And....I'm back.

So I was really starting to feel guilty beacause I quit the gym back in the middle of July.  Honestly, I was so annoyed with the other people that went in the morning that they would seriously ruin my morning.  Not to mention some guy was hitting on me every morning and I'd finally had enough. I packed up my mental 'luggage' and left that place.  In place of my work outs, I started hula hooping.  I got pretty good too. It's a really fun hobby to pick up and Youtube is an awesome place to see tutorials on tricks and what not.  I also decided to cut back on red meat (hamburger mainly) and diet pop.  I never believed the myth about drinking diet pop until I actually cut back on it.  I have a friend that works at the gym, so I got a hold of her and asked her about rejoining the gym.  It'd been about 2 months and I was starting to feel really bad about my lack of exercise.  I was worried that I was packing on all these pounds again and whenever I ate something fattening or 'carby' I'd be sitting there imagining the fat just placing itself back into the places it had dissapeared from. She told me that I wouldn't have to pay another enrollment fee since I had just recently quit, so I jumped on it. I was back in there the next day, pedaling away on the stationary bike.  I decided that weighing myself needed to happen because I was anxious to see how much weight I gained or didn't gain since I'd quit the gym. Much to my disbelief, I'd actually LOST 12 pounds in that two months. I guess the mix of hula hooping, no hamburger and diet pop actually did work.  So that now puts me up at a grand total of 35 pounds lost. (Pat on the back). I'm making it a point to work harder at the gym. Over this past weekend, I rode 10 miles on the bike, and over the past few days, I've run a total of 3 miles. Psh, 3 miles, I know, but for a person who despises running at much as I do, that's quite the accomplishment to me.

Aside from the 'no hamburger/no diet pop' policy, I've been trying to train myself to portion control.  Let me break down the Weightwatchers diet for you:

Portion control - Take smaller bites and eat less of something. If you have a giant steak, only eat until you are full and take the rest home for later.  That's why they always say that you don't have to deprive yourself of eating foods you love. You can still eat them, just STOP eating when you feel full.  Something I try to do when we go out now is if I want to get something on the menu (pizza - because I love pizza), I get a dinner salad before hand, or a cup of soup (a vegetable, broth based soup, creamy soups do not work for this idea because they are loaded with fat and sodium). By the time you get your actual dinner (or the pizza in my case) you are somewhat full, and won't devour the entirety of the entree (25 peices of pizza). If you like cheeseburgers as much as I did (remember, I'm cutting back on eating hamburger meat), cut the cheeseburger in half before starting to eat and set it aside. I bet by the time you eat that half, you're full. Then you don't feel as guilty about eating it, and you have some for later.

Dietary fiber - Dietary fiber absorbs water as it passes through the digestive system. In other words, this helps you poop.  Start checking labels, the more dietary fiber that is in food, the better it is. It's easily digested.

That's pretty much it. Portion control, and foods with dietary fiber. The higher the dietary fiber, the lower the point on the system.

By no means am I any kind of expert, but it's just little everyday tactics that get easier after awhile. I do things now and I don't even notice. I got a cheeseburger from McDonalds a few weeks ago for the first time in 2 months out of desperation for the taste of fast food and I actually found myself cutting it in half and saving the rest. Once I put the other half in the fridge, I felt silly. I feel silly even typing it. I also found a new love for fish. Once I got a taste of a good slab of grilled salmon, it's all I want to eat. There are so many ways to experiment with chicken and fish, with different seasonings and breadings. I also switched from regular Yoplait yogurt to Greek yogurt.  Greek yogurt is always recommended by whoever, Jillian Michaels and whatever, but I tried it and I never want to go back to the Yoplait crap. They have such different textures. Greek is thick and pasty (and awesome with fruit or honey I might add), and Yopliat is runny and gloopy.  The only problem I ran into is that Greek yogurt is really expensive. I was pretty bummed about it actually. $1.50 a cup? Gawd.  So I tried Aldis one day and was extremely happy with the outcome. $.89 a cup, and taste just as good as the expensive ones. I will warn you though, you really have to have a taste for it because I tried to get all the girls at work on the Greek yogurt horse and they weren't having it. There were a lot of crushed faces in the room and a lot of wasted yogurt.

