Monday, May 31, 2021

Memorial Day Weekend 2021

The month of May has ended in a flurry of activity for us.  I've left the house multiple days in a row for the first time in forever.  I'm pretty sure my FitBit doesn't even know who I am anymore.  I've certainly been getting my steps in!  As I mentioned before, Eliot and I were really busy the first few days of our extended holiday weekend.  We had to adapt our plan a little bit, but we got a lot of business stuff done.  The past few days have also been busy as we've been visiting with my family, working on completing more orders and getting some stuff done around the house!

Eliot and I spent Saturday morning finishing off the rest of our hard work from the previous days.  Eliot dropped off a few Snowblade Creations orders at post office and returned with Dunkin Donuts bagels for breakfast.  My parents, Nana and Jeremy all weren't going to arrive until later in the afternoon, so after we ate our bagels, Eliot and I decided we'd try to get a few things done around the house.

Eliot went upstairs to work on a few small projects while I cleaned up in general.  I did the dishes, laundry, and the usual stuff.  Then, I went upstairs to see what Eliot was working on.  We decided to put together one of the new 3x3 cube storages units that we picked up at Target on Thursday.  Eliot put it together but I handed him the pieces while we discussed plans for the house.  After he finished it, I helped him move it down the hallway.  Then, I put a bunch of my Loungefly mini backpacks on it.

My brother Jeremy arrived right as I was checking my phone saying that he should be showing up soon.  My parents were still quite a ways out, so Jeremy relaxed on the chair and a half while we kept working.  Eliot sat on the couch putting together a few storage pieces that we'd bought from Walmart and IKEA for our entryway.  I ended up snacking since I was getting hungry.  Jeremy and Eliot eventually got some food too.

After what felt like forever, Mom called to say that they were finally at the hotel in South Portland.  Once Mom and Nana were settled, Dad drove out to our house.  When he arrived, Eliot and I walked him through the house projects we need help with.  (He's planning to come down with Mom in June and probably again sometime this fall when it's cool out.)  First, we walked around to the backyard so Eliot and I could show him a few things.  We've got a bit of landscaping that we'd like to change.  We also wanted to look around at where we might eventually put a fence for the puppies.

Finally, the thing we needed my Dad to look at the most was our deck.  Our deck is in rough shape.  I've honestly never been a fan of it.  In the five years we've lived here, I've probably gone out on it less than 5 times.  Right now, the sliding door from our dining room to the deck and the backyard has a folding table in front of it that we use for our businesses.  Eliot and I don't even go out there because I don't trust it.  But, because we're hoping to have the puppies soon, it was time we look into the deck.  

Apparently, my gut feeling was correct.  Dad had Eliot bring him out a chair and he placed it near the deck so he could sit and lean under it to see the structure.  I went back inside the house for a minute to change from shorts into pants because it was cold and I didn't want to get eaten alive by mosquitoes... and while I was gone, I missed all the excitement.  Dad had Eliot go up on the deck to check something and Eliot's foot went right through one of the stairs from the lower level to the upper level.

I've sworn that thing wasn't stable, and now Eliot's foot literally went through one of the boards.  Thankfully, the way the stairs were designed, he was able to stop from going all the way through with the deck below it... but still.  The wood is rotting and the entire lower section is warped where the hot tub is.  (The deck is literally floating above one of the posts because the wood is so warped.)  After Dad checked it all over, he has determined the upper section near the house is stable, but the lower section is not.  I'm not sure what our plan is, but I'm for ripping the entire lower section apart and starting over.  My Dad built the deck at my parents house and that thing is sturdy!

Once we showed Dad everything on our projects to do list, we all got ready to head up to Portland.  Jeremy rode with Dad in his car while Eliot and I piled into the truck.  We arrived at Longhorn Steakhouse and split up to divide and conquer.  Eliot and Jeremy took the car to get drinks while Dad and I went inside to order the food.  After we all gathered dinner, we met up at the hotel and dove in.  It was the first time we'd seen Nana since Christmas so it was nice just to hang out and talk.  A few hours later, around 11 pm, we decided it was time to call it a night.  Eliot, Jeremy and I hopped in the truck and went back to our house where we all went to bed.

