So long, farewell!

My final day in Disney was a success in all senses of the word.

I woke up early with Jodi and her sister to talk to them before they left for the half marathon. It was Jodi's sisters first half marathon. I fell back to sleep then woke up to talk to her Mother and other sister. After talking with them for a little once they returned I decided to go ahead and hit the parks one last time before I had to go to the airport. After dropping my bags off at the Magical Express counter and finding out that I was unable to in fact have my bags checked because my ORIGINAL flight was cancelled and I rescheduled. You know the one GOING TO Florida. Yeah apparently that messes up Magical Express. FYI for any of you that might have that happen. Anyway, I knew I wanted to hit EPCOT and go to Mexico one more time before I left to grab something else for my father.

I entered World Showcase from Future World and grabbed a goodbye meal at Mexico, La Cantina de San Angel. My margarita and chicken tacos mm mm mm! I started to walk around the long way back to Future World. As I made my way around past Italy I saw a little dancing penguin. Like the ones from Mary Poppins. He didn't have a 'handler' and Goofy was by the bathrooms in America...I walked up and he gave me a hug. I asked if he'd take a picture with me and he nodded yes. BEST. PICTURE. EVER.

After making that amazing memory I watched the marching band and decided I was thirsty.

Block and Hans is a new little treat for those who like American Ale and Angry Orchard.

I was very excited to see that Spice Road Table was open for business. I didn't have time to eat or drink but did walk through to snap some photos. Hope you enjoy them.

After enjoying my time in Morocco I noticed there was NO like for Aurora in France and stopped by.

I lost track of time and needed to get back to Saratoga Springs ASAP and catch the Magical Express. Well....my bus showed up on time. I turned to grab my luggage, I had more than one bag and when I turned back around the bus driver closed the door...and left. After a moment of panic and about 20 minutes of anger to my surprise another bus arrived and I jumped on that one.

The flight home was long but the best part was having Ace and Mike waiting for me at the arrival pick up location.

I Don't Even Know What A Ghost Flight Is..

So I figure the easiest way to get back into blogging is to finally recap what could have been called the most Bi-Polar Disney vacation of my entire life. 

This will be the last time I speak of this trip.

I will begin by using Pooh Bear to show you how I felt at 3am on January 6th, the morning of my flight....

10pm the night before I was to leave, my flight was scheduled and on time. Sometimes I get so excited that I can't sleep the night before I fly, well that and I can't sleep fully through the night. So I went to check my flight at 3am when I couldn't fall back asleep...just in case...

I saw the words CANCELED in red, bold and with no explanation.

Rather than vomit on Miguel and Ace I grabbed the phone and ran to the bathroom. I called Southwest and tried to figure out what I was going to do.

I was scheduled for the Magical Express and thought in my panic of cancellation that the M.E. stopped running at 10pm...yeah. I know. I'm a genius. So when the lady told me I could do a 6pm-11pm flight I nixed that real quick. I told her I'd just take the 7.10am flight out Tuesday, so I'd essentially be wasting a day.

In true MegMeg form I decided I would outsmart the airline and go and do standby, knowing I had the Tuesday flight in my back pocket. I made Miguel get up and drive me to the airport in some of the worse fog we have had here. I got to Bradley by 7pm and thought the outside bag check line seemed less life-sucking. 45 minutes later I got to the man taking bags. He informed me that because I was not leaving the airport THAT DAY I was unable to have my bag sent to Orlando.  (I know, again, I probably should have assumed this.) I said a couple un-ladylike words, actually some pretty bad ones and went inside to stand in the line that looked like the one I assume is outside Hell's Welcome Gates. 70 minutes later I was told I'd be on a 'ghost flight' to Baltimore at 1.40pm with a connection to MCO at 4.45pm where I would arrive roughly 7pm and be whisked off to the Happiest Place On Earth. I almost kissed the woman for getting me on a flight.

Lines. I love lines.

By now it was 9.05am. I couldn't check my bags till 9.40am so I went to call Disney and change our Teppan Edo reservations to a later time. As I was standing there I saw the man who I was unnecessarily rude to outside and apologized to him. We had a great chat and he told me he has been a 50 year employee of Bradley International. I am so happy I did the right thing by saying I was sorry, he absolutely made my morning. AND to my surprise decided to override the system so I didn't have to wait until 9.40am to check my bag. My mood was definitely improving.

