM

Love the hats! You look so much like your mom.

Leger13

05-18-2009, 09:46 PM

love the pictures from the shower. That hat idea sounds so fun and y'all look so cute :goodvibes

TeaForTulips

05-19-2009, 09:41 AM

What great pictures! Your hat with the Wedding March was very clever! :thumbsup2 You guys all look very cute. It looks like everyone had a wonderful time!! Thanks for sharing it! :cutie:

tinkgurl

05-19-2009, 11:43 AM

Wooo! Kenny Chesney! :lovestruc

autumnpalm

05-19-2009, 12:40 PM

Your hats are so great. I LOVE your music one, great idea with the rolled up sheet music. I would have voted for you!:laughing:

jewels1916

05-19-2009, 12:50 PM

Your hats are so great. I LOVE your music one, great idea with the rolled up sheet music. I would have voted for you!:laughing:

Thanks! We definitely had fun making them!

Wooo! Kenny Chesney! :lovestruc

Yeah, this concert probably just beat out my old "best concert," which was, ironically, also a Kenny Chesney concert...when he toured with Tim McGraw...forever ago! The Sun City Tour is great, you'll have a blast!

What great pictures! Your hat with the Wedding March was very clever! :thumbsup2 You guys all look very cute. It looks like everyone had a wonderful time!! Thanks for sharing it! :cutie:

Thanks! We did have a great time.

love the pictures from the shower. That hat idea sounds so fun and y'all look so cute :goodvibes

Thanks! Almost everyone got really into it, making their hats and such!

Love the hats! You look so much like your mom.

Thanks, I know, I look a lot like her. I always remind her that she can never pretend that I am not her child. I can't be denied! ;)

Your family has awesome ideas for theming things! Love the hats!!!

Thank you! We always like to do something fun like that!

All of your hats are ADORABLE!! Such a cute idea. :thumbsup2 I'm so glad you had a great weekend!

Thanks! The idea was all Misty, I can't take credit for the hat idea. I still wanted to play with the masquerade masks (I toyed with the idea of putting one on my hat!).

jewels1916

05-19-2009, 12:53 PM

Ok, so....pretty much everyone's trip is coming up before mine....or you just recently went, and I am still counting down my triple digit days....but guess what?
Today we are officially out of the 200s!! Yup, 199 days from today, Kelly and I will be on our way to WDW! Wahoo!!!!
Just had to share that with everyone, cause 199 days or not, I am excited! :)

Leger13

05-19-2009, 01:04 PM

Disneyfan71

05-19-2009, 04:05 PM

Like the pictures :) I've seen Kenny Chesney before--back in 1998..he was really good.

jewels1916

05-22-2009, 10:01 AM

:woohoo::woohoo::woohoo:

YEAH!!! Now I am waiting for the 6 month mark. :lmao:

Like the pictures :) I've seen Kenny Chesney before--back in 1998..he was really good.

He puts on a good show. We had a great time! It's great to see you back on Disboards, Bill!! :)

tinkerbell87512

05-26-2009, 07:57 PM

Looks like you had a great time! Love your hat!!!

amandaluvsgoofy

05-26-2009, 08:15 PM

I LOVE the pics from the shower!! That is soooooo cute!! I may have to steal the idea if I ever host a shower again! :rolleyes1

DWGal210

05-27-2009, 07:37 PM

Hi there! What a fun idea for a shower!! :thumbsup2 Great job!

And way to be under 200 days...great!! We still have 212 days; sometimes I think I shouldn't have installed that counter on my desktop, it feels like it's mocking me until we get to leave. :laughing:

jewels1916

06-01-2009, 02:45 PM

Looks like you had a great time! Love your hat!!!

Thank you! Glad you are back!

I LOVE the pics from the shower!! That is soooooo cute!! I may have to steal the idea if I ever host a shower again! :rolleyes1

Thanks! You are welcome to the idea! We had a lot of fun with it!

Hi there! What a fun idea for a shower!! :thumbsup2 Great job!

And way to be under 200 days...great!! We still have 212 days; sometimes I think I shouldn't have installed that counter on my desktop, it feels like it's mocking me until we get to leave. :laughing:

Thanks! I know...there is a reason I don't have a ticker that counts down the days. It just makes me sad. 6 months doesn't sound nearly as long as 185 days! :rotfl:

jewels1916

06-01-2009, 03:22 PM

Geez, it's been a long time since I've had anything to post. I have no excuses. Work/enjoying the sunshine is pretty much what I have been doing. :)

I do have a few updates though! First of all, Happy June to all of you! So exciting for those of you whose trips are "June trips!"

We are getting closer and closer to our trip to Europe! It's going to be so fun.
Here's the breakdown of how the trip is going to go:
(I don't know if I said any of this before)
When we arrive in Barcelona, we will have 2 days to go sightseeing before our cruise leaves. Then our cruise is Sunday-Sunday (I am pretty sure), with one full day at see, then port stops every day after that. 3 ports in Italy (Rome, Naples, and Florence (I think - Florence is the one I am unsure of). One port in Malta, and one port in Cannes, France. Then back to Barcelona. After we get off the ship, we have another two days in Barcelona. I figure we are going to be pretty tired after all the country hoping and cruising, so we will probably hit the beach at least one of these days. There are waaaay less details to share about this trip, since I know so little about where we are going. I've been trying to do my research, but for the most part we are going to just see what we want to see and what we have time to see.

While we are on this topic, I am in the market for a new purse/bag/something to carry with me on this trip. I want something smallish, just for my camera, wallet, and sunglasses. I've read that pickpocketing is among the worst in the world in Barcelona, so I need something I can wear close to my body and that closes very securely. Anyone have any suggestions?

In other news....I got our first piece of Disney mail that pertains to this trip the other day.....drum roll.......:rockband:

Our tickets to MVMCP!!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01784.jpg
Wahoo! Aren't they all cute with the Celebration theme?

Kelly and I also started putting together our trip binder a few weeks ago, but I am just now taking a pic of it to post. It's not as fancy as others I've seen, but we like it! :)
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01781.jpg
This is the front (outside cover) of the binder.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01782.jpg
First page!

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01783.jpg
This is the first page of the trip details. I covered the reservation number with a LGMH....just because. I did. The other pages are mostly trip info, flight numbers and such like that. Since we are still 6 months away, we can't make ADRs and stuff, so nothing fun like that in it yet.

CP mentioned on her PTR (SHE LEAVES IN 5 DAYS!) her Disney drawer where she puts her trip stuff. Well, I don't have a Disney drawer (:( ) but I do have a Disney bag that I lug all my Disney stuff around in (ie, back and forth to Kelly's). Actually, we both have these bags, found them on ebay! Isn't cute, all red and green, perfect for our December trip!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01785.jpg

Here is the inside, or, what I keep in it.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01786.jpg
Ok, I don't generally keep a fortune cookie in it...I just realized that was there after I took the pic. But Kelly and I do love our Pei Wei, and we've eaten it several times during "Disney Planning Sessions." Obviously, I stuck the fortune cookie in my bag and forgot it was there.

Hm...
Off of the trip for a moment, I saw Up! (in 3D) this weekend (at DWGal210's suggestion) and it was great! You really should try and see it if you have time! The characters were hilarious, and the plotline was interesting yet easy to follow. All the makings of a good Disney movie!

To make life a little more interesting, let's play a little game? Walt Disney World trivia! I'll post a new question every week day, and it will be a fun little game. I don't think this will last the 6 months until the trip, but it will keep things interesting right? And I'm sure we'll all learn a little something about our favorite place!

So here is today's question: (let's start off with an easy one, shall we?)
In what year did Walt Disney World open?

I'll post the answer tomorrow, and a new question!

stacikristine

06-01-2009, 04:06 PM

Charleston Princess

06-01-2009, 06:33 PM

Hurray for tickets to the Christmas party!!! :banana:

That bag is super cute!!! I love the Christmas colors on it! :thumbsup2

Not to mention, you know I love the zebra-print Minnie heads on your binder! Too perfect!

tinkerbell87512

06-01-2009, 06:48 PM

Great update!!! Your Europe cruise sounds fantastic!!!!

Oh and How exciting that your MVMCP tickets came. They are so cute.
:goodvibes

Answer to your question of the day: October 1971 :goodvibes

redlight

06-01-2009, 09:00 PM

Good to see an update. Have fun in Barcelona. Have you seen the movie Vicky Christina Barcelona?

tinkgurl

06-01-2009, 11:51 PM

Oooh I love the Zebra/pink Minnie heads!

Answer: 1971....October!

Leger13

06-02-2009, 08:39 AM

Oooo yay for an update!! Your Barcelona trip sounds awesome even though you don't have many details. I just don't think you can plan for a whril wind trip like that like you can for WDW which I know makes us Disney planners nuts but I think you are going to have so much fun anyways! I really can't wait to hear all about it when you get back from that trip.

I LOVE your Disney trip binder. So many ppl do things like that and I think it's so neat but I just haven't done one yet. What's wrong with me?? I saw so many cute Disney journals at WDW when I was there Memorial weekend but just could not get myself to buy one. I must be sick. :laughing: Anyways, really cute binder!!! I also love the bags you got off of Ebay! Very neat. And very appropriate for Xmas in WDW.

So which day are you guys going to MVMCP? I haven't gotten my tickets yet but I think we're going to try and attend the one on Dec. 1st if it's not sold out by the time I order my tickets.

jewels1916

06-02-2009, 10:13 AM

Wow! Your Disney Planning Bag is intense! :thumbsup2 And I personally love the fortune cookie in it. Haha. :rotfl: I love Pei Wei too...wish we had one here. We saw UP this past weekend too and LOVED IT!!!! Sooo cute. We're buying it as soon as it comes out. We were laughing so hard. And I cried twice. So good! :goodvibes

Haha, thanks! It is pretty intense. I think it intimidated Kelly at first! I love Pei Wei, it's one of my favorite places to eat!

Wasn't UP! cute? I really think the dogs were my favorite. "I like you temporarily." Kelsey and I have been quoting it ever since we saw it!

Hurray for tickets to the Christmas party!!! :banana:

That bag is super cute!!! I love the Christmas colors on it! :thumbsup2

Not to mention, you know I love the zebra-print Minnie heads on your binder! Too perfect!

Thanks! It's very festive for our trip! We are going to use them as carry ons for our flight. :) And of course we had to have zebra-print Minnie heads on our binder! With our AKL reservation, it was the only thing that made sense! :cutie:

Great update!!! Your Europe cruise sounds fantastic!!!!

