Weird.

It feels so weird not having any one in town anymore. It was crazy having everyone coming in and out for the last 2 months that not having anywhere to be after work is strange. Which is why I have had time to pick up a few doubles. I worked a double on Friday and Saturday, so I am going to have an awesome paycheck on Thursday!

Mallory and Jessica left on March 14th, and I spent St. Patrick's day with my Grandma and Grandpa at Jai alai in Orlando because they left the next morning for Michigan :(

Last week-end, I went to Clearwater Beach with Samantha, Nicole, and Courtni. Samantha's friends were in town so we went with them. First, we went to Kona Cafe for breakfast and me and Courtni split a press pot of 100% kona coffee and both had a big kahuna. Then we spent the whole day at Clearwater beach and had dinner at Chipotle. It was such a great day :)

I am feeling super appreciated lately, too. I got a coffee for someone the other day for free when the coffee bar was closed down and the area manager(!) saw me and said "I think you just created a magical moment." and winked at me :) I found out that I got a great service fanatic card for it, which gets put on my personal record and also is put into a drawing and I could win something if my card gets picked! I also got a great service fanatic card from my manager, Michael, who saw me thank a guest by name when they left the restaurant, and he presented it to me later that day. My latest great service fanatic card was filled out because there was a large family taking pictures in the atrium and I volunteered to take a picture of the whole group so no one was left out. They all handed me their cameras and I took about 20 pictures on 8 different cameras! I found out from one of the gentlemen that they were all surprising his dad. In the picture they took, the kids each had a stick with a letter on it, and it spelled out "Gotcha!" and he told me that last year, the dad surprised his wife for their 50th anniversary and said "gotcha!"...so they decided to all fly out and do the same thing to him for his 73rd birthday. I thought it was so sweet and I got to see the surprise. He was genuinely shocked and cried :) It was great. My manager must have seen that I took the pictures so hopefully with my 3 cards I have a chance to be picked...

I started the Hunger Games trilogy and am starting on the third book tomorrow. I read it on my lunch break everyday. It is so stressful! One of these days I need to go see the movie now that it's been out a few days and won't be so busy. Two of my roommates saw it and said it was great. I saw 21 Jump Street the other night with Linnette, Sarah, and Sofia and laughed so hard throughout the whole thing! I loved the Jonah Hill/Channing Tatum combo :)

I had yesterday and today off, so I headed over to Clearwater to hang out with my Aunt Sarah Jane and Uncle Bill because her 80th birthday is coming up on April 1st but I will be working so I wanted to take them out to dinner before. We went to the Olive Garden with Cindy and Ernie tagging along. I had a delicious Venitian sunset with my soup and salad, and everyone else's meals looked superb as well. We got those little desserts at the end as well even though we were all so full. Today, I went out to the pool early and came back to get a pedicure with Aunt Sarah Jane, and got a design on my nails for the first time! I got a little flower :)

Afterwards, me and Uncle Bill headed back out to the pool but I went into the pool and although it was 83 degrees outside and about 90 in the pool, I still had goosebumps, so yes, I DID go into the hot tub at 1pm! What is wrong with me!!?? I wasn't even sweating. I definitely got a tan this time around. Me and Aunt Sarah Jane headed to Target and I got a bathing suit that didn't give me horrendous tan lines and I finally have color :) I even got a little R&R in because I fell asleep at the pool while me and Uncle Bill read.

I am working 10 days in a row, so my next day off will be April 6th, and I'll probably head back out to Clearwater if I'm not dead tired.

What...a whirlwind.

Tonight, I dropped my family off at the airport. The 5 days they were here went by so fast. I was able to take them to the park twice so that was really great.

I love the cast connection store by the magic kingdom! Me, my mom and Grandma checked it out today and got some really awesome stuff. Everything from clothes to vacuums for $5. They even have food there that's really cheap like fruit, milk, cheese, oj, etc. The building next to it is for cast members only so I went in there and everything is 75% off, and I got a turkey leg shirt for my step-dad, a DVC member shirt and jacket for my mom, and a boba fett helmet for my brother Tyler. The trailer is full of really cool things that are damaged a bit or got returned and couldn't be sold again. I got my St. Patrick's day shirt from there and can't wait to wear it because I am not working that day, so I can actually wear it out in public all day! :)

I went to a speaker series at the Commons (the international college program's students apartments) the other day with my roommate, and it was very informational. There were 7 different speakers, who all did different things and started low in the company and worked their way up and told their personal stories. Jay Hatcher is the production manager for Disney Broadcast and Music production, and he showed us an awesome new project his team just finished up in NYC recently where people would look at the screen above the Disney store and the characters were back in Orlando interacting with the people in NYC via green screen. So cool.
Mickey

A couple others included Tobin Konecny, the catering guest service manager at the Yacht & Beach club, Paige McCalmon the Events & Operations Delivery Manager for cast activities like our Welcome parties and Grocery Bingo. (Speaking of Grocery bingo, I've gone twice and haven't won yet, so I'm hoping third time is the charm for the next one in a couple weeks for St. Patrick's day) and Ronke Olatunji who I was really interested in because she is the Parks Catering Guest service manager at Epcot, so she does the wine & food festival, among a bunch of other really cool events. Adam Pickett is in charge of all the runs at Disney, so I'm sure he was super stressed out a couple week-ends ago when there was the Tangled 5k on Saturday and then the next day was the Princess half marathon. Lastly, there was Donna, who oversees all the volunteer services and community outreach programs. She does a lot of events at the Wide World of Sports and the "Voluntear" programs for us cast members to be involved in community activities. This was a great experience because they told us their stories and helped us by sharing their experiences and what they would do differently and what to do such as network, keep in touch, and volunteer for events that you're interested in just to get your foot in the door, because managers will remember you if you're up for anything.

Me and my roommate Sarah went to One More Disney Day on Leap Day, 2/29. We wore our sequined Minnie ear headbands and went on some of the rides.

It was packed! I heard at midnight, there was a dance party, and Minnie and Mickey were in their pajamas taking pictures :) It's the first time Disney has ever done it, and I am so thrilled I got to be a part of it!!

Stephanie has already been here with the boys almost a month. That has flown by too. I was able to take her twice to the parks as well. Once with Brian when he was here in town, and then again with my Grandpa, who hadn't been to any of the parks in at least 25 years. So that was exciting to see it all through his eyes and have him tell me what has changed and what is still the same as it was so many years ago.

March 1st was my best friend's 24th birthday, and she's coming on the 9th to visit me and go to Walt Disney World. She hasn't been here recently enough to remember it, so it will be like her first time again :) We're going with Mallory who's also in town, and probably my friend John who moved to Orlando a few months before I did for a news room job. Everyone is shipping in or out it's hard to keep track of who's coming and going anymore!!! It sure is making the time go by quickly though, always having something to look forward to.

I talked to my manager today, asking about a possible shadowing at the Wedding Pavilion or one of the event coordinators, and she said she would talk to a woman she knows who does weddings all across the resorts, not just at the Wedding Pavilion. I'm hoping she gets back to me soon!!!

I'll leave you with this little gem from Saturday Night Live over the week-end....Real Housewives of Disney!

Housewives