Magic

Friday
It wasn't that long ago I decided to embark on this somewhat crazy endeavor and before I knew it, I was preparing to board a red-eye down to Orlando. My brother has never been to a Disney park (amazing, right? Especially considering he is related to me - a certifiable Disney nut!) so he ended up coming down with me. We ended up sitting at the gate for probably about an hour or so as the plane had an electrical issue. Fortunately for me, I was dozing most of this time and didn't notice too much. We landed, grabbed breakfast at Chick-fil-a (yum!!), and got on the Magical Express. I was ready to drop our stuff off at the hotel and hit the parks but John needed a nap so a nap it was. And then we were off to Animal Kingdom! We fastpassed Kilimanjaro Safaris and headed to Restaurantasaurus for lunch. Honestly, I think one of the reasons I like Restaurantasaurus is the name!! After lunch we did Dinosaur, Expedition Everest, and the Kilimanjaro Safaris. With it being so hot, I wasn't sure how many animals we would see but there were still a number of them out and about. We headed for the exit and got on a bus for Hollywood Studios.

We arrived at Hollywood Studios just in time for the High School Musical 2 Pep Rally!! I was probably one of the few adults singing in the audience who wasn't a parent, but who cares - I love High School Musical! After the pep rally we wandered over to Star Tours, Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular and finished up the day at Rockin' Rollercoaster. You will notice I did not mention the Tower of Terror. And that would be because I am still way too chicken to try that ride. I should have put that on my 31 Things to do Before I Turn 32 list! Then I would have gone on the ride! Ha! I don't like rides that drop you straight down, but I have promised Michelle I will try it at least once in my lifetime. But apparently not this trip.

Next stop was the Magic Kingdom for the Pirate & Princess party! There were so many people (young and old alike) dressed up. I looked for a tiara so I could at least be somewhat princess-y but didn't find one, or at least didn't find one I liked. We did Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, Space Mountain, met Minnie & Daisy, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Indy Speedway. We finished up the night watching the Magic, Music & Mayhem fireworks. We were able to walk back to our hotel. The hotel was nice, but the location was fantastic!!

Saturday
Staying at the Contemporary, we were able to walk upstairs and catch the monorail over to Epcot. Our first stop was to get a fastpass for Soarin'. I have never been on Soarin' as the first time the line was horrendous (and no fastpasses) and the second time we had just gotten in line when we were told the ride had broken down. So I was really hoping third time was the charm. We grabbed breakfast and then took a ride in a clamobile to find Nemo. We watched the Circle of Life (an environmental fable) and then it was time to use our fastpass for Soarin'. I'm very happy to say we were able to go on the ride! It is a very cool ride! Next stop was Test Track before touring the "world". We headed back to the hotel, John to take a nap and me to check in for my race. Ever since I saw you could run through Cinderella's castle, I have wanted to do the Danskin at Disneyworld. And with me being in Germany in August, I won't be able to do the Seattle Danskin which is how I ended up in Orlando this weekend. I listened to the course talk and it was here I got my first bit of worry. And you know me, I need something to worry about! Because they have to open the park, if you haven't gotten on the run course by a certain time they will put you on a shorter course, but you would still run through the castle. Okay this wasn't too bad, I would still get to run through the castle. It would be a little sad if I wasn't able to do the whole race, but at least they let you finish! I checked in and headed over to the transition area to pick up my rental bike and rack it. I was hoping they would have the buoys out in the water but they didn't. But if I had seen them, it would have been something else for me to worry about so maybe it was good they hadn't placed them yet.

After checking in and racking my bike, I picked up John at the hotel and we headed over to Magic Kingdom. As we were passing the bus stop, a bus for Hollywood Studios pulled up. John had wanted to see the Lights, Motors, Action stunt show but we had missed it yesterday. The bus pulling up at the moment we were walking by was very fortuitous and we hopped on and headed to Hollywood. Walking over to Lights, Motor, Action show we ran across Kim Possible & Ron Stoppable so of course I had to stop and get my picture taken with them. After the stunt show we headed back to the Magic Kingdom. We fastpassed one of my favorite rides, the Jungle Cruise, and then rode Big Thunder, Haunted Mansion and Mickey's Philharmagic before heading back to use our fastpass. No Teacups as John told me since I didn't ride Tower of Terror he wasn't going to ride the Teacups. I suppose that is fair. We called it a night then as I needed to get some sleep. After all, I had a race to run in the morning!

Sunday
My alarm was set for 4 a.m. but I didn't really sleep all that well. I kept thinking I was going to oversleep. Finally I just got out of bed and got ready. Heading down the hallway, I heard noises coming from different rooms - more triathletes getting ready. I ran into another woman walking over to the race. We walked over together, commiserating in our nervousness. Although I do have to say my level of nervousness has decreased with each race I've done. Not to mention this race was shorter (1/4 mile swim, 9 mile bike, 2 mile run). I found my bike and set up my transition area. After standing around and doing a few stretches I left the transition area and headed to the beach. Minnie Mouse came down to send us on our way. The race was supposed to start at 6 a.m. but as it was still dark, it didn't start until closer to 6:30 but finally the first wave was off! This year I was once again a pink swim cap. Finally it was my wave's turn to enter into the water. Sally Edwards came and cheered us on and gave us our mantra - this year we were "magic". I didn't realize how much I looked forward to this part until I got my word and I felt a little more relaxed and ready to go. 3, 2, 1 and we were off! I usually hang back because I am a slower swimmer but this time I had all these people around me and I was trying to pass them. I guess my swimming is improving! Out of the water, I ripped off my goggles, swim cap and nose plug and got my helmet and I was off on my bike. The bike I rented was really nice! The bike ride itself was not too bad - it was very, very flat. There was one very vocal, cheery woman behind me, shouting encouragement to other racers and thanks to the volunteers. That's what I really like about this race - everyone is generally very friendly and always encouraging. I finished up the bike course and started out on the run course - through the Magic Kingdom! We entered in near Adventureland continue on through Frontierland, Fantasyland, Toon Town, Tomorrowland, back up to Fantasyland and through Cinderella's castle (my favorite part!!!), down Main Street and out of the park over to the finish line. Hooray!! I had wondered if it would get too hot during the race, but it ended up being overcast until right around when the last runner crossed the finish line and then the sun came out as if on cue! So it wasn't super hot, which was really nice.

