We have so much fun together, so to mix in great locations just adds to the treasure of great company.

Here’s our room with a view. It was a beautiful suite on the 5th floor with a large balcony overlooking the ocean (gorgeous!):

And look at the special treat we got – a rainbow forming right before our eyes! Truly a special moment…

I’ve been booking our vacations and travel this week. I’m excited to start the process, because we’ve had it planned out for a bit. I finally got to dig in and pull all the details together. I have a couple of runs this year down in Florida, so I’m excited to combine a couple of 1/2 marathons with extended trips to Disney.

The other thing I’ll be doing this year is — are you sitting down for this? I’m taking my son and his friend to Florida for about 10 days. Am I crazy? I may well be….but eh, I’m willing to give it a try. We just booked this fab house, and pulled the details of our transportation together.

I love when this time of year comes around. I put all the pieces together in my head – and iron out lots of details, since I’m a total planner on these things, so when I’m given the “go ahead”, I’m always thrilled, but also relieved to get everything in place.

One of the things that’s different about most the trips I’ve done – say, down the shore – versus Disney – is the planning involved.

I’ve rented Jersey Shore Homes before through a local realtor. You pick a place and you’re done. With Disney – it doesn’t work like that. Not only do you have to book your accommodations, but now you’ve got travel and other things to deal with. Want to eat at a sit down restaurant at the park? You’d better make reservations WAY ahead of time if you want to get in! It’s an entirely different system and world. At LBI, you show up at the restaurant you want and you eat. In Disney – you make reservations 3+ months in advance, sometimes more to hot spots, or they won’t even let you wait to be seated at times. They pack on a schedule to capacity, and there are no walk-ups for many places! There is PLANNING involved. I love it though – I love doing the details, so it feeds a need I have.

Here I am in all my glory. While I’m smiling- and yes I had a good time, notice that I’m wearing a jacket. BOOOO! It was mid 60’s that day, and not my ideal mid 70’s, though we did get a few of those days in there too!

Honestly, it was fabulous. A sinus infection slowed me down, but couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. A crappy day in Disney is still better than a great day in NJ!

We kept a low profile, and kept it at a relaxed pace. We also added some mid day breaks in on the days we didn’t sleep in half the day! Hey, I needed extra rest since my head was clogged.

We did our favorites, and saw some cool stuff as usual, but I think my favorite was Cinderella’s castle lit up in lights. It was fabulous…the purple/blue and white lights against the dark night just was illuminating….and just well, gorgeous. I was like a little girl smiling when I saw it…Not sure how I haven’t seen it like that before. We must have done Magic Kingdom during the daylight hours in the past at this time of year, because this was the first time in 4 years I’ve seen the castle this way…

I did try to snap a pic on my cell phone, but I haven’t checked to see if it’s clear or blurry uploaded yet. I’ll hope to get to that later in the week.

The best news for me was coming home at the same weight I started at. In the process I gained some muscle, lost some fat and my BMI is down, even though the scale looks the same. Have faith that your body is doing what it needs to do if you work at it. Just happy it went well on that front…

Great trip, and can’t wait to go back again!

I am making new changes and healthier choices. This has to be a part of my life, not a short time thing to lose weight. I know what those right choices are, and I have to trust myself to make them.

When you have a menu in front of you 3x a day for 7 days, and snacks in front of you — it’s just a habit you form. You either order the grilled chicken, or maybe the fruit – an egg white veggie omelet….or you don’t listen to your sensibility and you go for the fried chicken, or you choose the chocolate cake or the pancakes loaded up with butter.

I’ll make choices one meal at a time, and weigh my options. Enjoy the process of a nice meal in a nice location – or go back to my sloppy eating habits that will cling back to me way too easily. I’m going to fight for myself, and keep going forward with healthy choices one day at a time, one meal at a time. I’m going to trust myself….to make the right choices.

Disney, here I come~

My son and I head back down to Florida in a couple of weeks. This crappy, rainy weather in NJ makes me all the itchier to get there. We’ve been doing an annual Thanksgiving trip the last few years. I find the more and more I go south – the more and more it “feels like home”.

I love walking through the MCO airport because I realize I’m back to where I want to be – or when the train pulls up in Sanford – it’s the same thing – We’re here!

Next summer I’ll be heading down again with my son and maybe his friend. In a couple months, I may head down with my husband for a couple days…it’s where my brain seems to be often these days.

I used to find my happy place in other locations, but lately – it’s Florida that’s on my brain and is becoming that “happy place”. Sunshine, tons of stuff to do, warm weather year round – what’s not to love?

What do you say when you see your first love?

When I was a little girl, about 6 years old, I remember going to Sears and picking out a stuffed Pooh Bear. It played music…you wound the key in the back, and it played “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”. I slept with that silly bear for a long time. He was my buddy…

As I got older, and he was put on a shelf- something happened through the years….Pooh got heavier! He grew a rounder belly. The new Pooh Bears they were selling have tummy’s twice the size as the original one I had gotten!

In looking back, my Pooh Bear was quite thin! It’s funny how his belly size changes in shape based on the latest version they are selling of him. His color has changed as well. My pooh bear was almost more yellow then orange…a honey colored yellow, but in later years he took on more of an orange hue.

Anyway – I saw him hanging out up there and knew I had to snap a picture. I’ve seen him there many times, but this time I guess it caught my attention more.

I just wanted to share my view. It’s lovely, and is just a standard view here, but how is this even standard when you’re from Jersey? LOL

Lovely, lovely, lovely.

A spontaneous trip came up, and here I am. I’ll be home shortly, and back to life, but sometimes those unexpected and unplanned moments offer you some wonderful treasures.

Watch the tram car please….please watch the tram….We spend the weekend down in Wildwood, and were heading to Curly’s for a quick bite to eat. We hopped onto the tram, and rode the path – picking up and dropping off other passengers along the way. Right at about 26th St, the front car goes hard to the right!

Oh my gosh? What just happened? We weren’t sure — did it hit someone? Was the driver trying to avoid hitting someone who didn’t move in time?

Nope– looks like the front end blew out! Whether the axel broke, the tire fell off, or whatever — as you see here, the front end just toppled over, and it veered! Thankfully not one single person was hurt, and that’s pretty amazing as crowded as the boardwalk was!

Ironically? It has this mishap right in front of where we wanted to get off! Talk about timing….the funny part to me was seeing how many cellphones came out…people were snapping pics left and right, so I thought I’d grab one to share too.

Maintenance came out and had it up and running in about 20 minutes tops. Pretty impressive – quick repair…full boardwalk, full tram – no one got hurt. Now that’s something to be thankful for!

The weather was fabulous….and I’m sad to see summer coming to a close….but I guess it’s that time of year.

The traffic coming down wasn’t too bad 80% of the way, but at some points just the sheer amount of traffic in one place at one time literally brought highways to a stop. NO traffic lights slowing us down, only merges, and 4 lanes of highway just stops…parking lot! Thankfully, it only lasted in certain spots.

Tonight, we spent some time wandering around the boardwalk. There are some interesting people — and it’s always fun to people watch. After walking the boardwalk, as we came to the end – we sat down and watched a round of Bacci (sp?)…neat to see.

We’re sitting in for a short bit, but there should be fireworks starting at 10pm, so we’re hoping to head out to the beach and see if we can grab a nice view.

Well, wrapping up tonight. Hoping to enjoy some beach time and pool time tomorrow. Have a great weekend!

Okay, so let’s take a look at summer vacation 2009:

- we did a 9 day stay in a 3 bedroom condo down near Disney

- headed to the Keys, and then turned around and headed back to Orlando

I have to say, I was a little disappointed in Key West, and if I were to book a trip to the Keys again, I’d opt for Islamorada instead of Key West, though I don’t think I feel the need to return anytime soon….it’s not that there’s anything wrong wtih it, it’s just that it’s a damn long drive, when I have local places I prefer more. I guess in my mind, I pictured it a bit differently based on the pictures I’ve seen. 

Orlando is always fun, and we’ve come here often, so we know what are favorites are, and we always try to add a few new things to our trip to keep it fresh. In the amusement parks, we tried a few different things – like where we ate, or what we saw or did….we hit a different mini-golf place, though this one had way too many stairs…my son has asthma, and it took it’s toll….we also got caught in a downpour, but that part was okay, since we actually were just about to play a hole on the course in a "cave", with a bench…what luck,huh?

2 Tornados have struck while we were down here, but both were about 30 mins away…I’m not used to hearing about so many of them…

Other new things we did:

Blue Man Group – loved it

Boggy Creek Airboat Ride- loved it

M & M World at the FLorida Mall – neat, but seeing it once was enough..and I didn’t feel the need to buy anything…it’s a giant store with M&M stuff..some fun things to see though…i was amused

Of course we hit our favorite multiple times, Rock-N-Rollercoaster….that was a blast, and it’s both of our favorites, so we do it many times…

When it comes to work, I did write one long article and did some keyword research, but that was the extent of it…I’m relaxed big time, and hoping it won’t take me the regular day or two to get out of vacation brain mode when I get home….

I also got the chance to see my friend COlleen who lives in Florida. I always enjoy visiting with her. She’s a really neat person, and fun to be around.

I am thrilled to get home and see my husband and dogs and cat though…miss them much, but yesterday morning in the pool…I was in my own world and ultra relaxed!!!

That about wraps it up for now….not sure what else to mention, but I had a great time, as I do every year. I love this place, but I love being home too, and now I’m ready to get there…