Holiday madness begins

So my trip home was pretty good. I got George to cover my shift on Monday so that I could stay home all the way through Tuesday! :) I got to be home for almost 5 days and it felt good to be refreshed and ready to go back to work for the holiday season.

They are already starting to work me like crazy for the holidays and we are still not "officially" in the season yet. Plus, today, I am deployed for one day to Downtown Disney, at D-Street/TrenD. I have never even been to these stores so this will be an interesting experience. And then next week, I am working over 10 hours, nearly every single day.

However, this week also, my best friend, her husband, daughter, and her daughter's godmother are all coming to visit me here at Disney so we are going to spend 2 very fun-filled days in the parks. It will be Josh and Leilani's first time at Magic Kingdom so I am pumped! :) It will be so much fun.

Well, off to clean. We have inspections on Monday.

Love y'all!

October 27th :)

So the last few weeks have just been a rush, between working the Halloween parties and working some really crazy hours (hello...3am?) and going to play in the parks before work and on my days off as well. "It's a Small World" re-opened, and I thought it was going to change and be different so I waited in a 40 minute line to ride it, only to find out the only thing changed was the line queue. I love the ride, but it is NOT worth a 40 minute wait, haha.

The last of the Halloween parties is this upcoming weekend and then next week, the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party starts up and so that's going to be a whirlwind of craziness as well. I am so excited for a change though and I can't wait to attend that party as a guest as well! :)

I am going home this weekend. I am taking a train back down to South Florida on Friday to get there just in time for Greg and I's date for our 3 year anniversary which coincidentally is actually on Friday. I then have an orthodontist appointment on Saturday afternoon (which is why I was going home in the first place) and then I am hoping to spend the afternoon with my best friend Christine and her adorable baby Leilani. Then on Saturday evening I am going to go to church at CBG which I have missed greatly and then drive up to West Palm Beach to Jen's new apartment for a get-together she is having! Then on Sunday is Halloween which I will likely spend most of the day with my family. I am not sure if I am coming back to Orlando on Sunday or Monday. It will depend on if I can get my Monday night shift covered or not.

Well, this is a longer update than normal but it has been a little while since I have blogged. I am hoping to blog about my trip when I get back and I will probably post a vlog about that as well.

Hope everyone is having a great week! :) If you have any questions feel free to check out my Formspring athttp://formspring.me/lytysha . It can be questions about anything, including about the Disney College Program.

<3>

Great Service Fanatic #2!!!

I got my second "Great Service Fanatic" this week! :) I got it last night because I had a VERY difficult guest who was giving me a hard time and kept changing what she wanted and it resulted in me having a lot of voids on my register (not good) and almost in tears. But I continued to give her what she wanted until she was finally satisfied and left. A co-worker (who is an ornament personalizer) saw the whole transaction, which had lasted over an hour by the way, and awarded me with the certificate. I was so grateful because I was so frustrated and upset over this guest. It made me feel a little better!

I also worked a halloween party last night and it was really fun. I had a great conversation with a couple that was celebrating their first wedding anniversary and I also met a little girl who was dressed up as Lady GaGa (very realistically I might add) and she was just precious. I love the people I get to interact with on a day-to-day basis. I learn so much and I meet so many people from around the world.

And then, as I was leaving the bus stop last night, this random girl asked me if she could get a ride home because she saw that my ID had the same complex as her and so I said yes and I got to meet somebody new. She was super nice and from Colorado (which is somewhat near where i'm originally from) so that was a nice experience too!

I don't have to work until 5:15 today so I am just hanging out for the day, doing some crocheting for a charity called Knit Pray Love and I may do some scrapbooking here later! :)

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Updates

I tell you, I am the WORST blogger in the entire world!

Well here is a QUICK update because I have stuff to do today but I wanted to inform y'all that I officially applied to some professional internships. I applied for Youth Events Facilitator, College and International Housing-Event Planner, Cast Service Center Specialist, and Project Support-Aulani Resort and Spa. I already got turned down for my top choice AND the one that I was the most qualified for (Youth Events Facilitator) so that was a great disappointment.

I will hopefully keep y'all updated on how the interviews go and such.

