A Heavy Heart

Hello friends.  I hope that you are taking care of yourself today.  It's been a long week... and I thought it was time to unpack a little of that here. 

Tuesday afternoon, our country once again faced the horror of gun violence.  Nineteen children and 2 teachers are dead.  Lives cut short in the blink of an eye; it's horrific.

I've had such a heavy heart the past few days.  I thought about moving my already scheduled blog posts since they seemed so self-centered and unimportant after what unfolded on Tuesday.  However, I decided to keep them scheduled and to unpack everything after I had a few days to reflect.  And I needed time to process anyways.  

We are living in interesting times... and I can't seem to wrap my head around it.  Our lawmakers are trying (and succeeding) to pass laws against abortion.  Yet, we can't even feed babies already born due to a nation wide formula shortage.  We are so focused on what will happen to unborn babies, yet a barely 18 year old can purchase two assault rifles with no background check, and then turn around and go into a school and shoot up innocent children.  Nineteen children are dead... and it seems like many politicians are still too worried about all the wrong things.

It just seems so endless.  And endless wave of hopelessness.  Will it ever change?

One of my Facebook friends shared a post that spoke to me.  I'm going to share it over here, because... well, I honestly didn't have the balls to share it on my own personal Facebook page.  I didn't want to listen to the barrage of crap that I'd get from some of my "friends" who want to talk about the 2nd amendment.  (And let's not even start with the people you can't force to wear a face mask, yet they're ok with forcing a women through a pregnancy no matter the circumstances...) 

I don't care about the 2nd amendment.  I don't want to take away everyones guns.  But for the love of all things holy, why the heck does anyone need an assault rifle?  Those should only be in the hands of our military men and women.  Normal, everyday people don't need assault weapons to go hunting.  They just don't.

Like... what the heck is happening?!?!  Why do we keep doing nothing about the gun violence problem in our country.  Where the hell are the gun control laws?  Why can't our lawmakers get over themselves and pass the background checks that 90% of Americans are for.  I just don't understand any of this... and I'm so tired of it.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to money and power.  Politicians want to keep their donations and they want to stay in power.  And it's sickening.

Real talk- I'm a 37 year old woman who has had multiple conversations with my loving husband about whether or not we even want to bring a child into this nightmare.  I've always wanted kids.  Eliot has always wanted children.  Yet, over the past 10 years of our marriage, both of us have had moments where we've questioned it.  At this point, I'm trusting in a higher power.  If we're meant to have kids, we'll have them.  If not, then I'll find a way to be ok with that and move forward.  

What I do know with 100% certainty, that should we be blessed to have children, they will not be attending public school.  Eliot and I will be homeschooling them.  I had a wonderful experience in public schools.  Eliot had a great experience at his private schools.  But I'm not sending my child to a school to learn how to avoid getting shot up by a gunman.  We've been teetering back and forth about this for years now, but both of us are on the same page.  (Not due to this event, Eliot and I decided this months ago after seeing how nonsense with the pandemic played out.)

My heart is so heavy.  I think of all of my cousins and friends with small children.  I think about the horror of sending them to school... only to never see them again.

And I also think about how awful it is that you have to be aware of your surroundings no matter where you go.  Whenever Eliot and I go to the movies, I'm always looking for the exits.  I usually wear my sneakers when we go out, so I can run if I need to.  I keep track of places to hide.  Where the backdoors of our favorite stores at the mall are located.  Where there are emergency exits in the big box stores.  The list goes on... 

No joke, I'm getting to the point where I don't even want to leave the house some days... it just doesn't feel like it will ever end.  I'm so tired of feeling hopeless about it.

Nineteen children and 2 teachers are dead.  How many more before things change?

I can't even deal with any of this anymore.  I'm so disappointed in our country and in all of our elected leaders.  It's 2022; we should be better than this.  And unfortunately, at this point I won't believe we can actually be better than this until I see it.  °o°

We Stand With Ukraine

Eliot and I are still getting back into the swing of daily life, but I wanted to take a little pause from my usual routine on here to write about something that's important.  

