In a Corral Far Far Away - Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon

I mean this race only happened on April 23rd and I'm just now writing about it...yikes!

I normally do not run long distance races at this point in the year because a) it's hot b) it's humid and c) it's hot and humid. However, this year the half fell on my birthday  so I had to have the bling. I had to!

My sister met up with me for the race and we hit the expo on Saturday, which is the last day. I have never gone to the expo this late and was shocked at how empty it was. Y'all, it was so empty that I was basically making rapid purchases to the point that my bank froze my account. Whoops!

We spent the afternoon at Magic Kingdom and got our carb on over at Tony's, which tends to be our go to carb loading place.

I have to admit, we are pretty friggin' adorable.

Race morning came and the humidity hit me when I opened the door. I was super pumped....or whatever.  The cool thing with this race was that one of my run the year teams was racing.

Plus, this would be the first half marathon Tanya and I would run together. We make a pretty good running duo. Coincidentally we also make a kick ass wine drinking duo.

The humidity sucked from the word go and I know at one point I looked over at Tanya and said "Don't ever let me sign up for this race again." Now Tanya runs at lunch time when it is 90+ degrees with 100% humidity so she was just trucking along and I was like....

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I was struggling around the 7 mile mark. It was gross outside, I started to cramp and I was just done, unless there was a camera, then I was all...

I sent Tanya ahead once we hit World Showcase. I knew she would kill it and I knew I was holding her back. I kissed my goal of 2:30 goodbye and settled on as close as possible to my previous PR (2:37). I came in at 2:40 and all I wanted was that damn cheese and chips from the snack box and my medal. 

Seriously, this photo encompasses my entire experience. And do we walk to talk about salt in an open wound for a second???? The medal didn't even have the date on it! That was the whole reason I ran the race was to have a medal with my birthday on it!

Overall the race was hot, humid and gross, but if it was in a cooler month I would totally run it every year. I love Star Wars and to see the characters on the course was pretty fantastic. 

Thanks to my team rum mates and my seeeester for making it a birthday to remember!

Ted's Princesses Take Over Disney Part 1

Another Princess Weekend has come and gone. It was so big it will obviously take more than one post to cover. To be honest it may take more than one post to cover the insanity that was the expo, but I will try to condense that part.

Never have I had to wait in a line that went to the parking lot just to pick up my bib. Granted we were there an hour after opening on the first day...but still. It was as if every single princess was there at that exact moment. I will give it to the cast though, those lines were moving and everything was really organized. Also, it was a gorgeous day, so I did not mind waiting outside (unlike January when it was POURING when we went to the expo).

We also had to wait to get into the expo, but I really appreciated that wait. Otherwise it would have been pure insanity in there, which apparently it was prior to our arrival. Apparently people were fighting (like Black Friday fighting) over merchandise from runDisney. I don't know what the big deal was because when we arrived not even an hour after all of this went down the entire area was restocked with merchandise. 

I have a love/hate relationship with this expo. It is always so crowded, and let's face it, some of these women are mean, but it is worth it to visit my ladies at Sparkle Skirts. We cleaned up at the expo and then headed over to EPCOT for a relaxing day in the park. 

No, seriously, it was relaxing. We just walked around the park and went on whatever rides we felt like going on. Fun fact, all three of us fit in the clam shell on Nemo. I didn't say we fit comfortably, I just said we fit. 

There were barely any lines for the characters, so we had a chance to meet a few of our favorites. We had a jolly time with Mary...

And then we met Baymax. Can I tell you how Lorren was geeking out the entire time in line? It may have been from the drink in the UK, but whatever, it was adorable. 

The 5k was the next morning so we had to call it an early night. To tell you how early we had to get up, Melissa was just coming in from her flight (which was delayed) when we were getting ready. 

We kept our tradition of wearing our Peggy Sue shirts for the 5k and we also kept our tradition of walking the 5k. The 5k is not timed, so it's a perfect time to stretch our legs before the glass slipper challenge.

