Day 1062: Awkward Disney Thanksgivings

Thanksgiving is always an awkward time regardless of what family you're a part of. In fact, it's probably one of the most awkward days of the year for a lot of people. But can you imagine what would happen if Disney characters had Thanksgiving dinners of their own?

So, in the Thanksgiving spirit, I threw together a quick video about which of those Disney Thanksgivings I thought would be the most awkward!

Which leaves us with the question: which Disney Thanksgiving do you think would be the most awkward? Let me know in the comments below! 

Have a magical day! 

(Note: This blog post was written on December 25).

Day 1060: Thankful, Thankful, Thankful

Per usual, it's time to relate what I'm thankful for this year, and like last year, I'm writing it late, so you're going to get a bit of an altered list from what it probably would have been on Thanksgiving Day. Regardless, if you want to go back to 2013 and 2014, you can do so to see what's changed on my list and what's remained constant! It's sure to be interesting! 

And so, here's my 2015 list: 

My Friends & Family

Of course, this one kind of goes without saying! 

Walt Disney World (And Disneyland!) 

I've been lucky enough to head on not one, not two, but three Disney trips this year, with two to WDW and one to Disneyland. I absolutely love both coasts for different reasons, and while I'm thrilled to be heading back to WDW in a few weeks, I do know that a part of me will miss Disneyland too. 

Starbucks

And coffee in general really. It's gotten me through this semester. 

LillyBelle

Because she is my cat and I love her to death. 

Star Wars

It's not every year that a new Star Wars film premieres, and it's not every time I get to go see it on opening night right alongside many of my fellow Star Wars fans. Looking back, surprisingly enough, Star Wars isn't on either of the previous lists...but I'm definitely thankful for it this year. 

Once Upon A Time

Star Wars may have been my first real fandom other than Disney, but OUAT has still brought me so many wonderful things, especially this year. Cardboard Colin came into my life, and I've met even more wonderful fellow Oncers...oh, and one more thing...

The Dust Storm

I can't help but put this one on the list. After all, the premiere of the film (and the film itself!) was wonderful, and it allowed me the once in a lifetime opportunity to talk to Colin O'Donoghue on the phone! Definitely something I'll remember for the rest of my life...and then probably a few lives after that. 

New Friends

Over the past year I've grown much closer to a real bunch of random people in my life, and I'm so thankful for that. Whether it's someone I know from college or someone I met through Twitter, there are absolutely amazing people in my world that keep me going through the good times and the bad. 

YouTube

One of the biggest blessings this year was my ability to work on my YouTube channel, and I'm absolutely thankful to those who follow my videos. I've certainly learned that it's not about how many views, but about making the videos because I love to make videos. And honestly, I've got a lot of video editing ahead of me, but I'm super excited about some of the stuff coming after my January trip to WDW. 

Everyday Disney

As always, I'm so thankful for the success of this blog, even if I'm really far behind at the moment and am fighting valiantly to catch up. It's always a lot of work, but I love this blog and every second of the work that it takes to make it a reality. I don't think 2012 Lizzie could have ever imagined any of this. 

And honestly, that's about all that I can think of off the top of my head, but I'm certain that there's about a million other things that I'm thankful for. Just take a look at my Instagram and I'm sure you'll see most of them at some point or another! 

Let me know what you're most thankful for in the comments below! 

Have a magical day! 

(Note: This blog post was written on December 25).

Day 696: Thankful

Happy (Late!) Thanksgiving everyone!

