Back from Florida

Hello Everyone!

We are back from our trip to Walt Disney World.  Eliot and I actually got home yesterday afternoon, but I spent a good portion of yesterday napping.  It was definitely a busy and exhausting trip.  I don't think that I've ever come home from Disney so tired before!  It probably didn't help that our flight left at 6:55 am and we were up at 4:00 am!

Photo Source: Someecards

Yesterday I was also facing that post Disney trip let down.  We're not really sure exactly when we're going back to Disney World this time around, so it was a little more depressing than usual to leave.  We're really hopeful that we'll be able to return for Marathon Weekend 2015, but I guess we'll see!

Thank you to those of you who followed along on my blog's Facebook page!  It was so much fun to read your comments throughout the trip!  I had a blast posting photos of our travels around the parks.

Photo Source: Pinterest (Original Pin Here.)

I'm planning to do a day to day trip recap for the rest of this week, kind of like I did for my wedding trip recap last September!  I'm also super inspired to get started on many more Disney projects.  Look for those in the coming weeks!  

But for now, I just wanted to say a quick hello before I fall asleep again!  °o°

Pre-Trip Projects

Hey Everyone!  I thought that I'd say hello really quick before we leave for Walt Disney World later on this afternoon!

Yesterday was really busy.  I ended up working on a few accessory projects that I wanted to wear during our trip!  I spent a good portion of yesterday working on them.  I still have a few things I'm trying to get done before we leave this evening, but I'll give you guys a quick sneak peek!  I haven't even started to pack!  Ahh... gotta get to work!

Here's the Custom Minnie Mouse Headband that I've been working on.  I finally finished it yesterday by adding a bright yellow bow!

Here's one of the projects that took me most of yesterday.  I spent all evening designing this and putting it together!  It's my Custom Elsa Ear Hat!  

I'm really happy with how it came out!  You can't even see all of the amazing details from this photo.  It's so sparkly and glittery.  The veil on the back is 3 layers and one of them even has snowflakes on it!

Finally, here's a quick concept sketch of another project.  I still have to go put the rest of this one together, but here's a sneak peek.  Can you guess what it's going to be?

Do you want one of these for yourself?  All of these items will eventually make their way to my Happily Ever Hatter shop on Etsy that I plan to open later on this month!  In the meantime, become a fan on Facebook to find out when the shop will make it's debut!

Well, I better go finish my projects, packing and make sure that everything is ready to go! I don't want to forget anything!  I'll try to check in here and there during our trip!  If you'd like to follow along on my WDW journey, please check out the My Disney Life Facebook Page.  I'll be posting pictures over there throughout the trip!  And maybe I'll even post a few during the half marathon!

I'm off to Walt Disney World!!!!  Stay magical friends!!!  °o°

New Year's Eve Celebrations

I'm really on a roll with these blog posts!  (One every single day since the new year started!)  I've been so busy with all of my other posts that I haven't even had a chance to tell you all about our New Year's Eve celebrations!

Photo Source: Pinterest (Original Pin here.)

This year, Eliot and I didn't have any big New Year's Eve plans.  I've personally been to Walt Disney World for five New Year's Eve celebrations, and also gone to one at Sea World.  I've been incredibly blessed to start 6 new years at my second home.  There is nothing like celebrating a new year at Disney.  Yes, the parks are packed with people and usually reach full capacity mid-morning.  You can't move without someone else being in your personal space.  But the whole experience is still magical to me.  Honestly, everything else just seems kind of "eh" at this point!  I've completely been spoiled by Disney's incredible fireworks displays and holiday celebrations!

My parents came down to visit Eliot and me.  They also brought Nana and Papa and Jeremy drove up from New Hampshire.  (We're about 2 hours from Jeremy and 3.5 hours from Mom and Dad so it's a good location to meet in the middle.)  We decided that we would go out to have dinner and then have a quiet evening at Eliot's and my house. Quiet isn't exactly how it turned out.  But it was pretty perfect.

I wanted to find something silvery to wear for New Year's Eve.  I didn't go all out since we weren't doing much, but I did find a silver shirt and a blue tank top that looked festive.  I found some blue earrings to match.  Then I (quickly) painted my nails to match!

