Every second is a highlight

On Sunday, I arrived at my Grandma and Grandpa's rental house in Kissimmee. It's so beautiful and has a pool and hot tub! I met two of my roommates that night, Nicole and Samantha. We played putt-putt and later went up to Nicole's hotel room that was connected to the mini golf course. She got a penthouse with like 4 bedrooms and 2 balconies. We could see downtown disney from one of them and it was so beautiful. The other one was Lake Bryan, the lake that my apartment complex is on.

The next day, I picked Sarah, my roommate, up at 5:30 and we headed over to Vista Way. All 6 of us were finally together! We were first in line of about 150 people and at 7:30am a group of employees came walking and on segways towards us. Two ladies with ipads got our information and then we were lead to the clubhouse where we got our car decals to be able to park at our complex, we got our apartment keys, and signed the paperwork for withdrawing $88 from our accounts every week for our apartment. We got a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom apartment at Chatham Square. We also got our pictures taken for our ID's. Then, we got reusable bags with Tide, Snuggle, an orange, granola bar, a cute mickey pen and some coupons in it and headed to the bus. The bus took then took us to the Casting building, where we found out what our jobs were going to be!!! I was so excited when I found out I would be a hostess at the Kona Cafe at the Polynesian resort. Nicole, one of my suitemates, is Full Service food and beverage as well and she is working at the Tusker House at Animal Kingdom :) Linnette is merchandise at the Magic Kingdom on Main street, working at the Confectionary and embroidering names on Mickey hats, among other things. Then we went to a few rooms where we got fingerprinted, talked to someone who works at the place we're going to work and got information about our first day of training and so forth. Then we got checked to make sure we pass for the "disney look". We just have to look natural with our hair, makeup, clothing, and polish. There were some more things we did but it was such a blur I can't remember it all. Lastly, we got our picture taken in front of a disney backdrop and got a photopass where we get one free picture! After we got back to Vista Way from the bus, we unpacked all of our stuff into our rooms. Linnette's parents and Sofia's mom and Grandma were there to help unpack, and later Sarah's mom and brother stopped by. After we unpacked we had to go to a meeting at 3pm to learn about community codes and make sure we don't sneak people into the complex in our trunk, give alcohol to people underage, and a bunch of other information that I've already forgotten. Later that night, we went to WalMart and went grocery shopping. We got enough food for the whole time we're going to be here it seems like! The liquor store was so weird. It was attached to the building, but you couldn't access it from the inside of the store even though there were windows. We grabbed some weird shots called Rattlesnakes for a special night someday.

Tuesday morning at 6am me and Samantha had to go to the social security office to get a receipt. We got back at 8:30 and crashed til 10:30. We had Tuesday off so we headed to the parks. Sarah was with her mom and brother so when we got to the Magic Kingdom, she met up with us to take a group picture.

Yesterday was Traditions. We learned about the disney culture, the history, and what we need to do to make experiences special for the guests. I got a cute litte minnie figurine for answering a question.

After Traditions, we got a tour of Magic Kingdom and went underground, underneath the castle!!! When we got back, we sat down, and there was a knock on the door....it was Mickey Mouse!!! He had a blue box with a bow on top in his hands, which contained all of our name tags.

When we all got back from Traditions, we went out to Downtown Disney. We went to the Irish pub and I got a bailey's irish shake.

Then we went to Bongo's which is owned by Gloria Estefan and her husband. We kept asking the bartender for certain shot and he had no idea what we were talking about. I asked for a superman, or a girl scout thin mint and he didn't know how to make either of them. Then we asked for some pickle juice and he didn't have any because there aren't many pickles in cuban cuisine apparently. Nicole was talking about this shot that is tequila chased with pickle juice. Sounds disgusting but I was willing to try it. Then Nicole told me about a shot called a tequila suicide where you take the salt, then the tequila, then squirt the lemon juice into your eye!!! Half way through the night, 2 guys down the bar bought us all lemon drops. He thought Linnette was getting married because of her sparkly headband and thought we were having a bachelorette party. They bought me a bloody mary too haha. Then we got back on the bus because we all had to be up early the next morning.

