DAPPER DAY!

This weekend at Disney's Hollywood Studios, hundreds of sophisticated dressed ladies and gents filled the park for Dapper Day! I have been looking forward to this event since September of last year when I first found out about the event. The participants are still small in number, but as the number of park goers and the media for the event increased soon the park will be outnumbered during this bi-yearly event.

My roommates, Hanna, Jordan, and I have been nonstop excited about Dapper Day, that it was probably sickening! Finally Saturday had arrived but the day was not so smooth sailing as expected. I had an online test to take; 2 hour exam with 100 questions. Talk about putting a damper on things. Hanna had been expecting her petticoat for her dress to come in the mail all week and was resorting to shelling out money for a last minute substitute that would have been super plain. Luckily the package came in RIGHT before she was heading out to the store! Great luck right? A quick drugstore run for false eyelashes and we were in business for preparation for the evening!

We didn't get to the park in time to get in the picture with everyone at The Great Movie Ride, but we took some awesome pictures and even were snapped a few times by guests. One guy even approached us and asked for us to pose for a picture. We felt like celebrities. People staring and taking pictures of us as we enjoyed our evening at Hollywood Studios. People would even come up to us and want to know "what the heck was going on with all these beautiful people dressed up".

The best part of it all was passing other groups of people dressed up and acknowledging each other with a warm "HAPPY DAPPER DAY". Even some of the cast members knew what was going on and greeted us with the same welcome.

Ending the park experience by watching Fantasmic, next we headed over to Beach Club Resort for some much needed food. We were so excited about the night we had not eaten since breakfast!

 A few bumps in the road did not bring my spirits down Dapper Day; it was like the social event of the year for me! I am still on a high from the event and how stunning everyone who participated looked! I have a new adventure in the works, going to Disneyland Dapper Day next fall where the event originally started.

For more information about Dapper Day check out the website www.dapperday.com

Hanna retro updo

My roommates Jordan, Hanna and I on the tram outside Hollywood Studios

Shelby, Hanna, Jordan, and I posing near this vintage classic

Hollywood Tower of Terror

This was taken right after these ladies complimented me on my outfit! I had to get a picture with these dapper dolls!

Picture taken by Kanoe Lontayao 

Sarah and I

Ending Dapper Day events at Beach Club Resort for dinner

A photo-op in a foyer at Beach Club

Their recreation of the classic scene in Titantic

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Program to Talk About DAPPER DAY!!

DAPPER DAY!!!!!!!!!

What you've never heard of it? It's only the greatest Disney event to hit Hollywood Studios since EVER! Actually my opinion is bias. Plus this event has only been going on for about 3 years. There might be greater things, but none of them include guests dressing to the nines and heading to the parks for an evening of retro magic.



Inspired by the original Disney park designer's illustrations, which often featured extremely well dressed guests enjoying the park, DAPPER DAY events celebrate the tradition of stepping out in style.
This is your chance to visit the parks while looking your best. All elegant fashions from vintage-inspired to contemporary chic are encouraged. (Taken from Dapperday.com)

I am SUPER excited for this event this weekend! More excited about this than Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and ALL the Christmas events put on at the Walt Disney World Parks! This is my kind of event, dressing up and going out (and it's NOT to a club! Bleh!).

Here's a video that features the creator of this event, Justin, and looks at some snazzy looking folks!

And just for fun here is a video from DAPPER DAY-Walt Disney World February 24, 2013

Uncertainty: Unclear of my decisions

Today officially marks week 5 of my Disney College Program. I am comfortable in my role at work, accustomed to co-workers and leaders, and pretty much figured out the bus system to my favor.

I should more excited about my experience than I feel. Constantly lingering in the back of my mind is the question "should I have come back?". Trust me it's not a good feeling to have, questioning my decision. Never have a made a decision so big that I felt was possibly a mistake. In the past, every decision I have made has been a learning experience. Being back here though I feel is not a learning experience but instead is not the place I should be right now. 

There has not been anything bad about my program: great job, leaders, and roommates. But have you ever felt God was this God's plan and timing or my own? Decision making about the future could be playing a lot into my reasoning. With graduation inching closer upon me, I wish I knew my next step in life, where I want to live, whether or not to go to grad school, career paths. These thoughts make my heart grow heavy. I hate to think my heavy heart is keeping me from truly enjoying all Disney has to over. 

