Kill, Refurb, Marry: Disney Princesses

I've been following the Disney in Your Day blog for a while now and it's my favorite Disney blog. Becky has a great mix of fun Disney stuff and one of the things she does regularly is the "Kill, Refurb, Marry" game. I never quite paid attention to the fact that it's a blog hop, but after reading the latest incarnation I was terribly intrigued, so I actually hopped over to the main page for the game and checked out other people's answers as well.

The theme for this month is Disney Princesses. And I actually gasped at the idea of killing a Disney princess! Blasphemy. But I decided to put my creative thinking cap on and play along! So here we go!

Kill: Merida
Okay. I know. But here's the thing... I thought long and hard about this, and while I don't dislike her per se it was the Princess movie that I liked the least. And I wanted to LOVE it. The Irish accent, the I-don't-need-a-man thing, etc. But I thought the movie was mediocre at best. The whole bear thing was bizarre to me and as Disney fans, we all know that sometimes we have to suspend belief sometimes. But it still has to make sense, and I think it failed. Plus, I think there have been other Princesses who did the "I can do it myself" thing much better. And since Merida was the one Princess I didn't make any attempt to meet on my last trip, unfortunately she's the weakest link for me. And since I had to pick someone, well, there ya go.

Refurb: Aurora
The only reason I'm picking her is because it's been SO long since I've seen Sleeping Beauty that I honestly don't remember a whole lot about it. And as others have pointed out, her character has the least amount of storyline. I actually think Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather are the stars of this movie. So I would love some additional backstory. I'm guessing we might get that soon with Maleficent, so maybe we'll all start to appreciate her a bit more. (On a side note, I'm not really looking forward to Maleficent; I'm not a huge Angelina Jolie fan and my gut reaction is that the movie is going to make us all feel bad for the poor, misunderstood evil queen. I'm hoping I'm wrong! And of course, I'm still going to go see it!)I've met Princess Aurora several times and she's always been perfectly lovely! And my favorite color is pink, so that's another vote in her favor.

Marry: Tiana
I went back and forth on this one, because there are so many that I love. My gut reaction was to choose Elsa, because anyone who can make it cold with a flick of the wrist would get my undying love. But she didn't stay a princess for very long, so I disqualified her.

Ultimately, I picked Tiana. She was a hard worker, who didn't give up on her dream. She loved her family, and she didn't put finding a man to complete her as a top priority. SHE was her top priority and the love fell into place when she wasn't expecting it. She loved to cook and when I took one of the Facebook quizzes on "which Princess are you", I came back as... drum roll... Tiana! My meet and greet with her was pretty cool, too... even if she wasn't willing to part with her gumbo recipe. Hehe.

Teacup Tuesdays #1

Welcome to the very first Teacup Tuesday!! I hope everyone is having a great day. It's very hot and humid here today, which unfortunately makes me a bit crabby! But I'm excited to start my perpetual list of things I want to see, do, taste, and experience at the most magical place on earth!

I'm going to include things that will be easy to cross off the list and other things that may take a while to accomplish. So with that in mind, I decided to start things off with something that should be REALLY easy, assuming it doesn't go away any time soon and I do better at remembering to do it.

Drum roll, please!!

Walk Around the Art of Animation Resort and Try the Nutella Gelato

Sounds simple enough, right? Yeah. It was actually on my list of things to do on my last trip but I had a complete brain freeze and never actually made it there. *sigh*

I actually looked into staying at AoA, but it was a little pricier than the All-Star resorts and since I don't spend a whole lot of time in the room, I couldn't justify it. Taking a little trip over there should have been easy, though... but no. As for the gelato, I only learned of this deliciousness from reading someone else's trip report over on the Dis. It's amazing what you discover reading about other people's adventures!! It was immediately added to my list, and just as quickly ignored when I was there.

So hopefully, I can cross this one off the list on my next trip. Which I hopefully won't have to wait another five years for!

If you've stayed at the Art of Animation resort and/or tried the gelato, please share your thoughts!!!! Have a great day!!