I've been wanting to do a Mickey Manicure for a while now.  I completely ran out of time at Christmas.   After painting each one of my nails some shade of blue, silver, or glitter, I added my Mickey rhinestones!  They're really easy to do.  (My bridesmaids and I all wore them in my wedding as well.)  I just took 2 different sized rhinestones and used nail glue to attach them in Mickey shapes on my nails!  My nails themselves don't look that great. But considering how quickly I painted them, I'm ok with how they turned out!  I'm planning to re-do them for our trip to Disney next week anyways!

Once we were dressed and ready to go, we headed out to dinner with Mom, Dad, Nana and Papa.  (Jeremy was on his way up after work, so he was running a little bit later.) We went to Longhorn Steakhouse, but the wait was 1.5 to 2 hours!  We ended up checking a few places, and Ruby Tuesday had no wait, and a setting for 6 right near to the door! Ruby Tuesday's it was!

Papa and I have a New Year's Eve tradition where I'll order a drink and he'll get the same one as me. I guess he trusts his granddaughter's taste in alcoholic beverages.  Ha ha! We ended up getting strawberry daiquiris this year.  Yum!  Jeremy ended up meeting us toward the end of the meal.   

After dinner, we took Nana and Papa over to their hotel.  The rest of us were staying at our house.  We had thought about playing a few board games while we watched the New Year's Eve footage from New York City.  I assumed that it would be a quiet night.  Ha!

As soon as we got home, Daddy stumbled across Eliot's and my alcohol display.  Ok, maybe stumbled is not the right word.  He searched our supply for rum.  And he found a giant bottle of Captain Morgan that Eliot bought a while ago.  I'd forgotten that we even had it.  The next thing I know, Mom is asking if I have any wine.  So it was going to be one of those kinda nights!  Ha ha!

(Before I go any further, I want to put out a disclaimer that I barely see my parents drink. We're not prudes, nor are we alcoholics.  Everything in moderation right?  Daddy will have rum and coke here and there.  Mom will occasionally have some wine.  Eliot and I are not big drinkers but we do have a collection of rums and vodkas to make mixed drinks.  I have a few bottles of wine.  I can picture my family reading this so I wanted to makes sure that I got that across loud and clear.  However, New Year's Eve is a good time to have a celebration, so why not?  Ok, now back to the story!)

Daddy ended up having quite a bit of rum.  He wasn't drunk, but he was quite happy the remainder of the evening.  I haven't laughed so hard in I don't even know how long.  It got to the point where I had to start writing a few of the things he said down on my cell phone because they were too funny to forget.  (My personal favorite was that he didn't know who Ryan Seacrest was.  Dad kept calling him Brian Seaquest instead.)

We had Eeyore sitting on the couch and Daddy decided to take Eeyore and pretend that he was drinking some rum and coke.  Then Jeremy told Eeyore that he had to go to jail because he was too young to drink.  So he put him in the corner under our Eiffel Tower light.  Somewhere in the middle of it, Duffy got ahold of a miniature bottle of Jack Daniel's and tried to "run" off with it.  I was laughing so hard.

After watching the New York television coverage for a bit, we decided to break out the board games. We ended up selecting my Pirates of the Caribbean Game of Life.  It's basically the Game of Life but with the pirate captains, in ships, with pieces of 8 trying to make it to Shipwreck City.  (Ok, Disnerd problems: why is it Shipwreck City and not Shipwreck Cove?!?!?  Ok rant over.)

The game was a ton of fun.  Daddy was still hilarious.  You have to "raid" other players so we had a blast picking on each other.  Jeremy and I had the cheap ships so we kept getting attacked.  Daddy couldn't pronounce Sao Fang so he decided he was Sae Five. (Pronounced Say Five.)  I really need to have them re-watch the Pirate movies.  I was the first to make it to Shipwreck City.  There I am in the lead in the black ship.

About halfway through the game, I also discovered that there was a Hidden Mickey directly across from me on the game board.  Upon further inspection, there were 3 hidden Mickey heads on my board game!  I didn't notice those before!

At about 11:45, we all had made it to Shipwreck City and it was time to count our "loot" or money.  My super sneaky husband didn't say anything the entire game.  And he ended up beating us all by at least a few thousand dollars.  Ugh.  But it was a lot of fun.  We really need to play our board games more often!

