Day 1070: Killian, Killian Jones

I take some comfort in the fact that I'm writing this so long after the initial mid-season finale of Once Upon A Time that I no longer have to worry about spoilers getting out. I mean, after all, I'm pretty sure we all know by now who dies. 

But just in case you don't, you probably shouldn't read any more. 

Regardless, the end of another half season of my favorite show calls for a roundup of the DisneyBounds that helped make Season 5 so interesting! I went back to a few old favorite characters here, but for the most part it was all about the new and original characters that were brought into the storyline this season! 

Since #DarkSwan seemed to be the theme this season, we had to begin with a DisneyBound inspired by our favorite hero turned dark! I actually LOVED putting this one together, and the shoes are to die for. I still call them my "Dark Swan Heels," and ironically enough, that's just about all I bought to put this outfit together! Everything else was already in my closet! 

King Arthur, oh King Arthur. To be honest, I love Liam, but I could do without this supposedly "noble" king. Either way, this DisneyBound brought some interesting additions into my closet, like the cardigan that I now wear all the time or a pair of bright silver shoes!

Lancelot has been one of my favorite characters since we saw him in Season Two, and I was thrilled to see him back on the screen again (and not dead)! For this one I reused those shoes I found for Arthur and added a bright blue shirt and red belt to go along with his crest and colors, as well as my grey leather jacket to symbolize his armor!

I've only ever done a Rumpelstiltskin bound one other time, and this time I had the perfect pants to go along with it! Reusing the Dark Swan Heels and pairing it with a black vest and golden shirt really made this one work out pretty well!

When I saw Emma in her dress in Camelot I knew immediately that a DisneyBound had to be in the works. All it took was locating a flower crown to make this one work, and it offered the perfect contrast between Light and Dark Swan for this season!

Merida was actually my first ever DisneyBound way back in the day, so to be able to revisit her character for a DisneyBound for the show was an opportunity I was certainly excited about! The only problem is her color scheme is pretty hard to be creative with, but at the same time, I love her hair, and I already had the accessories pulled together to make this one work!

Merlin quickly became a favorite character, and ironically enough, I bought the perfect shirt for his DisneyBound years ago. It's been in my closet ever since, and I actually almost got rid of it once. Still, something told me to keep it, and now I'm really glad I did!

An entire episode dedicated to Brave definitely called for another DisneyBound from the characters! After a bit of debating, I just knew it had to be her mother, especially since I already had the perfect green dress to make it work!

It's kind of hard to pick favorites when you love DisneyBounding OUAT so much, but this one may just be my favorite of all time. I may or may not have picked my glasses a few months ago so they'd match Emma's from the show, and when I came across the plaid dress at the store a few months ago, I knew it had to come home. Pretty sure I'll be wearing this one again, preferably to a fan event of some sort! 

And to round out this half of the season, it just had to be Papa Hook! We've been waiting for so long to meet Killian's father, and when we found out we'd be meeting him in the midseason finale I had to make the decision between a Dark Hook DisneyBound and Papa Hook. As you can see, the later won, allowing for me to reuse the shirt from Rumple as well as an old pair of pants I also got for OUAT DisneyBounds! 

But honestly, DisneyBounds aside, I cried a lot, and I'm definitely ready to head to the underworld so we can get Killian back. In the meantime, I'll just be over here eagerly awaiting his return, because really, how long can any of us live without a bit of Hook in our lives? 

Have a magical day! 

(Note: This blog post was written on December 23).

Day 1024: Life is a Highway

Roadtrips. They can certainly be a hassle, but they can also be super fun, and since we were headed on a shorter one, about four and a half hours, my roommate and I took it upon ourselves to create the perfect roadtrip playlist for our drive to the Twin Cities. Of course, there were a lot of options to consider here, because after all, we all like different music. I do believe, however, that we did an excellent job!

You have to have some classic roadtrip songs on your list, of course, like I'm Shipping Up To Boston, Eye of the Tiger, Greased Lightning, Bohemian Rhapsody, and of course, I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles). From there we branched out into a few favorites, like We Are Here to Change the World...because you've got to have some Michael Jackson and Captain EO in here. We had to have some Christina Perri...because Christina Perri, and I made sure to include plenty of The Enemies, since, after all, we were heading to see Colin O'Donoghue's new movie.

But we're also Disney fans around here, and if you're in the car with me for more than an hour, you can pretty much guarantee that there's going to be Disney thrown in there somewhere. A few of my favorites? Definitely the Star Wars songs (Main Title, Han Solo & The Princess, and the ever popular Cantina Band), Music from Brave (which I've really been into lately), Frozen, a bunch of music that I came across through Mad T Party out at Disneyland, and pretty much every other awesome song I could find on my iTunes. Ultimately, the playlist levels out at 129 songs and 7 hours and 57 minutes, perfect for our trip to and from the Twin Cities...but you'll hear more about that later.

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on December 1...because college).

Day 440: Pizza Planet Truck

When I asked my Music theory class for random Disney topics, this was one of the things that came up: The Pizza Planet Truck. Now, for those of you that don't remember or know, this is the truck that Woody and Buzz ride in during the original Toy Story film. And Pixar, being Pixar decided that it would be a grand old time to include the truck in just about every single Pixar film after it. Because they're just awesome like that.

So, of course, it was in Toy Story, for quite some time. In A Bug's Life, it sits next to the trailer house (which you can later see in Monsters Inc. as well!). So they kind of killed two birds with one stone there...references to more than one Disney film all at once. Awesomeness.

In Finding Nemo, the truck can be seen as Gill explains is escape plans to the others. It's through a plastic bag as they roll towards the road and over into the ocean. Because of course there's a Pizza Planet truck in Australia. Apparently they went international!

In Cars, the truck got a revamp...meaning a mouth and eyes to make it an actual character. I like it. Granted, Cars is my favorite Disney Pixar Film...so I suppose I'd like it either way.

It's a bit far off in Ratatouille, on the bridge as Skinner is chasing Remy, but it's there, and in WALL-E, the truck is found broken and rusted in a junkyard as Eve searches through it for a plant. In Up, the truck gets another redesign, looking more like a delivery van, but it's still there, and obviously Pizza Planet. They must have modified stuff for the big city. Of course, in Toy Story 3 we see it again on the road, looking a little worse for wear during the scene that tells the story of Lotso. In Brave, it's one of the carvings in the woodworking shop the Witch owns, and while I'm not sure where off the top of my head, I'm sure it appears in Cars 2 and Monsters University, because not having it at this point just wouldn't make sense. 

I just love it when Pixar throws in Easter Eggs. They're always so fun to spot. Of course, people continuously ask me about them and sometimes I'm just like yeah I know already, but I really do enjoy it. My favorite happens to be A113, which my brother and I love pointing out. 

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on March 28 due to Midterms and Travel). 

Day 133: Bittersweet

You know what's one of the saddest things ever?

Playing your last high school band concert.

That was my night, and honestly I'm proud that I managed to get through the entire thing without crying. There aren't many things in my life that are more important to me than Disney, but band is one of them. I've spent the last four years of my life with this group, and tonight was super bittersweet because I was honored for all my work, but now it's almost over.

Granted, really, it's not over since we still have another parade, graduation and a Disney audition to prepare for...and after that we have the band trip and then the summer stuff before I come back for next summer's trip to Disney.

This concert was probably my favorite concert I've played in high school though, because not only did I get to play my feature piece in Jazz Band, but we also chose "Brave" as our senior selection, meaning that we got to play songs from Brave at the concert! Along with this we got to play a selection called Hollywood Milestones, which had everything from Jaws to Back to the Future and Beauty and the Beast. It has 11 songs in it total, so it was pretty awesome. Especially since 80% of those songs were by John Williams.

Either way, it was a pretty sad time, but it was still amazing. And I couldn't ask for a better group to have spent my last concert with.

Here's today's Disney History: 2001: The Wonderful World of Disney airs "Child Stars: The Shirley Temple Story."

Have a magical day!

Day 131: Merida!

It's not exactly a secret, but I'd like to welcome Merida to the official Disney Princess Court!

Now, this may not seem special...but Disney doesn't have a ton of new Princesses all the time. Yes, I can name them in order...Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana, Rapunzel and now Merida! Either way, it's not an everyday thing (well kind of it is if you work at Disney. Every little girl is a Princess there), for a Disney character to become one of the court.

Plus, I had the great opportunity to watch the ceremony live this morning through the magic of the internet. Even though I still have 58 days until my next trip, it was amazing because it was actually happened right as I watched. I love the internet.

And yesterday I had a thought about this whole thing...and decided to wait until today to do the post on it, but I honestly can't remember what it was. On the other hand...I totally see what Disney did with the date. Today is May 11...she's the 11th Disney princess. That's brilliant if you ask me!

I remember...possibly. Either way, I think the timing of this is great for me as well. On Monday I have my final High School Band concert...of all time. And that's so scary! I mean, it's not my last concert of all time because I have college, but this is the last time I'll play a concert with this group other than at Graduation. Each year the seniors in the group select a "Senior Song" which we play at this last concert and at Graduation...and it just so happens that my senior class (all 5 of us in Band) decided on Brave. That's right...music from Brave. How cool is it that we have our Concert on Monday and Merida became an official Disney Princess TODAY? It's like the world wanted us to play it!

I'll tell more about the Concert early next week, but for now, let's all just celebrate (preferably without turning into bears) as Merida joins the ranks!

Here's today's Disney History: 1912: Animator Don Towsley is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His Disney credits include such features as Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi and the shorts Donald's Golf Game, Sky Trooper and Mickey Mouse Disco.

Have a magical day!

Day 80: Music for Band

Each year, my band has the seniors choose one selection for our final concert and to play at graduation. I, of course, would love to play a Disney song, specifically one that features each senior in our group, which is easy for us since there are only 5 of us. Either way, it's generally a score from a movie or musical, since last year we did Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, and previously we've done Wicked.

So I've spent some time researching this music and it's interesting to see what's all out there in the world of concert band arrangements of Disney songs. Currently I'm listening to Circle of Life, but earlier I had on Brave. I personally really like Brave because it does feature each section nicely and the idea of the songs and film fit perfectly in line with graduation, so it's certainly a possibility.

But I wanted to say that someone should write a great jazz arrangement of Everybody Wants to Be a Cat. You'd think there would be one out there, but there really isn't, and it's the one song I really wish my jazz band could play because it would just be so entertaining, especially since my best friend's favorite Disney movie is indeed the Aristocats.

I would also love to see a John Williams arrangement that features everything from Indy to Han Solo and the Princess (especially Han Solo and the Princess). I'd write something myself but I am not that talented and have no where near enough time. I think it would be fun to do something like that someday though.

Now I'm listening to Hollywood Milestones, filled with Beauty and the Beast, Jurassic Park, Apollo 13, Raiders March, Jaws and more. It's quite entertaining to spend all morning doing this.

Here's today's Disney History: 1962: Actor Matthew Broderick, the voice of the adult Simba in Disney's The Lion King, The Lion King II: Simba's Pride and The Lion King 1 1/2, is born in New York City. He also starred in Disney's 1999 live-action feature Inspector Gadget and the 2003 ABC-TV edition of The Music Man, which aired on The Wonderful World of Disney.

Have a magical day!