Our Disney Side Party!

A few weekends ago, we had our #DisneySide party!  The party was sponsored by Disney and BSM Media.  The kids and I were so excited when our giant package arrived!  We could not wait to see
what was in it.

Disney sent us a big box of party supplies. We got cups, plates, napkins, and lots of decorations. We also got things to make the party extra fun--we got princess nail polish, a few Palace Pets to play with, and some fun party games.  After all that fun, we would get hungry, so Disney also sent us a Mickey head shaped cake pan and some Duke's tie die cake mix.  Yummy!

We decided to have a Valentines Day party with our #DisneySide box.  We invited lots of friends and family to celebrate with us.  The little girls dresses up as their favorite Disney Princess.  The grown ups dressed up in looks inspired by their favorite Disney couples.  A great time was had by all.  It was the perfect way to celebrate Valentines Day!

My Goals for 2015

Will these be mine? 

Last year brought lots of changes.  We bought a new house, I started my own travel agency and I started a part time job in the accounting field.  Now that those changes have settled in, its time for some new ones.

My big goal for 2015 is to train for a full marathon!  I don't feel sure enough as of yet to say I will complete a full marathon, but my goal is to start training and explore the possibility.  Over the past three years, I have completed 17 half marathons.  When I made the goal three years ago to complete a
half marathon, I never really had any doubt that I could do it.  I knew that I would have to work hard, but I knew I could do it. With all of this running under my belt, I know taking on a full marathon is a completely different animal.  After finishing a half marathon, I typically feel fairly well--but there is no way I could turn around and run another 13.1 miles.  This is what has me terrified to say that I will do a full marathon.

To take on this huge goal, I need to lose weight!  I have a brand new workout plan to start tomorrow.  I will be doing PiYo by Chalene Johnson.  PiYo is a combo of Pilates and yoga. Along with some running mixed in, this will be a great start to my training.  I plan to work hard for the next three with PiYo, clean eating and running--with the goal of losing 25 pounds.  I will reassess in April (when Disney Marathon registration opens up) taking into account how my training is going and where I am mentally.  Wish me luck!  This is something I really want to do.

I need a big goal, something big to work toward. This just may be it. Nothing gets me going like the chance at another Disney experience!

A dream is a wish...

--Amy

2014--a Year of New Beginnings!

2014 was a year of changes for me!  

We bought a new house!  I loved our old house, but it was just too small for our growing family.  We had our eye on this house for five years--yes five years!  It was built and first for sale right after Andrea was born.  That was not a good time for use to move.  In November of 2013, it went for sale again.  After a few months of consideration, we took a leap and put in an offer.  On June 30, 2014 (the day before my birthday!) she became ours! This is my dream house. We look forward to painting, decorating and growing old in our new home. 

I started my own travel agency!  I call it Main Street Magic, LLC after the iconic Main Streets at the Disney Parks.  This too was a big leap for me.  I had a few years of travel agent experience under my belt.  After our big move, I now have my very own office.  What better time than now to put myself out there and make a go of it. So far, its going great!  I have hired three agents and I plan to hire more very soon.  It feels amazing to actually love what you do. 

I started a part time job, back in the accounting field.  This job sort of fell into my lap.  A friend from our scout pack was looking for a Treasurer for his church.  Knowing about my background and education in accounting, he asked if I was interested.  I figured--why not!  I am doing bookkeeping and accounting for the church and the church owned day care.  I work a few hours a week at the church office and a few hours a week at home.  It's nice to be back in the working world a few hours a week, and its nice to be using my degree again.  

The past six months has brought me any exciting changes.  These changes have kept me from blogging as often as I would like.  Now that my family is getting used to our new life, our new routine--I will be writing much more often! I have run a few more races and visited Disney twice since I last wrote.  Stay tuned--I have lots of fun stuff to tell you about.  Thank you for coming back. 

A dream is a wish...

