the disney adventure--a trilogy, part one.

14. Visit Disney World. Preferably with Sadira. - DONE!

In looking for a spectacular way to tell the tale of our Disney trip, I'm first going to start with a commemorative rap.  To be sung to the tune of the first verse of the Beastie Boys' "Paul Revere." 




Now, here's a little story I got to tell...
About two fine mamas, you know so well.
 It started way back, last January, 
With K-Mac, Nas & Sean, and my girl, Say-DEE!


Been had a little voucher to plan our stay...
 Had to lay out the deets, pick the month and day,
Would we go by air? Would we go by land?
Didn't matter since good times were on demand.


One worried Nassy I be.
How we gonna keep these 'cited kids happy?
The plan was getting good as we drove through several states
Spend the night in Savannah 'fore they knew their fate. 
 Lookin' for a way, 
To tell them 'bout that day, 
My friend Lissa made them presents, they said, "Disney? What? No way!"


Oh yeah. 

You're welcome. ;-)

So in plan English, thanks to the mommy board I used to be a part of, about a year ago I found out about a great deal on an Orlando vacation--it was a Today Show special, and $200 for two adults and two kids, for four nights in Orlando. Like, $200 TOTAL.  As in, if Kerri and I split it we each had to contribute only $100. TOTAL.  Seriously, how could we pass this up?  I emailed Kerri the day I found the deal, and we decided in minutes to purchase it.

Around the beginning of the year, we decided it was time to select our dates, and get our plans for our trip firmed up.  We decided to go during the week of Memorial Day, so we had the extra holiday day off and only needed to take four days off of work instead of five.

Of course we told the children nothing.

I scoured the internet for a good deal on airfare, but sadly came up empty handed.  So it was decided that we would drive, and stop through Savannah on our way down.  I had wanted to take Sadira to Savannah for some time, because my Aunt Gabby lived there, and I wanted Sadira to have that connection with her namesake.

Plus Savannah is gorgeous, and who wouldn't enjoy a little day trip in the Peach State?

So we planned and planned.  We would drive down, spend one night in Savannah and then head to Orlando, and do all the Disney crap.  Kerri and I excitedly kept the details of the trip secret from our children.  We were thrilled that we were going to pull off an Orlando vacation on a budget, and not spend thousands of dollars in the process.

As soon as my friend Melissa found out about this plan, she whipped into action.  Melissa is what I call a CDP---a Crazy Disney Person.  I've learned that pretty much everyone falls somewhere on the continuum.  From the DGDADs (Don't Give a Damn About Disney people, AKA my friend Lindsey) to the CDPs (Crazy Disney People, a la Melissa) everyone has an opinion about capitalistic Disney.  Even if they don't realize it right away...all it takes is a trip to any one of the Disney theme parks and you will quickly learn where you fall.

For your reference, please see Graphic 1, below.

So displayed far to the left, we have the Disney haters, happily drinking their HaterAde, cursing over the Disney obsession, ranting that it's not worth the money.  This is probably the only time in my life I'll be able to describe my friend Lindz as "far left" in anything, so I'll take it. ;-)


On the far right, we've got my friend Melissa.  This girl literally eats, breathes, and sleeps Disney.  She even sees Mouse ears in places where there are none.  It's like a Disney hallucination.  Except CDPs proabaly call them halluminations, or some shit like that.  These CDPs are hardcore.  When in Disney mode, they are surrounded by magic (thus the stars and "sparkle" in the graphic above), cartoon animals appear happily at their feet, and they speak their very own Disney language.  For example, the people who WORK at DisneyWorld can't be called employees, they are CASTMEMBERS. And they are more than willing to describe, in detail, anything you'd ever want to know (or didn't know you needed to know) about FastPasses, IllumiNations, PhotoPasses, Pin Trading, Magic Your Way, Magic Express, Character Dining, Character Autographs...the list goes on the on.  And as they talk about it, they're eyes get bigger and bigger, and they start to speak faster and faster until you think they just might start speaking in tongues.  Magic tongues. With ears of course.


My friend Kerri falls somewhere in the middle.  She's a healthy mix of appreciating Disney, but not needing to go over the top.  She thinks it's fun, but it has its time and place.  It's not an every year vacation, in Kerri's world.


I'm slightly to the left.  I continually feel like I'm missing something.  I'm not a full blown HATER, but I just don't GET it.  I mean, yeah, it's fun and all, but I could never imagine going without my kid. Or going year after year.  Or spending thousands of dollars on a vacation to a theme park when I can go on a cruise to the islands, or trip to Europe for the same price.


I also just really don't "get" the cheesy song and dance routines.  I mean, and I love me some musical theater, but at Disney it catches me off guard and unprepared every time. 




So anyway, my friend Melissa the CDP, was kind enough to pull together a complete four page (FOUR PAGE!!) itinerary for us.  After reading my story of visiting DisneyLand last year, she did not want me to "waste" a single Magic Moment waiting in line.  

She also was kind enough to put together gift bags for the kids, which we used to "reveal" their surprise to them.


The day before we left, I asked them both where they thought we were going.

Sadie said, "Chuck E Cheese."
Sean said, "to visit Aunt Nicki."

Excellent.


So the day of our departure arrives, and our ride down is not uneventful.  Mainly because halfway through Virginia, this happened:

We later found out that Kerri got pulled over in DINWIDDIE COUNTY, Virginia.  If that doesn't sound like middle-of-nowhere VA, I don't know what does...

So on the road again, we continued.  Until 10 hours later, we arrived in beautiful Savannah, Georgia.  We spent the rest of the day running around downtown Savannah.

The next morning...


we revealed the big news:









Disney, here we come!  (Hooray! Kinda! Eek...Lord help me..)

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phursday phavorite photo

Since my 365 project is complete, I wanted to find some way to keep up with my favorite photo collection.  And although I don't have the time commitment to continue with another 365 project, I decided to do something weekly.

I was looking for a phancy phun name phor this photo project, and decided on "phursday phavorite photo."  (Now I realize that that's spelled incorrectly, and that's part of phun.)  "Phursday" because that's the way Sadie's best friend Sean pronounces words that start with "th-" (for example, "Nassy can I have some water, I'm firsty"); however I changed it to "ph-" to match (you catching what I'm throwing out here!?)   I'm phairly certain that he may be ended his little "th-" lisp shortly, though, because I'm pretty sure I heard him pronounce a "th-" word correctly last week, and that made me sad. It's like one of the last baby-ish things about him, and I want to hold on to it phorever.

Sniff.

So anyway, here we go.  Phirst phavorite photo in what I hope to keep up on a weekly basis.

 

Phederal Hill (alright I'll stop...) Federal Hill last weekend when Brandon and Ashleigh were in town and we were heading to the Orioles' game.

I really love this picture because it's a pretty clear depiction of typical Baltimore rowhomes.  I love the teal shutters, and the difference in height among the houses.  They are the same, yet different.  It sums up much of the charm of Baltimore, or Charm City as it's been nicknamed, but also shows that although Baltimore is very much a city, it's a very TOWNY city.  And you can almost imagine these houses, picked up, plucked apart, stretched out to become big grown up individual homes, and plunked down on Main Street, AnyTown, USA.

Just out of curiosity, I tweaked this photo into black and white, and got this:

I also played with the colors a bit and ended up with this:

Then finally took it a step further, where it almost looks like a product of Instagram in this variation:

I think I still like the original, straight out of the camera, the best...but I like that despite the variety of color tweaks, the general mood of the photo stays in tact.

A little chunk of Charm City at its phinest.

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bingo!

Play BINGO with the Ravens - DONE!  (not on the list, but whatevs)

Do you wanna know how Ravens-crazy this fanbase is?  I'll tell you how crazy.  We go to events at the stadium, when there's not even a game.  And we pay money to attend.  And these events sell out.  And we get dressed up like it's game day.  And people tailgate in the parking lots.

When I write it all out, it's absurd really, but honest to God, it's just so much fun to be a Ravens' fan.

So as I mentioned before, there's a Ravens' women's fan club called Purple.  They have this really great annual event in which female fans are invited to the stadium for a "ladies night out."  They have on field drills, tours of the locker rooms, autograph signings, Q&A sessions with the coaches, and much much more.