Oikos - good
Yoplait greek - shit
Dannon - good 
Aldis brand (Friendly Farms) - awesome

And that's my lesson for the day.

By the way, if you want to watch something that will really change your mind about eating fast food, watch the documentary 'Supersize me'. 



Garage Sales

Since October is near, a lot of towns are having their Oktoberfests which means garage sale season begins.  The town I work in was having it's garage sale weekend so I decided I would get up early and venture into the psychoville to find a bike I've been looking for.  The fancy neighborhood of the town is where I wanted to go because a co-worker of mine lives there.  I was hoping she would drive around with me, but she kept insisting that driving wasn't going to happen and that she refused to go despite it being in her neighborhood. I ignored her warnings. Ben wanted to go fishing that morning, and all my friends were preoccupied sleeping and what not so I had to go solo.  I got up early Saturday morning and when I arrived to the neighborhood of choice, I was shocked at what I saw.  Normally when you think of garage sales, you picture an entire town, some people walking and most just slowly scooting along in their vans or vespa scooters or whatever, pissing off everyone who got stuck behind them who isn't participating in the garage festivities.  This was different.  People were packed along either side of the road, leaving nothing but a tiny path in the middle for cars to squeeze through.  Families were piling out of their Hummers and BMW suv's, sporting fanny packs and visors, pushing strollers, walking down the middle of the path, making it nearly impossible to get through.  I was dumbfounded. I called my co-worker repeatedly in a panic because she never around her phone. When she did finally pick up I immediately questioned her on the strange event happening in her neighborhood.  She gave me the 'I told you so' speech, and I eventually ended up in her driveway.  It was definitely an advantage knowing someone in the neighborhood because there wasn't anywhere else to park.  It was basically a flea market with no parking lot. 


When I left my house that morning, it was windy, cold, foggy and on the verge of raining.  I decided that jeans and hoodie would be a good choice.  Upon arriving to Pleasantville, the sun popped through the clouds and radiated a whole lot of heat and sunshine throughout.  I figured this would be a good opportunity to get some exercise, but thereafter, was doubtful it would be very enjoyable to walk the neighborhood in skinny jeans and what not. Now sweating and irritated, I stopped at my first house.  I don't know about some woman, but me personally, I think sweating is the most annoying thing that could happen right after you get done putting make up on and doing your hair.  Granite, I had my bedhead-do up in a messy bun thing and wasn't wearing much make up, but I've been growing my hair out so I have a lot of baby hair growing in. So when I start sweating, the baby hair sweats into a curly cue and makes a perfect swirl on my shiny forehead. I ended up buying a wine holder for Ben's bomber beer bottles.  We're not big wine drinkers, but I'm trying to accomplish an Italy/Mediterranean look in my kitchen and thought it would be a nice touch.  I also bought a few decorations for kitchen 'theme', and a Hoover Wind tunnel vacuum for $15 bucks.  I was unsuccessful on the bike, but I got a vacuum so that's good.  The vacuum I have at home now is a hand-me-down from Ben's grandma. The vacuum is a 1980 Winter Olympic Electrolux vacuum.

The thing is still kicking good and strong, but it's a pain to use. It's like dragging a little kid around in a store that doesn't want to be there so they just go limp and you have to pull them around like a big wet noodle.

