FONDUE, VOMIT, & STEPHEN KING

Steve and I went to The Melting Pot for our anniversary dinner last night and we had a lot of fun! We'd been to the one in Myrtle Beach, so we knew what to expect as far as food and such. I like this kind of restaurant, because it forces you to talk to whomever you eat with! Steve doesn't usually talk much when just the two of us go to restaurants, but since we had to share plates and a cooking pot (and because I had sharp, metal forks that I could poke him with if he got too quiet) we talked much more! I like good conversations over meals. I get there rarely. Everything was so good, and our waiter was really great! I did manage to drop cheese on myself, and burn my mouth with a potato, but we had a very nice time. Part of me wonders if we could be getting a bit taken advantage of, though. Don't get me wrong, I like the restaurant a lot and I'll most definitely go back, but I have this sneaking suspicion that eating there means you pay more for less food AND you have to cook it yourself.

Oh, well, being able to poke Steve with sharp, metal forks kind of makes it all worth it! :)

After we ate, we dropped by the fancy Barnes & Noble for a few minutes. OK, so it probably isn't exactly any fancier than any other Barnes & Noble, but it's in a fancy shopping mall, so I call it fancy. But I digress. On our way in, we heard this terrible sound. We stopped and looked around, and we realized that what we were hearing was some guy throwing up out in the parking lot. Only it didn't sound like a normal person puking...well, if there is such a thing as a "normal" sound of someone puking. I wish there was a way for me to explain so that you would understand how bizarre it sounded, but if it tells you anything, we stood there listening to this sound and looking for its source way longer than we would have if we had known it was someone barfing to begin with. Once we realized, we hastily walked into the store and Steve remarked that it sounded like some kind of creature from "Star Wars" and we busted out laughing because he was exactly right. He sounded like a Taun Taun! I realize how evil we must sound, admitting that we laughed like fools and someone who was obviously sick (and possibly non-human), but it was just one of those things that you can't help laughing at. Poor guy. I hope he's better today!

Our trip to Barnes & Noble was so that I could pick up the new Stephen King novel in hardback. I was going to make myself wait for the weekend before I got it, but I didn't. "Under the Dome" is an enormous book! I'm not kidding, at a glance, it looks longer than "The Stand" and that had over a thousand pages! It's supposed to be a book he started writing in the 80's and just couldn't finish, but he went back to it and figured he might as well clean it up and release it. I mean, the man can publish a grocery list and see it go on the NY Times Best Sellers List, but I hope that the story is good. If not, I could always hollow it out and use it as a panic room or something. Seriously, the book is huge!

QUICKIES!

- I feel that if anyone has/has ever had an actual chance of being shot while protecting my way of life, they should be honored! HAPPY VETERAN'S DAY!

- Today is my 9th wedding anniversary! Hard to believe, isn't it?

- I complained about it being too hot in my office, so I turned the heat down. Now I'm cold. I'm too proud to go back in and change the thermostat.

- Krispy Kreme mini donuts are awesome and there is a very good chance that if I have some, I will not share. This is not selfishness, this is just fact.

I was locked IN the office last night because no one noticed I was here.

I always say goodbye before I leave, and my light was on, and I sit in front of the door! They still didn't notice I was still here! They turned off the lights and everything. I had to feel my way down the hall and down the stairs.

It's official. I've finally become invisible.

On the bright side, though, if I'm invisible I never have to wear pants again! :)

I found a site that tells about the history of my hometown! It is unexpectedly interesting. :)

Limestone County Historical Society

It is not the best designed site I've ever seen, and it doesn't have the most information, but what it does have was interesting (to me at least).

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) Well, yesterday was a total bust. Steve and I got up and went to church in the morning. Everything was fine until about halfway through Sunday school, when Steve got a bad headache. He said it just hit him, and since he rarely ever gets headaches (or at least he hardly ever complains about them if he does get them) I knew it must've been pretty bad. We ended up leaving church before worship service and going to get him some medicine and breakfast to see if that would help him feel better. When we got home, I changed and lay back on the couch to read a magazine. The next thing I knew, I was waking up at 5:00 that evening. It was a ninja-like nap attack! I didn't see it coming in the least, and for me to sleep for such a long time was just irritating. When I woke up, I also had a terrible headache and wasn't feeling well, so we ended up staying home from evening services as well. I didn't accomplish anything of usefulness and that makes me mad! :P

2) I still wasn't feeling very well this morning, so even when I got up at the butt-crack of dawn to go to the gym, I didn't actually make it over there. I actually enjoy going, but I've missed the last few days for one reason or another. I'm quite frustrated with myself about this! I'm going to have to figure out how to make myself go after work if I can't make myself go in the mornings. On a lighter note, however, since I woke up so early and got ready for work earlier than normal, we were able to stop by Starbucks on the way in to work! They have already started serving their holiday drinks! Hello, Peppermint Mocha, I've missed you so!

3) Speaking of Starbucks. As much as I like the things they serve, and as much as I have enjoyed going there with friends to talk and hang out on occasion, I think I have finally decided that I prefer the non-chain coffee houses. There is something so blatantly mass produced about Starbucks. I don't know if that makes much sense, but it annoys me. It's like the place is trying so hard to be hipster-ish, but it's just too glossy. I don't know what finally made me notice this about the place, but I did and now it irritates me. Give me a place like Jittery Joe's (The original Athens, GA one) or Blue Sky Cafe (sadly, now closed) any day.

4) I entered a logo design contest the other day, and while I'm trying not to get my hopes up, I really, really want to win it! It's for Lollyphile, which is a swiftly growing company that has begun getting some attention across the country. I don't think I have much of a chance to win, because I've seen the other entries and they are awesome, but I'd love to be able to have something like that in my portfolio! I have so few things in there right now as it is. Fingers crossed! :)

5) My boss finished ripping down the wall in my office on Friday. Once again, he did it with a hammer, a drill and his bare hands! I was so scared that he was going to fall off of the rickety ladder that he was using and break himself, but he didn't!

