It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Thanksgiving is over, the Christmas tree is up, holiday music is playing and a nice breeze just swept through the house. Ahhhhhhhhh. What a wonderful Saturday! I must admit that I'm a bit terrified to go back into the kitchen. I know all those store bags are calling my name to come wrap all the presents that are inside. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE wrapping presents, however I just want to sit here a little bit longer before I actually get into that mess.

How was your Thanksgiving? Mine was great. Had dinner at my parents house on Wednesday, and then we all went over to my in-law's house on Thanksgiving. Lots of food, lots of full bellies. My son had a sleepover that night at Nana's so my husband and I could go Black Friday shopping.

Yes, I'm one of "those people" who enjoy getting up in the middle of the night when all the neighbors are sleeping to go buy a bunch of stuff we don't really need, but feel like the deal is so good we can't pass it up. This year, there was no getting up in the middle of the night since the sales started at 10pm the night BEFORE Black Friday. We did start at that 10pm store (Toys R Us), however we didn't even park because the line waiting to get in was wrapped not only around the building, but around the entire shopping complex. We headed to Walmart, where the sales started at midnight. I camped out at Walmart from about 10pm and didn't leave until about 1am. I got everything I needed. Broke a nail when the riot broke out at the DVD's, but that's ok. The riot? Yes, well that's what everyone was calling it. I was grabbing DVD's when I heard a bunch of screaming next to me. There was a security guard there who said something like, "everybody play nice!" I didn't want to lose focus on my goal, so I kept moving around the big square pile of DVD's. It wasn't until later that I found out from the woman in line behind me at checkout that a man got really angry about someone grabbing the DVD that he wanted, so he picked up a stack of them and threw them at the crowd. I won't go into detail about exactly what I mean by "crowd", you just had to be there to believe me. We also went to Kmart, Bed Bath & Beyond, Toys R Us a couple more times, Target, Walmart again, Kohls and I believe that's all. We got everything we set out to get, and a little more. Now all of those gifts are in the kitchen...still waiting for me, still taunting me to come wrap them in red and green paper. I guess I should also mention that out of all those presents, I still have EVERYONE to shop for still. What in the heck did we buy? And also would like to thank my hubby for coming out with me. I know it's a pain in the butt, but we had fun.

There's that nice breeze again. *sigh

The countdown is now 13 days!!!! 13 days until I meet 14 other people who had a magical phone call that will change their lives and mine! I've been corresponding via Facebook and email with them, so I feel like I somewhat know them already. I received my contract last week, so everything is official now. Just waiting on something to tell me when and where I am supposed to be on December 10th. Now I just need to hem my pants, pack my suitcase, get my hair done, pack up the boys for our anniversary trip, make a couple meals for the husband to eat while I'm gone, break in my Crocs, finish the holiday shopping......and so and and so on. Can you tell I'm excited?

Do any of you have fun holiday plans this year?

Happy Holiday Season!

It's not even Thanksgiving yet and I'm already stressing about Christmas. I say every year that I will get all the Christmas shopping done early so we can just relax and enjoy the holiday's. That's my goal again this year. I'm pretty sure I have the most difficult family to shop for. The kiddo is easy, in fact he is already done...beyond done. My husband? Not so much. He likes expensive things, very specific expensive things, so he is difficult to surprise with gifts. Since our anniversary is close to Christmas, I decided to get one big gift for him. I was going to keep it a surprise, but ended up telling him anyway. We'll be going on a Mommy and Daddy only cruise in January on Norwegian Cruise Line. Neither of us have been on NCL before and it was a good price. I told him that this gift can be from both of us to both of us, so the shopping for us is done. There are still Grandparents and brothers to shop for and none of them will tell me what they want. Grrr.

I'm looking forward to this coming week. We will be celebrating Thanksgiving twice. Once at my parent's house and again at my in-law's house. I'm in charge of the pumpkin pie, which reminds me I need to get to the store before it becomes a mad house. Actually, it probably already is a mad house! So I will add myself to the long line of last minute shoppers. I've never hosted Thanksgiving at my house, but I look forward to the day that I will. I already have the turkey platter!

19 days!!! Can you tell I'm excited? Still waiting for my contract to arrive, so I don't know a lot of specifics. Still don't have an itinerary, but that's fine. I've been enjoying dreaming of what will be in store for us. Whatever it is, I'm sure it will be amazing. I still am in shocked that I was one of the 15 that was picked. I'm soooooooo very grateful that they saw whatever it is they were looking for in ME! Thank you Disney! I will wear my pink jacket proud!

Oh, I forgot to mention...the Holly station is up and running on XM!

Get well soon!

This house is less than healthy today. Runny noses all around. I must say, it is nice to spend a day at home. I'm usually out the door before 10am everyday headed towards a playdate. There are errands I could run, but I'm putting them off.