On the way back to my car and before I bought the vacuum, I saw what I thought was the PERFECT bike for me. It was a maroon woman's mountain bike with a water bottle holder and squishy silicone butt pads, which is unnecessary, but a perk.  Now my co-worker, Rochelle, always tells us stories about two of her neighbors. I will just say their names are Dee and Judy.  According to Rochelle, Judy was influenced by Dee and turned into a real bitch even though she used to be an nice person.  Judy lost a lot of weight, and is now 'very blessed'. Blessed about the weight loss and blessed about life.  Once again, this may just be me, but I get extremely irritated when people describe their lives as 'blessed'.  It's one thing to be 'blessed' if you are a religious person and stick solely with your religious views or if you are a cancer survivor, but people who drink a lot, eat a lot of fast food and smoke cigarettes bother me when they describe their life as 'blessed'.  Anyway, when I walked up to Judy to ask her about the bike, she was munching viciously on a stick of celery. I asked her what she wanted for the bike and she told me it wasn't for sale. Turns out, it was Dee's bike. Dee had ridden the bike over to visit her bff Judy and had so conveniently parked the bike amongst the garage sale items.  At this point, Judy, Dee, and their husbands were all questioning me about what kind of bike I wanted. How old did I want the bike to be? What color bike did I want? Etc.  Feeling completely stupid now, I just kept saying, "Thank you" and slowly trying to back away, but I felt like they were keeping me there to entertain their garage circus.  Finally Dee says, "What about those people across the street? They are selling bikes."  to which I replied, "Those are men's bikes, I don't really want a men's bike".  The reason I do not want a men's bike, is because generally, men are taller then woman.  I am 5' 4", and I have short legs. I am not going to buy a men's bike that I have to struggle to climb onto. I had already looked at those bikes, they were pretty tall as far as 'climbing up onto'.  I guess my response must've offended her because she looked taken aback. "What's wrong with a men's bike? I ride a men's bike. I've been riding a men's bike for years!"  At this point, I'd have enough, told her I would 'keep it in mind' and stomped off through the grass to Rochelle's house to get my car.  People are unbelievable. Who cares if I don't want a men's bike?  Why did my preferences about bikes offend her? If I have something in my mind that I want, I'm not going to get something else because some celery munching, visor wearing weirdos thinks I should. 

So overall the day was success and I only spent a little under $30 bucks.  I could have spent about $300 on all the decor I found, but luckily I ran out of cash in my wallet and had to call it quits.  That is why I do not keep a lot of cash on me on all times, it makes it way easier to spend. One thing I did learn though is that I am going back next year and I am definitely bringing someone with me.

Hula Hooping

Hello friends. I realize I've been gone for quite a long time, but I've been extremely busy.  Once we got back from Florida I was pretty much bombarded with work at the office.

I realized that my blog is going nowhere fast, and I want to give it a kick start. My blog was originally intended to keep me on track of my weightloss journey by blogging about it everyday. That was obviously short lived.  I kept up on my word though as far as my personal goals. I guess I decided that instead of busting ass and practically killing myself, that I was going to do it my way.  It occured to me one day while going over the Weightwatchers diet, that all it is, is portion control and eating a lot of dietary fiber and proteins.  I joined the gym, was there about 2 years, and then hated it. All the old people would congregrate in there in the morning and gossip (loudly--usually yelling across the entire gym to each other), and then some guy started hitting on me every morning and I'd finally had enough.  The gym was split into two parts, one being cardio and one being weights. I would be allllll the way over on the bike, and he would be alllll the way over on the bench press, and he would come allllll the way over to where I was biking and turn the fan on above me that was on a timer. That fan is obviously not going to be cooling you off, so why are you coming all the way over here to turn it on???? Then he would awkwardly start asking me about my life...where I went to school, why I wasn't there yesterday, etc...I probably could have told this dumb ass that I was married and he'd say, "Oh, cool...so when are we going to hang out?" Vultures I tell ya. Not to mention I'm sweaty and in my gross gym clothes, so....I don't get it.

I ended up quitting the gym and taking up hula hooping.  You can hula hoop for hours, break a nice sweat, and it's so much more fun then going to the gym. This is just my opinion of course, but I personally hate the gym.  I find it to be repetivtive and boring, whereas hulahooping, is only $20-30 bucks for a decent homemade hoop and you can pretty much do it anywhere.  I made my own hoop firstly, which required a trip to Menards, 1" plumbing tubing, 1" pvc tube connector, a few rolls of duct tape and colored electrical tape and ta-da! My hoop. 

