Stay-cation! (part 1)

Soooo... my family got here a week ago and I haven't taken any extra time off so I've been cramming in lots of stuff on my actual days off. They aren't staying on property and have a nice wee villa and a car so they keep themselves entertained when I'm not with them.

Last Saturday I met them before work and had a quick wander of the outlets and some lunch and then they kept on shopping. I had PM shifts (what else!) on Sunday and Monday and then they picked me up from the Commons on Monday night when I got in from work. My mum said to bring anything I needed washed... hadn't done proper laundry in a good couple of weeks so I literally stuffed everything into my massive pink laundry bag and dragged it out to the car with me. My mum washed, dried and ironed it all :) Result! My drier is pretty crap, it only seems to like making clothes hot and damp so this was a proper novelty.

Got some food at the villa and stayed up chatting for a bit, had some of their duty free booze then went off to bed. Would of gone straight to sleep but I discovered the tv in my own room. Yayyyy! Small things in life people! 

On the Tuesday we were having an Epcot day... my family have never done this park before so I've been holding off from doing a lot of the attractions until they got here so we could do them together. Had breakfast and then headed out to the park. First thing we did was Spaceship Earth, mainly so my mum would finally know what is in the "big golf ball". Then we headed over to Test Track and already the fast passes were at the later stages of the day so we decided just to do the standby line.. it said two hours but it wasn't even one. My brother really enjoyed it and I discovered that he hysterically laughs on the rides like I do. I'm not the only weird one! 

After this we walked over to the Showcase and just went to the American pavilion for some lunch as my brother is a right fussy person and loves chicken nuggets lol. Then we went back to Mexico and worked our way right around the whole showcase. Had to give my mum and stepdad a row at the UK pavilion as I was not up for them embarrassing me, I do enough of that myself thanks! We then went back and stood in the massive line for Soaring (which they all loved so that was a result), then headed back to the car to go back to the villa for dinner and freshen up a bit. 

Got back to the park around 8pm and found a spot between Canada and the UK for the fireworks and my mum and I went to get ourselves a margarita. I see the fireworks about 5 days a week, but to be able to see it as a guest is a bit different so I used the opportunity to get some really good photos. It was Extra Magic that means that the park is open until 11 but only resort guests can go on any attractions (booo). My mum bought some presents for my nephews first birthday at Mouse Gears using my discount and then we were just having a bit of a wander, while waiting for the park to clear out a bit and a really nice cast member let us on the Nemo ride. The ride itself is not all that exciting but the aquarium is pretty cool (who doesn't like dolphins?!) so it was a good end to the night. 

The next day we headed off to Tarpon Springs which is bit further past Tampa on the coast. It has the highest percentage of Greek people in the whole of the USA and this is very apparent! The little touristy shore front is full of Greek restaurants, bakerys, shops full of tacky crap and a hell of a lot of sea sponges. There are fishermen who go into the Gulf for 4 weeks at a time and come back with a hell of a lot of sponges and then these are sold in all the little stores. All the architecture is very Greek, all blue and white colours everywhere and it really felt like I was in Greece and not Florida! My stepdad had already inquired about a boat trip so we got lunch and then had a wander about the shops before heading off on the boat. 

The boat trip took us along the Anclote river and the Gulf of Mexico and is one of the only boat trips where you can see dolphins and maybe manatees. We were lucky as the boat path goes directly through the area where a pod of dolphins are living. The boat stopped for a bit so we could watch them and try to get photos (easier said than done). There was even a baby dolphin, not more than a couple months old that was swimming right up to the boat, so cute! There are a lot of huge sandbanks and we headed out to an island which is home to a lighthouse, a lot of shells and not much else! Everyone on the boat went off to collect shells for half an hour and I finally got my feet in some real sand... and the sea! The water was unbelievably hot! It was like the best bath ever, with crystal clear water and white sand. We then got back on the boat and headed back to land.  

We then decided to spend the last hour or so of sunshine at another beach nearby so drove out to it... it was the weirdest beach! The sand was like mud that we all got stuck in and the water was even hotter here! No graceful exits in or out! The amount of boats that got stuck as they also tried to come in was also hilarious. Watching men being all brave, and getting out the ladders on the back of their boat as they descend into the water... and then they realise it only comes up to their knees. Rinsed as much sand off of us as we could and then got back in the car for the journey home.

On Thursday I had work in the afternoon so we spent the morning at their pool and then they dropped me back off at the Commons :( Really felt like I had been on holiday and wasn't very keen to go back right away! The plan for this week will be the same sort of schedule so we are going to hit both Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom on the Tuesday and then probs another beach place on the Wednesday. I finally look like I have a tan again!

2 months gone already!!!

I've spent today being extremely lazy and slobbing around when I should of been out doing a million and one things that need to be done, so in an effort to be somewhat productive, I'm having another update on the blog.

