Vacation!

In precisely 10 hours and 6 minutes I will be done with work and on vacation for 5 whole days. I am completely jazzed! Andy and I will be headed up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for some fun with my parents and sister Emilie (Arielle decided to stay home to work...boo to her). We are staying until Monday and then spending two more days at home just chilling and relaxing! So, so excited. Just wish today wasn't going to be the longest day ever.

The SalTals Do Disney: Day 1

So I'm a day late, that's actually pretty good for me, admit it. Okay, so our vacation was, in my humble opinion, awesome.We had a really great time and I think I have convinced my husband that Disney is not just for children.

The question is where do I start? Probably at the beginning, that seems best. On Thursday morning at the absolutely ass-crack of dawn (there really is no polite way of putting it, seriously it was 3AM) we got up, got ready and headed to the airport. You know it's an early flight when there is no one even at the desk yet to check your bags. So anyway, we're up super early and waiting for our plane at the gate, it's about a half hour until we are scheduled to depart, so I took a Xanax, yeah, I'm a nervous flier. I'm telling you this because it didn't kick in until about a half an hour into the flight, which was a half an hour too long for me because we experienced some turbulence. After nearly breaking Andy's hand I couldn't take it anymore and decide another pill was needed, which means I don't remember too much from Atlanta to Orlando, but it's probably better that way.

We arrived in Orlando about 10:30 and we hit the ground running. I am telling you what, the pills wore off and I was ready to go. We caught a taxi to Universal Islands of Adventure to go check out Harry Potter Land leaving our luggage to be safely delivered to our room at Disney thanks to some very convenient tags. We got to Universal and I was nearly dragging Andy to the back of the park where the Harry Potter portion was located, I had to remember that he had never been there before and we had the time to slow down and take a look at everything.

Fresh off a flight at Suess-Landing

Finally, oh, finally, we were in Hogsmead and it blew my mind. I felt like I was walking into the pages of my favorite story, like someone had taken images from my own mind and created them in reality. I must say, if you are a fan of the movies or books this is just a must see. It was fabulous. We walked the stores and streets just admiring everything, which was really all that I desired to do. I only wanted to ride the ride in Hogwarts which is the only ride we did, thankfully because that was nausea inducing, worth it but we were both very sick afterward. After the ride, we hit up Ollivander's to get my wand, because I am that much of a nerd. That experience was really cool. However, I think that the design engineers behind that idea could have expanded the shop a wee bit and had more than one person handle the wand choosing. As it is right now, you wait (depends on the time of day, we waited about 30 minutes) go into Ollivander's with a group and only one of you gets the wand choosing experience. I think they could have had about 10 stations to do the same thing and let a few more kids have that special experience. (If you are reading this Universal Design Engineer people, please find a way to expand that shop) After Ollivander's we hit up the Three Broomsticks for some yummy lunch, I had roasted chicken and Andy had a Shepard's pie, he sampled the Hog's brew and I had a frozen butterbeer, which was tasty. After that we bought any other little trinkets that we wanted and walked through the rest of the park. We ended up spending probably about 4 hours there total.

 (from top to bottom: Gates of Hogsmead, Hogsmead, Gates of Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Me in a Ravenclaw Robe, Ollivander's Wand Choosing, Zonko's, Three Broomsticks, Me with a tasty butterbeer)

We then hopped in a taxi and took our exhausted selves to our hotel Disney's Port Orleans Riverside Resort. Once we got there all Andy had to do was flash his I.D. and we got our welcome packet and keys and headed to our room, where our suitcases had already been delivered. We then headed to the food court to see my parents for a minute and grab a drink then we decided to take an hour nap and try to catch dinner with them. I'm so glad we had dinner with my parents that night because it was fabulous. They had reservations at Le Cellier Steakhouse in Canada at EPCOT. It was fabulous. I ended up having a fillet  (only the second steak I have ever eaten in my entire life, but it was to die for) with cream cheese mashed potatoes, for dessert a s'mores brownie sundae. Uh-maz-ing!!! Best part, it was basically free because we were on the Disney Dining Plan which was free with our stay at Port Orleans. We scored a major deal with that, and honestly, highly recommend adding and paying for the plan to anyone going to Disney, it's really easy and more than enough food. After that meal, Andy and I were basically ready to pass out, so we headed back to the hotel to crash for the night.

Gosh, writing it all out makes me tired, I have no idea how we did all that. Anywho, I have pictures for all of this but I need to format them into blogger, which always takes time. I'll let you know when I add pictures in, promise.

In other news, I got a job at the library!!! Isn't that fantastic? Now I just need another job and I'll be set, but I'll fill you in on all that later.

Just in case

I am a planner. I don't know if I always have been, I would have to ask my Mom if I packed band-aids and triple antibiotic ointment in my Minnie Mouse backpack. Which, come to think of it she mentioned not to long ago (no, not band-aids and ointment, that was a joke)that I am like my Dad, who coincidentally likes to plan things out as well. He is the organization king that I aspire to be. Anyhow, I can say that I have known that I was a planner since my late teens. I like structure, I like being prepared, I like knowing what to expect. That is me...my husband, however, is a go-with-the-flow-fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants guy. He seriously loves to just live minute to minute without any expectations for the day. It use to drive me crazy and I use to drive him crazy. I say "use to" because I think my husband has started to accept that being prepared isn't always a bad thing and I have learned to loosen up a little.  I have learned that living in the moment is a lot more enjoyable and Andy has in turn seen that a little planning can go a long way.

I mention this because I'm sitting here before work looking up details on wait times at Universal Studios and Disney in hopes that we might not waste our precious vacation time in line. I have also already shopped for sunscreen, got our suitcases out of storage and made a packing list for myself. Meanwhile, Andy is well Andy and not getting at all ahead of himself. I don't even think he's excited we're going yet because there are 3 more working days ahead of us (after today of course). It's good though because once we get there, he will remind me to live in the moment, appreciate the fact we're on vacation and remind me to relax and soak it up. It's nice that I married a guy who balances me out.

Any other newlyweds have opposite attitudes or personality traits? What are they? Do they balance each other out or do they drive you both crazy?

Life is busy...

scratch that...life is crazy. This weekend right now, is literally our only free weekend between now and our vacation at the end of the month, hell,  it's basically been the only weekend we've had free since we moved here. It's crazy, I just don't get it. It's like we got married and suddenly we have no free time. What is this nonsense??? Then, there are the week days, obviously we both have jobs during the week which means my free time is scant. When I do get some free time, I really don't want to get on the computer. It's what I do all day at work. I admit I miss blogging, it's cathardic, it's fun, I like writing, but when it comes down to facing another computer screen after a 12 hour day (yes, seriously, that's been the kinds of days I have had) I just don't want to do it. I think you all can understand. Hopefully, this job is only temporary and I will have one that doesn't place me in a dark nook in front of a computer for hours on end. Ugh. Okay, enough about work. Happy thoughts.

We got on our trip to Florida in just a few short weeks, 25 days to be exact. I'm stoked. We're going to Harry Potter land and Disney World. It will be great to spend five days with my husband and some time with my parents, who will be there at the same time as us. This trip is what gets me through my days at work, I don't know what will happen after the trip is over. I guess we will have to plan something else to look forward to!

Anywho, I wanted you all to know I'm not dead, just crazy busy. I think of you all often, I promise to try to write again soon!