2 weeks

I only have 2 weeks left at Disney? Woah.

Well, a lot has happened since the decorating of the apartment. I turned 21, got my college program graduation ears, made a trip home to Atlanta, and worked.

For my birthday my parents came to visit for a few days. It was a blast, spent the whole time at Disney in the parks. The day started with Sam and I going to Studios then Magic Kingdom. Instead of going to class, I met my parents at the hotel to get them all checked in, then it was off to meet up with Amanda at Downtown Disney. From there it was off to Whispering Canyon, an awesome restaurant at the Wilderness Lodge. IT WAS DELICIOUS. And a total blast, I love the theming there. Amanda and I took part in a horse race in the middle of the meal, and I didn't get yelled at for yelling in the restaurant. It's all a part of the show. I do have one suggestion: if you ever go there, ask your server for some ketchup.

The next two days were spent playing in parks, taking lots of pictures, and eating lots of food. Since it was my 21st birthday, I had to go to Jellyrolls, the dueling piano bar at Boardwalk. And yes, I did have to go on stage because it was my birthday. Lots of fun though. Here are some of the pictures of the adventures.

Sam loved the lights at Studios

And yes, I did meet some Stormtroopers on my birthday. It was awesome.

What else has happened here in 8108... oh! College Program graduation! I got my fun mouse ears and got to meet Goofy, Pluto, Mickey, and Minnie all wearing their graduation robes. After the little party we went to Magic Kingdom to ride Space Mountain and Hollywood Studios to look at the dancing lights. The lights are breath taking. Just. Wow. After lights it was time for a Kitchen Sink from Beaches and Cream. Oh the kitchen sink......

The Kitchen Sink. Before.

During.

After.

I went back to Atlanta for a couple of days to have an early Christmas. It was a blast, with the only downside being that I had to take a plane, and I hate flying. We met up with my aunt and cousins to ride the Pink Pig at Macy's and play in the Apple store. I am also now the proud owner of a Georgia Tech Snuggie! I am so excited about it.

Oh! And last week I got to go to Universal and Islands of Adventure! Which means Harry Potter!!!!! It was just amazing. I had butterbeer and ate lunch at the Three Broomsticks. The rest of Universal was pretty awesome too.

That's about it in major events at Disney. The parks are super crowded because it's Christmas, so I'm working a good amount. And it was crazy cold for a couple weeks, which was not fun at all. So stinking cold.

It is so hard to believe that the program is almost over, I feel like I just got here, and now it's time to pack up again!

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...

in 8108. Yes, we have already decorated the apartment. But hey, we're at Disney, and Christmas started the week after Halloween. It was a whole 2 days before Thanksgiving when we decorated. Which is strange for me, I am usually so anti decorating before my birthday.

This is how it went down. Target is a wonderful store. We bought a fake tree (something I also usually refuse to do, but we have someone who is allergic here), some ornaments, lights, decorations, bows, and even a Christmas music CD. We woke up at the crack of dawn (around 10 AM, which is the crack of dawn if we don't have work before noon), got in the car and headed to Target. The day started with Starbucks, the first time I've had Starbucks since being here. Goodness gracious how I have MISSED Starbucks. And there is one right down the road and everything.

Anyways, we started with Starbucks. Because it is in the Target and all. It is a Super Target. We found our cute 6 foot tree that was one sale and put that in the buggy first. Then it was off to play in Christmas Land. I love shopping for decorations about as much as I love shopping for school supplies. Which is a lot. So much fun. Then we had to pick out ornaments. We went with some fun colors, all of our initials, and a star for the top. Granted, we aren't just rolling in the dough, so we got the cheapest stuff. But it is still super cute. And of course a few Disney ornaments have made their way onto the tree.

After ornaments it was time for lights and decorations. We couldn't go too crazy though, remember, we are on a budget. Which is why we hit up the dollar section. We spent well over an hour in the store, and loved every minute of it. There were roughly 2,856 giggles and lots of loudness. People really shouldn't take me in public when I'm excited and drinking coffee. It becomes very entertaining.

We got home around 12:30, and I didn't have work until 4, so it was time to decorate. We had to build a tree!

We were very excited.

Sam was very excited.

Amanda decided we should read the directions.

It was a group effort.

