Two Chicks and...a Mouse!~ADRs, a wedding, and Property Virgins? 9.25.09

[jewels1916]

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. 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]

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!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Figment was "like the best part of the ride." 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]

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.

Figment was "like the best part of the ride." 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]

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]

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]

Entry number 2 from the October 1999 Disney Trip!

Oh, but first, some pics!

This is the notebook where my antique trip report was discovered.

Cute handwriting ....it's improved in the past ten years, although my handwriting is still fat and loopy.

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.

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!

 

[TxRabbit]

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! 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.

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?

 

[tinkerbell87512]

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. Keep us updated on the flight situation!


Ohhhhh and Congratulations on the job!!!!!!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

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

Dallas Time...

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]

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! It sounds like a great job!

 

[jewels1916]

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! 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...

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. Keep us updated on the flight situation!


Ohhhhh and Congratulations on the job!!!!!!!

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! 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.

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?

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]

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]

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]

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.

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

 

[TxRabbit]

So what happens next in our life??

Well...your college steady proposes!

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!!

Loving this! Keep 'em comin!

 

[Charleston Princess]

I am still using multiple exclamation points!

 

[HoneyLSU]

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]

I am still using multiple exclamation points!

Me too!!!

 

[autumnpalm]

Me too!!!

Me three!

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. Looking forward to your next entry!