--Amy 

Baltimore Women's Classic 2014

The Baltimore Women's Classic was my first ever race in 2012, so it has a special place in my heart. It has remained my favorite local race since then. It's a women's only race that benefits Cancerve, a women's cancer charity.  The race takes place in the beautiful Inner Harbor of Baltimore. This year, two of my sisters did the race with me.

The BWC has the best "race village" of any race I have ever been to.  There are lots of vendors to check out and lots of free stuff--before and after the race. This year I won a t-shirt from City Sports, a cool water bottle with infuser, and a beach towel from our local SUP rental company.  We tested tea, sports drinks, energy gum and lots of offer fun stuff.  We shopped, and shopped.  So much fun!






Our little group of family and friends got to the start line and took lots of pictures.  Once the race started, we separated so everyone could run their own best race.  Since this was my fourth time doing this race, I know the course well.  I was prepared for the massive hill at around the .5 mile mark. The race runs through south Baltimore, around the Federal Hill area.  The last .5 mile of the race is so beautiful--right along the harbor.  Crowd support at this race is great.  So many families sit on their front steps and cheer the runners on.






My sister and her friend finished the race before me.  They stayed at the finish to cheer me on.  After I got my water, cold towel, medal, finisher rose and some snacks I joined them while we
waited for the rest of the group.  It's always fun to hang out at the finish line and cheer on the other runners.  My other sister finished with a 7 minute PR!  We cheered my cousin on as she crossed her first finish line.









After one more loop around race village, it was time to head home.  The race volunteers were packing up and they had a bunch of roses left over.  They told us to take a bouquet home!  My rose bouquet looks so pretty on my kitchen table. My sisters and I got some pictures along the water before we left. I can't wait to do the BWC again next year.

A dream is a wish...

--Amy

Disney Social Media Moms Celebration

Yesterday I had the privileged of attending the Disney Social Moms "on the road" conference. When I got the invite in May, I was equally excited and shocked!  I could not believe I was chosen to attend.  Going to an event like this would be a dream come true for a Disney nerd like me.










I woke up nice and early for the conference, but I barely sleep at all the night before--I was to excited.  I made the two and a half hour drive into Philly and arrived about twenty minutes before the start.  I quickly ran into the other ladies I know who were also invited to the event--two runDisney friends. We chatted and met  some other bloggers while in line for check in.  Finally, it was time!  The doors opened and the event started.









The room was already filled with Disney magic. The "Zippitty Do Da" song was playing. Above the stage was draped a big banner that read "Rock Your Disney Side", the 2014 Disney marketing slogan. I quickly found a seat and then just stood there for a minute--soaking it all in.  There were balloons, banners, and a few backdrops for pictures.  One of the backdrops was of the castle.  The other was a "Disney side" photo area with every Disney character hat and accessory you could think of to dress up with.





Jaime and Gary from Disney PR got the event started.  They used a unique to Disney icebreaker--pin trading!  The assistants walked around with a huge bag of Disney pins and dumped a handful on each table.  We had two minutes to meet some new people and trade pins.  I end up with one of the most beautiful Disney pins I have ever seen--its a diamond wedding ring with Lady and the Tramp in the center.





The first speaker was Gary Buchanan, the Disney Social Media Managing Editor.  He told us about all the cool new stuff coming to the Disney Parks.  After Cary, we heard from Jenn Fickly-Baker, the Disney Social Media Manager.  Jenn gave a great talk about creating good content. Up next, we heard from HP direct print services.  They had a big surprise for us--they printed our "Disney Side" pictures and gave us each a very nice pack of HP photo paper with envelopes.  Thanks HP!



After a quick break, it was time to get back to the speaker series. At our seats, Disney surprised us with a Vinylmation--my first one.  Up next we heard from Victoria Lim of Disney PR.  She talked to us about creating great visual content. After that was a panel of mom entrapanuers discussing a work/family balance, followed by the Mojo Coach talking about how to stay healthy is every way. I learned so much from each and every one of the speakers.  I plan to do a series of posts about all the amazing things I learned from each speaker--its way to much to put in one post.

