Vacation: Orlando, Florida — July 5th – 11th, 2011

     Hey hey.

 To start off, I just want to apologize for being a day later. Now we can start.

                         

   Day One: Road Trip
         We drove “straight through” for an unknown amount of hours, 10+, I think. We arrived at our “villa” (really? A villa is either a little house in France or a massive Las Vegas hotel room, okay?) late at night. My parents, brother, dog, and cat were all there. Hooray.

   Day Two: Shopping
        First, we went to this KILLER Japanese store; most everything was 89 cents! Score! I got several things, including four pairs of $2.49 jelly flats. I’ve been looking for good jellies for a solid three years, man.
     Next, we went to Big Top by AKT. We had a Groupon(just like with freaking anything else we did…actually, it’s a good thing, they never would’ve been discovered otherwise), so it was on the cheap. Anyway, Big Top is a shirt-making company. They even make special designs for the customer; my brother had a purple elephant made for his girlfriend(don’t even ask). I really wanted to incorporate the adorable whale graphic and a cassette, but how? This is what happened: 
                      

  Get it? It’s not clever if you make me explain it.
       Anyway, the service and staff were incredible. You’re going to Orlando? Swing by Big Top by AKT, for sure.
     After this, we dropped off the males at the movies and went shopping. H&M, BABY! Finally. You know how much I’ve been dying to go here! I tried on around 15 things, and although only about five worked, it was still a pretty cool experience shopping there. Eventually, we got to Orlando Premium Outlets. Not the fancy International one, but the other. I scored at Levi’s, and got a Venomous Villains MAC lipglass at another place. My mom got it for me. She’s pretty cool sometimes. I’ll definitely do a review on it, at some point.

   Day Three: Comedy Club
       On the third day, due to our vacation deal, a hunk of our morning was taken. After this and a horrific pool sunburn, we went to Sak’s Comedy Lab in Downtown(GROUPON ALERT!). There were “Dueling Comedians”. When I first heard “all ages humor”, I got bummed. My humor isn’t really for all ages. However, the teams both did an excellent job, and I really enjoyed the experience. After this, we had a bit of time, and saw Bad Teacher. I wish Horrible Bosses had already been out instead! Darn.

   Day Four: Universal Studios
      Remember how excited I was for the Boys Like Girls concert? Well, my mom and I thought the concert was at Islands of Adventure, which is why we decided to go here today and there tomorrow(Saturday, the day of the concert). Well, we were wrong. Lame! No concert for us. Anyway, the park was awesome, the Simpsons ride was terrific, I got a load of pressed pennies(I collect those, you know).

  Day Five: Universal’s Islands of Adventure
      Since we had been just last year, we skipped to Harry Potter, in the park’s rear. OMFGITSHOGSMEADEIWILLDIE moment, then we went to Zonko’s, HoneyDukes, and stood in awe at the line for Dervish & Banges, the Owl Post, and especially Ollivander’s. Next, the Hippogriff ride! YEAH. The line was insane! It was a good young person ride. After this, the Dragon Challenge! The wait? Five freaking minutes. That’s 25 less than the Hippogriff ride. Anyway, this loopy coaster blew my mind, and made my brother obsess of hardcore coasters for the rest of the day.
    After seeing the 60 minute wait for the castle, we decided to come back to Harry later, and explored the rest of the park. Like the Spiderman, Hulk, and Dr. Seuss parts. We saw a Lost Continent show before returning later. By now, we were hungry. And you’ll never guess where we at dinner… The Three Broomsticks! Dude! It was awesome! I got Cornish Pasties because that was the only thing that sounded unusual; it was delicious. I drank, of course, butterbeer. It was so rich. I actually have a recipe for it; I might post it eventually. Anyway, we then waited in line of Ollivander’s. We finally got it to the adorable little show, then went to Dervish & Banges through it. I got a wand! YES! Checked out the Owl Post, then on to the castle.
    A 75 minute wait. Dude. Not even cool. The line never ended! After a good 75 minutes, we were there! The ride? Um? Let’s just say it was the FREAKING BEST RIDE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD EVER. It was pretty epic, to say the least.
    We swung by HoneyDukes (it was already closing time, but the place was still packed), where I bought some Every Flavor Beans. Special tip: Don’t buy the teeny $11 box, go to the lever, grab a bag, and fill it high with the exact same beans…just pay half the price. Grabbed a Pumpkin Juice, too. Before leaving, we swung by a Butterbeer stand and grabbed one in one of those special mugs. After that, it was way past closing time, and we headed out.
    
    Digging that crappy hotel bedding? Oh, there’s a Gryffindor keychain, too.
  
 I have 8,000 photos, but here’s some used butterbeer & a windowdisplay cat

  Day Six: Snorkel, Snorkel!
      We arose around 6 a.m. (my mother and myself), and after a two-hour drive, we found the rinky-dink, backwoods town that the surprisingly legit and professional American Pro Diving Center was in. I was incredibly nervous; I’m not a strong swimmer, at all. Add that to the list of things I suck at(remember my multiple baking rants?). Anyway, after check-in they suited us in our wetsuits, fins, and snorkels + had us watch a proper behavior video, we left to Pete’s Pier. There, we loaded onto a boat and, in around 5 minutes, found an enormous mother manatee. Since I said mother, you know there must be a BABY!! There was. We found this adorable one-month-old male swimming around, and played with us the entire time. It was glorious. I had a lifejacket under my arm…like I said, I’m not a strong swimmer, so they accommodated me with said lifejacket. The epic adventure ended sometime later. It was totally, absolutely, amazing. We never would’ve found it without Groupon!
               
