New Year.

Anybody else feel like life has been moving super fast lately? I really can't believe 2019 is already here. There are lots of joyful things happening this year for us. Tony and I are going to see Justin Timberlake when he comes back to Memphis this month and later in the year Amanda and I are going to see the Backstreet Boys! Both concerts we'll be sitting nosebleeds but I'm honestly just so excited to be there that it doesn't even matter to me. In between those shows we'll be celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary and I'll be in my happy place all year while planning our first family vacation in FOREVER for Walt Disney World for this Fall!!!!

Every year at this time I love reflecting in attempt to learn something from the last year about myself and potentially how I can make healthier decisions in the coming year. I haven't done as much journaling and reflecting as I'd like to, but the little bit that I finished so far I wanted to share here on my blog. Here is the list of prompts I followed. I picked them up from my sister who got them from somewhere else on the interwebs so here is a recreated version of the original list and then my answers below that.

This year...

A bad habit I'm going to break:

Being so quick to lose my patience. I know I can try a lot harder in this arena. I'd also like to make it to mass this year. I was originally going to say "make it to mass more this year" but to be honest, if I went to mass two times in 2019 that'd technically be more than I did in 2018. So. Saying more wouldn't exactly be clear enough. I'd like to make it to mass as a family this year. I'm hoping to break the bad habit of being complacent in not going.

A new skill I'd like to learn:

To live minimally.

A person I hope to be more like:

The "Girl Wash Your Face" girl (Rachel Hollis) and Glennon Doyle. Rachel seems to have refocused her energies on the things (as a wife and mom) that really, actually matter. She seems to have switched from being unforgiving of herself to loving and being kind to herself. That's the biggest shift within myself I could make this new year. I always want to be a bit more like Glennon but especially getting up and doing good for other people is what I wish I did more of like she does.

A good deed I'm going to do:

Donate blood. No excuses.

A place I'd like to visit:

Dallas. I'm not sure it'll happen this year but it's always on my list of places to visit someday.

A book I'd like to read:

A ton of books. I want to read this year. Last year I kinda fell off the reading wagon and it's something I miss so much. But the first book that came to mind for this was "Girl Wash Your Face" since I was just thinking about Rachel Hollis.

A letter I'm going to write:

Goodbye letters to Gramma Myers and Granny. The things I would have liked to tell them or talk to them about before they passed.

A new food I'm going to try:

I really can't think of one! So I'm going to go with a turkey leg from Walt Disney World. And macaroons. I've never had them and would like to try them. AND. I'd like to try sake. I know that's a drink but it's something I've always wanted to try.

I'm going to do better at:

Homeschool stuff for BOTH girls. Getting out of the house a bit more. Cleaning out and organizing the house to potentially move. Drink more water. Be more physically active.

Which leads me to my word of the year... BREATHE. I'd like to take a deep breathe and clear my head more often before responding this year. If I allow myself a moment to breathe before doing or responding or reacting then I'm hoping it'll give me a moment to grasp onto my reserve of kindness and patience. To respond more often with love instead of bitterness or anger or cynicism. To wait a minute and hear someone out completely instead of assuming the worst and jumping right in. Breathe. This is the first time for me to choose a word to focus on for the year and I'm loving the idea and the motivation. I'm looking for the perfect accessory so I can carry the word with me throughout the year.

Let me know how you spend the new year this year - did you reflect or make resolutions or did you choose a word? If so, what were they? I'd love to know! I hope it's a year for growth and reaching our potential.

Things About Me.

I'm trying to write 30 different posts about myself for my kids. This one marks the third one that I've completed. Baby steps.

List 20 random facts about yourself.

20. I feel like drinks are easier to taste and more enjoyable with less ice. Sweet tea, iced coffee, pop, water... all of it better a bit closer to room temperature. My husband is the exact opposite. He gets extra ice for his drinks and I want very little in mine.

19. I love planning our family vacations. So much. Especially the Disney ones. Which are very few and far between. BUT. I'm always making mental notes for our next one. I'd love to do it for a living someday for other families!

