thank you

This morning, traffic sucked. Instead of getting super upset about it, I took advantage of the last few minutes before being caged in my cubicle for the day, and played some of my best music. 

Then on the way home, this came on. Seriously. Made my day 100% better blasting this baby with the windows down enjoy the cooler fall air. A little more uplifting than yesterday, but still grateful for all the great music for every stage. :) 

you know me so well

Thank you, Ben Rector, for putting words on my life right now. 

But thank you more, for the upbeat reminder it's okay. 

fast-forward

It's been a while. I'll try to be brief. 

All this being an adult stuff isn't always easy. It's already September and I believe my landlord will be touching base soon on new lease options for December. Although every day I try to remind myself to live for today, I can't shake the feeling that in 3 months, I have some major commitments coming up. It's nothing any other post-graduate hasn't felt, but signing a lease for another full year is quite the commitment. I love my home, but not knowing what I want to do with my life means I don't know where I want to go and how long I want to stay. Whoever says this is the greatest stage of life, having so many options, I hope they're incorrect. I like having routine, and with all the changes in this stage, routine seems minimal. 

That aside, having a job and a home for the last 8 months has really lead to some fun activities. Last you heard, my sister got married! Apparently that was just the kick off to the summer, even spent in my cubicle.

Man-Cub and I went to a co-workers wedding:

I tried an adult gymnastics class and oddly felt at home:

I did more team nights with my co-workers:

Went to a baseball game and promptly found a new little friend:

Took some new friends to explore FOCO:

Hung out with some of my favorites in St. Louis for the 4th of July (doing the zoo, fireworks at the arch, paddle boats, Despicable Me 2, and the coolest museum known to man):

Hung out with some of my other favorites in Denver for a weekend, fitting in multiple brewery stops, ice cream, pizza, putt-putt, and even the science museum:

Celebrated 4 years with my Man-Cub:

Found an uplifting little something on my desk one morning from a co-worker who knew I was having a hard time...yay for cubicle friends!:

Went to a wedding for some high school friends: 

Went to another wedding for some different high school friends and hung out with Man-Cub's cool siblings because he was in the wedding:

Realized how much I love my kitchen:

Watched my mom be more brave than ever and was never more proud to call her my mom:

Went to a second Red Rocks concert to see Sara Bareilles and One Republic and felt really old when Man-Cub pointed out we saw them in high school...5 years ago:

Found little reminders of why I love Colorado:

Went up to FOCO with Man-Cub for Tour De Fat round 2:

Kicked off football season with the game of the year on Man-Cub's birthday:

Made my first pie:

And although it's caused so much damage to my Colorado, loved the last few days of steady rain kicking fall into gear and letting me dig out my slippers again:

Okay, so maybe I wasn't very brief (when am I ever), but at least there were a lot of pictures!

If you stayed with me this far, thanks for tuning in and sharing in the joy amongst the post-grad stresses.

growing up is only partly overrated

I'm alive! I was so eager to make my Disney movies, I think I blogged myself out in a one month span. Since I've been gone for so long, I've made another clip for you to catch up. 

In all the Disney chaos, I missed my trip to LA and the visit with my family where we got to celebrate my wonderful Gigi's birthday! I moved into my apartment in Denver and am very proud to be a Denver-ite (greatest city ever due to the best of both mountain and city life) and Man-Cub and I are so excited to explore all the city has to offer! He will be here in August and I can't WAIT to have him so close by. Our friends came and we took advantage on some (apparently) very Denver activities, including finding a sweet bar on the 27th floor of a hotel. I've realized I still love being in my kitchen and buying bread was so last year... We had a bridal party for my sister who got engaged on Christmas (HOLLA!). I celebrated my first birthday in a cubicle (holla?). We took advantage of Jurassic Park coming back to theaters...in 3D! I made friends at work and we do cool things like paint and drink. I semi watched Man-Cub learn to golf with his buddies. I went to an Alpha Rev/Ben Rector concert, and if you don't know either you should look them up immediately.  I threw a bachelorette party in my adorable little apartment I love to call home...even if it hasn't had AC for 2 weeks and it's gotten up to the 90s. We threw an awesome wedding party. Man-Cub and I celebrated our last weekend in foco as we watched him graduate! Then we promptly celebrated with a Red Rocks concert and I can't believe I've lived here so long and that was my first one. I got Man-Cub a sweet Kindle for graduation and got super jealous. And I learned how much I love having Beast around still when I'm bored on a Thursday night. 

