The Blonde Diaries

Weekend Planning

I am so ready for the weekend. I have had such an uneventful week that I am ready to regroup over this weekend and get some things accomplished. First, I want to hit Old Navy and return a few items I bought but do not have a use for. I want to go now rather than after black Friday so I can beat the shopping madness. I don’t understand how people keep their retail jobs through the Holiday season but kudos to them. After the return to Old Navy, I want to run by my Super Marshalls to check out a few of their items for possible holiday gifts. When my mom and I were in there last week they had Bliss body sets like you would find at Sephora for next to nothing. Lastly, I want to try and hit the gym all 3 days to get me in a routine and ready to face next week. How is your weekend shaping up? Anything fun or exciting?

Disney Trip Planning: Just got back and here is what I learned!

No matter how hard you try and plan the perfect Disney vacation there are always things you will find out during and after your trip that you just didn’t know about before. So I have started making a list of items to make sure I either bring or don’t bring for when we are packing and planning for our September 2010 trip to Walt Disney World. I hope some of these items help you in your packing and planning!

• Band aids - you think 1 box of 60 is enough for a week but it is not!  Our feet were torn up from all of the walking we did and 2 boxes of 60 barely did the job.  Make sure to pack extras because a box of band aids at WDW is $5.
• Water - bottles of water run about $2 each.  We pack water in our suitcases (3 per gallon sized zip lock) to bring with us.  We drink about 3 bottles a piece per day.  One thing though is you can quickly get water logged by drinking this much water so to help out grab the powerade drink mixes (single servings) which will also help keep your energy up in the heat
• Thick socks help pad your feet better than thin socks.  No matter how broken in your shoes are I found I still had my shoes rubbing on my heels and also causing blisters near my toes.  The thicker socks and ankle high socks really helped protect my feet.
• Take afternoon breaks!  No matter when you go or where you go, it is hot and tiring.  Afternoon breaks even for just an hour in the hotel room will do wonders.  I also can’t tell you how many people didn’t bring their kiddos back for a break and by 8pm they were so miserable and unhappy and parents were having meltdowns trying to deal with a child having a meltdown.  It just doesn’t create a happy family vacation.
• Pop tarts are a fabulous breakfast food and easy to pack.  Ok maybe they are not nutritious but they are easy to eat on the go and you really don’t need a toaster or anything special to eat them.  We were able to eat 1 (1 tart not one pack) each morning at 7 and it would hold us till lunch time around noon.
• You are on vacation and do not need to eat healthily all the time.  Enjoy those Mickey bars, Dole Whips, and frozen bananas because they can’t always be found at home lol.

As I think of other things that we learned I will post them for all of you.  We had a fabulous time and can’t wait to go back.  If you have any specific questions about going, what to expect, where to eat, or about going in September please drop a comment.  I love to talk about vacations!

Disney Planning: Important Dates to Know

When planning your Disney vacation, there are some important dates you should know about. Many first timers do not know this and well it could lead to a very disappointing trip because not all guide books will tell you how important they are. If you aren’t a first timer but have not visited in the past 5 years or so these dates will help you as well since Disney frequently changes things. So lets break them down into Parks and Other.

Parks:
Disney has added many themed weekends and themed “private” parties throughout the year that are fun to attend such as Pirate and Princess Parties, Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, ESPN Weekend, Soap Opera Weekend, and Star Wars Weekend. Knowing the approximate times of year these parties happen can help you plan your trip around these weekends or avoiding them if they are not your up of tea!  One thing to note is that the parks get “themed” to match the event and the characters wear special costumes and as a bonus some really rare characters come out to play.