Two weeks ago, Russia starting attacking Ukraine on February 23rd- the night before Eliot and I were flying out to California.  We usually watch A Million Little Things on Wednesday nights, but since this was the first episode back from the winter hiatus, I had decided to wait to watch it until we were back from our trip.  We completely missed the breaking news that would have interrupted the show anyways.  Instead, Eliot and I were blissfuly unaware- listening to music, finishing orders and packing all that night since we'd lost time due to pushing our trip forward by a day due to the storm. 

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It wasn't until we were sitting on the airplane in Boston that I even realized that Ukraine and Russia were at war.  Tons of people on our Delta flight had their television screens on CNN.  Eliot and I both shared a look, realizing what must have happened while we were otherwise preoccupied with our own lives.  Neither of us had headphones that would fit in the jack to hear what they were saying, but we both changed our station to CNN and I intently watched the headlines flashing across the screen.

Since then, we've only heard bits and pieces.  We were away on a pretty jam-packed trip with his family and I haven't been watching the news.  I have been on social media, but my time there has been limited; I've only seen things here and there.  What I have seen has horrified me- people fleeing their country and everything that they have ever known, people hiding in subway stations used as bomb shelters.  It's horrific.

I've had a heavy heart the past two weeks.  While we've been playing at one of the most magical places in the world, the people of Ukraine are being attacked.  Families are being separated.  People are dying.  It's horrendous, and it's not supposed to be happening in 2022.  I thought we were past all of this.  I thought the world was better than this.  For goodness sakes... the 2022 Winter Olympics finished mere days before this all began.  We were supposed to be promoting peace.  It makes me so angry.

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I don't profess to know much about what's currently going on overseas, but I do hope to become more educated about it in the coming days.  I feel so helpless about the entire situation, but there are things we can do to help and I've been trying to find ways we can help the people of Ukraine.  Here are a few things that I've found so far: 

World Central Kitchen has been feeding people fleeing the country.  

United Help Ukraine is an organization I found through CNN and they've been helping with medical supplies, humanitarian aid, wounded warriors and raising awareness.  

Thousands of people have been booking Airbnb locations in Ukraine with no intention of going- only to put money directly into the hands of the hosts who need immediate support.  (I don't recommend this unless you're 100% positive that you're helping a host.  People have started scamming others with this, and it's shameful.)

My Mom called me the other day and asked me to purchase a Ukraine flag from a local company here in Maine called 1901 Maine Flag.  They were featured on the local news for making Ukrainian flags and sending the profit made from them to the World Central Kitchen.  Mom and Dad now have two 3'x5' Ukraine flags getting shipped to them- one for them to hang on their fence and one for Eliot and me to hang.  (Mom wanted to buy the largest size but it was probably too big to hang anywhere... instead I bought two so more money would be sent to feed people.)  It's not a huge thing to do, but it feels really good to help.  I'm still looking for more ways that Eliot and I can do something.

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I don't know what is going to happen or how long this is going to go on, but I hope that Russia gets the message loud and clear- the world is not ok with their attack and is standing beside Ukraine and supporting them.  In the meantime, I'm praying that this all deescalates quickly and that this doesn't become World War III.

Thank you for allowing me the space to write this post.  Tomorrow, it will be back to my usual magical and cheerful posts, but I really thought this needed to be said first.

Stay strong Ukraine.  We are standing with you.  💙💛

President's Day 2021

Happy President's Day!  This is a bit different... I can't say that I've ever posted about celebrating President's Day here on my blog.  It's usually a day that passes us by unnoticed for the most part.  Although a federal holiday, it's not a day that Eliot gets off from his job.  (I also didn't get it off when I worked at the chiropractic office.)

However, given the events of the past few months, this year, I'm acknowledging it a bit more than usual.  It's amazing the position of power that we give to one man (hopefully someday a woman) over our country and our government.  It's incredible, and also completely terrifying, how much power that person possesses.  One could easily argue that the President of the United States is the most powerful person in the world.

I've always held our presidents, and the office that they hold, in great respect.  The Hall of Presidents at the Magic Kingdom was always sacred ground.  As a child, I can remember being in complete awe while looking at the fenced off carpet with the presidential seal.  Much like my feelings of reverence for Washington D.C., I've held Liberty Square in a different place in my heart.  While still part of my favorite theme park, it's also a place that celebrates our country's history with pride.

Unfortunately, over the past few years the presidential attraction of Liberty Square has become a bit of a joke.  Eliot and I were at Walt Disney World for the Princess Half Marathon Weekend two years ago in February of 2019.  During that trip, we happened to find ourselves at the Magic Kingdom on President's Day.  I told Eliot that we should go see the show since we weren't sure if we'd ever have a trip lined up again.

It was crazy how full and passionate people were that day.  At first, I was pleased with how many people were there to pay their respects to our presidents on the day meant to celebrate them.  Then, the show started and cheers and boos erupted from both sides of the political aisle.  Part of me was amused, part of me was terrified and part of me was sad.  While it was amusing to see park guests get so worked up about audio-animatronic figures, these represent real men in our history.  They represent the real leaders of our country- from founding fathers right up to the present.

I get it to a degree; I'll be the first to admit that I have not gone to watch the Hall of Presidents show as often as I usually would the past few years.  I know there was a lot of chatter about adding our most recent former president to it's sacred halls.  I wasn't exactly thrilled at the thought myself, but I would never expect Disney to leave one of our presidents out.  Whether or not we, the guest, like a particular president's politics or not, these men were all sitting Presidents of the United States of America.

This President's Day, I have decided to celebrate all of our presidents- regardless of their politics and my feelings about them as individuals.  Today, I celebrate the men who have shaped our country into where we are today.  May we learn and grow from each of their time in that sacred office, and may our country continue to grow and prosper under the care of our future presidents.  °o°

Jumping Through January

We're four weeks into 2021, and it's already been a whirlwind.  I'm happy to report that I've been able to make more time to write blog posts; however, I still thought that I'd stop in to write a quick update on what we've been up to this month.

We had a pretty quiet start to 2021.  Eliot had both New Years Eve and New Years Day off so we took advantage by going to Portland on New Years Eve Day.  We went to the mall and then we went over to Chipotle for dinner.  After eating in our car, we headed over to Walmart to grab a few supplies and to get some food.  We decided to get drinks for New Years, and I got a chuckle about finding a Frozen Lego set in the middle of the wine section.  (Eliot cracked up at my "Some decisions were made here" comment.)  

After that, we went home and changed into our pajamas.  Then, we proceeded to spend the rest of the evening sitting on the couch, snacking, watching television and ringing the new year by watching the ball drop from Times Square.  It was weird to see Times Square so quiet, but with the current pandemic, it was what we expected.

At midnight, Eliot gave me a quick kiss before diving onto his computer.  The new Loungefly bags for February were being released for pre-order at midnight.  After a quick glance, I immediately fell head over heals in love with the new Mickey and Minnie Sweet Treats set.  Eliot pre-ordered the mini backpack, wallet, Minnie Mouse ears and the Mickey Ice Cream Sandwich crossbody for me.  (He spoils me!)

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New Years Day, we slept in really late.  I was in no mood to get up early after staying up until about 2:00 am.  Eliot decided to make an entire pack of bacon and I made myself some eggs with cheese.  After that, we spent the weekend relaxing, cleaning the house a little and setting up the new Christmas tree.

Things sped up and the days started to fly by.  Before we knew it, it was time for Eliot and I to go to our eye doctor appointments.  Of course, that was also the same day as the attack at the Capitol.  After that, we watched a lot of news the following days.

On January 10th, Eliot and I traveled to Massachusetts to go to the Disney Store at the Burlington Mall.  It was nice to take a break from the news, and to get out of the house and go somewhere.  It was a really nice day trip and mini getaway!

The following day, Shop Disney released their Love is an Adventure collection and I bought a few new pieces of Up merchandise for our living room.  That arrived a few days later and I was so excited!  I'm happy with all of our new items and I'm even planning to get a few more for other rooms in our house!

