This and That From the Fall

Hula!!

Hula!!! To be fair, Michelle, Ashley and I went to the Spirit of Aloha Show during the Summer, but I thought I'd throw in these pictures!!! It was super fun, we stayed at Coronado Springs Resort together as well!! Michelle got up and learned the hula from the dancers: (sorry it's sideways at first! You can see that Mich may have been the oldest dancer, but she still rocked it!)

While we're at it...this picture is from early in the Summer as well, we went to a Princess Breakfast in Norway and got to met all the best princesses over a lovely family style buffet (the server brings large serving dishes full of eggs, breakfast meats, potatoes etc to the table and you serve yourself from them, then they refill the dishes as you need). It was great fun!

From Left to Right:

David, Cale, Belle, Me & Rebecca!

One day Michelle, David, Chris and I went for Lunch at The Rose and Crown Pub in the UK pavilion, then we decided to go mini golfing! We tried Fantastia! Gardens first..

but they were tooooooo busy!!! So we went off property to Pirate's Cove:

We got to play! I definitely did not win but it was a blast! They are all incredible people!

I stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge in early September/late August and they always make a cool Mickey on the bed's with towels! Another resort I stayed in they made little hand towel animals with eye stickers even! It was super cute!

This giraffe actually came back and slept outside the room all night!! It was super cool! This picture is taken from the balcony! It's a pretty incredible resort and I would definitely recommend trying to spend a night or two here!!

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party is sooo much fun!! I went a few different times and it was great each time!

Sorry some pictures are blurry, they are from a disposable camera that I randomly used for months :) David and I were at the parks one afternoon and had dinner at Tony's Town Square Restaurant (after Tony from Lady and the Tramp!) and we had the most delicious pistachio crème brulee! But that's not that point of this story... the point is we finished up dinner just as Mickey's Not So Scary was starting...and I really wanted to stay! So we went and bought tickets on the spot - then realizing we didn't have costumes, bought these:

BRIDE AND GROOM MICKEY EARS!

hahaha It was really fun going around pretending we were just engaged! Except that people kept asking out engagement story and trying to make us kiss - to which we replied that we were not fans of PDA - good thing Cast Members are respectful at work! ;)

If we were actually engaged (FYI: David and I are 1000% platonic friends!)..this would have been a BIG life moment for us :)

Spooky Castle!

At some point in the fall I stayed a night at the Marriott World Center. We had an incredible dinner at the hotel restaurant with some friends from work, and I got an around the world in 80 minutes massage that was incredible! They used different massage techniques from around the world (obviously) and it was so relaxing and needed. Le Cellier shifts/Commons life can get stressful! This is the room:

This is the pool! It had waterfalls with hot tubs underneath!!

This is the view from the room:

You could see all of Downtown Disney, Epcot, Old Town, all the way to the Contemporary Resort. Some friends also rented a hotel room here on New Years Eve and I went after work and hung out. It was fun then too!

I went on my first cruise in November. It was amazing! So relaxing, so beautiful and so many fun things to do!! This is what the room looked like, we had a verandah!

Everyday there was a different towel animal in the room from the room attendant! The coolest was the monkey, but I couldn't find a picture. There were also different themed nights, such as fancy dress night:

Minnie in a Ballgown!

Another was Pirates of the Caribbean Night! It was amazing, there was a huge pirate show and then fireworks in the middle of the Caribbean Sea! Incredible that Disney Magic :)

The ship was incredible. It was a great experience and I hope that I get the chance to go on another cruise sooner than later!! I would do some things differently, take advantage of some excursions, and bicycle on Castaway Cay! I did get a Seaweed Wrap Spa Treatment and it was awesome! (I seem to highly enjoy the spa!)

In early December I went to Toronto and visited my Sister Carrie, Auntie's Mary and Deena, cousins Savita and Kira, and my Mum flew out from Vancouver to see me as well!!! It was a great visit, I'm a huge family person and it meant so much to get to see them! My next big trip was Boston!!

17 days 22 hours and 57 minutes until my Disney Face to Face Interview!!

I'm SOO nervous!

Disney Pixar - Day and Night

The best Pixar short that I've seen, it was first shown before Toy Story 3 this past summer:

August 2009? Yup! It's Daytona Beach!!

TWO posts in ONE day says you?!! YES says I!!! And here is why: I feel like I majorly failed in the second half of my program updating my blog. So I'm going to between now and my face to face interview and perhaps beyond throw a bunch of photos and words at you about the middle-end of my program. We're going to go back to August 2009 and begin with when my darling friend Amy and her mum Lisa came to visit from home! We went to Daytona together!! It was so much fun - and HOT!

First off Amy and her Mum stayed at Disney's Pop Century. Each of the buildings is themed after a different decade and has intensely huge oversized 'things' to do with that decade.

We went to the parks for a few days, I worked most days so didn't really get to hang out too much during the Disney portion of the trip, except I got to eat with them at Coral Reef and Le Cellier. Amy and I were talking about this the other day and I think there may be one other restaurant I went to with them, but I don't remember! Sorry!! I do remember Lisa not liking how little recycling there seemed to be at the Disney parks though! :)

I kissed a girl and I liked it, taste of her cherry chapstick! hehehe Oh Mrs. Potato Head.

So after a few days at Disney we set off to Daytona Beach!!!

While we were there we drove past where they hold the Daytona 500

We went for a walk one of the days and got terribly lost. It was kind of frightening in some parts, this place freaked me out :

Buck's Gun Rack. They had a sale on Gun Safes at least...free delivery!

We walked way into Daytona, past a bunch of somewhat run down residential neighbourhoods, a church on every corner, the Daytona College, and eventually found a bus stop outside of a hospital. And it was insanely HOT OUTSIDE!! I thought I was going to melt into the cement. That's why it was great when we got back to our hotel...this is the view from our room:

Not too bad to wake up to every day! The only thing separating us from the beach? The Pool!

So after Daytona I covered the fall pretty well in my January 2010 post. It involved a lot of working, dinners out, a trip to Miami, a few trips to Tampa, a trip to the Bahamas on a Disney Cruise, and a trip to Toronto to visit my family! My next post I'll throw some random pics from throughout this time up, and then move on to my Aunt's (and sister Carrie's!!) visit to Disney World for the first time, and then we'll cover Boston and Mardi Gras before my last week on the job! Sorry for all the backtracking and jumping around, we'll figure it all out, get totally caught up and hopefully have some exciting things to post about in February/March!

31 Days 8 hours and 40 minutes until my Disney Face to Face Interview!

Childhood Obstacles

When I was in elementary school I wasn't a skinny kid, really I have never been a small child. That's me in the Pocahontas matching shirt + shorts - stylish as well ;)

The reason I'm pointing this out (besides the super cute pictures of my sisters and I!) is because yesterday I concurred a fear from my youth - The Terry Fox Run.

A little background (straight from Wikipedia) on Terry Fox and then I'll tell you why I feared this incredibly important fundraiser:

Terrance Stanley "Terry" Fox CC OD, (July 28, 1958 – June 28, 1981) was a Canadianhumanitarian, athlete, and cancer research activist. In 1980, with one leg having been amputated, he embarked on a cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research. Although the spread of his cancer eventually forced him to end his quest after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 mi), and ultimately cost him his life, his efforts resulted in a lasting, worldwide legacy. The annual Terry Fox Run, first held in 1981, has grown to involve millions of participants in over 60 countries and is now the world's largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research; over C$500 million has been raised in his name.

Even now, 30 years after his death, Fox remains a prominent figure in Canadian folklore. His determination united the nation; people from all walks of life lent their support to his run and his memory inspires pride in all regions of the country.^[70] A 1999 national survey named him as Canada's greatest hero,^[71] and he finished second to Tommy Douglas in the 2004 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation program The Greatest Canadian.^[72] Fox's heroic status has been attributed to his image as an ordinary person attempting a remarkable and inspirational feat.^[73][74]Others have argued that Fox's greatness derives from his audacious vision, his determined pursuit of his goal, his ability to overcome challenges such as his lack of experience and the very loneliness of his venture.

