Buongiorno!

After Greece, it was back to Italy. Next stop, Naples. Took a tour of Pompei, which was amazing. It's insane to think that the area was covered in lava in 79AD and still exists for us to see. Well, it mostly exists anyway.
This picture is inside the Roman baths at Pompei...one of my favorite pics I took.

After Pompei, we went into town to a pizza place our taxi driver recommended as being not as touristy. It was there that I had the best pizza of my life. Seriously, I don't know how anything will ever compare to it. I was almost sad when I was finished with it because it was over. Glorious!!!
Next stop was our day in Rome from the ship, and we took a tour of the Coliseum and Forum with our sexy guide Bruno. These guides are unbelievable with how much detailed info they know about everything you see. Again, it was amazing to see how much still existed almost 2000 years later and to hear stories about the gladiators and the history of the place.
Next stop, Pisa and Florence. Booked a tour through the ship to see as much as possible in one day. Went to Pisa first to get our official tourist 'holding up the tower' pictures. Here's mine...
Then it was on to Florence, which was beautiful. There's so many museums and churches I wish we could have visited but there wasn't time. We did a lot of walking through town with our guide and learned a lot of the background of the city. We saw a replica of the famous David statue, walked through the city center and saw so much beautiful architecture and sculpture.
Are you tired of hearing about my vacation yet? Well, it's almost over. I'll keep you waiting for my last installment because I need a break! : )

Vacay Continued - Croatia and Greece

Next stop on our trip was Dubrovnik, Croatia. I kept hearing that Croatia is the new 'hot spot', but I wasn't blown away. It was beautiful, but it wasn't my favorite place we visited. We walked the walls of the old town, since it was surrounded to protect it during war. Spent most of the afternoon back on the ship in our self-titled area "Relaxation Station" outside on the 3rd deck in lounge chairs.
Our first stop in Greece was Corfu. Took a taxi to the beach, driven by our favorite new Greek, Demetrius. I think it's funny how so many people we met on the trip would immediately say they only speak a little english and then be able to carry on a pretty full conversation with you. I was lucky to be able to say anything in Greek! Anyway, the beach was beautiful but the sand would literally scald your feet if you stood in it longer than 5 seconds. I had never experienced that before, and the sand wasn't even that dark in color. Then you stepped in the water and it was freezing. Very strange combo.
Definitely my favorite stop in Greece was Santorini. We took a tour of some villages and then went to a black sand beach, which was really cool. Strangely enough, the sand was not as hot as the orangy colored sand in Corfu.

After our tour, we embarked on our donkey ride up the side of the mountain into town. You either have to take the cable car or donkey to get up, and we knew we couldn't leave Greece without our 'Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants' moment. Little did we know that the trip up on our donkeys was on our own, so we got put on donkeys and off we went. I mean, our donkeys know where they're going since they do it every day, but it was still an adventure. Every so often, they would just stop walking and we'd have to coax them into starting up again. When we got towards the top, we ran into what we called a donkey blockade. Our donkeys stopped and were not interested in moving again. Since we were almost at the top, we figured our ride was over. As we discussed it, trying to get our donkeys moving, the locals had gathered above us watching us sort this all out. Lauren and I got off pretty easily, but Bethany's foot got caught in her stirrup and the saddle slid with her as she dropped to the ground. It was hilarious, and she didn't get too hurt or covered in donkey poop, so it was ok. Here I go up the mountainside on my donkey, Stella...We shopped in Santorini like it was going out of style, and saw the most beautiful sunset. I want to go back there and stay a week...I loved it. Plus, the Greeks are much nicer than the Italians! (Probably because I spent so much damn money.)
Sunset in Santorini...


Next up, back to Italy...

Ciao!

