Pittsburgh Lights

Last Monday, Jan-Michael and I went to visit one of his high school friends, Amy. She lives in Pittsburgh, so we finally got to travel into the city. I must say, Pittsburgh has an impressive sky line! Amy lives in a beautiful hotel-style sky rise, which means it had a gorgeous view! I can't wait to visit again :) We went to Station Square and ate at Houlihan's. Unfortunately, Pittsburgh is the most confusing city to drive in. Bridges galore, tunnels, one way streets, river crossings, etc., was a bit much!

Karaoke Fun? No Way, It Was Kid Fun!

This past Friday, Jan-Michael and I finally left our cabin fever behind :) We headed over to Matt and Maggie's house for game night. Jan-Michael has a Karaoke Playstation game everyone has been itching to play. I however, had more fun playing with Matt and Maggie's son Aidan, and Tiffany's new baby girl, Ava! I feel like I haven't seen a baby in ages! As soon as I walked in the door, I immediately stole Ava out of Tiffany's arms ;p Then Aidan had me jump roping, making slimey bugs, and talking about good lungs and bad lungs (no smoking!). Aidan is always the life of the party. haha!The kids kept all of us well entertained when the tunes weren't being played. When the game was being played, only about half the group would actually sing! Whether you were watching or singing, it was a lot of fun. So, thanks Matt and Maggie for hosting a great night!

Wedding Formal Favorites "Family"

Jan-Michael's brothers, mom and dad.


My brothers, sister, mom and step-dad.


My dad and sister.

Wedding Formal Favorites "Ceremony"

I love the smiles on everyone's faces. Hayley and CaSandra were such good snowflake girls in their beautiful matching dresses =)


My brother C.J. praying during the ceremony. Hands down the cutest picture.


Another beautifully artistic picture from our photographer.

Wedding Formal Favorites "Posed"

This is my favorite of Jan-Michael. He's a handsome groom :)

The wind was blowing but you can hardly tell except for the corset bow laces.


Even though the sun had set, the sky had just enough light to make a romantic picture.

Wedding Formal Favorites "Before"

We have our wedding photographs! It's so exciting to relive your most favorite day =)

Lacing up a dress is time consuming. Especially when a loop is missed and you have to start over!


This is my veil, necklace, and garter. Gotta love my photographer!


Brothers helping their baby brother who is all grown up now and getting married. AWE

Tagged To Know 6 Things

My former cheer coach, Leah, tagged me! So now I am to write SIX random things about myself. I am also "tagging" my husband and making him write six things after me :) I have to warn you though, I'm pretty much an open book so I'm sure you know these things about me already... But I will try my hardest to think of new things to tell!

1. I played the Clarinet. I was also very good at it! I was almost always "first chair". I actually quit to be a cheerleader. But then I switched middle schools and my new middle school did not have a cheer team ;p After all that, I wasn't planning on trying out for cheer in high school. My Mom is the one who talked me into it! Thanks Mom!

2. I only went to Disneyland twice as a child. My obsession with the Disney company makes people think I must have grown up going all the time! Nope, only twice. The first time was when I was 5. The second time, I was around 11. But once I was old enough to go on trips with churches, or groups, or drive, I got myself to Disneyland at least once a year :)

3. I love football. Love it. My favorite team is, as it has been since I was 12, is the Cowboys. I picked them because I liked their colors. Suddenly, they were a very good team and I've loved them ever since. I don't believe in flipping teams based on how good they are. Even if they suck, you've got to have some team spirit and pride. Besides, my Cowboys are going to go to the Super Bowl next year, I know it! The first team I ever loved were the Suns. But after cheering in high school, my love for basketball turned in to hate. Those games seemed to go on forever! I still have Suns pride, but I'd never watch a game.

4. I've never broken any bones. I guess I should knock on wood! The worst injuries I've ever received have been sprained ankles and dislocated knee caps. Actually, a basketball player threw me against a wall when I was cheering and I ended up with my 2nd round of a dislocated knee. That could be part of my hatred towards that sport. So, that's 2 sprained ankles, 3 dislocated knee, and one concussion when I was an infant. Yay for yogurt and cottage cheese for strong bones!