Oh and How exciting that your MVMCP tickets came. They are so cute.
:goodvibes

Answer to your question of the day: October 1971 :goodvibes

The cruise is going to be a lot of fun! I haven't been to any of these places in Europe (I've only ever been to Germany and Austria) and I am looking forward to it so much! I will do a mini-TR when we get back!

Oh, and good job on the trivia question! You are the first person who answered it!

Good to see an update. Have fun in Barcelona. Have you seen the movie Vicky Christina Barcelona?

Ha, I know, it's been a while, hasn't it? I haven't seen this movie. What is it about? Should I look into it?

Oooh I love the Zebra/pink Minnie heads!

Answer: 1971....October!

Thanks! I love 'em too! They were perfect for our trip binder!
And good job on the trivia question!

Oooo yay for an update!! Your Barcelona trip sounds awesome even though you don't have many details. I just don't think you can plan for a whril wind trip like that like you can for WDW which I know makes us Disney planners nuts but I think you are going to have so much fun anyways! I really can't wait to hear all about it when you get back from that trip.

I LOVE your Disney trip binder. So many ppl do things like that and I think it's so neat but I just haven't done one yet. What's wrong with me?? I saw so many cute Disney journals at WDW when I was there Memorial weekend but just could not get myself to buy one. I must be sick. :laughing: Anyways, really cute binder!!! I also love the bags you got off of Ebay! Very neat. And very appropriate for Xmas in WDW.

So which day are you guys going to MVMCP? I haven't gotten my tickets yet but I think we're going to try and attend the one on Dec. 1st if it's not sold out by the time I order my tickets.

It does make me crazy that I can't plan the Europe trip like I plan Disney! WHAT? We are less than two months away and have NO ADRs??? :eek: :rotfl:
I try to plan it like I do Disney, and it just doesn't work out. Don't worry, you will be hearing all about it, cause I will be doing a mini-TR in this PTR!

Thanks! You should make a trip binder! Mine is just a three ring binder that I got at Wal-Mart, and then I printed the rest of it from the computer. I can't believe you held back on the Disney journals. I don't have that much self-control. Which is why I stopped looking at Disney pins on Ebay!
But I did find our bags while I was looking at pins. They were only $15, can you believe that? And they hold so much stuff! I think I am probably going to carry mine as a carry on for my Europe trip as well. Will I scream tourist? Probably. Do I care? Not so much. :laughing:

We are going to MVMCP December 8th, which is a Tuesday. We figured that during the week it would be less crowded. It was actually pretty hard to figure out when to do everything, with Fantasmic only being two nights a week now. Is it actually only two nights a week, or is it three? From what I have been looking at, it looks to be three nights a week, but I haven't quite figured it out yet. I love Fantasmic, so that is a must for me! Plus, Kelly hasn't been in 8 years :scared1: so we have to do EVERYTHING!

TeaForTulips

06-02-2009, 10:28 AM

Your Barcelona trip sounds soooo fabulous! I cannot wait to hear about it all!! :lovestruc

I am curious to know what the fortune in the cookie in your Disney bag says? :laughing:

Your Disney binder is great! Too cute! :cutie:

I LOVE Disney trivia!!

The answer is October 1, 1971!!! :wizard:

Leger13

06-02-2009, 10:29 AM

It does make me crazy that I can't plan the Europe trip like I plan Disney! WHAT? We are less than two months away and have NO ADRs??? :eek: :rotfl:
I try to plan it like I do Disney, and it just doesn't work out. Don't worry, you will be hearing all about it, cause I will be doing a mini-TR in this PTR!

Thanks! You should make a trip binder! Mine is just a three ring binder that I got at Wal-Mart, and then I printed the rest of it from the computer. I can't believe you held back on the Disney journals. I don't have that much self-control. Which is why I stopped looking at Disney pins on Ebay!
But I did find our bags while I was looking at pins. They were only $15, can you believe that? And they hold so much stuff! I think I am probably going to carry mine as a carry on for my Europe trip as well. Will I scream tourist? Probably. Do I care? Not so much. :laughing:

We are going to MVMCP December 8th, which is a Tuesday. We figured that during the week it would be less crowded. It was actually pretty hard to figure out when to do everything, with Fantasmic only being two nights a week now. Is it actually only two nights a week, or is it three? From what I have been looking at, it looks to be three nights a week, but I haven't quite figured it out yet. I love Fantasmic, so that is a must for me! Plus, Kelly hasn't been in 8 years :scared1: so we have to do EVERYTHING!

:rotfl: I would be going nuts with that too. Our vacation this year was supposed to be Washington DC and NYC but I got so confused trying to plan that since it wasn't all organized like Disney so I gave up and that's when my WDW trip in December started so I feel you on going nuts w/not being able to plan the cruise as well. But I'm sure it will still be great! I can't wait to see the Mini TR too.

I'll have to see what I can come up with for making myself a binder. I think it's a great idea! Yours is just too cute! I'm just sad that my planning partner lives all the way in FL so I can't get together with her like you and Kelly do :sad2:

:laughing: well, we didn't go down there with much souvi $ so that's what kept me from buying the journals. I will buy one in December tho to plan my next trip in. And I know what you mean abt buying pins on Ebay....it is SO addicting! Chris and I were blowing all our extra cash every week on disney pins from Ebay after last September's trip so I had to put a stop to even going on there. How big is your pin collection? I've filled an entire pin bag and have pins that are still on the original backing because I don't have any room for them. Do you collect one character's pins exclusively or do you try to get a variety? I try to get more of the less seen characters but I have 3 pages of stitch pins....:rolleyes: Are you going to get a "lot" of pins to trade on your December trip?

Yeah that's what I was thinking too when I decided what date I wanted to go to MVMCP. During the week is much less crowded. Or at least that's how it was when I went to MNSSHP. We went on a Friday in Sept '07 and it was SO crowded :scared1:. Last year we went on a Wednesday and it was so much better. :thumbsup2

I'm not sure how many nights they perform Fantasmic :confused3
And wow on how long it's been for Kelly since she has been there! I'm sure MUCH has changed since she last went! At least it will just be the two of you so you can go as fast as you want in the parks w/o anyone slowing you down :thumbsup2

tinkgurl

06-02-2009, 10:30 AM

Woo! I'm good! :woohoo:

jewels1916

06-02-2009, 10:37 AM

Charleston Princess

06-02-2009, 10:39 AM

I am going to have to weigh in on today's trivia question:

King Stefan's :goodvibes

I think.

Leger13

06-02-2009, 11:16 AM

Good morning! I hope you are all having nicer weather than we are, it's pouring down rain here. One entire wall of my office happens to be windows, so I am getting a pretty interesting lightening show.

I am still on my quest to find the right bag to take with me to Europe that I can carry my things (ie, wallet, camera, sunglasses) in. The trip is a little over a month away, so I have some time still.

The answer to yesterday's trivia question "In what year did Walt Disney World open?" is 1971! I don't know if anyone noticed, I didn't until after I posted, but my Disney bag has the year right on the front. :rotfl:

Today's Disney World Trivia Question: (we travel to one of my favorite places...Fantasyland!)
In April 1997, the restaurant in Cinderella Castle underwent a name change to become Cinderella's Royal Table. What was it called before that?

Sorry it's raining there. There's actually not a cloud in the sky here right now. But it's supposed to rain on Thursday and Friday.

Answer to the question is: King Stefan’s Banquet Hall

Oh and as for the camera bag for your Barcellona trip....I have something like this http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7092932&type=product&id=1109233323040
that I have used on my last 3 WDW trips and it has been fantastic. It holds my I.D. my point and shoot camera and my cash just great. It has a belt strap on the back with Velcro and a snap close so I wear it on one of my belt loops on the front of my pants so it's always right where I can get to it and no one else can w/o me seeing them do it. :thumbsup2

tinkgurl

06-02-2009, 11:18 AM

I think it was called King Stefan's or something like that!

jewels1916

06-03-2009, 10:40 AM

I am going to have to weigh in on today's trivia question:

King Stefan's :goodvibes

I think.

:woohoo: You're right!!

Sorry it's raining there. There's actually not a cloud in the sky here right now. But it's supposed to rain on Thursday and Friday.

Answer to the question is: King Stefan’s Banquet Hall

Oh and as for the camera bag for your Barcellona trip....I have something like this http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7092932&type=product&id=1109233323040
that I have used on my last 3 WDW trips and it has been fantastic. It holds my I.D. my point and shoot camera and my cash just great. It has a belt strap on the back with Velcro and a snap close so I wear it on one of my belt loops on the front of my pants so it's always right where I can get to it and no one else can w/o me seeing them do it. :thumbsup2

I'll have to check out that camera bag. I usually like something I can wear across my body - but who knows what I am going to want to lug around all day!

And :woohoo: You are correct!

I think it was called King Stefan's or something like that!

King Stefan's Banquet Hall! Right on! You are 2 for 2! :woohoo:

Your Barcelona trip sounds soooo fabulous! I cannot wait to hear about it all!! :lovestruc

I am curious to know what the fortune in the cookie in your Disney bag says? :laughing:

Your Disney binder is great! Too cute! :cutie:

I LOVE Disney trivia!!

The answer is October 1, 1971!!! :wizard:

Yep! October 1971. Ok, I opened the fortune cookie, and here is what it says: "A quiet evening with friends is the best tonic for a long day." That is not a fortune! :rotfl: Oh well!

:rotfl: I would be going nuts with that too. Our vacation this year was supposed to be Washington DC and NYC but I got so confused trying to plan that since it wasn't all organized like Disney so I gave up and that's when my WDW trip in December started so I feel you on going nuts w/not being able to plan the cruise as well. But I'm sure it will still be great! I can't wait to see the Mini TR too.

I'll have to see what I can come up with for making myself a binder. I think it's a great idea! Yours is just too cute! I'm just sad that my planning partner lives all the way in FL so I can't get together with her like you and Kelly do :sad2:

:laughing: well, we didn't go down there with much souvi $ so that's what kept me from buying the journals. I will buy one in December tho to plan my next trip in. And I know what you mean abt buying pins on Ebay....it is SO addicting! Chris and I were blowing all our extra cash every week on disney pins from Ebay after last September's trip so I had to put a stop to even going on there. How big is your pin collection? I've filled an entire pin bag and have pins that are still on the original backing because I don't have any room for them. Do you collect one character's pins exclusively or do you try to get a variety? I try to get more of the less seen characters but I have 3 pages of stitch pins....:rolleyes: Are you going to get a "lot" of pins to trade on your December trip?