18. My Hogwarts house is Hufflepuff. My patronus is a wild boar. My Ilvermorny house is Thunderbird. Just in case you were wondering. (And yes, I'd love to hear yours! If you don't know them yet then I highly suggest you sign up at Pottermore.com and find out after taking a few short quizzes about yourself.)

17. It's pretty easy for me to be optimistic about things -- especially when it comes to starting new things. I've definitely got to work on the finishing all the things part...

16. On the other side of that same coin, I can be a pretty melancholy to downright dark and twisty person sometimes, too. Two things that don't quite seem cohesive (being both optimistic & melancholy) but somehow they coexist just perfectly to make me, me. In the dark and twisty moments I am lucky to have some great and strong and wonderful people in my corner to help put things into proper perspective.

15. I don't really believe in coincidence. I really do think things happen for a reason. And one particular thing I feel so strongly about that it makes me choked up is that I know that the timing of my dad leaving my life and my husband entering into my life is so much more than mere coincidence.

14. I connect strongly through music. Whenever a significant moment in life takes place you can guarantee I've put a playlist together for it. When I watch a TV show or movie and I hear a song that they placed perfectly to evoke emotion I have to find that song right away.

13. If it were up to me, I think I'd love a ton of kids. There is something so magical and so holy about giving birth. Something so wonderful about creating life and getting to know and raise these kids. It's nice to have a husband who keeps me in check... we certainly can't afford a bunch of kids and I don't know if I have the patience or sanity required for any more kids. But, if it were up to me, I'd be barefoot and pregnant and at home raising them myself. THIS COMING FROM SOMEONE WHO IDENTIFIES AS A DEEPLY FEMINIST PERSON! I don't find those two things (motherhood & feminism) as mutually exclusive, either.

12. I'm a cradle Catholic. I've always loved being Catholic and was so fortunate to grow up going to a church that felt like home. Equally lucky to have found that in Illinois for the time we lived there. The last few years I felt disconnected from the Church and so glad to be back now. I've been helping my sister teach Sunday school this year and it's been a huge balm in my faith life. I really like our new church and look forward to the day it feels like home.

11. I love soundtracks. And more than anything else these days my favorite thing is to listen to the scores from movies or tv shows. I have so many favorite composers (Carter Burwell, John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Howard Shore, Danny Elfman, Alexandre Desplat, James Newton Howard, James Horner, Alan Silverstri...) and there is something so peaceful about listening to musical compositions with no words. The background music to my life is often "The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Film Score)" station or "Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince (Film Score)" station on Pandora at home.

10. If I had to pick my favorite Disney princess it would likely depend on my mood BUT. If I had to give one favorite it would be Ariel. For so many reasons. The entire movie is brilliant and the music is untouchable. Jodi Benson and Howard Ashman working together made real magic. And I love how brave and sure Ariel is.

09. I have a 2 year-old son and I'm still breastfeeding him. And he shows no signs that he's ready to give it up either. I nurse him first thing in the morning, right before he goes to bed, and occasionally once or twice throughout the day. There are times he asks for "milkies" and I'll tell him no. If it were up to him we'd still nurse much more often throughout the day. But to be honest: I'm getting a little burnt out. Or maybe just stuck in the wrong mindset about it: I'm a little tired of sharing my body. The plan I have in mind is to quit on his terms. I've never nursed a kid this long before so we'll see how it pans out.

08. My sisters have always been my confidants. I've always told them everything for as long as I can remember. I lean heavily upon them. When I'm upset or excited or really anything, they are the first people I want to talk to. When they hurt, I hurt. When we're not okay, I'm not okay. We haven't lived in the same city for some time now and I'll always feel a bit incomplete until we're all back together for good.

07. My teams: Chicago Cubs, Dallas Cowboys, and Memphis Grizzlies.

06. Trenta iced coffee with 3 pumps of caramel - no ice, no classic, no cream. That's my Starbucks order. I come home and add my own cream. And it'll last me a couple days. And I love it. The trenta size is giant and I swear it's the size that tastes the best with the right coffee to syrup ratio. I know. I'm a weirdo. My favorite barista works at night & knows my order so I frequent the same store around the same time of day a few times a week and it's something I just love.