When I made the hoop, I did not follow the key point in which you are supposed to put a hair dryer on the the openings to widen it and put the connector in. Instead, I just got a smaller connector and duct taped it together so after a little bit, the hoop eventually stretched out into a tear drop shape, so every once in awhile I have to cut the tape off and retape it. After a month or so, I ended up buying another one off my friend who makes them, so I have both of them now. The purple hoop is weighted because of the particular piping I used, so it's better to exercise with. My red and black hoop is bigger, lighter, and ideal for doing tricks with.  I will eventually be posting a video on here as soon as I can muster up the courage.  I feel a little weird knowing that my face will be on youtube, so I'm biding my time, but I'm picking it up quick and I LOVE it. I would suggest it to anyone who wants to switch up their exercise routine.

Old ladies

I work in a little podunk town in Illinois called Monee.  It's about 35 miles South of the city.  Monee is also a truck stop paradise. They have a Petro station which is connected to an Iron Skillet where all of the truckers and toothless wonders reside.  Ironically, the Iron Skillet is my favorite place to go for a late night drunken snack, and to gawk at all of the mysterious people that are dining there.

In Monee, there is also a Dunkin Donuts. I occasionally stop at DD to pick a large unsweetened iced tea or the occasional iced coffee.  Today, I was sitting in the drivethru, waiting at the window, and I see an old lady with large Robo Cop glasses on, circling the parking lot, confused.  She finally positions the car in such a way where her rear is facing the front of me, and starts backing the car up towards me.  I put my hand to the horn waiting for her to back right into my car, but she didn't. Instead, she parked it a few inches from me, turns it off, cranks the seat back, and is clearly readying herself to take a nap. Now mind you, I am at the window of the drivethru waiting for my iced tea, and myself, and 3 other cars behind me, are now blocked in by this sleepy old woman.  I can't think of anything better to do but bust out laughing hysterically.  I couldn't help myself.  It was goddamned funny.  The lady finally comes to the window and cranes her neck aroud the window, "What is happening?" She asks me. I respond, still laughing, "I guess she was tired."

"She's sleeping?!"
"Yes..."
"I'll be right back."

A few minutes later, one of the gas station attendees comes out and bangs on her window. She woke up suddenly, waving her arms around. I'm still laughing. "YOU CAN'T PARK HERE, YOU ARE BLOCKING THE DRIVETHRU".  She rolls her window up on the lady, pulls up, and parks at a gas pump to continue her nap.  I don't quite understand what this was all about considering there was a Petro station 15 feet down the street where people can park and take naps and what not. Old people boggle me.

...And a month later

I realize that I said I was going to update about Epcot and the rest of our Florida trip as soon as possible, and I really wanted too, but I cannot get a break at work. It has just been HELL.  Right before I left for Florida a decision was made that I would now be taking over 2 different jobs on top of the job I was doing. Do you ever get SO stressed out that you become physically ill?  That is what was happening to me. I am too young to feel like a 70 year old woman at work. Everytime my boss gives me something to do, I can feel myself aging and my hair turning gray.  It's not the fact that he is giving me work that is stressing me out, it's the fact that he is giving me work on top of all the other work I am doing.  We are seriously understaffed, and the school I work is becoming bigger and bigger by the day.  It is a physical impossibility for one person to do all the work that I do.  I am not saying that to brag or 'toot my own horn', I am simply stating a fact. I am to the point where I am neglecting aspects of my job, to tend to other parts of my job. For example, I will avoid answering my 70 or so e-mails a day to work on forms and paperwork. Or, I will take a day to neglect my forms and paperwork to work on student files to get them ready for graduation. If I'm not working on the student files, I'm answering my e-mails. In the midst of all the chaos, I am trying to answer all of my phone calls. Now, when the students want to call, it is normally because they want to tell me that they sent me an e-mail.  After they tell me they sent me an e-mail, they want to explain to me the contents of the e-mail. What is the point of sending me an e-mail, if you are just going to call and tell me what was in the e-mail?  If I tell them that I got their e-mail and will respond to it when I get to it, the next million dollar question is, "When are you going to read it?"...This question really gets to me. I'm not sure, let me take out my crystal ball and predict the future for you...It's silly because they are serious, and they want an answer.

So Epcot was one of my favorite parks.  It didn't have a lot of rides, and compared to Universal and Magic Kingdom, this one was very laid back.  A storm had also rolled through the area and the temperature had dropped almost 20 degrees. It was a steady 75, cloudy, and in my opinion, perfect. We'd been getting scorched in the hot Florida sun for the past 3 days, so the change was more than welcomed. I wasn't aware when we got there, but the inside of the giant Epcot golf ball is actually a ride called 'Spaceship Earth'.  It's a ride that takes you through all the stages of life since the beginning of man. Out of all the rides I rode while in Disney that week, this one was probably my favorite. It's slow and probably boring to a lot of people, but I loved it. We also went on Test Trak that day, and Mission Space.  Has anyone actually ever gone on this peice of shit 'ride'?  There were warnings all over the place that if you get motion sickness, it is advised that you DO NOT go on this ride.  So what did I do? I went on the ride. I should have gotten off immediately when I saw a pouch of barf bags on the ride, but alas, I stayed on. Now, for those of you who have never been on this horrible abomination, let me tell you about it. This is Wikipedia's version: "Mission Space is a motion simulator thrill ride at Epcot. It simulates what an astronaut might experience aboard a spacecraft on a mission to Mars, from the higher g-force of blastoff to the speculative hypersleep."

Now, let me tell you my version.

First you start out in a dark room with a group of people. Gary Sinise pops on the screen and starts rambling about space ships and moon landings and blah blah blah.  Yes, Gary Sinise was also the shinless, but awesome, Lt. Dan Taylor from the amazing movie, Forrest Gump. If you have not seen this movie, or do not like this movie, I feel very sorry for you and suggest you stop reading my blog now and light yourself on fire.  After Lt. Dan stops blabbering, you are broken into groups of four and sent into separate doors and loaded into your 'spacecraft' cockpit. They lock you in, equipped with barf bags, and the cockpit rises upwards so you are now facing the ceiling.  There is a small screen in front of you, similar to the Nintendo Virtual Boy from the early 90's, except in color.  They also do something where you experience G-force while watching this 3D monstrosity. Right away, some bitch pops up on the little 3D tv and warns the riders that 'closing your eyes will only intensify the motion sickness', so at this point, I am panicking. The 'ride' starts up and a movie starts. It's basically a spacecraft taking off from a landing and flying to Mars. We weren't even off the launch pad yet and I was already ready to barf.  My eyes were going funny and watering, I actually did try shutting my eyes, and that bitch was right, it made it worse. So I opened them and fixated them on the barf bags. Ben was giggling and holding my hand and kept asking me if I was ok and I kept hesitantly responding, 'no', in fear that opening my mouth would excrete barf on myself and the 14 year old passengers we were stuck riding with. After 2.5 excrutiating minutes the peice of shit was finally over and I staggered off and fumbled for the exit for fresh air.  NEVER again will I ever go on that ride, and quite honestly, I do not understand how people enjoy it. It should be shut down and burnt so I can pee on the ashes. I didn't end up barfing, but I definitely didn't feel right the rest of the day. 

After the torture was over, we headed over to the 'Countries' and walked around. We took a relaxing boat ride through Mexico, went on another relaxing boat ride in one of the other Countries, then settled in Germany for an amazing lunch of authentic German food, and get this, it was a buffet of authentic German food.  They had a stage set up where a band of lederhosen wearing men were playing. It was great. I loved this place.

After we filled up on great food, we walked around some more, went on 'The Seas of Nemo and Friends' which had an actual aquarium at the end of it which delighted me. I have a soft spot for animals, fish or not.

After that, we went back to the hotel and got ready to go to the Electric Light Parade at the Magic Kingdom. If you haven't been to Disney, or haven't had the opportunity to see this, I recommend you try to do it at some point. For those of you who may think you are too cool for this, it's most likely because you suck. You are never too old, and never too cool to see the Electric Light Parade.

Yes, I took this picture.

The next day we headed over to the Animal Kingdom.  This had to have been the most congested park of all of them.  We only managed to go on a few rides and stand the scorching heat, little kids and sweaty bodies rubbing on us, for roughly 5 hours before we called it quits and went back to our room for some swimming. We went on the Kilimanjaro African Safari, which would have been a lot more awesome if half the animals hadn't been hiding. I still appreciate the fact that I had the opportunity to ride this, it's a demanding ride at the Animal Kingdom. We also went on Expedition Everest, which is a coaster that travels up into a mountain where the 'Yeti' lives. Awesome. As you all know from my previous blogs, I'm not a huge fan of instense roller coasters, but this one, I ended up LOVING. I would go on it again with no hesitation. Of course, it's not a coaster with big drops and what not, or I would have hated it most likely.  We finished out the day eating at place called Yak and Yeti, which featured Asian quisine and an unforgettable dessert. Normally Ben and I don't get dessert's when we dine out, but it came included with our Disney meal plan, so we got some.  It was a large plate of fried cream cheese wontons with vanilla ice cream, topped lightly with hot caramel syrup and fresh strawberries. It was one of the best things I've ever tasted. It should be featured on one of those shows on the Travel channel.  I can just picture Adam Richman sitting at the table taking big bites and making all the weird sex noises he makes while engorging his face with all kinds of good shit.  Speaking of good shit, I left out a few details about the nights that Ben and I went out for some fancy dinners.  The meal plans are probably the best thing you can do for yourself if planning a Disney vacation, because we ate market fresh priced fish quite a bit on this trip. One of the places we went (Captain Jacks in Downtown Disney), I ate a big slab of grilled Talapia with mango chutney, ahh-mazing.

Friday was our free day.  We got up early and went back to the Magic Kingdom to see the 'Hall of Presidents'. By the time we were done doing that, it was already scorching hot out by 11 am, and I was exhausted. We went back to the hotel, relaxed and packed.  That night we went to a place called 'Ohana' as our last fancy dinner in Orlando. This was a Hawaiian restaurant where they would stuff your face until you wanted to puke.  They would bring rounds of meat on skewers to your table, along with pot stickers, salad, Hawaiian rolls, and noodles.  Completely stuffed, we took the monorail back to the hotel and passed out for our early wake up at 4:15.  The Disney bus took us to the airport around 530 and we were home by 11. This time, I had the bright idea of calling Southwest and asking them if it was possible to check in online, which it was. So we checked in as early as possible and were in the first group boarding. Not only did I get to sit by Ben, but I got a window seat. You better believe I took advantage of it and drank gin and tonics on the way home and got to relax this time. I  I loved Florida, but you really don't realize how much you love home until you don't get to see it for a week. I haven't slept that good in my bed since we got back from our 31 hour drive from California in 2009.

Since then, we've already bought tickets to Phish's Superball IX in Watkins Glen, New York at the Watkins Glen International race track.  My brother asked us the other day, "Are you guys ever home?"  I guess not...Luckily, this is only a 10 hour drive, and not 31.

Pictures from Bubba Gump Shrimp - Universal Studios

Disney World Continued

So the first day, after the flight fiasco we got settled in our hotel room.  For anyone who ever books a vacation package through the Disney website, please be aware that whatever hotel you are staying at takes your bags directly from the airport to your hotel room, which is amazing, but not if you don't know that. We stood at baggage claim for a solid half hour and even started checking other flights thinking it got mixed up. We kept looking at each other in a panic. I had a laptop in my bag, about $500 worth of clothes, all my make up, my hair dryer, straightener, my life, you know, those kinds of things. Finally we went to the information desk and they explained this to us.  Would have been great to know at some point before that.

If you've never been to Disney before, it's literally a 'whole new world', and I'm just trying to be lame and steal quotes from Aladdin--It's seriously like you've stepped out of the real world and into a warp of somesort where everyone is extremely jolly and friendly.  There's 'Disney magical express' busses that take you to all the parks, except Universal Studios, that's not part of Disney. Ben had to remind me of this at least 16 thousand times while we were there. If the busses can't get somewhere, then the Disney monorail system will whip you around to restaurants and what not.