Coming back from vacation is sad, but also kind of a relief. It's nice to be back sleeping in my own bed, not having to listen to the snoring of my roomie, getting water for free in restaurants (and automatically getting ice- Erica I totally understand what you're talking about!), not having to pay to use the bathroom, there always being a toilet seat and toilet paper, and of course having Diet Coke that tastes right since the US is ok with cancer-causing sugar substitutes.
The down side of coming back from vacation is that I don't have all of my meals cooked for me (and have it available pretty much 24 hours a day), I don't wake up in a new exciting locale every day, and I have to go back to work in a few days. Ugh.
Back to the glorious vacation... we started in Rome for two days before taking the train to Venice to get on our cruise ship. We took the hop on/off bus to see as much as possible in the two days. We booked a Vatican tour which was amazing. That place is so huge, there's so much to see, so it's nice to have someone with a lot of knowledge about it giving you a tour. The Sistine Chapel was amazing and I was taken aback by how huge St. Peter's Basilica is. This is one of my fave pics I took of a blocked off stairwell just outside the Sistine Chapel..
We ate lots of gelato and pizza, trying not to think of the horrible Euro-Dollar conversion rate. It was super hot the entire trip and we discovered there is no such thing as clouds during the summer in the Mediterranean. Good thing we were prepared with sunscreen!
Arrived in Venice, but after getting off the train at the wrong stop we had to walk the "short 15 minute walk" to the cruise ship since we were past the area where there are cars. Little did we know there was a huge bridge in our path that had no ramp. Five of us trying to haul 75-100 pounds of luggage each up that bridge was quite a sight. People walking by were laughing at us, and a guy even took our video camera to get footage of our ridiculousness. Even after we got off the bridge, we still had what seemed like miles to walk mostly uphill to our ship. Our embarkation photo is pretty classic since we all look like crap from our memorable adventure. Luckily at that point, we were in the clear and ready to be taken care of on the ship. Turkey sandwiches for lunch and endless chocolate chip cookies made me a very happy girl. The ship was ok, not the best I've been on, but served its purpose. It was definitely mostly filled with old people, but we seem to make friends with the elderly easily so that worked for us. (We are much better off on a ship like that than some crazy Carnival nonstop party ship.)
Our first night we took a gondola ride, which was fantastic! It lasted almost 45 minutes and took us through the main canal and lots of little side canals. We had an accordion player on our gondola and there was a singer in the gondola right next to us, so we had lots of entertainment and singalongs. I kinda felt like I was at The Olive Garden with all the songs I heard. : ) I loved the gondola ride, and was hooked on Venice. I had heard mixed reviews of the city before my trip, but it's definitely one of my favorite places we went. Here's a pic I took from the gondola and Lauren and I in St. Mark's Square...
Gotta run...I will continue my trip review at a later date! : )

Mi Vida Loca

Apparently my life has been too busy to blog for the last few months, although I can't really explain why it's been that way. I guess my social calendar is more full than I thought!
I've been 30 for almost a week now, but don't feel a lot different. That age sounds so old when I say it, and I really don't think I act it (which may or may not be a good thing). I feel like I've had an extended celebration, starting with Hive fun last weekend. Renting a giant water slide was the greatest idea ever. It was fun to watch everyone try to out-do each other with tricks, and awesome to see all the kids get so ballsy to go down the slide, as well as daredevil Biscuit! I had a few slip and slide/water slide injuries, but it was all worth it. Even though I was lectured on why to stay single, I still look forward to having a fun family like all the Hive-ers do, and being an amazing mom like all of them. For now, I'm still happy to sleep in. : )
The only bad thing about Hive was catching the disease that all the kids seemed to have, which is still hanging around making me miserable. I thought it was running it's course earlier in the week, but over the weekend it feels like it's gotten worse, or at least taken a different route. I'm now coughing almost constantly and sound like a phone sex operator/teenager going through puberty. It's wonderful.
Probably didn't help that I went out on Saturday night to celebrate my b'day with all my Orlando friends. We went to the Firkin & Kegler Entertainment Center, which was really fun! We started with dinner in the pub, then did a game of bowling, then headed upstairs to their dance club area. I drank a LOT of Shock Top, which led to me getting quite tanked. I had so much fun, even if I couldn't sing along to the sweet tunes upstairs (we heard some Heartbreaker by Mariah, plus of course the Tootsie Roll and the Train!).
Anyway, now it's back to work for a five day work week, which I haven't had in a while. Boo. Now begins the countdown to my Mediterranean cruise...27 days until departure for Rome!!!