My times: My goal was to finish the race in under 1 hour and 40 minutes. I finished the race in 1 hour 25 minutes and 49 seconds! I improved my swim pace and my triathlon run pace (it was slightly down from my 10K run pace in March). I lost some time on my bike pace. And my transition times improved a lot! Of course, it wasn't pouring down rain and the transition area was a lot smaller. :-)

I turned my bike in and headed back to the hotel to take a shower and start the day over. After checking out of the hotel we still had time before our flight so we headed to, where else, but the Magic Kingdom. After lunch we headed over to Splash Mountain to get a fastpass but we saw the line was only 20 minutes long so we decided just to wait. And approximately 20 minutes later we were climbing into our log raft. It wasn't that far into the ride before I was completely drenched! And we hadn't even gotten to the drop yet. Needless to say I was soaked by the time I got off that ride. I was contemplating buying new clothes but ended up waiting to see if I dried off in the sun. Oh yeah, have I mentioned yet how extremely hot it had gotten? Since we hadn't used our fastpass for Splash Mountain we got one for Peter Pan's Flight. Waiting for the fastpass time to roll around we did Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, Stitch's Great Escape, and Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor. Last, but not least, we rode Peter Pan, did a bit of shopping and then headed back to the hotel to catch the shuttle. And just like that our visit was over!

Officially Official

The opportunity for me work in our German offices has been a possibility that has been floating around for several years now. And this is the year it is finally happening! It has now been announced that I will be going over mid to late July through August to help on several projects. I'm excited about this opportunity. To say I'm just a bit terrified would be an huge understatement. But it will be a great experience for me. Now I just need to learn German!

Why Was 6 Afraid of 7?

Because 7, 8, 9!!! Such a corny joke, but I love it!! Maybe because I'm a number person. Or maybe because I am very easily amused. I'm thinking it's the latter. The orange you glad joke is still going strong at work (examples include orange you glad the meeting was cancelled? and orange you glad I found that workpaper?) and I am still cracking up each time I hear it. Yes, I am very easily amused!

So anyway, the reason I am laughing at the 7, 8, 9 joke is my race number this weekend is 789 - so how cool is that? I'm flying out tonight to Orlando. I'm really excited to see Mickey (of course!). I am definitely making up for the fact I had never visited Disneyworld until last year (this being my third visit in about a year and a half).

As Mickey would say - See ya real soon!

Have a Blue, Blue, Blue Thursday

And last but not least - Have a Blue, Blue, Blue Thursday! I've enjoyed color week and I hope you have too! We'll have to do this again sometime.

Blushing Wednesday

Today's colors are pink & red!

Check out Mandi's Pink/Red In My Head. And watch this space for Have a Blue, Blue, Blue Thursday.

Orange you glad it's Tuesday?!

I'm totally stealing the post title from Mandi but it makes me laugh everytime I read it. And to make it even more funny (at least to me) this has been a running joke at work the last few days. It all started when my boss brought in some bananas and somehow it turned into the orange you glad I didn't say banana joke, except it was told wrong the first time (banana you glad I didn't say orange) which made it all the more funny. Anyway, enough about that and on to the pictures!

Yellow Monday

Training - Week 7

So this was my last full week to train as I am leaving Thursday at midnight for Orlando!

Monday I forgot my gloves so instead of kickboxing I headed to the gym and did the treadmill, which ended up being a good thing as I really haven't done too much running. Wednesday I went to the pool and Thursday was a bike/run brick. Saturday ended up being another pool day. There was a ton of kids at the pool, splashing around and making usually normally smooth pool choppy. This was a good simulation of what the actual swim portion will be like. Sunday was another bike/run brick. I really didn't notice the lead feeling in my legs transitioning from the bike to the run because I was too busy messing with my ipod.

I don't know if I'm completely ready, but I'm as ready as I'm going to be. Really, the distances of these triathlons aren't that long and I know I can finish - it's just how long will it take me to finish, especially after a couple of days of playing at Disneyworld! :)

Green Sunday

Mandi is doing a color week and I'm playing along! The colors will be - Sunday: Green; Monday: Yellow; Tuesday: Orange, Wednesday: Pink/Red, Thursday: Blue.

Here we go:

31 Things to do Before I Turn 32

I had thought about doing a list like this last year but never got around to it so I'm going to do it this year! A lot of these things are activities I've been meaning to do but never got around to it so I'm hoping this list (since I love crossing things off a list) will be the impetus needed for me to actually do them! I'll keep you updated on my progress.

1. Travel to a country I've never been to before.

2. Make it back to Houston a couple of times.

3. Improve my triathlon time.

4. Take a photography class.

5. Take at least one picture a week (I would say more frequently, but knowing me one picture a week could be pushing it some weeks!).

6. Try out a new recipe (no time frame associated with this one - I would be happy to do it once!).

7. Back up my pictures on CDs. If I'm really ambitious catalogue and organize!

8. Organize all my flotsam and jetsam - either to be scrapbooked or to be disposed of.

9. Visit the Olympic Sculpture Park.

10. Bring my lunch to work (again no time frame associated with the one as I would be happy if I did it once!).

11. Travel to one new city in the US.

12. Write a chapter for my novel (which I still haven't figured out what it is about).

13. Attend a theatrical event (musical, play, ballet, etc.)

14. Eat at several restaurants I've been meaning to - Greenlake Bar & Grill, Z Tejas, Boka and Salish to name a few.

15. Play bingo in Houston.

16. Attend a dance class (hip-hop, salsa or styling). I've been meaning to do this for awhile but haven't.

17. Take a wine-tasting class.

18. Attend either an Anti-freeze or Space City Mixer event (or something similar).

19. Go to an outdoor movie.

20. Go kayaking.

21. Frame several pictures I've been meaning to frame.

22. Set aside some money and invest in the stock market.

23. Take a couple of weekend trips (Oregon coast, Vancouver B.C., etc.)

24. Take a cooking class.

25. Organize my file cabinet. It was organized once upon a time, but since then I've gotten behind and I need to catch back up.