As usual, I meant to write this ever so long ago, you know, like on Thanksgiving, but alas, homework and finals took over my life for a good couple of weeks. Regardless, it's never too late or early to be thankful, and just as last year, I've got a list of things I'm thankful for. Previously, I did a list of 5, but this time I'm going to just kind of list them in any given order. I've had such a wonderful year so far that I don't think I could pick and choose what I'm most thankful for. I'm thankful for all of it, and that's the point. I won't comment on every single one, just because I am on a time limit and have plenty of other things to get done today, but either way, here's the list:

Once Upon A Time

Don't tell me you didn't think this one would make it on the list, especially since this has a bunch of subcategories. Once has played a crucial role in my life in the past year and a half (although it's stemmed from long before that). The show filled a void in my life left by friends (or people I thought to be friends) who abandoned me, people who tried to control my life. Now, somewhere along the line, I found that I could closely relate to the characters and themes on the show, and it taught me how to hope again. I'm a million times happier at this point now than I was a year ago, and infinitely happier than six months ago. Now, it's not ALL thanks to Once, but a good portion of it is.

Secondly, I'm extremely thankful for the cast of this show. When I go back on my TimeHop, it's hilarious now to watch as I try to get tweets from cast members, and now here I am with a list of favorites, retweets and tweets too long to even remember who all responded. I may not have had the chance to meet these lovely people in person, but that contact has become a constant source of happiness, and I couldn't be more thankful for each and every one of them. Special shoutout to Colin O'Donoghue for making my birthday one of the best ever as well! Can't really beat out a tweet from one of your favorite actors!

Finally, I'm thankful for the people I've met through OUAT and the Internet. I'm extremely excited to head out to California next year and finally meet some of you, all while Disneybounding, of course!

My Friends & Family

Walt Disney World

Starbucks & Delicious Soy Chai Lattes

My Roommates

I don't talk about them all the time, mostly because it might get redundant to say "Today's Disney reference is that we sang another Disney song!" Regardless, I'm sooooo thankful for the wonderful people I get to live with, whether that means my roommate from last year, Megan, or my newest roommates, Hannah, Ashley and my best friend Megan (but not the same Megan)! You guys bring so much joy into my everyday, from Newsies and crazy late night laughing to tea time, Chuck breaks and Starbucks trips. Plus, every single one of you have put up with my constant talking about OUAT and Disney and I'm not even sure how you do it. You all get awards. Every one of you.

Disney Movies

LillyBelle

Leather Jackets

Everyday Disney

This blog, of course, gets on this list every year. I've been fortunate enough to find an actual following in the past year, and I'm extremely excited to see where Everyday Disney goes in 2015, especially with two Disney trips and lots of surprises in between.

St. Norbert

Music

New Friends

A Million Other Things

And finally, The Seymour High School 2014 Band Trip to Walt Disney World

This trip, as you all know quite well by this point, was hell. It was awful. God awful, painful, frustrating and almost killed me. I wanted, more than anything, to just give up and throw everything I'd worked for away. But somewhere along the line, in between my friends, OUAT, my college community, my Band Director and Disney, I found a way to balance it all out into what I now define as one of the greatest experiences of my entire life.

Going into something like a band trip to Disney World, especially when it's something you've been dreaming of your entire life, has a lot to live up to. It's dangerous. The chances of you being disappointed are a million times higher than you not, but I agreed to disagree, and on every aspect of the Disney side, I was perfectly content. I said at the very beginning that as long as I got to do three things - march down Main Street U.S.A, go on Spaceship Earth and Watch Illuminations - I would be happy. And I was, only I failed to realize the impact and the living hell my life would become thanks to the people that wanted me gone. I get it. I understand. I graduated, and it was difficult to share your spot with someone who already got their own individual spotlight. In every aspect, I shouldn't have been there. But I was, and haters are going to hate, I guess.

Which is why through all of it, I'm more thankful for a couple of things when it comes to this trip than anything else. First off, thank you to Disney Performing Arts for allowing us to perform. Thank you, and I can't say that enough, for allowing my dream to come true. Thank you to Nick, the cast member that got me through the parade without crying, and to my best friends who stuck with me through thick and thin. But I think, more than anything here, I have to thank my High School Band director, Mr. Alban. I've said it a million times before, and I'll probably say it a million times again, but you're the one who helped get us there. You pushed us, myself included, to be the best musicians we possibly could be, and it was from that foundation that you helped make my dream come true. I'd be an extremely different person if not for your influence, and this trip, whether any of us liked it or not, taught me a lot about life, adulthood, responsibility and persistence. Thanks Mr. Alban, for being a mentor through every second of it.

