5 Favorites: Resort Style

Due to my lack of motivation to write but still feeling the urge to write, I am going to cop out with a 5 Favorites post about the resort we stayed at. 

1. This was the view from my balcony. 

First off, every room HAD a balcony. But when we got there, it was Husband's 30th birthday and we got upgraded to a 10th level pool/Disney view room. We were fans. This gave us fireworks to look at every night without any crowds and well... those pools are gorgeous. You could paddle boat or kyak on that lake. There were also mini-golf, regular golf and trails all around to walk or bike on. Pretty nice. 

2. Relaxing Pool Side

 

I was able to spend quite a bit of time by the pool. Reading and snoozing. In this chair I lasted about 40 minutes because I didn't want to burn. 

3. Socializing by the pool.

On Friday, when all sorts of people had shown up from the company, we all spent HOURS by the pool. And the company paid for food and beverages galore so that was pretty great. I was able to swim but not until Friday night when I had the pool basically to myself. 

4. Proximity

We are a Disney people and Mickey is our guy. In this picture, also from my balcony, see that white blob at the top of the picture near the skyline? That is the La Nouba Tent at Downtown Disney. It's not a good picture. But like I said, we could also see Cinderella's Castle, Spaceship Earth and Downtown Disney clearly. I'm a fan! Next best thing to staying on Disney property which is my preference. (But we weren't there for us so... it worked out.)

5. Spending Time in Downtown Disney

I actually was able to get to Downtown Disney twice, once on Wednesday night to celebrate Husband's birthday. We ate at Raglan Road, an Irish pub. We ate there on our honeymoon and it was a wonderful evening of chatting and reminiscing. One of my college roommates actually lives in the Orlando area so on Thursday she and her husband picked me up and we went back to Downtown Disney. We ate at Earl of Sandwich (A new to me experience and one that I will be repeating for sure.) and then we were able to walk around I bought the tee shirts I regretted not buying the night before. 

So there you have it. 

Home Again!

We are home! I haven't been in my house since April 16 and boy is it good to be home!!!! C is playing with his stuff like it's brand new. I am just sitting and not thinking. The. Best. The best I tell you!

I have so much to write about. Easter. Vacation. Disney. Traveling.

But for now, I will just leave you with this, I am very happy to be home. My trip was delightful but I am excited for normalcy again!

If You Need Me

So... Because of general life business and Holy Week and Easter and recouping from Easter the bloggy world has been dead.

Yes. And sure enough now that it is apparently NOT dead you won't be hearing from me much. Or maybe you will. I don't know yet.

Because I am on vacation!!

That's right. Real and true vacation. Husband has a work conference and my parents are holding down the fort with C.

Now of course this is the longest I'll have ever been away from him. And yes my super hormonal self was a wreck leaving this morning while he was still sleeping like a bug. But I think it will be good. I just keep telling myself that. I'm sure he's barely noticed I'm gone yet.

We haven't had a vacation since our honeymoon (And since Husband is working it's probably not exactly a vacation but shhhh don't tell me that.)

Oh yeah, it is ALSO Husband's 30th birthday today so we are having a great day. Since it is the travel day he conference doesn't start until tomorrow. Which equals almost maybe a real vacation day?

So if you need me I'll be the pale 15 week pregnant lady hanging out by the pool with her mocktail. Life is pretty good!

Happy Easter!

I didn't mean to drop big news and disappear but Holy Week was busy and time got away from me!

Wishing all a Happy Happy Easter!

My Best 7 Quick Takes Ever

Woah. Lot's to live up to here. But I'm feeling pretty confident! Let's take a look at my week in review okay?

1. Our Chest Freezer Died. 

I'm sad. I am glad that I noticed when stuff was still partially frozen. We managed to save a lot. It's still a bummer. But we have a coupon actually for appliance repair and it's only about 2 years old so hopefully it will be an easy and cheap fix! 

2. C has been sick. 

Totally awful. And gross. Let's just say that I have Lysol-ed a lot this week. And I mopped the kitchen floor. Not because of his sickness, but because it was dirty and I needed something to be clean and healthy. So the kitchen floor won. We have a doctor's appointment today. I hope he's on the mend!

3. Husband was on a work retreat Tuesday-Thursday. 

God Bless all the single parents out there. Nothing makes me happier than Husband walking through the door. Apparently it was pretty okay and we are happy to have him home!! 

4. Keep Praying for Beth and Family

As I write this, there's no update on Rebecca's surgery yet but let's assume Beth's family needs continued prayers throughout the weekend. We want Beth to be released from her hospital so she can go be with Rebecca at hers! 

5. My New Found Love

Of cheesy Hallmark/ABC Family original movies. I keep Netflixing them. They're so brainless and enjoyable. You can watch, or not watch and you still get that warm and gooey feeling inside!

6. Palm Sunday is THIS Sunday.

Hello Holy Week! We've been waiting for you! 

(And not just because I am anxious to get back to my paper plates.)

7. This. 

We're thrilled. 

And thankful. 

And with that I am linking up with Jen for Quick Takes and Jamie for Thankfuls. 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Prayer Warriors! Updated!

Prayer Warriors!

If you read this, you probably already read Beth's blog.

If not, Beth's daughter Rebecca has Trisomy 18 and will be born TODAY Thursday, April 10. At 9:00 AM Eastern Time the C-section is scheduled to begin. was born today at 9:40 Eastern Time. She will need surgery of her esophagus tonight hopefully!

Beth has these specific intentions below but regardless of what you're doing today please lift her family in prayer!!

