We'll Be Counting Stars

I got to meet the little girl I might help take care of through out the week! I made sure to include Disney into my outfit and she seemed to like it but stayed very shy. I hope it went as well as I think it did!

Tonight I have to go to work and then final practicum time tomorrow! We get to finish filling out paperwork, get our final evaluations, and then clean. Fun!

Sweeeeeeeeetttttttt Emoooooootiooooooooooonnnnnn

I fully admit that I should not have gone to Disney. I should have stayed home, told Peter to go back to his house, told Ilysa I couldn't help her family go to Disney, and been miserable working on all my homework.

This did not happen. Instead I spent my day (and so much money) at Hollywood Studios. We Rocked on a Roller coaster and fell down an elevator shaft. We meet some Jawas and a Kylo. It was a good time. And now I get to work.

Oops, I Did It Again

I did it again!!! Dang it! 

Yesterday I went to Disney with Matt and Ilysa to look at the Easter eggs before the disappear. I also got to wear my new Beauty and the Beast dress :)  The eggs are created out of chocolate and edible art supplies and it just isn't fair. 

Celebrate a World Filled with Magic

It is not a secret that "Celebrate the Magic" and "Wishes" are my two favorite things that Disney has to offer. There is something about these two shows and all of the people watching them being completely transfixed on the magic happening in front of them that just makes me happy. 

Originally, this Disney day was going to be spent with my old roommate Danielle but her job hates us so she couldn't come. Peter and I decided to use the fastpasses I originally planned for her and I making this the third day we have visited a theme park. Three date nights in row? What?! Hopefully these helped to make up for some of the date nights that the holidays interrupted seeing as this next semester starts on Monday and it is going to be so busy! 

The Grad School Chronicles

My first week in grad school has come to a close and I celebrated by going to Magic Kingdom with some of my old Cast Members and then coming home for my grandmother's birthday. Magic Kingdom was oodles of fun and I cannot wait to go back soon! I also cannot be more excited to be home! I was able to sit down with my grandmother for a class assignment where we had to interview a grandparent  and learn about her life. Hopefully tomorrow I can play with my nephews and work on some assignments. 

School wasn't hard necessarily, just frustrating. It started with a monsoon and a bus ride to class. I was three hours early so I could go get my UCFID card and then navigate my way to the psychology building while the weather gods took their revenge on Orlando in the form of sheets of rain. Class was interesting. We introduced ourselves to ourselves and talked about theories of counseling.  These kids act like they are full grown established adults and half of them aren't. So you got in to the program, good job! That doesn't mean you get to act like you are better than the other 30 of us who also got in to this program. I wish I felt like being friends with these people and I wish I knew how to be friends with them. How does one make friends? Ughhhh. 

Anyway, three hours later I made it home and unpacked more of the boxes before the first night of insomnia kicked in. I was supposed to go see Brett and go to the grocery store but I overslept by six hours. Fast forward through unpacking, some studying, watching the Avengers with Kayla over the phone, and another night of insomnia and we reach Wednesday. It felt better than Monday but it still didn't feel right. Everyone feels like they are trying so hard to be there and like they are still in an admissions competition. They can't revoke your admission on the second day guys, relax. Hopefully it gets better. I made a wish during Wishes on Thursday that I would be able to get through this and make friends, I want to do well in this program and I want to look at my cohort and feel just as proud of them as I am of myself. I'll just keep my fingers crossed for next week.

CELEBRATE THE MAGIC

We started our Disney adventure by waking up at 6:20 this morning ... And I will post all about tomorrow because I'm so incredibly tired!

So like I said, we started our adventure really really REALLY early in the morning in or to get to the parks to use extra magic hours at Animal Kingdom between 8-9. This however did not work due to leaving late, having the guard tell me that my castmember ID didn't get me free pairing (I had a back up plan though!) and there being traffic for my Big on her way to the park. I did get a massive donut out of it though! IT WAS THE SIZE OF MY HEAD!