This morning was the first day of training. We went to Disney University and had to take a computer class to learn about disabilities, food safety, and fire safety. Then we logged into the hub, which is our access to our pay stubs, our schedules, the hours the parks are open, information about upcoming events, and so many other things. We also went over to the costuming department and had our shoes provided for us, so we got to pick them out. I got some black mary janes.

Tomorrow is my first day of training at the Polynesian. It's called "Aloha Day" in the tiki room :)

Road trippin'

On Wednesday morning, I left for Florida. I was following my Grandma and Grandpa since they are also going to Florida for 2 months at a house they rent out in Kissimmee. It just happened to work out that their first day there is the 22nd and my first day is the 23rd. It worked out perfectly :) So I followed them through Ohio, then Kentucky, and into Alabama, where we spent the night. We stayed in Athens, and grabbed some dinner at a BBQ joint named Lawlers. It was really good!

Then we left bright and early and headed for Biloxi, Mississippi. We stayed at the Beau Rivage on Thursday and gambled. What a beautiful hotel! There were so many cool shops, and fresh flowers everywhere. It was just like a luxury Vegas hotel. My Great-great Aunt Sarah Jane and Uncle Bill met up with us at the Beau Rivage because they always do with my Grandma and Grandpa. They always get free hotel rooms and they even managed to get me one as well! I took my first bubble bath in 2 years and it was fabulous!

On Friday, we headed out to New Orleans for the day. We went on a bus tour to see the 9th ward, where Hurricane Katrina hit the hardest, the Garden district, the cemeteries, and the French Quarter. I learned so much about the history, and got to see a lot of cool things. I also got to see a bunch of celebrity houses, such as Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, Ann Rice, and the house that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was filmed in. After the tour, we went to Cafe Du Monde and had some piping hot beignets and hot chocolate. It was so delicious!!!

Today we headed over to the Hard Rock Hotel to try our luck there. I managed to win $84 on my last spin of the night! We also saw an Abba show that was surprisingly entertaining!

Well, I better head to bed now because in the morning we're heading to Orlando!!!

6 more days!!!

It's technically Tuesday, so I'm leaving tomorrow morning!!! This seemed to spring up on me so fast. I was waiting and waiting and now it's the home stretch. I got my hair cut...4 inches. I figured that will mean I won't have to have it cut at all while I'm down there :)

This has been a crazy week. I babysat in Oak Park for my favorite two girls, Ella and Megan. One day, Megan wasn't feeling well so I watched her most of the day. When we went to get Ella from school, they were having a lice check so I decided to have Megan checked and sure enough, she had a nit!! My head immediately got itchy and I was super paranoid. Their parents got the lice shampoo and made all of the necessary actions to rid the house of any potential lice or nits and luckily when I got my head checked, I was lice/nit free! That would have been the worst first impression ever if I had given it to my roommates our first couple of days in Florida!!!

On Friday, I went out to Ann Arbor for the first time for my friend Jenny's 25th birthday. We went to a great BBQ restaurant called The Blue Tractor. I got pulled pork sliders and of course had to try all 4 of the BBQ sauces. I also tried the regular mojito and the volcanic mojito, which was mango pomegranate, yummm! We went back to Jenny's afterwards and played pictionary, and had chocolate cake with raspberries, and oreo truffles :) Then we went outside to the park that Jenny lives right next to and played a game of Red Rover at 2am and swung on the swingset and went down the spiral slide. It was freezing!! I spent the night and was lucky enough to sleep in Jenny's bed...in the middle of her and Mandy...it was a bit cramped haha but I was warm! The next morning, we played some Mario Kart on Nintendo 64 (I really miss mine!) and watched a movie called "HappyThankYouMorePlease", which was really good. The main character is Josh Radnor, who I love from "How I Met Your Mother". Then we grabbed lunch from Zingerman's deli, which I had never had before but had heard great things about. It didn't disappoint, but it was really expensive. Me and Dean headed back home around 11pm Saturday night, but it was great having a lazy, fun day.

