{WDW: Magic Kingdom & Typhoon Lagoon Days 3&4}

Okay, so back to my Disney vacation! Seriously, I believe it is a crime if you don't like Disney. It's the happiest place on Earth. I want to go back already...especially to see the construction in Fantasyland in Magic Kingdom (they're building a restaurant to have a theme from Beauty & the Beast!).

So, where was I? Okay, the 3rd day we were in Florida, Thursday, we hit up the Magic Kingdom! It started off better than Wednesday because it was not raining (we had thought it was going to rain all week and ruin the vacation). Before hitting up the parks, we went and had breakfast at Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Resort. LOVED it! Such a good buffet. We met some characters there (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy are there) too:



After breakfast, we took the monorail over to the park and went on our merry way!

One of the first things we did was go to the speedway and drive cars. My brother & I took his oldest two kids on it (I rode with my goddaughter) and it was fun. Good thing we hit it first since when we got off it had a 30 min wait!

Waiting on line

My brother & nephew

Over by the spinning tea cups (a Randy Pausch quote)

We went to Mickey's Philharmagic after we went on the Winnie the Pooh ride. My brother got a surprise fast pass for ti when he had gone to get fast passes for Winnie the Pooh so we could do it after lunch. We caught the "Move it, Shake It, Celebrate it" parade again on our way out but this time to got to see it in whole. My nephew was so excited to see Woody and Jesse on it (he is a big Toy Story fan!). On our way out my mom bought Emma a Minnie Mouse and I just love this picture of the two of them:
After two days of the parks (Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom), we needed a break. Well, I could've kept going but I was just going along with the flow. So Friday, we decided to go to one of Disney's water parks. We went to Typhoon Lagoon which brings back memories of me getting lost at 6 or 7 (I forget) and I was scared, ha ha!

It was great because it was hot but we'd cool off with the rides. We spent some time in the big wave pool. Went on the Lazy River (this is the ride when I got lost). I took my niece to the other side of the park and we went snorkeling! I enjoyed looking at the fishes but man, that water was cold! Sara loved it! She was swimming back towards where you get in the water and I had to turn her around, ha ha! Eventually it started to DOWN pour and everyone ran for cover. Once it let up, we left the park and went back to the hotel before we had dinner at The Coral Reef in Epcot near the Nemo ride. It was a very nice restaurant and I even had a glow in the dark drink. We'll always remember the Coral Reef because it was a rather interesting dinner in which my niece Sara ended up staying with my mom and I to finish because the rest went back to the hotel.

One thing I have to say about the trip is the dining plan was so confusing. We had the deluxe so it included table service and quick serve but if you had table service, the tip part was confusing. We thought we would have figured it out by the end but nope. Even though there is a brochure to explain it, the tip part needs to be explained better!

Next up, Magic Kingdom Day 2!

Happy Wednesday!!

Happy Wednesday y'all!! It is the middle of the week and I am soooooo looking forward to tomorrow because I do not have to do anything at all except go to class at 5:30pm (if the campus gets power back) and go celebrate my friend's birthday.

So what are y'all loving on this gorgeous weekday? Link up with Jamie @ This Kind of Love to show What You're Loving!

I'm loving that I start one of the two grad classes I have left for my Special Education certification extension tomorrow. As painful as it can be to sit in class sometimes, I truly enjoy school. I'm already trying to figure out what the next degree I can go back for would be, ha!

I'm loving the app Words With Friends. You can play it on Facebook, your iPad, your iPod touch, your iPhone, etc. It's like Scrabble. I am seriously addicted to it. I was up til 2:30am one morning playing, ha! If you have it, start a game with me. My username is kjaklicious18.