Now, this is where the first hijink of the day occurred. I had already linked my paper tickets to my account and the lady at the AK GS counter said that if she converted them to plastic that it would be fine. So we did. We were wrong. My ticket then didn't scan at all that day. They eventually just gave up and flagged me through. So I essentially got free admission all day. But we finally got in to animal kingdom right at 9am and we booked it to Everest. Only to learn that it was closed. A castmember named Steve told us to stay updated on the MDE app so we decided to head to Dinosaur in order to give Everest some time to recoup. 

We got to Dinosaur and my Big handed me a really pretty Tinker Bell bracelet as a birthday present. I am still so shocked by this! Thank you so much again! Ten we got on the Dinosaur ride and barely escaped with our lives. It was awesome. Everest did not open so we said goodbye to Animal Kingdom and headed to Epcot!

I don't tend to spend a ton of time at Epcot but I knew it would be Catherine's favorite! We had reservations for lunch in France so we spent the time before that watching the "SAVE THE PLANET FEATURE THE LION KING" show, going on Living with the Land, and pin buying/trading. I ended up getting the pins and lanyard pictured below because the FSU was the last one and everything was on sale. We did have an interesting adventure on Test Track because of this really nice man who gave us his fast pass! We made a pretty kick ass car and it was tons of fun! Definitely doing it again!

Then we headed around the world and almost stopped to meet Mulan in China. Eventually we found ourselves in Japan and Catherine and my Big were in heaven! I'm not big in to cultural experiences but it was still fun to watch them go all wide eyed over everything! I feel like there will be many more adventures in Epcot!

We finished our journey with lunch in France! The actual lunch part was pretty good but the dessert was the best. I would seriously go back to Epcot just for the chocolate mousse. Ohmygoodlord.

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CRYING A RIVER

I got home from a short shift at work around 7. Then I had dinner and finally headed to the computer room around 8:15 so that I could watch the Noles win and do more research on apartments. Said research lead to a list of apartments that exist on the UCF bus routes and I sat there and went to every site. I looked at every number. I got really comfortable with the possibility of moving into some of the complexes. I emailed each complex that I liked after narrowing down the list. THEN it occurred to me to look at the reviews.

"It can't be that bad" said thought Kaitlin. THOUGHT KAITLIN WAS WRONG!

Every single place has a horrible reputation. From crime to bugs to mold to maintenance issues. You name it and every. single. apartment had TERRIBLE reviews about it. MULTIPLE TERRIBLE REVIEWS.On MULTIPLE websites. Is it just the students at UCF being snobby? Do I just say " ehhh" and go with the one that I like the most?
WHY IS THIS SO HARD!?

Dreams Come True

When I took this picture on Thursday night, I was taking it for my nephew so that he would have it to reflect on later in life. This picture has been taken SO MANY TIMES and it has caused quite a few traffic jams. What is the big deal guys? It is just a sign. When we got to the hotel on Thursday, I went to post something to Instagram and I scrolled past this picture and thought "How funny would that be? My dreams coming true after going to Disney" in relation to getting a spot in UCF's program. We were supposed to find out our admissions decision in two weeks (Halloween). I was fully prepared to diligently wait those two weeks and then find out what my immediate future had in store for me. I had even decided  that the blog post about the admission decision would be centered around this picture. 

I woke up this morning to the sound of an email which I rushed to check because I was anxious. I saw that it was from UCF and opened it immediately. I saw the congratulations message and jumped out of my bed to bring it to my sister just to make sure that I wasn't dreaming. She read it and confirmed for me that I have been accepted in to UCF's Counselor Education Masters program for the Mental Health Counseling Track for Spring 2015. 

Dreams do come true and in my case, they came true weeks in advance.

Heading to Orlando

I was lucky enough to be blessed with a manager who understands that things come up and who is willing to work with me  and switch shifts so that I can end up in Orlando when I need to be there. You are a beautiful human and I am so SO grateful for all of your help this weekend!