The Halloween Parties are still in full swing.

Greg is coming up here in a week to celebrate his birthday with me up here in Disney World! :) Yayyyy!!! We are staying at a nicer hotel than normal and we are likely going to eat at either Cape May Cafe or Chef Mickeys for his dinner! We are also planning on going to the Food and Wine festival at Epcot (I have already been once this season).

Well, that's all for now.

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

Hello friends!

This is just a quick note to share with you about the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSH).

I have attended both as a guest and as a cast member and I must say, so far, this is by far the best thing that I have done since I have been here! :)

As a guest, I got to experience and trick or treating and such and take pictures with a lot of the characters and just have some fun. PLUS, I rode Dumbo for the FIRST TIME EVER on that night!!!! :)

As a cast member, the night I worked, I have the best memories from. In particular of these two kids, Jackson and Ella. They were so cute and they just wanted to play with me. We played a toss game, tag, and duck duck goose. It was so much fun and I will always remember them because they were just so cute and innocent and their parents were really great too. I love the MNSSH party because I can really get more into my role and definitely play the part! It was such a magical moment for me and I loved it!

Well, that's all for now. Just wanted to share that real quick!

Love y'all!

Busy busy busy

Hello friends! My how long it has been. Sorry I have not updated in awhile. Things are just crazy with my work schedule and such.

I have just been working and hanging out. I went to Night of Joy and it was fun but we left early due to crazy crowds and rain.

I am off today but I go back to work tomorrow for three more days before another day off. I have discovered that I like stock shifts better than I like cashier shifts so I will be requesting to work more of those instead. It's self-paced and I can listen to my Ipod and so that's cool.

Well, talk more later!!!

My days off and Training

(Ashley and I at Epcot)

Hello everyone!!! I had yesterday and today off so I spent the majority of today cleaning and then I think I am headed out to Typhoon Lagoon for a bit to soak up some sunshine! :) I work for like 9 days straight after today so I am gonna be exhausted.

I went to Epcot, Magic Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios in the past few days to spend some time with my roomies Amber and Ashley. I have not gotten to go anywhere with Rachel yet because she works a lot...boo :( But last night we watched "The Last Song" together and The Emmy's so that was fun!

I loved Taylor Swift's new video for "Mine" that just came out. It's on CMT all the time!!!! <3>

Oh, and I have two more days of training (In Costume) until I am able to be by myself on the registers! I am so nervous to be by myself because their standards are so freakin' high! Hopefully I do ok!

Comment on here if there is anything you would like me to talk about throughout my experience and also if there is anything you would like me to Vlog about!

Byeeee :)

Traditions day!

Good morning!!!!!

It is a rainy day but it is still gonna be a great one! Today is TRADITIONS! I have the later session at 2pm which means I have to be at the bus at 12:45! I am so happy to have the later session because all of my roomies had the earlier one and my roommate was up at like 4am to get ready and such. Glad that was not me! I just finished showering and putting my makeup on and I pressed my "professional" clothes and now i am just waiting for my hair to dry, so while I am doing that, I am updating this and I am going to try to edit my vlog from the first couple of days.

Check-in and casting went very smoothly for the most part. I found out that I am in Magic Kingdom in Liberty Square and I do not have a specific store. I will be moving between all of them. That's okay with me, as long as I get to work in the Christmas store the most! That is what I requested and I am so excited that I got the area. :)

Have a great day everyone!

3 more days!

3. more. days!!!!!

Oh my goodness. This is so surreal! I don't even know how to react right now because it's unbelievable that it's really almost here! I am finishing my packing today and tomorrow and then on Saturday, it is my brother's sweet 16 birthday party and then that night I am packing up both my car and my boyfriend's car. Then at about 8am on Sunday morning, it's time to drive to DISNEYYYYY! We are going to spend the day in the parks! :)

I am also buying my Universal season pass today so that I can go there anytime I want and I can go see Harry Potter! YAY!!!!!

I am way to excited!!!

ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vlog #8

5 MORE DAYS!!!

Dreams are coming trueeeeeee:)

In 5 days I will be in Orlando and in 6 days, I will be checking in at Vista Way, ready to start my life at Disney!

