Geeks on a budget - 12/22, complete! Read reflections within....

[Tink rules]

Sarah is actually transparent.



Thanks Tammie!

In somewhat related trip news, I snagged an extra battery for our digital camera today on ebay for $9, including shipping and handling. Now we won't miss a thing. Unless we're too tipsy to point the camera with any accuracy.

Yes, but Sarah will live longer than us with her SPF 1000!!!

& Erica...

Darling....

STOP SPENDING BEFORE THE TRIP!!!!!!

You're going to be the broke geeks by the time your done!!!

 

[silversae]

Darling....

STOP SPENDING BEFORE THE TRIP!!!!!!

You're going to be the broke geeks by the time your done!!!

It's funny you should mention that. Just this weekend I was teasing Lionel that by the time they're done "sampling" and perfecting what they want to bring, they'll have spent as much as they would have on the cruise buying drinks that someone else prepared for them *grin*

..However in all fairness this means that they're not only getting to drink ON the boat, but before the boat with all the taste testing.

 

[Tink rules]

I'm just hoping they don't have one incredible hangover before the trip!!

 

[Mozart]

I'm just hoping they don't have one incredible hangover before the trip!!

I think the ginger chews alone will cost as much as the cruise.

 

[Disneygrl36]

Loving all the intense booze planning going on here.
In related news.......this past weekend we celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville NC. They have a dueling piano bar (which are so very fun IMHO). So I had 5 count them 5 cosmo's & for the first time in my 39 year old life was wayyyyyyyyyy drunk. Now I have been tipsy before but nothing like this. Needless to say, I was not feeling so good 15 minutes after getting back to our room & was wishing I had thought to pack some ginger chews for the next morning.......BUT MAN DID I EVER HAVE FUN...... I don't think I will be drinking cosmo's anytime soon though .

 

[zweihund]

Be sure you post THAT video

I personally think any drunk video taping is WAY better then the actual taping that was originally intended. Just like drunken picture taking LOL

What happens on the Wonder STAYS on the Wonder!
Not really, because I write about it mercilessly.....

Yes, but Sarah will live longer than us with her SPF 1000!!!

& Erica...

Darling....

STOP SPENDING BEFORE THE TRIP!!!!!!

You're going to be the broke geeks by the time your done!!!

It's funny you should mention that. Just this weekend I was teasing Lionel that by the time they're done "sampling" and perfecting what they want to bring, they'll have spent as much as they would have on the cruise buying drinks that someone else prepared for them *grin*

..However in all fairness this means that they're not only getting to drink ON the boat, but before the boat with all the taste testing.

what?

I'm just hoping they don't have one incredible hangover before the trip!!

I think the ginger chews alone will cost as much as the cruise.

Loving all the intense booze planning going on here.
In related news.......this past weekend we celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville NC. They have a dueling piano bar (which are so very fun IMHO). So I had 5 count them 5 cosmo's & for the first time in my 39 year old life was wayyyyyyyyyy drunk. Now I have been tipsy before but nothing like this. Needless to say, I was not feeling so good 15 minutes after getting back to our room & was wishing I had thought to pack some ginger chews for the next morning.......BUT MAN DID I EVER HAVE FUN...... I don't think I will be drinking cosmo's anytime soon though .

I don't even think I could handle 3 cosmos!

 

[Mozart]

In related news.......this past weekend we celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville NC. They have a dueling piano bar (which are so very fun IMHO).

Getting a little off subject here, but where is the dueling piano bar in Grove Park? We always get stuck at the bar by the big fireplace in the lobby. And if you ever get the chance, eat at Horizons. That place is up there with Victoria and Albert's. Actually, if I had to pick one, I'd probably say Horizons is better.

Of course, for all we know, you went there that weekend. You just don't remember.

 

[Disneygrl36]

I don't even think I could handle 3 cosmos!

Well I now know that I should never, ever drink that many out. My DH mixes the drinks at home & he mixes them weak for me.....he was fine with 5 drinks there because he said he thought his mai tai's were a little weak, but not so my cosmo's. What makes us think we need just 1 more when we should have stopped at 2 or 3?????? I was quite but still remember the evening in a fond manner.

Getting a little off subject here, but where is the dueling piano bar in Grove Park? We always get stuck at the bar by the big fireplace in the lobby. And if you ever get the chance, eat at Horizons. That place is up there with Victoria and Albert's. Actually, if I had to pick one, I'd probably say Horizons is better.

Of course, for all we know, you went there that weekend. You just don't remember.

We did not make it to Horizons. We looked at the menu...but had already made ressies for Sunset Terrace for Friday night & had afternoon tea at Chelseas in Biltmore Village Saturday so didn't want a big dinner Saturday night.
Elaine's is on the very bottom level of the Vanderbilt Wing & it is GREAT!!!! We spent Friday night in the Great Hall bar, but really had a BLAST in Elaine's. Try it out sometime.

