Monday, December 31, 2012

I'm so excited!

I was a busy bee this afternoon after Ian left for work. I pretty much got us completely packed for the cruise. I just need to pack the overnight bag for my parents and the last minute essentials that we need to use for the next two days.

I can't believe we will be on vacation in three days. We just need to get through work tomorrow and Wed. I don't know how effective we will be but I hope that I can at least get in some decent numbers the first two days of the month. Especially since we will have almost two weeks off.

I am really hoping we enjoy ourselves on the cruise. I think we will have a blast but this will be different as it's geared towards family. I see a lot of relaxation going on. I feel like our bags are packed to the gills but since we are going on a 8 night cruise and Ian wants to eat in the dining room we are having to pack more than we usually do.

Not much on the agenda tonight. I plan on browsing the cruise forums some, and then will probably watch some chick flicks as it will be my last weekend without Ian. Woo Hoo!!!!

That's all for now. Hope everyone out there is doing well.

~Hugs

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Somewhere....Beyond the Sea

Our cruise is getting so close now so we are getting excited. I'm sure you all know that feeling of anticipation as the vacation gets closer. It's harder and harder to sleep at night.

We plan on heading into to Kingwood on Thursday morning. I am working on laundry now and hope to get us pretty much all packed up by tomorrow after Ian goes to work.

I am going to have my handy dandy packing list printed and then check off each item. This is the longest cruise we have ever been on. I know it's only by one day but it seems so much longer than that in my mind. I'm sure I will end up over packing to a degree. I can at least wear the dress I wear on formal night for the night we have dinner at Palo.

Then on Pirate night, we each have something we are taking for it. I don't know if I will necessarily wear it yet or not. I'm pretty sure Ian will wear his regardless if I do or not.

I hope to take a ton of pictures and if I find Stitch or Captain Jack Sparrow I am so getting my pictures with them. Stitch is one of my favorite characters and lets face it Jack Sparrow, who wouldn't want a picture with him. /wink

I am hoping that we really enjoy the Disney cruise experience. I know that any day on a cruise ship is better than a day at work, hands down!

We just got the new offer for discounts for our trip in May as well. It's going to be 30 percent off the room rate for the moderate level of resort which is what we planned on staying in. So that will be a nice savings. We will be booking that in Feb once we get income tax refund back. I'm so excited about the 5k in Animal Kingdom. The working hard to achieve a goal and then accomplish it will be equally as nice.

Not much planned for the rest of my weekend other than what you see here. We are going to hit up Barnes and Noble on Tuesday on the way into work to get a few magazines for light reading. I will also be taking my nook to finish reading the book I have on there.

This time next week we will be getting ready to explore Key West. I'm so looking forward to some rest and relaxation!!!

That is all for now. I might be back later with some pictures of Sweet Pea as I have been promising those for a while now. =)

~hugs

Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry Christmas Everyone!

As tonight is Christmas Eve I wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and if I'm not back next weekend Happy New Year as well.

No major plans as Ian is at work. We are going to cook up a big breakfast in the morning and will make a Christmas brunch before he goes to work tomorrow night. Other than that its business as usual around here. We are starting to get everything together to pack for the trip. Next weekend I will probably get everything packed up except for our essential items for the cruise. Then on Thursday the 3rd I will get the rest of it packed up before we head to my parents house.

They are going to watch sweetpea while we are on our trip. We finally got our room assignment and they have us on deck 5 which is a great deck. We got the third best category for a balcony so that was exciting for booking a guarantee one. The main theater is on this deck along with some other various items.

We should have a nice trip and I'm excited to see what a Disney Cruise is like. Worst case if we don't like it we didn't spend that much on the cruise itself due to last minute fare pricing and we didn't have to fly to Florida to try the cruise line out.

On to some exciting news. We found out Ian was chosen officially to move to the same department I'm in. He got my shift as well so we will finally get the same days off again. It's been too long since that has happened. They officially move over on Jan 6th but we will be on vacation so it won't be until we come home that he will start on it.

My buddy, Heather is also getting my shift as well so I'm really super about it.

Not much else to report on. Hope everyone has a great Holiday!

~Hugs

Friday, December 14, 2012

cha cha changes

So as the title says we had a change of heart on what we are doing. My mom had sent me an article she had seen on the local news site in Houston about Disney cruise line leaving Galveston in December of 2013. So this would literally be our only chance at getting a cruise out of Galveston in Jan.

So we did a price comparison and by booking the 8 night cruise out of Galveston, we actually will save $490 dollars. Even if we went to Disney World and were able to book the bounce back it only saves about $300 so we still save money by going to Disney instead.

It is officially booked so we are not able to go back now due to cancellation policies. We will be going on the Jan 4th sailing of the Disney Magic out of Galveston. It is an 8 night cruise so that is a huge selling point.

Then on top of it we get a port we have never been to which is Key West Florida.

The next port is Grand Cayman, followed by Costa Maya and finishing with Cozumel before we make our way back to Galveston.

They still have quite a few rooms left pretty cheap which is also awesome. You can get an inside room for two people for right around $1500. Which for an 8 night cruise and on Disney is AMAZING.

So if anyone wants information it's not too late to book and join us. =)

We have there adult only resturant booked as well to celebrate our Anniversary. We weren't able to get reservations for our anniversary itself but that's ok. It's our fault for not booking until 3 weeks before it sails. Eeeek....

Alright that's all for now. Just wanted to give an update as I did promise one. Take care!

~hugs

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Decision time

Hey everyone!! Yay for the weekend time. So we get our bonus checks this coming Friday. We are going to book our vacation on Friday as well. Just need to finalize a few things and then we will have our decision.

We have pretty much decided to do a trip to Disney World due to a few things. One, they have some great rates and we have enough points with the airline to pay for one way there so we only have to pay for the flights home.

The second is we enjoy being active on our vacations now and the walking we get in at Disney is great for our prep work for the 5k in May. The next reason is while we are there in Jan we can book a bounce back offer to take advantage of savings that you normally can't find on peak time frames such as May when the 5k is. So it will cut the hotel costs almost in half. We only have to pay the deposit of $250 while we are there and then will pay it off with the income tax refund in Feb.

We are actually debating on getting a season pass when we go in Jan because we know we are going back in May for the Expedition Everest 5k, but we are thinking of a 3 night 4 day get away in October for our birthdays, the 5k they have for Halloween/10k if we are up to that as well and of course food and wine festival. So with the possibility of 3 trips this year it would save us money. I am supposed to find out the total cost to upgrade and then price out the tickets and see if it would actually save us money or cost us money.

When we go in May we are going to possibly go back to Discovery Cove too for just the day pass. Not necessarily do the dolphin swim again. We got a great offer in the mail since we went this year for a day pass of only 100 per person.

We will see though. We aren't set on necessarily doing it again just yet. I feel it should be more a special thing because it's a one of a kind place. So maybe if we go back for our 15th anniversary it would be a good time to go again.

