Hey y'all! It's time for another update...but since there is not much going on here at home, I will post my DCP Bucket List!

My (hopeful) roommates and I have been discussing things we plan on doing while we are down there, and we have already made reservations to take on the infamous Kitchen Sink at Beaches and Cream Soda Shop. I am stoked. Lord knows I won't be able to finish my portion of this $29 dessert. But bring on the ice cream, because we are ready to pig out!

 https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/beach-club-resort/beaches-and-cream-soda-shop/

Tackle the Kitchen Sink is obviously on my list, but here are a few others*
Please feel free to take on this list, too! These are, by no means, my own ideas; I likely got them from other blogs and YouTube Channels. Enjoy!

That's all I've got for now! I'm just a week and a half away from Check-In. I am super excited. 

1. Visit all four parks in ONE day
2. People watch at each park. (Because I'm a CP, I'll have time to kick back and just watch the crowd and not be apart of it for once!) 
3. Visit the park by myself
4. Ride one ride over and over again for the day
5. Meet as many people as possible
6. Volunteer for VoluntEARS as many times as possible
7. Disneybound (any suggestions for what character?)
8. Go to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party
9. Go to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party
10. See every nigh time shows and fireworks
11. See all the parades
12. Make a jar of magical moments with my roommates to share at the end of the program
13. Take one picture every day
14. Have a slumber party with the roommates at a Disney Resort
15. Take a picture with EVERY Disney Princess
16. Visit all of the resorts
17. Celebrate my birthday with a Dole Whip Float and a Happy Birthday button!
18. Buy a light up Mickey balloon and give it away
19. Try the "grey stuff" at Be Our Guest Restaurant
20. Visit Tom Sawyer's Island and The Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse (they get overlooked quite often) 
21. Ride every ride in WDW
22. Get macaroons at Les Halles Bakery in Epcot with mom
23. Send a postcard from Main Street in Magic Kingdom
24. Try something unique at the Food and Wine Festival
25. Meet Gaston, The Ugly Step Sisters, Mary Poppins, Peter Pan and Wendy, Alice (all my faves but NEVER met them!) 
26. Watch the MK Welcome show

I recently received my DORMS  paper work. I had to fill out information on my car, and then had to put in a request for roommates. You have the option to select "I am adventurous", but since I found some girls on FaceBook back in the Spring we wanted to link up. Unfortunately August 31st arrivals were only given the option to select up to 2 roommates. There are 3 people that I wanted to link up with, so we were quite bummed about that. 

We ended up breaking up in groups of two and filling out the paperwork at the EXACT same time with identical information regarding apartment requests. We are praying that we get linked together in the same apartment. I am trusting in God's plan for us, and trusting that His plan is far greater than what I can even dream of. 

So, that's that. See you real soon! 

*this is not a complete list. Other items may be added overtime. :)

Packing and What I've Been Up To

  

Hi. Hello. Hey. 

       So, as we August 31^st arrivals are officially 22 days away from clocking into the “Most Magical [college job] on Earth”, I thought I would post a few of the things I am doing on my last few days here in Kentucky.

   
        For starters, PACKING. I’ve made list after list, paper and electronic, and have yet to stick to any list I create, but hey at least I’m packing. Right? So since I still have three weeks until I leave, I haven't started packing my clothes yet, and I won’t until the day or two before. I’ve rearranged my closet so that I can single out the clothes that I wear the most often and then add some warmer clothes to that once I get ready to pack. My goal is to not take too many things (clothes, décor, shoes, etc.), so by setting aside what I wear a lot, I feel like I will take what I WANT to wear rather than just clothes to wear that hardly ever get worn.

Here is the list…please keep in mind that this is completely tailored to myself and everyone basically has the same list, but for my blogs sake, here it is!

     Bed linens

o   Comforter

o   Sheets

o   Pillows

o   Blanket

o   Throw pillows

   Décor and Books

o   Pictures

o   Beauty and Beast painting

o   Floral vases

o   Journals

o   Bible

    Clothes

o   Tops

§  Tanks

§  Tees (short and long)

§  Sweaters/ Hoodies

§  Rain jacket

o   Dresses (3)

o   Business attire for Traditions and Training

§  Dress pants/ skirt

§  Dress tops

o   Bottoms

§  Shorts

§  Jeans

§  Sweat Pants/ Lounge pants

o   Pajamas

o   Hat

o   Sunglasses

Cosmetics

o   Makeup

o   Bath/ Shower necessities 

o   Toothbrush/ Toothpaste

o   Nail polish and remover

o   Hair dryer

o   Flat iron

 Towels and Wash Cloths
  Kitchenware

o   Keurig

o   K-cups

o   Brita pitcher

o   Dish drying mat

o   Mug/ Cups

 Medicine
Camera and charger

Music Cube and charger

Laptop and charger

 Phone charger

Fan

Disney gear

o   Mickey ears

o   Mickey and Goofy stuffed animals

o   Magic Band

 Documents

o   Passport (you can use your Birth Certificate or Social Security Card instead)

o   Driver’s License

o   Folder with DCP materials with me to Check- In

o   Insurance Papers with my name on papers that proves I am insured

o   Blank voided check FOR DIRECT DEPOSIT

o   Employment Eligibility Forms and I-9 Work Authorization

HAPPY PACKING!!

As for what I’ve been doing with the majority of my summer not spent focused on Disney, well here are some pictures that pretty much sum up the last couple of weeks of my summer. From touring Downtown Savannah with Blake and my family, to sitting poolside with my favorite pup, Harley, this has been such a memorable summer.

Sharing a Coke in Savannah with my "Soulmate"  

Blake and his family surprised his parents with dinner and a party for their 25th wedding anniversary! 

We took my college roommate to Holiday World for her birthday and had such a great time! 

The Byrne family went on an adventure to Cumberland Falls as a last hoo-rah before the Byrne babies say farewell for MSU and DCP. 

I'll be sitting poolside with my pooch until it's time to leave for Florida!

Normally I would say "Have a magical day!" But, how about going out of your way to make someone else's day magical? Who says the magic has to stay bottled up at Disney World? Give it a go! 

See you real soon.
Goodnight!

One Month Away!

"When you wish upon a star"...

..."anything your heart desires, will come to you".

It is truly starting to sink in that I will be moving to the Sunshine State here in just one month. I can hardly believe that the time has floated away. I can remember counting down from 150 days...100 days...80 days...and now 39 days until Check-In!?!? MAGICAL. That's about the only word I can use to describe the feeling.

My family and I have started talking about trips they are going to take to come and visit me, where they are going to stay, and what parks they want to visit...all I can look forward to, at this point, is my work location. OH! And meeting my roommates! These girls are the best. I SO hope we get to room together! We are going to attempt to do a Google Hangout tonight, so that we can all meet (online) for the first time! So far, we have just chatted through FaceBook! We are all very excited.

I've slowly...very very (very) slowly started to pack things for the program. I've made a few lists, but have yet to begin the loathsome job of putting things in boxes for easy transportation-nor have I even begun to lay out what goes IN those boxes. Let us hope these next 30-so days go by slowly. I am going to do my oh-so-very-best to pack lightly. That being said, my duck boots, a large chunk of my jewelry, and a lot of my super comfy fall/winter clothes all get left behind in the Big Blue. *sigh* Oh well, that leaves plenty of room in the closet for Mickey ears and princess tees! This is just too real.

I love reading other blogs and watching vlogs from past and current DCPers. They make my anticipation grow leaps and bounds. I have finally found some business wear and shoes for Traditions and my class. I'll upload those pics as I wear them when I'm down there. My focus was comfort>style (but I still had to have some factor of cuteness)!

The class I have signed up for is Experiential Learning. Since my plan is to one day become a teacher, I thought that this class was the best fit for me. They explore the adult education and apply theorists such as Jean Piaget (whom I have already studied). Though I will be doing middle school education, I hope this class will help me in my career, and I will be able to apply what I learn to my future profession.

So here I sit...waiting for August 31st. 

I hope you all have the most magical day EVER! 

If You Dream It...

I know it has been forever since I posted last. My trip to Disney World with Blake's family was amazing! I had the greatest time!! I did so many things that I had never done before! Toy Story Mania, The Electrical Parade, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and visit The BoardWalk. So many memories were made on that trip, and I cannot wait to go back and experience them all again!

Finals are next week, and you know what that means....I am THAT much closer to my program. 122 days to be exact, and I can hardly keep my excitement in. I have been procrastinating studying for Number Theory and writing a literary analysis all week to look up roommate gift ideas. My roommates and I decided that we would surprise each other with small gifts on the first night like we have seen in many other vlogs. I have a few ideas...one may or may not be an "emergency tiara". Because if you work DCP, you ARE a princess, and if you are a princess, you NEED a tiara.

I am getting very excited about my role during the program. I recently discovered that I could potentially hold the balloons on Main Street or work a cart. No thank you. That is entirely too much responsibility for me. I would be so scared that someone would snatch a Mickey hat while I was working with another guest. Have you heard of the horror stories about the foreigner crowds? That will be me. All 5'4 of me stuck in a swarm of Asians reaching for light up Mickey balloons.

My dream is to work in Disney's Animal Kingdom. I know, I know. It's not guest's favorite park, but I love the atmosphere at DAK. It's full of life and color...and smells? :) But the real reason I want to work at DAK is THE COSTUMES!!!!! I believe they have the cutest, most flattering costumes. Also, the park closes the earliest...HUGE PERK. I will find out my Merch location on Check-In Day (Aug 31). I am so pumped. 

Until next time...Oh! Remember... "If you can dream it, you can do it." - Walt Disney Company 

Hi everybody!

Well I am just a few short days away from leaving to go on vacation to the "Happiest Place on Earth", but I have even more exciting news!

I GOT ACCEPTED INTO THE DISNEY COLLEGE PROGRAM!

I was accepted last Friday (February 27), and now that I think about it that was exactly one month from the date of my phone interview! Crazy. I know that the decision for hiring is completely random, but I just thought that was neat. Some applicants were accepted a week or less after their interview...that was hard for me to witness. I thought to myself that I was NEVER going to get in. I just prayed and prayed for God to give me patience, and for Him to give me faith to keep trusting that He has a plan for me. It was hard. I wanted to be accepted so badly, and to think that I might not be admitted into the program was disheartening. God showed me His plan for me though! DCP Fall 2015. 

So, I was driving home (by myself--I typically drive home with Blake (boyfriend)), and noticed I was low..very low on gas. My dad always tells me to leave my gas tank halfway full, so I knew I had to fill it up before I went home to see him! Haha :) So, I pull into Kroger and wait in line to get gas. I pull out my phone to text Blake to let him know that I am stopping for gas, and I notice I have some emails. It drives me nuts to see that red bubble with x amount of numbers in it, so I click on it to delete what I thought were going to be promotional emails from H&M and Paula's Choice...the typical let-down emails I had gotten in the past month. But, to my surprise there sat a glorious email from Walt Disney Recruitment...."Congratulations!"

I won't lie to you and tell you that it didn't take everything I had in me to not let out a shriek right there in the Kroger gas lot. I did it. I was accepted. My first time applying, and I was accepted. I couldn't believe it. I read it over and over again until I came to my senses and had to pump gas. And let me just tell you that $25 worth of gas that I pumped was the slowest gas that I have ever pumped!!! I dialed Blake's number while I was pumping the gas, but after two rings I realized what I was doing. "NO!" I screamed to myself. "Tell them all tonight at dinner...tell them all at once" I thought. I hung up. He called me back, and I made up something along the lines of "I stopped for gas...just letting you know", and I hung up as quickly as I could, so he couldn't hear my voice on the verge of tears (excited tears). 

That night we were to go see my sister's boyfriend play basketball. We went out to dinner at what I thought was going to be a sit-down restaurant. Turns out we didn't have much time, and it was just a sandwich shop. I was NOT about to tell them there! On the way to the game I told my family about the cutest "Disney's Lost Princess" shirt that Blake got me to wear for our upcoming Disney trip. I then made a comment about how I doubt that they will sell that kind of cute shirt at the store I am going to work at in Disney in the fall! Everyone was silent. They didn't understand. I said "Did you hear what I said?" My sister said, "Wait...you got in?" Mhmmmm :) My mom screamed and my dad laughed and gave a big grin. Blake smiled and said "Congratulations!!" (I didn't hear him that day, but he said later that he did tell me that in the car). 

So, I am so grateful for this new adventure God is leading me on. I have learned so many things so far. Patience and trusting in God are among them. My bible study today says that "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." Proverbs 9:10. We are to trust God in every situation. We are not knowledgeable enough to make every decision for ourselves. Go to God in prayer about what you are struggling with, or what is burdening you. For me, I was struggling with the anticipation of Disney. God made it clear to me that He has a plan for me. Whether that was going to be Disney or school next semester, He would show me in HIS time (not mine). Remember: He knows all things. The past, present, and future. Look to Him to guide you through whatever situation you are going through. 

See y'all back here real soon!!