26. Finish up my 2005 photobook.

27. Take a yoga class. (Technically this one is already done since I attended one on 4/20, but since I planned to put it on the list before I took the class I'm leaving it on. Plus this way it will motivate me to take another!)

28. Buy a new camera.

29. Set up an IRA.

30. Go for a hot air balloon ride.

31. And one I'll keep to myself for now.

Tulips

Friday I drove up to Whidbey Island to visit my friend Kathy. She moved up a few years ago but for the longest time every time we made plans one of us would have to cancel. It was a joke that we saw each other more in Houston even though we were both living in Washington. My theory is that we live just far enough apart which made it difficult. In a twist of fate, we had originally thought to get together last weekend to see the tulips but that wasn't going to work so we moved it to this weekend. It ended up being perfect since last weekend we had snow and this weekend was beautiful, well Saturday was anyway. The first field we went to had a very interesting orange tulip - I was very intrigued by this color. I'm not always a fan of orange, but this was a really vibrant, beautiful color of orange. Kyle (Kathy's son) was much more interested in playing with and eating the dirt than the tulips. It was a really fun day! The only bad part about the weather being so beautiful was that everyone had a similar idea. But we still had a great time!

Oh - Kathy introduced me to Chicken Artichoke Pizza from Papa Murphy's - so yummy!! It's like spinach artichoke dip on a pizza. I think I might have a new favorite pizza! :)

Training - Week 6

No snow this week!! Wednesday I did my first brick (2 activities in the same workout). I hadn't really done any walking/jogging since the 10K in March. I had figured training for a 12K in December and the 10K in March the 2 mile portion of the upcoming triathlon would be a piece of cake! But apparently it doesn't take long for the training to wear off. The "my legs feel like a ton of bricks" feeling passed after the first quarter of a mile or so.

Thursday was a swim day at the pool. I'm still not ready to brave the lake quite yet. Friday was a swim (pool) and a bike ride. Sunday was another bike/run brick. The run portion went better than Wednesday, which is a good sign. Not much longer now!

Training - Week 5

The alternative name of this post is "What the Hail?" as it was hailing on Friday! Hail, in the middle of April? And to make it more interesting, it continued hailing and snowing on Saturday and Sunday.

Tuesday was a swimming day - at the pool. I think it is still a little too cold, for me anyway, to swim in the lake. Thursday was a bike day.

Friday, I took a mental health day. As I was waiting to get my driver's license renewed, out the window I could see it was hailing. Yes, hailing! I finished up at the DMV and headed for the pool, thinking maybe by the time I finished swimming the hail would have stopped. It had so I decided to go ahead and go for a bike ride. There was no hail but it was pretty windy and I was going into the wind. So it wasn't before long I was thinking I would have preferred the hail to the wind! Of course when it started to hail I changed my tune and really just wanted nice weather. It was at this point I decided 8 miles was going to be enough as I was at the 4 mile mark and I was turning around. Not too long after I turned around the hail abated and the wind lessoned until I was almost back to my car when the skies opened up and it started hailing again. I threw my bike in the back and jumped in my car before I got completely soaked. And on my way home, the sun came out. What kind of crazy weather is this?

I had been hoping all the snow would work itself out on Saturday so I could ride my bike on Sunday. I woke up to about an inch or so of snow and it was still snowing. So no bike ride. I packed up my swim gear and headed to church. About three blocks from my house the snow was non-existent. I should have taken my bike. I changed my mind when I walked out of church and it was once again pouring snow. Good thing I was going swimming in the heated pool! After swimming I met up with my sister for a yoga class.

A picture of our ornamental cherry tree in the snow!

Training - Weeks 2 to 4

Between a cold and then quarter end my training has been derailed. I've had a few bike rides here and there but that's about it. But as of today I am back on schedule. And good thing too since there are only 29 days left until my triathlon.

You know you've been working a lot when you get in your car to come home and on the radio you hear "Welcome to the Morning Show".

It is probably not the best idea to go to kickboxing class when you are very tired. My muscles were about 3 seconds behind my brain resulting in me tripping several times. The last time was the best as I stumbled a couple of steps and did a windmill move with my arms and just barely caught myself on a punching bag. It was a pretty funny sight, if I do say so myself.

The word on the street today? The weather! It was 70+, an absolutely beautiful day. Everyone I talked to, from a barista, to the cashier at Target, to people in the elevator, commented on how beautiful and how warm it was today.

Waiting for my drink at Starbucks I over-listened to a couple of girls talking. One was explaining to the other how she sees her birthday numbers all the time, especially when she looks at the clock. I laughed to myself as I do the same thing. Anytime I see the combination of 4 and 29 I wish myself a happy birthday.

Me & my blog

I saw this meme on Mandi's blog and thought it was interesting.

why did you start a blog?

I like to travel and the past several years I have been traveling a lot! After each trip I'd often send out several emails to different people telling them about my trip. Then I started writing up a narrative of my trip and emailing that out. Blogs had started to intrigue me and it seemed like a natural platform for my trip reports. It has continued to evolve from just travel narratives to more of what is going on in my life.

how did you come up with your blog name?

As my original intention was for this to be for my travel narratives, I wanted travel or journey or adventure (something that reflected travel) and lo and behold I settled on travel with emily.

do your friends and family know about your blog?

Yes. I have friends and family all over the country and this is an easy way for people to see what I'm up to as I am not always the best correspondent and I am not the biggest fan of the phone. I don't know what it is about the phone, but I would prefer to either email/text or talk to someone face to face. I am not a good phone person.

how do you write your posts?