• Pirates and Princess Parties - this year they are occurring Jan - June in prior year it was August so you just have to watch this one.
• Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party - mid-September until Halloween night.  Tickets go on sale May 1st each year for the selected dates
• Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party  - mid-November through Christmas.  Tickets go on sale May 1st each year for the selected dates
• ESPN Weekend - no special tickets required!  All you need is park admission to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.  This is typically one weekend in February.  There are many sports related activities and stars that show up for this event.  Check with Disney for the exact date.
• Soap Opera Weekend - same as ESPN weekend but with Soap Opera stars!  Occurs in one weekend November each year.  Check with Disney for the exact date.
• Star Wars Weekends - Yes this event is so big and popular it is every weekend in June.  No additional admission is required other than your park tickets to the Disney Hollywood Studios.  I’m not a huge fan but this is one I’d love to try and attend one year.

Other Dates you should know:

These are not so much plan your trip to Disney around them but they are important while planning your trip.

• Dining -> Dining at Disney has become a huge deal even during non-free dining periods.  To make sure to get the reservations you want call at the exact 180 day before your trip to book.  If you book online just check the Disney website and they will tell you how many days you have until your trip.  When it hits 180 call WDW Dining!  This is extremely important when you go in peak times because most restaurants will not allow walk ups.  So if you want to avoid burgers at every meal, make some reservations!
• Free Dining -> you are probably wondering what that is in my previous bullet point.  Basically during peak hurricane season (late Aug - Sept) Disney offers the basic dining plan to guests booking their trips and you basically eat for free the entire trip.  Free dining promotions are announced in early April each year for the dates in August and September and book up fast so keep an eye out if you want to catch this special.
• 45 days -> 45 days out your trip package must be paid for in full if you booked a Magic Your Way Package.  It is also when you should be getting your package details in the mail including your Magical Express luggage tags and information on how to use the Magical Express service.  Make sure to read carefully to ensure they have your reservation information (both Disney stay and your airline information) correct.

I hope this installment of Disney trip planning helps you.  If you have any other dates to share please leave a comment.

Wedding Planning Update

Ok so I have since calmed down since last night as it seems like me, my fiance (how cool is that), and my mom are all on board and on the same page with what we need to be doing and when. This makes things 100 times easier than I was thinking. Even got the ok for a July wedding in Houston as long as every place had air conditioning!

So yesterday Mike and I’s tasks were to start creating our guest list wish list so that we could start seeing how large of a wedding we will have and how many invitations we will need. I started looking at my magazines a tad harder and visiting some wedding invitation websites but so far they are a tad pricy at $2.00 and up per invitation! I was hoping to save a bit of money on the invitations so I kept looking and remembered a recommendation I found on a message board for other printing needs: Vista Print. Sure enough Vista Print makes party invitations including wedding invites, save the date cards, and thank you notes. The best part is that they look professionally made at a design studio and are all $1 or less per invite. Finally, something that will help me stay within budget on this shindig. So if you are planning a wedding or any type of party try Vista Print for your printing needs. Since the prices are so low ($8 for 10 invites) I think I will create a sample and go ahead and order one to do a quality check. I’m sure I won’t be disappointed and then I can place the larger order once I know our final numbers.

Engaged for 72 hours and already overwhelmed

Yes that is correct. I have been engaged for about 72 hours and I don’t know where to begin with planning. Luckily, I started 2 magazine subscriptions back in March when we went ring shopping and picked up a couple of books and Houston specific wedding magazines Monday at Barnes and Nobles but otherwise not quite sure what to do. I feel like I need to be doing something or come up with a plan of attack but maybe I’m over thinking things and just need to step back and enjoy this week.

Every book I pick up and person I talk to say pick a date so I guess I’ll do that this weekend. Our church is wide open so that should be good. Hopefully my first choice for wedding reception places are open as well but…

I’m worried about the budget part. I am NOT a budgeter and have the worst time sticking to a budget. I prefer lump sums or monthly maxes with my regular bills/expenses and stick with that instead of x amount for food, x amount for entertainment, etc. Not sure how this way is going to work. I guess I’ll keep reading and thinking about it so that I will be ready when it all starts coming together.

Oh this is going to be so fun…NOT! I hope I can make it through in one piece without blowing too much money or being too cheap. That is my other fear. I can be too cheap with important items so I hope I don’t do that. This is a day I will remember for the rest of my adult life. I know it won’t be perfect but it will be close.