Sunday morning, Jeremy, Eliot and I got up and took turns showering.  Once we were all ready, we drove up to South Portland to meet Mom, Dad and Nana at IHOP for brunch.  Jeremy packed up his overnight bag and took his car so he'd be able to leave from Portland.  Eliot and I tried to order our food on the drive up, but their phone line was constantly busy and both the website and the app wouldn't let Eliot order.  We finally gave up and arrived at the restaurant a few minutes later anyways.

My family had just gotten there too.  We all parked and gathered by Mom and Dad's car.  The guys ended up going inside to order while I jumped into the car to visit with Mom and Nana.  Eliot came back outside after ordering and Dad and Jeremy waited inside for the food.  Then we all drove over to the JCPenney parking lot at the mall so we could park next to each other.  We split up the food and all ate inside of our cars with the windows down.  My strawberry and banana pancakes were so good!

Once everyone was finished, we went into the Maine Mall.  Mom wanted to get new sneakers so we all went to the shoe section of JCPenney.  They were really picked over with few options, but we were able to find two pairs of sneakers that fit her.

After that, Mom wanted to get a card for my Dad's birthday so we slowly walked down to the Hallmark store at the opposite end of the mall.  Jeremy took Dad to Best Buy to keep him busy and Eliot wandered ahead of me and Mom so he could go over to check out Newbury Comics.  I helped my Mom pick out a card from her and I bought one for Dad from the three of us kids as well.  While I was checking out, Eliot met up with Mom and me and the three of us slowly walked back towards JCPenney.  

On the way, Dad and Jeremy caught up to us.  We made a stop at Mrs. Field's to pick out cookies.  Eliot grabbed two lemonades for us to split and we made our way back out to the cars. We separated everyone's cookies out and ate them in the cars.  It was raining pretty hard at this point, so we had to close the windows.  It was depressing since we didn't get to say proper goodbyes with hugs, but we all said goodbye and waved from our cars.  Jeremy headed south while Mom, Dad and Nana headed north.

Eliot and I had a few errands to run while we were in town.  First, we picked up a few things for the house at Home Depot.  While there, we also checked out tools and new storm doors.  Next, we went over to Target.  Eliot ran inside quickly and emerged with what he went in for as well as some rainbow cups he thought I would like.  (He was right; I love them!)  Finally, we swung by Walmart to grab a few more supplies.  Once we were finished running errands, we drove home and were prepared to collapse into bed for a nap.  (I'm not sure why, but we were both so tired!)  

However, when we arrived home, I noticed that the birds nest on our front porch had fallen over.  (It's been there for over three years, so it really surprised us.)  We dropped our stuff off inside and went back out to check it out.  Eliot put his gardening gloves on and carefully picked up the nest.  Thankfully, we couldn't find any babies on the porch or on the ground.  We tossed the clump of grass and twigs (that were the base) aside, but Eliot carefully put the actual birds nest on the porch under were it used to sit on the windows.  We have no idea what happened... but we were relieved we didn't find any dead babies.  The eggs we found on the porch have been there for a few weeks, so hopefully if there were babies, they were able to leave the nest safely before it fell over.

While reorganizing the nest, we heard a bird tweeting.  Eliot looked around for a minute and found our bright red cardinal sitting in the trees out of the rain and watching us.  I felt comforted by his presence and we decided that we'd done all we could for the nest.

Eliot and I went inside and took our nap.  Thankfully, I woke up feeling refreshed.  We went downstairs and put playoff hockey on.  While listening to the game, Eliot worked on orders at his work table.  Meanwhile, I was on my laptop making a social media plan for Happily Ever Hatter for the next two months.  Once Eliot and I were both finished with what we were working on, we put on a Hallmark movie we hadn't seen before (that's been on our DVR for 2 weeks), watched that, and went to bed.

This morning, we slept in a little bit.  (It is a holiday after all.)  When we finally got out of bed, Eliot ran down to Dunkin Donuts to pick up breakfast.  He returned home with the food and prepared to go into work for a few hours.  While he didn't have to work today, he did have a test he wanted to run while no one else was there and needed to use the equipment.  After setting up the 3D printers, he said goodbye and headed in.  While he was gone, I tackled a few things on my computer... including working on this post!

