Monday, October 30, 2017

My Monica Closet

Remember in Friends when Monica had a closet that was stuffed with items that didn't belong in any category? Well that's how I was feeling about our closet in the second bedroom. 


I didn't take a true "before" picture because I had pulled a ton of stuff out onto the floor first.




Okay, so now you get an idea of what it was packed with. The piles of books on the floor are a collection of books, yearbooks and scrapbooks. I don't know why I hesitated for so long on putting them in our basement storage unit but I knew it was time to buy some new storage bins and move them downstairs.


I know these are all items I want to keep- I certainly don't want to get rid of my yearbooks or scrapbooks. (Especially not my scrapbooks- I worked so hard on them) but they are not something we access often so why are they hanging out in our easily accessible closet?


I also had a ton of scrapbooking supplies I'm not looking to get rid of but I also am not using. Someday when I have space for an office I will make a nice storage area for these supplies- but until then into storage they go.

Also I think it's time to store away the overalls we used for Halloween costumes last year since we haven't touched them since then. Since they were a little pricey I will keep them stored with our other Halloween costume items in case we can use them for another costume in the future!


I also stuffed any plaques we had been storing and some frames with certificates as well. We don't ever look at these and they were just sitting inside one of the baskets in our living room. That's valuable storage space for things we actually use often so I'm glad to gain it back. 




With Tim helping I managed to get all of these bins down into our storage area where they will be safe and sound until we decide to move.


Now I am able to store the gifts I have picked up for future presents, giftware, clothes and bags.


You'll also see a few random items including a speaker and bath mat but it looks much better then before! I'm sure there are a ton of items to declutter in here but for now I'm just trying to keep things organized until we have the chance to go through everything.



Also, I used my label maker to make some nice labels for all my bins. It's always good to know at a glance what you have stored inside.

So that's my Monica closet and how I've rearranged storage in this apartment of ours. Thanks for stopping by!

Do you have a Monica closet?

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Disney Vacation Part Eleven: Epcot and Fantasmic

Oh we are on our last day in Disney. It has taken me an entire month to get through these recaps but I decided to treat you guys to a Saturday edition to get everything wrapped up. 

On the last day we decided to head to Epcot since we had yet to make it through all the countries so we knew we wanted to walk around a bit more.

The first thing I did though?


Get some loaded mac and cheese of course! It was so good!


We started our country trek in Canada where Tim got some cheddar soup. I tasted it and thought it was okay, Tim liked it enough to eat it all but stated it wasn't what he expected.

We decided to watch the Canada film which made me want to visit Canada so much. I've never been to Canada (Tim has) but I think we need to add it to our bucket list.



The Disney version of Canada is certainly beautiful!

Next up was the UK. We walked through the shops and saw Mary Poppins from a distance but didn't spend a ton of time there. I've been to London in the past but would love to go back someday with Tim!


In France we wandered through the stores as well and looked at the food menus. We had decided on eating in Mexico but wanted to see if anything in France appealed to us. We ended up moving on fairly quickly since we were there earlier in the week meeting Belle. (France is another place I would like to go back with Tim some day!)


In Morocco we could've stood in line to meet Aladdin and Jasmine but we decided we were a little charactered out at this point and wanted to move on.



Morocco is a really pretty section though and there are a lot of cool things in the stores.

Japan was up next!



I purchased Pocky while there which is basically chocolate covered sticks. They are delicious and I knew I had to get them when I saw them.

We headed over to the American Adventure where Tim got a beer. We didn't stay long here since there wasn't much to see in this section.




We passed through Italy, Germany, China, and Norway all of which we had wandered through previously and eventually found our way to Mexico where we planned on eating lunch.


Our shirts were purchased in Disney Springs during this trip and are so funny. My mine is Leia and says "I love you" and Tim's is Han Solo and says "I know" 


We saw another couple wearing them earlier in the week and Tim mentioned getting them and I was onboard immediately!





After taking some pictures we headed inside to eat some lunch.


