That Cool Park Map Art All Over Pinterest

 I pinned it too.  I was patiently waiting for someone to head down to the World and bring me back a stack of maps so I could make one for myself.  Then my sister went to Florida at the end of the summer and brought back the stash I needed... but I had no time to work on it.

Then finally I had the time!  I went to Pinterest to find whatever blog that photo was attached to and I got a big fat nothing. Apparently that blog has disappeared from the internet and I had to wing it.

Luckily, I've been scrapbooking and paper crafting since my first son was born a million years ago a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, so I had tools and some ideas on how I was going to approach this.

Weigh In Wednesday #12

I am as sick as a dog and fairly miserable but I have added motivation in the weight management category. Prince Charming and I are about to book our honeymoon!

My Hubbs (his newish nickname!) wanted turquoise waters and somewhere tropical for our honeymoon.  We looked at resorts and locations and have decided we're going to try cruising!  I've been scouring all of the websites and reading the reviews and checking our bank account and we've narrowed down some times and trips and locations.  We're pretty decided on a Carnival cruise, as their prices are really good and seem like the atmosphere we want for our trip.  Plus they're mostly inclusive; alcohol is out of pocket.

Can you hear me squee from where you are?

But the idea of a tropical vacation means appearing in public in a swimsuit.  Yikes!  So I weighed myself this morning.  271 pounds.  About where I was when the Prince and I got together.  Still waaaaaaay more than is really good for me.

I have two major issues:
1.  I am really sedentary.  I just am.  I hate exercise.
2.  My 10 pm snack.

A lot of the junk is out of the house.  We've tried to stock up on healthier stuff.  I'm trying to move more.  Also, I've been very good with my soda intake.  I haven't knocked it out completely, but it's way, way, way down.

I need to stay inspired!

I will continue the wedding trip recap, I swear it!!!

It's trite, but still...

Everyone says it.  I know... still things have gotten out of control again and we're getting older and metabolism is slowing down.  Blah. Blah. Blah.  Still, here it is January second and the Hubs and I (is he King Charming now?) are recommitting to improving our health, which includes some hefty weight loss.

I am trying to kick my soda habit.  Soda and I have a longstanding love affair.  Especially Coke.  I LOOOOOOOVEE my Coke but I know how bad it is for me and I'm going to give it my best shot to say goodbye.  In discussing this commitment with my mister, we agreed that club soda is still "legal" because it's just carbonated water.  So... yikes.  I put it out there publically, I guess I really have to stick to it, right?

One of the munchkins got this.
It's totally me, right?

And in equally sucktastic publically declared resolution: we gotta exercise.  Ugh.  I am not a workout girl.  I can't do 100 sit-ups and then lunges and planks and all that crap just because.  I need something more goal oriented that seems like an activity or a game.  And not just "see if you can do X."  The munchkins received a few cool dance games for the Kinect for Christmas.  Those are fun.  Maybe I'll start running/walking with my iPod.  Something needs to be done and  I just haven't found a something that I love yet.  I am open to suggestion, y'all.

So I'm looking at my pantry and thinking that lots of stuff needs to go-- the bagged snacks and all the candy that seems to be laying around.  All of the holiday cookies are almost gone.  I bought a nifty new non-stick griddle/grill pan that I can use to cook protein with the addition of minimal fat. 

I know I lose tons of weight when I actually eat throughout the day.  It's so weird that when I'm at home I forget to eat!  When I had to follow a 6-meal-per-day diet with gestational diabetes, I was losing weight while pregnant.  Who does that?  Me, apparently, so I am going to try to eat that way again, now.

So there it is folks.  Wish us luck!

Trip Recap: Our First Day in the World

The best sight ever.  The tears well up every single time.

After not sleeping very well on the floor of the hotel inside the Orlando airport, I was the first one up on Monday morning. I know that's shocking given the relative comfort of hotel room floors and all, right? We all showered and dressed and ate a selection of pop tarts and granola bars I'd brought along with us. We checked out of the Hyatt and were off to the Magical Express area.

