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They’ve been engaged for – what? A month or so? – and I still can’t believe that my little sister is getting married. MARRIED. TO A BOY. The good news is that we really like the guy, and think he’s going to be a-okay. In fact, I know it.
Last Friday evening we celebrated their engagement with a small, elegant dinner with our family and his. It was a nice chance for the families to come together and toast to Courtney and Stockton’s future as husband and wife. And, lordy, there were a lot of toasts that night. If I had to count, I’d say there were approximately five or thirty-seven toasts given by the end of the night. It’s a good thing I had to drink water because if I toasted with champagne every time you would surely find me under the table when it was all said and done.
After a divine meal and some cake, the newlyweds-to-be dove into some gifts.
And because it was the day before the fourth of July, there were fireworks outside that we were able to watch before the night was over. Good planning on their part, eh?
It was a fun night, and just a snippet of all the celebrating, toasting, gift-opening, and reminiscing that they will do before the big day next August. I’m so happy for them!
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(Oh, and remember the dress I was stressing about wearing to this party?
It all worked out fine, just fine. I got the dress in the mail, it fit, and, SHOCK!, it was actually semi-attractive! Mad props to Isabella Oliver for blessing the world with some decent maternity garb.)
(First, hi! We’re home now. I got a little busy (read: tired) on vacation and failed to keep up with posting. Plus the internet connection was so slow that I fell asleep everytime I attempted to upload photos. Anyway! I have updated my previous posts with pictures, so if you want to go back and see photos click here for the first day, here for our day in the Magic Kingdom, and here for our day at Epcot.)
Our next stop was to Hollywood Studios. Our hotel was in a great location that allowed us to take a cute little boat over to the park.
We spent the morning doing various things around the park, including the Indiana Jones stunt show (way cool), the American Idol show (it was so realistic I felt like we were actually in Hollywood), and the Muppets 3D show (classic!).
When it was time for lunch we got into my favorite place, the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater. The restaurant is tricked out to make it look like you’re at a drive-in movie, so you sit in cars and watch old movies while you eat hamburgers and fries. It’s always so fun! (And that’s not my bra peeking out, it’s a tank top, just so we’re all clear on that, thank you.)
Unfortunately it started raining later in the afternoon (as it did every day), which made our plans of seeing the car stunt show fall through. We ending up wandering around the park for awhile waiting to see if the weather cleared up at all, and unfortunately the rain just wouldn’t give up.
We headed back to the hotel for a much-needed nap considering our dinner reservations at O’Hana weren’t until 9:40 pm, which is practically in the middle of the night to a pregnant chick like me. When I made the reservation a couple weeks ago the booking agent told me that even though that was the only time they could seat us, it would be well worth it to take the late dinner because we would love it so much. Needless to say, my expectations were sky-high.
I finally awoke from my nap and we made the trek over to the Polynesian resort for dinner around 9:00. Lordy, did it feel bizarre to be waking up in the dark to go to dinner. We totally sounded like old-timers when we reminisced about how we felt like we were back in our old college days.
Anyway, the dinner did NOT disappoint! The restaurant has a fixed menu for a fixed price, which included bread, salad, pot stickers, barbecue chicken wings, broccoli, noodles, and then their specialty: skewered meat. Shrimp, steak, pork, and turkey. You could have fed at least ten people with the amount of food they brought to our table. This is where they do all of the delicious cooking over the open fire:
After all of that came dessert: pineapple bread pudding a la mode, topped with a bananas foster-type caramel sauce. The heavens opened up and I heard angels singing when I ate it, it was THAT GOOD.
Unfortunately, as I write this I am still recovering from how much food we ate that night…which was two days ago. I am not kidding at all, I ate so much and was in so much pain that I had to do the stingray shuffle all the way from the hotel lobby to our hotel room. Walking had never been so taxing in my entire life, and oh crap, I am only 27 weeks pregnant, how will walking feel when I have an entire full-size baby packed in on top of a full stomach?
Rob and I decided to spend the day at Epcot today. I think for him it was a bit of a relief – a break from all the kiddie, Magic Kingdom, kiddie-ness. He admitted that Epcot was a little bit more ‘grown up’ and seemed to like it more.