Sunday, we all met up for bocce. My Grandpa gave me a coupon he got and I was able to invite 8 of my friends to play for an hour and a half and get a pizza. We had a great time and it was nice getting to hang out one last time before I leave :) We grabbed Tropical Smoothie Cafe for dinner and stayed there another hour just talking and making up ideas for a Heritage party, where we have to dress up as one of our ethnicities and bring a dish from our country as well. I can't wait for that party!!! I'm so sad I'm going to miss my friend Tracy's taco party for her birthday, but I'll be there in spirit. After Tropical Smoothie Cafe, me, Jessica, Doug and Dean came back to my house and we watched The Golden Globes and predicted who would win. Me and Jess ended up tying with 6 points each.

Today, I got my hair cut as noted earlier, and had Sagebrush Cantina for lunch. It was delicious. Then I went over to hang out with my friend Sarah and we decided to check out Meijer for some shoes for her, but I ended up getting the shoes, not her! I got this great pair of brown boots with a cool red back zipper. They were on sale from $50 to $36. Then we stopped by my house and she ended up just grabbing some of my BCBG suede black boots. Everyone loves shopping at the newest boutique "House of Lauren" haha.

My Going Away Party

My Going away party was a success! The night before, my great friend Sarah came over and we made the mickey rice krispy treats.

They turned out fantastic and were delicious, or so I'm told. I didn't get to try the oreo cupcakes or the Mickey treats. I did get to try the cake pops that my Aunt Stephanie and I made. That was really good, especially with the cinnamon m&m ears.

The party ended up being about 13 hours long. It was originally supposed to be 1-4 pm, but people didn't leave until around 5:30. Some of my friends there included Tracy, Mandy (who made me an awesome dreamcatcher), Laura, Mallory, Jess, Samantha, Blaire, Danielle, Sarah, Dean, Stephanie, Bernadette, Katherine, and Angelica just to name a few.

When everyone left, Sarah, Jess, Dean, Sean, and Doug hung out at my house until 9 to wait up for Jesse and Shaughn to get to my house and we headed out to downtown Flint. We watched the rest of the Lion's game (first time in the Playoffs in a loooong time, but they lost) at Blackstone's, and Kevin showed up! Also, Danielle arrived when she got out of work. We then headed to the Loft. The Loft was dead so we went out the back door and ended up in an alley which lead to The Torch, which was too packed. There were literally no seats. So we went to Sweetwater in Grand Blanc and ended the night there around 2am.
It was wonderful hanging out with all of my friends, just hanging out and talking for hours and hours. I'm really going to miss that.

On Sunday, Sarah dyed my hair a couple shades darker, then I headed out to Bloomfield Hills to babysit this week Monday through Friday. Tonight, I met up with my friend Kristin who just got engaged to chat over a few drinks. She's moving to Wisconsin to be with her fiance just a bit after I move to Florida. We are both starting new chapters in our lives!

17 More Days!

It's officially only 17 more days until my first day at Disney World. I am so pumped! I packed all of my clothes last week finally. That was a huge thing to get out of the way. On Monday, I signed my lease at Abbott Place apartments :) I start living there in August which I am excited about. It is fully furnished so I just have to move my clothes in. I also signed the sub-lease for Brian, who started taking over my lease on the 3rd. That was a huge weight lifted off my shoulders! One of my best friends, Amber, went back to California on Tuesday morning but I made sure to spend all of Monday night and most of Tuesday morning with her until she had to leave at 5am...we watched Friends With Benefits and ate popcorn when Mandy, Mallory and Erin arrived. It was wonderful hanging out with them :) I am making all the treats for my Going-away party tomorrow! I made some cake pops today with my Aunt Stephanie, and they turned out great! They are so yummy too.

I am excited for my going away party on Saturday, because I get to hang out with all my friends and see them one last time before I leave, but it's also making it all sink in that I will be gone very very soon. For a long time. I am an independent person so I will be fine, and my Grandparents will be down there 10 minutes away for 2 months if I ever get lonely, but I've just never been away from home this long and it's scary thinking about the unknown! I can't think about it too much or else I will just get myself riled up. I have an eye appointment tomorrow and I'm going to get some trendy glasses since I haven't gotten any since high school.