I'm living. And it's not all bad!

CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE

Did you think I was done with Disney?? I forgot to tell you I made it to Disneyland in the same month as Disney World!!! :)

For a family vacation invite/graduation present, Man-Cub's family took me with them to LA for 5 days! While we stayed on the beach and visited the piers (all for another post), we also spent a day at California Adventure- Disneyland! There are two parks there, one resembling Magic Kingdom, so they opted for California Adventure. This was also chosen because of the new Cars land. And whoa. Let me tell you. Just as I was amazed with Disney World bringing movies to life, they totally brought Radiator Springs to life in California. It was crazy!!! They had all the shops and diners and everything! And the Cars ride had about a 3-4 hour wait all day, so we did what we could first, then headed to wait in line. We opted to do the single rider line as it was going faster, and luckily Man-Cub and I got in the same car! It was so cool. 

We also saw a sweet Alladin show. I think the part that thrilled us the most was that it was inside. California wasn't quite as warm as we had expected in January and as the sun went down and the wind picked up, we were all quite chilly by dark. Luckily we warmed up during the show so we could stand outside for the water fountain show. 

To be honest, I was a little confused as to how we visited one side of the country at Disney, then hopped a plane to the other side to get to Disney too. It kind of threw off the magical feel for me for a bit, but as soon as this show started, the goosebumps sure came back with all the magic!!! I took tons of pictures because I was sad my family wasn't there for this one, but it was still awesome! Thank you to Man-Cub's family for bringing me along! 

Spoiler alert!!! There really are a lot of pictures/clips from the show so if you plan on seeing it in real life, maybe skip the end. The pictures don't nearly capture it, but it's still a good hint. 

EPCOT

Last day = the best day. 

Epcot was awesome. From Soarin', to the ride in the ball where we got to build our futures, to Ellen and Bill Nye, to the world showcase. There was nothing wrong about this day. Even though we were pretty dang tired at this point, this last day was amazing. I was told Epcot was a lot of people's favorites, and picking a favorite day on this trip is so hard, but because this park was just SO good, I'd have to say we ended the trip well. 

Before we left for this trip, some people had told Man-Cub and I about the beer around the world challenge. Epcot has the world showcase which features 10 different countries. Everyone who works in a country, is actually from that country. Most of them come for a year at a time. Part of it is for their experience in America, part of it is for us to learn more authentically about their country. It's awesome. So the beer around the world challenge consists of drinking a beer from each country throughout the day. Needless to say, we were stoked for this challenge. You will see in the video all the beers we try: Mexico, Morocco, shared one in China, Germany (with an awesome pretzel), Italy, UK, and shared one in Norway. If you kept up with me, that means we both had about 6 full beers. We only missed 3 countries, but trust me. We probably would have gotten lost if we had tried those 3 countries. Everything was more entertaining, especially the character dinner. 

Before we left for our trip, mom and I had made dinner reservations for Epcot night in Norway. The reason being, Norway does character dinners. We couldn't garuntee that on the night we were there it would be princesses, but we wished very hard that it would be instead of the Winnie the Pooh characters. Man did our wish come true! The whole week was spent in suspense wondering who would be at dinner. And from the first day of the trip, I was under the impression that Belle wouldn't be there either way because she stayed with her castle in the Magic Kingdom. But walking around the park that day, we saw Belle, we met Jasmine and Alladin, we met Alice in Wonderland...it was crazy. So seeing Belle made us wonder if she'd be at dinner. But then I started drinking my beer and was 6 countries in before we were going to dinner. As soon as we got in, Belle was standing there for the one professional picture you would get. I panicked and asked mom if I smelt like beer, and with a comforting(?) giggle she said she was sure it wasn't anything Belle hadn't smelt before. And let me tell you. This was the best Belle of the whole trip! She chatted with me for so long before taking a picture with our hands making a heart, and then she invited everyone else in too! It was awesome. Then the food was great and we got to meet all the other princesses. A-mazing. 