05. I really want to have a vow renewal. Intimate with a focus on the vows and inclusion of our children. I feel like even though I was conscious of this at the time, weddings are still such a production. It's so easy for the focus of the day to slip. I don't have much to regret about how we celebrated our big day -- it was such a great, happy, wonderful, beautiful day -- but I often look back and wish it had been a bit more intimate. Not to mention, Tony and I are - in many ways - two completely changed people from that day seven & a half years ago. Our experiences (and especially becoming parents) has transformed us deeply and I'd like to honor who we are now. To acknowledge that change and come back together all over again. I think it's beautiful to promise ourselves to each other all over again and to be able to include our children this time.

04. I want to go on more adventures. The furthest I've been is to Riviera Maya, Mexico and Ontario, Canada. Both were awesome experiences. I'd love to explore the United States so much more than I have and would love to visit Belgium someday. Jerusalem would be another truly amazing place to visit.

03. I am a crier and I am a hugger. Shaking hands feels cold. Also I can not watch Moana or Coco without crying.

02. I am frugal pretty much to a fault.

01. I'll forever be sad that both Nsync and The Civil Wars disbanded. 

Honeymoon: Getting Started

I've said it before, but I wish there was a way to chronicle every part of my honeymoon in order to not forget any of the details. It's been over 5 years now and there are so many things - big and small - that have already escaped my memory.

One of the things I don't quite remember is choosing our honeymoon destination.  I do know (thanks blog!) that it was back in February 2011 that we decided on Disney!  I mentioned going going to WDW for our honeymoon in the beginning of our wedding planning and when Tony didn't have a strong response either way, I dropped it.  We threw around all kinds of ideas -- all inclusive resorts out of the country, going on a cruise, road-tripping across the country, going to Hawaii -- but none of it really stuck.  So, three months before our wedding when we still didn't have anything planned, we revisited the topic and it was Tony who threw out Disney.  We talked about it and I wanted to make sure that was something he actually wanted to do and to my surprise, it really was!  Various people tried to push their opinions on us -

"No, you don't want to do Disney for your honeymoon! Save that for a family vacation once you have kids!"

"Do you really want to go on a honeymoon where kids are running around?"

Everyone has their opinion and their intentions might even be in the right place, but when it comes to your life you need to take those suggestions with a grain of salt and go where you and your spouse want to go.

That applies so much to that specific time life - making plans for your wedding/honeymoon during your engagement, the way you start your new life together as newlyweds, if/when you bring kids into your lives, etc. - people are normally well intentioned but in the end, it is YOUR life and you are in the driver seat. It's important to have a village and to have people who have been there to give you insight... because life is hard! It's especially hard if you try to do it on your own. But let me tell you I can't stress enough how important it is to figure out your life together as newlyweds together.

For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. {Genesis 2:24}

So as far as a honeymoon goes, the first step is choosing where you want to go. If you're both fairly indecisive people like we were, it might take a while to make up your mind. But definitely try to pick something that both of you will enjoy. I know not all of us like the same things when it comes to taking a vacation - some people like the focus to be on relaxation while others crave adventure - but there is something out there for every couple and every budget!

More about our actual trip next time I get around to writing another honeymoon post! When it comes to planning a Disney trip there is SO much to share.

Ten Things That Make You Happy {thursday thoughts}

We've all made lists like these before and often put things down like music, movies, family, friends... and we're absolutely right to do so but it can get a little vague. So this time, I'll try to be as specific as possible with this list of happy things.

10. Walking hand-in-hand with my husband. It's one of the very simple joys I take for granted so often, or rather, don't take advantage of enough. (Though, to be fair, we're usually holding little hands - or little bodies - instead these days.)

09. Loading/unloading the dishwasher. Which seems like an odd thing to put here but man, it feels good to have a clean and empty sink. It also feels great not having to hand wash all our dishes. It feels super duper great to have a beautiful dishwasher.

