Yikes...

Half marathon bright and early tomorrow morning... wish me luck!

If I survive it I will do a update on the race as well as a little preview of the next little while :)

Canada!

First of all...yay only 110 Days! Crazyness...the more crazy part is that I'm actually going down in 12 days for school! But we'll get to that after this...

Yay Buddy!

This was a huge moment.  I was the first one in our house to have it actually sink in that we won and everyone went insane!! Chicago has kicked the Canucks out of the playoffs the past two years in a row, and then we had a really hard go having this series extend to 7 games against last year's Stanley Cup winners.  You could feel all of British Columbia exhaling after the goal...and cheering and screaming and being sooo freaking happy!! 

Another incredible part of Canucks hockey is this...

You may notice that Canuck's fans never want to miss the start of a home game, and this guy is definitely a part of that. Mark Donnelly has been singing the Canadian Anthem at Canucks games for quite a few years now and it gives me chills every time.  Especially when lucky enough to be in the building.  The sound on this clip is a little scratchy..but I think you get the idea ;)

So as you can tell I've been watching a lot of hockey since returned from my road trip! And intense doesn't start to describe it.  I'm so glad we're onto the second round! Go Canucks Go!

Besides watching hockey (and I will admit too many other tv shows) I have been running, hanging out with friends, hanging out with family and trying to unpack, sort out, and repack my room and belongings. I have too much stuff. It actually drives me crazy how many possessions I have and if I could I would go back and unbuy the majority of them.  I think this is a good sign because hopefully it will remind me not to buy stupid things when I'm in Florida!  I've been trying to sort out all my school paperwork and packing and everything and it's been pretty stressful and I will be so happy when I can just be there and work and be good.

I am running the BMO Half Marathon on Sunday (in two days!! ahh!!) and am going over to Vancouver today with my Mum to stay at my sister Kimmy's! I'm excited to see how my little niece has changed in the last almost two weeks! I get back home Sunday night and then work the federal election as a poll clerk on Monday! (It's like 12 hours of crossing out peoples names on a list and telepathic-ly trying to tell them who to vote for. I'm going to bring a book :P

Then Wednesday is my birthday!! Yay! I'm going to have a little celebration with some girlfriends as most of my friends are out of town right now, and then a family dinner as well. Then Kim, Gar and Clodagh are visiting for the weekend and then I'm off Tuesday to Florida! 11 days! Crazyness! Right now however, I just have to focus on my 21.1km run on Sunday and pray it goes well! I'm super nervous. I hope I can do it and it's all okay....

I went and watched the Canucks beat the Predators last night with my dear friend Holly at a restaurant in town.  It was really nice catching up on some of our ridiculous antics from when we were younger and when

Younger versions of us!

we lived in Grande Prairie, Alberta together! Holly and I have come to the realization that we are amazing friends, but just can't live together! haha. We laughed so hard Holly shed some tears - it was awesome! Somehow through all this I convinced Holly to come over and watch the Royal Wedding with me...LIVE! Yup, I'll admit it here first...we watched wedding coverage from 930pm until (are you ready for this?!) 6am! In this time we also played a short lived drinking game (take a sip every time they said Kate or Harry (because he's the cuter brother), we baked fantastic chocolate chip oatmeal peanut butter cookies, spent long periods of time only speaking in ridiculous perfect British accents and we laughed and joked and somehow kept each other awake for that kiss on the balcony!

She is gorgeous!

It was a really gorgeous ceremony and Kate looked amazing.  We also discovered that Kate Middleton's name is Catherine Elizabeth...and mine is Kathryn Elizabeth too!!! So it's almost as if I'm married to the Prince of England. Almost.

Fun Fact: Holly's middle name is also Elizabeth! 