Back to Life...Back to Reality

Okay, back to the real world tomorrow...a five day workweek! Boo to that. I don't know how I'll survive it! But I should be glad that I even have a job, since Disney did some major layoffs over the last few weeks. My team stayed mostly intact, although our secretary did lose her job. They're doing lots of restructuring, so it will be interesting to see the changes in the company over the next few months. I was actually never so happy to be a manager at DisneyQuest when I heard about all the cuts they made in the Special Events world, where I used to be. If I had gotten the events manager job that I wanted (and deserved) before I left the Studios, I would have no job right now. The girl who got the job was let go last week. So as sucky as that is for her, I am thanking my lucky stars I got out of there. I know quite a few people who got let go that are managers in parks, and it is just really sad since so many of them are great cast members and have been with the company a long time. I'm actually really disappointed in Disney and how they handled everything. They treated these people like they were suddenly criminals, not even letting them go back to their offices or say goodbye to anyone. Plus nobody really got any reasons why it was them as opposed to some other manager getting layed off. I just hoped they'd have enough respect for these people that gave so much to their jobs, but in the end Disney is a company just like any other. They are focused on the bottom line, and not as much anymore on the people who put their heart and soul into making their magic. I guess I wanted them to be different, but they're not.
Anyway, on a lighter note...I had a nice week off in Jacksonville with Lauren. The weather was pretty crappy for most of the week so we didn't get to sun ourselves as much as we wanted. We went to the beach one day and visited St. Augustine another, which was only about 30 minutes away. We discovered the red box, which is the greatest invention ever...$1 DVD rentals! Amazing!!! I played the wii for the first time...lots of Mario Kart and classic Super Mario Brothers. So fun! I tried Guitar Hero for the first time and was horrible at it. We are getting the arcade version at Quest soon, and I know now that I will not play that in front of anyone! I didn't end up going to NYC, as much as I wanted to go. Just couldn't find cheap enough airfare to justify such a quick trip. But now it's back to reality (oh, there goes gravity!)...

Working Is Overrated!

Seriously, I could work like two days a week and be totally happy. I worked two this past week, three the week before, four the week before, and it was sweet! The four day week ended in my first ever 5K, which went well. All of my friends and I finished it and I ran/jogged the whole thing. I was happy with how it turned out, even though it was at the crack of dawn. We had to be there by 6:15am for the 7am start. (I rarely get out of bed before 10am except for the 1 or 2 days a week I open at work.) But it felt great to actually accomplish one of my New Year's goals, and we've already planned to do another 5K in May, and I will get my time down from the 34-ish minutes it took me.
My three day week ended in a concert night on 3/13 when I got to see New Kids On The Block (again). Technically this is the third time I've seen them in concert, since we saw them in Tampa a few months ago and I saw them at Joe Robbie Stadium in 1990! Another great show this time, especially since we went to Happy Hour at one of our favorite bars downtown, right near the arena. Plus our seats were on the floor and we ended up about 3 people back when they moved to their second stage at the back of the floor area for a set of four songs. I was so friggin' close to Joey McIntyre, it was fantastic! This is one of the pics I took without zooming in!!!


This past week's two day work week ended in my friend Emily's wedding. We've been friends for about 8 years now...she went to high school with my roomie Lauren, so I met Emily through her. She had a beautiful wedding in Sarasota, with her reception at this amazing estate called the Crosley Estate, right on the water of Sarasota Bay. We arrived for happy hour at the reception just as the sun was setting, and it was gorgeous! I imagined all the amazing photos that you talented photogs could take there.
So that's been my last month or so in a nutshell...action-packed! This week I actually have to work a full five days. Ugh. But then I'm seeing Kelly Clarkson perform at Mardi Gras at Universal Saturday night, then I have a whole week off for vacation! I took the week off since it's the girls' spring break from school. Bethany is going to Ireland with her parents, and I plan to accompany Lauren to Jacksonville to house/dog-sit for her parents while they're on a cruise. I am also looking into making a short trip to NYC to visit Adam in the midst of my vacation week. My life is so exciting, isn't it?

Got My Flippy Floppys

I know we're in a recession, but I'm not going to let that stop me from taking a vacation! I booked a fantastic cruise last week with my two roommates. We will be taking a 12-day Mediterranean cruise on Holland America on July 30! So exciting!!! Our Ports of Call are: Venice, Italy; Dubrovnik, Croatia; Corfu, Greece; Argostoli, Cephalonia, Greece; Santorini, Greece; Catania, Italy; Naples, Italy; Civitavecchia (Rome); Livorno (Florence) Italy; Barcelona, Spain. I've been wanting to see more of Europe, and my grandmother (an avid traveller and former travel agent) has suggested a cruise as a great way to see a lot in a short time. Plus, for someone like me who is a bit picky when it comes to eating, I can always get back on the ship and eat to my heart's content! I am so excited!!!

