Life Lately!

Hellooo again everyone!

These past two weeks have been super crazy and packed with fun with all of my new friends and our new city :)

We've ventured downtown...
Oh, DT Orlando, how you slay me! We had an amazing girl's night filled with VIP lounges, late night hot dogs and lots of interesting characters like this kind man who kept telling us he was Bobby Kennedy... Hokay.


Cooked until we couldn't eat ONE more thing... (thank goodness for stretch pants...)


A group of girls and I (fondly named the Spicy Girls by our cab driver Adele...) whipped up a delicious Italian family dinner on Wednesday night. I got a little overzealous to the point that even my stretch pants needed stretch pants. Who knew seat belts could be snug?! [dessert not pictured... yeah that's a whole 'nother course. Barf me.]

Gotten the VIP treatment...


Somehow [read:at around 4:55 on Friday] we scored tix to the preview of the new Dave and Busters in Orlando. (For anyone who doesn't know, Dave and Busters is basically an adult version of Chuck-E-Cheese!) The way they open restaurants, they split up their new staff and let half of them practice serving and half of them get to bring guests and enjoy themselves! Those sessions were so crowded that they opened up a few more VIP nights, which is what we attended! We got a whole free meal and got free tokens to Big Buck Hunt, Skee Ball and Whack-a-Mole the night away, just like the good ol' days!

...and got our entertainment fix!Yes, yes indeed we saw Monte Carlo. It was just as cute (and just as Lizzie McGuire Movie recreated) as we had dreamed! We can never get enough of that little cutie Selena Gomez and she surely did not disappoint!

HP7, of course, was EPIC. We giggled, we cried, and we literally screamed and grabbed each other so many times we were almost politely asked to leave.

So there you have it! A big, bad recap of these past couple weeks! I apologize for the brief overview, but rest assured there is much more on the way!

"...He makes me MELT like a popsicle, on the 4th of July"

One of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite movies, Little Rascals (as many of you know I may or may not have pretended I was Darla for most of '94-'96......... I was cute. Whatever.)

Just as I had expected, 4th of July here in FLA did not disappoint! The only downside was my poor little body getting tricked to believe that every weekend could be 3 days long... SYKE.

Friday night we just hung out at the apartments and had a li'l girls night to rest up for THIS great place on Saturday morning bright and early!

Recognizeeee?

Epcot was so different than I remembered and was so much easier to appreciate now that I have a little maturity under my belt (What? Maturity? Moi?). We rode SpaceShip Earth and geeked out at our pictures, we stalked us some princesses, ate lunch in China, made up stories about ancient Swedes in that rando Norway ride and got so hot that our fingernails bout melted off. A good day was had by all.

That night was our foray into Jellyrolls, and from my last post I'd say it was no secret that I enjoyed it immensely! I missed a trip back there this weekend (ya I am a wee bit behind in the posting situation) but I know I will for sure be back soon!

Sunday consisted of errands overload, considering that is pretty much what I dedicate most of my free time here so far. I literally find SOME reason to head to Target/Walms/Walgreens/etc. at least once a day. It's just some superhuman nesting disease I am afflicted with. A special treat of today was checkin' out IKEA and getting lost in the miniature bedrooms, superfluuken and olvido (just made up some Swedish words, hope I didn't just cuss anyone out or anything). Ps. Check out this video shot in IKEA. I die.

Ikea heights: A legit soap opera set INSIDE an Ikea. HA!

That night we went to the Wedding Pavilion (SWOON) and watched fireworks from the beach! We sprawled out in the sand and even dipped our toes in the water for just a few seconds. Too legit to quit.

Monday morning I got to sleep late and then we went buzzin' around town to prepare for our cookout! It was hot, delicious, hilarious and perfecto.

No fireworks were had that night because we had an early morning coming up, but since we were so undernourished at our extensive cookout (read:I was still stuffed...?!?!) we did steal away for some Chili's cheeseburgers with a side of delicious Austrailian waiter. God Bless the USA and all that other stuff too!

Overall, it was a grrrreat weekend! Hope y'all had a great one as well!

Sing us a song, you're the piano man!

I first thought I would include this post with the 4th of July weekend update but y'all, this place deserves a post of its own. When my roommate first told me about this place, I admit I wasn't quite sure I understood. The convo went something like this:

"Do you want to go to a dueling piano bar?"
"I mean... sure? What.. is... it?" (thinking: Mozart)
"They play Ke$ha. On the piano."
(At this, I am sold.)

I am not kidding when I say this is the coolest place I've been since I got here! The way it's set up is there are two pianos facing each other on stage with a mirror behind them so that everyone can see all the fancy fingerwork. There are bars on each side and you get to kind of choose your view and your bar and your favorite pianist. There are four who rotate in and out and I can't believe there are only 4 for how much work that they do! Did I mention they sing as well?! And are absolutely hilarious??

These guys can play a.ny.thing. Yes, seriously. Some of my favorite songs of the night included Baby by Biebs, Under the Sea from the Little Mermaid, Doe a Dear, Dixieland Delight (can't say I didn't tear up a little bit... SA love), and oh... am I forgetting one... yes that's right BABY GOT BACK. Just casually on a Baby Grand Piano complete with dance moves. They also played the classics like Journey, Billy Joel, and the Temptations. I was in heaven!

The other perks of the night include getting to play on the Boardwalk itself (which has ice cream shops, candy stores, boutiques and a sweet view!), the "big red cup" signature drink with a side of all-you-can-eat popcorn, and watching everyone sing their hearts out when their song came on.

Literally, the best time I've had in a while and I can't wait to go back! have any of y'all been to a piano bar? Any cool stories??

Wah.

Sorry the blog looks so weird today! My newest post ate my other ones. Working on it! <3

I hope you stay American Baby

Happy 4th, American Babies! Hope everyone has a great day celebrating Amurrica's B-Day (as we've fondly begun to call it here). I am grilling out, sunnin' and funnin' and checking out the fireworks in one of the parks! Can't wait to hear about all y'alls plans :)

"I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed... But can you be just whelmed?"

..."I Think you can in Europe!"- 10 Things I Hate About You (#CLASSIC)

Welp, first week at work is history! And can I say it was just phenom?! Training, learning names and responsibilities, trying to get to work on time and not end up somewhere in Tampa... This has all been very overwhelming! But only the best kind. And from learning about the amazing things I will get to do and the people I get to hang with, I am certainly never going to be underwhelmed in my time here. I am, however, looking forward to when I can get in the swing of things and have gym nights, not be heading to Target at 11pm (this may not will not change), and getting to spend more time catching up with friends and family. I know this is all so new and it will come in time!

Anywhooo, as I said, the first work week was great! Day 1, I was greeted on my floor with this adorable sign:

A close-up of mine!

As any of y'all may know, I LUHHH me some Muppets, most especially Kermie (love you Daddy ;)) and Miss Piggy! I may have squealed when I saw this.

After the initial meet and greets, I went into some training for the first day and got to meet a bunch of other interns in my department. It was so helpful to see everyone at once so I would have some pals in the cube 'hood. That afternoon, we went to our departments for the first time and jumped right in! First things first, I got to go to a local restaurant, Tiujana Flats, home of the most delicious Mexican I've had in some time! Defff check it out if you are ever in Florida (and you will be!)

The rest of the week was spent getting acclimated, trained and used to the great big 9-5 day. One of the coolest aspects of the week was getting presentations from every leader in our department and figuring out who we would interact with, what their title and responsibilities were, and the cool things that they have their hands in that we see every single day in the real world.

I've learned that this organization is SO super friendly and welcoming and everyone always has their doors open for questions, chats and advice. They are a culture of "meet-and-greets" and shadowing, where you can spend time with someone else and see up close and personal what exactly a day looks like for them and if it would be a good fit for you. They also highly accept and widely use acronyms, which I love considering half my vocab is abbrevs.

I am so excited to learn the ins and outs of our department and my position and soak everything up while I have this awesome opportunity! Stay tuned for some more deets as next week gets cookin' and of course for a 4th of July recap!