Cruisin'

My first cruise experience: Pretty Dang Good.

Emily, Katelyn and I went together and we had so much fun! A well needed and deserved trip for us! There was so much to do all the time and the food was fantastic and plentiful. I have become very accustomed to 3 course meals...every meal!

We had the cutest waiters!

The Bahamas!

Day 1: Found a sketchy place to park the car, jumped in a shuttle over to our port in a van that was falling apart. We were late by about ten minutes, but we made it on the ship! Anxiety running high? Oh, yes...first cruise, late-almost didn't make it, middle of the ocean, dizzy...you get the idea. We explored the ship, enjoyed the sun, and had a lovely dinner. We started to settle in and went salsa dancing with a little

 "Brazilian teacher" in very tight jeans.

Day 2: Bahamas! Went to the market, played at the beach, caught up on some sleep-nap, and relaxed. It was a full moon that night so the ocean was so bright! Formal night! A comedian and a musical performance.

Day 3: Coco Cay! My favorite morning, as I did yoga on the beach with a beautiful boy from London in the rain! It was brilliant! Still in love. Found a hammock, or as Emily would say, "ham-mock," and layed for...awhile. This is where we were also corrected by a lifeguard that our "boat" as we called it, is a "SHIP!" Our bad...it's a ship apparently. Watched the belly-flop competition, enjoyed the sunset, and went to bed early.

Katelyn's feet and I'm in the background

Day 4: Key West! What a beautiful little city. I really loved it there and would love to go again. We became jewelry snobs and snagged some free pearl earrings! more sleeping, laying out, reading and such. Our last dinner with our cute waiters we love so much. Emm rocked some karaoke! Then we played Quest-an adult only game where we split into teams and compete in a human scavenger hunt. This is where we met our darling Ukrainian boys who I might still be in love with! The five of us had so much fun and spent the rest of the night together dancing and such.

My favorite statue-thingy in Key West!

Day 5: Had breakfast with our cute Ukrainians and sadly had to get off the ship! It was a great trip and an amazing time with the girls. Love you!

The cute Ukranians!



Life turned into a whirlwind, so I'm going to make this short and sweet.

I finished working for DisneyWorld as a vacation planner.

The CP crew with Dad and Mom (our managers: Anthony and Patti)

I turned 22 on May 6th. I had some anxiety going into it, but the week was full of parties, friends, and magic!

Birthdays are the best.

Magic Kingdom with Emm and Katelyn

O'hana's with the roomies!
Our servers were awesome and the food was delicious!



We graduated from Disney's College Program. Moved out of our apartment. Moved into a condo.

One last day in the parks. Spent a great afternoon in Italy (@ Epcot). Did I mention it has been hot? Oh yes, we're talking 90+ with humidity the last couple weeks.

The day after my birthday I competed in the Everest Challenge: a Disney 5k through the Animal Kingdom with obstacles followed by a scavenger hunt and an after party in the park til 1am! The race was so well organized, so much fun, and of course, magical. The best part of the experience was the people I raced with. Karyl was my teammate, and Jackie and Katelyn were teammates. Jackie is our amazing roommate we encouraged to quit smoking. She quit, worked hard to run this race, and finished! We are so proud!

This was my first 5k and we ended up taking 4th! I was pretty excited, yet so bummed since it was only by 10 seconds! I guess I'll have to do it again!

Emily, Katelyn, and I also went to Cirque du Soleil! Yes, this was my third time, but I love it!

So there you have it. A lot of fun, work, and stress. I've been sick this week-guess this is just how my body has been handling everything. I feel like I'm floating. I am exhausted, but on the mend. I've almost got my head wrapped around my life again. Tomorrow I will set sail on my first cruise ever as a little graduation present to myself! Emily and Katelyn are my ship-mates and we are very excited. So off to bed and see you in a week everybody!

Spring Formal

Sometimes you forget how awesome it was going to those ridiculous high school dances! Disney put a spring formal together for all of us interns, so I went and surprisingly had a great time. Favorite part? Honestly, probably getting ready. It's been a long time since I've put make-up on, done my hair, and wore heels. I love feeling classy! Emily accompanied me and we had a delicious dinner, met some villians (it was a villian themed dance), and danced with friends. Of course, my feet were killing me by the end of the night though.

Me, Travis, Michelle, and Eric dancing!

A couple weeks ago, I joined a book club! I know, crazy...the girl who hates reading has now made it her new hobby. For real though, I have been reading books all the time this year and am beginning to understand how great books are. So Travis might be the only other person in this club, but that's fine! haha We read Water for Elephants, so tonight we saw the movie! I enoyed both in good company. :)

Blue Man

Katelyn and I had one of the best nights ever this week. We went to Blue Man Group for the first time and loved every minute of it! Not only was the show fabulous and entertaining, but we had a couple special encounters as well. At one point in the show, the three men crawl over the audience picking people out to do crazy stuff with them. We had isle seats, so as they came up our isle, we both just smiled and apparently caught their attention. One of the blue men came up and just stared back at us. Pretty soon the lights are on us and we can’t stop giggling! He goes back on stage for a couple seconds, and then all three of them come back to us. The lights are on us, we are on screen and their faces are staring. Of course we are laughing! Then one of them grabs Katelyn’s hand and takes her on stage! They do entire scene with her trying to impress her with their gifts as they eat Twinkies on a “first date” type act. It was so funny! One of my favorite parts was the end when the whole place breaks into a dance party. Once the show ended, a couple of the blue men came out to the lobby to take pictures. So, yes, we wanted one! As we are standing in the crowd waiting for our turn, Blue Man 1 is still staring at us! He is taking pictures with other people, but his eyes are on us, not the camera. So awkward! So then he takes a few with us and leaves. So, we go to Blue Man 2 for another picture. I take a picture of Katelyn with him, and then he kisses her cheek! She took one of me, and I was also given a kiss. Needless to say, we were stoked! Not to mention, Katelyn was a celebrity that night! Everyone that walked past us had to congratulate her on her performance.

So fun!

He has mastered the skill of extreme staring!

In love!

Day 12 Done

Tomorrow I get the day off after working 12 days in a row! I am so grateful for my day off. So what have I learned from it? That there is not one ounce of my body that screams work-aholic. I just don't have that  burning desire inside of me to go to work every single day. It seems as the days went on, my guests became more interesting. Like the family who needed "1st Visit" and "Birthday" buttons for their stuffed animals...and it wasn't a joke. Fluffy and Lulu are members of their family, and I graciously welcomed them all to the Animal Kingdom. Or the woman who blamed her husband for getting her pregnant...she is 5 months pregnant with a son that's 9 months. Then there's the person who walks up and asked, "So do you have to pay to go in the park?" I replied, "Yes! And you've come to the right place to do just that!" And then my favorite...the sweet Russian boy. He was about my age, by himself, and maybe even flirting a little. However it is hard to be sure when I only speak English and he speaks Russian. The transaction sounded more like cavemen conversing with a lot of awkward laughing, nodding, and a whole lot of smiling. After I gave him his tickets that I think/hope he was asking for, he smiles at me as he searches for the right words to say. I smile back as he gives me 2 thumbs up and says, "YOU.....GOOD....WOMAN?" I laughed so hard and said, "You good man."

This is how happy I am when I finish working.

So enough about working forever...I was able to squeeze in a couple fun night outings during the chaos and exhaustion. Katelyn and I went on a much needed date to Bahama Breeze. I ordered salmon and it was the best I had ever eaten. I was in heaven and went home very happy.

Date night!

I also conquered the Animal Kingdom. With the company of Emily, Travis, Roberto, Katie, and Jess, I have now done every attraction at the Animal Kingdom. We had a great time, and got completely soaked on Kali River Rapids. While riding the Wildlife Express Train, I got a special and embarrassing shout-out from my good friend David who was the conductor! Oh joy.

The gang after Kali Rapids

Emily and Travis. Being goofy with the fans turned into a photo shoot.

Thank you to all of the amazing friends I have made here, and all of my friends and family back home who keep in touch. I love you all and I am so blessed to be surrounded by all you wonderful people. Thank You for your love. I hope you feel my love I have for you.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

April started with a few storms, some kinda scary, but now it's gorgeous, and the flowers are here. I have been working more hours than ever before, as well as trying to get the most out of my last few weeks here. So I'm getting very tired, and as always BUSY! You may think all I do is fun, but let me tell you I work a lot, I just don't write about it cause it's kinda boring with the exception of the crazies! And this week, I have had a few creepers-not so fun. I also have had guests take pictures of me more often this week-kinda awkward, but whatevs. So now here's the latest.

Mickey and Minnie have a new home in Town Square Theatre, since Toontown is now gone. Instead, Fantasyland  is doubling in size which I'm so excited for! The plans for it are fabulous and now you can see Belle & Beast's castle peeking over the fence.

This is what is known as the kitchen sink. It's about 8 scoops of ice cream, an entire can of whipped cream, brownies, cookies, cake, candy bars, sprinkles, cherries, you name it! And it is delivered in a cute "kitchen sink" at the Beaches & Cream diner. The roomies went out to conquer this beauty, and we did a number, however by the end we had a puddle of melted ness. You gotta eat quickly!

The Beach Boys are back! Last night Katelyn and I went to Universal for their concert. Not sure how many of the originals are left, maybe 2 or 3, but they sounded awesome and it was fun concert. The crowd was a large diverse mix. I especially enjoyed the older couples, and we're talking 70's, who danced their hearts out with their beer in hand!

 

Emily turns 23! April 16th was Emily's birthday, so we all went out to her favorite restaurant, The Tavern, in Magic Kingdom @ Liberty Square. It was a fun birthday party, delicious meal, and a Magical Day! :)

Cinderella's Castle 

Katelyn, Emily, and I work on Easter, so we put on out Easter dresses and went to church tonight instead! I love us!

SeaWorld

My first trip to SeaWorld in Orlando! Katelyn and Ashley joined me on this adventure. It was a great day, but by the end we were exhausted. Theme parks are tiring!!! As well as the sun. It has been very HOT lately. I don't know how people can go day after day to the parks. It was fun to mix it up though and see some life from the ocean! Manatees are cute, dolphins are awesome, and Katelyn has decided to have a pet Killer Whale in her backyard after she marries into some money! Here's a couple pics:


At the start of the day...you wouldn't want to see us at the end.



The dolphins were so playful! I even got to touch them!

Shamu!

Craziest coaster I have ever ridden! Manta