This course is a favorite of ours. It winds through EPCOT and is full of characters, including this crazy crustacean. 

 We saw so many great costumes along the course and I think one of our favorites was a little girl dressed as Belle (she was maybe 4 at the most) and her Dad was Beast. Y'all it was so stinking cute. #allthefeels

We also pass one of my sister Cathy's favorite popcorn stands along the route. Sadly, it was not open. 

We had a great time at the 5k and most importantly scored some super adorable medals. We didn't waste any time though because we had breakfast waiting for us at The Wave. 

Melissa was able to score a couple of hours of sleep while we were at the race and was raring to go for the day. Breakfast at The Wave was insanely delicious, if you ever have a chance hit up that buffet. It is seriously so good.

We also had reservations for tea at the Crescent Solarium in the Beach Club. They are temporarily trying this location and we were thrilled to try it out. Somehow I got stuck next to this...

While things were more ladylike across the table...

The tea was very similar to the Grand Floridian but it had more a sea flair. I mean, obviously, right, since it's at the Beach Club. Three of us had these dainty little sandwiches...

Lorren had a plank of meat. I wish I had a photo to show you. It was literally a plank of wood with sausages on it. A huge plank of wood covered in meat next to these dainty sandwiches. It was amazing on so many levels.

After tea we headed back to change into comfy clothes and then Lorren, Melissa and I headed back out to the parks. Hollywood Studios was crazy busy, but surprisingly the characters were not that busy. We met our favorite Wookie first...

Can we talk about how tiny Melissa looks here? She's not even at his armpit.

We went to meet Kylo Ren next. I was pretty excited, I'm not going to lie. But let me tell you something...Kylo Ren is no joke. He is all up in your face interrogating you and the three of us were not entirely prepared for this, hence the pose...

We bailed after this and headed back to the hotel. The 10k was in the morning and we had another early wake up.

I'll have more on the weekend in a few days. Stay tuned!

Ants, Jedi's and Mulch.

What a weekend, kids! Our weekend started early with a phone call from the school telling us that Jill found herself in a pile of red ants. The poor Jill has at least 10 bites on her hands. They didn't look too bad when we went to the doctor, but the next morning was a different story. Her hands were splotchy and swollen.

Today, thankfully, they were much better. I feel awful for her. I know how bad it hurts when a red ant bites you, I can't imagine ten on my hands.

The bonus of the whole experience was that I was able to do my grocery shopping on Friday night, you know when nobody is there. It was amazing.

Saturday we went to Star Wars Weekend. I know, I'm crazy. It was the first weekend of the event and it was packed. But, since Aaron is really into Star Wars right now, we thought it was worth it.

We didn't plan on actually riding any rides because of the crowds, but we were able to go on The Great Movie Ride (well, Jill and I), Muppets 3D (Aaron and Scott) and the Beauty and the Beast show. Why do we ride separate rides you ask? Aaron for the life of him will not go on The Great Movie Ride (maybe it's the Alien section?), so Jill and I always ride it together. It's a fun time for us, we get to ooh and ahh over the famous green muslin dress from Gone with the Wind in the lobby and talk about all of the movies playing in the cue line. I love these moments with her.

We did some of the Stars Wars things, too. On the way back from Muppets, Aaron was high-fived by Chewy. I think he almost died. Of course, we had to buy a light saber shortly after. Just call him Jedi Aaron. We also checked out some of the characters on the stage, but for the most part didn't venture too far into the Star Wars area. Maybe we will head back and go a little earlier to actually see more of the event.

Today I had every intention of deep cleaning the inside of the house, then I stepped outside. It was GORGEOUS outside! Translation: yard work. Scott and I headed to Lowe's, loaded up the back of the car with fresh mulch and some new plants. While he mowed the lawn, I dumped 10 bags (yes, 10 bags) of mulch in the flower beds and planted our new flowers. I was a hot stinky mess, but loved every second of it. Sometimes there is nothing better than stepping back and seeing all of your hard work.

I hope all of you had a great weekend as well!