Office Deconstruction 95% complete.

It feels weird having that wall gone, because now I have this empty space in the middle of the room that I don't know what to do with. He said it was so that I'd have more room, but room for what I'm not sure. Andrew took this photo of the hallway outside of my door:
It looks like some kind of modern art display. I call it "Office, Deconstructed" by Sam. :)

FIDDLE-DEE-DEE

I have just recently re-discovered my very favorite book, "Gone With the Wind." I'm not actually reading it this time, but listening to the audio novel. It's quite a different experience to listen to it instead of reading it, but it's just as enjoyable.

It has been years since I've read it, but mainly because I couldn't find my copy of it anywhere. Since the 8th grade, when I first read the book, I've tried to remember to pick it up every couple of years and read it, even though I've learned it practically by heart. Reading it is like finding a pair of comfortable slippers that I thought I lost. I just kind of slide into the story and get comfy. :)

I remember opening it for the first time and getting completely sucked into the story. I had seen the movie a thousand times, but the book was so much better! I had actually forgotten how much I really did love this book until I started listening to it a couple of days ago. I actually read my first copy of it to pieces, literally. I remember the cover fell off and I think I lost about half of the second year of the civil war!

I wanted to be Scarlett O'Hara. I remember employing some of the "southern belle" stuff I learned from the book and finding out that it worked just as well on the boys I knew in real life as it did in the story! Not on everyone, of course, but I learned to use it when I needed to. Heeheehee! My mom even made me a Scarlett costume for Halloween one year, with one of those dresses with the big skirts and ruffles and everything. Shut up, I was adorable! :)

I think Scarlett was probably my hero for years, but alas, I didn't realize at the time that she wasn't exactly the best role model for a young girl to have! So, of course, with all of the things that I emulated about her, I think I also picked up some of her less desirable traits. I didn't realize that until much later, though!

Oh well, I won't worry about that now. I'll think about it tomorrow. :)

A TINY RANT

From Saturday night to Monday evening, I had a bad sinus headache. I get them a lot this time of year. Well, I have them all of the time, actually, but they aren't always this persistent. Anyways, this was the kind that can completely wreck your day and make you feel as if you would gladly remove your head with a kitchen implement if it was possible. One of those that are thisclose to migraine status. Nothing I had on hand in my emergency purse kit would make a dent in it.

Yes, I have an extensive emergency purse kit.

After work, I asked Steve if he would stop at the ghetto Wal-Mart, which is on our way home, so that I could get some of that medicine that you have to show ID for. You know, the stuff that actually works. There are plenty of cold and sinus medications that you can just pick up and buy without bothering to show ID, but those are the kind whose active ingredients were long ago replaced with Kool-Aid and fairy dust because of the hastared meth-heads. When I walked back to that section where you pick up the cards to take to the pharmacy, there was nothing there but empty slots. I kind of stood there blinking and wondering if I was just hallucinating from the pain in my head, because the lack of patent medicine was quite baffling to me. I finally scrounged around and found one card for some "Tylenol Severe Sinus" pills that I didn't want, because I knew they would put me to sleep, but I was desperate! I figured if I had to take them at work, I'd just wear a sign around my neck that explained my situation or something. When I took the card to the pharmacy, I asked if this was all they had. The lady behind the counter told me that they didn't even have the medicine that I was holding a card for. They had nothing. They were out. OUT!

Now, am I mistaken, or is this cold and flu season? Wouldn't it be prudent to restock medicines that are affective against certain ailments during this time? Isn't it obvious that when you have shelves and shelves of medicines for colds and sinus problems that no one wants to buy because they are basically glorified Tic-Tacs, that you should probably order a back log of things that people do buy?! My head was in the process of splitting along my skull sutures and they are going to tell me that they DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING?!!!!!! *pant pant pant pant*

Of course, being the well bred southern lady that I am, I didn't yell or fling myself across the counter, rip the pharmacist's throat out with my teeth and bathe in her blood like I wanted to. I said "Thank You" and left the establishment. Then Steve took me to Walgreens and I found what I needed. Once I got home, I took some meds and finally got rid of the headache.

NO THANKS TO YOU, GHETTO WAL-MART!

Until further notice, they are on my list.

I have loved to read since I was in the third grade. I was indifferent about it up until then, but circumstance gave me a long car ride and one of my sister's books, and my love of reading was born.

Because I'm a long time reader, I have learned to read very fast. This is OK when I am reading a novel, but it is bad when I need to pay attention to facts written within the text. This has caused problems with me when doing homework or doing research for something. I also have the kind of mind that will jump off on a tangent with very little provocation. So, if I misread something, I tend to have a few moments where my mind wonders off and I ponder what it was supposed to mean! This kind of thing isn't conducive to being a productive person.

Recently, this little quirk of mine has begun happening more and more often. I blame my advanced age of 31. :) Last week I was reading Kenny's blog, and there was a sentence that started with "Habits are hard to break." I read it as "Hobbits are hard to break." My first thought was: Hobbits? Why was he trying to break a hobbit? I didn't even think he liked Tolkien that much! What does he have against hobbits?! (By the way, if you type the word 'Hobbit' enough times, it stops making sense.) I went back to read that again and got what he was trying to say, so that ended my confusion. Of course, when I told him about it, he assured me that he doesn't make a habit of breaking hobbits. He grinds them up and keeps them in the pantry.

Saturday I had another one of these moments. I was looking for SEC football scores online & I saw a list of games that were going on. I noticed that Auburn was set to play Ole Miss. I read it as "Olé Miss." I immediately wondered when Mexico got a college team.