I come up with all sorts of ideas for what I will write when I'm running or driving or traveling but then when I actually get to my computer (or to a pad & paper) to write it down, it never seems to come out the same. And then of course at some later point I do remember what it was I had wanted to say, in the way I had wanted to say it. Sometimes I go back and edit, but usually I let it go because it is never as clever or witty as I had first thought.

have you ever had a troll or had to delete unkind comments?

Just once have I had to delete comments from a troll.

do you check your stats? do you care how many people read your blog? if you do care, how do you increase traffic?

It hasn't really crossed my mind to check. It could be interesting though.

what kind of blogs/posts interest you?

I like glimpses into other people's lives. I like artistic posts. I love looking at other people's pictures, both of places I have been and places I haven't been. I am a very visual person.

what do you like and dislike about blogging?

I have always liked to write and this gives me a forum to write. It also can let me be creative, or at least try. Plus it is basically a record of my life.

The part I don't always like is the time involved. It can be a time-sucker!

Training - Week 1

I signed up for the Orlando Danskin triathlon and was all excited to start training and then I went on vacation. Back in the real world it has been a little hard to motivate myself. And then I looked at the calendar! Yikes! Only seven weekends to go (well, really 6 since the first weekend in April will be spent at work as it is the end of the quarter). Saturday I made it to the pool and started off easy - 10 laps. Jumping into a heated pool is much different than a lake or ocean! I was planning to ride my bike on Sunday and woke up to rain. Six weeks, six weeks, I kept telling myself and so after church I headed to the park. I started off thinking I could go 12 miles but soon revised that down 10. It wasn't long before I revised that down to 9 and then 8. I rationalized this decision with the purpose of today's bike ride was to get out there and start using the muscles I hadn't used since last year. As I passed the 3.5 mile marker I was feeling better so I ended up going to the 4.5 mile marker before turning (so 9 miles in total). A good start!

P.S. It must seem like I complain A LOT. Yes, I am a complainer. I don't mean anything by my complaints, it is just my way of getting it out of my system. I usually feel better after I complain.

I'm too excited to sleep!

Monday, March 17th

When we last saw our heroines, they had just gotten off the shuttle at the airport. I had been pleasantly surprised when Jana suggested we add on a couple of days to the end of the cruise and visit Disneyworld. So here we were about to board the Magical Express that would take us to the Happiest Place on Earth! We found out we had to catch the express in Terminal B so we decided to grab something to eat at the food court since we hadn't eaten breakfast. We ran into the other girls at the food court so enjoyed one last meal with them before saying goodbye again. The Magical Express dropped us off at our hotel, Coronado Springs, where we dropped off our luggage before catching the bus to Animal Kingdom!

Our first stop in the Animal Kingdom was to try and get a fast pass for Kilimanjaro Safaris but all the fastpasses had been distributed so we decided to come back later and headed for Expedition Everest. Standing in line a kid came over and asked if anyone wanted 2 fastpasses. Jana & I were a little slow in saying "Yes, I want them" so the people in line behind us got them and we waited. Fortunately the line kept moving and before we knew it we were boarding a train that would take us to the top of Mt. Everest. I'm a little chicken when it comes to roller coasters - especially ones that drop far or flip you upside down but afterwards I'm always glad I did it. We get off the roller coaster and Jana tells me she is on a roller coaster high and loves Disney!! After a lunch at Restaurantosaurus we went on the Kilimanjaro Safari, Pangani Forest Trail, and the Maharajah Jungle Trek before saying goodbye to Animal Kingdom and headed to Hollywood Studios (aka MGM - not sure when the name change occurred).

At Hollywood Studios, we headed straight for Rock 'n' Rollercoaster to check out the fastpass situation. As they had been all distributed and the single rider line was not open and the wait time was 100 minutes we decided to skip it this time. After all, there is always next time. And again, a little to my surprise, Jana was excited about making a return trip. As Michelle says, sometimes people don't get Disney until they actually go. Next was the Great Movie Ride where the "second" ride operator scared Jana as he walked by to steal the treasure and yelled at her. She jumped about a foot in the air. We walked through the Streets of America and took a journey to Endor on Star Tours. We ate dinner at the Prime Time Diner and did a little shopping before watching Fantasmic, which is one of my favorite shows at Disney. And then it was time to head back our hotel. In our hotel room Jana tells me she is "too excited to sleep" just like the Disney commercial.

Tuesday, March 18th

We woke up ready for a full day and got on the bus for Epcot. First stop was to get a fastpass for Soarin'. After grabbing some breakfast, we went on Living with the Land, a boat ride through greenhouses where they grow all sorts of vegetables and fruits, some of which are used in the different restaurants at Epcot. We then took a ride in a clamobile to find Nemo. We then headed for the World Showcase, taking a boat ride in both Mexico and Norway. We had lunch in where else but Italy. I looked for margherita pizza, of course, but it was not on the menu. Instead I had penne caprese which is basically margherita pizza without the dough and instead with pasta. It was good. After lunch we finished touring the world, stopping in France to get our picture taken where the photographer kept asking if I had a cell phone I wanted to sell him. We didn't get it until he pointed out the logo on my shirt, which was my employer's logo. Oh, that's why he was asking! We headed back to Soarin' and had just gotten in line with our fastpasses when they closed the ride due to mechanical issues. Oh well, another thing to do next time. We headed for the monorail and were on our way to the Magic Kingdom!

