Swimming and Shopping

This morning I got up and bummed around for a bit. Then Brandon and I went back to the Poly and laid around the pool there for a bit. Then we walked on the beach area, but it got super hot so we left. Plus, we had to get to work. So when we got to West Clock, we dropped by costuming. I ordered a new name tag. I got one with Franklin, Tennessee on it. I was sick of people asking me what part of Kentucky I was from. I had some time to kill before I had to clock in so I went and walked the land. Brandon met up with me in Liberty Square and we headed over to Thunder. Brandon new someone working so we got some re-ads. We jumped on Thunder, but then Brandon had to go to work. So I walked over to Splash to see if Adam was working. And he was. He was standing outside the entrance. So I chatted with him for a bit, but then I eventually had to head to work. 

Work was pretty normal. Nothing too exciting. There were not any exciting stories from today, but we seemed a little slow. There always seemed to be chairs open, which is weird. 

Same and I ERed and headed to the Florida Mall. Sam wanted to see if she could find something to wear to formal tomorrow. She ended up getting a dress from American Eagle. We swung by Publix on the way back. Sam got some Hamburger Helper, but I had to teach her how to cook it haha. 

Back to Florida

I got up this morning and finished packing. Mom and I went over to Providence so I could go to the bank finally. Then we ran into New York and Company and I got a few new clothes. Then we went and ate Panera because Mom and had never been there. It was pretty good. Then we just walked around Target and Dick’s looking for some fun pool stuff, but we didn’t find any. Then we had to leave so I could get to the airport to catch my flight. I made it and just hung out in the airport because I made it through security in record time. The flight was good. 

Brandon picked me up from the airport and headed back to Patterson. I dropped my stuff off and then I went and met his new roommates and new apartment. One of them has a high school musical pillow and bed spread. That was interesting. Then we took one of his friends to Verizon so she could get a new phone charger. Apparently, Verizon had sent her the wrong one or something. We got back and I changed into some jeans because it was getting cool outside. 

Brandon and I then went and ate at Captain Cook's at the Poly. It was pretty good. Then we just walked around the resort. It really is a pretty resort. Then we just headed back to the apartment and that was pretty much it. 

Main Street Festival

I got up the next morning and just laid around the house for a bit. We had another squirrel in the trap so we had to deport another. Then I got my stuff together and Dad took me over to Memi’s. I met mom there and then all three of us headed over to the Main Street Festival.

I love the Main Street Festival. I didn’t make it to the carnival this year, but we got to walk around to all the booths. I got some roasted corn, which is always amazing. I could have eaten that all day. I also got a cute little frame that says Disney Memories, which I think I will be able to put to good use. A lot of the same crafts people were there again this year. There were a lot of photography and jewelry booths. After we walked around for a couple hours, we went and dropped Memi off at her house. She made us some chicken, carrots and potato salad! YUM! I have missed potato salad. After we ate, Mom and I headed home.

Duane was there with Matt when we got home. We ended up just doing some work around the pool. I helped mom pressure wash the deck a little bit and put together a torch. Then Duane and Matt decided to go fishing off the dock. Duane caught a fish and came up to show us. He put it on the ground for the pups to see. They were freaking out and really didn’t know what to make of it. Then somehow the fish got off the hook so Duane had to come in the pool fence to get it. Well once he picked it up, it got free of his hand and went right into the pool. So we had a fish swimming in the pool. It was pretty hilarious. The hard part was getting him out because of course he is in the deep end, which is 8 feet deep so it was hard to get the net down there. After some teamwork, we finally got the fish out.

After that excitement, we just sat out on the swing by the pool. I had to go in pretty soon because I couldn’t stop sneezing because of my allergies. I must say that that is one thing that I don’t miss about Tennessee – thanks Dad. We just relaxed the rest of the night.

Baseball and Chuck E. Cheese

I got Nate up this morning and we headed to Exit 112 to meet Dad. We said we would be there at 10:45, but of course neither of us were there until 11. After saying goodbye to Nate, I hopped in the car with Dad and headed to Smyrna for Devin’s baseball game. He is too cute. I was put on picture duty because Dad hasn’t been able to take any because he is helping coaching. Devin did really well. He has improved so much since I last saw him play. His team ended up winning 21-10. They have only lost 2 games this season and those loses came from teams who are still undefeated. I guess I am not a curse this year. Last season every game I went to they lost. So I guess that is a good thing.