I couldn't believe how long the aisle was! That's a hike and a half to get to the alter.  It was cute seeing Kate and Wills share some looks and smiles and apparently Will said to Kate's dad "I thought this was suppose to be a small affair" or something like that.  Hehehe. All in all I thought it was lovely.  People ask what is the big deal with the Royal Wedding.  I can only answer for myself, but I enjoy the monarch. They don't really have any power in Canada, however they are great figureheads and the Queen is such a strong woman.  I think William is a great humanitarian and a lot of people who love Diana and have watched William and Harry grow up were happy to see him have such a great, happy moment.  I also love weddings in general, and this one was huge, grand and beautiful! It's also a historical moment, we watched the future King of England get married! 

I watched in 1997 as Will and Harry stood as their Mother's casket went past, and it was the first time I ever saw my own Mum cry.  Watching some of the wedding pre-show with her meant a lot, it felt very connected to that moment when I was younger and sort of tied it up into a much happier conclusion.  

 Wills and Kate drove around The Mall so fans who lined the street and waited forever could have a wave.

I also remember singing 'God Save the Queen' in elementary school all the time.  I can't kid anybody...I'm a royal lover. There, I admitted it. Sorry Gareth.  Weddings are a vision of hope, love and optimism, and in an ever changing and uncertain world, the Royal Family is a sign of traditions and stability. Love it.

The Rest of Orlando! DC12-17! Big Update!

Such a beautiful site!!!!!

 This is how we spent the 8th of April! Getting some sun and sand! It is hard to describe the incredible feeling you get lying in the sun after so many months of being cold! I know a lot of you can agree!! We went to Cocoa Beach, looked around Ron Jon (Ashley picked out all the things she'd like to buy!), then went to tan and swim for a bit.  It was in the high 20s -low 30s (Celsius) while we were in Orlando and sooooooo lovely! I can't believe we swam in the Atlantic Ocean in the first week of April!
I got a little too much sun though and ended up totally burnt somewhat rosey!

The next day April 9th (Happy Birthday Jenn Pye!) we hung out with my friend Doug and his buddy Kyle.  We went to a UCF baseball game!! It was super HOT and I was burnt so it was good when we found a little shade to hide in.  A few of Doug's other friends were there too so it was nice to meet more friends. 

Go Knights!

 After the game we decided to go mini-golfing...and I got to feed these guys! Good ol' hot dog on a stick.

 They kept moving really suddenly and it freaked me out.  Mini-golf was Congo themed and super fun.  We had to do a scavenger hunt while we were golfing and we didn't quite find them all but got to do the scratch and win anyways! We only really won 5 or 10% off a t-shirt so it wasn't that big of a deal.  We had dinner at Chili's afterwards. The sunburn caught up with us and we were way too tired to go out. Went home and watched Weeds with Oscar and Kristin though.  Fun day :)
Sunday April 10th Ashley and I met up with two people arriving with her to Disney that she had chatted with on WDWIP.  Emily is from the UK (F&B) and Diego is from Mexico (Merch!) and so we picked them up from their hotel on I-Drive and went to IKEA! It was fun to look around and see all the pretty things.  I would love an IKEA kitchen...one day ;)

 After IKEA we went for lunch at Panera Bread and drove past the housing complexes to show Emily and Diego where they were going to be living!! Then we went and got them all set up with cell phones before going home to get ready for a night out at Howl at the Moon!

Nick, Me and Ashley

 Ashley and I switched friend's houses and stayed with Nick, who is a chef in the kitchen at Le Cellier.  We all went to Howl at the Moon! I was so excited because we use to go to Howl every Sunday when I was a cast member.  One of the main reasons we loved it was because the drinks were 3 for 1, and buckets were $18!! Now the drinks are only 2 for 1 and a bucket was $27!! Ridiculous! It is a fun duelling piano bar, and they sing hilarious made up songs as well as requests! It's super fun, but they need to bring back the 3 for 1s.

Ashley, Gonzalo, Me and Oscar

Monday April 10th was the day I had been waiting for! Nick, Ashley and I headed to EPCOT!! I obviously had known for a while that we were going to go, and was excited, but as we arrived it really hit me that it had been 9 months since I had been in 'my park' and I couldn't wait to get inside!