Apparently last year, while Lauren and I were busy kicking a field goal, they were running a Bingo game on the club level.  And the numbers were being called by Ravens' players.  Apparently this part of the event was SO popular, that they decided to bring it back this year as a separate event.

Ravens' wide receiver Torrey Smith led the event, and all proceeds went to his Torrey Smith Foundation.

Oh, and in case you didn't know...this is why we love Torrey Smith:

With the 35 seconds on the clock, he dropped what would be the game winning touchdown.  But just a couple plays later, he's was able to come back, catch the ACTUAL game winner, and beat our arch-enemy Steelers (at home) with only 8 seconds remaining on the clock.

THAT's one way to make a name for yourself during your rookie season!

Anyway, so my friend Amanda is a major Bingo-a-holic.  (I am not, but I can hang).  She's been a Bingo fan since we were kids, and goes pretty religiously with her grandma.  If you ever need to get clued in on proper Bingo etiquette, she's your gal.

(She also can tell you anything you'd ever want to know about daytime soap operas, beginning in the early 90s).

So of course when an email popped up in my inbox from the Purple club, advertising the Bingo night with Torrey Smith, I emailed Amanda and asked if she wanted in.

She did.

So tickets were purchased, and the event was placed on the calendar.


Last Thursday, Amanda, myself and her cousin Candace headed down to the stadium, decked out in Ravens' gear with 800 other women--yes, you heard right, eight HUNDRED.  They capped the event at 800, and it obviously sold out.

Told y'all we are crazy Raven lunatics.

As I was walking in to meet the ladies, my heart swelled with pride when I saw this in the parking lot:

That's some serious Raven dedication.


Once we were inside, we picked up our Bingo cards, got our dotters (purple, of course), purchased some snacks, and found a comfy spot in the club level.

 

Pretty soon the man of the hour arrived.  He was presented with a check for the night's proceeds that went toward his foundation, and got ready to call some numbers.

 

The prizes were awesome.  They ranged from gift certificates to the Ravens online store, to autographed memorabilia from all the players, to the jackpot prize: a half Ravens/half UMD helmet signed by Torrey himself.

AND, the winners got to get their picture taken on the stage with Torrey as they received their prizes.

Sadly, neither Amanda, Candace nor I were winners.  We were big fat losers.  Womp womp. 

My favorite quote from the night had to come from none other than Amanda's witty husband Chris, also a longtime friend of mine.  He said:

"You know how Ravens stupid this town is?  You could announce, "For only $100 you can come walk across 100 yards of hot coals while Ray Lewis watches on Skype," and 1000 people would show up."

Sounds like someone was a wee bit jealous, if you ask me...

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thirty favorites...aaaaaannnnnd go!

 Oh yeah...it's another flippin' list...

So since this is my blog, and I can make the rules, I decided to switch things up a bit, and start a list of thirty favorites.  Thirty of my favorite things that I just want to share with anyone who wants to listen.  My Nasrene's Favorite Things blog continues to come up as one of my most popular blog posts, so I figure, why not?  Why not post some of the things I just adore?

It's fun, it's light-hearted, and after some of my most recent posts, I need to lighten the mood around here, dammit.


This first item on my favorites list truly is something I absolutely ELLE-OH-VEE-EE.

#1: Merona Women's V-Neck Crossover dress

 

{camera phone in mirror self-portrait = klassie!}

  

Why do I love it?

It's ridiculously comfortable.
It's from Target.
It's $19.99.  Hear that? Only TWENTY BUCKS Y'ALL!
It's super cool, like temperature-wise.
A V-neck faux-wrap jersey dress flatters just about ANYONE.
It's $19.99.
Wear it with heels and it's work-appropriate.
Wear it with sandals and it's weekend at the winery appropriate.
Wear it with flip flops and it's casual summer party in the backyard appropriate.

It's $19.99.  SERIOUSLY.


Freakin' love this thing.

So much so, I have it in two other varieties as well...shhhh, don't tell. ;-)

*I have no affiliation with Target, other than spending a small fortune there over the course of my lifetime, and I get no freebies from Target for including this on my blog.  It's just truly one of my most favorite dresses....on the planet...in the history of the world.