This is sort of a different kind of post than I normally share. I feel that I should express concerns I have in life and that my life isn't all pixie dust and grand adventures. My life is not perfect and it definitely is not figured out! I will continue to seek God's help in my journey and ask that anyone reading this pray for direction for me. 

For anyone unsure of their decisions loke me there is a scripture that continues to speak to me:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. (Proverbs 3:5, 6 NLT)

The Power of Music: Rock The Universe

It was that time of the year again: Christian Concert Series at the two biggest theme parks in Orlando, Disney World and Universal Studios. During the same weekend in September both parks host a 2 day concert event featuring some of the top artists in Christian music. The downside is having to choose which one to go to, Night of Joy at Disney or Rock the Universe at Universal.

I choose to attend Rock the Universe with one of my roommates, Aubry on Saturday. Originally I was going to attend Night of Joy on Friday, but I forgot to buy a discounted ticket plus I didn't have anyone to accompany me. Things worked out for the best because Rock the Universe was excellent!!!

I had heard stories about how cast members despise working the events: basically tons of church groups kids away from their parents for the night. You do the math. Attending and observing guests I could understand where cast members could feel little pleasure in working the event due to the amount of unchaperoned teenagers being let loose. 

Overall though I felt like everyone was just having a great time! How many people can say they rode rides while their favorite artist played tunes on the stage below? 

There were so many great artists performing it was hard to pick who to see! Saturday night performers included: Red, Lecrae, Jesus Culture, Casting Crowns, Reliant K, Dara Macclean, OBB, Love to Outcome, and Crave. We decided to pick our favorite artist and see each perform. I picked Dara Maclean and my roommate picked Reliant K. The best part was getting to meet them and get autographs and pictures! Dara Maclean is such a sweet and down to earth woman of Christ. Her performance was so soulful and spirited! My roommate became a fan that night! Reliant K was awesome too even though we were so far back from the stage. I definitely knew some of their older songs. 

I think the most cherished and beautiful moments of the night was small but touching to my heart. As we were walking through the crowds to get to the Reliant K stage we pasted Jesus Culture performing. The hundreds of people watching the concert as well as the moving crowd passing through were singing along to One Thing Remains. Imagine as you're walking among hundreds of believers in Christ singing "Your love never fails and never gives up and never runs out on me" at a theme park in unison!! I loved it! 

The night was completely magical because through the power of music, The power of Christ filling the theme parks this weekend! I would love to go back again in the years to come

My roommate Aubry and I outside Universal Studios Orlando

Rock the Universe Banner

Aubry gets the autograph of lead singer Matt Thiessen of the band RELIENT K before their show

We met singer Dara McClean after her performance (such a beautiful sweet woman of God)

Island in the Sun: Hawaii

I just got home from a week in Paradise, a place my friends Nicole and Courtney call home, the island of Oahu. It was a Disney reunion of not seeing my friends for a year. The girls showed me their island and I must say God gave this place great beauty and wonder.

To start I want to mention how I came to the island with no expectations. My eyes were wide open to all aspects of the state of Hawaii. The common question I received from people was how expensive it was, but I had the help of my friends who knew how to have an amazing time while not breaking the bank. We did tons of sight seeing without spending crazy money. We checked out Pearl Harbour and Dole Plantation, we hiked Pillboxes, experienced great weather at Pali Lookout, and of course spent plenty of time at the abundance of beaches. I went to five in total!  The most expensive activity we did was the luau at Paradise Cove for $65, which was pretty reasonable because there are other shows that can be almost $200 a ticket! Maybe when I make my marvelous six figure salary working in corporate America, but for now this college student is ALL about a great deal.

Originally I was going to blog each day about our adventures, but by the end of each day I was completely and utterly exhausted. So instead I will highlight the moments that truly made our Disney reunion special!

