Team Goddess - Volume 11. Rocking 2012 Goddess Style!

[AKASnowWhite]

Originally Posted by SeptemberGirl

Can I have permanent thread bankruptcy? Can we assume I am disabled in some way, and need special accommodations? An IEP for the thread?

I think it's hilarious too

I'm drifting right now. Lacking focus in EVERYTHING. It's awful. Too many things cluttering my brain these days. <bleh> not the least of which is this horrific weight gain I've managed to accomplish.

Anyway - Universal! We like it. We don't love it like Disney, that's for sure - but there's a lot to like. There's also a lot that seems like they need to try a little harder but HP! They really nailed it there.

Karen - Do you belong to Costco? I bought Universal passes there. They are 3 day passes (both parks included) that DON'T EXPIRE! I want to say they were about $150 each. We used one day on our trip last March, and we'll use another in January.

[lisaviolet]

Originally Posted by cantwaitvaca09

so sorry your ill Lisa.. Get Well Fast!.

Thanks Jo. I'm still off - Jean's sick which NEVER happens. So hopefully....

Originally Posted by DisneyGalUK

Yes! I'm up to date with The Borgias, I can't wait for the next series! And weirdly, I know what you mean about Rodrigo/Jeremy!

WW in the UK - 5lbs either way. I don't understand 2lbs? With the way my weight goes up and down, 2lbs could just be a big lunch!

Kelly there was this line in the finale which just touched me so greatly. It was something - wait I have it in my email!!!! -

"We have buried our son and we realize now that we have brought this upon ourselves. You are our own doing and what you've done is our own doing as well. We brought you to this. You say we granted every favor to him, but our favors fell on his so easily of our own accord. You are too much like me, a man feels less favor for his own image reflected." -- Rodrigo to Cesare

The bold almost killed me. And I had to keep my sighs down as it was the middle of the night.

As for WW and two pounds - INSANITY. There is a need to keep tight reins on a loss but five is more rational for most. For some, no. Five is a lot for some smaller people.

Originally Posted by SeptemberGirl

Hi Ladies!

Can I have permanent thread bankruptcy? Can we assume I am disabled in some way, and need special accommodations? An IEP for the thread?

Yes, yes, I am in social work school and this is now my idea of a funny joke! Hilarious to me. SAD, i know.

!

This is why I'm so late back. Busy writing up your IEP. My students who need personal right there help well they'll wait - I have to write this up. And then I'll shove it in a folder in some back room - OH WAIT it's 2012 - okay I'll save it to a file and your educators will pretend to look at it and follow it.

Sorry I just couldn't let it go. Oh education.

Originally Posted by SeptemberGirl

Ah, remember when I threatened to post my TR and everyone left? Well, tough, ladies here you GO!

The details:
Peeps: Me, and my adult BFF Jodi.
Days: Friday, Oct 12th until Sunday, Oct 14th.
Lodging/Tickets/Plans: Two nights in the HRH, 3 days, 2 days of park passes, no real plan.
Travel Agent: Our own Amiee!!!

Background:

Jodi is in charge of this HUGE annual event in Oct. Like 500 people, tons of vendors, fashion shows, etc etc. Her magazine sponsors it. So this big party was Thursday night. It is 5pm to 9pm, but she is there all day setting up and all night cleaning up, and then the colleagues that didn't do any work want to go out! She had dinner after and drinks with the 22 year olds and a result didn't get to bed until 2:30. Woke up at 5am to pick me up at 6:15. Ugh for her.

I had left the party early - a first for me with ANY party - and gone to bed at 9:30 and woke up at 4:30 to pack. Another first - I wasn't packed DAYS before. But I was happy and perky! But I kept quiet because I wanted to live.

Airport, plane, Orlando. Standard stuff. It's kind of stunning to me how normal it feels to be landing in Orlando. I know that airport about as well as I do Newark and that's just weird. I guess it's all the recent trips in the recent years.

