Things are coming to a close

I only have a few more weeks left of my internship, and will be going back to Michigan soon. My summer classes start May 14th, but my last day here is May 18th. I think I will be leaving the 15th though because we don't get scheduled our last two days in Florida so we can move our things out and get everything organized and ready to go. Some exciting things are planned for the last week I am in Florida though. May 2nd, there will be a cinco de Mayo fiesta at our apartment complex with yummy mexican food, meet and greet with characters, and games. May 7th is the day for College Program participants formal. This year, however, Disney is renting out Typhoon Lagoon and putting on a beach party for us. It should be a good time :) On May 10th, a service celebration is planned for us for all of our hard work this semester. Sonny's bbq will be catering the event and Mickey and Minnie will be there! Later that night, Goofy's Mystery Tour will be at Hollywood studios. 250 teams of 4 people will be bungee corded together and finding clues on a scavenger hunt. I really wanted to do it, but it got filled up quickly so I will be volunteering for the event instead. May 15th is our graduation. We get a certificate and mickey ears with our name on the back of the hat. I can't wait to get it! My mom came to visit me last week-end. She came in around 11pm, and it was perfect timing since I got out of work at 11pm. I picked her up from Coronado Springs and we drove over to All-Star Movies and dropped our stuff off in the hotel room. Then we took a walk at the resort and went over to the music resort as well. We woke up early the next morning and over the next 2 days, we went to all 4 parks, met Meg, the winner of Design Star at Epcot, got caught in a hail/torrential rain storm, and stuffed ourselves silly with so much good food. We had lunch for the first time at Les Chefs de France in Epcot.

It was one of the best meals I've ever had. Then, we went to property control and I got Joey a pirate costume complete with dreads for Halloween and Tyler a darth vader outfit. That night, we had dinner at Kona Cafe and got soooo much food we were sick! It was so delicious though and Ratana was such a good server :) Treated us like princesses. She left early Sunday morning and I had to be to work at 8, so it worked out perfectly. That night, I picked up a shift at Fantasmic. This was my outfit.

It went by so fast. Our pre-meal was a mickey bar and pop, and then we worked during the show, then cleaned up and went home. It was a good 4 hour shift. On Wednesday, me, Caren, Joben and Linnette went to Typhoon Lagoon. It's free right now for cast members, and we went on all the rides and the wave pool. Later, Joben, Caren, Courtni, Courtney, and myself went to the Hoop-de-Doo Review at Camp Wilderness. There was sooo much good food: Fried chicken, ribs, baked beans, salad, cornbread, strawberry shortcake, corn, mac n cheese, and sangria to drink. We were stuffed!!! I just found out today that I will be deployed to Chef Mickey's May 6th-12th. It should be an interesting experience since it's a huge buffet that seats about 400 more people than Kona does. I'll be sure to write about my experience as it happens.

Easter in Florida :)

I just got back from a 5 day stint in Clearwater visiting my Aunt Sarah Jane and Uncle Bill. The first day, on my way there I was stuck in traffic for the Tampa Bay Rays baseball game crowd. I finally got there and the three of us went to Olive Garden for lunch and then to the mall to the Marble Stone Creamery (If that's not a complete knock off name for Coldstone, I don't know what is) and got some ice cream. The next day, Aunt SJ and I went to the Safety Harbor Resort & Spa to get massages! It was very fancy, we got a tour of the 20,000 sq ft establishment, saw the wet and dry sauna, the pools, the 2 waiting rooms complete with fresh fruit and endless beverages, and got handed our robes to change into and put our clothes into our personal lockers. My masseuse was Lily and she massaged my back, shoulders, neck, arms, hands, and even my face! It was over far too soon. Then we had lunch at the resort's restaurant and split a Turkey club with sweet potato waffle fries and mimosas.

Later that evening, we headed to the clubhouse for Easter dinner. First there was an egg toss that me and Aunt Sarah Jane tried to win, but even though we didn't win, we still got to keep the egg full of mini snickers :) Next there was an egg hunt, and I found an egg with a dollar and some candy inside! The last game before dinner was a rabbit race, where 4 boxes of chocolate rabbits raced to the end by us picking 3 numbers at a time. My number won that I bet on, so I won $3. After dinner, there was an easter bonnet competition and me and Aunt Sarah Jane's bonnet won! So she got a big bag full of Easter goodies. Back at home, Aunt Sarah Jane and I made glittery easter eggs!

On Easter, I woke up and got a bag from Aunt Sarah Jane and Uncle Bill, a bag from my family back in Michigan, and also one from Aunt Sarah Jane and Uncle Bill's neighbor, Cindy and Ernie. I got lots of great stuff, including a lotto ticket that I won $4 on! We got to chat with the family back in Michigan on my computer and they got to see baby Henry! They also got to see Stephanie and Will, who were at the in-laws. I finished up the third Hunger Games book and got a lot of time in at the pool, resulting in a killer tan :) The next day, me and Aunt Sarah Jane went to Bell's and I got a really nice ivory dress and some light blue flowy beachy pants. The dress was originally $70 but I got it for $15! The pants were $30, but I got them for $12. I love a good deal. Today, we had a potluck at the clubhouse and I ate really really well. Cindy got some raffle tickets but had to leave early so she gave me the tickets and I ended up winning! So Cindy got $20!

Work is going well. Isabel, one of my supervisors, got me set up with a phone number for one of the Banquet managers at Disney for a meet and greet! So I will be calling tomorrow to do that. The other night, I had to laugh when a family was going to sit down and I heard the Grandma say to her grandson, "No swords in the restaurant!"...where else would you ever hear that!? It made my night.

My friend from high school, Ashley Adkins, is a seasonal employee for Disney. She came in town for a week and I got to meet her boyfriend, Tom, and we met up on the boardwalk for dinner at Kouzzina. Dinner was wonderful, I got short ribs with feta mashed potatoes and broccolini.

We saw a snake on the boardwalk!

And took a walk around the boardwalk and got to see Lady and the Tramp playing on the beach outside of Beach Club. A few nights later, after we both got out of work, we headed to Buffalo Wild Wings for a few drinks so we could hang out one last time before she had to head back to Michigan. It was so nice seeing her and catching up!

I went to property control a week or so ago and saw that they had Disney Dooney & Bourke purses. So I got one!! It was originally $225 but I got it for $57 :)

I also got a bathing suit for my Mom and a few Christmas presents (I know, early but they were such a good find!)

My mom surprised me by saying she was coming down to visit me next week. She will be coming Thursday the 19th and leaving the 22nd. I had already requested the 20th off because I was going to go to Siesta Key with all of my roommates, so it works out that I will have the 20th and 21st off to spend with her. I'll have to tell my roommates I won't be going to Siesta Key with them though :(

I got to see The Hunger Games with Caren and Vincent, two people I work with at Kona Cafe, and also got to have some Ice Cream and see The Incredibles playing on the beach. We also watched Epcot's fireworks at 9pm. Life is so great on our days off!!

Goofy's Mystery Tour, a scavenger hunt is coming up on May 10th, and I'm going to do that with 3 of my roommates. It should be a good time!