Goin' Courtin'

There is one movie in my cabinet that I could watch on repeat for a whole day and not get bored. That movie is Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. It is another one of those movies that my mom introduced me to when I was young and it was a quick favorite. It also reminds me of sick days or cloudy, gross days when you want to just sit inside all day on the couch. Of course it is a musical with great songs to sing at the top of your lungs along with Jane Powell and Howard Keel. 

This film is all about Adam looking for a wife to cook, clean, and take care of him and his six brothers. Looking beyond the terrible sexism in this picture, it is a great film. It is about love and trust and even has lots of little jokes in it. Millie marries Adam but is unaware of those six brothers until they get home in the mountains. She soon learns that these men do not know much about acting like gentlemen or women. She fixes to teach them a few things so that they have better manners. My favorite song is Goin' Courtin'. Remember a few posts ago when I told the story about dancing around the basement singing along with these old movies? Well I did that with one as well. There is a barn raising scene where all the ladies are in gingham dresses that spin just  like a little girl would imagine they should and I swear to you after a few weeks I could have been one of those ladies. I had perfected the little hops and skips as well as the head turns that make it all look so awesome. Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong era. Then I dance to songs like "Get Low" and realize I am a great dancer no matter the era!

There is some minor kidnapping in this movie but that really makes the second half of the movie. Oh and the fact that they use the word vittles makes this movie extra special too. I have recently started to use it in my everyday vocabulary. I once worked with a man named Marcus who claimed he "brought words to America" from his native Australia. We often criticized him for that, because in reality he did not bring any of his vocabulary to America. But I will claim responsibility if people start to use vittles in everyday language around here. 

RAs who want to plan around this classic film could play on the important of manners. You can see it clearly in this movie when the brothers are less than successful with their shenanigans but then can convince these beautiful, young ladies they are gentlemen at other parts of the movie. Manners seem to be a lost art, especially internet manners. An RA could bring some of that knowledge into the program, maybe a flier about internet manners. There is also the business of bathroom manners. A community bathroom can be a scary place when the floor does not respect each other or their housekeeper. You could extrapolate some of the manners from this movie into a program about bathroom etiquette. 

There is also the dancing lessons that could come from this movie. Everything is choreographed! It could double as a program about physical fitness, your residents will get a work out mimicking some of the moves in this film. I would be willing to offer my services to lead a few of the numbers, just call!

Monsters University

Recently I took a break from home movie viewing and went to the cinema. I had an hankering to see Monsters University as a college administrator. I wanted to see if there was any similarities between Mike, Sully and the gang when compared to today's College students. 

There were a couple of those similarities. First of all Mike Wazowski is a bit of a book worm, he studies hard and works to get into the school of his choice, Monster's University (MU) with a major in Scaring. Students do work hard, study hard and they get admitted into their programs of choice. For Mike, being a Scarer is a childhood dream so he does nothing but study while on campus. Sully on the other hand, was from a family of scarers and he does not work hard in school but still expects to succeed. There are lots of those too!

Both of these monsters need to learn a better balance. Classwork is very important to scholastic success, but as any student affairs professional will tell you, the outside of the classroom stuff is just as important. Being in student groups, in Monsters University's case Greek Life, makes a good education great. Mike and Sully learn a lot about themselves as we watch the parts of the film that take place outside of the classroom. They learn some self confidence, how to deal with bullies, teamwork, and even make some great friends along the way. 

The hard work theme is still there through the whole film. At the end of the film we see Mike and Sully realistically entering the work force at an entry level position. More college students need to take heed to this lesson. The unrealistic expectations that a college student will leave the institution at a mid level management position at $70,000 a year gets lots of people in trouble. Many students enter their career at the entry level and have to continue working hard to make their career dreams come true. Don't get me wrong, things are easier with a degree than without, but that does not guarantee a lucrative first job.

I am glad that Pixar included this in the film. I am not sure that viewers that are not working in student affairs will make that connection, but maybe they will read about it here. Pass along this post to all high school and college students to help bring their expectations back to reality!

Overall the movie was pretty great. I enjoyed watching the depiction of students and even the Dean of the Scare School. There were a few minutes of RAs and orientation activities in the film too! I giggled and hoped for more but the RA did not reappear. Maybe one day Pixar will hire me as a consultant and we will see Monsters University-Residence Life. 

I'm a Donkey on the Edge!

Shrek is a great film! I had almost forgotten how much I enjoy this movie. It is possible that it is one of my films that I have not rewatched a zillion times. The sound track is perfectly synced to make the film even better. There is also the fact that it follows the tradition that Disney does by starting the story with a book and someone reading the fairy tale story to us as viewers. It is like Dreamworks is trying to rope all of us loyal Disney-ites in...they do it well with Shrek, I am roped in. 

I enjoy the part in the beginning when Shrek is finally having a nice quiet meal at home. Sometimes after a long day on campus, I feel like Shrek. I get finished making some delicious tacos and I sit down in at my candlelit table on a Friday night after a long week of answering angry emails and conduct meetings, when BAM the phone rings and I have to get back to campus quick! Not unlike Shrek being interrupted by three blind mice and Snow White!

The animation in this film is great too, from close ups and face shots that are worked in to the sound effects, everything is great. Remember when Shrek is running from the dragon and he starts running in slow motion with what sounds like some Mission Impossible or James Bond music playing, it is priceless. Almost as great as Pixar animation, but my heart still lies with the Pixar people. The casting and script in Shrek is also just great- Eddie Murphy and Mike Myers are just perfect. When Shrek says "You are going the right way for a smacked bottom!" I almost spit out my Moscato. I do enjoy children's films that have lots of goodies in it for the adults that are watching too. It makes for cartoon entertainment that is worth owning and watching over and over again. 

We all remember the story, an Ogre named Shrek wants his swamp back so he decides to go on a quest for the evil king Lord Farquaad to find the princess Fiona. But little did Shrek know that Fiona has a secret and that they are better suited than he first thought. True love does conquer all, again. I think I might be a little bit like Fiona. I know it seems like a stretch, but go with me. First, I get pretty cranky at night when I want to be sleeping and turn into a bit of an ogre. Second, some students take one look at me and say "Ahh! Help! Run!" just like they do to ogres in Shrek's world. Third, I sing pretty well and birds often join in the song. Finally, I can kick some serious ass when confronted in the woods by Robin Hood and his Merry Men all while looking great in green velvet. That is for sure! Fiona is a saavy traveler and as you can tell from my previous posts I am too!

When RAs start to watch this film as a program there are a couple different ideas that they can use from my brain vault. First is about love, of course. Relationships, healthy relationships in particular, are important to program about. Shrek and Fiona fall in love by just being themselves. The idea to not judge a book by its cover is perfectly on display here. 

There is also the theme about body image and loving oneself. Shrek goes into the description of ogre's being onions and having multiple layers. After all, he is an ogre and always been told he is big, scary, and ugly. But he knows different. Even Fiona thinks her ogre self is an "ugly beast." She has an idea of how a princess is supposed to look and she does not fit the bill. But by the end of the movie everyone realizes that they are prefect just the way they are. You could even pair this film with a Mirrorless Monday where you cover the mirrors in the hall bathroom for a day to program about body image. Viola! Program done. 

Fava Beans

Ooooooh, Silence of the Lambs. Such a great, creepy film. As is usually the case, the book is better. Well, most of Thomas Harris' books are great. If you have not read Red Dragon or Hannibal I recommend that you do. 

I am not sure watching this film before bed was wise. Even though I have seen it many times, it still gives me the creeps. What makes it so good is Clarice Starling. Jodie Foster really does a great job! She is also an excellent student. We see her completing not only her FBI training, but she is also taking on the extra credit of investigating Hannibal Lecter. She really shows us her smarts too! From figuring out Hannibal's riddles, to using her car jack at the storage facility, to figuring out crimes that are baffling seasoned FBI officers. When I was growing up, I wanted to be just like Clarice, or any other super smart, forensic, crime solver. 

This movie has lots of overt sexual stuff but also some subtle stuff. Like when Clarice is jogging and the men look over at her or the scientists at the bug museum and Dr. Chilton. Well, Dr. Chilton was overt I suppose. There are some points to be made about Clarice being a woman in a man's world (the FBI). When they are in West Virginia and Crawford asks to speak to the Captain in private to not talk about sex crimes in front of a woman, Clarice being the only one in funeral home. Or when you cut back to FBI training and she is the woman in the center of the men punching circle exercise. Come to think of it, there are not many women in this movie besides Clarice and her FBI training friend, well except for all the victims and the Senator. This would make a great movie to dissect. I am sure it has been done before, maybe I should google it. 

If an RA were to do a program around this movie I would start with the weird bugs. Even though moths can be beautiful and stuff, when they are being raised in the dark basement of a troubled man who kills people for skin, they are weird and creepy. Maybe how they are a sign of the bad guy or that another reason why you should be glad you cannot have animals or live insects in the residence halls. Or how you should adhere to stranger danger, even if someone is struggling to lift a couch into a van with a broken arm. 

It was mentioned in the making of the Silence of the Lambs featurette, that Buffalo Bill and Hannibal Lecter were created after looking at many other serial killers of the time the book was written. Maybe an RA program can be the way Hollywood portrays serial killers and their mental illness. That would be an interesting one!

Hail to the King! Hail to the Queen! Hail to the Princess Aurora!

Today's movie selection was Disney's Sleeping Beauty. This movie came out the year my mom was born, 1959. I own the 2003 Special Edition on DVD, but it is still the same old story of love conquering all. I love the older Disney films that start with the storybook and then go into the film. They should bring that back.

The story of this movie is so well known I almost thought about skipping the blog post. Then I thought of all of you, my public. I know you have been quite tired of reading about my adventures and want to get back to the movie project. Well friends, here we are, my observations. 

Do any of you feel like Merriweather is a bit bullied? I might be reading too much into it, but I think because she is short and plumper than Flora and Fauna they are not nice to her. As you look closer maybe Merriweather just has a cloudy disposition even though she saved the day with her gift to baby Aurora. She is even more grumpy as the movie goes on and the fairies are making a dress and cake for Briar Rose. If Flora was not so bossy and Merriweather was not so grumpy that mean spirited crow would not have found the woodcutter cottage. 

To use this movie as a program, RAs have some options. They could stay within the traditional route and stay on the good vs. evil path. The Shield of Destiny and Sword of Truth could play a role in the program, using those items to describe the tools necessary for a good roommate relationship. Truth is important in any roomie pair and when it is used properly it can stab evil in the heart, ending its terrible reign. An RA could also take this film and discuss its plot from a feminist slant. There are lots of articles out there about Disney and how it perpetuates some of the oppressive attitudes that our society has about women. Especially movies made back in the 50s and 60s. There is a lot in this film to pull from, the emphasis on Aurora's beauty, the role of the Queen, the fact Aurora is sixteen, the King's plotting her future, etc. 

There are lots of goodies in a film like this, and ways for students to think about it in a different way. I am sure many students will have seen this film before coming to College, so you have to keep it interesting. 

Sliding Doors

It has finally happened. I have had my first falling asleep experience with the "ZYX Movie Project." I was watching one of my favorite movies of all time Sliding Doors with Gwyneth Paltrow  one minute and the next I was watching the opening credits repeat themselves. I was so surprised! 

But thankfully for all of us I have seen this movie quite a few times so I am able to write this post anyway. Sliding Doors is one of those switch-on-a-switch, what-if-this-happens type movies. It starts with Helen, our main character played by Paltrow, in a situation where she might make it to her train or she might not. We then see the movie in two different story lines, one where she does make the train and the other where she does not. Thankfully for us viewers, one of the Helen's gets her hair cut and dyed so it is easy to keep them apart. This story is about Helen who did not make the Tube and her cheating boyfriend Jerry and Helen who did make the Tube and her friend James. 

It is a great story about love and friendship and with even better accents. James is Scottish and he says some great things. For starters he tells a story about his childhood girlfriend leaving him for Gary Glitter and that is pretty funny. He also quotes Monty Python and I love that stuff! The best part about the character James is that he gives you a lot of confidence that really wonderful men fall in love with really wonderful women. The end is a bit sad, but it all works out in the last few minutes so you are not sad for long.

When I was thinking about RA programming with this movie I thought a lot about healthy relationships. There are a lot of films that highlight healthy relationships, but this one gives you an example of a healthy one right beside the story line with an unhealthy one. You can even take some of the conversations between Jerry and Helen and talk about language used to illustrate some of those characteristics of healthy vs unhealthy. Watching that film while jotting down some of the things that are noticeable about each couple and how watching their interactions makes the viewer feel would be a killer program. 

It is funny to reread these posts about RA programming and think about how much I would like to attend these programs myself. I wish I could rewind and do nothing but RA programming all day long. But without that crazy time consumer class to get in the way. Oh and I really do not want to be 18-22 years old anymore either. Ok, so maybe I do not want to go back. So I hope that some of these RAs invite me to their programs this year so I can experience it from this age. Sigh, I really am a reslifer for life.

So Much To Learn

It is crazy how you learn new things in places you thought you explored thoroughly. I should not be surprised by that- my job is based on the idea that students learn all the time even in a residence hall they have been living in for a year or more. But I am learning a lot from places I am revisiting and old friends. My friend Alison is one of the coolest people I know and she is letting me hang out with her for the whole weekend! When I was in college I thought I was the coolest cat there ( no surprise) until I started working in the Student Volunteer Bureau with Alison. We were co directors and helped plan events and volunteered all over the place. I think I learned more running a student organization than I did in all of my classes. It is hard to convince students of that sometimes, I wish there was a way for them to see what I see. But anyway Alison and I are revisiting some of those memories and in one of those cities we volunteered in together way back when. 

It is true what all of us "old folks" working in Higher Ed say, the friends you make  outside the classroom in all of those activities are friends for life. 

66 Days To Go

Today was a productive one. Finished the RA summer newsletter. I really enjoy putting the newsletter together. It is a great creative outlet, but it is full of so much excitement. Excitement about the upcoming year and the fun times to be had during training. Isn't it funny how when April rolls around you are counting the minutes until the end of the year and then once June starts you are counting the days until it starts again? Well there are 66 days until RA training starts :)

I also have been reading articles about students and creating case studies to prepare for training. Part of that reading is also reading stories about other institutions and troubles that they have dealt with in the last year. Some of those situations seem all too hypothetical and impossible to imagine but if I have learned NOTHING is impossible when working at a college. I have been feeling quite fortunate lately, especially given the last two weeks of my adventure. Hearing Jim Lovell speak about emergencies and impossibly preparing for the unexpected has really given me a lot to think about as I plan training for the RHDs and RAs. I am trying to find the most crazy scenarios so that we can talk them out as a team and prepare for our course of action so that hopefully our "guts" will react the best way possible when confronted with our own emergencies. 

The next step is to figure out how to bottle that trust-your-gut emotion because it is not easy to teach. This might be the million dollar idea I have been looking for- who said higher ed was not lucrative? 

Milestones

Have any of y'all seen the episode of Northern Exposure  from season four where Maggie turns 30 years old and also in that episode Marilyn learns to drive? Well this episode is mirroring my life! How fitting that I would rewatch it today!!

Even though I will not be turning 30 this year, my mind was racing with other things during my birthday last year and I did not do any of the "Oh goodness I am 30!" freaking out. This year I am doing a minor amount of the freaking out as my current trip around the sun comes to an end. I do not think I will write letters and send them down a river like Maggie did, but I am going to plan something. My birthday has fallen during RA training since I was in college so I tend to celebrate on a random day near the actual holiday so that it does not conflict. Maybe I will spice up July this year and celebrate my birth sometime in that month!

I am torn between an old fashioned party with bon fire or something like laser tag or bowling. I have a sudden urge to have pizza at a roller rink too. I suppose I should narrow it down and get a reservation on the books. Or maybe I should host one of those fun parties where you paint something while enjoying an adult beverage. Oh the choices are endless!

That paired with my adventure today with my friend Ray fits with Northern Exposure perfectly. Ray had his road test to get his driver's license today and for the last few weeks I have let him drive my car. While it is scary to let someone else drive your only valued physical possession it is also kind of fun to see someone learn how to drive. I have been very fortunate to see students learn a lot of variety of things and to change as they go through College and sometimes it is pretty cool. I got to see Ray pull off some darn near perfect parallel parking in practice just to find out today it is not on the road test! What!?! I feel like that was a skill that I did not need to learn yet I was tested on it and in retrospect I am pretty glad I know how. Little did I know that I would soon live in a small city that has lots of parallel parking in town! It has come in handy since moving from a metro-urban area.   

No More Hotel Showers!

I will admit that taking showers in hotels has a lot of perks. First, you can use two towels without worrying about the amount of laundry you are amassing. It is nice to have one towel for hair and another for everywhere else. Second, you momentarily forget that there is an end to the hot water supply but stay in the shower longer anyway. I feel a bit guilty that I waste these things in a hotel- I mean the environment is still the environment whether you are on vacation or not. But it feels nice to do that once in a while. Third, hotel bathrooms have a zillion mirrors that are very well lit. I am confident that there is not a stray brow hair on my face after taking advantage of those mirrors. 

I have landed temporarily in Amelialand. She lives next to Matthew Island in an adorable house in Ohio. It is nice to see old friends and during my drive I literally had my head in the clouds so it was nice to be back on solid ground. The Hondog is parked here in the clouds and there is proof of my elevation yesterday. I went from elevation 0 in Miami (at least I am assuming it is not below zero but it could be) to 3787 ft. Below are the clouds in the green mountains. Well Eastern Coast mountains. I am sure my millions of West Coast readers will be quick to remind me that this is not a mountain. 

 It was a damp morning but a great walk and fun to see all of the green. I am going to maintain this as a mental picture when I am back at home. I hope it is warm there now. 


After a shorter drive than I anticipated I ended up in Ohio and after watching three people wash the pee off a cat we were ready for the out of doors. The sun was shining and we walked through the wonder of Columbus. I learned a lot about the city itself while I was there. I also ate some tofu sausage and it was pretty good. The sun was warm and the art was expensive but it was a great way to end the epic road trip. It was inspiring and that is exactly what the doctor ordered to start a week of training planning and Summer Orientation prep. I am starting to get really excited to start another academic year!

Youth

How can I forget the EPIC ADVENTURE of St. Augustine, FL! Let's start with a quick story. How many of you out there remember Crabby McCrabberson? When I was a hall director I had a pet crab. I had her in a little tank without a lid because she could not have gotten out. Well, one day her water was stinky and I decided to use the water filter for it. I put it in the water and covered the top of the tank in saran wrap because now there was a cord coming up out of the tank. 

You can imagine what happened next, Crabby McCrabberson crawled out, flipped over the saran wrap and ESCAPED! I had hypothesized that she either crawled out under the crack in the hallway door or down the hole in the floor where the cable cord came up because I could not find her anywhere, not even her carcass when I moved that summer. As I explored our nation's oldest city I found Crabby's distant free cousins. They scattered as I tried to get their picture but you can see all of their little hole homes and the one crab in the middle with his giant hand! I swear he looked just like Crabby- spitting image. And because I was alone on the boardwalk I told him so. 

After sipping on some Fountain of Youth water and shedding what is likely 10 years from my face, I explored all of the sights in St. Augustine. Remember a few posts ago when we reviewed UP? While walking through the Fountain of Youth park I encountered a lot of peacocks and they were yelling at each other across the lawn. They sounded just like Kevin when he was talking to his babies. I tried to get a video to share their sound, but they shut up every time I turned on the video part of the SP. But I did get this sweet pic of two peacocks in a tree.

I took a trolley ride through the city and learned more from that then all of the brochures and web searching I did and also got to see a small, private, liberal arts College in downtown St. Augustine that is in the building that was once the Ponce de Leon Hotel. Apparently the cafeteria has over a million dollars worth of original Tiffany stained glass windows. How cool would that be to see everyday? I wonder what vandalism is like at that college? 

Horseshoe Crabs are Sweet!

Today was my last day on the beach...Hilton Head Island to be exact. It took a while for me to find a public park among the thousands of golf courses and private homes. But I found one and it was pretty awesome. Not too shabby for my last day on the ocean as I started my trek back up the states. As I was walking through the sand and enjoying the warm air with cool breeze I found a a new friend! This is the horseshoe crab and he was not too happy that I was following him through the sandbar in order to get the best picture. 


As I started driving inland I was a little bit sad. I am excited for my stay in Amelialand, but sad that I am on the tail end of my adventure. Spending time in the car has given me many an hour to talk to myself. No kidding, I do the out loud kind of talking in my car. Today I pondered, in a southern accent, if my neighboring motorists thought I was crazy or just had a hands free phone conversation going on. My chats are often accompanied with big laughter too- I have been known to crack myself up. I thought a lot today about communication between genders. As I prepare to start a new academic year, I have been giving lots of thoughts to training and working with a new staff of RHDs and students. I have probably worked more on this trip than I am prepared to admit. Sigh, oh well, better to ease back into things right? Oh and let's not forget about Operation Baby. It starts very soon. This trip has been the perfect distraction from the waiting!

I suppose I am easing my way back into the weather too- as I got out of the car tonight for dinner I had to put a sweater on. It was 68 degrees and I was chilly. How did I already get acclimated to 80s and 90s? 



If only my office were located near Cocoa Beach...

Danger Will Robinson

Another day, another adventure. Today I visited Major Nelson and Major Healey in Cocoa Beach and discovered the first difficulty in traveling there alone. I could not perfect the Jeannie head nod with crossed arms while holding my camera. That move requires both hands. I desperately wanted to but I was already pulled over on the side of the road with traffic passing by and a survey team that looked at me like I was crazy. 

I drove up the coast until I reached Cape Canaveral (it is a couple miles) and visited the Kennedy Space Center. After hearing Jim Lovell speak at JAM last week I was inspired to make this a stop, and it fit in more perfectly after the Keys were stormed out of the agenda. It was hard to leave the beautiful Cocoa Beach, the beach was cleaner than Miami and parking was free. The water was also a bit cooler and the waves were awesome- but I was a bit concerned about the rip tides so I did not venture far from the lifeguard at this beach either.

But once I did leave and got to the space center (three weeks before the Atlantis exhibit opens- dang it) I had a great time! The rain interrupted things for a while, the threat of lightening closed down a couple things like the rocket garden and the Astronaut memorial, but I still got to see these  things. I learned more about the space program, took a bus tour of some of the grounds and saw A LOT of history. I also saw an IMAX movie about the International Space Station. 

There was a theme to the IMAX movie and some of the displays, it was that we are all part of the Human Race and inhabitants of Planet Earth. Not just Americans, Russians, Japanese, Italian, etc. There was almost tear invoking moments about global collaboration and responsibility. I am convinced that this movie could be used as part of my RA programming series. The exploration of space went from a race based in fear between the US and the USSR to a global effort to better understand the Planet and what lies beyond. If an RA could get an IMAX screen into the building, find some sweet 3D glasses for everyone (it really makes a difference to see IMAX in 3D) and get the rights to show this film this could lead to great conversation among residents. 

Pink Sky at Night

Today's plans changed almost as soon as I  made them. Through the glory of old fashioned maps I plotted a course today that lived up to the Epic Road Trip moniker. 

I started this morning in Estero, FL on the Gulf Coast and ended ready to spend a day in space along the Atlantic Ocean tomorrow. For those of you keeping score that is clear across the state. I made some pit stops. For starters, I sat by the pool in my hotel and did some work. I developed some training for RHDs that involved thinking about and crafting some sessions about the culture of the college. All of this is listed on my complimentary note pad from my most recent hotel. 

Then I drove myself down and I took a boat tour through part of the Everglades. I went through the Mangroves, saw some Osprey, two alligators within reach of the boat, a SCARY GROSS spider (that I did NOT photograph), and a dolphin that swam and jumped in our wake on the side of the boat I was sitting on! Steve, our boat guide, was awesome. The only thing he thought we might see that we did not was a manatee. He tried too- but we could not find one. We were so close to the alligators that I could have touched their heads. One was about 5ft long and the other about 3ft. We were not in a part of the park where they are 10ft or so big. It was pretty awesome. I learned things about three varieties of Mangrove trees and other wildlife.

As I was tooling around the Everglades I asked some locals about this upcoming weather and rainy season we are experiencing. There are big storms coming up from the Gulf and they are hammering southern FL making a trip to the Keys ill advised. Well, this gem of information shaped the next part of my trip. I decided to Bienvenido myself a Miami. I sat on the beach there for a while- the beach was not as beautiful as Lido Key where I was earlier- but the water was warm and I saw some cruise ships! I drove through some Art Deco Miami and South Beach before starting out for the night. Tomorrow will prove to be just as awesome as the past few days... I am sure. Especially with this sky, as Ferdinand always reminded me "Pink sky at night, sailor's delight."

Rainbows and Sunhats

I sat on the beach at my first ever sighting of the Gulf of Mexico. It was beautiful. Here is my spot on the sand. The water is behind us, but I wanted to point out a couple things. This beach was recommended to me by a woman named Andrea. She was one of the employees at the hotel working our breakfast each day. She was really nice and liked my smile. She recommended this beach because it was BEAUTIFUL, on my way to the next stop, and also surrounded by sweet shops. You cannot see it but the Lifeguard stand is just to the left of this photo so that I was assured to be safe. Also so that if I got stung by a jelly fish (they are all over the place in the gulf stinging swimmers I guess) that kind life guard could save me. I was also surprised that the sand was not at all hot. Sitting and baking in the sun, but the sand was just warm. I have been to some beaches where you cannot even think about taking off your shoes! 

You can all rest assured that I did not get stung by anything and I did not drown. I did get three little sun burns on my back where I could not reach to sun screen it up. The rest of me is still Mid Western white. 

Pictured here is my new summer hat. The back of my neck was feeling a bit warm and pink at Islands of Adventure so of course I had to get a sweet, southern hat to wear to my next garden party. I hung out at this beach and did a little bit of shopping until it was time to hit the road. I drove for a while and did not feel good about any of the exits. You know, you can tell if the exit is a good one from what you can see from the highway. This is an art I have perfected in many, many trips down I-94. As I was approaching an exit there was a rainbow, a huge rainbow. Probably the most complete rainbow I can remember. I stopped at that exit, found a beautiful hotel that had cheap laundry (which I need at this point in the epic trip) and was loads less scary than the place I was last night. Sorry Mom, I did not trust my instincts last night, Harry Potter had tuckered me out. I stopped at the first sight of a Starbucks so I could look forward to a delicious morning. There is also an outlet mall at this exit! I love shopping! 

If I was one of those people who believed in signs, I would believe that rainbow was bringing me here to this hotel with complimentary drinks each evening in the hotel bar, laundry, and outlet mall shopping. This was the earliest stop I have made on the trip, I am extra tired from the past two days and sitting on the ocean this morning. Such a hard life. This place is perfect for a night in and early to bed. Tomorrow there is a trip to the largest museum devoted just to sea shells in the US. I wonder if there is international competition for this type of tourism. 

There might be something to those signs. Maybe. But they are getting more and more convincing. 

Shrek is a Good Kisser

I know it has been a few days, I have been having too much fun (read: staying up too late) to post. The last few days have been awesome. I will share with you the highlights.

• I got kissed by Shrek in the Everglades section of my hotel (he is a cheek kisser for those you wondering)
• I saw a private Shamu show with some of my new friends (well there were 1800 of us total and it was sweet being in Sea World after hours)
• I realized my air hockey skills are still present and accounted for
• It is amazing how much I learned about computer software all while having fun!
• I did not realize that the fridge in my hotel room was disguised as a dresser and I missed out on two bottles of water a day that were included in my resort fee!
• I rode a Dr. Suess ride with a Tampa Bay Buccaneer 
• I rode a roller coaster for the first time again in years and hated every minute of it! But it was the Harry Potter ride and I had to say that I did it. 
• Hogwarts and Hogsmeade are now imprinted on my brain for all of time, that is me with a butter beer and Hogwarts. No big deal. 

I am not ashamed to admit that I was throwing elbows to get to the back of the park to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I am not sure what I would have done before S.P. (this is before Smart Phone in my life) if I had visited this place. I would not have been able to take as many pictures of myself, that is for sure. It is just as cool as I imagined. I had lunch at the Three Broomsticks and enjoyed a Hogsmeade Brew. They checked my ID three times, I think that confirms that I am going to look young forever! It was nice. After lunch I went through the rest of the park, I saw a dinosaur egg being hatched in Jurassic Park, I missed the Sinbad show but I did take a guided tour of a haunted cave with Poseidon, and met Popeye and Olive Oyl. Oh and I saw some X-Men and X-Women ride off on scooters with Spiderman and Captain America.

It was pretty awesome, ok,  the last week has been SENSATIONAL! I have met lots of new friends and learned more than I thought possible about how to work better in our work software system all while being on vacation.  Remind me of this in January- because right now- life. is. good.