I'm loving the awesome day I had yesterday with my friend Amanda at the vineyards out East. One of them did not have power so we got the tasting (which would've been $17) for free! SCORE! It was great to sit outside in the sunshine, talk with a great friend and have some drinks. =)

I'm loving that my nephew Steven turns FIVE the weekend after labor day. He was born a day after my brother Eric's birthday (his godfather) and I still cannot believe he is going into kindergarten. It seems like the other day he was a tiny baby like this:

to this little rascal who I adore:
I'm loving that the Victoria's Secret Panty Raid starts tomorrow! 7 pairs of underwear for $25.50, SCORE!! It's really cheap considering one pair can cost $8.50. I have to say that their brand is pretty much the only brand of underwear I wear because not only are they cute but they are comfy!

it just sucks you in...

i could probably stay on pinterest for HOURS and find things I love on it. seriously, it is addicting. maybe it is a good thing i can't remember my log in right now, ha ha! but seriously, i think all of the following are just adorable/totally true:

pretty much my friends & i would do this at each other's weddings :)
my future daughters will be divas =)


soooo adorable!

i would totally do this if i ever have twins.

omg i love this! (I swear i have baby fever because i just LOVE babies and newborn portraits!)

doing this to all the baby girls i have (watch me have all boys!)

too freaking cute

i love this one too. what little girl is NOT a princess?!

great idea for a birth announcement or even christmas card if born towards the end of the year

aside from babies, i love weddings. what a cute idea for a before the wedding portrait!

this is adorable! (okay, i totally have baby fever and want a friend to have a baby soon!)

i truly believe that!

hands down FAVORITE tv show ever. i swear i should do a post of my favorite quotes from that & gilmore girls. =) (who would actually read it?!)

calm after the storm!

Well, here's the good news y'all! I survived Hurricane Irene! =) It really ended up weakening and was considered more of a tropical storm by the time it hit Long Island. It was a category 1 when I was leaving work last night.

I did not go to bed until like 2am and oh hey, the storm was really suppose to hit between 3am-1pm...nice. It was just really windy and rainy. Lots of leaves/small twig branches down on my street but people keep driving by so the conditions of the roads must not be bad. No flooding either which is a good thing! There are other areas of Long Island that were hit with flooding, fallen down trees, etc. Also, there are a lot of people without power. My brother does not have any (his house is one mile from ours) but he & his kids are okay (which I'm thankful for because it'll put his wife at ease while she enjoys the rest of her vacation in the DR). We have power at my house so thankfully I won't be super bored at all today!

All in all, I figured the storm would downgrade and not be as bad as they were making it out to be. But then again, they could say it wouldn't be bad and it would go INSANE. You just never know. I wonder what the condition of my job is. We were not sure what time we were closing and when the head of mall security came in and asked what time we were closing, still not sure. The managers had to wait to hear from the regional manager and once we got the okay to close at six (normally we close at 10!), we were in the mode to get EVERYTHING done so we could peace out of there. There are a ton of windows that we had to tape (that really sucks for whoever opens tomorrow morning and has to tape all the masking tape off and put the blinds back on). One of the managers posted signs saying "Due to Hurricane Irene & the safety of our employees, we will be closing at 6pm and reopen Monday at 11:30am". Well, people were STILL coming in at 530. I mean, I probably wasn't friendly because I really just wanted to get out of there and go HOME as did everyone else there. I was finishing taping one of the doors by the front when this woman tries to come in and when I opened to say we closed at 6 (hello there were THREE signs on the door), she was like so pissed and goes "I called earlier for takeout!" And when we said it was for our safety, she goes "Ugh whatever." REALLY?! So freaking rude.

I hope everyone who was in the path of this hurricane is safe and out of harm's way now. Since I couldn't go to sleep until 2am, I was on pinterest. Some of my new fav things I found:

Story of my life!


I wanna look like that when I'm 42!

Hurricane Irene

So there was that loveeelllly disaster that hit Alabama back in what, April/May time? I honestly can't remember if it was a Hurricane or a Tornado but it was NOT pretty. Towns, homes, schools were destroyed. People were injured and died. Reminiscent of Hurricane Katrina back in 2005.

Well, there has been talk about "Hurricane Irene." All week I have been thinking Yeah right....this is going to be a total joke! They'll make a big deal and then nothing will happen.