We go find the Mears shuttle. At first the lady doesn't know how to look us up. Then she finds us. We go to the spot outside and they give us a beeper. We change into shorts and in about 10 mins a van shows up and our beeper goes off. Easy. Jodi sits up front because she gets car sick (make note of this) and chats with the driver about beer and BBQ. He's from St. Louis and into both.

The driver is nice and gives all of us the lay of the universal land. Just basically talks and tells us things of interest or places he likes. We are the 3rd stop.

Hard Rock Hotel. I'll give my overall impressions. Nice lobby. Love the music piped in everywhere. Rock music that's my thing. I'm singing along all the time. Nice check in guy. Passes not on our room- we turn to each other and say "nld" which is Not Like Disney. We discuss this lack of one card to rule them all with the check in guy.

We get our express passes at a machine in the lobby (it takes a really weird pic of you! We look like zombies) and head to another to get our park passes. Then we drop the luggage and go to the Kitchen to eat. That's the name of the restaurant .

We sit outside and instantly order a lot of food. I kind of feel like John and Kevin doing a restaurant review. (Podcast) Everyone raves about this place. Front desk guy included. I thought it was okay. The fries were hot and good. The jerk chicken wings were yummy. My sandwich and Jodi's were not good. Not awful but not tasty at all. We ate because we were starving. She actually turned to me and said "how is your food?" Which she never ever does. It was disappointing. But the setting was very pretty and we were full.

After that we walked to the boat that would take us to the parks and city walk. A very short and refreshing boat ride and guess what? Music on the boat! Rock on.

We exit that lovely and refreshing boat and head to Universal Studios. Its about 2:30pm now. We head towards the first thing we see, minions! If you love minions you will love this. I liked it. I didn't love it. It's a motion ride. Like Soarin. But there are outside focal points. If you ever get motion sick, those matter.

We end up in the gift shop. Universal dumps you out into a gift shop for everything! More so than Disney. This is okay because we like to shop. Jodi sees many things she wants. She is into minions.

After some looking we keep moving. We do Twister. Then revenge of the mummy. Twister has a long pre show and is nicely non challenging. Entertaining. Revenge of the mummy is more intense than I expected and shorter. Nice but so far I didn't love love love an attraction.

We miss blues brothers and instead go to disaster! Cute. Amusing. First one without a gift shop exit. We debate MIB or Simpsons and we foolishly go for Simpsons.

We walk on with express pass as we have for every other ride. Very quick. Long ramps up! Interesting preshow. No idea what to expect.

About halfway through the ride I start to focus on the actual cart we are in and just glance at the screen. Jodi is not doing that and I can tell she is not doing well. It finally ends and we exit quickly. To her credit she did not puke nor did she bail and go back to the hotel but it took her and hour and a half to recover from that ride.

It's 5pm by the time we are off Simpsons and we head out as the park is closing early for horror nights. We go next door to IOA. I like how close everything is.

IOA is nice when you enter. Visually interesting. We go to the right, passing through Seuss landing. We have some popcorn and soda and sit in the shade. Then we go through the lost continent, looking around, and to hp to check it out.

It is cool. It is really neat to see if you like the books. We got a butter beer to share, draft, and stood in line for olivanders wand ceremony. Took only 20 minutes. It was very cool. Emily would love this. It made Jodi want a wand!

We browsed in this shop for a bit. Jodi got her wand and a ravenclaw scarf I got Emily the gryffindor scarf. We took the castle tour because Jodi wasn't up to riding anything. After the tour and seeing what the ride seats look like Jodi decided she did not want to ride this. At all! I was still hoping to change her mind.

We went on the flight of the hippograff. As Jodi said, it was like the one at home on the boardwalk (our real boardwalks that the Disney one is modeled after). Except the one at the boardwalk is way way slower. Everything here is intense. Even the kiddie rides!

We went to three broomsticks, got dinner and I got a London pride beer. Yum. By this time it was 8pm and the park was closing. We walked over to city walk and shopped at margaritaville. I got my dad a shirt and Jodi got some shirts. Everything is sized super small. Like Erika would need a 2xl. No joke.

