Oh, Pinterest, you big giant time suck...

I just love me some Pinterest. I don't have nearly as many pins as some of my friends, who have amazing things, but today I've been having a crazy craft-lust for some reason, and Pinterest has only been intensifying it. The thing is, I am not even crafty, not even a little bit. I have good intentions, but I can't use scissors. So what I really want is to convince my family members that these projects are awesome and have them help me not screw them up. However, PB is impressed by practical, functional things, not my desires to cover things in fabric or hang things on the walls. But maybe I can convert him.

Source: grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com via Meredith on Pinterest

I want to make this amazing twinkle light chandelier for the screened porch.  Except for I don't want to replace the ceiling fan and I already have colored fancy balloon lights from Target and PB calls those my Clark Griswold lights.  I don't think he'll be too impressed with this.  A girl can dream though, right?

I also really want to make these candleholders, which actually seems achievable to me.

Source: thehighheeledhostess.com via Meredith on Pinterest

I'd actually really like to do them with wine corks written on them like these are:

Source: bellemaison23.com via Meredith on Pinterest

Except that most of them would probably say things like "It was Tuesday and I was tired," or "Man, work really sucked today," or "Because Parenthood was coming on," or "It was taking up too much room in the wine fridge and the Harris Teeter case discount was coming up."  So maybe we'll skip that part.

Source: allthingshomie.blogspot.com via Meredith on Pinterest

I'd also love to do this either around our thermostat or around our alarm control panels.  Maybe both.  However, this is certain to be something PB is not impressed with.  Oh well.  You wait, I'm getting out the tape measure and seeing how big of a frame I need this very night.

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Meredith on Pinterest

I also really love this.  Such a sweet idea!

Source: alittleglassbox.com via Meredith on Pinterest

I'd love to do this, but I'm afraid it would turn out terribly. If I see some cheapie lampshades on sale, you better believe I'm trying it!

Source: makeandtakes.com via Meredith on Pinterest

Maybe I'm being overzealous with the dry erase thing, but I just love this! Maybe it's the teacher in me these days. Pretty picture frame, some scrapbook paper, and an Expo marker and BAM! Perfect little dry erase board.

Source: alwaysorderdessert.com via Meredith on Pinterest

How precious are these? I think they'd make a great homemade Christmas gift for someone, especially since you can get a box of like 24 wine glasses for about ten dollars at Ikea or Target. Too adorable!

Anyway, there's my Friday craftiness dreaming....hope y'all had a great week!

My first ToT in a month of Sundays!

1. You’re packing for a week long vacation, do you pack ahead of time or wait until the last possible minute to pack?


Oh, absolutely wait until the last possible minute.  And then forget things like underwear, my toothbrush, my phone charger, and other inescapably necessary items.  Never fails.


2. Are you a light or heavy packer?


Heavy.  Definitely packed a 54 pound bag for Disney World.  But part of it is that I don't plan, and part of it is that I just never know what I'm going to be in the mood for or what I'm going to need.  You don't want to be the girl in jeans and a hoodie when everybody else looks like they're going to a club, but then you don't want to be the girl watching TV or sitting by the campfire in her cocktail dress.

3. What are your favorite road trip snacks?


My grandma used to pack a peach basket FULL of stuff every time we'd go on any trip over an hour, and I still do that.  Fig Newtons, Lance crackers, and Pringles usually make the list.

4. Do you take any reading material along?


The Kindle!  Never leave home without it.

5. Do you prefer to drive or fly to your vacation destination?


Depends on how far - anything over 4 hours and I most DEFINITELY want to fly.  I get so antsy in the car and then I'm all tired and cranky and don't want to do anything fun when we finally get there if it's too long.

6. What is your favorite time of the year to take your vacation?


Oh, definitely summertime - nothing better than a summer beach trip.

