~A XMAS STORY~decorations, crowds, pixies..AND A BLOODY NOSE~ACTUAL UPDATE 11/9 p190

[FauntleroyFAN07]

we going to come passing through your way this christmas, we will be driving through on the 26th of dec. to FL to see relatives, then coming back on the 1st staying in marietta with my aunt and touring the sites on the 2nd then leaving on the 3rd, going to either stone mountain, underground ATL, or the coca cola plant

 

[MNRMommy]

i'm going to leave you here and return with the rest of our night at epcot! i will have video in the next installment. however, that means i'll have to wait until i get my DVDs back. i sent off my hi-8 tapes to have them converted to DVD about 2 weeks ago so they should be back soon. until then...you'll have to wait!

Sorry if this has already been asked (I'm not totally caught up yet) but do you mind if I ask you where you had this done. I have so many tapes I need converted but it seems like an overwhelming task so they just sit here.

 

[AussieAngel]

Yayyyy, I've finally caught up!!!

We arrived back in Australia on Thursday from our American adventures, and it's taken me way too long to catch up on your trip report, but I'm up to date now! You can proceed now!

We had a fabulous time in Disney World! Although I was constantly full from eating... We did the deluxe dining plan. I've started my dining review, if you fancy a read!

We went to New York for New Years Eve and had an absolute blast. You'll love it!! I can't wait to hear how you like it! I miss it already - I could totally live there, even though it was ridiculously freezing cold! We did Top of the Rock and loved it. We went up the Empire State Building in 2006, and if I was to compare the two, I'd definitely recommend Top of the Rock. Because it's nice to go up the Empire State Building just so you can say, "I went up there!" but it's nicer to go up Top of the Rock (with half the amount of people) and actually see the Empire State Building! Beautiful views!

Make sure you take some time to play in Central Park too. It's such a relaxing place in the middle of a crazily fun city.

Anyway, I totally met those same evil dive-bombing birds near Canada in Epcot too!!! We walked through that area after our Le Cellier lunch, and I grabbed Conan's arm and we made a run for it. Terrifying!!! Not as frightening as the evil birds at SeaWorld though, who literally flew right at us squawking with open mouths, and stole fish from our hands while we were trying to feed the dolphins. Oh my goodness Dawn. Don't do that. It's SO bad. I cried!!! People must have thought I was totally la-la, but you know what it's like when birds attack. I couldn't help it!!

I'm glad to hear your arm is feeling better. Although if my arm fat fell out, I wouldn't want to shove it back in - Ray should have pulled it out instead!! Oh, gross. Sorry.

I think that's enough from me! I've written a novel, sorry!! Thanks for all your fun updates so far!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

we going to come passing through your way this christmas, we will be driving through on the 26th of dec. to FL to see relatives, then coming back on the 1st staying in marietta with my aunt and touring the sites on the 2nd then leaving on the 3rd, going to either stone mountain, underground ATL, or the coca cola plant

Living in ATL, I have to jump in here and give you my two cents' worth -- go to the World of Coke and the Georgia Aquarium (it's right next to the World of Coke). I wouldn't bother with Underground Atlanta these days.

 

[punkin413]

have you guys seen this? it's hilarious!!!! don't watch it with young kids though. it refers to the characters sleeping with the genie.

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/aladdin/945841/

"well, i wish i was dead. but guess what? i already used all my wishes!!!"

Have a great time in Hotlanta....although I bet it's not very hot right now

Talk to you soon....go eat at Cheesecake Factory!!

you're gonna crack up when i tell you where we ate.

A bunch of our teachers are always talking about it, too. One day, we just have to sit down and really start the planning and do it! I hope your girl trip works out, too!

Hello back!

Have a good time! It's fun to go anywhere different just for a change in routine.

girls' trips to NYC are always a good thing!

