Mark turns 26

I married a younger man. Mark turned 26 today and to celebrate, of course we went to Orlando. Since we are still blocked out at Disney until the 14th (le sigh), we went to Sea World, what with our newly-acquired 2 year annual passes. Didn't get to Sea World until almost 5, but that's ok. We didn't do much, but once again, that's ok. We went on Kraken and the new OMG SO TERRIFYING Manta. This thing straps you in like a regular inverted coaster, then whoa - your feet are flipped up behind you as you're turned 90 degrees so you're hanging from your seat, FACING THE GROUND. That same ground slowly becomes further away as you proceed up the incline to your imminent death first drop. Did I mention that you're hanging there, suspended face down? It was exhilarating, but to me at least, in a "omg I don't want to go splat, please don't let me die" kind of way. It may be a while before I get back on it. Of course, Mark loved it.

We wanted to take advantage of Disney's "get in free on your birthday" promotion, but since we have seasonal passes that are blocked out during both of our birthdays (joy), our options were pretty much just limited to one. We stopped at Guest Relations at the Magic Kingdom to pick up Mark's ticket to use to renew his pass next month. Flaw in the plan though - they wanted us to renew then, with us forking over the big bucks that we weren't prepared to do. Luckily we talked the lovely cast member in to giving us a ticket that will be valid for the next 2 weeks and we can renew then. Victory! Plus, I just found out that renewals are now good for 15 months, not 12. Score!!

Our next stop was at 'Ohana for dinner. In all the years we've been going to Disney, we had never been to 'Ohana and it's a shame! We got seated right next to the windows, which face the MK (yay!) and the fireworks started at 10pm. They dimmed the lights and played the Wishes soundtrack. It was the next best thing to being in the park. Plus the good food didn't hurt!

I Pricelined a room at the Vinoy for the MIL this weekend - $55! That is ridiculously low, and totally awesome. I get so excited when I get to use Priceline!

Tomorrow is my orientation for grad school. I have to be there at 11, so I need get up early - like 9? Guess I better get my shit together and go to bed.

Take Two

I'm going to give this blog another shot. It lasted, what? All of 3 posts! Even my Livejournal has been neglected in the past year or so as I'm not sure I have anything interesting to say. I am hoping my life will soon be more interesting, though!

So in the last year, not much has happened. My last post left off with the Rays, who did make it to the World Series for the first time. Mark and I were at Disney World when we found out they were going. We probably should have gone to the game instead! Hindsight. Anyway, they are doing good this year, but not great. Still hoping we can pull off a spot in the playoffs!

My best friends are both getting married this year. The first wedding is in California, in about 6 weeks, and I am driving myself crazy with anticipation. I love to travel, the problem is that I don't really get to do it! We go to Orlando, we go to Atlanta. Last year we really broke tradition and went to Tennessee for Thanksgiving, only because my father-in-law recently moved there. I have not flown anywhere since 1997. This flying thing is really getting to me. I'm not scared, per se, but I have a desperate need to know exactly what to expect at every point in the process. Thus leads to my constant Googling and Flickring and other noun-to-verbing that is somewhat all-consuming. And it didn't help that Delta changed our flight schedule AND the type of planes, of course after I spent countless hours researching the original plane seat layouts and pictures of the interiors and pretty much everything else that is even remotely related to a Delta Boeing 767, steerage class. And don't even get me started on rental cars! I'm just praying that what we have reserved will work out at the price it's reserved for.

So, we fly to San Francisco on September 16th. On the 18th, we drive to Yosemite National Park and check in at Tenaya Lodge. My friend gets married on the 19th at Glacier Point, which from what I can tell is a cliff. On a mountain. Foreign concepts to a Floridian. The next day, we drive to the O.C. and hopefully check-in at Laguna Cliffs, pending me actually reserving a room there using my secret weapon, Priceline (Name your own price)! We are actually going to freaking Disneyland. We have discussed going to other parks for the last 7 years or so, basically when we started going to WDW, but it never seemed like something that would actually happen. Some far off future event that you talk about, but somewhat never expect to happen - like winning the lottery.

In other news, I'm starting my MSN in August. Mark graduates with his MA next Sunday, he got two adjunct teaching jobs at colleges here to start this fall, we are possibly going to be buying a house pretty soon, and I think we are about ready to try for el bebeh. All of a sudden I feel somewhat like a grown up!