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I was very excited to be picking up the pace on my vacation. After going through security I found a spot where I could charge my phone and relax. I didn't think it would be too bad to wait 3+ hours for my flight and truthfully in hind sight it wasn't. I was somewhat enjoying my time in the airport realizing it could have been much worse. It wasn't until the ghost plane was late of course that I started to lose it. I knew my connection from Baltimore to Orlando would be easy to make as long as I got on a plane before 3.15pm. At 2.30pm our plane pulled into Bradley and I boarded. I had rented The Internship from iTunes or the App Store or wherever you get movies to rent and relaxed.

Before I knew it, we landed in Baltimore. I had never been to this airport before so although I wanted to get to Orlando ASAP I was kind of excited to explore somewhere new. As I made my way to my gate I looked for somewhere to eat.

Name that movie: "Crabcakes and football, that's what Maryland does!" 

We landed in Baltimore about 4pm. I was so hungry and pumped to be early for my next flight (4.45pm) that I found a Chipotle and grabbed a spot in front of my gate. I relaxed and digested that delicious bowl of spice and goodness and waited for them to call my flight. 4.30 came.....4.45came......5 came.....5.30 came.... I started to panic big time. We didn't actually board the plan until 6.30pm. 

At 9.15am while waiting to check my bags at Bradley I called Disney Dining and changed Samantha's and my reservations from 7.50pm to 8.50pm thinking there was NO WAY I would be arriving after 8pm and miss that reservation. Welp. When we took off at 6.50pm I couldn't help but feel a little like Nana....

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I even paid for iMessaging on my Southwest flight so I could text Samantha...yeah. That didn't work either, I should have had that $2 go towards a cup of wine. So on my delayed and now late arrival flight I sat with a baby next to me trying to play with my hair, she was actually kinda cute but....still I don't want anyone touching my hair, and low battery on my phone. I knew I still had to get to the Magical Express and by now I was hungry again. 

My flight landed at MCO around 8.45pm and I called my father who was sweet enough to put up with my mood swings the entire day. From crying on the phone, to swearing about flights he kept me sane and actually helped me smile.

Side Note: O is for Ojciec, Ojciec is Polish for Father and Matka is Polish for Mother, eventhough my father is the only Polish one I still have my mother in my phone as Matka because it makes me smile.

Anyways even though one of my nicknames is MegMeg because similar to the TomTom GPS system available for purchase I am able to find my way places. I was so exhausted that I went in the complete opposite direction to the Magical Express. I could not wait to get on that damn bus. Apparently my internal compass was was a little off...

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Once I got on the Magical Express I was so beat that all I wanted to do was sleep. After about 45 minutes I arrived at All Star Sports. I caught a little tiny baby second wind and was snapping photos while waiting for Samantha who was sweet enough to stay up and wait for me to arrive. <3 That's what a best friend is.

After the most delicious salad, fettuccine alfredo and bread stick that the EndZone could muster up we went back to the room and I laid down to put myself in a mini coma. 15 + hours of travel and all this girl wanted to do was close her eyes...

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"Bud, I might have to charge you with domestic abuse if you keep making her run." (Stay)cation Part 2

So after coming back from Niantic on Thursday and spending the night in my own bed with a cuddly puppy I knew I had to get up and complete my #WhereIRun themed post for 8/2. This was an idea from a fellow team mate of mine from #TeamFantastic with Girls Gone Sporty. (Here is my Ambassador link!!!) It was such a blast to do. Ace and I took our time and it ended up being a gorgeous morning. 3.24 miles done.

 After a quick breakfast and dropping Ace of at his grandparents we headed to the mall. I wanted to get an idea of what Miguel might want for his birthday but to my surprise he bought me a birthday gift! (Yes I still had 2 days.) I have been wanting this particular Alex and Ani bracelet since I learned about them. Now I have 2. Big Collector here hahaha!! I also have Cinderella's Castle that I bought before they were sold out. By now you know how crazy I am about dogs. I love that 20% of all proceeds are going towards the Mayors Alliance in NYC. Some of the saddest dogs I have ever seen are sitting in New York City Shelters and they are not No-Kill. Those dogs only have a limited amount of time to win someone's heart. It's devastating and to know I made a small difference made me feel good. I love this gift. <3

Afterwards we picked up our little beast and headed home to relax. Then for the first time. NOTHING. SIGNIFICANT. HAPPENED. We just were happy to be spending time the three of us.