 I finished worked at 4:45 and we immediately headed to Orlando so that the family could experience their first Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. We ended up staying at Disney's Contemporary Resort so that it was easy to get to Magic Kingdom. However, when we checked in they did not have all the MNSSHP tickets ready. This meant that we would have to spend about 20 minutes waiting in the guest relations line acquiring said tickets before we could go to the event. Afterwards we made a stop at town hall and then we made a stop at Casey's so that my sister could find something to eat. We tried to encourage the older of my nephews to come with Snow White (me) and watch the parade. Our attempts at fun were met with adamant "no"s and stern refusals. This kid hate parades. 

We finally made it to some Trick or Treating spots which meant that I ended up not being able to see Celebrate the Magic (IT IS THE MAIN REASON I GO TO DISNEY WORLD) and then we ended up on the Dumbo Ride during WISHES. This is when we discovered that the older of the two also HATES fireworks. Like hates them to the point of being on the Dumbo ride and sobbing every time one of them made the booming sound.

We calmed him down enough to get him to go on the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train which he also hated and was very scared by. More Trick or Treating and some other rides and then the night got better. We finally went home and I took a shower in order to sleep in a little be more before the big interview!

Planning For Disney

I have known about my interview at UCF for sometime now and I cannot be more grateful for the opportunity. Because it is in Orlando and I cannot drive myself, my sister and her family get to take me.  Which she decided was a good excuse for an impromptu trip to Disney while I am at my interview. So I got to plan their trip for them which eventually ended up with me going with them the night before to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!

This just became so much more exciting and nerve wracking than it already was!

A Disney Afternoon

After falling asleep three hours earlier than I expected yesterday, only sleeping in until 10 wasn't too bad. I had to be up so that I could shower and fix my hair before heading to work. It was an average Wednesday. Typical questions, atypical languages being spoken.  I was able to go home early where I was fretted with two Disney DVD's from Netflix as I have decided to do the free trial of their DVD subscription. They sent me "Frozen" and "Enchanted" so I have literally spent the rest of my day watching Disney movies. Woo.

'Twas Completed Today

You all remember that kite I was working on correct? Well, IT IS FINISHED!! It was for a contest at work and now it is completely finished and submitted. Our theme was essentially "Island of Misfits" or "Forgotten Favorites" because come on, (even though no one talks about them) who doesn't love Hercules, Tarzan, The Emperor's New Groove, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and Lilo and Stitch? I know what you're thinking "Lilo and Stitch has merchandise and gets talked about all the time!" WRONG! Stitch has merchandise (like three things) but the rest of the characters from the movie are basically lost to the world. If I were to ask the majority of the people I know who David, Jumba, Pleakly, Mertle, and Nani were I probably would just get blank faces. It counts. 

Originally Treasure Planet was supposed to make an appearance but the Jim Hawkins piece was never given to me so I had to draw Pegasus in his place. Below there is a time line of photos to feast your eyes upon.

Stitch and Pegasus are not my best work but they were drawn 2 hours prior to submitting the kite so I had to cut some corners. Everything but the stickers (AND SO,E REALLY COOL LEAVES CONTRIBUTED BY KIM!!) was free handed by yours truly and to be honest, I'm surprised that everything came out so well. It isn't exactly how I envisioned it but I think it looks better this way. You could say all of its imperfections give it character. 

I haven't decided what my favorite part is. I LOVE so many things about what I was able to accomplish with my (compounded) 24 hours of kite making that I can't choose! I never possessed the artistic gene prior to college but I guess all of my paddle making brought it out!!

ALSO! TODAY MY NEPHEW TURNED 6 AND IT IS FREAKING ME OUT!

Having No Life

...can be kind of entertaining but most of the time it is just boring. Particularly when you have to write about your life. Obviously, this blog is my choice. No one is forcing me to write this, I do this for me. I'm not even sure if anyone actually reads anything I write. Sure I see that I've had nearly 5,000 views since I started but of those 5,000 views, how many are people actually reading?