My Disney Tea Cup List

Everyone knows what a bucket list is. A list of things you want to do before you "kick the bucket". A quick Google search on the words "bucket list" will turn up 16 billion entries. I know, because I Googled it. Places to go, books to read, foods to try... the possibilities are endless. But I think the term "bucket list" is kinda morbid. I mean, I suppose the idea is that you just keep adding to the list but if you're adventurous and cross off all 800 things and can't think of anything else, do you then just say "okay, I'm done?"

Yeah... I don't like thinking that way. I do, however, like to overthink which I'm sure is what I'm doing in the above scenario! Hey, at least I'm honest.

I wanted to start a Disney list... things that I really want to experience at Walt Disney World. But because of my aforementioned overthinking, I wanted to call it something else. So I came up with "My Disney Tea Cup List". (At no point in time will the teacup ride actually be added to this list. Spinning. Dizzy. Nausea. No thank you!)

Look, I even made a logo and everything!!

I'm going to see if I can figure out how to create a page just for the tea cup list items! I want to be able to look back on my list when I'm planning on my future trips and know right away what I want to do. I've always been a planner, so this will be a fun little project for me.

In an attempt to update it regularly, I'm planning on doing Tea Cup Tuesdays. Every Tuesday I will post a new item to the list!

So, whatcha think?? Do you keep a ongoing "must do" list for Disney or anything else?

Happy Star Wars Day!!

The Best There Ever Was

In case you didn't know it, I am a self-proclaimed entertainment junkie. I love movies, music, sports, television, books and, of course, celebrities. When you can take two of those things and combine them together, it makes it even better.

For the past eight years, Buffalo has been home to the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival (BNFF). I've always been intrigued by it, but never actually attended. That all changed this year when the event organizers announced that they would be premiering a documentary entitled "The Natural: The Best There Ever Was".

I adore sports movies. All of them. And "The Natural" holds a very special place in my heart, since it was filmed in Buffalo! That's right... Robert Redford, Kim Basinger, Barbara Hershey... all came to Buffalo over thirty years ago to film this gem of a movie. Buffalo was chosen as the location for the film because of our architecture and the fact that we had an actual baseball field for them to use.

The documentary was directed by Bill Cowell, who founded the BNFF. It's a celebration of the filming of the movie. He interviewed a lot of major players from the movie including the actors I mentioned above as well as director Barry Levinson, producer Mark Johnson, and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel. Randy Newman scored the movie and he was interviewed as well. In addition, several of the local Buffalonians who appeared as extras in the movie were interviewed for the documentary.

It was incredible hearing these famous people talking about how wonderful Buffalo was to them and how much they enjoyed their time here. The movie was filmed during a time when chicken wings were not yet popular, and most the actors commented on trying them here for the first time!

In attendance at the premier and also debuting his directorial debut at the festival was Barry Kivel, who played Pat McGee in the movie. He has been in a lot of TV shows including Scrubs, Murphy Brown, and Judging Amy as well as parts in Crocodile Dundee and One Fine Day. Barry was awarded a star on the Buffalo Walk of Fame.

This was an awesome way to spend a Friday evening and I will definitely attend the festival again in the future!

Happy Easter!

"He isn't here! He has risen from the dead! Don't you remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again the third day?" {Luke 24:6-7}

Disney's Animal Kingdom Top Five

My second day of vacation was spent at Disney's Animal Kingdom. This was only my third time ever in DAK. The last time I was here was 2009, and on that morning I took The Backstage Safari Tour, which is one of the coolest things I've EVER done. I was looking forward to making some new memories on this trip, so here are my DAK Top Five Moments from 2014!!!

#5: Getting My Picture Taken in Front of the Tree of Life
I really wanted to be in a lot of the pictures from this trip, and I got several character pictures on my Epcot day. But I think I walked past the Photopass photographer who was taking pictures by the Tree of Life AT LEAST four times before working up the nerve to get my picture taken! I am really self-conscious, but once I started there was no stopping me!

#4: Meeting Dug and Russell
This was probably the meet and greet I was most excited about! And I almost missed it due to poor planning. But I got it all I figured out eventually! Squirrel!!

#3: Misbehaving Addax
The first thing I did after walking through the gates was head to Kilimanjaro Safari. I love this with every fiber of my being!! At one point, our driver had to stop for a good long time because the Addax (the animal in the photo below) were chasing each other around, and kept running in front of our ride vehicle! I had no idea they would get that close and it was so fun to watch!

#2: Character Breakfast at Tusker House
I booked this reservation on the spur of the moment after reading multiple positive reviews over on the Dis. And I was not disappointed! The food was yummy and the character interaction was top notch! I got to meet Mickey, Goofy, Daisy, and Donald!

#1: Finding Nemo -- The Musical
On my two previous trips to DAK, I wasn't able to fit this show in. I bypassed it both times in favor of "Legend of the Lion King". I was determined to see it this time, which was made easier by the fact that FotL was being moved/refurbished and wasn't open. The music was a LOT of fun and it was made even more special after the fact when the composing team, Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, won the Oscar that weekend for Let it Go!

EPCOT Top Five

I can't believe it's been six weeks already since I left for my amazing solo trip to Walt Disney World! Oh my gosh, I miss it SO MUCH!!!! I had such an amazing trip in such a short time!

I'm going to do a four-part best-of series of posts about my trip... one post for each park. My plan is to list my top five favorite things from this trip that happened in each park. I have an ongoing, in-depth trip report that I'm writing over on the Dis boards. If you're interested in reading that, you can check it out by clicking right here!!.

Here is what my schedule looked like:
Sunday, Feb 23 -- EPCOT
Monday, Feb 24 -- Disney's Animal Kingdom
Tuesday, Feb 25 -- Disney's Hollywood Studios
Wednesday, Feb 26 -- Magic Kingdom

No, it was not nearly enough time to do everything I wanted. But I had SO MUCH FUN. I'm hoping to be able to go for Christmas in 2015. We'll see what happens. I'm still in full-on Disney mode and I never want to lose this feeling. So without further ado, I present my EPCOT Top Five!

#5: Lunch at Sunshine Seasons
This could be because it was my first experience on the Disney Dining Plan. It could just be that I was really hungry. Who knows?! But I had a delicious turkey and Monterey Jack sandwich on focaccia bread with strawberry shortcake for dessert. That dessert was ah-mazing!

#4: My First Pin Trade. Ever!
When my sister and her family went to WDW last year, she said my niece really got into the pin trading thing and she thought I would enjoy it as well. So she got me a pin set with the instructions that I could keep some of them, but I had to trade some too. So my first pin trade was actually also at Sunshine Seasons. They had a board out, and I picked a cute Princess Tiana pin. Now I am totally addicted!

#3: The American Adventure
This was my first experience with the show inside the United States pavilion and I'm glad I didn't skip it! I'm not a huge history buff, but I do enjoy it. And I'm definitely an American patriot! So this was really awesome for me.

#2: Soarin'
I got to experience the new FP+ system on this trip, and I liked it a lot. I never would have been able to show up at Epcot in the early afternoon and go on Soarin' without it. So YAY!!! This is one of my favorite rides and it didn't disappoint! I love the orange grove scent and the feeling of... well... soaring!

#1: Duffy the Disney Bear
I wanted to meet a lot of characters on this trip, and the first one I met was Duffy. I had no clue who he was, but the line was short so I popped into it. Before you actually get to see Duffy, there are storyboards explaining who he is. I totally fell in love!

What is your favorite thing about EPCOT?

In Which I Rank the Best Picture Nominees

I am BACK from my wonderful four day trip to Walt Disney World!!! It was absolutely amazing and I will post about it soon. But right now, I'm getting excited for tomorrow... because tomorrow is OSCAR DAY!!!!

As per usual, I've seen all nine movies nominated for Best Picture. So here is my ranking... worst to first.

9. 'The Wolf of Wall Street'
In addition to this being a movie that unapologetically celebrated the sleaze of one completely unremorseful man... I thought it was incredibly boring. Not only will I be incredibly angry if it wins, I will be equally as angry if Leo wins Best Actor. He's done some amazing work in the past which he wasn't recognized for. If the Academy decides to reward him for a performance that just came across as overly caffeinated, I won't be impressed.

8. '12 Years a Slave'
I think this was a very important story to tell. And I think they did a good job with it. Sometimes, they did too good of a job and it made me question if some of the actors were actually... acting. I came home from seeing this and went to bed early and could barely sleep. It wrecked me. I have a hard time celebrating performances based on something so horrible. But I absolutely understand why it's nominated and I expect it to win.

7. 'Her'
This was a weird one. Although I thought ScarJo was pretty amazing without ever being on camera. The premise was interesting, but I didn't like the way it all played out. As far as movies about relationships with fake people go, I much preferred 'Lars and the Real Girl'. That was a charming movie. This one was... just odd. But again, I kind of understand why it was nominated. It's unique enough that I wasn't really surprised by the nomination.

6. 'Gravity'
This is ranked at #7 simply because I don't feel that movies should need gimmicks to win Best Picture awards. The movie was stunning... in 3D. I just don't think it has the same appeal in 2D. I fully expect this to win in several other categories (and deservedly so.)

5. 'American Hustle'
I enjoyed this, but don't think it's Best Picture worthy. 'Saving Mr Banks' or 'The Butler' should have been given this spot.

4. 'Philomena'
A very touching movie and a powerful performance by Judi Dench.

3. 'Nebraska'
I absolutely loved this movie. I don't think it has any chance of winning, but I would love to see June Squibb take the Best Supporting Actress award. This was such a sweet movie and I loved Bruce Dern's performance as an innocent, trusting man who wanted to see the good in people.

2. 'Captain Phillips'
Outstanding. Tense. Tom Hanks was robbed.

1. 'Dallas Buyers Club'
Until I saw this, 'Captain Phillips' was my choice and it's really hard to even compare the two. But this one gets my vote. It had all the elements of a Best Picture movie... humor, sadness, fantastic acting. I don't think this will win, but I am definitely pulling for Matthew AND Jared. I think Jared is the closest thing to a shoo-in this year, and I think Matthew has the momentum to be awarded.

I personally think '12 Years' is going to win. Not my choice by any stretch of the imagination but I'll be surprised if it doesn't win.

I'm Not a Doctor...

... but I play one on the intranet.

When I signed up for the Holly Jolly 5K, my registration fee entitled me to a three-month subscription to three different magazines. I'm a huge magazine junkie, so I jumped on it... knowing that I would need to cancel said subscriptions in three months to avoid being charged for the actual subscription.

I was excited to be able to choose People as one of my options. Last week's issue focused on people who had lost a significant amount of weight through natural methods (in other words, no surgery). I love reading these stories and I was thrilled to see that one of the individuals features on the cover was Sharee Hansen from Funeral for My Fat. I pop onto tumblr every now and then and I love her site, although I prefer following her through her Facebook page. I just find tumblr to be off-putting for some reason. Anyway, her story is incredibly motivating. If you have any interest in a healthy lifestyle I encourage you to check her out.

The entire issue was excellent. Until I came across the article about celebrity chef Rocco Dispirito. He's lost some weight recently and has a new diet book out. This is the blurb that accompanied a picture of the book. Like I said in my post title... I am NOT a doctor. Nor am I an expert on anything health related (with the possible exception of side effects of MS medication :p) But this disturbs me so badly. 850 calories a day? Your body burns more than that just by being alive. If you ask me (which I realize nobody did), this is an eating disorder waiting to happen. It's only for a month, but I have a really hard time accepting that this is healthy and an even harder time knowing that people are making money off this "plan".

Okay, rant over. Time for some HAPPY news! Which I desperately needed, as it's been a rough couple weeks for me and for SO many people I know. My favorite Disney-related blog, Disney in Your Day, teamed up with an Etsy shop called Enchanted Bridal for a giveaway/contest. The shop owner was looking for some new design ideas and I'm sooo excited to tell you that I got an email earlier that I won second place in the contest! I'm going to be receiving my idea as a rhinestone design to put on a tshirt!!! Check out Becky's blog to see what design I suggested. It shouldn't really come as a shock. Hehe.

In 42 days, I will be strolling through Epcot! I cannot wait.