Eliot returned home around dinner time with an Amato's BLT for me.  He had a pizza that he'd already eaten so he went upstairs while I was eating.  He decided to hang the picture shelves that we bought at IKEA for some of his Funko Pops.  He wasn't 100% sure what he thought of the shelves, but I swore they'd be perfect.  They actually fit in his office perfectly and now he's bummed out that we only bought two of them.  We're planning to go back down again to get a few more to finish off his office!

After Eliot showed me his new Pop display in his office, I wasn't feeling well so I went to lay down for a bit.  After napping for about an hour and a half, I got up and felt a lot better.  I went downstairs and Eliot had the hockey game on while he was working on a few more orders.  I decided to play Emoji Blitz since I still had a two hour infinity lives prize that I had to use before the end of the month.  From 9 pm to 11 pm, I played the 101 Dalmatians event while we listened to the Bruins hockey game.  Thankfully, I was able to finish it since I had two hours to work on it!

Eliot turned on American Ninja Warrior after the hockey game ended.  (He finished his pile of orders and decided to take a break.)  While he watched his show, I've been finalizing this post.  We're staying up for the July Loungefly pre-order bag release at midnight.  Then, we'll probably go over this weeks' orders before we head to bed. 

Tomorrow, Eliot goes back to work and our 6 day extended holiday weekend will be over.  All in all, Eliot and I had a pretty good mini "vacation" even though it wasn't really much of a break.  I have to admit, I'm feeling kind of disappointed that we didn't have the super productive "home project completion" weekend that I've been hoping for... which means we just have that much more to do these next few weeks... which is depressing, but it is what it is.  At least Eliot got a bit of a break from work, which I think he needed just to clear his head.  We did get a few things done around the house... no matter how small it feels right now.  Plus, we got caught up with most of our orders which is a big accomplishment!  It feels good to not have that looming over us.

Finally, as people across the country are kicking off summer and enjoying barbecues, I want to take a minute to acknowledge the real reason for today.  Memorial Day often gets overlooked and I admit that we usually use this weekend to get together with my family to do something fun.  But this is not a fun holiday weekend for a lot of people.  

Today, we remember the members of our armed forces who have served and made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedom.  You have not been forgotten.  °o°

Friday, May 28, 2021

A Mini Vacation Adaptation

Sometimes life doesn't go as you planned for and wanted it to.  In this case, Eliot's three days off have been more "adaptation" than vacation.  I thought we'd be getting a bunch of stuff done around the house.  Instead, we've spent so much time working on finishing orders.  I should have known when we were already running behind... but still, I have to admit that it's thrown me a little.  At least we have been really productive.

On Wednesday, it was 92° so cleaning and yard work weren't an option that we wanted to pursue.  Instead, Eliot and I focused our energy towards working on orders for both of our businesses.  We wanted to get caught up as much as possible so we basically spent the entire day printing pieces and finishing orders.  But it was totally worth it!  By Wednesday night, we had a huge stack of orders completed, with shipping labels printed and boxes packaged up... all ready to go to the post office the next morning.

Thursday was much of the same.  Eliot and I worked on orders in between other small projects.  I would paint a coat on some pieces for ears and then I would do some computer work.  Then, I'd paint some more and find something else to do.  We stopped in the afternoon long enough for Eliot to make one last trip to the post office before they closed.  After Eliot returned, he set up the 3D printers and went outside to do some yard work.  While he was outside, I painted a few more pieces.

When Eliot was almost finished mowing the front yard, we decided to go into town to get food and run a few errands.  We got cleaned up, changed and jumped into the truck.  Eliot call Amato's so our food would be done by the time we got there.  We were really hungry at that point, so we ended up eating in the truck in the parking lot.  Then we headed over to Target to pick up the stuff we needed.

First, we walked over to the TJ Maxx which is right next to the Target in Biddeford.  I've never been in that one, but I've seen other people find some Disney stuff there.  We made our way through the store and we found a few Disney kitchen items.  Sadly, they didn't have the welcome mats I was hoping I'd find.  However, they did have some cute Mickey and Minnie garden statues.  We also found some cute Snoopy dogs beds for a great price and two of them ended up coming home with us. 

