Day 1467: Grilled Cheese

A shorter post today, but one of my favorite social media events is finally back! 

A couple of years ago, Jennifer Morrison started a social media "event" called 101 Smiles, where she, along with her fans, would post a picture a day of something that made them smile for 101 days. Being the huge Once Upon A Time fan I was (and still am), I of course jumped on the train, and participated in both the inaugural 101 Smiles and the sequel in late 2015. When the smiles didn't return for the fall of 2016, I had to admit that I was disappointed, so when I logged on Twitter today and found that the campaign was beginning again, I couldn't have been more excited! 

The idea is simple. Every day you post a picture on Twitter of something that made you smile that day and tag it with #101Smiles. That's it. It's simple, and after two years of participating, I know for a fact that posting just one thing that made you smile each day greatly increases your overall positivity, and that means it's a great way to start out 2017! 

For today's smile, I happened to go for lunch at Culver's with one of my best friends, and she suggested that we have Grilled Cheese and Onion Rings, which just happens to be Emma Swan's favorite meal on Once Upon A Time. I agreed and we chatted over our food, taking pictures to tag on Twitter for our first smile! Jennifer Morrison herself even favorited Frank's picture on Twitter! As for my picture, I think you'll all recognize the bit of Disney I threw in just to create an extra smile! 

I can't wait to see what kinds of smiles the next 100 days will bring, and you can follow along with my smile journey on both my Instagram and Twitter accounts! Otherwise, I encourage you to join in! 

Have a magical day!

Day 1092: 101 Smiles, The Sequel

I was started to get worried that there wouldn't be a 101 Smiles 2016, but Jennifer Morrison has never let us down before, and she certainly hasn't now either! I was absolutely thrilled to find out that she was running a second year of the challenge, which I did last year as well and really enjoyed. In fact, I wrote a whole blog post about it HERE!

Last year, I really made an effort to allow those smiles to run my life. It made me a more positive person overall, and I was in a really good place. After all, just look at all the things I had to smile about last year:

This year, however, was a little bit harder. For some reason, life overall was rough this fall, and while it was sometimes a bit harder to smile, that doesn't mean I didn't smile, and I'm so thankful for all the wonderful people in my life who got a smile on my face even on the most difficult of days. And you know what, I've got another 101 Smiles to show for it: 

If you want to see all of the pictures close up, you can head over to my Instagram, as they're all posted there! I want to give a quick shoutout to Jennifer Morrison for running this crazy escapade again this year, and I can't wait for a third round in 2016!

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on December 31).

Day 1025: Beautiful Views

I've had a lot of landscape photos as a part of 101 Smiles this year. Some of them were sunsets, others sunrises, and some were just a picture of whatever beautiful view I happened to be looking at: 

This obviously led me to think about the beautiful views I'm missing at Disney, and while there's just too many to share, here are a few of my favorites: 

Another shorter post, I know, but these are certainly views I would love to see right about now. It's amazing just how much you can miss some place when you're so far away. 

Have a magical day! 

(Note: This blog post was written on December 31).

Day 985: 202 Smiles

It wasn't long ago that I was wondering if Jennifer Morrsion would do another year of 101 Smiles on social media. As part of a goal to increase positivity on the internet and in life in general, last year she began the #101Smiles challenge, in which you were to post a picture a day of something that made you smile. A lot of us joined in, and I talked a year ago about how the experience really impacted how I see positivity in my every day life. You can see a recap of 101 Smiles 2014 HERE.

I've thought a lot about 101 Smiles since it ended last December, so you can imagine how excited I was when Jennifer Morrison announced that we were about to start another round this fall. It started a bit later than the last one, about two weeks later, but that should put us really close to Christmas and the New Year by the time we finish! In general though, I'm really excited to see what kinds of things will make me smile this time around. Here's the collage of all of last year's pictures, just to give you an idea of what brought a grin to my face in 2014:

So far this year (it's currently September 25 when I'm writing this due to some scheduling issues), I've already had a lot of smiling moments:

As always, you can find my contributions to the 101 Smiles Challenge on all my social media! Links can be found on the sidebar! And if you haven't joined in on 101 Smiles, you're definitely welcome to! It's never too late to start smiling! 

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on September 25 due to a tight schedule).

Day 823: The Future Is Real

One of the scariest things, in my opinion, is the future. It's just out there in the great, wide unknown, taunting you every step of the way. Today was definitely one of those days when the future felt wide open and terrifying all at the same time, especially as I worked on my resume and cover letter for job applications as I head into the summer and upcoming school year. But the entire process has also made me think a bit more about Everyday Disney and what blogging has taught me about the future and how to approach it. After all, because of the success I've found with this blog and thanks to the skills I've learned developing it, I can list Everyday Disney on my resume, which is huge in my world. After all, this blog is pure proof of the things I've learned over the past two years, as Everyday Disney has been as much of a learning experience as anything else, and that only makes me more excited to continue moving forward and trying new things.