Yeah that's what I was thinking too when I decided what date I wanted to go to MVMCP. During the week is much less crowded. Or at least that's how it was when I went to MNSSHP. We went on a Friday in Sept '07 and it was SO crowded :scared1:. Last year we went on a Wednesday and it was so much better. :thumbsup2

I'm not sure how many nights they perform Fantasmic :confused3
And wow on how long it's been for Kelly since she has been there! I'm sure MUCH has changed since she last went! At least it will just be the two of you so you can go as fast as you want in the parks w/o anyone slowing you down :thumbsup2

I know! I try to plan everything the way I plan Disney, and it just doesn't work out. DC and NYC sounds like fun! Well...at least the NYC part. :lmao: Since I just spent two years living in DC, that doesn't sound like much of a vacation. I have a hard time doing NYC though, because all I want to do there is see shows and shop!

Working on the trip binder is helping me not go so crazy with the fact that I have nothing else I can be planning right now. We are kind of at a stand still until we can get our hours, and they should post the hours right before we can make our ADRs, so it will be a mad rush to get all of that figured out. Plus, we make our ADRs like a week or so before Kelly's wedding. So it will be all on me to get that done.

My pin collection is very small compared to yours. I have them less to trade with though, and more just because I like them. I am going to do a shadow box frame with them eventually. I should pull mine out and post some pics. Maybe I will do that this weekend.

Woo! I'm good! :woohoo:

:banana::cool1::banana::cool1::banana:

Of course!

jewels1916

06-03-2009, 10:48 AM

Does anyone else feel like this week is just dragging on? I don't even have anything I am particularly looking forward to, other than just normal looking forward to weekend. But how is it ONLY Wednesday?

Anyway the answer's to yesterday's trivia question is.....
King Stefan's Banquet Hall!

It was renamed on April 28th, 1997 to Cinderella's Royal Table.
Anyone think it's weird that it was named King Stefan's, when King Stefan was Princess Aurora's father, not Cinderella's? :rotfl:

:woohoo: for everyone who answered it!

Today's Disney World Trivia Question of the Day is from Animal Kingdom! The question is...
How many animals are carved in the trunk of the Tree of Life?

tinkgurl

06-03-2009, 11:30 AM

I had to look this one up. :lmao: Answer: Approx. 300-320

jewels1916

06-04-2009, 10:00 AM

I had to look this one up. :lmao: Answer: Approx. 300-320

You are the only person that answered! And you are close!

The answer to yesterday's Disney World Trivia Question "How many animals are carved into the trunk of the Tree of Life" is...

325! The exterior construction of the 145-foot tall Tree of Life took a crew of thousands over a year and a half. The tree's 325 animals were meticulously carved by 20 artists, led by Chief Sculptor Zsolt Hormay. They included three Native Americans, as well as sculptors from as far away as France and Ireland. Because the cement they were sculpting hardened as they worked, the artists had only six to ten hours to create each intricate image.

Interesting, eh?

Today's Disney World Trivia Question of the Day is a multiple choice question from...Epcot!

If you listen closely as you walk through Future World past Spaceship Earth, you will hear the distant sound of a bird. What is significant about that sound?

a) It is the sound of a bird that's been nesting on the property since Epcot opened
b) It is a recording of a bird in distress, played to keep other birds out of Future World
c) It is a recording of birds used as background noise to soothe guests
d) bird? what bird?

By the way, to give credit where credit is due, these questions are from "The Walt Disney World Trivia Book, secrets, history, and fun facts behind the Magic" by Louis A. Mongello

Have a wonderful Thursday!!

Leger13

06-04-2009, 11:19 AM

wow this one is tough....even with the multiple choice. I'll guess B

TxRabbit

06-05-2009, 04:19 PM

Whew. I'm all caught up. I can't believe I haven't been around since the Bachlerette party in OK!?!?! Which looked so much fun.

So I absolutely LOVE how creative your family is. The masks and the hats looked so FUN! I haven't been involved in an adult party in so long. You are making me want to have one, just so I can come up with some sort of theme! I was just saying to DH that I wanted to have an anniversary party. It would be fun to show off all the work we got done on the house. It's a good year for a party. 12 years isn't a major one, technically, but I think it's pretty good!:goodvibes

So exciting that you had the pin code AND bought your flights!!:thumbsup2 The flights always make the trip feel REAL.

July will be here before you know it. I'm totally looking forward to hearing about your trip!

tinkgurl

06-05-2009, 04:33 PM

I'm guessing B!

jewels1916

06-09-2009, 09:56 AM

wow this one is tough....even with the multiple choice. I'll guess B

Yep!! :)

Whew. I'm all caught up. I can't believe I haven't been around since the Bachlerette party in OK!?!?! Which looked so much fun.

So I absolutely LOVE how creative your family is. The masks and the hats looked so FUN! I haven't been involved in an adult party in so long. You are making me want to have one, just so I can come up with some sort of theme! I was just saying to DH that I wanted to have an anniversary party. It would be fun to show off all the work we got done on the house. It's a good year for a party. 12 years isn't a major one, technically, but I think it's pretty good!:goodvibes

So exciting that you had the pin code AND bought your flights!!:thumbsup2 The flights always make the trip feel REAL.

July will be here before you know it. I'm totally looking forward to hearing about your trip!

Hey Rabbit! Glad to see you back on Dis! Thanks! They are pretty creative. I'll keep them. ;) And I think an anniversary party would be great, especially to show off what all you've been up to!

I'm guessing B!

Ha ha, you are correct!!

jewels1916

06-09-2009, 10:05 AM

I have been remiss about updating! Unfortunately, work is getting in the way of my dis time. :rotfl:
I have no really exciting news...we were watching (my family) Cruise FAQs the other day on the Travel Channel, and they did a little piece about the Disney Cruise. I've decided I want to go on that someday. :)

Anyway, the answer to last Thursday's (thursday?!) question is:
B - apparently right after Epcot was opened, birds began nesting all over the park, in signs and on top of buildings, making for a rather un-magical experience for some guests. So they play this track of a bird in distress which helps keep (most of) the birds off the property!

So today's WDW trivia question is...
In what attraction's pre-show will you find a little girl holding a Mickey Mouse doll?

Hope you are having a great week!

tinkgurl

06-09-2009, 12:31 PM

ToT!!!!!

autumnpalm

06-11-2009, 05:49 PM

Oh my gosh, I feel like I'm going to get kicked off the DIS... I barely know the answers to any of these!:headache:

I think that calls for extra trips to WDW until my knowledge of Disney attractions and restaurants has improved considerably.:rotfl:

jewels1916

06-15-2009, 10:11 AM

Leger13

06-15-2009, 10:14 AM

Yep!! :)

Hey Rabbit! Glad to see you back on Dis! Thanks! They are pretty creative. I'll keep them. ;) And I think an anniversary party would be great, especially to show off what all you've been up to!

Ha ha, you are correct!!

:woohoo::woohoo: I was right for the last question!! I actually guessed that because when I was sitting in front of the Electric Umbrella on the benches outside I kept hearing this weird bird noise that I wondered what it was. I mean, I had never noticed it before and when I read that question it totally made sense!

I have been remiss about updating! Unfortunately, work is getting in the way of my dis time. :rotfl:
I have no really exciting news...we were watching (my family) Cruise FAQs the other day on the Travel Channel, and they did a little piece about the Disney Cruise. I've decided I want to go on that someday. :)

Anyway, the answer to last Thursday's (thursday?!) question is:
B - apparently right after Epcot was opened, birds began nesting all over the park, in signs and on top of buildings, making for a rather un-magical experience for some guests. So they play this track of a bird in distress which helps keep (most of) the birds off the property!

So today's WDW trivia question is...
In what attraction's pre-show will you find a little girl holding a Mickey Mouse doll?

Hope you are having a great week!

I'm late to answer this one but I have absolutely no clue!

pipermae

06-29-2009, 02:01 PM

HI! I FOUND YOU AGAIN! I had to go to my e-mail and find an e-mail saying someone posted because I got unsubscribed to you. I searched "DIS" in my inbox and the first page was labeled "1-20 of hundreds" :lmao:. Now I'm all caught up. Sadly, I don't know the answer to this trivia question, but I did know the other answers! Did you know only 1 animal on the Tree of Life has a name? I just read it in the book I'm reading Disney War. It's an awesome read. Hopefully I'll start up on my TR soon! Today's been my first real day just sitting around since I got back. Now I have to plan my Washington DC trip for August and a special trip to WDW in May/June!! :woohoo::yay::cheer2:

khertz

06-29-2009, 06:45 PM

Hmm...not sure how I missed out on this! But it was fun to catch up on your PTR while listening to the much needed rainstorm lashing outside. :rotfl: I looooooove your planning binder! I'm trying to spruce mine up, just waiting on new printer ink to go crazy with printing some fun & colorful stuff to add to it!

Can you believe we are at less than 6 months already?? I don't know about you, but I'm waaaaay excited!! :dance3:

ETA: The answer to the latest trivia question is Tower of Terror! ...Right??

jewels1916

07-10-2009, 10:12 AM

Hi everyone! Sorry I have been gone for sooooo long! June was a very busy month, and July hasn't let up any at all! But I am back, hopefully updating with some semblence of regularity again. So, where have I been?
Well, shortly after the last update, my Grandmother, who has been having all sorts of health issues, had a heart attack. She is fine, thankfully, but it really threw my whole family into a frenzy. Luckily, she was actually at the hospital having some tests run. Otherwise, she might have been at home by herself, and we wouldn't have been nearly as lucky. In ensuing appointments post-heart attack, we've only received positive news about the other issue that we were dealing with for her. Praise Jesus!

Where else? Well, Kelly and I traveled to San Antonio for a weekend with a group of friends to float the river.

And then over the 4th of July, my family (grandparents included) rented a cabin in Ruidoso, New Mexico. It was lovely. The weather was in the 60s, 70s the whole time - a nice break from the Texas Triples!

I have pictures, and more to update about that hopefully sometime next week. And of course we all know that I leave for my Europe trip in....(drum roll).......14 days. Yes, that's right, two weeks. I haven't done a thing for this trip yet. Who am I kidding, I haven't had time! Currently (while I am not at work), I am house/babysitting my former choir director's kids while she is out of town. (The oldest is 15, so I am able to be at work during the day). Once I get back to my own house, I will HAVE to start packing for Europe. I haven't even thought about it in like a month. And now, it's suddenly upon me.

But again, more updates about this will come at a later time.
The main purpose for this post, other than to let all my Dis friends know that I am still around, is to tell you all about a book I just read.

It's called Mousejunkies!, and the author is Bill Burke. I found it in the travel section (while I was perusing, hoping the new UG was out, which is ridiculous, cause I know the new UGs usually come out in August!). This book was amazing. I picked it up because...well, I'll read anything about Disney World, and I've called myself a Mousejunkie for years. Everyone should read this book. For my fellow Mousejunkies, Bill and his friends have articulately (and humorously, and a whole other host of flattering adverbs) described what Disney World is through the eyes of someone who loves it as much as we do. I've been asked for years "Really Court? Disney World...again? I could get anyone whose ever asked me that question to read this book, and finally they would GET IT. I've already decided that my parents, particularly my mother, needs to read it. I am trying to plug this book, because I thought it was so wonderful. I don't think I am doing a very good job, so let me just tell you what I told Bill when I emailed him. (Yes, I emailed him. It's rare a book compels me to do that, but this one did!). This is the book I've always wanted to write. That may not sound like a compliment, but trust me, coming from me, it's huge. So. Check out the book. And share it with your husbands, boyfriends, family members, friends....those folks who give you "the look" when you bring up WDW. At least get them to read the first chapter. They shouldn't ever have to question your relationship with the Mouse again.

So. I've realized after writing this that I...should probably not write commercials. All the same, I hope you take my suggestion. :)

In one other teeny, tiny piece of news....someone may be planning another Disney trip! That's right! But....shhhh.....we aren't talking about it yet until the "official planner" decides it's official. And yes, she'll read this, and know what I'm talking about. ;)

Charleston Princess

07-10-2009, 10:20 AM

Welcome back, Court! I am so excited to see you back!

Thank goodness your grandmother is okay! How scary that must have been! :hug:

I was just pondering buying Mousejunkies from Amazon -- now I definitely will! :thumbsup2

redlight

07-10-2009, 11:31 PM

Welcome back Courtney! Sorry to hear about your grandmother, but glad that she's okay. Looking forward to pictures!

TxRabbit

07-11-2009, 02:48 PM

Yay! You're back. I was wondering how things were going. So glad for the timing with your Grandmother, already being at the hospital. Glad to hear that recovery is progressign well. Very excited to hear about your Europe trip...I might have to check out that book...I wonder if it's in my library? Money's been a little tight since our trip to WDW! LOL!

pipermae

07-11-2009, 04:58 PM

:rotfl:

Leger13

07-12-2009, 10:09 AM

I was starting to wonder what had happened to you. I'm so sorry to hear about your grandmother's health problems but thank God she was at the hospital when she had her heart attack. I'm glad to hear she is improving. :goodvibes

Yay for your cruise being so close! and yay for summer trips with friends. Sounds like you're having a fun summer. Glad to hear it.

I've seen that book Mousejunkies and passed it up a few times. Now I think just based on your review I might have to go and pick up a copy. Thanks girl. :thumbsup2

Yay for another Disney trip to plan :woohoo::woohoo:

tinkerbell87512

07-13-2009, 11:12 AM

I can't believe you are leaving in less than 2 weeks!!! That came so fast. :goodvibes

I think I will have to check that book out. So many people say that to me too..."Cheryl your going there again?!" Some people just don't get it! :rotfl:;)

Anway I'm excited to hear about this trip in the planning ;)! Hope you are doing well.

Ohhhh and I'm sending my thoughts to your fam and grandmother. I'm so glad she is doing well! :hug:

stacikristine

07-13-2009, 02:43 PM

jewels1916

07-15-2009, 10:42 AM

Hi Courtney! I'm still not over the fact that you know Jane! :upsidedow So fun. Anyway...WOW!!! Europe will be welcoming you in less than two weeks! :dance3: That book looks really fun--I might just have to invest in it :thumbsup2

I know! Small world! Actually, if you look at our "friends in common" on facebook, you'll notice that we have another friend in common that isn't a Dis friend. I am curious to know how you know Megan, formerly Williams, now same last name as me. She just married my cousin a few weeks ago! The bridal shower photos I posted a while back, with the big hats? That was her shower! :)

I can't believe you are leaving in less than 2 weeks!!! That came so fast. :goodvibes

I think I will have to check that book out. So many people say that to me too..."Cheryl your going there again?!" Some people just don't get it! :rotfl:;)

Anway I'm excited to hear about this trip in the planning ;)! Hope you are doing well.

Ohhhh and I'm sending my thoughts to your fam and grandmother. I'm so glad she is doing well! :hug:

Yes, definitely check out the book and share it with those people who just don't "get it!"

Thanks for thinking of us and my Gma - she's doing much better now!

I was starting to wonder what had happened to you. I'm so sorry to hear about your grandmother's health problems but thank God she was at the hospital when she had her heart attack. I'm glad to hear she is improving. :goodvibes

Yay for your cruise being so close! and yay for summer trips with friends. Sounds like you're having a fun summer. Glad to hear it.

I've seen that book Mousejunkies and passed it up a few times. Now I think just based on your review I might have to go and pick up a copy. Thanks girl. :thumbsup2

Yay for another Disney trip to plan :woohoo::woohoo:

Yes, I am back. I was absentee for a while because of the family stuff and all the traveling, but now I can get back to enjoying Dis the way it was meant to be enjoyed! A week from tomorrow we leave for Spain! I can't believe it's already here!

And the book is fabulous. Two thumbs up from me! More, if I had more thumbs.

:rotfl:

:) Get excited!!!!

Yay! You're back. I was wondering how things were going. So glad for the timing with your Grandmother, already being at the hospital. Glad to hear that recovery is progressign well. Very excited to hear about your Europe trip...I might have to check out that book...I wonder if it's in my library? Money's been a little tight since our trip to WDW! LOL!

It was good timing, we were lucky. Well. Lucky in the situation. She really is doing much better! Europe in a week. I am missing one of my memory cards, so I need to get on that. See if the library has the book. It is definitely worth the trip!

Welcome back Courtney! Sorry to hear about your grandmother, but glad that she's okay. Looking forward to pictures!

Thanks! And there are pics coming up soon!

Welcome back, Court! I am so excited to see you back!

Thank goodness your grandmother is okay! How scary that must have been! :hug:

I was just pondering buying Mousejunkies from Amazon -- now I definitely will! :thumbsup2

Hey CP! It definitely was scary, but everything is better now, so we are thankful for that.
Let me know what you think of the book, if you decide to get it!!

jewels1916

07-15-2009, 11:32 AM

Ok, the next few posts are going to be slightly out of order, because I can't find the memory card with my San Antonio trip on it. :scared:

So, I mentioned the deal with the Grandma (Nana) in my last post. Well, she's been being tested because she has something called a carcenoid in one of her lungs. It is so deep in her lung that they have been unable to get a piece of it to determine if it is cancerous or not. So they were planning on starting chemotherapy to treat it pretty quick after the 4th of July. Hence the reason she was in the hospital. Well, after the heartattack, they ran some more tests, and found out that the carcenoid had not grown, so they want to wait 3 months, and see if it does grow, but for now, not subject her to the chemo.

Anyway, before we found out that she wasn't going to have chemo, we decided that we should take my grandparents out of town for a weekend, because once she started chemo she probably wasn't going to feel like doing anything. So my mom planned this trip to Ruidoso, New Mexico over the 4th of July.

We got up around 4:30 on Thursday morning (July 2nd) and left the house by 5:10. We were in two cars, because all 7 of us plus luggage just wouldn't fit in any one of our cars.

Nothing rather interesting happened on the roadtrip. I road with my GPs and slept a good part of the trip.

About 10 hours later, we pull up to this:
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/RuidosoCabin.jpg
This cute cabin that we had rented for the weekend. I don't have pics from inside, but there were beds to go around (well, brother had to sleep on the couch).
And it was in the 70s. Now, when we had left Texas, it was in the triple digits. And now we were in the 70s. Amazing!

After getting out of the car and stretching our legs and checking out the cabin, we got back in the car and drove up into the mountains. At the highest point, the elevations was around 9600ft, so we were pretty high up!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/inthemts2.jpg
The view!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/inthemts3.jpg
Kelsey
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/inthemts.jpg
Mom and Kelsey climbing on the rocks!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/Upinthemts.jpg
Headed up to the lookout tower! Did I mention that it was now 58 degrees? Yep, me in my trusty WDW sweatshirt.
By the time we got back to the cabin, everyone was pretty well exhausted from spending all day in the car, so we ate dinner and fell asleep.
The next day we got up and wandered around downtown for a bit.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/Downtown.jpg
Then we decided to drive out to Alamogordo, New Mexico (about an hour or so from Ruidoso) to go the White Sands National Park.
Let me tell you. If you haven’t been, you should try to go sometime. This place was awesome. Miles and miles of white sand dunes with little interruption of vegetation. We had such a good time!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/WhiteSands1.jpg

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/WhiteSands3.jpg
My parents

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/WhiteSands2.jpg
My GPs (Nana and Gran)

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/WhiteSands10.jpg
Me and Mom

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/WhiteSands11.jpg
Burying Nana’s feet in the sand.
They had these sled-type things that you could buy, and sled down the dunes in, so we bought a few. This was so much fun, we all got into it!
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/WhiteSands12.jpg

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/WhiteSands-racingmom.jpg
Racing Mom!

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/WhiteSands8.jpg

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/WhiteSands4.jpg
Giving Kelsey a push! <- this doesn’t work, by the way

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/WhiteSands5.jpg

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/WhiteSands7.jpg

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/WhiteSands6.jpg

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/WhiteSands13.jpg
It was deep in some places!

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/WhiteSands9.jpg

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/WhiteSands.jpg
The Dunes

Needless to say, it was a pretty fun day. It was in the 90s while we were doing this, which was still like a vacation for us, but wouldn’t you think that sand would get hot? It wasn’t at all! I was worried that if I took my flipflops off I would burn my feet, but the sand was actually cool.

I’m out of picture space, so continued in the next post!

