I have now been home for exactly ten days.  It's still a little weird, but the weird is getting more normal with each passing day.

Number of oranges consumed: 5

Number of trips to the beach: 1

Number of books read: 1

Number of roaches/lizards seen: don't wanna talk about it

I have spent my days working at my mom's office and working through the crap-ton of boxes I left here when I moved to Utah.  This is always embarrassing for me to admit, but I was once a hoarder.  That composition notebook from Ms. Byrd's second grade class?  Got it.  That unfortunate self-portrait from fifth grade art class?  Check.  That book full of love songs and angst from sixth grade?  I wish I had burned it.

I thought I had downsized a worthy amount once I left for school.  Oh contrary-wise.

I'm only half-way through these boxes of memories and I just want to throw it all out.  After a year of living with a minimalistic perspective, it physically pains me to look at all this crap.  So, I have made a couple rules:

1. If I have not thought about this item in the past six months, it goes.

2.  If I am not for sure going to use this item in the future, it goes.

3. If there is no story worth telling with this item, it goes.

4. If my children will not get any use out of this item if it survives to meet them, it goes.

The little nostalgic pack-rat still lives inside of my head and gives her input every now and then, but for the most part, I have done well in ignoring her. We'll see which of us ends up winning with these next few boxes...

Breaking Tradition

Christmas in my family means many set plans and traditions.  Christmas Eve has always meant driving south to St. Augustine to have dinner with my dad's family and Christmas day has always meant driving to Callahan to visit with my mom's family.  Being that my aunt who usually hosts our Christmas Eve feast got a nasty flu and my mom's family moved to Tennessee, we had to improvise a bit.  Christmas Eve was small, but perfectly cozy and perfectly family-y.

Watching The Amazing Spiderman

   

A hereditary explanation of why I can't take serious pictures. 

I got him Waterboy. 

Christmas Day meant a nice, relaxing day with my mom.  Our only real tradition for Christmas Day is my mom making gorilla bread.  Your arteries have not lived until they have been mutilated by the sugary goodness that is gorilla bread.  Another tradition that is sort of in its infancy is us going to this neighborhood that has some awesome Christmas lights.  It's a bit of a drive, but it is so worth it.  We usually go before Christmas, but we have been a tad busy getting things on my list done.  So, we decided Christmas day night (it makes sense in my head) was probably the only time we could make it there.  Unfortunately, that was the same game plan for everyone else and their mother.  It was a tad crowded, but still awesome nonetheless.

Skypin' the G.

One of the things on my list was to watch at least one season of Friends.  Being that seasons five and six are my favorites, we started with five a few days after I got home and finished it Christmas day night.  Yeah, maybe we're not so traditional in my house.

Very Merry

I started writing this on 12/26/12:

I just got back from lunch with these two handsome fellas.

I have a bit of a list going of things I want to do and places I want to eat while I'm home for the holidays.  The lovely gentlemen pictured above, Captain Livsey and Sir Reading, were gracious enough to help me cross one of my restaurants off my list -- Mellow Mushroom.  I thank them for that and for their hilarity.

Another thing on my list was a trip to Disney World.  I arrived in Florida on Monday and I made my way down to Disney on Tuesday afternoon with mi madre.  Last year around this time, we had annual passes to the second happiest place on earth (second to the temple, of course).  Those annual passes granted us discounts to special events tickets, like Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.  This thrilled us beyond description.  Once Christmas was around the corner, we were so stoked to get tickets to the one and only Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.  However, once we set a date to go, we were informed that tickets were all sold out.  Complete bummer.  Fast forward a little less than a year later, and I'm struggling to pick a gift out for my mom's birthday.  I finally had a real job where I could get her something that showed her just how amazing I think her to be, but I could not come up with an adequate gift.

During my struggle of a search, I was procrastinating on my usual internet procrastination routes.  As I was reading about the New Fantasyland for the millionth time, the thought of Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party burst to the surface of my mind and I had found my answer.  It was a little difficult keeping it a secret from my mom until her birthday, but it was so worth it.

So, less than twenty-four hours of me being in Florida, and I was on my way to Disney World.

Once we got through Orlando's hideous traffic and checked in to our hotel, we had quite a bit of time to kill.  So, we decided a trip to Downtown Disney would hype us up even more for our magical time at the park.  We weaved our way through a store or two, including the Christmas store, obviously, and we decided to have dinner at the Irish Pub in Downtown Disney, called Raglan Road.  It's an awesome place.  Sometimes they have Irish bands and it's a lot of fun.  Unfortunately, they didn't have any the evening we were there, but their fish and chips were superb to say the least.

After our feast of champions, we decided to make our way to the par-tayy.  It was a fun night full of plenty of free hot chocolate and cookies.  The parade was so awesome and the fireworks were as incredible as ever.