08. The HILARIOUS things that come out of my children's mouthes. We went to a local firework show a few nights ago and Presley (my four-year-old) tells me, "Wow! Looks like it's raining corn!" Same child, different day: We have been practicing with her to wipe by herself when using the restroom in preparation for pre-k this Fall.  I told Presley she could wipe by herself and she told me, "I want you to wipe my booty because you're smart and cute." Hilarious!
And today Molly was climbing something she shouldn't be which prompted this conversation:

Me: Molly. Don't climb that.
Molly: Why?
Me: .... (gathering my thoughts/patience on exactly why she shouldn't...)
Molly *under her breath*: Because! I-said-so!


07. Pulling out the box of old notes, cards, and letters from Tony over the last 15+ years. I don't do it very often but whenever I do, it seems like I happen to read something that feels as if it was just recently written... or I read something that affirmed me in just the way I might've needed and not even realized. It makes me so happy to have this kind of history with my husband.

06. Picture frames. Man oh man, I definitely have somewhat of an obsession. I love buying funky, beautiful, different frames and especially love filling them with the perfect photo.

05. Driving our minivan! What in the world did we do without it?! There is SO MUCH extra room and it feels like such a family mobile... like our little home away from home! The kids love it in there and we've already started making great family memories in there. I kinda wish we had gotten a van a while back but everything fell into place when it did and I'm so thankful for the vehicle we have now!

04. When my husband has a day off and I get to sleep in... or rather, I get to lay in bed and NOT have to wake up with the kiddos. I know... I really should be diligent and get up BEFORE my kids do so that I have the much coveted alone time. There are two main reasons I don't do this currently: 1. I love sleep and 2. I'm a little on the superstitious side - I feel like if I get up early then somehow they'll instinctively know and they'll get up early, too! Anyways. I love the day(s) where I don't have to be the one to get the girls up and going in the morning.

03. Watching the various ways my kids love one another. The most recent example happened today at Molly's TWO YEAR (post coming about her being such a big girl ASAP) after she got her vaccination. To say she was upset would be putting it mildly. I held her for a moment and then she asked if Presley would hold her (to make her feel better). Presley didn't think twice and held her so lovingly.

02. Walt Disney World. That place IS my happy place. Whether it's walking down Main Street, the smell on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, eating inside Cinderella's Castle, waking up in the resort knowing you're going to spend the entire day at the happiest place on Earth, watching the Main Street Electrical Street Parade at night, Cast Members making EVERYTHING special, or one of the MILLION other reasons to smile while you're there - being there makes me feel so much joy. And when we're not there we keep that joy alive by visiting the Disney Store as much as possible, watching Disney movies, playing with the girls' Disney buddies, and from time to time we watch the Disney Vacation Planning DVD. I love talking to friends about their upcoming Disney trips and being just as excited for them as I would be for my own trip! Not everybody is going to get the Disney obsession, but let me tell you, it is so much fun when you meet people with whom you can share the joys of this particular addiction! (And I'm SO GRATEFUL to share this with my husband!!!! Reason #13 I love that man.)


01. Cooking. I love it. Mostly. I enjoy the anticipation leading up to taking the first bite. I love the house smelling delicious. I appreciate the concentration it takes in addition to just following specific steps. There isn't a whole heck of a lot of thought that needs to go into it when you're following directions and there is something I specifically enjoy about that. I love making my family food! I recently made cinnamon rolls from scratch for the first time and it was challenging and so fun. I'm still not the best cook/baker but I'm always learning and willing to try and for the most part I get it right. (Definitely not always and I am no gourmet chef!)



And that's it! There is my list of some of the things that make me happy. Like I said a few weeks ago, I miss writing prompts! I haven't taken part in anything like that in a while so I just decided to create a few of my own. So I'll write every Thursday for the next ten weeks on these upcoming topics and I am pretty excited! If you'd like to partake I'd love to read some of your thoughts and will hopefully come up with a link up when/if others are involved.

WDW Day Five: Magic Kingdom & Be Our Guest!