Leger13

07-15-2009, 01:43 PM

Love the pictures of your trip so far. That sand dune sledding looks like a ton of fun :thumbsup2

Charleston Princess

07-15-2009, 03:34 PM

I have never heard of sand dune sledding -- how fun!

redlight

07-15-2009, 09:40 PM

Love the pictures Courtney! It looks like you had so much fun. Excited for you about one week to Spain!

jewels1916

07-16-2009, 10:46 AM

When last we left off, we had just left White Sands National Park. I'll say again, it was amazing. Driving towards Ruidoso, we decided to drive up into Cloudcroft, a ski resort area.

I can't say much about it, because Ryan was driving, and he drove straight through it. Didn't stop, didn't slow down, nothing. And Cloudcroft is, at least from the vantage point of the main thoroughfare, a blink-and-you'll-miss-it kinda town.

We did finally stop at a lookout, and took some pics, since we were up in the mountains again.

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/CourtandGrannearCloudcroft.jpg

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/RyannearCloudcroft.jpg

This kid, I swear. He is standing out on a ledge. If there is something to climb, he will climb it.

When we got back to Ruidoso, we headed back to the cabin to change, since we were all sandy. After we changed we all sat out on the porch to talk about what to do next. While we were there, we were visited by these little guys.
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We did a little bit more exploring of the town, and then it was time for dinner.

We went to this restaurant called Lucy's, a Mexican food restaurant that my grandmother had found online. She talked about wanting to go there so much that we finally gave in. Well, you know how some restaurants have stories about the place on the back of the menu? So we get there and we are reading the menus, and it turns out that Lucy's is so popular because of their 27 different types of margaritas. So, we harassed Nana about that for a while, and tried to convince her to have a margarita. She did not imbibe, but my Dad and I both tried one. I had a midori margarita, and Dad had an amaretto margarita. They salted my rim, which just didn't really go with the sweet, melony taste of the midori, so I wasn't a big fan. It would have been better if they had sugared the rim. Dad said his was ok. I don't think anyone was impressed with the restaurant, the food, or the service, so I don't think we'll be back, should we return to Ruidoso.
Back to the cabin, we mostly watched the news and read, and then went to sleep.

Day 3 of the New Mexico Trip – The 4th
This was our last day before we were leaving. Mom was determined to take some “family photos.” She’d asked us to all pack khaki and black to take a few pics. So after getting up in the morning and having breakfast, we all dressed in our khaki and black and traipsed outside to take some pics.
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Kelsey
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Ryan
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Me
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All three of us

That was fun. Well, Ryan doesn’t particularly like having his picture made, but we survived. We took a ton, but that’s enough to share.
After the photoshoot, we decided we wanted to see if we could find a place to cook out for lunch. We loaded up the car with supplies, and drove into the mountains once again. And drove. And drove. And drove. Around one, we stumbled across a campsite where we could build a campfire and cook out.
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Lil’ boy scout knows his stuff!
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Ryan, Nana and Gran
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More cooking out!
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My parents!
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Mom and Gran
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Smores!!
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Kelsey's marshmallows are well done. :laughing:
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They’re so cute!
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Oh. Wait….

Ha ha. We were out here for hours. It is really a toss-up between if this was my favorite, or the dune sledding was my favorite.
After we left, Kelsey, Mom and I went to play putt-putt – Mom has these pics somewhere – and everyone else went up to the casino on the reservation (Inn of the Mountain Gods) is the resort where the casino was. Ryan was old enough to gamble on the reservation, so he wanted to go.
After our putt-putt game (I won, by 1 point) we went to dinner, and then drove to a town called Capitan for fireworks. Again, I don’t have pics of them.
And that’s pretty much it for the Ruidoso trip. The next morning, we got up, loaded the car and hit the road for that long haul back to Dallas.
We had a great time though, especially my grandparents. We had really planned this trip for them, so I’m glad they enjoyed themselves.

Next up, hopefully San Antonio - I thought I had found the memory card, but it turns out, I have not. I think Mom stole it. I need to get it back from her!

Hope you all have a great day!

jewels1916

07-16-2009, 10:53 AM

Love the pictures Courtney! It looks like you had so much fun. Excited for you about one week to Spain!

We did, we had a blast! One week from today, at 11am, we will be on a plane, bound for Spain!!

I have never heard of sand dune sledding -- how fun!

I hadn't heard of it either until we got there and we saw people doing it. It was so much fun!

Love the pictures of your trip so far. That sand dune sledding looks like a ton of fun :thumbsup2

The sand dune sledding was definitely one of the highlights of the trip!

Leger13

07-16-2009, 10:58 AM

TxRabbit

07-16-2009, 12:08 PM

Those pictures of White Sands are incredible! I can't believe all that white sand! I'm thinking that would be so fun to do. We are headed up to Pagosa Springs, CO in December. It's been so long since DS saw snow, he doesn't remember it anymore. Sledding down the sand might be a great start to getting him in that speedy spirit for downhill!

How long of a drive was it? We have that RCI timeshare and Ruidosa is usually available.

Those well cooked smores? My DS calls those Asteroids!:laughing:

Charleston Princess

07-16-2009, 03:17 PM

Too bad about Lucy's, but the photoshoot pics are great. Lunch looks like a lot of fun even though it took you awhile to find a spot. :laughing:

redlight

07-16-2009, 10:17 PM

Smores! I haven't had one in a long time. Thanks for all the great photos, Courtney!

pipermae

07-16-2009, 11:14 PM

:rotfl2:

Your cookout only consisted of S'mores? That's my kindda cook out!!!

jewels1916

07-17-2009, 10:44 AM

The San Antonio Float Trip - there isn't so much a TR for this trip, because it consisted of us driving to San Antonio after work on Friday, falling asleep as soon as we got there, getting up and going to the river on Saturday morning, floating on the river for six hours, going back to Brad's house and showering, going to dinner, then going back to Brad's and sleeping. Then we were up and on the road back to Dallas by 10am.
I have the pics from floating the river, which was the main point of the trip anyway, so I will just kinda let them speak for themselves.
Anyway, without further adieu...
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/PICT0004.jpg
We had three coolers, because, for 8 people and 6 hours on the water, we needed lots of stuff. Drinks, food….

We had taken goldfish crackers, and were throwing them at each other trying to catch them in our mouths. We had a nice little trail of goldfish following us down the river after a while.

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Incase y’all haven’t seen a pic of Kelly’s fiancé, that’s him. Brad.
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As you can see, we had a great time. We had signed up for a 4 hour float – which lasted 6 hours. I think everyone was pretty ready to get out of the water by the time we got to our stop. It’s definitely something I hope we get to do again though!
Oh, and something cool – I had a digital underwater camera (Walmart). It was kinda clunky but the fact that I could just hang it around my wrist and it dragged through the water was awesome. And then when I got home, I could just plug it into my computer and upload the pics. It was a good purchase, as my family and friends partake in a lot of water activities.
Geez….I need to start packing for the cruise….

jewels1916

07-17-2009, 10:54 AM

Sounds like you guys really had a great trip. Bummer on the "famous" margaritas being not so fabulous. Loved the family pictures and the camp fire/smore making looks like so much fun. :goodvibes Thanks for sharing with us

It was fun! I hope we do it again sometime. Sans margaritas! :)

Those pictures of White Sands are incredible! I can't believe all that white sand! I'm thinking that would be so fun to do. We are headed up to Pagosa Springs, CO in December. It's been so long since DS saw snow, he doesn't remember it anymore. Sledding down the sand might be a great start to getting him in that speedy spirit for downhill!

How long of a drive was it? We have that RCI timeshare and Ruidosa is usually available.

Those well cooked smores? My DS calls those Asteroids!:laughing:

Ha ha! We just call those smores "well-done" or "Dad's style." The White Sands were fun! We drove through Abilene instead of through El Paso, so it shaved a good hour off of our drive time. I think we made it in about 8 hours to Ruidoso. We left around five, and arrived around 2. Then the drive to Alamogordo was about another hour to see the dunes. I bet your DS would love sledding down the dunes! It would be a great way to get him all pumped up for the slopes!

Too bad about Lucy's, but the photoshoot pics are great. Lunch looks like a lot of fun even though it took you awhile to find a spot. :laughing:

We did have a great time. I think my Gma said that was her favorite thing we did while we were gone.

Smores! I haven't had one in a long time. Thanks for all the great photos, Courtney!

You should fix that quickly! Smores are soooo yummy. I want one now!

:rotfl2:

Your cookout only consisted of S'mores? That's my kindda cook out!!!

Haha, no, it may have looked like it only consisted of smores, but we had hotdogs too. Those just aren't nearly as fun to catch on fire. :)
PS, Kadye! Get to work on your TR! Come on! There can't be any new PTRs until you have done your TR! ;)

stacikristine

07-17-2009, 11:45 AM

Wow! What fun trips!!! I think I posted earlier about the sand dunes...but the DIS must have eaten it.. :scared: Anyway...it looks SOOO fun!!! I've never seen sand dunes, but I'd love to. It's awesome that you were able to spend that special time with your family and grandparents. Special memories. The cookout looks great too!! I just love smores :thumbsup2 Where did you sign up to float on the river? My DH's parents live there...and that'd be something fun to do sometime. Looks like a blast! I can't believe you're leaving sooooo soon! Good luck packing :woohoo:

jenelope

07-17-2009, 04:16 PM

It's called Mousejunkies!, and the author is Bill Burke. I found it in the travel section (while I was perusing, hoping the new UG was out, which is ridiculous, cause I know the new UGs usually come out in August!). This book was amazing. I picked it up because...well, I'll read anything about Disney World, and I've called myself a Mousejunkie for years. Everyone should read this book. For my fellow Mousejunkies, Bill and his friends have articulately (and humorously, and a whole other host of flattering adverbs) described what Disney World is through the eyes of someone who loves it as much as we do. I've been asked for years "Really Court? Disney World...again? I could get anyone whose ever asked me that question to read this book, and finally they would GET IT. I've already decided that my parents, particularly my mother, needs to read it. I am trying to plug this book, because I thought it was so wonderful. I don't think I am doing a very good job, so let me just tell you what I told Bill when I emailed him. (Yes, I emailed him. It's rare a book compels me to do that, but this one did!). This is the book I've always wanted to write. That may not sound like a compliment, but trust me, coming from me, it's huge. So. Check out the book. And share it with your husbands, boyfriends, family members, friends....those folks who give you "the look" when you bring up WDW. At least get them to read the first chapter. They shouldn't ever have to question your relationship with the Mouse again.

FYI, Court, Bill is a longtime DIS-er (ChefBilly). I'm sure he loved your e-mail! I know he's enjoying the whole "Mousejunkies" ride. Thank you for your great review! It looks like your New Mexico vacation was fantastic!

