Organizing and Planning Ahead For A Trip

Be Sure To Organize Ahead Of Time For Your Travel

Organizing prior to a trip isn’t hard, it just takes time management.

Planning for a trip, of course depends on what kind of trip you are going on.  Is it a family vacation, are you flying or driving? How many people are going?  Is it a business trip and you’re leaving the family at home?

For this post, I’m going to plan for a business trip with one adult going from the family.  For our family, this has been me doing all the traveling. Dave doesn’t travel for work, but for the last several years, I have been traveling multiple times throughout the year.

I’m planning this week for my trip next week to Bentonville, Arkansas for our first Collective Bias conference, SoFabCon. I’ll be gone for a week from home.

Plan at least two – three weeks prior to your trip

Plan what you are going to wear. Go through your wardrobe to make sure you have the clothing, shoes and accessories you’ll need for the trip. More than likely, you’ll have all you need, but there might be occasions that you do need to shop for something new prior to the event.

If you have to order sometime online, you should probably plan out further than 3 weeks to be sure you receive it on time, and it fits.
You want to give yourself enough time to return or have something altered if needed.

Be sure to check your accessories to be sure you have any jewelry, cosmetics, crazy socks etc that you might need.

Plan Week Ahead

1) Plan out meals for your family, or at least make sure needed grocery items are stocked in the house.
2) Get all the family laundry completed before you go.
Personally, I do this because if my hubby needs to do laundry, I come home to baskets full of clothes that I can’t tell if they are dirty or clean (nothing folded when it comes out of the dryer). He will use my sorting bins to put clean clothes in, I find my sorting bins upstairs in bedrooms.. oh my – an organizers laundry nightmare!
3) Prepare a packing list.
It is so easy to forget things when you are packing.  Make sure you add things on there like business cards, extension cord (if you take your laptop etc with you), phone chargers, camera download cords etc. In this day and age of electronics, there are a lot of accessories needed to use them.
4) Prepare a Family “To Do” List
Especially if you are going to have teens at home without you. When do they have to be at practices, events? Does anyone take daily medicine that needs to be remembered? Will they remember to feed, water and walk the dog or clean out a litter box. What day is trash day?
5) Make a copy of your itinerary.
Make sure your spouse knows how to get hold of you, what flights you’re on and where you’re staying.
6) Be sure to print out any tickets or passes you might need. It’s great to have everything on your phone, but if you can’t get service, you could be in a bind if you count on having important documents stored electronically.

Couple Days Prior To Your Trip

1) Start packing for your trip. You won’t want to pack any clothes that will wrinkle until the last minute, but have them ready to go. You can pack underclothes, jewelry and other items that you don’t have to worry about the “wrinkle factor”.
2) Prepare any food items you’re family might need while you’re gone

Planning ahead will make you’re preparation go much smoother, and generally you have what you need while you’re gone. It also will help to decrease stress for you and the family while you’re gone.

 

 

Loved Mariano’s in Chicago

Wish We Had A Mariano’s In Columbus!

I had the opportunity to have a tour of the grand opening of the Harwood Heights Mariano’s Fresh Market last week. I walked out of that store really wishing that I would be able to shop there regularly.  Of course, that isn’t an option for me since I don’t live in Chicago, but I’d love Mariano’s to come this way!

The feel of the store was nice. It was very crowded since it was the grand opening and you could feel the energy and excitement that everyone had. What makes the store different?  There were many differences from stores I’m familiar with.

They have a $6 meal that you can purchase to take home, or eat in the store. You can pick the main course and a couple sides for a $6 or $10 meal. These foods looked like awesome home cooked meals. We were going to ate lunch while we were there and everything I saw, I was thinking… oh, I want to get THAT for lunch! Look at those pot pies! They were huge! I’ll tell you what, you wouldn’t be able to pick out these meals at a restaurant for $6!

The bakery was incredible. Have you heard of Fruit Loop or bacon donuts? Look at some of the goodies.

They have their cake decorators work where you can watch them. I really loved that.

They have creativity rights to create fun! These little 5″ cakes were darling. Loved the cupcake cake!

I SO wanted to try one of these cream puffs, but I did refrain.

They had a grill set up in between the seafood and meat departments. You could ask them to take a salmon or steak and grill it for you right then!

They have an extensive wine department. You can also create your own six pack of beer. I thought that was really unique. This particular stores has an extensive couple of international aisles.

We were able to meet Mr. Mariano, the CEO of Mariano’s. He loves visiting the stores and stopping to talk to families shopping. He wasn’t too sure what “bloggers” were, but we helped to fill him in. It was nice to see him in the store, and was really friendly.

There is an huge floral department and the flowers were absolutely beautiful.

Sushi anyone? They had a sushi bar. I’ll admit that I didn’t try it myself. But they were making it fresh as it was ordered.

It sure was pretty though, and three of the bloggers did have sushi for their lunch and loved it.

Melissa @ConsumerQueen and I had a fresh salad and fresh fruit.

Vivian King was our tour guide, and we’ve been working with her through Collective Bias. It was great to meet her in person. She had the ribs that were so awesome! There is a BBQ department that prepares them fresh in the store. We were able to try samples of them earlier. She said that she normally always gets the sushi at the grand openings, but she was straying from her normal today.

This is what I really wanted to try for lunch, but from the samples that they had throughout the store, I was actually a little too full to get one for lunch. They had individual pizzas that they would make to order for you. I wanted a mushroom, onion one… my fav! Maybe next visit to Chicago!

Look at this monster sandwich! It looked, omg good!

I have never thought about “eating” a meal at a grocery store before. But that is very much the norm at Mariano’s.  You can come in for a glass of wine, pick out your meal and eat in the cafe. I will certainly be stopping back by to try some more of their meals on my next visit to Chicago.

I am an employee of Collective Bias and Mariano’s is our client.  I went on the tour to see the store, and took a lot (almost 300) photos while there. I decided to create a post because I was so impressed with the store, I was not asked to write a post, nor expected to. I just wanted to share with you all!

 

 

 

 

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The SXSW Experience

Heading to SXSW last month was quit the experience. I joined the Collective Bias crew in Austin, TX for the SXSW Interactive week.

Enter the  ”Jambulance”, which is an old ambulance that was souped up with music, cooling machine and seats inside.  There was a charging station on the outside and used it as the hub for our “Cantina De Social”.  From Friday, March 8th until Monday March 11th, we had the Jambulance set up in a parking lot  with picnic tables and food trucks, from which we were able to offer food from. Being able to invite people over to have a meal, have something to drink and eat some awesome ice cream sandwiches, was an easy way to find out what their companies did, and let them know more what Colletive Bias is and what we do.

The CB crew giving us a “Awkward Stretch” in front of the Jambulance.

The culture at CB is like no other. How many CEO’s do you know that have fun doing an “awkward stretch” and encouraging it do you know?

Inside the Jambulance. Seats, music, pillows, more music.

The culture of SXSW is outlandish. There are SO many people, that you see all kinds of interesting get ups, trying to get your attention. The pedi-cab drivers were no exception.

These guys were promoting a new cab company that was coming to town. Where individuals drove their own cars for pick ups. They were offering piggy-back rides. Melissa took them up on it. One offered for me to get on… I told him that I’d never do that to him. {I’m sure he was relieved!}

We got to try and dunk one of our Vice Presidents, Brad Lawless

Our CEO Co/Founder, John Andrews

And our Chief Social Marketing Officer, Ted Rubin. All in the name of Charity! What great sports these guys are. Keep in mind it was only in the lower 60′s on these days… it was cold!

On Monday, March 11th, we ended our time at SXSW with a party at the Bungalow. It gave us a chance to invite clients, potential clients, associates,  and bloggers  to join us for a great evening with food and fun.

I play photographer most of the night. I did miss having bloggers there. We were hoping to see more, but there were very few. Courtney, Melissa and I had a great time.

Christine Young showed up after she saw a picture of us on Facebook and realized we were in Austin. She and her husband were there on a visit, not for SXSW, but they came by to say hi.

We couldn’t have asked for nicer weather. I think everyone had a wonderful time, enjoying the company, food and friends.

Yes, I had fun taking pictures of the cupcakes.

And yummy food. I stopped Brad Lawless before he could take a bite of this, so I could get a picture! Mine, was too boring looking to take a picture of.

Courtney with one of the CB pillows. You can’t see the whole pillow here, but they are little talk bubbles, so it looks like the CB logo.

We had another “awkward stretch” moment at the party.  Notice the photo-bombers outside the window.

SXSW is a different kind of conference to go to from the perspective of a blogger. This was the interactive portion of SXSW. You probably won’t find more techies together in one place, then you will this week. I was thankful for the experience of being there with CB, as I went as an employee.

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Ride the North Pole Express Train!

We Loved The North Pole Express Train Ride!

We ventured down to Nelsonville, Ohio on Saturday evening Dec, 4th, 2010 to ride on the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway, on the North Pole Express train ride.  The setting was perfect, a nice peaceful snowy night.

It was about an hour and half ride for us from the Columbus area, so Dave, the triplets and I  left plenty early since it was snowing. We figured we would have time to go into Rocky’s and shop around and eat dinner before the train left at 7pm. We arrived around 5pm and found out we didn’t have as much spare time as we thought.

I wanted to get pictures while it was still light out, and then was also given a tour by Bob of the train before everyone got on.

There were so many cars… I am thinking 10. Several of them were so similar that you wouldn’t have been able to tell them apart other than decorations were different colors. There was one up front that had a pot belly stove going, another one (that we sat in) that had higher back seats. The one the kids thought looked the coolest was the double decker train car. Bob was explaining a lot of the history to me. How most of these cars were used in Chicago.

We went over to Rocky’s, but evidently there were a lot of other people who had the same idea as us… so we went to eat at McDonald’s. We were told it would be a good idea to get back close to 6pm if we wanted to get a good seat on the train. The ride was sold out! There were 537 people on board. We did get back at 6pm and the kids had gotten their PJ’s and robes on.

Before the train started at 7pm, I went through a few of the other cars to get pictures. I asked parents before I took and pictures of their children. Here are a few of my favorites:

This little girl was so darling, I just couldn’t get enough of her.  I think I could have snapped pictures all night of her. She just seemed to me to be the poster child for The Polar Express, or as our ride was called… The North Pole Express.

They started serving the hot chocolate and cookies soon after we left. I felt bad for the hot chocolate man…. he needed a much bigger pitcher for it, or someone to bring him refills. He would only get a few rows filled and then would have to run a few train cars back to refill the pitcher.

We called the cookie man…the cookie elf. He had a cute hat on and followed behind the hot chocolate man. He also had some extras….so came back through a few times (oh darn…. we had to have more than 1 cookie!)

They passed out bells for all the kids….but us adults couldn’t hear them ring. I don’t get it?  LOL

We had the Hobo come through and tell everyone not to tell the conductor where he was. He came back through double checking with the kids to make sure they hadn’t told. Mine thought that was hysterical, they were telling him that they did tell on him.

After we got back from our ride, we could go across the street. At the Nelsonville Commons Park they had an ice skating rink set up. They told us skate rental was free with our train ticket so the kids decided to go skating. (hint…grab their gloves out of the car before you head across the street). Here they are skating in their pajamas having a great time… was on the other hand loved standing by the fire can….warming up! lol

 

You can check  Hocking Valley Scenic Railway for times and dates. You can also find them on Twitter at @hvscenicrailway and Facebook

One thing I would suggest if you have little ones. Send someone on the train to get your seats and hold them for you. Keep the little ones off the train until closer to the departure time. After they have already been on the train for an hour, then the hour and half train ride gets to be a little too much for some of them. On the way back the natives were a bit restless. (But keep in mind this was at night and they couldn’t see the sites outside. During the day you might not have as much of that).

Disclosure: I was given the tickets for my family and myself to ride the North Pole Express.  But the pictures, video and opinions are completely my own.

This post was originally posted on my Explore Ohio with Sandy site.

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Loved the Daisy Outdoor Tour!

Love The Daisy Red Ryder BB Gun?

You’ll be jealous then, because I got to tour the plant and build one myself!  I love being able to see how things are made. I think it’s so interesting!  Daisy Outdoor is a client of Collective Bias and when I was at our corporate office this last week in Bentonville, AR, Kim Janocko and I had the chance to go on a tour. We both were thrilled.

This was in the lobby of their offices. I thought it looked cool.  I also found out how Daisy got it’s name. You can find this info on the Daisy Outdoor site, under “History” 

“On March 6, 1888, Hamilton approached the windmill company with an all-metal airgun of his own design. He chose to take it to the windmill company because they had blast furnaces and they were equipped to mold and stamp the metal parts necessary to build his gun. The gun was passed around to members of the board. General Manager L.C. Hough test fired the gun and exclaimed, “Boy, that’s a Daisy.” ‘”It’s a Daisy” was a colloquialism of the time.) So the little gun was named Daisy.”

We went back in their warehouse where they assemble all the guns.  This space is 80,000 sq feet (I think he said) If that isn’t correct, I just know the place is huge! lol

The parts to the guns aren’t made here, they are shipped in pieces and the guns are assembled in this space.

There are many stations that are used to assemble the guns.  They can put one of the guns together in less than one minute.  They said they move their employees around to different assignments to prevent work related injuries like carpel tunnel syndrome.

We loved the barrels full of BB’s!  They were just plain fun.

Jon was in his happy place in these barrel of bb’s. lol  They do feel really cool when you put your hands in them.

We learned that there are 2.4 million BB’s in a 55 gallon barrel. I know I sure wouldn’t try to lift a barrel either! Wow… 2,200 lbs!

Daisy Outdoor makes practice BB guns for the military. Who knew? They are the exact weight, feel and action of the real guns.

They also make BB guns for competition shooting.

This was something I was totally shocked over.  I had no idea they made BB guns that look and feel just like the real thing. This pist0l is made for Winchester. It’s just like the Colt 1911 handgun.  It is heavy, and looks just like the real thing. I texted a picture of this to my husband and he knew which gun it was designed from immediately.

We learned that Daisy Outdoor utilizes the help of some Special Needs adults to help pack BB’s. I love when I hear of a company that helps out this group of adults. They do a great job and love being able to have a job to earn money and give their lives a sense of purpose. Kudos to you Daisy!

Cool huh? I’m not sure what model of pistal this is.

Here is the Powerline 880 kit. They said this is their best seller.  I can see why. It’s larger than their Red Ryder gun, but still a reasonable size for a young adult. I’m thinking it might make a great gift for the triplets for Christmas.

I learned that they do a lot of quality testing of their guns.  They shoot a gun from each batch 10,000 times to check their products.

One of the things that is a necessity is to always wear eye protection when shooting. After all, you wouldn’t want to “shoot your eye out” or anything!

Kim and I went back the next day so that we could make our own Red Ryder BB gun. Paula was kind enough to guide us through making one. I’m amazed that she is able to make one of these in less than 1 minute. I think it took me about 8 or 9 minutes to do mine.

Each piece is put into place.

The screw guns are cool. You just put them into the screw and put a little pressure down on them and they work fast… really fast!

Here is my finished product.  They made an engraved forearm for us. Mine said “The Jenney Family”. How cool is that? The triplets will be so excited!  Since we were flying home, we had to ship the guns. We couldn’t put them in our luggage, even though we were checking the luggage.

I decided I wanted to guy Dave one of the Winchester 1911 pistols.  I was told that I could find them at a local sporting goods store called Academy Sports, so Kim and I went that evening to check it out. We found a big assortment of Daisy Outdoor products.

I found the BB gun I wanted to buy Dave. It was $89.00.  If you think about it, it is a great way to save money in ammunition. Right now ammunition is really expensive and actually hard to find. So this will be a wonderful way for him to get some target practice in.

What I also like about it is that he will be able to set up a target in our back yard. He is very safety conscious (thank goodness) and has taught gun safety before.  He knows that he’ll have to find a place that he won’t have to worry about what is behind the target.

The gun was heavy enough that I decided not to buy it at the store and ship it home. I asked someone at the store about being able to buy it online and if he knew what shipping prices were like. He said it would be a much better deal for me to buy it online. That their shipping was either free or just $5.00.  Cool!

As soon as we got back that evening, I got online and purchased this gun and a large container full of BB’s for Dave for Christmas! (shhhh!)  I am going to talk to him to have him help me decide which gun we’ll get the triplets for Christmas!

Thanks Daisy Outdoor for the tour! I had a blast. I also thank you so much for the Red Ryder gun that you had engraved and let me build for my family.

I am an employee of Collective Bias and Daisy Outdoor is a client of Collective Bias.  I was not asked or expected to do a post, I just wanted to share my experience and excitement for the Daisy Outdoor products.

 

 

 

 

 

Collective Bias Company Retreat #cbias

Great Collective Bias Retreat In Branson

This was my first trip to Branson, Missouri – what a fun location for our Collective Bias company retreat. I flew into Bentonville, AR and spent a couple days in our offices, before we all drove to Branson together. Thanks Jon Lemire for being the chauffeur to a truck full of woman, what a trooper!

We had a few fun surprises waiting for us.  Our first evening there, we were treated to the Dixie Stampede Production.

We weren’t allowed to get pictures inside.. which was a real bummer, because there would have been some awesome ones.

Monica Johnson @MonicaJohnson and Melissa Garcia from ConsumerQueen.com were waiting to go in.

Wouldn’t this be a fun dress to wear? lol… I’d love it.

I had a great evening with everyone, and you can’t imagine how much food they served us! I was extremely full!  There is no silverware! You had to eat it all with your fingers, including soup (the bowl has a handle to drink from)! I have to admit, that made it a lot of fun.

The next day was a day of meetings.  We were all together and I thought it was time well spent.  We heard from each department on what they did and what their visions were for the coming year.

John Andrews from Collective Bias, started us off on the right foot.. an emotional and heart felt one.

I got to meet some of the team that I’d not yet be able to meet. Kristen Brown who is running our newly established Minnesota office was someone I hadn’t had a chance to meet yet. Can’t wait to spend more time with her.

We had some great laughs from the Production team.

They did some skits from a “Day in the Life of an Account Executive”

While John is capturing it on his ipad

We took some photos of how Collective Bias has grown from the the beginning with Amy Callahan, Brad Lawless, John Andrews and Jay Thornton (on the screen) in 2009

To the growth in 2010

To 2011 (Yay.. the year I came on)

To the current group in 2012.

The pictures were a spur of the moment idea, and clearly my camera was not set up for the lighting in this room. I’ve told them… I’m no professional photographer. lol

There were “Awards” given. Amy Callahan presenting Mailena Urso her award.

The Dev team also won an award. lol.. You just never know with Collective Bias!

We got to rock our new Collective Bias t-shirts around Branson.

A group of us went to dinner together and had a great meal, by the water.

We were able to go to see a Live version of the Price Is Right show that evening if we’d like. There was a big group of us that did go.. and had a great time. None of us were called to “COME ON DOWN”.  Bum! We were all so psyched and ready to go!

The next morning we were all busy connecting with our Social Fabric members.

Our SoFab community is the heart and soul of Collective Bias, and we wanted to thank them and give them some support.

 

 

 

 

Yes.. I was there too.

Here are a few other fun shots from the retreat.  Kim Janocko Crafty Mama of 4

Mel Lockcuff from Mama Buzz

And of course… I couldn’t forget the awkward stretching pics!

 

Great Retreat Collective Bias!

 

 

 

 

 

Our Pigeon Roost Farm Visit 2012

Pigeon Roost Farm Is The Bomb!

We discovered Pigeon Roost Pumpkin Farm in Hebron, Ohio last year and loved it. I shared the post from last year, just a couple weeks ago.  I wanted to give you all another blast from this year.

One of the things I love about Pigeon Roost is that the prices are really reasonable. There is not cost to part, no cost to get into and shop the upper area, get great pictures and enjoy the atmosphere. If you want to go into the lower part of the farm and do all the activities, it’s only $5 per person. Considering another local pumpkin farm charges $8 per person for just the corn maze, I think this is quite a deal.

I’m going to share the pictures with you…. they pretty much tell the story!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the kids favorite activity. They call it the hamster wheels.

Dave decided he would try it out too…. Elise won. LOL

 

This was the rubber ducky race.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pigeon Roost Farm is in Hebron, Ohio.  This is not a sponsored post, I just want my readers to know about this awesome place here in Ohio.

 

 

 

 

 

Pigeon Roost Farm for Halloween Fun

Pumpkins and Halloween Fun at Pigeon Roost Farm

We discovered Pigeon Roost Farm in Hebron, Ohio to go for our pumpkins and fun for halloween.  For years we have gone to Lynd’s Fruit Farm, and it is a great place to go if you want to pick apples or pick pumpkins right from the field. But it is very on/off with the other activities they have for the kids. Some years it is good, others there is not much there and a big disappointment.

Instead of trying it this year we decided to look for some place new.

I did an internet search and found Pigeon Roost Farm.  We decided to give it a go.  Mapquest sent us the wrong way, so be careful there.  It is between Kirkersville and Hebron Ohio (about 2 miles east of Kirkersville on route 40).  Much close to Kirkersville.

It was impressive just driving past, you could tell from the road there was a lot happening, and most of it you can’t even see from the road.

If you live within an hour of it, I would highly suggest you check it out.  It is only $5 per person to go do all the activities including the corn maze, a mini corn maze, the Enchanted Forest, the Gerbil wheels and much more!

 

Pigeon Roost Farm
4413 National Road SW
Hebron, OH 43025
info@pigeonroostfarm.com
740-928-4925

 

Originally posted October 16th, 2011 on my Explore Ohio blog

We were not invited, given free passes, nor given any form of compensation for this post. We found it on our own, loved it and I wanted to share it with my readers.
No use of my video or pictures without my permission. Thanks

10 Travel Tips To Help Dad When Mom Travels

Here Are A Few Travel Tips To Help Your Home Run Smoother While Your Away

As bloggers, many of us are now traveling to conferences and events frequently. I’ve heard several moms who need some travel tips to help their husbands have an easier time while they are gone. I use the term “husband” or “dad” throughout this post. It might be that the caregiver is your mom, or a sitter, relative etc. This is all applicable. So know that “husband” is interchangeable for whatever your circumstance might be.

I wanted to share a few tips that seem to help my home run smoother while I’m away. I have to admit that my husband is pretty self sufficient while I’m gone, so I don’t have the issues that I’ve heard some moms have. (I say that and knock on some wood because I am traveling as this is posted). The kids I still have at home are also very self sufficient (11 year old triplets) and know our routine.

Several of these ideas take some preparation prior to your trip. Even though we are often stressed trying to get ourselves ready and it’s not much fun to do some extra work before we leave, it can often help things run smoother.  Keep in mind, if things aren’t too bad while we are gone, then going the next time isn’t going to be such a big deal.. right?

10 Travel Tips to help your home run smoother while you are gone.

1) Clean your home right before you leave.

If things are in order before you leave, then it might not seem as over whelming to your spouse. If the house is already a mess, then he will feel the pressure of cleaning too.

2) Pre-plan meals

Depending on your husband, and his level of expertise in the kitchen (or lack there of) have meals prepared ahead of time. Either frozen (with directions telling him when to pull them out to thaw) or in the refrigerator.  Label the meals and have a guide prepared with directions of how to heat them up.

3) Prepare lunches ahead of time.

You can even pre-pack the lunches if you have room in your refrigerator for that. Make sure you have purchased plenty of lunch supplies before you leave.

4) Have all the laundry washed and put away

I don’t know about you, but I’m not a fan of my husband in the laundry room. He likes to “help”. Which in turn, means I have to rewash clothes that I’m not sure are clean or dirty. He tends to let clothes sit in the washer over night (and sometimes a couple days!) and you all know the sour smell that develops when you do that. So I generally re-wash anything that he has “helped” me with, once I get home.

5) Leave a detailed itinerary of the kids activities, sports practices and directions if necessary.

6) Leave a list of phone numbers, Doctors, Dentist, neighbors, car pool, babysitter, school etc.

7) Leave a list of the routine the kids are used to (if Dad,  doesn’t know)

8) Leave your itinerary and schedule of your events.

Husbands like to talk to us, and as busy as some of these conferences or events can be, they are already feeling left out (if any of you have had your husbands travel… you might know the feeling well yourself. My ex husband traveled a LOT and I relate very well when I hear one of my blogging friends say their husband is “needy” when they are gone). Both of you get skype and plan times that you know you’ll be at your computer and can skype with him and the kids.

9) Have a back up plan in place.

In case one of the kids gets sick, school is cancelled due to weather etc, someone misses a bus.Leave instructions with Dad and the kids as to what will happen or who will take care of the kids in these situations.

10) By all means… make sure the soccer socks are clean and laid out.

Quick story: On one of our trips to Vegas, where we were two hours earlier than home – Kim @CraftyMamaof4 hubby called her about 6:00 in the morning. Her husband and son were in a panic because they couldn’t find a soccer sock for his practice that day. We (@ZipporahS) were cracking up because she was so embarrassed that he woke up all of us calling that early over a soccer sock.  Moral of the story – make sure every piece and part to every thing you can imagine is clean, laid out, prepared, written down and posted before you leave.

More work on us? Yes… a lot! But the benefit would be not getting awakened at 6am with a frustrated husband looking for a soccer sock.

The Look of Autumn

When you think of Autumn what do you think of?

Living in Ohio the air gets cooler and crisp and all the colors of Autumn start emerging.  We haven’t really started getting leaves changing colors yet, but there are other sites and colors that we are seeing now.

With the cooler weather just starting to set in, it made me look back to this post that I first posted last year on September 22.

On the way to our farm today we stopped by a local orchard and it really put me in the mood for fall.

We didn’t go apple picking (not time today) but there sure are orchards near by us to do so if we wanted to.

Mums, pumpkins, and apples…

 Pumpkins.. and more pumpkins

Pears – we bought some of these, they are so sweet and juice!

Their peaches are awesome, but we didn’t get any on this trip.

Don’t you think of corn for the fall?  You know, indian corn to decorate with and corn stalks?

I never used to appreciate fall, but I have come to love it.  My husband really loves it.  He isn’t a fan of the heat…. so as soon as the cooler weather comes in, he is one happy camper.

Ziploc Storage idea for Guest Bedding

Ziploc Has An Easy Way To Store Entire Bedding Sets

I found Ziploc totes are an easy way to store guest bedding all together in one nice neat package. I  now have five sons who live out of the house, but come back to visit often.  Since we don’t have a large home, we have air mattresses and futons they usually sleep on.  Each time they come, I have to go to several different places to get a clean pillow, sheets and blankets.

I decided I wanted to figure out a system, so that I could have them all together in one place. I was going to get clear plastic trash bags, but  I decided to try the Ziploc Extra Large Storage Totes I have seen in the stores, instead. I purchased (this is review I’m doing, I wasn’t asked to do via the Brand and the products were not given to me) several of the 22 gallon bags.  I bought one at Krogers for $5.99 on sale.  I realized they were going to work and wanted to get a few more.  I saw them later that day at Target for $7.49 or $7.99 (I forget which), but they weren’t on sale at the time. I went back to Kroger to buy a few more.  My guess is that there might also be coupons out there for them, but I didn’t have one.

This is a more expensive option than buying clear plastic bags, but I like that they have zippers and that there is a defined shape to it.  The plastic seems pretty heavy duty… so I’m assuming they were last for awhile. (At least I hope)

I placed a pillow, twin set of sheets, blanket and a comforter in this bag.  I’m sure I could have done a little maneuvering, maybe rolling the sheets or making them all Martha Stewart like in how I folded them… to make this look a bit neater.  lol  But I was so excited it all fit!!

My next step was to label each bag with the size of the bedding and contents.  Again… you could make a darling label for these for display, but obviously I didn’t.  Mine are going into a metal cabinet in the basement.

The plan is to give each of the boys a bedding set when they come to visit.  They will bring up the dirty bedding to me when they get ready to leave, along with the plastic bag.  At that point I can wash the bedding and place it right back into the proper plastic bag, so they will be ready for the next time they visit.

Of course these bags can be used for many other storage needs than this, but this solved one of my storage issues and I was excited enough about them to share it with you!

Let me know how you store your bedding for guests.

Wicked on Broadway

My First Broadway Play was Wicked

I have been to plays before, but never a Broadway play in NYC, let alone it being Wicked! How cool is that?

I was in NYC for the Blogher 12 conference and had no intention of going to see a Broadway play. We got to NYC around 2:30, after an eight hour Megabus ride and dragging our suitcases through the subway to get to our hotel around 3:30, I was exhausted, hot and tired!  But I was with a couple die-hard NYC lovers! Kim and Mel were dying to go right out and see all the sights. I was ready for a nap.  This was only my 2nd time in NYC and although I was really excited to see everyone and go to Blogher, I wasn’t overly excited it was in NYC. I’m not a big city kind of girl.

We took a little time and rested up in our room. I agreed to go with Kim and Mel to do a ticket lottery to try and get tickets for Wicked. I agreed that if I won them, I’d give them to Kim and Mel (you would get 2 tickets) because they both wanted to see this play so bad… and it wasn’t important to me.  If two of us won, then I’d be happy to go.  We didn’t win any. Kim and Mel were both pretty bummed.

Skip forward to the next day ( I think… or maybe 2 days). We are all sitting in our rooms (adjoining) and Courtney and Kim walk in and Courtney announces that she has a surprise for us. She pulls out 4 tickets to go see Wicked! OMG… now I am rested and it sounds like so much fun!

Courtney and Kim had seats right in front of Mel and I.  I think Kim and Mel were SO excited.. they were ready to burst! Kim had seen it three times prior, but Mel, Courtney and I had never seen it.

It was really cool as we waited for it to start. Of course I couldn’t take any pictures during it… but I did get this one of the set up before it started and you can see some on the Wicked site.  I was amazed at how the entire theater was designed for this one play. When I’ve seen plays before in Columbus, Ohio… they are only there for a few shows, so of course you don’t have anything permanent in the theater like they did for Wicked.

The play was amazing!!  I LOVED it and can now understand why Kim was excited to see it again. I’d love to see it again.  It put this whole new perspective on The Wizard of Oz. Of course that was a favorite of mine growing up in the 60′s.  It used to be on TV once a year and was a big deal when it came on.  This left you with such a feel good feeling…. the kind I love to walk out of a theater or show with.

Thank you SO much Courtney for the wonderful surprise and chance to see my first (but not last!) Broadway play!   I am really glad that I this experience and really thankful that Courtney was kind enough to treat me to something so cool.  The four of us had an awesome adventure together.

If you get a chance to go see it… then be sure you do!

Blogher 2012 Impressions

Sharing My Thoughts On The Blogher 12 Conference

I really enjoyed Blogher this year. It was very large, yes… but I always think of Blogher as huge… so I didn’t necessarily feel like it was So much bigger than before.

I did not get the conference pass this year, I only got the expo/party pass.  Why, you might ask?  This was the forth time I’ve been to Blogher, and the first two years I did get the full conference pass.  I quickly learned that with so many Brand events and networking going on… I was so caught up in those, that I did not have much time for the blogging sessions.  That seems a bit backwards, I know. It should be that the blogging sessions to learn more about blogging should be first on my list and networking with fellow bloggers and Brands, should be last on my priority. Right? No, not in my book.  I have been to dozens of conferences over the last four years, and love every one of them.  I have learned SO much and have oodles more to learn! But I believe that the smaller conferences pose a much more valuable space to learn in.  Smaller rooms, plenty of space to sit, amble opportunity to ask questions, hands on workshops, and no problem hearing the speaker.  That is a much better learning environment for me.

With that being said, I can evaluate Blogher 12 for their sessions this year, or the actual conference, because I wasn’t truly a part of it.  I had a an objective of networking and meeting our Social Fabric bloggers and meeting new bloggers. If there happened to be a Brand that I really wanted to work with personally, or I thought was a fit for our Collective Bias company, then, so be it. If you have noticed, I do very few reviews now, unless it is something that I REALLY want to review. So trying to chat it up with all the Brands was not something I was terribly worried about.

I did visit the expo… and got to see things like Melissa @ConsumerQueen in the Chuck-e-Cheese ticket booth!

And  Courtney posing with a “Greek statue”

Being able to increase the bonds with those I work with was also vitally important to me.  Since I am a remote employee, we don’t get to see each other in person very often.  I think it is important in any company to have a good working relationship with other employees and often times that can be built through fun/work related activities, such as traveling & rooming together for conferences.

This is Courtney Velasquez (One of the VP’s at Collective Bias), Kim Janocko (Senior Community Manager at CB), Mel Lockcuff (Community Coordinator for CB) and me. We had adjoining rooms and had so much fun meeting members of our Social Fabric Community!

I was really excited to see friends I’ve met through blogging and meet new friends.  That is really the coolest aspect of blogging. We meet so many people online, and you can get to “know” them …. to a point. But there is nothing like meeting them face to face…. giving them a real hug rather than a virtual one…. and really getting to know them.   I think the relationship is what grows your brand. The relationship, not only in real life… but through twitter, Facebook and through comments on our blogs.  Ted Rubin says it in regards to Return on Relationship™ and business, and even though I run Organize with Sandy as a business… I often don’t feel like a business, I feel like me… and I want to be able to take that same stance on a personal level…. it’s the relationship that is most important.

Here are some of our Social Fabric bloggers that we ran into at one of the parties we went to.

So, to bring this back to Blogher 12 this year.  I had a wonderful time… meeting some clients at a CB client dinner, meeting several of our Social Fabric Bloggers at our coffee meet up, and a few at some of the Blogher parties… but most of them I saw and met as we were going to different Brand events, walking into the hotel lobbies of The Sheraton or The Hilton, and wondering around NYC.   I didn’t feel stressed to run to every event, and I even bowed out of several of them (very unlike me, if I have RSVP’d.. not proud of that), but having some down time to get some work done, chat with friends and rest my feet (ouch!) also was on my agenda.

I actually was not looking forward to going to Blogher this year in NYC. I was overwhelmed at Blogher 10 in NYC (I’m not a big city girl by any stretch of the imagination) racing from place to place… trying to be at two events at once, and not being able to figure out how to get from here to there. I couldn’t hail a taxi for the life of me (they make it look so easy on TV!) and without my subway navigator, Kim @CraftyMamaof4 I would never attempt that method of transportation on my own. (yes… total whimp here!)  This is Kim and Mel @MamaBzz as we had been down in the subway waiting for a train for about 20 minutes. It was SO hot down there…. but these two are the subway queens, I couldn’t talk them into a taxi for this trip. lol

I’ve seen many blog post this year on how big Blogher was.. and it has grown too big … and they didn’t know anyone… and they didn’t want to return…. and that’s ok for them.  Personally, I don’t see that as a negative. There were plenty of familiar faces to me, and new bloggers means new relationships. I think we always need to be growing our circle of friends.   But, I kept my Blogher experience smaller, by only choosing the expo pass, by not feeling like I had to be at every single event, and by making the relationships my priority…. rather than connecting with all the Brands, as my priority.

I of course didn’t take pictures of all the Social Fabric members and new blogging friends I met while at Blogher…I think half of them I was using Courtney’s phone to get pics of her with them! lol   I love this fun picture of Courtney @CourtneyRix

Here are a few other pictures I have of sites around New York City

Bryant Park area

 

 

 

I am not as scared of New York City as I was… and do look forward to returning at some point.  The conference next year is in Chicago and I’m really excited about it.  I do plan to go, and look forward to all the new faces I will meet and all the hugs I’ll get from faces I’ve met before!

 

Collective Bias, my employer; sent me to Blogher this year.

 

The MegaBus

The Megabus – What an Experience!

Riding the megabus to New York was an experience and thankfully we didn’t have any accidents, like the megabus did in Chicago!

I undertook the adventure of going with two of my best blogging friends and co-workers to ride the megabus from Pittsburgh, PA to NYC for the Blogher 12 conference.

Why in the World Did we Take the Megabus?

Because the tickets we got were only $10 each way!  Yes.. really!  My round trip bus fare from PA to NYC was $20.50.  lol!   I know I didn’t want to drive  or park in New York City, and airfare was pretty hefty.

I was very concerned about getting sick on the bus, because I suffer from that lovely affection called motion sickness. That pain in the butt thing that keeps me from trying a cruise, doesn’t let me ride in the back seat of a car, and often people try to tell me is only in my head.

Kim has ridden the megabus several times back and forth from NYC… because she LOVES NYC and she is able to sleep the whole way.  Because she was the seasoned megabus pro, I listened to her guidance (not that I didn’t grip about it… right Kim? lol)

We did get to sit in the front, on top.. both ways – so that pretty much solved that problem and I was ok.  You can see Kim @CraftyMamaof4 and Mel @MamaBzz up in the front seats we had.  We made it there at 5:30am so that we were the first in line for our 6:40am bus trip.  Kim and I got on in Pittsburgh and we picked up Mel about 3 hours into our trip in another part of PA.

I drove to Pittsburgh the day before from my home in Ohio and spent the night at a hotel, since we had such an early bus.

The ride was very bouncy…. especially on the way home. (Different bus… different bounce).  As we were coming into NYC, we hit a bump and the bottom of the bus evidently hit the ground. It was SO loud and scary… everyone on the bus screamed and you just waited for that moment that you knew the bus was going to lose control…. or pull over because we had a flat tire.  Neither of those happened and we continued on our way…. a little more frazzled than we had before.
It took 8 hours from PA to get to NYC.  I was not able to sleep at all. Even though we had a little more room in those front seats, I was not able to get comfortable enough to go to sleep.  It was a LONG ride.

It was the funniest/scariest thing.. once we hit New York City, our bus driver turned into a NYC driver! We were laughing & screeching  so hard!  We were sure that we were going to either hit a car or run down people!  Keep in mind the front of the bus is flat and we were looking straight down from the 2nd story of it. Our bus driver was beeping his horn like crazy… and was bound and determined that everyone should get out of his way!

Once we got to NYC…. you should have seen me (so pathetic) trying to lug my big suitcase and heavy backpack from the bus stop to the subway…. down all the stairs… maneuvering through the turn styles (thank you Kim for helping with that) … onto the packed, standing room subway…. then back up all the stairs (one … at…. a…. time…. lol) and to the hotel.  OMG… I was dripping wet with sweat and bright red.  I think it took me about 45 minutes to cool down once we hit the air conditioned lobby of our hotel.  Now granted… if I was in better shape… it would not have been such a sorry sight!

Mel and I were bound and determined we were going to rent a car and drive home, rather than repeat the performance.  It also didn’t help that we had just heard about a deadly megabus crash that  happened in IL on August 2, while we were at Blogher. From one report I heard, the woman who was killed, when the bus blew out a tire and hit a bridge embunkment had been sitting in the top front seats (where we sat).  But we soon learned, after multiple calls that you can not rent a car from a local company and drop it off at another local company going just one way.  I think we could have done from airport to airport, but that wasn’t workable for us. So we finally gave in to the fact that we were going to have to return on the megabus to get home. As I looked for the article on the August 2nd bus crash in IL, I found this article from the Chicago Tribune that there was another accident and a pedestrian was killed by a megabus in Chicago. omg! That is so horrible… and yet, after experiencing our driver in NYC, I can very easily see that happening!

Plus, one of our good friends Beth, @plussizemommy and her family came in the day after we did on the megabus… from Pittsburgh to NYC. They were supposed to get in at 2:30 pm like we did… only their bus kept over heating. It finally broke down 2 1/2 hours out of Pittsburgh and they had to wait inside the hot bus (no air) and did not get to NYC until 11:30 pm that night!!! We felt so terrible for her!!

One of my requirements was that we were going to take a taxi from the hotel to the bus stop (not station .. remember). I paid for it… and it was NO big deal. $9 including the tip. I wish we would have done that one the way to the hotel!

Here we are…. at 5:30 in the morning, waiting on a “not so nice” street, near the Hudson river.. for the megabus. I took this picture and Kim said… “Put that camera away Sandy… we are NOT in a good area and I don’t want someone mugging us for your camera!” oops!

We were first in line again, and rewarded with the front top seats.  We were praying we didn’t have a tire blow out! The return bus was a little newer, and somewhat nicer… but much more bouncy.  Considering in 2010  there was another megabus accident (one of several in the last couple years) on it’s way to (or from… not sure) NYC.. where the bus driver went under a bridge that was not tall enough… and 4 people were killed in that bus accident….  we were just a little leery when we went under the bridges… and there were bumps.. and the bus would bounce!

We were able to get a few pictures (most of them were blurry because we were literally bouncing that much!) since we were in the “good seats”.  It was a really cloudy, rainy day when we went home.

Going through the tunnels was a little scary, we just had to remind ourselves that the buses took this route every day…. and we would fit just fine.

We had a lot of rain on the way home…. and just like the bus driver on the bottom….. we had wind shield wipers on our window too!

I was SO excited to see the Pittsburgh skyline …. here is my tweet!

It is an experience that Kim, Mel and I will share….. laugh at and enjoy (now that it’s over)… and one that I don’t foresee ever having again!

 

Social Fabric Meet Up at #Blogher12

The Social Fabric Community in Collective Bias Met at Starbucks

We love our Social Fabric community and so many of you we’ve never met in real life!  We feel like we know you because we interact online and in our Social Fabric forum, but there is nothing like a face to face hello and a real live hug!

From L to R: Back Row: Mariah Moon, Michelle Kay, Courtney Velasquez, Kim Janocko, Mel Lockcuff, Hanan Webster, Lela Davidson, Yolanda Machado  Front Row: Melissa Garcia, Staci Salazar, Carolyn West, Caryn Bailey

We planned our meet up ahead of time in the Social Fabric forum. Anyone who was in NYC was welcome to come and meet up!  Kim Janocko found the largest Starbucks for us to meet.  It was in Time Square, about 10 blocks from the conference hotel. But we wanted to be sure to have enough room for everyone!

From L to R: Daniel Garcia, Melissa Garcia, Mel Lockcuff, Carolyn West, Kim Janocko

I know there were many more Social Fabric members that weren’t able to make it. There was SO much going on at Blogher and being in a zillion places at once isn’t always possible.  Even though we all think we can do it… reality hits!

Courtney, Mariah and Staci

It would have been great to have had a place to sit down and relax while we drank our coffees. But I do think the standing caused us to mingle a little more and meet everyone.  It was fun to see others walk in and match up their avatars to the real live person.  I’m sorry we didn’t get a group picture at the end, when everyone was there.

Jacqueline Cromwell and Melissa Pezza

We even had a beautiful baby join our meet up! Hanan had her darling little girl with her.

Hanan Webster & her baby girl

We met from 9am – 10am. The time really sped by (time also spent standing in line to get some yummy coffee) and I’m sure there were several others who would have loved to have had more time together.

Melissa G., Jacqueline (in mid blink) and Melissa P.

Even though we live in on “on line” social world and our relationships are usually online, there is nothing that compares with meeting the real person. Being able to see personalities, hear voices and see expressions.

L to R: Carolyn, Hanan, Lela (tucked back there) and Caryn

We had to retreat outside after a little while as we were taking up the standing room area.

Lela, Courtney, Melissa and Hanan

I met Margarita at Blogher 2011 for the first time. She joined our community after we met. She is also a professional organizer and She drove here from Canada.

Margarita Ibbott, Sandy Jenney

If it wasn’t so hot outside, I think we could have all visited for a longer time. Oh, except for the fact that we all had places to be and other people to meet!

Melissa G and Leanne Heilman

We saw several of these ladies throughout our several days going to different Blogher parties and Brand events. A little more visiting and pictures and we were then on our way to find our way around New York City and the Blogher conference.

L to R: Melissa Garcia, Leanne Heilman, Lela Davidson, Courtney Velasquez, Melissa Pezza and Hanan Webster.

Thank you to all our Social Fabric bloggers that made their way to the Starbucks to meet up with us! We know it was a bit of a walk/ride to get there and we really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedules to come out.  There is nothing like meeting each of you in person!

A portion of my Blogher trip was sponsored by my employer Collective Bias. 

Organizing for Blogher

Are You Going To Blogher This Year?

Blogher is a conference for bloggers.  This year it is being held in New York City.  It tends to be a conference in it’s own league for bloggers.  It is big and busy and oodles of Brands show up.

Why are all the Brands (Companies) there?  They realize the value of the blogger and they want awesome bloggers to try, review, experience and hopefully write about their product or service.

Blogher has been known not only for it’s awesome classes to help bloggers learn more about bloggers, but also for many Brand events and parties which also yield  swag.  Not just a little swag…. but a whole LOT of swag.  Why is this important?  Because it brings on an entirely different slant when you are packing for a trip there vs packing for a return trip home.  Does everyone like this component to this conference? Of course not, many people wish that they did away with all the swag (and maybe one year they will).  Like it or not, if you are a blogger, and you attend events, you will be handed bags full of swag. (If you choose not to accept them, that is your decision). You need to prepare ahead of time on how you will get it home. If you are flying or taking a bus or driving in a car full of other bloggers, and you want to keep most of the swag, I can guarantee you will not have enough room.

Planning ahead will help.

Make a packing list

Being prepared ahead of time, makes packing a simple process.  I prepare mine on excel.  Think through all the items you will need.  I also like to make a selection of items that go in my backpack or purse when I fly or travel.  It’s easy to forget things like clearing out your purse of any items you can’t take onto a plane, like nail clippers or mace.

Charge Electronics Before You Leave

Because we are all involved in social media, we have a lot of electronics we deal with. Phones, laptops, ipads, cameras and video recorders. Of course all of these items need to have chargers and or batteries.  I always make sure to charge everything before I leave home, so that I will be able to work on my flight or bus ride.

Be sure to write down all the devices you will need, including chargers, connectors and download cords.  I suggest bringing an extension cord and power strip if you want to use your laptop or ipad on the go.

Label all your cords & connectors!

Gather Your Business Necessities

Bring your business cards, and plenty of them!
I also suggest either having all of your events and conference pass, hotel confirmation, flight confirmation printed out for safety. I keep them in a sleeve for easy access. I know that most of you keep them on your phones, and that might be enough for you. But consider if your phone was lost, broken or the connection lost. What would you need to have (confirmation wise) that you would not be able to access?    I print mine out and keep them in a folder in my backpack.   I also have a calendar of all the places I’m supposed to be and when I’m supposed to be there.

 

Packing

 Suitcase

Decide what your travel regulations are for the size and weight of your suitcase.  Most airlines charge for your bags and if you go over their weight limit then you pay a premium on top of your normal fee.

Since I’m taking the Megabus to NYC from PA for the first time, I’m learning their regulations are even tighter.  There is a 50 pound weight limit and size limit.  If your bag weighs too much or is too big, it isn’t as easy as paying more to take it – they simply won’t let you even ride the bus! You will be booted!  I also can probably take my backpack on the bus, but I can’t carry my backpack and a purse.

Packing

Plan your outfits to reuse as many clothing items as you can (without being all stinky and dirty of course). Jackets, skirts, pants and shoes.  Check into laundry facilities or service at your hotel before you leave to see if this is an option to reuse some of your items that need laundered first.

Be sure to roll as many items as you can to fit down along the edges.  This can be a real space saver.

I pack my heaviest bulkiest items on the bottom and then work and fit in the smaller items.

If you think you will not have enough room for some swag to take home, you might want to consider throwing in a roll of packing tape and maybe a broken down box, and sharpie marker. It will come in handy in order to mail items home. It will also give you a limit on what you can mail home.

Once you have prepared yourself completely, you can relax and enjoy Blogher with all your social media friends!

This post is also posted on the Collective Bias blog.    I am attending Blogher12 as an employee of Collective Bias and also as a blogger.

Downtown Disney

Shop Downtown Disney!

Downtown Disney is nice because you don’t have to pay to go in.  Parking is free, entrance is free, it’s just a nice place to be able to shop and take pictures and eat!

The Lego store there is the coolest one I’ve ever been to.  The Lego sculptures are amazing, like the dragon in the water.  Elise had never seen anything like them.

We went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner.  It was around 3:30pm, so you could consider it either a late lunch or early dinner. We got a seat (which I was thrilled but surprised at, even at 3:30pm).  What a cool experience for a child (and adult!)

We did some pin trading with the Disney employees.  Did you know that the employees who have pins on a vest or lanyard will trade you any authentic Disney pin for free?  You decided which one of theirs you want and you can pick any of your pins to trade back. It is so cool, you ask one and a couple others in the area will come up and show you their pins.  Elise and I both had fun doing that.  One of the things I did on another trip was to buy some of the “surprise” dollar bag of pins at the counter and use those to trade with. This time I had ordered some trading pins off the internet for Elise to have fun with.

We had some Ghirardelli  ice Cream after dinner. Yum!

We did some shopping in one of the Disney stores and bought the boys a couple pins for their lanyards since they weren’t with us.

There is a new T-Rex restaurant that looked cool. We didn’t go in, but by the looks of the line, it looked popular.

We had a lovely evening at Downtown Disney. This is an easy must do on any day of your trip. I’m glad we did go in the afternoon rather than in the evening, because a storm let loose right as we were leaving.

 

 

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Universal Studios

Who doesn’t love Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida?

Our last day of vacation and we had our day planned for Universal Studios.  The weather was great, a little cooler with a nice breeze.  We went to the ET ride first. The ET ride was so fun. Riding our “bikes” on a chase and then we took off flying. lol… so fun.

We had to stop by the Barney display.

We talked about going into Men in Black, but the line was too long, so we walked on by.   We did go into the Twister show.  It was strange seeing all the special effects they used to make you feel like you were in a real twister.

Onward to Island of Adventure.  I think we had a little more fun over there than we did at Universal Studios.

We made our way around most of the park because we wanted to see the Harry Potter castle.

We bought Thing 1, Thing 2 and Thing 3 T-shirts for the triplets…. how fun.  Everything in the Cat in the Hat area was so cute and fun.

We went on to The Lost Continent area…. a really neat looking area.

We got to the Harry Potter Hogwarts. I thought we could tour through it. There was some kind of simulator ride inside. I often don’t do so well with those because I get motion sickness… so what do I let Elise talk me into instead?….

A roller coaster! LOL  Now does that make any sense?  It was out near Hogwarts.  I think Elise had a fun time on it…. I survived it. lol

There were several things about Universal Studios that I really liked.  Parking was in a parking garage.  It was nice to come back to my car and not have it be SO hot inside.   They also seemed to be better at trying to help you stay cool while you waited in lines. There were more fans and covered waiting areas, that we experienced.  It wasn’t nearly so crowded either…. all of what made the day seem much nicer.

We had a one day 2 park pass that was complimentary thanks to Universal Studios.  The opinions and pictures were all my own.

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Fantasy World

Fantasy World Resort Great – Swimming Pool For Kids

One of the things I looked for when I searched for a place for Elise and I to stay was a really awesome pool.  Since she was going without her triplet brothers, I was hoping to have a pool that she would be entertained in and hopefully meet some other little girls to play with.  I was really excited when I found the Fantasy World Resort online. This pool is really wonderful.  It is large, there are nice chairs to lounge in around the pool for those of us who sit on the sidelines or sunbathe.   There are cabanas that you can rent for $40/day from 9am-5pm. We didn’t do that but I was amazed, they have flat screen TV’s and ceiling fans in them!  If we would have had an entire day to stay at the pool, I would have reserved one.. that is for sure!

Now check out the slide at this pool!  There is also a small kiddie section, that lights up at night with fun colored lights.  There are a total of 3 pools and 3 hot tubs in the entire complex. But this is the main one with all the fun stuff!

I particularly like the lazy river

It is huge!

The pool gets an “A” from me! Really awesome. There is a nice outside bar also. I didn’t check it out to see what kind of drinks they have, but I saw some people carrying some fruity looking drinks, so I assume it’s a full pool bar.

The two bedroom condo is ok.  It is a two story condo, which is really nice and I’ve heard very little “neighbor” noise.  The decor is a little older, but clean and neat.  This isn’t a gated complex. Upstairs are two small bedrooms.  Elise had 2 single beds in her room. She loves the Disney pictures on the walls over her beds. My room has a nice looking king size bed. I was shocked when I sat down on it and realized it is two twin mattresses. There is a big ridge in the middle of the bed. Not a problem for me since I’m sleeping in it alone, but I wouldn’t have been very happy if I was here with my husband.  There is no master bathroom, but there is one bathroom upstairs with tub and the downstairs bathroom has a small shower. The kitchen has a dishwasher, microwave and full refrigerator. It’s nice that there is a roll of paper towels and all the basics we need to function for the week, or until we can pick up our own supplies at the store. There is a dining room table with two extra chairs. My evaluation is that if you have kids, then this would be a great place to come. The pool is wonderful! I give it a full thumbs up!!  The condo is very ample, but hopefully your master bedroom will have a regular king size mattress rather than what is on this bed.

I also did a post on the Fantasy World Resort on the i.seeKissimmee Blog. On that blog, a woman commented that she had a condo here that they own. She said that they stay there from December to April every year and rent it out the rest of the time.  The thing that I really liked was she said that they have updated many of the condos. She said this was one of the ones that had not yet been updated. She said the others were much nicer than this. I would suggest that if you plan a stay here, you request an updated unit.

Our room was provided at a discounted rate for our stay.  The opinions and pictures are all my own.

Gator Land!

Want a Land of Gators? Go to  Gatorland in Orland, FL!

I loved Gatorland when I visited back in 1998 with my boys.  It was lower key than all the big Disney parks, but was so fun.  The first thing I noticed as we drove up was that it looked much nicer than it did when I was here before. They have done a lot of improvements and updated things.  I had a vision of a place that was a bit run down, but it wasn’t run down at all.  Everything looked fresh and in great shape. I was really glad about that.

The first thing we did was go to the Gator Jumparoo show.  It was a very entertaining show. They had a contest between the two “new people they were going to hire”, Bubba & Cooter,  to see who could get the gators to jump the highest for the raw chickens.   They divided the crowd into two sides to cheer their potential employee on.

You wonder how they don’t loose a hand, don’t you?

Elise got to hold a small gator and snake for a picture. We did buy the keychain and magnet. There several options of things you could purchase and a couple other photo opps while you were in the park.

We headed over to the Gator Wrestlin show. It was nice seating in the small four side seating arena.

If you purchased the “Grunt package” you had a chance to be a rookie gator wrestler before or after the show.  I think you could also pay to do it (I’m thinking $10/person, but don’t hold me to that) on the spot.

On the grunt pass we also had a chance to ride the train, so off we went. It lasted about 10 minutes and the train took you around an part of an  area that I don’t think is accessible by foot (not positive on that) to see a few other gators. The train conductor was a hoot.

 

We climbed up the observation deck. I remember there being a huge number of gators that we saw from there.

The view was great, on the opposite side of this view you also have  a good view of the zip liners that zip by.

Elise spotted these birds in one of the trees as we were walking by.

 

Elise wanted to see the white alligators, so we made sure we saw them before we left.  I was amazed that they were real – they looked so fake. Until I saw them move, I wasn’t so sure. lol

I like when I see signs for social media up in the park! Way to go @Gatorland!

There was a very nice gift shop to stop in when you left. I was very impressed with Gatorland and would tell (and have) anyone to be sure to visit if you are going to be in the Kissimmee/Orlando area.

I was provided with two Grunt package tickets for our visit today.  The opinions and pictures are my own.

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