To Bee or Not To Bee

The last and final Disney race of the year...the Tower of Terror 13k! *Eeek*

This race was going to be a memorable run!

This race was going to be FUN!!!! :o)

*yippie* I was so glad I decided to run in costume because IT'S DISNEY!!!

Check out some of these photos from Studios Central.

I was NOT the only one with the spirit of fun!!

What was even more exciting was that I got props for wearing the costume. Many-a-times I would run with my name on my bib and no one dare tries and attempts to yell out my name and cheer for me. However, with the bee outfit (which actually lights up in the dark...incredibly cool), I had people rooting for me from every direction. LOVED IT!!! :o)

Thank you whomever you were out there cheering for me!

Y'all definitely made it a memorable run for me!! :o)

I was able to run the entire distance (okay, minus that last and final ginormous hill right before the 8 mile mark, but that was it. I never understood why people put hills at the end of a long run. Was the run not torturous enough?!?!?). Still, I was extremely proud of my accomplishment! I did carry a camera on the run, but I wanted to actually RUN so I did not take many pictures. However, here are the pics I did take.

Signing the Hotel Register

Meeting Up with Nick and Lee Ann

(y'all are a riot, thanks for letting me tag-a-long) :o)

Firework Start

(sorry, best I could do) :o\

Starting Line

Buck Hornsby

(part of a mystery clue thingymabobber)

Hitting Up Rides After the Race

Showing Off My Bling! :o)

This was the last running of the Tower of Terror 13K. I'm glad I got to be a part of this historical run, but am also sad to see it go away. I think most Disney runners would agree that this was one race Disney definitely should not take away.

Have no fear...

I'm sure Disney is conjuring up something better somewhere! :o)

Disney's Martial Arts Festival

I have been spending a GREAT deal of time on Disney property. Whether it's for a race, Food and Wine festival, or simply to enjoy being a kid at heart, I cannot get enough Disney!! *giggles*
However, I wanted to take a break from the theme parks (and pirates and princesses) and spend time in the one place that I never really get to see: The Wide World of Sports. It is a 220 acre sports complex located in the Walt Disney World Resort. The athletic complex hosts numerous amateur and professional sporting events throughout the year.

It was time to pay a visit to what I consider two (of the many) necessities of life: Disney and Sports! The only times I've been to the Wide World of Sports has been to pick up race packets. This weekend they had their 10th annual Martial Arts Festival.

Other than watching The Karate Kid on tv, I can't say I know anything about martial arts! Oh man, there was A LOT to know. From Kung Fu, Karate, and Kendo, to Ju Jitsu, Judo, and tons more, I had no idea how big the martial arts world was!

THIS WAS BEYOND AMAZING! I didn't know whether to cry or cheer. I know all the competitors knew what they were doing, but sometimes I just wanted to jump in there and save them from the pain. :o)

I was truly touched by this competitive art! You could see a lot of focus, a lot of discipline, and A LOT of passion! It was truly inspirational.

Morning Tournaments:


Evening Showcase:

Mulan travels to different countries to learn different forms of martial arts in order to become a warrior. Disney + Sports = A happy healthy lifestyle!!! :o)

For a truly full Disney Sporting Weekend:

• Don on your favorite jersey and baseball cap (proclaiming your sports team allegiance)
• Stay at the WDW All-Star Sports Resort
• Attend an event at Wide World of Sports
• Catch Monday Night Football at ESPN Club at Disney's Boardwalk Area
• Shop for fun souvenirs at Team Mickey Athletic Club in Downtown Disney
  

Race for the Taste

Savitre has gone 101!!! :o(

(just found out that 101 is Disney's code for attraction down)

This was one of the two reasons why I'm still here in Orlando. I couldn't wait to do another Disney race. I remember my first race during the Goofy Challenge. The expo was huge, the weather was perfect, Savitre had an "A" day/weekend. :o)

This race, however, was much MUCH different. The expo was a huge let down. I thought I had gone on the wrong day to pick up my packet. No one was around and there was only one rack put up to sell the race day tee shirt. SELL?!??! Usually we got a race tee shirt with our packets....what was going on here? Instead, we received a pint glass with our packets.

It's all good. I still ended up buying the tee shirt. *guilty grin*

On race day, I got up, got dressed, and proudly pinned on my bib number (#101). I headed out the door to Wide World of Sports. Parking was plentiful. I guess everyone wanted to park at Epcot so that after the race they didn't have to shuttle back to their cars.

Music was blaring, the humidity died down tons from the previous night, and everyone seemed chipper. Aaahh...it felt so good to be lining up with a bunch of Disney racers again!

The Star Spangle Banner played, fireworks lit the sky, and we were off. Well, everyone but Savitre was off and running. I, however, encountered many technical difficulties at the start of the race.

Just as I was crossing the starting line, my iPod started to flicker. Before I knew it, it went to the black screen of death! NOOOOooooooo!!! I simply CANNOT run without my iPod!! Curse the storm from Expedition Everest! Ever since that race, my iPod has not been functioning normally. Lucky for me, I knew how to reboot it. I continued to walk the first mile as it slowly rebooted. YAY!!! It was finally working again.

Did problems end there? No no no...of course not! I decided to carry a camera during the race. However, this was a new pocket camera that I had purchased. The only problem was that I didn't know how to use it. Ooopsie! So, as I tried to take pics of anything along the way, all my photos were coming out blurry. Gosh darn it, I thought!! I continued to mess with the settings until I got it to where I thought the pics were decent. Ahhh...2 miles later, I finally decided to start running!!

I was finally back in business after all my technological issues. However, now I was starting to suffer from severe respiratory issues. It wasn't the humidity. I'm not quite sure what it was. I felt like I couldn't take full breaths in. WHAT THE HECK?!?! Today was definitely NOT an "A" day. If there were a Double "Z" day (make that triple "z"), today was that day! I give up *throws hands up in the air* :o(

Mile 3 (half way through the race), I was ready to call it quits. I just wanted to hitch a ride back to my car, crawl into bed, and wake up and believe that the REAL race had not started yet and that this was just one bad nightmare! NOPE, this was as real as it got!!! *sigh*

I didn't quit though. I decided to enjoy my moments through Disney and just take in the scenery, enjoy being amongst other runners, and cherish the reason I was still in Orlando. All I could think about was "as long as you finish Savitre, you'll get a medal...not ONE but TWO....so keep moving little one". :o)

Before I knew it, the finish line appeared! PHEW!!! That was pure torture!!! Of course, Disney does not fail to put on a fun post race party! We had three snack tickets to sample some of the food from Epcot's Food and Wine Festival. Of course I did not skip out on this opportunity.

Characters were out and about for photo ops...and no matter how bad it gets, Goofy ALWAYS makes me smile!!!

One down, one to go....my next (and last for this year) Disney race is the Tower of Terror 13K on October 24th. Hopefully that race won't be as scary as this one and NO MORE Savitre going 101!!! Hahaha :o)

Friendship Friday

SETTING THE STAGE FOR OUR DESSERT DECATHALON:

Friday afternoon, as I was getting ready to meet up with Elena to check out Icings Cupcakes' grand opening, I received a text from John seeing if I wanted to grab lunch. Since I already had plans, I invited him along for the ride.

Well, with me, one never truly knows what they are getting themselves into. Ain't that right, John and Elena? *wink wink* It is ALWAYS an adventure!!

BEGIN JOURNEY:

With much enthusiam, John carefully navigated while enjoying what he called a "mini road-trip". *gives John the look of confusion* Were we not in the same state?..let alone city?? Too cute! :o)

I guess one has to understand that Orlando is widely spread out across the state of Florida. So if you live on the east side, you may never visit the west side (unless you hitch a ride with me) :o)

As we circled around Winter Garden, trying to find the cupcake shop and (ahem) Elena , we decided to stop at a Starbucks. You know it's going to be a good day when you start out with an Iced Grande Eight Pump Vanilla Latte. :o) When we were all united, we made our first pit stop at Peterbrooke Chocolatier. While in there, we were entertained by a lady who was excited about her job AND chocolate. I cannot wait until we start the chocolate unit in school.

CONTINUE ON JOURNEY:

We decided that since no one knew where they were going, it was best to take one car. As we followed the directions Google Maps gave us...we ran in to a road block. It dead ended due to construction about 100 yds from the cupcake shop. Grrr....we were so close...we could smell the chocolate (okay, not really, but we were SO close). I had to ask Officer Friendly for directions to get around. After careful manuvering, we made it to our destination (ALAS!!). YAY!!! We saw Renee!!! Hip Hip HOORAY!!! It was crowded but we were offered complimentary cupcakes. However, the one thing that I really wanted to check out, the MAIN reason why I went there, was to check out their shotglass desserts (aka verrines). So which one did we get? ONE OF EACH, PLEASE!!! Yup, ONE OF EACH!!!











CONTINUING ON OUR JOURNEY:


After we devoured the 6 verrines and 3 mini cupcakes, I wanted to show them the bakery that I had once visited in Winter Garden. Unfortunately, there was a sign on the door that said "Gone Fishing..will return July 23rd." *frown* The sign was too hilarious...wish I had a pic. Oh well!




Did that rain on our parade???? Of course not. It was now time to execute Plan Bluezoo.






BACK ON THE ROAD AGAIN:

Chef Sally said that if we ever wanted to know what "fine dining" dessert looked like, we should check out Bluezoo at Swan and Dolphin. So, we did just that!!! (yes, another great opportunity to set foot on Disney property!) Because our practical is on Tuesday, we thought this would be an excellent opportunity to get some inspiration. Our inspiration (3 different desserts) was consumed faster than you can say "inspiration". The dessert was definitely FANTABULOUS!!! :o)

TIME TO WALK IT OFF:

Since none of us has ever been to the Swan and Dolphin, we thought it'd be fun to walk off the dessert in order to prevent sugar crystalization in our tummies. Because it was still daylight, many of the shops on The Boardwalk were closed. However, this place definitely seems like it would be a fun place to hang out at...better yet?...MAYBE A NEW RUNNING ROUTE??? Hmmmm...Savitre, put this on the list of places to come back to.







While walking around, we noticed that you could take the water taxi around the resort area...soooo....I decided to kidnap the crew and go for a joy ride!!! Way too much fun!!








Because I didn't want to leave Disney property, our next adventure took us to the Wedding Pavillion by the Grand Floridian. I was hoping to show Elena some of the wedding cakes that they display in their windows...however, there was only one. :o( I love admiring Elena's cakes. Check out her latest creation!! Ooh La la! :o)



TRYING TO FIND SAVORY FOOD:


As the sun was setting, the darkness was rising...and so was our appetite. We were all craving something NON-SUGARY! !! What did we have in mind??? Cici's Pizza Buffet!!! Buuuuut....so did everyone else in Orlando! :o( The line was out the door (literally). It was kRaZy!! So, we drove back to Winter Garden (where we originally ditched Elena's car) and settled for Urban Flats. It was pizza on a flat bread with a flare! Seriously, check out their menu!! This place was definitely yummers!!!

M-I-C (see ya real soon) - K-E-Y (why? because we definitely have to do this again):

I definitely needed this outing trip...but after a long day of fun filled adventures, it was time to say goodbye. Thanks y'all for joining me and giving me a day of laughter and much happiness!

Farmers and Fire Dancers

ALAS! I get to finally chill out and catch up on blogging. Hmmm..I think this just means that I need to find more ME time! *looks at watch*

Well, I've been wanting to tell you about my weekend my Sweet Darling Lollipoo was here and I haven't had the chance....so NOW's my chance. YIPPIE!

*begins to ponder* It's been awhile but if my memory serves me right, it began on a clear blue day.... we went to a farmers' market up in Winter Park with Renee (my fellow classmate) and her boyfriend.
This was also my first time riding in a convertible!

Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Anyways, shall we take a look at some of the goodies that were at the farmer's market?

Did Savitre leave empty handed?

SHE SURE DIDN'T!!! :o)

Later that evening, we made it out to the Polynesian for some Hawaiian grub'n entertainment.

It was a three course meal:

Beginning with mixed greens with mango-poppy seed dressing, pineapple-coconut bread, and sweet golden pineapple.

For the main course we were offered a bottomless tray of bbq pork ribs, roasted chicken, polynesian rice (my favorite), and seasonal vegetables. There was SOOOOO much food, we never made it to ordering a second helping. *sigh*And for dessert following a production of dimming lights and a parade of servers carrying out a plastic smoking volcano, we had Kilauea Volcano Delight!

I think I would've enjoyed it more had I not been suffering from gluttony after the main course. *chuckles*What did we wash it all down with?
A Tropical Pina Colada and Pele's Fire Punch (with souvenir hand-carved Monkey Coconut) :o)
This romantic evening ended with a stroll along Disney's Polynesian Resort's sandy beach while watching the "Wishes" fireworks.

Aahhh....makes me happy *big smile* revisiting that weekend. I just can't wait for the return of my Hawaiian Prince. Hunny, I LAVA YOU!!! :o)