We arrived at the Magic Kingdom just in time to catch the end of the Dreams Come True parade. We headed over to Space Mountain to check out the fastpass situation. Once again all the fastpasses were distributed and the line was fairly long so we decided to check back later and see if the line was more reasonable. Next was the teacups (or coffee cups as Sydney calls them). Ever since Jana saw the Jon & Kate plus 8 episode where they went to Disneyworld and rode the Dumbo ride she was excited to ride the Dumbo ride so that is where we headed next. Snow White's Scary Adventures was next followed by getting fastpasses for Big Thunder. We then headed over to Pirates of the Caribbean (one of my all time favorite rides), Haunted Mansion, It's A Small World, and then got a fastpass for Peter Pan. Last time I found a new favorite, Mickey's PhilharMagic which ended up being a favorite of Jana's as well. We had dinner before heading back over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to use our fastpass. When we got off of Big Thunder we saw the wait time was only 20 minutes so decided to ride it again. We chose the right time! We breezed our way through and they let us into the fastpass line again. It was time to head to the castle for the Wishes Nighttime Spectacular. Disney definitely knows how to do fireworks! We headed over to ToonTown and rode Barnstormer before touring Minnie's house, followed by Mickey's house. We waited in line for a bit to meet Mickey but the line was long and not moving so we decided to leave (we really tried Michelle!). We survived the Pooh ride (the ride operator greeted us with "Welcome back, you survived the Pooh ride" which both of us found hilarious). It was still another hour or so before we could use our fastpass for Peter Pan and both of us were tired and sore so we decided to see what the line was like for Peter Pan. The wait time said 60 minutes, but the line didn't look that long. We asked and they told us the it was more like 40 minutes so we decided to go ahead and get in line. It ended up being only about 20 minutes. With that, we decided to call it a trip. We got on our bus and where our bus driver entertained us with trivia questions such as: How many cast members play Mickey? Answer: zero, Mickey is real! Getting off the bus I basically fell apart. The shoes I had worn the day before had given me blisters which had been further aggravated today. At the Magic Kingdom I could power through the pain because after all we were at the Magic Kingdom!! But off the bus there was no more magic left. I debated taking off my shoes, thinking my feet couldn't hurt any worse, but decided against that and ended up walking on the grass as much as I could. I was so happy to get back to our hotel room so I could take off my shoes!

Wednesday, March 19th

We woke up, packed and checked out. We still had time before the our Magical Express would leave for the airport so we took the bus over to Downtown Disney for lunch and shopping. I had discovered Earl of Sandwich last time and was excited to eat there again. But the line was long and so we decided to eat at Captain Jack's instead. It was good! After doing some shopping we got back on the bus and headed back to the hotel to catch the Magical Express. We said goodbye at the airport. My flight was late getting in and then further delayed due to weather issues but finally we arrived back in Seattle. Walking towards baggage I ran into a lot of people standing around. Turned out there was some sort of security issue and all the exits were locked. I was so tired and sore that all I wanted to do was go home and here I was standing, waiting for the security issue to be resolved. Finally they let us through and my trip was over.

Until next time!

Is it Fruity Drink O'Clock yet?

Taking a cruise had never really crossed my mind until my friend Michelle told me what a great time she had on a 3 day cruise to the Bahamas. So when she sent out the invite for the girl's cruise this year I was on board (pun intended!). There ended up being six of us that went - Michelle, Kathy, Renee, Stacy, Jana & myself.

Thursday, March 13th/Friday, March 14th
Who thought taking a red-eye would be a good idea? It was a good idea until I was at the airport waiting for an 11 p.m. flight instead of home in my bed. As I was walking towards my gate I ran into my friend Kristi, who was coming home from a business trip to Vegas. You never know who you will run into at the airport!! It was fun to see her. My flight took off late, but we must have made up time in the air. I didn't get much sleep so I was a bit out of it on Friday. After landing, I met up with Kathy at Starbucks. I really could have used a Starbucks! Only two more weeks of Lent... Michelle, Kathy, Renee & Stacy had flown in the day before and had gotten a hotel room at the airport. Kathy & I went upstairs where I was able to take a shower which made me feel a little more human. Jana's plane arrived and we met her at baggage and boarded the shuttle for Port Canaveral. After boarding the ship, we headed for the spa to make our appointments. Before the ship could sail, we had to do an emergency drill which involved us putting on our life jackets and evacuating to the 7th floor. To make it more interesting as we were about to evacuate we noticed there was standing water in our bathroom. After the drill was over, we called maintenance to check out our bathroom. With the drill over, the ship set sail and it was time for a fruity drink on the top deck! We made our first visit to Johnny Rockets (one of several) where Michelle & Kathy danced with the waiters. And then it time for a nap before dinner. Normally I am not a good napper but I was so tired it was not hard to take a nap. Before dinner, we went to a comedy show. After dinner we played bingo where Michelle was the big winner!! It wasn't much later after that I went to bed as it had been a long couple of days.

Saturday, March 15th
Jana & I had massages scheduled for 9:15 a.m. so we requested breakfast to be delivered to our room between 8 and 8:30 that morning. The phone rang at 7:44 a.m., waking us up, to tell us our breakfast was on the way. Jana & I both jumped out of bed to answer the phone and ran into each other in sort of a 3 Stooges moment. Gotta love the small rooms! The massage was good. We met up with the rest of the girls at Johnny Rockets for lunch. After lunch we left the ship to explore Nassau. Jana & I went to the Pirate Museum before heading to the beach while Michelle, Kathy, Renee & Stacy headed to Senor Frogs and then the pool deck. Jana & I went to the Captain's reception before meeting up with the other girls for dinner. The ship was to set sail around 12:30 a.m. and I didn't think I was going to make it that late but when I realized it was just about that time and we were still sitting in the bar chatting. Michelle & I headed up top to watch the ship pull away from Nassau before heading to bed.

Sunday, March 16th
We did not order breakfast for this morning so we were not woken up early! Instead we slept in. We took the little boat (tender) out to the island of Coco Cay (the island's real name is Little Stirrup Cay). Coco Cay is the cruise line's private island and we did nothing but enjoy the beach. The floating mats were fun! My last trip to a more "tropical" location (Cabo) resulted in me getting extremely sunburned. I learned my lesson and continually reapplied sunblock, but I still got sunburned. Not as bad as Cabo, but still painful. Jana & I headed back to the ship a little earlier than everyone else because we had massage appointments at 3 p.m. I had a hot stone massage. The massage was not as relaxing as it could have been due to the fact the spa was located directly underneath the basketball court. Whose genius idea that was I'm not sure. It also would have been more relaxing had the attendant not tried to sell me all sorts of products. Jana & I grabbed a slice of pizza afterwards and ate on the deck. We should have realized a storm was potentially brewing when a piece of pepperoni blew off of Jana's pizza. We watched the farewell show before heading to the dining room for our last dinner. We had all gotten sunburned and were all in some degree of pain by that time which is probably why several of us ended up getting two desserts. Yes, two desserts - I'm on vacation! :) It was not the best tiramisu I have had but the warm chocolate cake was good (I ate the middle). Renee & Michelle were not having dessert and left to do a little duty free shopping. After we finished with our desserts, Stacy left to do some shopping as well. Kathy, Jana & I went up to the 14th deck because I wanted see what was up there. I had thought maybe we would be able to go outside, but it was enclosed. We walked back across the top deck, almost getting blown overboard! Okay, I exaggerate just a bit. But it was very windy. In fact not long after we went inside to Johnny Rockets they closed off the outside deck. Michelle & Renee were already there enjoying a milkshake for their dessert. Stacy joined us after finishing up her shopping and we sat chatting for awhile. We had to have our non carry-on luggage packed and outside our rooms by midnight and me being the rule follower I am was determined to do that so I headed back to my room to frantically pack (it was a little after 11 at this time). Jana and I packed while glancing out our little window at the massive waves. Hm, our ship is in Bermuda Triangle in the midst of a storm. If this was movie, it would be the scary part. I finished my packing with minutes to spare and put my suitcase out in the hall. I went to bed and listened the waves crashing before falling asleep.

Monday, March 17th
We had been given a departure time of 8 a.m. which meant another early morning wake up. Being the good Irish girl I am, I had deliberately packed a green shirt realizing that I would be gone for St. Patrick's Day. Looking around at the people in line at customs, I was not the who planned ahead. Finally through customs we collected our bags and boarded the shuttle back to the airport. We said our goodbyes as Jana & I were headed for Disneyworld, but that is another story.

The decision

I am now signed up for the Orlando Danskin Triathlon so be prepared for several posts about how my training is going. Especially considering the triathlon is in May and coming up fast!!

In other news, I did the 10K (approx. 6.2 miles) portion of the Mercer Island Half Marathon. My time goal was to finish in under an hour and a half - I finished in 1 hour 20 minutes which equates to right around 13 minutes a mile, a slight improvement on my per mile time from December's 12K race.

And in yet another change in subject, the countdown is on for my next mini-vacation. I leave at midnight on Thursday for Orlando where I will be boarding my first ever cruise. I can almost taste the fruity umbrella drinks now!!!

What to do?

The last two years I have done the Seattle Danskin Triathlon. I have been watching their website to sign up for the 2008 race as the Seattle race sells out fast. Registration opened for Seattle and I signed up with no doubts that I wouldn't be able do it. This was a week or so ago. And today the light bulb turned on. I am potentially going to be gone on a work thing (which I can't really talk about yet) right when the triathlon takes place. I felt instantly deflated when the dates clicked and I realized it most likely will not be possible for me to do it. I have been contingency planning to find another triathlon to do this year as I did not want to not do one at all. And I did find one that would work with my time frame. But I am still feeling a little sad at not doing the Danskin. So I can't do the Seattle Danskin, but the thought came to me - can I do a different one? I've been thinking about the Orlando Danskin for awhile and had finally decided to do it next year (2009). But with this new development, do I do the Orlando Danskin this year as well? Hm, this will take some thinking...

It is NOT 10 degrees!!!!

Ah, London... I get off the plane and I feel like I'm home. A little explanation regarding the title of this post. Sometimes the hardest part for me will be coming up with a unique title. I had several thoughts but landed on this one. One of Jana's colleagues had been in London the week before and told her the weather was 10 degrees Celsius (approx. 50 degrees Fahrenheit). As we were walking through the park on the first day, shivering, we emphatically agreed there was no way it was 10 degrees out!!

February 13th/14th
British Airways has always been my airline of choice when flying to Europe but they have been slipping recently in my estimation. I usually still fly with them since they are the only option for a direct flight from Seattle to London. Rumor has it Northwest will soon have a direct Seattle to London option so I might be flying BA less and less (not to mention I would get Continental miles from Northwest!). My vendetta against BA started with their new policy of having to check-in online to get your seat assignment and you can only check-in starting 24 hours prior to your flight. It was further compounded by the fact the on-demand entertainment system was not working. I probably spent more time trying to make it work! And then when I couldn't I tried to join the programs already in progress but couldn't get into them since I had missed the beginning. There were a few other things, having to do with the food choices, but I won't bore you with them. Poor Jana, she had to listen to them all! In fact when I got to the hotel room, after saying hi, I told her she was going to have to listen to all my complaints. Her response was to tell me she expected that - I usually start off our trips complaining about the plane ride! I guess there is something about being on a plane that puts me in a complaining mood! The plane ride was not the smoothest I've had - it was extremely turbulent at times, which I don't particularly care for. The passport line was extremely long - but the good thing about that is by the time I got to baggage my suitcase was waiting for me! I took the Heathrow Express to Paddington and debated briefly about getting on the tube before deciding to get in line for a taxi. The taxi took me a different way than I have gone before, through near Hyde Park. I knew the hotel was close to the park, I just didn't realize how close. Jana had emailed me and let me know she had checked us in and we were in room 1042. I committed room 1024 to memory and after arriving at the hotel I went up to room 1024 and knocked on the door. As I was knocking on the door I thought to myself "hm, was it 1024 or 1042?" Fortunately nobody answered my knock at 1024 and I made my way to 1042. We were both starving by this time so we went to our favorite little cafe right near the hotel, The Muffin Man. One of the reasons we ended up staying here was because we liked the area and we knew of good restaurants! After lunch we walked over to the park and meandered over to the Albert Memorial. We were both freezing at this point, not to mention jetlagged, and it was getting dark so we decided to find a coffee shop. We sat at the shop and drank coffee until it was time for dinner. It was a very lazy afternoon!! We didn't walk far before we came across an Italian restaurant and decided it was as good as any. The food wasn't the best, and the restaurant was across the street from a church (St. Mary Abbotts) whose bells were ringing incessantly the entire time we were there! We made our way back to the hotel for an early night.

February 15th
As we had both been to London before, we didn't really set a schedule. We had a leisurely breakfast at the Muffin Man before heading to the Tower of London. We arrived just in time for a Yeoman warder (or beefeater) tour. We admired the crown jewels (I really like Queen Victoria's small diamond crown) and looked through the other parts of the castle. We were there for awhile and ended up getting kicked out because they were closing. Our next stop was All Hallows church before making our way over to the Hung, Drawn & Quartered pub where we shared a basket of chips (fries). The chips came with ketchup, vinegar and mayonnaise. I was just happy we got an actual bottle of ketchup!!

It was late night at the Victoria & Albert Museum so that was our next stop. I love late night at the museum - it's usually really quiet and there aren't a lot of people. It reminds me a bit of Night at the Museum with Ben Stiller and also the Sesame Street episode where Big Bird gets locked in the museum. Although I'm not sure if that is an actual episode or something I made up as I haven't found anyone who remembers it. We started off in the Renaissance but the room with David was closed!! I could see his head through the top of the door but that was it. We looked around for a bit more and by then we were ready for dinner! Last time we were in London we had found this great Italian restaurant and we were excited to go back. But we were in for a disappointment. The restaurant was no more. Maybe it was a good thing - maybe we had hyped it up to much in our minds and we would have been disappointed when it wasn't as good as we had remembered it being... Still, that didn't help us because at that moment we were hungry and cold. Jana knew of another Italian restaurant so we got back on the tube. Seriously, if we worked for Rick Steves, we would have a section on the best Italian restaurants. Il Borgo looked like a hole in the wall but the food was very good.

Looking at the map before heading home, we decided if we cut up through a few streets we could reach our hotel faster than going up and around. And we were right, except for the fact there was a big wall blocking our way!!! The even more frustrating part was we could see our hotel, but had no way to get to it. We tried to circumnavigate around the wall but alas, we could not. We ended up walking in a giant circle back to the restaurant and then we had to walk up and around back to the hotel. It wouldn't have been so bad except for two things - it was really cold, and I really had to use the bathroom. Guess you should always listen to mom's advice and go before you leave!!

P.S. We later did a little Wiki-research and found there really was a Sesame Street episode where they got locked in the museum.

February 16th
Last time we stayed at this hotel we had a few issues with the TV turning on randomly during the night. We didn't have any issues the first night. But at 5 a.m. this morning the TV started turning itself on. After turning it off with the remote a couple of times I gave up the fight and got up and turned it off completely. I really do like this hotel, except for the odd wiring of the TVs!
After the TV issue, I fell back asleep. Again, as we were not on a schedule, we spent another leisurely morning, with a late breakfast at the Muffin Man. We tubed it over to Paddington Station and caught the train for Windsor. When we got to Windsor Castle we were greeted with a line to get in to the castle! But with it being such a nice day, and Saturday as well, it should have been expected. We ended up waiting in line for probably about 30 or 40 minutes which wasn't too bad. Sitting for a minute in the church we noticed the grave of Henry VIII and one of his wives - the one that died before he could find something wrong with her.

We had lunch at an Irish bar not too far from the castle and then decided to walk to down to Eton, where Prince William went to school. By the time we got to the school it was closed so we took a picture and walked back to the train station.

It was late night at the Tate Modern so we took the tube over to St. Paul's and walked over the Millennium Bridge to the Tate Modern. The Tate Modern was interesting. It was good to go, but I probably don't ever need to go back. You can say I'm shallow when it comes to art - I like it simple and pretty. Modern art really doesn't do it for me. Although I do have to say, they had an exhibit on art from the Congo that was very thought-provoking. Enjoy is probably the wrong word to use, but I appreciated that exhibit. The Tate Modern did have one Monet but it was not my favorite of his paintings.

We weren't feeling very adventurous when we left the Tate Modern and so we ended up back at Il Borgos for dinner. We had just placed our order when some American college kids were seated next to us. They were very loud and very obnoxious!! Kids!! It wasn't long after we had gotten our dinner (pizza margherita for me - no surprise there!) that I smelled something burning. The candle had gotten too close to the bread basket and had burned a whole in the bread basket!! Oops! Guess the kids weren't the only obnoxious Americans at the restaurant that night. We took the long way home, not bothering to even try to figure out a shorter way back to the hotel.

February 17th

Another lazy morning, another breakfast at the Muffin Man. Neither of us had been to Kensington Palace before and since it was so close we walked over there. They had a special exhibition on Diana. This was her home after she married Prince Charles until her death. She was a beautiful woman. After touring the palace we walked through the park looking for the Peter Pan statue. We couldn't find it so we gave up and headed towards Apsley House (nicknamed Number One, London), where the first Duke of Wellington lived. Part of the house is a museum, the rest is still used by the current Duke of Wellington. As we continued walking towards Apsley House we saw a map of the park and saw where the Peter Pan statue was - we had been so close when we had decided to give up! We decided we would stop and look for it on our way back. Inside the museum we were greeted by an 11 foot statue of a basically naked Napoleon (he had a fig leaf). The story goes that Napoleon commissioned the statue but didn't like how it turned out so it was put into the basement of the Louvre until the British government bought it and presented it to Wellington. Next we walked over to Harrods and spent some time exploring the store. After Harrods we walked back to the park to find the Peter Pan statue. We stopped by the water to take some pictures of a swan who was totally posing for us. We found the statue but it was dark and so the pictures didn't turn out too well. We high-tailed it out of the park because it was getting really dark by this time. We stopped by an internet cafe next so I could check in online and get my seat. Stupid new BA policy! But at least I got a window seat. We went to an Indian restaurant for dinner. No, you didn't read that wrong - I did say Indian. You thought I was going to say Italian! It was quite good.