Sooooo, to start off with I thought I'd just put this out there. I loved reading blogs during the agony of the waiting process. Loved it. Spent hours trawling the internet for them and a ridiculous amount of time reading them. Hated all the blogs that were started and abruptly ended after one entry.  I'm not writing this for anyone else, I'm doing it for me so if people don't like that then don't read it! This is for me, I can barely remember what happened yesterday (which is why I take so long writing these, I literally have to trawl through Facebook and my work schedule to retrace my steps) so I have this to look back on and remember all the little things.

So with that out the way, this is what I've been up to...

Thursday 30th May - Went to work for yet another PM shift and then went out with a bunch of people to Bar B Q bar which is in Downtown Orlando. Very weird experience walking through the city for the first time! The bar itself is huge, there's even a bar and dance floor up on the roof, surrounded by all these massive buildings and skyscrapers. It was heaving busy so we headed back downstairs and had a good laugh and dance about. I got pretty drunk after being given too many shots and strong drinks and managed to fall on the way back to the taxi. Anyone that knows me back home and has seen me on a night out will know that I fall down A LOT so I'm surprised it took this long to happen haha! Probably to do with almost never wearing heels!

Friday 31st May - Called in as I felt completely rotten the next day. Hangover wasn't too shabby which is most likely due to me throwing up a lot when I got home the night before but my throat was really, really killing me. The sore throat has been happening a lot recently and got to the point where I had blisters and ulcers all over the inside of my mouth and down my throat. I wondered if it was tonsillitis but then another celiac sufferer pointed out to me that this is yet another symptom. Eugh... I had the celiac thing under control at home and never really had a lot of problems with it when I first got here, but now I'm suffering worse than ever. Pretty much everything makes me ill now, I get the most uncomfortable pains and side effects and I think its why I lost a lot of weight as well. Didn't get the info about the sore throat till later the next week and in that time I racked up a lot of gluten and wheat packed meals!

Saturday 1st June - Had the Saturday off as I had swapped shifts with someone so me, Jen, Harriet and Scott headed off to Magic Kingdom for a few hours. I feel like I don't see them unless I'm at work or on nights out so was good to see them for a day! First we got off the bus at the Polynesian and had some lunch there. I love this resort! Then we got the monorail over to MK and did the Monsters Inc Laugh floor and Stitch's Great Escape and had a bit of a wander about the shops. Decided to get some cheap food so got the bus back to Vista and walked over for some very cheap food! Its already cheap there but Disney employees get a discount so its like $3 for all you can eat pizza, pasta, salad and dessert. Stuffed ourselves and then headed home, where my sore tummy ensured that I had a quite night in!

Sunday 2nd June - Went back to work for my PM shift which was pretty non eventful, can't remember anything specific from that day other than it was my older brothers birthday back home! After work I just stayed in as I still wasn't feeling terribly great so just caught up with some tv.

Monday 3rd June - Another non eventful day, went to work and then didn't go to Lasses that night as I still wasn't feeling good and didn't want to feel worse the next day. Bit annoying that I missed one as I had managed to rack up a few weeks in a row but I just didn't want to feel any worse!

Tuesday 4th June - Regular days off! The latest arrival group arrived and was good to have some new people around after having no new arrivals for over a month. I wanted to go sunbathing but it was pretty cloudy out so instead I went to Publix and did some laundry and then me and Charlotte got the bus over to Vista to go to Cici's (danger food!). It was much busier this time and we had a wander through dollar tree beforehand as there was a big line. When we left, the heavens had opened and it was properly pouring it down, ruining my carefully straightened hair! Typical! 

Wednesday 5th June - Headed back over to Vista again to get some stuff from Walgreens and had another wander over to Dollar Tree then there was a housing event on over at Chatham so we headed over to meet up with a bunch of people and meet all the new arrivals. It was drizzly weather yet again and we kind of all just hung out at this one table. Other people got food but it was pizza which I had defo had enough of! They had a character meet set up in one of the classrooms so we joined the line and got some photos with Perry. The event finished at 10pm so we left and then walked back to Commons. Me and Jen couldn't decide if we were going to go out or not but decided to in the end. Went back downtown to I Bar this time which was a lot of fun. It plays cheesy music all night long so we were dancing about like morons and singing away. 

Thursday 6th June - I was working a 2pm-8pm seater shift which was fine by me as its the earliest I ever get to finish work but it was raining and really quiet at work. One of our co-ordinators sent some of us to go clean the keg fridge which was really annoying but then he cut us around 6pm so me and Harriet headed home to change and go back out again. As usual Transtar were up to their usual games and the bus I was wanting to get was late! Always at the worst times! It was Anna's birthday and some of us went for dinner at Bongos, which is a Cuban place at Down Town Disney. It was good, but not amazing which is a shame when it looked so good on the menu. Everything comes with rice and they mark the gluten free dishes on the menu which was a nice change! For a country that is obsessed with allergies, illnesses, etc they are rubbish for labelling foods and menus out here. We decided to get a taxi back to the commons so we would be able to get the taxi to Cowboys. Squeezed into the taxis and headed out for another fun night.

