Day 1493: A New Challenge

I write...a lot. 

For my wonderful regular readers here at Everyday Disney, this probably isn't much of a surprise anymore. You know quite well how I am capable of rambling on for what feels like days about some Disney-oriented topic that probably didn't require a five-page explanation. Alright, so perhaps my blog posts aren't that long, but in the four years I've been writing here, I have discussed my writing more than a few times, and really, things haven't changed much. I'm still writing for Everyday Disney, as well as The Odyssey Online, multiple classes, video scripts, in a personal journal and, for the most part, anywhere else I can find a spot to jot down a few ideas or a quick story. 

But as we start a new month and as I write the first in a new series of blog posts (which I'll explain in a moment), I've decided on a new challenge for the month of February that will encourage me to actually keep up with daily blog posts, tie in my coursework with Disney in a whole new way, and will be, I believe, rather interesting.

I'm going to count every word I write in the month of February, and here's the how and why: 

As I round out my final year at St. Norbert College, I've returned to working toward a degree in English with a Creative Writing Emphasis and am enrolled in a creative writing seminar. It's more or less an extension of a fiction workshop course I took last semester, which reminded me why I love writing in the first place. This semester, we're required to write a few blog posts in addition to our regular writing exercises, which I took as a brand new challenge, figuring it would be fun to really intertwine my coursework with what I'm already doing here. 

And as for the first blog post topic? You guessed it - writing. 

When I really sat down and thought about my writing though, I realized that much of my writing style has been, at least in some way, shape or form, influenced directly by Disney or through some connection to the company. In particular, through reading Anne Lamott's bird by bird, I've noticed a few direct examples of this. 

I write like I'm directing a film. Lamott notes that, when writing, she'll frequently imagine a scene as though it were on film. What would the background look like? How would the characters be situated in the scene? What would they be wearing? What would the lighting be like? In all reality - what would it look like if it were a movie instead of words on a page? When I read this, I couldn't help but smile because thank goodness someone else does this too. Working as a videographer and photographer on the side, I'm always picturing exactly how everything would look as though I were in the Disney studios creating a storyboard to make my work into a movie. 

I also rely on the details, similar to the way Disney-Pixar so carefully creates the shadows and reflections that make films such as Finding Nemo or Cars so realistic. I do my research and ground my works in reality, even if the characters and events of my writing are completely fictional. If I'm writing a piece I want to set in Ireland, I'll search the internet until I find the exact location I'm looking for. If I'm writing a piece on a car salesman in the 1950s, I'll search out that perfect name for his wife, what suit he probably would be wearing and what car he'd be likely to drive. I'll do research to the point where, if you read my piece, you'd probably believe that I'd been to Ireland or actually lived as a 1950s car salesman in a former life (spoiler alerts: I haven't been to Europe and I'm fairly certain I wasn't a car salesman...I think). Anne Lamott discusses this too, only for her the topic is gardening, and she works to insure that her writing is as accurate as the apples that are growing on a tree in the fictional backyard, despite the fact that she has fake flowers outside her own home. 

I write with the knowledge that it won't be the final product. Mickey Mouse, as you may or may not know, wasn't Walt Disney's first hit character, meaning Mickey Mouse wasn't the first draft. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was, and he was stolen from Walt along with his workers just before the creation of the mouse we know and love today. But Oswald taught Walt important lessons, and served a purpose of his own. Our first drafts don't have to work out, because they're just paving the way for the spectacular drafts yet to come. Reminding myself that even the creators of Tangled and The Lion King probably had, as Lamott notes, "shitty first drafts," keeps me going through the day. Maybe I won't get it right in the first draft, or the second, or the third, but if I keep working at it, eventually I'll find my own Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, although, perhaps I should aim for Mickey in this metaphor.

The point here is this, because this blog post is getting much longer than anticipated - my writing is constantly evolving, but no matter how far off track I get, I'm always grounded by the habits and strategies I've picked up along the way, the most important one of which is writing a lot. As I tally up the words that make up blog posts, articles, assignments, and journal entries throughout the month of February, I'm excited to see just how much I'm writing, and to reexamine what I'm writing as time goes on, because I'm sure that, as always, it will be quite the adventure.

Expect to see more blog posts from my Creative Writing Seminar in the future. Each will be tagged with #sncEngl425 if you want to hone in on just those posts - or if you're one of my classmates and don't feel the need to listen to my sometimes lengthy spiels about Spaceship Earth.

Have a magical day!

Day 1312: Birthday Wishes

There are very few ways that you can celebrate your birthday that are better than celebrating at the most magical place on earth. 

While my actual 21st birthday was earlier in July, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to celebrate at Walt Disney World, especially since the trip was sort of like a birthday present. It's amazing how much magic one little birthday button can create, and I can't thank the amazing cast members throughout the resort enough for all the magic they created, from saying happy birthday to creating very magical moments for me throughout my trip! 

During my day spent at Hollywood Studios there was plenty of birthday magic to be had. Mickey threw me a birthday party (not a castle party...it's still too soon to bring that up), a wonderful cast member gave me a strawberry bar, and my lunch at the Brown Derby was made extra delicious by the entirety of the staff there! 

And then at Animal Kingdom, the staff at Tiffins brought me a special dessert with a candle (that I remembered to take a picture of before blowing it out), and at the end of the night, the staff of the Animal Kingdom Starbucks made a magical moment for me by gifting me a special Mickey-Shaped Cinnamon Roll (which was pretty much my favorite moment of the entire trip). 

After that I stopped wearing the buttons, as I was already overwhelmed by the outpouring of love from everyone I met, but honestly, I think the two days and three hours I was "officially" celebrating my birthday were almost better than the entirety of my actual birthday trip three years ago (although celebrating with my family was pretty magical too). But more than anything else, I was always aware of the fact that, for the week I was in Florida this July, I was there alone. I wouldn't be meeting up with my family later in the day for dinner, I wouldn't be seeing them for a Fastpass, and while I was alone, I never really felt alone. The cast members made sure of that, and they made me even more determined to return in just about a year to make magic for others just like me as a cast member myself. 

Have you ever celebrated a birthday at Walt Disney World? 

Have a magical day!

Day 1240: Pressed Pennies

I know I've said this before, but I actually have the best friends in the entire world.

While, recently, they've come with me on several Disney trips, I have to leave them at home often enough, and despite the fact that I might be across the country, they're usually still at my house, trying to find lighters or planning some secret mission that I don't know about. They also bought textbooks once, but that's beside the point.

This time, however, they finally completed something they've been working on for a long while, or at least I've been told. Turns out they actually started the above project over a year and a half ago, collecting pressed pennies from across the Walt Disney Resort to create a Mickey Mouse shape in the shadowbox.

The funny part is this though. If you've seen Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas, you might remember the short where Mickey and Minnie are trying to get one another the perfect Christmas gifts, but in order to afford the presents for one another, they end up selling the exact things that go with what they're buying, if that makes sense. So, I believe, Mickey gets a harmonica case from Minnie, but has sold his harmonica. You get the idea. The same kind of thing happened here, as while at The Contemporary in January 2015, I bought Frank and Shovell each a pressed penny book since I knew they'd been stopping at the various kiosks throughout the parks. I didn't however, at the time, know what they were planning and that many of the pressed pennies would end up back in my own hands.

How they come up with these things I'm not entirely sure, but I really am loving all of these Mickey Mouses that are appearing in my apartment. This one in particular is just really unique, with coins from all around World Showcase, as well as one that has Captain Hook on it as well. Pretty awesome if I do say so myself.

They also did this giant door decoration thing, which my cat has eagerly taken down, but it was awesome while it lasted! Each of the Mickeys on the door have a different Disney quote on them, from the movies to the parks. My personal favorites were some of the Parks Attractions ones though.