TxRabbit

07-17-2009, 04:28 PM

I can't believe I lived in San Antonio for 5 YEARS and I never went tubing. DH can't believe it either. He thought for sure that I had gone with him...It looks like so much fun! Was the river low? I've been wondering about that since we've had so little rain this year...

Looks like you had a great time! I totally want to go tubing now!:rotfl:

redlight

07-17-2009, 09:25 PM

I love the pictures. If you don't mind me asking how much did the underwater camera cost?

jewels1916

07-21-2009, 10:15 AM

I love the pictures. If you don't mind me asking how much did the underwater camera cost?

Thanks! The underwater camera was $99 at Walmart. But it wasn't one of those disposable ones. My family is always doing water activities, so with how much we usually spend on underwater cameras, plus paying to get those developed, the camera will have basically paid for itself after a few trips! We took over 90 pics while we were tubing on the river. That would have been, what, 3 or 4 disposable waterproof cameras? Totally worth it for us! :)

I can't believe I lived in San Antonio for 5 YEARS and I never went tubing. DH can't believe it either. He thought for sure that I had gone with him...It looks like so much fun! Was the river low? I've been wondering about that since we've had so little rain this year...

Looks like you had a great time! I totally want to go tubing now!:rotfl:

It was a lot of fun! The water was a little low, I have a few bruises that are still working on healing... But I would definitely do it again.

FYI, Court, Bill is a longtime DIS-er (ChefBilly). I'm sure he loved your e-mail! I know he's enjoying the whole "Mousejunkies" ride. Thank you for your great review! It looks like your New Mexico vacation was fantastic!

Hi Jenna! Like I said before, you guys all did a great job on the book! I really enjoyed reading about everyone's different perspectives. Thanks for stopping in on my ptr! :) (subliminally messages Jenna..."Mousejunkies 2, Mousejunkies 2....) ;)

Wow! What fun trips!!! I think I posted earlier about the sand dunes...but the DIS must have eaten it.. :scared: Anyway...it looks SOOO fun!!! I've never seen sand dunes, but I'd love to. It's awesome that you were able to spend that special time with your family and grandparents. Special memories. The cookout looks great too!! I just love smores :thumbsup2 Where did you sign up to float on the river? My DH's parents live there...and that'd be something fun to do sometime. Looks like a blast! I can't believe you're leaving sooooo soon! Good luck packing :woohoo:

I thought I commented on your post on the sand dunes. Maybe I didn't...
We floated with River Sports Tubes (riversportstubes.com) and they were great. They even had coolers in tubes that we could rent to put stuff in. I would definitely check them out if you are thinking about floating!

jewels1916

07-21-2009, 10:53 AM

So, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince came out last week. At 12:01 Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.

My brother and sister and I have all read the books, and seen the movies, so it was a given that we were going to go see this one. Well. I happen to love midnight movies, plus we were all pretty excited to see it, so we got tickets to go see it at midnight Tuesday night. With my best friend Joey and her husband. Before hand, my cousins (who were also going to the movie, just at a different theatre) met us all for dinner. I don't know if any of you have ever gone to a midnight movie, or tried to go to a midnight movie, but they can get pretty crazy. People dressed up, in line for hours...yadda yadda yadda.

Anyway, so 8pm, we all meet up at Red Robin for dinner. I walk in, and this is what I am confronted with:
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My cousins, ladies and gentlemen. Amanda as Professor Trelawney, and Misty as Professor McGonogall.
They are a riot. I love it. We were getting some pretty awesome looks from the other restaurant go-ers.
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All of us at dinner
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Mandy, me, and Misty
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Sisters! (Misty and Mandy are sisters, and obviously Kelsey and I)

After dinner, Misty and Mandy went on their merry way, and we headed over the our theatre. Well, the tickets we got were early entry, so we were able to walk right into the theatre. And sit way down at the front. Unlike the people who'd been there since 6, we had gone to dinner cause we didn't want to sit there for 6 hours. No, we were content to sit there for 3.5 hours. And we paid for it by sitting in the front. But no complaints.

While we were sitting there, I get a call from Misty and she's like "Are there a bunch of people dressed up?"

"Of course."

"Have you taken pictures?"

"I'm not taking pictures of strangers like I am some creeper!"

"Why not? We've had like 20 people come up to us and ask us if they can take our picture!"

"That's cause y'all's costumes are the best."

"What characters do you guys have?"

"The best is someone dressed as Fleur Delacour."

"Take a picture! I wanna seeeeee!"

"Fine."

So we get off the phone and I walk over to these three folks who are dressed as Professor McGonigall (I think), and Harry Potter in his Quidditch uniform, and Fleur Delacour. And I tell them that my friends and I decided that they had the best costumes in the theatre and asked if I could take their picture. They were happy to oblige.

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01815.jpg

While we are taking pics, John (Joey's hubby) took one of she and I.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r66/jewels1916/DSC01812.jpg
She is Gryffindor. I am Slytherin. Sometimes it's good to be bad. ;)

To pass the time, we decided to play Phase 10. Joey, John and I did anyway. Kelsey and her friend, and Ryan and his friend knew a ton of people, so they were mostly running around talking to people. As Joey and John and I are all more than 3 years out of high school, we weren't quite as cool. Obviously, the people our age had something better to do that night. ;)

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Anyway, finally the movie started, and I thought it was great. Much funnier than most of the other HP movies I've seen. I'd go see it again.

Well, Harry Potter Night was the last thing I wanted to get posted before we went off to Europe. Had to get all caught up so that I can start my Europe TR when I get back.

I'm almost fully packed now. Well, I say that, but NOTHING is in the suitcase yet. Almost everything is clean and laid out, ready to be put in the suitcase. Would you believe how much stuff I have to bring for this trip? Well, ok so it's a cruise, so you've got swimsuits and swim covers and shorts and stuff. But also, we dress for dinner, so you've got nicer clothes too. And then whatever you are wearing while you are in port. Since we are going to be seeing some old churches and things, we have to make sure and have our knees covered and our shoulders covered. This is the hardest trip I've ever had to pack for, before. I've even cruised before, but it's been to the Caribbean, and even when you are off the ship, you're in a swimsuit and shorts!

I did go pick up travel things yesterday, shampoo, toothpaste, those things. It's kind of surreal that we are leaving in two days, it doesn't even feel like it yet. I think when I leave work Wednesday, then it will be like, "Ok, time for vacation now."

Anyway, this is probably my last post until we get back from Europe. I'll probably still be lurking around y'all's stuff for the next two days, but I hope you all have a great next couple of weeks! We get back August 4th, so I'll "talk" to ya then!! :)

Charleston Princess

07-21-2009, 02:34 PM

Fun time at Harry Potter! Love the costumes!

Have a great time in Spain!!! I can't wait to see the pictures!

stacikristine

07-21-2009, 03:47 PM

AAHHH!!! So exciting! I can't wait to hear ALL about your trip!!! And your cousins' costumes were great :thumbsup2

redlight

07-21-2009, 08:07 PM

Love the pictures Courtney. I haven't seen HP yet, but have read all the books. Have a wonderful time in Spain!

amandaluvsgoofy

07-21-2009, 08:58 PM

Great costume pics!! I think your cousins' were awesome!
Have fun in Europe (which you will!)! Can't wait to hear about the trip!!

jewels1916

08-05-2009, 12:24 AM

We're baaaaack! More of an update tomorrow, hopefully, depends on how long it takes to get the pics uploaded, plus I have a ton to do tomorrow after being off work for...a long time...but update soon! :)

Charleston Princess

08-05-2009, 12:36 PM

Welcome home! I am looking forward to hearing all about your Spanish adventures!!!

redlight

08-06-2009, 07:38 PM

Welcome back!