1. THE REUNION: Seeing my friends after leaving the Disney College Program last year was magic. We told each other we were going to see each other again and after months of planning it happened. Seeing them was surreal and yet it was like we had just seen each other a week or so ago. It could not have been a year since we left Florida! I also reconnected with a old tennis mate from high school. We had come to the conclusion that we had not seen each other in over six years because we both moved away from the school. Of all places and people to meet again it was Jeremy and me!
2. Staying at Ko Olina Marriott Beach Club: I am so glad we decided to stay near the city of Kapolei over Waikiki Beach. The entire Ko Olina area was majestic and hidden away from the hustle and bustle of Waikiki and Honolulu's hecticness. The hotel was a paradise in itself. It was also on the same street as Disney's Aulani Resort. (In my opinion Marriott Beach Club was nicer than Aulani especially for people without small children: nicer beach area and better hotel room). 
3. Leonard Jrs Hot Malasadas: Portuguese originated heaven!! I ate them like water!
4. Driving to North Shore: You leave the city and drive through the mountains into the countryside. No buildings no traffic lights just the open road (and a slower speed limit than the mainland that's for sure!) Being at North Shore was where I felt like I was living like a local. 
5. Jumping off a 30 foot rock at Waimea Bay: If it were not for my friend Alika, I would not have had the courage to jump off not once BUT TWICE! I just learned how to swim about two months ago and my biggest fear was not the jumping off the rock but the water below. I overcame the fear with his help and I feel I can conquer the world, literally! 
6. True Aloha Spirit: Courtney and Nicole's family and friends welcomed me with open arms and an Aloha spirit. They let me into their homes and into their lives and I am truly grateful because they have forever made a lasting impression about what Aloha spirit is! Both ladies parents showed my such generosity and I gained so much knowledge about the culture of the island and the people that call it home. Also their friends I met, both Laurens, Tiffany, Nick, and Danielle, Dylan, and Chris, the sweetest group of friends! The way you guys look out for each other, to say you guys are friends is an understatement. You guys are a beautiful blending of cultures, Ohana! And you took me in as part of it. I loved it! I even left the island with a nickname, Professa! 
7. Food: I was NEVER hungry during my trip. From Red Velvet Macadamia Nut Pancakes at Cinnamon in Kailua to Pork Hash from 7-Eleven to Acai Berry Bowl in North Shore, there was always delicious food around every corner.
8. BEACHES: How could I not fail to mention the beautiful beaches of Oahu! I visited 5 in total, with my favorite being Waimea Bay. I also visited Ala Moana Beach, Ko Olina Beach, Lanikai Beach, and Waikiki Beach. 
9. Windows down, cool breeze blowing, blasting our favorite tunes! There is something about singing aloud with your friends to a song on the radio. Spotify is like God's gift of music with the abundance of songs at our fingertips. There were moments in the car that stuck out to me the most: singing along to Island in the Sun-Weezer as we drove home from North Shore and the night drive from Waikiki  while we did a quartet to Buffalo Solider-Bob Marley. 
• Speaking of music, Nicole+Me+Bag of Godiva Chocolate=Pure Madness!! We were on a sugar high for Christ that Sunday night! We walked around Waikiki Strip singing Christian songs like the Holy Spirit himself! We did our best renditions of songs from Hillsong, Chris Tomlin, and many more!! That was a great moment in itself.

I left my friends Nicole and Courtney on Monday night, along with their friends and family and their paradise called home. It was not until I got to the airport that I felt emotional about the departure. In the end though we know this is not goodbye, but instead, in the words of Mickey Mouse, See Ya Real Soon!

Now the moment you have all been waiting for....PICTURES!!

When Disney friends reunite!

The bipolar rainy and freezing weather of this weekend couldn't bring me down because I had another treat this weekend, my friend from the Disney College Program, Jonathan was coming to visit! We hadn't seen each other since May 2012, nearly 10 months! What he didn't know was that although he was coming to visit me, there was a special surprise coming to Texas to come visit him. I'll explain a little later.

FRIDAY:
I felt most of our day was spent driving from one end of the Metroplex to the other! He found out that day just how BIG Dallas/Ft. Worth is! From Dallas to Arlington to Denton and a few places in between! We did stop for lunch at my favorite Asian Fusion restaurant, Bamboo Pho & Springroll. If you are ever in the Arlington area and craving pho and boba tea (which I am always craving), stop by this place! It's cozy and plays great music! There's also a HUGE TV on the main wall in the dining area that you CANNOT miss seeing! I always go for their lunch special $6.95 eggroll+pho+soft drink. There's also a bar area with drink specials.
The location is 330 Matlock Rd. #102 Arlington, TX 76015 
http://www.bamboopho.com/ 

