- It’s not that I’m ad because I don’t understand people. I’m sad because I do.
- The world rewards extrovert behaviour… but all the VIPs are in private luxury boxes.
- Amazing feeling: when you find an article of clothing you thought your pet had peed on, but find out it just got some water on it instead.
- I’m starting to feel better, but not recovered to the point where I’m gonna pass on a can of ginger ale.
- Why am I so transfixed by primetime melodramas that I won’t watch for 6 year but then will be all “Oh hey – this serial killer procedural is on” *loses 48 minutes*
- Weird how we forget that we aren’t required to be on Facebook
- Loki isn’t dead. He’s the Hulk somehow. Book it.
- I hate when people ask me what I want to do because the actual answer I’m not allowed to go with is “eat brunch”.
- I celebrate the birthdays of rides at Disneyland. This is my life now.
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Musin9s Jan 6, 7 & 8
- I hate being sick
- Being sick is the worst
- Well… maybe not the worst worst. More like the 37th worst.
- Cause being sick isn’t worse than having soaking wet socks or getting cancer or the music of 21 Pilots.
- Being sick is slightly better than being in line behind someone who’s paying with a cheque in 2019 or blindly loving the next big thing on Netflix.
- You can only spit green for so many days before you just want to light your lungs on fire.
- I can only name like 6 of the 7 dwarfs but can never remember who I forget. Let’s see Grumpy, Dopey, Doc, Bashful, Happy, Sleepy and… that guy. Sneezy. Dang. Never would’ve thought Sneezy was the one I wouldn’t remember.
- The most hilarious part of being sick is that moment where you think you’re getting better right before you get a coughing fit that ends in a heave.
- Buckley’s – it tastes awful, and it works. And that’s okay if you can save an additional 15%.
musin9s Jan 5 2019
- I don’t care whether someone stands or kneels during the national anthem at a hockey game. It’s only still there because it ensures revenue from 1 extra commercial break anyhow.
- I feel like my cat thinks it’s job is to wake me up if he thinks I’m about to have a bad dream in the middle of the night. Even though sometimes he interrupts me when I’m recording a podcast with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins at a grocery store.
- A good way to wind down is to take 5 minutes away from it all and focus on deep relaxed diaphragmatic breathing. A good way to get wound up is to realize you can’t really do this too often without looking kinda crazy.
- A dog’s love is unconditional and a cat’s love is some conditional
- A restaurant I love shared a photo I took on their feed and now I completely understand Instagram food photos.
- Do records really sound better than CDs/high quality streaming? Or do people prefer them because it forces you to stop and just enjoy the music until it’s time to flip?
- If I had 101 Dalmations I’d 100% name one Dog Wick
- Sure social contact is nice, but have you ever had some really great soup?
- Perrier: for when you want a water, but also want it to be kinda spicy too.
Minimalistic-ish?
Ah yes, January – the start of a new year, and all those stupid “new year, new me” posts on social media. The time of year when everyone is making resolutions about how to make themselves better – how often they’re going to take selfies of themselves at the gym (I’m fairly certain that’s about 75% of all people do there), what delicious foods they are going to eliminate from their lives – and it’s also the time of year when fast food locations put out great deals to entice everyone to break their new diet haha.
There’s zero point in me making a resolution to go to the gym more (not going to happen), or to eat healthier (you should see the stash of snacks I have in my makeup cabinet beside my bathtub….) – but I have decided that 2019 is the year I finally finish unpacking all the boxes from our move into our house (which, you know, happened back in 2015…) – and in the process, de-clutter all the unnecessary items laying around. I found a great website – Nourishing Minimalism who has a great challenge to get rid of 2019 items from your home during 2019. I definitely do not see myself becoming a true minimalist, but it would be nice to not trip over things all the time, and live a slightly more simple life.
So, I signed up, and printed off my free chart. I also printed a second chart, and marked “Incoming” on the top of it. I figure it won’t make much of a difference if I do manage to rid my home of 2019 items, only to replace it with that many new things. So my goal is to come as close as possible to filling the outgoing chart, while keeping the incoming chart at a reasonable number – I haven’t decided on a hard number yet, but I’m sure I’ll figure that out as the year goes on. The only rules – food doesn’t count, and neither do prescriptions. However, I am counting items such as hand soap, shampoo, etc since we have an obscene amount stockpiled in our basement – my hope is to actually make a dent in our reserves…
I guess we’ll see how I actually make out on this challenge, but I am going to try and post regularly to keep myself focused.
