Five on Friday

1. I turned 28 one week ago. Not sure if I feel older or not. The parents got me an owl cookie jar that is beyond cute and will someday work perfectly in my dream kitchen. That is if I can ever afford a kitchen period. Thinking I need a second job or need to turn my hobbies (minus baking) into a side job. Not sure if I want to invest in the time that would take but am seriously thinking about it.

2. This summer I will be going on my first out of the country mission trip to Guatemala. I am pretty excited about this opportunity and have already been approved to be off work for the week. Not sure what we will be doing but there will be work in the morning and playing with the kiddos in the afternoon. I am sure picture taking will be involved. I may use funds from hobbies mentioned above to go towards this trip. :)

3. This smocking class drop-out has joined a group/class at a local church with Nekayeh. I hope to actually finish the dress I started in the first class. It is also on a Tuesday night which is just so much better than Saturday afternoon. I mean who has every Saturday afternoon free for months on end - not me! They do things a little different from the way I was taught, so I am having trouble doing it in a different way. The Type A in me is kicking in a bit.

4. This weekend is the Princess half - I wish I was there. Sadly I never registered, never trained, and am out of shape - I need to go next year so that I have motivation to get in shape - I will need someone to go with me. Thanks in advance to anyone who joins the fun/madness. I have heard it is so much fun. Also, there would be very little planning involved to whoever goes b/c I basically have the trip planned out after planning it on 3 different occasions for this one (all for nothing) and going 3 times in 1 year. I can plan those trips in my sleep! ha!

5. I have two fun mini-reunions in March that I am pretty excited about. The first is with OT friends and the next is with college roommates. There should be more laughter crammed into those weekends than is humanly possible. I will be sure to take tons of pictures of the roomies attempting to make cookies. I am sure it will be priceless! Have lots to prepare before that one, too! Also, it may be my last cookie making endeavor for a LONG time.

Cookies, Cookies, and Even More Cookies!

Winter Owls for Winter Bunco!

More owls for XO advisors meeting.

I forgot to give the big ones feet. :(

Fish and hats for the cutest 1st birthday party for a cute little guy! 

More coming sooner rather than later for initiation and maybe my birthday b/c I have some random square shaped cookies begging to be decorated. 

Then maybe one more set for a sweet 3 y.o. in March (is she really already 3???), and then I am "all done" for a long time ("all done" said in sing songy voice b/c I am a ped. OT and that is how I roll).

Will hopefully devote time to sewing and maybe photography and my neglected scrapbook!! 

Disney Trip Report #3 of 2010

If someone had asked me back at the beginning of 2010 how many times I would be going to Disney that year, I would have said ONE and been super excited about that one trip. Contrary to popular belief, I do not go every year and have been 5x in my life. Three of those times just happened to be this year. 

When we found out that AL would be going to the bowl game in Orlando and the parents wanted to go to that, I somehow convinced them we should all go to Disney World that weekend. I would just do Disney alone while they were at the game. 

After a busy Christmas and really a busy 2010, we rushed to get everything packed and ready to go. I was still making my notebook with all travel details the night before we left. Normally that is put together and plans are made months before. Sadly, I was either stressed or really tired and had a headache most of the weekend we were there. Good thing Disney is a magical place where one can typically overlook a headache. 

Because I do tons of research before going to WDW, I knew that that week is the busiest week out of the year. The crowds were at a 10/10 and MK even closed to non-resort guests on the 31st! It was CRAZY but still so fun!!! 

Now for the full trip report for my memory and for anyone bored enough to read it all  interested in planning a trip! 

I booked an 8am flight out of Nashville so that we could enjoy most of a day at a park. I really didn't think that through because that meant we had to be at the airport around 6am. We made it and landed and boarded Disney's Magical Express with no wait. We checked into our resort which was a new one for us. The traditional mickey towel was waiting for us! 

We then headed to the MK to avoid the crowds there the next day. We had lunch at Columbia Harbor House which was a big hit for the parents. I had had it when I did the Keys to the Kingdom Tour and thought they might enjoy it. The lines were out of control at MK. I was able to get 4 sets of fast passes throughout the afternoon for later that night which was a must with the crowds. We also rode a bunch of not so popular rides and even those had waits of 15-20 minutes. 

Riding the People Mover in Tomorrowland. You know it is busy when there is a very long line for this ride...the line does move fast. I love it but it is a very overlooked attraction. Perfect for resting after a busy day.  We did a few more things before heading to watch the Christmas parade. We got there before it started  but had trouble finding a spot due to the crowds. 

cuteness!! I also love the gingerbread men with their flat backs like they just came off a cookie sheet. 

