Wisconsin To Chicago - April 3+4 & Disney Challenge Day 7/8!

April 3rd, 2011:
 
I woke up this morning and did a quick 20 minute (alright...19 minute) workout.  The 'exercise room' was just that, a hotel room, with the bed and dresser cleared out, and then an old non-electric bike, old treadmill (that I felt like I was making move myself) and a big weight machine.  There was a tv! I felt like I was making a lot of noise early in the morning and gave up quickly. Instead I showered and we had a free continental breakfast that included waffles and Orange Juice! I snagged some apples and danishes for the road before finding out Ashley doesn't like them - oops! (The apples and peanut butter came in handy later on though!). We jammed to Ryan Seacrest's America Top 40 and some country as we headed towards...

Pretty sure Wisconsin is the Indoor Waterslide Capital of the US...They are everywhere!!

Yogi Bear!

 PARDEEVILLE!

Pardeeville is where my old manager Janice is from! It's a small town of 2085 people (approximately) and a lot of the shops were closed because it was Sunday (everyone let out a collective "awww!") however not the gas station where I found this:

Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream!

It was no Jimmy Fallon's Late Night Snack but we couldn't find that one anywhere!!

We went for Subway attached to the town bank...and found these. Horse Parking!!

Goodbye Pardeeville! 

We left Pardeeville through a town of 631 people! We made our way through the countryside to Chicago! Ashley was a mad good driver through the multiple lanes of traffic.  We arrived around 430 and after a little internet time we went for some Deep Dish Pizza!

It was sooo good! We also had a Honkers Ale beer and it was delicious.  After dinner and watching the blackhawks lose (YEEYAH!), we took the ‘C’ line train to Wrigley Stadium and had a drink in the bar across the street.  He didn’t want to take our Canadian licenses as ID, wanted a passport instead, but we grumbled a little and he let us in! I had a Mighty Arrow Seasonal Pale Ale. It was a Belgium beer and very nice. Ashey wasn’t a fan and had a Coors.  Then we headed back because we were sooo tired!!!

April 4^th

We woke up around 830 and were out the door by 9.  We had Panera Bread for breakfast and man was I stoked!! I got a Panera Card so I get a free smoothie next time I use it! Yeehaw!  Then we headed out to explore Chicago.  We walked all around Grant Park, Lincoln Park, the Museums by Lake Michigan, the Planetarium and the Aquarium.  Then we found out where Ashley could get a Jonathan Toews tshirt as he is her favourite, and also from Winnipeg.  Then we found out where HARPO studios was!!! Yup, check this out...I went to HARPO! Well  the outside anyays, We didn’t see Oprrah but I picked up my darling niece or nephew an adorable bib!!!!  Pictures below...

 Hostel Welcome Wall

Panera Bread is the greatest thing ever. So Yummy!

 Lion and me!

 Oprah!

 This is my favourite musical! I've seen it twice...I want more!

The other Chicago baseball team.. White Sox!

We bussed back downtown and got our luggage and the car.  I really like Chicago. It is a really super clean city, crazy clean! And everyone was so friendly! And nice. We didn’t even ask for help and it was offered J   Then after a brief GPS issue, we met Ashley’s friend’s Christine and Frankie for lunch in Forest Park, Christine’s neck of the woods.  They were both culinary CPs (college program cast members) and worked the Epcot Food and Wine Festival 'Canada' booth with Ashley on her first contract. We went to a funky café where local artists work was on the walls and for sale.  I had a tofu veggie wrap – yum! 

We left Chicago towards Lafayette where we stopped by Purdue University! It was a spur of the moment thing but fun to see!  On our way through Indiana we noticed a freakishly HUGE amount of wind turbines..which I just googled and apparently are part of a Wind Farm. Who knew?...

We made our way through Indianapolis into Kentucky on our way to Louisville! We stayed overnight in Shephardsville which was right outside Louisville.  Once we arrived we sorted out what we were going to do in Florida so that was really good! I may have also thought we were going to get killed in this hotel (not based on reality whatsoever) but made Ashley share a bed with me! The joy of good friends :)

Disney Challenge Day 7: Favourite Disney Sidekick

My first thought was Lefou hands down.  He sings one of my favourite songs "Gaston" and is just hilarious.  Yes he is awful and mean and I'm sure there are plenty of really fantastic good sidekicks, but for me, Lefou is where it's at!