We have a lot of fun things coming up. We are going to see "The Hobbit" on Thursday night. I'm taking a half day to go to the midnight showing of it. Then the following week on Friday I work a half shift for our Holiday party. Then I will be off on Christmas itself so have a short week and the following week, I only work Tues/Wed and then we are off for our vacation.

If we do follow through and do Disney like we are planning, we will be traveling to Houston on our actual anniversary as the flight we want leaves on Sunday at 7:30 AM but gets us in to Orlando at like 10:30 AM so very nice.

We have pretty much decided to stay at the same resort. We debated about staying at a new moderate one but we really loved the lay out of Coronado Springs so we will see on Friday.

Not much else to report on.

~Hugs

Sunday, November 18, 2012

So many choices

There are so many from our anniversary trip in Jan. I think we are resorting more and more to either just going close by to sea world/six flags in San Antonio now.

The other options are some of the various cruises that leave out of Galveston. All of them still have cabins and we recently noted the Disney one has dropped majorly in prices. The guaranteed rooms are only 1500 for the both of us right now and it's an 8 night cruise. Plus we hear the shows on it are amazing, and the food is yummy as well.

We are still waiting until we see how much we have left over from our Christmas bonus checks before making that decision. If a cabin is not available then it wasn't meant to be.

Ian is taking a half day tomorrow so he will be home at 7:30ish and plan on cooking dinner. I love having days off together even if it's only a half day. We have our walk to do tomorrow as well. We are going to push for the 3.2 miles which is two laps around our park we take the doggie too. I hardly had any calf pain when we did the one lap last week so it's time to increase the distance once more. =)

Not much else is going on with us. Just wanted to give an update to everyone. If I don't post again before Thanksgiving, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. We love you all and are really thankful we have you in our lives. /hug

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Holidays are around the corner

I absolutely love this time of year. The fall weather, the smells in the stores, pumpkin spice lattes, and vacation around the corner.

Still no word yet on if they are going to make more spots available for thanksgiving just yet. I'm hoping that as our queue's are coming down they decide more can be off. I would love to be off both turkey day and the day after with Ian for the holidays. We would just stay put because we would have to work on Sat but to be off two days with him would be amazing.

Speaking of Ian. He won an award at our awards ceremony yesterday. He was most improved for the Austin location over the last quarter. So everyone give him a hand. /clap.

Still no clue on the vacation front. It depends on so many things so once we have made that decision next month I will be updating the blog with our choice.

I get to make our adr's for our May trip next week, so going to compile a list of our must do's. We might end up cancelling if we end up pursuing other jobs in Houston. The funds from our income tax would need to go towards moving expense if that happens.

So many changes possibly coming in our life but for the better. We hope everyone that reads this is doing well.

~hugs

Sunday, November 4, 2012

so sick of being sick

Hey everyone. We had a rough last week. Sweetpea, Ian and myself were all sick. Sweetpea was diagnosed with Giardia so we have her on an antibiotic for that. Ian and I came down with the stomach flu and we are actually getting tested as well for the giardia as we had to pick up her poop last Sat and it was a mess. I know that is probably going to be tmi for everyone but just wanted to give an update as to what has been going on in our household.

We should know by tomorrow or tuesday if we have it. We are on an antibiotic just in case and if it comes back negative we can stop taking it.

Not much else going on in our life right now. We have just about two months until our anniversary. We will know what we are doing for our anniversary on or around December 14th. It's still up in the air if it's going to be a cruise, going to disney for a few days, or just going to San Antonio.

Sorry don't have more to report but not much going on with us right now. Hope everyone else is doing fine.

~hugs

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Where did that week go?

Last week went by so fast for us. I'm sure a portion of that was due to so many things going at work as well as some interesting news we found out.

So we will start with the interesting news. We have officially put in for and was approved for our dates in Jan for our anniversary. We are going to be off from Jan 3rd - Jan 15th. With the discounts that were being offered for Jan we almost just booked it. However we have decided that we are going to wait and see what we have once bonus check time comes in December. Depending on what we get, we will see what is available wether that is flights to Disney or cruises out of Galveston. Kind of a last minute trip like we did a few years ago.

I will keep the dining reservations we have set up for a possible trip to disney in Jan and if we don't do that then I can cancel them in December once we know if that trip is a go or not.

We do know no matter what we are going in May for the expedition everest challenge. So we will be booking that while we are there in Jan or when the discounts come out for May.

Not much else going on for us right now, just staying busy working and looking forward to the upcoming time off for my birthday on Friday. I only have to work three days and then will be off for a nice long weekend.

I have my Dr appointment tomorrow morning. Kind of dreading it but know I need to get on a routine check up with a normal Dr. Plus anytime I get sick it will be nice to know I can go to their office and only pay a 20 copay instead of a 50 buck one.

Will post with more updates when I get them or they come along.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

So conflicted

So we recently changed our debit cards with Chase to the Disney visa ones so we can get some nice perks anything we go to the parks. There are some nice discount offers given to them as well as discounts on merchandise, food, tours, etc.

So that brings me to this next point, of there is a current disney visa offer that goes through March only for a certain percentage off the stay. We are hoping they offer something similar through May but who knows. I do know we are going to book our flights with the next paycheck. We are still debating between the flights out of Houston that gets us in nice and early on arrival day. Plus we have enough points that would get one of us there and back for free airfare. So we just have to pay for me.

We are waiting to find out what the dates will be because we will either head down there the week before the race, or we will fly in just the day before and then stay the week afterwards.

Part of me just wants to go in Jan though because we know for sure the dates then, and we can do the 5k that they have through Epcot for part of the marathon weekend. Plus we can stay at our favorite resort for around 1700 for the week, park tickets, food, transportation, etc. Which is about 600 less than when we went this last Jan.

So many decisions. Ian wants to just wait for the one in May which I understand why. But when you see such a great deal it's so tempting to go sooner than later. However I'm sure come May I would want to be there for the Expedition Everest one.

I am thinking a large portion of this is because since 2008 we have been doing a major trip to celebrate our anniversary and this will be the first year we don't if we wait for May. We will still take off the week for our anniversary and to recharge. We will go to Sea World and check it out, and then do things around town for a change. I have a feeling though if an excellent deal comes out we might change our minds and go in Jan. I will keep everyone updated as to what happens.

Not much else to report on. Glad that overtime at work is over for me. I have a trip to my parents for my birthday in a week and a half, so excited about that. Then we have the holidays coming up and then will be off for our anniversary. YAY!!!

~Hugs

Monday, September 24, 2012

Puppy Power

So we got a new puppy recently. We rescued her at the animal shelter on Friday. Her name is Sweet Pea. She is an american pit bull/terrier mix. She is almost 8 months old. We have an appointment on Wed for her inital wellness check at the vet.

We have had several accidents but she's getting better about it. She knows if she does wrong, we will be putting her outside so she starts to go for the door. When we bring her in she goes into the kennel until we let her out.

