Only Engaged Once, Let's Celebrate! Sept 2015 PTR Update 7.29

[dmlovullo]

I love the little cheat sheet for your friends, I may need to make one for DH!

Those bows you found are super cute! Hot Topic always gets me with their cute Disney things, I have purchased wayyyyyy too many tank tops as of late.

Hope everything gets worked out with your return flights.

 

[Chicago Mo]

Today is a bit of a struggle at work as we were up late celebrating the Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup!!!

It's AAAAAAAAAAA-MAZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ-INGGGGGGGGGG!!!! are you going to the parade or the rally at Soldier Field??? going to TRY for tickets but we shall see..

5PM flight to St Louis with a 3 HOUR LAYOVER

OH NOOOO!!! that's no good.. Nope.. No good.. I don't think i would know what to do with myself with a 3 hour layover.

friend is a packers fan

WHAT?

we had to go to the Disney Store.

Gurnee?

2 hours at the Chicago Botanic Gardens

Much have been BEAUTIFUL!!!!

after Joe's cousin did my hair and make up!

It' looks terrific!


Oh the pictures came out BEAUTIFULLY!!! Really fantastic!!!
So sorry you had a crap sky!!!

 

[LoJoDisney]

I love the little cheat sheet for your friends, I may need to make one for DH!

Those bows you found are super cute! Hot Topic always gets me with their cute Disney things, I have purchased wayyyyyy too many tank tops as of late.

Hope everything gets worked out with your return flights.

It's so fun helping others plan! I did all of this for my fiance last year since he had never gone, but now he thinks he's a pro! haha

I feel like once I know I have a trip booked, anything Disney I see...somehow its validated in my mind that I should buy it!
Joe was on the phone with Southwest FOREVER last night and the lady told him we can switch flights to come home to Midway on a direct flight and wave the extra money it would cost for that flight, but her manager wasn't in to approve it so they are supposed to call us back! Hopefully it will be good news!

 

[LoJoDisney]

It's AAAAAAAAAAA-MAZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ-INGGGGGGGGGG!!!! are you going to the parade or the rally at Soldier Field??? going to TRY for tickets but we shall see..

Probably not...Joe can't get off of work. 2 years ago the day of the parade my last day at work at KPMG in the city...and you weren't supposed to bring bags on the trains but i HAD to return my laptop and all my other things to them that day! So I just got on the el hoping for the best and was surround by people drinking beer at 7:30AM going to the parade It was crazy! But really fun because I could watch a lot of it from our building!

OH NOOOO!!! that's no good.. Nope.. No good.. I don't think i would know what to do with myself with a 3 hour layover.

Right?! I just think it's crazy they can change it to such a worse flight and not give you a refund or something. I think it will be taken care of today though!

WHAT?

Joe is one too... even though his whole family is Bears fans. He thinks our kids will be Packers fans and I will not let that happen!

Gurnee?

Yup!!!

Much have been BEAUTIFUL!!!!

It is so pretty there!

It' looks terrific!

Oh the pictures came out BEAUTIFULLY!!! Really fantastic!!!
So sorry you had a crap sky!!!

Thank you! I cannot wait to see the rest of them. I was worried we wouldn't do them that day since it was raining in the morning but our photographer said that the light was perfect since it was cloudy/overcast. It was real cold though!

 

[KatMark]

I had to go back...I was sure I posted on here for your last update and I did. I guess you just missed it (no worries...I just wanted to be sure I wasn't cracking up).

 

[LoJoDisney]

I had to go back...I was sure I posted on here for your last update and I did. I guess you just missed it (no worries...I just wanted to be sure I wasn't cracking up).

AHH! I'm glad you said something! I missed it because of the page change!

WOOT WOOT! Andy (our oldest) said he could feel the vibration at his house from the United Center. What an exciting evening and so glad they finally did it on home ice!

That is so crazy he could feel it!!! I'm so glad they won and we aren't stressed out about game 7 tonight!

Love Hot Topic and glad you got some good deals.

Gurnee Mills is the best for good deals!

That was a cute idea for your friends with the gift bag.

I hope they love their trip!

I love the first bunch of your engagement pictures!

Thank you!! I cannot wait to see more!

I hope you get the whole situation figured out with Southwest.

Thanks!! Either way we are going to switch to a direct flight to Midway...I am just hoping they don't make us pay a fee.

 

[KatMark]

Thanks!! Either way we are going to switch to a direct flight to Midway...I am just hoping they don't make us pay a fee.

Keeping my fingers crossed for that.

 

[LoJoDisney]

FLIGHT UPDATE!