5. I have bad skin. No, really! I'm allergic to everything and have had Dermatitis since I was a child. Perfume, chlorine, scented lotions or soaps, salt water, fabric softener... basically anything with dyes or perfumes will rash, dry, and irritate my skin. I used to have prescription lotions when I was a child, but now you can get them over the counter ;p So if you're every having a dry skin spell and don't know who to turn to, ask me! I know all about it! I use Eucerin cream and Vaseline Intensive Care every day, twice a day. I can only buy detergent that's free of dyes and perfumes- the same with soap. As I got older, I've been able to use scented lotions on my hands and arms, but never every day. If you haven't been swimming with me, now you know why! Chlorine is awful and I have to shower immediately after any pool dipping. Don't worry if you've ever given me perfume- I can spray it in my hair and on my clothes :) I have to smell good somehow! Thank goodness my husband has wonderful skin and hopefully, he will pass it on to our kids!

6. I need to travel to England sometime before I depart from this world. I almost got the chance to go with Summer a few years ago, but we'll be mad at ASU for their slow processing. I want to tour real castles, drink tea every day, visit Jane Austen's grave, try to run into the Royal Family, hear Big Ben's chimes, and most importantly, tour the Cadbury chocolate factory and pass out from chocolate overload. I heart the United Kingdom!!!

Now it’s your turn. I tag everyone who is on my blog list (well, except Leah who tagged me)!

Hey, it's Jan-Michael. Here are my six:

1. I like to stay up late. Don't get me wrong I love to sleep but when it comes time to have an actual bedtime, I just can't do it. Maybe because it seems like all the good shows come on after 11 or something. I actually can get more done and at a faster rate at night. I know ha-ha, What can I say I'm a night owl.

2. Along with staying up late, I tend to have a problem with eating huge meals really late. I can be laying in bed ready to fall asleep and then I get this crazy craving for a cheeseburger. You would think my stomach would ache all night and I would end up sick in the morning. The only thing bad about this is going to bed smelling like a fast-food restaurant. I'm not positive but I'm pretty sure Krysta enjoys that smell.

3. I'm petrified of tags!! Ok, not so much anymore but I use to be. Here's the background to this one. One summer when I was much younger, we were on vacation. We stopped at Mcdonald's to have lunch. Without surprise I had a cheeseburger, I always loved cheeseburgers. One of my brothers friends came with us that summer and I'm very glad it was the first and last time. He thought it would be funny while I was in the bathroom to rip off his tag from his shirt and put it on my burger. You could already figure out what happened next. Well, ever since then anytime I would see someone's tag up on their shirt I would loose my appetite. I also cut off all my tags on my shirts. Now that I'm older I don't loose my appetite and it doesn't even bother me but I still cut them off from my shirts. The only reason I still do that is because I hate the scratchy feeling on my neck which is why I'm a happy man that they now have tag-less shirts. If you ever look through my closet you probably won't find many items with tags on them.

4. This is actually a funny one but I like to clean. I wash dishes, clean dust off of stuff and even vacuum. It's funny because for most of my life before I moved out I've never washed a dish. You learn alot about yourself when you live on your own of what you like and what you don't like. I'm not a germ freak or a crazy cleaner but I do like to keep my stuff neat and clean.

5. Ok, I'm down to the last two! Let's see.............hmmmm. I got one! Not many people know this about me but I have never missed a day of school. I had perfect attendance for thirteen years. I know what you're thinking, wow that's alot of school! My parents never forced me to go I always liked going to school. I rarely was sick and when I was, it usually ended up on a long holiday weekend. My brother Wes also has the record for not missing any school. Its kind of rare to have 2 brothers have the same record like that. My older brother also had a few years in without missing but tragically was cut short from the chicken pox.

6.FINALLY!!! Ok, here is the final thing many people don't know about me. If you really don't know this one then you probably don't know me too well. I am a movie whizz! I pretty much know ever thing there is to know about any movie. When I say everything I'm talking about filming locations, date's of when it was filmed, even the cost of the budgets. The list goes on and on. When you watch a movie with me I will know the actors bio, what movies they have been in, even how they got their first break. There is no use in watching the bonus features on a dvd when you watch a movie with me ha ha. I have always loved movies and it just became a natural thing for me to be involved in it.

Ok that's it!! Now you know my deepest...darkest....secrets. J/K Have fun!!