Two of my favorite things in the world are Disney and Christmas, so to have them together in one setting sent my five year-old heart a little over the edge of happiness and into insane, joyful delirium.  The castle was at its most beautiful and the decorations throughout the park were gorgeous to say the least.

The free hot chocolate and cookies, the million and five Christmas-themed shows, the fantastical fireworks, and the awesome, awesome parade made for an amazing night at one of my favorite places on earth.  However, there were a few aspects that I would like to point out that I'm not particularly sure how to feel about.

Anyone who knows me knows that Disney is one of the many nerdy things that makes me the magnificent creature that I am.  I love it more than any eighteen year old should.  I follow Disney blogs; I freak out when I see something that even remotely resembles a Mickey head;  I covet just about any article of clothing that comes from the Disney franchise.  That being said, I have been counting down the days to the opening of the New Fantasyland, and I basically peed my pants when I heard that the Beauty and the Beast portion would be one of the first parts to open.*

I approached New Fantasyland with my hopes held high and my eyes glistening with the same excitement I felt when I first entered Hogsmeade at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  To be honest, I was a little disappointed.  Don't get me wrong, the attention to detail for Belle's little village was excellent to say the least, but I'm kind of sad the Beast's castle wasn't actually a castle in the same sense that Cinderella's castle is a castle.  I wasn't able to go into the restaurant "inside" the castle because it was kind of packed, so I imagine it would probably heal my wounds of disappointment a bit if I were able to enter its doors.  The castle was atop a hill, and it gave the illusion that the castle was far away, which is exactly what I didn't want.  I'm not going to lie, though, I was more than overjoyed to be able to pee in a bathroom whose theme was based around Belle's world.  Weird, but true.


The Little Mermaid ride was pretty good, but I wouldn't say it was spectacular.  It had the same sort of set up as the Haunted Mansion, minus the ghosts and ghouls, of course.  It didn't breakdown or anything, which is always a plus.  It was exactly like any other Magic Kingdom ride, which isn't bad, but maybe I was looking forward to something new?  I'm not an over-the-top Ariel fan, so maybe that has something to do with it?**  Ariel/Eric's castle-esque building was pretty awesome; I will give you that.

Perhaps my expectations were just too high.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll be happier when I get the chance to eat at the Be Our Guest restaurant.  Until then, let me tell you the tale of something a tad peculiar that I experienced during this Christmas extravaganza of a night.  As was aforementioned, there were about a bajillion shows and features to watch and participate in every second of the night.  One such thing were the "dance parties" held in two locations throughout the park.  One of them being in Liberty Square.  Quite patriotic, Disney.  I have only ever heard the term "dance party" at the nerdy events I have attended, such as LeakyCon, and never have people under the age of ten been in attendance.  My mom and I decided it was absolutely necessary to see what exactly was goin' down at these dance parties.  From the outside, it looked like a full-on nightclub, which was a tad disconcerting considering kids can be quite impressionable and starting them off early with clubbing isn't exactly good for this world's future.  We entered this club of sorts without any clue as to what to expect.  Our eyes beheld what I can only describe to you as my still-lingering childhood dreams.  There, in the center of the dancefloor was Woody dancing with several little kids.  Yes, I felt creepy taking pictures of other children.  Yes, I may have done it to live vicariously through them.  Yes, never have I wanted more to be seven years old again than I did at that moment.  Oh, how I wish I knew how awesome childhood was when I was experiencing it.

There were two showings of the parade, so we decided to ride our rides first, and then see the later parade.  It did not disappoint.  My only complaint is that I failed to get perfect shots of two of my favorite people -- Belle and Mary Poppins.

Also, Mickey had far too much hip action going on to be the Mickey I know and love.

Having been away from home so long, it was so nice to be back to the familiar, which includes Disney. I don't understand how anyone could not want to be there all the time.  Every detail is centered around increasing the happiness of every child that enters the park's gates.  The Disney parks are the result of a father wanting a place to take his daughters for the weekend, where their dreams could come true.  Now that is magical.

*Belle is my favorite Disney princess, in case you were not aware.
**I love her movie's soundtrack, but I am not a fan of the princess herself.

My Temple

Yesterday, I had the blessing and privilege of going to the Orlando temple with the youth of my home stake.  The project for the youth of the stake this year was to do some genealogy work and find a name that has not had their temple work done.  The big sha-bang of a finale was this temple trip, during which the youth who had been working on their genealogy would be able to take those names that they found to the temple and start the temple work for their ancestor.

It was an early start to a morning.  I woke up at the unholy hour of 4:15am to leave at 5:15am.  We got to the stake center across the street from the temple around 7:45am, which is impeccable timing considering Orlando's crazy traffic at every hour of the day.*

There, at the stake center, the temple president gave a talk about symbols of the temple.  After that, we broke off in to three groups.  One went to the temple to do baptisms, one stayed behind to play games related to family history and other church-related things, and the third did a temple grounds tour of sorts.