Sorry for the hijack Erica.

 

[zweihund]

You may hijack all you want, as long as you are talking about subjects that are close to my heart. Like drinking and eating.

 

[Tink rules]

You may hijack all you want, as long as you are talking about subjects that are close to my heart. Like drinking and eating.

and cruising....

 

[zweihund]

and cruising....

Update coming soon.....I've been distracted by video games. It happens.

Shush, Sarah

 

[zweihund]

Trippie in a pre-trippie installment take ten: the day we never got to ride Soarin.

As I might have previously mentioned, I had made dinner reservations at the Rose and Crown at Epcot where I have previously only ever had a pint and the cheese plate. Our reservations were for 6:30, so we figured we would take our time this morning getting to the park. We had a lazy morning, full of pancakes and more video games.

If I were president, that is how every house in America would start the day.

I should give a little background here…..Sarah, love her as we do, has never been impressed with Epcot. “It’s just not my favorite park,” she says. We replied “BLASPHEMY!!!!” and demanded that she try it again. After all, they sell alcoholic slushies. How could you possibly go wrong?

Oh, and one more thing. Inspired by oybolshoi, I have selected a special drink to accompany me during my TR writing session. I will share it with you now:

Take two teaspoons of Scottish Blend loose leaf tea, preferably JUST delivered to your front door by the UPS man who you were starting to worry had gotten lost on the way to your house as the site declared your package had been in transit for nearly 12 hours, and drop it into a giant Stitch mug full of boiling water. Steep for 4-5 minutes, then strain and add one ice cube.

Ahhhh.

Seriously, it would have been O’Maras. But then the man in brown made good on his promise. Sweet, sweet loose leaf tea. I adore you.

You still here?
Good.

Sarah agreed to give Epcot another try on one condition: that we ride Soarin as many times as they would let us on.

At home, over pancakes: I wanna ride Soarin!

Pulling out of the driveway: I wanna ride Soarin!

Walking through the gates: I wanna ride Soarin!

Upon entering the park, we headed immediately for Soarin, promising that we would get a fastpass as our first order of business, and that we would also get in line if the wait was under an hour.

They were already out of fastpasses.

CURSES!

If you’ve never seen a Canadian cry, well, count yourself lucky. Sarah loves Soarin, but even she won’t stand in line for 120 minutes. I was hoping a trip to the Living Seas to see the Monkfish might cheer her up, so we strolled over that way, heads hanging low.

I love the waiting area for the clam-mobiles, with all of its beachy goodness and underwater vibe. The line moved quickly, and we were very much enjoying the scenery as well as the air conditioning. Sarah’s spirits seemed to be lifting.

If you’ve never ridden in a clam-mobile, it’s great. If you’re under 6 feet tall. It was a tight fit for Lionel, but being the shorty of the household I was rather comfortable as we glided through the jellyfish, past Bruce, and finally to the aquarium where the images of the Nemo characters are projected in behind the glass. It is amazing!

Lionel and I in our sweet ride. He is waaaay scrunched:

If you look closely, you will see that I am wearing my new $7 Sarah Jessica Parker shirt....

I’ve always loved the Living Seas. There are just so many cool things all in the same small area! Manatees, sea turtles, dolphins, and lots of really huge, really ugly looking fish giving you the hairy eyeball. I’ve been stared down by them more than once, and they win every single time. I also love the Monkfish, and their freaky beard-like tentacles. Fun stuff!

We spent about an hour roaming around, and trying to elbow the children in Bruce’s mouth out of the way so that we could get a picture but no dice. Those are some tough kids in there.

Back out in the blinding sun and sweltering heat, we did the next best thing to riding Sorain – we headed for the Margarita stand!

Up next: Mexican pavillion, why have we never visited you? Oh yeah, because you’re kind of odd.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

How could you not like the slushy's and margaritas You might even enjoy Maelstrom and Rio de Tiempo if you make a stop for both!

 

[zweihund]

How could you not like the slushy's and margaritas You might even enjoy Maelstrom and Rio de Tiempo if you make a stop for both!

 

[zweihund]

This post is brought to you by the letter “O”.

“O”, as in “O’Mara’s” which is what I have been drinking. I almost feel like I should leave the typos, just to give you the true feeling here.

First and foremost, I would like to say:

Our vacation begins in 54 days! Wheeeeeee! It seems like almost yesterday that we made the reservation. It seems like almost yesterday that we made our Palo reservations. And, it seems like almost yesterday that we were at Epcot, sans Soarin passes, sweating or little butts off and heading for Mexico! Which is where the next portion of our tale ends. I mean, begins. Continues? Whatever.