After some closing remarks, a very special guest appeared--Mickey Mouse!!!  Everyone in the room jumped to their feet and started clapping. It was so magical!  In the last few minutes of the event, we networked some more, exchanged business cards, hung out with Mickey, took more pictures and said our good byes.  I was so sad that the event was over, but so happy to have been a part of it.  Thank you so much Disney for putting on such an amazing event!

A dream is a wish...

--Amy

Tinkerbell Half Marathon Weekend 2014

One of my favorite events of the year is the runDisney Tinkerbell Half Marathon weekend in Disneyland. It usually turns into a crazy girls weekend pretty quickly!

This year I flew in to LAX on Thursday morning.  I got to Disneyland just in time to check into the magical Disneyland Hotel and get to the expo right before it opened.  I worked the entire day at the Sparkle Skirts booth, but managed to get away long enough to pick up my three bibs for the weekend.

Check out my video of the 5k start!

The first race of my runDisney race weekend was the Neverland 5k.  This a a race through Disneyland park, and ends in California Adventure park.  The Neverland 5k hand down offers the best race start of any race I have ever seen or heard of.  The race starts right in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle.  All of the sudden, Tinkerbell herself makes an appearance. Tink flies around the castle and starts the race! So magical!

The second race of the weekend was the Tinkerbell 10k. This race shared a start and finish line with the half marathon. The highlight of this course for me was the Haunted Mansion characters.  I love, love, love seeing and getting pictures with obscure characters.  I have never seen the Haunted Mansion characters before then, so that alone made the race worth doing.

The third race and main event of the weekend was the Tinkerbell Half Marathon. The course started outside of Disneyland park.  We ran around the back of California Adventure park and entered the park in the Paradise Pier section.  They had the "World of Color" music and lights playing.  I love that show!  After we got the rest of the way through CA, we ran across to Disneyland.  After a run around Disneyland, we entered Downtown Disney, then on through the town of Anaheim.

The Tinkerbell Half is my favorite runDisney courses.  I love running down the original Main Street USA, and past the original Disney castle that Walt himself built.  Disneyland holds so much history--us Disney history nerds can't get enough. Another perk of doing a Disneyland  race to us east coasters is that it does not feel as early as it actually is.  Because of the three hour time difference, a 5 am race feel like it starts at 8 am to an east coaster.  I am not a morning person, so I will take every hour I can get.  I can't wait to get back out to Disney for Tink Half Marathon weekend 2015--with a new date of Mothers Day weekend in May.

View of the finish line from my room!

A dream is a wish...

--Amy 

My Oatmeal Review

This past week, I have the opportunity to try out "My Oatmeal".  It's a site where you customer build and then order oatmeal just for you.  There are over two million combinations!  

I chose to try out steel cut oatmeal.  I have been a big fan of steel cut oats for a while now--I like how they are the entire grain, making the oatmeal more filling and higher in fiber.  Then it was time to customize!  I decided to add some Turkish apricots, cashews, and flax seeds.  Once I choose a bag size and delivery frequency, I was done.  A few days later, my customer bag of My Oatmeal showed up at my door.

Since steel cut oats are bigger than rolled oats, they take longer to cook.  The package directions said to cook the oats for 30 minutes.  I do not have time for that in the morning!  I cooked five servings on Sunday evening, so they were ready to microwave when I got up each morning this week.

I really loved my My Oatmeal trial!  I love how the My Oatmeal is whole, fresh food--but still super easy to make.  It's very tasty too!   Let me know what you think of it if you give it a try!

A dream is a wish...

--Amy



Disclaimer:  I received the product for free from My Oatmeal via Fit Approach. These are my original thoughts and opinions on My Oatmeal.