OCD

After reading Erica's post about the random things that get stuck in her head, I figured I'd reveal my unnecessary OCD tendency. I count random things in my head all the time. I count stairs when I'm walking up and down flights (17 to my apartment, 18 in the parking garage at the Studios), how many steps it takes to get to my car (depends on where I'm parked), and the weirdest one: how many slices of banana go into my cereal (25). It's so very random, I know. Especially since it's not everything or every time I walk somewhere, although it is every morning I have my Honey Nut Cheerios! So there you have it, airing my dirty laundry.

Hope everyone is having a good holiday season...it's Christmas Eve Eve, so Santa is on his way soon! I have to work a few hours tomorrow then am headed to Cooper City for two days, then it's back to work. It's fine, since two days is about all I can handle at home before my mom drives me crazy. I'm excited that my bro and sis-in-law are coming down with Blake. Also, they're expecting another baby and just found out it's another boy, so bring on the testosterone! I will leave you with this cute pic of Blake with Santa!

Merry Christmas!!!

Things About Me

I'm late on this, but I saw it on Erica's page and thought it would be fun to do. I am all about a mindless post filling out random questions. Let's go!

1. What is in the back seat of your car right now?
My windshield sun shade and some anti-bacterial wipes.

2. When was the last time you threw up?
It was a long time ago...last time I can remember was after my friend's wedding and I had waaay too much to drink. I went home and made myself throw up so that we could get changed and go out to karaoke (what a trooper!)

3. What’s your favorite curse word?
I say the f word or some form of it way too often

4. Name 3 people who made you smile today?
My roomies Bethany and Lauren, and my nephew Blake when I saw his pic with Santa!

5. What were you doing at 8 am this morning?
sleeping

6. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Taking a shower

8. Have you ever been to a strip club?
yeppers

9. What is the last thing you said aloud?
Holla back!

10. What is the best ice cream flavor?
cold stone vanilla w/cinnamon and chocolate chips

11. What was the last thing you had to drink?
water

12. What are you wearing right now?
a blue tank top and pj pants

13. What was the last thing you ate?
chocolate chip cookies

14. Have you bought any new clothing items this week?
what week don't I? I bought a really cute Tinkerbell shirt at the Disney Store (so much for not needing anything Disney!)

15. When was the last time you ran?
at the gym on Friday

16. What’s the last sporting event you watched?
maybe I'm watching Sunday Night Football right now... that doesn't make me a lesbian!

18. Who is the last person you sent a comment/message on myspace?
my old roomie Doug

19. Ever go camping?
when I was younger and didn't have a choice in the Brownies

22. Do you have a tan?
no, kinda pale right now unfortunately

24. Do you drink your soda from a straw or a bottle?
I prefer my soda out of a fountain, therefore I drink through a straw. Otherwise it's a can.

25. What does your last text message say?
that I sent or received? hmm...got one that said 'we're not going to the movie'...how exciting!

26. Are you someone’s best friend?
I sure hope so

27. What are you doing tomorrow?
going to work. boo.

28. Where is your mom right now?
asleep in Cooper City

29. Look to your left, what do you see?
my Jason Taylor bobblehead (again, not a lesbian!)

30. What color is your watch?
silver

31. What do you think of when you think of Australia?
maybe the dingo ate your baby!

32. Ever ridden on a roller coaster?
yeppers

33. What is your birthstone?
pearl. ick.

34. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive through?
usually drive thru

35. What is your favorite number?
23

36. Do you have a dog?
no but I will take one!

37. Last person you talked to on the phone?
mom and dad

38. Have you met anyone famous?
yeppers - the best one was Mariah!

39. Any plans today?
gotta dry my hair and go to sleep

40. How many states have you lived in?
just one

41.Ever go to college?
yeppers

43. Biggest annoyance in your life right now?
not knowing what the hell to do with my life, not having a man, not really wanting to go to the gym...

44. Last song listened to?
song by Leona Lewis (she won X-Factor, the UK's version of Idol...great voice!)

46. Are you allergic to anything?
random things in the air make my eyelids itch, as well as MAC eyeshadow

47. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time?
reef flip-flops

49. Are you jealous of anyone?
sure...people who know what they're doing with their lives, have cute families, don't have to work out to stay trim...

50. Is anyone jealous of you?
My friend Cindy is jealous that I get to still sleep in... it's a thing of the past once you have kids!

51. What are you craving right at this moment?
some freshly baked bread sounds good right now, no idea why

52. Do any of your friends have children?
yeppers

53. Do you eat healthy?
most of the time, until there are cookies

54. What do you usually do during the day?
work, unfortunately

55. Do you hate anyone right now?
No

56. Do you use the word ‘hello’ daily?
yep

58. How old will you be turning on your next birthday?
Twenty-nine

59. Have you ever been to Six Flags?
yep, in Georgia

Yay, wasn't that fun?!?