The Gal who is going with us in Sept. called me yesterday to tell me she just discovered something where you can get pix taken at Disney . She thought she had stumbled on something I didn't know about !! It was funny as I explained Photopass to her and said I had planed for us to split the cost of a cd and told her about all the neat little add ons they do !!

that's too funny! i've had that happen before. someone thinks they're telling me something i don't know about disney and i'm like, "um....do you realize who you're talking to?" the only time i learn anything new about disney is on the disboards!

It sounds like you are in the best kind of location. That's kinda how Toledo is. Except, Toledo sucks, it's cold here and your towns are minutes away, not hours. The unemployment here is growing so badly. Anyway, we are 2 hours from Cleveland, 2 hours from Columbus, 4 hours to Cincinnati, 4 hours to Chicago, and 45 min to Detroit.
I WISH I lived 7.5 hours away. I wouldn't have to worry about airfare that way.
Thanks for answering my questions!

our unemployment is getting bad, too. it's at like 8% right now. just saw that on the news this morning. it's definitely nice not having to fly to disney world. you can buy as much as you want without having to worry about packing it!

Hi! Just read your entire TR so far. I really like your pictures, keep up the good work. Oh and I can't wait to hear about your NYC trip, I LOVE IT THERE!

thanks for joining in!

Yayyyy, I've finally caught up!!!

We arrived back in Australia on Thursday from our American adventures, and it's taken me way too long to catch up on your trip report, but I'm up to date now! You can proceed now!

We had a fabulous time in Disney World! Although I was constantly full from eating... We did the deluxe dining plan. I've started my dining review, if you fancy a read!

hi!!! glad you're home safe. i can't wait to read your dining review! are you doing a TR?

We went to New York for New Years Eve and had an absolute blast. You'll love it!! I can't wait to hear how you like it! I miss it already - I could totally live there, even though it was ridiculously freezing cold! We did Top of the Rock and loved it. We went up the Empire State Building in 2006, and if I was to compare the two, I'd definitely recommend Top of the Rock. Because it's nice to go up the Empire State Building just so you can say, "I went up there!" but it's nicer to go up Top of the Rock (with half the amount of people) and actually see the Empire State Building! Beautiful views!

Make sure you take some time to play in Central Park too. It's such a relaxing place in the middle of a crazily fun city.

cool! what an experience to be there at new year's! i don't know if i could handle the crowds though. i'm excited to go for the first time! and we're definitely gonna go to central park. i want to run through there singing, "how does she know?" from enchanted.

Anyway, I totally met those same evil dive-bombing birds near Canada in Epcot too!!! We walked through that area after our Le Cellier lunch, and I grabbed Conan's arm and we made a run for it. Terrifying!!! Not as frightening as the evil birds at SeaWorld though, who literally flew right at us squawking with open mouths, and stole fish from our hands while we were trying to feed the dolphins. Oh my goodness Dawn. Don't do that. It's SO bad. I cried!!! People must have thought I was totally la-la, but you know what it's like when birds attack. I couldn't help it!!

no way! that's a bummer because i want to go to sea world on our next trip down there and i LOVE the dolphins. maybe i'll wear a big sun hat that day to avoid seeing the birds!

I'm glad to hear your arm is feeling better. Although if my arm fat fell out, I wouldn't want to shove it back in - Ray should have pulled it out instead!! Oh, gross. Sorry.

I think that's enough from me! I've written a novel, sorry!! Thanks for all your fun updates so far!!

i thought about that too, but that arm fat was sort of CONNECTED to my flesh! so it couldn't be pulled off. ugh.....i hate even talking about it! my arm is healing really nicely, though. thanks for saying hello! i'm glad you're reading.

we going to come passing through your way this christmas, we will be driving through on the 26th of dec. to FL to see relatives, then coming back on the 1st staying in marietta with my aunt and touring the sites on the 2nd then leaving on the 3rd, going to either stone mountain, underground ATL, or the coca cola plant

Living in ATL, I have to jump in here and give you my two cents' worth -- go to the World of Coke and the Georgia Aquarium (it's right next to the World of Coke). I wouldn't bother with Underground Atlanta these days.

dan, i was just going to suggest the georgia aquarium but jackie beat me to it! we've never been (i know!) but it's something we really want to do soon. i hear it's REALLY cool. i bet parker would love it! and the last time i was at underground atlanta, about 3 years ago, it was nothing but a bunch of night clubs. it's not a mall any more. not sure if it's still the night club place but i definitely would skip it. it's not much of anything to see.