After that, we grabbed our toasting cups and sat to watch the ball drop!  We toasted the new year and then it was time for bed!  Not a bad way to end 2013 and ring in 2014!  °o°

WDW Half Marathon Prep

Well, the countdown is officially on for the Walt Disney World Half Marathon!!!  (It's a week from today!)  I can't believe that it's already time to be preparing for our trip!  I remember feeling like it would never get here when we left Disney last March.  Now, we're leaving in 3 days!  Tomorrow Eliot is planning to pack all of his things and I'll be working on getting the last minute stuff like laundry done!  Wow!

Photo Source: Pinterest (Original pin here.)

I'm pretty nervous and excited for the race itself.  I haven't gotten to train for the half marathon as much as I wanted to.  I did go to the gym a few times.  But between the holidays, going to my parents' house, and being sick for 2 weeks after Thanksgiving, it wasn't nearly as much effort as I'd wanted to put in!

I had high hopes for my virtual runs, but I didn't get that many done.  I'm apparently super picky with myself, because I probably earned 4-5 of them.  But since I wanted to track them all with my Nike running app on my iPhone, I didn't actually "count" any of the ones I did do.  I'm planning to earn the rest of them and kick it up a few notches in 2014.

Photo Source: Chip&Co

At this point, I'm telling myself that I'll finish the race, or I won't.  It's pretty simple! Either way, I'll be proud of myself for trying.  I'm not too fond of running in the first place!  So taking a big risk and leap of faith to do this in the first place is pretty spectacular!  

Photo Source: Team Sparkle

The fact that it's a Disney race is making it a lot more exciting to me!  I'm so excited for the experience as a whole.  This will not only be my first ever RunDisney Event, but I've also never been to Disney while they're doing a race weekend!  I'm so excited to see everyone's race costumes, to see the entertainment and characters along the course, for the Expo and race merchandise and to see the medals in person!

Inspiration for my Minnie Costume. Photo Source: Polyvore

I'm was hoping to wear a costume of my own.  I tossed idea after idea around in my head but finally I've decided to go with Minnie!  What's more classic Disney than Minnie Mouse herself!  I tried to convince Eliot to dress up as Mickey, but no such luck.  Maybe once he sees everyone else he'll want to do it in the future?  A girl can dream right?

The Minnie Costume that I'm hoping to wear for the half marathon!

I've decided to wear my black running shoes, black capri leggings, and a black tank top. I'm thinking about buying a Minnie ear headband with her classic red bow! I also found a Minnie skirt and arm sleeves from Team Sparkle that I wanted to buy at the expo. Hopefully I'll be able to get them before they sell out of them!  I also thought about making Minnie bows to wear on my sneakers!  I think it'll be pretty fun! 

RunDisney tutus.  Photo Source: Pinterest (Original pin here.)

I'm excited to see all of the booths at the Expo.  We're hoping to get a few small RunDisney items and some race stuff.  But since I've never been, I'm not sure what to even expect!  When we registered for the race, Eliot and I also signed up for the special pin and I ordered the race necklace.  I know that RunDisney will have a ton of items. There will be a lot of booths for other running companies.  I really want to see the 2014 New Balance RunDisney shoe collection!

New Balance 2014 RunDisney Shoes.  Photo Source: Competitor

The race itself is 13.1 miles running from Epcot to the Magic Kingdom and back to Epcot. The halfway mark is somewhere around the Grand Floridian Resort.  My first goal is to make it to Cinderella Castle.  If I'd done the 10k like I originally planned, I would have made it that far.  Then I'm going to set my sights on the Wedding Pavilion.  It'd be nice to say that I made it to the point where Eliot and I got married.  

And at that point, I'm convincing myself that if I can get that far, I can go the distance! (Yes, that song from Hercules is my "theme song" and I will be singing it to myself the entire race.) I'm trying to mentally prepare.  They say that it's more mental than physical right?  I'm sure halfway through the race, I'll be cursing whoever "they" is.  But "they" have a point.  If I put my mind to it, I'm sure that I can do it.  As long as my knee doesn't completely cave out on me, I'm sure that I can keep a 16 minute pace for 13 miles. Thankfully, Disney is pretty forgiving in the time category!  

