Disney Vacation 2008

For Christmas this year, my mom's parents took the entire family (aunt, uncles, cousins) to Disney World for a week, there were 14 people in all on this trip. I must say, it was an awesome gift. I had never made this trip before so I was quite excited, and a little skeptical.

A large part of me was dreading this trip as I do not handle extended periods of time with other people very well. I live alone and have for the better part of 5 years now. I am not a very social person so I am not used to being around a lot of people for more than a couple hours at a time. I am also the kind of person who desperately needs my alone time. Somehow, I did manage to do quite well. I flew down to Orlando/Sanford on the 26th (everyone else was driving) and left on the 30th. Unfortunately, I do not get paid vacations or holidays so I had to return early in order to work and make up as much of the time I had already missed. (Which by the way sucked! I even worked on Christmas Day to make up some of the hours.)


Anyway, here is the rundown of my part of the trip.

Friday: We didn't do much that night since most everyone was tired from traveling. My flight down was quite amazing. I flew Allegiant Air (which I highly recommend). I paid $200 round trip for my flight, which was an amazing price flying out of the Tri.

On the flight to Orlando, they hold a raffle. You can enter anywhere from $5-$20 and receive anywhere from 10 tickets to 70. After all the money is collected, numbers are drawn for various tourist-like prizes. At the end, one last ticket is drawn and the winner receives all the money collected. (there are approx. 185 seats on the plane so the cash could be quite substantial). Well, I am not the gambling kind so I was going to opt out of this event, especially since I only carried $50 with me to last the entire 3 days I was there. Well, after much consideration, I decided that $5 wasn't much money and I could do without one meal if needed, heck, I could win the money. I entered my $5 and got tickets ###60-69 (I can't remember the first 3 #'s). It was a long shot but it could happen.

Well, they started drawing numbers and giving away prizes. It came to the last prize before the $$ and my numbers still hadn't been drawn. The ticket was drawn and again no prize for me. Finally, it was time for the big drawing...the cash drawing. The stewardess allowed a little one sitting at the front of the plane to draw the winning ticket. They spend some time dragging out announcing the winner. They state that the prize is more than $100, more than $120, more than $140...it's $160. This entire time I am saying to myself ###6 something. Well, they read the numbers FINALLY and it was ###61. I won $160 on my flight! How awesome is that!?! I was so excited I didn't quit smiling for the remainder of the night. I came home with all the money I had taken and more. What a great feeling.



Saturday: We all ventured to Animal Kingdom. Brett, Emily, Courtney and I (is that correct?) managed to get away from the rest of the group and we had a blast. Around 5 we decided to venture over to the Magic Kingdom at which point we met up with the others. We decided to call it a night and went back to the condos where we played a very entertaining game of Phase 10.

Sunday: Kevin and Mom decided to join Brett, Emily, Courtney and myself at Magic Kingdom. We had a great time. Kevin found his alternative personality (a velocaraptur) and kept us entertained most of the day. I don't think I have laughed that much in a really long time. I truly LOVED hanging out with my amazing siblings and my wonderful cousin Courtney.

Monday: The six of us plus Courtney's brothers Tradd and Brandon, went to Hollywood Studios/MGM. We didn't have much time here as we had a lunch scheduled at Epcot later in the day. We did manage to ride Tower of Terror though. I was a nervous wreck. I will ride just about anything but I am not a fan of free falling. The ride was a blast though.

For lunch, we ventured to Epcot to meet up with everyone else. We had reservations at a German restaurant and the food was fantastic! I have never eaten German food before but I am a major fan now.

After lunch, we enjoyed a candlelight procession in an amphitheater in the American section. Noone really knew what to expect but it turned out great. There was a 50 piece orchestra, 386 choir members (80 Disney cast members, 6 professional singers, and 300 guest singers from various churches and schools) and 2 narrators, who happened to be Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance on this particular evening. Chrsitmas songs were sung and the Christmas story was told.

Afterward, we rushed back to Hollywood Studios to see Fantasmic. We waited in line for a ridiculous amount of time as the show was running behind schedule. People were packed in to a small area and most were becoming quite annoyed. I know we were. Finally we started moving and it seriously seemed like a herd of cattle. People were trying to push others along, one almost pushing Courtney down. It was absurd. The show was amazing though. A laser, water and fire spectacular. It was indeed Fantasmic...haha.