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aurora, colorado

Denver at dusk, Sadira 2011

I woke up Friday morning, and started my day just like any other.  And after taking a shower, brushing my teeth, and drying my hair, I turned on the Today show to listen in on the latest news and catch the 7:50am local traffic report right before I ran out the door.

But the news was different that morning. 

Instead of the typical morning show--bit pieces, mixed with featured guests, mixed with some real news---the show was a live look at a scene outside a Colorado apartment building as it was unfolding.  The apartment belonged to a suspect. 

As we all know now, that suspect had gone into a movie theater during a midnight showing and opened fire on the audience.  Innocent people guilty of nothing other than attending a movie on a Thursday night were mowed down senselessly.  While I had been sleeping 12 people had been killed and 58 others had been injured.

I couldn't watch.  I turned it off.  I went to work, and went about my day.

I avoided the stories on the internet.

I overhead people whispering about it in the cafeteria that day.

"Did you hear what happened in that movie theater?"

"I heard that one of the injured was a three month old baby."

"How could someone do something like this?"

"And to think, it's only a half hour or so away from where Columbine happened."

I didn't participate in the discussion.  I didn't look up the details online.  I didn't read the tweets or Facebook posts.  I didn't want to think about it.  I didn't want to hear about it.  

I'm still not completely sure why I avoided the news.

Maybe it's because I just didn't want to hear the horrific details.

Maybe it's because I didn't want to think about the sadness the family's of the victims must be feelings...some of them probably didn't even know that their loved ones were gone yet.

Maybe it's because I couldn't think of how senselessly these people's lives were ended while I was over 20 miles away from my daughter.  For some reason if I have to hear awful news, I at least want her close to me.  So I know she's safe.  So I know I can hold on to her a little if I need a reminder that there IS good in the world.

I just don't understand how one person can have such blatant disregard for the lives of other people.

I don't get it.

I'll never get it.

It's impossible to hear this story and not remember Columbine.  I was a senior in high school when the Columbine high school massacre happened in Littleton, Colorado.  I remember coming home from school on April 20th 1999, turning on the TV, and sitting there, on the floor of my mother's living room for 3 hours watching the details unfold until my mom got home.

I watched every moment.  I couldn't get enough of it.  I couldn't look away.  I needed all of the details.

I remember thinking how these kids were just like me.  I was a senior in high school and could relate to those kids.  I had six weeks of high school left, just like many of them did.  I couldn't imagine something like that happening in my community.  I couldn't imagine something like that happening in my school.

The next day in school we did nothing but talk about what had happened.  We speculated about the future...would there be more security in schools now?  Would metal detectors be required to enter school?  I remember sitting in religion class and my friend Kelly was sitting next to me.  I remember her saying, "all they did was go to school that day.  That's all."

And in the weeks that followed, I remember listening to the stories of those who had been killed.  The kids who had their lives taken from them for doing nothing wrong. What they were like, what their dreams and aspirations were.  How their lives ended too quickly.  Senselessly.  Just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Four months later my friend Kelly was killed in a car accident.  She was driving to her boyfriend's house when her car was struck by another vehicle that had been thrown across median of a highway.  All she did was drive to her boyfriend's house that day. That's all.  She was doing nothing wrong.  And her life ended too quickly.  Senselessly.  Just because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Two years later September 11th happened.  Same thing.  Senseless killing.  People losing their lives just for being where they were supposed to be that day.  

When the Virginia Tech shootings happened my thoughts raced to my sister, who was a college student.  How could we once again be dealing with kids being shot and killed for going to school?? How is this possible?

I don't get it.

I'll never get it.

In the meantime, now the stories of those who were killed in Aurora are starting to come out.  The details of who they were, how old they were, what was going on in their lives.  Naturally many of them were young, with decades of years ahead of them.