Photo Source: RunDisney Facebook Page

My parents, brother and I are planning to do a walk/jog anyways.  They haven't really trained either.  Eliot's the one who will be ahead of all of us.  We're all in the last corral or "walking" division, so I'm hoping to find a group of people we can join who are just happy to be at Disney in the race.

Eliot's already prepared his playlist for the race.  I'm hoping to work on mine tomorrow or Monday.  I have a few songs that I know I want to put on it.  RunDisney also recently did a social media survey to find out which song the runners wanted to be played at the Half Marathon Mile 7 and during the Full Marathon at Mile 21.  They basically had a 3 way tie, so they'll be playing "Roar", "Don't Stop Believing" and "Let It Go" at mile 7.  (Those are all actually songs on my planned playlist as well.)

Photo Source: RunDisney Facebook Page

If we make it to the finish line, we will have earned our half marathon Donald Duck medal! I'm sure I will eat like a pig in celebration, and will probably spend a good portion of the morning sitting in the pool at our hotel.  We're hoping to go into the parks with my grandparents later on in the afternoon and evening once we've recuperated a little. Hopefully I'll be sporting this beautiful bling around the parks that evening!

Photo Source: RunDisney Facebook Page

No matter what happens during the race a week from now, I'm very excited about our Disney vacation.  It's literally 19 degrees right now and it's been below zero for about 2-3 days.  And tomorrow and Monday aren't supposed to get much better.  I know 7 people who are not going to be complaining about the delightful 60, 70 and 80 degree temperatures that are waiting for us in Florida!  (Although, I think complaining about freezing on the other end of the vacation is definitely acceptable!)

Here's to finishing the half marathon and earning that new bling!!!  °o°

January 2014 Calendar

Hi Everyone!  Here's my first free printable calendar for the new year!  These calendars that I designed were really popular in 2013 on my blog and on Pinterest, so I've decided to continue them in 2014!  

I know that it's a few days later than I usually post.  I had to re-format a few things in InDesign to get it ready for the new year!  

Here's the link to download the January 2014 PDF version of the printable.  (Click "File" and then "Save" if the page appears to be blank.)

I hope that you guys enjoy using these calendars in the new year!   °o°

My 2014 Blog and Disney Goals

2014 is here!  I've had to write the date numerous times today, and I didn't write 13 once! So far so good!  Let's see how long it lasts...

Photo from the Disney Store Online.

I'm really excited about this year.  I love the feeling of "newness" that a new year brings. I always feel refreshed.  It's like the slate is cleaned overnight.  I'm not huge on making resolutions because I feel like I'll break them.  Instead, I try to make goals for myself.  At the end of the year, I'm disappointed if I don't achieve all of them, but I don't feel like a complete failure.  I usually set the bar incredibly high with an unattainable list of things to try to do throughout the year.  A lot of the things I put on my list are things like "build a snowman" or "learn how to knit" or "travel somewhere new."  They're not exactly earth shattering, but I try to think of fun ideas!

This year, I decided that I wanted to make a few specific Disney goals.  Now that I have a blog, I want to give myself something to strive for.  Some people say that sharing your goals with others helps with accountability, so I thought that I'd share some of those goals with you guys!  Hopefully, I can achieve them all this year!  Bring it on 2014!

Melissa's 14 Blog and Disney Goals for 2014

1.)  Go to Walt Disney World- This is usually one of my "dream" goals every year.  I kind of feel like it's a cope out since we're leaving for Walt Disney World next Tuesday. But going to Disney is my goal every year, so it's always #1.

2.)  Participate in the WDW Half Marathon- This also feels like a "freebie" since I'm doing the half marathon next Saturday.  The "real" goal is to finish it, but I'm not sure if that'll happen.  I guess we will all find out about a week and a half from now!

3.)  Make Disney Décor for the Holidays-  I tried to make some new decorations for the holidays last year, but a lot of time I ended up running out of time before completing them. This year, I'm planning to start them early.  If it means making Christmas decorations in July, so be it.  I'll celebrate my own version of Christmas in July!

4.)  Do at Least One Tutorial Each Month-  This is something I really enjoy doing.  I like sharing how to make different things with you guys.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to come up with one tutorial a month for the entire year!

