Holiday Plan 2014: Week 1

It is the kick off week to my holiday planning and super checklist. What I tried to do is break down each task into manageable pieces in order to prepare for Halloween (we don't really celebrate, but I do decorate and hand out candy!), Thanksgiving (we host) and Christmas.

I am sharing with you my personal to-do list (or checklist). I created this around our values, schedules and our preferences for each of the holidays. If you want to follow along, please adapt for your families needs. And let me know what you add/subtract from the list - I am always looking for ways to do things more efficiently!

Week of August 31st:
- create and put together my Christmas notebook; nothing to really put in it yet, but I usually designate an old binder for this task
- Draft a gift list with budget; I create a list of everyone who we give gifts to and jot down ideas on what we should give. I also create a budget specifically related to gift giving and try to stick to that as much as possible
- Review my Christmas card list; I have a pre-made Christmas Card address book and organizer (I know - old fashioned) that I review and see if I need to reach out to people who moved, add new friends, etc.
- Start drafting menus for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas
- Create a gifts to make list; I love crafting, so I usually will try to make 2-3 Christmas gifts each year
- After creating a potential menu, jot down long-term grocery shopping items. Most of my menu items are not unique and can be easily found. Some exceptions are ingredients or decorations for my Christmas cookies. It is always good to keep these items in the back of your head when the holiday items start getting put out
- Create a Christmas Cookie list & ingredients; I also throw in any desserts for Halloween and Thanksgiving too
- Order/replace any gift wrap, tape, bags, etc; I make sure I have everything I need on hand before I start wrapping (my least favorite Christmas task)
- Deep clean one area of our house; I think this week I will start with our front porch and entry. I love putting out mums, pumpkins, etc on our steps, so I think this makes the most sense to do first

And there you have it! Week 1 isn't so bad, right? Let me know if you are following along!

Getting ready for the Holidays!

Last year I started planning early for the Fall & Winter holidays and it seemed to work really well. I felt that the holidays the year before were so crazy and I was always running around last minute. So last year I made this "grand" plan to get everything done ahead of time and...it was fairly successful!

This year, I just finished my weekend planning, cleaning and to-do lists to see if we can get all of our holiday items done before we leave for Disney. This way, we can just rest and relax when we go and not have to come home to a long list of to-do's before Christmas.

Fingers crossed it goes as well as planned. I thought what I would do this year is share with you our weekly goal plan and to-do list. Maybe help motivate and inspire?? We shall see!

This year I will be starting the week of August 31st!! More to come!

Happy 3rd Anniversary to the Simm's!

Our dear friends Dennis and Anna are celebrating their 3rd anniversary today! They have had an incredible three years - a house, two beautiful children and many fabulous memories in between. We are very blessed to be a small part of their life together and hope to continue our friendship for years to come!

Our Walt Disney World December Trip Plan

Again - Disney is on my mind today. Thanks to Ashley and her amazing Disney themed bridal shower, I have been just craving Disney this week. So I thought I would share with you what Christopher and I plan to do for our December trip. We are only going for 6 days (I know what you are thinking...ONLY going for 6 days lol) so we want to see and do a lot without feeling rushed.

Day 1
We have an early flight to MCO, so we should be arriving to the resort around 10 am. We are staying at our home resort - Grand Floridian Villas. I am so excited to check out this resort! After freshening up, we are taking the monorail over the Magic Kingdom! So excited to see this park all decorated (swoon). Maybe lunch at Cosmic Rays? Dinner at Pecos Bill? I am looking forward to trying some new places for quick service. I think we always end up at our "regulars." Hopefully we will catch the parades and of course...Wishes.

Day 2
We scheduled a breakfast at the Grand Floridian Cafe and then we are heading back to the Magic Kingdom. Since this will be our second day at the kingdom, we will probably take an after break and head back to the resort or maybe even Downtown Disney for shopping. We still have yet to buy our Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party tickets, but hopefully we will soon and we are hoping to get this night. I can't wait to see the Christmas parade and fireworks show!

Day 3
Our Epcot Day! In an earlier blog post, I discussed our plan to do a "Drink Around the World" Challenge. This would be the day! Wish us luck! also have lunch at the Rose & Crown with the Candlelight Processional package. Christopher and I were thinking about doing the Epcot After Hours hard ticket event for our May vacation but decided against it. So I thought this would be fun for Christopher to try some whiskeys. Then of course, we will be sitting for the Candlelight Processional (narrator TBD) and Illuminations.

Day 4
Our Hollywood Studios Day! But before we head to the studios, we are having breakfast at Kona Cafe. I am so excited to get my fill of Tonga Toast! Yummy! Since we usually do not take a full day at Hollywood Studios, we are planning to head to Downtown Disney to wrap up any souvenir shopping so we can have the packages sent to our resort.

Day 5
We are heading back to Epcot (our favorite park!) for a fun day enjoying all of the attractions and pavilions. But we are not staying out too late - we are going to head back the Grand to have dinner at Citricos and watch the Christmas fireworks show at Magic Kingdom.