 

[englishrose47]

Morning Dawn !! Well yesterday same friend called and said her sister in law was telling her she was wrong about the Deluxe plan . So I linked her to allears where it states exactly what I said !! She said she told her SIL I would know for sure !! So she's learning !!

 

[xoktenox]

OMG that video was HILARIOUSSS!

"Well if you hate the Genie so much, why is one of our kids blue?!"

 

[tinkgurl]

HAHA...that Aladdin video was great!

 

[Minnie_Lover08]

hi there,, ive just read your tr and your trip sounded breat except for the rain i cant wait to read all about the rest of trip

 

[jackdis]

OMG. Best laugh I've had all day!!!

 

[End_User-X]

The aladdin clip was pretty funny. I didn't care for the sleeping with the genie part but aladdin was like "some people on this carpet have jobs, ya know!"

 

[troobabiee7]

I cracked up when I saw that clip last weekend, love it!

 

[DisneyLaura]

have you guys seen this? it's hilarious!!!! don't watch it with young kids though. it refers to the characters sleeping with the genie.

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/aladdin/945841/

"well, i wish i was dead. but guess what? i already used all my wishes!!!"

 

[punkin413]

Morning Dawn !! Well yesterday same friend called and said her sister in law was telling her she was wrong about the Deluxe plan . So I linked her to allears where it states exactly what I said !! She said she told her SIL I would know for sure !! So she's learning !!

when will they learn?????

hi there,, ive just read your tr and your trip sounded breat except for the rain i cant wait to read all about the rest of trip

thanks so much for reading!!!

OMG that video was HILARIOUSSS!

"Well if you hate the Genie so much, why is one of our kids blue?!"

HAHA...that Aladdin video was great!

OMG. Best laugh I've had all day!!!

The aladdin clip was pretty funny. I didn't care for the sleeping with the genie part but aladdin was like "some people on this carpet have jobs, ya know!"

I cracked up when I saw that clip last weekend, love it!

glad you guys got a laugh out of that! i was cracking up at it last night.

 

[hlrababy]

thanks! i bet i'm not too far from you. i'm near the airport.

Yep!!! Probably just about 35 minutes from us!!!

We will be in Atlanta next weekend! Chads sister is coming up from Florida to take our niece to see The Killers for part of her Christmas. So.......they are taking me to the concert with them! I don't really listen to them, but it will be cool to hang out with them. Chad is taking our younger niece to our house so she can play and visit with Hollie. Then we are supposed to go to the Aquarium Saturday morning. I am excited because we haven't been there yet!

 

[punkin413]

first off, i wanted to update you guys on my arm since a lot of you had asked. since it's healing well i thought i'd post a pic of it.

i told you the cut wasn't big! it really wouldn't have been that big of a deal if all that stuff didn't pop out! the cut itself is really healing nicely and the bone underneath is almost back to normal. there was a big knot on it but it's going down now. and the arm itself is still pretty sore but it's getting better every day. i no longer cry out in pain when i touch it and i can actually sleep on my right side again.

now that the medical report is done, i figured i'd share some pics with you guys from our weekend in atlanta. we went down to atlanta thursday night because ray's company was giving a seminar down there and he had to be there for the computer setup and maintenance, so i went with him to keep him company. me excited about getting to spend the night away from home! yes, the sunroof is open. it was a pretty day thursday!

we left around 3:30 on thursday and of course hit atlanta traffic. i tried to snap a picture of the cirque du soliel kooza tents as we went by but driving in atlanta traffic and taking pics is not very easy, so i didn't get a very good shot.

the seminar was at the hyatt near the airport, so that's where they had gotten us a room, too. it was a really nice room! i was impressed with space we had. i can't complain - it was free to us!

this TV swiveled so you could see it from the living room or bedroom. and even a little bit in the bath tub!