We spent day five off at Magic Kingdom - absolutely a park that you want to spend more than one day at if you have the chance. So, we started off our day here by visiting one of our absolute FAVORITE characters for a meet & greet... TINKER BELL!

As you can see, Presley was completely starstruck!!!! We had a Fast Pass for this experience... there was definitely still a little bit of waiting involved but it cut down the wait time a whole lot by having a FP.  I knew we'd want to meet Tink because she is one of my absolute all-time favorite characters and we all love her movies - especially Pres! It was so fun and I wish I had gotten more pictures of the room itself - everything was huge to make Tinker Bell look and feel so tiny.

Since it's been 3 entire months since our WDW trip, I'm having a hard time forgetting the play-by-play of the day but I know we took the morning pretty easy peasy. We walked around and explored and rode rides with shorter wait times until our lunch reservation at Be Our Guest!

This picture right here is why I absolutely preach that the memory maker is worth every penny. We would have never gotten photos like this one otherwise!

When it came to booking Be Our Guest, it was a no brainer. I knew that we would accept whatever reservation we could get here - any day/time we would make it work. If you guys know me, I am a PLANNER when it comes to our Disney vacation. So I got up bright and early at the correct time to make advanced dining reservations (I think it was 5am?) exactly 180 days out from our trip. I had a list of places we wanted to go and what days we wanted to go there and the window of time we were hoping for. Cinderella's Royal Table for dinner was at the top of my list because that was the one we wanted to go to the MOST for this trip and it was followed up by Be Our Guest for both lunch and dinner. CRT is always one of the most coveted places to snag a reservation but right now I think Be Our Guest is even more popular and more difficult to get into because it's new and wonderful! So, thankfully we got reservations to both places but EVEN waking up at the crack of dawn on our 180 mark, we still kinda got crap times for the dinner reservations.

People either seem to really enjoy BOG or they feel like the food wasn't worth the price or the experience wasn't worth the trouble of trying to get a reservation. We absolutely loved the experience and the food was crazy good. I ordered the french onion soup, ham & cheese sandwich (the fancy menu name for this is Croque Monsieur), and the master's cupcake for dessert. What is the master's cupcake you ask? Let me tell you. It's a chocolate cupcake topped with "the grey stuff" aka a cookies and cream frosting. Ohhhh so good. All of it - literally every single bite of everything I ordered - was so perfect.

The cool thing about lunch at Be Our Guest is that it's a Quick Service credit (opposed to it being a Table Service credit when you eat there at dinner). If that doesn't make sense to you and you want to understand what I mean, just do some research on the Disney Dining Plan and it might make more sense after you read about that. BOG is the only quick service restaurant that requires you to make a reservation beforehand. I felt like this made everything super efficient and convenient. You place your order shortly after walking in at a super user-friendly kiosk.

It looks hectic but it was super streamline.

They bring your parties food out to you once it's ready. I honestly have no idea how they found our party so easy when they have no idea where you seated yourself. Selena said there is probably GPS in our Magic Bands which is kinda cool/creepy but totally makes sense.

Not only do you pick out your own table but you also got to pick which room you'd like to dine in out of the three - the West Wing (Presley wasn't going for this option - it's the creepy dark room), the Grand Ballroom, or the Castle Gallery. We chose the Castle Gallery because we found an open table that accommodated our group. Also, it was close to the drink refill station. Upon first glance it's probably the least interesting out of the three rooms but it's one of those rooms where the more you look around the cooler it gets.

The view of the Castle Gallery room from my seat

The focal point of the Castle Gallery is this pretty statue of Belle and Beast that dances around the entire time.

Relaxing in this comfy booth and waiting for our food to show up!

So happy and super excited!

The majority of these photos are my husbands. When we got home I realized how little I took pictures while we were there and I was SO upset. Tony showed me all the awesome pictures he took and he told me he tried to take as many pictures as he could while we were there so we could look back and enjoy them later. The swoon-worthy part was that he told me he wanted to do that so that I could fully enjoy everything in the moment. Is he not the best man in the world?! Makes me tear up. (But yes... I am hormonal...)

So back to the pictures.