This list could go on for a very long time, but I think I'll stop it here for now. But here's one last thank you, to all the people, whether you know it or not, that have helped me through the past year and a half. It's given me the strength to one important thing: keep moving forward.

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on December 15 due to finals!)

Day 695: Turturkeykey

Thanksgiving. It's really a wonderful holdiay, my second favorite in fact (just after Christmas, because who doesn't love Christmas?) It's just one of those great times of year when the whole family can get together and you eat a ridiculous amount of great food and gosh, the pie. Granted, this year I spent a good amount of my Thanksgiving working on homework because those Music History Research Papers just don't write themselves, but that doesn't mean there isn't a chance to have a great holiday (plus, once Christmas comes around I'm off of school and don't have to worry in the least about homework).

It's funny though, because throughout the progression of the day, I came across several various references to things, the first of which refers to my all time favorite episode of How I Met Your Mother, Blitzgiving. It's one of the Jennifer Morrison episodes in Season 6, so of course I really enjoyed it in the first place. It was a Thanksgiving episode, which is probably one of the best kinds of episodes to have, and featured all our favorite characters going from apartment to apartment trying to figure out where to have Thanksgiving dinner and cook Ted's "Turturkeykey." From what we understand, it's a turkey stuffed inside of a turkey (it ends up being really gross, but I'd still totally try it). I'd been planning to use #Turturkeykey all day, but of course, the lovely Jennifer Morrison beat me to it, using it on her own Thanksgiving instagram picture. Great minds think alike?

Regardless, that's not the regularly scheduled Disney reference of the day. Not even close. I spent most of my thanksgiving sitting at the kitchen counter of my cousin's house, as I said, working on my research paper. It meant that as the rest of the family played cards, I got to sit closest to the food and watch as the last of the dishes (turkey included) were prepared. Best seat in the house if you ask me.

A bit of the way into our visit, the turkey finally hit the oven. It wasn't frozen or anything, but it was a giant turkey, and it did go into the oven. Of course, my Dad and I were there, at the counter, watching as they put it in the oven, and all we did was crack up about Frozen Pizza. Yep, that's just how we roll.

The Frozen Pizza Joke seems to be a popular one in our family, going right along with the blowing of a fuse and "Temperature set to 375," and if you haven't figured out what we're referencing yet, here's a hint: It's about a family moving through the 20th century.

The Carousel of Progress, as I've blogged about before, is a commonly referenced show in our lives, and I remember watching as my friends saw it and finally understood what we were talking about when we took them to see it on the trip in June. Now it's been requested for a return trip this January, and I couldn't be more excited that they enjoyed yet another of my favorite attractions. I think that means more to me than most other things do, just the fact that I was there to see laughter and smiles and understanding of the random crap Lizzie's been talking about for the past 7+ years that never made any sense.

Does it mean my extended family understood when my Dad and I laughed about Frozen Pizza for dinner? No. Not in the least.

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on December 15 due to finals!)

Day 692: New World Bound

Honestly, after about three weeks of not blogging, but simply writing down the blog post topics, it gets a bit difficult to remember what exactly it was that the topic was about. I usually just note the title of the post and that's just about enough for me to remember, but sometimes I honestly have no clue. Like the one for the day after this post. I don't know. I honestly don't know. But I guess we'll figure it out.

When I first looked at the topic for this post, I knew what it was about. After all, New World Bound is a pretty easy one to figure out when it comes to how Disney is involved. That's the name of one of the songs in The American Adventure, specifically the one about the pilgrims. Why I intended to blog about it, however, took me a bit longer to remember. So before I get to the rest of the blog post, here's the song, just to refresh your memory, and mine, apparently: 

Alright, alright, I did actually remember what it was before I started the blog post (otherwise I would have tried to figure something else out for the post). You see, this particular song always comes up this time of year, Thanksgiving, because of the Pilgrims. It's just kind of standard. Of course, so few people in my world know what in the world I'm talking about that it hardly even pays to mention it outside of my blog (or at Disney World). 