I spent the rest of the week watching a lot of news and staying up to date on political stuff.  I'm not really into it, but I wanted to know what was going on.  I actually watched the Impeachment announcement live while making some delicious candy apple slices.

In order to not let the political stuff drive me insane, I started working on a few new Snowblade Creations desk accessory samples while I was listening to the news.  That Wednesday and Thursday, I completed two new desk sets.  (Here's the Mickey Galaxy set and I'll be posting about the other one here soon!) 

The 2021 NHL season started for the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, January 14th.  I knew that I'd missed watching the Sharks, but even I didn't realize how much until they were back.  It was nice just to hear the voice of our announcer!  After 10 months, the Sharks were back and it was so sweet to see our boys in teal again!

The next day, we celebrated Happily Ever Hatter's 7th birthday on the 15th- which is also National Hat Day.  It was fun to look back at all of the fun memories I've had while in business.  It also motivated me to make some new designs for Happily Ever Hatter.

The next week, Eliot took Wednesday off for Inauguration Day.  He'd never watched one before, so we spent most of the day watching the footage.  Afterwards, I was feeling really uplifted and inspired about all of the history that was made.

Last weekend, my brother Jeremy came up to visit us.  His birthday was Saturday the 23rd.  Our parents and Nana were supposed to come down, but they canceled their trip with coronavirus cases spiking in southern Maine.  Instead, Jeremy arrived here Saturday afternoon.  Then, we all drove up to Portland together.  We went to Newbury Comics at the mall where Eliot and I got a new Olaf and Bruni Funko Pop.  Then, we got two pastel Snoopy plushes at The Paper Store.  (Jeremy had fallen in love with the one I'd gotten a few weeks ago, and I'm so happy they still had them at the store!)

After the mall, the three of us went over to Target where we bought a few snacks for the evening and breakfast for the next morning.  On the way home, we picked up a to go order from Chili's for Eliot and me.  Of course, the birthday boy had to have his Pat's Pizza.  We took our food home and ate it while watching Wonder Woman 1984 on HBO Max.  Before bed, Jeremy had a small piece of cake that I'd bought.

We all slept in on Sunday.  Then, Eliot cooked the bacon while I made bacon wrapped cinnamon buns and scrambled eggs.  Jeremy didn't say much about the meal, but it was devoured in record time.  We visited for a bit longer before he gathered his things and headed home.  It wasn't a super exciting birthday weekend, but we were glad to have Jeremy visit and that we could celebrate his birthday with him. 

Unfortunately, shortly after Jeremy left, Eliot started to feel unwell.  We think it might have been the food he had from Chili's not agreeing with him, but we weren't sure.  He ended up staying home from work both Monday and Tuesday due to bad stomach pains.  While he was home, we spent most of the time relaxing on the couch watching the news or a few Hallmark movies from our DVR.  Thankfully, by Wednesday he was feeling a lot better and he went back to work.

Which brings us to today   It's hard to believe that we're already almost a month into 2021, but here we are!  Thankfully, I'm feeling really good about where I am right now.  

We've had a really productive month: Eliot and I both had our eye exams and I finally ordered new glasses.  We both had our dental cleanings yesterday morning.  I'm also finally scheduled for a visit with a nose, ear and throat specialist in April.  We've made plans of what to do with our tax refund money when we get it.  Eliot and I have also made a plan to work on the house in order to get it finished.

Most importantly, I'm feeling really refreshed, uplifted, optimistic and motivated!  I'm hoping that I can ride that wave into February so I can get a lot of things accomplished this upcoming month as well!  "If you can dream it, you can do it!" °o°

Fun Find: Disney Bernie Memes

Bernie Sanders memes are the gift that keeps giving and I couldn't help myself- I had to round them all up into a post.  If you have been online at all the past few days, you've seen at least one of the Bernie memes with him sitting in a chair bundled up at Joe Biden's Inauguration Ceremony on Wednesday.  Due to social distancing, Bernie is sitting all alone... which only made it easier to Photoshop him into other photos.