7. Where is your favorite place to vacation?


Hmmm.  Again, I'd probably have to say the beach.  It doesn't have to cost all that much money, it doesn't require a lot of planning, and it's always a whole lot of fun.

8. You are vacationing in the mountains, what is your favorite thing to do while there?


Build a fire, watch movies, get in the hot tub, slide down a snowy hill and try not to die.  Okay, that was a few things.  But all those are awesome.

9. You are at the beach for your vacation,  do you like to take it easy on the beach or play all day in the water?


Ehh depends on the day - I usually take both in shifts.  It's too darn hot to lay on the beach ALL day without a break to get in the water.

10. While your on vacation do you prefer to eat out every night or cook some of your own meals?


It really just depends on where we are and where we're staying.  If we're at a beach or mountain house, I only like to have maybe one meal out and then cook everything else.  Especially in the mountains - at the beach, I'm more tempted to go out for some delicious fried seafood a couple of times in the week.


As always, muchas gracias to Chelsea at Roots and Rings for hosting, and this week's questions come from Lindsey at The Rowland Family!

Honeymoon...The Finale!

Here we are...the last day of the honeymoon!  Whew!

We headed back to Epcot - here we are waiting in line for Mission: Space.  That's supposed to be flight control back behind us.  All I have to say about Mission: Space is that WOW, it makes me want to barf.  But I didn't, amazingly.  Definitely not something I could do more than once though.

For our last night, we decided to skip our dinner reservations and just walk "around the world" in the world showcase at Epcot and eat and drink everything possible.  

Here we are in Italy!

Chinese food in China!

Man, that beef noodle bowl was delicious.

Here I am trying a Kirin light in Japan - really delicious light beer!  German beer, on the other hand, I don't have a picture of, but I do not prefer.  Blech.  Could barely even finish it.

We saw this cray cray performance in France. And then he did a handstand on top of all that and I nearly had a heart attack.  Heart. Attack.  It was cool, but I was stressed when he was doing all those acrobatics.

Maybe my favorite picture of the whole honeymoon.  PB in the Chinese hat.  YES.  

And there you have it!  All of our honeymoon antics, recapped for your pleasure.

Next week - back to our regularly scheduled programming!

Honeymoon, Part Tres!

I have to be honest, I am mainly doing these posts because I really want to be able to look back at them later, when we are 100 years old, and remember the fun times we had on our honeymoon.  So I apologize if you are getting tired of our Mousecapades, but I promise I'll be done soon.  If you like them, I'm glad!  Keep reading!

We headed back to MGM the next day, and here's a picture of me and "that damn ride I hate" - according to PB.  

MGM is full of cool, old Hollywood stuff - couldn't resist taking a picture with this awesome Cadillac.  We had a much better day in MGM, because we weren't nearly as tired as we were when we went during Extra Magic Hours.  We rode Star Tours, rode Rock 'n' Roller Coaster about 50leven times, and had lunch at Pizza Planet.  Pizza Planet is a cute little pizza joint meant to look like the pizza place and arcade in Toy Story - too cute!  We saw the Lights, Motors, Action stunt show with all of the trick cars that PB really loved.  We called it kind of an early day and headed back to the Boardwalk to swim for awhile and get ready for our Big Fancy Dinner of the Week.

Around sunset, we showed up at the California Grill at the Contemporary Resort (the one where the monorail goes through it).  It's a beautiful restaurant on the top floor, with a big open kitchen and floor to ceiling glass windows.  This was our view when we got there:

Breathtaking!

Here's me at the table, getting really excited for my dinner.

There's PB with that pretty view right behind him.  They specialize in fresh, American food.  Lots of sushi, fish, and fresh veggies.

Since it was our honeymoon, they covered our table in Mickey confetti, and PB arranged some into a heart - he's a mess.

We had this heirloom tomato flatbread to start, and it was amazing.  So amazing I couldn't wait to take a picture before I had already snarfed half of it.

Dessert could not have been more perfect.  I had grapefruit cheesecake, and they brought it out right before the Magic Kingdom fireworks started.  

I forget what PB had - some kind of crepes I think?  I just adored that printed chocolate!

Again, since it was our honeymoon, they brought us some champagne right before the fireworks started.  Such an amazing night.

They also have an observation deck out there, and PB and I went out after we were finished eating.  It was absolutely beautiful, secluded and quiet, and you can see the whole Magic Kingdom area from there.  The lagoons and lights are all so pretty at night.

Here's our poor attempt at self-photography up there.  

The next day, we headed out to what is honestly my least favorite park - Animal Kingdom.  There's just really not as many things to do there, in my opinion.  Do the safari ride once, ride Expedition Everest once, and spend the rest of the day at the pool, in my opinion.

But the safari is very awesome and worth the trip to Animal Kingdom.  

See how excited PB is?

You see so many animals throughout the trip, and they're all so close to the safari truck!

See how close that giraffe is?!  Goodness gracious!

Here's a cool view of some of my favorite birds - flamingos!

Look at how close that rhino is!  Seriously!

Here's PB and I after riding Expedition Everest, standing in front of the monkey habitat.

Look what we had thanks to Mousekeeping when we got back home!

Originally, we'd made reservations at the Yak and Yeti inside Animal Kingdom, but we decided to cancel them.  Our reservations were at 4:30, and since we'd gotten to the park so early, we were really done by that time, and we didn't want to eat at 4:30 anyway, after we ate a big lunch of Chinese food inside the park.

Instead, we made a really good decision and decided to eat at one of the restaurants at the hotel, Kouzzina.  It's Cat Cora's restaurant and it is SO good.  Best of all, it was right downstairs for us, overlooking the boardwalk, so there was no bus/boat/monorail ride involved to get there.

Here's PB waiting for our beeper to go off, overlooking the lagoon.

We decided to play around with the focus on the new camera. 

And here is the amazing food.  PB had a seriously delicious steak with roasted potatoes that might be the best thing I've ever tasted.  Actually, I was really jealous of his food that night.  The whole restaurant is great though - they give you delicious bread to start, with a trio of different flavored olive oils from Greece that are so yummy.

More printed chocolate!  

My delicious dessert!

And so ended another great day at Disney.  We even had enough energy left to go watch fireworks at Epcot, which was a short walk from our hotel.  I had a Grand Marnier slush and enjoyed every second!

Here we go...Honeymoon Parte Dos!

Moving on to the second day, which was one of my favorites - we spent the day at Epcot again, doing all of my favorites.  Soarin', which seriously makes you feel like you are hang gliding over California is perhaps my absolute favorite ride at Disney.  PB liked the tour through the hydroponic greenhouses where they grow a lot of food for Disney in very weird ways, like Mickey pumpkins!  And tomato trees!

Because there were Extra Magic Hours at MGM (I still call it that, I don't care if Disney wants to call it Hollywood Studios) - we headed over there and ate at one of my most favorite places on property, the 50's Prime Time Cafe.  It's designed to look exactly like a 50's living room and it really does.  It reminds me of being at my great grandmother's house.

Here's the bar - if you order a drink, your server will "go get the keys to Dad's liquor cabinet" to get it for you.  One guy at a table next to us had had two or three beers and when he asked if he could get another, the server said, "Well, yes, but I don't want to hear about it when you can't sleep tonight!"

Here's me and PB in the waiting area.  There are TV's everywhere that play 50's TV clips, and the vintage decor just rocks.

Here's me at our table!

Here's a creeper picture of our server that I took.  All the serves are your "aunts" or "uncles" or your "older brother" or "older sister" if they're younger.  Our server was Uncle Dale and he was hilarious.  We were cracking up the whole time!  He'd have kids set the table, remind people that Mom gets mad if your elbows are on the table, and he had everyone give PB a round of applause for finishing every bit of his meatloaf/fried chicken sampler platter.

We moved on to riding all of the fun rides at MGM after we were once again so stuffed we could barely walk.  The only time PB has been to Disney World is when our 8th grade class went, and he remembered just loving the Tower of Terror last time he went.  Personally, I wish I liked the ToT better, because the building and the theming of the ride to look like a 1920's Hollywood hotel are just perfect.  But I hate it.  If you've never been to WDW or never ridden the ToT, you basically get in this elevator shaft, put on a seat belt, and hold onto your hat.  There's really nothing for you to hold onto, and the elevator shaft goes up to the top of the building (13 stories) and opens the doors so you look out over the entire park.  Sounds nice so far, right?  Then it slams you back down to the bottom while they take a picture of your horrified face.  Then, if you thought you were done, you're sadly mistaken, because they're going to do the same thing at least three more times.  And if you decide to ride again, thinking you now know what's coming and are prepared, you will be wrong, because the drop sequence will be different every time you ride it.  

PB grabbed some little girl's hand next to him when we started dropping, I'm sure she thought he was a perv.  When we got off, he said, "I don't care if that thing burns down.  I ain't riding it again.  The only thing holding my big butt down was that seatbelt and my butt wasn't on the seat and my feet weren't on the floor.  I don't like it."

So we decided to have some nice, quiet, sitting time and we headed over to watch Fantasmic, a fireworks and water show in the big arena at MGM.

Pretty neat, huh?  Except we were both once again zombies after that.  We squeezed through the Rock'n'Roller coaster, and headed over to Streets of America to watch the 3-D Muppet Movie.  

I am nearly dead here, but you have to take a picture in front of the cardboard buildings that look like New York.

Here's PB looking gangsta in his Muppetvision glasses.

Here's me looking awesome as well.  I knew it was time to catch the boat back when PB fell asleep with his 3-D glasses on his face. MGM was open until 1am, but we called it a night at 11:30 like the old married people that we now are.

The next day, we hit the Magic Kingdom again.  We had so much fun goofing around and riding things.  

Here we are on the jungle cruise, a fun little boat ride.

I told PB he wouldn't really have been to Disney World if he didn't ride It's a Small World, and since he had never ridden it, we did it.

I think the song was in our head for the rest of the week.

And here's the proof he has now officially been to Disney World.

If you ever go to Disney World, you must get one of my favorite things - a Dole float.  Pineapple juice with pineapple soft serve ice cream.  Oh so delicious.

I'm not normally a big fan of the parade because I've seen them and they normally provide a great time to go hit rides without waiting because everyone else is at the parade.  PB had never seen it though, so we decided to hang out on Main Street USA and wait for it to start.  There were two cast members walking around with a jump rope who found out we were newlyweds and decided we needed to have a jump rope competition.  I'm sad to say, PB beat me.

But as you can see, I put in a valiant effort.

That night, we went over to Downtown Disney to have dinner at an Irish pub, Raglan Road.  It was some of the best food I think I have ever, ever had.  There was also an Irish band playing the whole time and they were phenomenal.

I had the seafood chowder, which tasted like butter and fresh seafood and was perfection.  See that handrail behind me?  That's where the Irish dancer would get up and perform during certain songs, on her own little platform!  So cool.

I had bread pudding with little containers of whipped cream and caramel for dessert.  It was so divine.

PB had the berry trifle, which was definitely the best dessert, even better than my delicious bread pudding.

I just need you to see this lady's awesome hair in the background.  Also, PB would like to highly recommend the lamb if you ever go to Raglan Road.

See, I promised you an Irish dancer and here she is!

The plan was to go out to a few different bars in Downtown Disney, but the overarching theme of our honeymoon, besides being a lot of fun, is that we were generally SO TIRED.  We decided to go back to the hotel instead, and I nearly fell asleep on the bus.  All in all, another fantastical two days at Disney.