I owe Rick Leesman an apology.

But that's ok because I WENT TO DISNEYWORLD!!

It was a wonderful experience with awesome friends which means List Item #19 gets a very Magical Check!

Novio and I took a trip to steamy, rainy Orlando, FL. It was a very convenient coming together of circumstances. We had finally started making much-talked-about-never-acted-on plans with our friends Rick & Lindsey when my sister, Martha, got an internship at SeaWorld. That sealed the deal. Tickets booked, bags packed and we're there.

Friday was devoted to SeaWorld - more on that in the next post!

We arrived at the park around noon and had zero problems with traffic, parking or ticket lines. I'm never going to have that easy of a time getting into a park again. (Other than the price. OUCH.)

And Disney greeted me with a parade! I can see that this is not going to be the magical dream land that I had been imagining. It was too late - I had hit the threshold of suspending reality and I know that there are people in those larger-than-life costumes, and that they are probably hot, sweaty and want to go home.

But after my initial freak-out I had a BLAST with the experience. Because I freaking love Disney. And I like that I saw Pooh and Tigger walking around, followed by pirate adventures and a Buzz Lightyear rescue mission. And I like that I convinced myself that riding the "It's a Small World" was on my list of things to do... which it wasn't. (Sorry, Rick!) But I'm still glad I went. :)

Turns out I made my friend Rick go on a ride he
hates because I thought it was on my list.
It wasn't.

It was difficult to walk coming off this ride!

I got in line to see the princesses with the girls who are one-fifth my age and able to walk under the red satin line dividers without noticing hitting their heads or noticing the other five-year-olds they're insulting by inadvertently cutting. I'm kind of nervous. What do you say to a princess, even if they're just acting? Lucky for me they asked questions first.

Cinderella, Belle and Aurora asked about my "Prince Charming," my "Beast," and how long we had enjoyed a "Happily Ever After."

And my independent, yuppie, feminist little heart screamed while my excited brain produced variations of "wonderful!" and smiled for the camera. But seriously?? As a bookworm from Kindergarten, I liked that Belle cared about books more than boys and that she sure as heck wasn't buying the book that the town or Gaston were selling. And that her prince wasn't perfect. And that her dad was a little crazy but lovable and had terrible driving horse riding habits. But now she's all married and just wants to know that you will be soon, too. (Isn't there an episode of Sex and the City devoted to this topic? Or maybe a whole season?)

Carrie Bradshaw's worst nightmare?

And really, I'm being way too analytic and cynical for someone who was still giddy to be at Disney. Plus after Disney we went to Epcot to enjoy the fact that we are, in reality, 17 years older than 8.

And that was a wonderful experience to have with my Prince Charming.

Not my real novio, but they do have similar tendencies... 

There he is! :)

You've survived another week at work - what are you gonna do now?

I'm going to Disneyworld!!

(How young are you if you don't remember those commercials? Shoot, how old am I if I remember the one with Nancy Kerrigan??)

But for realz, we're going to Orlando and we're going to go to DISNEYWORLD!! Lifelong dream and the only reason I ever had to resent my parents come true! (Seriously though? They went on their own and left me at home. AT HOME!)

I feel like an oversized 8-year-old, but the following things are on my list:

1. Meet Belle from Beauty and the Beast
2. If Gaston is there, punch him in the face. (Though, he disappears into the mist when he falls off that roof, so he might not make it there...) (Does Disneyworld let the villans in, too?)
3. Touristy photo in front of the castle
4. Spin on the teacups
5. Basically, live the commercial dream!

Just pretend that's me second from the left, and Novio second from the right.

We're also going to Sea World with my sister for quite literally ALL of Friday. But we'll get to hang out with penguins!!

Update: #8 - Not going so well.

Let me explain.

I made a dress to wear to my birthday dinner a few weeks back. (I'll post a pic soon!) I like it well enough but if I am completely honest with myself, I won't wear it that often. That means I can't in good conscience check this one off.

Why, you ask? Two main reasons:
1. It's shoddy craftsmanship. I got anxious to finish and it shows, from the zipper being uneven to not hemming it and quite a few places in between. When you start looking closer, you wouldn't wear it, either.
2. It's dressy enough that I would want to wear it somewhere nice. Dinner or a banquet or something. Trouble is I don't get to many of those in my old age. And if I were attending one, I probably need to look professional at the same time... which means your bra strap can't sneak out (they're conniving little buggers!).

So I begin fresh! New pattern, amazingly wonderful fabric from Bon Bon Atelier, and a refreshed excitement to check off an item! The picture in this post is the main fabric that I'm using. I hope to post more progress pictures soon!

Everything's going so well!

Parlo italiano.

Mangiamo pizza.

Canti bella.

Uno, due, tre, quattro, cinque, sei.

i bambini = los niños

Learning Italian is proving to be about what I expected, really. It's at times ridiculously similar and at other times unrecognizable when compared to Spanish. Though Spanish is coming in handy because the meanings translate so much better, for example i bambini vs. los niños is a much closer translation than to English, where it could mean "babies" or "kids" or "children."

(The tough part is not using Spanish! I caught myself thinking I was really catching on well to Italian, when really I had just slipped back into Spanish. ¡Maldito sea! Er, I mean... maledizione!)

Unfortunately, I've also come to realize that Italian is really not going to be useful unless/until I go to Italy. Browsing around on a job posting today (just for funsies!) there was a posting for a multilingual something-or-other in Europe of all places (again, just for funsies! (... for now)), and Italian was not listed as a language for which they were hiring. And that's on their home continent!

So, I'm pondering other languages to maybe tack on... something that is maybe useful outside of its country of origin.

However, so long as I have a meaningful conversation with my cousin-from-Italy this summer, I think I'll be able to cross this one off! It really is a very pretty language.

Ciao!

Inspiration, Motivation - GO!

Today I am going to buy a book - a text book - to learn Italian.

I just finished reading Eat, Pray, Love (late to the party, I know!) and the first third of the book is devoted to her being in Italy. I'm a person who is interested in whatever language is around me that I don't know, so as she's talking about una buona forchetta and parla come magni and attraversiamo I can't help but get so excited that I read the passages written in Italian two or three times before going to the English translation. I want to figure it out and know all of its inner workings.

Also, in my feeble attempts to find websites that will conjugate Italian verbs for me, I realize that even if I learn verbs, I don't have any nouns to use with them. I won't get so far just saying "I like" or "We eat" or "You think" without saying what we like, eat or think.

So I'm going on the hunt for a real text book that will  teach me some of the basics.

After all, I'm not trying to have a deep, philosophical conversation about the meaning of life. I'm trying to communicate! And if philosophy comes in to play I'll just switch back to Spanish. And then probably back to English, because Philosophy is hard. (One of three classes in my life where I earned a 'C'. The others were Political Science in college because I hate politics and English in third grade because I didn't fill out my day planner. I still don't fill out my day planner or talk much about politics. Or philosophy.)

Ready? Let's go! ¡Vamonos! Andiamo!