Next week I've got the Royal Family 5K, so I am really hoping to run most of it. I've worked my way up to running for 26 minutes straight, so I've got to be about there. I'm doing my training outside instead of at the gym so I'm used to all the outdoor elements. Granted, I'm still paying for the friggin' gym that I only get to once or twice a week, but I'm not ready to let go of it yet.

Work is work... they are starting Involuntary Separation Packages in the next few weeks, so everyone is on edge since nobody really knows how they make the decisions on who will be cut. It's kinda scary to think I could be unemployed in a month, but if it happens to me, that's my sign that it's time to find a new path. It's not like I want to be a disney manager for the rest of my life anyway. So we'll see...hopefully I don't get cut so I can pay for my cruise!

Congrats

A big congratulations to all you Gators on your national championship. I worked the night of the game, so I only caught the last 5 minutes of the 4th quarter. Just in the 20 minutes I watched, I found it ridiculous how in love with Tebow those announcers were. I seriously think they wanted to fall madly in love with him, move in together, and have a million Tebow babies. They couldn't stop talking about how amazing he is and what a great guy he is off the field...get a room for god's sake!

I am officially signed up for the Royal Family 5K in March! As of right now, I am registered along with Cindy and now Aida (you can run with a stroller, which one or both of them may have to do). Join the fun everyone!!!

Princess Half Marathon Weekend

Friday, March 6 - Sunday, March 8, 2009

The Inaugural 2009 Disney's Princess Half Marathon Weekend will bring women of all ages together to participate in a magical event designed just for them. The Disney Princesses are the inspiration for the weekend's events and will focus on the attributes every princess possesses: commitment, courage, determination, fantasy, perseverance, and strength. Every woman is a princess, which princess are you?
Weekend Events include:

• Disney's Princess Half Marathon
• Disney's Royal Family 5K
• Disney's Princess Kids' Races
• Disney's Fit for a Princess Expo

Disney's Royal Family 5K
Saturday, March 7, 2009 at 7:00 a.m.
Epcot®
Disney's Royal Family 5K is a fun-filled event that the whole family can participate in! When everyone can participate in Disney's Royal Family 5K, you'll think your dreams have come true!
Each participant's registration in Disney's Royal Family 5K will receive:

• Race Registration
• Disney themed bib
• Commemorative t-shirt
• Goody Bag
• Post-Race Refreshments
• Commemorative 5K finisher medallion
• Opportunity to purchase tickets for runners, family & friends for a magical post-race party sure to excite!

What up 2009?!?

Happy New Year to all...hope the holidays have been good and everyone is mostly recovered.
I had a great Christmas, spent the day at my brother's house with his family and my parents. It was a long day with trying to do gifts for the boys mixed with ours. Blake has no real interest in unwrapping presents, which I find odd for a 2-year old. My brother unwrapped most of them, and Blake would pick and choose certain ones and run off to play. I think one of his faves was a kid sized Dirt Devil vacuum, since he is obsessed with my sister-in-law doing her vacuuming! So between doing stockings, the boys gifts from Santa, naps, and the family gifts, it was a long afternoon. But it was nice to spend time with the family.
I also spent some time with my cast member crush that I stalked on Facebook. But it all worked out since we ended up hanging out a few times. I even had a nice fresh hickey on Christmas Eve that I tried desperately to cover up at work. Ah, feeling like being 15 years old is good stuff. : ) Unfortunately, his program ends and he is leaving Florida this week, so it was fun while it lasted but it's back to the drawing board for me!
New Year's Eve ended up being fun. I worked until 11, and went to a friend's house with my roomie Lauren. Most of them were tipsy already, so luckily Lauren met me at my car as I parked with a beverage in hand. I caught up pretty fast through many rounds of flip cup. We had fun and I didn't get home until afer 3am, and had to work at 9am the next day. I'm getting too old for this kind of sillyness!
Looking forward to a great '09... Lauren and I plan to start training for a 5K (seems like a common goal around here!). We hope to do the Disney Princess 5K in March. I'm not a big fan of running, but I think with both Lauren and I motivating each other it will be much better. I hit the big 3-0 in June so I'd rather not look like a total slob for the milestone. : )
Other than that, all is well... I'm excited that shows are coming back this week from holiday repeats, and Scrubs and nip/tuck start up again. Also, Rock of Love Bus! Thank god for VH-1 and their trashy TV shows!!!