Day 1461: What's There to Say?

2016 was pretty much a terrible year for everyone it seems. If you look around for more than a few minutes on Twitter you'll know very quickly just how awful the last 12 months were for a lot of people. We've lost so many legends this year, we elected a new president that split the country in a brand new way, and in general, 2016 was a flop. Which means that 2017 can only be better, right? 

For me, 2016 was a year of change and learning. I started it in one of the darkest places I've ever been, struggling with who to trust, where I was going to live, and feeling betrayed by the people I once called my friends. Luckily, moving out and across campus into a different apartment was the start of something great in my life. I strengthened the relationships that remained, gained a new and wonderful roommate, found comfort and happiness with new friends, and really learned who I am and who I want to be. As the year went on, I took risks too. I ended up attending an international conference in the Twin Cities, drove all the way to Colorado and back, traveled to Walt Disney World by myself for the first time (and for another conference!), joined a new group on campus that I never believed I could be a part of, and really began to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life once I leave the security of college. 

At the beginning of 2016, I made a resolution to, instead of taking on something new, focus on finding balance in my life that allows for growth. I honestly think I found that this year, although there's absolutely still room for improvement, and Everyday Disney is an example of that in itself. But even if I haven't quite figured out the full balance of time in my schedule, I feel like I've found balance in myself. The people I surround myself with now care about me for who I am and definitely don't ask me to change. I don't feel as though I'm split into multiple parts the same way I was last year, and most importantly, I feel confident in what I am capable of. 

Normally at this point in the end of the year blog post I'd go on some ramble about how many words I wrote this year, but since a good portion of the year has yet to be completed, that seems sort of irrelevant, so perhaps we'll save that for a later date. For now, we'll just keep steaming ahead into 2017 and new adventures, because something tells me that this next year could be one of the most interesting yet. 

Have a magical day!

Day 1036: A Lot of Thinking

After coming up with almost 60 blog post topics in the past few days, I was left with this one, lone, blog post that I had no idea what to write about. I've gone through Tumblr and Pinterest and Facebook and Twitter, Throwback Thursdays, Pictures, Instagram, and basically my entire room at college with no luck. It turns out, nothing of any interest happened on this day, and considering the fact that I'm a busy college student, that assumption probably isn't all that far off.

But then I realized that I should probably give an explanation as to why many of these blog posts have a note at the bottom that says the post was written on a different day, and honestly, you can find a ton of those notes throughout the years of this blog. We're all busy people in this world, and things get behind, especially when your blog is important enough to keep up with, but not important enough to come first on your totem poll of things to do.

It does matter, however, and by the end of the year, I get really antsy about making sure there's a little 365 next to the year when I'm finished, although I suppose 2016 will be a bit different. Plus, I think the fact that we're still here after almost three years proves that there's enough Disney to go around for everyone every single day...it's just a matter of figuring out what those things are and then documenting them.

The hard part is definitely trying to keep things different, and while, on occasion, I'll come up with something entirely new that somehow popped up in my life at the most random of times, more often than not, the Disney in my daily life amounts to nothing more beyond the mug on my shelf and the wish to head on Spaceship Earth (or do anything at Disney World) instead of homework. That's not, however, the point. What we do here at Everyday Disney is celebrate the ways Disney pops up in life, whether it's an everyday occurrence or something that just happened randomly once. It's about celebrating the Disney that surrounds us all the time, whether we're in the parks, watching a Disney movie, or sitting in a class about Music Theory. Somehow, Disney connects it all together, and I'm still amazed at it, no matter how many days I have to sit at my computer to catch up when school put me behind on everything, the blog included.

My point here is this: even if I don't know how Disney was a part of my life on November 2, 2015, I do know it was there somehow, and that's why having the little 365 at the end of the year is so important...because it was there, and that's reason enough to celebrate.

Have a magical day!