Musin9s – Jan 4, 2019
1) Xmas seems like a smokescreen to distract from the hardship of winter
2) It should be a requirement to have a 5 minute buffer between getting home from work and having any social interaction whatsoever
3) April 30th should be deemed “Practice Halloween”
4) If I ignore my cat when he’s trying to get my attention too often – he’ll piss on something. I am SO jealous he gets to do that.
5) I’m sad but not like, “tell a successful person to die in a fire to feel better about my worthless life” sad or anything
6) I was last week years old when I learned the word for the day after tomorrow was overmorrow
7) As I was drifting off last night I had a clever thought about the movie Coco that I was all “Oh yeah that’s good – I’ll definitely remember that tomorrow” that I definitely forgot today
8) I’m not racist or anything… but cookies are delicious
9) Spotify/Apple Music – have access to stream essentially any song/album ever. Netflix – have access to stream former direct to DVD movies, stuff that wasn’t good enough for HBO or Showtime, and Iron Man 2 but not Iron Man 1 or 3 (for 4 months)
Musin9s – Jan 3, 2019
I’ve always struggled with my relationship with writing. It’s something I generally feel I’m good at, and others seem to appreciate what I put out there, but it can often seem like a chore. But it’s undeniable that I’m in a better state when I’m typing things out that I enjoy. So my goal for 2019 is to make it a priority to churn something out as frequently as I’m able. So in an effort to combine things I enjoy (lists, creativity) with things I probably need (gratitude, an outlet) I came up with this idea this morning for a series of listicle style posts I’m going to call “Musin9s” – a list of 9 thoughts that came across my mind over the course of the day. Why 9? Because it’s a top 10 with 10% off. I dunno. I like 9. Cut me some slack.
Here goes:
1) I’m at my happiest when I’m spending the least time possible on my social media networks
2) I know many people who feel compelled to be genuinely upset over which NHL players made the All Star Team without recognizing having this as a problem means they must not have any actual problems at the moment
3) Money is the root of all evil… but bad guy wrestlers always seem to be having the most fun
4) This morning I saw a guy driving a Hyundai who almost smashed into a boulevard because they were in so much of a hurry, which was weird because no one who drives a Hyundai is important enough to need to be anywhere that quickly.
5) Yellow is nobody’s favourite colour
6)The easiest way to become disappointed in yourself is to let down your dog.
7) How come Mother Gothel just didn’t tell Rapunzel her birthday was literally any other date than the one the floating lanterns were released for the missing princess?
8) It’s not that I don’t think people are good. I believe we all aspire to be good people in life. I just don’t think that’s mankind’s default setting. Being an admirable human is really hard.
9) The fastest thing in the universe is the speed of light. The second fastest? A cat who just realized you’re typing on your computer.
jjjjj
Saana – January 2, 2018
Possibly my favourite meal from our 2017 trip was at Saana, so it was a no-brainer for us to return there. We did the same thing we did on the previous trip, and made a late reservation for after the park closed. (Technically I think Animal Kingdom was open until 9pm that night, but we left after the early show of Rivers of Light and headed over to AKL for our 8pm reservation).
We arrived a little early to check in, around 7:40, but they were running behind and we were handed a pager. We found a bench to sit on, and then we waited. It was pretty much 8pm on the nose before we were called and led to a two-top table by a window. It would have been a fantastic spot to animal watch if it wasn’t already dark out…
First up were drinks. I kept it simple with a Coke, but Luke ordered a Kande Coconut Cooler – a refreshing combination of Starr African rum, coconut, vanilla ice cream and orange juice, $10.
