Disney at Home on the Weekend!

Louisiana Crepe MyrtlesI don’t know about at your house, but at ours the weekend goes by WAY too quickly!  Seems like the hours between Friday afternoon and Monday morning are shorter than those during the rest of the week.  Whoosh!  Weekend’s over!  This weekend was especially packed with fun and Disney!

Fall has arrived and with our next trip to Walt Disney World just two weeks away, I realized how much still needs to be done!  So I kicked it into high gear over the weekend and got a few things accomplished.

Saturday, Junior got his Halloween costume finalized.  I’m 100% sure he doesn’t care about dressing up for this holiday or any other, but I care, so he indulges me.  I went with Star Wars and am really happy with the cuteness level!  What do you think?  Doesn’t Junior make a cute Tauntaun?

Sunday, I ran 7 miles as my longest training run of the week.  It seems I’ve got to run a half Junior as a TaunTaunmarathon to run a half marathon.  Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?  In order to NOT start at the very back of the pack for the Disney Princess Half in February, I’ve got to prove I can go the distance in less than 3.5 hours.  I’ve run several half marathons in the past, but not in a couple of years, so I need a recent qualifying time.  I’ve decided on the East Texas Half in Nacogdoches, Texas on November 16th.  Who doesn’t want to run 13.1 miles for their 50th birthday?  Should be fun, right?

I was really hungry after all that running and decided I could cook up something fattening and delicious while crossing another item off my Disney New Year’s Resolution List.  After our Tutto Italia dining experience in May was such a disappointment (very poor service, very mediocre food), I wanted to use a recipe from the Tutto Italia of the past – when they had both awesome service and delicious dishes!  I’m not giving up on them forever at Walt Disney World (Epcot’s World Showcase, Italy Pavilion), but I’m giving them some time to work out their current kinks before we go back.  In TaunTaun Canine!the mean time, I’ll keep whipping up some happy memories at home!  I decided on the Gnocchi with Spinach and Gorgonzola Cream Sauce.  I took a picture of the finished product to show you, but, well, it’s kind of ugly so I changed my mind.  Let’s just say that my first attempt at gnocchi from scratch was a little rough – they were not pretty, uniform little pieces of pasta.  Thankfully, they tasted absolutely divine (in spite of the dish’s humble appearance).  I used this recipe from Allears.net.

Finally, after waiting for what felt like forever, Season 4 of Once Upon a Time started Sunday night.  It was worth the wait!  I won’t go into detail since you either watch Once and you’re with me in my excitement OR you don’t watch it and don’t care.  I will say that I was not expecting Kristoff to be so perfect.  I thought Anna was spot on (Elsa not so much) and having Marshmallow make an appearance was a great (and fun) surprise.  I wasn’t expecting to like the Frozen takeover, but so far so good!

Did you add any Disney to your weekend? 

The Road to runDisney Begins With a Single Step

A Woman and her DogIn the following post, I share more personal information than usual (or ever).  If you’re here for one of my normal discussions about Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disney recipes, crafts, movies, or collectibles, come back tomorrow for our regularly scheduled program.  Please excuse the interruption.

As many of you know, I’m about to turn 50 – and I’m not all that broken up about it.  Many people get sad or mad or depressed or, God forbid, go into midlife-crisis mode – not me, though, not my style.  I haven’t yet reached an age that has triggered any unhappy feelings.  I’d be a lot happier if gravity would go pick on somebody else for a change, but I feel good, in general, and I have many blessings to count each day.  I do sometimes feel that life’s going by faster and faster all the time.  Then I get to thinking:  Maybe I should knock some stuff off my to-do list before more time gets away from me.

I am not athletic.  I’m a bit of a girly girl with tough guy tendencies and I didn’t grow up playing My Haunted Mansion-themed Running Shoessports – there’s absolutely NO eye-hand coordination in the end of the gene pool from whence I sprang.  I never aspired to be athletic – I mostly wanted to have fun, eat good food, and pursue happiness.  Happiness that did not involve sweating or getting dirty or making my body do anything uncomfortable.  I’m not tall, I have a long torso and short limbs.  I’m what I describe as sturdy with some buoyancy that makes swimming my best athletic endeavor.  Get the picture?

For most of my life, I felt blissfully uninspired to become one with my inner athlete (if she even existed!) – even after losing my father to heart disease when I was 19.  I was able to maintain this mindset all the way until almost three years after I had my second (and final) child at age 30.  The baby weight was not going to fall off on its own.  I was not going to spring back to looking like I did in my 20’s.  Eating, drinking and making merry were not good lifestyle choices – and that was becoming more obvious by the day!  But HOW do you change that?  I’m sure the answer to that question is different for every person, but for me, changing what I didn’t like about my physical condition   (and my attitude towards Triathlon Picturehealthy food choices) meant taking a single step.  Literally – just getting up, forcing myself to make time for ME and my physical condition (for which I accepted complete responsibility) and taking one step forward.