• Pray that the c-section goes smoothly and that there are no complications for me.
• Pray for a miracle for Rebecca - that she be born free from any signs of Trisomy 18 or any other birth defects.
• If that's not the Lord's plan for her pray that Dan and I have wisdom and discernment when making decisions about her medical care. 
•  Pray that all the doctors and medical personnel that see Rebecca understand that even though she has a condition that deems her "incompatible with life", we see her as God sees her - beautiful and precious and worth doing everything we can to save.  Give these doctors wisdom on the best way to proceed.
• Pray that if she needs surgery to repair her esophagus tomorrow or Friday that the doctors are guided by the hand of God during the surgery.
• Pray for Peter and Sarah.  Pray that they feel God's love and peace. They are both dealing with this possible diagnosis in completely different ways and neither way is what I would deem healthy.

We are also adding that we are praying for a strong recovery for Beth so she may be discharged from her hospital to go be with Rebecca at hers! (She had to be transported for her surgery.) 

Pray Pray Pray!

Wedding Dance Along

So Grace is hosting this delightful wedding dance along. And, well, I took the music at our wedding very seriously.

How seriously you may ask?

Here have a look at my Do Not Play List:

Do Not Play:

Artists:

Any song by The Beatles or a former Beatle, especially Imagine. I cannot stress this point enough. No covers. No originals. No post Beatles. No Beatles. None.

Jamie Foxx

The Fray (Not that they are particularly dance worthy but even still.)

Rod Stewart

Specific Songs We Don’t Want to Hear (in any rendition):

Over the Rainbow

Unchained Melody

Picture (Kid Rock)

Smooth (Rob Thomas)

Maggie May

Loving You

So Happy Together

I love You More Today than Yesterday

Chicken Dance

Shout

At Last

Brown Eyed Girl

Celebration

Are You Going to be my Girl (Jets)

Proud Mary

Have I Told You Lately that I Love You

I Will Survive

Wonderful World

Every Breath You Take

You Light Up My Life

Close to You

We've Only Just Begun

My Heart Will Go On ,

Open Arms

Can't Smile Without You

The Wind Beneath My Wings

Hopelessly Devoted to You

Endless Love

Everything I do, I do it for you

Truly Madly Deeply

Redneck Woman

Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy

Say Hey (I Love You)

I Like to Move It

All Summer Long (Kid Rock)

Yep.

I had three requirements for our first dance:

1. It couldn't be a song I dislike (duh) 
2. It couldn't be cheesy
3. It couldn't be too popular

Only thing is... did you see my do not play list? I dislike a lot.

I don't like The Beatles. I do not judge you for your music tastes but they give me a headache and I choose to not listen to them. You absolutely can. I just try to avoid them. And it was my wedding. Not time for a headache. In fairness, I do like "Got My Mind Set On You" by George Harrison but that seemed more complicated than stating "The Beatles or anything by a former Beatle" 

And I do not have brown eyes, making "Brown Eyed Girl" inappropriate for my wedding. Also a few songs/artists (Jamie Foxx) were added by Husband so I am not all crazy I swear. 

And also in fairness my "Must Play List" involved only 6 songs

1. Our First Dance Song
2. Father/Daughter Dance "My Girl" by The Temptations
3. First Group Dance "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" by C+C Music Factory
4. My favorite song: "Crazy Beautiful" by Hanson (Judge Away)
5. Our song "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol
6. Our favorite cheesy love song "The Inspiration" by Chicago

As you can see from that list, we have an "our song" and we did dance to it, we just wanted it to be for us and not with 200 people staring at us while we danced to it. So for Chasing Cars AND The Inspiration we still danced with each other, happily and in love they just weren't our first dance song. 

Which led me to years of looking for the right song. Yes years. We had a 2 year, 3 month engagement and right after picking the date and the place of our wedding I got to work on the first dance. 

I finally landed on "You Got Me" by Colbie Caillat.

This is a long weird story, but right after we got engaged "Bubbly" was super popular and I remember this crystal clear. I was driving home from work for lunch (normal occurance at my summer job) and I was driving down my street and about to turn into the cul-de-sac and I thought, "I love her voice and this song. Maybe it could be our song? Nah... too slow."

And I picked all kinds of songs. And then they weren't right. But then I picked. Finally. It was approved. It was glorious. I am all about the lyrics, and certain parts of songs that I love didn't work for me because of one lyric. But "You Got Me" worked. It even starts out saying "I like you." Which is something we say a lot!

Then as a little break from grad school life, Husband who was Fiance back then, took me to see Letters to Juliet. And I was excited. Until the opening note of the movie hit. It was "You Got Me" by Colbie Caillat. Of course it was. I believe I stammered something along the lines of "If this song suddenly becomes popular I will seriously flip out." 

It didn't. Or maybe it did. But I never heard it on the radio so I was fairly content with life at that point. So we went and got ourselves married. Pretended to eat some food and danced.  

Then we tore up the dance floor because the songs of the summer were "In My Head" by Jason Derulo and "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz. And I LOVE me some Top 40! 

And our DJ did end up playing the beginning 3 seconds of Proud Mary before my dad shut that down. (Actually it was my parent's only request for the Do Not Play List... I funny enough have no problem with that song.) And now in 2014 I also see he played "I Like to Move It" which I think is a dumb song but I also remember nobody danced to it anyway so... who cares? 

My mother of course thought all my music was ghetto but I swear it wasn't. I swear. 

And thus ends the saga of Madeline's Wedding First Dance Song.