*sigh*

Sparkle! :{

I'm not sure why, but I have this great desire, nay, a great need to stand on my desk and really belt out "We Are the Champions" by Queen. I want to gesticulate grandly and sing into my water bottle.

I feel kind of like I did that day when I wanted to sing "It's All Coming Back To Me" by Celine Dion, but without the need to turn the fan onto me so that my hair would blow around my face.

I probably won't do it, though. Gracious, what would the roofers think?

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) I had a dream last night that I was back in college. Apparently I had missed the last class and was asking what we did in class and my Art History professor told me I had a 20 page paper due today. I woke up in a panic, trying to figure out when I would have time to work on it. Then I remembered I graduated 2 years ago. I'd never been so glad to be out of college before.

2) Steve and I stopped by Starbucks this morning on our way to work! I ordered a latte with no whipped cream, thinking it might not be as fattening. I took a sip and almost barfed! I forgot that no whipped cream also means that the latte won't be sweet. HORF! I love coffee, but only if it has sugar in it. That'll learn me!

3) OOOOH, speaking of Starbucks, they have this thing that I've never seen anywhere else before that probably shouldn't impress me as much as it does. It's like a coffee stirrer, but it has a bit of molded plastic at the top that you can use to plug up the opening on your travel coffee cup lid! It's brilliant! It is one of those things that you would never imaging needing, but realize how useful it is once you have them. That link doesn't go to the exact same product I'm describing, but it's the same concept. I am amazed when people think up these things that seem like such basic common sense, but didn't exist before. I wish I had a smart. :(

4) Our church potluck went well yesterday, thank goodness. We had a TON of food! Of course, we usually do, but I always git a tiny niggle of fear that we aren't going to have enough to feed everyone. As far as I can tell everyone ate as much as they wanted and we didn't run out, so that is always good. We had a lot of people just forget to pick up what they brought, so we ended up throwing food away, which I hate to do. However, most of the places we could otherwise donate food to won't take it if it's leftover from a big meal like we had. I guess I understand that, but I hate to see it go to waste.

5) Halloween is this Saturday! I wish I had a reason to dress up, but alas, I do not. I need to check and see if we even have any candy to give the few kids who come to our house and trick or treat. I'll probably just give them a handful of the weird foreign candy we bought from World Market if we have any left. If not, we will probably have to turn the lights off and hide. We have no shame. :)

6) I watched a couple of episodes of House last night, and I've decided that I like that show. I've figured out the formula for it though. Ahem...

Someone comes in with a weird illness that looks to be one thing. The doctors treat it and make it worse or the patient gets worse on their own. The doctors sit around and talk about what it might be, only to have Dr. House make fun of their stupidity. He tells them to run some kind of dangerous test, they argue about it, but almost always do it anyway. The patient doesn't get better. House snarks to the dark haired lady or the other man doctor. While he's talking to them, they say something that helps him figure out what is wrong with the patient. This in turn causes him to rush back to his team and tell them what to do just in time to save the patient. Ta dah!

House. Good show. About as predictable as a Scooby-Doo episode.

Sigh.

I can't decide if I am bored, or boring.

Steve had to go on a business trip last Wednesday, and I absolutely did nothing of note or merit the entire time he was gone. It wasn't because I didn't want to do anything, I promise. It was because I couldn't think of anything to do!

Usually when he has to go out of town, I do things he doesn't like to do. This time, though, I was completely useless. Well, not completely useless. I did laundry. I tried to make cheese straws. Well, let's just say that if Fail was cheese flavored, it would taste like my cheese straws! Heeheehee. I also made cupcakes for the pot luck we had at church on Saturday. They weren't pretty, but they at least didn't catch on fire or anything.

I think I've lost my will to be interesting. I don't know. It's disheartening. I'm 31 and I've run out of things to do!

Oy.

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) Yikes. Yesterday I realized that I have finally caught up with everything on my "To Do" list at work. I'd even finished the stuff I'd been putting off because it sounded boring and/or complicated. So today I come into work with a kit for a papercraft model of the Haunted Mansion from Disney World to keep me busy until someone requests something. I know how that sounds, but since my job in an "On Demand" kind of thing, I will sometimes spend my free time making stuff so that my idle hands can't be used as the devil's tools. :) You guys already know this, though, right? OK, so I sat down at my drafting table and started putting the model together. I had bits of paper and glue scattered all along my work space and I was in the ZONE! Out of nowhere I heard the voice of our COO coming down the hall and there is absolutely nothing I could do about my paper model stuff all over my table. I thought briefly about diving under the desk and pretending I wasn't here, but there was no time. Plus, I'd be pretty easy to spot crouching under a table. Apparently once you hit a certain age, covering your eyes doesn't make you invisible anymore. Bummer. He walked in and talked to me for a minute before going outside to see how the roofers were doing and he didn't say anything about what I was doing. Of course, he would probably go to my boss if he had a problem with what I was doing instead of saying anything to me. It would do no good for me to try and explain the nature of my job to him, nor would it do any good to tell him that I'd regularly been checking to make sure I hadn't gotten a work order. I've got to hope that he thought I was doing something for work. Please? Curse my need to keep my hands busy!

2) Speaking of the things I do in between graphics jobs: I have been working on a remembrance altar for Dia de los Muertos. It sounds kind of grim, but I like the idea behind them and I thought it would be a nice thing to have. Since I don't have a lot of space, I decided to make a mini version of one: I know it looks crazy, but there is a formula for how to make them and they have to include certain things. Therein is my problem so far. Since it is a small version of one, made in an Altoids box, no less, I can't exactly light candles on the tiers in it and any real flowers or food would completely dwarf the thing. I'm going to take it home and make all of the other stuff out of clay, I think. It's the thought that counts, right? I've been having fun snapping apart my dollar store skeletons and hot gluing them back together in new positions. Of course, now I have a pile of plastic bones sitting on my other work table, so there is no telling what people think if they come in here when I am not in my office and see them. Oh well. What are you going to do?