Friday 7th June - Had another non eventful day at work, Its been raining a lot recently which has kept people away from the park and makes the day dragggggg by! When I got in I just stayed in but ended up not being able to sleep until about 5am which is pretty annoying!

Saturday 8th June - Went to work via Walgreens to get stuff for my Lasses outfit for Monday. Had a chippy shift which was the quietest day ever! It rained really heavily and the crowds never came back. Took a miserable amount of money but was just glad to be inside the chippy and out of the rain! Thought about going out that night but it was another night at Cowboys and was mostly servers going for a last cowboys so I just stayed in instead. All these nights in explain why I'm not so skint this week!

Sunday 9th June - My two month anniversary!! We couldn't decide what to do at first, its difficult to get all of our arrival group in the same place at the same time. We finally decided to go for dinner at Kouzzina at the Boardwalk. I had a PM shift and it was really busy, I was doing greeting and it was crazy, I kept running out of pagers which was annoying. Of course, when you are in a hurry to get out of work, it never happens so I had to quickly change out of my costume and run over to the Boardwalk where the others were waiting at the table. We shared a bottle of wine and my meal was AMAZING! Best thing I've had since being here. It was also the most expensive but I preferred to have really enjoyed it than spending money on a so-so meal. I had the short ribs with smoked feta mashed potatoes... so good. Best cheesy mash ever lol! Had a chocolate martini for dessert and that was really yummy as well. Harriet got the chocolate liqueur flight which was so cool, three different liqueurs with huge strawberrys and like a little squeezy vial of the liqueurs to squeeze into them. Yum! Had a lot of people asking us to go to House of Blues but I'm not really a big fan, I rarely have good nights out there which is a shame. By the time we finished dinner we didn't really have time to go either so we just went home.

Monday 10th June - Got up and made my Lasses costume... which isn't so much an outfit that you wear lol. It was a themed night as it was a Last and we had to dress as a song title. So I did "It's Raining Men" and got an umbrella and cut out and then attached pictures of men from thread. Snazzy. Lol! Went to work, managed not to get rained on and did my first magical moment! For those that don't know, we can do a magical moment which involves picking a child and asking them to help start the fireworks. There was a family with two cute little girls and earlier the girls had told Anna that they had met Belle and were really excited about it. I asked their server to find out their names and then went over and asked if there was two girls called Kayleigh and Stella there. They looked at me so confused and I was like "I'm so happy I found you, I've been looking everywhere for you!!", then said that Mickey was stuck on the monorail and couldn't start the fireworks but Belle remembered meeting them and said they would be able to help me. When I told them this, the older girl had her mouth hanging open and just nodding away. So when I said will you help me, she was just like "yes, yes yes yes yes!" . I then said I would go get the magic wand and would be back soon and she cracked me up by saying "but I need to eat my dinner first!" I came back with the wand when it was time and we had a little practise of pointing the wand (with the light off of course, we don't want to start the fireworks early) and then did it for real. The youngest girl didn't really like the fireworks at first, but this isn't unusual as they are so close and the show involves a lot of fire which is scary for kids. The parents were really happy and I left them with little certificates, pins and lots of Mickey stickers.

Was in a really good mood after this and headed home to get ready for Lasses. Had a really good night and there was some really amazing costumes. Came home and munched on popcorn before finally going to bed!

Tuesday 11th June - Slept most of the day as I was just so tired so never did any of the stuff that I needed to  do today which means I need to try and get it all done tomorrow! Woops! Did make a big lot of spag bol though which will keep me going for dinners for a while! My family get here on Friday which is exciting!! Even more exciting, they are bringing me Cadburys chocolate!

Finally, going to mention a really cute thing I saw when I was walking into work one day, but can't remember which day it was. We see a lot of people celebrating getting over illnesses or Make a Wish families but this particular family just caught my eye. I was doing my usual speed walk through the park to get to work and there was a man just in front of me with a bright green printed t-shirt and I was like "what does that say?" As I got closer I could see a sort of caricature picture of a little girl with short hair, and then as I got closer I could see that she had a speech bubble that said "I kicked cancers ass!", then it had a little score board that said "Jessica 1- Cancer 0". Then in big writing it had at the bottom "if she can beat cancer, I can do anything"  As I passed the man, I could then see this little girl who looked exactly like the drawing on the tshirt and she was the happiest little kid I've ever seen, just running about pushing her younger sibling in a stroller. When you live in the "Disney bubble", you sometimes switch off and don't appreciate where you are and how amazing everything actually is. That little girl just running about and laughing at nothing in particular definitely made me re-think my mood and brightened up my day. :)