Europe Trip October 13-23, 2016

Whew, what a time! I have so much to share!

Europe Trip

Germany

So to start, my amazing sister Julie took me on the most amazing trip! It was kind of last minute--she had planned it and paid for it for someone else, but that fell through. She didn't want it to go to waste, so she took me instead!

This was my flight to Germany--I had a whole row to myself, so I was able to nap very comfortably during the flight. It was wonderful--best flight experience of my life. 

Julie and Tylon made a welcome party for when I got off the plane! I've always wanted a welcome party. :) 

It started out with me flying out to see her in Germany. We went to a lock bridge in Germany and listened to men play accordions. She took me to this cool little mall, and one of the stores sold cute German things (a lot of clocks!). They had Christmas ornaments of different German fairy tales. Of course I wanted to get all of them, but she talked me down into getting just the Cinderella one.

Me feeding the German birds. 

Trieste, Italy

That evening, we boarded a "bus" for the longest bus ride of my life to Trieste, Italy, where we would board our cruise. I say bus, but it was actually a series of buses, and the first one was just a large van. We were dropped off by a movie theater and we saw this big black van... we were kind of like "Should we get in the big black van?" but a man came up and asked if we were Tina & Julie. It made sense, so we got in the van where almost no one spoke English. Fortunately, there was one couple who spoke German and English, originally from America, and if it weren't for them, we would have been completely clueless. 

We took the van to a bus, which we took to another bus stop. We were dropped off at this bus stop with no information, and waited from midnight, till 3 am in the freezing cold, outdoors of Germany. We finally got word that our next bus was stuck in traffic and would be there... eventually. So we finally got on that bus--it was packed, and somehow survived the rest of the trip to the cruise.

On the bus, finally arriving in Trieste. This is Julie's "WE SURVIVED THE BUS RIDE." expression. 

This was all a very enlightening experience for me because for the first time in my life, I am in a place where the majority of people don't speak English. When I think about it, it's kind of ethnocentric that we Americans think that the whole world should speak English. I think it would be great if we all learned other languages as well--super beneficial, and it would be encouraging of more foreign travel! 

One experience I have in this matter was at the first bus stop, when I had to use the restroom. I was running down a bus mall, trying to find someone who spoke English to ask where the restroom was. I picked wrong and the person I asked didn't speak English--he didn't understand what I was saying. Fortunately, another person did. I'll be honest, I did consider doing the pee-pee dance--that's pretty universal in any language. It's interesting because in other countries, they say "toilet", so "restroom" or "Where is your bathroom?" means nothing to them. "Toilet" and "Water closet" are actually a lot more popular. 

In hindsight, we probably should have spent a little more time in Trieste. The ship didn't leave after we got there for several hours, so we had some time, but I know I didn't realize that we wouldn't be back to spend more time in Trieste. As it was, we just got on the boat. (It was just nice to finally be off of the nightmare bus experience.) 

On the bus ride, Julie and I both agreed that we didn't want to do that (the bus) again, so she bought us plane tickets to go back to Germany--it would be expensive, but it would save us so much time and be much less painful. Our ship was scheduled to return in seven days at 7 am. We had a train to catch to Venice at around 8:15 am, and then we would have about an hour and a half till our plane left. It sounded like a plan. 

Our beautiful lunch on the ship with Trieste in the background.

Prepping for our ship safety drill.

Fancy ship beverages!

We had a wonderful lunch on the ship, and then Julie and I went off and took some dance classes. The ship had a wonderful Latin Dance Team. They taught one to two lessons a day, and these became very popular with Julie and I. We went to many of them. We knew all of their names--two guys and two girls. Roland, Camila, Stephanie, and Barnas. All of these guys were SO professional, very talented, and seriously spoke like at least five different languages each. They taught the lessons in all the languages, since they had pupils of every language. 

One of the classes, there was this little old woman who spoke, French, I think, and she joined the lesson late. She was having some trouble with the steps, so I helped her out. She really liked me and we hung out at the next dance class too. We didn't understand each other, but I was somehow able to help her understand. I felt that this was a super beneficial experience for my future as a teacher--kind of gave me experience teaching someone who doesn't speak English. I told Julie about Danielle because I knew she would love her. Julie did. She was so sweet.

That evening, the ship was was having a karaoke competition, so I went down for that. I had really been planning on singing "It's All Coming Back to Me" by Celine Dion, which was what I had been practicing, but that wasn't an option. I ended up going for "Heaven is a Place on Earth", which went pretty well. They said to come back the next night for another karaoke night, and they would select eight finalists to perform on the big stage for "The Voice of the Sea" competition. 

Split, Croatia

Our first day trip was in Split, Croatia. Julie and I took a bus to Krke National Park, which is covered in waterfalls! It was absolutely beautiful, and we had a wonderful time hiking the trails, and exploring the beautiful water areas. I wanted to go swimming, but Julie said it would be too cold at this time of year, and we also didn't have the time.

Julie & I at beautiful Krke National Park in Croatia!

Every night, we met awesome new people from other countries and ate fancy, amazing food at their elegant dining room. They offered a bread basket every night, which Julie and I took advantage of, and as soon as they offered a cheese plate on one of the nights, we were all about the cheese plate. We did a lot of walking on the trip, and stair climbing, but we also probably ate our weight in bread and cheese, so we probably really didn't lose any weight on this trip.

Julie wasn't able to make it the day before to karaoke since she was feeling tired, but she went this night. I signed up to sing another song, but then the woman in charge came and told me that I wouldn't be singing this night since I had already sung the night before, and that if more people don't sign up to sing, then there wouldn't even be a show. I was very concerned that there wouldn't be a show, so I told Julie she had to sing. She was not thrilled about this, but she finished her drink and went for it anyway, singing Avril Lavigne's "I'm With You." She did really well, even though she didn't think she did. 

Everyone who sang sat in the special chairs for the people who sang as they announced the eight finalists. I got called up, and so did Julie! We both made it to the final eight! We were taken to another room with the other finalists and given a sheet of songs to chose from--we were to pick two songs that we would practice and decide between to be our final song that we perform on the big stage. I picked "The Winner Takes it All" and "Bad Romance." Julie picked "Someone Like You" and "Stand By Me." She didn't realize that the "Someone Like You" was the Adele song--she thought it was a different one. Julie was still very angry at me for making her do this, promising to kill me in my sleep. lol (Oh sister love!)  