We got back to the room about 9pm and were in bed by 10. And thus ends the first day!

#2 - #2 - I want part deux. So wonderfully written my little IEP. INTENSELY INTERESTING PERSON! EDIT: Let's go with INTERESTING EXCITING PERSON as I obviously have no brain power today. Although I preferred the first - So IIP, it is!

I've been to the flagship Universal - Los Angeles but never Orlando. Must do.

I loved the "no idea what to expect". Great feeling of anticipation.

Originally Posted by Twoboysnmygirl

Cannot wait to hear more!!!!! My problem is that I'm only interested in HP and I'm not sure it's worth getting Universal park tickets just for the HP area. Was it bigger or smaller than you thought?

We are recovering from sick yucky stuff here. At least we got that out of the way before Christmas, right?

So, I'm feeling a bit off b/c I haven't run or exercised since Friday morning. Oh, my mission this morning is Taylor Swift concert tickets. This should be fun...

Megan, I hope the wedding was magical!!!

Lisa, you are rockin it, I think your reasoning for leaving WW makes perfect sense. BTW, did I ever tell you that I love when you look at my photos on FB? You always give me such great feedback and I feel like you really SEE what I'm trying to capture.

I ADORE your pictures. They are so breathtaking.

Thanks on the WW. I will stall for awhile for sure. I've yet to substitute the walk and I'll be less on so to speak. But that's life and that's the best thing to get. Also, I've checked it out - he is still there - no clue what is going on with our leader. Big deal for me. They acted like it as nothing and might become a couple of months at this point. I couldn't add debt and hate the meeting at the same time. Will see if she comes back. I really enjoyed her. Some things are not me at WW but I enjoyed her so!

Originally Posted by AKASnowWhite

I think it's hilarious too

I'm drifting right now. Lacking focus in EVERYTHING. It's awful. Too many things cluttering my brain these days. <bleh> not the least of which is this horrific weight gain I've managed to accomplish.

Anyway - Universal! We like it. We don't love it like Disney, that's for sure - but there's a lot to like. There's also a lot that seems like they need to try a little harder but HP! They really nailed it there.

Karen - Do you belong to Costco? I bought Universal passes there. They are 3 day passes (both parks included) that DON'T EXPIRE! I want to say they were about $150 each. We used one day on our trip last March, and we'll use another in January.

Nancy - I've missed you.

Hang on Nancy. Any Becca decisions to share?

________________________

I'm pretty proud of myself. I'm hanging on. It's been a difficult month. Bawled going through boxes and boxes of Christmas past (parents long story - Dad has always hated Christmas and they now have a smaller place). And Mom had written ten/fifteen years ago - this is to go to _______when the time comes and where it was bought - who made it - what year. And I had no clue the extent she did this - I remember her asking what I wanted many moons ago and I brushed her off as I found it morbid and didn't want any part of it. So it was overwhelming plus some notes - I can't even tell you my father made it difficult with his ways and emotions himself. Some might be missing. She fell again but is okay. The falling sounds horrendous online but I can guarantee you that it's better than the alternative. She's losing muscle at rapid speed because she uses a walker and doesn't move as much and that affects balance. AND REMINDS US ALL HOW IMPORTANT IT IS - me too.

And - I know - this might make some of you uncomfortable - but I have to choose myself here and not worry about it and vent. My sister - God love her - took all the old home movies (old reel films to CD) - I'm in very few of them because I'm a gap child (youngest) and for one of the split seconds I'm on there my pedophile uncle is grabbing my arm trying to get me closer to him in a scene and I look down and over and don't move an inch at all. This scene leaves me somewhere between throwing up and cheering. Sighing. It's a can't seem to catch my breath since I've seen it. It's so apparent. I was around 7 or 8 and already knew enough to play statue- as I knew from much much younger - I'm just processing. My sister warned me it was in there. And I thought "okay - I'm good - I'll just deal". But seeing it on film as opposed to photographs was just not what I imagined. So anyway - I'm dealing and *okay* and that's great. My sister is not sensitive enough to have figured out how to edit it out. She's just not that girl and I mean that without any malice. Plus, my brother - well since he's so sick it's hard to see his bright shiny face in some ways- he was so full of life as a young boy. So full of life. It's lovely and unnerving at the same time. There's one scene of Christmas morning and he takes one my sisters and leads her to her doll for her to see (she's a toddler). It's so beautiful. And my mom ......okay I'm stopping now. Obviously I'm having QUITE the day!