Being from British Columbia I always felt extra proud and related to Terry Fox, as I'm sure a lot of others did. I raised as much money as I could, had big discussions about Terry and cancer and the likes with my parents and grandparents, I was inspired and cried at the presentations and videos I watched about him. However when it came time to actually run the Terry Fox Run at school I got huge knots in my stomach and was so nervous and embaressed, because there was no way I could actually run the whole distance they wanted us to run! It seemed like that country road that turned into a dirt road then a cul-de-sac was the longest uphill run ever and I could barely make it 50 meters up the street before breathing heavily and having to walk as my friends peeled ahead. I would try to cheat even by switching sides of the road quickly, bend to "tie my shoes" and then run back. They gave out bookmarks at the end of the route though so this technique wasn't very good. As I got older I'm embarrassed to say that I took the stance that I was "too cool" and would walk the run with my friends to chat and take extra time before having to go back to class.

Terry Fox ran 3,339 miles in 143 days, that's nearly a marathon a day. He didn't want fame, except to raise awareness for cancer research and he didn't want celebrity. It wasn't a glamorous run, it was early mornings, long hours on the side of highways almost being run down by trucks, it was intense pain and all for a hope, for a dream of finding a cure. His drive and determination makes you know anything is possible if you fully believe in it and work hard to make it happen.

I returned home to my childhood house to visit my parents this weekend in Royston,BC. I laced up my sneakers (they're actually Livestrong runners) and ran from my house, past my old elementary school, and started up that old country road that haunted my days as a kid. I ran the entire way up the road, and back - it felt a lot shorter than it use to. I even pretended I was grabbing a bookmark when I reached the end of the dirt cul-de-sac. Then I continued and ran my whole 5 mile run up and down the hillside of Royston. It felt good running the course, even though it was just a couple of kms, facing those childhood fears.

I will never skip a Terry Fox Run again, no matter where I am, or what I am doing, where I live or how busy I think I am, every year in September (Sept. 18th, 2011!!) I will lace up my sneakers and run for Terry and for the cure to cancer. Maybe I'll even sport this beauty:

For more information on Terry Fox, the Terry Fox organization and runs in your area check out their website: Terry Fox Foundation

Its safe to say I can run further than my 5-11 year old self could, which is kind of sad. There's only one way to go from here, and it's aimed towards the Walt Disney World Marathon next January.

31 Days and 9 Hours until my Disney Face to Face Interview!!!

Disney Face to Face!!

Greetings Kathryn (Kate)!

I hope you are excited for the upcoming interviews for the Walt Disney World Cultural Representative Program. The Disney Recruiters look forward to meeting you when they come to Canada! During this time you will be able to attend a presentation about all about the Magic known as Disney, and gain information about the Cultural Representative Program and the perks that come with it. After the presentation, you will have the opportunity to experience an interview like you never have before with the Walt Disney World recruiters!

For the upcoming interviews, we are offering the following dates and locations:


Friday, February 25th
Vancouver, British Columbia
845am-5pm

OR

Tuesday, March 1st
Toronto, Ontario
845am-5pm

OR

Thursday, March 3rd
Montreal, Quebec
845am-5pm



Transportation and any accommodation costs for the interview are at your own expense. The interviews will last all day, so we do ask that you choose a day that you will be able to attend the full interview time frames.

As space is limited for these interviews, please do contact me by Monday, January 24th, to confirm which interview location you would like to attend. We will grant confirmations for your selected city on a first come first/served basis.

Please do note that once an interview location is filled, we will ask you to choose an alternative location.

Once I have your preferred city choice I will email you a confirmation, so you can plan the start of this exciting adventure! We will then email you in the next 2-3 weeks, with the details of what you will need for the interviews as well as the name and contact details of the venue in your interview city.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Have a Magical Day,


Kristen Thornton
Yummy Jobs

Yay!! Sooo exciting!! I already replied of course and have a spot at the Vancouver interviews! It's so nice knowing that I have an interview date and can plan around it! This was a big week because I also got accepted to University this week! So a lot of decision making will be made mid-March when I find out if I have another program or not! Stay tuned...this is getting exciting!

35 days 1 hour and 7 minutes until Disney Face to Face Interview!

Check this World Of Color Video out courtesy of asianbma at MiceChat! It's unreal!