Kotor, Montenegro

We also did a ship excursion the next day in Montenegro. We took a boat to a tiny church island, "Our Lady of the Rocks". I believe the story goes that two brothers found a flag (or a cross... I can't remember which) in a rock off the coast of their little town of Perast and took it as a sign to build a church there, so they built an island of rocks by bringing the rocks over from Perast, then they built the church on it. They also built another island right next to the church island for the church garden.

The view from our boat tour.

Our Lady of the Rocks

The garden island for Our Lady of the Rocks

Inside of Our Lady of the Rocks

What was interesting about this little church was that it has a lot of weddings. The brides, instead of throwing their bouquet, hang it from the doorways in the church. It is supposed to bring fertility (or something...?) 

After visiting the little church, we went to Perast and checked out a military museum. Leaving the museum, we encountered a family of cats--a mother, father, and two babies. They were so sweet! Not like American cats, who are very rude and will run away, not letting you pet them. Julie and I petted the cats and held the babies. I had a special moment with one of them--so cute!!! I never wanted to leave the kittens. 

We went and had a crepe and a milkshake in Perast before taking the boat back to the ship.

This evening was the first rehearsal for "The Voice of the Sea," where we were supposed to sing each of the songs we picked with a live band, and decide which one we wanted to sing for the competition. This evening however, Julie wasn't feeling well and didn't want to go, so I went by myself for the rehearsal.

I sang Bad Romance first and really got into it! Several years ago, I taught myself the dance from the music video and I had this grand idea that I could sing and dance for the competition and surprise everyone, but the band was having a little trouble with the way the song was cut, and everyone kept telling me they liked my second song, The Winner Takes It All, better, so to honor my childhood, being raised on Abba, I went with that one. 

Katakolon/Olympia, Greece

The ship excursions were a little pricey, and we had only purchased a three pack--Olympia was not included, so we decided to explore on our own this day. 

We started out by walking around the town, checking out the shops. We found so many wonderful souvenirs in the shops--we spent a lot of money here. 

There were people offering bus rides to Olympia to see where the Olympic Games took place at a much discounted price than what was being offered on the ship. Since we still wanted to get the full historical experience, we paid the tour people and took a bus to Olympia. The guy took us outside of the gate of the area where the games took place, and we walked down to see the memorial for where the heart of the Frenchman who rebooted the Olympic Games was buried.

The thing about doing our own tour however was that it didn't include tickets to INSIDE where the actual games took place--we could just stand on the outside looking in. It also didn't include tickets to the Olympic museum either. So basically, we stood outside of a bunch of places looking in.

We did take a few cool pictures outside of the museum we're pretty proud of though, so that was cool. We walked around and went to the gift shops, buying a bunch of souvenirs. I got myself a shirt that says "Keep Calm and Fight for Sparta", which I thought was really neat because we were right by Sparta. The shop owner said that Sparta now exists only in name alone--none of the excitement and fighting that it was known for in ancient times.

That evening was the second practice, and the competition! I got dressed up in my fancy blue ballgown and did my hair, Julie went in jeans and a shirt. We both looked good! Julie sang both her songs and decided on Stand By Me, which she sounded really good singing--despite what she thinks.

Marco, Sabrina, Luciano, Daisy, and Julie and I. Marco and Daisy worked on the ship and were wonderful! Luciano and Sabrina were other finalists on "The Voice of the Sea!" 

We made friends with the other people in the competition, they were all very nice, and we were all very supportive of each other! There was even a British girl named Daisy who worked for the cruise ship as a performer who was super nice to us! Since most of the people on the cruise spoke other languages, it was me, Julie, and one other girl from New York who were the Americans of the competition.

I began to feel a little sea sick before the actual performance, but I got into it and I think I did pretty good. I was totally in my environment, performing. When the host asked me if I've ever performed on a stage that big before, I said no, because even though I had performed in musical theatre, I'd never done it on a stage as big as something like the Pantages! It was very exciting.

All of my coaches turned around and I picked Matthew, Daisy's English performing partner, as my coach. He was very sweet and supportive. When he picked me instead of the other girl, Mariella, I was like "Yay!" and I clapped. Which, in hindsight, was probably a stupid response, but in the moment, it's what happened. I should have hugged Mariella and told her she did a good job, but I wasn't thinking at the time. I immediately felt bad after when the moment was gone.

I made it to the final three and it was me, a Spanish girl named Christina, and an Italian guy named Jose. Jose was doing the cruise with his new wife as his honeymoon and sang "I Did It My Way" for the competition. The entire audience got voting devices and were allowed to vote on who they wanted to win the competition. Jose won the competition, but I was in the final three, which was very exciting! To even just get to sing in front of an audience that big, with a live band was a memorable experience I will cherish for my whole life! Especially the fact that I got to do it with my sister.

After the competition, for the rest of the cruise, people were coming up to us and telling us how well we did! Many of them didn't even speak English, but I could tell that was what they were talking about, through gestures, or someone who interpreted what they said. This whole trip has really given me an experience has really given me an experience for what it will be like for my ELL students, as a future teacher. It has really opened my eyes and made me see that our "English Only" policy is very ethnocentric and I don't think we're doing any of our students any favors with it. In fact, I think we should all learn more languages instead of trying to narrow it down to one. After this trip, I want to learn German, and Italian, and Spanish, and Greek. All of them!

That evening was the Latin Dance party. Julie and I went to that and practiced some of our new dancing skills! We even got to dance the macarena. It was a lot of fun!

Corfu, Greece

In Corfu, we went out exploring on our own. We paid for a "self guided" bus tour, which gave us some headphones so that we could listen to tour information as we rode a tour bus around and got on and off as we saw fit. 