I know it's about getting her trained to go to the door if she needs to go out but it's going to take a while. In the meantime we just have to be patient and understand it's like potty training a toddler. They have accidents as well and eventually get out of that stage.

We were talking about it and have pretty much decided that for our anniversary we will just go to Sea World for the day and come home so we don't have to board her. Then when we get ready to go to Disney in May we will have to sweet talk my parents into watching her or take her to be boarded.

We are going to take her to the park on Friday to see how she does after we get her license tag.

Tomorrow starts the overtime schedule for two weeks. My team is doing it before our normal work hours. Ian's team is after work so I will be getting 3 hours of overtime each day that we share together. So that will be really nice on the paycheck.

We had gotten caught up on our bills thanks to a birthday present from Ian's parents. Then I was out for almost a week and have been grateful for that extra money as it helped get the bills paid with my paycheck being cut in half due to that.

Hopefully there are no more issues for the rest of the year. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Not much else to say today. I will post a picture tomorrow if I have the time of Sweet Pea.

~hugs

Monday, September 17, 2012

Time flies By

I can't believe it's already 5:30 on my Sunday now. It seems like the weekends fly by way too fast. Oh well, just have to remember it's 5 quick work days and then you are back at the start of your weekend. =D

Not a whole lot going on with us. We got up and really enjoyed the beautiful weather today. We went for a walk around the track by the Rec center. It's a total of 1.6 miles to complete it and we did the full loop. We are going to try and push it for 2 miles on Wed when we go back. Keep your fingers crossed for us. It took us around 30 mins to do that because I'm still going a bit slower after being sick and resting.

Work is going to be busy again soon which stinks but it does help keep the day busy at work and help the time fly by a little quicker. Before we know it the holidays will be here and then we can take a week off for our anniversary to spend with each other. Woot.

Not much else to report on. Just watching for the discounts to come around so we can book the May trip for our 5k at Disney. Hopefully by the end of this month we might know something. I know at the end of Oct/beg of Nov we can start booking our dining reservations. Yay!

Time to go fix something for dinner. Catch ya'll later!

~Hugs

Monday, September 10, 2012

Update of sorts

So I know I said I would be back on Sunday with an update. However it turns out when you are sick to your stomach all you want to do is lay in bed and sleep.

We still don't know what happened or what caused it but I woke up Thursday morning feeling dizzy and felt sick to my stomach. So we came out to the living room and I sat in my chair and it didn't take long before I was praying to the porcelain God. We set an appointment with the Dr as I didn't want to take any chances. They took a urine sample from me right off to rule out bladder infection. Nope, came back ok. So then they had me lay on the table and she pressed on parts of my tummy and it was very tender around the appendix location. So she had them draw my blood to make sure my blood cell counts were ok. That came back ok, so since I wasn't running a fever, they basically told me I had a stomach virus and to do a liquid diet with sips of water/sprite and to move on to popsicles if my tummy could handle it. Then on Friday I was to do the B.R.A.T diet. Which I did but was feeling ok that evening so we had a little more food then I should have tried, because I woke up Sat sick again to my stomach. So I contacted the Dr back to see if I needed to come back in. However since I wasn't presenting any new signs except for the low grade fever she just told me to go back to the BRAT diet and see how I was after that.

So she extended my return to work notice. I had Ian go pick it up along with some crackers/sprite/and more popsicles.

I have been feeling better since last night and no more episodes so hopefully that is a good sign. We went for a walk this morning to get back on track for me. It felt amazing out there. However I could definitely tell I was out of my training since last Wed. It was hard to walk the mile. It took about 10 mins longer than we had been doing. I felt very winded as well. Hopefully Wed I will be better but we shall wait and see.

The visit with mama and papa faas went really well. We enjoyed having them here and know they had a good time as well. We had a lot of good laughs and moments on the trip.

Not much else to post on right now. Hopefully the work week goes well and I should be back next Sunday with an update.

~hugs

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Our new inspiration for the 5k



So we got this wonderful card for our birthday's from Mama and Papa Faas *That Guy* and just had to share it. It's our inspiration for the 5k.

Not much else to post right now as we are still celebrating Ian's birthday. Be back on Sunday with an update.

~hugs

Monday, August 27, 2012

Upping our game

Have you ever had one of those mornings that it's tough to get out of bed? Well that was us today. We just didn't want to get out of bed this morning. We finally did around 10 AM and hit the pool. Once we got back from the pool we had lunch and then Ian had to head to work.

We are going to get up and get back on track tomorrow for our walking regimen. We are going to add on a 1/2 mile tomorrow and if all goes well we might keep walking and get it to 2 miles instead.

This is going to be a crazy week at work so hopefully it flies by for us. I am so happy that August is just about over. Although next month is going to be crazy for us so not looking forward to that.

I am anxious for the fall weather to start coming here as well. Who doesn't love one of those first fronts that come in and have the highs be around 75ish and the lows around 50. Perfect weather for a nice walk, some yummy oatmeal and a nice hot cup of coffee. hehe. I am a big fan of the pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks and love the fall weather for this reason. They usually start serving them in September so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we will see them soon. Ian has requested a pumpkin pie for his birthday cake so of course I will honor his request. Mmmmmm

Not much else to report on right now.

Take care!

~hugs

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Men are from Mars and....

So everyone knows that catch phrase in life and I really believe it sometimes. For example, why is it that men lose weight about ten times faster than women do. They have to be partial alien inside. Men tend to lose weight in their bellies, legs, etc where women tend to lose it in the boobs or face first.

I know it has to do with our makeups and what not but it can be frustrating. Now don't get me wrong I have gone down a pant size recently but sheesh, I don't feel like there is any difference yet. I am also having that monthly visitor so I know I'm bloated and likely why I feel this way today.

We will be hitting up the rec center in the morning to do our workout. Hopefully everything goes well and we are able to get a solid hour workout in. Which reminds me...I need to go download some music for my Ipod for tomorrow.

We have a nice mini vacation coming up in a few weeks too. Ian will be off for almost a full week lucky duck. I will be off just two along with my two days for the weekend. Mama and Papa Faas are coming to visit us so we are looking forward to it. Nothing major planned but it will be nice to see them again.

Then in October we will be off for a long weekend again for my birthday. Hopefully my parents are coming to visit but we will go to them if we have to. Not much else going on right now. Just work work work and trying to do our walks every other day as planned. Tomorrow I am going to do 30 mins of cardio and 30 of weights I think unless the weights are busy. Then I will do a 30 min walk.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Expedition Everest Count down clock

some changes to our training plans

Good evening everyone!!! So we have some slight changes to our training plans. I overdid the walking yesterday morning and got so overheated, it caused me to get dehydrated and sick to my stomach. So if we get up in the morning if it's superhot, I will be doing my walking inside on the treadmill instead of outdoors.

We have decided to wait and do the 5k in May instead of Jan to get more time to gear up for it because 4 months would be to short to do this smart. I got some new walking shoes, shorts and socks for this so hopefully they all help us. Then I have my dr appt in October so it will give me more time to be on meds as well. I'm sure I will be put on some thyroid meds since I have a very slow thyroid.

That will help us get to a good position for the May one. The one in may is called the Expedition Everest Challenge. It's an obstacle and scavenger hunt 5k in the Animal Kingdom park. They have a fun after party too where we can actually ride Expedition Everest in the dark which sounds like a blast to me.

The May one is on May 4, 2013. They have the Epcot garden festival around then too so we should get to see some of the pretty topiary's they do for this specifically which will be neat. We will probably head to the world the Monday or Tuesday before the race and stay for a week. I know Ian's been bugging me to check out Islands of Adventure too so we might add a day to go over and see this park and check out the area they opened up for Harry Potter. Like he would have to twist my arm too much for that. hehe.

So it looks like Jan will be just a week off with a few days spent at Sea World instead of going for the 5k at Disney.

However things can always change as you know they do with us. Stay tuned for any new updates.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Daisypath Anniversary tickers

Feeling good about life

I am sure many are curious about this title and what is the meaning behind it. We have made some changes at home with food and started our new exercise regimen. I was really dreading getting up as early as we did today to go for a mile walk. However once we got going it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

We did a mile right at 20 minutes. We want to get that to about 16 mins and do 3 miles at that pace for a 5k in Jan we might do. It will depend on what the money situation looks like in a few weeks if we do the Jan one or not. If we can't do that one we will do one in May instead. Either way it's nice to have something to achieve and that always makes you feel good when you can hit it. For our 1st day starting it though I was pleasantly surprised at our pace. I'm sure Ian could have done it quicker but he went with me at my pace.

We are on a every other day training cycle and on the off days we will go to the pool and swim while we can. If we get to join the rec center we can swim every day for sure once it gets cold.

Work is going ok right now. I pick up an hour of overtime on the days Ian and I get to ride in together, so I'm getting about 8 hours for every paycheck. That extra money is helping us out too. I have been trying to work on improving the amount of calls I take each hour and there are some good days and some bad days. It really depends on the caller too and I know that. I need to cut back on the chit chat when the call is pretty much completed and that would help some. But it's so easy to talk to them and most of our callers are friendly.

Not much else to speak about. I will post this countdown ticker to our anniversary and possible trip. Even thought we don't know for sure just yet what that will be. It's good to watch something count down.

I will post it in the next post all by itself.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Disney on the brain

So as the title says, we definitely have Disney on the brain. I remember when it was cruises on the brain. The more and more we talk about it, looks like we are going to do San Antonio for our anniversary. However we are liking the idea of Disney World around May 18th through the following Saturday for next year.

We are thinking we are going to take a day at least to visit Universal's park/Islands of Adventure. We really want to check out the Harry Potter part of the park as well as ride some of their rides. We know we are going to take one day to visit Typhoon Lagoon which is one of the water parks and that night go to Downtown disney. The Sunday after we arrive would be the day to check out Star Wars weekend out at Disney's Hollywood Studios park as this would be part of the whole reason to go back. Then the rest of the trip would fall in with a day at each of the 4 parks.

We aren't going to book it probably until December. That is usually when they release deals for that time frame. Hoping for free dining or room discount because then we might be able to stay at Animal Kingdom or the Poly for about the same price as a moderate. We will have to wait and see. Want to get certain things taken care of first and foremost. Then we will see what we have left and if it's affordable. That will come first as always.

The funny thing is we will hit 180 out for ADR reservations for Disney before we book the package. However I will go ahead and book the resturants we know for sure that we will want because I'm not going to risk not getting what we want as some book very far in advance like Ohanas at the Poly, and the new table service resturante in the Beauty and the Beast castle, "Be our Guest". I know already for the night we go to Magic Kingdom I will want to try it out. It opens up later this year so hopefully it's as great as it's being led to believe it will be. I know for our Sunday at Hollywood Studios I will want to book us the dinner package for Fantasmic as well. If we don't end up going I can just cancel those as it doesn't cost us a penny to book.

I know what hotel I want to book us for Jan in San Antonio. I'm just waiting to book it hoping maybe it will go down slightly in price. It has already gone down by 10 bucks so waiting to see if it goes down slightly more. I will probably book this by November no matter what as well since we are pretty set on going there for our anniversary itself.

Nothing too major going on with us right now. We are looking forward to some time off in Sept and then again in Oct for our birthdays. Work is keeping us busy of course. It's better to be busy at work then not so that's a good thing. If it was dead I would be worried about job cuts like earlier this year.

Guess that is pretty much it for now. Hope everyone else is doing well. ~Hugs

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Update of sorts

So it's my Saturday and I was sitting here waiting on some laundry to finish up and thought it would be fun to post an update. I can't believe July is just about over. We were just talking about how last year on this date we were flying out and getting surprised with an upgrade to a savannah view at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Crazy how a year can go by so freaking fast. We are still debating what to do in Jan. We lean more and more to something simple in Jan like San Antonio and Sea World and then going to Star Wars Weekends in May or the Halloween stuff in October. I guess time will only tell. We have two plane tickets still to use that will expire in June so we might end up flying somewhere in Jan to use them as well. That was the only thing bad about buying those plane tickets for the trip we were going to do to star wars weekends this past June. We got them nice and cheap but they will expire in June if we don't use them. Work has been keeping us super busy. We had our company picnic this last Thursday and it was quite fun. Not much on the radar this coming week. Ian has a Dr. appointment tomorrow as a follow up. I am waiting on my email back to let me know when mine is. I need to get on some thyroid meds and need my check up. I'm hoping for an early appt and will just go with no food in my tummy so that way I can have my blood taken instead of having to make another appt for that. Ian's birthday will be just around the corner too. We are taking a nice long weekend for his bday. So excited for some quality time with him. Work is probably going to get super busy in the near future too so kind of enjoying this breath of air before it gets crazy. I guess that is all for now. Hope everyone is doing well. ~Hugs

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Yay for the weekend

Hey readers out there! I'm so glad it's the weekend. It was a rough week for me work wise. I don't know really have a why or reason behind why it was rough, but it was one of those weeks that you get to the end of it and just thank god that you survived it. We have our company's picnic this week so looking forward to it. It's at a dave and buster type of place and they are serving us BBQ at it as well. So that should be fun. It's on Thursday so Ian is off already and then we are getting released at 6pm to head over for it, so I will be off almost 5 hours earlier that I would have been. We don't have a whole lot going on other than that. Just work work work really and some fun times in between when we can. I can't believe we are almost half way through July already. Where does the time go honestly? I know as we get older it does tend to go by pretty fast but sheesh, this is just plain crazy to me. LOL. Ian took tomorrow off so we will have a day off together. So I'm looking forward to that. We are going to the park if the weather holds out for us. We also want to go to the pool too. Only time will tell how the weather will behave for us. Guess that is all my ramblings for now. Take care everyone! ~Hugs

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Things on the up and up

So after re-working out budget, things are definitely improving for us. We managed to get all bills paid on time, and had over 200 left over. We get paid again on Friday so this is much better than it has been for the last two months. YAY!!! We have started to look into various things to possibly do for our anniversary in Jan. We have a few things on our radar but only time will tell if our budget can afford it. We are taking off in Sept for a long weekend for Ian's birthday. Then we have a long weekend planned in October for my birthday. My parents are going to likely come up for my birthday this year. Yay!! Then we are going to take time in November for turkey day. Just the day of turkey day and the day after. So will just stay put and plan our own Thanksgiving feast here. Not a whole lot going on in our world right now. We are just working, working, working. We should find out soon enough if Ian gets to swap shifts in the next week or so. Keep your fingers crossed for us. I guess that is all for now. I hope everyone out there is doing ok. ~Hugs

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Stinks to be a grown up sometimes

So we had to come to a tough decision this week. We were very tight money wise when we got so sick in May so we decided that we wanted to get some of our debt paid down and put aside some money in a savings acct. So we decided to cancel the cruise. We worked it out where we could still be able to go on it, but we would be tight after paying bills, and the payment for the cruise. So we decided to just do something small for our anniversary this Jan like San Antonio. Then depending on how the income tax refund and profit sharing looks we will either go for a cruise to Alaska in July/Aug or Southern Caribbean/Eastern Caribbean in Jan 2014. We will keep everyone updated once we get decisions made. I know there was one itenrary we were liking that is out of FL that is a two week cruise that does one route of the south caribbean one week and then a different one the next week. I think we made the wise decision with this choice but I won't lie and say I'm not bummed. I was really looking forward to going in Jan as it's been almost two years since the last one. We both had a good work week last week on our new teams. I really hope we can get Ian swapped over to a shift with sun/mon or mon/tues off so we can have a day off at least together. Only time will tell.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Various Ramblings and Mumbles

So today is going to be a post about various things that are going on in our lives right now. First and foremost, our new shifts start today. Ian managed to get a shift that has him working from 3pm - midnight with Thurs/Fridays off and I am working 1:45 - 10:45PM with Sun/Mon off. Ian is going to put in for a shift swap to shifts that would give him Sun/Mon or Mon/Tues off so we can at least have a single day off together. Hopefully he lucks out and gets swapped quickly. The plus side is our hours our close enough now that we can carpool in together instead of having to take two seperate cars. Thank the heavens. Our next bit of rambeling has to do with work. I'm at a point where I'm putting my resume out there and have decided to see if anything bites. What I would love to do is go to school for either my teacher's certificate or get certified to be a travel agent once and for all. I have a lot of joy being around children and planning vacations so if I can do either of them for a living I think I could truly be happy once and for all in my career. While I love to work at the company I'm at, I know the only growth I can do there is to move up the management ladder. There haven't been any openings for the next move up yet, and I'm not getting any younger so feel like I might actually need to take charge once and for all. We will see what happens. I am going to start looking into excursions for the cruise in the coming weeks. I'm hoping to make up my mind on the company we are going to use in Belize for the snorkel trip. I'm also going to look into what beach to use in Roatan. Cozumel we have it pretty easy since we are going to just shop and enjoy the ship. I also need to figure out what nights we are going to do the specialty resturants on board. So freaking excited about this cruise. I think we have decided to take two weeks again for this vacation so we have off the week of the cruise and afterwards to rejuvinate before going back to work again. I guess that is about all for now. Hope everyone that still reads this is doing well. I will post an update probably in a few days after I get to meet my new team mates and once we have our stuff booked for the excursions on this trip. ~Hugs

Thursday, June 7, 2012

An update of sorts

So it has been over a month since I was last able to update this blog. So lets see where should I begin. Ok, lets go with the less fun thing of work first. Our company is currently doing shift bids. So it's a lot sooner than I anticipated as you could clearly see from my last post of thinking it would by July/Augustish. It's all good though. Several of the shifts were really good. Now I'm keeping the fingers crossed that we get one of our top choices. I would love any of the top five really. One of the bad things was when I was moved to the different department they converted all my metric data to the new depts standards. The issues per hour is the same but in the previous dept it's lower than the phone team. I heard rumor they are changing that over for us so it might help me move up the ranking system they use to place us on our teams. It won't be a huge jump but anything is better than 15th from the bottom for my tier group. LOL. Once we find out our shifts which should be on Monday I will post them here as well as send an email. They have several teams put together that will combine both sides of the business so of course Ian and I are trying to get on that team first and foremost. Keep your fingers crossed for us. Ok, not really because that is still days away and I'm sure your fingers will get cramped before then. LOL. Now an update to other stuff. We changed the cruise yet again as you can tell by the ticker I have. We pretty much were mainly booking the Princess cruise because of the 4 ports. We wanted a port intensive itinerary but alas they cancelled one of the ports. So when we got an email with Royal Caribbean's dates, the ports are the same but it's over $100 cheaper pp. Plus since Ian and I are members of their loyalty program we will get $25 on board credit. This will also put us just one credit shy of hitting platinum so yay for getting a big discount on balcony rooms. I have started to look into different excursion ideas but haven't booked anything yet. I know for Roatan we will take a taxi to the West Bay area because they have the best beaches for snorkeling from. I'm talking reefs galore that you can reach from shore. I was a little bummed in regards to looking at our calendar today. It has the stuff from when we were going to by flying out to Disney tomorrow for Star Wars weekends. I am mostly glad it didn't work out because with how hot it has been we would have been so hot and miserable. I know we will have a relaxing time on the cruise and it's been over a year since we have been on. I just hope the weather is wonderful for us. Now just have to get through the next 6 months. LOL. So freaking long. I guess that is pretty much it for now. I can't think of anything else off the top of my head right now. Hope everyone is doing well. ~Hugs

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Holy cow...two posts close together!

So I researched a bunch of excursion ideas last night as I mentioned. So yay for that. I pretty much found the company we will likely use in Belize. They have a lot of great reviews and there are some other pluses. One is they have a few options you can choose from. One of them is an option for people that might be in your group that have no interest in snorkeling but they would like to observe and take pictures and see the beautiful places. It's about 30 bucks cheaper than those that want to snorkel. They go to two places for us to snorkel at for 45 minutes each. One is Coral gardens which is on the Belize barrier reef and the second one is the infamous stingray and nurse shark alley. eek....then they take us back to the caye for some lunch and beach time or shopping if you want to shop. They then take us back by boat to the main port area for us to catch a tender back to our ship. The only downfall is we would possibly miss this port due to high winds/rough seas because of the dangers of tendering. Now for Roatan we are going to likely use this one tour group. They have a shuttle that leaves every 30 minutes. You get full use of the beach chairs, a welcome drink and full use of their facilities. They have some great reefs we can snorkel from the beach area pretty easily. I am just waiting to hear back from some of the people I trust on the cruise boards. I posted a thread in hopes to get feedback. The other thing we could do in Roatan if they don't get rave reviews is right there at the port we dock at. If we dock at the Carnival one they have built it up with shopping, restaurants and a beach that we don't have to pay a fee to use. However it does get pretty crowded compared to the other one we are looking into. Only time will tell. Not much else to say right now. Going to veg on the couch and relax. Can't believe my weekend only has one more day to it. These three day weekends go way too fast sometimes.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Hello from an old friend

I know it's been a long time since I have posted something in here and I am sorry about my long absence. Things have been a little crazy for us at work. I was recently asked to move to our billing and technical services department. When I was first asked it was sort of a shock because it's not the part of the business I was necessarily interested in. However I am really enjoying it and am glad I made the move. Some of the perks are it's setting me up more for a supervisor position or a tier jump which is always a good thing. I have been working hard towards a supervisor position and really want it. I need to work on my resume in case when they do shift bids eventually around July/August if they open up this position I will be ready for it. The pay stayed the same so no big perk there. However with being in this department the latest shift I will ever receive is an end time of 10:45 pm instead of an overnight shift. The only negative is not getting to be on a team with Ian again unless he works up to the tier that lets him move to the billing side. So that has been our work news. Now on to the home life. We get to go pick up our pool keys on Thursday so we might hit the pool later that night depending on how cold the pool feels when we go down there. I'm stoked because we love to do our yard work and then hit the pool. I am going to begin looking into excursion ideas for the cruise in Jan. I pretty much know what we are doing in Cozumel which is just shopping and then using the pool while everyone is off in port. In Belize I know they have a really cool snorkeling trips you can book there. I just need to research companies to find the best one. They have stops at the reefs and one stop in particular gets you close up with some nurse sharks and sting rays. We all know how much I love sting rays. It's the nurse sharks I'm a little nervous about. I know this particular breed is safe to be swimming near and it will be another thing I can check off my bucket list. Then Roatan I know they have some reefs you can swim to from the beach so we might just find a nice beach to go to and chill at and swim to the reefs on our own. Plus who doesn't like having a fruity drink while on a beautiful beach. Hopefully we can get it approved in the time off manager before the call a black out of vacation. I know most of the time they will help you with getting it pushed through in certain circumstances. So hopefully worst case our managers will be able to help us if they do call a black out. Not much else really going on in our lives right now. Can ya'll believe it's almost May. This year is just flying by already. It's crazy to me. Before we know it the time frame will be Sept/October and we will be getting close to the end of the year yet again. I'm hoping when they come out with the shifts I can get one with similar days off because I would love to just be off for Christmas this year and not have to worry about requesting it off. We will just have to wait and see I guess. Well that's all for now. ~Hugs

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Our take on Tonga Toast

So we went grocery shopping yesterday and decided we wanted to get the fixings to make our favorite breakfast on the Disney trip. It's served up for breakfast at the Poly in either Kona Cafe or their quick service called Capt Crooks. We went to Kona and tried it and it was one of our favorite breakfasts. I had done some research and knew the ingredients that went into this yummy, sinful breakfast.

So I started out making the strawberry compote they serve with the Tonga Toast. It's pretty simple ingredients. It's 10 strawberries, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1/4 cup sugar. You cut up 6 of the strawberries and put it in a pot with the vanilla and sugar. Cook on med-high heat until it boils. It only takes a few mins. Then you cut up the 4 remaining strawberries, put it into a food processor and add in the cooked mixture. Blend until smooth and voila, a very yummy strawberry compote.


Then we started whipping up the batter for the tonga toast.

You will need 4 large eggs, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 cup milk.

We bought a loaf of sourdough bread at HEB as it's the most recommended for the recipe. You cut it into 3 inch slices and with a pairing knife cut a pocket on one side. Then you take a banana and cut it in half and then again cut in half but this time lengthwise so you end up with two half pieces. You stuff the banana's into the pocket you just cut in the bread.

Then you dip it into the egg mixture coating all four sides. We put it into the deep fryer that we had canola oil in set at 350 degrees. They say you can do it in a few inches of oil in a pan if you don't have a deep fryer however make sure you have a candy thermometer because if the oil gets too high above 350 it will burn.

You cook it on each side for about two mins, flip, cook another two mins and then take out and put it into a sugar and cinnamon mixture. We did 3/4 cup of sugar and 2 tablespoon's cinnamon. Coat all four sides of the bread and enjoy. We top ours with the strawberry compote because it helps offset the sweetness. Plus who doesn't like strawberry and banana's. yummmy... I might try another person's recipe for it next time because our mixture was a little wetter than I think it should be and this other recipe doesn't call for any milk.

Here are the rest of the pictures from our breakfast.




Friday, March 16, 2012

One last change

So we received our money in our bank accounts and we were sadly disappointed. We received a lot less than what we figured because we forgot about the percentage they take out for the 401k before they tax it at the high rate for income taxes. So we had to cancel the Magic as it was higher than we wanted to pay. The 8 nighter was going to be about 2100 after the taxes and that was prior to tips for the staff. We were both sad but we figured it was the grown up thing to do.

We are still going on a cruise for our anniversary but we reverted to going on the Princess one I had mentioned a few posts ago that I deleted. It's going to Belize, Cozumel, Costal Maya and Roatan. So on the big upside is we have been wanting to try out Princess and we get two new ports. So yay for that! I'm going to watch the prices and if the balcony's go down we will upgrade to that. Right now we are booked in a gurantee inside so it's possible to get upgraded to a balcony anyway without paying the upgrade fee's.

It sets sail on our anniversary too so I'm going to book the steakhouse for that night. Hopefully we get our luggage quick as we will have to dress up for the steak house. Then I think we are going to hit up one of the lounges for some dancing. It is our anniversary after all. LOL.

We got it for a great price too so if anyone is interested let me know. We managed to snag the inside for only $1500 and change. That price is for the both of us by the way. Anyways thats all for now. Take care!

~Hugs

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Final Changes

So we received an interesting bit of news that had us change our plans but once tomorrow comes there should be no further changes.

I was speaking with a travel agent and found out that the Disney Magic will still be sailing from Galveston in Jan. So when Ian got home last night we discussed the itinerary and have decided to go with it. It's an 8 night cruise for only 200 more than we paid for the 4 night one on Carnival. We get to hit up Key West, Grand Cayman, Costa Maya and Cozumel. So we get 4 great ports as well. One we have never done anything in before or been to. Grand Cayman we will probably go to 7 mile beach and shop. Then Cozumel we will just shop at the pier area and in Costa Maya we will probably just stay on the ship or get off in ship in the pier area as well.

If anyone wants details on the trip just let us know. We always love company on trips like this. We are going to book an inside room to save a bit of money. Especially since on this ship we will be participating in the various activities. Plus lets not forget you don't have to pay extra for sodas as it's included in the price where on other lines you pay typically 7 bucks per day per person for the soda pass. We don't typically drink enough to warrant it but we still like to have an occasional soft drink at shows, or by the pool. I'm really excited about how everything turned out and hope we enjoy the ship. We booked a room in Galveston for the night before the ship departs. It will leave on Friday Jan 4th and get back on Sat Jan 12th.