Well, crap I was WRONG. I was in complete la-la land up until yesterday. Until I watched the news while sitting at the GoodYear tire place getting my car looked at. It was then that I got FREAKED out. The news people are of course doing their job and informing everyone to get the necessities and prepare themselves for the storm. And by preparing, tying your furniture down, evacuating if you live on the water, board up windows (which my mother is FREAKING out about because we have a LOT of windows in our kitchen & family toom), etc.

We had CNN on pretty much ALL morning/early afternoon at work. Finally we had to change it because everyone was FREAKING out (aka all the employees). I live on an island....aka LONG ISLAND in New York. NYC has a mandatory evacuation...the first time in the HISTORY of the city. My friend lives there. She is not affected (she was the first person that came to mind). THANK GOD.

However, my sister-in-law Laurie went out to the Dominican Republic with her friends (this trip was planned before Hurricane Irene decided to dump on our lives.) She is now regretting taking the trip because it is killing her to be away from her three babies and her husband. My siblings, mother, and I would NEVER in a million years not check in on them during something like this. I have been updating her via texts because she has asked me to and will check in on them for her.

THIS IS SCARY. Like I think I have been through "mini" ones but not as bad as they are making it out to be (how ironic that I am watching Where the Heart is as I write this and they are having a tornado). I just went onto the Town of Islip's website and it has a light by village/hamlet of all the address that have a mandatory evacuation. Thankfully my house is not one of them although I am right off one of the main high ways so I'm sure this won't be pretty.

The brunt of the storm is suppose to hit between 8am-noon on Sunday. Will it die down after that? I surely hope so! Or maybe it won't be as bad as they think and it'll be SUPER weak when it hits. Will it start tomorrow night while I am at work? I am making a BEE-LINE for my car and getting out of there. I hope it doesnt start til after midnight. Or if it starts while I'm there that they send us home. Usually we have to wait for a call from the regional manager but I'm sure in a situation like this, it would happen.

The more I read about this (and even write), the more freaked out I am getting. So I am going to stop now and pray for the best. I will be charging my iTouch & iPod nanos to play, get some crossword puzzle books, charge my kindle, etc. And plan on sleeping a lot (if I can block out any noise).

I pray we will all be safe. Not just in Long Island but EVERYWHERE.
I pray my SIL can at least enjoy her vacation a little while she worries.
I pray I don't die or anyone close to me dies.
I hope everyone has a fun hurricane party.

And a random thought, just how many babies do y'all think will be created this weekend/upcoming week with no power?! Ha ha!

Hurricane Irene, BRING IT ON. Long Island is ready for ya!

Come on Irene....Seriously Thursday!

I haven't done this link up in a little while so I've missed it! Here we go. Link up with Becky @ From Mrs to Mama for Seriously Thursday?!

SERIOUSLY... Hurricane Irene?! REALLY!? In my 24 years of existence on Planet Earth I honestly don't remember a Hurricane. I am sure one hit Long Island when I was a wee one but really? The intensity of this storm that is suppose to hit on Sunday has everyone in a Panic Mode. I am not even kidding. My mother is sending me to the store today to stock up on stuff so we don't die. Honestly? I'm not even phased by this although I am SURE I will be freaked out this weekend. Seriously, as long as it does not hit when I am at my job (aka all day tomorrow or all day Saturday), that would be fantastical!

SERIOUSLY... there was an Earthquake on Tuesday? It originated in the Virginia area but I felt my seat shaking in the movie theater while seeing Crazy Stupid Love. My friend didn't and at first, I thought I was insane. Hey cool. I survived my first Earthquake. Now onto a Hurricane. Please don't have a super meltdown Mother Nature and make me survive a tornado. Honestly, which is worse - hurricane or a tornado? I'm clueless.