Okay - enough.

Hope everyone is good. And CAN NOT WAIT for part deux Liz and all of Megan's fun.

[lisaviolet]

Oh some happy news. I have had a pre-Christmas dinner and movie day here for years on end. And we had it and it was wonderful.

And the best! I cooked but Jean baked a few of my mom's recipes (shortbread, butter tarts and Christmas pudding - sometimes called carrot pudding - with brandy sauce) and it went well and made everyone so happy.

I asked Mom yesterday if she missed baking. Yes, she said. Very quickly answered. Do you miss cooking? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, she said. Very quickly answered.

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Oh Lisa! So so hard. I cannot imagine how all tgaf must feel right now. Sending you huge hugs!

Had a hard weekend and I also have some sort of pinched nerve in my shoulder blade causing stabbing pain. I'm on my phone so I will leave it at that...but I'm reading!!

[AKASnowWhite]

Lisa now *I'm* sighing. So much to process.

Becca decisions. Well. Yes, no, maybe. Depends on what exactly we are talking about. Much has happened here in the last month - much of which has been tough to swallow. Perhaps that's one of the reasons I've been so absent after promising myself I was going to be back here regularly. Checking in, taking care of ME and all that jazz.

Let's see. She quit her job at the orchard and starts a new job on Wednesday. She's not likely going to have much more in the way of hours or have a significant difference in her pay, but she too had reached her breaking point with some of the things that were happening. So, she left while she could still do so on good terms.

College search. That's the harder one. Her primary focus had been on finding a school where she was close enough (under 90 minute drive) to home that she could come home on weekends and continue to work with her voice teacher. Well, her voice teacher has been battling a very aggressive form of liver cancer for several years now - rather successfully. Various chemos and radiations and her only real complaint was that one of her chemo drugs gave her hives. Recently things have really taken a very, very bad turn. The chemo is no longer working and the Dr's have taken her off treatment. This is truly the beginning of the end for her.

So Becca. yeah. It's been rough. Really rough. She's looking at a couple additional schools - one that has a vocal coach that her teacher highly recommends (and there are 3. THREE. other teachers in the New England/New York area that her teacher would trust her with. THREE). And another school that is just outside NYC and is much more focused on performing arts than the others she is considering.

And next week she auditions for Oklahoma! so, that should (hopefully) be fun.

[lisaviolet]

Originally Posted by Twoboysnmygirl

Oh Lisa! So so hard. I cannot imagine how all tgaf must feel right now. Sending you huge hugs!

Had a hard weekend and I also have some sort of pinched nerve in my shoulder blade causing stabbing pain. I'm on my phone so I will leave it at that...but I'm reading!!

Eff that shoulder blade! Eff that!

Thanks Karen.

On the phone makes me laugh. You guys are going to think I live on Little House on the Prairie. I don't even have a cellphone. Well that's a lie - I have one but only for work. No one knows the number but Jean and even then I don't use it for every day life. I don't know what Amy and Amiee would do with me.

Originally Posted by AKASnowWhite

Lisa now *I'm* sighing. So much to process.

Becca decisions. Well. Yes, no, maybe. Depends on what exactly we are talking about. Much has happened here in the last month - much of which has been tough to swallow. Perhaps that's one of the reasons I've been so absent after promising myself I was going to be back here regularly. Checking in, taking care of ME and all that jazz.