Day 6
Last day :( But we are lucky to have enough time to head back over to Magic Kingdom and enjoy some last minute rides, attractions and Christmas fun. We are lucky to have a later flight out of Orlando so we can technically have one last semi full day at the park.

Oh all this Disney talk is making me so excited! Lets see...if we left now, we could be on a 4 pm flight and make it time for fireworks...if only!

Epcot's Drink Around the World Challenge

Christopher and I are almost 100 days away from our December Disney trip. We are so excited to visit Disney World around the holiday time to see it all decorated. Good thing our home will already be decorated for Christmas - I might get carried away after seeing what Disney does!

We were also looking for something fun to do that would be different. We decided we would try a Drink Around the World challenge ("DAWC") at Epcot on one of the days of our trip. We are currently finalizing which days we are doing what in case we need to adjust any of our dining reservations, tickets, etc.

We have read many stories of how people partake in this type of challenge. Here are the guidelines we discussed doing it in (remember - we have never tried this). We are going to start early and pace ourselves making sure we are drinking lots of water and eating through out the day. Each of us is to only have 1 beverage per pavillion. Therefore the HUGE mugs of beer or large martinis are OUT. We are not putting in any time stipulations, as if we need to slow down or speed up (probably not speed up but you never know!) we would like to have that flexibility. And if either of us is feeling ill the challenge stops for both of us right then and there. If one gets sick - that just isn't fun and this is suppose to be a fun challenge. No riding rides or attractions during the challenge. And of course - no driving. But that one is easy as we LOVE Disney transportation and do not plan to rent a car anyways.

So - how are we going to attempt this challenge??? Here is our timeline and game plan:
12:00 PM - Start the Drink Around the World Challenge in Canada
12:40 PM - Lunch reservations at Rose & Crown; have a drink during lunch (side note: we reserved the Candlelight Processional lunch; we thought it would be a nice break)
2:00 PM - Beverage in France
2:45 PM - Beverage in Morocco
3:30 PM - Beverage in Japan
4:15 PM - Beverage in American Adventure & head to theater for Candlelight Processional
6:00 PM - Beverage in Italy; maybe dinner at Tutto Gusto Wine Cellar??
6:45 PM - Beverage in Germany
7:15 PM - Beverage in Refreshment Outpost (not sure they offer it??)
8:00 PM - Beverage in China
8:45 PM - Beverage in Norway
9:30 PM - Beverage in Mexico (maybe shortly before 9:30 as Illuminations starts at 9:30)

Challenge complete! So 10 hours and 12 drinks - I think we can do that! We will just need to play it safe. Although I mentioned above that we are not putting time stipulations, when mapping this out we added a "time" to see if this challenge is doable.

So the next big question...what am I planning to drink??? Well to be honest - I am going to have whatever I am in the mood for at that moment, but there are some fun drinks that I hope to try:

United Kingdom - I would love to try a hard cider
France - I am a sucker for the Grey Goose Grand Mariner martini - yummy!
Morocco - give mama some sangria
Germany - Riesling
Mexico - Margarita on the rocks - none of that slushy stuff!

Looking forward to trying this out! And you want to know what else we are planning to do while sipping luscious beverages around the world? Running through fun Disney facts using our Parks Cards! While we drink up, we are also going to learn more of the little known facts about the pavilions in Epcot. So fun! December can not come soon enough!

Ashley's Bridal Shower

Our niece Ashley is getting married in January 2015 and held her bridal shower this past weekend at my brother and sister in law's house. It was a lovely summer day for an outdoor shower. Her theme was Disney (amazing!) and she had all of the perfect details down.

Amazing cake!

Fun desserts too!

How awesome are these napkins? The bride embroidered them herself!

My cute nieces Ali and Cari

The lovely married couple to be!

It was a lovely day for a lovely young woman! Congrats!

Buffalo Bills Season is Upon Us!

This past weekend we went to the first home preseason game of the Buffalo Bills! It was so exciting to be back at the Ralph!

We got to the stadium a little earlier than usual to check out all of the stadium enhancements that were put in. Let me just say - the stadium looks great! I loved the new Bills Store and the walkways to and around the stadium. We had no problem with the lines at the gate to enter the stadium either. I think this will greatly improve entering and exiting the stadium on actual game days.

Also loving the new HUGE scoreboards! And I noticed that my cell reception was so much better during the game. Not that I am calling people, but sometimes I will text friends to see if they want to meet up during a game and most of the time the message doesn't go through until the end of the game.

Although the Bills played miserably, we still had a great time! Looking forward to the upcoming year!

Another Visitor & Special Birthday!

Look who is in town! The Nagowski's! It was so great to catch up with Kim and Tori and grab some ice cream (they are our unofficial ice cream buddies). Little Miss Tori has grown up so much since the last time we saw her. And we had another birthday to celebrate!

Who doesn't love a new back to school outfit! This girl loved it. But did let us know she wears a uniform...oh fail. I guess this will make a great play date outfit instead ;)

 It was wonderful to see them both!