Adventure is out there!

I have to admit something. I was not all that excited to see the movie "Up" when it first came out. It is Disney-Pixar so I knew it would be cute, but I didn't go into it thinking that it was going to be the best thing ever. I was very very wrong. I started bawling in the first ten minutes, and it instantly became one of my all time favorite movies. A few weeks later when I joined a new bank in Florida I got a plastic jar with a"Paradise Falls" sticker on it. I started saving up my change for my next big adventure just like Carl and Ellie did. At the time I had nothing in mind to save for, but every day I would empty my change into it. That all changed pretty quickly though. Soon my "Paradise Falls" fund became my moving to New York fund, and I slowly continued to add to it. When I knew what my grand adventure was going to be I decided that I was going to need an adventure book to document the little adventures in life. I wanted it to be just like Ellie's

Unfortunately at the time no one made anything like this, and when they did they were very expensive and not exactly what I wanted. That didn't stop me from begging for it as a present for my birthday, and our anniversary, and Christmas. But after over a year of dropping hints, and some not so subtle asking, did I own an adventure book? No.

So I decided to take matters into my own hands. I looked at all the adventure books that were offered online, and figured out what I liked about each, and what I could go without. In the end I realized that maybe I never really liked any of them because they weren't really mine. They were just replicas of Ellie's, and I am not Ellie. I a

m Deirdre. So I decided to buy/make my own.I knew that I wanted it to be 8 1/2X

11 because I am not a big fan of squares, but no one sells landscape scrapbooks anymore. I settled for a portrait scrapbook from Michaels that I got on sale for 40% off, which made it 4.99. I was a big fan of that price. And after a little bit of work, and a lot of help from my moms magical cutting machine I made a title that fit me.

I wanted to fit an "Up" reference in there somewhere though so I filled the title page with balloons. I think it turned out pretty well. Maybe

I have the craft gene after all. I also finished a map page so we can track where we have been and where we want to go, and two pages for the inside. I haven't decided if I am going to write anything on them yet, but I can always do that later.

My new love affair with to-do lists.

So, I really suck at blogging. When I moved to Florida last summer I had every intention of writing a post at least once a week. I even started a post with pictures of my new apartment, but I never ever finished it. That was almost 7 months ago. Did I mention I suck at blogging?

Now I am back in Portland and living a more leisurely life. I recently go my tonsils out, which was not a very pleasant experience. It was a very good diet though :) I am now almost done recovering an looking for work. That still gives me a lot of free time though, and I am determined to make the most of it. Thus I have started making to-do lists. Lots and lots of to do lists. There's one for the for the next year, one for the next week, and one for each and every day. My favorite one though is the one titled "to-do with free time" It's what I pull my weekly, and daily lists from. All the things on this list are things that will take time though. They aren't things that can be accomplished in a month, and some of them will take a few years, but I am resolved to achieve them all. And now for your viewing pleasure here is that list. I'm sure that as time goes on even more will be added.

To-do With My Infinite Free time

• Become a yoga master
• Go on hikes and become one with nature
• Take a ballroom dance class
• Take my dog on walks so he doesn't get any fatter.
• Learn to cook and try new recipes
• Catch up with old friends, and keep in touch with current ones
• Become fluent in Russian!!
• Find an adventure book and fill it completely with memories
• Keep up on writing in my journal
• And last but not certainly least, BLOG! At least once a week.

5 days and 13 hours....

5 days and 13 hours from now I will be on an airplane heading back to Orlando. I am uber excited! I have spent the last two week completely clearing out my room. All that will be left when I leave are 6 boxes ready to be shipped when I find a permanent home. As much as I am excited it's also really scary to know that I won't be living in this house ever again, and that I will most likely never live in Oregon again. I am ready for this new adventure though. I fell in love with the east coast last year, and am happy to be moving.

These past two weeks in Oregon have been amazing though. My best friend in the whole entire world, Cambria Morgan, came home from BYU finally and we have been spending as much time as possible together. We have so much fun together, and manage to stay out of trouble for the most part. I am really thinking of stuffing her into one of my suitcases so I never have to be apart from her. A few years back she made me a little stand up version of herself so that I could take her with me, and I did take her on lots of adventures, but she is pretty worn out now.

I am going to miss our late night deep talks, and sleep overs, and freezeouts. I am lucky enough to have unlimited minutes though, and I know I will be using a lot of them with Cami.

In the last year and a half...

I haven't written on this thing since January of 2009, and so much has happened since then. I completed my five month Internship at Walt Disney World and the extended my stay an additional three months. I had an amazing time, and met so many amazing people. I worked at Disney's Hollywood Studios which is likea giant movie backlot but with thrill rides. 85% of the time I worked at the Indiana Jones Epic stunt spectacular which is a 30 minute reproduction of three scenes inRaiders of the Lost Arc, and it happens 5-8 times a day. At first I was kind of scared to be working with 10+ guys a day that were constantly joking around, but in the end I absolutely loved it. Many of them became like older brothers, and I got used to getting made fun of constantly. I earned many nicknames there including sass, sarsaparilla, dr. dre, red, ariel, and day walker. I am currently seasonal at Disney which means that I can go back to FL whenever and pick up shifts while I am there. I love that I can make some money while also on vacation.