Let's see. She quit her job at the orchard and starts a new job on Wednesday. She's not likely going to have much more in the way of hours or have a significant difference in her pay, but she too had reached her breaking point with some of the things that were happening. So, she left while she could still do so on good terms.

College search. That's the harder one. Her primary focus had been on finding a school where she was close enough (under 90 minute drive) to home that she could come home on weekends and continue to work with her voice teacher. Well, her voice teacher has been battling a very aggressive form of liver cancer for several years now - rather successfully. Various chemos and radiations and her only real complaint was that one of her chemo drugs gave her hives. Recently things have really taken a very, very bad turn. The chemo is no longer working and the Dr's have taken her off treatment. This is truly the beginning of the end for her.

So Becca. yeah. It's been rough. Really rough. She's looking at a couple additional schools - one that has a vocal coach that her teacher highly recommends (and there are 3. THREE. other teachers in the New England/New York area that her teacher would trust her with. THREE). And another school that is just outside NYC and is much more focused on performing arts than the others she is considering.

And next week she auditions for Oklahoma! so, that should (hopefully) be fun.

I meant college. What kind of new job?

How are you doing without your position? How is it Nancy?



Her teacher. That's so sad. I'm so sorry to hear. Becca must be feeling so much. I'm so sorry for both of you. And her - what a shock for her teacher. Sighing. (Love to you Liz)

Hard. Sighing.

____________________

Oklahoma! It's just one after another, eh? Nice. I have a question. Is there a school that she wanted at any point where she would be away from home and her voice teacher? Or was it always a done deal on needing to be with her for her career. Simple curiosity.

Oh Nancy! Jean just got another part. The play is called The Dude in the Nude. She plays three different parts. Hopefully not body parts! She's so excited. Community theatre again - different group from last time.

Also Nancy - how is that little rascal cat doing? I guess he's a cat now, eh? What kind of business has he been in?

[lisaviolet]

Karen - Rey doing any better? Any changes?

Oh I forgot to say this on fb. I'm so sorry about your clients. What a shock for them and for you.

Frankie had a litter brother that he was with since birth. (OMG! Look at that sentence. Laughing. It makes NO sense - like they were separated at birth or something - no brain today! )They did everything together. And since we've always lived in such small places - well really together. And after he died Frankie stayed in a closet for weeks and weeks and then cried at night - different meow - a call they used on each other. He was awful. It was awful. Just howled. It was hard to watch. Hence the arrival of Neville the devil. I lasted six months.

Anyway, I think they made the right choice with the dogs. Not that there is an easy answer. But Frankie was healthy as a horse and he was in such pain for so long without Billie. I can't imagine.

I'm sorry Karen.

[SeptemberGirl]

Lisa - read it all. Took it in. Lots to say but nothing that works on a message board. Kwim? So, girl, I am BEARING WITNESS for you. Because I am too far away to do something else I am bearing witness to the pain and joy and struggle and ease. Your life. I see and acknowledge what you say. The smiley for this one...well, what is the smiley for this one? We need that smiley.

[SeptemberGirl]

TR Day 2


We slept in until 8. That's a lot of sleep considering we went to bed early!

We did not want to do the early park thing. We wanted to sit by the pool and go to the parks later. So we headed to get some breakfast and pool time.

We got an excellent egg bacon cheese croissant from the takeaway place. Like perfect. Ate it outside by the pool. Snagged chairs in the sun. Jodi made friends with a couple from NYC.

Overall hard rock impressions take 2. The rooms are nothing special. Very standard. Sure there are rock music pictures on the wall but in our opinion the Radisson in center city Philly is nicer. The bathrooms are just very very plain. Another big not like Disney moment. No turndown service, no plush towels, no truly special touches. You do not stay here for the rooms.

Let me say that Amiee totally prepared me for all this. I'm just giving my impressions. We wouldn't want a change at all. We would stay here again. Just observations.

The pool area is fantastic. Nice soft sand. Plenty of chairs. Great music. You really stay here for the pool and express pass.

Relaxing poolside and being able to skip all the lines is awesome.