We knew exactly what we wanted to eat, and wasted no time ordering their Indian Style Bread Service – Traditional Naan, Garlic Ginger Naan, Spiced Naan, Onion Kulcha and Paneer Paratha with Red Chile Sambal, Cucumber Raita, Coriander Chutney, Mango Chutney, Tomato-Date Jam, Garlic Pickle, Spicy Jalapeno-lime pickle, Roasted Red Pepper Hummus and Tamarind Chutney, $16. There is one type of bread I don’t care for, but I can never remember which one it is so we just order them all (Luke likes all of them). I do wish they offered a coconut naan though, that’s my absolute favourite whenever I go to an Indian restaurant.
This was just as delicious as we remembered, and we really enjoyed taking our time trying out each bread with each dip – I even tried the super spicy ones. The hummus was much better than I remembered it being, but my favourite was probably the Tamarind Chutney – which isn’t a huge surprise, I eat that all the time with Vegetable Pakoras. Luke loves spicy, and his favourite was the Garlic Pickle.
For our main meal, we decided to share the Potje Inspired. I don’t see it on the menu, but they allowed us to choose 3 items (2 meat, 1 veg) for an additional cost – I don’t know if this has been discontinued or if you just need to ask for it. We were charged $37 for this. We actually ordered the exact same three items as we had the year before, the butter chicken, the chickpea wat and the braised beef. I somehow forgot to take pictures of any of it, we were hungry and started digging in as soon as it was brought to our table haha. So, here is a picture of what it looked like in 2017 when we ate there…
I love that chickpea Wat, it’s full of flavour, but isn’t too spicy. The butter chicken is ok, I’ve had better (we live in a neighbourhood that is predominantly Indian, so there are some amazing restaurants around us with incredible butter chicken, vindaloo, tikka masala, etc). The braised beef is tender and delicious.
This was another great meal at Saana, and it is one I’d have a difficult time skipping. Maybe next trip we’ll book an earlier supper so we can see the animals!
Tables in Wonderland original cost: $150 Break Even Point Before this meal: $110.18 Savings this Meal: $12.60 Total Until Breaking Even: $97.58
Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip) Estimated Cost of this meal: $98.52 Actual Cost: $53.68 Over/Under: Under by $44.84 Remaining: $2048.75
January 1, 2018 – Part Two
Our Uber arrived, and off we went once again to Give Kids the World! Today we had opted to do a different task, and had signed up for Food Delivery (I think it had a different, cute name, but I don’t remember what it was now). We were early this day, and knew where we were going – hurray for us! We checked in for our 11am-2:30pm shift, and were directed on where to go. Once we arrived, we were given a run-down on what to do. This was a little more extensive than yesterday’s instructions (scoop ice cream, wash your hands, wear a hair net, keep the place/scoops/blenders clean, don’t eat the food, etc). Today we were stationed in a little room by the main dining hall, with some telephones and computer screens. The families staying at the Village are allotted a certain amount of dining credits for their week (much like the Disney dining plan), and they are allowed to use these credits for delivery (basically like room service). They would call, Luke or I would answer the phone, ask for their room number and their order, and everything would get punched into the computer. The order would print out on a receipt in the main kitchen, where the volunteers working there would prepare it. The receipt would also print in the room Luke and I were in, and it was our responsibility to gather the drinks requested (cans of pop, bottles of water, milk, juice, etc). Once the order was ready, someone from the kitchen would bring it over to us, and one of us had to go deliver it. Before starting our shift, a manager had made us do a short little training course to prove we knew how to drive a golf cart, and then provided us with site maps so we knew where to go.
We started our shift just as the lunch rush started, so it was actually steadily busy. I really didn’t love this volunteer shift, I hate talking on the phone and every time I drive a golf cart I feel like I’m going to flip it (I know, I’m weird). Luke used to work at a golf course, so he was much more comfortable driving the cart, so I let him take most of the deliveries. I did enjoy seeing some of the painted fire hydrants around the village though, they are so adorable!
At 2:30, our shift was over and we were relieved by the next set of volunteers. We took our time walking back to the main building, taking some pictures of the village as we walked (since it was dark out when we left the night before).