SERIOUSLY...textbooks are such a rip off! I really don't feel like spending $300 to buy two textbooks brand new for the fall from the bookstore. I am considering renting them but it still means I could spend the same amount + 10 bucks to get them brand new through directtextbooks.com

SERIOUSLY...who brings a DOG to eat at a restaurant? I get if it is a service animal and you are training it, that is acceptable. But a little weird looking thing? Leave it at home! Mind you my job is at the mall so also, who brings a dog to the mall? So freaking weird.

SERIOUSLY...I hope my SIL is able to go on her tropical vacation with her friends. They're suppose to leave I think tomorrow to go to the DR but umm I just don't want her to die in this hurricane. Love her too much (aka I've known her 18 years...3/4 of my life!)

WILW...a tad late

Today was just one of those days that had me aggravated...like I didn't get to eat my dinner until 11pm and I sat in traffic for almost a half hour on the stupid LIE driving my brother someplace. I swear if he doesn't get his car back soon, I might as well become a taxi driver as my chosen profession, ha ha.

BUT, there are DEFINITELY some things I have been loving lately and I wanna share!

(Link up with Jamie!)

I'm loving that I got to have lunch & catch-up with my friend Ashley today! We met in grad school and ended up doing 7 weeks of our student teaching together. It was sooo wonderful to see her! She gave me a book to borrow to help study for the Spanish CST in October/November so it was great to catch up. Can't wait for her wedding in November!

I'm loving that my last two special education classes start next week. Well, technically only one does (the other is a late start class on 10/4) but I'm kind of in the mood to do something "schooly"

I'm loving that I finally get to see my friend Allison tomorrow. We're gonna have a lunch date & catch up. I have not seen her in lord knows how long and I can't wait to hear what's new in her life...and even celebrate her birthday next weekend!
(Not the most attractive picture but it DEFINITELY defines our friendship)

I'm loving how SHOCKED my friend Shannon was at the surprise party her boyfriend and I threw her. She honestly had no idea! She was shaking and it was so worth it. I had a lot of fun that night and can't wait to do something like that again in the future.

I'm loving the movie Crazy Stupid Love. It had a pretty good cast and the fact that I got to stare at Ryan Gosling for two hours made it drool-worthy! One of my favorite scenes from the movie:

{WDW: Travel/Day 1}

This time a week ago I was still in Disney World. I kind of wish I was back on vacation. I always love going away and hate coming back!! We left on a Tuesday and I have to say, it is nice having the local airport for Southwest Flights literally like 5 minutes from my house! I sat next to my brother and the 2 yr old for the flight and all the kids did REALLY well.

When we finally landed in Florida, we were so hungry. But first, we came across some things in the airport and it got the kids ready to see the Mouse!

{My nieces in the airport}

{Outside of our resort....we stayed at Coronado Springs....it was nice!}

{In the lobby...Panchitos was the gift shop}

{Mom, Me, my SIL Laur, niece/goddaughter Sara & my niece Emma on the way to dinner...we were so tired!}

{Me and my brother Mark...I would say I have the closest relationship with him out of all my brothers}


We really just chilled in the hotel the first night after dinner. The next day we went to Hollywood Studios!

{Walking in}

{The whole fam!}

My sister-in-law arranged a character meal with Handy Manny and friends at the restaurant Hollywood & Vine...they had some good food! I literally have no idea who half these characters are but it was a joy to watch the expressions on my nieces & nephew's faces:
{My brother & his fam}

{Me outside the Great Movie Ride}

And then we met some characters!!
{Green Army Man from Toy Story!}

Meeko & Me....this is hilarious because one of my co-workers called me Meeko from Pocahontas after I got badly sunburned one day and looked like a raccoon!


The Incredibles!

My goddaughter/niece Sara & I waiting for the bus back to our resort. It was a long, hot (big mistake wearing denim capris in Florida in AUGUST!) day but so fun and filled with memories!

Back at it!

I have returned from my blogging break, which was due in part to my vacation last week. And since I am back on Wednesday, I am linking up with Jamie for What I'm Loving Wednesday!