Some of the beautiful details.

The Master's Cupcake. So delicious.

Walking through the Grand Ballroom.

There were good and great things about both lunch and dinner at Be Our Guest but when it comes to BOG for us in the future, I will more than likely opt for lunch rather than dinner.  But more on that later.

After we finished up with lunch we rode some more rides. Again, I don't remember anything at this point! I do know that Presley and I waited in the longest line for the longest time to ride Aladdin's Magic Carpets and man did that ride look extremely dated! It needs some TLC. Even still, we had so much fun!!! (And to be fair, I'm sure it looked so dated because the last time we rode a ride similar to this one was a few days earlier on Dumbo the Flying Elephant - literally the same concept ride. And the Dumbo ride was a new addition for Fantsyland so of course it was bright and beautiful and new! So it made Aladdin's carpets look like a carnival ride in comparison!)

Tony took this one... that's me holding my arms out like I'm having the best day of my life. Which is what I was thinking at that exact moment!

So excited to ride this with her!

We had a LeFou's Brew (which is a "no-sugar added frozen apple juice with a hint of toasted marshmellow topped with an all-natural passion fruit-mango foam") from Gaston's Tavern while we were walking around MK. We got it with a snack credit and for me it was just OKAY but Tony and the girls loved it. It was a little too tangy and too overwhelming for me but I'd definitely say try it once and glad we did!

I had a Fast Pass to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and none of us had ridden it yet this trip so I decided to sneak away with Presley and BOOK it to the ride before we lost our Fast Pass slot and we ended up being the only ones to ride it on this trip and I'm so so so glad we got it in because it is honestly one of my FAVORITE rides at Disney World!

Presley was a little freaked out on this ride as it's a little spooky, especially with the cannons going off but overall she can understand it's just pretend and seemed to like it!

When we got off the ride Jack Sparrow was entertaining a crowd but unfortunately we had no time to stop and watch!

One of the other Fast Pass experiences of the day was meeting Anna and Elsa!!!! I'm so glad we did this because not only is Presley such a huge fan, but Molly is so in love with the movie, music, and characters, too! Pretty much the entire trip Molly just tolerated all the characters we came in contact with. And in the beginning she would cry and struggle out of our arms to get away from them! But not with Anna. I don't know what made Anna want to do this, but she came nose-to-nose with Molly and oh.my.goodness! She was entranced!!! It was a special moment.

Presley was in literal shock... could not believe what was happening to her!

Anna was so animated and just precious with the kids! Right here she was imitating Sven for Molly.

After this we headed back to Be Our Guest for our late late late dinner. This time we dined in the Grand Ballroom! I'm so glad we got to experience two different rooms at Be Our Guest! This room was beautiful and you really honestly felt like you were living part of the movie being there. Halfway through our meal Beast was introduced to the room and that was pretty neat. I got the layered ratatouille (which was a vegetarian dish) for dinner. It was just OK for me... wasn't a huge fan but I didn't completely hate it either. I really preferred their more simple lunch menu.

Once we finished up dinner and dessert we got to go visit Beast in his study! By this point Molly had food - mostly dessert - all over her face. We decided not to clean her up as it would make for a hilarious photo opportunity and it surely did. I told the staff in line that she ate like Beast at dinner! Thankfully they all found it pretty funny instead of thinking we were crazy!!

Snow falling! So magical.

The West Wing! 

A dessert cart!

The enchanted rose

Presley in the Castle Gallery room where we ate lunch earlier in the day 

My little Belle holding Lumiere!

It's Beast!!!!! 

Our sweet girl was not scared at all - she understood this was the more civilized Beast after he became nice from falling in love with Belle.

After dinner I tried to cram in some more rides while the park was so empty but overall our crew was not having it. It was a LONG day and everyone was tired and ready to go to bed!

So that's a wrap on day five! I tried to pack in as much detail as I could remember but seeing as I don't remember what we did between meals - aside from a few rides - I feel like there is a whole lot I'm leaving out. But if I keep putting off finishing up our vacation posts there will really be nothing left to remember!!!