January 2011 ~ Ashley's Spoonfuls of Sugar

Sunday, January 23, 2011

No way to play catch up

So much has been going on... and so little at the same time.
And there is no way to really play catch up. So here are some current items list style, of course.

I don't give two hoots about the super bowl this year. And all the facebook/twitter arguing is a bit ridiculous.
Online classes are a go and doing well so far. I completed my first week and a half of assignments in 2 days. And then my Lit teacher sends out an e-mail Friday night saying she forgot to list 2 of 4 papers that are due Sunday night. So I occupied my Saturday with reading Tartuffe, a comedy from the 1640s(I believe). Once I made it through the introduction, I actually enjoyed it. Shocker. Papers were complete and turned in long before time due. I am hoping to stay on top of it all.
I am still out of work. And I HATE it. Not just the lack of money coming in but I have way too much time on my hands and not enough to keep me occupied... which means I have too much time to think and over-worry every little thing.
As much time as I have had on my hands, I have picked up this book to read over a dozen times and haven't really read much. It might be on the to do list for this week.

I got a call from my company saying that they have some new projects coming up and they wanted an updated copy of my resume and to know if I was OK with traveling/relocating. They have 2 big projects coming up and the Project Manager who hired me wants me on one of them. One will be starting in 30-40 day in Wyoming and will last a year. The other is in Washington state, starting in 60 days for 18-21 months. I think either one of these would be awesome. I have never been to Wyoming or Washington.
I went to church with Amanda who was in the Interior Design department with me at USM. She has moved back to the Mobile area since completing school and I have enjoyed spending time with her. I really enjoyed the service. It is so hard for me to find a church that has both a worship style and has a preacher that I enjoy listening to. The worship was amazing and the preacher was deep and strong while still humorous. I love that!
I have really bad eating habits. As in, not eating... at all. I have only been eating one meal a day. I know it is partly due to not being very active but also a little subconsciously I know I have been eating less to try and make the groceries stretch. Not good. I have all the stuff to make my meal replacement protein frappe. I will definitely be having at least one a day to help me stay a little more balanced.

I promised that this blog was going to be real, raw and 100% un-sugar-coated honesty. Money is non-existent right now. Paying for school and school books(which were a whopping $487.25 alone) took a huge chunk out of checking account and completely depleted everything that I have to live off of for February. This is my journal. My form of documenting my life. I am only stating this because I know God will provide. I want to look back on this and remember how faithful he is. So here is to the lovely $56.32 in my bank account (after car insurance comes out on the 31st). My tank is on E and at some point I need to drive back to Jackson and move all of my furniture out of my sister's house because the renters are moving in on February 1st.

Last night my mind wouldn't shut off at all. I hardly slept and I was so tempted to just take some nighttime medicine around 4 am just to get some sleep. BUT instead I turned Roger Bennett's Midnight Meditations on repeat on my phone and despite being ridiculously tired I went to church this morning. I am so glad I did. I am clinging to this verse today:

...Weeping may endure for a night,

but Joy Comes in The Morning.

Psalm 30:5

Christmas 2010 - Disney Day 4

By Ashley 11:00 AM // 1 comment

Our last day, we started out at Hollywood Studios so that we could catch Toy Story Midway Mania. It was Heather's first time to ride it and we had a blast. After Studios, we headed to Animal Kingdom.

It was FREEZING.

Heather and I had everyone laughing hysterically on Expedition Everest. She started out just screaming bloody murder. The second ride, we were in the front cart and decided to be overly dramatic. We leaned over the side, looking back towards everyone on the ride and started "crying" for our mom and dad. It was fun and completely uncharacteristic of either of us.

We had a little adventure at Tusker House at Animal Kingdom. We had made advanced dining reservations and we made our reservation during the time where you get VIP seating at Finding Nemo - The Musical. Being allergic to watermelon, I usually keep an eye out when we are eating at buffets but seeing as how watermelon is not in season right now, Heather checked the fruit bowl for me and we moved on. There was no watermelon in it at first but I went up for seconds and they were bringing out a new bowl of fruit. Lo and behold, a bowl with watermelon. Ick. Instant allergic reaction. Long story short, I took my benedryl shot and requested a wheelchair so that I wouldn't pass out somewhere on Heather. The manager comped our meal and wheeled me to first aid where they gave me another dose of benedryl. After sitting at first aid for a bit, we headed to get our seats at Finding Nemo. I was so dopey and couldn't help but take a nap while we waited for the show to start. After Nemo, we caught the Festival of the Lion King before we left Animal Kingdom.

We went back to the resort, napped, and re-bundled for our final night. It was extra magic hours at Magic Kingdom and we wanted to get a bit more magic in before our vacation ended.

I also got to hang out with one of my friends from my College Program, Chris. He worked with me in Tomorrowland during summer 2008 and was finishing up his second CP as a front desk worker at Boardwalk.

We did several rides, including Peter Pan and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. On BTMR, I threw up my hands at the beginning of the ride and my new watch caught on my jacket, came unlatched and flew off my wrist. I had it all of 2 days. HA

Christmas 2010 - Disney Day 3

By Ashley 10:22 AM // No comments

We spent our 3rd day, Christmas day, at Hollywood Studios. :) It was a good decision. There was a good number of people but at least it wasn't Magic Kingdom where they reached capacity a few hours after opening.

We had to get a couple of character pictures for the day. And I love Cars.

We watched Beauty and the Beast and went straight from there into the first Fantasmic showing. We had great seats and when we came out and saw that the line just to go into Fantasmic stretched all the way down Sunset Blvd and onto Hollywood & Vine, I was SO glad we went to the first show.

Even though I worked through the Christmas season, I never went and saw the Orbourne Family Christmas Lights. SO beautiful.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2010 - Disney Day 2

By Ashley 6:18 PM // No comments

Day 2 of our trip was spent at Epcot. We ate at Restaurant Marrakech in Morocco. The food was good, lots of different, delicious flavors but the portions were small. Definitely a good experience though.

We got into the world showcase before our restaurant even opened so we did an impromptu photo session around Morocco. Unfortunately, all of those pictures are still on Heather's camera which is in Mobile and I am snuggled down avoiding the cold at our parent's house in Brandon. After lunch, we went into Orlando's cute little shopping district(Dr. Phillips area). We went to Chocolate Salon and Spa and got the most amazing pedicures I have ever experience. Seriously. I also got a manicure while we were there. We ate lunch at a mexican restaurant that our nail tech recommended then went shopping. There were some stores that I used to go to when I lived and worked at Disney World but since they are family owned I was not sure if they would still be around. They were and we had a blast shopping. :)

We went back to the resort to bundle up and headed back out to Epcot. The first thing we hit was the Character Spot for some character photos.

We watched Illuminations but neither of us were really that impressed. I can not even tell you how many times I have watched Wishes and Fantasmic. I adore them... but Illuminations has never really impressed me.

It was a long, fun filled day. We didn't get to experience a whole lot at Epcot and there was a lot that we didn't see, but that was perfectly OK with us. We approached the entire trip with a relaxed attitude. There were a few things at each park that we absolutely did not want to miss out on but we didn't have every day jam packed or schedule out. It made the trip much more enjoyable and flexible!