The TV did its thing except Jana and I were still awake. For whatever reason, neither of us could sleep so we had stayed awake chatting. I still didn't want to get out of my warm bed to completely turn off the TV though but I did finally. I fell asleep not too long after that.

February 18th

Our quick vacation was over. Jana's plane left earlier than mine so we said goodbye and I ate breakfast at the hotel. I still had some time before I needed to go to the airport so I walked over to the park to visit the Peter Pan statue. I walked back to the hotel and gathered up my suitcase and headed to Paddington station to catch the Heathrow Express. The on-demand entertainment worked and the plane ride home was very smooth.

Cheerio!

I'm off to London tomorrow to enjoy a long weekend, keeping up my streak of going to London at least once a year since either 2000 or 2003 (I can't remember if I went in 2002 or not). As to what I'm looking forward to most is just being there - that and eating at the restaurant Jana & I found the last time we were there! :) Watch this space for pictures and a trip report...

This, that and the other

I was trying to figure out what I should give up for Lent. Dessert was too easy or too hard, depending on how you look at it with the potential of completely undermining all my willpower. I ended up with giving up Starbucks. I realize that is a little nebulous but I figured it was something I would miss. However, it doesn't mean I can go to Tully's or Seattle's Best instead, but if it is free latte day at work I can partake. Part of the reason I'm giving up Starbucks is now that they have raised their prices, my cinnamon dolce latte is expensive!! I really missed it this weekend! I can go to Starbucks on any given weekend 4 or 5 times, usually as my reward after a walk at the park. But I made it - 5 days down, 35 to go.

Speaking of walking at the park, I started off around Greenlake this morning and ran into close to 2,000 people coming towards me!! It was the annual Valentine's Day dash. I stayed off to the side and managed to navigate my way through the horde of people.

I've been really bored at the gym lately. That combined with being fairly susceptible to peer pressure has me signing up for boot camp and kickboxing. Several of my co-workers signed up for boot camp and convinced me to try it. After the first class I signed up but I'm only doing boot camp once a week, instead of the 3 times a week it is offered. Getting up once a week for a 6 a.m. class in the cold is enough for me! And if that wasn't enough they also convinced me to try kickboxing and now I'm taking kickboxing classes. But it is cutting down on my gym boredom!

My poor car - after having the passenger side window smashed, it now has a noise (which the mechanic assured me was a normal noise), and Saturday I got a chip in the windshield!

I think that's the update from my world...

A fun game of tag!

I saw this on Stacy's blog. I love these things so I thought I'd play along!

5 Things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Uh, this is harder than I thought. Finishing up my junior year in college.
2. So if I remember right this would be the year we were having roommate drama. Long story short, we had a roommate who who was very needy and just made our living situation somewhat miserable.
3. Going to London for the first time to visit my freshman year roommate who was studying over there. Who knew that visit would start my love affair wth London?
4. Buying MY first car, a little red Mazda MX-6. My first vehicle was a Ford Escort which I shared with my sister and she drove it more than I did so I don't count that and my second was a 1978 Ford Truck which was really my dad's but he let me use it. So that's why I consider the little red car my first car.
5. Yeah, I have no idea, that was a long time ago.

5 Things I was doing 5 years ago:
1. Living in Houston
2. Trying to decide what to do - stay with Enron or find a new job.
3. That's about all I remember... I'm not sure why 5 years ago was harder than 10 years ago...

5 Things I did today:
1. Went to kickboxing
2. Went to Target
3. This is more something that happened - my poor car got a rock chip in the windshield. Seriously, what is going on with my car?!
4. Watched Duke beat Boston College
5. Did not go to Starbucks (more about this later in another post)

5 Products I can't live without:
1. Hm, not sure about this...
2. Lately, Crystal Light on the go packets
3. The little bottles of Purell hand sanitizer
4. My Coach purse
5. My ipod

5 Things I would do if I won a billion dollars:
1. Give to charity
2. Quit my job!!!!!! And then take a year to travel the whole world.
3. Buy a house (or two or three). One of them in Italy.
4. Buy my parents a house and my dad a car. Probably buy my brother a car as well.
5. Buy myself a car!! I can finally get my BMW!!!

5 Places I have lived:
1. Newcastle, WA
2. Bellingham, WA
3. Houston, TX
4. London, England
5. Newcastle, WA

5 Jobs I have had:
1. Babysitter
2. McDonalds crew person
3. Gift wrapper at a toy store during Christmas (they didn't want to train me to use the cash register so they had me wrap presents)
4. Office Manager for a tradeshow company
5. Tax Accountant

5 Things you may or may not know about me:
1. Since it is college basketball season and all, my favorite basketball team (and probably my favorite team of all) is Duke and one of the thing I would absolutely love to do is at least visit Cameron Indoor Stadium. How'd a Seattle girl end up a Duke fan? Well it all goes back to Quin Snyder (also from Seattle) who went to play for Duke. My dad loves watching local kids so we would watch Quin playing for Duke. It also helped Duke was on TV a lot! :)
2. I once won a writing contest in 6th grade and got to go to a writing camp.
3. Speaking of things I won - I actually won the award for Best Actress in high school. Yes, me, one of the shyest, quietest people around was an actress (at least in high school). There is something about not being me, but being a character, that I enjoy.
4. I love The Mummy and The Mummy Returns movies - yes I know they are silly but they always make me laugh!!
5. I finally passed the last section of the CPA exam on my 5th try. Yikes!!!
6. Oh, and I thought I'd add one more - I'm leaving for London on Wednesday (Feb. 13th) for a long weekend.

TAG - you're it!! Feel free to join in on the fun if you'd like!

Photo Contest

Photoworks has been setting up various photo communities where people can post their pictures for whatever category their pictures fit in - Storms, Pets, Travel, etc. They have also been running a photo contest each month for each of the categories. I entered a picture in the European Travel January contest and I won!! The winning photo: