Disney Trip Number 487…and a very special trip at that!

Not really number 487. But by now it seems like it!

It’s been far too long since our last visit (three months) so it was time to go again. We do have Annual Passes ya know…gotta get our money’s worth!

This trip our friends Tanner and Sarah joined us.

The day started out very early on Friday morning. As in we departed around 5. We were eating breakfast in Gainesville before we knew it and went from there to the hotel to drop our stuff and head to the parks!

Me and Sarah.

 

Pilot and Co-pilot. David loves feet. Can you tell?

 

I enjoyed getting into Bloom on this trip. Not done yet though!

Oh and the big cam stayed at home, so these not-so-great pics from my baby cam and phone will have to do!

Sarah’s Mom got us the hookup on a room at Rosen Shingle Creek.

We, as in David and I like staying at the Disney hotels, but The Collins’ are (their quote, not mine) “Hotel Snobs”. So like to stay in “nicer” places. Would I prefer a Disney hotel? Yes. Am I allowed to complain if I’m staying at a five star resort instead? No.

So, that’s where we stayed.

 Pulling up to the resort

Me: “Tanner will you please drive slow when we pull in so I can get a picture of the sign?”

Pulls into the resort and I’m pretty sure gasses it past the sign

Me: “Or not.”

Haha!

After we dropped our stuff and changed into “park gear”, we were off!

First up, Magic Kingdom.

When we walked into the park I say what I always say, “Ahh, we’re home!”

It was about 10:30 or 11 by now so we were getting antsy to “do something”. But first, Tanner insisted that they needed their traditional picture in front of the castle.

They got theirs, and we got ours. But I didn’t manage to get a picture of theirs.

The last picture before the surprise!

Then, the next thing I know, David turns to me and says something along the lines of, “Tamara, we’re at the place where dreams come true, will you make mine?” Then he got down on his knee and asked me to marry him

Magic Moment!

Sarah was able to get it on video and I’ll be forever grateful!

I said okay, right after he asked me because I already knew the answer was yes, but all the sudden a million things were running through my mind and I was in shock, but while we’re hugging after, I may or may not have given him a “speech” about what kind of man he needs to be this next time around  

It feels great to have a ring on again, and even more great that it’s to the only man that has put one on my finger in the past

Happy, happy day!

We also booked it over to the concierge place in MK to pick up a Just Engaged pin…I’ve always loved seeing those on people and we got to get some

Next stop was Animal Kingdom.

There’s a water ride where one lucky person gets SOAKED. That would be Sarah! Haha

We all got a delicious treat. I got a Coke float. And my first and only coke since January 2012.

Top of Mount Everest, right before going backwards!

After lots of fun at AK and not many pictures, we headed back to check in to our Executive Suite. This 2 bedroom 3 bath place was a little too rich for my blood. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it!

     

I may or may not have been caught jumping on the extra fold down bed that resided in the living room that no one slept on because we each already had our own bedrooms! I don’t know how to behave in these types of places.

After we got settled and semi unpacked, we headed to the 14th floor to the VIP lounge. Desserts, appetizers and breakfast at different parts of the day awaited us, for free.

Sweet.

View from the top and appetizers.

My dessert tray.

Sarah’s dessert. A devastating accident.

And…what my jeans did when I tried to fit into them before heading to Downtown Disney that night…Wahhh!! One of my favorite pairs.

Ladies, you know the drill. Pull them on and do the giant jump/pull up on belt loops/lunge at the same time trick?

Yeah well all that equaled a BLOWOUT!

Boo

By this time our 4 am wakeups were catching up to us so we headed back to our royal quarters the hotel for some shut eye.

Then it was up early on Saturday to Hollywood Studios!

One disadvantage to staying in a non-Disney resort is that driving and parking can be a bit cumbersome. We’re used to hopping on a bus right from the hotel and being dropped off right in front of a park. But we eventually got the hang of it.

On the Tram.

Our Donald Duck drawings. I wish you could see them all. Sarah was the winner for sure. Mine was good too, at least I’d say so.

Tanner’s and David’s…well let’s just say we got a good laugh or two at their expense!

Sarah and I found TOMS lovers in line with us for Tower of Terror.

Yeah, we’re those girls asking others to take pictures with us. Of their shoes.

Mine are on the far left and Sarah’s top left.

Rockin’ Roller Coaster!

After more fun at Hollywood Studios, it was back to the resort for an evening change and more appetizers.

It’s like the golf channel! Haha

Twinnies. Waiting on the ferry to MK.

