Getting My Learning On Through Online Classes

Well, something good has come out of navigating the uncharted waters that we're all going through.  Last night, I finally did something that I've been talking about doing for a few years now- I signed up for some online classes that I've been interested in.

I've talked about taking other in person adult education classes over the past few years while living here in Maine.  Some of my favorite classes so far have been sewing, resin ink, resin geodes and acrylic paint pouring.  When I lived in Massachusetts, I took many classes including cake decorating, jewelry making, chocolate making, silk-scarf painting, spa night, soap making, doing makeup and working with polymer clay.  There aren't as many options available here in Maine.  I get excited every time the new class schedules come out.  (I've been known to stalk the adult ed websites.)  Sometimes, there are fun new class options and other times I'm left feeling a little disappointed.

That's the beauty of online classes.  Websites like uDemy and Skillshare offer you a way to take an online class, at home, on your own schedule.  I've been considering it for a while now; I just never jumped in.  Last night, I went onto uDemy and signed up for a few classes that I've wanted to take for years.  (You read that correctly... years.)

Back in 2014, I wrote my first Blog and Disney Goals post.  That's when I first shared my desire to take a class on storyboarding.  While I didn't sign up for the class that I'd originally planned to, I found Learn to Storyboard for Film or Animation and I signed up for that class instead.  I've always been fascinated with that part of making a film so what better way to explore that more than with a class on it!

The other class that I've wanted to take forever was a Theme Park Design class.  This one requires a little bit of a backstory...

As you know, I've always dreamed of becoming an Imagineer.  When I got to choose a senior design project for my interior design degree, I wanted to design a theme park or at least a resort, but my professor told me that was too big and too ambitious.  Instead, I opted to design a small cruise ship.  I could still design hotel rooms, a restaurant, bar, etc. without the project becoming overwhelming.  (Hindsight is 20/20 and I'm thankful that I was talked out of the bigger design.)  I enjoyed the cruise ship project, but I've always had the dream to design something bigger lingering at the back of my mind.

Then, when I graduated from college, it was August of 2008 and the economy was plummeting at an alarming speed.  (Sound familiar?)  I spent months trying to get a good job that I actually enjoyed.  During my many days of job hunting, I started to do research about online classes to take to diversify.  I was terrified that I'd never get an interior design job.  (Who wanted to hire an interior designer when the economy was crap?)  I found classes for wedding planning, landscape architecture and more.  One day, I stumbled across Steve Alcorn's Theme Park Design book and his website.  It was then that I discovered he taught theme park design classes online.

The problem was that the class I found was like $300-$400.  A broke, right-out-of-college kid couldn't afford it, so I put a pin in it for the time being.  This class sat on my Christmas Wish List for many years before I totally set the idea aside.  Recently, I've had a growing desire to explore that path again.  Will I become a Theme Park Designer or Imagineer?  No, but I love theme parks and design and it will be a fun way to learn more.  Eliot and I still talk about things we'd love to design for Disney and I have this wonderful little corner of the internet that's a perfect spot to share some of our ideas.

Thus, I find myself enrolled in both Theme Park Design and Learn to Storyboard.  And the best news of all was that both of these classes were on sale for a St. Patrick's Day promotion!  They were on sale for $12.99 each.  I'm getting hours of education in two classes for less than $26.  That's a deal if I ever saw one!!!

I'm hoping to make myself a schedule so I can set aside time to do each of these classes during a specific time each week.  I love how my Tuesdays are dedicated to my sewing class and that I can look forward to it each week.  I'm hoping scheduling them will keep me on track and it will also give me breaks throughout the week!

If you're bored and trying to find something to do during these next few weeks while stuck "socially distancing" at home, consider checking out uDemy and Skillshare to take a class and pass the time!  There are tons of different classes to choose from depending on what interests you... and you don't even have to get off your couch! °o°

*** Please Note: If you click on the links above and purchase a class, I might get a small commission or credit that I can use for a future class.  I'm honestly not sure how it works, but these are links they gave me to share with my friends! ***

10 Years Ago... I was a GraduWIT

Exactly ten years ago today, I graduated from Wentworth Institute of Technology.  I can't believe it's been 10 years!  Happy Anniversary WIT Class of 2008!!!  

I have many wonderful memories from college.  I had so much fun with my yearbook friends, my student leadership friends and my interior design girlfriends.  I have memories of us exploring the city of Boston, laughing our heads off, spending late nights in studio, playing intense games of mafia at retreats, going to New York city for yearbook conferences, going out dancing and making waffles on the weekend in my apartment.  I wish I was able to see everyone more often.  However, I am excited that I'll be able to celebrate this milestone with my WIT interior design girlfriends this weekend during Stacy's bachelorette party.

Of course, Wentworth was also where I met my future husband, Eliot.  I actually gave Eliot his campus tour when he and his mother came out to look at schools.  (I must have given him a great tour because he was a student the next fall!)  It wasn't until after we had already been dating for about 2 weeks that we discovered it.  Eliot and I met a second time while training as tour guides and we became good friends.  We didn't start dating until my last two semesters at school, but we had a lot of fun in the time that we were both students there.  Then, I came back to Wentworth often to visit while he finished his degree!

Five years ago, I also wrote a post about my college graduation and how it related to my passion for Disney.  I went to school for interior design, and when I graduated I had big dreams of becoming an Interior Designer for Disney Imagineering.

Obviously, not much has changed in regards to my passion for all things Disney.  I decided becoming an Imagineer for Disney wasn't the right path for me.  Instead, I've been able to use the techniques I learned at WIT to create designs for Happily Ever Hatter.  It's opened the window for the two new businesses Eliot and I plan to launch soon!  And, our house is very Disney inspired, so I'm an Imagineer of my own life.

I looked through my photos earlier today, and the most meaningful one is still my photo of me and my dog Lucky.  He was 13 when he went to my graduation.  I wanted a photo with him and it wasn't until I put the pictures on my laptop that I noticed a familiar outline hidden in the sunlight.  (Can you find the Hidden Mickey?)

We lost Lucky a little over a year after this photo was taken.  It's still my absolute favorite picture of the two of us.  I've always believed that someone was trying to send me a message on my graduation day- I may not become an Imagineer for Disney, but the possibilities are endless, and that someday I'll find the right path for me.  

Now, 10 years later, I think I've finally found my path.  I think I've always known it.  I love creating things and making magic.  This milestone comes at a perfect time as the next chapter is about to begin.  After all "if you can dream it, you can do it."  °o°

Painting Progress

Hi Friends!  It's been another busy week here in Maine.  Eliot and I are trying to finish a few projects at our new house before we officially move into it.  We've been painting up a storm, but the first phase is almost done!  We've been so busy that I haven't taken many progress pictures, but I've got a few to share with a quick update!

Our larger guest bedroom is finally finished.  I don't have any photos of it now that the paint is done, but here's a photo when we just had a few places to touch up.  (I put different colored pieces of tape on the wall to signify places we needed to sand down versus places that needed another coat of paint.)  I'm very happy with how it turned out and I can't wait to bring the bed over so the room will be done!

Next, our smaller guest bedroom is almost done.  Eliot and I went over to the house on Tuesday to do another coat of paint on the wall.  We also touched up where the wall meets the ceiling.  Tonight, we're planning to go over to take the tape off.  Hopefully the seam will be a clean line and that room will also be done and ready for the bed!

We've been making good progress on the master bathroom as well.  We've painted two coats of yellow over the white primer and it looks so much better than before.  It probably needs one more coat of yellow paint.  Then, we need to go back and finish the turquoise walls.  This is our last big project before we move into the house!

The next item on the agenda is to (finally!) move into the house- possibly as soon as this weekend!  Then, once we're living in the house, we'll continue working on painting our master bedroom.  The room is huge and we have so little furniture in it right now; there's still plenty of room left to paint.  We also don't have the new king bed for it yet, so that gives us more time to finish painting!

Once we're settled into the house, we'll re-evaluate what's next. We're still planning to re-paint the entire house and we've only tackled a small chunk so far.  Eliot and I will probably work on the guest bathroom first, and then work our way to completing the hallway and stairs.  Over the winter, we're planning to tackle the entry way, living room, dining room and kitchen area, and then the basement.  Eventually, we'll also be re-painting all of the trim, baseboards, and doors.  It's a little bit daunting, but I'm really excited about how awesome it's going to look when we're finally done painting!!!  °o°

Moving to The New House

As you know, the big move to our new house was this past weekend.  And what a weekend it was!  It certainly felt like a lot more than 3 days anyways.  The weekend was productive and we're in pretty good shape!  We're not officially moved over there... but I'll get to that later.  Here's how our moving weekend went!

My parents drove down mid-day Friday to help me start getting stuff ready.  Dad and I worked on painting Friday afternoon.  Meanwhile, Mom cleaned the kitchen cupboards and organized the painting supplies on the countertop.  We met up with Eliot for dinner and then we grabbed a few more supplies at Wal-Mart before Jeremy arrived.  We went to bed early because we knew it was going to be a busy weekend.

Saturday, we went to work at the new house.  Our living room was already full since Eliot and I have been bringing stuff over whenever we go to the house.  Jeremy and Mom moved the containers to their respective rooms of the house.  (Thank goodness for labels!)  Dad, Eliot and I worked on painting more of the upstairs.  Dad tackled the small guest room, and Eliot tackled the larger one.  Both had to be primed with white since we were worried the new paint colors might not cover the old ones.  I re-prainted the detail between Eliot's office walls and the freshly painted ceiling.  (We had a few oopsies that I needed to cover.)

Since it was Halloween, we lit Mickey and Minnie up and put our porch light on.  We were really hoping the kids from our neighborhood would come over, but by 7:00 ish, we hadn't had anyone and we were done working at the house.  We turned off the lights, closed up shop and headed back to get some dinner.

Sunday morning was an early one, even with the extra hour of sleep.  Mom and Dad picked up the U-Haul.  Meanwhile, Eliot and I packed more.  Jeremy shuttled stuff to our cars.  Once one car was full, we moved it to Wal-Mart so it was out of the way of the U-Haul truck.  Around 11:00, the movers we hired arrived.  (We hired movers through U-Haul for 4 hours to get few of the heavy items.)  They had the truck filled up in no time and our caravan was on the way to the new house!

The movers made quick work of unpacking the U-Haul truck.  In fact, a lot of it was unpacked before Mom, Jeremy and I even arrived at the house.  (We were the last to get shuttled back over to our cars at Wal-Mart.  Ok... we also stopped at Wendy's to grab some lunch.  Don't worry; we shared!)  The moving guys took the furniture to each of the rooms and placed in the center so we could finish painting the walls.

After the U-Haul truck was emptied, we thanked the movers and they were on their way.  We decided to have Mom, Dad and Jeremy go back to Walmart to get the trailer we borrowed from Eliot's friend from work.  We bid Jeremy farewell and told Mom and Dad we'd see them soon.  While they were all gone, Eliot and I pulled the cars into our driveway and emptied them all out.  Then, we moved them back onto our road so the driveway was clear for the trailer.

Dad backed the trailer into the driveway out of the way and then we all took a quick break.  Afterwards, we shuffled all of the boxes Eliot and I had unpacked around the house.  It was dark outside, but we thought we could make another small trip with the U-Haul.  We returned to the other house, stopped for a dinner break, and then went back to pack up a few more things.  Dad and Eliot grabbed stuff from the basement and garage while I packed things inside the house.  Mom loaded the back of her car up with some of our breakable stuff.  Then, Dad and Eliot rode over in the U-Haul truck and Mom and I took her car.

After we unpacked the truck and car, we called it a night.  We took inventory of both houses and the majority of our stuff is now at the new house.  Unfortunately, since we hadn't finished painting the bedrooms, we didn't see the point in moving the beds because they'd be in the way.  Right now, Eliot and I are still living in the house we're renting.  Thankfully, I insisted that we keep our work clothes, toiletries and dishes here so we're all set.  We also haven't changed our cable and internet over, so the tv and computers are here with us.  Although, I'm really missing the couch.  The folding chairs we brought back from the new house just aren't the same.