I had really gotten into the whole "European Tea for Breakfast" thing and had had many glasses of tea that morning as we had decided to do breakfast in bed, and I could make myself as much hot tea as I wanted. I seriously had like, 5 or 6 cups. So we get on this tour bus, and it sits there for about 15 minutes. Right when it's about to go, I realize the grave mistake I had made having 5 or 6 cups of tea that morning, but the bus starts to take off and I realize I'm screwed. It was about a 20 minute drive to our first stop as I suffer in agony wishing I hadn't drank so much tea that morning, progressively hating everything more and more as Julie sits there making fun of me. 

We finally reach our first stop, and I race towards the closest shop, but alas, they do not have a restroom. They do not have one, but tell me that the hotel at the top of a tiny hill nearby has one, so I run up this hill and race towards the bathroom. I make it, and I'm very proud of myself. 

My post-bathroom "I made it!" picture lol

Julie and I decide to start by exploring the hotel we walked into a bit. There was a cat walking around, inside the hotel. He was a very friendly, sweet cat and ended up following us around as we explored the outside of the hotel and their pool area. We found another cat, thinking they might be friends--nope. Definitely not friends. Julie sat down by him to pet him and he chose that moment to pick a fight with our tour guide, managing to scratch Julie in the process. Not the best moment of the trip for her... 

We walked down a local hill and found a peer out to a small island with a church on it (another one--these things are pretty big in Europe it turns out...). On the way across the peer, a man with a boat offered us a ride to "Mouse Island" for a small fee. We didn't take him up on it at the time, but we took the ride on the way back. 

On the church island, there was a gift shop, and there were these two, tiny baby kittens sitting outside the gift shop. Julie and I each picked up one--they fit right in the palm of our hand! We carried the tiny babies around the gift shop, gathering more presents for people. We loved those tiny kitties. If we could take them home as our souvenirs, we would have, but they never would have made it past customs. :( So cute though!!!! Leaving the gift shop, we saw a large pile of cats right outside the church. It turns out, European cats are actually super chill and nice, unlike feral American cats. 

Julie's new friend--one of the kittens we carried around the gift shop!

We took the boat over to, yet another tiny island with a church on it, Mouse Island. This church was on top of a hill at the center of the island. The island was covered in greenery and surrounded by rocks. At the church was another gift shop. I had only seen a dog and a cat on the island, so I asked the shop owner "Where's the mouse?" He told me "Mouse has the day off. Today we have dog and cat." That was cute and funny. 

Julie and I walked around the island and hung out on the rocks for a bit. We Facetimed our mom and told her she needs to come see the beautiful world out there! 

Julie and the gorgeous Corfu sea!
Mouse Island

At the Corfu fountain with the castle in the background!

Eating our Greek lunch outside--like Europeans! 

Coming back from our day at Corfu--look at our gorgeous ship! 

We came back from the islands and took the bus back to the town with gift shops. We explored the shops and had a Greek lunch of chicken gyro's. Julie bought some Greek shoes, and I bought a beautiful Greek dress! I was going to get the cheapest Greek dress, which wasn't bad, but nothing special. Julie said get something I would wear and wanted, so we paid a little more and got a gorgeous Greek dress that I love--it's my new favorite dress. <3 So glad we got that one! Everyone who sees it tells me they love it! 

That evening was the formal night on the ship! I had bought several new formal gowns for Julie and I just for the trip, and Julie wore a stunning, slinky brown dress that looked kind of like something Rose would wear on the Titanic (.......Ok, yeah, it's a good thing we didn't sink.....), and I wore a red gown that I had purchased for the trip. We looked so good in our formal wear! I did our hair, and I did Julie's hair in a french twist, Cinderella-do! She looked so beautiful! 

Check out Julie's Cinderella hair! 

Formal night! Looking good. 

All set for the masquerade! 

Masquerade Dance Party!

That was also "Ladies Night/Masquerade" on the ship and we went down to the dance floor, where all the guys who worked on the ship were dressed in tux's and wore masks. The guys asked us to dance, and we got raffle tickets every time we danced. We didn't win any of the prizes (they had a really cool straightener we didn't win.. oh well. :) ), but it was a lot of fun--especially to get  to practice some of the dances we had been practicing with the Latin Dance crew. 

Dubrovnik, Croatia

This was the day I had been waiting for ever since Julie told me about the trip, and that we would be visiting the place where they filmed Game of Thrones--DUBROVNIK!!! When I found this out, I hurried up and I made myself a Cersei Lanister gown so that I could wear it the day we visited Dubrovnik, and I did! I had curled my hair the night before and I got up early, got dressed and did my hair and makeup so that I was decked out in my best Cersei Lanister cosplay for the visit. 

Having a nice desert breakfast in Dubrovnik before our tour!

These steps have been used in several scenes, but lead the way to the place where the Purple Wedding was filmed.

On our way to the fort where many scenes were filmed, also, you can see Blackwater Bay in the background. It was so windy that day! My dress blew up! It was a little awkward. lol

This picture is seriously perfect because I'm walking the way Cersei was when she was confronted to be arrested. 

The little peer, where Sansa likes to look at ships, right in Blackwater bay. 

Cersei gazes up the steps towards her father's funeral. 

Walking up the steps to get ready to do my walk of shame! 

Who gets to sit on the Iron Throne? Cersei, presently. 

I wore it out around the town, and we took a Game of Thrones walking tour--it was amazing! I didn't notice at the time, I was too busy working on being in character, but Julie said that people pointed and whispered about me as I walked around, and one guy in our tour group was taking pictures of me at each of the locations, to make the visit more meaningful. XD This made me super happy to find out! Very flattering. It was amazing. 

The best part was when we got to the "Cersei Shame" steps. I just had to reenact the scene, and (fully clothed), I walked down the stairs. People in the crowd started yelling "Shame!" at me, and it was very magical! I started out with a straight face, but when people started yelling, I couldn't contain my excitement. Julie filmed it and she said I was much too happy to be being shamed. 

This night, at dinner, they had a performance from some of the wait staff. They had a guy stand on the balcony of the dining hall and lip sync "Volarie". This song had been played repeatedly on the trip and had developed a special meaning for me, since it represented the most exciting week of my life (so far) that I got to share with my sister, so I ended up crying. :') Everyone waved their napkins in the air in a helicopter motion. I believe they did this this night since Venice, Italy was where we would be going the next day. 