5.)  Design an Imagineering Project-  This stems back to my college days when I could make basically anything I wanted in my interior design studio class.  The sky was the limit and there weren't any money restrictions.  The real world does not work that way, so I wanted to do some designs for Disney where the sky is once again the limit.  I have a specific design that I'm itching to bring to life.  It's been top secret, and no one knows about it except Eliot.  He'll probably be glad to have me formerly working on it so he doesn't have to listen to any more of my crazy ideas!

6.)  Write 150 Blog Entries for the Year-  I started this blog last May and wrote 73 published entries so I basically figured that I could double that number for this year.  I've got a lot of fun ideas, so hopefully it won't be difficult to do more than 150!

7.)  Have a Few Friends as Guest Bloggers-  I have a lot of close friends who are big into Disney.  They're part of the reason that I am able to be as Disney obsessed as I am. I'd really like to get a few of them to do a few guest blogs.  So stay tuned!

8.)  Have a Disney Themed Party-  Eliot and I had been planning to have a Monster's University party once the movie came out on DVD but we weren't able to pull it off during 2013.  Now, I'm basically in love with Frozen and I'd love to do a Frozen party.  I love to decorate and have parties with a theme.  So before the year is over, we will have some sort of Disney party whether it's Monster's University, Frozen or something else entirely!  
9.)  Blog About One Fun Find a Month-  Last year, I did a few "fun find" posts about Etsy shops that I'd found online that had some cool Disney stuff.  I didn't get to post as many of those as I wanted to.  This year, I'll contact more sellers and write more posts! There are far too many fun things I've stumbled across to not share them with everyone!

10.)  Take an Online Storyboard Class-  There are so many online classes that I've stumbled across that I want to take.  One website that I recently discovered was Skillshare.  They do online classes on tons of artistic things.  There's even a visual storytelling class taught by an actual animator at the Walt Disney Animation Studios!

11.)  Make Disney Accessories-  This is something that I've been dying to do for a while now.  I really want to make some Disney inspired accessories.  This will also come in the form of a few new Etsy shops.  I will not be the only one reaping the rewards of this goal!

12.)  Paint Disney Wedding Art for our Dining Room-  We have a ton of wall space in our dining area.  I've decided to make a collage style wall art design.  We already have a few Disney Wedding art pieces to put up, as well as the awesome artwork that Eliot's sister Elissa made us.  So, I've decided to add a few artistic pieces of my own to the collection!  The wall will be a perfect way to always remember that dreams do come true!

13.)  Finish Our Mickey and Minnie Bathroom-  We're making really good progress on our Mickey and Minnie themed bathroom.  I've already made the small flower pots and the Mickey hand shelf.  I have a few more art ideas for it.  And we still need to get the curtains designed and made.  I'm hoping to have this done sooner than later!

14.)  Make Disney Sweets-  I've always loved looking at the displays of the Main Street Confectionary.  Those candy apples are ah-maz-ing!  I've decided that I want to make some Disney sweets this year.  Maybe they'll be cake pops, or cupcakes, or a cake. Who knows?  Maybe I'll make all of them!!!  (That Disney Themed Party will be the perfect place to pawn off the sweets to my friends and family... share the calories!)

Photo from the Disney Store Online.

I've got my work cut out for me.  But I'm really excited about it!  I'm going to make 2014's word of the year CREATE.  As you can see, there are a lot of things that I want to design and create this year.  I'm most happy when I'm doing that.  That's the gift that I will share with the world this year!!!  Happy 2014 Everyone!!!  °o°

2013- Year in Review

Wow!  I can't believe that it's 2014!  I feel like I was just celebrating the beginning of 2013 and now here we are at the beginning of another year!  2013 was good to us.  It didn't go in the direction I thought it would, but that's the game of life right? Everything happens for a reason and I'm excited with the direction things are heading!

To sum it up: 2013 was the year of transitioning from living in Boston to living in Maine.  

Eliot's been at his job a year now.  As I've mentioned before, he really enjoys it and his co-workers.  I'm very thankful that he loves what he does.  That's half the battle!

I spent a lot of the year moving things, unpacking, organizing, unpacking, re-organzing, arranging furniture, and re-organzing again.  I thought that by now I'd have a full time job doing interior design or something, but that's not where this year led me.  Instead, I have a new travel agent job, a (mostly) organized house and life, and I'm almost ready to open my Etsy stores!  I'm still planning to get a job next year for additional income. But I'm pretty excited that my dream of working for myself is starting to take flight!