Moving on, I have no life. I work and I come home and sometimes I see some friends. This is routine. This is normal. This is average. This is boring, Is this the type of life we're all socially groomed to aspire to? Is this what we go to school, spend money, worry and cry about? Routine? I understand that I'm only 21 and I understand that my so called "life" is still on the cusp of really beginning.  But, to be honest with you, I never really had routine until I was 16 years old. That's five years of routine and a lack of spontaneity and I'm not so sure I agree with it. Is this what Belle meant when she said "I WANT SO MUCH MORE THAN THIS PROVINCIAL LIFE!" because I definitely want adventure in the great wide some where. 

"I want so much more than they've got planned."

Faith and Trust

"Oh yeah! And a little bit of dust!" -Peter Pan

Before I went back to school this year, I grabbed my planner and flipped to the notes section in the back of the book to write down a few things. 

You see, earlier that day I had one of many meltdowns about graduate school. "I'm not going to make it. I'm not going to pass the G.R.E. Who can I even ask about letters of recommendation?" I kept doubting myself and it felt easier to just throw my self on the nearest surface and sob or scream or just panic about the situation rather than trying to fix them. Well I started to have another meltdown later in the day and something kicked in and said "Absoultely not. No more of this," after which I was auto-piloted upstairs and started rumagging through everything to find a little red book. I found the notes section and with a red pen wrote down "I believe" statements until I couldn't come up with anymore. I furiously wrote until I was so tired of writing the words "I believe" and "I can" and " I am" that I wanted not to be able to come up with anything else. Until my hand hurt.

 I was writing them all down for multiple reasons. For one thing, I wanted to be able to turn to that page in my planner anytime I was having a doubting-myself kind of day and feel better. I was also writing them all down so that I had everything panned out if a teacher or a mentor told me they wouldn't write me a recommendation because they didn't think I could do it. I was writing them to believe in myself. As I finished writing them, I realized I already did; doubt was just blocking my view.

I post this today because I need to keep believing in myself as I settle in back at home for the next 7-12 months. I need to believe in my abilities to motivate myself to unpack, to look for jobs if I don't end up getting in to graduate school, to learn how to drive. Most of all I need believe in everyone else. I've learned that if I think the worst of people then I get the worst back. It's something in Psychology called a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy; I expect someone/thing to be one way so then I subconsciously treat them way X,Y, or Z and then they end up treating me the way I though they would. I can't let that happen. 

I need to believe that the people that I will eventually interview with at UCF and at Xavier will like what I have to say and what I can bring to their programs. I need to believe in my ability to land an interview at those schools. I need to believe in dreams, imagination, faith, trust, goodness. 

I encourage you to believe too.

(SIDE NOTE: EVERYONE PLEASE WELCOME CATHERINE TO THE DAILY BLOGGING WORLD!!! I BELIEVE IN YOU!!)

Into the Groove

"You threw off my groove!" -Kuzco The Emperor's New Groove

That's what has been wrong this last week, I've been out of my groove. I had a routine for awhile and then I allowed myself to break it and try a new routine. It didn't work for all aspects of my life and that had negative repercussions in a general sense. Now I know.

I tried to get back into the groove today and got my self to my internship where I worked with students and focused on whatever I needed to do. Afterwards I went to a sister's house to help her with some stuff and to try to study. Unfortunately I suck and no studying was accomplished. However, I feel better about today. I feel a little better about myself and my actions so I think it's progress. 

Disney/Frozen Karaoke

Busy, busy day today!!! 

I finished drawing and started coloring in the rest of the birthday cards for the birthday party. Then I went to my internship to check on my kids and to an  assignment for the class portion of the practicum

THEN IT WAS DISNEY KARAOKE TIME WITH SOME SISTERS AND BRANDI!! I sand two songs and while I was really really REALLY nervous I did it successfully! I even got one of my sisters to get up there and sing!

