Sunday, May 31, 2009

Tons more to come

I will report on my cruise later, I needed to get caught up first. Tiffany went home last Monday, so it has been different not having her here but I am a big girl and I have cousins coming on wednesday! Before tiff left we went to star wars weekends. They run every weekend the end of may through June, and it's a time for all of the star wars nerds to join forces. It is quite fun to go and see everything, especially all the fun characters they bring out. A friend of ours from the ward is a tusken raider and it was fun to see them and pick out which one he was because of the way he acts. We got some awesome pictures and most of them are on our photopass. I won't tell all who we got, you should be able to figure them out. I will report on the cruise shortly, and it will be in installments because there are lots of pictures of four days of bliss. I leave for home in 14 days! It has flown by so fast, I am so ready to come home but not ready to say goodbye. Real world and grown up job here I come!





Sunday, May 17, 2009

Let the Rain Begin

So rainy season has officially started and I am excited, bring on the rain everyday at 3! Apparently it has come 9 days early, but no one is complaining since it has been really dry lately. It is so wonderful after it rains because it is not so freaking humid afterwards, and the humidty is the worst part of rainy season. Good thing I will be home in a month! Yipee! Someone asked me the other day if we get big storms back home, and I was able to inform them about Monsoon season, which is one of my favorite times of the year. I love watching the storms build over the Superstition and then the dirt cloud comes and sweeps over the valley. How I miss my mountains, come back to me!

So anyways this week was fun and not as jam packed as last week which is good, I really needed a breather. I actually cooked dinner this week which did not happen last week since I ate out every day. I did a lot of shopping this week to get some fun summer outfits for the cruise. I probably spent more than I should have, but everything was on sale and I needed some summer clothes. Monday there was a shuttle launch and we all went outside during work to go see it. Sadly it wasn't too exciting because the direction it was headed and it was super cloudy. Luckily there is one more before i leave so i might be able to go to the coast and see it for reals!



Tuesday was the season finale of Biggest Loser. It was so awesome. My favorite part was the tongan cousins from Mesa doing the Haka. I love Tongans, and I loved when they showed clips of mesa. I can't believe that the oldest people won. It was awesome. It is amazing how some of them run with it and lose tons of weight and others not so much. I guess it just depends on how much you want something.

Wednesday Night some friends went to the Hoop Dee Doo revue. It was great fun and good food! It was kind of funny because we our server was at church today. The show is kind of cheesy and I wonder how those people could do it every night. They probably don't stay too long, but they might because I believe it is an equity role, so they get their equity card and then might move on to something better because they are cool and have their equity card. If you don't know about equity cards go look it up, I'm not going to explain it.



Thursday was kind of an interesting day. We went and sort of volunteered for this big strings concert and it was interesting. It wasn't run by Disney, so it wasn't the most organized thing but it was still fun. There were people volunteering from Universal as well and at first it was awkward but they got over it. At the end they were cool and they told us some cool things about where they work, and some of them told us how much they like Disney over Universal. One of the people I work with said, someone has to lose and be in second place. Also working this event reminded me how greatful I am to be from Mesa, because this organization teaches students in lower privileged schools the violin. I'm so glad it is offered at the schools by teachers from the district. It also reminded me of Cavalcade (a big piano event we did each year for like forever) because it as in this huge church and they were getting everyone to try and play together, 40 3rd graders trying to play violin together = very interesting sound! This church was huge and pretty cool. The proscenium made it kind of look like the top of the statue of liberty. We also got to hang out in the bridal suite because it was being used as the volunteer break room. It was filled with all sorts of yummy treats, which according to Rene is a huge upgrade from years past. Thurssday was also the finale of the office and I loved it as well.

Friday was a boring day of work because we were making cold calls all day long. They informed us all the other day we could all extend until august or september helping with sales for Grad Nite and Nite of Joy. It would be kind of fun to stay because they will probably go on some trips to get churches and stuff, but I need to get home and find a job, and I don't know how long I would last making sales calls. You know me, I don't sell things.

That is about it for the week. I don't know when I'll post again because a week from now I will be on my cruise!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

We're all in this together!

Another jam packed week of fun and excitement has come and gone. Tiauna left Saturday morning so the week was her farewell week where we did something every night. It was really bad in the fact that I didn’t cook a single meal I ate out every night.
Monday night Tiauna and I went to Sweet Tomatoes because it recently opened and Tiauna had never been. It was so good! After we ate too much we went and visited some hot tubs around property. Some friends came and joined us after FHE and it was fun. It was nice and relaxing and we also did a little swimming. I was out too late but it was so worth it. It is going to be hard going back into the “real world” but it will be nice, I might get more sleep not doing something every night.
Tuesday was a very interesting adventure. My manger not only schedules what we do at work he likes suggest social things for us to do, so this weeks social activity was going to Arabian Nights. It is a dinner show here in Orlando and we were able to get a good deal on the meal, it was only $10, which almost isn’t worth it. If I had to pay full price I wouldn’t go because it was very interesting. I sat next to my manager Rene and was quite confused the whole time. I would occasionally ask him what the story line was and he wasn’t sure. It would be in Ancient times with an Arabian Princess and then there were modern day cowboys. Yeah not sure what was going on. The food was ok and I was glad I got the steak because those that got the chicken said it was gross. The dessert was the oddest thing of the night. It was a slice of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup that tried to be drizzled on top, but it was kind of more on the plate, but not an artistic on the plate if you know what I mean. The place was tacky and cheap, and I won’t be going back anytime soon. Good thing I only spent $10 on it. Afterwards we went to Epcot for a little bit since it was Cinco de Mayo and people wanted to get margaritas to celebrate in style. Then I watched Illuminations, oh how I love Disney fireworks shows!
Wednesday was the college program graduation party. It was fun and we got our graduation ears. The best thing was we each got our name drawn to get a caricature drawn of us. Mine turned out ok, but Tiauna’s was the best. She had them draw her as Mrs. Incredible, it turned out so good. We then headed over to the Magic Kingdom to take some more pictures and hang out. As we were taking a jumping picture in front of the castle Tiauna’s shorts ripped in a random spot. It was quite hilarious. After that we joined some friends at PF Chang’s. It was so good. I had never been before; it was my first time and for sure not my last!
Now this brings us to Thursday. For lunch I went to Sweet Tomatoes again. Rene had coupons and really wanted to go so we went. We found out when not to go because it was really busy! We wanted to watch a movie on the beach, but we weren’t able to because some convention was having dinner on the beach where the movie is shown. Instead we walked around the Boardwalk and then went to Beaches ‘n’ Cream to divulge ourselves again with a Kitchen sink. There were 6 of us this time and we ate it really fast and I didn’t feel sick afterwards!






For Friday’s festivities I met up with the gang at the Magic Kingdom for a little bit and then we went to Cici’s for dinner. Tiauna wanted to go one more time because they don’t have them where she lives. I was so hungry and tired that I didn’t eat that much. I think I had more cinnamon rolls than anything because they are delicious! Then I dropped the girls off for their all nighter and I went home to sleep because I am an old woman when it come to sleep, I need it! Plus I was getting up at 4:30 to take Tiauna to the airport. That was an interesting excursion. We had a great moment as we were pulling up to the terminal and then we all had a cry fest. After we dropped her off I went home and slept some more and then really got up for the day. Saturday was like a sad day all day because it was the last day of festival too. We did have a rather fun time at work. We started off with lunch, which ended up being alter than planned because the last group to go started late because their accompanist got stuck in traffic.
The final awards ceremony was a blast because we got together and learned the dance from High School Musical and performed it before it started. Some people didn’t think that we would do it or be able to pull it off, but we did. The kids loved it and we had fun being on stage. It was great because the techs got into also and had fun with the lights and were using the spotlights. It fulfilled my need of being on stage. Because every once in a while you need that, well at least I do! Awards only lasted 30 minutes because it was a really small weekend, thanks freaking swine flu for making people cancel trips! I think my favorite part of the evening is when we were all outside waving goodbye we were on San Francisco street in Hollywood Studios standing on the steps of the houses with our Mickey hands. It looked so cool. We got some awesome pictures. It was neat to watch the guests faces as they came around the corner and saw us standing there saying farewell! We then went inside to watch a video of our amazing dance debut. It was pretty good, I am ready for my equity role now Disney, I’m waiting for the phone to ring! Jk. Now we are stuck in the office making sales calls. I can’t wait for my cruise. It is going to be awesome. Stay tuned for next weeks adventures!



Sunday, May 3, 2009

That's Incredible!

Another busy week has come and gone here in Orlando! My time is winding down so it is kind of a crunch time to get everything done that we want to before Tiffany and Tiauna leave, since we have pretty much been inseparable these past couple months. Tiauna is now an honorary member of the jones family as far as Tiff and I are concerned!
Wednesday was a day jam packed with fun. We started off at 8am eating delicious butterscotch pancakes which are kind of our new obsession after sampling them at IHOP but we make our own for much cheaper! We then headed off to the Magic Kingdom for a day of character hunting. We started off in the Fairy room right when it opened so that we could skip the hour wait. Tink is so fun to see, the 2 that I have met are quite sassy and very believable. We then went and met Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and Drizella. They were tons of fun and we sang with them. Their mother thought that they are better, but she would, we know the truth though! We then continued our hunt and met a lot of characters, and some were really friendly since Tiauna is friends with a lot of them, and Tiff takes pictures of a lot of them. If I had time I would share the stories of meeting everyone but we met 36 characters, so that would be like writing a novel and I don’t have time for that! We then headed over to Epcot. Epcot was tons of fun because a friend of ours from church was friends with the beast that day so we went and took some awesome pictures with him. They turned out so cool and we actually got one printed off our photopass card because I have a Disney Visa and they have a visa room where you meet some characters and then you get a voucher for a free picture from the ones taken in that room. Well when we went to look at the pictures the lighting was bad so we were able to pick anything that we had taken. We had been using our photopass card a lot that day because we got a cool photopass card that you can get 20% off your online order, so we decided we are going to buy the CD with all our pictures on it because we can edit them and then do what ever we want with them when we get the cd so split it between the 3 it won’t be too bad to pay. So we picked our awesome beast picture. Belle stepped out of some of the pictures because Beast told her that he knew us (don’t worry the characters have made up a sign to let people know that they know people).
We then ran over to the studios because they sometimes have random sets the days they do fantasmic to give the cast members more hours. We got to see some random characters like Foulfellow, Jafar, Friar Tuck and Prince John. Tiuana’s friend was friends with Foulfellow that is who we went to see. Then as we left some girls gave us fast passes to Toy Story Mania, and you can’t pass those up! We went and I got another personal high score! I love that ride! We then finished our day of hunting. We were exhausted because we ran all day. We took a breather and got ready for the spring formal that housing puts on. It was an ok event, it was just fun to dress up. It was at Coronado Springs and it is a cool resort. On our way out we noticed some awesome fountains so we stopped to take pictures, great fun!
Thursday Tiauna and I went and watched her friend in Fantasmic since we didn’t have time to see it Wednesday. It was fun, the wind was blowing really hard so we were getting wet. As we were walking out we saw some friends from the ward at started chatting and ended up going and riding tower of terror with them. I love doing random things like that!

Friday was Festival Disney weekend #7, only one more to go. It is crazy how fast it has gone. I hosted my last group. They were a pretty a good jazz band. We heard some good ones Friday and it was interesting that the middle school groups were kind of better than the high schoolers! When I was done I went home and did nothing. I love when I have the opportunity to do that after being so busy. Saturday morning was tons of fun. Tiauna was scheduled for Mrs. Incredible and has wanted to our friend Brian to do Mr. Incredible with her before she left, so she was able to have someone switch sets with Brian so that they could. The plan worked until Frozone called in, so they were going back to back, not together. We are all sad because I was going to get my picture with them before I went to work since I was working at the same park. Luckily since we had it planned Brian came out a few minutes early so that we could take pictures. It was fun, but the character attendant needs to work on her picture taking skills!
Work was fun and we got things plated quickly, so I went and had lunch with Tiauna and Brian during their lunch and it was fun, but then the others I was working with left to go eat somewhere so I was alone for another hour after I got back from my hour break with friends. Then we had a fun awards ceremony, I love them. It is fun to be there because the kids are so excited to be there and we get them all pumped up.
Then today was a great Sabbath day. Going to church at hotel is great fun. The air was broken and we were dying. It is becoming summer in florida and you definitely need air all the time now! We had a splendid CES broadcast and now it is time for bed! We have like something planned each night this week so I will continue to get no sleep! But it is so worth it. So so long till my recap or novel next week!