 Ahhhh! I had butterflies!! Yup, I'm a little dorky...but I loveeee it!

It just happened to be Epcot's International Flower and Garden Festival  so there were many character topiaries about!

Daisy!!

Family Picnic!

Butterfly Garden

Pooh, Ashley and I!

Piglet and my favourite Eeyore!

These 3 use to live in the Canada Pavilion..now Bambi has his own Butterfly Garden

At least I wasn't excited about the engagement ring replicas! Yay Royals

 After riding Spaceship Earth (yay!) and venturing through the butterfly garden we went to Canada and saw Linda (the f&b manager) and Francis (the assignor)! It was so so nice :) Familiar faces are so great after long absences.  We also bought a couple Mooseheads from the Canadian Popcorn/Beer Cart! It was exciting using my ID in the pavilion as I was underage during my first program! Then we headed over to the UK to see Yelitza!! We caught up a bit and then made plans to meet later as we were again hoping houses and staying at Yelitza's!

 We travelled to France and they had some great Beauty and the Beast flowers! My favourite ;)

 They also had this guy!! HOLY! He is doing a hand stand on top of a jumbo champagne bottle on top of a huge stack of chairs! He also held his body straight out parallel to the ground which I found insanely impressive! I never stopped to watch before, but now I will again for sure.

 We also got to see the Japanese drummers!

and the Koi pond! Fun!! No saki though, I've learned my lesson.  Well, Ashley said no... :)  hehehe

I <3 Jessica Rabbit!

 I'd never seen these chocolates before.  They had a bunch including a super cute Pinocchio box.

 I love Duffy. Nick is not a fan. I don't think Ashley cares either way...Duffy opinions?

 Group shot...those were everyone's cups not just mine!

 I wanted to do this to Clodagh.

We went to Germany to check everything out and started talking to a cast member named Susannah.  She was super nice and we were talking about Christmas and this guy with a big white beard came up and said he couldn't help but notice we were talking about him.  He told us all about why and how things are done at the North Pole...for a very long time.  Ashley and Nick backed away slowly and then tried to get me to leave too but I felt bad, for both just leaving and for Susannah and so eventually cut in well enough to say goodbye to "Santa" and write Susannah a guest service fanatic card - patience is a big virtue at Disney!

 Mulan and I had a great conversation about her friendship with Giselle and how they like riding horses together.  I like when the characters talk to you about random things like this. Good show!  We also watched the movie in China which I had never done before! It was really pretty and I'd like to see it again.
We had a great stop in the Mexico Pavilion's tequila shop.  We sat beside a hilarious lady and her husband who kept telling us about all the trips she goes on with her girlfriends and leaves her husband at home.  Guests are so funny.

The End.

Well sort of.  It was the end of our day at Epcot and we headed out for dinner at a yummy Mexican restaurant.  Then we grabbed our car and headed to Yelitza's for some television and girl chat before bed.

Tuesday April 12th was Ashley's Cultural Representative Program start date!! We woke up, had breakies (Nutella...YUM!) and then Ash took me to the airport for my 12:45pm flight! I got through security really fast which was nice.  My flight was to Montreal and I watched the King's Speech and slept.  It was a really good movie!! If you haven't seen it you probably should - there is a reason they won Oscars! After a jaunt through customs, getting my bag, delivering my bag, and going through security again I boarded my next flight from Montreal to Vancouver.  I finally got to the skytrain outside of YVR around 10 and arrived home to meet my niece around 1115pm! It was a long day! But Clodagh is gorgeous and wonderful and so tiny and incredible. She slept all nuzzled up in my neck :) Perfect.

Disney Challenge Day 12: Favourite Villain Song

This was my original thought, especially with that Hitler-esque scene with the Hyenas all marching past Scarm however...

The following song gives you chills. It is so creepy, he doesn't even think he's horribly evil! Hellfire from the Hunchback of Notre Dame sang by Frollo. Even when I meet him as a character at the parks it creeps me out

as you can see from these two photos taken over a year apart...

