A non-Disney-related post!

Ok, this is more of a journal entry, but I suppose that's what blogs are anyway. Anywho, I am feeling bored these days for some reason. I still love Disney, but everything I have been doing this last week has been feeling a little monotonous. Well, actually no. Last week was not monotonous because I was deployed at the Caribbean Beach resort and I made a few more friends and I worked in different areas. But the last three days I've been off, I've been really bored because I haven't had a whole lot that I could do. I went to Hollywood Studios today to visit one of my friends at work and I ended up watching Sorcerer Mickey, Frozone, and the characters from the new Disney-Pixar film "Bolt" (Bolt, the dog; Mittens, the cat; and Rhino, the hamster) interact with each other and the guests. That is one of my favorite things to do at the parks (particularly Hollywood Studios) is watch the characters' interactions with each other and the guests. But its just part of what I do anymore. I still get excited seeing them, but they don't seem like the 'celebrities' I thought of them being anymore. 

I don't know what else I can do between now and when I leave to go home in a month. I went and saw Twilight the movie last night and that is actually what made me realize that I seem to have been living in a Disney bubble the last three months. All the movie posters I was looking at around the theater were of movies I'd never heard of because I haven't been watching really ANY TV lately. In fact, if I wasn't working in Disney World down here, I probably wouldn't even know about the movie "Bolt."

I liked watching Twilight, but it made me want to read more and go back and read the books again. Reading takes me to other worlds when my world is a little boring and the same every day. Since I went to my character audition and didn't make the cut, I've been focusing more on becoming prepared to be an elementary school teacher. Oh, and side tangent about the character audition, I'm ok with not getting to be a character right now. I can finish school and get my bachelor's and then if I want to come back and try again, I can.

I'm such a nerd that I even have been looking at the State Standards for Idaho that I got for my Early Field Experience class and I'm analyzing all the subject areas and thinking "how can I teach something that will cover this standard?" ...yeah, I'm a nerd, I'll admit it. But there aren't a whole lot of other things that I can do because I only have one book down here (Breaking Dawn) that isn't Disney-related and I might start reading that again. I'm just trying to find things that are going to enrich my mind and make me smarter because I feel that since I'm not really moving forward a whole lot by reading hard-copy books, I feel like I am getting dumber. I've started downloading the devotionals for BYU-Idaho so far this school year and I'm going to start listening to them so I can get my mind thinking and expanding my knowledge more. I don't want to just waste my mornings before work this week by sleeping and getting on my computer. I want to DO something! So maybe I'll go over to the fitness center by our building and work out for a little while. 

Disney World pictures with Mom and Dad

I took my parents to see Lights, Motors, Action! because I knew my dad would love watching how they film car chases in movies. I was right- it was one of his favorite parts of Hollywood Studios!








I'm pretty sure Caspian knows my face by heart now, but he stayed in character anyway. He called me a princess and then when he saw my parents, he asked who they were. I told him they were my mom and dad and he said "oh, so they are the king and queen?" Yeah, he made my heart melt.







I wasn't even planning on getting a picture with Bolt and Mittens because I didn't know they were "real" characters yet, but when we walked out of the Magic of Disney Animation theater place, they were getting pictures with people. So I figured I might as well take my opportunity and get pictures with them before the movie comes out cause I know once they become "known", their line is going to become very popular.




My parents had never been to Walt Disney World before, so I had to get them "First Visit" buttons.














My dad does a really good impression of Goofy, so my mom wanted a picture of him wearing that hat. I couldn't decide between the cute mouse ears with a princess veil or a princess hat. As you can see, I chose the ears. :)

First Day in Disney World with Mom and Dad!

Well today was a busy one. We 'slept in,' which meant we got up at around 7:30am. I say slept in because for the last four or five nights, I got 5 or less hours of sleep each night because I had to be up early the next morning to catch my bus to work. Anyway, we got up, got ready, and then went over to Shoney's for breakfast. Once we ate, we headed over to Hollywood Studios and I did my best to give my parents the best first day in the parks as possible. We went over to Guest Relations and got them "First Visit" pins so they could be recognized as newcomers to the park by Cast Members, therefore giving them a good visit. I won't go into complete detail right now just because I need to go to bed soon, but we had an excellent day. I had a full agenda for them today and we've got another full agenda tomorrow in the Magic Kingdom. I am so excited. If I have more time tomorrow once we get back, I'll go into more detail about our days so far. Oh, but one really cool thing happened to me today. There's a new Disney movie coming out called "Bolt" that Disney has been advertising up the wazoo (at least in the parks). Anyway, my parents and I came out of the Magic of Disney Animation attraction and were trying to decide what characters to meet when I saw the two main animal characters from the movie "Bolt". The dog named Bolt and his cat friend named Mittens were there, so I decided that I had to take advantage of my opportunity to meet new Disney celebrities, even though their new movie won't be out til November 21. So yeah, I'll write more tomorrow.

Yay for family and friends visiting!

I am really tired from working so much this week, but if I can make it through my next two days of work, it will totally be worth it. Yesterday, I was able to go have dinner and play in the pool with my best friend from home, Erin Pitcher. She was out here for a few days for a convention for her job and so we decided that we wanted to meet up and just hang out for a few hours. Oh my gosh, it was sooo good to see her again! Since Erin and her husband Matt got married a couple years ago, I haven't been able to see her that much. When we were talking last night, we were trying to remember the last time we saw each other and we agreed that it was at her older sister, Amber's, baby shower last December. So it's been a while. Erin and Matt live in Iowa right now because Matt is going to med school in Des Moines. What are the odds that Erin and I would be in Florida at the same time and be able to hang out together? It was the most random coincidence! The best part about the night was that we didn't have to feel guilty about what we got for dinner because Erin's company that she works for (Wells Fargo) paid for her hotel room and for her food. Another great thing is that instead of having to take a bus to see each other, Erin just took advantage of the fact that Wells Fargo was paying for all her accommodations and she got a rental car to use while she was here. So she came and got me at my apartment and we went to her hotel and ate at a restaurant near there and then went back to her hotel and hung out in the pool and hot tub. Erin and I haven't been able to hang out just by ourselves since I don't even remember. It was soo good to just be able to talk and catch up with each other on how things are going. I realized though that after she left, we should have gotten a picture together to have proof that we did get to see each other for a few hours yesterday. Oh well. The fact that my blog is now all cute and organized is because she showed me how to do it.
Another fun thing I am really REALLY looking forward to is that my parents are flying down here from Utah on Tuesday and so I'm going to get to spend Tuesday afternoon through Saturday afternoon with them playing in the parks and doing whatever we want to do!! I was fortunate enough to get Wednesday through Friday off and then I'm working Tuesday morning and Saturday night. They won't be getting here til around 5 on Tuesday, so I'm going to work til four and then come back to my apartment and get all my stuff ready to go spend the week with them at their hotel. I have a Main Entrance pass, as well as another pass from my Holiday discount that we are going to use while they are here. We'll have to figure out all the details of what parks we'll be going to and everything once they get here, but I am SO incredibly excited to see them.

And here are the pictures for the last blog.

Self explanatory. Oh wait, I didn't say what I did after I saw Mickey and Minnie! hahaha I went and saw the princesses- Cinderella, Belle, and Aurora. They were so sweet. I actually have met Cinderella before because I have met a friend of hers. That's why I have a picture of me and Cinderella up. Anyway, that's basically it.

November in Florida so far

Today is November 5th. I'm trying to remember all the stuff I've done between now and back at the beginning of October when I posted last. I obviously have met a whole bunch of characters since then. I think I'll just record the most recent characters that I've met because today was fabulous. I was on my way to go see Mickey and Minnie when I passed the character spot where Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters were. So figured- what the heck, I need pictures with all the characters! Anyway, when it was my turn, I told Drizella and Anastasia that Cinderella had nothing on them and that they should have been the princesses. Anastasia complained that Cinderella put a mouse in her teacup and Drizella said that she took her necklace. I didn't have anything to add, so I just listened to Lady Tremain (the mom) tell her daughters that they would be royalty and Anastasia would not be a pirate wench (don't ask, I have no idea where that came from).
So after I met them, I went over and met the mice- the cutest little couple ever! When we got in the room where they were, they were getting pictures with a group of kids with disabilities and I just had to get a picture of them interacting with them. When they were getting a group picture with Mickey, Minnie, the kids, and the adults, Mickey and Minnie decided to arrange everyone for the photo. When they were almost done, they knew something was missing, but they didn't know what. So the two of them stood in front of everyone and posed! lol! After that, the two of them got on the ground in front of the group and gave each other a kiss, and that's the picture I got.
Once it was my turn, I went up and got a hug and a kiss from Mickey, as well as one from Minnie. I then turned to Minnie and asked where I could get a guy like Mickey because I'd been looking everywhere. She seemed to say "I don't know, I guess you're just going to have to keep looking." Then she spotted my Mickey bag and so I let her take it. She started to strut around with it and I was like "Minnie, you do realize that I'm going to have to get that back, right?" So then, while Minnie was distracted with the bag, Mickey pointed to his nose to get a kiss from me. After doing that, Minnie led me over to the Exit sign and pointed at it. I assured her that I just wanted one little kiss and then Mickey was hers forever. She had me go back over and stand by Mickey to give him a kiss, and then have me give her a kiss, and then I got a kiss on the cheek from Mickey. We got a few more pictures and then I started to leave. When I started walking away, I looked back at the two of them and Mickey had taken Minnie's hands in his and was kissing her. I thought it was adorable- it proved that Mickey was gentleman enough to let Minnie know that she was still his and he was hers. As I left, I got a wave from Minnie, so I figure we're ok now. I never intended to get to kiss Mickey, I just wanted Minnie to let me know where I could find a guy like him! So yeah, that was my fun story with the Mice! I have a new respect for Mickey and Minnie now. :)

General Conference and Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party!

Yes, I have taken more pictures between meeting Ariel and Mickey and Minnie and now, but I don't feel like putting them up. Besides, I want to show you my pictures from the temple and the NSSH party. Saturday and Sunday, I asked off for conference, so since I already had Saturday off, I decided to buy a ticket to go to Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween party with my roommate Celeste. It was SOO fun. My day was pretty packed. I didn't get up until about 11, so my day was basically taken up by conference and playing. I loved watching conference so much. Between sessions, we went across the street to the Orlando temple and got pictures in front of it. Since we're in Florida, conference started at 12 and 4, so we didn't get done watching it til 6. I had enough time to get home, eat, change, and go get on the bus to go to the Magic Kingdom. It was so funny riding on the monorail to the Magic Kingdom because Celeste and I and the two girls we rode with on the bus had SO much energy. We hadn't even had even candy and we were going nuts! So yeah, here's some pictures!