Monday 29 August 2011

Back to Blighty

Is it just me or am I a very lapse blogger? It seems kind of strange that I haven't updated since early May! It means I haven't said anything about my birthday, my extension, 4th of July... well, a lot really!

I'm not really sure if re-living the whole of the last well, four months is particularly clever (we could be here for a while) but I will give you a brief run-down.

May was fun. The highlight was obviously my birthday for which Janey, bless her, took me to Tutto Italia as I love it sooo much, and Anna and Arran came and joined us too. We had a lovely meal as the four of us and I really really enjoyed the evening. They told the waiter that it was my birthday too, and so they sung to me in the Italian-themed way which left us giggling for a good wee while. Whilst we were waiting for Janey and Anna to arrive as they'd had the day off, Arran treated us to a Funnel Cake to bide the time and I remember munching that in the American Pavilion trying to make sure that the powdered sugar didn't completely cover us from head to toe before our lovely meal... I think we did fairly ok.

Next Janey took me to the Polynesian for the night. That place is seriously plush! We took advantage of our hotel stay and met up with Andrea and Mark and then headed to Chef Mickey's for laughs and a buffet dinner. It was seriously good fun! They take a photo of you before you get seated, and I have the one from when me and Vikki visited it on a whim, which started the tradition, and I haven't missed a photo opportunity yet! So I have a copy of the four of us from that night as well, and it's a lovely photo! Even though it was a few days past my birthday at this point, they tipped the waitress off and I got to wave my napkin round my head with Pluto and got myself a birthday cupcake and candle to celebrate! Beautiful!

On my actual birthday, Vikki, Tori and I went to SeaWorld! It was the first time I'd been since I got out to Florida on the program and I literally had the most fun! We saw the Dolphin show, the Shamu show and Shamu rocks as well as getting the All Day Dining deal, so we ate soooo much that day! After that we all headed to Cowboys to celebrate, and I love that place!

A few days later, and it's the beginning of June. Jon is over to see Vikki for three weeks and I have the apartment to myself. Only, I get myself a little letter from housing to tell me that me and Vikki have our one-bedroom apartment and we can move from the next day! This is brilliant, but at this stage Vikki's staying at Port Orleans, and I have to move a fair amount by myself. Wonderful, but pants timing, let's be honest! Anyway, we moved. We had a one-bed. I got to play around with it a bit before Vikki came back and we put the place together just how we wanted it. There was a $150 Target shop that helped with that a lot. Still, it was beautiful and we love it.

Anyway, before Vikki came back, her and Jon went to Cinderella's Royal Table for a bit of a lovely meal on their anniversary. Vikki came back from that one with a little bit more than a photo. Jon proposed and I went to meet them in Magic Kingdom and watched Wishes with them to celebrate. Lovely.

It was kind of weird not having Vikki around for three weeks. Still, I managed to do a fair amount of exciting stuff anyway. Me and Mark went to Star Wars Weekends at Hollywood Studios one weekend, and we spent far too much money on merchandise which was all shipped to the front of the park so we didn't have to carry it about all day. We rode Star Wars a fair few times as well, which I have to say is probably my favourite ride in Walt Disney World!

At the end of that day I journeyed to Fort Wilderness to meet up with a load of friends for the Hoop Dee Doo Revue. So much fun! Then the next day I was due to meet Vikki and Jon for a trip to St. Augustine. I was horrendously hungover that morning and slept for a while in the car, but it wasn't long before we decided St. Augustine wasn't really for us and we headed to Daytona Beach for the rest of the afternoon instead.

At the end of June, Vikki and I had planned to visit California and Disneyland, but it failed to come about for a variety of reasons. Since we had the time off though, it would have been a shame to waste it, so we booked ourselves into Caribbean Beach for 4 days. It was sooo much fun there. We headed to Magic Kingdom one day and bought ourselves a flashing Tinkerbell balloon for far more money than was really required, but it was a weekend of indulgence, and I loved it!

July saw the 4th of July celebrations and the fireworks were awesome! I saw the Magic Kingdom ones from the Polynesian beach on the 3rd July and the Epcot ones with friends on the 4th. Seriously incredible! I spent the day with Teddy and it was also the day that Vikki's friend Tess arrived. Me and Tess are incredibly alike. :) The evening was spent in good company, including Vikki, Tess, Teddy, Ashley and more friends! We even had a few wee glasses of Rosa Regale for good measure!

My extension got approved and instead of leaving that week, I was granted another 6 weeks of Floridian life. Beautiful.

Janey left and that was pretty horrific, but I knew it was me all too soon, so I got through that.

And eventually after lots of fun and frolics, Lasses and others leaving, and a few more Cowboys nights, it was my turn. Me and Jen left together and my family flew out for a holiday. I finally got to do Harry Potter and Universal just before I left, but it was completely worth the wait, and I feel like I've done what I wanted to do now.

So here I am, back in the UK. Can't say that I don't want to be back in Florida, but I'm not really settled yet - it's only been a week. Mum and Dad are back later today and Ryan too, so I'm sure things will only get better from here!

Love and hugs xxx