Unforgettable Disney Moment

Throughout the years, I’ve had a bucket full of unforgettable Disney moments – from special moments during our honeymoon trip, to crossing the finish lines of my first half and full marathons, to unexpected Disney surprises with friends…the list goes on and on!

However, there’s one moment that will stand out in my mind as one of my top favorite life moments…pretty much ever.

Today’s Wordless Wednesday theme is:
Unforgettable
Host: Deb at Focused on the Magic

(Ok, this isn't completely wordless because I have to set up the backstory….and go….)

The year was 2013 and I was up for my first Coast to Coast Challenge. I knew that Joey Fatone (of my favorite boy band NSYNC) ran Goofy’s Challenge in Walt Disney World that January (as did I), and I was incredibly sad that I never saw him during that event. Imagine my excitement when I found out that he was also running his first Coast to Coast for the Inaugural Dumbo Double Dare!

That trip seriously turned out to be one of the best weeks of my life!

• Sunday night, NSYNC reunion on the VMA’s (OMG I still can’t believe that happened)
• Thursday night, I celebrated my birthday with friends at Storytellers in Disneyland
• Friday, I met Joey Fatone in Downtown Disney
• Sunday, I was photo bombed by Joey during the Disneyland Half Marathon

What an amazing birthday week! I love unforgettable moments and magical vacations!!

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What’s your unforgettable Disney moment? Please share, I want to hear all about it!

Week in Review–8/1

What a week! I can hardly believe it’s already Friday again. I’m super thankful for the weekend because this week went by so fast!

I didn’t have a chance to work out a lot this week (sadly), so I decided to share a Week in Review with you instead.

On Monday, I went for a 3 mile run in my new Run tank from Kohls. Sadly, I knew it would be one of my only chances for a run this week (apart from today and tomorrow).

NSYNC released a new album this week! I received this fb message from my brother the following day….

He thinks he’s funny. Brothers. SMH.

On Tuesday, we celebrated my mom’s birthday. Aren’t her balloons adorable? Her sister bought the Mickey balloon for her (I didn’t know anything about it) and I bought the Minnie balloon! She was so excited to have a pair!

In-between work, I spent most of my extra time on planning the Gleaux Run. Yesterday’s post recaps the process of planning a race and that’s literally what has consumed all of my extra time. I almost had a panic moment on Tuesday over the logo (or lack thereof), but as you can see (thankfully) it all worked out in the end! Crisis averted!

Two weeks and counting!

Wanna know how crazy this week has been? I haven’t had a chance to cook dinner during the week – Jason and I have been finishing up leftovers.

Instead, look at yesterday's lunch.

Someone brought Panera bagels to us and I when I arrived at work on Thursday morning, I tucked a wheat raisin one away for my lunch. Desperate much? Yes, I do say so.

On top of everything else, we also have a Gala for the American Cancer Society on Saturday night. It’s an “Old Hollywood” theme and I’m super excited to attend! I love getting dressed up and attending fun dinners! :0)

Oh yes, and I’m also going for a long run on Saturday morning…but that’s pretty much a given.

How was your week? Are you glad it’s Friday, too? Any plans for the weekend?

Crazy Race Dreams

As the weeks before a race draw to a close, my mind begins to whirl with crazy ideas. The “what if’s…” so to speak.

What if I don’t make it to the start line on time?

What if my alarm doesn’t go off? (I usually set alarms on two different devices because I’m SO paranoid about it!)

What if my knee acts crazy?

What if I forget something at home?

The list of “what if’s” is endless and most of them aren’t in my physical control. I do tend to have a bit of race anxiety, so I have to constantly ask myself…why worry about something you can’t fix?

In my case, when I wake up in the morning and attempt to fall back asleep, I have crazy, insane, off the wall dreams. Add that with race anxiety and I’m sure you can imagine what happens!

Sunday morning was one such moment…and it was vivid so I remember details!

I was running the Wine & Dine Half Marathon and approaching the finish line….excited because I ran the Inaugural Wine & Dine and couldn’t wait to add the 5th Anniversary medal to my collection. After crossing the finish line, runners were ushered into an area marked off with a giant tent – it was as if black tarps had been put up on poles to contain the medal area. I was given a sheet of paper with after party instructions and told to continue on my way. As I reached the exit area of the tents, I realized I never received a medal. I turned around to tell the nearest person I saw (who also happened to be a runDisney Cast Member) what happened. That’s when the oddest thing happened – he didn’t believe me!! He told me that NO one gets through the medal area without receiving a medal. I even attempted to re-demonstrate what happened (I was reading the paper they gave me, looking down, and not paying attention) and he still wouldn’t listen to me. I continued arguing with him and before I knew it, he and the entire runDisney crew were at my house in Louisiana so I could prove myself. There were about four or five 18 passenger vans in my driveway. (What. The. Heck.) 

I continued trying to demonstrate my point and still didn’t get anywhere with him. After going back and forth for a while, he decided to look my finish time up online. That’s when we discovered my finish time wasn’t even recorded! It looked as if I never finished the race!! He left my house disgusted with me. As they were getting in their car to leave, I pulled up video footage of the finish line and ran outside with my laptop to prove I did complete the race. Still, he wouldn’t listen to me. As they drove off, he finally yelled out the window that he didn’t believe me because he knew I already received a medal was trying to get a second one to sell on eBay.

I came back inside the house incredibly frustrated and mystified, then I woke up to the sound Madalynn whining for her breakfast.

Needless to say, I woke up and sighed...“whew…it wasn’t real”. My next thought was “what in the world….???”

On a funnier…lighter note, I also had a dream back around Christmas time. I don’t remember all the crazy details, but it was a vivid dream as well!

I was out eating at an unfamiliar restaurant and I ran into Lance Bass. Now, if you know me…you know I’m a huge NSYNC fan…..specifically, Lance Bass was my favorite. Absolute favorite.  We talked for a while like old friends (riiiight) and before long, a friend of his walked over.  Lance began to introduce me to his friend…who happened to be Joey Fatone! I laughed and told Lance that Joey and I already met in Disneyland (as if he actually remembered me). Of course, Joey said “Oh yeah! You were the Mousketeer!” We started to chat and I asked if Joey had any other runDisney events on his list. His response, “Oh yea! Definitely! I’ll always be at every runDisney event, they are the best!” I left the restaurant with a  light and happy heart, knowing Joey would be involved with other runDisney events in the future!

When I woke up, I realized it was only a dream and thought, “Sad times…he won’t be at Princess!” Ha!

I also once witnessed (in real life, this wasn’t a dream) two different people frantically running around the TTC trying to get to the start of the Half Marathon. It was after 5:30 a.m. (runners hadn’t made it through the TTC just yet). I felt so awful for the two and wondered if they were allowed to start the race. I always feared that would happen to me and have had several dreams about not making it to the start line on time.

How about you? What crazy dreams plague you when race anxiety begins to kick in?

EPCOT’s 2013 Food & Wine Festival

On our recent quick weekend trip to Disney World, Jason and I experienced EPCOT’s International Food & Wine Festival for (somewhat) the first time.  Our first “true” time at Food & Wine was after the Inaugural Wine & Dine Half Marathon and EPCOT was a madhouse. We stayed long enough to use our food/drink coupons, then we left. I was hoping for a better experience this time around and I definitely got it – we had a BLAST!

(Please note: My issues with Wine & Dine’s post-race party happened during the race’s inaugural year. I haven’t run this race since, but I’ve heard reports that the post-race party has improved since it’s first year.)

As we entered World Showcase, we first stopped to pick up a Festival Passport.

If you are planning on attending the festival, a passport is a must-do!  Its free of charge and serves as a menu of sorts (minus the prices) – we used it to determine our food/beverage selections at each country.

Stamps are also available at each booth. We enjoyed having our passport stamped each time we purchased an item. It was fun to see which countries we “visited” by the end of the night!

Our festival journey began in Scotland (Canada side) and continued all the way around World Showcase.

Here’s a glimpse at a few booths we visited during our time at the Food & Wine Festival.

Greece was our first stop.

I had the Spanakopita – a flaky outer shell filled with spinach and feta cheese…delicious!

We also really enjoyed the Pork Sliders from Hawaii.

Despite major crowds, the booth lines were quick – we never stood in line longer than 10 minutes.

In Belgium, we had….

…Belgium waffles! Get outta town…

Jason really enjoyed Sushi in Japan.

As we passed through Germany, this window display really caught my eye. I love caramel apples (this display is the reason I tried my hand at them last week…the disaster also known as caramel apple making…)

Speaking of Germany, I had Jason take this super dark picture of me in my usual spot at the fountain of the Germany Pavilion. This location is sort of a “tradition” for me…I have a photo at this very spot from almost every EPCOT trip I’ve been on since 1999. Any guess why? It goes all the way back to a favorite boy band of mine…yes, NSYNC once sat in this very spot while filming for their Disney Channel Christmas Concert. Yes, I’m a nerd. Thank you. :0)

What were we talking about? Oh yeah, Food & Wine Festival….

Our final stop was China where we enjoyed these pot stickers (they were VERY tasty)!

In all, we spent about 3 hours walking around the festival. Perfect timing, we reached the final booth past Mexico just as the Festival was closing for the night.

On our way out, I just HAD to stop by the Leave a Legacy wall to track down a few familiar faces…

After a small internet search, I found them! NSYNC is on EPCOT’s Leave a Legacy wall!

West 6 F 4.

When you enter the park, these guys are located on the first row of legacies, all the way to the right (at the very end of the row). They were super easy to find!

In all, we really enjoyed visiting the Food & Wine Festival and would go again in a heartbeat. I can’t wait for next time! :0)

If you are running the Wine & Dine Half Marathon this weekend, I hope you take time to visit the festival – it’s well worth your time!

