This photo was taken shortly after 7am on my birthday. Mom was a good sport and humored me by getting to the Magic Kingdom nice and early. In the first hour we rode Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan and the Little Mermaid. A great start to what woudl be a great birthday. Continue reading

Cole is th son of a close family friend. My mom worked with his grandma for many years and are still friends today. I've known his Aunt since I was little, going to the babysitter together to graduating high school together. Cole's mom is two years younger but still a part of my family. About a month after Cole's 1st birthday the family found out he has SCIDs (Severe Combined Immunodeficiency). Basically he has no immune system and is very sick. The plan right now is for Cole to have a bone marrow transplant to replace his lack of immune... Continue reading

At the end of every month I make a list of my favorite songs. I’ve been doing this since 2008 and its interesting to look back and see the songs that I liked for a short time and the songs that stayed on the list through many months. It’s also fun to see trends. March – May I can guarantee there are at least a couple songs on the list from the current contestants on American Idol. October sees a lot of Glee. This comes and goes but I have thought the current season so far has been strong and... Continue reading

November is one of my favorite months. I love Thanksgiving, it's my holiday, the holiday that I cook dinner. It's also my birthday month. I have a few goals for this month. 1. NaNoWriMo - I'm not going to write a novel but I do want to write more. My goal is to write 50,000 words through journaling, blogging, scrapbooking, work and other things. I've attampted this the past couple of years but this year I have a better plan. 2. Wear a skirt at least once a week - I have some boots I really like and I want... Continue reading

1. Read 2 D2 magazines. I have a year of these magazines and I want to read through them. They take awhile to read. Not necessarily a bad thing since I enjoy the topics. 2. Read both Uppercase magazines I have. 3. Catch up with Project Life. Right now I have unfinished 6 weeks. Most of it is journaling. 4. Blog at least twice a week. 5. Clean my bedroom from top to bottom. 6. Read The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World Planner. I want to use this on my trip in October 7. Modify dining reservations for 2... Continue reading

I’ve had the itch to go for awhile but no real reason. I have been twice, but that was before I became really obsessed. I’m using needing miles on Delta to keep my Silver Medallion status as an excuse. The trip to the west coast should guarantee I’ll keep them for another year. It was interesting planning this trip after planning many trips to Walt Disney World. There is a ton of information on Disney World but very little on Disneyland. First up was the hotel. I really wanted to stay at one of the 3 Disneyland hotels but the... Continue reading

Should you do a package? When I travel to Walt Disney World (WDW) this December, I will be doing a package for the first time. Previous trips have included any combination of staying off property, going to work and having an annual pass. Dining Plans This trip I choose to do a package mostly because I want to see how the Disney Dining Plan works. On this trip, we will each have one (1) table service (sit down), one (1) counter-service (fast-food like) and one (1) snack credit for each day we are staying in the hotel. This of course... Continue reading

Living in Michigan, I won't be driving to Disney World. Been there. Done that. Never doing it again! That leaves air travel. I love airports and flying so it's no big deal to me. Again, being from Michigan, I'm most likely to fly Delta. Detroit is one of Delta's hubs plus I'm a Silver Medallion member this year (ie. free checked bags). When I first started checking for an upcoming trip to Orlando airfare was a little more than I really wanted to spend so I keep checking back every couple of weeks. I soon discovered Kayak to help. This... Continue reading

I’ve been to Disney World the past 2 years at Christmas time and as it gets closer to December I’m not sure if I can celebrate Christmas without the Candlelight Processional at EPCOT. So a trip to Disney was in the works for December. The first thing was to figure out where I wanted to stay. I have stayed at Economy, Moderate and Deluxe. Economy was defiantly out because those rooms were SMALL! I knew I wanted to stay at a resort that didn’t require me to ride a bus everywhere which only gives me the Deluxe option. Every time... Continue reading

You cannot fail at being yourself. A cat doesn't try to be a tiger, and you shouldn't try to be something you aren't. You are a process, not a product. Your job is to discover what you are and to create that creature. You still won't be perfect, but success isn't about perfection--it is about authenticity. You are a success if you are being your real, authentic self. Bernie Siegel Continue reading

This quote was part of Ali Edward's Yesterday & Today class at Big Picture Scrapbooking. As I was reading Ali's blog today I was reminded of this quote. Just thought I would share. Continue reading

I realized I have some Disney pictures to still share so here they are....Monday morning I was up bright and early to go to the Animal Kingdom. Don't tell Disney but I used my room key from September to get into the morning Extra Magic Hours. I don't think they really noticed the extra person. My first stop was the safari. I love the giraffes, I find them incredibly beautiful. But on this ride the giraffes were on the wrong side of the Savannah and the elephants didn't want to be seen. A little disappointing. So I rode Everest. I... Continue reading

I will never be able to put into words what it is like to sit in the theater and witness this experience. Because of the rain, I made sure I got in line early in order to get a seat under the covering. Now some will say under the canopy is not the best seat, but I would disagree. Sure you can see more of the whole picture but I think you lose some of the magic of the experience if you're not sitting close to the stage. This year I really felt like the music, the story and the... Continue reading

For the second year in a row I bought a ticket to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. This ticket only gets you into the Magic Kingdom for the party, or around 4pm the day of the party. I used the few hours before the party started to ride It's a Small World, the Haunted Mansion (for the 100th time) and eat dinner. One of the perks of the party is unlimited hot chocolate and cookies. I only took advantage of this a couple times though because I didn't want to get sick. The characters are dressed up special for the... Continue reading

I always seem to start at EPCOT, don’t know why. I didn’t get in at Le Cellier, but I did try. They need to do something there because I tried 90 days in advance and still didn’t get in. I ended up with lunch in Mexico. After eating there twice in the last year and a half I will say it’s ok. No place I’d rush to but if it’s all that is available, you’ll have a decent meal. One of my favorite rides at EPCOT is Journey into Imagination and it’s just my luck the wait is usually less... Continue reading

I had a wonderful dinner with Aunt Lisa and John at Jiko. We talked (mostly Aunt Lisa), drank good wine and ate good food. They even sang for my birthday. Continue reading

The Around the World at EPCOT tour is one I've wanted to do for awhile. In April of 2008 I didn't really even know about the backstage tours at Walt Disney World but then I did a tour and I got hooked. This tour consists of riding around on a Segway for a couple hours. Oh and you're riding around the World Showcase at EPCOT, hopefully before it opens to the public. The first hour or so is learning how to ride the Segway. Disney's not going to let you loose right away. I'm actually glad we had the training... Continue reading