I am so incredibly excited! I have been vlogging more than I have been writing in my blog. I am sorry and I will try to keep up with it more often. I will also try to post my vlogs here as well as on YouTube so that you can have access to it if you are a subscriber here.

Outside of Disney being almost here, nothing new is really happening. I have been packing like crazy and scrapbooking and that is about all! Summer camp ended last Friday and it was very emotional, being my last day at a job that I LOVED and worked at for 4 years.

Well, I will try to post more later. I need suggestions for what to write about though because I have the worst "bloggers block" ever!

Peace and pixie dust! :)

Summer Camp

Summer camp starts on Monday!!! :)

I am super excited to minister to my amazing 8th grade girls! They have been in my group since they were in 6th grade and so I have gotten a lot of time to get to know them and to disciple to them, but this summer is their last summer and possibly my last summer too, so I am really going to dig deep with them. I am praying for changed lives this summer, not just with them, but with me as well. They always manage to teach me as well. It is gonna be amazing and I am so excited!

Disney preparations are under way now. I am down to 77 days until I move to Orlando so I am trying to get all of my paperwork situated. I have to change my car insurance cards and some other stuff to be able to have everything taken care of. I also have to figure out when I am going to come back down for my orthodontist appointments since they won't transfer me up there. I am getting nervous about moving and kind of anxious as well. I have never lived this far from home before really so this is going to be a harder experience for me. I am also very nervous about leaving Greg down here. I know if it's in God's will, our relationship will withstand the distance but it doesn't make it any easier.

I know I don't blog very often and I apologize for that. I DO have a video blog if you would like to check it out. Go to Youtube and look up lytysha05 and my videos are there. :)

If there is anything specific you would like me to vlog and/or blog about, please let me know. I am always looking for ideas. There is only so much I can write about what's going on in my life...that being said....ttfn-ta ta for now (as Tigger would say)

My new mini-vlog :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImKjJ-RK3hA

Bump the Blessing to Brazil

I am playing in a volleyball tourney today with my boyfriend to raise money for a Brazil mission trip that Calvary Chapel is taking! I have not played in a very long time so I am sure I am rusty. This should be interesting.

I will post later on how it all went :)

And if you are in South Florida, come out and support us! It's at Pompano Community Park from 3pm-6pm! There will be plenty of food with a $10 suggested donation!

Dream a little dream

I can't get Disney off of my mind! All I think about is when I am going to work at Disney. I can't even focus on summer camp and how I am going to impact these girls, because all I can thing about is Cinderella's Castle and seeing the magic happen from the inside!!! It's like a disease with no cure, I swear!

Summer camp is 4 weeks away and our retreat is 2 weeks away. I have a pretty busy next couple of weeks coming up. I like being busy though because it detracts from my thoughts about DISNEY! haha.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Survey

10 things about myself

• My heart is very guarded. It is hard to get past that, but once you do, you will be a friend forever.
• Jesus Christ my best friend!
• I like to listen to the Spice Girls.
• I am a Disney fanatic.
• Reading is very calming to me.
• My little brother is amazing and I have enjoyed watching him grow up into the young man that he is becoming.
• I work out, but I hate it. I just wish I was in better shape.
• I am fearful of what the future may hold.
• I love my job. I work with some of the most amazing kids!
• I love sleep. Probably more than the average person!

9 things I have thought about recently

• I can't wait to move to Orlando and work for the Mouse. I am looking forward do it so much.
• Ministering to the girls I have this summer is more important than ever. It's my last year AND their last year before they go to high school.
• Friendships change, people change, and I have changed.
• The Dalit people of India need our help!
• The internet at my house is running slow and it's frustrating.
• I am nervous about having a roommate again. I haven't had one in about 3 years.
• I want to take more spanish classes. Where can I do this?
• Ugh, I need to work out, but I don't want to.
• I should probably blog more.

8 ways to win my heart

• Cook for me
• Read the bible with me
• Treat me the way I should be treated
• Be honest
• Be patient
• Do not be selfish or self-seeking
• Have a love for God
• Treat my family and friends with respect

7 favorite songs I have had

• Separate Ways (worlds apart)-Journey
• Part of your world-The Little Mermaid
• Tear Down the Walls-Hillsong United
• My own two hands-Jack Johnson
• Face Up-Lights
• Friends in Low Places-Garth Brooks
• Something to be Proud of-Montgomery Gentry

6 things I do before I go to bed

• Close the blinds
• Brush my teeth
• Text my boyfriend
• Read a book
• Set my alarm
• Pray

5 things I wish I could say to 5 different people

• I'm glad I got away from that tiny town and that tiny school. You tried to bring me down. As a counselor, you tried to get me to apply to local schools and not live up to my potential. Well guess what? I am making it in South Florida. I graduated college. And I am gonna be working for a Fortune 100 company. And you said I wouldn't make it.
• Thank you for teaching me to be better person and thank you for bringing me closer to God. Thank you for the wonderful Youth Group that I enjoyed so much and thank you for the Dallas trips to CFNI!
• I wish you were more "family". I hate that you are so distant. You are not the type of family member I was taught there was. You are never there.
• Thank you for being such a wonderful father. I truly am still a "daddy's girl" and I love that.
• Thank you for teaching me how to respect, how to love, how to turn my cheek and how to get out of that stupid little town. Thank you for following me to Florida. I would never have done it without you.

4 things you are doing right now

• This.
• Listening to Glee cast
• Drinking coffee
• Watching my cat dream

3 things you are scared of

• Dying without saying goodbye
• Losing someone I am close to
• Breast cancer

2 things to do before you die

• Travel the world, particularly Europe
• Make an impact on as many lives as possible

One Confession

• I am scared to death to step out into the unknown and work for Disney. And I hate that I will be 4 hours away from my family and boyfriend.

Glee review

As per Jessika's request, I will be blogging today about MY take on what's happening on Glee.

• Okay, so obviously Quinn is preggo and is feeling all sorry for herself because her baby daddy wants to be with everyone BUT her.
• On the note of the baby daddy, Puck is trying to get with Mercedes because when his mohawk got shaved off by his doctor (because they thought he might have had a cancerous mole?) his popularity plummeted and nobody was scared of him anymore. Mercedes is the hot new girl on the block with her skyrocketing popularity, therefore Puck starts to date her (even though she KNOWS he is using her).
• Finn is still pining over Rachel who is still pining over Jesse. This crazy love triangle stuff is so old. Rachel just needs to get with Finn because obviously Jesse is over her after the whole debaucle last week.
• Rachel has lost her voice due to tonsilitis and is scared she will never be able to sing again which turns into a huge poor pitiful me sob fest. She goes to visit Finn's friend who can never walk or play football again and she realizes there is more to her than singing (DUH!) even though it turns out that her voice is fine and turns back to normal.
• This episode was filled with some good music, and some dumb music. I feel like Glee is putting too many songs in one episode now because they are trying to compensate for the poor story lines. The directors need to just focus on one story, one (or two songs) and go back to the basics of the show.
• And most of this review was based off of my opinions and the way I see the show, so don't be offended. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, yes?
• Oh, and don't think I don't LOVE this show, because I so do. :)

And that's what you missed on Glee!

Compassion, weekends, and a phone incident

Wow. This weekend was such a relaxing and good one! :) It is nice to be able to relax and not have to think about schoolwork because I am officially done with school!

Church was amazing this weekend! They ended the Synergy series and recognized all women in the church for Mother's Day, not just mothers so that was really nice. And our Pastor made an announcement that our church adopted an entire orphanage in Haiti! :) This made me smile so big, brought a tear to my eyes, and filled my heart with such joy in knowing that my church has stepped out into the unknown to tackle this HUGE project of loving on a group of "unloveable" children and helping them by building structures and giving them the resources needed to have 3 square meals a day and to give them an education. THAT is what showing the love of Christ is all about!

Yesterday, I was out by the pool with my family when a bee landed on my little brother. So he jumped in the pool to get it off and it was floating in the water near him. I took a ball and I threw it at it in the hopes of killing it, and my NEW phone flew into the pool with it. It sunk straight to the bottom so I dove in to get it, and it was dead. :( Good thing I added insurance to this phone because it was a Droid google phone that cost me a lot of money. So right now I am on a loaned phone from my grandma. I get my phone back on Tuesday, but it is so odd being without a smartphone after having it for a little over a month. The phone I am using right now is BASIC. Very very BASIC.

And I have one more last thing to say! HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICOLE MINARDI! :) hope it is a wonderful day for you! <3>

Class of 2010 :)

I am officially an alumni of Florida Atlantic University! It has been a hard 5 years but it was sooo worth walking across that stage yesterday with my family and boyfriend cheering for me! My parents have pushed me to be the best I could be and I am so incredibly thankful for them!

The next step in this journey is finishing out the Academic year at work and preparing and praying for summer camp. I am so excited to have the same girls I have had for the previous two years. I am excited to minister to them and hopefully leave them with some great memories as they go into 8th grade this year and high school next year. The group of girls I have are amazing and I can't wait to share 9 weeks with them. :)

After summer camp, of course, is DISNEY! I get about a week and a half off of work and I get to celebrate Leilani and Christine's birthdays along with my little brother's 16th birthday! It will be a special time right before I pack up and move 4 hours away to Orlando. I can't believe that I am really taking this huge leap and doing this! Am I crazy?

Thank you for reading this post (if you did). Have a great weekend everyone!

Life as of now...

I officially have 3 MORE EXAMS UNTIL I GRADUATE! And I graduate in exactly one week! :) And then I have summer camp, and then DISNEY!!!

I have a roommate now (i believe) so that is super exciting! The more talking about Disney I do, the more and more excited I get. I am going to start counting down the days as soon as my graduation is over! I have honestly never really been more excited about anything like this before! I get excited about stuff...but....THIS IS DISNEY!!

Off to work! :) Have a great weekend everyone!

More updates!

Quick updates!

Hey ya'll! I have been sooo super busy with my last month of school and I am graduating in LESS THAN A MONTH! It is going so fast and i'm freaking out!

Woody left today to move to New York and work will not be the same. He is such an amazing person and I am going to miss him so much.

I am thinking about Disney CONSTANTLY and will be going to the parks in a couple of weeks because I need my fix. Good thing I have season passes! :)

Uhmm.....nothing else to really report. I really want to learn how to Vlog but I am not good with a video camera. :-/

I am getting more and more excited for Disney! I don't know what to do with myself. This summer is gonna seem so long! August 23rd needs to just get here!

Well, more later! If you want to ask me questions or anything, comment or go to my formspring. http://formspring.me/lytysha

Updates

Well, I have not started my countdown yet, but I am getting super excited. I feel like I can't even focus on schoolwork because all I can think about is DISNEY!

Gotta stay focused though. I am, however, going to take a weekend trip up to Disney and get some more use out of my season passes before I move up there and they don't matter anymore. I kinda wish I didn't have it now because I am going to be getting free admission anyways. Oh well. Live and learn.

Well, I will begin a countdown soon so that this will be more interesting, although I am sure nobody reads it anyways! Haha.

Oh, and exactly one more month today until I graduate college! Crazy stuff!

Life as I know it, is ending...

I got my cap and gown and everything on Tuesday and I am ordering my college class ring this weekend! I also got my graduation pictures taken. This is all becoming so real and so scary. I can't believe I am graduating and moving to Orlando for six months after I finish out working summer camp! I also can't believe I will not be working at the day care anymore. It's all sad and happy at the same time.

I know that I have to move on from working at a day care and summer camp and being in school all of the time, but I am comfortable where I am at. I am kind of scared to go to Orlando and work at Disney. As much as I love Disney, working there is a whole different story. I know it will be fine, but I have also never been away from my family and boyfriend for six months. This is gonna be a hard goodbye. I know it is only four hours away from my house, but that is a LONG drive and I will rarely get more than one day off at a time!

Well, I will talk more later!

Welcome!

As many people already know by now, I am going to be working at the Disney College Program Internship in Orlando, Florida, starting August 23, 2010! :) This blog will be a record of my time up until and through the experience!

I am so incredibly excited to work at one of my favorite places in the entire world. I am excited to meet new people and just really enjoy my time in Orlando!

Ta-ta for now!