We’re pretty into our TOMS if you can’t tell already. It’s what we wore all weekend.

Fun times

We were at MK late Saturday night.

It’s possible that I was pooped. And Sarah took a picture.

I know, it’s embarrassing. But it’s what I do on this blog. Embarrass myself. Keepin’ it real folks.

As Sarah’s caption read, “Long night”.

I’d say so friends!

The next day, it was a little more relaxed in the morning. The boys were going golfing at the resort, and the girls were going shopping!

Now, let me just preface this a little bit. Last IKEA trip, the car looked like this after shopping.

October 2011, loaded.

So this trip we planned ahead.

We booked a U-Haul! Hahahahaha

Now I’ll say the main reason for this was we were getting some big ticket items this time and knew we’d need the room.

So the boys went golfing…

And the girls went and picked this up with Tanner’s truck…

Ready to do some damage!!

After a long day of shopping at IKEA (3.5 hours worth), we headed back to the hotel and got ready to go to Epcot for the night!

  

David was absolutely starving. So he got a pretzel to hold him over. He thoroughly enjoyed it!

Margaritas in Mexico! Yummm

We shut down Epcot then it was off the the hotel. We departed Monday and it was back to the real world today. We had an awesome trip though, and as always, I can’t wait to go back!!

PS- In case you’re like my friends and said their congrats then proceeded to say something along the lines of “Congrats and all, but we wanna see the bling!”. Here’s my gorgeous new ring. I can’t stop staring  

It’s a cushion cut solitaire in white gold.

Swoon!

 

Friday the 13th...

...was lucky to me :-)

Brand New Babies

Real quick, THANK YOU to everyone who gave me some stain remedies! There was a resounding answer of Dawn…I will be trying one of these concoctions very soon. Thanks again y’all, you rock!

Onward.

After the big boom of Photography work I encountered at the end of last year, I got a little scared, and overwhelmed to say the least.

I was extremely flattered and thankful for a little WAM (Walkin’ Around Money) but it quickly became a second full time job. Shooting on the weekends and editing on weeknights after my 8-5 job.

I was starting to run thin and did the only thing I really could, which was turn down work. I hated, HATED telling people I couldn’t help them. I felt so bad. But I just couldn’t keep up. I had to learn to say No, which I’m not very good at. I don’t like disappointing people. I was starting to resent weekends that I had a shoot scheduled. The whole, “why am I working on my day off”? Well, I was and still am taking pictures for previous friends and clients who I’d already been doing pictures for. I just wasn’t taking new clients. And I’m still not planning to. I have my group that still need the next month’s pictures, or new family pictures, etc… and I’m enjoying doing those.

So anywho, over the past couple of months I’ve done two newborn shoots. I’m talking brand spanking new babies. I’d never shot newborns before. Although challenging, I think they’ve been my favorite shoots yet and I just wanted to share

First up, Sweet Baby A. You first saw her in her Mommy’s belly here.

  

This shoot was in the winter so we did it inside. We actually shot in my old bedroom at my parent’s house! Funny, but it just kind of worked out that way. It was inside, warm and had lots of light.

Little A was so, so tiny and was truly like a little baby doll. Just precious.

Then a few weeks ago I got to shoot Sweet Baby B.

*I didn’t name them A & B because they’re first and second, but because that’s the first letter of their names J

You first saw her in her Mommy’s belly here.

  

We did this shoot out at Dorothy B. Oven Park. It was one of the most perfect days of the year yet.

Jessica always comes armed with lots of Pinterest inspiration for picture ideas and we got some pretty good ones this time.

I love this one. It helps to have someone with a little muscle. Her Daddy held the top of the scarf and dangled her about an inch over a basket full of blankets. I was able to Photoshop the visible handle of the basket from the photo. Such a fun photo!

This one came out pretty awesome too. I wasn’t sure how we could achieve the affect without being in a studio, but I had Jessica hold up my black sheet in front of some bushes and had her hubby hold Baby B out in front. After a little boosting in Photoshop, the wrinkles and dirt disappeared from the sheet (I usually use this for the family to sit on) and we had an instant solid black backdrop. I was pleased. And pleasantly surprised. I continue to think I’m not good enough because let’s face it, I’m no pro, but then I get a shot like this and give myself a pat on the back. A stroke of luck I’d say more than planned ingenuity. But hey, it works!

Domestic Question

I've been needing new work pants. So last week I bought two new pairs from Target. They were $30 each which is about half of GAP pants but still expensive. But I needed them so I bit the bullet.