After dropping the dog beds off in the truck, we went to Target to get the storage cube units I wanted to get for our hallway.  Then, Eliot ran into Walmart quickly.  We made our way back over to the storage unit but it closed less than 5 minutes before we got there so we just missed our opportunity to unload the bookcase from IKEA.  Instead, we drove home, worked on ears while listening to hockey and went to bed.

By this morning I was getting restless, but there wasn't much I could do about it.  I thought we'd have gotten tons of stuff done around the house during Eliot's days off, and so far, we had absolutely nothing to show for it.  We made our way downstairs and went back to work on mouse ears.  Eliot left to go to Dunkin Donuts when it was 1:00 pm and it was apparent that we weren't going to be stopping anytime soon.

We spent the rest of the afternoon finalizing a bunch of mouse ears.  Eliot went the post office at 4:30 to drop off everything we had done.  We had two more orders that were almost finished... but we ended up running out of time.  Eliot returned a few minutes later and said the ladies at our post office told him they usually are there until 5:00 so if we showed up with mail that was already paid for, they might be able to add them to the truck even if they were "closed".  I sprang into action and the next few minutes were a flurry of us packing the last two orders.  Thankfully, Eliot got back in time and they added them to the rest of the packages going to the sorting facility!

I felt a lot better after getting all of those orders complete.  The ones we mailed out today were some of the ones that we've been working on for weeks.  All of the designs had to be tweaked a little.  Then, Eliot had to update the print files.  They also all included a bunch of pieces and they all had to be painted in some form.  Thus, they take a lot more time to put together than some of our easy designs.

I spent a few minutes messaging our customers to let them know that their packages were on the way, then I took a quick break to munch on a few graham crackers.  Then, I showered and got dressed to go up to Portland.  I had an online order that I needed to pick up at the mall and I was nearing the end of my window to get it.  While I drove the truck, Eliot ordered Chipotle and told me about playing with his new drone.  (He was doing that while I was showering and he got some fun photos of our yard!)

We went to the mall and headed to Torrid.  My pink sundress was waiting behind the counter.  Then, Eliot and I walked over to Hot Topic.  I was excited to see a few items from the Disney Rainbow Collection there!  They had a lot of the items that were online... and I also found a few that I hadn't seen online!  I immediately grabbed a big Mickey rainbow flag banners, as well as a cute desk sign that says "Think Happy Thoughts" in rainbow front with little pixie dust sparkles and Mickeys all around it.

Eliot went right to the Funko Pops where Hot Topic was were running a deal to buy one get one 50% off.  I was so excited to that they had a bunch of the rainbow ones!  Eliot had already picked a Stitch that he liked.  Then, I helped him select a Rainbow Wall-E and two Rainbow Mickeys.  We had four so our count was good for the deal, then one of the sales ladies brought out three Stitch Pops of him in his spaceship.  Eliot wanted one, so I helped him pick the best of those.  (We had told her we were "Disney people" so she wanted us to see those since none were on the shelf.)  Then, he picked out one more to make the count even and we made our way to the check out.

We walked back to our car, but had to take a little detour as JCPenney apparently closed at 7.  Then, we decided that we'd waited long enough that our Chipotle might actually be finished.  (We'd set it up for a 6:40 pick up time.)  We rolled into the Cracker Barrel parking lot at 7:15.  We said hi to a golden doodle on the way, then we went inside Chipotle and we were one of the few orders complete!  We sat in the truck and ate our dinner.  Then, we decided to head home because we had so much stuff to do.  

On the way, we made a quick stop at the storage unit to drop off the bookcase from IKEA (finally).  We're supposed to get rain tonight, so we wanted to make sure it was out of the truck.  Then, we continued home.  After bringing everything inside, Eliot set the printers up to keep those cranking out orders while we turned hockey on.  Right now, I'm finishing this post while we take a breather.  We'll be back at it tomorrow.

While it hasn't exactly been the home project completion vacation that I was hoping for, we have been really productive.  And I don't want it to sound like I'm complaining about our businesses, because even though the past few days have been a little frustrating, they have been incredibly rewarding too.  I'm relieved that our list is getting shorter and that we're getting caught up.  We're so grateful for all of the orders we've had!  I'm just frustrated that we didn't get them done before Eliot's vacation... if we'd gotten them done earlier, we wouldn't have had to work on our businesses as much right now.