We started out with breakfast on the Boardwalk and ate muffins the size of our heads. This was just the beginning of the The Day of Eating Horrible Foods That Have No Nutritional Value. But some days you just have to do that.
Once we walked over to Epcot we figured out pretty quickly that they are in the middle of the Flower and Garden Festival, which meant the grounds were covered with beautiful flowers and crazy topiaries carved into various Disney characters.
It was so beautiful! I tried all day to wrap my mind around how many gardeners it would take to upkeep something as massive as Epcot’s gardens, but then it made my brain hurt so I stopped and ate a soft pretzel instead (Bad For Me Food #2).
The first ride we went on was Spaceship Earth, the ride that is inside the big Epcot ball (very cool) then did the 3-D Honey I Shrunk the Audience show, hung out at The Living Seas, then made our way over to Test Track. Turns out pregnant woman aren’t allowed to go on that ride, so I convinced Rob to go by himself while I wandered around in search for some air conditioning.
By that point we were hungry again, so we started making our way around the International Showcase where we planned on eating our way through all the countries. And? Goal accomplished. Brats in Germany, lemon ice in Italy, and that’s all I want to admit to, okay?
Finally, towards the end of the day, we went back to the new ride, Soarin’, where we had a Fast Pass. And let me just tell you: THAT RIDE IS SO AWESOME. It’s a simulation ride, one which makes it look and feel like you are hang gliding over California. You go over Palm Springs golf courses, and Napa vineyards, and mountains and lakes. That’s a ride we may have snag another Fast Pass for so that we can do it again.
(By the way, coming to Disney over Memorial Day weekend is not that bad! I had assumed the crowds and lines to be a lot worse, but it’s not really any worse than normal.)
Finally it was evening and we were reservation-less for dinner. So what did we decide to do? Cap off the day with ice cream sundaes. Why eat healthy at this point? Have you ever had peanut butter ice cream/hot fudge/PB cup sundae? Please go get one as soon as possible. It will speak to you and make you feel whole. It’s that good.
Next up: Hollywood Studios!
Our first full day in Disney started out great. We went to the Magic Kingdom, as planned, and took the classic souvenir photo in front of Cinderella’s castle.
After a few hours of walking around and doing all the rides at MK (including A Small World, which Rob was not all-too thrilled about, but dude, it’s a Disney classic), we came back to the hotel to chill by the pool.
Later that evening as we were getting ready to leave for dinner, Rob reached down into his backpack to grab his wallet and pulled it out with eyes as big and round as dinner plates – he realized all of his cash was gone. So I hurried and opened my suitcase, dug out my purse, and opened my wallet to see that my cash was missing as well.
GAH. Turns out, the housekeeper who had cleaned our room late afternoon while we were at the pool had stolen over $200 cash from us. Way to put a major damper on our trip.
At this point we should have been on our way to dinner, but instead I followed Rob as he marched his way right up to the front desk, steam coming out of his ears, where he talked to the manager and the security guard. Luckily, while we were telling our story to the security guard, there was a front desk staff person standing there who heard the whole thing. I could tell that something was fishy as she asked us where our hotel room was. When we told her the location and what floor we were on, she nodded and replied, “Oh yeah, we actually have already had another person from that same location report theft from their room, too.”
Well, great. And actually, it was kind of great, because I feared that our situation wouldn’t be taken seriously and that the security person would think we were just trying to be shady and see if we could get money out of them that had been ’stolen’ from us. However, hearing that it happened to someone else on the same day and in the same location legitimized the whole thing and gave me a little glimmer of hope, that we may, in fact, get our money back.
After all of those shenanigans we had to bust a move over to Epcot where we had dinner at Tutto Italia, in Italy, and hell if I was going to miss our reservation because of some klepto maid!
On our way there we even saw a really pretty double rainbow over the Epcot lake:
We made it to the restaurant in time, albeit a bit sweaty and frazzled, and had a really nice time. For awhile we were even able to forget about our money being stolen.
(And, by the way, thank the good Lord that they didn’t steal our entire wallets…what would we have done without credit/debit cards? Our ID’s? Our Disney tickets? That woulda been a total fun-buster, for sure.)