3) Today my co-worker Andrew showed me two hilarious commercials. They are 100% real and made by an outfit that specializes in local commercials. Please, please, PLEASE watch these. If they don't make you laugh, then you have no soul. NO SOUL, I SAY!



I think the whip cracks are what sell it for me.



There are no words...should have sent...a poet...

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) Steve was a hero this morning! Yay! I was sitting at the computer this morning when the phone rang. Phones that ring so early in the morning are usually bad news, so I snatched it up and answered it. It was our neighbor across the street, who is an elderly man. I like him. He talks like Foghorn Leghorn.

Anyways, he asked for Steve, who was in the shower, and I asked him if there was anything I could help him with. He didn't sound upset, but he said his wife had fallen down (and couldn't get up) and he needed Steve to come and help him get her up. I was all "?!" so I told Steve and he got out and went over to help. I was afraid that maybe the lady had been hurt, but once Steve got back he told me that everything was fine. The lady had just had a hip replacement and she tripped over her walker. Her husband is over 80 and couldn't help her back up because he is old and has back problems. So Steve picked her up and put her in her chair! Yay! Steve was a hero!

2) There are men outside fixing the roof on the SpRocket, and they are using my office as a hallway so that they don't have to climb up the side of the building on a ladder. They are nice guys, but they have been knocking things over all over my office. Also, they come in and explain to me what they are doing, and I have no idea what they are talking about, so I just smile and nod. I'm just grateful that they are fixing the leaks! So far so good. There is only one leak left and they are concerned enough about it to make an effort to fix it. It's nice to meet a contractor that is actually trying to finish on time AND do a good job. Of course, we have our COO coming up here every other day to oversee them and I think he makes them nervous. They're probably just trying to get away. :)

3) The cat has been back, and I guess that I might as well admit I've halfway adopted her. I still hope she has a real home, but she now has food and a toy at my house when she wants them. She still can't live inside, but only time will tell on that. I'm such a sucker.

4) I was hungry this morning and I ate my lunch for breakfast. Now what am I going to do?!

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2009

Going Home

I am beginning to lose faith in the the human race.

Yes, I can make such sweeping statements because I have just had to deal with airports today. Oy vey. Anyone who flies kind of loses hope after a day of traveling, though, right?

OK, so nothing specific or terrible happened, I guess. I'm just kind of shocked at how selfish strangers can be to one another when their own comfort and convenience is at stake! It's just little things, but those things matter when they are so obvious. Remember that, frequent travelers!!! Be Warned! People blog about your rudeness later!

So, we left Port Orleans this morning after breakfast. I love the way they handle your luggage from the Disney resorts, because you can actually check your baggage before you ever get on the bus to go to the airport! No long lines at the airport to hand over your stuff! Yay! Well, not entirely. We still had to stand in line a bit because the flight number on our connection flight from Atlanta to Huntsville was changed and we had to get new boarding passes for that leg of the trip. It wasn't bad, though. We got our tickets and went to one of the stores at the airport I wanted to visit.

It was actually a store called LUSH that I visited once, years ago, in Toronto. The stores have finally filtered down to the US over the past few years. Of course, there are none in Huntsville or even close so I wanted to go when I had the chance. Anyway, the sales people were super nice and helpful, but they followed me around almost the whole time I was there and I do not like that. They were so busy being helpful that they wouldn't let me browse at my leisure. I didn't mind them wanting to help me, but I quickly wanted them to leave me alone so I could shop. I was trying to catch a flight, after-all, and I didn't have the time to chat. I made my purchases and finally got out of the door and we breezed through security (thank goodness). I've finally figured out not to wear a belt, take off my glasses, wear shoes that are easy to slip on and off and carry easily recognizable items in my carry-on. As long as my under-wire doesn't start setting off the metal detector, I should be OK.

The gate was really crowded and there weren't many seats available, but Steve and I finally found two of them together. I sat down while Steve went to get a soda and I placed his back pack on his seat so no one would sit there. While he was gone, a little girl came and sat down in his seat, practically on his back pack. I know it wasn't her fault for sitting there, she was only a little girl, but her mother didn't say a word. I kept thinking that her mom would tell her to move, but she didn't. Oh well, I just picked up Steve's backpack and when he got back, we had to sit on the floor. Nice. I also noticed that the reason there weren't that many seats available was because a lot of people had their bags on seats. It wasn't that they were saving the seats, they just didn't want to put their stuff on the floor. Rude!

Our flight was completely full and I was stuck in a center seat again, but at least this time I was next to Steve. There was a nice Latino gentleman on my other side and he didn't spill over onto my seat. He also fell asleep practically immediately, so it was much more comfortable on the flight back. The flight itself was fairly uneventful except for the lady in front of me who decided that she should lean her chair back on me. Maybe she was air-sick, I didn't know, so I didn't say anything. Also, when they gave me my little bag of peanuts, the bag was kind of hard to open, and when I finally managed to open it, peanuts flew out and landed all over Steve. I was so glad he wasn't a stranger! :) When we landed and were waiting to get off of the plane, a woman behind me started complaining. A lot. She couldn't wait to get off of this plane. The flight had been horrible. She wanted to go home and etc. It went on and on and got old really fast. Then she got on her cell phone and started bitching (pardon that word, but it is apt) at someone on the other end kind of loudly. It became clear that she was talking to her mother about being sure she (the mom) had the unity candles. Not just the candles, but the candle holders and she'd better made sure she had all of them! Other things were said, but by that point I realized that this woman was on her way home from her honeymoon and from the way she was behaving, she hadn't had a very nice time. The complaining got so bad that I came within an ace of turning to her new husband and wishing him luck, but I refrained. My mother raised me better! :)

Our flight to Huntsville wasn't bad, although it was cramped. We got stalled out on the runway for some reason. There was a guy on our flight who got on his cell phone and started talking while we were stalled, and he was so loud. There are a lot of people who seem to feel the need to yell into their cell phones, and this guy was one of them. He wasn't really supposed to be on his phone at this point anyways, but he didn't seem to mind. Once we were cleared for take-off, he finally put his phone away, much to everyone's delight. Seriously, he was loud.

