Day 705: My Disney Collection V3.5

It's funny how sometimes you're on Pinterest or Tumblr or Twitter and you find a post or a meme that literally perfectly describes your life. For me, this is one of those times.

Over a year ago, back on Day 172 actually (which you can read HERE), I did one of my "Disney Collection" posts on my mug collection. It's true, I have quite the extensive mug collection, but what I didn't expect was to be doing an update on a collection post this soon in the game. Sure, some of my other collections have extended too, and while it's been a long time since the last Disney collection post, there's been a few in the works for a while that I just haven't gotten around to.

However, Christmas brought me a lot of new and interesting mugs. In fact, maybe I should admit defeat and accept that I might have too many. What do you think?

But, since this is an update post, let's talk about the Disney additions that have come in the last year and a half! We'll start with the trio of mugs that I've collected over the past few trips. I happened to have someone contact me about the Spaceship Earth mug even before they began selling them on Disney property, and of course the second I got to Florida, I bought it. I guess this counts for part of a Spaceship Earth collection post in that respect too, but it's not alone, although the Spaceship Earth mug is definitely the weirdest one I have. There's a matching Cinderella Castle and Tree of Life mug to go with Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, and my dad and I continue to wonder where Hollywood Studios is. 

Then we have this duo that I got on Black Friday from the Disney Store. I definitely love the old vintage feel of both of these, and the travel mug on the right is literally my favorite color (although the coloring is a bit off in this picture). Definitely good additions to my collection.

While I collect a pin for every year at Disney World, I don't really collect a mug for every year. That would get exhausting and I'd definitely run out of room faster than I already am with this mug collection. However, sometimes there's a mug that's just too good to pass up, and this definitely goes on that list. 2013 was a big year for me, and this mug is just about as big. It's a double size, meaning that I have plenty of space for lots of coffee or tea when I use it! Plus, that 3 as the handle is pretty awesome. 

Next up is another of my newest mugs from Black Friday, Chip! I've already gotten several compliments on this one and have actually been meaning to buy it for a while, only I never got around to it. Chip is seriously adorable though, and I have the distinct feeling that I know a few other people who might love one too.

And finally we have the Once addition to the bunch, my Hook's Crew mug. I've wanted this on a T-shirt for AGES, but while ordering a mug for a friend from RedBubble, I found this to be a cheaper option and jumped on the chance. I pull it out for watching Once Upon A Time, of course, as well as literally anything to do with Peter Pan or Colin O'Donoghue. So basically, it's out a lot. My roommates sure love it too, but we'll save that picture for another day.

Since last time I shared the Disney themed hot cocoas, I figured this time we'd look at the Disney tea I got a while back from Adagio Teas. You already have heard about the CaptainSwan tea, and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on some OutlawQueen and Snowing tea when I head back to college for the spring semester, but the last time I ordered (to get more CaptainSwan tea, of course), I made sure to try some other ones too. There are a ton of fandom blends out there, but luckily I found a bunch specifically tailored to Walt Disney World, and that was the end of that conversation. The Echo Lake blend is a chocolate mint blend, definitely good for afternoon snack time, while the Fantasyland blend is a vanilla and berry combination. Plus, I added in the Captain Hook blend, which is a delicious blackberry tea that I've been really into as of late. All three are spectacular and you should definitely try them sometime if you order from Adagio! There's a whole selection of Disney blends! 

As for me, I have to deal with the fact that mom made me move my mugs out of her cabinet and into a cabinet of my own because I have too many to fit with the rest of the glasses now. I guess that's alright on my end, because I get my own cabinet, and I got a ton of new mugs, but I also have to somehow convince them that I do have a rotation schedule to make sure I use them all. They don't believe me, but I do. 

Today's mug, if I drink tea tonight, will be the castle mug, by the way. 

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on December 22 due to finals).

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 649: CaptainSwan Tea

I generally don't like tea. I really, truly don't. I feel like there's this fine line between the coffee drinker and the tea drinker (not to say you can't like both because then boy would I be a hypocrite), but for some reason the majority of us like one or the other and simply can't understand how the opposite adores the drink so similar yet different from our own favorite. Wow, even just trying to say that was confusing.

The point? Tea and coffee really aren't that different. I mean, they're both hot beverages, both can contain caffeine (or not), both are loved by many, you can put cream and sugar in both and both are totally something you can drink any time of day (although I feel coffee is a bit of a bad idea come 11 at night unless your cramming for a test or something). My parents like tea, and I like coffee, and none of us can ever understand how the other likes their own beverage.

Personally, I've always found tea to be bland. If I'm going to drink water that's hot I'm going to drink water that's hot, and what in the world would be the point in drinking plain hot water? I'm probably more on the coffee train because I've always been a fan of hot chocolate and not as much a fan of apple cider. There's fine lines here people, fine lines.

But then, on a whim, I ordered some tea online.

Once fans may have heard about this tea weeks ago. Some crazy awesome people out there seem to spend much more of their day thinking about their OTP (if that's even possible), coming up with brilliant fanart or products along the lines of our favorite ships. This tea is one of those things. Jennifer Morrison, Colin O'Donoghue and Adam Horowitz all commented on it. I was supposed to be looking for a new phone case but ended up buying tea. Megan said it was a good investment though. This way all my roommates and I can share the tea and have all the comforts of being brought home.

And for real. This tea is actually really, really good. I don't know why though either. Maybe it's because it's the perfect combination of chai, Irish breakfast tea, coconut and cinnamon. Maybe it's because I'm just really cold all the time and tea is good for warming you up. Or maybe it's because it's CaptainSwan. I'm not really sure, but this tea is delicious, and it comes in the most adorable tin too!

And oddly enough, Jennifer Morrison and I got our CaptainSwan tea on the same day. I take that as some sort of weird accomplishment. 

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on October 20).