The Magic Kingdom was really fun.  I'd have to say my favorite ride here was definitely the Haunted Mansion. It's really amazing how they do some of the effects on these rides. The ballroom part of the ride is the best part, and you walk out of there actually feeling pretty creeped out. Sounds a little stupid, but bits and peices of that ride would pop up in my dreams for like a week after. I found a video of it on youtube, but it's pretty dark. If you move it to about 3:48 you'll be able to see the ballroom. http://youtu.be/LG7n2ZD1z_U It just doesn't do it justice though, it's something you have to see for yourself. We went on Space Mountain, which I loved. It's a pitch black, indoor coaster. Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger spin, Pirates of the Carribean, and of course, It's a Small World.  Wow...that ride is annoying. After that, I was so exhausted.  The lack of sleep from the night before started to really hit me, so we headed back to the hotel and we passed out in our beds. Heh.

The next morning (Sunday) we had Alamo car rental come pick us up so we could rent a car.  I am 25 and have a valid driver's lisence, so we figured we wouldn't have a problem. Wrong.  I guess you have to have a major credit card, and I only had my bank card (which is a Mastercard...I didn't get it...still don't).  Ben, who is only 23, ended up having to put the car in his name with $40 extra for insurance.  As the guy is ringing us up he says, "Would you like to be upgraded to a Camaro for an additional fee?'  Ben's eyes lit up.  "How much extra?"

"80 dollars a day."

After a brief moment of hesitation, a smile stretched across his face. "Screw it, let's get the Camaro."

And off we went in a 2011 Camaro. 

Universal Studios was next on our list.  It was sunny and 85 by the time we got there.  I was feeling much better today having gotten a full nights sleep.  I'm sure you all remember that the 1 place I wanted to see most was The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  This place was amazing.

Once inside, I had made up my mind that I wanted a want from Ollivanders wand shop. We waited in line for 45 minutes in the scorching sun to get inside this place.  While we were waiting, Ben got us some Butterbeer, which is not beer at all, but a VERY rich creme soda with a frothy melted ice-cream substance on top. I could only handle about a half a glass of it. Both Ben and I felt sick after drinking it--definitely not something you should get while walking around in the sun for hours and going on rides. Of course, right after we drank Butterbeer and left Ollivanders with our new wands, we went on the Dueling Dragons rollercoaster. I had such a headache after that. Between the heat, Butterbeer, and being whipped violently about on that coaster was not a good combo.  We went to Jurassic Park after that and sat down for some dry as leather chicken strips.

(Side note: I found out just recently my idol, Bert the Conqueror was there the very next day after we were. I was SO crushed.  Bert is the only reason I went on the Raging Bull last summer.  I would have loved to meet him!  http://youtu.be/ZXDhICjInVk )

We went on a few more rides before we called it a day. My head was starting to throb at that point and all I wanted to do was go jump in the pool at the hotel and cool off. We went to Universal two days in a row, ending our second night at Bubba Gump shrimp before we went back to the hotel for some much needed beers.

And this is where I leave you my friends.  Once again the work day is over and I will start with Epcot next time:)

Byebye.

3 Floyds and Disney World

 Hello,

I really hate that I cannot keep up with this thing.  I dissapoint myself when I come back and notice I haven't updated in over a month. I decided that today I would temporarily neglect the piles of files on my desk to get an update in.  Before we left for Orlando, we took a trip over to Munster, Indiana to visit what in Ben's mind, is heaven, 3 Floyds brewery.  For those of you who read my previous blogs (bless your hearts) you know that I do not like crafted beers. I prefer light 'piss beer' as beer connoisseur's would call it. Beers like Select 55 and Michelob Ultra, you know anything light and watery that my weak stomach can handle large liquidy portions of.  My first beer was a Gumballhead, a golden, 5.5% ABV, wheat ale that I actually enjoy.  Floyds has a great menu, consisting from fennel, schnizels, and basic sandwhiches. I got a grilled chicken sandwhich with their homemade horseradish mayo for dipping, and I've been craving another one since we left. I normally do not like horseradish or anything with horseradish in it, but this stuff was amazing. I'm sure it's a very simple recipe, but it's good enough to eat on sandwhiches and fries, and that's what matters. My second beer was some kind of Japanese rice beer that I cannot remember the name of, but it wasn't one of Floyds beers, it was just one they carry.  That one was pretty gross, and I had a hard time getting it down.  I was also extremely full at that point, and pretty lit from the first beer.  I am a puss, I know. Ben drank a Dreadnaught, a verrry hoppy ale, with a 9.5% ABV and a Ham on Rye, which literally tastes like a smoked ham sandwhich. I even liked this one!