Changes for Disney and a Suite for Dreamers

is now

Every month or so I get an e-mail from the Disney Company because I'm on the Disney Insider list. This is how I know what's going on and get my Disney fix :) Today the Disney Insider was about the new Disney Dream Suite in Disneyland. It made me think back and remember when Nathan was training me in the Gallery... He said, "And this is concept art of Walt's suite by Dorothea Redmond who worked on Gone With the Wind." My heart stopped for a minute as I realized the two things I love- Disney and Gone With the Wind, had just intertwined! AMAZING!
Here's Nathan and I working on the Gallery movie.
Jimmy took this picture of me on my last day working in the Gallery.
The last time I visited the Gallery before it closed.
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Anyway, I wanted to share the Disney Insider with you all today:

50 Years Later, a Dream Comes True

As the Year of a Million Dreams continues, the surprises keep coming. And nothing could be more surprising than the latest "dream come true" -- because the dreamer was Walt Disney himself! Walt had originally intended to use the space in Disneyland Park above Pirates of the Caribbean for a private apartment where he could entertain friends and VIPs. Detailed watercolor sketches created in the '60s showed a luxurious and elegant retreat, right in the heart of his beloved Park, but the suite was never completed. Now, dubbed "the Dream Suite," his apartment is being brought to life based on his original vision, with some very special surprises added.

The Dream Suite will be completed in February, but a stay there cannot be purchased at any price -- it can only be won. And throughout February, you have a chance to share Walt's dream with Disney.com's Dreams Come True sweepstakes. Five lucky entrants will each win trips to the Disney Parks -- and the grand prize winner will get a stay in the completed Dream Suite And every Guest who enters the sweepstakes will truly be a winner -- a different free digital prize can be yours each day, from Mickey and friends snow globes and bobbleheads to printable delights.

To see what awaits the lucky Guests who stay there, we talked to Kim Irvine, Walt Disney Imagineering Art Director on the Dream Suite project.

"Dorothea Redmond was an illustrator who had done some major pictures like 'Gone with the Wind.' She was asked by Walt to do most of the interior designs for the shops and restaurants in New Orleans Square at Disneyland. She had a really beautiful watercolor style -- kind of impressionistic, but all the detail was there. So he asked her to illustrate each room of his suite," she explains.

Walt Disney had a personal apartment on Main Street in Disneyland, which he used frequently. So why a second set of digs in the Park? "This is a little bit different -- Dorothea looked for furniture that would feel comfortable for entertaining, and it's just very elegant," says Kim. The new suite was to be a site for entertaining and gracious living, not a personal retreat.

Kim was well-prepared for the project: "I've been looking at the sketches for years now, because the place where the suite is being built is where the Disney Gallery used to be for years. A lot of the Disney fans knew that at one time that was going to be Walt's apartment, so we posted copies of the paintings up there so they could see what it would have looked like. The Imagineers got so far with the construction up there -- they put in the fireplace mantel and some of the decorative crown moldings, and the parquet floor that she has very clearly illustrated in her paintings -- and then they stopped. So it was very interesting to look at the paintings and say 'Oh, I can see that!' and imagine what it would have looked like if they had been able to finish it."

So our idea was to finish the suite, and get it as close as we could to the illustrations -- so that we're actually making Walt's dream come true, too!"

Although she'd been looking at Dorothea's watercolors for years, it was only when Kim began work on making the suite a reality that she realized there was a hidden theme to the renderings. "I started looking for fabrics and flooring and all the different elements that looked similar to what she had in her renderings," she explains. "As I started studying them, we noticed that each room has a little bit of a different style to it, although they blend together beautifully. And the styles actually mimic the Lands at Disneyland. I had never recognized it before after all those years of seeing the renderings, but once I really studied them I saw this pattern. We decided to take that storyline and go with it. It's very subtle -- it doesn't hit you in the face that each room has a Land theme -- but it is there."

The main sitting room of the suite is very New Orleans, decorated in French blue and mauve, and featuring a room divider with New Orleans scenes. The informal sitting room captures the spirit of Frontierland, with masculine colors and a Franklin stove. The little study is very Main Street -- Victorian with red-and-white striped wallpaper that recalls the good old days. On the other side of the suite, the main bedroom backs right up to Adventureland -- you can actually hear the animals from the Jungle Cruise when you're in that room. It has that exotic Victorian look that was popular in that era -- cane seating, leafy fabric, greens, and blues.