We’ll see tomorrow what happens with the money. I have a good feeling that the hotel will make it right and get our cash back to us. And if not? I can guarantee they will get some serious BAD PRESS ON MY BLOG, AND I DON’T THINK THEY WANT THAT.
I so wish that was an actual threat.
Hi! We’re here. In Disney World! Woohoo! We made it into Orlando earlier this afternoon, and then spent the rest of the day wandering around our resort (The Dolphin) scoping things out.
We had dinner reservations made tonight at the Flying Fish (at the Boardwalk), but when we went to leave our hotel room we realized it was a tsunami outside.
SERIOUSLY. COULD. NOT. GO. ANYWHERE.
I don’t think I have ever seen it rain that hard, or that horizontal. Even the ducks were pissed because of the violent raindrops being pelting upon their little bodies.
Since we were somewhat stuck, and of course! without an umbrella!, we found a killer restaurant right in our hotel, Blue Zoo, and had a nice dinner there instead. And when dinner was over it had finally stopped raining so we could make our way outside and catch the end of the fireworks over at Epcot.
Tomorrow we’re headed to the Magic Kingdom, since I figured that’s the only appropriate place to take Rob first as he has never been to Disney before. Gotta keep it traditional, wouldn’t you say? The Haunted Mansion is calling my name.
This year for Mo’s birthday she asked me and Rob to join her and some friends at Tabor Hill winery for a wine tour, wine tasting, and dinner. We started the evening with the wine tour, where we heard all about the history of the winery and went on a guided tour through the wine distillery. (Is that even what it’s called? Wine factory? Wine makery? WINERY, MAYBE?)
The tour was very interesting and informative, but the bad news is that because I am two years out of college and have a textbook case of Mushy Baby Brain, there is only one cool fact that I remember from all of the random wine knowledge that I was bombarded with and I forget what it is.
Just kidding. I remember. It’s that there have been three past Presidents who have requested Tabor Hill wine to be served in the White House – Reagan, Carter, and Clinton. Considering this place is just a little podunk winery in the middle of Michigan, I’d say that’s some pretty cool fame and glory.
And now I give myself permission to wipe this from my memory and give my cerebellum some breathing room, as I’ve recently noticed how limited its capacity is.
After the tour we did some wine tasting, and by “we” I mean “everyone but me because, oh yeah, there’s that baby thing going on inside me.” Luckily, however, Tabor Hill has a tasty selection of non-alcoholic sparkling wines, including peach and raspberry flavors, so I was able to play along and pretend that I was as sophisticated as all of them, sipping and swishing their glasses around distinguishing the hidden spices and flavors in each wine. Frankly I didn’t really mind, as I thought my sparking stuff tasted better than the actual wine anyway, but it’s possible I was just playing tricks on myself, which does tend to happen from time to time.
Here’s our whole group. We had so much fun, and laughed a lot. Ate a lot too. And we may or may not have but definitely did drink a lot. (Minus me, duh.)
(Me, Rob, Laurie, Lane, Mo, Andy)
(Me and my cutie. He was loving All The Wine.)
Finally we then sat down to an awesome dinner, followed by some killer desserts. Mo requested carrot cake, and they decorated her plate all cute and birthday-stylish:
Happy Birthday, Mo! Thanks for letting us spend it with you!
A couple of years ago, my dad discovered his inner Jimi Hendrix and became increasingly interested in his guitar playing hobby. After buying himself a few different guitars and an amp or two, he decided that he needed a dedicated space in the house to rock out and jam with people like John Mellencamp, Queen, and of course Bono because it would be a sin to not include him.
My dad now has himself a majorly tricked-out music room in the basement complete with drums, keyboards, microphones, complicated sound systems that no one knows how to work, and lava lamps because what is a music studio without one of those? Anyway, this room now serves as the main studio of Bucky and the Lip Rippers, the neighborhood band that my dad is in.
Bucky and the Lip Rippers. Makes you envision a slightly deformed, even more unsightly Gene Simmons face, doesn’t it? Their name supposedly has a great story behind it, something about a dog and a bite on someone’s lip (duh), but that’s about all I know so perhaps we can all just agree that THE NAME, IT’S STRANGE. Regardless, they are a really good band, and play some really fun music.