Joe just called and Southwest switched us to flying from Orlando to Midway!! A direct flight that leaves Orlando at 7PM! That means we get extra time before the Tragical Express comes!! AND we didn't have to pay anything extra! Woo hooo!!

Everyone's good luck paid off!

 

[KatMark]

That is awesome news, Lauren! Pixie dust for sure.

 

[SarahDisney]

Congrats on the Blackhawks! (Although ... it should have been the Rangers. I don't know how they screwed it up. This should have been our year!)

3 hour layover is crazy ... I'm glad you guys got to change without having to pay anything!

I love the stuff you got from Hot Topic! I refuse to go there ... the one in my mall is so dark it scares me. I love the Disney stuff everyone gets there, though, so I may just have to start buying it online!

The pictures are amazing! I hope the rest of them look as great as the ones you posted here!

 

[tash439]

Such a cute idea! I'm sure they loved this and the bag!

We also stopped at the mall last weekend and of course we had to go to the Disney Store... and we also stopped at Hot Topic to see if they had any cute things..I need to still take pictures but we got a handful of shirts, pjs, and a Mickey & Minnie Christmas throw half off! It was their twice upon a year sale & it was the outlet so we got some good deals!

We did the same thing! I ended up getting a few new shirts at the Disney Outlet and a cute Mickey Cooler Bag! I always feel the need to stop in there anytime we go to the outlet mall!

On Friday, Joe and I met our photographer and spent 2 hours at the Chicago Botanic Gardens taking pictures. He's only given us 7 of them so far as "teasers" but I can't wait to see the rest!! I thought I would share them with you all!

I love all the pics! Your photographer did a great job!

FLIGHT UPDATE!

Joe just called and Southwest switched us to flying from Orlando to Midway!! A direct flight that leaves Orlando at 7PM! That means we get extra time before the Tragical Express comes!! AND we didn't have to pay anything extra! Woo hooo!!

Everyone's good luck paid off!

Wahoo! I love when everything works out!

 

[Chicago Mo]

oh that is great news!!! So glad they did something for you.. Good No 3 hour lay overs for YOU! YAY!

 

[MissMaryQC]

Glad everything worked out on the flights!

Love your cheat sheet for your friends; you guys are gonna have such a great time!

The photos are gorgeous! I really like that they're a little dark; I think it adds a romance.

 

[LoJoDisney]

Congrats on the Blackhawks! (Although ... it should have been the Rangers. I don't know how they screwed it up. This should have been our year!)

Haha, thank you!

3 hour layover is crazy ... I'm glad you guys got to change without having to pay anything!

YES thank goodness!!! I would not have been happy about that.

I love the stuff you got from Hot Topic! I refuse to go there ... the one in my mall is so dark it scares me. I love the Disney stuff everyone gets there, though, so I may just have to start buying it online!

It really is a scary place...but the Disney stuff is so cute! It's kind of strange that they have such a large line of Disney items when the store is just so dark!

The pictures are amazing! I hope the rest of them look as great as the ones you posted here!

Thank you!!

oh that is great news!!! So glad they did something for you.. Good No 3 hour lay overs for YOU! YAY!

WOO HOO, thank goodness! Now we'll be flying out more towards you! That's the tricky part now...figuring how we get to Midway and what to do with our car...

Glad everything worked out on the flights!

Thanks! Me too!!

Love your cheat sheet for your friends; you guys are gonna have such a great time!

I know, I was a little nervous about going with other people just because I kept thinking "what if they don't tour like we do" and stuff like that but Joe reassured me that we'll just do things how we want and if they want to join with us great otherwise we can just meet up for a few different things. I think its going to be really fun and I'm loving helping my friend plan her trip and seeing her get so excited for it too!

The photos are gorgeous! I really like that they're a little dark; I think it adds a romance.

Thank you!!

 

[LoJoDisney]

tash439

I dont know why it is not letting me quote you! Haha! And when I hit reply it doesn't show your name at all just my response, so strange!

But...
Thank you! I love that you feel the need to stop at the Disney Store just like I do too!

 

[LoJoDisney]

Hi everyone!! I'm here and ready to tell you all about our Day 1 in Disney because I think we finally have our plans settled!! I hope so at least, because fast pass choices are NEXT WEEK!


Day 1- September 5th
Time is really flying by! In 73 Days we will be waking up SUPER early. Probably around 3ish.... We are flying out of Midway now which is a little further for us than Milwaukee even though we live in Illinois. Joe's parents offered to drive us but I feel bad since its such an early flight and pretty far. So I asked my Dad if maybe we could park by his house and him take us since he lives only about 25 minutes away from Midway. We'll see. Either way, we'll be taking off for Orlando at 7:10AM!

We arrive in Orlando around 10:40 so I hop we'll be at our resort around noon-ish.
Our plan for this Saturday is to relax and explore our resort. We will have lunch at Riverside Mill, go swimming, and exploring! Knowing us, we'll also try to buy everything in the gift shop but remind each other we still have 8 more days here!

We really wanted to leave this day open since it is the day we added to our trip... if we get bored of being at the resort these are our options-
- take boat to Downtown Disney
- Go miniature golfing
- Go explore random resorts

Saturday night we are going to either eat again in Riverside Mill or just snack on appetizers in the River Roost lounge because we are going to watch the Ye Haa Bob! I've watched some videos and heard that his show is so fun! I'm so excited that we can just relax all day and then enjoy some drinks & appetizers while watching this show.

Photo from portorleans.org

Our trip last year was planned basically hour by hour so I'm looking forward to having the first two days of our trip more relaxed and unscheduled! But as a planner, it is also sort of hard for me not to try and make plans, haha!

Some life updates:

The past few weeks have been so busy! Our kickball team won our first game last Thursday! Joe even got a home run!

Joe and I went to see Inside Out this past Saturday and Oh My Gosh everyone go see it ASAP! It was so good. We both loved it. The Pixar short that plays before the movie had me laughing, giggling and almost in tears because it just made me so darn happy. This is a picture of the main character from the short that I added words to and sent to Joe.


We got all of our pictures back! I'm going to post some of my favorites. Our next Wedding step is to pick out save the dates. I found a website that has very reasonable priced magnets so I think that is where I will order them from. Once I have a few ideas I'll post those and see which one everyone likes best!

 

[KatMark]

I think plans for Day 1 are perfect, Lauren. I love having a relaxing day on arrival day (something I need to do more of ).

We've seen Yee Haw Bob...it's a fun show.

I am waiting for a rainy day so Mark and I can go see Inside Out...everyone I've heard talk about it loved it (except one person ).

A thought on your Save the Date cards...Mark and Alisha got theirs through Vistaprint and they did a really nice job on the Save the Date and the wedding invites

I LOVE the engagement pictures.

 

[LoJoDisney]

I think plans for Day 1 are perfect, Lauren. I love having a relaxing day on arrival day (something I need to do more of ).

Yes! I need to learn to just not have plans and go with the flow so it should be a nice relaxing day.

We've seen Yee Haw Bob...it's a fun show.

Good to hear!

I am waiting for a rainy day so Mark and I can go see Inside Out...everyone I've heard talk about it loved it (except one person ).

Yay! I can't wait for you to see it! I don't know how someone couldn't like it! I was nervous because I had my hopes set high but it didn't disappoint!

A thought on your Save the Date cards...Mark and Alisha got theirs through Vistaprint and they did a really nice job on the Save the Date and the wedding invites

Ooh!!! Good to know! I was looking at some invitations and THEY ARE CRAZY RIDICULOUSLY PRICED!!! Since they got married recently you'll be able to give me a lot of advise! I just can't imagine spending so much money for invitations when they just get thrown away, but I also want them to be nice! I will check it out! I also get scared using vendors or websites that I don't know anyone who has used them before.
I LOVE the engagement pictures.

Thank you!!

 

[SarahDisney]

I think a relaxing day 1 at the resort sounds great! After the early wakeup call, you probably won't really want to do much anyway, but it's great that you have some options in case you do get bored.

I've seen previews for Inside Out twice ... I still haven't gotten a good grasp on what the movie is about (I know, emotions, but does it focus on the everyday life of the emotions or what happens when something goes wrong? Is that whole thing about Joy and Sadness getting lost in the core memories what the movie is about?). I still really want to see it, though.

The engagement pictures are gorgeous! You guys are a really photogenic couple!

 

[LoJoDisney]

I think a relaxing day 1 at the resort sounds great! After the early wakeup call, you probably won't really want to do much anyway, but it's great that you have some options in case you do get bored.

That's very true, I didn't even think about how tired we probably would be from waking up so early!

I've seen previews for Inside Out twice ... I still haven't gotten a good grasp on what the movie is about (I know, emotions, but does it focus on the everyday life of the emotions or what happens when something goes wrong? Is that whole thing about Joy and Sadness getting lost in the core memories what the movie is about?). I still really want to see it, though.

It is basically about your emotions maturing as you get older and how they work together to get you through your life...I think that's a good way of explaining it. You'll have to tell me if I was close after you see it It's really good. and the Pixar short before it is worth a ticket itself.

The engagement pictures are gorgeous! You guys are a really photogenic couple!

Thank you so much!