I'm loving the awesome vacation I just returned from! I was in Disney World for a week with my brother Mark, SIL Laur, my mom, and my nieces & nephew. It was their first time and we all had a magical experience! I will blog more about this later but for now:
{The fam at Hollywood Studios on Day 1 of the parks!}
I'm loving how awesome this weekend is going to be! I am catching up with a friend for lunch tomorrow followed by some birthday shopping for a friend of ours, partying Fri after work for a friend's birthday and my friend Shannon's SURPRISE party on Sat! So excited!!

I'm loving how addicted I am to Angry Birds....haha who would write that they love it?! Good thing I only put it on my iTouch a week ago otherwise I would have NEVER gotten work done the past semester.

I'm loving all the teaching blogs I have come across and decided to follow. A lot of them seem geared towards elementary (and I'm secondary) but still give me some ideas I could tweek when I eventually get a classroom of my own!!

I'm loving the good book I picked up for myself in the airport yesterday before we flew back to New York. It's called Left Neglected and it is really interesting! I can't wait to go and read more.

Short & sweet this week!
Link up to show what you're loving!

Bloggy Break/Vacation

I am taking a blog break for about a week. After an insane night at work (and possibly one of the craziest fundraisers possible) and bursting into tears, I am on VACATION!!!!! Praise the Lord! My vacation is the reason why I am taking a blog break?

Where am I going?


DISNEY WORLD!

See ya in a week!

So much to do, so little time....

There is just way too much to do in such a little amount of time. Am I procrastinating? Yes. But, who packs for a weeks vacation in the middle of the night? Not me. My mom says if I rummage through my closet in the night, it wakes her up (I've been known to stay up til 1am+ cleaning my closet)...so I'll just wait til tomorrow. All I really have to do tomorrow is laundry, get my nails done since I don't want them to chip/break when I'm away, and PACK. Oh yeah, go to a thing called work too but that isn't too bad.

And need to go to the bank too! Plus pay some bills that are due while I am away. That is the part that stinks about growing up..bills stink! Oy vey. It's almost 12:30am in NY now (who knows what time this will be posted at!). How am I ever going to get through tomorrow? I'll get up early, arm myself with a pot (because a cup is NOT enough) of coffee, some redbull, and just run my butt ragged. The only issue is I feel like I need to bring a lot of clothes because it's suppose to be HOT in Florida and I don't deal well with sweaty clothes after awhile. Eww, gross.

All I did was work this weekend but it is worth it because I will not work again for another 9 days until after tomorrow. Score!! Yesterday before work, my mom and I went to town to browse around the Summerfest. It's an annual thing the first weekend of August in my town and there are a lot of different things each day. There's a car show, dance performances, carnival rides, and the tarps with different crafts. A lot of it is jewelry but we found some things. My mom was so excited to find a set of these blue & white dishes (her first set) for $10 for the entire box!! She says in a thrift store it is $10 a cup/bowl/plate...so I say she made out well. She also got some stick things for her garden and I got two pairs of sunglasses...they actually have big frames and look relatively cute on me!

I am super excited because I have been TORTURED the last few days over something my boyfriend said at dinner. He said he knows what he is getting me for my birthday (and I think Christmas as well) and he's known for awhile. He told my best friend Shannon but wouldn't tell me. Umm, HELLO...my birthday is NOT until NOVEMBER! That's NOT cool. She told me it would be epic and I'd die (well not really) of happiness. So, at our friend's party last night, he had a little too much to drink. I got there after I got off work and didn't really feel like drinking. He needs to learn not to talk so much because he blabbed the surprise...he is taking me to the Bahamas for my birthday! Not in November but as a gift. He wants to research the best time to go/a good deal but HOLY CRAP. I am SO EXCITED! He better not back out on his word (I don't think he will). I simply LOVE the fact that he wants to take me there because he knows how much I wanna go and see the caribbean and even though he has already been there, he wants to go with me. I feel special. :)

Also, there is a PARADE dedicated to Lucy from "I Love Lucy"?! What on Earth?! I was just looking (not stalking) through a friend's facebook pictures from her weekend and apparently in Jamestown, NY (yay NY state!) which is where Lucille Ball was born, they have a "Lucy Fest." That's kinda cool!