See, lots of hard work to build. After the building, it was time for decorating.

Did I mention that we were excited?

Let's have a video of the process. First came the lights, followed by the ornaments. Sam is going to give you a nice little tour.

The tree!

Ta-da!!! All done!

After the tree was finished, it was time for the rest of the apartment. The tables have wrapping paper and the doors have been turned into presents.



Speaking of presents, I got an early birthday present! It was perfect! Hand turkeys, cookies, and a nice tree with ornaments for my room. It makes it feel just like home. And a tad bit homesick. I love being here, but I'm ready to see some friends from home.



Anyways, after decorating was done, I had to go to work. I will say, it is very nice to come home to a decorated apartment. It just makes you feel a bit happier and cheerful.

pins, pens, and pixie dust...

pretty much describes life here. Disney is all about the pin trading. I have about a billion pens from seating. And pixie dust... so. much. pixie dust. It is all over 8108, my car, my bag... just everywhere.

The Mickey Very Merry Christmas Parties have started, which are a lot of fun. Hot chocolate and cookies, and I get to work them! Sweet.

Harry Potter just came out, and yes I did go to the midnight premiere. It. was. AWESOME. So great, I want to go see it about a million more times. I went right after my shift to go watch, so I was about 2 and a half hours early. So yes, I did sit in a theater for roughly 2.5 hours waiting for the movie to start so I would have a good seat. I went with my roommate Sam and a girl from work, Krystal. So much fun. Just excellent.

Let's see, what else has been going on... work. Thanksgiving is right around the corner, so it's getting busy at the parks. That didn't stop me from going to play before work one day! Tom Sawyer's Island is an attraction that does not get the credit it should. My friend Anna (works Fantasyland attractions) and I went before work and had a great time. There was a cave and a fort and a raft ride and trees and plants and paths and just total awesome. And you get a really great view of big thunder mountain, which is always fun to watch.

Tea Cups is open again, which is super exciting. Partly because it is one of my favorite rides in all of Disney. yay!



well, apart from the typical adventures that are being a CP (work and playing in parks), that's about it here. I have less than 2 months left, which is crazy to think. And my birthday is in just a few days, which is even stranger. The big 21. Nuts. Mom and Dad are coming to visit.

And coming up soon is the post about Christmas decorating. Yes, it is before Thanksgiving, and yes, we have started decorating. We're at Disney! Christmas starts the day after Halloween! And it makes the apartment super homey.

2 months

Did you know that I only have 2 months left in Orlando? Because I didn't either until I looked at a calendar. It is so crazy how fast time has flown by. Not gone by. FLOWN by. It still feels like I just left Atlanta. It's just weird.

Now that the minor freak out is over, I've been working. I know, shocking. The halloween parties are over, which means it is already time to decorate for Christmas. I'm not kidding, you should see Main Street. And the parks in general. There is Christmas music playing in the Crystal Palace. It's just strange. It's already time for the holidays. The holidays that I will be working on. I'm still not sure if I've accepted this yet. I'll just be spending the holidays with my Crystal Palace and Disney family, right? And of course the 8108 family. Love them.

My old roommate, Tabbie, has moved out of 8108. So I've moved in with Amanda, and the room is just so home-y. There are even hand turkeys. And if you know me at all, you know how I love hand turkeys. It's a Thanksgiving tradition. I'm serious, ask anyone that knows me. This was our Halloween adventure. I went over to someone's apartment from work, watched Rocky Horror, and then came home to make hand turkeys and watch Nightmare Before Christmas with the roomie. I was surprised I got off work so early that day too. Good times. Good times.

Let's see, what else has been going on..... It was freezing yesterday. And by freezing, not the wonderful Florida warmth. I had to wear jeans and a jacket. I was in shorts just a week ago. And it's already warming up again today. It's supposed to be back in the 70s this week. And I thought Atlanta weather was crazy....

It's my birthday in about 3 weeks. I'm going to be 21. That definitely hasn't sunk in yet. My parents are coming to visit, and I'm trying for a trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. They're coming down on my birthday, a Monday, and leaving that Thursday. So I'm thinking Tuesday at Disney and Wednesday at Harry Potter. Or Busch Gardens, that would be a lot of fun too.