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

Day 858: Last Day of School

The last day of school in college is literally a million times different from the last day of High School...especially since it's almost as though we have two last days. There's the last day of regular classes, and then the last day of finals. They both have their benefits, that's for sure, but I think personally I prefer the last day of classes. Why? Because our college really spoils us on that last day...even if our college tuition is high enough for it to be more expected than anything else.

I remember last year's last day pretty well, and as a matter of fact, I blogged about it too! We were quit excited to get our balloon animals, and when this year's last day rolled around, we got excited all over again. Balloon animals are literally so fun, especially when you put a Disney twist on them!

Katie went first and he made her that adorable little Tinkerbell. I have another picture of it, but because of a corrupt laptop situation, it's stuck on there and I haven't had a chance to reedit the photos on a different computer...so maybe that'll show up sometime later this summer. Megan got the Minnie Mouse, which was adorable but got sort of creepy looking by the time we got rid of our balloons a week or so later. Hannah got the Ariel one for her sister and finally I asked for a miscellaneous Disney character, to which he provided me with the most adorable thing ever: My Knight in Shining Armor! 

As a lover of OUAT and Fairy Tales, this was pretty great. Pretty sure he was reading my inner most thoughts that not even I was aware of, but I then spent a good portion of the day pretending it was Josh Dallas behind the little helmet.

And for those of you who might be wondering, here's another fun thing we did! A photoshoot! My roommates and I had a great time after the campus picnic taking pictures together, and special thanks to our photographer, Brody, who I'm sure you'll see before the summer is through as we've got a few ideas for a photoshoot or two that may just have something to do with Disney. Left to right we have Megan, Katie, Hannah, Ashley and, of course, me.

So here's a question for you: If you got a balloon animal, what would you get? 

Have a magical day!

(This blog post was written on May 23 due to finals).

Day 729: 2014

A year ago (literally to the day) I had this obnoxious idea that it might be fun to go back and see how many words I wrote for the entirety of 2013, and then do some searches for some keywords to see how many times certain things were posted. It took FOREVER to complete that blog post.

And I decided to do it again.

Just as last year, let's start out by looking at the number of words from each month. I've also included the totals from last year in italics:

January: 18,135 Words (13,637 Words)
February: 17,371 Words (8,679 Words)
March: 17,072 Words (15,162 Words)
April: 17,176 Words (14,709 Words)
May: 14,797 Words (16,948 Words)
June: 18,488 Words (17,237 Words)
July: 17,606 Words (17,710 Words)
August: 11,857 Words (17,366 Words)
September: 12,633 Words (19,109 Words)
October: 19,481 Words (20,741 Words)
November: 15,930 Words (24,406 Words)
December: 13,655 Words (20,299 Words)

Total: 194,201 Words

These numbers sometimes include "Have a magical day," and sometimes they don't. They do not include title names or dates, but they may include make-up post information. Honestly I'm not 100% sure, but I tried to keep it pretty much the same throughout. I used a different system to total all of this this time around, so it's a little fuzzy around the edges.

And then, using the same list of keywords from last year (with a few additions which are marked with a star), I've got the 2014 totals:

Disney (w/o Walt Disney/Walt Disney World/Everyday Disney):1400
Colin O'Donoghue (located by searching for "Colin"): 103
Emma Swan (Emma): 90
Hook: 195
Once Upon A Time (OUAT): 200
CaptainSwan: 40
*Jennifer Morrison (JMo): 55
*Twitter: 47
*Instagram: 78
Harrison Ford: 59
Star Wars: 50
Han Solo: 21
Indiana Jones: 19
*Frozen: 137
Epcot: 131
Spaceship Earth: 86
College: 127
Walt Disney: 31
(Walt) Disney World (WDW): 249
Everyday Disney: 41

I didn't calculate how many pictures and videos there were, simply because that's the part that took a really long time last year and I know for a fact that there were plenty of posts with plenty of pictures throughout 2014.

So, comparatively to 2014, things have been a bit crazier, but 2015 is sure to bring more adventures, and let's just stop talking about them and begin doing!

Have a magical day!