We're really excited that most of our stuff is at the new house.  Our plan this week is to finish painting the guest bedrooms so we can put the dressers where they're going to go.  Then, we can put the clothes back in them.  Mom and Dad will probably come down one more time to help us move our beds and the office furniture, but we're in pretty good shape.  There's plenty of things we can start unpacking so it'll be less overwhelming when are are officially living there!  Plus, our lease doesn't end until the end of November.  We've still got plenty of time!  °o°

Moving Forward

Whew, I'm certainly glad last week is behind me.  I know everyone has their ups and downs, but last week really stunk big time!  Thankfully, things are looking up at the house.  I'm back to being excited about our big move next weekend!  By this time next week, we'll be officially living in our new house!

We've been busy moving forward with projects around the house.  I had a conference for work most of the weekend, but I was able to meet Eliot there Friday night and Sunday afternoon for some super productive work time.  After seeing how much we accomplished, I'm feeling a lot better about it!

Eliot's finished most of the master bedroom painting.  There are a few places we need to repair the drywall tape.  (My Dad is going to help me with that on Friday.)  Eliot also touched up the ceiling paint in the master bedroom.

I painted the ceiling of our larger guest bedroom.  I also worked on finishing Eliot's office.  There are a few places where we needed to touch up the ceiling and re-paint where the lime green accent wall meets the turquoise walls.  The room's not quite finished, but it's a lot less daunting now.

Eliot and I also started working on our master bathroom last night.  He's painted the ceiling and we put one coat of turquoise on the walls.  He put three coats of yellow over the tan and it's still not working.  The new plan is to paint the accent wall white and then go back in with the yellow.  Unfortunately, it was pretty late last night by the time we painted the turquoise and we didn't think to take pictures of it!

Finally, I worked on touching up the ceiling of my office.  It's really hard to see the white painted on white once it's dark out.  I have a little bit more of the wall to touch up, and then my office will officially be done!  I'm so excited to start moving things into it!

We're really liking the colors so far!  Eliot and I love fun bright colors and I'm so excited for our house to reflect our personalities!  My aunt and uncle swung by our house the other day (when we weren't there) and they peeked into the windows.  My Mom told me that my aunt said it definitely looked like we lived there with all of the Mickey and Disney stuff in the living room!  It's not home without a little bit of magic!!!  °o°

House Updates

I'm back from my short weekend break!  It's been a busy few days, but we had a really productive weekend at our house!  Things are starting to come together and we've slowly been moving more of our things over there!  Here's a quick update:

Of course, it wouldn't be our "home" without a few Disney touches.  Eliot went over there a few days ago while I was at work and put our Halloween Mickey and Minnie inflatables up.  It was a nice surprise to see them in the front yard.  I love having a little bit of holiday cheer even though we're in the middle of our move!

My parents and Nana came down to help us over the weekend.  My brother Jeremy also drove up from New Hampshire on Saturday to help our for the afternoon.  Mom and Jeremy moved a lot of our holiday decoration containers from the garage down to the basement.  I talked to Nana about getting her help with some handmade valences while she enjoyed the sunshine in our dining room from her comfy chair.  Throughout the weekend, I was the floater and I shuttled between everyone helping wherever they needed it.  I definitely got a work out running up and down the stairs!

My Dad and Eliot did the bulk of the dirty work.  Our plan was to paint as much of the second floor as possible before we had the carpet cleaners come today.  Dad painted the ceiling of my office, Eliot's office and our master bedroom.  Eliot did a final coat of the accent wall in his office.  He also did a first coat of paint over most of the master bedroom.  (He had a little too much fun painting Mickeys with the left over paint!)

I'm so glad that our offices are basically done.  They look like they're right out of a Disney movie- specifically Monsters Inc.  We didn't plan it, but the purple of my office plus the turquoise and lime of Eliot's remind both of us of Mike and Sulley!

Our master bedroom is coming along nicely.  We both love the minty aqua color that I picked out for the walls.  It will go great with the comforter we chose!  The color is both beautiful and calming.  I can't wait to see it when it's all set up!

Finally, I ordered curtain panels for my office.  JCPenney was having an awesome Columbus Day sale last week.  While I was online ordering our comforter, I found some beautiful blue curtains that I thought would look great with my lavender purple walls.  I can't wait to get them so I can put them in my office!  °o°

Designing Interiors

Being back from our coast to coast adventure means it's time to buckle down back home!  Eliot and I had no intentions of buying a house between trips, but we couldn't let a great opportunity slip by!  We fell in love with our house and we're happy it's ours!

We've been very busy preparing the house for our move in a few weeks!  Before our Florida trip, we started to clean it and select paint colors for our offices.  We're Disney fans through and through, so naturally we had to see what colors Wal-Mart had in their Glidden Disney collection.  

Eliot ended up selecting Mickey's Park and Sulley's Fur for his office.  His walls will all be the Sulley's Fur turquoise with one wall as Mickey's Park lime green for an accent.

I chose a Glidden paint color that wasn't an official Disney paint color for my office.  I selected Very Violet, which is similar to Rapunzel's lavender dress color.  The Disney paint purples were all a warmer and deeper tone; I wanted something more blue toned so it would match the other cooler tones in our house.

Before we left for Florida, my cousin Lucas and his wife Rachel helped us put the first coat of paint on our office walls.  The next night, Luke came back and helped Eliot and me with the second coat.  We love how they turned out!  I think it's going to look great with our office furniture and decor!

Now, we're getting more rooms ready for our big move!  We've finished Eliot's accent wall and are selecting paint colors for the other rooms in the house.  We're also hoping to get the ceilings and trim re-painted in most of the rooms prior to our move.  

Eliot and I will be moving a few things over to the new house today and tomorrow.  The following weekend, my parents are planning on coming down to help move a few things and paint some more.  We've pushed the official "big move" back to Halloween weekend so we'd have more time to paint, clean and prepare the house!  It's a little bit overwhelming, but we've got a detailed plan so that definitely makes it less daunting!  

The next few weeks are going to be incredibly busy, but also very exciting!  Hopefully, I'll be able to stop by to say hi in between trips to the new house!  We're on a pretty tight schedule, but I'm determined to make my new goal of 120 blog posts!  °o°

Fun Find: The Magical World of Depot

It's time for another Fun Find Friday!  Today I'm sharing something that was all over my Facebook newsfeed a few weeks ago.  (You might have seen it already.  But if not, you're definitely in for a treat!)  Introducing: The Magical World of Depot!

I saw this and loved it.  It starts off with the Disney movie intro over Home Depot and just gets more amazing as each second passes.  These three are incredibly talented and very entertaining to watch.  I love how seamlessly they incorporated Home Depot into our favorite Disney songs.  You'll see references to all of these songs:  

• Heigh-Ho
• Hakuna Matata
• Colors of the Wind
• A Whole New World
• Under the Sea
• Be Our Guest
• Let It Go

Of course, there was the obligatory Frozen song.  However, it wasn't cheesy or forced. "Let It Go" was perfect for the ending of the video.  The "magic" was a really fun touch. They even got the ending perfectly with the doors of Home Depot closing!

I have to say that I'm probably biased.  Not only do I love Disney (obviously), but I love going to Home Depot!  The interior designer in me has way too much fun browsing the paint colors, kitchen designs and lighting section.  It is pretty magical.

I was really impressed with this fun tribute to Home Depot and Disney.  What do you think?  I have to confess that it makes me want to go over to Home Depot to dance around with all of those paint chips!  °o°

Anniversaries and Ear Hats and Soaps, Oh My!

Hey Friends!  It's been another eventful week!

As most of you know, our second wedding anniversary was this past Saturday.  We didn't do too much for it since we both had a lot of Etsy orders we've been trying to get done.  However, we did make the time to go out to one of our favorite restaurants: Longhorn Steakhouse.  It was definitely yummy.  Eliot stuck with his usual beer and a burger but I had a wonderful watermelon margarita, steak and mac & cheese... soooo good!  We also grabbed cake from the grocery store.  (I love any excuse to eat cake!)

I was busy last week with Happily Ever Hatter orders.  I've made a new record for myself: I finished six hats in one week!  I made 3 Anna ear hats and 3 Elsa ear hats!  I also designed an Elsa stretchy headband for an infant.  It was a busy week but I'm so glad to get all of these orders out!  I've felt so behind ever since I got sick a few weeks ago.  Eeyore even helped me package one of the boxes which was on it's way to Walt Disney World.  (Although, he tried to tape himself to the box in an effort to stow away.)

Eliot has been busy making soaps with his Etsy shop, Snowblade Creations.  He's had an order for a favors for a birthday party, fish extender gifts for a Disney cruise, and a huge wedding order of about 80 soaps!

We also mailed out a special package yesterday.  It's on it's way to a very special little girl named Scarlet.  She's going to find out this Saturday that she's going to Walt Disney World through Make A Wish.  Her Wish Granter ordered an Elsa ear hat from me, but Eliot and I wanted to spread some more Disney magic and pixie dust.  We also included four snowflake hair clips, four bubblegum scented Mickey Mouse soaps and one Olaf soap.  I can't wait to hear how her party goes this weekend!

My job has been going well.  We've been working on getting ourselves back up and running.  We've found a new office space.  I actually got to go with my boss to help with our interior finish selections yesterday.  We've picked the paint colors for the walls and door trim, the baseboard color and the carpet color.  We also decided which finishes she's going to order her new adjusting tables in.  It was really fun to help with finish selections!  It's been a while since I've done that!

Finally, I'm trying to make a list of the Happily Ever Hatter items I need to make myself over the next few weeks.  I'm planning on bringing a few different headbands to Walt Disney World for KeyCon!  I just started one pair today, but I have a lot to do!  I really need to get cracking on that!  I leave in 15 Days!  Woo-hoo!  °o°

Graduation 5 Years Ago Today

Five years ago today I graduated from Wentworth Institute of Technology.  I can't believe that it's been 5 years already!

Wentworth Commencement August 17, 2008.

You're probably wondering how on earth this relates to Disney.  I went to school for interior design, and when I graduated I had big dreams of becoming an Interior Designer for Disney Imagineering.  Throughout the past five years, I've decided that I want to run my own business someday since I need a creative outlet with few boundaries.  Instead of becoming an actual Imagineer, my husband and I dream up our own designs for rides and attractions at Disney.  (It's more fun when the sky is the limit and there are absolutely no budgets involved right?)  Maybe I'll share some designs in the future!  ;-)

Wentworth Institute of Technology Interior Design Graduate!

Wentworth felt like home away from home, plus it's school colors are black, gold and red… sound familiar?  They're pretty much the same colors as my favorite Mouse!  So that worked out nicely for Eliot and me.  (I bought Eliot and myself Mickey Mouse colored tie dye shirts and it doubled as his WIT graduation present.)

Wentworth Commencement August 17, 2008.

I also have an amazing print that I ordered from SomethingPrintable on Etsy.  Victoria Ann makes beautiful prints and I had to have one to match my husband's (he got one as a gift from our friends BJ and Katie).  So I also have this awesome Mickey Graduation Print to proudly display on our wall!

My Mickey Graduation Print from Something Printable.

Finally, the most meaningful tie in to Disney was with a photo of me and my dog Lucky.  Lucky was 13 when he went to my graduation ceremony.  I wanted a photo with my puppy and it wasn't until after graduation when I put the pictures on my laptop that I noticed a familiar outline hidden in the sunlight behind our heads.  (Can you find the Hidden Mickey?)

Lucky and me after the ceremony.  Can you find the Hidden Mickey?

We lost Lucky a little over a year after this photo was taken.  But it's my absolute favorite picture of the two of us.  It's almost like someone was trying to send me a message on my graduation day.  I may not ever become a "real" Imagineer, but the possibilities are endless, and I'll find the right path for me.  After all "if you can dream it, you can do it."  °o°

My interior design classmates, friends and family.