Still, Eliot and I have had a few moments of fun and relaxation!  My family will be arriving tomorrow afternoon instead of tonight, so we were able to get more stuff done today.  Plus, we'll have until mid-day tomorrow to get stuff done.  (I'm planning to get a little bit of cleaning done before everyone arrives!)  Then, hopefully we can have a bit of fun with my family and get some stuff done around the house before the long holiday weekend ends!  Here's hoping we get a few house projects done anyways!!!  °o°

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Things Are Heating Up

Whew, things are definitely heating up around here... both figuratively and literally.  The temperature here in Maine has been rising with multiple days in the 80s in the past week.  Eliot and I finally caved and installed our AC unit in the living room last Saturday when it was over 80° out.  We still haven't gotten the one in our bedroom set up, but that will be happening in the next few days.  It's supposed to be 90° on Thursday!

In addition to the physical heat, we're feeling the heat with our businesses.  We're so thankful for all of the orders that we've received these past few weeks.  April and May have both broken sales records and we've been insanely busy.  However, it also means that we have to make everything that has been ordered... and when the 3D printers can only print so fast, it becomes stressful.  

We've had a bunch of orders for Happily Ever Hatter and Snowblade Creations that have been due at the same time.  At this point, we've gone from being ahead to being behind.  It's been an adjustment that we're still working on.  Eliot and I have never been this busy with both businesses at the same time, but we're hanging on.  We are hoping to be caught back up in the next few days.  We've got a plan of attack, and once we get a bunch of pieces printed, we'll be able to finish the backlog of orders that have been at a standstill.  Then, we'll tackle the next wave of orders on my list!

Thankfully, Eliot and I have been able to keep our minds engaged while working on all of these orders.  We usually listen to music, but this past week and half we've been able to listen to hockey in the background.  The San Jose Sharks season might be over, but the NHL Playoffs have also been heating up.  The first round of the playoffs is currently happening and a few teams have already punched their tickets to the next round!  We're looking forward to the playoffs and listening to the games while we work!

Even though Eliot and I have been busy fulfilling orders, I've also gotten out of the house a few more times.  My calendar continues to slowly fill up and it has been really encouraging.  I know that we're not totally out of the woods with the coronavirus pandemic, but things are starting to feel more like normal for us.

Monday May 17th, Eliot had a massage appointment over by the mall.  (He's been scheduling a two hour session once a month to help work out some muscle pain.)  I've been driving up to the appointments with him so I can do some shopping while he's in his session.  The past few months, I've used the time to get dinner at Chipotle, but most times, that's taken the majority of the two hours since they're so far behind with to-go orders.  This particular time, I decided to go to Joann and Michael's instead. 

I spent most of the time browsing at Joann.  They had the Mickey rainbow fabric (that my Dad bought me on Mother's Day) back in stock, as well as a few other designs from the Pride 2021 collection.  Then, I stumbled across a few fabrics that made me think of Mickey and Minnie's new outfits for Walt Disney World's 50th Anniversary celebration later this year.  I almost bought them, but I decided to wait until I figure out the designs for my ear hats.. then I'll go back to get some!

I also found a cute Disney Princess sign that had Moana, Belle, Ariel, Rapunzel, Mulan and Cinderella on it.  It was in a random location, but like usual, I spotted it right away out of the corner of my eye.  I picked one out for my office and continued to wander.

After going through the jewelry aisles, I came across a center display of Disney Happy Planner items.  The display had one side with a bunch of princess items, as well as another side of Mickey and Minnie items.  I took photos of both sides and made a mental note to come back when I had more time to look through everything.  After that, I checked out with my stuff and made my way over to Michael's.

I didn't really need much at Michael's, so I browsed through some of my favorite craft sections.  I ended up finding a few glitters that were on sale.  They also reminded me of the WDW 50th colors so I thought they might make fun ears!  When I got back to my car, I called my parents to check in with them.  May 17th was the last day of extended tax season this year so I wanted to make sure they were still standing!  They were wrapping a few things up, but still hanging in!

At that point, it was almost 9:00 so I drove back to pick Eliot up from his massage.  We had already decided that we'd get Friendly's for dinner so I was ready for that!  We ended up going inside to eat instead of getting it to go.  It was so late that there weren't that many people inside, so we decided it was safe to do so.  (This was the 3rd time we'd eaten in a restaurant since the pandemic and it still felt a little weird!)  But I really enjoyed having hot food served on a plate and I even got an ice cream sundae to go!

Our other big outing was this past Sunday on the 23rd.  It was totally unplanned and last minute.  Basically, the bookcase that we've been waiting weeks for finally came back in stock at IKEA.  I got a text Saturday morning, and I kept checking the inventory throughout the day.  What started out at 54 left in stock became 21 by the end of the day.  Saturday night, Eliot and I decided that we'd drop everything (knowing we'd be putting ourselves even further behind) and drive down to IKEA on Sunday.

Sunday morning, we got up, showered and headed south.  We met Jeremy at the Burlington Mall where we picked him up and kept driving.  After arriving, we made a mad dash to the aisle it was located and realized that there were plenty of them.  Still, we bought the bookcase and a few other things we needed.  Then, Jeremy sat in the truck with the stuff while Eliot and I went back in to buy a few other things on my list.

Eliot and I returned to the truck with the rest of the stuff and some food from the snack bar.  Eliot ate his pretzel sticks while Jeremy had his hot dog and I drove around the corner to Target.  Then, I enjoyed my Swedish meatballs, potatoes and lingonberries while they went inside.  Then, we continued north- making a quick stop at Home Depot in Waltham to get a tarp when it looked like it was going to rain.

We arrived back at the mall and went inside to check our usual haunts.  First up was the Disney Store of course!  They had the Winnie the Pooh nuimos and Eliot wanted Tigger and Eeyore.  Then, I selected a Spirit Jersey for them.  Eliot caved and also got a Donald nuimo and I grabbed a rainbow key from the 2021 Rainbow Collection.  We made a quick trip over to Newbury Comic but I ended up standing outside to wait.  The store was boiling and I couldn't handle the heat with my face mask on!

After that, we made our way up to New Hampshire and Eliot and I met Jeremy at the Walmart in Amherst.  We ordered our to go meal from Friendly's down the road and then walked around Walmart while we waited for it to be ready.  Then, we drove over to pick the food up.  We decided to sit in our cars and eat outside of the Merrimack outlet stores.  By the time we were done, everything was closed, but it was a quiet place to eat.  (We really need to find a place with picnic tables somewhere around there.)

After eating, Eliot and I said goodbye to Jeremy and headed north.  We stopped at the Walmart in Epping since Eliot wanted to see if they had a few things.  I sat in the car and relaxed my legs while he was gone.  Then, we both needed a pick me up so we got Starbucks from across the street.  I hopped back on the highway and we didn't stop again until we reached the Walmart in Biddeford.  We picked up a few things that we needed for the house and made our way home where I fell asleep almost immediately!

It's been crazy busy the past few weeks, but in between all of the hustle and bustle, we've been enjoying the small things.  Eliot and I have been watching the wildlife around our house.  We've got a bunch of chipmunks that live in the flower beds in our front yard.  They like to run around and aren't scared of us until we're really close to them.  I also recently discovered that we have a family of red squirrels living in the bird house on our tree that tipped over.  They like to chase each other in the trees.  We've seen as many as five running around at one time!

Eliot and I have a few other forest friends we're fond of.  There's a momma bird in the nest on our front porch.  It's been there for years and we haven't had the heart to move it.  Obviously, it's in a safe location away from the elements.  This year, it looks like a small sparrow or chickadee living in the nest.  I haven't seen babies yet, but I hear her out there all the time.  (As I've been typing this, she's singing outside our window.)  

Then, there's "Munchie", the cute groundhog that we think lives under our storage building.  Every year I get really excited when he finally makes his reappearance after winter.  He's a constant in our yard every spring and summer.  He likes to come out and munch on dandelions in the backyard.  (Hence the name I've given him.)  I'm not sure what he'll think of our puppies, but I hope he hangs around.  This year, we have also seen him in the front yard, so I'm hopeful that he'll just move his munching habits there if we have the dogs in the back yard.  He doesn't seem too phased by human things.  The other day, Eliot opened the front door to find him standing in the center of the porch!  I don't know who was more startled... Eliot or Munchie!  (Munchie hightailed it to the woods and Eliot let out a small yell.)  But we've really enjoyed watching him!