It's kind of dark, but that's my foot looking plaintively out of the window. It was an advanced yoga move to get my foot to that point.

Once we touched down, and before it was allowed, Mr. Loud Talker got his cell phone back out and called someone. I thought that he must have some pretty important business to take care of if he couldn't wait the 5 minutes for us to get out of the plane, but that wasn't the case. He just called someone to chat. Loudly. It was like he really needed to show off that he had a phone or something. It was weird.

We finally got inside, and I realized how glad I was that our airport is so small. A lot of people complain, but I didn't mind. It's nice to get home and not have to elbow your way to baggage claim or take a tram from one gate to another. We got our bags and went home.

Thus endeth our vacation. Whew.

THURSAY, OCTOBER 1, 2009

Downtown Disney and Less Stressful Things

Whew.

Today was a day set aside to rest after the non-stop exposure of the "Happiest Place on Earth." We still had things to do, of course, but none of those things included getting up early to catch a bus to a theme park! Yay!

Of course, in true Kelly fashion, I awoke early, even though I didn't want to. Apparently my internal clock thought it was funny to wake me up way before it was necessary. Stupid internal clock. After a time, I just couldn't stay in bed anymore no matter how much I might have wanted to. I got up and got ready for our day, and eventually Steve woke up as well. We spent some time getting our suitcases in order, packing away souvenirs (of which we had a lot), and trying to decide what we would do.

Our first order of business was to get breakfast. I was determined that I would finally be able to finish a muffin before we had to go someplace. See, the Port Orleans resort has this big dining hall that has all manner of delicious food. Each morning, I had gotten what I am convinced is the best banana muffin on the planet. They were tasty, but huge. Since I have to take my time eating, I was usually not quite done with my muffin each morning before we had to leave. Granted, I wasn't being rushed or anything, but I just eat so dang SLOW! I can't help it. Anyways, I finally got to eat the whole muffin! Yay, me!

After breakfast, we caught the ferry boat and rode down to Downtown Disney, which is basically a small village of shops and restaurants. The shopping is almost exclusively Disney centered, even though there are a few other things sprinkled in. I thought my feet and legs had finally gotten a respite from hurting, but after half an hour or so of walking, they hurt just as badly as before. I was pretty much used to it by then, though. We walked through a whole lot of shops, but surprisingly didn't buy very much of anything until we got to a place called "The Art of Disney" which was a place where you can buy both one-of-a-kind pieces of Disney art as well as posters and other things. We finally found a poster we had spent all week looking for, which was a really awesome, retro-style, travel poster for Tomorrowland. I also got a small print of the Haunted Mansion (I said don't judge me!) that I liked. We took our leave from there and went back to the resort. I was just too damn tired to want to do anything at this point, so once we got back to our room, I fell asleep while Steve went to the pool. I don't know how he had the energy, but I guess he found it somewhere. I woke up when he got back and it was late afternoon, almost evening, by that point.

We had reservations at "Kouzzina by Cat Cora" at another resort area for dinner, so we got dressed up nicer than normal (I still had to wear my flip-flops, though, because my feet were in no shape to wear heels. Classy, I know.) and went to ask someone at the resort how to get there. The guy at the info desk told us to take the bus to Epcot Center and then take a boat from there. We had no idea what he was talking about, because we hadn't seen any boats while at the park, but he works for the place and had to know what he was talking about. Right?

Wrong. We got there and found out that we needed to actually go to Disney's Hollywood Studios and catch a boat from there. So we waited in another long line, in the hot sun, for another bus to come and take us to the right park. I felt bad that we had dressed up, because we were hot and sweaty by the time we made it to the boat that would take us to the Boardwalk Resort where the restaurant was.

We finally made it there, and it was awesome!! If you don't know Cat Cora, I guess you could consider her a celebrity chef. She's one of the ones on Iron Chef America (which I love) and it was a lovely place. It wasn't fancy, but it was nice. We ended up having to sit on the same side of our table, which was weird for me, because the family next to us had pretty much taken up all of the room around them, but it wasn't that bad. The food was good, even thought Steve didn't like what he ended up ordering, but I enjoyed mine immensely. Since this place was included on our dining plan, dessert was included on our tab and I think somehow my dessert became some kind of Mickey Miracle. A true mousekateer stigmata, if you will. I ordered yogurt sorbet, with berries and mint syrup. It sounded fussy, but was actually very good. The berries and syrup were served separately from the sorbet in a small wine glass off to the side and you were supposed to pour them onto the sorbet. I did, and I swear that I didn't arrange any of the berries to do this but:

Three Words: Mickey. Mouse. Head.

I wouldn't have put it past the "Imagineers" at Disney to somehow distort gravity to cause this to happen, but I hope to God that there are some things they can't manipulate. Impressive. :)

After dinner, we made our way back to the resort and finished packing for our trip home tomorrow. We also watched TV while we did this, and did you know that at a Disney Resort, there are approximately 300 channels of nothing but Disney shows?

My feet are still killing me, and I am ready to go home, but it hasn't been a bad trip at all. I promise!