So thanks Frank and Shovell, for continuously making my home a little more tolerable when I get back. We all know how hard that Disney depression hits when we get home from a Disney trip. 

Have a magical day! 

Day 1199: Looking Up

Before coming to college, I'm sure I heard time and time again that junior year would be the hardest, and the comments from the upperclassmen that have surrounded me since day one only perpetuated that thought...but I'm pretty sure I didn't believe theme. Now here I am, about to say exactly what they told me: junior year is the most difficult year of college.

On a fundamental level, you usually have some of your toughest classes, and you have more of them during your junior year than you probably do any other year (I took an average of 18-19 credits/semester my first two years, and an average of 22 my junior year). Suddenly you're not only involved in student orgs, but you're helping run them, and thanks to all the college debt you've racked up, you now have two jobs instead of just one. Meanwhile, you're looking to the future, and instead of doing your homework for those 22 credits of class, you sit in your bed pondering if you actually picked the right major or if all your hard work is about to amount to nothing pretty quickly. It's a constant struggle, wondering where all this time to get things done is supposed to come from, even if you know very well that a lot of it was taken up by watching Netflix.

My junior year has been a bit different, and it's definitely been more stressful than anticipated. At the moment, it's mostly about taking things day by day: making sure I get up on time, finishing the dishes before I go to bed, double checking to make sure that the meeting I thought I had doesn't actually exist, and so on and so forth. It's almost as though for months I've simply been floating through the semester like a ghost, and it's an odd feeling that certainly doesn't help keep the blog updated.

But things are looking up. After our housing fiasco at the beginning of 2016, we're excited to have secured the apartment we want not only for the next school year, but for the summer as well, and in addition, after days of extra emails, requests, and confusion, my class schedule for next fall is also finalized, meaning that I have very little to worry about in the upcoming days. Alright, so that's a lie.

The end of the semester is nearing, and with it, I'm growing extra close to my next Disney vacation and having to move...again...from one apartment to another. With that Disney vacation comes new videos that have to be ready to filmed while in Florida, and each of those requires writing and research. Then there's the fact that Everyday Disney is still seriously far behind, and trust me, it's on my mind more than you might think. My attempt to find balance in my life is a slow process, and while it's going somewhat well, my blogging definitely gets the short straw, per usual.

But today I had Mickey Waffles, and that makes up for everything.

Have a magical day!

Day 1189: Walt and Waffles

I really need to invest some time into getting more pictures of Mickey Waffles so I don't have to use the same ones all the time. I mean really, I eat Mickey Waffles all the time! Why don't I have more pictures of them? 

Regardless of that situation, there was a sizable amount of Disney lately, although this blog post probably won't be entirely long. One of my friends is an RA, and he just also happens to be a huge Disney fan. So for his floor program, he decided to do Walt and Waffles as a theme, asking if he could borrow my waffle irons to help with the job. Of course I agreed, because the world needs more Mickey Waffles, and so we spent an hour or so in the basement of one of the residence halls making Mickey Waffles and watching a documentary on Walt Disney. 

I have to give him some credit too, because putting up with me during a documentary on Walt Disney isn't exactly the easiest thing to do. I tend to know a bunch of random stories outside of the film, which leads to me telling said stories during the film. Honestly, with so much random Disney knowledge in my head, it's hard to survive and not tell others about the spectacular Walt Disney! 

After our waffles, we ended up watching one of the live-action Scooby-Doo movies, but that's beside the point and probably not nearly as interesting in regards to this blog as the Walt and Waffles event was. There could have been more people, but for some last minute planning, I have to say that it went pretty well! 

Have a magical day!

Day 1163: Missing a Month

Unfortunately, due to traveling, concerts, and classes, I'm obviously not participating in the March Disneybound Challenge this year, a decision that definitely gives me a bit of extra time in the mornings since I don't need to think about what I'm wearing all the time, but also sort of makes me sad. I love doing the Disneybound Challenge, and as a part of the Disneybound group on Facebook, I absolutely adore seeing everyone's outfits!