In an attempt to get to the point of this rambling post, I wanted you all to know that this Friday, the 14th, Bucky and the Lip Rippers will be playing at Club LaSalle in South Bend. If you have any ounce of fun in you at all, you will want to be there. The last time they played there, we packed the place out and had an absolute blast.
Don’t miss it. This is fair warning, so you better be there. Come sing Benny and the Jets with us!
Reason #736 why I am going on a diet AS SOON as the plane hits the Indiana ground…
Fried fish, french fries, 2 for 1 Rum Runners, and beer.
Oy.
Due to a bit of a sunburn on Rob’s face, stomach, legs, etc., we decided to spend our day out of the sun. He was still waiting to take me shopping for my birthday, so we took advantage of the better stores here in Florida and headed out for a shopping spree.
Throughout the day, there were several times when Rob would laugh to himself and say something to the effect of how I hate paying full price for anything, and how I don’t like to splurge on myself. And I replied with, Duh, don’t you know me? Hi, I’m Kaley, and I only splurge on jeans or on gifts. Period.
However, my frugality really worked in my favor yesterday, because all the stores were having major sales, trying to get rid of their Summer inventory. Which means this is practically my favorite time to shop.
Let me explain:
At Express I got two shirts for $10 total. They were on sale; 2 for $24.50, and usually $24.50 each. PLUS, I had a $15 off card. SCORE.
At Aldo, they had almost all of their inventory on sale, 30-50% off. I got these shoes for 30% off the already-marked-down sale price. YES.
At Banana Republic I had some exchanges to make, so I was able to get two new shirts and a pair of shorts and only paid for one of the shirts. HECK YEAH.
How is that for some deals?!
And, okay, I did pay full price for a few things: a pair of AE sunglasses, and MAC lipglass.
And if any of you are feeling sorry for Rob that he didn’t get anything, have no fear, I gave him a $10 off coupon I had from DSW and he got a sweet pair of Pumas.
It was a wonderful, successful shopping day and we had a really good time.
When we got back, my cold was really starting to flare up, so I laid on the couch and fell asleep. At 7:30. I didn’t wake up and go to bed until 1, then got up at 7:30 a.m. when Oliver had finally had enough sleep and decided that he would like to go outside and use the facilities.
That means twelve hours of sleep last night?!
Which is my definition of vacation.
We finally got our A/C fixed this morning. Bless that dear, dear man who gave me my 68 degrees back. Life is so much better with a little chill in the air, isn’t it? Except for that fact that I have a cold – sore throat, faucet nose and all. Yesterday at the beach something (I thought) splashed me on my stomach. But then I figured out, no, that’s just my watery snot dripping straight down and out of my nose, similar to the way the coffee lands drop by drop into our coffee pot every morning.
It’s just so sexy when that happens, isn’t it?
Anyway, to avoid being a Debby Downer, there are many more highlights of our trip than lowlights, so let’s move on to those, shall we?
Yesterday we spent some of our day out on the white sandy stretch of beach. It was beautiful. And hot. But the really great thing is that this time of year there aren’t too many people around. So it’s quiet. Peaceful. Which is exactly why Rob spent his time at the beach looking mostly like this:
I, on the other hand, spent plenty of time people-watching (and yes, that is a Coke Zero in my hand, not water, PLEASE DON’T JUDGE ME):
My conclusion from my day of people-watching research confirm that some people just don’t give a damn.
What I mean is, THEY HAVE NO SHAME. NO SHAME AT ALL.
Now, I am all about having some self-esteem and confidence, (especially out on the beach where you practically walk around half-naked), but that’s not exactly how I would classify an entire butt-crack creeping out of a swimsuit bottom. Would you?
Sorry, there’s not a picture of that one. You can use your imaginations on that one, if you wish.
When we finally got to the point of being too hot to continue living, we headed back to the pool to cool off. And luckily, due to the high number of retirees in our area, there was much more modesty around the pool than at the beach.
We capped off the day with an amazing dinner, and an even more amazing dessert- a Florida orange cake. It was like a Creamsicle on a plate. DELISH.
Fin.
