Quick update

Hello all!

I am on my way to being finished my longggg post full of events and life lessons. But in the meantime I wanted to post a quick update before I get that one out.

My family arrives to visit in three days so I am super excited to see them and desperately need to pack.

Class has been fairly good, we're on the homestretch!

I'm home in two months Sunday!

Work has been going much better, but I can't say I'm not excited to come home and go back to ordinary life. Weird hey? It's the little things we take for granted.

I also can't wait to leave this living situation.

Don't get me wrong this experience has been amazing and stretched me so far but sometimes stretching gets a little old.

I've been learning so much about myself here, and though I still have a few things to figure out I'm getting closer to some of the answers I'm after.

I just handed in a journal for one of my classes where we had to write about our strengths, shortcomings, goals and our perspective on life. Today's class we focused on acceptance of change and myers-briggs. I already knew I was an INFP from seeing a career counsellor, but what I found most surprising is that my personality type is one of the best at accepting change. Interesting.

I stands for Introvert. One of my friends posted a photo today that explains an introvert all too well so I wanted to post it :)

Much love to you all, and thank you for still following my blog even though I have been so limited with updates! 

Maryland!

Last week I was blessed to be able to travel to Maryland for four days and see my boyfriend and his family.

It was the perfect trip, we had so much fun! 

I arrived on Sunday and Jeremy surprised me with a trip to the renaissance fair with his mum. It was incredible, like a little medieval village in the forest. 

He also got me my flower halo, I was truly spoiled all day and felt so special :)

We made him try one on too ;)

He was chosen to be part of a trick, the man in red in the middle was putting on the show.

The man walked across the rope and juggled swords, but the blindfold turned out to have a hole so he could see, haha. Jer said the rope was actually super heavy with him on it!

He did an axe throw where he had to wear a goofy hat. 

He's probably the only one ever to get the handle of the axe stuck in the log! Haha!! 

I chose to do some archery <3

And he joined in. 

The whole fair is full of little shops with amazing hand made art, costumes, medieval swords and weapons, books, furniture, obviously masks as you see in the picture and tons more!

It was like being in another world! There was so much amazing food, I even tried fried pickles for the first time and they're actually delicious! We also watched live jousting, rode a wooden carved slide on magic carpets, saw some extremely dangerous performances, played carnival games, and experienced the best and worst of the culture back during the renaissance. 

Later that night he helped me with my homework since I was way too tired to do it by myself! Then we slept in monday morning and made some strawberry banana pancakes for breakfast. Mmm. 

While I was there I had the chance to see some of his closest friends and family which is always really great. We had a cookout one night and I fell asleep in the hammock twice in one day, Disney life really catches up with you when you stop going! I also had my hair done by one of his good friends and now that the colour is corrected from my last hair fiasco it looks so pretty again :) 

The last day I was in Maryland we spent the day in Annapolis, it's one of my favourite places and actually where Jeremy just moved the day after I left. 

The top left window with the green edging is Jer's room.

This is the strip he lives on in Annapolis, the white one with the Pink letters is one of my favourite little boutiques in the area, "The Pink Crab".

My favourite dress from the store! So cute <3

This is the stunning view out of his window, those are his window panes blocking the shot so it's literally what he sees every morning!! 

The harbour 

My man and myself :) And my pretty new hair compliments of Rachel! 

A very nice sailboat!

See his house in the background?!

This is at the park his dad used to take them to when they were little. Loved sharing that memory with him.

Then we had a pottery painting date!!!

I had to wear a kid's smock because they didn't have adult sizes, haha. 

Chocolate drips

All finished! 

While in Annapolis Jeremy treated me to some delicious pizza and showed me the old theatre where I hope to see a play or musical my next visit! 

After getting home we relaxed for the night and watched the Great Gatsby which I have been dying to see since the beginning of the summer. If you haven't seen it I highly recommend checking it out, especially if you love beautiful artistically pieced together films. I will warn you the ending has a not so beautiful reflection on the darker side of humanity, but the story is captivating and strong. 

We also got some fresh corn bread from his mummy for dinner with potatoes, peppers, and sausage and fresh pastries with sparkling apple juice for dessert. I am so spoiled whenever I visit!! 

It was such a needed and enjoyable time! 

Thank you for everything Torsani family! I love being able to run away to your home when I miss my own! 

Florida so far. (Update part 2)

So although many of you may think this post is longggg overdue, I actually think it's the perfect timing because I have been here just over a month now and it hasn't been what I was expecting at all. Read on to find out why!