However then I thought about it a wee bit more, and realized that Jiminy Cricket is probably considered a sidekick.  He's dressed to the nines, and let's admit it, he's the concious we all need. I <3 Jiminy!

Disney Challenge Day 8: Favourite Disney Villain

My favourite Disney villain is tough. My favourite villain that I've interacted with is probably Captain Hook.  We went to the same villain stop a few days in a row trying to meet Hades, but we always missed him and ended up with Captain Hook..the same one of course. He recognized us and was pretty funny.  My favourite Disney Villain though has to be the most evil on of all (besides the Devil from Fantasia..he's just too creepy)... Maleficent! Everything she does is out of spite and her evil knows no bounds.  She isn't a joking, silly villain or a messed up, dufus villain - Maleficent is straight up evil.  

Also when I was younger I met her and it was so scary! She asked if I knew her name, which I only kind of knew how to say, so I mumbled, she told me to 'speak up!" and I guess I said it well enough because she allowed me to have her autograph.  It was freaky! 

Update and News! Part 2...

Alrighty then....

CHICAGO! I'll let you know the amazing things we do here once we've done them, but I'm hoping it involves this...

However I feel like it may involve more of this:

I can't even believe that! It looks like of frightening... but I'll try. I'll do my best! :D

When we are in Chicago there is a random high in the tempuratures (says the weather network!) therefore I have great hopes of jogging outside in one of Chicago's many super pretty parks. And don't worry Mummy, I will make sure to stay around lots of people and with Ashley. Yup, I'm dragging Ashley jogging...I don't know if she believes me when I tell her this or not. But with my half marathon coming up May 1st there is no way I'm going 10 days without runs! (and especially if I'm annihilate that pizza up there!)

April 5th: Driving through Indianapolis to Louisville to Elizabethtown (so excited for Elizabethtown!!) we are working out way to Nashville, Tennessee! Yeeehaw, welcome to the south!

April 6th: Exploring Nashville and Franklin! Ahhh to exciting to talk about!

April 7th: This day is going to be amazing, we're making our way through Chattanooga (how can you pass up on a place like that?) through Birmingham, through Montgomery all the way to Tallahassee! There are few things in the United States that I want to do more than see the deep south. I think that it is going to be amazing. I'm excited to stop over in Tallahassee as it is the place that the great and incredible Miss. L.M is from! I'm hoping we get to hear a little Seminole cheer!

Linda and I!

**I'm having mad dejavu about having written this post before...and as I write this I remembered that I did write it this morning...on my itouch. And I gave such better descriptions of everything! My bro-in-law has started calling me Luke, as in Modern Family Luke because sometimes my comments are a little random. I feel like this is that kind of moment. I knew I'd written all this before, and just spent a while looking through out posts for where I already wrote it....dang.**

April 8th: From Tallahassee we're south out of the panhandle towards the Gator Nation! before heading to the Gulf of Mexico for a little R&R! ...as if we won't be getting any of that during this trip! haha. We're going to spend a little time in the Sunshine, 25 degrees Celsius doesn't sound so bad right about now :) and this doesn't look so bad either..

mmmmm white sandy beaches

April 9th-April 11th: Take me home, country road, to the place, I belong! Alright that was SUPER dorky, but this is the day we arrive in, you guessed it, Orlando! We're staying with some fantastic friends and I'm super excited to see them and catch up! We have lots of amazing people to catch up with, some fun activities planned, and a date here:

for lunch on the 11th! Yummmm, what's up maple creme brulee...prepare to meet a stomach that has been dairy free for 40 days! (This is why you start Lent early! and I failed hard at the no refined sugar thing so pretend I never tried that :P) I'm so stoked! Being at Epcot means I also for sure get to see this beauty:

Yelitza!

April 12th: This is Ashley's program start date! YAY! I'm so excited for her! This is also the morning I hit the road to MCO and fly my way back to beautiful Vancouver, Canada! Via Montreal, because that's a completely reasonable route to take!

April 13th: Hopefully I will spend this day with my incredible niece or nephew!

April 14th-April 30th: Home Sweet Home! There really is no place like it. I'm going to spend this time with my family!! and some friends as well :)

May 1st: BMO Half Marathon!!!!! I'm so nervous/anixous/totally stoked for this! I've been running for a few months now and am really excited to do a race! It'd just like to finish well :)

May 4th: My 22nd Birthday! May the fourth be with you ;) ...now you'll never forget!