There have been a lot of Bernie meme photos that have made me laugh out loud, but my favorites have been all of the Disney photos.  From theme park ride photos to being inserted into iconic movie scenes to saving a seat for the night time shows, Bernie sure seems to enjoy hanging out with our favorite mouse.  There are so many that I had to separate them into sections.  Here is a round up of my favorite Disney Bernie memes: 

Bernie and the Hall of Presidents

We start with Bernie campaigning to be in the Hall of Presidents. 

Waiting outside until they let him in. 

He's made it on to the stage with the other presidents... complete with a Mickey mask. 

Bernie Inserted into Movies, TV Shows and Theater Productions

It's the Circle of Life... Healthcare for all... ♫♫♫

Ready for an adventure... 

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Cute Mittens.

Hanging out with Deadpool.  Bernie doesn't look amused.

Bernie doesn't look impressed with the Muppet Show.

"Why do they keep inviting me to these things?"

Bernie is not a fan of charades.

Bernie seems to feel left out of Hamilton.

"I'm watching it Berrrrnnnn." ♫♫♫

Bernie as the Child.  (Also, my Key to the World boss Jeff made this edit!)

Battle of the lightsabers... winner gets healthcare for all.

He kinda fits right into this Mandalorian scene.

Learning about the force.

Watching this lightsaber battle.

Bernie sure loves his Star Wars movies!

Bernie at Disney Parks, Resorts, and Cruise Line

I'm sure a lot of people feel this right now. 

Same Bernie, same.

And same with the fireworks too.

Bernie heard this is reopening this summer so he's already waiting in line.

Taking a quick ride down the Disney Cruise Line Aquaduck.

He's got an entire monorail to himself.

But he'd much rather ride up front.

This made me laugh hysterically loud.

But this was even better... Bibbidi Bobbidi Bernie!  (My boss Jeff also made this gem.)

I could see Bernie actually doing this.

This... so much this.  I miss Paint the Night.

Bahahaha... perfection.

Taking a mid-day break to go for a ride on the creepy clown slide.

Bernie unimpressed... this is too perfect.

Hahaha!!!  If you know, you know.

Now they've replaced the broken Donald animatronic with Bernie.

Bernie hanging out on Main Street USA.  (Jeff also made this!)

This would be me outside of the Disneyland main gates.

Bernie seems unimpressed that he can't hang out with his friends inside.

Most expensive day ever!

Bernie On Disney Parks Rides

First ride of the day, Tower of Terror. 

Next up, Rockin' Rollercoaster.

Quick stop to hang out with Elsa on Frozen Ever After.

Now it's time to fly with Dumbo in Fantasyland. 

Going on the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride.

He made it on to Peter Pan but he seems unimpressed with the long line.

"It's a Small World After All..." ♫♫♫

Taking a spin on the teacups. 

Bernie made his way over to visit the Haunted Mansion.

He's decided to hang out with the hitchhiking ghosts for a bit.

Next up is Splash Mountain.  (Jeff made this one too!)

Bernie takes a trip on the famous Jungle Cruise.  (I love the joke!)

I could see Bernie as John in Carousel of Progress.

Bernie was recruited to help save the universe from Zurg!

Bernie was picked as "That Guy" on Monsters Inc.  Too funny!!!

Finally, Bernie decided to take a trip into space to end his Disney day.

And that's my collection of Bernie Sanders memes!  I'm sure the Bernie memes will keep on coming.  This isn't even all of the Disney ones that I found.  Bernie's been on Splash Mountain at least three different times.  (He must have a special super speed Fastpass to get on all these rides.)  I have many travel agent friends, and I follow a lot of Disney groups so I've seen so. many. Disney. Bernie. memes.  They're hilarious!

I hope these silly memes made you laugh.  If anything, having way too much fun with Bernie memes is something I think we all can all get behind.  Who knew that Bernie Sanders would be the one to unite the entire country after all?  °o°

Please Note: I did not make any of these memes and I don't claim ownership of the photos or the jokes.  Most of them I've seen uncredited on Facebook from other people who have shared them.  I just wanted to put them all in one spot so we might try to find some humor in a time when we could use a smile.