Saturday (8/3) Ace and I did another morning run. 4.17 miles done and then, call the newspapers.... we just hung out again!! I spent some time with one of my girlfriends who just turned 21!! After I came home Miguel and I started talking about what we would do for my birthday. Originally we had planned on going to the Casino-Mohegan Sun but I didn't need money to be wasted so I said we could just hang out and maybe go to a restaurant around us. He asked what I wanted for breakfast. I didn't quite catch on, responding that I wasn't sure. He asked if I would want the egg sandwich from Guiliano's on Main Street in Niantic...I said yes.

Long story short. We decided to drive back to the beach house for breakfast. I did tell Miguel that I had made a promise to myself to run 10 miles on my birthday. Because I didn't end up registering for the soundRUNNER Sea Legs 10 Miler I was going to do the same mileage anyway and not give myself a reason to bow out. In all honestly I NEEDED to do it. For myself. To prove I still have it. I've been beating myself up about my low mileage and crappy preparations for the half's I have lined up. So we decided to go to bed and ended up with two crazy puppies jumping on and off the bed all night.

I can proudly say we woke up on August 4th and went into Downtown Niantic to run 9.03 miles. I do not even care about not making it 10 miles....Miguel ran with me. That means more to me than anything else. And for that, anything else that happened in the day doesn't matter. The man I love the most, did my favorite thing in the world with me. He didn't have to. I gave him plenty of outs. He even said he could have gone longer but he was over the fact it almost took us 2 hours. I was just starting to get PHM sore so I figured it would be best to call it quits. While we were running around Niantic the Niantic Bay Tri was going on. So we got to run beside the cycling part of the tri which was so motivational. The title of this post also had to do with our running...while going down one of the streets with the cyclists we happened to frequent a road being occupied by a Police Officer helping with traffic on the open course. Him and I had sporadic conversation in which he told me I was in first place after I thanked him for stopping traffic for me, someone not in the tri. Then after seeing me and Miguel a couple more times jokingly said to Miguel that he would charge him with domestic abuse if he kept making me run. I responded telling him "Officer, it was my idea!" (I hate to even have to write this but I am in no way making light of domestic violence or abuse to anyone who has been through it, I do hope no one takes offense to it.)

We then had breakfast, our favorite egg sandwiches, I showered, compression sleeved it up and KT Taped up and relaxed with my puppy until lunch time.

Miguel's mother took Miguel and I out for lunch at the Main Street Grille in Niantic. It wasn't impressive enough to waste time on so I will pass on explaining. Then we packed up the car and headed home with our son.

After unpacking and relaxing I decided I wanted to go to Red Robin. Miguel and I had very very good meals there, probably the best so far, AND the little sneakster went and told the waitress it was my birthday so we shared a little of a sundae after the famous restaurant birthday singing commenced. (He also got me a Nike Sportwatch, it should be here Friday eeee!)

I apologize for the lack of pictures. It's funny how that happens though, the less I try to make the day special the more it is. This was probably one of the best birthdays I have ever had, minus the ones at Disney.

QOTD: What was your best birthday? Why?

Hopefully This (Stay)cation Will THAI Me Over Until Disney In November.... Part 1

'Stay'cation-Vacation....

Ugh. What dreadful words. There are few things worse than a 'stay'cation. I liken it to a root canal or stubbing your toe on a coffee table or the foundation of your bed... Unless of course it means NO WORK and getting to spend time with your two best friends!!!

Miguel and Ace

Well sort of. Wednesday morning (7/31) we packed the car, to the point of bursting...I think we both thought we'd actually make it to Monday at the beach house....silly us. We had two suitcases, our bag of work out clothes & accessories, a bag of toiletry items and medications, of course a box of shoes and a bag of laundry that we thought we might want to wear so we would do a wash. Miguel's mother came and picked Ace up and we were off!!!

It's hard to explain the raccoon...but just know we are children and that Miguel is the love of my life because he always makes me laugh

After we got to the beach house we unpacked and relaxed. Even though I'm 26 (I KNOW RIGHT!!!) I still get car sick. So I usually need to lay down after car rides longer than 30 minutes. That usually ends up being okay with Miguel because usually that's when he works out. 

We had such big plans for this vacation but alas did not act up on all of them. One that we did was going to the Clinton Outlets. They aren't incredibly high-end but have some gems.

Entrance

The bag confirming the purchase of my new leopard print bag <3 . Love

I ended up falling in love with an 'affordable' bag and Miguel got it for me. Birthday present #1 [Happy]. I have more that a purse addiction by the way. It is totally a curse. But I have been good since running, I have actually almost considered selling some of my Coach bags just to finance races and gear! *GASP* It is true! I would rather spend my money on things I can actually use. While at the outlets we also visited the Finish Line store that was not an outlet with lower prices, and the Nike Outlet which had okay prices but the deals you get online during sales are better. After our car trip, mini nap, and shopping we got hungry. 

I will preface this by saying I am very hesitate about trying new foods as I am incredibly picky, that being said. I. Love. Crab. We decided to go to Johnny Ad's because Miguel heard that they had a soft-shell crab sandwich. He has been talking about trying soft-shell crab for at least 2, maybe 3 years. I'm so glad I let him talk me into trying it. I will say the idea of eating a crab AND it's shell after only eating it after I cracked it's shell threw me for a loop until I did eat it.

Sign from the road

Menu, sorry it's so hard to see

The inside has a ton of character.

We sat outside in the beautiful weather. You can see Miguel in the back.

Drum Roll Please! Here is the gorgeous sandwich!

One happy boy.

We ended up splitting the sandwich because I wasn't sure if I was going to eat it, plus it was like $12 for the thing. But I will say it was absolutely delicious. I am impressed with myself for trying something new and so happy I did!

We then went back to the beach house and relaxed and talked about what we wanted to do for dinner. I spent some much needed time on mapmyrun.com looking up routes of where we could run around the ocean and such....and maybe a nap happened too, who's to stop it?! We then got ready and excited to go into Old Saybrook and visit Touro Grill a Brazillian style Rodizio which is like 'Meat-Fest-[enter year here]'. Rodizio's are usually pricey but are worth the money. Waiters bring around different meats on skewers and you get to try sometimes 15 different things and always have a buffett of sides you can have too. Brazillian food is probably Miguel's and my guilty pleasure...

The car ride from Niantic to Old Saybrook is maybe about 15 minutes. I tried calling Tuoro Grill to see if we could get a reservation but no one picked up....We didn't think anything odd of it....until we got there and noticed no one was in the parking lot and that the lights were off inside. We realized maybe they didn't pick up because they were closed...like out-of-business-closed. After that heartbreaking discovery we traveled around for another hour looking for a place to eat and finally in a last resort attempt went back to Main Street in Niantic.

Best. Choice. Ever.

Restaurant sign

Food Menu

Drink Menu

Our complimentary appetizer, like pillows of delicious air

Miguel looking over the menu.

My meal. Drunken Noodles w/ chicken.

Miguel's Meal. Drunken (Jasmine) Rice with beef.

We got orange slices with our check.

Delicioso. Then we went back to the beach house, satisfied with our meal choice and very full and relaxed and watched movies.

The next day (8/1) I had planned on waking up and running but couldn't move. I don't know if it was the way I slept or the bed I slept on but I had not gotten a good sleep at all. We decided to go to this little bakery on Main Street we had been to one time before and gotten dessert for his parents. We hadn't eaten there though.

This bakery is like an Italian gem.

Menu on the wall

Cases filled with goodies

Miguel and I both got the Bacon, Egg and Cheese sandwich.

Can you SEE how much bacon!

It is officially my favorite breakfast sandwich ever! I was so happy we had another good meal! Afterwards we went back to the house and just hung out. Miguel as usual worked out and I spent time online and we decided to watch movies. It is so rare we just get to be lazy and relax. We definitely took full advantage of the no plans and doing nothing...but something didn't seem right...something, or rather...someone was missing....

ACE! We couldn't bare to be without him...so yes...our 6 day vacation was cut short. We came home. Once we got home and unpacked Miguel's mother dropped our baby back off. We could not have been happier to be with him. <3

Not only is Ace our 'dog' but he is our son, our best friend and the love of both of our lives.

August 1st is also the unofficial, made up anniversary date for Miguel and I. We never did the whole "Ohhh 4 months, 3 days, and 5 hours, love you bae!" thing, sorry if anyone does that but we aren't like it. We celebrate years, if we celebrate at all. This year...is 8! August technically is our anniversary month but I refuse to share my birthday with anything else. Yes, it is bratty.

These are some of my favorite photos over the years. Not in any particular chronological order...I'm genuinely sorry that I am gushing too. It's just after 8 years he still gives me butterflies (even if I want to stab him with a fork every now and then).

Ugh. He is my other half.

We spent the rest of the night relaxing with Ace and loving up on him for the night he spent without us.

QOTD: Have you ever cut a vacation short for any reason? This was my first time ever. I'm curious about you guys!