So, there we were. Parched. Nemo-d out. Desperate to escape Brazil, which had convened in the area directly outside of the Living Seas. We were hot; we were thirsty. What else would we do but grab margaritas?

Lionel and I differ greatly in the area of preferred beverage. I love anything sweet, and he prefers dry. What usually happens when we get to Mexico is that I buy a strawberry or mango margarita, and he takes sips and complains that they are too sweet. I offer to buy him a lime flavor every single time, but he always declines. In truth, I think he prefers the sissy flavors and is trying to save face.
Anyhow.

Cameron and I grabbed an $8 margarita. No one else was thirsty. I turned to look the other way, and when I turned back Cameron’s was gone. The man apparently has no cranial nerves. I dutifully tried to down mine as quickly as possible, but despite what you may think after reading of my alcoholic escapades to date, I am very much a lightweight. Alcohol and sun? Headache.

We wandered into the Mexico pavilion, which is a place I have only been to once. I believe I was fifteen, and I’m pretty sure I was in the ninth grade. All I recall is that there was an indoor market and a simulated night sky.

Once inside, I wondered if I had been merely ten inches tall when I was fifteen, because the place was about ¼ of the size that I remembered. And yet, the Daffy Duck maracas remained exactly the same…..I guess 1990 was a good year.

Do the math.

Fountain photos. I’m not even drunk yet! But I look it. I always do.

Once I finally finished nursing my beverage, we hopped on the little boat ride. I have never done this before. In fact, I had no idea there was even a boat ride in Mexico. I liken it to a cross between It’s a Small World and a trip down Route 66. It was cute, but mostly it was weird.

Does anyone else think it’s strange that we had a boat ride photo, and hardly any of the rest of the attractions? Maybe it’s because it’s hard to hold a camera and a drink at the same time.

After the boat ride, we did the traditional walk around the lagoon. And we found……

Alcoholic tea-slushies! In China! Right in front of the acrobat show! Which we ignored! For icy booze!

We have no photos of said booze, but let’s just say that it only lasted until we got to the German pavilion. Where we bought a pretzel. It was like Food and Wine fest all over again.

The rest of the World Showcase is a bit of a blur, except that I’m pretty sure we went to the gift shop in Japan (where I probably resisted buying a very expensive teapot, like I do every single time we visit) and I know for certain there was a pomegranate Kir consumed by yours truly. The exchange between myself and the CM went something like this:

Me: I would like a pomegranate Kir please.
Her: (in lovely French accent) you have had eet before, no?
Me: (in crass southern accent) yup!
Her: ah, zen you know!
Me: heck yeah, sistah friend!

It was gone by the time we arrived at Britain. You should expect no less.

Next, a trip to the tea store, and pudding!

 

[Disneygrl36]

Tea & pudding coming up next....I love the English.

You will be proud to know Erica that I am behaving myself after my piano bar escapades of last weekend. Only 1-2 drinks this weekend for me.

I can't believe how close your trip is getting already & mine isn't far behind. I wish we were taking the same cruise.....we could be sista's in martini drinks.

 

[silversae]

I have to say...that the slushie we had in China is probably the best damn alcoholic slushie i've ever had.

And while I will admit that Epcot and i aren't the best of friends, I certainly don't HATE it...though i've decided it does hate ME, what with the whole soarin' thing.

47 more days till I arrive in orlando! Wasn't I just there?

and the picture from the boat ride? I liked the skeletons. *grin*

 

[zweihund]

I have to say...that the slushie we had in China is probably the best damn alcoholic slushie i've ever had.

And while I will admit that Epcot and i aren't the best of friends, I certainly don't HATE it...though i've decided it does hate ME, what with the whole soarin' thing.

47 more days till I arrive in orlando! Wasn't I just there?

and the picture from the boat ride? I liked the skeletons. *grin*

I say you should come for a little weekend trip to get your fix. Budget, schmudget! It'll be like the $5 milkshake in Pulp Fiction......the $500 slushie

 

[zweihund]

Epcot installment number x within the trippie within a pre-trippie blah blah blah:

We have an ADR!

After hearing so much talk on the boards about these things, I started to feel like a bad Floridian. How many years have we lived here? How many years have we been annual passholders? HOW often do we go to Disney? The answer is “a lot” – to all three.

Now, how many times have we actually eaten dinner at a nice restaurant on property? I could probably count on my hands:

Flying Fish, back in 2000, as part of a work event.
Yachtsman Steakhouse, around 2001, for my birthday (Lionel used to work there).
Does House of Blues count? Once or twice for lunch over the years.
Alfredo di Roma, in 2005….oh wait, that was lunch. But we had alcohol, so it counts.
Teppanyaki, with some friends, in 2006.