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2009

The Magic Kingdom

Oh. God. I think I have permanent damage to my feet. I had another blister and the one on the bottom of my foot was swollen up again. It hurt to walk at all, but I didn't have a choice because today was the big day! Magic Kingdom Day! This one is Steve's all time favorite, and after yesterday's tiny come-apart, I decided that I was going to make sure I didn't do anything that would keep him from having the best day ever! It actually went well, believe it or not. I wasn't feeling great when I woke up, but I medicated all of my ills and we went on our way. Oh, it was a 5 band aid day today!

By this point, Steve was having to help me out.

Our bus was super crowded, so I just knew that the park would be jammed with people. I wasn't looking forward to the lines and the heat, but I had decided that it was going to be an awesome day and nothing was going to change that! We got there just as the park was opening, and we got to see the ending of some kind of Disney Welcome Musical Number! It was too cheerful for that early in the morning and I realized there and then that if I ever worked as a "cast member" in the park, I'd commit hari-kari with the blunt end of a Mickey Mouse lollipop. I'm usually cheerful, but I don't think I could reach the Disney level of cheerful without dangerous amounts of methamphetamine.

Anyways, I was right that the place was crammed with people, but the weather was actually nice. It was beautiful, in fact. That made things a lot better. My feet weren't hurting as badly at that point, but mainly because I'd wrapped bandages around my toes to keep them from swelling so badly, and also I managed to croggle my left ankle and knee on Tom Sawyer's Island, so my leg now hurt worse than either of my feet. Hey, silver lining!

It actually turned out to be a really great day. We rode everything we wanted to and there were no lines to speak of, even though the park was full, and I mean FULL of people. We finally figured out why that was, though. Part of the reason was the time of year, because even though the park was full, it wasn't as full as it could have been. The other reason was that everyone who comes into the park has the ability to do a Fastpass, which, as most of you know, is where you can reserve a time to come back and ride a specific ride. We heard people talking about how they were going to run in and get the Fastpasses for the rides they wanted to go on so that they wouldn't have to wait in line. That was a great idea...for them. So many people were getting fast passes to come back to do certain things, that they weren't getting in lines at all. Everyone who didn't get a fast pass, got on the rides right away! We got everything we wanted to do and then some. We got to ride a few things more than once without standing in any long lines (except for one because of what we believe was a delay caused by someone getting in and out of a wheelchair) but it was the fastest I'd ever gotten to do anything at Disney. There were a couple of drawbacks, but not many. "It's A Small World" still gives me nightmares. Mainly it was my leg hurting. I kept having to sit down because it hurt so badly. We also left before eating dinner at one of the park restaurants, even though we had a reservation. It was taking them so long to get us seated that we were afraid we'd get trapped at the park until it closed and have to wait forever to be able to catch a tram back to the resort. Also, and I shouldn't say this because it sounds kind of hateful, I was really very tired of children by this point in my day. Especially a particular child who's family was waiting to eat at the same place we had been waiting in. For a very long time I heard "Jeffrey! Jeffrey! Jeffrey! Stop, Jeffrey! Put that down, Jeffrey! Jeffrey! Jeffrey!" Also, Jeffrey thought that waving around a plastic, blinking light-sabre was great fun, even though he wasn't being careful of anyone else around him. As God as my witness, I have never in my life been so close to drop kicking a child. We cancelled our reservations as nicely as we could, and went back to ride the Haunted Mansion ride a 3rd time before we left. Shut up, I actually do like that ride.

Don't judge me.

After fighting a huge crowd, which had gathered to watch the electric light parade or whatever they are calling it these days, and only stomping on one or two of the inconsiderate buttheads that didn't respond to "pardon me," we finally managed to get out and get back to our resort. We had dinner and now I'm writing this. Today was our final day at the parks (thank goodness.) Tomorrow we have a day of rest and shopping. I'm really looking forward to that!

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2009
Park Hopping Adventure

This morning it took us a while to wake up. We were so tired last night that I seriously don't remember falling asleep. I don't even think I dreamed. That must mean I was really tired because I ALWAYS dream. Anyways, when I got out of bed, I remembered that my feet hurt. I was also forcibly reminded about the blisters on my feet because they were swollen up horribly. I had to plaster my feet with band aids. It was a three band aid day.

That hat might just fit Steve!

Today we went to Disney Hollywood Studios, formerly Disney MGM Studios. We got there right as it opened, and we decided to get on the Aerosmith Rockin' Roller Coaster first thing to avoid the lines. It had a line, but surprisingly, it moved really quickly. We got on the coaster and Oh. My. Gosh. It moved fast. It was completely dark except for black light sensitive signs all over the place and it looped and turned like crazy, all with the soundtrack of Aerosmith music playing loudly. By the time I got off, I knew what it must be like in Keith Richard's bloodstream. Bizarre. I wanted to do the American Idol (basically Karaoke) Experience, but we didn't really have the time. Steve had a PLAN. We stopped for lunch at a place called Hollywood and Vine, which was good, but (horrors) there were characters in there! Characters from some cartoon called "Little Einstein" and they all had giant heads. I was horrified. I think someone told them that they were creeping me out, because they all came to our table and "interacted" with me. It was all I could do to keep from screaming and running out there door. They were unnatural. *shudder*

Absolutely terrifying.

I'll be honest here, after lunch, I don't remember much of what we did at this park. I mean, we did a lot, but it wasn't anything really spectacular. We rode stuff and it was hot. That is what stood out in my head the most, the heat. Oh, well, that and something was wrong with the cuff of my shorts that made them keep curling up, so I got a nice blister on my inner thigh to match the ones on my feet. Yesterday was the sore feet, today it was the sore thigh. Fun stuff.

We didn't stay at Hollywood Studios all day because Steve wanted to go to the Magic Kingdom and do a few things so that we could make sure we had enough time to do everything when we go back tomorrow. He specifically wanted to do the Adventure Land rides. He also wanted me to be able to ride the Monorail, so we got on a bus that took us back to Epcot Center, which is the only other park that the monorail goes to besides the Magic Kingdom. We were both hot and thirsty by the time we got there, so once we got into Epcot, we took a detour to the Cool Spot, where a Coke exhibit is housed and you can sample different kinds of sodas from different countries for free. FREE DRINKS! WOO! (Does this make us cheap or smart?) Anyways, so we drank all we wanted and jumped on the monorail that took us to the Magic Kingdom.

I was so hot, tired, and sore from all the blisters that I wasn't happy to be there, so I was probably a bit whiny at this point, but trust me, I didn't say half of what was going on in my head! It didn't seem like there were many people in the lines, and in fact we didn't have to wait in line at all. It must've been the time we were there, I guess. We pretty much got on all of the rides that Steve wanted to do and after that I was so very ready to leave. Very, very ready. My feet were killing me, my thigh was killing me, and I was tired. I told Steve I didn't care how we got back to our resort, but I wanted to leave right then! That probably makes me sound bad, and if you feel like being smug and thinking you would never act that way if you were in my shoes, fine. Go ahead. You'd be a liar, though, because by this point, Gandhi himself would be having a tantrum. Not that I had a tantrum, exactly, I am a grown woman after all. However, if we hadn't left when we did, I might have thrown something. I'm just saying...

We ended the day by going back and getting some rest (which did a world of wonder for my attitude) and we went to Down Town Disney for dinner at Wolfgang Puck's Cafe. I'm not sure what it was, but something I ate made me very, very sick. I thought I was going to pass out at one point, but I managed to get back on the ferry to make it back to our resort. Trust me, the rocking of a boat didn't do me any favors. I was a little better when we got back, but I still feel queasy. Don't let me deter you from ever eating at Wolfgang Puck's place, because the food was delicious, but it just wasn't good for my stomach. Blarg.

Tomorrow: Magic Kingdom!

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2009

Epcot Center

I slept hard. I slept so very, very hard. By the time I got up this morning, I was very rested, but kind of muzzy. The first thing that happened as we were getting ready to go, was that I realized that the new clothes I had bought for the trip were too big. I thought I was following the size chart on the website I got them from correctly, but I bought everything a size too big! BOO! I had tried them on when they were mailed to me, and I realized that they were a bit big, but it didn't dawn on my how big they were till I tried to put on one of my whole outfits and I looked bizarre. I kind of figure you can wear a pair of shorts that are too big OR a shirt that is too big, however, it just looks silly if you wear both at the same time. Luckily, I had gotten some new shorts at the resort gift shop and had a chance to change into them before we left! We had a quick breakfast and jumped onto the bus going to Epcot Center. Epcot happens to be my favorite (as it goes) of all of the parks, so I was glad to get there and get started on our day. It was a bit confusing at first, because they had changed around a few things since the last time we were there, but we still enjoyed ourselves. We rode a couple of rides and looked around a bit and then got to the part I like, the little countries. I think it's because I like to travel and I'm fairly certain that I'm never going to get to go to the actual places, but I like to walk through the place and shop and see the buildings and decor. Disney, of course, makes them perfectly.

We had lunch reservations at the Mexican restaurant (EDIT:I checked. It was the San Angel Inn Restaurant.) that is inside a big Aztec temple.

Disney sacrificial altar?

I find it hilarious that the setting is an Aztec temple since they weren't known to be the friendliest of peoples. All that is missing at the top is Mickey Mouse with his heart ripped out. Oh well, I guess they donít want to get THAT authentic! :) The food there was wonderful, and let me just go ahead and say that if you can do the meal plan on your trip to Disney, please do. So far it has worked beautifully! After lunch, we walked on and shopped, shopped, shopped. We both enjoyed the different countries, and the crowds weren't terrible yet, so things went well until we got to France. Something was wrong with my left foot. I had apparently made an unfortunate footwear choice when getting ready this morning, because my feet were hurting really badly. It wasn't just the walking, something had to be wrong with my shoes. I couldn't figure out what was wrong because I was wearing my Chucks, which are sneakers, but they were doing something bad to my feet. We stopped at a cafe and got something to drink and I rested my feet, but as soon as I started walking again, they got worse. They kept on getting worse during the last few countries we walked through and by the time we had walked back to the main gift shop underneath Space Ship Earth, I thought my feet had to be bleeding because that was all I could think of to explain the level of pain I was feeling.

There was an international food and beer/wine festival going on at Epcot, so that drew in a huge amount of people that weren't there earlier. It got so bad that we couldn't even walk side by side anymore. I almost lost Steve once or twice in the crowd. We didn't eat at any of the special stands that were set up, but I did get some mint iced tea at the Morocco stand. It was yummy, even without sugar! I added sugar of course, but it was good without it too! :) I've never seen so many people walking around with beer before. I suppose it shouldn't have shocked me, but since I think of Disney World as mainly a place for kids, I think I was thrown off a bit. Oh, well.

On a funny note, as we were walking out, we overheard a lady on her cell phone telling someone "Well, right now I'm underneath the Apricot" or she might have said "the Ep-icot." Whichever one, it got us tickled. She was walking underneath the giant silver golf ball looking thing, which is technically a ride called Space Ship Earth, but is commonly thought to be THE Epcot Center since it's the most recognizable part of the park. I really, really hope she thought the park was the Apricot Center. :)

We finally got back on our bus and got to the resort again and I took off my shoes as soon as we got to our room. They weren't bleeding, thank goodness, but apparently my feet had gotten so swollen that I was literally stepping on my own toes. No, seriously, they were so swollen that they were curling under the soles of my feet. I was wearing tennis shoes, but they weren't good enough I guess, because not only had I been stepping on my own toes, I had two blisters on the bottoms of my feet. I have had blisters on my toes and on my heels before, but never on the bottom of my feet! It was truly bizarre. I should have been gellin' I guess. I have only been able to wear my flip-flops sense I took off my shoes. I can only hope my feet are better by tomorrow!