We called an Uber, and had him drop us off at a Walmart close by. We wanted to pick up a few drinks/snacks to include in our welcome bags for our family, as well as a few things for ourselves to snack on. We figured we’d be there for an hour, maybe an hour and a half… that turned in to over three hours since we were enjoying looking at all of the unique things we don’t have in Canada. We went a little overboard on snacks for our friends and family, and I picked up some cute Disney souvenirs for a fraction of the cost in the parks (like a Mickey Mouse zip-up hoody for $24 – which does show up in later pictures on this trip!) We also picked up some alcohol (because that is sold in Walmart – crazy! Also the prices, so cheap!!
*No, I didn’t buy this, but $3 wine?! Seriously?!
I grabbed the necessities for making Mimosas on the wedding morning, as well as some plastic Disney Princess cups to drink them out of. #Fancy – but they looked cute in our getting ready pictures! (Sneak peek of more wedding pics)
Finally, 3 hours and over $400 later, we made our way out of Walmart pushing an overflowing shopping cart -oops! We knew we couldn’t fit everything into a regular Uber/Lyft, so we decided to stop being cheapskates and ordered the Uber XL (or whatever it’s called)…naturally a 15-person van pulled up for us hahaha. Luke and I just looked at each and laughed, shrugged and said “at least all of our stuff will fit in it”.
By this point, we were behind schedule, so when we pulled up at our hotel for the night, I immediately grabbed a luggage cart for our insane amount of Walmart purchases and a bell services attendant came over to assist. I explained that we were checking in for the night, but we had a dining reservation we were running late for, so we would come grab our stuff after we ate (we also hadn’t ate since our expensive sandwiches that morning, so we were hungry!). This wasn’t an issue at all, and we headed off to our ADR – 1900 Park Fare!
For some reason, we also had a reservation at California Grill that night, so we headed straight there after finishing up at 1900 Park Fare.
Once we finished our second meal, we headed back to the Grand Floridian to finally check in for a few hours of sleep. I’m a little sad we didn’t have much time to really the room, but it was the most comfortable bed we’ve ever slept in on Disney property. The room was also huge by hotel standards, and it was only a studio (not a 1-bedroom or anything).
The view from our room was pretty great!
As great as this room was, I don’t think we’ll ever pay to stay here. It’s very expensive, and – unpopular opinion – it felt a little uppity for us. The night we were there, it was over $800 – we stayed there for free. When you book a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding and set up a room block, the bride and groom are given a free night in any resort of their choice once they hit a certain number of confirmed room nights. We knew we’d never be able to afford to stay at the Grand on our own, so we were quick to choose this as our freebie.
Fitbit Steps: 7670
California Grill – January 1, 2018
We had it in our heads that we needed to watch the fireworks at least once from the 15th floor observation deck at the Contemporary Grill, and this was the only place to squeeze in a reservation. We knew we wouldn’t be hungry after eating at a buffet but we figured we would go grab a drink and an appetizer or dessert.
We finished up at 1900 Park Fare later than we thought we would, and headed straight for the monorail. As we arrived at the Contemporary, we heard the first fireworks go off, so we hustled over to the check-in counter for the Cali Grill and they quickly put us into the private elevator leading to the restaurant. While in the elevator, a cast member told us that as soon as we arrived at the restaurant, we should head directly outside and our table would be waiting for us once Happily Ever After was finished.
We took her advice and headed out onto the observation deck. We had missed less than 5 minutes of the 18 minute long show, and we knew we’d be seeing it later in the week so we weren’t upset. It was also a pretty cold night, especially up that high with the wind blowing , so the deck wasn’t crowded at all and we had no issues finding a great spot to watch despite being late. Most people were huddled inside, not brave enough to come out into the cold for a better view. It was a great view though, and we enjoyed Happily Ever After for our first (of many viewings on this trip). I honestly only took two or three pictures, I wanted to just enjoy the show.
Once the fireworks had ended, we made our way back inside, where our table was ready for us. We knew we weren’t hungry at all, so we decided to share an appetizer, eat quickly and allow them to turn over our table to another couple who would spend more money than us.
Like ordered a drink as well, the Blackberry Lemonade- which doesn’t appear to be on the menu any longer, and I didn’t get a picture of the description. It was $13, and Luke didn’t love it. The stir stick was cute though with its little monorail!