Venice, Italy

We had paid for a tour and gondola ride on the ship, but it was canceled on us, which was frustrating--so we went and got our own tour and gondola ride. We did a lot of shopping in Venice, and walked around all over the city. It's a beautiful city! We had several Italian meals while we were here too, which was pretty cool.

Enjoying our drinks in front of the Piazza San Marco, where the bones of Saint Mark are buried! 

Enjoying pizza in Italy--you have to! 

Italian toilets... are really close to the ground. 

We learned a lot of really interesting facts on the tour, like that the whole city is slowly sinking into the sea! That made me sad, and very glad that I had visited before this happened. The city floods all the time, so it's residents don't live on the bottom floor, they have to live on an upper floor. There are no cars in the city, everyone walks to work. Because of this, if someone needs something taken into their apt, a refrigerator or something, they have to pay someone to wheel it through the city, then, they have to use a rope and haul it through one of the upper floor windows. Because of this, many people are moving out of the city. This is so crazy and sad, but I understand the inconvenience issue. 

We also learned that it is the city of glass, and masks. Venice was the first city to think to use glass in windows and mirrors! They make their own special glass called Murano glass. Julie and I both got heart Murano glass necklaces to remember our trip to Venice by! 

The masks are pretty cool because when Venice first became a city and started having their famous masquerades, everyone wore a plain, white mask. This equalized the people--because everyone had a plain white mask, no one knew who was rich and who was poor. I thought this was really neat! Over time though, the masks became much more elaborate, and now, the equalization factor isn't as much in play, but their masks are very impressive! 

After the tour, we had a gondola ride through the city and in the Grand Canal--it was wonderful! So awesome to have gotten to do that! 

Enjoying our gondola ride! 

We found a shop there that had these really amazing, Murano glass wax seals, and Julie bought me some for our wedding invitations! I absolutely love it! We got them in royal blue, one of our wedding colors, and we got an "R". Julie said I have to switch to his last name now that we have an "R" seal! :) 

A beautiful site from the bus-boat back to the ship. Bye Venice! 

And back to Trieste, Italy

The night before we docked to get off, we got our itinerary for our disembarking day and it said that we would be docking at 8 am... well, this was different from the information Julie had initially received in her e-mail about the cruise, which said that we would be docking at 7 am. We had our train ride and plane tickets planned around being able to get off the ship at 7 am! We had talked to the lady at the front desk, who said that the passport security people would be able to give us our passports at 7 am, and we could get off as soon as we got them. So the next morning, we waited for over an hour to get our passports, as the guys looked at them in the glass room, not looking very productive. 

We were fuming mad that we were misinformed about everything. We did not want to take that awful bus ride back, but this situation was also very stressful and unpleasant. 

They finally open the room at 8 am, I get them to give us our passports, and we race off the boat. Julie realized that we would miss the train we had planned to make at this point, and that there was a chance we could still catch our plane if we could catch the next train, so we walked over to the train station. 

We get off the train and take a cab to the airport, but upon arriving there, find a ridiculously long line just to drop off our luggage and pick up our tickets. We determined that it really was no use, and that we were going to miss the flight. Julie got us some new tickets, for a later flight, and we waited around and finally got on the plane. It was a very upsetting time, and a terrible ending to a wonderful trip. 

To make matters worse, when we get on the plane, we are in an emergency exit row, so they tell me I can't have my bag with me--my bag which has all my plane entertainment in it. I resign myself to the awful situation and put my pillow in my lap, and my head on my pillow. I'm pretty upset now about the awful day and want to cry. 

Things can always get worse. A flight attendant tells me that I don't look so good and I can't sit in the emergency exit row if I can't help people get off in case of an emergency. I tell her that I'm fine, and that I'm just having a really bad day. She says she has a different seat for me, and that I still have to move, because she has determined that I don't look so good. 

So now I'm even more upset. I sit by the two strangers, away from mys sister. They probably were like "What's wrong with her?" Julie said that the annoying, terrible stewardess kept looking at her like "Are you sick too? Do we need to move you as well?" She was mad. I was mad. Getting back (and getting there too!) was a bad experience--but the trip was wonderful. 

Julie said that she is going to complain to the ship company for the incorrect information that they gave us, and also to the airline company, for their unkind stewardesses. I hope she did. 

Other than the unpleasantness of getting to the cruise, and coming back from the cruise, it was an amazing trip! I am so glad that Julie and I got to experience it together. :) <3 

Save the Dates!

We finally did it! We finally sat down and did the Save the Dates! Yes, we are missing a few people for one reason or another--lack of a current address being the primary reason, but for the most part, most people will get theirs in the next few days! 

I am so excited for everyone to see them! Once I know people will be getting them, I will post all the pictures from all our photo shoots that I HAVE BEEN DYING TO SHOW YOU FOR MONTHS!!! 

Josh still hasn't done his post on asking his guys yet. We have a few pictures from a few of them that we can post when he finally does that post. I'm excited for you to see how excited they were when they received their groomsman proposal presents! 

We paid for a "Bridal Party House" in Vegas using AirBnb. It is going to be so great to stay there--it is beautiful, and they have an incredible pool! 

I will be going to visit my sister in Germany on Wednesday, so I won't have access to the internet to see how excited everyone is about the invites and the pictures. I expect there will be a lot of activity to look forward to when I get back, but I am so excited about this trip with Julie. 

We are going on a cruise together, and the cruise stops every day (for 7 days) in different places. It even stops at the location where they film King's Landing for Game of Thrones! I did something VERY special for this stop, and I can't wait for everyone to see. I will definitely post pictures when I get back. 

Well, have to go. I've had a tiring day--spent all day Save the Date-ing. I can't believe it's finally my turn to send out Save the Date's (I keep wanting to abbreviate that and call them STD's, but... well, you know.) 

Have a good evening! I will keep you posted on things, and keep a look out for the links on the right for the pictures from the Disney photo shoots! -------> --------> --------->

Wedding Dance & Save the Dates!

So much excitement to share! I know it's been awhile since I checked in, but there has been a lot going on!

Wedding Dance

So, as I have forgotten to tell you, multiple times, Josh and I have been taking ballroom dance classes through Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Chandler. It has been a WONDERFUL experience! What started out as a birthday Groupon, ended up becoming five private lessons with their wedding specialist, Bo (he's amazing! We love him!) We've learned the waltz, rumba, swing, and foxtrot, and I have to say, we've gotten pretty good! We can do turns and everything! Bo even choreographed our wedding song! It is amazing! We love it! We are so excited for you all to see it, but of course, we can't tell you what it is because we want it to be a surprise. :D <3 

Save the Dates

We finally finished our final photo shoot at the beginning of the month, got our pictures back, and created our Save the Dates! We have ordered them, they should be coming in soon, along with a return address stamp (that seems to be taking forever), and we just need to finish compiling our guest list and get some Save the Dates out! If you receive a Save the Date, if you would please RSVP (whether you can go, or cannot go), that would be great. You see, I've finally started to look into the cost of actual invitations, and (unless you yourself have purchased, or even looked into the cost of wedding invitations), you would be amazed at how much those suckers cost. Our Save the Dates are so cute though, I am so sure you all will love them! We will even have a STD packing party! (lol) Which brings me to my next topic! 

House guest! 

On Sunday, my cousin Nadia called me and told me she needed a place to stay for a few weeks, so we told her to come on down (she was coming all the way from CA!) She got a really great job right away and has been doing really well! It's been so great to spend time with her, doing girl-stuff. <3 We have also started working on her Princess In Waiting dress, and it's coming along nicely! :) Lots of work, but it will be worth it. On Saturday, she and I went out with Gage, Josh & I's friend and one of his groomsmen, to go sing karaoke at Fuller's. I sang Belle, from B&TB. I must say, it was not my most shining karaoke moment, but it was fun none the less. 

Surprise Trip

My sister and POH (Princess of Honor) Julie is in Germany for the year and she had a big trip planned for someone to go visit her, however it didn't end up working out with the person. She didn't want it to go to waste, so she invited me to go! I didn't think it would be possible, because of school, but amazingly, everything seemed to just line up! I was able to make arrangements with school, and work, and with my service learning, and it's actually happening! I'm going to Germany, taking a 12 hour bus ride with my sister to Italy, and then going on a week long cruise! I don't know much about the cruise, but I know it goes to Croatia, and it stops at the site where they film the King's Landing scenes in GOT!!! I got so excited when I heard this! I feel like I should make myself a Cersei Lannister dress, and get all Cersei'd out for when we get there and take pictures so that everyone on FB can be jelly. (Ha) Who knows if I will have the time for this though. In order to make the trip work, I'm super cramming with homework! I have a half-semester class that ends in the middle of the trip, so I really have to get to work to get this all done! It would be cool if that did happen though. I am so excited, I really can't believe this is happening! 

So much excitement in the future! 

Another Wedding NIghtmare

This time, I think the setting was actually the venue that we got. The woman who manages the place was there.

The last time that we talked to her in real life, we asked about a dress rehearsal. She said that we didn't need one because she would be there and would tell everyone when it was their turn to walk down the aisle. I told her that since our wedding was a musical, with singing and dancing, it would be good if we had a dress rehearsal and she saw my point. She said that we could have one for an hour the day before, which is great and exactly what we needed.

In the dream, she was there telling the bridal party to "Go! Go! Go!" as if she were telling them to parachute off an airplane--like in the movies. It wasn't relaxing, it was very stressful.

So the bridal party is pretty much racing down the aisle.

Finally, I come out, and am crying because no only did no one do all the singing and dancing I had planned, but also, there was no photographer or videographer. No one was documenting our wedding--so it was going to be like it never happened. The whole thing was not at all what I had planned and wanted. I was so upset, I (again--I always do this in these dreams) tell everyone to go home, and we will try this again, another time. A THIRD TIME. In this dream, this was the second attempt at a wedding--probably a sequel to one of my other many wedding nightmares.

This dream is obviously playing off my insecurities. No, we haven't booked a photographer or videographer yet, but that's ok! We have time. The wedding is 11 months away now (as Nadine pointed out to me yesterday). We don't want to jump into hiring someone super expensive. We want to be as reasonable as we can, but still get what we want.

In regards to the singing and dancing, I've been thinking about that lately. I found karaoke versions of the songs, and I've been choreographing it in my mind (not on paper, but I have ideas!) I need to do that though, because the sooner I can, the sooner they all can start practicing, so that they can be ready when the time comes. It's hard since we are all in different places, so far away. :(

I am definitely going to try to get the guys to do a little singing and dancing too. It's not a ton--none of it is unmanageable for any of them! About one and a half songs is all I'm really asking. Josh says that he won't make his guys do anything they don't want to do, but I'm the bride. I feel like they will naturally just want to make me happy--or at least I hope that is the case.

Speaking of the guys--Josh is finally doing that! I am so glad. He really needed to get on that; it's only taken him over a year... he's doing it now though. And we are going to get all their headshots and bios for the wedding site! And we are going to have two more photo shoots! And by the end of September, our goal is to have all our Save the Date's out. :)

I also never told you about the dance classes! Josh and I have started taking dance classes at Fred Astaire Dance Studios. We have an instructor, Bo, who is super fun to work with! He has been teaching us waltz, swing, fox trot, and rumba, and we are getting pretty good! We just had our third lesson last Monday! I can't wait to go to my cousin Teresa, and my friend Nadine's weddings in November and show off our amazing dance moves!

So exciting that things are finally moving along!

PA Vaca

I've wanted to write so many times this vacation, but there was just so much to say, and so little time! I did post the pictures from the shower, which was wonderful! Here is a breakdown of the whole trip. :)

Bridal Shower - August 12th, 2016

The shower was amazing! It was hosted by my mom and cousin Liz, who went to school with my mom and married my cousin Kevin (making her my cousin by marriage.) It was beautiful! Liz made the centerpieces, which completely blew me away! Three Cinderella ones, a Rapunzel, an Ariel, and a Belle. She gave them to me to keep, which I love, and we can use at the shower that Julie will throw me before the wedding. I have heard so many good things about them from a lot of people.

The food was delicious, made largely by Liz, and her mother, and my mom also. It was a ham dinner, and my mom purchased two platters of fancy cookies! The cake had Disney Princesses on it. It said "Congratulations Josh and Tina!" and the Sam's Club staff called mom to verify that it was, in fact, the cake that she wanted for what appeared to be an engagement. She told them that yes, she had selected the correct cake. (lol) 

We played a candy wedding match game, "Over & Under"--a Little Mermaid game where guests guess if the number provided is over, or under what is true, Pass the Gift, and a "Name that Bride" game that was played at my mom's bridal shower! What was really interesting is that my mom's bridal shower was at that same place when she married my dad! 

I designed the candy bar favors, which were very tasty! 

Everyone LOVED my dress (shorter 2015 Cinderella) that I was wearing that I made! No one could believe that I had made it. :) I wore my glass slippers until I got blisters, then I put on my $5 man sandals from Walmart.

It was so nice to see so many of my friends and family! I felt so loved and supported! I got some very special gifts, and a lot of cash gifts and gift cards. I deposited all the money in Josh & I's house savings account. 

Towards the end, after the gifts, someone said "Speech!", so I started with the "Four score and seven years ago..." speech, but that's as far as I got, because I honestly don't remember the whole thing. If I kept going, I knew they would figure that out quickly, so I transitioned into my real speech, which was definitely not planned, but I was just really happy and grateful for my shower. 

Family Reunion - August 13th, 2016

The family reunion was great! I loved seeing so many of my relatives in one place. It was a nice opportunity to catch up with many of them, and to meet some people I had never met!

Some of it was sad because my uncle George has cancer, and they believe this will be his last visit. They had a sing along and his sons led everyone in singing a song called "This Old House". That was sad. 

Josh had a great time visiting with the aunts and cousins, and regaled them all with the tale of our first date, and getting engaged. They all loved him--he was a hit! Josh did so great, I was very proud of him.

There was a silent auction, and Josh and I bid on and won the Istanbul basket that my cousin Kathy put together--that was pretty cool!

After the reunion was winding down, my cousin Jake and his family invited us to go jump off "the cliffs" (some big rocks at a deep creek). Josh had never done this, so we decided to go. It was cold at first, but a lot of fun!

Day with Mom - August 14th, 2016

Sunday, the guys left. They ended up being able to give up their seats for $500 + airline money, which was amazing, and super exciting! The downside--they spent their day at the Pittsburgh airport, but they were fine. For $500? So worth it.

Mom and I went down to Altoona and spent the day going to David's Bridal to look at potential Mother of the Bride dresses for her, we went to the bookstore (an activity we both love!), had dinner at Olive Garden, and ended the day at home, watching episodes of Outlander, Season 2. It was a great  day. 

Styx Concert - August 15th, 2016

 Monday, mom and I got ready and drove to Lancaster for a Styx concert! We had dinner at Shady Maple--the Disneyland of buffets. I cannot say enough wonderful things about Shady Maple. It is about the size of a hotel, and they have so many different types of AMAZING food.

For desert, I got a few different things, but I decided to be daring and try something with a weird name that I had never been bold enough to try before--Shoo Fly Pie. Turned out to be the best desert there. I loved it! It made me wish I wasn't super stuffed, so that I could have more of it. I did get the recipe on a post card from the gift shop though, so I can make it someday! 

Speaking of their gift shop... it is also huge. It has so many different aspects, and items, my mind can't even comprehend. My favorite things there were the Disney Princess figurines! Of course, I wanted to buy them all, but of course, they were way too expensive. My next thought, was to buy one (the princess of each of my Princesses in Waiting) for each of my bridesmaids, but again, too expensive... They also had Disney Princesses as BRIDES. I went nuts over this. They even had a few of the Disney Princess cake toppers I have been obsessing over online, however I decided not to purchase any at this time for financial reasons. 

I also loved the Thomas Kinkade square paintings of all the Disney Princesses for $90! That was an amazing deal, although I did not purchase any. Loved looking at them though! They have three for 2015 Cinderella, that I loved! 

After we managed to pull ourselves away from the gift shop, we went to the Styx concert. We had FIFTH ROW CENTER SEATS!!!! Mind blowing. I loved it so much! I was standing, rocking out, most of the show. Unfortunately, I did figure out that when the band members were flicking their pics into the audience, they mostly only went as far as the 3rd or 4th row, however, after the show, I went to the stage and asked a roadie for a pic and he gave me a TOMMY SHAW PIC!!! My mom has always loved Tommy Shaw, and I'll admit, that kinda spilled over to me too.

Mom and I both got shirts, and after the show, we waited out back for the band. I met a nice girl named Erin, who also loved Styx, and she helped me get Lawrence and Ricky's signature on my shirt, but the rest of the band didn't come out while I was there.

We left and started driving up to New York, but we were getting tired. When we started looking for a hotel, we stopped at three that were either sold out, too expensive, or both. Ironically, when we looked at where we were, we realized that we were only about 20 minutes away from where my Aunt Ruth lived. We called her at 1 am and she answered and said we could come stay with her, so we headed over. Their new house was very nice and had a huge basement, full of nice rooms. We got to stay there--it was so nice to finally crash! They were very gracious hosts, and the next morning, they gave us breakfast before we headed off to NYC! 

NYC - August 16th, 2016

The first thing I did that morning was enter us in the online Hamilton lottery--both mom and me. We spent all day holding our breath for the drawing at 4pm, but in the meantime, in NYC, we bought some backup tickets. We went to the TKTS booth in the center of Time Square to get some discounted tickets. If we weren't going to see Hamilton, I was open to any show mom wanted to see, so we got tickets to On Your Feet--The Gloria and Emilio Estefan Musical. 

While we waited for word on Hamilton, and our show, we went to Madam Tussauds Wax Museum and took a ton of pictures with some of our favorite celebrities! We did that on our first NYC visit, and it was really nice to do it again. While waiting in line for our turn to sit in the oval office with the Obamas, we learned that we did not win Hamilton. I was heartbroken, but decided that, in order to do my best for the country, I must carry on. We'll just see it when it goes on tour. 

