Show & Tell Tuesday: Lottery Edition

First off, it's important to know that since reading this prompt "If I had $1,000,000" by The Barenaked Ladies has been stuck in my head. If you have no idea what I'm talking about I'll assume that you did not grow up in Canada. Since $1,000,000 doesn't go as far as one might think (and I'd like more than a nice chesterfield or ottoman) I'm going to follow Andrea's  lead and assume the winnings are essentially limitless. 

First off, I wouldn't tell anyone until I met with a financial advisor and made a long term, sustainable plan. There's no chance I would be one of those people shouting it from the rooftops the second I found out! 

Once all that was taken care of I'd get down to business (quite literally). I'd buy a piece of property and then build my dream camp. That would take up a considerable amount of time and money but it would be a labour of love so I really wouldn't mind.

The other thing I would do is go on an epic Girls' Trip to Disney World! 

Simple enough right? Now I just need to start buying lottery tickets! 

Florida Vacation Highlights

I'll preface this whole post by saying that I am a full on Disney convert and totally plan on doing a full out Disney vacation at some point in the future. I was skeptical about the whole thing because I don't enjoy rides or huge crowds. This trip to Florida wasn't intended to be a Disney trip but since we were staying in Orlando we decided to visit two of the parks. Next time I do Disney I'll go full Disney vacation, staying at one of the resorts and visit all of the parks. 

This time we spent a day at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom and made multiple trips to Downtown Disney  Disney Springs. The highlight of the whole thing was that I got to meet Meeko! I love Pocahontas and Meeko is my favourite is my favourite character. Prior to Disney I did a ridiculous amount of research and the consensus was that aside from Pocahontas the other two characters from the movie (Meeko and Radcliffe) are extremely rare and aren't usually spotted around the parks. So I was shocked when after being in EPCOT for all of fifteen minutes J. turned to me and said "It's that Meeko? That looks like a giant raccoon." I was mid-way through replying "Probably not." when I looked over and sure enough there was Meeko hanging out at the Character Spot. I waited in line for thirty seconds and then got his autograph and took some photos and the five year old inside of me was the happiest. Unfortunately the photos didn't turn out the greatest (I blame the way the sun was shining) but they're good enough and it was a phenomenally great moment. 

I really enjoyed EPCOT and thought the mini train tracks were the cutest. I especially enjoyed the little gecko who was hanging out on the roof of one of the houses. I was a little let down by Animal Kingdom but it was partly because a lot of it was closed for renovations, which is clearly a downside to visiting during the off season. The Lion King show was wonderful though and I'd like to go again and be able to experience the whole place. One of the most fun things we did was go on a mini date one afternoon at Disney Springs. We went bowling and I'd highly recommend it as a fun, low key and affordable Disney date. We also don't have a bowling alley around here so it was extra fun. 

Aside from meeting Meeko the food was probably the highlight of the whole trip. I finally got to try Chick-Fil-A!! It was everything I dreamed of and may or may not have had it three times over the course of our ten day trip. I also tried Panera Bread and was pretty impressed with the wonton soup thing that I ordered. I also got my fill of  Vanilla Coke and tried Vanilla Pepsi during the trip. And it wouldn't be a trip without the obligatory Starbucks in the airport photo. 

We didn't have great weather while we were there, but it was still nice to get away from the snow happening at home. We missed one full storm and half of another.  It was a little less relaxing because it didn't involve any poolside reading but it was fun to do a little extra sightseeing. 

On our way back we hit some bad weather and ended up stranded in Ottawa for the night. At that point I was totally done with travelling and really just wanted to get home. We got a hotel room for the night, ordered pizza and watched Oak Island. The next day we headed to the airport and ended up delayed again. When all was said and done we got home a full 24 hours later than planned which made this week much more hectic than I was anticipating. 

When all was said and done it was a good trip and I was really happy to get home.

OLW, Treats and Disney

 Usually my weekends consist of one main event, a low key night at home and some odds and ends. This weekend it's all about the odds and ends. 

Friday night I went to Winner's with mom and even though I didn't buy it I fell in love with this wall hanging. I've unofficially participated in Ali Edward's One Little Word for a few years in 2014 I made  "Show Love" a phrase of the year and partnered it with "Brave". Last year, although I didn't blog about it, I dabbled in 'Peace'. This year I've decided to go all in with my word and following along with the months prompts. I'm not 100% of my word yet but the wall hanging holds a clue to what word I'm thinking about! 

Saturday afternoon I went to a Christmas craft show and invested in some amazing Reese's fudge. It was a layer of chocolate fudge on top of a layer of peanut butter fudge and it was every bit as delicious as it sounds. For my evening entertainment I headed to Chase the Ace, which is a fundraising phenomenon card game of sorts that has taken my corner of the world by storm over the last few months. I didn't win any prizes but I was fully entertaining for an hour and a half. I was home by 9:30 and in bed by 10.   

Sunday afternoon was Disney dedicated to Disney planning. After doing a lot of math and reading too many "Disney World Insider Advice" blog posts we decided that our best course of action is to visit two parks and forgo staying at any of the Disney resorts and make use of the condo we already have. The deals just weren't good enough to justify spending more money on a hotel room when we're already staying at a perfectly good condo. We're going to visit EPCOT and Animal Kingdom, I know there's a lot of people who claim that you can't do Disney without doing Magic Kingdom...but neither of us like rides, we have no small children who need to meet the princesses and there's no huge attractions that we are dying to visit. We know that we can easily and happily spend two days exploring EPCOT and Animal Kingdom and I don't think we'll have any regrets about not having the quintessential photo in front of Cinderella's castle. It's also worth noting that Pocahontas is my favourite princess and the internet tells me she hangs out in Animal Kingdom (although I'm not sure I'm willing to stand in line for 45 minutes to "meet" her). Chip & Dale also hang out in Animal Kingdom and if you've been around these parts for any length of time you know how much I love chipmunks/squirrels. We ordered pizza and garlic fingers to make the whole process a little less overwhelming. There's just SO much to consider and it feels like everyone has very strong opinions about everything Disney related. 

This week I need to get my snow tires put on and buckle down and get Christmas shopping out of the way. Apparently the mall is doing a fake Black Friday which sounds like torture so I'll be avoiding that...although I might be tempted to make a trip to Michael's. I'm anticipating blogland being pretty quiet this week since most people seem to be on a weeklong Thanksgiving break. Here in Canada Thanksgiving is a weekend thing and most people have the Monday off but based on blogland most American's have the whole week off? Enlighten me blog friends!

Linking up with B Loved Boston.

Show & Tell Tuesday {Love Story}

Sticking with the spirit of Valentine's Day I'm linking up with Momfessionals today for Show & Tell Tuesday to share my love story. I'll preface this post by saying J. and I have been "official" for a little over than 3 months. We went on a few dates prior to being in a relationship which brings us up to about 4.5 months and we've been working together since October. All that to say our love story is still in the beginning chapters. I think it's still worth documenting though, we've still got a lot of dating ahead of us before any sort of engagement or wedding chapter is written but I thought I'd share the story of how we started dating, especially since it was during a blogging break.

Via

When I started the job at my current office my expectation was I would have a steady job until spring and the contract would allow me to return to camp in the summer. I wasn't interested in making friends other than what I would describe as 'work aquaintences', my priority was to do my job and once the contract ended move on. Within the first few weeks the guy whose desk was diagonally across from mine would make casual conversation with me during our breaks. We discovered we had some mutual friends and we had actually gone to the same high school but neither of us remembered the other. That may not sound like a big deal, but our high school had about 900 students from grade 10-12, even if you didn't know everyone you at least recognized them. J. was in the grade ahead of me so we were in the same school for two years, but neither one of us have any recognition of the other during high school. 

He was very consistent with making conversation with me when he had the chance but I really wasn't interested in a relationship. There was nothing about him that really stood out to me, sure he was nice and seemed like he could be interested in me but again, I wasn't looking for a relationship. And if I was looking for a relationship it would be one that had long term potential. J. didn't necessarily strike me as someone who thought about long term relationships.