We had drinks and snacks and the beachclub food was excellent. We stayed at the pool until 2:30. Then we showered and went back to Studios. We probably got there about 3:30. We grabbed a beer and found the Blues Brothers show. Amiee recommended this and we loved it. We are fans of the blues brothers. This was one of the highlights for me. After the show we hit MIB and the ET ride. I like those storytelling rides the best. And universal isn't into them as much as they are special effects and technology. But I'm a fan of those classic storytelling rides so I honestly probably liked ET the best.

Around this time I developed a massively painful sciatic nerve. Oy baby it hurt. Standing killed. So I was scampering around people because walking sucked but walking fast was my friend. We scampered to IOA. By this time we were hungry.

The first three places we saw to eat in IOA were closed at 4pm. But the park was open until 8pm. I could not get my head around this. Why??? Feed. Me!!!

We went to superhero island to eat pizza. Dominos quality but we didn't care. I limped my way to the bathroom and then dragged Jodi to go on Spider-Man. I liked this ride. Didn't love it. Liked it. I'm just not into screens. Give me a good moving ride any day

Then we went to Seuss landing and rode the two moving rides there. Even the kiddie rides are intense! Cat in the hat, basically pooh but it spins around multiple times. Jodi, remember motion sickness? Yeah. She did not love this. The train trolley one was delightful and offered a nice view of the park.

Hogwarts was next. Jodi stayed with me through the line and veered off at the end to what she called "where the old people and children wait". I did really like this. I smiled through the whole thing. It was fun and interesting. I think she could have done it but those screens, man. They are what messes you up!

We got a frozen butterbeer and we found we prefer the draft. We drank it as we walked out. A survey guy grabbed us and I went in and gave him my very honest impressions of universal. He was trying not to laugh hysterically. We told him it was okay he could laugh.

After that we headed to city walk. I will recap that next!

[SeptemberGirl]

Lisa - i love the IEP initials and I want Jean stories. Tell me what she is up to.

[lisaviolet]

Originally Posted by SeptemberGirl

Lisa - read it all. Took it in. Lots to say but nothing that works on a message board. Kwim? So, girl, I am BEARING WITNESS for you. Because I am too far away to do something else I am bearing witness to the pain and joy and struggle and ease. Your life. I see and acknowledge what you say. The smiley for this one...well, what is the smiley for this one? We need that smiley.

Bawled.

Thank you so much Liz. So beautiful. And yes we do need that smiley.

I'm off to a funeral. It's no one that I'm close to - but people are of course. And that's it - I'm feeling like I don't want to go at all but it's not about me so on my way.

I'm just simply worn down.

Love to all.

Liz, I haven't read part deux yet. And Megan - can't wait!

[AKASnowWhite]

Originally Posted by lisaviolet

I meant college. What kind of new job?

She'll be working at a local deli/cafe. They're open for breakfast & lunch only, so not a lot of weekday hours, but weekends and they also do catering. She starts tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes!

How are you doing without your position? How is it Nancy?

Good mostly. There are days of course where I miss it (well, not the b.s. part, but I really did like most of it!) but I'm working on taking care of ME for a little while, and Becca. I won't have here here much longer <gasp> so I'm enjoying every bit of it. Plus I'm making my soap & helping my SIL with her goat cheese business. My niece is pregnant so my SIL will need me again next spring/summer as much as she did this year. So, all in all, I think things will work out ok for now.

Her teacher. That's so sad. I'm so sorry to hear. Becca must be feeling so much. I'm so sorry for both of you. And her - what a shock for her teacher. Sighing. (Love to you Liz)

Hard. Sighing.

yeah. It's not a pleasant time in life. But. Here's the thing. Her teacher is one of the most amazing, kind, giving, faithful women you could ever have the opportunity to meet. She has been preparing everyone for the inevitable since day 1. She's not afraid to die. Well, let's qualify that a little perhaps. She's not afraid of DEATH. The actual "dying" part? Well, really - who looks forward to that?

