Surviving NJ

Archive for the ‘Disney & Travel’ Category

A new video to share…if you love LBI, or want to see more of it, this is a great place to start!

This is my view as I’m sitting here at my computer. I’m down the shore and enjoying some relaxing. Just thought I’d share this gorgeous picture! LBI is great this time of the season, since it’s quiet now. The weather has been just incredible. Yesterday we were wearing short sleeves, enjoying mid to high 60’s!

I’m in the planning stages of our summer vacation next year. As you know we’ve taken a lot of Orlando vacations the last few years, and honestly, this year we’ll probably head down once again. There’s so much to do down there with multiple amusement parks, waterparks, and tourist friendly activities. Having a choice makes it enjoyable.

I haven’t decided if we’ll be doing our full trip there though, as we may do like we did last year, and do half our trip in Orlando, and then the other half somewhere else to mix it up.

My son enjoyed last years Orlando, Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach jaunt. Either way, we know we’ll be starting in Orlando. I have a vacation club, so that makes it easy; we’re just not sure what the other piece of our trip will be. A long stay in Orlando, or split it up adding in something like the Keys, or Hilton Head again.

This vacation club is haunting me lately. I could get a hotel in las vegas, or get a condo down in Florida, but the timing just isn’t working for me right now. I’ve got leftover points, and with PubCon going on in Vegas in November, it would seem like a neat thing. I can’t justify the plane tickets. Heck, if I’m going to play for tickets, I’m flying to Florida instead.

I’ve done enough traveling this year. I need to hold off, and yet I have these leftover points. I keep thinking I’m going to cancel it, but it’s a hard thing to do when I use it sometimes. I’ll probably roll my leftover points until next year and just do one last big yahoo kind of trip with it. I’m just not sure if I want to go south, or if I want to go West or even South West. Luckily, there are a few places. I’m just undecided at this point. I can’t wait too long to roll those points, but I keep hanging on for the chance that I’ll be able to squeak it in before the year ends.  

This is my beautiful friend Alli. We got to hang out in Orlando this past weekend. Izeafest was really a lot of fun. I learned a lot, but seeing some of my friends made it extra special. There was a group I was particularly looking forward to seeing, and my girls Colleen, Cass and Marisa, I’d have the pleasure of meeting before. This was my first time getting to hang out in person with Alli.

Looking forward to next year! 

Ted Murphy is a piece of work. I really have enjoyed watching his company Izea progress over the last 2 years. This year I was able to participate in Izeafest, and as the line of speakers grew, I knew this was going to be something special. I signed up early, and before I knew it the time was here.

This past weekend, I traveled from New Jersey down to Orlando, Florida. What an experience this has been. I’ve learned a lot, and really feel refreshed and am looking at what I’m doing, what I’ve been doing, and what I want to do differently.

That’s the power of a large group of diverse speakers. It helps trigger ideas, helps you grow, and makes you want to be better. Merlin Mann of 43Folders.com was keynote this morning, and I loved what he had to say. He got through to me, and I realized, I want to be better. I want to do better, which I know I can be. Let’s face it, I’ve gotten lazy, because I thought I could. Bad answer…and this weekend came at a good time for me.

LeaLea.net’s Lea talked about branding and really touched on a nerve. It was a good thing, because it was exactly what I needed to hear. She struck that right chord with me, because she was so open with information and drew a picture in my mind of what a next step could be.

John Chow, another big name blogger, I was pleased that our team beat his on the scavenger hunt! Ha! Okay, seriously, he was gracious enough to take a picture with us, and for that I thank him. He was on the Big Money Blogger Panel, and I really enjoyed that, along with Neil Patel and a few others.

Loren Feldman spoke to us about video blogging. I’m a fan of his style over at 1938media.com so it was a treat to get to hear him speak in person.

There were so many great speakers, it’s hard to mention them all here. What I do know is that I got enough out of this, to know I want to be here next year too.

I met some nice people, I had a lot of fun, and I learned a lot of stuff. By the way, for a non-drinker, I did a few shots this weekend, and oh my gosh! I am so not a drinker! I did an Irish Carboner? Carbomber? Geez, I don’t even know what it was, but it was for part of our scavenger hunt, so I jumped in and took one for the team. Eek…it didn’t taste too good! Anyway, I wanted to spread the the word that Izeafest put on one hell of an event, and I was thoroughly pleased with the situation. I’ll post more information when I get home. I’m sitting at the hotel and it’s getting late!

Loved meeting everyone at Izeafest, but a special shout out for David on our scavenger hunt, a totally great guy, and to Ashley, one of the nicest people I met all weekend. Of course, it was great to finallly meet the ever charismatic Ted in person. It was my turn to make him laugh last night when we were talking, and I mentioned that I don’t have much dignity left, since I have kids, but also because I have a Jack Russell who sits between my feet while I’m in the bathroom. My dogs stalk me, even in there!! I believe the exact quote would be…and oh my gosh, here I am blogging this…"I can’t talk…I have a Jack Russell that sits between my feet when I take a crap!" I’d love to blame alcohol, but sadly I was only drinking Diet Coke…

I’d also like to thank Alli from AlwaysAlli.com for all the great pictures she took at Izeafest, and is letting me share. She was my roomie for Izeafest, and it was a great time to get to hang out with her.

Please don’t disturb me….or do that either! We got a kick out of this "Do Not Disturb" sign on our hotel door.  

Here was my view from my balcony. I pulled the picture off my camera, so I could get it up here. I love looking out at the ocean! The guy who played music was almost under my balcony, so we just opened the sliding glass door and listened to music as we chilled after a day in the sun.

This is one place I’d happily return to. (Pier 6600 Motel, Wildwood Crest) 

Going to Wildwood was a last minute plan. On a late Saturday night I started calling around for a room. The plan was I’d go down with my son Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but it was looking pretty grim when it came to finding a hotel with openings. I finally lucked out and found a 2 room efficiency at a place called Pier 6600 Motel. All I knew was it was at the end of the Crest. That worked for me, as Wildwood Crest is my favorite place in the Wildwoods.

Man, did I luck out! I got a great view of the ocean and pool, and right now I’m listening to live music. ( I typed this out on my laptop. Just loaded it when I got home tonight- we got home at 11pm) They have a guy who comes in and plays guitar from 4-7. After enjoying the boardwalk this afternoon, we’re taking a break from the sun, and will go swimming from around 6 to 8. Tomorrow (Wed), we’ll swim and sun during the day, and do the boardwalk at night. We like to mix it up.

I’m sure I’ll be pink later. I forgot the sunblock for the boardwalk. I’ll regret that later, but it was an honest mistake. We’re usually good about slathering it on, so I’m not too happy I forgot this time.

The only small thing is the lack of internet. Don’t get me wrong, they say they have it, but I get all of maybe 2 bars, and then after you connect, you can’t log into any webpages. It just doesn’t have a strong enough signal. It doesn’t make or break my trip, but don’t say you have internet if you have to stand on your left foot on the balcony, leaning over towards the pool to truly get the signal.

I’m happy we found this place, and they also offer a café, an outside bar and grill, along with an arcade and small gift shop. It’s a nice little family place, and sits right at the beach. This is one I’ll add to my list of hotels for future reference in Wildwood.

I’ve got a great shot from my balcony on my camera, and hopefully I’ll get that uploaded tomorrow to share.  

This is what we got to see as we sat on the deck this week; beautiful sunsets over the bay and intercoastal waterways. What was really neat, is the man in the condo above us, when it’s a perfect sunset, he plays a military song that plays while the sun sets. In those last 3-4 minutes, it matches the sun as it recedes back down below the landscape, until we can’t see it. The timing was perfect, and it was a magical experience to hear that.

After a day of sun, a cool drink in hand, laughter in the air…watching an incredible sunset was icing on the cake.