VERY comfy bed!

ray spent part of thursday night setting up the computers while i worked in the room. we didn't want to go very far for dinner because he had to get up at 6:30 on friday, so we just went to the ruby tuesday's across the street. i got herb-crusted tilapia and a white sangria and it was good! i didn't take food porn pics - i forgot my camera. sorry!

on friday ray had to work so i slept until around 9:00, then got up and had to drive back up the interstate about 50 miles to go to my office and deal with work stuff, then run some errands. i ended up not getting back to atlanta until around 3:30. the seminar ended around 4:45 yesterday and so after ray was done with his stuff, we cleaned up and went out to dinner. ray loves my camera.

we didn't want to spend a lot of money but wanted something decent. so where else do we go but......WOLFGANG PUCK EXPRESS!!!!!

we just can't get away from disney.

we both love this place and remembered that there was one on peachtree street, so we headed straight there.

i didn't want to be too obnoxious with the pictures, so i didn't have my flash on. a blurry picture of the restaurant....

us waiting on our food.....

we ordered a few things and just split everything. we got the BBQ chicken quesadilla....

chinois chicken salad.....

tortilla soup. i love tortilla soup and i've been wanting to try this! that white lump is goat cheese and it was so good once mixed in with the soup!

side of four cheese macaroni....

all of it was SO GOOD!!!!!! we took half the quesadilla and chicken salad back to the room with us.

continued in next post: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=29875958&postcount=617

 

[punkin413]

after that we just looked around the shops in that area a little bit, then headed back to the hotel. we stopped at a liquore store nearby so ray could get some beer and i could get some wine. the liquor store was in kind of a seedy part of town and we were cracking up at this....

GET CRUNK!!!!!!!!!

we also saw some pre-mixed gin and juice. i don't know if you guys know that snoop dogg song, but that's all we could think about after seeing it. "rolling down the street, smoking *sensored*, sippin on gin and juice!"

ray checkin out the gin and juice....

today ray had to get up early again for the second day of the seminar. so i got up around 8:00 and got a little work done. we had to be checked out by noon, so i got the room packed up and the car loaded. i had 4 hours to kill because the seminar wasn't over until 4:30, so i decided to head to a new mall downtown called atlantic station. everyone's been gushing over it and i haven't been yet.

once i got there, i was hungry so i ate at doc green's. i got a portobello mushroom panini and a cup of tortilla cheese soup. again, no flash as not to be obvious. at disney i don't care about taking food porn pics but in the real word i try to be discreet!

that's SUPPOSED to be a panini, but it wasn't. it wasn't grilled! the cheese wasn't even melted.

oh, well. the veggies on it were good and the soup was good so i was okay. after that i walked around a bit and decided i really didn't like the mall. everything was outside and today was a cold, kinda drizzly day. so unless you're having nice weather, you're not going to have much fun at this mall. i was thinking there would be some stuff inside, but nope. that's the one thing i like about shopping: it can be done rain or shine! but not here. i probably won't be back unless i'm with someone else who wants to go.

i decided to head to ikea. i knew there was one close by and i've never been to one before and have heard wonderful things. so i (finally) found a map of the area and found an arrow pointing towards ikea, so i head that direction. i saw this on the way and thought it was pretty....

i turned right on 17th street, walked a little ways and finally saw ikea in the distance.....ABOUT A MILE DOWN THE ROAD!!!!! i was wearing boots with heels. fun. there's a free shuttle you can take around the area but i didn't know where the stop was so i just decided to walk. i took that pic above at 12:40 and i ended up getting to ikea at 1:00. 20 minutes for a mile in heels - not bad.

i took these on the way. at least i had cool stuff to look at!

you can see the ikea in the distance in this one....

finally i made it to that glorius blue building....

me happy that i'm almost there....