After we ate, we went to see the tour of the brewery.  It was more of a Floyds history lesson since there wasn't a whole lot of 'touring', but it was fun nonetheless. I posted the pictures of it below. Every year Floyds has a Darklord Day where they only sell their famous Darklord Beer that one day.  By some stroke of luck (6000 tickets sold out in 3 minutes) Ben and I got 2 tickets and are attending Darklord Fest at the end of the month.  I'm pretty pumped.  We went last year (when they didn't provide tickets--obviously not expecting the turn out) and got there at 9 in the morning and the place was PACKED shoulder to shoulder. When I say place, I actually mean 3 streets worth of people as the fest is obviously outside. People were throwing up in the streets already, sleeping on the sidewalk, it was pure chaos. It was pretty stupid because of that last year actually, so we left empty handed.  This year, they have time slots for groups of people to go and get their bottles of Darklord and we got the 5-7pm time slot.  This year it should be more enjoyable because we will actually be able to go and taste beers and have a good time (I hope).  Ben is brewing a batch of his own beer right now, a Boysenberry IPA, so I'm rooting for him since he's a rookie, that it turns out good. 



You can read more on it at http://www.3floyds.com/. I'm not sure if you can actually purchase their beer online, but if your interested, I'm sure it's possible.  Needless to say, we got home that afternoon and took nice long naps.

So, the night before we left for Disney, I wanted to be in bed AND sleeping by no later than 9 pm seeing as though we had be up at 3:15 to get to the airport.  I tend to get cranky when I don't get my sleep, and we weren't just landing in Florida and going to the room to take a nap before venturing out into the World of Disney, we were landing, dropping our stuff off and starting the day. So I drank a few beers, popped a sleeping pill and dozed off shortly after.  Ben came to bed about an hour later and of course I woke up. I hadn't been asleep more then 20 minutes probably, if that. So he passed right out, and I was now wide awake.  Long story short, I watched Pee-Wee's Big Adventure twice before I put Beetlejuice in the dvd player, cryed like a baby for a few minutes out of frustration from lack of sleep, and ended up falling back asleep at 2:30am.  So, 3:15 rolls around and I'm back awake, tired, and extremely irritated. I would have been ok with even 4 hours, but roughly 1 hour of sleep? Come on.  This was also my first plane ride, and I was terrified.  So we get to the airport, check our luggage and go get some hot dogs in the food court. Finally when our flight is called, I notice that Southwest is loading people on the plane in groups.  Our tickets were group C35 or some shit. In other words, Ben and I were two of the last people on the plane and Southwest is also open seating in rows of 2, seats of 3.  So of course, to make this morning even better, much to my disbelief, Ben and I are separeted on the plane. I'm stuck in the front between two black people, and Ben is way in the back. Not to mention, the dumb bitch who had the window seat had her window closed, and was casually napping on it with her leopard print pillow. She had a Steve Harvey book open in front of her that she would periodically open one eye and glance at for a few minutes.  The seats were tiny and if I ever so slightly brushed this woman's arm or something, she would slowly turn and stare at the spot like I just poked her with a cattle prod, which at that point, I would have LOVED to do.  Like I said, I'd never been on a plane so I at least wanted to sit by Ben to have someone to talk too, or AT LEAST get to look out a window, but instead I got stuck in between Tokin and Rawanda who was SLEEPING on the window. BITCH! Thankfully, the ride was 40 minutes early and we were off the plane in 2 hours. I kept myself busy by playing Nintendo DS and thinking happy thoughts.

We got to the hotel once we landed in Orlando and got ready to go out. At this point, I was more awake and excited.  For some reason they gave us a double bedded room, so we compromised...

We started our trip with visit to the Magic Kingdom...

Unforunately this work day is now over and I will have to continue this, I WILL get more pictures up asap...

To be continued...