A free screening of Frozen finished off the night. While I still don't like most of the songs, the movie as a whole is a little better. Go see it for the score and the animation. 

Being Blown Away

You'll appreciate this title in a minute.

Even though I felt really gross I went to work as it was my last working during spring break. I was dreading going in and  was worried that I wouldn't be able to make it all day. However, all was well and I was able to make the whole day and do a pretty good job! 

Fun things happened today!! I met Carrie Underwood's cousin! I thought he was an awesome individual already because he was so knowledgable and so enthusiastic about Disney but then he revealed he was her cousin!! At first I didn't believe him but then he told me family facts and how American Idol changed family reunions. It is possible that he isn't really her cousin but I have no reason not to believe him. So yea.

AND THEN I GOT TO HANG OUT WOTH CATHERINE!!! AAHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Away From School

"Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work we go" - the Seven Dwarves- Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Today was the first day of my last undergraduate spring break. What did I do? I had a road trip back home with one of my sisters, cuddled with one of my nephews, went to work (WORK IS A MAGICAL PLACE WHERE YOU SING DISNEY SONGS ALL DAY) and now I'm home.

I already love spring break even though all I've done is work so far. While at work I made three people ridiculously happy and I got some awesome news that involves a one year pin and becoming a "regular" EEEKKKKKK THIS IS SO AWESOME !! In your best Rapunzel Voice: "THIS JA SO MUCH FUNNNNN!!! BEST DAY EVER!"

Could've. Should've. Would've

This weekend was supposed to be about productivity. I was going to clean my house, go to the store, study for my tests, read ahead, and then reward myself by leveling up in my Kingdom Hearts game. Well... None of that happened.

     SIDENOTE: LOOK AT THIS MARVELOUS PICTURE OF ALL THE KEY BLADES THEY ARE SO PERFECT I CAN'T STAND IT. 

Instead I bonded with my sisters, kind of studied for my test, ate a bunch of junk food, watched movies, TV- comaed over The Walking Dead/TeenWolf/American Horror Story/The Tribe and bought 26 dollars worth of Disney soundtracks. I'm such a success. 

The sisterhood bonding that happened today was lots of fun though. We met up with our beta chapter at this really pretty state park and just got to know each other a little better. My little, a few others, and I went for a really long hike where we reenacted the "you shall not pass" scene from Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings with gigantic walking sticks. Laughter ensued and it was generally tons of fun. The day ended with the discussion of Disney drag queens and a Disney jam session on the way home.

Now to return to my studying dungeon... I'll just leave this here.

Not All Bad

"When there's a smile in your heart!There's no better time to start! Think of all the joy you'll find when you leave the world behind! And bid your cares goodbye!" You Can Fly - Peter Pan

I had originally planned for today's post to be about believing in yourself as time goes on and sharing the lists of things I believe about my self. However, February apparently didn't appreciate me telling it to behave as a month so it threw me a curve ball today and made me fight with my assignments for 14 hours. And only get three hours of sleep. Thank Tinker Bell that February is only 28 days.

Today started at 330 am when I decided to be productive and work on my video presentation for my internship. I finished around 430 or 5 am and tried to upload it. At noon it still hadn't budged past 49% and I shut down my computer. In the time that I had wasted waiting on that file to load I finished three loads of laundry and managed to take 6 thirty minute naps. The down side to this is that I had to miss the first event with my sorority's pledges/ my university's championship celebration.

I did however get to go out with a friend of mine who bought me lunch and a cupcake and taught me a little bit about making contraptions with parts from Home Depot. You go Glen Coco. After that lovely little reprieve from my evil assignments I was sentenced to 5 more hours of fighting and converting and praying and hoping that this infernal thing would just upload to the correct place. It decided to work about 15 minutes ago.

Now I am rewarding my self by going out with some of my sisters and my beautiful Biggles to dance the night away before I do a whole different assignment and study for the GRE tomorrow. Happy thoughts. Faith, Trust, Pixie Dust. I can fly?