Speaking of birthdays, it was my roommate Sam's birthday yesterday. The big 21. We started the day at Ohana's for breakfast, a family style buffet at the Polynesian resort. After that it was off to Epcot for the day, followed by Magic Kingdom that night. There were extra magic hours, and since we're all staying at Saratoga for her birthday, we could finally stay for magic hours. We were at that park until 2 in the morning.















It was a really fun day, great way to spend my day off.

That's about all that's going on in the 8108. Christmas parties start this week, class tomorrow, and inspections Tuesday. Well, at least there's never a dull moment.

engineering

Did you know that it's already mid-October? Yeah, neither did I. That means I've been here for over 2 months. And it's time to start planning classes for next semester.

Planning for next semester can be a bit overwhelming. Not only because I pick out classes for the upcoming semester, but I kind of need to plan out the rest of my schedule for the rest of my time at school. And if I'm going to do that management concentration or that psychology certificate. I'll worry about that on my day off. I'm leaning more towards the concentration because it would be more practical, but the certificate sounds so interesting. And I might as well have one since I'm not graduating until Spring 2013. I'll send some e-mails and figure it out.

In Disney news, my class started! It's my professional development studies class for engineering, and so far it's pretty interesting. Granted I've only had 2 days of class, but I like it so far. I'm really looking forward to the November classes, that's when it's going to get super awesome.

Work is going good. The past few weeks I've had a lot of hours (40+), but this week and next week I don't have nearly as many. I think it's going to be ok though, because I'm getting over being a tad bit sick and need some rest. And being sick at work is just no fun, and it's really hard to say last names when you can't talk.

In 8108 news, Sam's birthday is coming up! Yay! Which also means it is almost my birthday month... oh boy. The only bad thing about my birthday is it is right after Thanksgiving, so I'm probably going to be working. Silly holidays. But I did get the day after off, it's approved and everything! Now to make some plans...

update in 8108

Well, now that most of the family visits are over for a while, life in 8108 has been busy. And by busy, I mean busy working. All of us here have been working a lot, and when we aren't working or trying to get a little bit of sleep, we must have adventures. Let me think about some of the recent ones....

We have a new obsession in the apartment. His name is marcel, and he's a shell, and he has shoes on. It's a video on youtube, you should watch.



It is absolutely adorable, and we are constantly quoting it. There's probably something in the Orlando air that makes us a tad bit crazy. Maybe it's the pixie dust. Who knows.

Today was room inspections, which means it was a cleaning frenzy in the 8108 yesterday. It all payed off though, we won the white glove award! All that means is we had a super clean apartment and we get some free chocolate. It's funny, freshman year at Tech mine and Lauren's dorm in Cloudman was almost on Oprah for being the messiest dorm room, and now I have a supa clean room. Fun times.

To celebrate we went to ihop and saw The Social Network. Good movie. Go see it. Look at the clean rooms!

Our prize!!!

Living room, with Sam taking a nap on the couch

Kitchen

Amanda and Pamela's room

My side

Laura and Sam's room

Saturday and Sunday I worked 11 hours, so I was kind of useless for the day after that. I wanted some sleep. And by sleep, I mean I hung out with my roomies and watched tv and just goofed off. We watched last year's season finale of Grey's anatomy a couple nights ago. I have no idea why though, every time I watch an episode of Grey's it makes me cry. Whatever, it was entertaining.

Yesterday after cleaning in the morning I met up with my friend Anna and we went to play at Hollywood Studios and look around Food and Wine at Epcot. At Hollywood we met a ton of characters, which was awesome! And Tower of Terror is always fun. Food and Wine looks like it's going to be awesome. SO much delicious food. And Hanson is supposed to be there, which means I have to go.

These are some of my favorite pictures with characters from yesterday's adventure

Sorcerer Mickey

Minnie

Jafar (He creeped me out)

Meeko and Pocahontas

Genie

Buzz and Woody

Mr. Smee and Captain Hook

Goofy

Rafiki

A Green Army Man

I think hug pictures are the best. Probably my favorite ones ever. The one I have with Beast from Epcot is still super awesome.



Well, I think that's all that is going on here. My first day of my class/seminar thing is next Monday, which is also my next day off. My concept of time is completely gone, Monday has become my Saturday, and when did it become October? Wow, we've almost been here 2 months already. Time is flying by.