We had a nice (EXPENSIVE) dinner of appetizers at the Applebee's next door before we headed over to our show. 

The show was actually a lot of fun! I recognized a few of the songs, and right before intermission, for the "Conga" song, the cast came into the audience, and since we were orchestra, aisle seats, they pulled me into the aisle to conga with them! Of course, being an awkward white girl who had no idea what she was doing, my conga was rather less than impressive, but it was still a lot of fun!

Bushkill Falls - August 17th, 2016

After the show, we decided to leave the city to try to get a better priced hotel. We had been planning on going to Bushkill Falls on the way back, so I found a hotel called "Bushkill Falls Inn" and booked us a room there. It was $100, and mom asked me if I didn't want to check around before I booked it. It was a pretty good deal, and I was not up for trying multiple places. 

We made it there only to discover that we made a really great decision to stay there. It was kind of a resort, and the room we got had a beautiful Jacuzzi! We were in love! Unfortunately, the walls weren't as thick as we might have liked, and the people next door were clomping around like small elephants early in the morning--ug. Other than that though, we hit the jackpot!

We got a nice breakfast and went and hiked Bushkill Falls! We had done this on our last visit to NYC, so it was really nice to do it again. The last time we did it, I had taken a picture that had won me 1st place in the photo contest at work, so that was a good memory!

After the hike, we drove home and got my favorite PA pizza at Italian Village Pizza, and watched some more Outlander. 

Flight to Vegas - August 18th, 2016

The next day, mom drove me down to the airport. I barely made my flight, but it was ok because there were 30 available seats and I wouldn't have been able to give up my seat anyway. :/ Hey, at least the guys were able to. I had a safe flight to Vegas, where my Aunt Annette and cousin Joey picked me up from the airport. 

Spa Day - August 19th, 2016

Josh was going to drive down and meet me Friday evening, and the plan was to spend time with my cousins, Teresa and Mary, but sadly, their dad died and they had to drive down to CA. I was alone, but they set up a beautiful schedule for me, that they completely covered, including a massage, facial, mani & pedi, breakfast, lunch, and a nap. <3 It was amazing and I had a wonderful day of relaxation.

Around 3 pm, my cousin Christy picked me up and I spent the evening with her and her beautiful family. This was nice because I had never really gotten to spend quality time with them. They were babysitting her nephew, Liam, a nine month old who was six days older than her son Ezra. I got to play with them, and her two-year-old daughter, Emma. They were wonderful little kids and I enjoyed spending time with them. Emma even helped me do the dishes! I was super impressed because she actually really helped--not that thing that happens when you are letting little kids pretend to help, she was really helpful! 

We watched Zootopia, and Christy's husband, Aaron took me back to Mary's apt, where Josh and I were staying. I watched some Netflix until Josh got there and we went to sleep. 

Bridal Show - August 20th, 2016

We woke up and got ready the next morning, then I took Josh to the wonderful breakfast restaurant that Mary had me go to the day before for my spa day--Egg Works. I got the biscuits and gravy (same as the day before) again, and it was delicious (again). Josh really liked it too!

Then, we drove over to the show, and were one of the first ones in, so we got a free bag! It was so nice to see our venue there: The Ritz of Las Vegas. We explained to Gloria what we were there for (photography, videography, and hair & makeup), and she introduced us to a wonderful vendor for the hair and makeup--great deal. Excited to use her. Gloria also said to write to her today (Monday, which I just did), and get the info for a photographer & videographer that she knows.

We waited around because we were entered in a contest, so we waited till after the fashion show--we didn't win, but oh well. 

Found some good deals on suits, if Josh decides to have his guys do that. Of course, I would love them all to be Disney Princes, but if I were to make those, it would be a lot of work. :/ Also, Josh isn't too keen on that idea. He said he wouldn't make his guys do that if they didn't want to. He also said I could be in charge of my side, but he was in charge of his side, and he got to make those decisions. Ok, I guess, but I would love, bare minimum, to have them do the Superhero shirts under their tux's--that would be cool. Princesses & Superheros, I could deal with. :) 

We went and got some boba tea after that, hung out, got dinner. Mary got home late and it was nice to spend some time with her--she's one of my Princesses in Waiting.

We left the next day--back from our wonderful vacation to our real lives. 

It's ok though because there are many things to look forward to in the future. :)


P.S. I almost forgot to mention the best part of my trip! It's this little treasure right here:

She lights up my life. <3 Her name is Chupakaya and I love her SO MUCH. 

The Best Laid Plans (Part 1)

The reason why this post is (Part 1) is because, with so many big events coming up, I would like to reserve the right to use this title again on a future post.

I'm finally in PA! The big east coast shower is tomorrow and I am SO EXCITED!!!

Today we were supposed to take round two of the engagement pictures. Before we did so, we had planned to go to a water park out here with mom during the day, pictures in the evening. It was planned to go smoothly, here is how it went.

We all get ready and head over to the water park. We buy our ticket and walk in. As we are walking through the gate, it starts to rain, and within minutes, before we even encounter any of the water park rides, a voice comes over the loud speakers advising everyone to leave the pools, and that they will re-open 30 minutes after the last lightening.

Well, we were not happy. We go straight back to the woman who sold us our tickets and requested a refund, since we were only going to be able to be there two hours anyway (before we have to go home and get ready for the engagement pictures), and they tell us we have to go to guest relations, but they don't think they do that.

We go to guest relations, and they say they can't do that. They call a manager over, who was very disconnected and just intent on telling us no, and that they plan to re-open the rides shortly anyway. We waited around for another hour and the rain did not let up, but only got worse. Josh, Daniel, and mom tried to make the best of it by talking and sharing stories, but I was rather upset. I felt bad because the water park was kind of my idea, and I shouldn't have even pushed it when it was looking like we could only be there two hours anyway.

They eventually acknowledged that it wasn't going to get better, and gave us passes to come back. Sadly, Daniel and Josh won't be able to make it again this trip, but mom and I might. I don't know yet, we'll see what happens.

We did go and pick up the princess cake for my shower instead, then we went home.

I spent several hours curling my hair and getting dolled up. The rain had stopped, and the forecast said it wasn't supposed to be raining when we scheduled the pictures for that evening.

We stopped at Sheetz on the way to the photo shoot location.

I love Sheetz. That place is like the Disney World of gas stations. I took this pic of Josh and I in the car--I thought it was a pretty good teaser of our upcoming pictures.

Well, we get to the location, and it starts to rain. The photographer takes one picture, and then it starts to pour. We are all hiding in what little bit of cover we can as we all proceed to get soaking wet. As we try to remain dry, we make plans with the photographer to meet tomorrow morning, early, and try for the pictures again.

All that time spent on my hair--wasted. I sure hope it doesn't rain again tomorrow!

August 3rd, 2016

So much continues to happen since I last posted! It's interesting, giving ourselves two years to plan this thing--it allows us to be more casual and laid back about it. Here are some updates!

Anniversary! 

Josh and I had our -1 anniversary on Friday! Some people were confused by this, let me explain. In one year (from July 29th, 2016), we will get married, making it our 0 anniversary. One year from that, we will have our 1 year anniversary, etc. That makes this, our -1 anniversary.  To celebrate (and also to celebrate the fact that I finally, after studying all summer, passed all of the tests I need to pass to be a middle school teacher!) we went out to this fabulous new pizza place we discovered, Nello's. Their pizza is as good as CPK!

It was there that I gave him the presents I had been saving for him for a special occasion! I had redeemed my "Well-Bucks" at work for a few things he might like... Ok, honestly, it was one thing I KNEW he would like (a Cuisinart pan), and two things that I thought might be useful to all of us (a sandwich maker, and an apple peeler). Him and Daniel got a good laugh out of it since they thought the presents were really bad.

I know I will probably get him something much nicer for one of our future anniversaries--we have so many!

September 5th, 2011: the day became boyfriend and girlfriend
October 5th, 2011: the day we met
August 28th, 2015: the day he proposed to me at Disney World
July 29th, 2017: the day (in the future) we get married

It's nice to have so many reasons to celebrate! It gives us more opportunities to get anniversary presents from restaurants for free.

Dresses

I finished Katelin's dress! Katelin is one of Josh's sisters. It's gorgeous, I can't stop looking at it! When she came down for the baby shower of Josh's other sister, Joelle, she tried it on, and loved it!! There were a few things I needed to fix, which I did surprisingly quickly! It's good to go now, and I'm so excited. I'm holding it for her till she visits again in December. 

I finished Nadine's dress. It's so gorgeous, I can't stop looking at it! I look forward to her trying it on. This dress will definitely be the hottest dress--which may be hard since we're getting married in July in Vegas, but hopefully it won't be too bad since we'll be inside most of the time. 

Nadia's is still waiting for the sewing to start, but it is cut. Susanna's is actually getting pretty close to being finished. I think we just need one more sewing day to be done! I'm very excited to finish hers. Mary and Michael are having theirs made, Julie's needs to be fixed, but other than that, is good, and we have to wait until after Joelle has the baby to figure out what we are going to do for her dress. 

Bridal Party

Josh finally asked the first of his guys--Daniel, my brother! It was really awesome, he took him out to a really awesome comic book store and asked him. I made these really awesome labels for him to use. 

He put the lables on these bottles of alcohol he's going to give some of his guys. He has a few guys he might do something different for, but I thought the idea was super cute. I told him--you can't just ASK, you have to give them a cute present too! (I did!) 

We asked my cousin, Stephen, and Josh's cousin, Sarah, to be our usher and usherette. We want them to dress in our colors, and to be included. 

 

We asked my little girl cousin, R., and are going to ask my step-brother, Darian, to read a passage during the ceremony, and to hand out bubbles at the reception. We also want them to dress in our colors and be included. 

We asked Josh's little cousins, Madison and AJ, to be our flower girl and ring bearer. These two will go along with our Disney theme, they're very excited!! 

 

East Coast Shower

My East Coast Bridal Shower that my mom is throwing me is next week! We go visit her a week from today--I'm so excited! 

I was really unsure what I would wear--first, I thought I would find something and a thrift shop, but when I was in the mood to shop for this, no one was able to go with me, so that never came to fruition. Then, I had the idea that I could just wear the white dress I used as a bridal gown for my April Fools Day pictures years ago, but that is in Josh's parent's rental storage place. It would probably be a bit of a pain to go find it. 

I finally decided to just make it. I thought I would make a knee length kind of version of the 2015 Cinderella (blue) dress. I thought it would come out as kind of a cute, tea dress kind of thing--I was wrong. It's VERY poofy, and VERY glittery. The guys HATE the glitter. They say it is all over the house. Daniel has taken to regularly showing me the glitter on his feet, and counting the large ones. 

Finishing  it made me kind of sad that I didn't make it full length. I put in so much work, and it's not even the full costume, however it's still very poofy. Not what I expected, but still pretty. I also looked up a video of how to do her hair from the movie--it's pretty easy. :) I'm excited to see what people think of it. I will post pictures of the shower when it happens.

Pictures

In May, Julie did our first photo shoot. I can't remember if I told you, but Josh and I are (were) doing pictures as all the Disney couples, as I made the costumes, and we were going to send out different save the dates to everyone featuring a different Disney couple. 

After our first shoot, Josh put his foot down. He said he is only going to do three more shoots. I really wanted to do all of them, but who knows, maybe we can do more down the line. I'm thinking I might be able to talk him into one Disney couple photo shoot a year....

Anyway, our next one is next week! I won't tell you who we're doing, but it's exciting! I found someone for at least our 3rd shoot, quite possibly our 4th, and he seems to want to do our wedding too, so who knows--maybe we found our wedding photographer? 

I am still working on Josh's outfits for the 3rd and 4th shoot. Josh needs to buy a belt and shoes for our shoot next week--I really hope he remembers to do that! 

Josh wants to get out our Save the Dates probably in October. We started collecting addresses and actually got quite a lot, so that's good! 

Anyway, I think that's a pretty great update for now! I will let you know as more exciting updates develop. :) 

<3 Tina