    This is my favorite. If you decide to do this, bring an underwater camera!

     Day Seven: Departure
       Aw, shoot. It’s closing time, as Semisonic would say. We left ridiculously early, but came back early–able to catch up on all our missed TV shows. (True Blood, anyone?)

     …And that’s our Orlando vacation! It was totally rad. Our next vacation will be on Fall Break to the gorgeous Smokies. As for this one? It was totally irreplaceable.

   Check back on Saturday for some vacation/packing tips.

 
      xoxo,
          Zoe

 

Products mentioned were bought by myself/my mother.  I am not getting paid by any companies mentioned for this post, nor am I affiliated with them. Any opinions are honest, as always.

I’m Baaaaaaaaack: Catching Up on Music, Movies and More

      Howdy.

  I know I can’t just waltz in here like I haven’t not posted in a while. I know. But I feel like it’s like a Band-Aid you just have to rip off, you know? I’m not going to detail all that happened while I was away. I will, however, detail all the important/surprising/new things that I discovered or realized or whatever.
      Starting off, I’ll let you know what music I’ve been listening to. It’s mostly the same old stuff, but in all the sucky newness, two non-sucky gems were found. One’s somewhat new, one’s a classic. I bet you five dollars that you can’t tell. 😉

        All Day & All of the Night    — The Kinks
        Big Jet Plane                      — Angus & Julia Stone
  
     There’s your music. Now, movies? Yes, of course. As far as the ones I’ve seen recently, I won’t lie: they’re innumerable. Seriously, I’m a film addict. However, two stand-outs? Interview with a Vampire and The Shining. Both classics, both marvelous.
   As for unseen, I’m totally obsessing over the trailer for Horrible Bosses. I simply adore Jason Bateman in everything he’s in. I’ve watched It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia for years now, and the adorable Charlie Day is in the movie? Score! And I’ve been an SNL geek for as long as I can remember, so Jason Sudekis is the icing on the cake. Check out the trailer, and we can split the price of the popcorn.

    
   So now that we’ve gotten the entertainment things out of the way, let’s move on to…stuff I’ve been doing? Stuff I’ve bought? Stuff?
     I love quotes. Recently, upon renovating my room, I removed the very many Post-It quotes off my wall. I didn’t want to lose all these, so I made a book. Yes, a quote book. It’s pictured below alongside some incense. I like incense better than candles because, all though it’s smoking, it’s not “burning”. I don’t know. I’ve also enjoyed Asian foods lately…the sweet kind. And finally, I got a 12-pack of Sharpies for $5 at Office Depot, so I thought I’d share that, too, because I love to color. (;
   
 These pictures have such potential… if only my camera would work.:(
  

     As for stuff I’ve bought(besides the Sharpies), well…there was that globe at Target. It was 50% off, and I love globes(I’m going to travel far one day:). I really like it.
                                                

    I also bought some Sephora goods that I arrived in the mail today. I got a ($10) Benefit: To-Go Stay Don’t Stray set, which included my much sought-after Erase Paste, in a very small(though expected) size, along with equally miniature Stay Don’t Stray Primer and R.S.V.P. Cream Shadow/Liner. Along with these, I received a free Stay Don’t Stray traincase! YAY! FREE! Anyway, it was with any Benefit purchase, and it being Stay Don’t Stray-themed was a lucky concidence. I’ve been wanting Erase Paste for a long time, though I wasn’t about to pay $26 for it! I paid less than half of that for a less-than-half size, but I got two other things to try, so it’s a win-win.  Maybe I’ll review them later? 
   

   That concludes the shopping portion of this post. Moving on…So I’m quite, quite excited for Orlando! And a little over a month later? KATY PERRY! I’ve been at the KP forum, trying to curb my excitement. Or, at least, have something to expect in the terms of…well, everything. Before then, though, I have another event to look forward to: the Andy Warhol exhibit opening! It sounds outrageously nerdy, but Mr. Warhol is an idol of mine.
    One more thing to look forward to? My dad recently returned from Chicago, and there, he hit it off with a long-lost Irish relative. Yes, Irish.  He lives in San Francisco? AND WANTS US TO VISIT? It’s every kid’s dream! My parents want to visit this fall break, since, due to private(sorry, I know private sounds snobby) matters, we won’t be able to vacation after that. But the whole deal is still in limbo, my parents aren’t sure on anything yet. Plus, it’s summer. Why look toward something so far in the future?
   In my summer free time, so far, I’ve re-discovered Tumblr, Mario Kart, classic movies, and scrapbooking(only in the summer, but I LOVE stickers:). What have you rediscovered?
   

   This rounds out my catch-up post, I hope you enjoyed.

   xoxo,
       Zoe