We then did some more not so popular attractions before finding a spot for the Main Street Electrical Parade... we got a spot 1.5 hours before it started so that we had a good place to sit and rest. Good thing we did or we would not have been able to sit during it. 

Dad with his favorite Disney treat while we waited for the parade. 

A little picture of all of the fast passes... I was pretty excited to have that many in hand at one time! 

Love this parade. 

We did a few of the rides with our FPs after the parade. 

We then rushed out of the park and headed for the monorail to the TTC, then changed to the Epcot monorail, then headed for our dinner reservations at the Coral Reef. Sadly I didn't have the same waitress that I had the first 2 times. It always works out that we go to CR on our first night for dinner which has been on the 30th all three times I went to WDW in 2010... so random. The food was good but not as good as it was the first two times. It was also 9pm which may or may not have had something to do with it. 

After dinner we rushed back to use the fast passes we had left and then secured a spot to watch Fantasy in the Sky and the NYE fireworks a day early. Crowds would be really bad the next night, so we decided to stay to experience the NYE fireworks at the MK. 

The fireworks were so amazing. We could have stayed until 3am since we were staying on property, but the parents were tired. I think we should have done one more thing to take advantage of having extra magic hours as resort guest but they said no.

Saying goodbye to main street! I love it at Christmas time!

We were staying at a resort with 4 bus stops and of course we didn't bother to see which one we should get off at. Dad got off at the first, and while I didn't think that was right, mom and I still followed. It was totally wrong, so we walked all over our resort looking for our room at 1am or later. We should have stayed at the park and done something more productive! ha! Something to laugh about now. 

The next morning we decided to get to Epcot at opening so that we could do everything we wanted that morning before the crowds got really bad. Best idea ever. I walked very fast to Soarin' to get fast passes and then hiked over to Test Track to meet parents to get in line. It was down which ended up being great because they were handing out fast passes!!! I would not have been able to get any after using our cards for Soarin'. We then had time for breakfast (We didn't have time before leaving resort that morning!!). We did a bunch of rides that you normally don't have to wait. Again, you know it is bad when you have to wait for Figment. We got more fast passes for Soarin' before getting on the ride with our first set. Good thing we did because they were gone when we got off the ride. This was all before lunch!!! Very productive and fun morning!! 

Lines for Soarin' throughout the day were a 3-4 hour wait. I did kind of feel bad for people waiting as we walked on not once but two times with fast passes. 

Fast passes for Epcot rides!! 

We then used our FPs for Test Track! 

Dad looks like he is asleep!!

We tried the new restaurant at the Mexico Pavilion which was a counter service.

It was so good! I loved having chips instead of fries... takes so little. The view was great and the breeze was fantabulous. I took a few pictures of the World Showcase and the globe before we moved on to the next item on the plan.

We get a free picture with characters, and this summer there were three characters. This time just one. Sad day. Not sure why it was that way this time. It was still fun to have a short wait for a character picture and it was free! 

We decided we could not hang until midnight and decide to take a chance and leave for a nap. 

Fortunately we did not have any trouble getting back in for the NYE celebrations. 

They handed out hats and noise makers. I had a headache when we arrived and while looking for said hats and noisemakers all we heard were those lovely noisemakers. Not good for the headache. Fortunately it got better and the rest of the night was enjoyable!! 

The fireworks at Epcot were also amazing!! There were also lots of parties and dancing in each country. There was a big party close to Spaceship Earth, so we stopped and watched that for a while. 

We decided we could not make it until midnight. They did an early showing of the NYE fireworks, so we called that our NYE celebration. 

Happy New Year!!

We got off at the correct stop this night! :) 

The next morning the parents headed to the bowl game while I went to Hollywood Studios. The plan was for me to get fast passes for the times we would be in the park that night. It would have worked had my parents gone into the park/scanned their tickets, given me their cards, exited the park, and got a taxi from there to the game. Now we know! After waiting a few hours to try to get fast passes, I kind of had a sick feeling it was not going to work. Oh well!! Another valuable lesson learned. I did a few attractions and had lunch there before heading to the animal kingdom.

I used the single rider line for short wait times at HS and at AK that day. I got to ride in front on Expedition Everest, so I saw EVERYTHING! It was pretty cool. After that I got my favorite WDW snack and headed to my favorite spot to watch the AK parade. They change it for the Holidays, so it was the Jingle Jungle Parade. So cute!!! 