okay.....my main observation about ikea: IT'S GINORMOUS. they need to put a warning about how big it is outside the building before you enter. the warning also needs to tell you that you should wear comfortable sneakers and cool clothes (as in not hot because that place was like an oven) and that you need to take an entire day to go through it! seriously. it's like touring a disney park or something! i gave up after about 2 hours. i did get some good deals though. i got a magnetic knife strip thing, small canisters to stick to it (to put garlic, spices, etc. in), a rack to put on the inside of my cabinets for lids to pots and pans, a lint roller and a 4-pack refill, a 100-pack of tealight candles, a very nice pair of kitchen shears and a baby blanket for my soon-to-be niece all for $30.

i decided to catch the free shuttle back to where i was parked. i didn't realize that the shuttle went back into midtown atlanta (on the opposite side of the interstate) and when we stopped near a marta station, everyone got off except for me and one other guy, then the bus filled back up with new people.

i was sitting on the row in front of the back row and a man that looked like he was homeless got on and sat in the back row right behind me. i don't mean to be rude or mean but he smelled so bad that i had to kind of stick my head discreetly down in my bag to avoid getting sick. after everyone got on the bus the driver motioned for him to come back up to the front and when he did, she said something to him that i couldn't hear. he turned around, flipped us all off and said, "DUCK ALL OF Y'ALL! whoever complained, duck you!!!" except he didn't say duck. i think you know what he said. the driver told him that he wouldn't be allowed to ride again and he asked why. she said because he had used obscenity like that. he said, "but i don't understand why i'm any different than them." i felt kinda bad for him but then again that wasn't the best way to handle that situation. the driver told him that if he had an issue, he could've said something to her but because he did what he did, he wouldn't be allowed back on. he got off and headed down the street, cussing and throwing his hands up in the air the whole time.

anyway, that was interesting! at least atlanta is good for some entertainment. i felt sorry for the guy but the smell really was just horrible. everyone on the bus said something after he got off.

i FINALLY made it back to where my car was and then when i was leaving i came out right where the cirque du soliel tents were set up....

funny how my mickey antenna topper got in this picture!

here are the trailers all line up....

i snapped this from behind when i saw that lady walking....a performer maybe?

i really want to see this show but we're trying to save money and pay off some bills, so it's not practical. i'm sure we'll see the one at disney some day!

after that i went back to the hotel and then ray and i left a little while later and now i'm home! not a very exciting trip but it was a nice distraction from the norm.

hope you guys are having a good weekend so far!

 

[punkin413]

Yep!!! Probably just about 35 minutes from us!!!

We will be in Atlanta next weekend! Chads sister is coming up from Florida to take our niece to see The Killers for part of her Christmas. So.......they are taking me to the concert with them! I don't really listen to them, but it will be cool to hang out with them. Chad is taking our younger niece to our house so she can play and visit with Hollie. Then we are supposed to go to the Aquarium Saturday morning. I am excited because we haven't been there yet!

OMG....NO WAY!!!!! I'M GOING TO THAT SHOW!!!!!!!!! very cool! where are your seats? anna has our tickets but i'll find out where our seats are. maybe we can meet before the show? just depends on what time we get there, i guess. i LOVE the killers! they are the only band that i NEED to see that i haven't yet. i'm so excited!

 

[englishrose47]

Great Update !! I accidently increased ize to 125% ad couldn't figure outwhy you had these huge pix !
Anyway I am planning on an early night , not feeling to well!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

That clip was hilarious!!! I can't wait to show Charles -- he will get a kick out of it, too!

I am very jealous that you and Heather are headed to The Killers concert! Chelsea and I LOVE their music! Over Christmas one of our songs on the iPod was their "Don't Shoot Me, Santa" -- not to mention all of their other stuff.

Your pictures from the liquor store cracked me up!!!

Wasn't IKEA crazy??? I have to be in the right frame of mind to tackle the store -- the first time I went with a friend, I called my mom and said, "It's like Disney World for home decorating." Next time, bring home a big tray of their cinnamon rolls from the food area -- they are delicious!