Yep. We’re total slackers.

So how excited was I when we got to walk right up to the counter at the Rose and Crown and respond “yes, we certainly do” when asked if we had a reservation? Almost excited enough to not notice the fact that the entire reservation area was covered in a green tarp. And that the outside seating had been closed off. Oh, and it had rained? Where the heck were we?

And as an aside, I totally forgot to mention in my last installment that we did indeed go on the Maelstrom in the Norway pavilion. After that, we launched into a serious discussion over which boat ride was weirder or had the less efficient debarkation.
I digress, yet again. Back to Britain.

So yes, it had rained on and off pretty much all day, but we had been lucky enough to avoid all major downpours by getting on strange rides and staying pleasantly buzzed. Except, I think I was the only one who was buzzed at this point. The tarps were weighted down by tiny rivers of water and the CMs were coaxing the streams off the back end of their makeshift shelter in between bearing the bad news that they were not taking walk-ins at this time.

The harried-looking CM who waited on us was very apologetic that they were running behind, and asked us if we would mind waiting for a few minutes. We said no problem, and commenced our favorite park activity next to drinking and eating around the world: people watching.

Observation: when people, specifically Americans, do not get exactly what they want right when they want it? They get really rude. A woman near us asked if they could take her party of four. When the CM informed her that due to the rain and the subsequent closure of the patio dining, they did not have room for anyone who did not have a reservation, she was less than pleased:

Woman: well, where am I supposed to eat then?
CM: well, you can check any of the restaurants to see if they are taking walk-ups.
Woman: well, where?
CM: err, I know the American pavilion has a nice restaurant.
Woman: WE’RE AMERICAN.
Me, internally: you don’t say?
CM: err…..
Woman: we don’t want AMERICAN food.
CM: (squeaking) fish and chips?

The woman turned to her family and announced loudly “they won’t take us here, we don’t have RESERVATIONS.” I’m fairly certain that they could hear her in Canada and in France. She turned back to the CM, and sneered.

Yeah, lady. Because that sort of behavior ALWAYS gets you a seat.

I felt very bad for the poor CM who was just trying to do her best to keep things running smoothly. She had the patience of a saint, because most of the other folks who wanted to eat there were only slightly friendlier than American Lady.

I turned to look the other way and noticed the store of my dreams: the Twinnings tea store! Eeeeee! Sarah and I left the boys people-watching with the buzzer and we headed for the land of leaves. I am a self-confessed tea junkie. In fact, the entire bottom shelf of my glassware cabinet is full of assorted teas: blacks, blends, greens, oolongs in a variety of tins and bags. I would estimate roughly that I have a minimum of 20 varieties in the cupboard, and that is with the enormous amount of restraint that I practice every time I go anywhere that sells it. I also have about 10 teapots, which seems like a pitiful number compared with the amount of available wall space we have in the dining room.

Well, the Twinnings store is fantastic. If you like tea, it is a great place to grab a few nice blends to try at home. I’ve always liked the Twinnings Earl Grey, and their black teas are nice and smooth. They also sell lots of teaware which looked very pretty and delicate. Oh, and British sweets! I love British candy. I spent three years in Scotland and their “cheap” candy bar chocolate is so much richer than Hersheys. I recommend the Aero and the Flake. *insert thumbs-up here*

After resisting a purchase of a special anniversary edition tin of leaves, informing Sarah that I already had way to much tea at home (and she agreed), we returned to the boys who were still waiting patiently for our buzzer to ring.

Up next: we gorge! Did you expect any less?

 

[zweihund]

And, other somewhat-related news.....

I can't remember if I mentioned it here or not, but apparently last time I ordered swimwear from Newport News? Which, by the way, has excellent quality for the price as long as you are willing to overlook the occasional gold lame one-piece. Anyhow, they had enrolled me in some frequent buyer program that I am pretty sure I demanded they credit back to my card. But about a week ago, I got a card in the mail with a $19.80 certificate as a reimbursement of my membership fee.

Last time I bought anything there was about a year ago. For our LAST cruise.

Anyhow, sweet!

I've been poking around on the site here and there but so far I can't find anything I need or want. I'm trying to pick something cruise-worthy, since it counts under the "budget" heading, but aren't four bathing suits enough? Or no? Hmmm. I will keep searching.

And in budget-related though slightly less cruise-related news, I have found the most WONDERFUL tea site ever: The English Tea Store. I would like to personally recommend the Buckingham Palace Garden Party Blend which is a steal at less than $4 for 4oz (otherwise known as a good-sized bag of tea) and tastes like a little piece of luxury. Grab some clotted cream and some scone mix while you are shopping, and you can pretend you are at afternoon tea on the Magic.



51 days until we sail! And 47 days until Sarah arrives.