Have you visited the Food & Wine Festival in the past? What’s your favorite menu item from the festival?

Pre-Racecation VLOG: Astros Game & Houston, Texas

On our recent trip to San Diego and Disneyland, I took daily video clips of our adventures! Below, you’ll find the first installment of our Racecation which includes an Astros game and an overnight stop in Houston, Texas prior to flying out to San Diego.

Sunday, August 25, 2013 – Astros game; Houston, TX
Monday, August 26, 2013 – San Diego and Old Town
Tuesday, August 27, 2013 – My Birthday and Sea World
Wednesday, August 28, 2013 – San Diego Zoo
Thursday, August 29, 2013 – Travelling to Disneyland/Downtown Disney
Friday, August 30, 2013 – DCA and the Disneyland Half Expo
Saturday, August 31, 2013 – Disneyland 10K and Park time
Sunday, September 1, 2013 – Disneyland Half Marathon and more park time

Enjoy!

Do you usually fly out of an airport close to home for vacations or do you have to drive out of town to fly?

Pre-Racecation: Astros Game & Houston, Texas

Sunday, August 25, 2013 – Astros game; Houston, TX
Monday, August 26, 2013 – San Diego and Old Town
Tuesday, August 27, 2013 – My Birthday and Sea World
Wednesday, August 28, 2013 – San Diego Zoo
Thursday, August 29, 2013 – Travelling to Disneyland/Downtown Disney
Friday, August 30, 2013 – DCA and the Disneyland Half Expo
Saturday, August 31, 2013 – Disneyland 10K and Park time
Sunday, September 1, 2013 – Disneyland Half Marathon and more park time

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About a week before leaving for San Diego, I booked a park and fly hotel in Houston, Texas. Our flight was scheduled to leave fairly early on Monday morning and I didn’t want to fight with Monday morning traffic and possibly miss our plane. (Ever since Kim and I missed our plane several years ago, I take all measures to make sure that doesn’t happen again!)

Since we had a day to play around in Houston, I looked into Astros tickets – and they were playing at home! Yay!

Little secret – usually, Astros tickets go on sale towards the end of the season when they aren’t playing so well. Since someone didn’t get the memo that it was August (almost end of the season) and their team had one of the worst (if not THE worst) records in baseball this season, tickets were full price. I’m still scratching my head on that one. Instead, I went to Stub Hub where I purchased someone else’s tickets….and they were two tickets for the price of one! Score!

I was SO excited to see Mickey!

Our first mission when arriving at the park was to find food! We decided on BBQ. It was delicious!

This sight saddened me to no end. I’ve been an Astros fan as long as I can remember. We used to attend games in the Dome every year growing up. I followed the Astros during the days of the Killer B’s and playoff wins. I was so proud of the Astros when they finally made it to the World Series. Now, I see the management changes, fan favorite player tradeoffs (I’m still upset about Hunter Pence), ticket prices rising, and network changes (which means most of Houston and the surrounding areas can even watch the Astros on TV)….and we arrive at Minute Maid Park to this. A stadium that can fill 40,000 + seats had maybe 12,000 people inside (and that’s being generous). I remember going to games where it felt as if you were in Disney World because you couldn’t walk the hallways – people were everywhere. Since this day also served as the first Texans game of the season (against the Saints), I’m hoping that most of the Astros fans were at that game instead. :0)

I thought this guy was pretty neat! He was trying to visit 30 ballparks in 30 days! Per his website, it looks as if he made it! Yay!

Love their scoreboard!

My buddy Biggio and I talked strategy after the game. :0)

For dinner, we split a pizza from a place called Spanky’s. We were trying to find an Italian restaurant but we drove to two that were closed…so Spanky’s it was!

This pizza was delicious!

We also bought several items from a bakery down the road from our hotel but unfortunately, most of it didn’t taste very good and several items ended up in the trash. Ah well, at least it was way cheap! We bought all of these items for under $5!

I had a mini freak-out moment when I realized that our hotel changed out their MTV station for the Golf Network. Who does that?! Not that I usually watch either, but it was the night for the VMA’s and well…NSYNC? Need I say more? Thankfully, my husband came to the rescue and discovered that the VMA’s would also be on VH1! Whew!

This was me during most of Justin’s performance….waiting….waiting….

When I heard Justin say, “You asked for it…” my heart began to beat a little faster…

…and there they were! The boys I listened to over and over again in high school,watched (and recorded on VHS) every television appearance I could find, and had posters all over my bedroom wall growing up….they were finally back together, on stage, performing. I could not believe my eyes. Even though their performance only lasted 90 seconds, it was perfect to me!

I fell asleep and dreamed happy dreams of boy bands and San Diego. :0)

Up next: Arriving in San Diego and exploring Old Town!

Are you a sports fan? Do you stick by your team in good times and bad? If you are/were an NSYNC fan, what were your thoughts on the reunion?