So, other than the foot thing, we had a pretty good day! :)

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2009

That’s right. You heard me. I’m at Disney World.

You’ll notice that I don’t end that sentence with an exclamation point, right? Well, that is because when it comes to Disney World, I’m not a big fan. For some reason, that makes a lot of people think I’m a Nazi or something, but I promise I’m not a gigantic humbug. (Why do I feel as if I need to cross myself whenever I admit this?) This will make my 4th trip to the house of the mouse, so I don’t feel that I’m not giving the place a chance or anything like that. I’m just not a big fan. I have several reasons for this, and we can talk about it later if you are interested, but I'll keep it simple for now. It follows along with my general feelings about any amusement park: I don’t like getting hot, I don’t like crowds, and I don’t like getting wet and walking around like that for hours. Well, it is going to be hot, and there are going to be crowds, but I have been assured that I won’t get wet. We shall see!

Anyways, so why am I here then? Well, Steve is a HUGE fan of Disney World. He came here quite a few times with his parents and family growing up, and it reminds him of good times. He has wanted to come back for quite a while now, so he talked me into it. Seriously, how could I refuse someone the right to relive good childhood memories? Also, he went to Savannah with me over the summer, so I kind of owed him! :)

We started off our day getting the dogs to the pet resort, and surprisingly that went really smoothly. I guess the dogs have finally realized that they can’t prevent us from dropping them off, so they might as well be resigned to things. After that we ran some errands and got ourselves to the airport.

At Huntsville International Airport.

***I have a sneaking suspicion that I might have singlehandedly raised the Department of Homeland Security Threat Level a notch by accident. I promise I wasn’t carrying anything even remotely lethal, but my boss, in an attempt to spread the word about the upcoming Star Wars exhibit next year, gave me a gigantic pouch full of buttons that advertise the exhibit. She wanted me to hand them out at the Disney World parks we went to, but I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do that. Number one, where would I stash them while I was there? Number two, that would just be bad form. I knew I wouldn’t actually pass them out at the parks, but I thought that maybe I could just seed some around in public areas and hope they were picked up! I started doing that at the Huntsville airport. I only had four buttons outside of my suitcase, so it wasn’t like I was peppering the place or anything. I left one on a table at a gate and another in the ladies room. Our airport is so small that I knew I couldn’t put a lot of them out, so I hung on to the others for our connecting flight in Atlanta. We hadn’t heard anything about the threat level while in Huntsville, but the minute we touched down in Atlanta, it was repeatedly being announced that the threat level had changed to Orange. I really, really hope it didn't have anything to do with me leaving small, black disks around an airport. My apologies to the Department of Homeland Security if any of that was my fault! ***

I’m glad that we decided to fly, simply because of the time it saved us. Of course, as usual, our first flight out to Atlanta was late.

Connecting flight airplanes are very tiny.

It wasn’t terribly late, but we ended up having to change our connection flight because we were cutting it close in the first place. No big deal, we had counted on the plane probably being late. When we finally got to Atlanta, I was starving. I hadn’t been hungry all morning, so when Steve got breakfast, I didn’t have anything. As soon as we got to Atlanta and found our gate, we set off in search for some food. I was jonesing some Cinnabon and Steve was going to pick us up a couple of burgers from BK. I hadn’t even got to take a bite before our plane started loading. Crap. Steve had already snarfed his food, but I was loaded down with bags of food and a soda as I got on the plane. We were not seated together on this flight, since it was a last minute change, but that wasn’t a problem. However, what was a problem was that I had a middle seat between two women I didn’t know and not enough room to do anything unless I wanted to jam my elbows into them the whole ride. Sadly, that meant that I wouldn’t be able to eat. I probably could have done it anyways, but I was afraid that the smell of my food might be bad for them and I didn’t want to be inconsiderate. I managed to get the food inside my backpack and just hold my soda on my knee. I was so hungry. The flight into Orlando was uneventful, except that we had an incredibly rude set of male flight attendants. I sat as still as possible, trying not to bother the two women sitting next to me. I had kind of dozed off right before we had taken off, but I was woken up by the lady on my left pulling a hamburger out of her bag and eating it. I was so hungry by this point that I wanted to snatch it out of her hand and cram it into my face. I didn’t dare try. She looked like she could take me. I suppose that meant that I could have gotten out my own food, but being the one in the middle, I just kept as still as possible and got out my iPod to watch a movie. At some point, I realized that the woman on my left was playing Sodoku and the woman on my right was reading a book for smart people about politics. Me? I was sitting there watching “Shaun of the Dead” for the elevendy billionth time and trying not to laugh aloud. I felt so gauche.

We finally landed and made our way to the Disney busses that would take us to our resort. I was still so hungry and so very, very tired. I had been up late the night before trying to do all of the last minute things a person has to do before a trip, so I had only slept for about 3.5 hours and that, plus the low blood sugar, was really catching up with me. We are staying at the Port Orleans resort, which is really beautiful, and as soon as we got to our room and got settled, we went to the gift shop to look around and then had dinner. I was literally almost about to faint by that point, so I had to grab my food and sit down way before Steve was through his line. I just barely made it.

This is the sandwich that saved my life.

By the time we ate and came back to our room, I was almost asleep on my feet. With few preambles, we sacked out. Thus endeth my first day of vacation.