I think the moment your foot makes that single step forward is no sooner than the exact time you are really and truly ready to do it.  I imagine it’s like people who stop smoking, stop overeating, or stop working at a job they hate – it will only happen when they’re ready.  It can’t be for anyone else, for a class reunion, for an upcoming wedding – it has to be at a time that may feel like a monumentally selfish moment…but it’s not.  It’s a very simple fact that in order to be lovable, you have to love yourself.  In order for you to be the best person you can offer your spouse, your children, your boss, your parents, your friends, your pet – you have to love yourself enough to put yourself first – at least with regard to doing what it takes to love who you are.  For me that meant taking a step off the couch, away from the table, and out onto a lonely country road.IMG_4160

I chose mornings to carve out some time for my project – the project of making me the best I could be.  I started long before the current walk/run training craze with, oddly enough, that exact training technique – it was all I was capable of!  I walked with some short jogging thrown in.  It was hard.  I had to buy new shoes, some decent shorts and a sports bra, and have my ankles taped daily due to shin splints (thanks, Raymond).  That felt selfish, but I did it anyway.  In March, 1998, I ran my first mile without stopping.  In January of 1999, I ran my first marathon and never looked back.  All the things I’d hated about myself my whole life – bulky, short legs, 5′ 4″ height, square shape – suddenly looked completely different to my own eyes.  I’d lost weight and, short legs notwithstanding, ran continuously for 26.2 miles in 4 hours and 20  minutes – I was proud of me – and that was an amazing feeling.  All because I got up a little earlier one morning and took that first step.  Don’t get me wrong – I could never EVER have accomplished my goals without the support and sacrifice of my family – They have always been and continue to be my biggest fans and my gratitude cannot be expressed in words.Post-5K shoe picture

So, here I am now with two full marathons, four half-marathons, over 30 triathlons (turns out riding a bicycle does not require all that much coordination!), and countless 5k races behind me.  16 years have flown by and that brings me back to the original point of all this disclosure.  I’ve wanted to participate in a runDisney event for quite some time now.  In spite of my passion for Disney and all the events I’ve participated in before – I’ve been honestly intimidated by those princesses, those younger people, those tall, willowy runners they show on the runDisney web site – the perky ones with the cute costumes and happy smiles.  I got up this morning, looked in the mirror and reminded myself of a really important lesson – I just needed to take a single step forward.

As of 11:01 Central Standard Time today, I am officially registered for the Glass Slipper Challenge next February (2015) at Walt Disney World.  I will run the Disney Enchanted 10K on Saturday, the 21st and The Disney Princess Half Marathon on Sunday the 22nd.  I will be 50 years old by then – I’m not a princess, not young, and most certainly not willowy, but I will be there…knocking something else off my to-do list before any more time gets away from me.

If you’re planning to be there, too, I’d love to hear from you.

Thank you for reading….Lisa

 

Confessions of a RunDisney Wannabe

IMG_4163Calling RunDisney fans – I need your help!

I dream Disney dreams all the time, but seems like I’ve been dreaming about participating in a RunDisney event forever.  

I’m a big fan of planning and goal setting (aka: dreaming and scheming).  The everyday me loves to procrastinate – I’m positive I work better under pressure *cough*.  The Disney me, possesses mad planning skills and can tell you at any given time what Disney trips are in the works for at least the next two years.  That me also has no problem whatsoever with making dining reservations 180 days in advance, creating spreadsheets to compare dining plan options, or creating and distributing a new, customized packing list/daily itinerary to each member of The Fam months ahead of departure.  How is it that I haven’t found a way to join two of my most favorite things in the world?

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Dug these out of a cabinet in the laundry room

 I’ve been running for more than 15 years.  I like running.  That and riding my bicycle are my preferred methods of staying in reasonably good shape (pretty important at my age!).  I’m proud to say I’ve completed 2 marathons, 4 half-marathons, countless 5k’s and over 30 sprint and olympic distance triathlons.  All of that would never have been possible without the support of The Fam who, with few exceptions, has always been with me, cheering me on.  I’t’s bothering me that as many times as I’ve been to Disney World, I’ve yet to participate in one of Disney’s popular running events.

So, RunDisney people, I need your help!  How do you blend a Disney vacation with your family and a lengthy sporting event?  I need some pointers, some tips and strategies for making sure I don’t inadvertently waste time or money on our Disney vacation doing something that feels like it’s mostly all about me.   General Dis Pics 11.13 070

Here are a few questions:

  • I’ve always trained and raced in the morning – are evening events more difficult because of this?  Have any tips?
  • What does your family do while you’re racing (when not actively cheering you on)?
  • How early do you generally arrive at Disney World (the day before? or earlier?)
  • How hard is it to hit the parks the next day and not slow everyone down?
  • I’ve narrowed down my best (most likely) future race options to:  The Princess Half-Marathon, The Wine and Dine Half, or the Tower of Terror Ten-Miler – any suggestions?

I’d be so very grateful for any tips you could give me!

 

 

 

 

Disney Twitterverse – Week Ending November 9th, 2013

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Oh, there was some major tweeting going on this week!  Here’s what Disney fans were talking about…

RunDisney Events – This week was the lead up to the Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend at Disney World.  Saturday morning included the Jingle Jungle 5K with the half marathon on Saturday night.  The twitterverse was humming with tweets from runners and fans alike.  If you’ve ever dreamed of completing a runDisney event, these races looked like great ones.

Halloween is over and Christmas has arrived in all places Disney.  The holiday decorations have gone up, the “snow” has started falling, and the first Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party of the year is over.  What happened to Thanksgiving?  Anyway, if you’ve been or are going to Mickey’s Very Merry, I’d love to hear about it!

Tony Baxter, Imagineer and Disney legend, received a Window on Main Street USA in Disneyland on Friday, November 1st.  Mr. Baxter’s new window, installed above Main Street Magic  pays tribute to a man who has contributed so much to the Disney we all love.  Please take a minute to read this excellent article at Laura’s Miscellaneous Musings blog.

Still more Thor!  As Thor: The Dark World opened in theaters this week there have been quite a few excited fans.  I caught this newest installment in the Marvel Avengers movie series yesterday.  Now I feel qualified to tweet about it too.

What were YOU tweeting about Disney last week?  Follow me @life_of_green