jewels1916

08-11-2009, 11:15 AM

So, 11 days, 1,000 pictures, 12 pieces of luggage, 37 pages of notes, and 4 countries later…
I am ready to start the mini-TR from the Mediterranean Trip! (plus the week it took to upload and organize the pics) It really was a great trip, one of those once in a lifetime kind of things, and I am super excited to share it with all of you! So here we go!
7/23/2009 – 7/24/2009
Day One, Travel Day!
We were up at 7am this morning to leave for DFW Airport at 8am. It took two cars driven by two of our kind neighbors to get the five of us, plus our luggage, to the airport. Nanny had her sister drop her off and we met at the curb, then trooped off to check TEN bags. Yes, ten bags. At 8:30, going through security was a breeze. That never happens at DFW. After checking the bags and going through security we stopped off at Burger King to grab some breakfast and headed to our terminal. The first leg of the flight was taking us to Philadelphia. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 10:30, so we took to waiting.
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Waiting.
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Waiting. (Brother is not always thrilled when I pull out the camera.)
Finally just after 11, we boarded and headed to Philly. We sat 2, 2, and 2. I sat with Mom, and I think she and I are the only ones who didn’t sleep. Actually, it’s kind of an inside joke in my family that NO ONE wants to sit with Dad on the plane, because he immediately falls asleep. He barely has to sit down in an airplane chair and he is snoozing. So we all joke around that we don’t want to sit with him. So I sat with Mom, and we looked at our Barcelona books for a while, trying to figure out what we wanted to do first. Then we played some gin rummy. After realizing neither of us remembered how to play gin rummy, we moved on to Go Fish.
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Mom, being goofy on the plane.
The flight was otherwise uneventful, and we landed in Philly for a three hour layover. Much of my three hour layover was spent on the phone with -------------------------------(this sentence has been removed because it will give away my mystery ticker)---------------------------------------------. We ate some bad airport food and then headed to the international terminal! Our flight to Barcelona boarded late. I sat with Ryan this time. We are international travel buddies. Actually, we’ve only been on one other international trip together, when we went to Malaysia and Singapore. I was 11, and he was 6. We stayed awake the ENTIRE flight and kept ringing the flight attendant to ask for more soda. To the point of her waking up our mother to see if it was alright if we had more soda. Anyway, when this trip was planned, Ryan and I decided that we would sit together and relive that experience. However neither of us drink soda anymore, and the seats are quite a bit smaller than I remember.
The flight, scheduled to take off at 6:30, finally took off at 8:30. After they served dinner (bleh), it was about 10:30 CST, so I decided to get some sleep. I grabbed one of those little travel pillows with the beads in it. And just to make the flight more interesting, the tag on the pillow got caught on something and ripped, and those little Styrofoam beads flew all over the place. I was still finding them on me for days to come. I found a plastic bag and quickly stuffed the remnants of the pillow into it. Could have been much worse, but it was pretty funny. I turned on my audiobook on my ipod and shut my eyes to get some sleep. Well, I can recall missing about 20 minutes of the book. 20. That’s how much I slept on the 8 hour flight to Spain.
Just a quick reality check, the time difference between Texas and Barcelona is +7 hours. So, when I say we landed in Barcelona at 9:35am, that was really about 2:35am at home.
We went through immigration/customs pretty quickly and found our luggage. Dad had arranged for transportation from the airport to our hotel, the Torre Catalunya Gran. It was a bit cramped in the van with all of us plus the luggage, but we survived.
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Mom in the van with all the luggage behind her.
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Kelsey and I, We’re in Spain!! (We’ve now been awake for something like 21 hours)
At 11am we arrived at the hotel, fully expecting to not be able to check in yet. But much to our surprise two of our three rooms were ready!
Now, if you’ve never stayed in a hotel in Europe, there a few things you should know before you go, other than the generic, “you need an adapter for your flat iron.” The beds are quite different. Our two options for rooms were either a king (the equivalent of a queen size bed in the US), or two twins. Kelsey and I were sharing a room with two twin beds. Another strange thing about this hotel was that in order to have electricity, we had to keep one of the room keys in the in a slot just inside the door. Even to just have the air going, we had to do that.
Hotel pics
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Kelsey was not combating the jet lag very well.
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Like our little turquoise bandanas? That’s how we identify our luggage whenever we travel. It’s worked out well so far!
After dropping off the luggage in the rooms, we headed out, not to waste our day on jet lag. One of the nice things about the Torre Catalunya was its proximity to the train station.
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This is the train station as seen from our hotel window. So, less than a five minute walk and we were headed on the train to go towards downtown in search of some lunch. We got off at a stop called “Diagonal” and found a restaurant called Trobador (the wandering musician!). This is where we learned something else. I am a water girl. I mostly drink ice water, the colder the better, usually. The rest of my family likes to drink iced tea. Well, water is usually no charge, right? Not so in Spain. Or anywhere else we went, for that matter. Even if we asked for tap water, we were still charged. Oh well. Lessons learned. Mom, Nanny and Kelsey ordered hamburger steak, and Dad and I ordered the grilled tuna, which was amazing. Ryan ordered something called cuttlefish. I’d never heard of this, and according to him, it tasted very rubbery. By the time we’d eaten, it was about 6am at home, and I was going on my 23rd hour of no sleep. My head was seriously drooping and the jet lag was threatening to take over. But, no rest for the weary! After lunch, we headed towards a church called the Sagrada Familia.
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Sagrada Familia – from far away, the only way to get a full picture of it.
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The Sagrada Familia is a church designed by architect Antoni Gaudi, a very prominent architect of Spain who designed with a very modernist eye. They began building the church in 1882. It was still incomplete when Gaudi died in 1926. Notice the scaffolding in the photos? It is still incomplete. They’ve projected it to be finished in 2030, but I am not inclined to believe them, are you? Even incomplete, it is still breathtaking to see. There are all sorts of different religious scenes carved into the building. The word “Sanctus” is featured prominently as well. Sanctus is a Latin term for “holy.”
The walk to Sagrada Familia proved to be a bit much for Nanny, so after leaving the church, we hopped back on the train and went back to the hotel to rest our feet. It was 4:30pm in Spain now, and I was seriously dragging. But press on we must! I just kept reminding myself that in about 4 hours I could shower and sleep. Yes, it had been a long time since I’d slept, but it had been a long time since we’d been able to shower as well, so that was gross. After a few minutes of rest, we headed back out into the heat of Barcelona, minus Nanny. She wanted to rest, so we let her sleep. We headed to La Rambla, which is one of the most well known streets in Barcelona. It’s like a big street market with lots of little booths of people selling things and street artists and such. When we got off the metro, we realized we were right at the sea port. This was one of my favorite places in Barcelona. The pier was nice and clean, there were interesting shops and restaurants, lots of neat boats sailing in and out and of course the water. I love anything on the water. The breeze coming off of it was very refreshing.
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Then we headed on to the street of La Rambla.
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Quick recap – it’s now 6pm as we head to this outdoor market, it’s jam packed with people, it’s hot and sticky outside, and we haven’t slept or showered in like, 28 hours. Nerves are running pretty high and I don’t think anyone enjoyed this as much as we could have. So we didn’t spend much time at La Rambla (right now, anyway), and we got back on the metro and headed back to the hotel to get Nanny and find some dinner. From the hotel we start walking, assuming we’ll find something to eat as we do. Well, we walk. And we walk. And we walk. Everyone is complaining now, even me, whose usually the “silent sufferer” of the group is like, “Dad, please just pick something! I would sell my left hand for some ice water right now!!” Finally he does, and we sit down to eat. Once we get back to the hotel, it’s nearing 8, and Kelsey jumped in the shower. I busied myself with finding the ice machine and pouring myself a big glass of ice water.
Then finally, after 31 hours of not sleeping or showering, I was able to shower and climb into bed.

Whew! Just remembering that all makes me exhausted.

pipermae

08-11-2009, 11:40 AM

jewels1916

08-11-2009, 11:51 AM

Sounds exhausting, but fun! I'm so jealous. I wonder if there's a jealous smilie... I can't find one. I'll just use this : :snooty:

;) Haha! I can't wait to read more! I smell a bit of Wikipedia research in there somewhere... unless you really do remember all of that stuff about the church, in which case your memory is much better than mine!

Ha ha, I like the snooty face. Nope, no wiki for me, I took notes religiously while we were traveling. I have 37 pages (front and back) full of stuff about the trip. Ryan said it made me less fun. I told him that when we got home and I remembered stuff and he didn't, then he would be jealous. ;)

Welcome back!

Thanks, Redlight!! :) It's good to be home!

Welcome home! I am looking forward to hearing all about your Spanish adventures!!!

Thanks Jackie!

tinkgurl

08-11-2009, 11:52 AM

Oh my gosh! Looks like you had a busy LONG day traveling to Spain. So cool though that you're doing a mini-TR of that, since I've never been there!

Leger13

08-11-2009, 11:55 AM

Megablocks

08-11-2009, 03:49 PM

Hey! I finally caught up again -- I was seriously neglecting the DIS and my subscriptions. :blush:

I'm so jealous that you went to Spain, but I'm glad you had a good time. My best friend actually went to Barcelona with some people when she was studying in France last semester, and I remember her mentioning that church. I'm glad you posted pictures because I was really interested in seeing it and she didn't upload any of hers. :confused3

I can't believe your Disney trip is getting so close -- hard to believe you have been writing this since before I went on mine.

Can't wait for more popcorn::

redlight

08-11-2009, 08:33 PM

Court, I love your pictures thus far and am waiting eagerly for more. I liked the one with the caption: "Kelsey was not combating the jet lag very well." I guess she wasn't. Barcelona looks wonderful. Did you see the movie Vicky Christina Barcelona?

Charleston Princess

08-11-2009, 09:48 PM

I can't believe you lasted 31 hours before collapsing! I would have passed out as soon as I spied the beds a la Kelsey! :laughing:

stacikristine

08-12-2009, 04:11 PM

Wow! What a busy day! :eek: I don't know if I could have gone that long without sleep...actually, I know I couldn't have. I'm a baby when it comes to sleep. I don't even do midnight well anymore! :upsidedow But the pictures are GORGEOUS! I especially like the pier. I think I would stay there a long, long time. So pretty. And the church looks very pretty too. I'm glad you finally got a shower and a bed...and I can't wait to hear about day 2! :goodvibes

TxRabbit

08-13-2009, 01:54 PM

jewels1916

08-14-2009, 09:45 AM

I just read day 1! How cool is that? I've never been overseas. From what I understand though, you have to do what you did, and have a rough day at the begining to get yourself more on track with the current time zone. Sounds like rough business though. It is exhausting just to read about it.

Very cool to see all the pictures and hear about the travel though. I would like to go overseas, this is giving a good picture about what it is like. Can't wait to read more.

Yeah, you really do just have to push through the jet lag. Or get really cranky. Which is what we ended up doing... :confused: Oh well! We had a great time, and thinking back on it, it was totally worth it to see the things that we did.

Wow! What a busy day! :eek: I don't know if I could have gone that long without sleep...actually, I know I couldn't have. I'm a baby when it comes to sleep. I don't even do midnight well anymore! :upsidedow But the pictures are GORGEOUS! I especially like the pier. I think I would stay there a long, long time. So pretty. And the church looks very pretty too. I'm glad you finally got a shower and a bed...and I can't wait to hear about day 2! :goodvibes

I loved the pier! It was gorgeous. I really wanted to eat dinner down there one night, but we just ran out of time!

I can't believe you lasted 31 hours before collapsing! I would have passed out as soon as I spied the beds a la Kelsey! :laughing:

:rotfl: Yeah, I surprised myself a little by surviving that long. I didn't even do that much in college...

Court, I love your pictures thus far and am waiting eagerly for more. I liked the one with the caption: "Kelsey was not combating the jet lag very well." I guess she wasn't. Barcelona looks wonderful. Did you see the movie Vicky Christina Barcelona?

Thanks! Yeah, no she wasn't handling her jet lag very well. Barcelona is fabulous, we really loved it! I haven't seen this movie, but I've heard of it. Should I check it out?

Hey! I finally caught up again -- I was seriously neglecting the DIS and my subscriptions. :blush:

I'm so jealous that you went to Spain, but I'm glad you had a good time. My best friend actually went to Barcelona with some people when she was studying in France last semester, and I remember her mentioning that church. I'm glad you posted pictures because I was really interested in seeing it and she didn't upload any of hers. :confused3

I can't believe your Disney trip is getting so close -- hard to believe you have been writing this since before I went on mine.

Can't wait for more popcorn::

Hey! Glad you are back! I have a ton of pics of the church, but I just couldn't post them all :scared1:!
I know, I started my PTR almost a year in advance...:confused: :laughing:

Love these pictures! Looks like you guys had a great time at the movie. I saw it too but not a midnight showing. I just can't bring myself to stay awake past 10:00pm anymore. :rolleyes:

Love the start of your Europe trip!! The pictures are great! Glad the flights were uneventful. :thumbsup2 That hotel with the way you have to get the electricity to come on sounds weird but at least you guys figured it out. Can't wait to see the rest of the pictures!! :thumbsup2

We had a great time at the movie. I love midnight movies, they are kind of a tradition for my siblings and I. We love going to them. I know, the hotel was a little weird. I thought at first that might be something at all hotels in Europe, but we stayed at a different one on out last two days in Barcelona, and it wasn't like that at all. :)

Oh my gosh! Looks like you had a busy LONG day traveling to Spain. So cool though that you're doing a mini-TR of that, since I've never been there!