Then last Wednesday I wore them, first time. And I dropped a big greasy garlic roll that landed on my scarf and proceeded to roll all the way down into my lap. And then bounce around on both legs for good measure.

(Don't worry, I was still able to eat it!)

Insert face palm.

Really. REALLY?!

So I came home that day and did what I heard to do...I rubbed the spots with chalk and let it sit. The chalk is supposed to dry up the grease. It sit for a day or two. Then I washed them but first I spot cleaned with shout and a toothbrush.

I dried them and then put them on this morning and the stains are still there. Double ugh.

Anyone have a grease stain remedy that WORKS? This would happen the first time I wore my new pants. Sheesh.

And in case you need a photo reference, here's a shot of my lap. Hmm. Never took a shot of that before!

Look for the dark spots.

We Got Cows

Name that movie.

10 points for Gryffindor if you guessed Twister.

We don't really have cows, but there are some in a field by my work. I don't really know who they belong to. But I do work for Agriculture so they fit!

They greeted me this morning. Lots of Mommies and babies!

How I Write My Blogs

A long time ago I hated writing blogs. It was such a pain. And to add pictures too? Fahgettaboutit.

The method of writing a blog through Blogger makes me cringe. Pictures take forever to load, and it’s just not a user friendly process. In my opinion anyway.

Then, it was as if the clouds parted and the angels sang, because my friend Mandy wrote a post on Windows Live Writer. I should have shared this when I found it, but I’ve now given it a test drive over the last year and wanted to share how pleased I was with it.

I had no clue what it was but after reading the tutorial, I was intrigued to give it a shot. I was willing to try anything to make writing blogs more of an enjoyable thing, than a chore.

I downloaded Windows Live Writer (it’s free!) and gave it a try.

Side note: Since I downloaded it last year, they’ve now created a whole Windows Live Essentials “bunch” of sorts of programs. It’s free, and WLW is included in that.

I was hooked.

What’s great about it is you sync it up to your blog, and you write your post directly into Live Writer. Then you just hit publish and voila! It automatically posts to your blog. And you can put in a post date and time if you want to publish now, but don’t want it to post until another day or time. You need an internet connection to post, but just to write it, you don’t. So writing posts on the road is a breeze. You can save it and post when you get an internet connection.

Here’s some screen shots.

This is the one I just finished, but normally it’d be blank and you put in the title and you can change fonts, colors, everything right in the post.

Then if I select Picture from the drop down at the top, I can select as many as I want at once, and this box pops up. I always select INLINE pictures.

Then the pictures load in immediately. It takes just a few seconds once they load to completely finish so they' may be blurry for a second.

Then I can move them by clicking and dragging or by entering down.

To resize a pic I just click on it and drag the corners. Easy peasy.

See? Bigger picture just like that.

Then once I’ve got everything how I want it and I’m ready to publish, all I do is click the globe at the top left that says “Publish”. I don’t have to login to blogger or anything. I never even go near blogger to post. I can also set the post date for a future time to auto post.

The best part about it is I can add tons of pictures at once and then resize, move around, however I want. I could not imagine uploading more than 5 pictures while using Blogger, but with Live Writer, I select several at once and it loads almost instantly.

I just wanted to share since it’s another one of those blogging tips that has made my life a lot easier, and more enjoyable when it comes to blogging!

Two Things

My new kicks. And Sunday morning breakfast. Don't judge my thick layer of cream cheese. At least it's fat free :-)

Easter 2012

Sunday we went to my Aunt Sandra’s for Easter “dinner”. Why don’t we call it lunch if it’s at 1:00? Oh well, I don’t care what we call it. As long as I get to eat it.

I will be eating dinner again tonight though.

Hah.

I took the time to curl my hair and thought I looked semi-decent for a Fashion Shoot!

Earrings: Premier Jewelry

Shirt: GAP

Shorts: Old Navy

Sandals: Target

PS- I curled my hair using my 1” flat iron. I have bought a curling iron and a curling wand, and can’t get either to do right. I consistently get pretty curls with my flat iron though. If you want to know how, Youtube videos for “curl hair with a straight iron”.

Anywho, I toted my camera to my Aunt’s but didn’t even pull it out of my bag. 

I only managed two pictures on my phone.

One of my food.

Yum-o.

And one of my Momma and I.

I somehow didn’t get around to taking pictures of the other 10+ people there. We filled our bellies, we talked, we soaked up the sun on the beautiful day.

It was fabulous. David joined us like old times.

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter!