Day 1028: Still Not Over It

I don't think one blog post is quite enough to describe just how amazing it was to attend the Twin Cities Film Fest. As I said in my video, a lot of what happened is something I want to kind of keep to myself, just to savor that memory forever. There are, however, a few things that I'd love to share! Like extra pictures! 

You know, the life of this college student is pretty weird. I may not be super famous...but going from volunteer work in the morning to a movie premiere and a red carpet at night was pretty awesome. And you know what, I've done a lot of thinking since TCFF, and the more I've thought about it, the more I realize that I really fit in there. I felt kind of like I was with my people, and I'd be more than happy to spend the rest of my days at events like that. Maybe someday. 

We were pretty packed into my car for the drive to the Twin Cities, which, according to pretty much everyone, was impressive for us to do. But then again, I have a bunch of friends in the OUAT fandom, and I sort of felt like it was my turn. I had an obligation to go and support Colin in this film. The fact that he said thank you to ME when we talked on the phone pretty much made everything worth it. Correction, him watching my periscope made it worth it (because yes, that happened too). 

Pictures that showcase we did indeed make it to our hotel. The entirety of the time before the movie I was basically alternating between pacing, shaking, and freaking out completely. At that point we had no idea if Colin might be there, so here I was, completely oblivious to the fact that in just a few short hours, I would talk to Colin on the phone. 

A trip wouldn't be complete without a stop at an Irish pub...which may or may not have given us some extra luck on the trip. Regardless, the food was great, and since it was right at our hotel, we didn't even have to travel too far! 

You'll hear more about my outfit for the night in a blog post later, but now that I stop and look at it...wow, you guys were all right. I really like my shoes. Haha, regardless, look at how great my roommates and I all look on that red carpet! 

A lead actor like Colin has to have a lead actress to make the film complete, right? Meet Kristin, the lead actress of The Dust Storm. She was AMAZING in the film, and such a wonderful person to be around. Gosh...a few months ago I was fawning over the trailer for the film and here I am, standing right next to one of the lead characters! BRILLIANT I TELL YOU, BRILLIANT! 

Oh yes, I may have forgotten to mention that for one night, we became the college students who went to a club...for a film festival after party. Oh, and while at that party, we could basically have been considered famous. Talk of the night? That's the only way I roll. 

And there you have it, a bit more of an inside look at my trip to the Twin Cities to see The Dust Storm. I honestly have to say that I owe a lot of it to my roommates, who, for some reason I'll never quite understand, were totally on board with driving four and a half hours to see my favorite actor in a film they'd pretty much never heard of. So huge props to them. 

Oh...and just in case you didn't believe me about periscope...

Have a magical day! 

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

Day 1027: Talking to a Hero

It seems like it's been forever since the events I am about to describe took place...and in complete honesty, it has been a while...over a month in fact. That doesn't diminish the fact that a significant portion of me still doesn't believe that any of this actually happened...and in fact just today I made a comment that was ridiculous because of the story I am about to tell you.

And so...here I am, telling you about what happened at the Twin Cities Film Festival. 

First off, if you haven't watched my video on the topic, maybe you should do that first: 

Kind of a long story short, Colin O'Donoghue, the actor who plays Captain Hook on Once Upon A Time, has quickly worked his way into the list of my favorite actors, and in fact, he's now up at the top right with Harrison Ford. At first, I think it was the accent, but over time, I've really come to just appreciate Colin as a real person. That sounds weird, but honestly there's no "not-weird" way to say any of this. He's just a person I genuinely admire and look up to, whether it be for his humor, for his focus on family and keeping what's private, well, private, his excellent acting, or his love of music. 

So you can imagine what happened when I talked to him on the phone. 

The Twin Cities Film Festival was beyond anything I could have ever hoped for. I remember sitting in our campus library with my best friend, presenting the idea of attending as a joke (after all, my parents would never let me go, and it was crazy, right?)...only she took it a little more seriously than I thought...and then one by one my roommates found out that Colin's new film was premiereing four and a half hours away. 

Of course, that means we had to get tickets...and we did. And that was just the beginning. 

I can't quite praise the work that is The Dust Storm enough, because the cast and crew did spectacular things with the time and budget they had. The acting is supurb, both from Colin and Kristin, and I would honestly give just about anything to see it again...or at least hear a couple of the songs.

But to get to talk to Colin on the phone...honestly I'm still not sure how it all happened, and I can't thank everyone enough for making it possible. I still have to kind of pinch myself as a reminder that it actually happened. Every time I watch a new episode of OUAT, the thought kind of occurs to me...even now, I can't help but smile thinking about it. Because honestly, how many times in your life do you get to talk to one of your heroes on the phone? 

Have a magical day!

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

Day 1026: Pumpkin Carving

Believe it or not, I'm 20 years old and I've never carved a pumpkin.

My roommates seems to find this an abomination, so when they decided we were going to carve pumpkins this year, I couldn't really say no. Lucky for you, I filmed the carving of my pumpkin...which sort of set the theme for the whole weekend.

To be honest, I started out really debating what design I would do...the fact that it was Hook just had to happen though, because this wonderful night of pumpkins was the evening before we headed out to see Colin O'Donoghue's new film, The Dust Storm, which you can read all about in the following two blog posts. Trust me, you'll want to read it.

Have a magical day! 

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

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 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 1023: Bohemian Rhapsody

I happened to be searching YouTube yesterday looking for nothing in particular and then I came across a video I just had to share. I think it's safe to say that I love the Muppets, and this was just too good to pass up:

Alright, so maybe I love everything with Beaker in it, because I just love how he goes "memememe" all day long. And then there's Sam Eagle just muttering "No" over and over again. Best version of Bohemian Rhapsody ever? I think yes. And, just for your viewing pleasure, here's another Muppet video for you!

If that doesn't make your day a bit brighter (or spookier) then I don't know what will! 

Have a magical day! 

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

Day 1022: What Happened in October?

Trying to make up blog posts when I get really far behind is certainly one of the more difficult things in life, especially when those blog posts are from months ago. To be fair, if I don't have time to blog on a specific day I try to at least write down a blog post topic that I can come back to later, but more often than not, I'm so caught up in schoolwork and such that I don't even think much about it. My life is relatively ordinary and simple, and while I'm able to find Disney in pretty much anything and everything, I also can't ever seem to remember what happened in October when it's November.

If I'm trying to come up with blog posts from a date that far past, the first place I turn to is my Twitter, as I'm more active there than any other social media, and usually I'll have tweeted about something that makes a connection. The problem is, Twitter only allows me to go so far back sometimes, and since I tweet so much (thanks Once Upon A Time), it's sometimes hard to figure out what in the world might have gone on.

Regardless, I think someday I should show you how boring my everyday life really is. It usually starts with me quickly getting ready for the day before heading to hours of class, maybe a bit of food, and then into an evening that is often filled with meetings. From there, I throw in some practice and homework time before hopefully blogging, working on a video, or catching an episode of something on Netflix before again going to sleep.

See, not that interesting at all? And J-Term is probably even more boring, with days on end of random work on things that I didn't have the time to finish during the semester. Maybe someday I'll snapchat my entire day and then share it here, but that's an idea for another day...although I do wonder how Disney might still fit into a little video like that, because I'm more than certain it would.

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on December 30).