And while I've tried to keep a distance from this news, to not get wrapped up in the horror of it, I couldn't help but get drawn into the story of Jessica Ghawi, or Jessica Redfield as she was also known.  At 25 years old, she was only one year older than the shooter.  But I think the thing that stood out to me the most was that I felt like she was someone that I could've been friends with.  She was a redhead and a hockey fan like my friend Sarah.  She had a live life to the fullest, "no day but today" spirit like my friend Shannon.  She was southern, with sweet yet sarcastic wit like my friend Lindsey.  She like to have a good time like my friend Sandi.  She was kind like my friend Kerri. 

And she liked to blog, like me.  I found one of her last blogs that she had written.  It's been all over the news, and on the internet.  The story of how she survived a shooting in Toronto just a month ago, and wrote this blog post about appreciating every moment, how every moment is a gift, and not to take a single day for granted. 

I could see myself writing something similar.

And then out of the blue while putting together a puzzle this afternoon Sadira asks me, "Mommy, are we gonna hafta go through security to go to the movies now like we do when we get on a airplane?"  Just like that.  Didn't even look up from her puzzle, just asked.  I told her I don't think so, but didn't even ask her how she heard.  I've learned not ask her those kinds of things.

It was weird. 

I'm glad she didn't ask anymore.


There is no "bigger meaning" to this blogpost.  No "Aha Moment" or life defining moral of the story that came from this tragedy.  Just a stream of consciousness collection of my thoughts about these events. 

The senselessness of it has rid me of any logical conclusions or lessons that could be learned.

I don't get it.

I'll never get it.

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this is birdland

Take a tour of Camden Yards....Didn't do it.  *Yet.

So as I mentioned we had big plans of taking a tour of Camden Yards when Brandon and Ashleigh were in town, but MigraineGate 2012 happened, and we had to lay low on Saturday.

But in the true spirit of resiliency that only a four year can possibly possess, Sadira woke up Sunday morning just slightly sluggish, but quickly perked up when she remember it was an Orioles' Dug Out club game that day.

For those of you who don't know, the Orioles' Dug Out club is one of the longest standing kid's clubs in MLB.  Y'all know I love a good deal, and for a $20 kid's club membership, Sadira gets a ticket to10 Dug Out club games during the season, a prize at each game, a hat, a lunchbox or drawstring bag, a lanyard and ID badge, and discounted concessions at the game ($1 hot dogs and $1 juice boxes).  They also set up a bounce house and tee ball batting cage in the Dug Out club section, along with free face painting.  Any extra tickets (for parents or accompanying friends) are only $6 for General Admission seats, or $15 for Lower Level Assigned seats.

It's just a great deal.

Kerri and I signed up Sadie and Sean last year, and then decided to re-enroll them this year.

Last year:

 

This year:

 

So anyway, this past Sunday was a Dug Out club game, and Sadie wanted to show off the fun to Brandon and Ash.

Except one thing, this wasn't ANY Dug Out club game...it was Kid's Run the Bases day!

I didn't even realize until Brandon was checking the schedule and pointed it out to me.  The Orioles do it every year, usually once or twice during the season, where after the game the kids can come down on the field and run the bases.

Seriously, how cool is that?

I wanted to run the bases too, but didn't want to be the lame mom who asked to run the bases and got denied.  Womp womp...

So we make it to the game, and it's seriously like, 127 degrees.  Honest to God, I think we were on the verge of melting into tiny puddles in our seats.

But the that's the cool thing about the Dug Out games...there's always something else to do at the games, to keep the kids occupied and the parents sane.

(Cause let's face it, we all know baseball doesn't even come CLOSE to being as exciting as football is...)

To keep cool we did a lot of this:

 

and some of this:

And then at the end of the game they got to run the bases!  (And yes, some lame dad snuck in there and ran the bases with his kid...I was so jealous. #NotFair.)

Sadira's first words once she got off the field were, "Mom! Can you BELIEVE I got to run on the same bases as NICK MARKAKIS DOES??!!  Aren't you JEALOUS???!!"

Yeah, Sades, I actually am pretty jealous...way to rub it in.

 

And because this was so cool, and because this is my list and I can, and because I inadvertently had a double on my summer list, I subbed-in/subbed-out an item on our summer to do list, and replaced it with this one:

#50.  Run the bases at Camden Yards.

CHECK!

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