May 9th: Back over to Vancouver as on

May 10th: I fly to Orlando!!! Yes that's correct, back I go...for University!!!! Yes, it's true, I am a University of Central Florida, Rosen College of Hospitality Management Student!! I want to go to university so badly, and more precisely I want to go to this university to study this subject with these professors in this location. I can't even pretend to contain my extreme glee over all of this!

International Student Orientation is May 12th, then Knights Orientation is May 13th, I can move into housing May 15th and classes start May 16th until June 26th..

June 27th: Fly home to Vancouver and Carebear! ... and the rest of my lovely family! and friends!

July-Mid-August: Prepare for my lovely sister Kim's wedding August 13th! I'm a bridesmaid! Weee! as well as prepare for WORKING AT WALT DISNEY WORLD starting AUGUST 16th!

August 15th: Catch red eye flight to ORLANDO! ...which I haven't booked yet. but will!

So there you have it...nothing that big happening between now and August so I don't really need to post until then.... See you in 5 months!

JUST KIDDING !

I know you're stoked, so stick around, ask me any questions you'd like about me, about the CRP, about UCF/Rosen, about the road trip, about Disney World secrets! (gasp!), about anything, and I'll answer them the best I can. You can even ask for halloween costume inspiration because clearly, if you read yesterday's post, you'll know it's what I'm best at. Kea003@live. ca! I'll leave you with what I'm planning to wear this October:

Thoughts?

Update and News!

I took this lovely snapshot myself! And without pulling over in the "Do not pull over here" spot!

Well first of all I'm sorry for falsely promising an exciting post the other day and then writing nothing. Also if you make that apple sundae don't over do it with the syrup and you should add toasted shredded coconut! Yummmm!

Now for an email from Kristen:

Greetings,

Once again Congratulations on being offered a role representing Canada on the Cultural Representative Program at Walt Disney World! I hope you are still very much excited for the adventure you are able to take to Walt Disney World. I just wanted to touch base with some information to assist you between now and your arrival of August 16^th.

Arrival Date of August 16^th: This arrival date is the date you will want to arrive in Florida, and is the day your housing will be ready. If you do decide to arrive earlier than this date, you will need to provide your own accommodation. However, you will not be starting work on the16^th, so please do not feel you need to arrive earlier. Instead, when you arrive you will have the 16^th of August to get use to the Florida weather, meet your new roommates, and meet all the other people around the world arriving to Disney with you. You would then start orientations the following days. For the orientation you will need to wear professional attire and this can be what you wore to the interviews. So do pack at least one professional outfit for Florida.

End Date of August 10^th, 2012: This is the day you will need to check out of your housing. You do have 30 days to travel after this date, and there will be many students around the world who I am sure would love to have you as a travel buddy!

Background/Police Check: This document is currently the most important for you to be concentrating on. However, this document does not need to be an advance check, instead you will want to visit your local police department to have the form completed. Once you have this form done, you will need to scan and email it or fax it directly to me. Please do this by June 1^st.

Step by Step Guide: To assist you in the adventure to Florida, Yummy Jobs has put together a Step by Step Guide that will answer many questions, such as about visas, police checks, and everything in between. To access this document, you are now able to log into your profile onwww.yummyjobs.com and view the “Documents” tab. Please be sure to read the Canadian Guide, as the other countries will vary in information.

Visas: Walt Disney World is currently working on these documents for you, which you will have about 2-4 weeks before your arrival to Florida.

Program Assessment Fee: As mentioned during the interview, you will need to pay the program assessment fee ($100 US) before your arrival to Florida. This fee acts as a deposit to reserve your room. You will be receiving an email from Walt Disney World regarding this fee about one month before your arrival to the US. You will not be able to pay this fee until you receive this email, so do keep an eye on your inbox in July!

And if at any time you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact myself. I will be here to assist you Every Step of the Way!

Have a Great Day,

Kristen Thornton

Yummy Jobs

I have noticed a lot of people asking if they have to arrive before their arrival date, and as Kristen pointed out above, you don't! The day you arrive you don't have to do anything but check in at Vista Way, and then they drive you over to your apartment (either at Patterson or the Commons) and you have the rest of the day to shop, meet people and do whatever you need to do. I won't be arriving early, I will be flying out the night of the 15th though red-eye style so that I can arrive in the morning and not crazy late. Plus as anyone who really knows me knows, I really like red eye flights, as well as layovers! I love layovers in random places and tend to take the most layover/stopovers I can get (as they also are usually the cheapest!). I also need to be at the front of the plane on the aisle. As you saw with my trip to Toronto I will never sit in a window seat again, and the thought of the middle seat? Where are you suppose to look when you're sleeping? So awkward! Plus I just like getting up and not feeling trapped in there by other people. Phew.