However, that's not all that Everyday Disney and daily blogging has taught me, so I figured I would make a post out of it. Planning for the future, in regards to my career, education and Everyday Disney itself, has been a huge part of my day today. Plus, just as in anything else, Disney plays an important role in what I've learned here.

1. Appreciate the Here and Now

I have a quote on my desk that reads "Don't Count the Days, Make the Days Count," something that I've sort of adopted as my motto for this school year. Megan and I occasionally talk about the depressing fact that in just over two years, I hope to leave Wisconsin and I will no longer be a simple five minute drive from my best friend, not to mention the fact that we currently live together at school. I'll be going out into the Great Wide Somewhere and, if everything works out, I won't be coming back. So I have to appreciate where I am right now. When you're a daily blogger, especially on a topic like finding Disney in everyday life, you have to really stop and think about each and everyday. It's not just a question of "What in my day involved Disney?" It's more complicated. It might be "What made me smile today?" or "What's going to be the most important connection for the blog post." When you do that, when you stop and reflect on your day, you're collecting memories of moments that you'll cherish when you are far away and alone. It's the same reason I keep a journal, because it allows me to come back and say "I remember that day! That was fun!" You get to do that with a daily blog too, and it all definitely helps you appreciate the happiness that currently surrounds you.

2. Keep it Positive

We all have bad days, and if you go back through the continuation of Everyday Disney, I'm sure you can pinpoint my own "Bad Days." There are plenty of them, moments where I'm frustrated, some where I'm just downright angry and some posts where I'm on the verge of tears. But ultimately, we can't focus on the bad things in our lives. We have to keep smiling, and that's one of the reasons I adored participating in Jennifer Morrison's 101 Smiles Campaign, where you posted a picture of something that made you smile every day for 101 days. It's not until a project like 101 Smiles that you really realize just how many opportunities you have to be happy, When you blog, you have to maintain that same positive atmosphere, because it's going to be more approachable for readers, and it's through happy moments that you're going to connect with your readers.

3. Look For the Little Things

Just like finding an appreciation for the here and now, Everyday Disney has certainly provided me with the ability to look for the little things. As huge as a company like Disney is, by day 823, there's only so many things left for you to talk about on a daily basis, and let me tell you, it only gets harder. You have to be relevant and original at the same time, all while sticking to your brand and connecting with an audience. As I said a while back, finding legitimate references to Disney that are different from the 800 other references you've already talked about is incredibly difficult, but the second you start looking at the little things that happen in your life, a new world opens up. Sometimes that means talking about the most random Disney Deja Vu, like a train whistle or the food you ate for lunch. Other times it might mean a new Disney-related project you're working on. And, if you're like me, it might include surprising your father and brother with a trip to Disney World in June. They all make for relevant topics, if only you figure out how to word them and relate them to the blog as a whole.

4. Organization is Key

I remember, earlier this year, sitting for around six hours in the basement of my college library on a giant computer table trying to record and organize every single day of Everyday Disney. If, at the end of the year, your blog post total is 363, you've obviously missed something, and that's ultimately going to reflect badly when a new visitor realizes that, since you're a daily blogger, there should be 365. So I found a new system, and I now keep a record of every post I write for a number of reasons. Beyond that, I constantly have a list of new goals I want to accomplish and improvements I wish to make, as well as a rough idea of topics that might appear in future posts. Without that system in place, everything would be absolutely chaotic, and I can tell you right now that nothing would get done, not by a long shot. After all, keeping 100 blog posts straight is difficult, much less 800.

5. Keep Moving Forward

Looking back at where you came from is great, and it can be really inspiring, but don't let it hold you down. If I go back to the early days of Everyday Disney, sometimes I cringe at my writing, a topic I wrote on, or my blatant unprofessionalism in those early days. However, back then Everyday Disney was definitely more of a personal blog, a quest to blog about Disney everyday for an entire year and find the little ways my favorite thing has woven its way into my life. Now, things have gotten much bigger. There's an Instagram Challenge going on, I'm listing Everyday Disney on my resume, and I'm writing a post about what daily blogging for the past two + years has taught me. If the things I've learned so far are any indication, Everyday Disney is going to keep growing, and I'll keep growing right along with it. I don't know what it will become, and I don't know where I will end up, but you can bet I'm going to keep blogging about it every step of the way.

Have a magical day!

Day 702: 101 Smiles

Here we have another post that definitely involves Jennifer Morrison. December 3rd marked the end of something JMo started in an attempt to bring more positivty to Twitter, called #101Smiles. The concept was simple, is simple, you post a picture a day, for 100 days, of something that made you smile. It can be anything, and some pages, such as The Ugly Ducklings page, gave daily challenges of something that made you smile within a certain category.