There are owls everywhere!

After the parade, I went back to rest and wait on my parents to return from the game. It took them a bit longer to get back than we had anticipated.

Once they got back we headed to Hollywood Studios. We had dinner at the Italian restaurant there which started out really bad and ended up being wonderful!!! I love Disney Magic and costumer service. :) 

Top of our list was to see the dancing lights as we missed them in 2008. Wow. Wow. Wow. It is a must see for sure. We took our time and were there well past park closing and no one tried to rush us or anyone else in the area out of the park. I figured they would even turn off the lights at closing, but they did not! 

Because we missed out on doing our favorite HS rides, we headed there the next morning after checking our bags. Love that Disney does that! One less thing to worry about at the airport. We got there a little later and the fast pass time was already into the afternoon for Toys Story Mania. We decided to chance it and rush back after lunch to use the fast passes. We then headed to mom's favorite, Rockin' Roller coaster. The wait was 55 minutes already...no thank you. I convinced them to get in single rider line where we would be split up but our wait would be significantly less. Another best idea ever. 

Once again we did not have time for breakfast before heading to parks (I am a serious tour guide!), so we stopped for a small breakfast. We then did some other attractions that we had not done on previous trips before heading to the MK for lunch.

The original plan was to finish up MK stuff on our last day when the lines would not be as bad but because we still had HS stuff to do, we missed out on a few of our favorites at MK. There is always next time!!

Yum! Our favorite dessert and #1 reason why we eat at LTT for lunch. Great way to end the trip, too!

After that we headed to the front for a few quick pics. 

Haha! Love this!!

We rushed out of the park to HS to use our fast passes for TSM!!! Love this ride!! 

This picture was take #4 because he kept turning his head!!! I was using my little camera which is so much slower. 

After that we once again had to rush back to our resort to catch the bus to the airport. 

Wow, we look tired!!!! 

We sadly got on our bus for the airport and said goodbye to Mickey once again. 

It was a fun and crazy trip and NYE at Disney can now be checked off the list. 

I think I have had enough Disney to last several months and maybe, just maybe a year or two if I can wait that long. Only time will tell! 

Chi Omega Bunco

 This Thursday night was my turn to host Bunco! I have been planning for my night since we started a couple of months ago!! I wanted to have owls everywhere and incorporate it into everything.

 

The table was a winter owl theme with cute little owls and glittery owl nests! 

The burlap was kind of a greenish-blue color, but it is hard to tell in these pictures. 

There were owl candy dishes on various tables throughout the living room. Owl cookies were also included and made to fit the winter owl theme. Owl dishes were used as serving pieces. An owl vase with fresh flowers was also put to use. Some more winter owls could be found around the house as well. 

We had Chicken Tortilla soup, chips, sugar cookies, and sweet tea! 

Some of the Big Bunco winners sporting the owl mask. Leslie, myself (with Rachel peeking in), Allison, and Rachel. Not everyone wanted to have their picture made with the owl mask. I don't know why not. ha! 

Owl gifts were given in cute little owl bags. The Big Bunco winner received an owl apron, owl spatula, and an owl recipe box with cards. The winner of most buncos received an owl necklace and owl picture holder. The winner of least buncos received an owl wallet. The last winner received an owl notepad with bible verse, pen, owl notecards, and little owl bucket. Everyone received an owl Valentine's hand towel as I went a little crazy and purchased a ton last year and needed to clean out the box. 

 Our group for the night!

I have loved reconnecting with friends from college and look forward to our monthly bunco night!! 

Tiny Little Bundle of Thanksgiving Joy

Sweet baby Will

We love him!!!! 

Thankful on Thursday/Happy Thanksgiving

This is the last "Thankful on Thursday" post on a very exciting and happy Thanksgiving day. My family is so thankful to be spending this day together (not the plan) as we wait for baby Will! Usually I don't like changes in plans but for this one, I am so very thankful. More to come throughout the day!!!!

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances..." I Thessalonians 5:16-18

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thankful on Thursday

• I am thankful for flannel pajamas with this cold weather. 
• I am thankful for running water, soap, etc. It is surprising how many people do without so many of the things we take for granted.
• I am thankful for my family (dad) who will go with me to get gas when it is dark and fill up my tank while I sit in the warm car. :) 
• I am thankful for sunny mornings to help me pretend to be a morning person. 
• I am thankful for nights with friends filled with talking, laughing, eating, movies/shopping, etc.