Now for much awaited very exciting news!

I'M GOING ON A ROAD TRIP AND GOING TO UNIVERSITY AND WORKING AT DISNEY WORLD!

There we go. You know that point in life when you have worked really hard and planned and dreamed and then all of a sudden you realize everything you've ever dreamed of is starting to happen and becoming real? That's the moment I'm having right now. And it's absolutely incredible. I have been very overwhelmed and stressed out the last couple of months and now it's as if I have taken a huge deep breath, let it all out and can see everything coming together. Here's the run down:

March 25th: That's today! A good place to start I figured... I returned home from an 8 hour day of work and have to work on packing up my room a bit more before going to bed for my shift tomorrow morning. I work tomorrow, Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday so that's good!

March 27th: This is my sister's due date for my incredible niece or nephew! I wouldn't normally share such an intimate moment but my sister and brother-in-law allowed me to be at their midwife appointment to hear the baby's heartbeat and it was such an incredibly moving and momentous occurrence. I will admit I was moved to tears, I'm so amazed at this life growing inside my sister and the immense impact it will have on all of our lives, and already has had. I've never had a maternal instinct in my life but this whole experience has changed me and just thinking about meeting this little Munchkin gets me all verklempt. I'm going to buy it every single Disney thing ever ... don't tell Gareth! :) hehehe. I guessed the baby would be born yesterday (Thursday the 23rd) and I was wrong. Someone had to be the number 1 loser though, and I'm glad to claim the prize.

This is the halloween costume my niece or nephew will be wearing come October 31st, I don't care if it's a girl and Chewbacca is a boy. This is the costume her pug Lily will be wear to accompany Munchkin:

I dare anyone to try and say that is not the greatest combination of halloween costumes ever! I've actually been planning this since I found out my sister was pregnant. It doesn't even have to be halloween! So exciting!

March 31st: Gareth's birthday! yay!

April 1st: My last day of work at Hollyburn!! Yeeehaww! This is actually a really big boxing fundraiser (I'm pretty sure) and should be a somewhat interesting last shift!

This is the background on my computer currently. Or it was until it mysteriously got changed to a picture of Mr. Ryan Kesler, of Vancouver Canucks hockey, who may I say, is lovely.

*~*Precursor to Road Trip Itineray: This is all approximation and may not be reliable at all...you'll just have to wait and see!*~*

April 2nd: Jet setting off to Winnipeg this morning (after a layover in Saskatoon which I'm Super Excited for as it'll mean I've been to every province besides the Maritimes!) and arriving to my dear friend Ashley and her car for the beginning of our road trip!!! Ah, I'm actually super excited about this trip. We are driving down through Minnesota with such notable locations as Grand Forks, Fargo, St. Cloud (which I'm going to pretend is in reference to the Zac Efron movie) and Minneapolis (where my sister things I'll get lipped for my fake Minnesotian accent) to Wisconsin where we're staying in a little town called Eau Claire! Eau Claire is a Tree City, which means they have to celebrate Arbor Day and have a tree planting program and so I'm hoping it's pretty! Also it's suppose to be a great place for young people, and I like to consider myself youthful. It seems like it has a lot of factories/plants though as well, we'll see!

April 3: Pardeeville! Population: 1,982. LOVE IT! I'm so excited for this stop because this is actually a pretty special location...I won't say why now, but if you know, you'd want to go to! haha. I will mention that the town's biggest event is it's Watermelon Festival. Ohhhh small towns :) Departing Wisconsin we head towards the home of the President.. the Windy City it's self...CHICAGO! I can't believe I get to go to Chicago! It's so exciting! We're going to eat deep dish pizza, visit Hyde Park, watch some Blackhawk hockey (Ashley is a diehard Jonathan Toews fan, I'm scared I'll get kicked out of town if I say I'm from Vancouver), and hopefully do an amazing driveby past HARPO STUDIOS!! AHH! OPRAH!

This is not a picture of Oprah (I wish!). This is Janice. She is a secret clue as to why we are making a certain pit stop on the road trip.

how do my blogs always end with Oprah? I actually got super distracted and sent Oprah a letter. With that I need to sleep...so you will find out all about Chicago plans and beyond tomorrow!

Spoiler Alert: I'm going to be a Knight!