The evening was spent in Dillards prepping for the fashion show (my previous blog post) and then Studio Movie Grill with my beautiful friends Bria and Sonia! I am so glad they invited us out to the movies with them because we had a great time. You know that feeling you get when you bring two groups of friends together and they mesh, I felt it Friday night and it was good. If you have never heard of Studio Movie Grill, the name does it justice; it's a dine-in theater. It can be a bit pricey but there are ways around it:
1) Groupon offers movie ticket+soft drink for $5 (unfortunately sold out that Friday night)
2) Student Discounts-use your ID and a ticket is $7.50 for peak evening which saves $2 off your ticket

Olympus has Fallen is what we saw. Of course with us being college students and all we questioned the accuracy of some of the events in the movie such as how much time passed between CERTAIN events (I won't go into detail so that I don't give anything away). Overall I liked the movie because I'm all about a movie with a few gun (or in the case a bunch) of gun fights. I'd pick a action/thriller or a romance movie any day of the week. If at least one person isn't shot in the movie, I'm bored! Point is, go see Olympus has Fallen.

Jonathan, me, Sonia, Bria
Studio Movie Grill

SATURDAY:

I spent the day with fashion show business and Jonathan spent the day with Fraternity business.

SUNDAY ie THE BIG DAY:

I told Jonathan that we were going to meet Matt and Diana, friends from high school, and there visiting friend from school, Steven at Six Flags. Which was true, but what he DIDN'T know was that there was also another group meeting us there, to surprise him which included our favorites Ashley and Taylor and their friends Kayla, Caleb, and Won Ton.

Ashley and I had been planning this surprise for weeks! And it was hard to not tell Jonathan that our friends from Oklahoma were driving down that morning to meet us!

The plan was to meet in Gotham City in front of the Batman ride, but we all arrived at different times and were in different parts of the line for this thriller ride. I feared our cover was almost blown when I happened to look up above at the exit bridge and see Ashley scurrying along! I was convinced Jonathan would look in the same direction I was looking and see her, luckily that didn't happen. The night before she and I thought the same fate when I had left my phone next to Jonathan faced up and Ashley sent me a text about where to meet up in the morning. He didn't pay the phone any mind, thank goodness!

There was a little miscommunication and Jonathan and I met up with Matt, Diana, and Steven, but headed to another ride that the Oklahoma group was going to ride. But they had came back to Batman! We are still unclear how we didn't pass each other but nonetheless, my friend Matt came through for me and we made a pitstop at the restrooms so that I could call Ashley in private to get everyone together!

Cutest reunion EVER because Jonathan was so surprised! Ashley ran up behind Jonathan and covered his eyes. He had NO idea who it could have been either! We had pulled it off, a successful surprise at Six Flags! And our group of 10 headed to ride Six Flag Over Texas' biggest roller coaster, the Titan! Actually we rode it twice! Our groups split up for a bit to do our own things and after 8 hours in the amusement park we ended up at Chilis for dinner.

Ashley needed wifi to finish a homework assignment due at midnight so we ended up at a nearby McDonalds before finally all heading home :(

Oh and we also ATTEMPTED to do homework lol

He was "helping me with homework" lol

MONDAY:

We definitely couldn't top Sunday. Monday was no where near as eventful since I had to be in class in the morning and Jonathan and I both had to study for tests the following day. It took us relocating to three different study locations, two libraries and the business building, but by 8pm we had enough of studying.
On the drive home we did a quick car tour of my city and took a few pictures of the lit up buildings. My mother cooked stir fry for dinner and my entire family rallied around the den for funny conversation. I think that was the best part of the evening just all laughing together.

TUESDAY:

Awake for the break of dawn, Jonathan and I headed to the airport for our last goodbyes. It wasn't goodbye though it was more like a see ya real soon (that's the Disney talking lol), December is the next reunion, at Disney World of course, and it will happen sooner than we know it!

In closing I just want to say how great of friends I have! They made Jonathan's weekend in Dallas truly memorable! Until next time, peace!

That is the Titan. Yeah, we rode it....T

I was caught off guard and didn't get any other pic of the reunion SORRY

Disney brought them together; distance can't keep them apart

Diana and I friends since High School!

Me, Kayla, and Ashley at All American Cafe
my hair had deflated at this point 

She's my absolute FAVORITE!!! <3 

TIRED, HUNGRY, & FREEZING last pic of the day
Jonathan, Won Ton (Daniel), Taylor, Ashley, Kayla, Caleb, me

Exploring Downtown