It was long! In fact, when I wrote about it in my journal, it was like, 4 pages. Just of travel! :confused3 Oh well! Hopefully my mini-TR can be like a virtual trip for you, since you've never been! :)

Hey everyone! Just wanted to say that I am working on day two, but it looks like it probably won't be posted until Monday......I am STILL trying to catch up at work, and there is a lot going on this weekend. Kelsey is a senior in high school this year, and she and I are hitting the SAT study guide pretty hard this weekend, because she is taking it soooooon! :)

redlight

08-14-2009, 08:21 PM

Glad you enjoyed Barcelona. Vicky Christina Barcelona is very funny. I actually liked Rebecca Hall and Chris Messina's performances more than Scarlett Johansson's and Penelope Cruz's.

jewels1916

08-17-2009, 10:51 AM

Day 3 – July 25th, 2009 - Part One

So where last we left off, we had been awake for 31 hours and were finally going to bed after a long day(s) of travel and touring.
Well, we woke up at 9am and at 9:30 we headed up to the 23rd floor of the hotel to have breakfast. The entire restaurant was surrounded by windows, so we had a 360 degree panoramic view of Barcelona. It was wonderful. The food was good too – I was a fan of the chocolate croissants.
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The view from the restaurant in the hotel.

Well, we were all full from breakfast, and for the first time since we’d arrived, we felt like we’d had plenty to drink with our meal. Let’s take a second to discuss the two ice cube phenomenon. If you ask for ice, your server will bring you two ice cubes. Two. This must be a standard thing, because it happened everywhere. Well, at the buffet, we were able to get our own ice. And I noticed the people around me were putting two ice cubes in their drinks. Granted, the glasses were very small, think hotel bathroom glasses. I managed to fit three ice cubes in mine. Anyway, it was just one of the many differences I noticed while we were traveling.
After breakfast, we got on the metro and headed back to La Rambla. From La Rambla, we started walking towards the Barcelona Cathedral. Or, so we thought. Well, we came upon this really pretty church, and there were a lot of people taking pictures of it, so we did too.
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Isn’t it pretty?

Well, after a few minutes, I realized that this was not the Barcelona Cathedral, because we were on the wrong street…ha ha. I was amused to see a bar next door to the church. We have laws against such things in Texas! After consulting our map again, we were back on track towards the cathedral. Walking. Luckily, it was a tad cloudy outside and a decent breeze was blowing. We made it to the cathedral about 15 minutes later. Yes, this is the right one. It’s gorgeous. It’s not as big as the Sagrada Familia. They must be working on all of the churches in Barcelona, because there is scaffolding in all of my pictures.
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I love the spires! Next door to this cathedral is the Gaudi museum (one of them). We didn’t go in, because we got a pretty good taste of all the Gaudi architecture while we were there. Our time in Barcelona could appropriately be renamed “A Tour of Gaudi.”
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Just across the street from the cathedral were a few little tourist-y gift shops, and we stopped in one to pick up a few postcards. Inside I snapped this picture.
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Surely you can see why… ;)

In the courtyard in front of the church, some Flamenco dancers had just set up a stereo and began dancing, so we watched them for a few minutes. Barcelona is full of street artists.
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Then Mom wanted to head over to the Barri Gotic, or the Gothic Quarter to see all of the Gothic architecture. I wanted to as well, I like Gothic architecture, it’s all big and old and slightly menacing. Or perhaps I just perceive it as menacing because of the name. Anyway, on our way we ran across this tiny little store called Happy Pills, with a big red cross on it. Hmmm…..insert big question mark here.
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Well, our curiosity got the better of us and we headed in.

Turns out, it was a candy store!
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Clever, huh? I thought so.

We kept walking, and walking, and walking, and I am almost positive that we are not going in the right direction, but Dad is insistent. And then his got distracted by a group of protesters, so he stopped to ask them what all the commotion was about. *insert eye roll*. Turns out, that the FDIC (or, the Spanish equivalent) had fallen through and tons of people were going to be losing their homes and their business if something wasn’t fixed. This was at least what I understood of it. They were positioned in front of the Bank of Spain. This was the only sign of political unrest or economic problems we saw while we were gone. We continued past the protestors and walked through what I later discovered was the Parc la Citudella. Basically the center of the city. I wish I had known then, or I might have taken a few pictures. By this time it was about 12:30, and it was getting quite a bit warmer outside. Across the park, Dad spots this:
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The Hard Rock Café. He suggested we stop in for a “pint.” Ok, Dad. Weirdo.
As we were crossing the street, I stopped to snap this picture.

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The Vespa, or scooter, or motorcycle, or whatever is one of the main forms of transportation around Barcelona. There were so many everywhere!

Back to Hard Rock Café. I was surprised that at 12:30 they were able to seat us immediately. We would learn later that in Spain, they like to eat later than at least my family does. The later we would wait to eat, the longer wait times we would have at restaurants. Ryan (a big fan of the younger drinking age of Europe) and Dad both had a local beer (Estella) and I had a raspberry lemonade (Bacardi rum, raspberry syrup, raspberries and lemonade) yum! Everyone else was drinking pepsi. No pints for them. We also ordered and appetizer sampler which was a ton of food. There were six of us and we didn’t eat it all. While we were there, we got into a debate about what person from our generation (my siblings and I) would have the same impact as Michael Jackson if they died. We considered MJ to be our parents’ generation. I know we discussed Tiger Woods and Bon Jovi. We didn’t ever settle on one. We had a hard time deciding who was as international as Michael Jackson.

After we left Hard Rock (and picked up a few t-shirts), Ryan mentioned that he wanted to go on this sky trolley that we had seen. The sky trolley, or tram is called a funicular. So Ryan and Dad (self-proclaimed map experts) read the map and we started walking. I should point out here that we never actually made it to the Barri Gotic. We kept walking. And walking. And walking. And after having to turn around twice because we were going the wrong direction (*fake cough – expert map readers – fake cough*), we finally made it to the exact spot the map said the funicular was. It was no where insight. No wires, no station, nothing. Finally, Dad stopped someone and used his minimal Spanish to ask. Well, she points down. Huh? How could a sky trolley be underground? Just when we think she is crazy, we looked up at the sign, and sure enough, it said that we had to go underground to get to the funicular. Turns out we had to ride a specific metro to actually get to the station. Soon enough, all six of us were in line to ride the sky trolley.
It should be mentioned that I am not the best with heights. I don’t let that hinder my experience at WDW, I still ride every single ride there, no matter what. (Ok, so I skip Living with the Land most of the time, but you get my drift. I don’t skip the “thrill rides.”) But for some reason, I chose this moment to become terrified. It wasn’t even so much the height that was bothering me, it was more the prospect of all that weight on that one little wire.

So did I unclench enough to ride the sky trolley? Find out in part 2!

pipermae

08-18-2009, 01:32 PM

:lmao:
I want a store called Happy Pills. Amazing. You know, I actually HATE ice cubes in my drinks, to the amusement of Tony's parents. His brother-in-law has a 2 ice cube rule, I think. Maybe he's secretly from Spain.

Leger13

08-19-2009, 08:31 AM

I totally see why you took a picture in the jewelry store! Good one girl! There's a little bit of Disney everywhere :thumbsup2 I love the candy store called Happy Pills. What a clever idea!! I would buy candy from there just on sure principal that the name is so clever. Did you guys get anything?? That's awesome that you found a Hard Rock. Was it like the ones here in the US? And as for your debate at lunch, I'm not sure we have someone as impacting on any kind of culture in our generation. Hmmmmm......I would really have to think about that one to come up with someone.

pipermae

08-26-2009, 12:58 PM

:surfweb:

Did you run away??!!

jewels1916

09-25-2009, 10:27 AM

Hi everyone! Sorry I have been gone for soooo long! Life has been absolutely crazy, and I am about to share it all with you! First things first though!

We made our ADRs!!! Woohoo! Got almost everything we wanted. Now, before I tell you where all we are going, I want to tell you that we decided to just make ADRs at the places we wanted to eat, regardless of how many meals we had on our dining plan, so we have more than the dining plan allows. We are just going to pay oop for some of the less expensive meals. :)

So, here they are!

Dec. 5 - (arrival day!) Liberty Tree Tavern 8:10pm
Dec. 6 - Teppan Edo 12pm
Dec. 7 - Sci-Fi Dine In 12pm
Dec. 8 - Boma 9:45am (MVMCP)
Dec. 9 - Chef Mickey's 8:30am
Le Cellier 1:25pm
Dec. 10 - Plaza Restaurant 12:40pm
Dec. 11 - Kona 9:15am
Whispering Canyon 7:10pm
Dec. 12 (departure day) Tusker House 9:20am

Woohoo! Kelly and I are both really excited about it. We are going to eat soooo much....:laughing:

In other news...well, Miss Kelly is now Mrs. Kelly! She got married this weekend in a beautiful ceremony. We couldn't have asked for a better day, I was just so happy for her. Everything went off really well and everyone had a really great time. She and her hubby Brad are actually in our favorite place right now enjoying their honeymoon. Yup, she's at WDW right now, and is going back with me in December. :) I got a text from her...Monday I believe it was. She said "Hey, we are looking for a counter service place to eat at one of the resorts on the monorail." I sent them off to the Contempo Cafe at the Contemporary. It was pretty funny, I thought.

My last piece of news, well, its just this tiny little thing...oh, wait. I bought a house. I BOUGHT A HOUSE! I'd been house hunting for a while, but I didn't know what was actually going to happen, which is why I never brought it up on disboards. It was a very nervewracking process. But, I am officially a homeowner now! All of my spare time recently that wasn't dedicated to helping Kelly out with wedding stuff has been dedicated to getting my house all set up. It's in a pretty good place right now, and I am pretty much out of money, so it will just have to do! :) I hope to take some pics and post them on here eventually, but I am just so busy that its kind of hit and miss when I will get to post.

Hope everything is going well with all of you, and that you all have a great weekend!!

Court