Run, Eat, Date, Sleep

Who wants to hang out with a bunch of really awesome Orlando Lady Bloggers? I know you do! If you’re interested in coming this Wednesday at 7pm at World of Beer Orlando, RSVP to our Facebook event.

You can read about our previous shenanigans here and here.

Hope to see you there!

I still can’t believe I’m thirty. I feel like I was just 22.

Because my birthday fell on a Monday this year, my Celebration buddy Alison and I made plans for the day before (November 6th). I already knew one of Alison’s “things to do while in Florida” was to go to all four Disney parks in one day, so that’s what I suggested we do!

We parked at the Wilderness Lodge, and we were on our way!

Park #1- Animal Kingdom

Our only mission for this park was to hit up the safari.

Baby elephant!

Next, we caught the bus to the Yacht & Beach Club so we could walk in to Epcot through the back way since we were only really catching lunch there via the Food & Wine Festival. This is honestly one of my favorite spots on Disney property. It’s so pretty!

Park #2- Epcot

I can’t NOT do yoga in Canada now that I work for lululemon.

Oh hey girl hey!

I indulged in some cheddar cheese soup from Canada, a lobster claw from America, and the Grilled Beef Skewer with Chimichurri Sauce and Boniato Puree from Argentina.

We also enjoyed a soft serve ice cream cone!

Park #3- Hollywood Studios

Our plan of attack= Tower of Terror x 2

And finally… Park #4- Magic Kingdom

We headed straight for Mickey and Minnie!

This is my most favorite time of the year at Disney! Can you see why?!

We also enjoyed Dumbo (my first time ever on this ride!), the Haunted Mansion, and the Buzz Lightyear ride before catching the fireworks and calling it a night.

It was an awesome day with a good friend, and I can’t even think of a better way to spend my 30th birthday!

It’s been a dream of mine for quite some time to adopt a beagle. I’ve just been waiting on a landllord nice enough to allow pets and some financial stability. Everything recently fell into place, and I caught myself browsing Pet Finder. I usually search for the following: beagle, female, young, and adult. But this time, I didn’t eliminate seniors from my search. Grace’s picture stole my heart, and my heart broke as I read her bio.

She was a 9 year old beagle just looking for a lap to lay her head for the remainder of her life.

It only took me a few minutes to decide to email the animal haven where she was living, and I heard from them the next day. I quickly filled out the application and heard back from them the very next day. Karen, the owner of the animal haven, called to tell me I had been approved and gave me Grace’s history. She was presumably used for hunting, and the animal haven had rescued her just a month earlier from a kill shelter in Georgia. She was scheduled to be euthanized at the kill shelter, but they rescued her beforehand.

On Tuesday, I was scheduled for a meet-and-greet to see if we got along. From the moment I saw her, my heart melted. I knew she was my dog. The trainer at the animal haven filled me in with more information as well. She was most likely an outdoor dog all her life, so she probably wasn’t potty trained. They probably fed her at the same time with a bunch of other dogs by throwing the food on the floor, so she probably had to fight for her fair share. She also clarified that the vet thinks she’s between 6-8, not 9 like we originally thought. Her ear canals are pretty tight, and she’ll need surgery so that an infection doesn’t grow in there. Thankfully, the animal haven will be picking up the tab for her surgery. They also told me I could change her name since she was only named Grace a month ago. So, Grace became Molly Grace.

My mind was already made up before I even met her, but visiting her just made me want to take her home even more. We agreed that I’d be back on Wednesday (the next day) to pick her up, and then I left to make a trip to Petco where I purchased her food and water bowls, food, treats, a bed, and some toys.

When I came to pick her up on Wednesday, she was inside getting all gussied up for her new home. When Karen brought her out in a towel, my heart absolutely melted. This was my little girl! She was shivering from just being bathed, and she was probably really nervous. They gave me her medicines and her medical history, and we were on our way!

It didn’t take her long to get settled in the passenger seat.

She got a little anxious when we were halfway home, but all she needed was a little petting.

As soon as we got home, I took her on a long walk and then introduced her to her new home. She sniffed every square inch and then quickly found her cozy bed.

We took walk breaks every 2 hours and food breaks every 4 hours. When I was at my computer working, she laid right behind me.

When it came time for dinner, I made sure to feed her right before I sat down to eat so we would eat as a “pack” like she was used to. But she eats so much quicker than me, so she spent the next 10 minutes staring at me like this while I ate.

No barking or whining while I ate. Just staring.

We went to bed a little early. I brought her bed in next to mine, but she found a pillow in my closet she liked better.

I didn’t sleep too well that night. I kept waking up to make sure she was breathing. Kind of like the first time I babysat my nephew when he was an infant.

The morning brought a really early inventory shift at lululemon, so I had to leave her in a confined area for 7 hours. She still hadn’t pooped since I brought her home, so I was worried throughout my whole shift that I would come home to a really messy bathroom. I left her in there with her pillow, her bed, her toys (which she still doesn’t play with), and her food and water. When I came home, she didn’t even hear me come in the door. She was fast asleep and snoring with her little head on her pillow, and no messes were on the floor. Yay! She did her business outside when I got home, and she got an extra big treat for being such a good girl!

Today has been a good behavior day as well! She’s been enjoying long naps and long walks. She met a few furry friends on her walks today, and she just stared at them and didn’t bark. And she got a few compliments from our neighbors about how cute she is!

She’s been a fantastic addition to my home. She gives (and receives) so much love! I love that she follows me everywhere and needs to be in the same room as me. My life has definitely changed since adopting her. My life is not entirely my own anymore. Her needs come before mine, and I’m completely okay with that! I’m so glad she’s my little girl, and I’m especially happy I decided to adopt a senior dog who only needed a loving home.

Tell me about your pet! How were your first few days with them?

I apologize for my lack of desire to update this blog lately. Working three jobs is really overwhelming! Life has been AMAZING the past few weeks, and I walk around with this stupid grin on my face for most of my days.

So to catch you up on what’s been going on with me, let’s do some bullet points:

• Working for lululemon has seriously changed my whole outlook on my future, my goals, and how I view myself. I’ve also made some phenomenal friends! We all spent the day at Epcot on October 5th. Since lululemon is a Canadian company, we did yoga in front of the Canada pavilion. Neat, huh?

(I’m in the front row with the blue top)

More on my love affair with lululemon later!

• I’ve spent a few evenings in the Disney parks with Alison from Peacock Diaries. We spent her birthday at the Studios, and we’ll be spending all day next Sunday in all four parks for my 30th birthday, which is November 7th. One of my favorite evenings in Orlando thus far was spent at Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival with Alison.

The dishes I tried…

Grilled Beef Skewer with Chimichurri Sauce and Boniato Puree from Argentina. This was my favorite of everything I tried!

Cheese Fondue with Sourdough Bread. The cheese was pretty “grainy”. Not my favorite at all.

Lobster Roll from America

Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki from Greece

And an unpictured, amazing soft serve ice cream cone!

• I have come to the conclusion that running the WDW Marathon in 2012 might not be realistic for me at this point. I might change my mind in the next few days, but for now, I want to concentrate on yoga and losing the extra weight. I really don’t want to run another marathon at the weight I’m at now. I might run the half marathon, but we’ll see. Like I said, all of this might change in the next few days depending on how I’m feeling.

There’s so much more I have going on that I want to talk about, but I wanted to make this brief. In the meantime, enjoy some Disney Halloween pictures.

I promise I’ll be back soon with more regular posts!