It just so happens that #101Smiles started on the very first day of classes here at SNC, meaning that the challenge took place over the majority of the fall semester of my sophomore year of college, and it's taught me a lot of lessons. As I said on Twitter, #101Smiles is something I didn't even know I needed. It's one of the main reasons I came out of the last two years with an extremely positive attitude, and it's certainly brought me a lot of smiles over the past 100 days. So let's take a look back. Here's the collage I put on Day 101, made up of most of the pictures I shared over the 101 days:

There were a lot of great moments stuck in there, such as the time that I made Jennifer Morrison crave churros (see THIS POST for more on that story), or that time she liked our dorm room (HERE!). There's the CaptainSwan tea, and Baby Sven (Also liked by JMo!), Halloween with my darling roommates, movie times, cupcakes, Starbucks, weird adventures, tweets, Disneybounds, Fastpass reservations and plenty, and I mean plenty, of smiles. 

I did this challenge on a whim. After all, why wouldn't I? Jennifer Morrison is one of my role models and certainly is my favorite actress, so when I saw the opportunity to join in, I jumped on the band wagon faster than you can type a tweet. What I didn't expect was for it to lift my mood so much. Just sitting down at the end of the night and thinking "What made me smile today?" lifted my mood and definitely made me a happier person. 

So here's a HUGE thank you to Jennifer Morrison for starting this, and a special shoutout to the #UglyDucklings that made me and so many others feel loved. I'm definitely sad to the see the end of #101Smiles, but I can't wait for the next one, #101Smiles2015. 

If you didn't participate in the challenge, that's alright! It's never too late to start, and just because I'm finished and so is Jen, it doesn't mean that you can't join in on the fun. There's still tons of people facing the challenge of a picture a day of a smile, and I highly recommend that you do the challenge, no matter where you are. Just because it's past Day 101 doesn't mean we have to stop smiling! 

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on December 19 due to finals). 

Day 632: Seagulls

I embraced that picture right there yesterday, full force, and here's the story about it:

You all know about Jennifer Morrison's 101 Days of Smiles. She liked one of my pictures not too long ago, of my dorm room, but it turns out that that was just the first time I'd get some attention. I found this picture on Pinterest yesterday and loved it so much that on a whim I decided it was going to be my smile of the day. I posted it and didn't think much else of it until several hours later, when I got a twitter notification only a few minutes into Sight Singing.

Turns out JMo loved this meme as much as I did, and retweeted it...meaning that my phone perpetually went off for the remainder of the day with other retweets and favorites. There's over 100 RT's, and over 300 favorites. That's ridiculous. BUT JENNIFER MORRISON RETWEETED AND FAVORITED MY TWEET.

But wait...it get's better. Turns out it made her laugh..and she shared it on her Instagram too. THAT NEVER HAPPENS PEOPLE. IT NEVER EVER HAPPENS. Oh, and I made her want a churro too...although I feel like that's something we all constantly want.

Regardless, yesterday I was for sure happier than a Disney Seagull with a Churro, and it's only day 31 of 101.

Have a magical day!

Day 620: Christmas Lights

I collect many things, and tweets from famous people is one of them.

Now there are a few things I consider. Really, if a famous person (or anyone with that little blue check mark or who is on TV or is in a band, etc) tweets you back, then that's obviously a huge win. It doesn't happen very often, especially when you get into those high ranking twitter users. Yep, Colin O'Donoghue I'm talking about you. I classify this as Level One.

Level Two features the retweet, because who doesn't want to be retweeted by a famous person. That's a pretty darn awesome thing to have happen, especially if they quote your tweet and say something like "I LOVE THIS!" Happens on occasion...although I don't think I've ever had this happen to me specifically. Someday I tell you, someday.

And then there's a Level Three, not to be underestimated, the favorite. These are great because it shows that whoever you tagged is indeed looking through their mentions and happened to notice yours. I definitely count these in my collection because they're pretty easy to get.

Over time I've had a lot of favorites and mentions. I have a L1 Colin, of course, as well as L1 from Adam Horowitz (x3), Raphael Sbarge (Archie) and various others from the Once Cast as well as Top Gear America and others. Like I said I don't really have any Level 2's, but I do have a great collection of Level 3's, including this brand new one.

The other day I spent a good couple of hours putting up Christmas Lights in our dorm room. Since deciding we would room together last spring, my roommates and I have always talked Christmas lights in our room. It's a popular decoration on Pinterest and you see it throughout dorm rooms here at SNC. It took us a few weeks to get it done, but with a couple of free hours I put myself to work on various activities around our room, and those lights happened to be one of them. They look pretty great, huh?

Well, I posted this photo on Instagram after finishing, and then included it on Twitter as my photo of the day for #101DaysOfSmiles, which is 101 days of photos of things that make us smile started by Jennifer Morrison. She's participating and is encouraging everyone else, especially the Ugly Ducklings, to do so as well. Of course, I picked it up right away myself on my first day of the school year, oddly enough.

But later that day as I stood with two of my roommates in one of the buildings on campus before class, and my phone went off with a Twitter Notification, we ended those last few minutes before learning with a favorite from Jennifer Morrison herself.

That's right everyone, Jennifer Morrison likes our dorm room. BEST. DAY. EVER.

And that's just part one...there's still a canvas to be put up!

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on September 14).