So, to give myself a bit of cheer today, I thought it might be fun to take a look back at some of my favorite Disneybounds from last year's challenge!

One of my favorite parts about Disneybounding is the opportunity to do some less common outfits, like Russel or Carl from Up or Iago from Aladdin. But more than anything, it's an exercise for both my creativity and my closet as I go through the various options. Some things are definitely used more than others, like my yellow Converse that make multiple appearances, but in the end I usually end up using at least everything in my closet at least once! 

But for now I'll have to stick to a regular t-shirt and jeans combo to get me through my days. Maybe later this year we'll go for a month of Disneybound though! 

Have a magical day! 

Day 1053: A Different College Campus

I talk all the time about how Disney pops up in my own life, but really Everyday Disney is about how the magic is a part of all of our lives. November 19 is, of course, the birthday of our favorite mouse, and it seems that another college in my area is all about celebrating Mickey! I woke up to a bunch of texts from my friend Ashley about how her college was making Mickey's birthday a big thing, and I asked her if I could share some of it here on the blog!

As you can see, Mickey was definitely the theme of the day at Marian University, and I'm so glad that Ashley was able to share these pictures with me so I could share them with you! How awesome is it that her college did this!?!

If YOU have a special reference to Disney in your life that you think fits with the idea of Everyday Disney, let me know! I'm working on the idea of some guest posts in 2016, so I'd love to hear how Disney has infiltrated your everyday life too! 

Have a magical day! 

(Note: This blog post was written on December 26).

Day 1030: In the Air

On the old "A Day at Magic Kingdom" VHS that I have, there's this part where they showcase a couple of old hot air balloons, and honestly, I didn't know much about them aside from the fact that I really, really wanted to go on one. In our world today, you can certainly book a trip on the Characters in Flight Hot Air Balloon that calls Disney Springs home, but the balloons in the video that I grew up with are a bit more unique. 

I happened to see the following picture on Tumblr, which got me thinking about the balloons, and now I can't really stop thinking about them.

While I have to admit that the giant Mickey and Donald heads as balloons weirds me out just a little bit, they are still pretty awesome, and way cooler than any hot air balloon I've ever seen in real life. Of course, there's also these two: 

I have no idea how such balloons can be made, but I sure like them, especially the Spaceship Earth one. Obviously it had to have flown in my lifetime because the Epcot portion of the decor wasn't put on until after 2000, and I remember very well when that 2000 was put on, and when it was changed to the Epcot that stayed until a number of years ago. The castle is pretty awesome too though, don't you think? 

I'd certainly be interested in hearing more about these balloons, so if you have any information I'd be happy to hear about it, but otherwise let me know in the comments below what kind of Disney hot air balloon you would want to fly in. Would it be a Spaceship Earth balloon like me or something entirely different? 

Have a magical day! 

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

Day 1008: At the End of the Day

More often than not, I find myself racing against the clock to get everything done in the day. On a rare occasion, I'll have a blog post ready to go earlier in the day, but usually it's the last thing I do before heading to bed...and considering the fact that it's technically now after midnight (making it September 6), I'm just tired and want to sleep. But Everyday Disney comes first...once I figure out a blog post topic.

But today I got to thinking. Sleep means bedtime, and what comes with bedtime? Bedtime stories! And guess what, Disney's got those too. So tonight I thought that we might share a bedtime story together. Turns out Disney Parks has us covered, so here's a Duffy the Disney Bear Bedtime Story!

I don't think a bedtime story is supposed to make you cry, but this bedtime story definitely made me emotional...and now I want a Duffy of my own (I do have a Duffy Tsum Tsum...maybe I should bring that to school). The whole bit about Mickey feeling the love Minnie put into little Duffy and how it made him feel like he was at home got to me. There goes the Disney homesickness again. Is it really too much to ask to skip going to bed here in Wisconsin and instead fall asleep in a Disney one? 

Have a magical day (and night)!

Day 861: Faculty, Flapjacks, and Finals

Every semester our college puts on a campus wide event in our caf called Faculty, Flapjacks, and Finals. The idea is that between like 9 and 11 at night one night during Finals week all the students will come to the caf to have professors feed us flapjacks and other breakfast foods. Honestly, it's one of my favorite traditions on campus and sadly this semester I had to miss it. However, it did bring a new thought to my mind.

A few friends we have on campus have a pancake breakfast every Saturday I believe, one that we rarely go to because they do it so early in the morning and come on, we're college students. Don't expect us to get up at 6 in the morning. Or 8. Or ever. But then we realized that next year we could have pancake breakfast in our own room since we'll be moving into a Town House next year in comparison to the dorms we've lived in so far. I've actually be put in charge of bringing a Mickey Waffle Iron for us to use. There's just one problem.

This is what Mickey Waffles are supposed to look like:

This is what Mickey Waffles apparently look like now: 

WHERE ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO PUT THE SYRUP?

I mean, ultimately I'll probably end up buying one of these newer ones because I'm not about to shell out a ton of money to get a classic one like the one we own, and Mom's not about to let me take the one at our house back to college with me. So I'll have to settle for this new version, but why is it this way? Why does the waffle need to look like that? Why do we not fix it? And I ask again...

WHERE ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO PUT THE SYRUP!?!

Have a magical day!

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

Day 768: On A Personal Level

Time for another blog post inspired by another blog post. Initially, this was the blog post day that I had nothing for in my long list of make-ups for the month of February, and then I happened to read an article from Oh My Disney which just ended up really being relevant, so I thought I'd share.

The article is a list of "11 Things Disney Fans Never Get Tired of Doing," which you can read in it's entirety HERE. Of course I went and read it because I am a Disney fan and there certainly aren't a lot of Disney-related things I get tired of doing. So let's go through the list, and I'll provide some physical evidence along the way too!

Going to the Disney Parks

Nope...I don't go...at all...ever...

Speaking in Disney Quotes

Sometimes I talk about Colin O'Donoghue and I'm just like:

Re-watching Disney Movies

I'm only in the middle of a giant mission to watch every Disney animated movie in order...it's a long process...

Informing Friends and Family of Endless Disney Trivia

I won't take a picture of it...but I have a whole drawer in my desk at school that's devoted to books and Disney trivia stuff. And my roommates probably know more about Disney than they ever thought they would.

Secretly Thinking of Yourself as Your Favorite Disney Character

My fav character I pretend to be is actually Rapunzel...but this counts, right?

Comparing Everyone Else in Your Life to a Disney Character

Today I decided my roommates are Belle, Tiana and Thumper.

Collecting Disney Things

Really? I do that?

Coming Together

Now, I don't have a lot of pictures of this one, but I'm super excited to meet up with several of my Disney friends in August when I head to Disneyland!!! Then again, it'll take a lot to beat out my meeting Maxwell Glick in March 2014!

Making Others Smile

I definitely strive to make others smile in life. It's why I've sort of adopted a new "positive outlook" for 2015 on all social media. Being happy is one of the best things you can do for yourself, and I want to help others do that to.

Dreaming Big

I think there's no better way to identify a Disney fan than by our intense ability to dream big and then go after those dreams. I'm absolutely terrified of everything set out before me, but I wouldn't have it any other way. If it doesn't terrify you, the jump isn't big enough.

But most importantly...

Finding Disney References in Everyday Life 

I think this one is pretty darn obvious. Everyday Disney has become such a huge part of my life, and I really don't know what I would do without it at this point. Disney surrounds me 100% of the time. In fact, I just realized that there is literally never a second in the day where I'm not around something Disney, but that feels like a blog post for another day. Plus, I do kind of write a blog about Disney in our everyday lives...so this just seemed to call to me on a personal level.

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on February 19).