That changed when one day we were chatting during break, he asked about my favourite movies and the conversation progressed in a direction that lead to me asking him if he had a favourite Disney movie. His response will go down in history as "the moment I knew". He told me that he didn't really have one (my first thought = deal breaker) because he doesn't remember them very well. At which point I must have made a disapproving face because he elaborated. He refuses to re-watch the classic Disney movies from childhood because he was waiting until he had kids of his own. He wanted to be able to watch those movies with his kids because it (re-)watching for the first time would be more special and something to share opposed to showing a future child a movie he'd already watched a million times. 

I could have melted. It was the sweetest thing I'd ever heard someone say and of course I loved that he clearly thought about the future in a meaningful way. It wasn't until a week later that he asked for my number. We texted for another week or two continuing to get to know each other, as it turned out we had quite a few similar interests, beliefs and long term goals. He finally asked me on a date mid-Novemeber. Originally we had planned on going out to eat but the day didn't go quite as planned and we ended up hanging out at his place and watching 'Cops'. The next two weekends we went on "real dates". We had previously agreed that we enjoyed hanging out with each other but didn't want to start a relationship while we were stilly working together, luckily his contract ended in December and shortly after that he asked me to be his girlfriend. 

Maybe not the most romantic or extravagant meeting that's ever happened but its ours, and I'm kind of partial to it. Now head on over to Momfessionals and link up your own love story so I can read them while I sip my coffee on this cold winter day!

Weekends in March

This first Saturday in March I was up at 5:00 a.m. to drive to a Saturday morning group for children with disabilities to do camp recruitment.

The second Saturday in March I spent at the office getting ready for Day Camp.

The fourth Saturday in March I'm spending at a conference for high school students with disabilities for more camper recruitment. 

Which means this past weekend was my one full weekend off this month. And I celebrated by doing a whole lot of nothing  BuzzFeed Quizzes.

Friday night after work I actually went out to supper with some friends. I was still home by 11 though and asleep by 12. 

On Saturday I finished reading 7 by Jen Hatmaker. It was SO good. Even if you're not religious I still think you can appreciate the message she's trying to get across. I'd love to do a similar kind of challenge, especially the Food & Clothing month. I am a habitual complainer of "having nothing to wear" and limiting myself to 7 types of foods for a month would be a challenge, but it would certainly remind me to appreciate what I eat on a daily basis without much thought. 

Sunday I got caught up with my Lent Project (more on that later this week), TV shows and went to bed at a decent hour. 

The majority of 20-somethings are probably out tonight drinking copious amounts of green beer & Jell-O laced with alcohol. I on the other hand am wondering if 8 o'clock is too early for pyjamas. (It's not.) And trying not to stress myself out about finding my way to the location of a full day workshop I'm attending tomorrow. 

Writing this really made me realize I need to have more interesting adventures if I want to keep up this blogging thing! 

Linking up with Dateless & Dallas and Showered With Design!

Sunday Social #88

When I saw that the theme of this week's Sunday Social with Ashley & Neely was related to TV watching I knew immediately I had to join in! It's no secret I'm around these parts I love TV! I don't consider myself to be a couch potato but I just always have a show on for background noise. I've even been known to read while watching TV, which I never thought was odd until somebody called me out on it. 

1. What is your favorite thing to watch on a girls night?

Via

Our go-to is definitely Friends DVDs! 

2. What is your favorite thing to watch on your day off?

I either catch up with shows I missed during the week or I watch re-runs of Criminal Minds. I really like documentaries too so I often spend entire days watching those. I like it when my TV/Movie watching is educational! 

3. What is your favorite thing to watch when you're sick?

Disney or Harry Potter! Pocahontas & Beauty and the Beast are my go to Disney movies and I love the 4th Harry Potter movie! 

4. What is the last movie you saw in the theater?

I think it was Silver Linings Playbook. I don't really like going to the movies, it's ridiculously expensive and I'd rather spend the money on something more tangible. 

5. What are your top three favorite movies or tv shows?

This is so hard! I have a clear top two for each but the third one tends to fluctuate...

Via

Movies: The Princess Bride, Pocahontas, Wet Hot American Summer

TV Shows: Dawson's Creek, Grey's Anatomy, Corner Gas