It's sad to think of life without her. Losing her will leave a giant hole in so many peoples hearts. And the fact that Becca is so upset is a testament to the wonderful relationship they have. We truly have been blessed to have her in our lives.

There is a song from Wicked - For Good. That's one of the songs that Becca sings with the Tapestry Singers (her voice teachers special peformance group) If you read the lyrics to that song - so profound. Of course it's a slightly different context with Elphaba & Glinda - but wow. Just, wow. "You'll be with me, like a handprint on my heart" <crying now> That's how it is. Just like that.


____________________

Oklahoma! It's just one after another, eh? Nice. I have a question. Is there a school that she wanted at any point where she would be away from home and her voice teacher? Or was it always a done deal on needing to be with her for her career. Simple curiosity.

No, she never had a desire to go far away. No Berkley, no Oklahoma State, not even NYU.


Oh Nancy! Jean just got another part. The play is called The Dude in the Nude. She plays three different parts. Hopefully not body parts! She's so excited. Community theatre again - different group from last time.

I'm not familiar with that one. Could be interesting. Very interesting. Easy costumes I suppose

Also Nancy - how is that little rascal cat doing? I guess he's a cat now, eh? What kind of business has he been in?

ugh. Stupid cat He's sweet enough. But truly stupid. And annoying. And smelly

Originally Posted by SeptemberGirl

But I'm a fan of those classic storytelling rides so I honestly probably liked ET the best.

I love the ET ride!!!

We scampered to IOA.

Scampered. I love that And I can just picture that too

Originally Posted by lisaviolet

I'm just simply worn down.

Yep. Unfortunately I understand that all too well right now.

[poppinspal]

So I got back Sunday night, got home around 12:30, worked 8:30-6 yesterday and today it's 8-3. I feel like I got off the plane and just jumped right back into things here. I will catch up with everyone when I'm home on my computer.

I do want to share quick feelings on Universal. I enjoyed it. Overall I liked the whole part but as a nerdy Harry Potter fan I LOVED WWoHP. I could have literally just hung out there. Like sat there drinking butter beer and watching the world go by, enjoying being in the book. I enjoyed the rest of the park and they do have some crazy roller coasters. I had been told to expect it to be different then WDW but I didn't really know how. It just seems to be lacking on whole theming thing Disney does so well. WWoHP is amazing but outside of that I felt like the theming wasn't great. I think Universal is more relatable to a six flags then a wdw. Even if they continue to expand and expand WWoHP I won't feel the need to go back year after year. Oh but I will say with my AAA I got 10% off everything which was nice. Oh and I got picked to get a wand at Ollivanders but that's a story for a possible trip report.

[lisaviolet]

I'll catch up later with everyone and everything.

Have to run.

Just Nancy. In some ways what you wrote about her music teacher - where's she's at - well in some ways it's truly beautiful. To have that acceptance.

There was a time that I used to play the Wicked soundtrack all the time. For Good is a song that is just emotionally overwhelming and so beautiful all at once. Kat, years back, linked me a rehearsal video with Kristin and Idina - wonderful. I can see what you're saying of how it really speaks here. Not only in words of course but music itself. How tough for you all.

[DisneyGalUK]

Hi Everyone

So, some of you may have noticed that I haven't been posting much lately (or not!! ), and now I'm here to tell you why, in what might be one of the hardest things I've had to write:

Yesterday, my beautiful and fabulously funny mum was diagnosed with breast cancer. She has DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma in Situ). This will mean a mastectomy (possibly a double), and if any of it has found to have spread, then possibly chemotherapy or radiotherapy. The mastectomy will happen in the first week of January.

I'm angry, sad, hurt, rageful, pissed, but most of all, I'm heartbroken. She is my best friend.

However, she (and all of us) have a 'let's get ON THIS, and kick its a$$ attitude. We WILL beat this.

That is all, I'm sorry to unload but you goddesses are fabulous - you listen, let me rant, give great advice and don't blow smoke up my a$$. You are all amazing

I hope you are all well