Not much else to post about right now.

~Hugs

Deleted post

I am deleting this post because we made final changes. Please see the post above this for the final details and changes we made.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

ch ch changes

removed as we are no longer going on this cruise. =(

Ugh...changes yet again

So as the title says there were changes yet again. After we talked it over we don't really want to blow all of the profit sharing checks on Disney after everything that has happened recently. We talked about some various things we could do locally or nearby and have decided to book a quick 4 night cruise out of Galveston. It just goes to Cozumel and we can utilize the same dates we were looking at for Disney. However the 4 nights didn't have one the week we originally put in for. So we have moved it to the week after instead.

We will be sailing on Thursday June 14th and get back to Galveston on Monday June 18th. That gives us a few days at home that will allow us to do various fun things around town now as well. We will have a nice chunk we can put aside by going this route. Since its our last big vacation besides just going to visit family we decided to splurge on a premium balcony. I'm actually ok with our choice to change it to this and Ian seemed pretty happy about it too. Now tomorrow I get to call in and cancel the other stuff.

We have pretty much decided we are going to just shop in Cozumel, grab a bite at one of the good Mexican resturants near the pier and then relax on the ship and utilize the pool. We talked about going to Nachi like we normally do but we have done it so many times and we want to really just enjoy the trip and not necessarily have to worry about catching a cab and tipping the waiter, etc. Plus lets not forget it will be in June that we are going so no telling what the weather will do to us yet.

That's all for now. Hope everyone is doing ok.

~Hugs

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

We are booked!

We were able to officially switch everything over this morning to June now. We will be there from June 7th - June 13th. We are staying at the Coronado Springs again and booked a King Bed. We are hoping for the same building again because it was close to the dig site pool, and close to a bus stop but we don't know if they have the king beds in specific buildings or not.

I have our touring plans set to a degree but we are going to keep it kind of low key as well because it will be warm and humid and I know we will need more breaks this trip than in Jan. I will post our touring plans later along with the ADR's we chose.

Off to work on laundry right now though. Be back later.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

changes yet again

So due to some various reasons we have decided to take our trip in June for Star Wars weekends. We will be going from June 7th - June 14th. The pricing is about $750 cheaper than we were looking at in October. We know our shifts now compared to October and there is the possibility of black out due to a release. So with that said, we have a crazy couple of months ahead of us. Here's the newest ticker.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

We are booked!

We officially booked today after getting our deposit back for the cruise. We are going from Oct 22nd - Oct 29th. We are staying at the Caribbean Beach Resort.

It's so exciting to think I will get to go to Disney right after my birthday. It will definitely be a memorable trip. So excited to see the party for Halloween and taste the yumminess of the food and wine festival.

As we make our plans I will be sure to update here. Not much else to report on. I was sick from Friday to yesterday. I had a horrible cough and slight fever, achy and just felt like crud. We went to the Dr and turns out I had a sinus infection and an upper respiratory infection. They put me on an antibiotic and some strong cough meds that have a decongestant in it as well. I'm feeling much better today after I got some good sleep for a change.

That's about it for now.

~Hugs

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Food & Wine Festival and Mickey's Halloween Party!

So I'm sure you are curious what plans we made with removing the countdown for the cruise and this title.

We did some talking and decided that since this will be the last big vacation we take for over a year that we wanted to do something bigger than a cruise to places we have already been numerous times already.

We tossed around the idea of flying to Florida and taking Disney's new ship the Fantasy and going to the East Caribbean. We also looked into the opportunity to go to the Food & Wine Festival that Epcot has and also go to the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party instead. Well as the title says it, we chose another trip back to Disney after comparing pricing on both. We are going to stay at the Caribbean Beach Resort this time. So it gives us a chance to check out a different resort. Woot!

We were discussing things we know for sure we want to book for dining reservations as those will open up in two months. Hard to believe that.

We know we are going to do Kona again for breakfast and we want to try it for dinner. We are also going to try and book O'Hana for dinner and possibly look into the Spirit of Olaha Show at the poly for dinner as well.

We are thinking of having one day that we spend just at the hotel and utilize the resort pool all day and then go to downtown Disney for dinner that night and Disney Quest.

We know we will get tickets for the Halloween party one night that we are there as that is a separate ticket. So excited for this. We are going to put we are celebrating birthdays as well since mine will be that month and Ian's will have been the month before.

I have a bit of time before I will start planning out our days at which parks. We are thinking of going a Monday to a Monday this time because it's cheaper for airfare and going the Monday after my birthday and coming back the following Monday.It will be a little difficult as we generally will do a shift swap in August/Sept so no idea what our shifts will be so I will likely put in vacation requests when Oct becomes available with what my shift is currently and then just change the dates once we get the official shifts in the future.

We know we are going to take a week and a few days this time again as well. Probably the day before and two days after we fly back unless we just naturally have like Mon/Tuesday off...Only time will tell in the future.

So if anyone wants more information regarding the trip let us know. We are always game for others to possibly join us.

That's all for now.

~Hugs


Our countdown ticker for now

www.MyVacationCountdown.com Ticker

Friday, February 3, 2012

Back to reality

What better way to come back to reality than booking the next vacation. We booked today for the Disney Magic cruise out of Galveston, TX that will set sail on October 27th. We decided to go the cheaper route and just booked an inside category. We booked the highest in the category but it was around 800 cheaper and that money can go a long way. Our cruise will take us to Grand Cayman, Costa Maya and Cozumel. We are only going to do an excursion in Grand Cayman with going to 7 mile beach this time. We have always done an excursion to the stingray city sandbar but not this time. We are all about relaxing on the beautiful beaches here and partake in some shopping. We plan on staying on the ship in Costa Maya and then will take in the shopping in Cozumel some. Then spend most of the time on the ship just soaking it all in. I plan on doing an update regarding our recent trip soon. I will post pictures as well but just haven't wanted to sit and take the time to do it yet.


Removed countdown calendar as we changed our plans....

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

WOWsers!!!!

So, I decided to start gathering up the stuff for the trip. I wanted to get the stuff together for the bag I'm taking on the plane with the magazines, books, travel stuff, etc.

Well that momentum carried me into starting to pack stuff like shorts, bathing suits, cover ups, etc. Then I ended up getting us pretty much fully packed except for stuff that we are still using like brushes, shampoo, etc. So pretty much all done which is the first time that I have been this packed before a trip in a long time. I generally tend to wait until the night before..LOL...and that is almost what happened for this one. I was like we don't fly out until 3 so we won't be leaving for the airport until 12 which means plenty of time. I am so stoked.

Going to head to bed in a few to try and get some sleep early. That is all for now...

~Hugs

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Vacation Time Finally!!!!

I think that title says it all. I'm officially on vacation and it could not feel any better than what it does.