Anyways, that's pretty much what we've been up to as of late.  I thought I'd take a break from cleaning and working on orders long enough to post an update.  

Today is Eliot's last day of work before the holiday weekend.  This rest of this week, Eliot is using his last three vacation days for this past fiscal year.  (Use them or lose them!)  I'm trying to use the rest of his work hours today to be productive, but to also get a little bit of relaxation done.  After today, we're going to juggle cleaning the house, working on house projects and working on orders until my parents, Nana and Jeremy arrive down here sometime Friday.  (3 days of productivity here we come!)  Thus, I probably won't be back here until things quiet down after the holiday weekend!  

Have a wonderful week and weekend friends!  °o°

Monday, May 24, 2021

Magical Merchandise: 2021 Disney Rainbow Collection

Anyone who knows me is fully aware of my affinity for fun, bright colors.  The past few years, Disney has released a Rainbow Collection that coincides with Pride Month in June.  I always look forward to these items since I love Disney, rainbows and bright colors.  (Read about the 2019 Rainbow Collection and the 2020 Rainbow Collection.)

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This year, the first wave of merchandise was released online on Monday 5/3.  Since then, I've been patiently waiting for the rest of the rainbow merchandise to be released, but there still seem to be a few items from the collection missing online.  Regardless, I'm going to write this post anyways since I've been waiting so long to do it.  Plus, it will be June in a few days and I want to have this done before Pride month officially starts!

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I also want to note, like past years, Disney is donating funds to LGBTQ+ organizations as part of their Pride Month celebration.  (You can read more here.)  It makes me so proud to support a company that is inclusive to everyone!

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The 2021 Disney Rainbow Collection did not disappoint.  There are so many fun new items!  It included more from Disney's various properties than I was expecting!  
Here are my favorites from this year's collection- in no particular order:


Loungefly Bag- I'm obsessed with these bags and this one even has rainbow straps!!!


Mickey and Minnie Plush- These are adorable and are already in my shopping cart.


Mickey Pride Pins- I'm so glad that Disney has made a few items other than the rainbow merchandise for people who want to show their pride!


BB-8 Shirt- I love BB-8 and I think this shirt is really cute.  Eliot also mentioned that he liked it so I'll probably get one for him to wear with one of my many rainbow outifts.


Heart Hands Shirt- This shirt is awesome!  I love the matching rainbow trim details!


Baby Onesie- This year, even babies can join the rainbow fun!  (Also with fun trim!)


Rainbow Key- Of course they made a key... and Eliot and I already bought this one!


Mickey Love Shirt- I love this Mickey shirt!  It's really cute and matches the mask too!  

Pixar Shirt- I really love this shirt!  The gray makes the bright colors pop!


Rainbow Marvel Shirt- I love how this shirt is a subtle rainbow with the Marvel logo.


Rainbow Ear Hat- They made a new rainbow ear hat but with a black hat base this time!  Look at that gorgeous Rainbow Mouseketeer logo!!!  These are a must have!


Rainbow Mickey Shirt- I love how simple this Mickey outline shirt is!


Rainbow Mug- This mug is very cute.  (I don't need another mug... must. resist. urge.)


Belt Bag- Fanny packs are back in style!  While I'm not a super huge fan of them, they are convenient for hands free fun.  I've been talking about getting one to put dog treats in for when we're walking/training the puppies.  This looks like it would be perfect!


Dog Collar- Speaking of puppies, ours are going to need these for Pride month!


Star Wars Shirts- Light Side? Dark Side? Rainbow Side!  These two shirts aren't available to order online yet, but I'm sure they will be soon!


What do you think?  I love the fun bright colors of this collection!  I'm glad that Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars finally got in on the rainbow fun this year.  I'm still waiting on the black Mouseketeer rainbow logo shirt (top right of the first photo I posted) to arrive on the ShopDisney website.  That's the shirt I really want to get, and I'm sure other things will "fall" into my cart too!  (The matching ear hat perhaps?)  I can't wait to add a few more rainbow items to our growing collection!  


Bring on June and all of the colors of the rainbow!!!  °o°