We wanted to share an appetizer, but there wasn’t much on the menu that appealed to a picky eater like myself. We ultimately ended up ordering the Pepperoni Pizza -House-made Pepperoni, Tomato Conserva, Fontina, Asiago, Parmesan, Mozzarella, Basil-Oregano Pistou, $16.
I did not like this at all. I tend to like wood-oven pizza, but this had too much char on it, it tasted more burnt than anything else. I also hated the basil-oregano pistou (which is weird, because I tend to like the flavours of both of those herbs) – but I have no idea what a pistou is so maybe that’s the part I didn’t like?
Our server did bring us a basket of bread, and I did eat some of that. I enjoyed the fancy butter haha. I love bread, and I’m not difficult to please with that stuff…
Our total bill came to $29.19 after saving $1.60 on our pizza with my annual pass.
I know there are so many huge fans of California Grill out there, but I wasn’t overly impressed. Although, I do recognize that we did not give it a fair shot, neither one of us ordered a steak (or an entree of any kind for that matter). We actually have reservations for the brunch there on our trip next May, where we will be sure to show up nice and hungry and be able to give this restaurant another chance.
No TIW – blackout day
Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip) Estimated Cost of this meal: $60.71 Actual Cost: $29.19 (before tip) Over/Under: Under by $31.52 Remaining: $2189.46
January 1, 2018 – Part One
We woke up relatively early, and called bell services. While we waited for them to arrive, we finished packing up the last few items, before handing over all our luggage. After two nights at Pop, we were moving up to a much fancier hotel for the night!
I also realized I had not taken pictures of our room when we first arrived since we were in a hurray to get to Magic Kingdom – what a bad trip reporter I am! I took the time to take some before we left – so ignore the fact that the bed isn’t perfectly made, etc.
*I thought the showers were pretty nice!
*A pocket door and full-length mirror separated the sink area from the toilet/shower
*I didn’t use it, but there was a hair dryer, iron and full-size ironing board in the room
*Again, ignore the terrible job at making the bed, I just pulled the blankets up so it wasn’t a crumpled mess. The bed itself was decent, and it was really nice to have plug-ins on either side to charge our phones at night.
*Even more plug-ins underneath the TV! I was impressed by the amount in these renovated rooms
*The safe is small, but more than enough for us to keep our passports safe! It was also used to keep our wedding bands safe, since we couldn’t wear them yet!
*I think this is a great use of space! Since it was just the two of us, we left it set up as a table for the duration of our stay, but I can see how it’d be a bit cramped if you had to leave it down as a bed during your trip.
*The headboard of the pull-down bed
*It was incredibly easy to pull down the bed/push it back up, I’m a weakling and I didn’t find it too heavy at all
*The clear-front mini fridges are pretty mini, they really don’t hold much at all…
We had been cutting through the parking lot to get to the buses/main building at Pop, since it was much quicker, but we decided to actually walk through the resort (seeing as how we were leaving, and still hadn’t done this…)
We went to Everything Pop food court, but we realized we didn’t really have time to sit down and have a proper breakfast, so we each grabbed a pre-made sandwich from the refrigerator section. I didn’t take pictures of them or the receipt but I had turkey and Luke had ham – both on white bread with cheddar cheese. If I remember correctly, they didn’t have any type of sauce on them, but they had mayo/mustard/etc packets to put on yourself. This food court typically accepts Tables in Wonderland, but it was still a blackout date so we paid full price – $7.50/sandwich. Not a great deal, but the sandwiches were decent and were enough food to hold us over.
Luke sat down on a bench by the front door to eat, and called an Uber at the same time. I ran over to the front desk to make sure I didn’t need to do anything special to check out of the hotel (there’s sometimes different rules since we’re International, plus I had booked our two night stay at Pop using the room block we had set up for our wedding). By the time I got back over to Luke, his entire sandwich was gone, our Uber was about a minute away and I hadn’t started eating – anyone who knows me, knows I’m the slowest eater on the planet haha. I ate half of that thing so fast! I hate eating in other people’s vehicles, so I shoved the other half into my purse haha.
We said goodbye to Pop Century, and headed off for another volunteer shift at Give Kids the World!