I Kinda Skipped November...

Wow, I haven't been good about keeping up on this blog! My last post was way too long ago, so I'll do a brief recap...
I got a temporary management position at DisneyQuest at Downtown Disney, which is a 5 floor building filled with virtual/interactive games. It has tons of old school video games like Donkey Kong, Frogger, and Burger Time. When I "walk the building", which is what I do a few times each shift as a manager, I try to play at least one game of skeeball and a few rounds on my new favorite game, Flamin' Finger. (FF is a touch screen that has a big maze on it...you drag your finger across the screen through the maze as music blares and time ticks away, faster as you get toward the end of the maze. It gets my heart going and when you finish before time runs out, fireworks go off on the screen and it applauds you for being the champion. It's pretty awesome.) Anyway, I'm there through February and then potentially go back to the Studios events team. Not sure what my future holds, but I've realized doing this job that being an attractions manager is not for me... it's pretty monotonous, and I like to feel like I'm using my brain, not just babysitting cast members.

The exciting part of November was my trip to Scotland! My roomies Bethany, Lauren, and I went for a week. The flights were exhausting (with stops in DC and London before ending up in Edinburgh), but we had a lot of fun. Our Bed and Breakfast was amazing and very close to the main areas in Edinburgh. The official Scottish breakfast the girls had is below (I had cereal).A bonus for our B&B was that it was run by a super hot 28 year old named David. Mmmm. We were kind of obsessed with him. We had lots of conversations about sometimes inappropriate things, but he was fun and helped us a lot when it came to planning what to do. Here he is ... We did a lot in Edinburgh - walked up and down the Royal Mile, toured the Edinburgh Castle (the view from the top of the castle is the pic below) and the Palace of Holyrood (where the Queen stays when she's in Scotland), went to many museums, saw the tea house where Harry Potter was written, learned all about how whisky is made on a whisky tour, and I got to shop at my favorite clothing store, H&M. It got dark around 4pm, which was very strange and made us want to go to bed super early, but we sort of got used to it by the end of the week. Also, all the stores close by 5 or 6pm except on Thursdays, so we had to do any shopping earlier in the day. I guess they want you to focus on drinking at the bazillion pubs at night. It's cheaper to drink beer than soda, and very difficult to find Coke products since apparently it's one of the only countries in the world that Coke is not the #1 selling soda. Sometimes a girl just needs a Diet Coke!!!
We took a day tour to Loch Lommond (Loch is just a fancy word for lake) and Stirling Castle, and another day tour to the Highlands and Loch Ness. Unfortunately, we did not see the Loch Ness Monster, but in our hearts she is in there (I point out where I think she is below). We took the train to Glasgow for a day, which is the more 'cultural' city in Scotland, but not nearly as pretty as Edinburgh. This was the prettiest place we visited in Glasgow, a cathedral that withstood the Reformation and has been around since the 1000's! On our Thanksgiving, it was actually the start of the Christmas festival in Edinburgh, so we watched the opening of that which was fun. We rode a huge ferris wheel and wandered through a German Christmas market.
The weather wasn't great while we were there, which is why this is the off season. It hovered around 40-ish, and was mostly overcast. It was misty rainy a few days, but never full on poured. We finally saw the sun the day before we left...it was glorious. I was pretty much cold the whole trip, since I am definitely a Florida girl and can't handle temperatures below 65 very well. I look like a cow in most photos since I have so many layers on. Speaking of cows, the cow below is Hamish, who is a Highland coo. (They call them coos, not cows, which made us giggle. When we did, our tour guide said "You haven't experienced Scotland until you've seen a hairy coo." Done and done!)

Overall it was a great trip and we met so many great people. All the Scots are so happy that people choose to visit their country, and they're so helpful and friendly. Plus their accents are so fun to listen to and kilts rock!