(Ursula is being shown in the water that is shooting up...quite cool)

Tuesday: Nothing exciting really happened. I flew home in the afternoon and did nothing in the morning. No raffle was played on the flight home unfortunately. Part of me was sad to leave. I had such a great time and miss so much hanging out with my siblings. But another part of me was desperately needing my space and schedule back. Plus, I missed my puppy. It was a wonderful vacation that I will not soon forget.

Thank you so much Papa and Grandma!

Photography

I decided to post some pictures I have taken over the years. Most of these are from my travels in 2004 to Nicaragua and Jamaica. The rest were taken around my apartment and Greeneville. Sadly, I haven't been as active in capturing images as I used to be, however, I am working hard to change this.

Jamaica

This shot took me a while to capture. Each time I was close to getting it, the girl would move her arm. Thankfully, she held the position just long enough for me to snap a shot. It was not posed at all, in fact, they had no idea I was photographing them at that time.

Nicaragua

There are so many photos from this trip that I love. I have included only a small handful. I may post more in the future. (Please note that none of these pictures were staged. All were taken as people were naturally, with no direction.)

This little girl was adorable. I love her eyes.

One of the girls I was with had just given out some gum, she is holding a pack in her hands. The kids went crazy over the gum. It really made me appreciate all that we have here in the states.

This little girl was amazing. Her looks were so sincere. It is as if you could see directly into her soul. Probably one of my favorite pictures of all time.

I love this photo as well. Pure joy!

Cool shot.

This girl was dancing for us at an orphange we visited. I will post more from this in the near future.

As you can see, I love photographing people. I especially love close-ups of faces. I have many of those that will have to come at a later date. You can truly see so much about a person through their eyes. I love capturing just a little of that.

My Name is Laura and I am a Sentimentalist

Ok, well, I have been experiencing problems when it comes to blogging about last weekend for some reason even though so many wonderful things happened but here goes. Warning: This is all over the place.

I had the great opportunity to travel to Charlotte to take part in a baby shower for a wonderful childhood friend, Jessica. It was a great day and the shower was wonderful.

Going back to the Charlotte area for this type of event brought back so many fond memories and proved to me that I truly am quite the sentimentalist. I had the great opportunity of seeing many people from my childhood: my old preacher's wife, a classmate and cousin of Jessica's, and most importantly Jessica's family (aunts, grandmothers, parents and brother). All was great until I completely lost it though when I saw Jessica's younger brother Benjamin for the first time in probably 10 years (things were still great afterward, just a little unnerving for me for the rest of the day).

So here's the story:

Someone entered the house, so I turned around to see who came in. I didn't recognize the young man so I turned back around to watch the gift opening. A few moments later, I heard Patti (Jessica's Mom) say something about Benjamin coming in.

I quickly turned around again and asked the person next to me if the young man that just entered was Benjamin. When they responded with 'Yes', tears immediately filled my eyes (as they still do when I am typing this). I couldn't believe that the little boy I knew was no longer little. I quickly left the room for fear of making an even bigger spectacle of my emotional self.

By the time I made it the few short steps to the nursery I was nearly weeping. Patti and Rachel followed me in to make sure I was okay. I was but I couldn't even grasp why I was such a basket-case.

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Actually, I am still not exactly sure why I am so torn up about Benjamin growing up as my younger brother Kevin is less than one month younger than him and I am not nearly as upset about him growing up.

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Anyway, Patti called Benjamin into the room to meet this crazy 25 year old girl in tears because he is a teenager. I can still see his face: completely confused and uncomfortable with the whole situation. I must admit, I was too. He did vaguely remember me, well, my name more than anything. Once I gathered my composure, things were better. Although, I did apologize to Benjamin numerous times, ensuring him that I am usually not like this. (Really I am not). I truly felt so bad that he had to endure that.

The drive home later that evening was not much easier as I cried on and off the whole way (190 miles). I was in a great state of reflection, which is not a good place for an already emotional person with a predilection for sentimentalism. I think the problem is that so much time has passed since I have seen anyone other than Jessica and so much has happened.

Jessica and I have been friends since we were three years old (we are 25 now). We were, for the most part, inseparable as children, constantly coming up with schemes to go to one another's house, talking on the phone if we couldn't do that. There are so many wonderful memories I could share but I will not at this time. Well except this one as it's my favorite:

I am not sure what age we began developing this idea but we were convinced that we were sisters, twins actually. We believed that we were separated at birth and Dolly Parton was of course our birth mother. I mean who else would it possibly be??? (oh the imaginations of children!)

