Browsing Category

Life

Disney World, Life, Vacation

Disney World 2017 Day 1: Hollywood Studios and Epcot!

As I’m looking through photos to share in this post, I have some tears a brewin. Why? It was a really fun vacation and something we both really needed. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a vacation and this much one-on-one quality time. I wanted this to be a great vacation for my husband because he’s been working so hard the last few years. PT school straight into a full time job that he puts a lot of hours and energy into. He needed some time off and we had so many thing to celebrate! Graduations, anniversaries, birthdays… it was about time. I’m so glad we had this week for just the two of us; it really was incredible. Now I’m actually crying… aghh. 

To Hollywood Studios! I used the Undercover Tourist Crowd Calendar to plan out which parks what days and Monday was rope drop at Disney’s Hollywood Studios! Hollywood Studios is majorly under construction at the moment which really makes it a 1/2 day park. It’s almost not worth going to unless you have a park hopper… but with that being said, it does have a few of the best Disney World rides.

We were about a 7 minute drive away from the DHS gates and we arrived a tad before 8:30. We still had our magic bands from our honeymoon but we weren’t sure if they were still going to work since it’s been almost 3 years and we’d heard the batteries die after a couple years. Luckily they were still working which was a pretty exciting discovery. I thought for a second it wasn’t going to work, but the cast member was like, “don’t be sad yet!” because I hadn’t scanned my finger yet. Yay! We were in. 

Continue Reading

Life, Vacation

Daytona Beach, Disney Springs, and a budget hotel review

We’re back from Disney World! Well actually, we’ve been back since Sunday but it was an amazing and much needed vacation and I can’t wait to spam you with our vacay photos! We did 5 full days in the parks last week so I’m going to split them all up into separate posts so I’m going to start off with the beginning of our vacation just to catch us up. 

This post is part of a series I’m doing on Disney World – If you want to check out more posts, click here.

We left for our vacation after Brady finished work on Friday (May 5) and started our long drive down to Florida. Driving saved money on flights and rental cars so it’s what made sense. We had a room booked at the Hampton Inn in North Florence, SC on the way down which ended up being a bit over 7 hours drive because of the traffic we hit going around DC. 

Continue Reading

Disney World, Vacation

Why You Should Take A Walt Disney World Honeymoon

After we got engaged in March 2013, we quickly decided on a July 2014 wedding that was the only week Brady would be out of PT school that summer. We looked into a lot of places for our honeymoon with Hawaii and St. Lucia being top contenders. The problem with those options was the long travel time.8 months after getting engaged we looked at each other and said, “Disney World honeymoon?” It was the perfect solution since it would be under-budget, we wouldn’t waste time on travel, there wouldn’t be a language barrier, and it would be a lot of fun. 

Read to the end of the post to get my bullet point top tips for a Disney World Honeymoon. (Jump to Top 10 Tips for the Perfect Disney World Honeymoon)

We decided to rent a vacation home with a private pool that was 15 minutes off-property. This was significantly cheaper than staying in a Disney resort but we also had the benefit of privacy… and our own pool! The home we rented is no longer rentable, but Airbnb has countless amazing options to chose from in Kissimmee/Celebration/Davenport region.

Airbnb Vacation Home in Florida near Disney World - on our Disney World Honeymoon

Continue Reading

Biking, Exercise, Life, Weight loss

Crepes at Cafe Mezcla, bike rides, and hammocking

It’s been a beautiful week around here as all the flowering trees are fully in bloom and the landscape is greening up. Last week was Brady’s birthday and we were able to do a lot of outdoor adventuring to celebrate. I had been planning a weekend backpacking trip to Shenandoah National Park for the weekend but we didn’t end up going because the weather forecasts were looking potentially stormy and I was also dealing with a strained muscle in the hip flexor area. Sad. We’re still hoping to go this summer and we may try doing a shorter and close to home backpacking trip this weekend.

Since Brady worked late on his actual birthday, we went out on Wednesday evening to Brookeside Gardens to see the tulips before meeting up with his family at Cheesecake Factory for dinner.

Brookeside Gardens tulips in spring

Continue Reading

Favorites, Food, Life, Vacation

Friday Faves #4

Hello Again! I’ve been loving this gorgeous spring weather, haven’t you? Everything’s in bloom and I couldn’t be happier.

The last few weeks have been busy with some traveling, making travel plans, birthdays and other exciting things and I’ve managed to fall behind, but I wanted to make sure I shared some of the things I’ve been loving lately starting with a couple food things!

Talenti Sicilian Pistachio Gelato

I have been obsessed with this Sicilian Pistachio Gelato and it’s bad because it’s one of the only ice creams I can sit down and eat the whole pint in one sitting. It’s bad and I try not to bring it home too often for this reason. I’m a bit of an ice cream snob and I’d often much rather spend my money on a small amount of amazing ice cream then get eh ice cream for less. This stuff is super creamy and flavorful and there’s enough pistachios to have some in every bite. I tried a cheaper brand of pistachio ice cream lately and I could barely eat it so… yeah this stuff is the best.

Forager Project Organic Cashewgurt in Lemon

I really loved this stuff. If I had been blind taste testing, I would have thought that this was the real stuff. The consistency was on point, the lemon adds the sourness that traditional yogurt has but that’s not to say that it’s sour because it definitely is not. I saw it at Whole Foods and decided it was something I needed to try because I’m trying to back away from dairy since it messes with my digestive system. It’s hard to find worthy vegan substitutes for some of my favorite things and I’ve wanted to try some cashew alternatives but haven’t gotten around to it until now. I’d definitely recommend checking this out!

Continue Reading

Life

7 years of happiness

It’s been 7 years since we started dating! We met almost 12 years ago now and we’ve been dating more of that time than we haven’t which is crazy to think! Our getting together story is actually pretty long with lots of high school drama, but today’s the day we celebrate the beginning of our dating relationship. Who knew that these high school besties would be where we are today. I thought I do a throwback to the beginning and share some of my favorite pics with you!

We met officially in 2005 but didn’t really start to get to know each other until he came to my school freshman year of high school in 2006. We got closer with each passing year and by the start of our senior year, we were each other’s best friend.

Junior Year

Continue Reading