The San Angel Inn is a place I have never eaten before but Tim noticed it when we were in Mexico earlier in the week and suggested it.



It was a really cute restaurant and the food was decent.



It definitely wasn't my favorite meal we ate in Disney but I enjoyed the company :)


I wanted to bring Stitch home because my mom hates him. I have no idea why my mom dislikes him so much but I think it's hilarious.

We decided to take our afternoon break and headed back to the hotel for a bit. I took a few pictures of the hotel to share with you guys.

This is the cafeteria...


The pool...


Our hotel decor...



Our sad mugs...


For our last night in Disney we headed back to Hollywood Studios to see Fantasmic. I had selected fast passes earlier in the week but it didn't appear to matter, the place was packed!

Anyways, before we headed to Fantasmic we decided to have dinner at Backlot Express which is cafeteria style. We both had chicken nuggets and brought our mugs from the hotel so we could fill up for free.


Then Tim decided he had to have a funnel cake so we stopped for one of those.



Fantasmic is definitely a cute show, it has always been my favorite...until this trip. Now Happily Ever After is my favorite and this has fallen to second place. However it's still excellent and a must see if you're there!







And with that we conclude our Disney Vacation.

11 Blog Posts
4 Parks
7 Days In The Parks
4 Mickey Encounters
A million Naps

It was the best vacation I've ever taken and I got to spend an entire uninterrupted week with my love!

I hope we "see you real soon" Mickey!

Friday, October 27, 2017

Disney Vacation Part Ten: Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom Fireworks

Throughout this trip since we were there for so many days we ended up going back and repeating parks many times. We really did get to do every single thing we wanted to do.

On this day we headed back to Animal Kingdom since we wanted to ride Avatar Flight of Passage again. We ended up getting a fast pass for it around noon time so we ran to do a couple of other rides first.

Kali River Rapids was down the first day we were at Animal Kingdom and Tim really wanted to ride it so we headed to the standby line which was non-existent. After getting wet (I wore my poncho which I highly recommend doing) we headed over to Everest where we met a fifteen minute wait for standby. At this point any line felt like a long line to us but we were super spoiled after a few days with no waits at all. We ended up riding Everest and then heading over to Pandora.


It was just as beautiful as it was earlier in the week!


The amount of work and detail that went into this place is absolutely incredible. I can't say enough good things about Disney for creating such a beautiful park.


We rode Flight of Passage again wishing we could just ride it over and over. Then Tim decided to get a green beer to give it a try. He said it was good but wasn't really his type of beer.

We walked towards the front of the park because our plan for lunch was the Rainforest Cafe.


Despite not having a reservation we walked right in and found ourselves surrounded by a jungle.



Tim ordered a plate of nachos for lunch while I chose a pesto pasta. Both were more then we could eat!



We decided before heading out of the park we would go on the safari again because it's never the same twice!






We still didn't see any lions but had a great time again!

Then it was time to go back to the hotel to rest.


Have you ever been to the Disney lost and found?



We have! Tim had to file a report about a hat he lost during our dinner at Via Napoli.

We decided since we were on the monorail system to have dinner at the Polynesian but since both restaurants were both booked up and the food served at the bar wasn't really our taste we ate in the food court.


Pizza flatbread for the win!

Then it was time for the most magical night show in Disney. Happily Ever After at the Magic Kingdom.






The projections on the castle were incredible, the fireworks were amazing, the music made me cry. Disney has outdone itself with this show and I thought it was the best I've ever seen. 

I had watched the first night of the show when it was featured on Facebook but there was honestly no comparison to seeing it in person. I can't recommend it highly enough, you have to go to Disney and see this show!!!

After the fireworks we saw no reason to rush out since the buses would be crowded to we rode Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin again.


Check out my score! Now ready for Tim's score?


I finally defeated him!

We managed to get on Space Mountain before closing and then it was time to walk down Main Street U.S.A one last time.





Such an amazing day! Alright guys...only one more recap to go!