Time to go sleep so I can be productive tomorrow and pack for my vacation. I am excited to take a break and enjoy life!

Seriously Thursday time!

Time for another fun link up this week. It is time for Seriously?! Thursday with Becky @ From Mrs to Mama.



1. I seriously still cannot believe the girl that puked in the row in front of me at the Britney concert the other night. How do you get that drunk at a Britney concert...before she even went on?! She almost tried to sit in the seats in front of my friend & I but there was a girl that made her move because those were her friends seats. She spent the rest of the night with her head in her lap. Seriously, its your own fault. I just couldn't believe it!

2. Seriously, I am excited for the Jersey Shore Season 4 premiere tonight. The Italy season! Judge if you wish but I have been watching episode reruns of previous seasons and it's just too funny. My favorite Snooki quote: "When I think of Italy, I think of Lady & The Tramp...you know, beautiful".

3. Seriously, I am kind of disgusted that CHRISTMAS decorations were delivered to my friend's job [Kohl's]. EWW. Can we just stop rushing life?!

4. This time next week, I will be on vacation!! I am SERIOUSLY excited to go to Disney World. A little worried about the plane ride with the kiddos [aka nieces & nephew] because I'm afraid of hearing screams but Aunt Kristin will sit by herself if I have to [our group is 7 people] and listen to her lovely ipod. PTL for that!

5. Okay, I don't know if anyone else watches "Dance Moms" on Lifetime but there are two moms on that show that need to GET A GRIP on life! Like seriously. Kathy, the one that owns her own studio and brings her daughter 2.5 hrs away to the studio but doesn't wanna be with the rest of the company on the bus ride to competitions..WTF? And Chloe's mom...her fight in the dressing room last night was just ridic. Get a grip lady, seriously! It just makes me glad I never saw anything like this while I danced.

6. Seriously excited for October 20th-24th? Why? My best friend from Georgia is visiting...HOLLA!!! We are gonna go to the city for a day, go back to our roots [aka where we met] in New Paltz and all that fun stuff. I miss this girl!

7. Seriously, it would be phenomenal if the FAFSA website would update itself and use the NEW software aka Mozilla Firefox 5.0 or 6.0x or whatever we are at now instead of 3.0x. You are making my life extremely complicated right now!

WILW day =)

Happy Wednesday, y'all! It's time to link up with Jamie to show everyone what you're loving!

{1}
I'm loving how AWESOME the Britney Spears concert was last night. Shannon and I googled the set list in the car and Britney sang some of her best songs. I'm talking "Toxic," "Baby One More Time," "I'm a Slave For You," "Womanizer," "If U Seek Amy," etc. I have to say regardless if people think she lip syncs, Britney is an AMAZING dancer and the concert was awesome...inspite of the girl that puked in the row in front of us! {How do you get THAT drunk at a Britney concert and puke?! I felt bad for the little girl's seat that it went on.} And oh yeah, Kanye West showed up while Nicki Minaj was singing...pretty sick!
Oh Brit...you'll always be my girl!

{2}
I'm loving...that the movie "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead" is on right now on HBO. I haven't seen it in years! Please tell me someone else has seen this:

{3}
I'm loving...that I have four 4 days of work after today before I am ON VACATION FOR A WEEK!! Am I in any way ready to go? Nope. But I am so excited! Disney for the third time in 14 months..pretty freaking sweet!

{4}
I'm loving...that my dog's surgery went well and she does not have cancer in her paw! I took her back to the vet's yesterday and while the pathology report did say it was cancer and has a 25% chance of coming back in other areas, my dog is back to her normal self! She's a crazy fool!

{5}
I'm loving...that when I used a tuition waiver voucher the other day at school for 1.5 credits, it covered over $1000 that I do NOT have to take out in loans for the fall! Praise the Lord!

What are you all loving today?