 Our first week here I was dealing with an insane amount of frustration due to being placed in a mouldy, disgusting, and dust mite filled apartment with two of the filthiest room mates I'd ever seen. Then on top of that our University from California had sent a very disrespectfully worded message about the state  "all" of our rooms were left in and how we'd have to pay money or we'd be terminated from our program. The message was basically bullying saying we were all disgusting and they're ashamed of us all. I never ended up having to pay money yet was still included in all the insults. Not so professional.

However, we did have a lot of fun in traditions class at Disney University.

The ceilings were filled with Disney Characters Dropping in

My nametag, which has since been lost and replaced with a Vancouver, Canada tag. Hehe.

My first week it was also a blast spending time with friends and Jeremy who was amazing and drove down to help me settle, a 16 hour drive!! 

We celebrated our two year anniversary in downtown Disney, and had probably one of my favourite dates so far. 

We also spent a day at the beach and a lot of time grocery shopping and running errands (sorry Jer!) 

After fighting with the complexes for a week I was relocated to a better kept apartment complex due to asthma I haven't had since I was four acting up again. I was waking up coughing so hard I was choking every night. Now my apartment is great and room mates likewise. (Check out my previous post for a walk through of my place)

In the weeks that have followed we've been working our bums off and hanging out whenever we can usually in the parks, which despite what everyone says never lose their magic even if you are in on the scoop of all things Disney. 

No matter how many times I ride splash mountain it still gets me every time, clearly!

These are my four closest friends on Bianca's birthday. I'm so blessed to have gotten close with these ladies, they're so selfless and every adventure is filled with laughs! (Debbie, Christina behind me, and Bianca on the right) 

This is a "limited time magic" sundae, so we had to! 

So scary right?

Gaston's tavern. 

If you have not played this game you need to, it's serious business! 

I finally got my Disney balloon! Although I chose the new princess design over a mouse head balloon, sorry Mickey!

I requested that we eat at be our guest for lunch, it was just as breathtaking months after my first time seeing it. 

Disney lets me order kids meals!

We also had to do enchanted tales with Belle.

 I wanted to be part of the story, so I was silverware.

I totally forgot you get to meet Belle if you're part of the story. I was on top of the world! I will be volunteering every time now, haha!

Back to all seriousness, my first month of work has been all over the place! My first week was all about joining the entertainment workforce. This is what we did my first day:

It truly is a rough life!

This is my "bowling shirt" costume. Haha, it's not so bad. I don't always wear the undershirt either.

My first two weeks of work I was trained in the costuming room, preparing our character's lovely costumes for them. Mickey and Mini can not go out to meet and greets with dirty clothes or gloves so I have the wonderful job of washing their clothes and inspecting all the characters before they head out for the day. 

It's not super fun, but it's still creating magic so I try to make the most of it.

However, my other job I've been learning the past two weeks is an absolute blast. I also work backstage at Beauty and the Beast live on stage. It is very fast paced and so much fun. Basically we run around like a bunch of crazies dressing and undressing performers in an efficient and systematic way. Each person is in charge of different performers and outfits and theres always something going wrong and laughs to be had. Our performers are amazing people, I've been loving getting to know them all and am constantly in awe of their talent. 

Sunday night after work Debbie, Christina and I decided we would go to Downtown Disney despite the fact that it was the worst storm we have encountered since arriving in Florida. In our defence when we left it had stopped raining.

I couldn't resist the princess magic mirror. 

So why is being here different then I expected? 

Disney isn't everything I expected it would be on the inside, which is understandable. Everywhere you go in life you encounter people who have lost their magic, and surprisingly Disney is not an exception. Some people are just here to make a living and really have grown to be indifferent towards or even dislike our wonderful characters. 

But! There are many people who inspire me through their inner light that never stops shinning. 

Working here and being away from home has pushed me in so many ways I wasn't expecting. There's some days where it's so easy to feel lost in this world that is so big (both the world of Disney and the world outside of it). I'm constantly having to remind myself who I am and ask God for the strength I need to hold true to myself. 

I also expected to be more drawn to a career in the world of Disney, although to my surprise being here has pushed me to work towards my passions more then ever, and that doesn't necessarily have to do with Disney. I am baffled by the talent and skill that imagineers possess, but my passions are not in engineering, business, animation, or any of the other positions Disney requires to create their magic. 

Those who create Disney magic have a gift, I am (and always will be) moved and strengthened by the morals and messages placed in Disney movies. Walt was an incredible man that taught us to never give up and lean on the strength of God and trust our hearts.

This opportunity has been so good for me, and I know it will continue to push and strengthen me in more ways then I could ever have imagined. 

"Is this my story unfolding?

It's all here to discover

Everything that I am"

Those are all the words I have so far, and now I have to get some rest for another busy day of work tomorrow. Step in time! 

I shall leave you all with this wonderful blog post I found today: 

Powerful Disney Quotes

Hold true to your magic always <3