Since we were so close, her family was my family. In fact, I was closer to her grandparents growing up than I was to my own as they lived nearby and mine did not. Sadly, everything changed after our seventh grade year. While at youth camp in the summer of 1996, I recieved a phone call from my parents stating that my dad had accepted a job in Tennessee. Initially, I was quite excited about the news and if I remember correctly I did not handle myself well. Shortly after camp (a matter of weeks I believe), my dad and I moved so that I could begin the school year in Tennessee. This move greatly changed my life and my greatest friendship.

Looking back on it, I know that God had His hand on my life and on my family. We have had our fair share of problems but they have only made us stronger.

My family was torn apart as a result of adultry and selfishness. However, the trial only served to strengthen the relationships between my mother, my siblings and myself. The five of us are now a closer family than we ever were before and for that I am truly thankful.

We have lost loved ones but these losses would have meant much less had we not had the opportunity to develop the relationships in the first place. The move to Tennessee gave me the opportunity to develop a close relationship with my granny, my hero. During the nine years before her death, I developed a deep love and admiration for Granny and I am forever changed as a result.

Friendships have forever changed. Jessica and I are not as close as we were. Thankfully, we have managed to remain friends and despite all the time that has past, and the miles that separate us, when we are together, it is as if no time has passed at all. That my friends is the sign of true friendship. And somehow, I have been blessed with not only one great friend for a lifetime but two. I would have never met Veronica had I not moved to Tennessee. She too has been such a blessing in my life and I can't imagine it without her.

Though I wish some things would have never changed, that friendships would be as strong today as they were 13 years ago, I am thankful that the friendships still exist and that they continue to bless my life. But most of all, I am thankful for where I have been, where I am and where I am going.

There you have it. Many thoughts on my life, all scattered about in a bit of reflection. And all quite sentimental.

The Adventure

Well, this weekend I decided to take a little journey down the road with my Sally. What an adventure we had! It started out a bit shaky. I printed a map for our little expedition and I had determined that we could make a nice loop and enjoy some really stunning views of the fall leaves and the exquisite Blue Ridge Mtns. Well, needless to say, we did get our fair share of beauty...but I was a bit frightened a few times. So, what happened?

The first road of our trek started out well. It was a dirt road winding up a hillside with the occassional house coming into view. But this ended after about 1 mile. Soon, it was just me driving my little Honda Fit along a dirt road surrounded by the Cherokee National Forest. I was in the MIDDLE of the forest. Mind you, I love being in the woods...but I was alone (with my puppy), in unfamiliar territory, and in a car that is not designed for off road adventures. My first mistake was that I did not set my odometer to track my mileage when I started down this mountain road. You see, there was a sign stating that Paint Rock was a mere 5 miles down the road. Had I tracked my mileage from the start, I would have known that I was getting close. But the further I got into the woods, the more wary I became...so, I found a space large enough for my little car to turn around in and back we went. At this point, the light in my head decided to go off and I reset the odometer. When we made it back to the bottom of the mountain, I realized we had gone 3.5 miles. How disappointing, if I would have just stuck it out a bit longer, we could have made it to the next road in our loop. Regardless, I did manage to see many gorgeous sites in the middle of the forest:

By the time we were out of the woods, it was only 10am and far too early to head back home. Sally was doing great and I did not want to pass up the opportunity to get some great photos. (I was quite impressed with Sally to be quite honest. She sat so nicely in the passenger seat, and occassionally on my lap for a little love.)

So, back to the story, I decided that we would try to find the other end of our loop, hoping that it was a safer route than the previous.

Oh happy day! The other section was indeed much safer than the previous, and amazingly just as beautiful. This time we were in the valley rather than atop the mountain.

As we traveled along the paved road lined by trees on one side and Paint Creek flowing majestically on the other, I felt as though I was in paradise. We drove for a good hour and a half along this road. We stopped to enjoy a small waterfall flowing into a natural pool which was bound by a massive rocky mountainside. Exquisite!

We continued, entering NC and the Pisgah National Forest, encountering yet another dirt road. However, this time, it was bordered by the mountains on the northeast and the French Broad River to the southwest. The river was stunning. I longed to be in a kayak, floating along with the current, being one with the water. (But, that will have to come at a later date.) Saturday, Sally and I just enjoyed the landscape that was so perfectly designed.

We ended our expedition at Murray Branch Recreation Area where Sally was able to wade into the river a bit when I enjoyed a rest on some rocks in the river. It was a fantastic day and I am looking forward to returning again this weekend for a longer visit.