A Busy October

October has been busy for me, hence the lack of posts.
There was the Gallers visit, which was a lot of fun. Leah is old enough to enjoy Disney a bit more, so it was fun to see her a bit mesmerized by some things. I think that's one of the best things about working at Disney...seeing the amazement in kids' eyes when they see their favorite character or hundreds of tiny dolls singing 'it's a small world'. The next week was another week of Disney parks and going out with two friends in from Arkansas.
Then there was this week, the bad one. My dad called on Friday night to tell me that my grandfather had passed away. He'd been recovering from two broken vertebrae in his neck and had gotten pneumonia. The doctors thought he was doing well, but he just sorta faded away on Friday. I think he knew that he'd be living in a lot of pain with the neck brace, so figured now would be a good time to bow out. (Either that or he couldn't bear to see how much worse the Miami Dolphins would get.) Pop was a wonderful guy...he taught me to love horses as a kid, introduced me to the world of the arts and theater, and found my family the best dog ever, Rusty. I spent the last 3 days at home with the family, and everyone's doing pretty well. He will definitely be missed. Every time I watch the Pixar chess short, I will think of Pop. I think they used him as inspiration for the character...
To end this post on a happier note, I did get to visit IKEA before I left South Florida. Ours in Orlando doesn't open for a few weeks, so I got a jump start. I don't think I can express how much I love that store. I can't wait to have a house so I can deck it out with everything IKEA!

I Heart Jim

It's true, I'm kind of obsessed with The Office. I own all the seasons on DVD, yet I still look forward to the old episodes that TBS is showing every Tuesday night. The theme song is my ring tone. I could watch episodes repeatedly and still laugh, and I look forward to Thursday nights for new episodes.
And now others are fueling my obsession! First, Entertainment Weekly put the cast on the cover and did an in depth story on the show. And now, Target has joined in. For those of you who love Target like I do, you visit 'the one spot' on a fairly regular basis. Well, currently in the one spot is tons of Office stuff! There are pens, pencils, magnets, pads of paper, post-its, mugs... it was like a jackpot of hilarity. You should stop whatever you're doing right now and go to Target. Go!!!

Job Frustrations

I really enjoy my job...working with film crews from everywhere and planning park events is fun and always has interesting challenges. I've been in the Events department for almost 4 years as a Coordinator, and since March I've been in a temporary role as a Manager in the department. Now there is a full-time Manager position available, since the guy I've been backfilling is not coming back. Obviously, I would like the position.
But my boss told me yesterday that I'm not getting it. His justification is totally ridiculous and pisses me off. He said that he wants someone that's more like the guy that's leaving, who is super focused on our cast and developing people. Granted, he is great at that and made some good "magic" speeches to our cast members. But it sort of helps to have a friggin' idea of what you're doing in your actual job. Anyone can be sappy and magical and all that crap, but I have the experience to succeed in the job. It's so political and stupid.
So at the end of October I will go back to being a Coordinator, and start trying to get out as soon as possible! I am in the Attractions Management 'pool', so any area in any park that needs managers will interview from those of us in the 'pool'. So I will hope for something to happen from that quickly. I need to work for a leader that will actually support me.
Although, I got sucked into a repeat of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition yesterday, and they were helping a family that has 2 HIV positive kids. They go to this camp for kids infected or affected by HIV/AIDS, and I found myself really wanting to be involved. I guess I just feel like my job doesn't really have a great purpose...I want to feel like I'm contributing more than I am. Maybe it's just a rough patch, but I have definitely been browsing through monster to see what kind of meaningful jobs are out there!

Random Monday Thoughts

Okay, so I'm surrounded by Gator fans on this site, but I have to take a moment to give some props to my alma mater. UCF, in their fancy new stadium, was darn close to upsetting the #6 team in the nation on Saturday. If the lame-o Dolphins are going to suck it hardcore this season, I may have to turn my attention to rooting for the Knights!

After reading Keri's entry about TV, then watching the Emmys last night, I am so pumped for the new season of shows! I probably watch way too much television and should get out and meet some men instead of sitting on the couch, but what the hell. TV is so good! Here's a week in my TV watching--Heroes, Ugly Betty, 30 Rock, The Office, Scrubs, Desperate Housewives. Then there's The Daily Show, The Soup, and Best Week Ever. Then American Idol when it comes back on. Plus whatever new shows I watch this fall. Good thing we have DVR.

I guess I have to answer these questions because I read Erica and Angelle's answers, therefore I am "tagged". I'm still getting used to this blog thing and don't fully understand it all, but I can certainly answer a few simple questions...
1. Lying down on the couch, or stretching out on a recliner? Couch since we don't have a recliner, but I'm all about that when it's an option.

2. Going barefoot or wearing soft slippers? Usually socks or some form of slipper at home because my toes are always freezing due to my terrible circulation.

3. Eating ice cream, or pizza? Uh, pizza. Angelle and Erica, you're wrong. : )

4. Watching on TV…a classic movie or a reality show? Reality show

5. Wearing: blue jeans or sweat pants? I couldn't live without jeans!

6. A long, soothing bubble bath or a quick, invigorating shower? shower... baths are nice for a few minutes but then it gets cold and I have time to judge my body and that's not soothing.

7. Furniture: leather, or something more on the fuzzy side? Something fuzzy sounds classier than leather. And I agree with Angelle, leather is not so pleasant in the heat (so why do I have leather seats in my car??!?).

8. Soft, classical music, or upbeat rock & roll? Preferably some form of pop, but rock 'n roll over classical.

9. Darkness or light? Depends on when and where.

10. Thought-provoking question of the week: You get married, or otherwise begin cohabitating with a significant other. S/he moves into your place, but brings with them the UGLIEST chair you have ever seen! You really don’t want this thing in your home, but SO says it is the most comfy chair s/he has ever sat in, and no way will they part with it. Do you: grin and bear it, or scheme to get rid of the montrosity somehow?
There has to be some compromise.. if it really is comfy, then it will need some sort of cover. Sounds like a fun arts and crafts project!

I'm Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC...

Okay, so my roomies and I really like To Catch A Predator. It's really ridiculous the lies these men try to create as they get caught trying to meet underage girls. Just accept that fact that you've been caught and there's no way out now. It's disgusting and sickening, but is riveting television.

So for Lauren's birthday party, we made everyone come dressed as their fave predator, or at least bring the props of a predator. Some were more creative than others, but it was a fun night. Lauren was the 'decoy' that welcomed the partygoer in, and then I came around the corner as Chris Hansen, chat log in hand. We're so clever. Bethany had the best ensemble, and had a few people not recognize her at first. She makes a great Hispanic predator, as you see below. : )

Goodbye Doodlebops!

Dear Dee Dee, Rooney, and Moe Doodle:
Buh-bye. Having survived 16 of your shows in 4 days (all of them identical), I am glad you're finished and moving on. I just don't understand why kids (and parents) are so obsessed with you. You look like freaks with your crazy colored skin and fat fingers. I very rarely made it through a whole show without wanting to slit my wrists. I would have maybe been okay had you sung the one song of yours I do enjoy, Wobbly Woopsie. Now that's a good catchy tune.
Luckily, I didn't get screamed at by guests like the last time you were here and Moe was too "sick" to do a show that was filled to capacity. This time went smoothly and all the guests love you, some of them lining up at 6:30am to get show tickets! I just don't get it! But hey, I lived through it and I won't have to see you again (until maybe next year).
Goodbye Doodlebops!!!
Love, Megan

My Fancy Header...

Big ups to Mikey G for my fabulous new header. I was jealous of everyone else's fun ones so he helped create one that's a little more me. Thanks, Mike! (even though you've purchased the most ridiculous shoes ever.)

I survived the first weekend of Playhouse Disney In Concert... we had the Imagination Movers performing, so it was kind of like a rock concert, just with songs about healthy snacks and sleeping through the night. I would seriously listen to their music even though I don't have kids. I know, it sounds kinda creepy. But they have a great sound, a bit ska-ish with their horn section. I recommend it to all parents looking for music they won't kill themselves after hearing 800 times. This next week is The Doodlebops, who do make me want to kill myself when hearing and seeing them. Plus they're super popular, so I will have a busy weekend ahead.

Plus this week is my roomie Lauren's birthday so we're going to Dixie Stampede on her b'day for dinner, then have a kick ass party planned for Saturday night. The theme is 'To Catch A Predator', which is a show we quite enjoy. Everyone has to come dressed as their favorite predator, and of course bring predator accessories like Mountain Dew and condoms. It's going to be awesome. I'll be sure to post some of the tamer photos!

Playhouse Disney is my LIFE!

Thursday begins the fun of my event, Playhouse Disney In Concert. I've been planning it for the last few months, so I'm excited to see it finally start. It's a nine week long concert series that runs every Thursday through Sunday until the end of October. It features all of your favorites from Playhouse Disney like the Imagination Movers, Doodlebops, Choo Choo Soul, and Johnny and the Sprites in kick ass shows and concerts.
It really does nothing more than make my damn biological clock tick louder since I am constantly surrounded by small children. But it's fun, and I actually don't mind most of the music. The Doodlebops are a little much for me, but dammit if I don't find myself singing along to the Wobbly Woopsie. Curse you Doodlebops!!!
On another childish note about myself, I totally watched High School Musical 2 and really enjoyed it. I may also have a copy of the soundtrack. Fun pop songs to work out to. If I was a tween I would be totally obsessed with Zac Efron. Or maybe if I was 28.

My Nephew

Since everyone has kids except me, I will show off my nephew, Blake! He is 9 months old now and a friggin' genius. Already walking (a few steps here and there) and always so happy!

Peer Pressure!

Okay, I have a blog now. I read everyone else's so I suppose it's only fair that I have one, too. Welcome to my overwhelmingly exciting life!!!