It was a long day, but it was amazing nonetheless. As awesome as the Provo temple is, the Orlando temple will always hold a special place in my heart.  It is the first temple I ever set foot in.  It is the temple where I have received so many answers to so many prayers.  It is my temple.



For those of you not familiar with the Mormon jargon, temples are sacred places where worthy members of the church, twelve years and older, enter to do work for those who have passed away.**  Work, meaning saving ordinances, such as baptism.  We do not actually go grave-digging and baptize corpses.  That's just nasty.  We believe in the scripture: Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  We stand in place of those who have passed away, since they no longer have the physical capacity to receive those saving ordinances themselves.  Those who passed away without the gospel deserve the chance to know it and have the opportunity to live eternally with their Heavenly Father, their Savior, and their family, and it is such a blessing to be able to help them on that road to eternal joy.

I love the gospel so much.  It is a gospel of joy, peace, and strength.  It is a gospel of hope.

*Seriously, though.  Once, I was on my way back to Jacksonville at 3am, and I was still stuck in traffic for an hour.

**It is also a place for living worthy members to make sacred covenants and receive sacred ordinances that can only be performed in the temple.

Flirtatious Babies and Planes

I have basically zero time to be writing this, but I'm going to because procrastination is my specialty and I want to keep this as updated as possible during this little break from school that I am loving.

First off, Florida is moist.  I hate that word, but there is just no other way of describing my home state.  When I got into bed my first night home, the sheets were damp.  It was the weirdest thing of my life.  To think I had been sleeping in what felt like a pool towel for eighteen years and not realizing it, kind of blew my mind.

The plane ride was perfect.  No hiccups.  I did have to switch planes in Denver, which was a minor change (I was supposed to stop there, but stay on the same plane), but I made it to the other side of that massive airport with plenty of time to spare.  I also sat next to the cutest elderly couple on the way there, met an old bishop and his wife from my home stake who happened to know my mom, and I met the most flirtatious baby of my life*.  I have no idea why people hate planes so much.  You get to freaking fly, people!  Is that not as awesome of a thought to other people as it is to me?

We went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party the next night, which was wonderful, but I'll have to tell you about that and St. Augustine some other time.  I've got an end of the world party to get to!

*OHMYGOSH SHE WAS SO CUTE.

Things

Things I miss about Florida:

1) My mommy
2) My family
3) My dog
4) My high school and church friends
6) Chamblin's Bookmine (!!!!!)
5) The beach (I never thought I'd say that.)
6) Streets that do not have streaks of tar that my shoe slips on and my heels get caught in
7) The warm rain
8) The Scottish Highland Games
9) The Sarasota Medieval Faire

Things I'm loving about Utah:

1) The way the sun sets over the mountains outside my window
2) The mountains themselves
3) The lack of humidity
4) The fact that everyone here is friendly
5) The history
6) The amazing friends I have made
7) The deeper doctrine that I've been learning in my classes
8) The fact that prayers are said before my classes :DDD
9) The vast amount of things there are to do (if only I had a car!)
10) The fact that my little Mormon quirks are acceptable and mutual here (not just the standards I uphold, but things such as bursting into song and dance, Mormon jokes, etc.)

A New Hope

Today, I spent the morning and most of the afternoon with friends, laughter, healing, good food, a cute baby, and a slobbery dog.

Last night was Robin's Florida viewing and funeral.  It was probably the most difficult thing I've ever been through.  I can't pinpoint why this pain has just been punching me, leaving me winded.  Robin is safe, she's complete, and healed.  She is completely happy and doing what she loves -- serving her Heavenly Father and following her Savior.  I was happy to see her family accepting and happy.  I know I'm going to see her again.  Maybe I am yearning for that view of eternity that my Heavenly Father (and now, Robin) has or maybe I just am letting selfishness overtake me and allowing myself to wish that she was still here to help me strive to become the earthly angel that she was.

Whatever it may be, I was glad to not be alone in whatever it is I've been feeling, yesterday.  I was surrounded by people who have known me and have loved me throughout my life -- whether they just entered it or they have been in it since Barnie was my favorite past time.  I was greeted with a hug at every corner.

I was not alone today when Emma, Molly, Rebecca, Ruby, Momo, and I spent the afternoon picnicing on Kingsley Plantation.  The plan was to go to Davis Park (in honor of Robin's last name), but the park didn't allow dogs, and we couldn't have complete happiness without our Momo.  I'm not sure that there is anything else that I needed today besides those precious, perfect moments with those wonderful people I am blessed to call my friends.  I somewhat wanted to just crawl into my mommy's arms today and continue to release the pain, but I think I ultimately wouldn't have made it out of bed had I let myself do that.  I needed to be carried away from my thoughts, and be consumed in them all at once today, and that's what I got.

Today was a day in which my wounds were vulnerable and completely exposed, but somehow the edges were healed -- not completely, but it was an almost feeling.