I drove up to Lake Buena Vista with the BFF and Neil yesterday to do a little outlet shopping. It's usually hit or miss at the Character Outlet store, but I picked up a few really cute shirts for my ever expanding Mickey Mouse shirt collection. I think I have more shirts with Mickey on them then not. Is it strange for an almost 30 year old to wear Mickey Mouse shirts everyday? I think not! Also picked up some Christmas presents, so it was a successful trip. Even stopped at Downtown Disney briefly to run through World of Disney. No trip to Orlando is complete without stopping at Downtown Disney.

24 days!!! I am officially starting a countdown to the Mom's Panel training, however, I know this will probably stress me out even more. Who doesn't love a countdown? The training is from December 10-14th. I wonder if Disney will give us the itinerary early or when we get there. I'm very anxious to see what we will be doing, but it might be more fun to find out when we get there. Who knows!

The 14th happens to be my 3rd wedding anniversary, so my husband will be meeting me that day and we will spend the following 3 days celebrating at Disney...the place where it all began! We should start a tradition of taking a picture of just the two of us in Italy at Epcot where we were married. Now I want to break out the photo album!

I don't think the reality of all this has sunk in yet. I keep waiting for Disney to call me to tell me they made a mistake and that my yes was meant for someone else. BUT I got a phone call yesterday asking me if I had any food allergies and dietary restrictions. I told her I SHOULD have dietary restrictions, but no...I'm good with everything. :) I know I should have tons of questions, but really the only thing I can think about is what I'm going to wear. HA! I'm a SAHM in Florida, so I wear shorts/capri's, t-shirts and flip flops everyday. I don't even think I own a pair of dress pants anymore. Guess it's time to go shopping! I also called my salon to get an appointment for the shaggy mess on my head. I'm really trying hard to not let this preoccupy all of my thoughts, but it's really hard! I find myself hitting the refresh button my email all day long to get the next piece of the puzzle for what's going to happen in December for the training. I'm really excited to find out where we will be staying!

I'd also like to say thank you to my BFF for being so supportive through the application process. I'm sure I annoyed you with the countless times I said I think I'm going to be sick when I was waiting for results each round. And thank you for being just as excited as I am! You really "get" me and that's why I love you the most. :D (Save the crying for your wedding)

Thank goodness for my mom's group to keep me busy and thinking about other things. Today, the playdate is at my house and we are making mini caramel apples. I cleaned the house last night, however, Neil is already tearing it up. Should be a fun time!

Dreams do come true...

It's been at least 3 years since I have had an active blog. There are so many important and exciting things going on in my life, I figure there is no better time to start it back up!

Yesterday I announced that I have become one of the newest members of the 2011 Walt Disney World Mom's Panel. Disney accepted 20,000 applications for this coveted title and after 3 rounds of essay questions, personal videos and a phone interview, I received a phone call that I had been selected! For those who know me know that I am a Disney fanatic from head to toe. For those that don't, believe me when I say I love all things Disney. Most of my friends and possibly some of my family don't really understand how big this is, and that's fine...they will. I appreciate how supportive my husband has been through this process, although I knew he would be because he loves Disney just as much as I do.

I've gotten a lot of questions regarding what I get out of this. The best way I can answer is asking you to think of the one thing you're most passionate about and love talking about? What would you get out of it? I get to be the "online" voice around the world for answering questions about the one thing I love talking about the most (besides my family of course), and the one thing I have the most knowledge about. I want to help other people plan the vacation of a lifetime for their families. That's what I get out of it.

I'd like to end my first post by sharing my experience with the phone call I got yesterday inviting me to be a part of this wonderful Disney family. I had been checking my phone all day, making sure I was always in a place that had maximum reception. My husband would even call me every so often to make sure calls were going through. I was at my parent's house, like I am every Wednesday to visit. As afternoon came, I was getting more and more convinced that I had not been chosen. I thought to myself that I better leave and head home in case I get the phone call telling me I had not made it through. I didn't want to cry in front of my parents, so I headed home. About halfway there my phone rang with a 407 area code. It was Disney calling! I pushed the talk button but nothing was happening. Panic was setting in. My phone was frozen, however it was still ringing! I kept saying, "no no no no no no!" To which my 2 year old in the back seat started repeating, "no no no no no!" I wasn't even thinking that it would be ok, they would either call me back or leave me a number to call them back. After I calmed down a little, realizing there was nothing I could do about it at this point, I got an alert that I had a new voicemail. It was Laura from Disney! I called her back, already prepared to start crying as soon as I heard her voice...which I did. She asked me if I would like to become a panelist on the 2011 Disney Mom's Panel. I asked her if she was joking and she said she would never joke about this. I don't even remember what I said after that, but I know I apologized for crying in her ear. I hung up the phone, pulled the car over, and took a huge breath. I made it!