Although the bathroom was not included in the original paintings, Kim and her team decided to extend the "land" theme there -- with spectacular results. "One of the things I think the Guests will say is their favorite is the master bathtub," Kim smiles. "The master bathroom was never rendered by Dorothea -- we did it as our kind of nod to Fantasyland. There's a big sunken tub, surrounded by arches filled with glass mosaic showing Aurora standing by a pool of water. Within the stained glass tiles are fiber-optic stars. When you go in and push the button the lighting in the room goes way down and the stars come on, music begins to play, and it's a very elegant bathing experience!"



The luxurious surroundings aren't all indoors. The suite also incorporates a courtyard patio invisible to Park Guests, and a redesigned balcony looking over Pirates of the Caribbean -- a spot that becomes the best seat in the house for the nightly performance of the spectacular Fantasmic!

The suite is meticulously detailed to match the vision Walt and Dorothea expressed -- but there are some very contemporary touches tucked inside. "It's ADA-accessible. It has hookups for computers. It has great systems for audio and video." Dorothea reassures us that "it's incorporated very well into the surroundings -- there's no elegant room with a bigscreen TV in the middle of it!" Guests will also have the services of a personal round-the-clock concierge, ensconced in a separate suite across the hall.

Lastly, there are what the Imagineers are calling "special moments" to surprise and delight Guests. "I think that being in Disneyland, people expect something magical to happen to them -- a step further than being in a beautiful, elegant hotel room, but also that there were some special moments," explains Kim. "So we included these in all three main rooms, and we're calling them 'a kiss goodnight.' There's a button on the wall of each room that they push when they're ready to go to bed, and something special will happen."

All in all, the Dream Suite is truly a prize unlike any other -- a genuine dream come true. Had Walt's vision been completed in his lifetime, this is the experience his personal guests would have received during a Disneyland visit. Now, you have a chance to be that guest for a night -- and to do your dreaming in Walt's own Dream Suite.
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Dorothea prints hanging in the Gallery.

It's strange when a piece of your past is not accessible anymore. But Disneyland is always changing, I think, for the better. So now, I just have to keep entering that contest and hope I can someday see the "new Gallery" and all it's Dream Come True glory!

Gobbler's Groundhog

I love the movie "Groundhog Day". But never in a million years did I think I would someday live close enough to visit the small town of Punxsutawney, PA. Well, guess what? It's only two hours away! Unfortunately the movie, "Groundhog Day" was NOT filmed in Punxsutawney where the Groundhog Day tradition lives. But we decided to go anyway. Why not, right?

We left home at 3am, so needless to say we all didn't get much sleep. My husband actually got no sleep, deciding that it would be better for him just to stay up then try to function with only 3 hours of sleep. We arrived in Punxsutawney around 5am. We had to park near a shuttle stop to catch a bus to Gobbler's Knob which is about 2 miles out of town. There were a TON of school buses acting as shuttles. Gobbler's Knob, unlike in the "Groundhog Day" movie, is a wooded hill with a platform at the bottom. The further you move up, the "taller" you can get to see over the massive crowd. This is good for me because I'm half the size of most people! We found a spot just as the fireworks started. We then froze for an hour until it was time for Phil to come out. Just like in the movie, the "inner circle" speaks to Phil and translates if he saw his shadow or not. The 6 more weeks of winter prediction sent boos throughout the 10,000 people attending (one of the largest crowds since Bill Murray was there years ago). Then everyone gets on the buses and heads to town for breakfast. Punxsutawney thrives on this holiday as it brings a lot of business into their little town. Therefore, the groundhog is everywhere- on business signs, street corners, and home decor. It's a charming little town with Groundhog Day spirit!

I don't think I've ever been so cold in my life. I had on tights, thermals, knee high socks, two pairs of gloves and I still froze. Of course it didn't help that it was spitting snow and a little windy. I almost slipped and fell on ice at least 5 times and saw plenty of people hit the ground! Thank God there was a bonfire at Gobbler's Knob and the buses were heated. We bought souvenirs, took a lot of pictures, sampled food and finally left Punxsutawney around 1pm. And now we can say we experienced Groundhog's Day with Punxsutawney Phil at Gobbler's Knob. Happy Groundhog Day!