Disney 2010

I know it's a little late, but here's my Disney blog! :) I was soooo lucky to be able to go to Disney for almost a week with two of my best friends, Sarah and Amy. We were able to visit Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom, and EPCOT. I was extra excited about this trip because the last time I went to Disney was more than 12 years ago... probably closer to 15 years, and I had never been to EPCOT before. I vaguely remembered Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom had just opened and was pretty empty, and I was just tall enough to ride Space Mountain. I have always been a fan of anything princess related, in fact, I'm known at home to wear a Disney princess tiara to do random housework. (It seriously helps everything go by a little smoother.) Anyway, I was pumped.

Sarah was an excellent hostess for us. She developed an itinerary that allowed us to do everything we wanted in 5 days. That's impressive planning! :)

Our first day in the parks, we spent the morning in the Animal Kingdom and the afternoon in Hollywood Studios. It was the perfect introduction to our week! We rode pretty much every ride, watched the Lion King show, the Beauty and the Beast show, saw the coolest Rhino ever, danced alongside the Block Party Bash, and sat through some freeeeeezing wind to watch Fantasmic! My favorite moment from this day was walking through New York with all the holiday lights, "snow" falling all around us, Christmas music playing from every corner, and a cup of hot chocolate in my hands. Pretty awesome....!

The next day, we ventured "off property" (like my cool Disney lingo?) to go have lunch with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins! It was sooo much fun to see everyone - it really had been too long! We ate at a wonderful Puerto Rican restaurant... mofongo and tostones... yummmm!!! :) That evening we went to the Magic Kingdom for the Christmas party! It was pretty much the coolest thing ever. Unlimited hot chocolate and sugar cookies, the Christmas parade, and meeting tons and tons of princesses! I kept my cool pretty well with all the royalty around until I got to Belle.... I turned into an 8 year old - stumbling over my words and awkwardly taking my autograph book away from her. :/ All in all, an amazing evening!!

The next day we spent entirely at the Magic Kingdom. We rode a ton of rides, met more princes and princesses, and tried to find sweet potato fries to no avail. And I wore my Belle tiara all day. :) And I danced with Flynn Rider. Our eyes met across the stage, probably because I was closer to his eye level than the <7 year olds all around me.

We spent our last full park day at EPCOT. As I said above, it was my first time there. And I LOVED it! I loved walking around and seeing all the different representations of the different countries. The only thing I really didn't like... not being able to get to the Eiffel Tower!! I mean, come on!! It's such a tease to hide it behind buildings! And although its lights were nice, they were nothing like the real thing. We had lunch in Japan, beer in Germany, chips in England, and dinner in France. A perfect evening. :)

We ended our trip with lunch at Earl of Sandwich, then it was off on the road back to Augusta. I seriously had so much fun on this trip, and I know that so much of it had to do with the people I was there with! So, thanks to Sarah and Amy for making this trip the bestest Disney trip ever!! Love you girls!!!!!

Words of Advice

Today was my first day of my last clinical rotation! I'm working in an outpatient ortho setting that is staffed by only one PT and a part time OT. I'm curious to see how this plays out. The place/population is soooo different from Grady, so it's definitely an adjustment from last semester. My new CI is great - really smart, helpful, friendly, and a great teacher already!

All day, the sweet patients commented on my ring and wanted to talk wedding and marriage. I got a lot of advice from people who have many many years under their belts - one is celebrating her 45th anniversary this year, a couple who is celebrating their 40th anniversary, a woman who has been married for 25 years, and my CI, who has been married for 20 years. The three most memorable pieces of advice:

1. Don't try to change each other
2. Choose your battles
3. Be a good forgiver

I thought these were so true to everything Tim and I have worked on during our >8.5 year relationship. We have supported each other and changed together over the years, which has led us to grow closer together. We never try to change each other because we know who we are together and as individuals, and we love each other for it.

Choosing our battles.... I'd like to honestly say that I don't fret over spilled milk and all, but I do. Tim is way better at this than I am. He is way more gracious at humoring me and my neuroses than I am at letting things go. I've gotten better about it, but it's something I continue to work on. I feel that this is something every couple continuously works on.

Be a good forgiver. When this one was mentioned, all married persons nodded fervently in agreement. I think that this can go hand in hand with choosing your battles. Letting go and moving on, forgiving each other rather than holding grudges, and knowing that you love each other at the end of the day no matter what. Also something to work on for many years to come.

It was really nice to hear "marriage" talk rather than just "wedding" talk. Not many people bring up the day after the wedding, they're mostly concerned with colors and flowers and cake, etc. Not that I'm complaining about that, I love talking about all that as well! But I also love to think about where we'll live, how we'll split up household chores, how often I'll be able to wrestle the TV remote away from him, and how I'm ever going to cook a meal that he and I will both enjoy. I love thinking about what will happen after we're wed. And this outpour of advice from patients today sent me to that place. :)