At Mickey's Not So Scary (except for Frollo) Halloween Party 2009

I didn't want to touch his hand and was SO uncomfortable. Disneyland October 2010

Disney Challenge Day 13: Least Favourite Song

This is actually really hard. I can't think of my absolute least favourite song, as I clearly don't listen to it very often. My dislike of bugs could make a difference, but I'm going to say this one :

Disney Challenge Day 14: Favourite Kiss

This was a choice between a kiss that created fireworks, a kiss that changed two frogs into people, a kiss that you aren't completely expecting and two kisses, one that woke up one lady and one that woke up an entire country.  These two take the cake for me:

Disney Challenge Day 15: First Movie I Saw

I don't know the answer to this.  I tried to ask my parents but they weren't sure either.  They said we use to watch The Little Mermaid a lot, and I use to watch the Lion King on repeat, and of course Beauty and the Beast.  I'll see if there is anything in my babybook... Sorry!

Disney Challenge Day 16: Favourite Classic

Fantasia

Lady & the Tramp

Peter Pan

I love all of these.  Jungle Book is pretty high up there as well except for how scary the end is with the Tiger and fire! Fun Fantasia Fact: I never knew there was a Ave Maria scene until 2008.  I always got so scared by the Night on Bald Mountain scene with the devil that we turned it off when that started and I just believed it was the end.  I was watching a television special about Disney and they showed a clip of this people walking through a forest from Fantasia and I thought to myself No way, that's not in that movie! I finally sucked it up, put in Fantasia, and watched the whole Night on Bald Mountain scene (and it still freaked me out!) and then finally got to see the Ave Maria scene..and it was beautiful.

Disney Challenge Day 17: Least Favourite Classic

I don't have anything against Dumbo himself.  The reason this is my least favourite is because I just feel so sad and embarrassed for Dumbo the whole time it makes it hard to watch.  I know the moral of Dumbo is to overcome adversity and 'fly high,' however it just makes me too sad to see him seperated from his Mummy and then made fun of so harshly.

Clodagh was born! Arriving in Orlando...DC11!

April 7th, 2011

Clodagh was born today at 3:04am PST!!! SOOOOOO EXCITING I'M AN AUNTIE!!! She is beautiful, healthy and incredible :)

We left Alabama pretty early as we were really excited to get to Orlando!! We headed south east and found this

Yay!!!

We stopped in Tallahassee to take a look around Florida State University (Go Seminoles!) which was beautiful! The campus was gorgeous and even though we just drove around it had a really good feel. 

 

Pretty Florida Swamps

Then since we made my stop in Tallahassee we headed down to Gator Country for Ashley's stop in Gainesville! 

It was also a pretty campus and had some really cool trees with some moss type stuff hanging off of them (they're the spooky looking trees around the Hollywood Tower Hotel at Hollywood Studios!).  

Then we made our way closer and closer to Orlando! I was super excited when I saw this billboard:

and eventually this sign:

YAY!! We made it!!!

We rolled up to our friends Kristin and Oscar's house around 5pm! Kristin was actually napping when we first knocked, but Ashley awoke her with her fantastic doorbell skills and we hung out by the pool for a while meeting and remeeting their other roommates! Then we ventured down to Downtown Disney and walked around, then found the most delicious slushie drinks at the Hole in the Wall outdoor pub and watched the Magic Kingdom fireworks over the trees from a bench in the evening heat. It was amazing.  Then we picked up Oscar from work and got to see some other familiar faces which was fun :) Then we headed back and crashed!

Disney Challenge Day 11: Favourite Love Song

This one is easy...

I'm not going to analyse it, or think to hard about it. This song and scene are so nice and it's my favourite love song. Although Beauty and the Beast is of course amazing and Belle Notte from Lady and the Tramp. I'm going to throw this video up as well:

and this one from Enchanted is nice as well: