Filed under Blogger meetups, Dinner, Lunch, Photography, Snacks, Travel

A Magical Day!

YAY!!!!

034

Finally, after 27 years of life, I made it to every kid’s dream: WALT DISNEY WORLD!!!

003

What a fun day! When Megan and Katy heard I’d never been to Disney, they were pretty much appalled. Clearly it was time to change that ;)

004

We met bright and early at Megan’s and were off – first stop, Hollywood Studios!

005

We had great amusement park weather – warm but not hot, and cloudy so we didn’t get crazy sun burned! :)

The Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster was my favorite ride at Hollywood Studios :) I love FAST roller coasters!!

009

IMG_0099

LOL! I love roller coaster action photos.

I love how all the rides have themes and all sorts of fun entertainment. In Toy Story you got to shoot imaginary stuff during the ride!

007

Isn’t this creepy looking?? :)

008

After Hollywood Studios, we headed back to the car for LUNCH! The key to any amusement park, as far as I’m concerned, is to pack lunch and lots of snacks to save money (and not have to eat gross park food)!

We had a huge cooler full of goodies waiting in Megan’s trunk:

010

I packed:

  • Apple
  • Mixed nuts
  • Grapes
  • Baby carrots
  • Turkey, swiss, avocado, tomato, spinach and mustard on whole wheat
  • Kashi crackers
  • Hummus

I ended up demolishing all of it throughout the day! The apple and the nuts were a mid morning snack, and the carrots, grapes, and sandwich were eaten during our lunch break:

011

015014 YUM! :) I ate the crackers and hummus later on as an afternoon snack along with a Mickey ice cream on a stick, of course! I LOVE these things :)

029

After lunch, it was time for MAGIC KINGDOM!!!

016

I was like an excited 5 year old when I saw this sight for the first time:

018 THE CASTLE!!!!!!!!!!!! :D Hehe.

I loved all the characters walking around with balloons :)

020

Magic Kingdom was really cool – definitely what you think of when you think of Disney :)

032

We went on Big Thunder Mountain, Haunted Mansion, and Pirates of the Caribbean! Pirates was my favorite – they literally have an entire world set up within the ride with all sorts of realistic figures and ships with fake cannonballs making huge splashes in the water around you, etc. So cool!

030

After Magic Kingdom, we headed to Epcot as our final stop for the night! Epcot is awesome – it’s built on a whopping 300 acres and features a “World Showcase,” which is a collection of shops, attractions, and restaurants representing 11 different countries. The different countries are all arranged around a beautiful lagoon! It was really cool :)

045

Look, we’re in England! 048

And there’s France!049

We also found hedge sculptures of Beauty and the Beast :) How cool!

051

We ended up having dinner in “Morocco” :) They had an awesome vegetable platter that came with falafel on greens, tangerine couscous salad, hummus, tabouleh, lentil salad, marinated olives, and a pita! Yum!

053

055

Epcot was so beautiful at night with the sun setting :)

056058

We were pooped after our long day of walking! We headed back to Megan’s and then… look who we found! Why, it’s Caitlin!

060

Katy, Megan, and I met her for a beer at a pub near Megan’s place :) I had a delicious cherry wheat beer, which I slowly sipped since I had to drive back to Tampa a couple hours later!

059

Whew! What a fun and busy day. Thanks again, Katy and Megan, for showing me what I’d been missing at Disney all these years! You are awesome :)

I’m off to get a quick workout in and then my mom and I are going to have an adventure! Check back later to see where we go!

Have you ever been to Disney World? How old were you? :)

17 Comments Anne P on Mar 10th 2010

Filed under Photography, Travel

Not Your Typical Monday

I’m sorry. You’re going to be jealous:

010

Yeah, it was a really rough and busy day at the office ;)

012

My friend Katherine and I met up at the beach near our houses today for a little sunbathing (with sunscreen)! It was awesome.

008

It was fun to see Katherine! She’s Aussie and I love her accent :) We had gorgeous weather – not too hot, not too cold… juuuuust right :) 017

I freakin love the beach. The sun makes me so happy! Plus, it makes me giggle to run up to a big group of birds and scare them. Teeheeee!   013

I also got to wear my fun new purple polka dot bikini that I bought yesterday because I’m an idiot and didn’t remember to pack one. Yes, I came to Florida for spring break and didn’t pack a swimsuit. Fail.

022

What’s your favorite beach? I pretty much love any beach, but the most amazing I’ve ever been to was probably Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsunday Islands in Australia when I was studying abroad. The sand was so pristine and white that it squeaked when you walked on it!

My dad had to head out on a work trip this morning, so my mom and I are on our own for the rest of the week! We’re going out to dinner tonight and hoping to find one of the Oscar movies on TV :) I haven’t seen any of the ones that were nominated except for Avatar!! Then it’s early to bed because tomorrow I’m going to DISNEY with Megan and Katy!!! I’m SO excited… I’ve never been to Disney before! Weird, right??

17 Comments Anne P on Mar 8th 2010

Filed under Photography, Running, Travel

A Paradise Eight Miler

Hello from paradise!!

016

(Totally sporting my new belt today! heh)

My dad and I had the best run ever this morning!! I am SO excited to have finally gotten in a solid long training run. We did 8 miles in 1:07! :)

003

It was one of those perfect running days. The weather is GORGEOUS, the course was flat (and along the beautiful water), I wasn’t bundled up like a snowman and dodging ice, piles of snow, branches, cars, etc., and my legs felt great. I love when running just… clicks :) I seriously felt like I could have run way longer!

001

Here are our stats!

  • Mile 1: 8:42
  • Mile 2: 8:24
  • Mile 3: 8:19
  • Mile 4: 8:40
  • Mile 5: 8:39
  • Mile 6: 8:44
  • Mile 7: 8:36
  • Mile 8: 7:47 (!!)

YAY! As you can see we started to seriously pick it up the last mile, ending in an all-out sprint :)

005

I feel so much stronger than I did in the fall when I was training for the Army Ten Miler. I think all the strength training, hill running, and stretching has really paid off! In the Army Ten Miler, I maintained exactly a 9 min mile pace the whole time and finished in 1:30:01. As long as my knee holds up okay I’m on the right track to beat that time at the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler in a month! We’ll see… fingers crossed :)

After our run, my mom, dad and I headed to downtown Tampa for brunch. We sat right out on the water and it was so beautiful! 009

028

010

022

There were all sorts of people out tooling around in their boats. I think I need a friend with a boat!

012

015

Although this one might be a bit over the top ;)

014

After brunch, we walked along the docks for awhile in the sunshine, deciding which boats we would like to buy when we’re millionaires ;)

026

I’m thinking this one, heh. Or maybe a super fast one. I like fast boats. :)

018

And now I’m sitting in my backyard on a blanket and blogging! Nothing makes me happier than being outside on a beautiful day :)

Have a great night! I hope it’s nice where you are, too! I hear D.C. has been gorgeous this weekend as well (bout damn time)!

14 Comments Anne P on Mar 7th 2010

Older Posts »