The American Adventure is filled with such wonderful music though, and not just this one. Two Brothers is beautiful too (and you better bet I'm off to listen to that part next). I have the piano music for some of the stuff though, and it's always fun to go through it. I can play New World Bound pretty well at this point, but I have yet to find actual sheet music for Two Brothers. Golden Dream I've got down pretty well too, and thank goodness for that because I'll come home from Disney and be singing American Adventure music for weeks. 

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on December 12 due to Finals!) 

Day 332: What I'm Thankful For

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Today is a day for us Americans to all celebrate what we're thankful for, and I'm thankful for a heck of a lot of things. But besides the normal things, such as family, friends, my cat and food, there are a bunch of other things I'm thankful for, so here's my top five!

5. Once Upon A Time

Let's just take a moment to thank everyone who works on Once Upon A Time for bringing us fans such a great and wonderful show each and every week. Honestly I think that the cast of Once is one of the best out there, and I hope they think they've got the best fans. Although we do get kind of crazy sometime (even I have unfollowed all kinds of people to avoid more spoilers), and I may get upset when there's a lack of CaptainSwan, I still love everyone!

4. Disney Movies

This takes into account Disney movies of all kinds, meaning that the Disney Parks Vacation Planning DVD's totally count too! I mean, just think about all those awesome movies we have! Beauty and the Beast, Princess and the Frog, Lady and the Tramp (gosh, on a "and the" thing here), Tangled and the newest addition, Frozen! And one can't forget about all the amazing Pixar films!

3. The Disney Band Trip

To be honest, I am SUPER SUPER THANKFUL for Disney Performing Arts giving us this opportunity to perform at Walt Disney World, and to the Seymour High School Band for putting in all the hard work to get us there. My dream has always been to march down Main Street USA, and that's something I never thought I'd be able to do, so now that I'll be able to do that in 206 days is just spectacular!

2. Walt Disney World

You really didn't think I was going to leave this one out, did you? Disney World is my home, through and through, and I honestly could not imagine a life without. Along with this, I am super thankful that I have been able to go to Disney as often as I have, because it's a part of me now, and I really think I'm probably a better person because of it (although I guess we'll never know). I wouldn't have my dreams of working for Disney without it, and I probably wouldn't have the same ambition on projects that I do now. Goodness, I wrote a whole memoir on stuff I've learned, so obviously I should be thankful!

1. Everyday Disney

Ok, I feel like this should be pretty obvious. I am super thankful for this blog and how I've, at least somewhat, kept up with it throughout the year. I guess now is as good of time as any to announce that I have decided to continue blogging after the end of the year, although I'm debating working on a slight redesign to get things going. I'm so lucky to have the ability and opportunity to share my love of Disney with everyone who reads this, and when I was thinking about whether I should do another year or not, I eventually came to the conclusion that life would no longer feel right if I didn't have my blog to write everyday! So thank you to everyone who reads this blog, whether this is the first thing you're reading or the 332nd!

And that's what I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving, although I'm pretty sure the list could go on basically forever.

 

Like this blog post, today's Frumpstagram theme is "What Are You Thankful For?" I talked a bit about what I said in #2, and how I'm thankful that I've had the ability to go to Disney and grow up with it. I don't think I can say enough times how thankful I am for that chance, since it's not something everyone has, and yet it has 100% made me who I am today!






Here's today's Disney History: 1944: Walt Disney pens a birthday letter to his younger sister Ruth (who will turn a year older December 6). He writes of his next feature-length release: The Three Caballeros. Along with his birthday wishes is a check because he "Hasn't the slightest idea what to send."

Have a magical day!