Now is crunch time for us. We are hitting the grocery store in the morning and going by the bank to get our cash out for tips for mousekeeping,tips for the shuttle driver at the airport and tips for the bag guy. Pretty much everything else will just go on the room key.

I will also do laundry tomorrow and relax. Then on Wed I plan on getting most of the packing out of the way and relax. Mama and Papa Faas head towards us Thursday morning towards. We are going to do the Salt Lick for dinner for some yummy BBQ. Friday morning we have my eye dr appointment. Then we are going to take them to a movie at our favorite place and probably go to dinner at Gino's. Then Saturday we figured we could take a drive down the toll road and visit Cabellas and then have dunch at Gristmill in Gruene.

Then Sunday we fly out at 3pm....so excited but at the same time have nervous energy. I always get a little nervous with flying. I was thinking this morning when I got up...a week from tomorrow I would be at Discovery Cove and got this bit of excited laughter in my throat and just had the biggest grin on my face. I can't really explain it. However imagine one of your biggest dreams coming true...and then multiple that times 1000 and you probably can get my feelings....lol...

I just hope the trip goes really well and we have a great time filled with laughter, and great memories.

I guess that is all for now. Until later...

~Hugs

Thursday, January 12, 2012

TEN DAYS TO GO AND ALL'S WELL!!!!

As we hit the ten day mark I was able to do the online check in for our reservations today!!! So exciting. I was having issues with the website and doing it so I called in and spoke with a wonderful cast member Shelly. This is the first of many I'm sure to come. We got our reservation and mama and papa Faas's reservation confirmed and room requests were made.

I put in that we want Casita 4 as it's right near bus stop 2 which is actually the first one they pick up and drop off from every day. It's closer to the main building and has a quiet pool. We are also a very short walk to the main pool which is supposed to be the best themed pool on property. They have the two largest hot tubs on property as well. They also tend to show a movie at night at this pool too. So excited it's going to be a wonder if I can contain it before then. I have work tomorrow through Monday with several meetings on two different days so that will help. Plus on Monday Ian and I will go have dinner at Texadelphia because it's by the Barnes and Noble so I can get some magazines for the plane ride. Nothing takes your mind off a flight like a good gossip magazine. LOL. It's my guilty pleasure for flying.

Then before we know it we will land and be on our way down to the magical express line.

Mama and Papa Faas are coming in on Thursday. So we plan to take them to the Best BBQ place in Texas, the Salt Lick. Then on Friday I have my eye Dr appointment and we will go to a movie and walk around the domain. Then on Sat we were thinking we would take a ride on the beltway south to Buda and go walk around Cabellas, then have dinner at the Gristmill. Then Sunday we fly out. Eek!!!!

Until next time.

~Hugs

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

TGIF!!

I am so happy to be on weekend again! We are going to go grocery shopping in the morning. I have the list already made so hopefully it can be a quick and painless trip.

We are supposed to get the autograph books delivered tomorrow as well. So that is another thing I can check off the list. I am also going to work on laundry tomorrow evening once Ian goes to work.

Then on Wed I will probably start pulling all the paperwork together and making sure I have everything printed up on Thursday once I can do the online check in for both of us. I will get that paper work put in the file folder with our vacation stuff.

I also plan to start packing some of the items that we won't be using between now and then...Then I will be back to work on Friday. My numbers were up as of yesterdays numbers...I did just ok today...too many distractions. But if I can pull of around 9.5 per hour for the next four days of work I will meet expectations which is all that I care for right now. I'm exceeding them on my CSAT currenty. Have the highest on our team and like 18 in the dept...so pretty darn good if I say so. I have always done well in that area, it's the numbers that I could increase. I meet those as well but I would like to exceed them. Will work on it when I get back.

I think that is all for now...can't believe how fast it's flying now. I would think it would have started to slow down but nope...work flies and then my night flies, and it's a rinse and repeat cycle...

Take care for now.

~hugs

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Two Weeks to Go!!!

As it's Sunday morning at midnight, we can officially say we are two weeks from our trip. I am in such disbelief over how quick the time is going by. I really thought it would go slower than what it has been. The only thing that really stinks is we have a short amount of time to put out some good ticket numbers. So the pressure has been on. I will be glad when the two weeks are over and I can officially relax on vacation.

I did make my eye dr appointment for Friday Jan 20th in the morning. It was set for the afternoon at 1 but they had to move it to get me in on this day. I got approved for a half day of sick for the dr appointment so I'm all see to begin as planned for vacation.

I have some plans to do this weekend. I plan on cleaning the house and getting the linens washed for our bed and the guest bed. I also plan on getting the confirmation numbers all in order in one place. I am going to also start packing the clothes we won't be using before then like the swimsuits, cover ups, shorts, etc.Then when it gets closer I will pack the other stuff...probably try to get everything packed on that Friday after my eye dr appointment except for the stuff I can't pack until that morning.

I get to do the online check in for our hotel part on Thursday as well. I have a building in mind for our stay and hope we luck out and get it. It's a building that is fairly close to the first bus stop that picks up and drops off for the parks. It's also got a quiet pool and a quick walk to the main building.

Hopefully we luck out on the location. =) I need to also start gathering up the camera stuff I want to take.

I also got the autograph books ordered and they are on their way so we should have them in time for the trip as well. woot!!!

Guess that is all for now. I'm sure I will be back sooner with more updates or just to post to see that countdown ticker again!!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

EEEEEEEKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!

Today we officially entered into the teens to go for our trip. As you can tell I am one excited girl. I only have 8 more work days to go until vacation which looks even better to me in numbers. As when I'm on weekend it's pretty stress free but at work it's pretty stressful.

So lots going on as you can imagine. Our printer was out of black ink so when we went to the store today we were looking at the cost to get black and color ink for our printer. And then looked at the markdown prices on the Kodak printers and ended up just getting a new printer. Their ink is about 30 bucks cheaper than what we were paying for our other one. Plus the cost of the printer was the same as buying our black and color ink so might as well save some money in the long run. =)

We were going to wait until we got back from the trip before deciding to get a printer or just buy ink but then I remembered I would need to print our boarding passes for the departure flight on Sunday the 22nd. So need ink to do that so that pretty much helped us make our decision.

We bought a lot of needed items and got some things for the trip. When we get out on Sunday we are going to swing by the disney store at the outlet to get two autograph books for the nieces to surprise them with. Hopefully the waits for the meet and greets of the characters aren't bad. I'm thinking since we are going doing a low crowd time we should be ok if we get them the first few days we are in the parks. Then leave them in the room the other days and not worry about them.

I know up until Friday/Saturday most of the touring plan sites have our days listed as either 1's or 2's so very low compared to when we went in July which were like 8's.

I'm so very excited as well because on our first full day in Florida, that Monday, I will finally get to swim with the dolphins. I just hope I don't get all emotional and instead have the biggest grin on my face. But I have a feeling I will get a little teary in the eyes. It's been a life long dream of mine and to finally have it come true it's just beyond words.

Hopefully we will get a ton of good pictures while we are there in both disney and discovery cove.