THEN there was the best Disney show ever with awesome fireworks...crazy! 

THEN we got back to the hotel room and there was a package waiting for me. I burst into tears reading the card because apparently Belle had come looking for me. She signed a very sweet card and left some movie/concession passes for me with some chocolate and a Beauty and the Beast t-shirt...too many emotions. 

This was a fantastic trip and I wouldn't have changed anything about it....except maybe having Selah and Andy there. But either way, at least I got to share my memories. Thank you so much, mom and dad!!!

And Disney...I'll be back just as soon as I can. You really are magical!

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

That's right fokes. We didn't just party it up at Disney. We took full advantage of Orlando and hit up Universal!! Unfortunately, this was day 4 and at this point mom and dad needed a vacation from vacation. Although I'm sure all of our bodies wished we had given them the day off too, there was no time to waste! Kaylah, Ryan, Collin, and I took a cab from Disney to Universal and partied it up the ENTIRE day. Upon our arrival. We quickly went to the Harry Potter world as the rides there would have very long waits for the rest of the day. It was incredible. I thought the Beauty and the Beast ballroom took my breath away (which it totally did), but this was a whole new "real." It was like the movies took my brain's idea from the book and put it on screen. Then the park took the screen and made it real life. The details were crazy!!! 

After we rode all the HP rides and tried our first butter-beer, we headed to explore the rest of the park. Of course we rode the Jurassic Park ride, and the guy put us in the front saying we wouldn't get wet, which was a total lie!! But it was super fun. Then we rode some super hero rides and water rides and watched the Dr. Seuss's Grinch play. It was another very full day! But we returned to the Harry Potter world for one last time on the rides, as the lines had shortened by evening. We ate in the Three Broomsticks for dinner, and continued to be amazed by the details. Because we were sad to have left two men behind, we got some butter-beer to go and carried them all the way out the park, in the taxi ride, and through the resort all the way to our special travelers. How sad would it have been for them to get so close, and not be able to try it. I also took pictures like a mad man trying to help them feel a bit of the experience, as you will see below. Now this is a longer video than some of the others, so feel free to skip around some. But remember to look at the details, like reading the wand boxes (hint hint). 

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

Day 3! This day was scheduled for the entire day in the park, so we gave ourselves a break to sleep in a little bit. There seemed to be more shows than rides in this park, so it was a bit of challenge fitting everything in around the show times, but we did pretty good! Beauty and the Beast, Indiana Jones, the parade! Who can complain? 

This was also a big day because mom did her first roller coaster that went upside down. Should have grabbed a picture of her with the Aerosmith themed awesomeness, but alas. Too many moments to capture. She loved it though. Don't let her deny it. This day was interesting because the park had a very different feel to it. But the parade, let me tell you. Those catchy "I don't want to work, I just want to bang on the drum all day!" and "Count down to fun!" songs brought back all the magic. It's amazing how a person dressed up can make you feel 3 again. Then dinner. As you will see, it wasn't the most glamorous meal we had, but it was definitely the most fun. The 50's themed home style restaurant was the best thing ever. It started when our waiter, Devante, first approached our table and yelled at us all for having our elbows on the table. Then he threw the dishes and silverware down and told us to set the table before he got back. He also said I must have been fishing with grandpa that day because the hook (my nose ring) seemed to be stuck in my nose still. The jokes were endless and the entertainment was amazing. He picked on all of us and it was great. Unfortunately, the picture we got with him wasn't on either of my cameras, so you won't see him here. 

And this night was our first real Disney light show extravaganza. Oh. My. Gosh. The pictures can't even capture it. Thanks to our lovely parents waiting in line a little longer so we didn't have to, we had some of the best seats in the house. The whole show was based off of Fantasia when Mickey falls asleep. There are some characters, some pyrotechnics, some water fountains, and even some projected images on the water fountains. It was crazy!! Took my breath away. And that was just the first...

ANIMAL KINGDOM

Whoa. This day. Words can't describe...how tired we were. 

This was the hardest day of the entire trip for many of us. We had been running non stop without the time to adjust our clocks, and this day made that very clear to us. But let me tell you, we did NOT let it ruin the fun!!! 

Animal Kingdom was so different. Pretty magical, yes, but a different kind of magic. An adventurous kind of magic. The safari was awesome and I can't believe we got to see so many animals. The tree of life was incredible to see, and the "Bug's Life" show inside of it was awesome. And the Everest roller coaster is definitely one of my favorites of all time. Unfortunately, I don't have most of the pictures taken this day, but I compiled what I could! For dinner this night we went to the yacht club for an amazing steak dinner then we went and hiked some of the boardwalk. B-e-a-u-tiful!!! 

A different day, a tired day, but a day with just as much excitement! I hope you enjoy! Oh, and most of the music in this is from the Lion King Broadway soundtrack so if it doesn't sound familiar, that's why. But don't you fret...it's still full of Disney!! :D

MAGIC KINGDOM

bipity-bopity-my life will never be the same. 

My goodness. How the Magic Kingdom has earned its name!! I literally don't have words to express all the magic within this place...the happiest place on earth is as close as it gets!! 

Day one of our Disney adventure has finally arrived folks!! I apologize for it taking so long, but life got busy. And please don't judge the presentation...I clearly wasn't a film major...and I don't have a mac...and I know some of the pictures are sideways, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to fix that. I did what I could to make it more interesting for everyone!! 

Did you know that the ballroom in Beauty and the Beast is real?! I didn't, but you can bet I cried when I found out!!! I also jumped around like a 3 year old. If only my Belle dress still fit....

This was the best park ever to start our Disney craziness. I have compiled the pictures I have of the day in chronological order as to help enhance your experience. I don't nearly have all the pictures of the trip...hoping to compile them at a later date so they're at least on file. But I wanted to share what I do have for all of you anxiously awaiting. I hope it brings you as much joy as possible because just making this was extremely exciting for me. I hope to get the rest of the trip posted soon so as to tell you about all my post-grad adventures thus far. 

But in the mean time, enjoy! :)

i'm a big kid now...

I know I haven't finished, in fact I haven't really started my Disney posts, but it's been a little busy around here. 

Last Thursday I moved into my apartment in Denver. With the help of my parents and Man-Cub, things went pretty quickly. Friday I settled in and tried to conquer some final storage issues while the Comcast man was here. 

Saturday I learned that my storage issues weren't solved and had a bit of a disagreement with some Home Depot people. On a happier note, I made a great first crock-pot meal. Then Man-Cub came to visit and we watched in frustration while the Broncos lost in their playoff game...and then the Packers. Sunday was supposed to be a stay at home and prep for work day, but I ended up needing to meet mom in Castle Rock for some official ID papers I had forgot for my first day at work. 

Monday I went to work. It was less than thrilling and I got terrified I had signed on to a career, but with some comfort from family and Man-Cub, I calmed down to see it could just be a job. Although I had some errands to run, I got incredibly lost on the way home and ended up on some toll road. 

Tuesday I threw up getting ready for work, but thinking it was just nerves decided to go. I then threw up at work and ate about 10 almonds the whole day only to feel sick all night. Wednesday morning my drivers door lock broke, forcing me to crawl in from the passenger side, plus the exact same thing happened on Wednesday so at this point, I told my supervisor that I had thrown up instead of staying the whole day. She sent me home for the day and while sleeping again, the maintenance crew for my apartment showed up to replace my water heater. I thought a day in bed would help, but I was up most of the night fighting sickness Wednesday and had to call in sick today. I tried to go in this afternoon, but when I didn't hear back from my supervisor, I assumed she still didn't want me there. 

Hopefully I can go in tomorrow and prove I'm not an irresponsible post-graduate, and hopefully I can get into a real routine by next week. 

Yeah for being a big kid!!