Happy New Year! Hope you had a lovely holiday; we sure did. Our first Christmas with Will was extra special, and I imagine it will only get more fun as he grows.
New Year's Eve in EPCOT
We spent New Year's Eve in EPCOT this year after sitting out last year (preggo me) and ringing in 2015 two years ago at the Grand Floridian. This was our first time celebrating there, and I don't think it will be our last! Yes, it was crowded, but manageable, and it really as a fun evening.
After parking at the Beach Club, our first stop was at the Rose and Crown in the UK. We walked right in, no line!
Our next stop was La Cava Del Tequila, where John and I first met back in May of 2013. He and I had made an early dinner reservation at the San Angel Inn for 3:30. We didn't arrive until 4:15, and asked if we could add three people to our party. Amazingly, they made it happen!
With a full belly, we continued on. We met friends in Germany to watch the first Illuminations of the evening at 6pm (they show it twice on New Year's; the early show includes the Holiday Tag ending, and the midnight show has the NYE ending.) There's something special about watching Illuminations at twilight.
From there, we walked to Italy and were able to get a table for the five of us inside the Wine Cellar after a 20 minute wait! See, not too bad for NYE in a theme park. When we finished there, the DJ had started. It was BUMPIN' and really fun. We made a full loop around World Showcase (another stop at Rose and Crown, still no line at 8pm!) and met our Disfam in Norway to ride Frozen.
Our group decided to head back to Italy to dance some more; boy did we ever! What a workout. After that we ate a light snack in Japan and stopped by France to get a glass of champagne to toast in the New Year. We decided to watch the fireworks from the International Gateway so we could make a quick exit and get a jump on traffic.
We left Epcot around 12:15 and were home by 12:45- I was shocked after reading horror stories of sitting in traffic for 3+ hours. All in all, a good night, and one I'd like to do again.
I should mention two things: one, Will was at my mom's house for the evening so we had a grown-up night and two, my hubby's team, the Clemson Tigers were playing Ohio State, so John had his nose in his phone for four hours as we watched the Tigers work those Buckeyes silly!
My New Year's Resolutions
I'll admit, I don't really like to make resolutions because I rarely stick to them, but this year I have a few goals I'm working toward in the near future.
My main one, as cliche as it is, is to lose weight. I'm holding tight to this baby weight and am ready to get back into my wardrobe again!
To make that happen, John and I are kicking off the year with the Whole30 program (which we'll start next week after we get back from the Clemson-Alabama championship game ;)). I also have a postnatal workout plan from Mom's Into Fitness that I love, and am more than halfway through. I also really like the LoseIT! app and my new FitBit Charge 2 and Aria scale. All three work together and are very motivating for me to see my food intake and calorie usage.
I'm also going to start taking Pure Barre a few times a week when I finish with the Mom's Into Fitness routine; my friend Theresa (MarylanderInLilly) has been doing it and she looks so freaking fantastic, it's convinced me to give it a go. The hardest part with that is going to be motivating myself to go in the evenings after John gets home to watch the baby. Hope I can do it!
My other random but fun resolution is to keep track of friend's and family's birthdays and send out birthday cards. I know I love to get snail mail, and I feel so special when someone remembers my birthday without Facebook reminding them, so I'd like to pass that on. I ordered this adorable Reminder Journal to track important dates. My sister-in-law's birthday is January 5th, so I get to start my resolution right away! Yay!
Lilly Pulitzer After Party SALE Info
Lilly's bi-annual sale starts Thursday, January 5th at 8am and runs through Friday the 6th. This is one of the ways I accumulate my large collection of Lilly; the prices are really just unbeatable.
I've linked to my previous blog post about the Sale here and this one about some of my favorite styles for park touring here.
Not much has changed except that now when you log on to the site (LillyPulitzer.com) you are entered into a virtual queue, and once you check out, you lose your place and have to 'get back in line' to shop again.
It's kind of a catch twenty-two because you want to check out as soon as possible with the items in your cart. Shipping is free, and just because something is in your cart does NOT mean it won't disappear. Happens to me every year. However, as soon as you check out, you lose your place in line and have to wait your turn again to get back in. So if you have something in your cart that you can't bear to part with, I'd say check out while you've got it, then get back in the queue.
Personally, I'm looking to add to my Elsa collection, and might treat myself to a pair of Callahans in my new-mommy size, since I can't fit into any of my others and it's still getting in the 80's here in Orlando.
That reminds me! Tomorrow I'll be posting about my favorite Lilly Pulitzer pieces to wear during my pregnancy. I've had the post pretty much ready to go for a while now, and this is the perfect time to post it. So yay! This sale is the ideal time to scoop up some Lilly in larger sizes to fit your baby bump.
See you tomorrow!
I really want to experience NYE at Epcot; my sister went a few years ago and then swore she would never do that again; but after reading your experiences and seeing peoples photos and videos, I really want to do this. Also, great idea on the birthday cards; hint, mine is September 6, lol. When is your birthday, by the way? Kari *o*
ReplyDelete