I think 2014 is going to be an amazing year!  But before I jump ahead to the future, I always like to reflect on the past.  Here are some of the highlights from my 2013:

January-
January brought lots of snow while trying to move into our house.  We couldn't get out of our lease in Massachusetts until March, so we decided to take our time moving.  I spent a lot of time on the road back and forth with car loads of stuff!

February-
February brought more snow, more packing, more moving and more unpacking! Somewhere in the middle of it all, Eliot and I found the time to meet my parents to watch my high school play in the Maine State Basketball Tournament.  I hadn't been to a game since I was in high school myself!  It was a lot of fun!  (Since we live closer, I hope to see more games in the future!)

March-
March was busy.  We had to finish moving the last of our items out of our apartment in Boston.  Then we had to repair and paint the walls and clean the apartment. We celebrated my Nana and Papa's 80th birthdays with a Surprise Party.  They were completely in shock when they walked in!  It was a great celebration.  At the end of the month, Eliot and I went to Walt Disney World for our Honeymoon!  We also celebrated Easter there for the first time.

April-
In April, I finally got some time to start organizing the stuff that I'd unpacked.  Our cupboards, drawers and closets underwent an epic overhaul.  Eliot and I finally felt a little more settled in now that we were rid of the apartment in Boston.  We started to explore our new home a little by taking walks every few days on the Eastern Trail.

May-
In May I decided to start a blog to fill up some of my spare time.  Little did I know that it would grow into this!  We also received our Disney Wedding Video in the mail and we watched that.  Eliot and I joined my aunt and cousin for the Make a Wish Foundation's Walk for Wishes.  That was a great experience!  At the end of the month, we spent Memorial Day in Bar Harbor with my family and had a memorable dinner with Katie.  Once we returned home, we realized that we had a flooded basement.  It's not really a fun highlight, but it was a highlight nonetheless.

June-
In June, we worked on cleaning the basement and making platforms to put our stuff on in case it flooded again.  The Boston Bruins made the finals, so Eliot and I enjoyed watching those!  We celebrated Eliot's birthday with miniature golfing!  I also attended the bachelorette party and wedding of one of my best friends from college.  It was so much fun to see all of my girlfriends again!  We also saw Monsters University when it came out!

July-
We went to Bar Harbor for 4th of July.  I hadn't been home in for the 4th since 2009!  We enjoyed the parade, the fireworks, the beach, and Acadia, the local national park.  I also got the creativity bug and made a ton of flowerpots!

August-
In August, I worked on more projects throughout the month.  Eliot and I went to the Jodi Benson Concert with a group of our friends!  I still can't believe that I met "Ariel" in real life!!!  A few weeks later, we met my parents and grandparents at a Balloon Festival. This month, I celebrated 5 years since my college graduation!  I also got to meet my new baby cousin Isaac, Emery's little brother!

September-
Labor Day weekend, Eliot (and Eeyore) went to California to visit his family. They even visited Disneyland!  On the 20th, we celebrated our First Wedding Anniversary.  That same day we also got to go to a Boston Red Sox Game.  It was the game where they clenched the AL East Championship!  I also decided to do a Wedding Trip Recap of our trip to Disney for our Wedding.  It was a lot of fun to re-live all of those memories.

October-
In early October, I joined the Key to the World team as a travel agent!  I'm so excited to learn more about it and to grow my business this year.  The Red Sox did well in the playoffs, and eventually were in the World Series!  Eliot and I watched the games, and the next thing we know, the Boston Red Sox are the World Series Champions!  (It was a great year for Boston and New England Sports!!!)  Finally, we had way too much fun decorating for Halloween!

November-
In November, we were busy making items for our craft fairs.  We attended the first one in my hometown in the middle of the month.  We celebrated my 29th Birthday with my family.  Then we celebrated a few days later with my friends by seeing Catching Fire. Eliot and I enjoyed Thanksgiving at my parents' house with lots of yummy food.

December-
We had our second craft fair the first weekend of December.  Then we launched into our Christmas decorating.  (I will post more photos of them all soon.)  After a few whirlwind weeks, we celebrated Christmas with my family at my parents' house.  We finally went to see Frozen while we were in a real life ice storm!

2013 was a year full of memories!  Here's to a great 2014!!!  

Happy New Year!!!  °o°