While in FL I met a guy named Jon. He was my best friend the last few months I was living down there. I even went to visit him in NYC when he moved back home. I had been to New York before this, but I fell in love with the city even more during the five days I was there.

Then we started dating, from 3000 miles away. Is it difficult? Yes. Is it worth it? Yes! Although we don't get to see each other very often, when we do we have lot's of adventures. We tend to gravitate towards Florida on our trips because of our love for Disney, but I have also been out to New York again.

I have even racked up enough frequent flier miles to earn a free flight :) In January, hopefully, the distance won't be so far as I am applying to transfer schools and looking for jobs in NYC.

Until January though I will be living in Florida for another internship at Disney. It is in the costuming department again, and I am so excited to be going back. I will be leaving Oregon on July 4th and working seasonally until August 9th when I will officially be an intern again.

I am going to miss Oregon, but I am most definitely an east coast girl and I am excited to start my life out there. My goal is to write at least once a week to keep people at home updated on my new adventures.

First week of the rest of my life!

I have been in Florida for over a week now, and I have been meaning to write, but the attraction of free entrance into the theme parks has proven to be to much. I am loving it here! The weather got down to 50 degrees today which is warm for Oregon. Since I have not written this whole time I will go through my past week and a half by day.
Tuesday the 6th- Flying
My flight took off at six in the morning so I had to be at the airport at 5:15. At 4:30 me and my mother packed up my two giant suitcases and my carry-on and left for the airport. Driving through downtown Portland for the last time in who knows how long was sad. I love the vibe that Portland has, it fits my personality well. We got to the airport a little late and met up with the girl I was flying down with. Her name is Heather and we met on Facebook through a Disney College Program group. We decided to fly down together so that we wouldn't be alone, and so we could split the cost of a hotel room. After I got my luggage checked in my mom walked me to the security gate. It was sad, but I probably would have been more emotional if it wasn't so early.
Going through security was interesting because I brought a giant gummy bear that my brother had given me for christmas in my carry-on. I guess gummy bears look suspicious so they had to check my bag. I also had my little Cami with me whiich the TSA lady thought was hannah montana. The flight was pretty normal. Heather and I colored in Disney coloring books for a while and then slept until we got to Chicago. In Chicago we had lunch and the caught another plane to Orlando. I sat next to this old couple that were so cute. They asked me all about the program and why I decided to do it. They had a niece that had done it a couple of years ago. When we got off the plane they wished me luck with my new job.
We took Disneys Magical Express to our hotel because it is free. We stayed at the All Star Music. It has giant guitars and drum set everywhere. The pool is even shaped like a piano. We stayed in the Broadway section which had a Beauty and the Beast marquee which made me very happy. We had planned to go out to dinner, but by the time we got to the hotel room we were too tired to go anywhere. We ordered pizza which was way to expensive and not very good, but it filled us up. We went to sleep around 10:30 but woke up at 11:45 when the people above us started stomping around. I didn't get very much sleep that night. I was way too excited and hadn't adjusted to the time difference.
Day 2- Check in
On Wednesday we checked out of our hotel and caught a ride to one of the aparment complexes they house all the college program(CP) kids. There was a D.J. in the parking lot by check in giving away prizes to people who got trivia questions right. I won a little back pack that has the castle on it. When we got to the front of the line they told us what we were going to be doing that day and gave us a book of information on the program. I met up with my room mate whom I had picked, and we went to get an apartment. We wanted a two bedroom in Chatham, but ended up with a three bedroom in Patterson. I am really glad we did because the apartment is really nice, and the room mates are even better!We did a background check and then moved our stuff over to Patterson.
When we got to our apartment no one was there. They all had an earlier housing meeting than us so they had left for that. We got to meet them for a little while before we had to leave for ours. When we got back that night we introduced our selves and went grocery shopping. We each filled up an entire cart full of stuff we needed.

I leave in a month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My plane leaves for Orlando, Florida in 30 days! I am arriving a day before check-in and staying with another girl from Portland doing the program. I am so excited I can hardly contain it. I have been listening to Disney music almost everyday. I even had the Fantasmic song stuck in my head all last week and I don't really like that show. I want to pack and leave right now, but then I would lose valuable time with my friends while they are home for Christmas. I am going to miss them so much, because I don't know if I will ever come back. Just Kidding, even if I extend I will try to come back for a week in May to see everyone again.

My Role at WDW

There have been a lot of questions about my job or role at Walt Disney World. I am in the costuming department. I am not making costumes, yet, I hope to someday be a costume designer for Disney but I need to work my way up. I got some great insight from one of my friends currently working for Disney about what I will actually be doing. It gave me a lot to look forword to.
If I am working at a show:

• sort and put away laundry from the day before
• get costumes ready for the 5-12 performers you are assigned to. This includes getting all the accesories together and making sure you have the right size costume.
• you help get the preformers you are in charge of dresses for the show
• you clean up when they leave their costumes in the middle of the floor
• do some laundry and put the rest away to be used again

If I am working at Operational Costuming (the costume check out center)

• it works like a library, you check out costumes to cast members, they all have bar codes
• check costumes back in
• wash specialty costumes

I am hoping to work at a show or in the EPCOT Ops because I would get to see all of the costumes from around the world.