It was lucky that there was no wait for us.  We navigated the rope lines (good practice for the parks!) and  we got right on a bus and then sat for 15 minutes before we were taken to the Art of Animation Resort. We were the only people on the bus so my gown had her own seat!

Hey Hey, it's the Lobby!

We were so excited to stay at AoA. Our travel agent, Wendy, noted that this was a family-wedding-moon trip and we knew we were going to be assigned to a great room in a great location.  And we were!


We decided to poke around and take some pictures with the sketches on the wall and be silly touristy people, just like all the other touristy people there. And then we walked around the resort and took even more silly pictures.

Trip Recap: Leaving PA

And it's time to do the recap!


Day 1: October 28th

Things all started to go crazy early in the week before the wedding when there were some rumblings about a storm named Sandy. I kept watching the news and posting about it on Facebook in between doing the last minute wedding projects and packing.



There was some talk she'd hit Florida and then do some wacky S-curve thing and hit the northeast where all of my family lives. Combined with it was the full moon and another storm coming in from the northwest that would make this the weather event of the century. Just my luck, right? And it was. New Jersey is utterly destroyed along the coast.  It's so incredibly sad.

Mrs. Charming... that's me!

We are back from Florida and arrived to find no storm damage to our house or neighborhood, just cold, Autumn weather.  But the chill couldn't eliminate our smiles.  We had an amazing vacation with our posse of four and the fairy tale wedding of our dreams. 

And just a little teaser from the ceremony...

All of our vendors were fantastic.  Maxine, our planner from Disney Fairy Tale Weddings and all of her assistants, the cast members, everyone made us feel like royalty for the day.  I can't wait to see more photos.

The Last Thing to Stress Over: Updated!

The first I heard about her was on Tuesday, just a small storm somewhere in the islands off the coast.  There was potential, some said, that she could hit Florida and then a few days later loop back west as it moved northward up the coast.  One scenario, at that point, had her headed straight for the NY metropolitan area, potentially affecting my travel plans and those of my family.  Just one.

Today, they're all fairly certain Sandy is headed back east, that combined with a full moon and a low pressure system coming from the northwest, this *itch has the potential to be a historic storm causing mass destruction and knocking out power for millions of people.  They just don't know where exactly she's going to loop back east and hit land.  It's a one-in-a-million combination of atmospheric circumstances that has never been seen before!

Just my luck.  Just FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC!

Our flight is scheduled to leave at 6:50 on Monday morning, out of Philadelphia.  It looks like our flight should be okay, depending on how the storm moves over the weekend.

My family, on the other hand, my parents, my sister, her husband and kids, all of them are scheduled to leave on a flight early Tuesday morning.

So we're all talking about heading out earlier than planned in cars and just driving down.  My sister has already reserved a minivan from a rental company.  I own a minivan but it's got like 110,000 miles on it.  I don't know if it would make it.  Plus there's the expense of the plane tickets.  Will the airlines refund the cost?

It would take, at least, seventeen hours to get to Florida in the car, not counting numerous potty breaks and food.  I don't know that either Wayne or myself has the stamina to do this drive straight through but it could be an incredible family adventure, right?  According to Google Maps, we're skirt around DC and potentially see some monuments and stuff.  We'd pass close to Raleigh, where we have a good friend.  We'd drive through Savannah, somewhere I've always wanted to go.

It could be a good thing, right?  Right?  RIGHT?!?!??!?!?

Okay, so USAirways is now allowing people to change their flights without a fee so I was able to switch our flight to Sunday night instead of Monday morning.  Now I just need to sort out a hotel room.

By this time in two weeks...

... we will be in Orlando, probably standing in line waiting for our Disney's Magical Express bus to take us to the Art of Animation Resort.

It's coming down to the wire here!

This is not us.  :) 

I made the tutu for Munchkin #2's Halloween costume and was covered in glitter in the process.  We're all dressing as the cast of Up.  She's going to be Kevin the Snipe.  So I bought six different colors of tulle and made a poufy tutu that's longer in the back than in the front to give her a birdy shape.  It's adorable.  I need to make ears and tails for #3 and #4 to be dogs.  Dug and Alpha.  Hee hee.  Their costumes will be fairly minimalist-- tee shirts and shorts in the appropriate colors with ears, tails and a little face paint.  I have almost all of my Ellie gear together and I need suspenders for Prince Charming.  Where does one even buy suspenders?  I need to make the sash and badges for #1 to be Russell.

Oh, I also canceled the expensive bouquet through Disney for Munchkin #2.  I bought a red silk rose ball for her at Hobby Lobby and I added ivory roses and little yellow flowers to it, making it really full and she can keep it forever if she wants.  My flower ball was about $30 versus $50 from Disney and mine is sturdier and will last.

I spent yesterday at the mall with three little boys trying to find their outfits for the wedding.  I think I deserve a medal for surviving the experience.  If you happen to be looking for dress clothes for little boys in navy blue or black, you will have no trouble at all. I was looking for tan/taupe and we went to three different department stores.

I bought these shoes times six. 

In the first, I found red, clip-on, dotted ties for kids, so I snapped those up.  In the second, they had pants that would fit two of the three boys and all of their dress shirts looked dirty to me.  In the third I found flat-fronted tan pants that I guess are intended as uniforms.  They were dressy enough.  I'm glad though, that I went through the hassle of having them try the pants on because they each ended up in pants a couple of sizes bigger than what they ordinarily wear.  That said, I have three small pairs of pants that all need several inches cut off and hemmed.  So I guess I know what I'll be doing this week!

I also bought the last two pairs of the red Chuck Taylor sneakers we needed.

My to do list still has far too many things on it. I still haven't painted to cake toppers.  I need to hem the boys' pants.  I need to start packing.  Finish the costumes.  Finish the welcome bags.

Two weeks!  Two weeks until we're in Florida!!!!  I can't wait!!!!

Tips for Disney Wedding Guests

Disney Wedding celebrity (author of the most awesome Disney wedding planning guide available)  Carrie Hayward did a podcast this week for guests of Disney weddings, both Florida and California   with tons of info on planning a Disney vacation and being a guest at a DFTW.  Because Carrie is another Disney fan and not an employee of DFTW or the Disney company, she can share her real thoughts and opinions.

Her guest on this podcast is Hope.  You know Hope!  Hope is the one person who consistently comments on this blog!  She's positive and upbeat and awesome.

Here it is for you guys, one click away:  Tips for Disney Wedding Guests, part 1

and released later Tips for Disney Wedding Guests, part 2

You should click on that link and listen!  I will come back and add part 2 when Carrie posts it!

Kids bags: Complete

Here 's the completed and stuffed kid bags: 

Here's the inspiration bags from Pinterest:

One more check mark off the list!

Feelings...nothing more than feelings

Today is 24 days to until the wedding.  There are still a lot of loose ends for me to tie up but as we get closer and closer I find that I'm not worried about the wedding at all.  We have an amazing wedding planner who has held our hands throughout this whole crazy process.  We're getting married in the beautiful place that we dreamed about and our kids and family will be with us.

 And the marriage itself?  Not a doubt in my mind.  These feet are toasty.  We've been living together for five years, including seven months of double unemployment and rather than wanting to kill each other, we came out the other side closer than ever.

For the wedding and the week of vacation itself, our family will be with us.  I think that's the source of most of my stress and tension.  We've never gone on vacation with all four of the kids before.  We've taken them to Disney two at a time and both of those trips had their issues.  Now we're taking them where they outnumber us and there's more pressure for the trip to be magical and happy.  The logistics of trying to work out spending our wedding night alone has been difficult but I think we have it all worked out except how we're getting the kids back to us from the family members we have watching them that night.

I am a little worried that despite shelling out for a DJ that it will be me and my sister dancing and no one else.  I want people to dance.  Can I force them?  Is that legit?  ;)  I worry that people won't like the food.  I'm fairly sure my dad will complain.  At this point though, all of that is out of my hands.

And there's the blog.  I had intended to use it to monitor my weight loss but that didn't really happen.  So what if I didn't lose 50 pounds leading up to this event?  You know what? This is who I am and while I'm not giving up, I am okay.  Happy even.  No matter how much I weigh, I get to marry my Prince Charming and live happily ever after.

I still have outstanding crafts to complete- including our cake topper.  I don't know why I am so nervous about it but I keep putting it off.  Now time is running out.  I have to finish our welcome bags and the kids goodie bags.  I have to pack all of our wedding stuff into a box to be dropped off at Franck's 3 days before the wedding.  I have to figure out how I'm getting the welcome bags to the various resorts.

Epcot's 30th Birthday!

Walt's vision of a futuristic city opened in 1982 to much fanfare.  EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tommorrow!) Center was amazing in the early days with the CommuniCore hub, World Showcaser and a bunch of amazing pavilions and rides that were educational, as well as amazingly fun.

I read something this morning in last week's issue of the All Ears Net newsletter- my favorite email once a week- about the fountain that sits just beyond Spaceship Earth (the actual name of the giant golf ball thing, in case you didn't know).  

Before the park opened on October 1, 1982, representatives from 23 countries and regions collected water from their lakes, streams, rivers and seas.  These were not just the countries that are represented in the World Showcase!  Each country kept their vessel of water and then during the opening ceremonies, in what was called the "International Ceremony of the Waters", one by one, they poured their water into the fountain to symbolize the international understanding and cooperation for which EPCOT Center stood.

What I've been doing...what's left to do?

Escort cards/favors:  done

Names smeared to protect the innocent!  

Cake topper DIY

Guess what came in the mail yesterday and I hurriedly sketched all over them. Our little wooden peg dolls that are going atop the cake!!!

I had planned to order a set of these little figures, custom painted to look like us-- plus one for each of the munchkins.  I trolled Etsy like mad and favorited my favorite artistes.  Then I realized how much it would cost to buy these, plus shipping and not knowing what they would actually look like when completes.  I decided that I have enough crafting and art mojo to attempt these myself.

So I went to every craft store in my surrounding area and couldn't find the larger sized dolls.  I easily acquired the smaller ones for the kids but I ended up ordering the 3.5" dolls from a cool woodcrafting website. Even with the shipping, I still feel like I got a deal.

If you look really close you can see my sketch.  I'll be painting some day soon!

Wish me luck! 

Tip o' the Hat(s)

There have been a couple incarnations of Disney's bridal mouse ears over the years.  One set features a sparkly sequined headband with attached veil and a top hat with mouse ears and the other has the traditional beanie caps decorated for a wedding with a mini top hat and a tiara/veil combo.



Disney wedding couples seem to not like the newer set very much.  I like the bride one but the groom one is kind of cheesy.  The tiny top hat and the mock tux? Weird.  Either set provides the annoying combination of squished hair and no shade for the eyes. You can still generally find the older style bridal ears around but the top hat is nearly impossible to find, unless you want to spend $100, which is insane.  So I had a new set (that my wonderful sister gave me) and the old bride ears that I got on ebay. Still, we wanted a better option.

When we first started considering a Disney Wedding we became aware of one couple that is sort of the rock star couple of Disney Weddings.  I've mentioned Carrie Hayward before.  She literally wrote the book on Disney Weddings.  She was married in Epcot in February of 2008.  When I was looking at pictures of weddings, hers were among the first I saw and were certainly among the most memorable.  If you're a total Disney nut, like us, you'd love her trip reports on her blog.  Anyways, Carrie's husband, Patrick, got all crafty with his bad self and revamped the standard mouse ears by removing the ears and attaching them to Bride and Groom baseball caps.

Keeping the Kids Busy

I'm starting to tie up all of the little loose ends!

Today my munchkins had the day off from school (why?!?!?!?) so I was limited in what I could do with my day.  So I sat down at the computer to put together a little activity book for all of the kids who will be at the wedding.  While I am dreaming of dancing like a crazy person with all of our munchkins, doing every silly participation dance out there, I know that they will likely want some time at their table too.  So here's what I did.

I created this little beauty in PowerPoint, figuring that of the programs I have at home, it would be the easiest in which to manipulate images. There are a slew of Disney coloring pages out there on the web.  I was looking specifically for wedding images but I also included some that are just couples.  I also threw in some wedding themed games and puzzles.

The cover is in a font that Disney used to use in the 80s.  It's free and available to download.  It's called Florida Project.  On the back, I put the date and location of the wedding. The finished book will be a folded, stapled 4.5 x 8.5 booklet.  You know, half of a standard sheet of paper.  I was thinking I'd have the cover printed on red cardstock, but then the kids couldn't color the castle.


Click for a sneak preview (black and white line drawings!  Such exciting graphics!)

The Other Dress

On Saturday, I finally did something I'd been putting off for awhile.  I took Munchkin #2 shopping for a dress for the wedding and a day of hanging out together.  I'd wanted to hold off as long as possible so that we didn't have an issue where we bought a dress and by the time of the wedding, it didn't fit her.  I knew that finding a dress that fit, was flattering, age appropriate and also not too expensive was going to be an issue.

We woke up bright and early and drove to a large David's Bridal store just outside Philly.  I had a list of dresses that I wanted her to try on and asked the saleswoman for assistance with any dresses she thought would work. Ignore the Teva sandals, she'll be wearing Chucks for the actual wedding. She was a little confused when our sales associate brought over dresses in a rainbow of colors because I'd already told her that her dress was going to be red and no, she couldn't have the iridescent purple, ruffled, sparkly, short cocktail dress that was displayed at the front of the store.

Table Name Signs!

I spent most of yesterday in my basement craft room working on these four little signs for the dining tables at the wedding.  I always feel kinda bad when I go to a wedding and the tables are numbered and I'm at like Table 17.  The head table is usually table 1 and the parents of the couple are at 2 and 3... and then there's me, the cousin or the friend or whatever and I'm like the way afterthought.  I didn't want anyone to feel that way so instead of numbering our tables (we only have four so far!) so I'm naming them after Disney characters.

Prince Charming, the munchkins and I will be sitting at Mickey.  Duh.

There's also Minnie, Donald and Goofy.  I have Pluto and Daisy on reserve if we need them!

I made these using my Cricut and the Mickey & Friends and the Accent Essentials cartridges. The frames were easy once I worked out the sizes.  All of my time investment came from piecing together the tiny components of the characters after getting them to cut out properly.  I think I need to replace the blade on my machine.

Anyway, here they are:

For the record, Goofy, was the hardest.  His pieces were the most complicated to cut and the smallest to handle.  My fingertips were covered with glue when I was done!

Ribbon Wand Tutorial

No idea who this couple is! I copied this off the web years ago!

 I finally got around to some of the wedding crafts on my to-do list. Today, I put together most of my ribbon wands (before I ran out of ribbon)! These are for the "staged exit" as we leave the Wedding Pavilion after the ceremony, like that random couple above. They make for a prettier photo than bubbles, which can be hard to see and don't show up well in photos.  The ribbon wands also give the photographer a longer opportunity to shoot than rose petals, which are thrown and then fall to the ground really quickly. I love the photo above so I knew we were going to do this! Here's how I did it.

 

Happy Anniversary to the Disney's!

Eighty seven years ago today, Walt and Lillian Disney said I do. They were married at Lewiston's Episcopal Church of the Nativity in Idaho, where Lillian grew up. Lillian made her wedding dress herself and is reported to have giggled through the ceremony.