After the game, I rode back with Jenney to their house so I could use their internet. I had to upload the character pictures that somehow didn’t do that correctly last night. Then I also gave Mikayla her Jasmine outfit. She looked so cute!!! I also gave them their Mickey ears and posters that Jess made for them. Then I did Mikayla’s hair into a Fairytale, which actually didn’t look that bad considering she wouldn’t let me brush her hair, I had almost no gel, no hair pins, just bobby pins, and no tiara. Dad and Pam met us over there and then we all headed to Chuck E. Cheese.

Oh Chuck E. Cheese. While I see the appeal to kids for parents it is hell and I promptly apologized to Dad for ever making him have a birthday party there. It was pretty entertaining though. I won Devin and Mikayla a ton of tickets from the machine where you try and knock the tokens off of the edge. That is totally my game. I think it has to do with all the practice from playing in the arcade with Jenny in the Greenwood Mall haha. But Mikayla opened her presents and ate cake and ran around like a crazy child. Dad and I sat around and played a few rounds of Deal or No Deal and keeping an eye on the NFL Draft. I can’t believe Matthew Stafford went to Detroit for $78 million. Geez. That is not going to help his ego at all.

After Chuck E. Cheese, we stopped by Walgreens to get my pictures and then headed back to Jenney and Mike’s so I could give Devin and Mikayla their books. They loved them. They also got really excited knowing that when they came back to Disney World they could fill up the rest of their books. They also thought that it was super cool that I worked for Mickey Mouse and the Fairy Godmother. Devin told me to tell her thank you for letting me come home haha. After they looked through the books, we all just headed home.

Once we got home, Dad told me they had squirrels in the attic so they had set up a trap. When we got home there was one in the trap. So Dad and I deported him to the other side of Concord Road in the hopes that if her wanted to come back he would have to make it across the road alive and that probably wasn’t going to happen. The whole thing was quite funny because Dad had his gun and he poked the cage open, but the little baby squirrel didn’t quite grasp the idea that he was free so we pretty much had to dump him out of the cage and then he ran off into the woods. 

TUG!!!

I got up early and went to the office with Mom. It was nice to see everyone. Mom also had to tell everyone in the office about the engagement because they didn’t tell anybody because they wanted to talk to me in person first. Then we left to go meet Nate at the Tennessee/Kentucky Boarder. We ended up meeting at exit 2 because Nate got pulled over, but luckily he didn’t get a ticket. Mom and I said bye and then Nate and I made our way to Bowling Green. We stopped at Nate’s house and I dropped off my stuff and Nate took a quick shower. I got to see Cypher, which is exciting. Then we went out to Kyoto’s, which I have been craving ever since I left. It was amazing as usual!

After lunch, Nate dropped me off at the Ag Farm for tug. It was fun surprising people. A lot of people were like “What the hell are you doing here?” Then some people are just dumb and asked why I wasn’t pulling. I mean come on I have been gone all semester, but I would have been out there if they would let me. I must say that Meagan Jacoby had the best reaction. Screaming and then almost falling out the truck bed definitely wins haha. I also finally got my little trophy certificate thing from winning the Pike Individual Tug last fall. It had been at the ADPi house or something, but whatever.

They did it a little differently this year. They did all the guys first round pulls first and then girls rather then alternate. AGR pulled Pike first and full pulled them. In the end Delt, Sig Ep, Farm House, Fiji all advanced to the next round in addition to SAE, who surprisingly beat Kappa Sig. Then it was the girl turn. And wouldn’t you know that ADPi pulled KD first. We lost, but we lasted a full 3 minutes. The last time someone pulled for a full 3 minutes against KD was my freshman year in the Championship. So that is an accomplishment. Then OPA beat Chi O and Phi Mu and Alpha Gam also advanced.

The next round of the guys Farm House pulled AGR. It was intense, but AGR full pulled Farm House. Everyone was going nuts! It was pretty awesome. In the championship it was Sig Ep and Agr. AGR won of course, but Sig Ep put a good fight. Fiji got third, which is awesome for them because it was their first Greek Week.

In the next round for the girls, OPA pulled KD and lost in 2 minutes and 45 seconds – so they did pretty good as well. They ended up beating Alpha Gam for 3^rd. Then the Championship was KD and Phi Mu. This pull was a joke. KD full pulled Phi Mu in 20 seconds. It just sucks because the championship would have been totally different had the brackets been different. I mean come on KD, ADPi, OPA and Chi O in one bracket? Those are always the stronger teams – or at least they have been in the last few years.

After the excitement of tug, I went over to Jenny’s and saw Padfoot! I was so excited. Plus, she really liked her Mickey chew toys. I jumped in the shower over there because I just walked around barefoot at the farm so basically everything from my knees down was covered in mud. Then I went back over to Nate’s and got a change of clothes. I also took Molly’s car back to her. I had driven it home from tug. Then Jenny and I got ready and Laura picked us up and we headed over to the Ag Pavilion/Blue Dome or whatever it is called for the Delt Goldfish Party. It turned out that someone had called PETA on them so no one was actually allowed to eat any of the 2,000 goldfish this year. Darn. I hung out with Lucas and Meagan, Katie and Audra finally showed up in addition to Molly and Celeste. It was a good time, but then I headed back to Jenny’s. Then Jenny dropped me off at Nate’s. I ended up sleeping in Hunter’s bed because he, Zach, and Ashton were all not there. Go figure. I slept pretty well considering right before I went to bed Nate told me to make sure I check Hunter’s bed for spiders – great. Thankfully, I didn’t find any. 

New Clothes and New Hair

Today Mom and I got up and headed over to the outlet mall. We hit up Coach, where mom bought some wristlets to use while at Disney. We also went to a shoe store and I finally got my pair of Sperry’s!! YAY! I also got a really cute pair of sandals. We also went to Dress Barn, which I had always thought was a bit old lady, but I found three really cute dresses in there. Then we had to leave so I could go get my hair cut at Marilyn’s. Of course that was a 2 and half hour affair, which is a bit ridiculous. After cutting it, she had one of her assistants put my hair up in a dancer’s ponytail with a bump. I don’t think it looked all that fabulous, but whatever.

We then had to rush home and get ready for dinner. We picked Memi up and then headed over to Sperry’s. Mom and Duane had to tell Memi about their engagement, which could have been really good or really bad. It turned out really well so that is always a plus. We had a good dinner and I got to pick the dessert since I was the birthday girl! Then we went and dropped Memi off and headed home. I tried to make it an early night since I had a big day the next day, but it really didn’t work out that well.

Home James

I got up and worked an early shift. Anne was nice enough to trade me for my afternoon shift so I could catch my plane home. I got off at 1:30. I was planning on staying in the parks and playing with Chelsey for her birthday, but I realized that I had a lot to do. I did go see the Tremanes in the park before I left. I went to Cast Connection and Property Control. I also went and got new costumes. Then I went over to Epcot to work on my diversity abroad scholarship. I videotaped people from all the different countries I could find. I had them say their name and where they were from. I ended up with Puerto Rico, Morocco, France, UK, Italy, South Africa, Jamaica, Botswana, Mexico, Canada, Norway and Germany. I also got to meet the Beast while I was there. I finished with enough time to run over to Hollywood Studios. Swinney had called me and needed a new antennae ball and wouldn’t you know that they don’t have them at Epcot. So I went to Hollywood Studios and got that and also ran to the animation studio because it was around 5 o’clock. There were not any new characters out though so I left.

I got back to the apartment and grabbed the last few things I needed for home. Then Brian took me to the airport. My flight was delayed 20 minutes, which kind of sucked, but it wasn’t too bad.

Mom picked me up with the puppies so that was exciting. She also had some exciting news for me. MOM AND DUANE ARE ENGAGED!!! Apparently when Duane asked she said he had to ask me first haha. But I am happy for them. We just headed home and chilled out. I opened a few birthday presents. Mom got me this beautiful pearl earring and necklace set. We basically just caught up for the rest of the night and then went to sleep. It was nice to have a real big bed to spread out in and puppies to snuggle with!!